ELECTION 2016
Thursday, November 10, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Congressional GOP pledges
swift action on Trump’s agenda
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent
Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via AP
Maddie Blumm joins fellow South Eugene High
School students in a march demonstrating for peace,
harmony and unity after the highly divisive 2016
presidential election on Wednesday in Eugene.
Thousands protest
Trump’s victory
CHICAGO (AP) — The
raw divisions exposed by
the presidential race were on
full display across America
on Wednesday, as protesters
fl ooded city streets to
condemn Donald Trump’s
election in demonstrations
that police said were mostly
peaceful.
From New England
to heartland cities like
Kansas City and along the
West Coast, demonstrators
carried fl ags and anti-Trump
signs, disrupting traffi c and
declaring that they refused to
accept Trump’s triumph.
In Portland police say
a protest that erupted after
Donald Trump’s election
victory did not lead to any
arrests.
Protesters took over
sections of Interstate 5 late
Tuesday and early Wednesday
and Interstate 84 in northeast
Portland Wednesday night.
In Chicago, where thou-
sands had recently poured
into the streets to celebrate
the Chicago Cubs’ fi rst
World Series victory in over
a century, several thousand
people marched through the
Loop. They gathered outside
Trump Tower, chanting “Not
my president!”
A similar protest in
Manhattan drew about 1,000
people. Outside Trump Tower
on Fifth Avenue in midtown,
police installed barricades
to keep the demonstrators at
bay.
Hundreds of protesters
gathered near Philadelphia’s
City Hall despite chilly, wet
weather. Participants — who
included both supporters of
Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton and independent
Vermont
Sen.
Bernie
Sanders, who lost to Clinton
in the primary — expressed
anger at both Republicans
and Democrats over the
election’s outcome.
In Boston, thousands
of anti-Trump protesters
streamed through down-
town, chanting “Trump’s a
racist” and carrying signs
that said “Impeach Trump”
and “Abolish Electoral
College.” Clinton appears
to be on pace to win the
popular vote, despite losing
the electoral count that
decides the presidential race.
The protesters gathered
on Boston Common before
marching toward the Massa-
chusetts Statehouse, with
beefed-up security including
extra police offi cers.
Protests fl ared at univer-
sities in California and
Connecticut, while several
hundred people marched in
San Francisco and others
gathered outside City Hall
in Los Angeles. And they
spread south to Richmond,
Virginia, and to middle
American cities like Kansas
City and Omaha, Nebraska.
Hundreds of University
of Texas students spilled
out of classrooms to march
through downtown Austin.
They marched along streets
near the Texas Capitol, then
briefl y blocked a crowded
traffi c bridge.
Media outlets broadcast
video Wednesday night
showing a peaceful crowd in
front of the new downtown
hotel. Many chanted “No
racist USA, no Trump, no
KKK.”
Another group stood
outside the White House.
They held candles, listened
to speeches and sang songs.
Republicans governorships
rise to highest mark since 1922
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
(AP) — Republican power
in state capitols will be at its
strongest levels in nearly a
century when several newly
elected governors take
offi ce next year.
A remarkable election
that propelled Republican
Donald Trump to the White
House also resulted in
Republican wins in a trio
of governorships previously
held by Democrats in
Missouri, New Hampshire
and Vermont. The only
potential
Republican
setback came in North
Carolina, where Demo-
cratic Attorney General Roy
Cooper declared victory
over Gov. Pat McCrory in a
race that remained too close
to call Wednesday.
If Cooper’s slim lead
holds, Republicans will
control 33 of the 50 gover-
nors’ offi ces — one shy of
their record set in 1922.
Republicans
also
appeared likely to maintain
control of about two-thirds
of the state legislative
chambers, meaning that in
many states they will have
the power to enact whatever
policies they choose.
In Missouri, for example,
newly elected Republican
Gov. Eric Greitens has
pledged to enact a right-to-
work law barring mandatory
union fees in the workplace
— a long-sought priority of
GOP legislative leaders that
had been vetoed by Demo-
cratic Gov. Jay Nixon.
Newly elected New
Hampshire Gov. Chris
Sununu also could be paired
with a Republican-con-
trolled Legislature. The
GOP held its majority in
the state Senate, and House
Republicans also claimed
victory. Republicans last
saw such a sweep in 2002.
In Vermont’s guberna-
torial election, Republican
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott defeated
Democrat Sue Minter, a
former transportation secre-
tary for outgoing Gov. Peter
Shumlin. Scott campaigned
on making government
more effi cient but also
appealed to voters in the
liberal-leaning state by
embracing abortion rights
and gay marriage.
The Republican Gover-
nors Association spent
more than $50 million on
this year’s races, primarily
targeting seven states.
That almost doubled the
estimated amount of money
coming from the Demo-
cratic Governors Associ-
ation, though Democratic
candidates in some states
outraised their Republican
opponents.
