NATION/WORLD
Saturday, July 29, 2017
East Oregonian
GOP blame-a-thon over health
bill crash, but no clear path
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
resounding Senate crash of the seven-
year Republican drive to scrap the
Obama health care law incited GOP
fi nger-pointing Friday but left the party
with wounded leaders and no evident
pathway forward on an issue that won’t
go away.
In an astonishing cliff-hanger, the
GOP-run Senate voted 51-49 to reject
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s
last ditch attempt to sustain their drive
to dismantle President Barack Obama’s
health care overhaul with a starkly
trimmed-down bill.
The vote, which concluded shortly
before 2 a.m. EDT, was a blistering
defeat for President Donald Trump
and McConnell, R-Ky., who’ve made
uprooting the statute a top priority.
“They should have approved health
care last night,” Trump said Friday
during a speech in Brentwood, New
York. “But you can’t have everything,”
he added, seemingly shrugging off one
of his biggest legislative setbacks.
Trump reiterated his threat to “let
Obamacare implode,” an outcome
he could hasten by steps like halting
federal payments to help insurers reduce
out-of-pocket costs for lower-earning
consumers.
Senate Democrats were joined in
opposition by three Republicans —
Maine’s Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski
of Alaska and Arizona’s John McCain.
The 80-year-old McCain, just diagnosed
with brain cancer, had returned to the
Capitol three days earlier to provide a
vote that temporarily kept the measure
alive, only to deliver the coup de grace
Friday.
“3 Republicans and 48 Democrats
let the American people down,” Trump
tweeted Friday. He tweeted later that
the Senate needed a rules change to
“immediately go to a 51 vote majority,
not senseless 60,” even though on the
crucial vote a simple majority of 51
votes, including a tie-breaker by Vice
President Mike Pence, was all that was
needed.
“Hello, he only needed 51 in
the health care bill and couldn’t do
it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., said..
Earlier in the week, Republican
defections sank two broad GOP efforts
to scrap the 2010 law. One would have
erased Obama’s statute and replaced it
with a more constricted government
health care role, and the other would
Page 13A
BRIEFLY
RUSSIA
CHINA
Missile
landing
site
Missile
launch
site
N OR T H
K OR EA
East China Sea
Pyongyang
Japan’s exclusive
economic zone
SOUTH
KOREA
Tokyo
J A PA N
200 mi
Pacific Ocean
200 km
maps4news.com/©HERE
North Korea second ICBM test
puts much of U.S. in range
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. leaves the Senate cham-
ber on Capitol Hill Thursday, after a vote as the Republican majority in
Congress remains stymied by their inability to fulfi ll their political prom-
ise to repeal and replace “Obamacare” because of opposition and waver-
ing within the GOP ranks.
have annulled the law and given
Congress two years to replace it.
The measure that fell Friday was
narrower and included a repeal of
Obama’s unpopular tax penalties on
people who don’t buy policies and on
employers who don’t offer coverage
to workers. McConnell designed it as
a legislative vehicle the Senate could
approve and begin talks with the House
on a compromise, fi nal bill.
But the week’s setbacks highlighted
how, despite years of trying, GOP
leaders haven’t resolved internal battles
between conservatives seeking to erase
Obama’s law and moderates leery
of tossing millions of voters off of
coverage.
“It’s time to move on,” McConnell
said after the defeat.
Friday morning, House leaders
resorted to singer Gordon Lightfoot
to point fi ngers. They opened a House
GOP meeting by playing “The Wreck
of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a ballad
about the 1975 sinking of a freighter in
Lake Superior. Lawmakers said leaders
assured them it was meant as a reference
to the Senate’s fl op.
The House approved its health care
measure in May, after its own tribula-
tions.
In a statement, Speaker Paul Ryan,
R-Wis., pointedly said “the House
delivered a bill.”
Conservative Rep. Mo Brooks,
R-Ala., running for a Senate seat,
faulted McConnell for not crafting a
plan that could pass. He said if McCon-
nell abandons the health care drive, “he
should resign from leadership.”
One moderate Republican said
Trump shared responsibility.
“One of the failures was the pres-
ident never laid out a plan or his core
principles and never sold them to the
American people,” said Rep. Charlie
Dent, R-Pa. “Outsourced the whole
issue to Congress.”
Lawmakers spoke of two possible
but diffi cult routes forward.
