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OBAMACARE: 148,836 have signed up in Oregon
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East Oregonian
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the GOP’s job any easier.
New Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
said that if the Republicans
do scuttle the health care
law, they will have to come
up with a replacement plan
before Democrats consider
whether to help them revamp
the system.
That
adds
pressure
on Republicans, who for
years have battled among
themselves over what a
new law would look like,
including how to finance its
programs and whether to
keep Obama’s expansion of
Medicaid for more lower-in-
come people.
“They’re repealing, we’re
not. It’s their obligation to
come up with a replacement,”
Schumer said, a sentiment he
said he believed Democrats
shared unanimously.
Obama and Pence held
dueling strategy sessions
with lawmakers at the Capitol
as the new Republican-led
Congress commenced its
drive to dissolve the health
care statute. The 2010 over-
haul, which has extended
coverage to 20 million
people and reshaped the
nation’s $3 trillion-a-year
health care system, has long
stood as one of Obama’s
proudest triumphs and the
ascendant GOP’s top target
for extinction.
“Despite the negativity
you have a big chunk of the
country that wants this thing
to succeed,” Obama told
Democrats, according to an
aide who attended Wednes-
day’s session.
The two sides traded
insults through the day.
“Don’t let the Schumer
clowns out of this web,”
Trump wrote on Twitter.
Said Schumer: “The
Republican plan to cut health
care wouldn’t make America
great again, it would make
America sick again.”
Previewing an attack
line sure to be heard again
in this year’s debate,
House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi said the GOP
is aiming to also scuttle
Medicaid and Medicare,
going after programs that are
“very personal in the lives of
the American people.”
Even with White House
and congressional control,
annulling
“Obamacare”
and replacing it looms as a
daunting task for the GOP.
Leaders hope to have
legislation voiding much of
the law on Trump’s desk by
late next month, Republi-
cans said. But after six years
of failing to unite behind an
alternative, GOP leaders are
discussing postponing when
repeal would take effect
for 18 months or longer,
allowing more time to craft
replacement legislation.
Underscoring the law’s
widespread constituency, the
Obama administration said
at least 8.8 million people
signed up through Dec. 31
for coverage in 2017. In
Oregon, 148,836 signed up
for coverage.
Even so, outside experts
doubt the administration will
meet its nationwide target of
13.8 million signups.
Millions more have
coverage under the statute’s
Medicaid expansion.
Trump has provided few
details about how he would
redesign the law, but has said
he wants to retain popular
provisions like ensuring
coverage for people with
pre-existing medical prob-
lems.
Republicans will also
need to figure out how to
protect health coverage
for millions of Americans
during a transition period
and how to avoid market-
place bedlam as nervous
insurance companies stop
selling policies or boost
rates. Seemingly acknowl-
edging that danger, Trump
tweeted warnings to GOP
lawmakers.
“Massive increases of
ObamaCare will take place
this year and Dems are to
blame for the mess,” he
wrote. “It will fall of its own
weight — be careful!”
Republicans said Pence
told them in their private
meeting to argue that Demo-
crats broke the health care
system and Republicans will
fix it.
Trump’s team is already
working with GOP congres-
sional leaders on plans to
undo Obama’s law with both
legislation and executive
action that the president
and federal agencies would
be able to take, Pence
said. Lawmakers said that
according to Pence, Trump
would sign some orders the
day he takes office.
Pence did not specify
what those actions would
be. But House Speaker Paul
Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters
they would involve “transi-
tion relief.”
In
the
Democrats’
meeting, Obama accepted
some blame for not suffi-
ciently promoting it.
“The president said, I
guess we all could have done
a better job of messaging to
the American people,” said
Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y.
Obama made his remark
about looking out for the
American people as he left
the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Senate
voted 51-48 Wednesday to
begin debating a budget that,
once approved, will prevent
Democrats from using a
filibuster to block future
Republican legislation to
void the health care law.
Republicans control the
Senate by 52-48, but it takes
60 votes to end a filibuster,
a procedural roadblock that
can kill legislation.
The Senate is expected to
complete the budget by next
week, with House approval
to follow.
COLLEGE: O’Hanlon urged students to take dual-credit courses
Continued from 1A
to becoming an officer after
graduation and getting a
signing bonus, which he said
could be used for a down
payment on a house but he
planned to use for a Chrysler
300.
Bridges told the audience
that it was OK to party, as
long as they weren’t stupid
about it
• Gracie Lyon picked
the Oregon Institute of
Technology in Klamath
Falls because of its medical
imaging program, which is
the focus of her major.
Lyon said she’s always
been interested in the
medical field and liked that
the radiology field wouldn’t
require the same time
commitment as medical
school.
Lyon advised her former
peers against failing a class,
which she said is a waste of
time and money.
She went to a campus
event when she started school
and met a lot of the people
in her residential hall and
learned a valuable lesson.
