7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016
Stopgap spending bill
unveiled as Congress
finishes up for year
By ANDREW TAYLOR
and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Air Force One is seen on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, before President Barack
Obama boards en route to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. President-elect Donald Trump wants the government’s
contract for a new Air Force One canceled, saying that costs are “totally out of control.”
‘Cancel It!’ Trump says new
Air Force One cost ridiculous
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The gov-
ernment should cancel its
multibillion-dollar order for
new Air Force One presiden-
tial planes, Donald Trump
declared today, serving notice
he’s ready to jump in and start
making decisions six weeks
before his inauguration.
Costs for the two Boeing
747s are “totally out of con-
trol,” Trump told reporters
in the lobby of his New York
skyscraper.
The government has con-
tracted with Boeing to build
the planes, which would go
into service around 2024. That
means Trump wouldn’t fly on
the aircraft, which carry U.S.
presidents around the globe,
unless he pursued and won a
second term. But the Air Force
has pressed for a faster sched-
ule, saying the current version
is becoming too expensive to
repair and keep in good flying
shape.
The contract for the planes
was to be about $3 billion, but
costs have been reported to be
rising. Trump tweeted early
this morning, “Boeing is build-
ing a brand new 747 Air Force
One for future presidents, but
costs are out of control, more
than $4 billion. Cancel order!”
Later, he said the costs are
ridiculous: “I think Boeing is
doing a little bit of a number.
We want Boeing to make a lot
of money, but not that much
money.”
Stocks dip
The price of Boeing stock
dipped after his comments
but not drastically. Trump had
tweeted in 2013 that he owned
Boeing stock, but a spokesman
said today he sold all of his
stocks in June.
The company said in a
statement, “We are currently
under contract for $170 million
to help determine the capabili-
ties of these complex military
aircraft that serve the unique
requirements of the presi-
dent of the United States. We
look forward to working with
the U.S. Air Force on subse-
quent phases of the program
allowing us to deliver the best
planes for the president at the
WASHINGTON — Law-
makers are tacking on money
for security around Trump
Tower in New York and funds
for health care for retired coal
miners to a stopgap spending
bill that would avoid a gov-
ernment shutdown at week’s
end.
The temporary budget
bill, scheduled to be unveiled
today, would keep federal
agencies functioning into
next spring, giving the new
Congress and incoming pres-
ident Donald Trump time to
approve more than $1 tril-
lion to fund federal agencies
through the current govern-
ment budget year, which ends
Sept. 30.
Current spending expires
at midnight on Friday. Since
the measure is the only
must-do bill before Congress
adjourns, it’s likely to carry
several add-ons, including
flood relief, money for over-
seas military operations and
help for Flint, Michigan, to fix
its lead-tainted water system.
Other items include lan-
guage to help speed a con-
gressional waiver required
next year to confirm retired
Gen. James Mattis as secre-
tary of defense and temporary
help to maintain health bene-
fits for retired members of the
United Mine Workers. Law-
makers will again deny them-
selves a cost-of-living pay
hike that’s fallen out of favor.
Coal minors
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump
Tower in New York today before heading out later to travel to North Carolina.
best value for the American
taxpayer.”
Trump now uses his own
plane, a Boeing 757, which he
has outfitted with white leather
and gold, a large flat-screen
television and a bedroom. But
as president it is expected that
he would travel aboard the Air
Force jet, which is equipped
with special safety, defensive
and communications equip-
ment. Air Force One also has
seating for reporters; Trump
generally does not allow the
press on his own plane.
‘Thank you’ tour
Later today, Trump will
be using his 757 to travel to
the second stop of his “thank
you” tour, in North Caro-
lina, less than a week after
his return to rallies at an Ohio
appearance that felt more
like a raucous campaign stop
than a traditional speech by a
president-to-be.
At that Cincinnati stop,
Trump disparaged the media
as “dishonest,” inspired loud
“Build the wall” chants, took
swipes at fellow Republicans
and stunned his own aides with
his surprise announcement
from the stage that he was
appointing retired Gen. James
Mattis as secretary of defense.
Mattis’ selection was being
formally announced today, and
he is to appear with Trump at the
evening event in Fayetteville.
Later this week there will
be rallies in Iowa and Michi-
gan as Trump barnstorms the
country to salute his supporters
who delivered victories in the
battleground states he needed
to capture the White House.
And on Saturday, Trump will
attend the 117th annual Army-
Navy football game, spend-
ing half the game on Navy’s
side of the stadium and the
other half on Army’s side. The
game between the two mili-
tary academies often draws
the commander in chief; both
Presidents Barack Obama and
George W. Bush have attended
in recent years.
Appointments
Before leaving for North
Carolina today, Trump was
slated to hold a number of meet-
ings in New York, including
with Rex Tillerson, the CEO
of ExxonMobil; Iowa Gov.
Terry Branstad, who is meeting
about a diplomatic post, and
radio host Laura Ingraham who
is being considered for press
secretary.
Those interviews come a
day after Trump chose retired
neurosurgeon Ben Carson to
be secretary of the Department
of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment, raising fresh concerns
about the lack of experience
some of Trump’s Cabinet picks
have with agencies they’re now
being chosen to lead.
Carson, who opposed
Trump in the Republican pri-
maries, has no background in
government or running a large
bureaucracy.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki
Haley, Trump’s choice to be
ambassador to the United
Nations, has no foreign policy
experience. Steve Mnuchin, a
former Goldman Sachs part-
ner and Hollywood execu-
tive, is Trump’s man to lead the
Treasury Department but has
never worked in government.
