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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEbRuARY 18, 2019
Trump’s emergency sparks new GOP divide
By LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump’s
declaration of a national
emergency to build his
long-promised border wall
ends one political problem
for the White House and its
allies on Capitol Hill, but
launches another.
Republicans are deeply
torn over Trump’s decision to
invoke executive power after
Congress denied him money
he wanted for the wall along
the Southern border. Some
are backing the president,
while others are vehemently
opposed to what they see
as constitutional overreach,
setting up a potential show-
down that adds to the already
expected legal challenges.
“I don’t believe a national
emergency declaration is the
solution,” said Sen. Thom
Tillis, R-N.C., who warned
of taking the country down
a “rabbit hole” with future
presidents seizing unchecked
executive power.
“No crisis justifies violat-
ing the Constitution,” said
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Sen. Lamar Alexan-
der, R-Tenn., said, “Declar-
ing a national emergency
is unnecessary, unwise and
inconsistent with the U.S.
Constitution.”
It’s an outcome Sen-
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell and his leader-
ship warned Trump against.
For days, they publicly urged
him not to declare an emer-
Associated Press
President Donald Trump told reporters, ‘I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.’
gency. But with Trump’s sig-
nature Friday on the action,
the Republican leaders are
largely falling in line behind
Trump.
As Democrats are quick
to call for oversight and
investigation, they are also
almost certain to seek a vote
of disapproval that will force
Republicans to stand with the
president — or against him.
White House senior
adviser Stephen Miller said
Sunday that Trump is pre-
pared to issue the first veto of
his term if Congress votes to
disapprove his declaration of
a national emergency.
House Judiciary Chair-
man Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.,
says his committee will
investigate the “serious con-
stitutional and statutory
issues” raised by the dec-
laration and will ask White
House officials to appear for
testimony.
Nadler said Trump’s deci-
sion shows “reckless dis-
regard for the separation
of powers and your own
responsibilities under our
constitutional system.”
The ranking Republican
on the House Judiciary Com-
mittee, Rep. Doug Collins of
Georgia, said that while he
supports Trump’s commit-
ment to securing the border,
“a national emergency is a
serious act with deep impli-
cations, and it’s disappoint-
ing that partisan politics have
brought us to this point.”
Congress has specific
ability under the National
Emergencies Act to halt the
president by a simple major-
ity vote of disapproval in
both chambers. That makes
the outcome uncertain, espe-
cially in the Senate where
Republicans now hold a nar-
row 53-47 majority.
Trump would almost cer-
tainly threaten to veto such
a resolution, if it passed,
and Congress would then
be faced with the difficult
task of mounting the votes to
override.
Trump’s decision creates
an “important moment for
constitutional democracy,”
said Chris Edelson, assis-
tant professor of government
at American University and
author of a book on presiden-
tial power.
“Congress has the tools
available to stop this if it
chooses to act,” Edelson
said. “All eyes should be on
Republicans in Congress,
some of whom are clearly
troubled by this action,
including the precedent it
could set.”
Top Trump allies are
splintering. GOP Sen. Lind-
sey Graham of South Car-
olina, once resistant to an
emergency declaration, told
Fox News he’s all for it. “We
would be idiots as Repub-
licans not to support Don-
ald Trump to try to build this
wall anyway he can,” Gra-
ham said.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,
may be tougher to sway. “I,
too, want stronger border
security, including a wall in
some areas. But how we do
things matters,” Paul said in
a statement.
“Extraconstitutional exec-
utive actions are wrong, no
matter which party does
them,” added Paul, who reg-
ularly criticized former Pres-
ident Barack Obama for what
Paul and other Republicans
termed executive overreach.
On and off Capitol Hill,
many Republicans criticized
Obama for what they saw as
executive overreach, particu-
larly on immigration issues.
Some of Obama’s actions,
including those to shield
young immigrants from
deportation, continue to play
out in the courts.
While some GOP voices
this week urged Trump on,
others encouraged restraint.
“We’ll regret this,” said a
headline in the conservative
National Review. The U.S.
Chamber of Commerce said
Friday that Trump’s deci-
sion will “create a danger-
ous precedent that erodes the
very system of government
that has served us so well for
over 200 years.”
Randall: ‘Helping people,
animals, the environment
... it’s everything I like’
Continued from Page A1
Clatsop Works sent in
her application and she
became the program’s first
intern.
“It was kind of magi-
cal timing, actually,” said
Anna Stamper, the coordi-
nator for Clatsop Works.
For 10 weeks, Randall
attended marine education
conferences, did shifts on
the beach and learned about
other environmental non-
profits. She enjoyed identi-
fying and talking about all
of the creatures found in
tidepools and on the rock.
The mission of the
awareness program, which
is to protect the marine
reserve and educate people
on why that’s important, is
something that appealed to
her.
“Helping people, ani-
mals, the environment ...
it’s everything I like,” she
said.
