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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2017)
NATION East Oregonian Page 8A Tuesday, April 4, 2017 Democrats claim votes to block Gorsuch Republicans prepare nuclear option By day’s end, 43 Democrats had said they won’t support Gorsuch. The long-term consequences of the coming confrontation could be profound, as the rules WASHINGTON — Democrats claimed change Republicans intend to enact would the votes they needed Monday to block apply to future Supreme Court nominees, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court too, allowing them to be voted onto the court nominee, but the victory was only fleeting, without any input from the minority party. setting up a historic showdown with Repub- And though predicting a justice’s votes can licans who intend to rewrite Senate rules and be difficult, confirmation of the 49-year-old muscle Neil Gorsuch onto the Gorsuch is expected to restore high court. the conservative majority The coming fight was that existed while Scalia was assured as the bitterly divided alive, which could then be in Judiciary Committee voted place or even expand over 11-9, along party lines, to decades to come as some of send Gorsuch’s nomination the more liberal justices age. to the full Senate, where For Republicans and Majority Leader Mitch Trump, Gorsuch’s confir- McConnell of Kentucky has mation will be a moment vowed he will be confirmed of triumph, a bright spot in on Friday. a troubled young adminis- Short of the 60 votes tration that’s failed on the needed to overcome proce- legislative front with the dural hurdles, McConnell is health care bill and is under ready to lead Republicans in investigation over Russia a unilateral voting change so connections. The nomination significant in the rules-con- of Gorsuch, by contrast, has scious Congress that it’s been won universal praise from dubbed the “nuclear option,” Republicans, some of whom lowering the confirmation call his appointment Trump’s threshold to a filibuster-proof best move so far as president. simple majority in the Gorsuch has spent more 100-member Senate. than a decade on the federal — Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Chris Coons of appeals bench in Denver D-Delaware Delaware became the key where he’s issued consis- 41st vote for the Democrats tently conservative rulings, Monday, declaring during committee debate and he appeared on Trump’s list of potential that Gorsuch’s conservative record showed candidates partly generated by the Federalist an activist approach to the law and that he Society and Heritage Foundation during the evaded questions during his confirmation campaign. hearings. Coons also said that Republicans’ Gorsuch’s confirmation will also be vindi- treatment of former President Barack cation for McConnell’s strategy of refusing Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick to fill Scalia’s seat last year, instead leaving Garland, left lasting scars after they denied it open for the next president, even though him so much as a hearing following the death few imagined then that that person would be of Justice Antonin Scalia early last year. Trump. “We are at a historic moment in the The showdown over the “nuclear option,” history of the United States Senate” due to expected on the Senate floor Thursday, is actions by both parties, Coons said. “We have likely to be accompanied by much hand- eroded the process for reaching agreement wringing from senators bemoaning the decay and dishonored our long traditions of acting of the chamber’s traditions of bipartisanship above partisanship.” and comity. By ERICA WERNER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wraps up the meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday after his panel voted along party lines on the nomination of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch nomination in final stretch Appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, faces a crucial week with an anticipated Senate vote on whether to confirm him to the court. The 20-member Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Monday to advance his nomination to the full Senate. 11 The full Senate will debate the nomination this week. Any senator may bring debate to a halt by staging a filibuster and refusing to yield the floor. No filibuster 9 Filibuster DEMOCRATS* REPUBLICANS Gorsuch ✓ 51+ votes Gorsuch is confirmed to the high court. The Senate votes. It takes 51 votes to confirm Gorsuch. <51 votes “Nuclear option” Gorsuch is rejected and Trump must find a new pick. Cloture In a move dubbed “the nuclear option,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can change the rules to require a simple majority to end debate and proceed to a vote. No cloture *Includes two independents who vote with Democrats. SOURCES: AP reports; U.S. Senate AP Attorneys slash claims in Colorado mine spill DENVER (AP) — Economic damage from a Colorado mine waste spill caused by the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency may be far less than originally feared after attorneys dras- tically reduced some of the larger claims, The Associated Press has learned. Farmers, business owners, residents and others initially said they suffered a stag- gering $1.2 billion in lost income, property damage and personal injuries from the 2015 spill at the Gold King Mine, which tainted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. But the total now appears to be about $420 million. A single law firm that originally filed claims totaling $900 million for a handful of New Mexico property owners told the AP it had lowered their claims to $120 million. It’s still uncertain whether the White House and Congress — both now controlled by the GOP — are willing to pay for any of the economic losses, even though It takes 60 votes to invoke cloture, ending debate and moving to a final vote. Republicans have a 52-48 majority; eight Democratic senators would have to vote with Republicans to bring cloture. Republicans were among the most vocal in demanding the EPA make good on the harm. Under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, the EPA said it was prohibited by law from doing so. Now that they’re in charge, Republicans have vowed to slash spending on the environ- ment, leaving the prospects for compensation in doubt. An EPA-led contractor crew inadvertently released 3 million gallons of wastewater tainted with heavy metals from the mine, polluting the Animas and San Juan Rivers. The crew was doing explor- atory excavation work at the mine entrance in advance of a possible cleanup. Stretches of waterways turned an eerie orange- yellow, and the rivers were temporarily off-limits for agriculture and water utilities, as well as fishing and boating — important contributors to the area’s recreational economy. The EPA has said water quality in the rivers has returned to pre-spill conditions. “We have eroded the process for reaching agreement and dishonored our long tradi- tions of acting above parti- sanship.” Kushner, Ivanka Trump face ethical land mines ahead WASHINGTON (AP) — Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, presidential relatives with powerful White House jobs, can help shape Amer- ica’s foreign and domestic policies. They’ve also built a busi- ness empire worth as much as $740 million that has ties around the world, newly released financial disclosures show. What happens when their government and private sector worlds collide? Like other federal employees, the daughter and son-in-law of the president are required to adhere to transparency and ethics rules, and by law they cannot take any action in their government positions that affects their individual financial holdings. New disclosures of the breadth and tangle of Kushner’s financial holdings demonstrate why determining whether either White House adviser is violating the rules is no simple question. If they help the president on tax reform, trade policy or banking regulations, the couple are likely to face a steady stream of ethics challenges and calls for recusal, forcing them to balance their desire to work on those issues against the political impact that negative attention may bring to the president — and themselves. “The problem with conflicts is that they rarely present themselves in black and white,” said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University who wrote a book about public corruption. President Donald Trump doesn’t face the same issues. The president, who broke with precedent to retain a financial interest in his real estate empire, and vice president are not subject to the conflicts of interest laws that govern his employees, although the anti-bribery statute and others do apply. Trump has said he believes he can’t have a conflict. “I could actually run my business and run government at the same time,” he said in January. “I don’t like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to.” White House officials, meanwhile, may face regular dilemmas, including assessing whether they’re getting too close to crossing a legal line. It’s not that simple. It might “look bad” if Kushner helps negotiate a tax reform proposal that continues to allow real estate investors such as himself to carry forward losses, Henning said. But because so many in his industry would benefit, Henning said Kushner would probably be on the right side of the conflict laws — even if there is a political price to pay. BUTTE CHALLENGE LIVING WELL: BETTER CHOICES, BETTER HEALTH Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis or another long-term health condition? 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