NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Obama boosts Islamic State fight,
asks European allies to do the same
AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File
In this March 10 file photo, Republican presidential
candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich, right, speaks as Re-
publican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex-
as, listens, during a Republican presidential debate at
the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
After deal with Cruz,
Kasich coming to
Oregon to campaign
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Presiden
tial contender John Kasich is
coming to Oregon this week,
wasting no time in courting
voters here after he and rival
Ted Cruz announced they
were teaming up in three
states to try and torpedo
frontrunner Donald Trump’s
drive to seal the GOP nomi
nation before the Republican
convention.
Kasich has scheduled
a town hall in Portland on
Thursday and later in the
day travels to Medford, a
Republican stronghold. He
and Cruz
Cruz and Kasich are
essentially doing a trade, with
Cruz stepping away from
campaigning in Oregon and
New Mexico in exchange
for Kasich doing the same in
Indiana. That puts Oregon’s
May 17 primary in the
national spotlight.
A total of 1,237 delegates
are needed to win the nomina
tion ahead of the Republican
National Convention this
summer in Cleveland. With
Trump ahead in the delegate
count, Cruz and Kasich are
trying to ensure that the
national convention is open,
or brokered, and beat Trump
after the ¿rst round of voting.
That’s where Oregon and
New Mexico come in.
Cruz and Trump are neck
andneck in Indiana, so with
Kasich taking a back seat,
Cruz has a better chance of
walking away with all 57
delegates up for grabs on
May 3, said Ben Gaskins, an
assistant professor of political
science at Portlandbased
Lewis & Clark College.
Gaskins said Oregon and
New Mexico were likely
handed to Kasich because,
unlike the other 13 remaining
GOP primaries, both states
have small delegate counts
— 2 and 24, respectively —
that are bound proportionally
to however Republicans vote
and the primaries are closed.
“In Oregon, Republicans
tend to be more moderate, so
it’s unlikely Cruz would’ve
done really that well in
Oregon anyway,” Gaskins
said. “So this does allow
Kasich to really consolidate
the antiTrump vote and
perhaps come off with a
victory ... which gets him a
better point in the convention
as another viable alternative
to Trump.”
The Cruz campaign is
trying to rack up as many
delegates as possible that are
likely to sway in his favor
should their votes become
unbound after the ¿rst round
of voting at the convention,
“so I can imagine that he
would have that assumption
about Oregon and New
Mexico, that those Kasich
delegates would prefer Cruz
to Trump,” Gaskins said.
But Trump’s Oregon oper
ation is con¿dent the move
won’t hurt their candidate.
“I’m not totally sure what
they’re up to, but I’m very
con¿dent their plan won’t
work, however, in Oregon
and in general, just because I
think the voters will see this
for what it is — it’s trying
to undermine the will of
the voters and turn this into
inside baseball delegatetype
selection, instead of how we
normally do it,” said Jacob
Daniels, Trump’s Oregon
campaign manager.
Bill Currier, chair of the
Oregon Republican Party,
said the CruzKasich collabo
ration could end up bene¿ting
Trump.
“I think this will actually
strengthen (Trump’s) base
because he’s always been the
‘outsider,’ and so this will
strengthen his base and they
will feel like Cruz and Trump
are ganging up on him, so I
think it’ll actually energize
them,” Currier said.
HANNOVER, Germany (AP) —
Evoking history and appealing for
solidarity, President Barack Obama on
Monday cast his decision to send 250
more troops to Syria as a bid to keep
up “momentum” in the campaign to
dislodge Islamic State extremists. He
pressed European allies to match the
8.S. with new contributions of their
own.
Obama’s announcement of the
American troops, which capped a
sixday tour to the Middle East and
Europe, reÀected a steady deepening of
8.S. military engagement, despite the
president’s professed reluctance to dive
further into another Middle East conÀict.
As Obama gave notice of the move, he
said he wanted the 8.S. to share the
increasing burden.
Obama discussed the IS ¿ght with
British Prime Minster David Cameron,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
French President Francois Hollande and
Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi.
The president formally announced
the new troop deployment in a speech
about European unity and transAtlantic
cooperation — a running theme of his
trip. Speaking in Germany, he evoked
the continent’s history of banding
together to defeat prejudice and emerge
from the “ruins of the Second World
War.”
“Make no mistake,” Obama said.
“These terrorists will learn the same
lessons as others before them have,
which is, your hatred is no match for
our nations united in the defense of our
way of life.”
The rhetoric belied an underlying
frustration in his administration about
allies’ contributions to the 8.S.led ¿ght
in Syria and neighboring Iraq. Although
the coalition includes some 66 nations,
the 8.S. has conducted the vast majority
of the air strikes, and there has been
little appetite by other nations to send in
ground troops of their own.
The president recently rattled
leaders in Europe and the Middle East
by describing allies as “free riders.”
He made a passing reference to that
complaint on Monday, as he noted
that not all European allies contribute
Michael Kappeler/pool photo via AP
British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande
and taly’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, clockwise from left, start their
G-5 meeting in Herrenhaus Palace in Hannover, Germany, Monday.
their expected share to NATO: “I’ll be
honest: Sometimes Europe has been
complacent about its own defense.”
On stops in Riyadh, London and
Hannover this week, Obama repeatedly
pushed allies for more ¿repower,
training for local forces and economic
aid to help reconstruct regions in Iraq
that have been retaken from Islamic
State control but are still vulnerable.