“I met some people I
really don’t like,” she said,
stressing the importance of
finding an atmosphere that
worked for each of them.
• Ellie Richards received a
softball scholarship to attend
the University of Notre Dame
in South Bend, Indiana,
where she’s majoring in
business.
Juggling academics and
athletics gives Richards a
busy schedule, but she said
she’s already formed some of
her strongest friendships with
the other women on the team.
Richards told the high
schools students that they
needed to take time to meet
with professors because they
had the final say on grades.
Richards said her schedule
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton graduate T.J. O’Hanlon talks about his first term studying physics while
attending U.C. Berkley to a group of students Wednesday at Pendleton High School.
will really kick into high gear
when she returns to campus
— the softball season starts
in February and because
of Northern Indiana’s cold
winters, the team will spend
its first two months traveling
to California, North Carolina,
Georgia and Florida.
• Kaleigh Waggoner
moved from Pendleton to
attend George Fox Univer-
sity in Newburg so that she
could major in nursing.
Although she chose
George Fox because it
offered a smaller campus,
Waggoner admitted she
experienced a few bouts of
homesickness when she first
arrived.
Waggoner,
a
2017
Round-Up princess, said the
homesickness has evolved
to a deeper appreciation of
Pendleton and all it has to
offer.
Like Lyon, Waggoner said
it was important for students
to surround themselves with
the right people.
“There’s still drama,”
she said. “Just choose your
friends wisely, because it can
make or break the drama.”
• A great physics program
spurred T.J. O’Hanlon to
move south and attend the
University of California,
Berkeley.
O’Hanlon spent most of
his time giving out “tips and
tricks” on how to deal with
college classes.
Unlike high school,
O’Hanlon said there was no
reason to schedule classes at
8 a.m., especially if students
were already struggling to
wake up in the morning as it
is.
O’Hanlon also encour-
aged students to take dual-
credit courses in high school.
Because of some of the
college credits he earned in
high school, O’Hanlon won’t
have to take any English
courses at Berkeley, which
he said could be brutal.
• Jolie Dickerson is a
bioresource research major
at Oregon State University
with the intent of eventually
becoming a large animal
veterinarian.
Dickerson
pushed
students to seek out schol-
arships because she was
already taking out student
loans and was now looking
toward getting some of her
future research sponsored to
alleviate some of the finan-
cial burden.
Her major requires 1,000
hours of research and will
involve studying the rising
wolf population in Eastern
Oregon.
Dickerson is involved
in a country western dance
club and a steer club, where
she and other members are
raising a steer to adulthood.
“It’s going to suck when
we have to kill him, but that’s
just part of the game,” she
said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
WHEAT: Newsom doubts Trump will be positive for agriculture
Continued from 1A
U.S. wheat growers.
According to Bloomberg.
com, one U.S. dollar is
currently worth roughly 117
Japanese yen. In the past
year, it’s been as low as 99
Japanese yen. One U.S.
dollar is worth roughly 0.95
euros. During the past year,
it’s been as low as 0.86 euros.
A strong dollar will
mean the U.S. industry will
struggle to move grain onto
the global market, Newsom
said. Federal Reserve rate
hikes are likely to continue to
strengthen the dollar, further
putting U.S. wheat at a disad-
vantage, he said.
Newsom doesn’t see
much evidence yet that Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump will
be positive for agriculture,
citing Trump’s plans to put
tariffs on Chinese imports,
which would result in retalia-
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Gary Polson, left, and his sister-in-law, Diane Polson,
right, combine wheat on hilly terrain of the family farm
north of Waterville, Wash., Aug. 18. Analysts say wheat
prices will likely remain depressed in 2017.
tion from China; breaking the
North American Free Trade
Agreement with Mexico
and Canada and ending the
Trans-Pacific
Partnership
trade deal, which would work
against Japan and increase
China’s role in Asia’s export
and import markets.
“So far what we’ve heard
could possibly disrupt trade
with our first, second, third
and maybe four out of the
top five trading partners we
have globally when it comes
to U.S. grain,” Newsom said.
“Maybe it was all just bluster,
none of it’s true and maybe
none of it’s going to happen,
but certainly his statements
and his position seems to be
anti-ag industry.”
Wheat in general won’t be
impacted at first, he said. But
if agriculture comes under
fire, Newsom foresees long-
term disruption to the market.
Steiner predicts a short-
term negative effect, but the
economy would improve
overall in the long-term,
benefiting demand compared
to a shock to the supply side.
“If demand is based on
people who have got a job,
they can pay their bills and
they want to eat a better
diet, that’s a whole lot more
sustainable than praying for a
drought or praying somebody
suffers a catastrophe some
place in the world,” he said.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
An injured passenger is assisted by an EMS worker
as he lies on a gurney outside Atlantic Terminal after
a Long Island Rail Road incident, Wednesday in the
Brooklyn borough of New York.
