NATION/WORLD
Saturday, June 24, 2017
East Oregonian
5 GOP senators now
oppose health bill —
enough to sink it
Trump signs law to make VA
more accountable for vets’ care
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump signed a
bill into law Friday that will
make it easier for the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs to
fire employees, part of a push
to overhaul an agency that is
struggling to serve millions of
military vets.
“Our veterans have fulfilled
their duty to our nation and
now we must fulfill our duty
to them,” Trump said during a
White House ceremony. “To
every veteran who is here with
us today, I just want to say two
very simple words: Thank
you.”
Trump repeatedly prom-
ised during the election
campaign to dismiss VA
workers “who let our veterans
down,” and he cast Friday’s
bill signing as fulfillment of
that promise.
“What happened was a
national disgrace and yet some
of the employees involved in
these scandals remained on
the payrolls,” Trump said.
“Outdated laws kept the
government from holding
those who failed our veterans
accountable. Today we are
finally changing those laws.”
The
measure
was
prompted by a 2014 scandal
at the Phoenix VA medical
center, where some veterans
died as they waited months
for care. The VA is the second-
largest department in the U.S.
government, with more than
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Nevada Republican
Dean Heller became the
fifth GOP senator to declare
his opposition to the party’s
banner legislation to scuttle
much of Barack Obama’s
health care overhaul on
Friday, more than enough
to sink the measure and
deliver a stinging rebuke
to President Donald Trump
unless some of them can be
brought aboard.
Echoing the other four,
Heller said he opposes the
measure “in this form” but
does not rule out backing a
version that is changed to
his liking. Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., has said he’s willing
to alter the measure to
attract support, and next
week promises plenty of
back-room bargaining as he
tries pushing a final package
through his chamber.
Nonetheless,
Heller’s
announcement underscores
the scant margin of error
Republican leaders must
deal with. Facing unanimous
Democratic
opposition,
McConnell can afford to
lose just two of the 52 GOP
senators and still prevail.
The other four who
have opposed it are Sens.
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin,
Mike Lee of Utah, Rand
Paul of Kentucky and Ted
Cruz of Texas.
Besides the five who’ve
announced outright oppo-
sition, several other GOP
senators — conservatives
and moderates — have
declined to commit to the
new overhaul. The measure
resembles
legislation
the House approved last
month that the nonpartisan
Congressional
Budget
Office said would mean
23 million additional
uninsured people within
a decade and that recent
polling shows is viewed
favorably by only around 1
in 4 Americans.
Heller, facing a compet-
itive re-election LOCAL
battle next
year, said he was opposing
the legislation because of
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Michael Verardo, who lost his leg in Af-
ghanistan serving as a Sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division in 2010, during a bill
signing event at the White House Friday.
350,000 employees, and it is
charged with providing health
care and other services to
military veterans.
Federal employee unions
opposed the measure. VA
Secretary David Shulkin, an
Obama administration hold-
over, stood alongside Trump
as the president jokingly
suggested he’d have to invoke
his reality TV catchphrase
“You’re fired” if the reforms
were not implemented.
The legislation, which
many
veterans’ groups
supported, cleared the House
last week by an overwhelm-
ingly bipartisan vote of
368-55, replacing an earlier
version that Democrats had
criticized as overly unfair to
employees. The Senate passed
the bill by voice vote a week
earlier.
Paul Rieckhoff, founder
of the Iraq and Afghani-
stan Veterans of America,
applauded the move, saying,
“In a nasty, partisan environ-
ment like we’ve never seen,
veterans’ issues can be a
unique area for Washington to
unite in actually getting things
done for ordinary Americans.”
The bill was a rare Trump
initiative that received Demo-
cratic support. Montana Sen.
Jon Tester said the bill “will
protect whistleblowers from
the threat of retaliation.”
The new law will lower
the burden of proof to fire
employees, allowing for
dismissal even if most
evidence is in a worker’s
favor.
The American Federation
of Government Employees,
the largest federal employee
union, opposed the bill. But
the Senate-passed measure
was seen as more in balance
with workers’ rights than a
version passed by the House
in March, mostly along party
lines.
Trump labors to make Mueller-Comey tie a talking point
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Robert Mueller, the somber-
faced and demanding FBI
director who led the bureau
through the Sept. 11 attacks,
and James Comey, his more
approachable and outwardly
affable successor, may be
poles apart stylistically but
both command a wealth of
respect in the law enforce-
ment and legal community.
That hasn’t stopped Pres-
ident Donald Trump and his
associates from repeatedly
trying to draw unflattering
attention to their relationship,
insinuating a personal bond
they suggest could disqualify
Mueller
from
credibly
serving as special counsel
in charge of the Russia
investigation. Most recently,
in an interview that aired
Friday on “Fox & Friends,”
Trump claimed Mueller was
“very, very good friends with
Comey, which is bother-
some.”
AP file photo
In this Sept. 4, 2013, file photo, then-incoming FBI Di-
rector James Comey talks with outgoing FBI Director
Robert Mueller before Comey was officially sworn in at
the Justice Department in Washington.
The emphasis on their
ties, besides being aimed at
undermining Mueller’s cred-
ibility and the legitimacy of
his investigation, could also
be an attempt by Trump to
make the case for an eventual
Mueller dismissal on conflict
of interest grounds.
But the truth is more
complicated and not squarely
on the president’s side.
Mueller and Comey, both
known for their integrity
and self-assuredness, served
closely alongside each other
in the Bush administration
Justice Department. They
played pivotal roles in a
2004 White House confron-
tation and have spoken
warmly of each other over
the years, with Comey
describing Mueller as “one
of the finest people I’ve
ever met.” But they’re not
known to be especially close
friends, and legal experts say
whatever connection they do
have doesn’t come close to
meriting Mueller’s removal.
“Jim has never been to
Bob’s house. Bob has never
been to Jim’s house,” said
David Kelley, who succeeded
Comey as U.S. attorney in
Manhattan and has known
him and Mueller for years.
“They’ve had lunch together
once and dinner together
twice, once with their spouses
and again after Jim became
the FBI director so that Bob
could give him the rundown
of what to look for.”
Page 9A
Erik Verduzco/
Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.,
during a press con-
ference where he an-
nounced he will vote no
on the proposed GOP
health care bill at the
Grant Sawyer State Of-
fice Building on Friday.
the cuts it would make in
Medicaid. The federal-state
program provides health
care to the poor, disabled and
many nursing home patients.
The Senate bill would
also erase the tax penalties
Obama’s 2010 law imposes
on people who don’t
purchase insurance. It would
allow insurers to cover
fewer benefits and repeal tax
boosts on wealthier people
that help finance the statute’s
expanded coverage.
The Senate legislation
would phase out extra
federal money Nevada
and 30 other states receive
for expanding Medicaid
to additional low earners.
It would also slap annual
spending caps on the
overall Medicaid program,
which since its inception
in 1965 has provided states
with unlimited money to
cover eligible costs.
“I cannot support a piece
of legislation that takes
insurance away from tens
of millions of Americans
and tens of thousands of
Nevadans,” Heller said.
Trump has spoken
favorably about both the
House-passed bill and the
Senate version unveiled this
week, though he declared
several times as he ramped
up his campaign for the
presidency that he would
not
cut Medicaid.
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