Obama appeared to come up short in
Riyadh, when he met with Arab allies.
He made the pitch again in
Hannover, where he attended a massive
industrial technology trade show on
what was likely his last presidential visit
to Germany.
“These terrorists are doing every
thing in their power to strike our cities
and kill our citizens, so we need to do
everything in our power to stop them,”
Obama said.
The new deployment brings the
number of 8.S. military personnel in
Syria from roughly 50 to roughly 300.
It follows a similar rampup in Iraq,
announced last week. The new Syria
forces will include special operation
troops assisting local forces, as well as
maintenance and logistics personnel.
Obama, in an interview with CBS
News, declined to say whether the forces
might be dispatched on searchandkill
missions.
He did say, “As a general rule, the rule
is not to engage directly with the enemy
but rather to work with local forces.”
Obama’s troop announcement was
called “a good step” by Salem Al Meslet,
spokesman of the High Negotiations
Committee, the main Syrian opposition
group.
Sen. John McCain, RAriz., said
it was “a welcome development, but
one that is long overdue and ultimately
insuf¿cient.”
Obama’s call for European solidarity
extended beyond the antiIslamic State
campaign.
Amid what he described as “unset
tling times,” Obama revived the argu
ment he made in London days earlier
that Britain and the European 8nion are
strongest if Briton votes in an upcoming
referendum to remain in the 2member
nation block. And Obama mounted a
forceful defense of his host in Germany,
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is
facing criticism for her willingness to
take in refugees from Syria.
Feds issue new standards for Medicaid insurance plans
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Obama administration
Monday set new standards
for Medicaid private insur
ance plans, which in recent
years have become the
main source of coverage for
lowincome people.
The rules apply to
insurers
operating
as
Medicaid middlemen in
39 states and Washington,
DC. Each state runs its
own program, although the
federal government pays
most of the cost. Private
insurers
now
provide
coverage to about twothirds
of the more than 70 million
Medicaid recipients, and the
rules had not been updated
for more than 10 years.
Among other require
ments, the rules specify that
insurance companies must
guarantee access to certain
types of service providers,
and that at least 5 percent
of what insurers get paid
must be spent on medical
care. They also envision a
quality rating system to help
Medicaid recipients pick a
plan.
The regulation issued
Monday is more than 1,400
pages long, and it will take
time for states, consumer
advocates, and insurers to
assess all its implications.
The changes start to take
effect next Jan. 1, and will
take years to fully put into
place.
Medicaid costs about
$500 billion a year, making
it a major component of
state budgets. The program
has grown dramatically
under President Barack
Obama’s health care law,
which expanded eligibility
to lowincome adults with
no children living at home.
Thirtyone states and Wash
ington, DC, have accepted
the health care law’s
Medicaid expansion.
Medicaid pays doctors
considerably less than
jobbased health insurance
or Medicare, creating long
standing concerns about
access. But hospitals accept
Medicaid, as do community
health centers. Private
insurers set up networks of
primary care doctors and
specialists who agree to see
Medicaid bene¿ciaries for
a ¿xed rate. Insurers offer
states predictability on costs,
while guaranteeing a basic
level of access for patients.
Medicaid coverage is
usually free, although some
states charge bene¿ciaries a
token amount. Studies have
shown that having Medicaid
improves ¿nancial stability
for lowincome people,
and that appears to have a
positive impact on mental
health.
BRIEFLY
More than 50 arrested protesting
new North Carolina law
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More than 50 opponents of
North Carolina’s new law curtailing protections for LGBT
people and limiting public bathroom access for transgender
people were arrested at the statehouse Monday night. It
wrapped up a feverish day that brought several thousand of
impassioned demonstrators for and against the law to the
capital city for the opening of the legislature’s annual work
session.
Several hundred vocal critics of the legislation,
approved in a special session last month, rallied outside
the Legislative Building in the afternoon, then in waves of
several dozen people each went inside and parked outside
the of¿ces of top legislative leaders for symbolic sitins.
A ¿nal wave entered House Speaker Tim Moore’s outer
of¿ce but refused to leave, leading to 1 arrests. Most were
led off quietly, but one woman chanted: “Forward together,
not one step back!”
Another 6 sitting on the Àoor or in chairs outside
Moore’s closed of¿ce were arrested after they failed to leave
the Legislative Building after it closed for the night. All
5 would be charged with seconddegree trespassing and
for either violating building rules or the ¿re code, Acting
General Assembly Police Chief Martin Brock said. One also
faces a resisting arrest charge, he said.
Cleveland settles lawsuit over
Tamir Rice shooting for $6 million
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CLEVELAND (AP) — The city on Monday reached a
$6 million settlement in a lawsuit over the death of Tamir
Rice, a 12yearold black boy shot by a white police of¿cer
while playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center.
An order ¿led in 8.S. District Court in Cleveland said the
city will pay out $3 million this year and $3 million the next.
There was no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement.
Family attorney Subodh Chandra called the settlement
historic but added: “The resolution is nothing to celebrate
because a 12yearold child needlessly lost his life.”
The wrongful death suit ¿led by his family and estate
against the city and of¿cers and dispatchers who were
involved alleged police acted recklessly when they
confronted the boy on Nov. 22, 2014.
Video of the encounter shows a cruiser skidding to a stop
and rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann ¿ring within two
seconds of opening the car door. Tamir wasn’t given ¿rst aid
until about four minutes later, when an FBI agent trained as
a paramedic arrived. The boy died the next day.
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