And Mattis, a widely praised
battlefield commander, spent
decades in the Marines but now
is tapped to run the nation’s
largest government agency,
the Defense Department, with
740,000 civilian employees in
addition to 1.3 million service
personnel.
Carson would oversee a
budget of nearly $50 billion
that provides rental assistance
for more than 5 million house-
holds. Demand for that assis-
tance is high in part because
housing costs are rising faster
than incomes. HUD also pro-
motes home ownership with
the Federal Housing Adminis-
tration underwriting about 1 in
6 mortgages issued in the U.S.
The agency is charged with
enforcing federal fair housing
laws, too.
One major dispute cen-
tered on protecting health care
and pension benefits for about
120,000 retired coal miners.
The measure had divided
coal-state Republicans. Sev-
eral supported the bill, but
GOP leaders — includ-
ing Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell of Ken-
tucky — were wary of bailing
out unionized workers.
McConnell said today
that that health care help for
miners would be part of the
spending bill, though no spe-
cifics were provided.
At issue are health benefits
for retirees whose companies
declared bankruptcy in recent
years.
Also the subject of
last-minute talks was an
Obama
administration
request for $35 million to
provide security for Pres-
ident-elect Trump, whose
home in midtown Manhattan
provides unusual and costly
complications for the Secret
Service. The trucking lobby
appeared poised to win per-
manent relief from recent
Transportation Department
rules mandating rest for long-
haul carriers, but details were
unavailable.
The overall measure
would keep the government
running through April 28,
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.,
said today.
The Senate, meanwhile,
appears on track today to pass
a $6.3 billion measure boost-
ing medical research and
speeding drug approvals. It
also includes a $1.8 billion
cancer research “moonshot”
strongly supported by Vice
President Joe Biden, whose
son Beau died of the disease,
as well as $1 billion over two
years to prevent and treat
abuse of opioids and other
addictive drugs like heroin.
The nearly 1,000-page pack-
age cleared the House over-
whelmingly last week, with
strong backing from President
Barack Obama. It contains a
long-overdue overhaul of fed-
eral mental health programs.
Biden presided over the
Senate during an 85-13 pro-
cedural tally on Monday and
a final vote is expected today
despite opposition from lib-
erals like Elizabeth Warren,
D-Mass.. She complained
that the bill would make it
easier for politically well-con-
nected pharmaceutical and
medical device industries to
win federal approval for their
products while raising risks to
consumers.
Water projects
Also Monday, negotiators
wrapped up talks on a mas-
sive water projects bill that
also contains a controversial
package of provisions that
wades into a complex, long-
standing battle over allocating
California’s water resources.
House Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,
and Democratic Sen. Dianne
Feinstein brokered the accord,
which, among other steps,
aims to offer relief to farmers
and farm communities suffer-
ing from the state’s longstand-
ing drought.
But California’s other
Democratic senator, Barbara
Boxer, ripped the accord,
charging that it would harm
drinking water quality and
severely weaken the Endan-
gered Species Act, threaten-
ing salmon and other species.
Boxer is retiring and vowed to
filibuster the legislation as her
last major act in office.
The stopgap spending
measure is needed because of
a deadlock between Repub-
licans controlling Congress
and the Obama administra-
tion over spending levels for
the Pentagon and a number of
other issues, including oppo-
sition from conservatives to
advancing a huge “omni-
bus” spending package in
the post-election lame-duck
session.
The incoming Trump
administration and House
GOP leaders are also hope-
ful of winning increases to the
Pentagon budget for the ongo-
ing fiscal year in the early
months of calendar 2017.
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Police: Fake news story led
gunman to popular DC pizzeria
By MATTHEW
BARAKAT
and JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
bizarre rumors began with a
leaked email referencing Hil-
lary Clinton and sinister inter-
pretations of references to
pizza parties. It morphed into
fake online news stories about
a child sex trafficking ring run
by prominent Democrats oper-
ating out of a Washington,
D.C., pizza joint.
On Sunday, it culminated
in violence when police say
a North Carolina man fired
an assault rifle multiple times
inside the Comet Ping Pong
restaurant as he attempted to
“self-investigate” the conspir-
acy theory known in the Twit-
terverse as “Pizzagate.”
No one was hurt and the
man was arrested. But the
shooting alarmed those from
neighboring businesses all the
way to the White House about
the real life dangers of fake
news on the internet. One of
those posting on the conspir-
acy theory is the son of Pres-
ident-elect Donald Trump’s
proposed national security
adviser.
White House Spokesman
Josh Earnest, asked about
the shooting Monday, said,
“There’s no denying the corro-
sive effect that some of these
false reports have had on our
political debate ... It’s deeply
troubling that some of those
false reports could lead to
violence.”
The suspect
Edgar Maddison Welch, 28
of Salisbury, North Carolina,
was arrested Sunday afternoon
outside the popular eatery in
an affluent capital neighbor-
hood, police said.
At a first appearance Mon-
day in D.C. Superior Court,
Welch appeared handcuffed
in a white jumpsuit and was
ordered held pending a hearing
Thursday. A public defender
representing him didn’t imme-
diately respond to an email
seeking comment.
Comet’s owner, James
Alefantis, said in a statement
Sunday night: “Let me state
unequivocally: These stories
are completely and entirely
false, and there is no basis in
fact to any of them. What hap-
pened today demonstrates that
promoting false and reckless
conspiracy theories comes
with consequences.”
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2111 E xch ange St., A storia
(503) 325-4321
www.colum biam em orial.org
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