A5
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Oregon: Trump’s administration can expect
numerous legal challenges from other groups
Voting age: ‘Oregon is a
state of innovation when it
comes to election reform’
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
“To pay for his false
‘emergency,’ Mr. Trump is
willing to take away funding
from national security, drug
intervention projects and
military upgrades that our
states need,” she said. “The
p resident needs a check and
balance on his authority —
so once again, we will see
him in court.”
Trump declared the emer-
gency on Friday to free up
billions of dollars for con-
struction of a long-prom-
ised border wall, after Con-
gress passed a spending bill
that allocated just $1.375 bil-
lion for its construction. The
president says he plans to
allocate a total of $8 billion
to the wall, including redi-
recting $3.6 billion in mili-
tary construction funds and
$2.5 billion from the U.S.
Department of Defense’s
counter-drug activities.
Trump
acknowledged
the likelihood of legal chal-
lenges, saying on Friday,
“We will possibly get a bad
ruling, and then we’ll get
another bad ruling, and then
we’ll end up in the Supreme
Court, and hopefully we’ll
get a fair shake.”
States have pointed to the
president’s own words to say
there is no national emer-
gency. Becerra spoke with
National Public Radio’s “All
Things Considered” on Fri-
day about his plans to sue the
administration.
“(Trump) said, ‘I didn’t
need to do this.’ Those are
not the kind of words you
hear from a president who’s
about to declare a national
emergency,” Becerra said.
The White House has
argued that the move is rou-
tine. According to the Bren-
nan Center for Justice, presi-
dents have declared national
emergencies 60 times,
including Trump, since the
power was codifi ed in the
National Emergencies Act of
1976.
But Democratic critics,
including House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Sen-
ate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, have advanced the
same argument as the Cali-
fornia-led lawsuit, claiming
Trump’s declaration violates
lawmakers’ power to set
spending priorities.
Experts seem to think the
courts are likely to defer to
the president on the question
of whether there is an emer-
gency, NPR’s Nina Toten-
berg has reported, and the
legal fi ght is likely to boil
down to whether the pres-
ident has the right under
existing law to “repro-
gram” money Congress has
appropriated.
The coalition of states
in the lawsuit also includes
Go-bags: ‘We
want to make
sure they are
prepared’
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Alex McDonald, of Houston, center, stands among protesters rallying outside the Houston
offi ce of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Monday. The event was part of nationwide protests against
the national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump.
‘(TRUMP) SAID, ‘I DIDN’T
NEED TO DO THIS.’ THOSE
ARE NOT THE KIND OF WORDS
YOU HEAR FROM A PRESIDENT
WHO’S ABOUT TO DECLARE
A NATIONAL EMERGENCY.’
Xavier Becerra | California’s attorney general
Colorado, Connecticut, Del-
aware, Hawaii, Illinois,
Maine, Maryland, Michi-
gan, Minnesota, Nevada,
New Jersey, New Mexico,
New York and Virginia. The
group includes two of the
four states located along the
southern border, California
and New Mexico. All but
one of the states, Maryland,
have Democratic governors.
The lawsuit alleges that
redirecting funds from
drug interdiction, mili-
tary construction projects
and law enforcement initia-
tives toward a wall would
cause “signifi cant harm”
to the public safety, fi nan-
cial well-being and natural
resources of the states and
their residents.
“There are a number of
very important military proj-
ects, Army Corps of Engi-
neers projects, that would be
robbed of money to continue
to move forward,” Becerra
told NPR on Friday.
The plaintiffs also write
that there is “no national
emergency at the southern
border that warrants con-
struction of a wall,” citing
U.S. Customs and Border
Protection data that show
a decrease in border cross-
ings. In fact, illegal border
crossings in the most recent
fi scal year (ending in Sep-
tember ) were lower than
in either 2016 or 2014 and
much lower than at their
peak around 2000, as NPR
has previously reported.
The administration can
expect numerous legal chal-
lenges from other groups,
several of which have
already been fi led. Two land-
owners in Texas who would
be impacted by the bor-
der wall told NPR they are
suing the government. And
the American Civil Liberties
Union has announced that it
will also fi le a lawsuit.
Demonstrators took to
the streets in several cities
on Monday to protest the
national emergency decla-
ration, including a gather-
ing across the street from the
White House in Washington.
Parkland shooting in Flor-
ida, which left 17 peo-
ple dead. They proved
young people are active
and should have a right to
vote, Fagan said.
Several
teenagers
spoke in favor of the mea-
sure alongside Fagan on
Monday at the Capitol.
“Why can I drive like
an adult, pay taxes like
an adult, have an abortion
like an adult, be charged
and sentenced like an
adult, but I can’t vote like
an adult?” asked Christine
Bynum, a student at La
Salle High School.
Students spoke of a
desire to curb gun vio-
lence and to protect the
environment.
“We’re experts of our
own experiences,” Connor
Gabor said.
People are being sex-
ually assaulted in their
schools, Gabor said. Peo-
ple are being shot. Yet,
they can’t vote for school
board members or law-
makers, he said.
“When we have a lock-
down and fear for our
lives, we know what that
feels like. We want to
take agency over our own
lives,” Gabor said.
Fagan is proposing
a change to the Oregon
Constitution. If lawmak-
ers approve the measure,
it would then be sent to
the voters. Fagan said she
hopes it’s on the ballot in
the 2020 election.
“Oregon is a state of
innovation when it comes
to election reform, and
it makes sense for us to
consider the bold pro-
posal of lowering the vot-
ing age this session,” said
Samantha Gladu, e xec-
utive d irector of the Bus
Project, which is behind
the measure. “In Ore-
gon, we consistently push
the boundary of what is
possible and look for cre-
ative ways to include as
many voices as possi-
ble in our democracy. We
want all Oregonians to be
heard.”
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I still have some chapters
left to write, things I want
to do yet. Feel free to take a
vacation. I might do that, too.
Grateful to be here,
Ann
Continued from Page A1
But having a hotel pro-
vide emergency supplies to
guests is especially signifi -
cant, as people visiting can
be some of the most vulner-
able. Having more people
arriving to a tsunami evac-
uation area prepared with
the basics will help recov-
ery efforts , Cook said.
“People come here ...
and if something happens,
they are relying on peo-
ple who just barely have
enough for themselves,”
Cook said.
Cook hopes the Ocean
Inn will inspire other hotels
along the coast to do the
same. As awareness about
tsunami risk builds, she
believes the fears the tour-
ism industry has had about
addressing the topic have
waned and that guests will
start seeking out places
that actively prepare for
emergencies.
“It’s not a foreign con-
cept ... and they come any-
way,” Cook said. “We want
to make sure they are pre-
pared when they come.”
p r ov idenceoregon . org / de a rnorthcoa s t