Democrats are hoping
for better results in the next
two years, when 27 of the
38 governors’ offi ce up for
election are held by Repub-
licans.
“It’s clear that Demo-
crats need to rebuild,” said
Democratic
Governors
Association
spokesman
Jared Leopold.
Democrats did have a
few bright spots Tuesday.
Despite a dominant
victory by Trump in West
Virginia, Democratic busi-
nessman Jim Justice won
the governor’s race over
Republican state Senate
President Bill Cole. And
although Trump easily
carried Montana, Demo-
cratic Gov. Steve Bullock
retained his seat against a
challenge from Republican
businessman Greg Gian-
forte, who poured millions
of his own money into the
race.
WASHINGTON — Elated congres-
sional Republicans pledged swift action
Wednesday on President-elect Donald
Trump’s agenda as they heralded an
extraordinary new era of unifi ed GOP
control in Washington.
“He just earned a mandate,” House
Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
declared of Trump. “We are going to
hit the ground running.”
Said Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky: “We would
like to see the country go in a different
direction and intend to work with him
to change the course for America.”
Republicans saw their majorities
in the House and Senate reduced, but
not by much, as Democrats’ hopes of
retaking Senate control vanished. And
though Ryan and McConnell both had
well-publicized reservations about
Trump, both were quick to declare that
the newly elected president deserved
the credit.
“Donald Trump pulled off an
amazing political feat. He deserves
tremendous credit for that,” said Ryan,
who initially refused to endorse Trump
and only last month declared he’d no
longer defend him. “It helped us keep
our majorities, but it also showed the
country that people don’t like the direc-
tion we were going.”
First up would be repealing Presi-
dent Barack Obama’s health care law,
something Republicans have already
shown they can get through Congress
with just a narrow Senate majority.
What they haven’t done is unite around
a plan for ensuring that the 20 million
who achieved health care coverage
under the landmark law don’t lose it.
Republicans also celebrated the
opportunity to fi ll the existing Supreme
Court vacancy, and potentially more to
come, with “constitutional conserva-
tives.” McConnell was being widely
praised for his strategy, once seen as
risky, of refusing to act on Obama’s
nominee to replace Justice Antonin
Scalia, who died last February.
And Republicans pledged to try
to unwind any number of executive
moves by Obama, including tougher
clean air rules on power plants, looser
restrictions on travel to Cuba, and
tougher rules on sleep for long-haul
truckers, among others — “Every
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during a news
conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday.
“We would like to see the
country go in a different
direction and intend to
work with him to change
the course for America.”
— Mitch McConnell,
Senate Majority Leader, of Kentucky
single one that’s sucking the very life
out of our economy,” GOP Sen. David
Perdue of Georgia said in an interview.
That threatened to wipe away key
areas of progress highlighted by Demo-
crats under the Obama administration.
Some of Trump’s goals could
be harder to achieve. A wall on the
southern border is estimated to cost
$10 billion to $20 billion, money that
Congress may be unlikely to provide
given that cooperation from Democrats
would be necessary.
Indeed the Senate Democratic
minority stood as the only legislative
barrier to Trump’s goals, since 60 votes
are required for most consequential
moves in the Senate.
Republicans will end up with 52
or 53 Senate seats, depending on the
outcome in New Hampshire, which
remained too close to call Wednesday.
That assumes the GOP wins a
December runoff in Louisiana, as
expected. Democrats managed to pick
up only one GOP-held Senate seat, in
Illinois, a devastating outcome for a
party that went into Election Day with
high hopes of holding the White House
and winning back Senate control.
In the House, Republicans were on
track to lose a maximum of nine seats,
an unexpectedly modest reduction to a
wide GOP majority that now stands at
247-188, including three vacant seats.
“We kicked their tails last night,”
said GOP Rep. Greg Walden of
Oregon, head of the Republicans’
House campaign committee.
Trump’s extraordinary win appeared
to be going far to heal divisions within
the GOP, as even Republicans who’d
long harbored doubts about him offered
warm pledges of support.
Here and there, notes of caution
were sounded, as a few Republicans
made clear that Congress would be
asserting its constitutional prerogatives
as a check and balance on the executive,
following what Republicans viewed
as overly expansive use of executive
power by Obama.
“It’s just our constitutional duty to
keep the executive branch in check,”
GOP Rep. Todd Young, the newly
elected Republican senator in Indiana,
told reporters in Indianapolis.
Yet McConnell appeared to invite
executive action by Trump, suggesting
he should be exploring what kinds of
“unilateral action” he could take — to
undo unilateral actions by Obama.
Trump election elicits fears, some cheers
MOSCOW (AP) — World leaders
struggled Wednesday to come to grips
with a new reality — Donald Trump
will be the next U.S. president — and
an as yet unanswerable question: How
many of his campaign pledges will he
actually act on?
