Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, May 11, 2017
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Spending bill, not Obamacare,
reveals deep GOP division
f you want to see what divides
double the number of so-called H-2B
Republicans in Congress, don’t look
visas to allow temporary low-wage
at the struggle to repeal and replace
foreign workers into the U.S. — a
Obamacare. Look at spending.
move a number of experts said would
The House’s narrow passage of a
lower wages for American workers.
partial repeal of Obamacare dominated
“H-2Bs will be an issue and will
media for days. Happening at the same
cause a loss of conservative support
time, but receiving relatively little
for the bill,” the member said shortly
coverage, was the Senate’s approval of
before the vote. “Very un-Trumpian to
Byron
a $1.1 trillion spending bill that revealed
ban border wall construction and fund
York
— far more than Obamacare — the
sanctuary cities while also expanding
Comment
deep differences among Republicans in
foreign labor!”
both houses of Congress.
Foreign labor was a key factor in the
The story is in the numbers. On Obamacare,
no vote of Sen. Tom Cotton. In a floor speech
217 Republicans voted for partial repeal, while
Thursday, the Arkansas Republican explained
just 20 — a little under 10 percent of the House
that he recognized the good parts of the bill,
GOP conference — voted against it.
in particular more defense spending. But he
On the spending bill, just 131
focused on the H-2B provision,
Republicans voted yes, while
not just because it is bad policy —
103 GOP lawmakers — about
he explained at length what that is
43 percent of the House GOP
so — but because it “shows just
conference — voted no. In the
how bad this process is.”
Senate, 32 Republicans voted yes,
“It’s not necessary,” Cotton said
while 18 GOP senators — about
of the visa expansion’s inclusion in
one-third of the Republican side
the bill. “It has nothing to do with
— Dave Brat, funding the government, nothing.
— voted no.
Republican, It hasn’t been vetted. It hasn’t gone
Lawmakers gave several
U.S. Representative through the normal legislative
reasons for rejecting the
leadership’s spending deal with
process, which would be the
Democrats. “This bill funds sanctuary cities,
Judiciary Committee, where the chairman and
funds Planned Parenthood, it funds Obamacare the senior Democrat both have written that
and I think that was unfortunate and it’s a real
they oppose this measure. I don’t even know
missed opportunity,” Sen. Ted Cruz — a no
how it got in (the bill).”
vote — told San Antonio radio host Trey Ware.
And yet there it was. And President Trump
“There is a reason Chuck Schumer and Nancy
signed it into law.
Pelosi are celebrating, because the spending
In the end, the spending bill votes revealed
measure funds everything they want and funds significant divisions among Republicans about
virtually none of the priorities we were elected the amount of spending — more precisely,
to fund.”
the amount of deficit spending — they can
“I think the Democrats cleaned our clock,”
tolerate.
said Sen. Lindsey Graham, another no vote.
Those differences extend far beyond their
“I’m for comprehensive immigration reform,
conflicts over Obamacare repeal. A grand total
but sanctuary cities go untouched. Obamacare
of 20 GOP House members split with their
continues to be funded in a way that we all say leadership on health care, while 103 did so on
spending. In the Senate, where the Republican
is illegal.”
“Drain the swamp, right?” asked Rep. Dave majority is so narrow they have just two votes
to spare, the GOP lost 18 votes. Those are
Brat, another no vote, in Buzzfeed. “Where is
signs of problems ahead.
that in the budget? Nowhere. We fully funded
■
the swamp.”
Byron York is chief political correspondent
Another House Republican no vote pointed
for The Washington Examiner.
to a provision in the spending bill that would
I
“We fully
funded the
swamp.”
Trump and Nixon
Donald Trump has always been a
have decreased. His hunger for
approval has been starved as the
little Nixonian.
campaign trail has given way to the
They share an affinity for
Oval Office, and his poll numbers
authoritative leadership, the habit of
continue their decline.
continually attacking the press and
Unlike Nixon, however, Trump
rivals both in their party and outside
has access to a Twitter account, which
of it, reliance on a small and always
allows him to send his paranoid
shrinking circle of advisers, and a
scribes out across the world. Yet like
lifelong lack of personal friendships.
But President Trump took a giant
Tricky Dick, Trump in those messages
step toward joining his legacy with
never forgets the faults of others and
Richard Nixon’s
never misses an
when he announced
opportunity to bring
Trump, like
Tuesday that he
them up.
had fired FBI
Still, the two men
Nixon,
never
director James
have their differences,
forgets the faults as the Richard
Comey. Comey was
investigating possible
Presidential
of others and Nixon
corruption and ties
Library pointed out.
between Trump, his
never misses the It tweeted soon after
of Comey’s
associates and Russia.
opportunity to news
And we learned
firing broke: “FUN
Wednesday that just
bring them up. FACT: President
Nixon never fired the
days before he was
Director of the FBI
fired, Comey asked
for additional resources to expand and #FBIDirector #notNixonian.”
Still, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff
further the investigation.
The White House claimed that
Merkley saw the similarities. He said
Trump fired Comey because of how
Tuesday that “Trump’s pattern of
the FBI director mishandled Hillary
firing people who are investigating
Clinton and her email scandal,
him is downright Nixonian, and
which is so blatantly absurd as to
members of Congress of both parties
make the whole continent shudder
should treat it with the same gravity
with laughter. That Trump would
that our predecessors did during
have empathy for “crooked” Hillary
Watergate.”
Clinton, who he said during the
You can see the words Trump’s
campaign should be “locked up,” is
opponents want brought back
too much to believe.
into daily use: Nixon. Watergate.