By the end of summer,
she had found a new pas-
sion for environmental
activism. She now works
for the program as a part-
time lead interpreter.
“I’ve always had my
focus on animals, so the
obvious thing you think
of is ‘vet,’” Randall said.
“In these environmental
programs, it allows you
to spread out that passion
over a broader area.”
She’s now sitting at
a crossroads, deciding
whether to pursue environ-
mental activism or veteri-
nary science. Randall plans
to work both as an inter-
preter and as a kennel tech
at Bayshore Animal Hos-
pital in Warrenton for the
immediate future to help
her decide which track to
pursue.
Either way, she is thank-
ful for the experience.
“It’s been an eye-open-
ing experience for what I
want to do with my life,”
she said.
‘IT’S bEEN AN EYE-OPENING
EXPERIENCE FOR WHAT I WANT
TO DO WITH MY LIFE.’
Ellison Randall
Measles: Hundreds who
oppose ending the exemptions
showed up at a public hearing
Continued from Page A1
exemption is claimed, a
child is required to be vac-
cinated against or show
proof of acquired immu-
nity for nearly a dozen dis-
eases — including polio,
whooping cough and
mumps — before they can
attend school or a child
care center.
Hundreds of people who
oppose ending the exemp-
tions, including environ-
mental activist Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., showed up at a
public hearing on the legis-
lation last week.
A broader measure intro-
duced in the state Sen-
ate, which would not allow
personal or philosophical
exemptions to be granted
for any required school vac-
cinations, is scheduled for a
public hearing Wednesday.
Four percent of Wash-
ington secondary school
students have nonmedical
vaccine exemptions, the
state Department of Health
said. Of those, 3.7 per-
cent of the exemptions are
personal, and the rest are
religious.
In Clark County — an
area just north of Portland,
where most of the Washing-
ton measles cases are con-
centrated — 6.7 percent of
kindergartners had a non-
medical exemption for the
2017-18 school year, health
officials said.
California removed per-
sonal belief vaccine exemp-
tions for children in both
public and private schools
in 2015 after a measles out-
break at Disneyland sick-
ened 147 people and spread
across the U.S. and into
Canada. Vermont also aban-
doned its personal exemp-
tion in 2015.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Jordan Wilson prepares to cook an order in his new food truck in Astoria.
Pod: ‘I just wanted to create my own business’
Continued from Page A1
“The tough part about
being a chef is you’re gen-
erally making someone
else’s business better,” Wil-
son said. “At this point in
my life, I just wanted to cre-
ate my own business. I’m
good at what I do, and I just
wanted to be in business for
myself, and cook food that
I really like and that I agree
with, nonstop. And I make
the decisions.”
Around the corner from
Wilson on Duane Street, next
to vegan cart Good Bowl,
Riccardo Pizzuti is assem-
bling the trailer for the Cal-
abrese-style Pizzuti’s Wood-
fired Pizzeria, with a planned
opening later this month.
Before slinging slices,
Pizzuti was a potter and
sculptor who also did dry-
wall and painting to make
ends meet.
“Doing that burned me
out, so I just stayed with
the drywall and painting,
because that’s where the
money was at,” he said.
Pizzuti, who traces his
family’s lineage to south-
ern Italy, decided several
years ago to parlay his fam-
ily’s culinary heritage with
his experience in kilns, and
began making wood-fired
pizzas. He started out deliv-
ering to Waltz Brewing in
Forest Grove before the
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Riccardo Pizzuti plans to open Pizzuti’s Woodfired Pizzeria on Duane Street this month.
owner sold him his trailer.
Inside,
Pizzuti
has
installed
a
glass-melt-
ing oven that fires up to
2,600 degrees, out of which
he turns out 10-, 14- and
16-inch,
Neapolitan-style
pizzas on thin sourdough
crust with a spicy Calabrian
tomato sauce. He sources
meats and cheeses from Italy
and incorporates local sea-
food for such pies as crab,
shrimp and anchovies. In the
warmer months, he’ll grow
his own basil and oregano.
Pizzuti plans to sell whole
pizzas and slices out of a
heat rack in front, along with
baguettes, Italian bread and
the occasional dessert, with
hopes of an alcohol license
for beer and wine.
Astoria, where Pizzuti
has friends who urged him to
make the move, is his retire-
ment plan.
“I’m getting older, so
now’s the time to do it,” he
said. “I think I’ve got a prod-
uct that will afford me the
ability to stick around.”
The Art Garden at 11th
and Duane streets now num-
bers five carts. Property
owner Michael Bruhn said
he plans to stop there. In the
near future, he plans a food
court, and possibly occa-
sional live music.
Bruhn has been pleased
with how quickly and organ-
ically the city’s largest food
cart pod has grown. He
already has another three
cart owners hoping to get in.
“There’s not a lot of
places that let trailers in,” he
said. “I’d like to find another
place, but parking lots are in
high demand.”