Train crashes at end of
platform; 100 injured
NEW YORK (AP) — A
packed Long Island Rail
Road rush hour train crashed
at the end of a platform as it
pulled into a major transpor-
tation hub on Wednesday,
hurling passengers onto the
floor and slamming them
into each other.
The front of the
slow-moving train hit a
bumping block as it pulled
into Atlantic Terminal in
Brooklyn, left the tracks and
smashed into a small struc-
ture, apparently a work area.
A rail pierced the floor of a
train car, authorities said.
About 100 people were
treated for minor injuries
after the 8:30 a.m. crash.
Many had been standing as
they prepared to get off the
train at the last stop.
Some people were
removed on stretchers.
Others sat, stunned, on the
pavement outside, bleeding,
holding ice packs on their
heads, rising and limping
away with help from
rescuers.
“The entire structure
started shaking,” said
Steben Medina, who was
having coffee at the terminal
when he heard the crash and
screams. “I thought a bomb
had gone off or something.”
The most serious injury,
though, appeared to be a
broken leg, Democratic
Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Democratic Gov. Andrew
Cuomo said: “Luckily ... all
things considered, this was a
relatively minor accident.”
The terminal is beneath
a shopping mall in down-
town Brooklyn, next to the
Barclays Center, home to
Brooklyn Nets basketball,
New York Islanders hockey
and major concerts.
A similar accident in
nearby Hoboken, New
Jersey, in September was
much worse. There, a New
Jersey Transit commuter
train plowed off the end of
a track, killing a woman
standing in the station.
Federal investigators are
examining whether a more
modern bumper or other
barriers could have made a
difference.
The train in Wednesday’s
wreck originated in the
Far Rockaway section of
Queens and was carrying
around 450 people, officials
said.
“People
just
went
flying,” passenger Donette
Smith told The New York
Times. “It was very scary.”
The National Trans-
portation Safety Board
dispatched
investigators.
NTSB investigator Jim
Southworth said it will take
three to seven days to inves-
tigate the accident scene
before they determine what
caused it.
He said event recorders
have been recovered and
the train’s engineer has
undergone drug testing. The
results of that testing aren’t
known yet.
Tillerson leaving Exxon with
$180M retirement package
NEW YORK (AP) —
Rex Tillerson will get a $180
million retirement package
from Exxon Mobil Corp.
if he is confirmed as Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump’s
secretary of state.
Tillerson will
give up more than
2 million Exxon
shares he would
have received over
the next 10 years.
In exchange, the
company
will
make a cash
payment equal to
the value of those Tillerson
shares to a trust to
be overseen by a
third party.
Exxon said Wednesday
that Tillerson has already
promised the State Depart-
ment that he will sell another
611,000 shares he currently
owns, worth about $55
million at Wednesday’s
price, if confirmed. His
Senate confirmation hearing
begins next week.
Tillerson’s
selection
raised potential conflict-
of-interest issues because
Exxon has business interests
around the globe, including
Russia. Putting his retire-
ment nest egg into a trust is
intended to ease concerns
that Tillerson could make
decisions as secretary of
state that would financially
help himself or his former
associates.
Federal ethics rules do
not require government
officials to sell off their
investments but they must
recuse themselves from
matters that would affect
those investments. Given
Exxon’s global operations,
ownership of Exxon stock
could severely limit Tiller-
son’s actions as the nation’s
chief diplomat.
Tillerson’s move comes
as pressure mounts on
Trump to make clear how he
would separate himself from
his company. Presidents are
exempt from federal ethics
rules, though most recent
holders of the office have
sold off their financial hold-
ings and put them in trusts as
if the rules did apply to them.
Trump has said he would
hand management control of
his business to his two adult
sons, along with executives,
but has given no
indication he plans
to sell his owner-
ship interest in his
company.
Tillerson has
been CEO and
chairman of the
Irving, Texas, oil
giant since 2006.
Exxon spelled out
the arrangement
with Tillerson in a
regulatory filing Wednesday
with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Edwin Williamson, a
former State Department
legal adviser who has
reviewed the agreement, said
that Tillerson agreed to put
the cash he gets from Exxon
in a trust that will invest only
in Treasury securities and
diversified mutual funds.
Democratic Sens. Tammy
Baldwin of Wisconsin and
Elizabeth Warren of Massa-
chusetts, however, called
Tillerson’s payout egregious.
Baldwin is proposing to
ban corporate payments
that are tied to an employee
accepting a government job.
To avoid violating federal
rules, business executives
moving into top government
jobs have often sold shares
and created trusts as Tillerson
is doing. This also gives
them freedom to weigh in
on policy without constantly
consulting lawyers about
the possible impact on their
personal finances.
Henry Paulson, who was
CEO of Goldman Sachs
when President George
W. Bush nominated him
as Treasury secretary, sold
about $500 million worth
of Goldman stock. His
predecessor, former Alcoa
chairman Paul O’Neill, sold
his stock and options after
first saying he should have
been be able to keep them.