The clear truth is that the White
The Saturday Night Massacre.
House fired Comey despite having no Impeachment. Investigation. Russia.
set replacement, no clear message on
Investigation. Russia. Investigation.
why they were firing him at this time, Russia. Investigation.
and no legal experts or surrogates to
Whether Trump will meet the same
defend the action. Certainly Trump
fate as Nixon — helicoptered away
had no explanation, other than a day
to infamy — remains to be seen.
later saying Comey “was not doing a
But what the American people must
good job.”
demand is that members of Congress
When he was let go, Comey was
and employees of the FBI and the
speaking at an FBI event across the
Department of Justice remember
country. He found out by watching
that their duty and honor is to their
television, and later a bodyguard
country, not their boss.
handed him an envelope and he was
Comey should testify before a
whisked away. That’s how Nixon
bipartisan commission immediately.
loved to do it, as do a whole range of
An independent investigator and/
authoritarian strongmen.
or special prosecutor — someone
Like Nixon, Trump has become
Trump cannot fire — must take on the
increasingly isolated. His family lives dangerous burden of this investigation
elsewhere, his public appearances
and see it to its conclusion.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
Suicide bill aims at wrong target
The Baker City Herald
W
e agree with members of
Oregon’s Legislature who want
to reduce the state’s suicide
rate. Indeed, does anybody not share that
goal?
But we disagree that a law — and in
particular the constitutionally shaky bill
that the Oregon Senate approved this
week — is likely to accomplish, in any
meaningful way, this noble objective.
Senate Bill 719 passed by a 17-11 vote
and is now under consideration in the
House.
The bill would require people whom
a judge deems to be at risk of suicide or
of harming another person to surrender
all their guns or other potentially deadly
weapons to police, a gun dealer or
potentially a third party.
The law would apply only if a judge
approved what the bill calls an “extreme
risk protection order.” A police officer,
spouse, parent, child or sibling, or
anyone living with the allegedly suicidal
person could petition the court for such
an order. If it’s approved, the person
would have 24 hours to surrender guns
and other weapons.
Subjects of such an order could
appeal, but the order would remain in
effect until the appeal was decided. The
order otherwise would be in effect for
one year.
Besides its potential conflicts with the
Second Amendment, our main concern
with the bill is that it focuses solely on
the means by which a person might
harm himself or others, but has nothing
to do with the person’s motivations.
And we’re not convinced that those
motivations can be addressed through
legislation. Not every societal problem
can be fixed with a law.
The Legislature can, and should,
ensure that the state has a robust and
accessible system available for people
who seek help with severe emotional
problems. But we don’t believe that
Senate Bill 719, which treats distraught
people as though they were criminals,
constitutes that sort of help.
Moreover, relatives and friends need
no law to compel them to help people
they’re worried about. That’s why
people take the car keys from loved ones
who have been drinking.
YOUR VIEWS
Procrastinators can still help
build a new fire station
For those of you, who like my family and
me have not yet voted, I urge you to vote yes
on the Pendleton general obligation fire station
bond.
Here’s why: The fire station on 10th and
Court is over 50 years old (there were 4,000
fewer Pendletonians when it was new), isn’t
big enough for modern emergency response
equipment, lacks training space for emergency
responders, is short on room for emergency
responders and volunteers, and is located near
two of the busier intersections in town, which
causes reduced response times.
Most importantly, because it doesn’t meet
public health and safety codes, it puts the very
people we rely on in an emergency at risk
every time they come to work.
The new fire station will be located at
the old St. Anthony Hospital parking lot.
This location was chosen for a variety of
factors that includes land availability, site
development costs, and faster response times
across all of Pendleton (six seconds faster than
the current site — and every second counts
if you or your family or friends need help).
Other discussed sites either are not for sale,
would cost more to develop, or don’t improve
response times — in other words, would not
be smart investments.
And, at a total cost of just under $10
million, the new fire station will cost the
average homeowner less than $8 per month —
less than two bags of potato chips per month.
For that you get faster response times, better
trained emergency responders with better
equipment, healthier and safer emergency
responders — and as a bonus, the new station
will save taxpayers $50,000 per year in
building maintenance costs.
My family and I think this is a fantastic
deal and we hope you do, too. So if you
haven’t yet voted please vote yes today (or
at least before May 16) on the Pendleton fire
station bond.
Scott Fairley
City councilor, Pendleton
New station needed, but not
the one the bond will build
Yes, Pendleton, we really do need a new
fire station. Our fire and police personnel
are the finest and deserve our respect and
admiration for the job they do for our
community.
The present bond we are asking to approve
is for a community that is growing vibrantly.
This doesn’t appear to be happening. Take
a look around at all the homes for sale, the
empty buildings and some of the businesses
pulling up stakes and leaving.
Another observation and concern that I
have: Look at the state-of-the-art schools
that we just finished building. It appears that
school attendance is down and the district is
making necessary cuts to its budget, which
includes laying off personnel. Those same
people are the taxpaying citizens that paid for
these schools. This is terribly wrong.
Furthermore, not too long ago an expensive
street sweeper, which wasn’t too old, suffered
a mechanical breakdown. The decision was
to purchase another at nearly ten times the
amount that it would have cost to repair it.
Poor decision? Look at the condition of our
streets.
A good share of the taxpaying citizens
of this community are on limited and
fixed incomes. Based on the above-stated
observations and concerns on how money
is being spent, the current proposal will be
difficult to support.
Freddy D. Johnson
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or editor@eastoregonian.com.