In one, balking GOP senators
could be won over by new proposals
from leaders or cave under pressure
from angry constituents demanding
they fulfi ll the party’s pledge to tear
down Obama’s law. But both of those
dynamics have been in play all year
without producing results.
In the other, there would be a limited
bipartisan effort to address the insurance
market’s short-term concerns. That
would provide money to insurers to
help them subsidize some customers
and prevent companies from driving up
premiums or abandoning regions.
Schumer said he hoped the two
parties could “work together to make
the system better” by stabilizing market-
places.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea
on Friday test-fi red its second intercontinental ballistic
missile, which fl ew longer and higher than the fi rst
according to its wary neighbors, leading analysts to
conclude that a wide swath of the U.S., including
Los Angeles and Chicago, is now within range of
Pyongyang’s weapons.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga
said the missile, launched late Friday night, fl ew for
about 45 minutes — about fi ve minutes longer than the
ICBM North Korea test-fi red on July 4. The missile
was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the
distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan’s island
of Hokkaido.
Analysts had estimated that the North’s fi rst
ICBM could have reached Alaska, and said Friday
that the latest missile appeared to extend that range
signifi cantly.
David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the
global security program at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, said in Washington that if reports of the
missile’s maximum altitude and fl ight time are correct,
it would have a theoretical range of at least 6,500
miles. That means it could have reached Los Angeles,
Denver and Chicago, depending on variables such
as the size and weight of the warhead that would be
carried atop such a missile in an attack.
Trump ready to sign Russia sanctions
bill, Moscow retaliates
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump
will sign a package of stiff fi nancial sanctions against
Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming
support, the White House said Friday. Moscow has
already responded, ordering a reduction in the number
of U.S. diplomats in Russia and closing the U.S.
Embassy’s recreation retreat.
Trump’s willingness to support the measure is a
remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his
party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship
with Moscow. His vow to extend a hand of cooperation
to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met
with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit
the president’s leeway to go easy on Moscow over its
meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The Senate passed the bill 98-2.
؏ EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ؏
Feel the Thrill
of a New Toyota!
Part Time - Inside Salesperson
10 New 2017 TOYOTAS
with
over
$ 2000
Cash Back
Great work environment. Super awesome team. Good base pay PLUS
commissions. Retirement plan. Weekends off . Interested?
We are looking for a motivated, self-confi dent individual to join our
inside sales team at East Oregonian in Pendleton.
We have an opening for a part time inside salesperson position.
No newspaper experience? No problem, as long as you understand
the importance of great customer service, working hard
and a desire to enjoy your job.
2017 COROLLA
2017 RAV4
Excludes Hybrid
also includes
2017 Camry Hybrid
20
2017 Prius v
2017 Avalon Gas
2017 Avalon Hybrid
2017 Yaris
2017 Yaris iA
2017 Sienna
2017 CAMRY
Or choose from 5 vehicles that can be
leased for less than $200 per month.
SUCH AS:
2017 Camry SE
$ 179 /mo
for 36 mos.
Could this be you?
We are seeking a dynamic salesperson to make prospecting phone
calls to potential customers and businesses of all types, service
existing accounts, be organized and have excellent computer and
communication skills. If you’ve been looking for the opportunity to excel
in a sales environment, this is it! The right candidate will be organized
with a high attention to detail, have a desire to learn and grow their skills
and work well in a team environment. Must be very accurate and detail
oriented plus have excellent customer service and communication skills.
Job qualifi cations include accuracy and speed when typing and spelling,
excellent organizational, phone and communication skills. No sales
experience required. Part-time, wage plus commission. Benefi ts include
Paid Time Off (PTO) and 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan.
Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group,
PO Box 2048 • Salem, OR 97308-2048,
by fax to 503-371-2935 or e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com
$ 199 /mo 2017 RAV4 LE
for 36 mos.
Come work with us! We are an awesome team.
Special leasing also
available on:
2017 Corolla LE
2017 Corolla iM
2017 Yaris iA
Every new Toyota comes with
AP
(541) 567-6461 or 800-522-2308
ToyotaOfHermiston.com
All financing on approved credit through TFS. All vehicles subject to prior sale.
All prices plus tax and title. $75 dealer doc fee. Offers end 7/5/17.
For more details call 1-888-21-TOYOTA.
Mon - Fri 8:30a - 7:00p
Saturday 8:30a - 7:00p
Sunday 10:00a - 5:00p