Page 8A
NATION
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Trump-Ryan relationship grows more tortured
By ERICA WERNER
and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It
started out cold as ice,
and then turned warm and
friendly. Now the tortured
relationship between Pres-
ident Donald Trump and
House Speaker Paul Ryan
has gone cool again, with the
Republican president making
clear he has no qualms about
bucking the GOP leader to
cut deals with his Democratic
foes.
The two men dined at the
White House Thursday night
and discussed legislative
challenges ahead for the
fall, a get-together that was
scheduled over Congress’
August recess, long before
the head-spinning events of
this week. In a moment that
stunned Washington, Trump
cut a debt and disaster aid deal
Wednesday with Congress’
Democratic leaders as Ryan
and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell watched
on helplessly, after lobbying
unsuccessfully for much
different terms.
The moment distilled the
inherent tensions between
Trump, 71, a former Demo-
crat and ideologically fl exible
deal-maker, and Ryan, 47,
a loyal Republican whose
discomfort with Trump led
him to withhold his endorse-
ment for weeks last year.
After Trump was elected
the two papered over
their differences and even
developed a rapport, talking
frequently during health
care negotiations earlier this
year, as each understood they
needed the other to advance
individual and shared goals.
But their phone calls have
tapered off of late and Trump
has expressed his frustration
with GOP leaders on multiple
fronts, culminating in the
president’s decision to ditch
them and join hands with the
Democrats instead.
Trump exulted in his
newly bipartisan approach
Thursday, declaring it “a
great thing for our country,”
while Ryan mostly grinned
and bore it.
At the Capitol on
Wednesday,
Ryan
had
deemed a three-month debt
ceiling increase as “unwork-
able” and “ridiculous.” Yet an
hour later, Trump overruled
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of
Calif., accompanied by Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks with DREAMERS
who are holding a 4-day fast on Capitol Hill in
Washington on Thursday.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump pauses during a meeting with Congressional leaders in the
Oval Offi ce of the White House, Wednesday in Washington. From left, Speaker of the
House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Vice President Mike Pence, Trump, and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
his strong objections to side
with the Democrats.
The president’s rebuff on
the debt came just days after
Trump ignored Ryan’s pleas
not to end the program to aid
immigrants brought to the
country as children and living
here illegally. Instead, Trump
ended the program and tossed
the issue to Congress to
resolve in six months.
A spokeswoman for Ryan,
AshLee Strong, said Friday
that the speaker and Trump
“have a good relationship
and are in frequent commu-
nication as the two work to
advance the legislative prior-
ities Republicans promised,
including tax reform. In fact,
they talked fi ve times this
week,” including the dinner.
The House on Friday
passed the $15 billion in
disaster aid and a three-month
government funding exten-
sion, sending it to Trump.
Indeed for Ryan, GOP
reactions to the deal exposed
some lurking threats to his
perch atop a conference
where unrest brews nearly
ceaselessly among conser-
vatives, and there have been
recent rumblings of a possible
coup.
Trump remains highly
popular in the conservative
districts occupied by many
House Republicans, much
more so than Ryan himself,
who is scorned by many
in the GOP base as an
establishment sell-out. In a
whipsawed moment, some
House Republicans defended
Trump’s handling of a deal
they don’t like, while simulta-
neously criticizing Ryan, who
had been overruled by the
president. It also underscored
the political pressure on
Ryan to try to remain in the
president’s good graces even
when Trump is fl irting with
Democrats.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa,
said the message in his
conservative district is that
“congressional Republicans
need to get behind the presi-
dent.”
That sentiment “makes
him weaker,” King said of
Ryan.
Rep. Paul Gosar of
Arizona described Ryan
as “very unpopular” in his
district, while regard for
Trump is “pretty high.”
As far as his constituents
are concerned, Gosar said,
they’d be happy if Ryan got
the boot and Trump stayed.
“That’s kind of the mantra in
my district,” he said.
For his part, Trump has
soured on the Republican
congressional
leadership
in recent months, fuming
to associates that they led
him astray on their health
care strategy, among other
complaints.
The president has told
those close to him that he
regrets choosing to tackle the
repeal and replace of Barack
Obama’s health care law
as his fi rst legislative push.
He has singled out Ryan for
blame, saying the speaker
assured him it would pass and
instead handed him an early,
humiliating failure, before
ultimate House passage of
a revived bill, according
to three White House and
outside advisers familiar
with the conversations but
not authorized to speak about
them publicly.
GOP health care efforts
collapsed in the Senate in
July.
Trump has spoken to
Ryan less frequently in recent
weeks, particularly after the
departure of his fi rst chief of
staff, Reince Priebus, who
has deep Wisconsin ties to
the speaker. Priebus would
sometimes broker the calls
and stress to each man their
importance, according to
two people familiar with the
conversations. Those calls
have occurred less often
since John Kelly took over as
chief of staff.
Though
Trump
has
expressed particular anger
at McConnell for the failed
Senate health care vote and
for not protecting him from
the Russia investigation,
he grudgingly has told
associates that he is aware
of the Senate leader’s grip
on power. He has spoken
less glowingly about Ryan’s
Deal with Trump has
Democrats riding higher
WA S H I N G T O N
(AP) — Relegated for
months to playing defense,
congressional Democrats
are rising again. They’ve
been revitalized by the
deal their leaders cut with
President Donald Trump
this week and by a trickle
of GOP retirements that
have boosted their hopes
of capturing House control
next year.