The remarkable triumph of the
politically untested businessman was
welcomed in some countries, such as
Russia, while in others it was a major
shock.
When Trump takes offi ce in January,
world leaders will confront a man whose
stated views represent a sharp break
with U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy.
He has cozied up to Russian President
Vladimir Putin, warned stunned NATO
allies they will have to pay for their own
protection, fl oated a ban on Muslims
entering the U.S. and vowed to make
the Mexican government fi nance a
multibillion-dollar border wall.
These changes, and others, have
the potential to radically remake U.S.
policy — a prospect that has given
stability-loving partners a cascading
case of the jitters.
Trump’s victory was hailed in Russia,
which has taken an increasingly aggres-
sive stance toward the West in recent
months. Putin sent Trump a congratu-
latory telegram Wednesday and made a
televised statement expressing the hope
that frayed U.S.-Russian relations could
be put back on track.
“We are aware that it is a diffi cult
path, in view of the unfortunate degra-
dation of relations between the Russian
Federation and the United States,” the
Russian leader said, adding: “It is not
our fault that Russian-American rela-
tions are in such a state.”
Russia became a focal point during
the presidential campaign, with govern-
ment offi cials and Hillary Clinton
supporters suggesting Moscow was
involved in hacking her campaign’s
emails. Trump raised eyebrows when
he expressed admiration for Putin and
his tough leadership style, and some
Clinton backers questioned Trump’s
business dealings with Russia.
Dmitri Drobnitski, a columnist at
the generally pro-Kremlin website
LifeNews, asserted Trump’s victory
will help the world.
“I congratulate the American people
with their will and with their democracy
and with their strength and with their
courage,” he told The Associated Press.
“So this is not only a victory for the
Americans, who defended their democ-
racy against the liberal, global elite—
no, this is a victory that the American
people brought to the whole world.”
There is anxiety in Europe among
NATO allies who are waiting to see if
Trump follows through on suggestions
the U.S. will look at whether they have
How you voted in the 2016 election
Democrat Hillary Clinton led among minorities and women, while
Republican rival Donald Trump did well among whites and those
without a college degree, according to preliminary exit poll results.
VOTER BREAKDOWN
Results as of
1:30 a.m. EST
Wednesday
CLINTON
TRUMP
SEX
48%
Men
Women
41%
52
53%
54
42
37
58
RACE
White
70
Black
12
88
8
Hispanic
11
65
29
Asian
4
65
29
Other
3
56
37
55
37
50
42
AGE
19
18-29
30-44
25
45-64
65+
40
15
44
53
45
53
52
55
47
49
45
49
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
36
<$50,000 per year
64
$50,000+ per year
41
EDUCATION BY RACE
White/College grad
37
White/Non-college
Nonwhite/College grad
34
13
Nonwhite/Non-college
16
28
67
71
23
75
20
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
Economy
52
42
Foreign policy
13
60
34
Immigration
13
32
64
39
57
Terrorism
52
18
NOTE: Survey of 24,537 voters includes preliminary results from interviews conducted as voters left a random sample
of 350 polling places nationally Tuesday; 4,404 who voted early or absentee were also interviewed by telephone Oct.
28-Nov. 6; Results for full sample have sampling error of ± 2 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
SOURCE: Edison Research
paid their proper share in considering
whether to come to their defense.
That rhetoric has challenged the
strategic underpinning of the NATO
alliance — in which an attack on one
NATO nation is considered an attack on
all — at a time when Russia has been
ever more confrontational.
“As a candidate, Trump called into
question NATO and trade agreements,
and reached out to Moscow,” said
Daniela Schwarzer, an expert on
trans-Atlantic relations at the German
Council on Foreign Relations.
“Even if President Trump doesn’t
implement everything, Germany and
Europe can’t rely on the trans-Atlantic
partnership as usual, and will have
to stand up for Western values them-
selves.”
Trump’s win also caused trepidation
in Mexico, where his remarks calling
Mexican immigrants criminals and
“rapists” were a deep insult to national
pride.
AP
Trump has suggested slapping a
35 percent tax on automobiles and
auto parts made by U.S. companies in
Mexico, and fi nancial analysts have
predicted a Trump win will threaten
billions of dollars in cross-border trade.
Trump’s victory is “as close to a
national emergency as Mexico has
faced in many decades,” Mexican
analyst Alejandro Hope said.
Trump’s electoral triumph was also
felt strongly in the volatile Middle East,
where multiple crises are unfolding.
One major concern is Trump’s vehe-
ment opposition to the historic nuclear
agreement between Iran and world
powers under which Iran has curbed
its nuclear program in exchange for a
gradual lifting of international sanc-
tions.
In Iran, leaders emphasized the need
to keep the agreement on track despite
Trump’s victory. The deal “cannot be
overturned by a single government,”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said.