It’s unlikely the startling
agreement between Trump
and top Democrats on
increasing the federal debt
limit, which surprised and
undermined Republicans,
augurs an era of broad
bipartisan
cooperation.
Trump has shown no clear
governing philosophy, can
abruptly shift views and
still favors policies Demo-
crats abhor like erasing the
Obama health care law.
Many Democrats fi nd it
hard to even contemplate
working with him.
For now, however,
Trump’s agreement with
Senate Minority Leader
own ability to lead due to the
shorter House terms and the
growing insurgency within
the conservative Freedom
Caucus.
Ryan’s position is seen
as secure for now, if only
because it is widely accepted
that no other House Repub-
lican could garner the support
needed to replace him. But
even allies believe his tenure
Chuck Schumer and
House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi to extend the
government’s borrowing
authority and keep agen-
cies open for three months
gives the Democrats plenty
of clout. When Congress
revisits those must-pass
issues in December,
Trump and GOP leaders
will need Democratic
votes, opening the door
to possible Republican
concessions on protecting
young immigrants from
deportation,
bolstering
President Barack Obama’s
health care statute and
other issues.
The House sent Trump
the legislation Friday —
which he quickly signed
— with the three-month
extension plus $15 billion
in aid for victims of Hurri-
cane Harvey. In the 316-90
result, all 90 “no” votes
came from the chamber’s
240 Republicans, under-
scoring the likelihood
Trump will need Demo-
crats in December.
in the job could be fi nite, and
might depend in part on the
whims of a president with
whom he has no real deep
ties.
“I think any speaker is
going to have a very diffi cult
time in this environment,”
said Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y.
“The nature of that job, I
think, over time, they don’t
last.”
Equifax data breach sows chaos among 143 million Americans
By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK — A
day after credit-reporting
company Equifax disclosed
that “criminals” had stolen
vital data about 143 million
Americans, it had somehow
managed to leave much of
the public in the dark about
their exposure, how they
should protect themselves
and what Equifax planned to
do for those affected.
The breach is unques-
tionably serious. It exposed
crucial pieces of personal
data that criminals could
use to commit identity
theft, from Social Security
numbers and birthdates to
address histories and legal
names.
That data — the “crown
jewels of personal infor-
mation,” in the words of
independent credit analysts
John Ulzheimer — can’t be
changed, and once it’s in
circulation, it’s basically out
there forever.
But Equifax’s response
has satisfi ed almost no one.
Unhappiness everywhere
Consumers complained
of jammed phone lines and
uninformed representatives.
An Equifax website set up
to help people determine
their exposure looked like a
scam to some, and provided
inconsistent and unhelpful
information
to
others.
Congress planned hearings.
Anders
Ohlsson,
a
47-year-old
technical
manager in Scotts Valley,
California, called a hotline
multiple times and was
disconnected; entered the
last six digits of his Social
Security number into Equi-
fax’s emergency website;
and fi nally spoke with a
call center manager. He
still doesn’t know whether
his information has been
compromised.
“I don’t think I’ve
gotten hold of a person that
actually cares,” he said.
“Now they’re fumbling to
tell people what’s going on.
But they really don’t know
what’s going on.”
Equifax plays a key role
in the fi nancial industry,
making this breach more
alarming than previous ones
at Yahoo or retailers. It’s
a storehouse of personal
information, like how much
people owe on their houses
and whether they have court
judgments against them.
Lenders rely on the
information collected by
McKay Creek Estates
“Bad guys can be very
patient with data,” Schulz
said.
If you’re not ready for the
freeze, Ulzheimer recom-
mends setting up fraud
alerts on your fi les. These
force creditors to contact
you directly, usually by
phone, for approval before
approving an account.
And if you’ve been a
victim of repeated identity
fraud, you can request a new
Social Security number with
the Social Security Adminis-
tration.
In addition to the emer-
gency Equifax website,
https://www.equifaxse-
curity2017.com/, you can
also call 866-447-7559 for
information. The company
also says it will send mail to
all who had personally iden-
tifi able information stolen.
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and might involve fees
depending on the state you
live in.
“The credit freeze is the
nuclear option of credit
protection,”
said
Matt
Schulz, an analyst with
CreditCards.com. “But in
the wake of a breach this
big, it’s worth considering.”
You should also be more
diligent about checking your
credit reports, where you
can see if anyone has opened
unauthorized accounts in
your name . You can get
those fi les for free once a
year from the three major
bureaus; use the offi cial site,
annualcreditreport.com .
It’s best to spread those
requests out by getting one
every four months. And
you’ll need to be ready to
keep checking for a while —
potentially years.
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Enhance your loved one’s spirit
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three big credit bureaus —
Equifax, TransUnion and
Experian — to help them
decide on fi nancing for
homes, cars and credit cards.
Credit checks are sometimes
done by employers when
deciding whom to hire for a
job.
What you can do
Even if you don’t know
if you’re one of the 143
million, you might want to
consider extreme protective
measures.
Your strongest immediate
option involves placing
a credit freeze on their
fi les with the major credit
bureaus. That locks down
your information, making
it impossible for outsiders
to open new accounts and
bank cards in your name.
But it also blocks you from
opening new accounts,
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