OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Page 8A
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Rachel Comstock of Athena shoots photos of her son, Isaiah, 2, as Chantel Pilch of Pendleton looks on Tuesday
while trick or treating in Pendleton.
Austin Williamson, 16, of Pendleton portrays a
headless man on Main Street in Pendleton.
Staff photo by Alexis Mansanarez
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ten-year-old Aaron Bazan shows off his “Aarogonian”
custom costume on Main Street in Hermiston.
Jennifer Keeton makes sure the balloons of her son Brave Pereira’s costume don’t get caught in a tree while trick
or treating Tuesday on Main Street in Pendleton.
House GOP leaders delay tax plan release amid changes
WASHINGTON (AP) — House
Republicans, straining to make last-
minute changes to their far-reaching
tax proposal, on Tuesday delayed the
rollout by a day after they failed to
finalize the details.
The plan pushed by President
Donald Trump and Republican
leaders in Congress is a top legisla-
tive priority. The details originally
were to be unveiled on Wednesday,
but that was delayed until Thursday,
said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas,
chairman of the tax-writing Ways
and Means Committee.
The committee had worked
throughout the day and evening to
produce a plan for the first overhaul
of the nation’s tax code in three
decades.
“We are making excellent prog-
ress. We are very close,” Brady told
reporters late Tuesday night. “A lot
of work remains with the drafters,
they are continuing to work through
the night. We are moving forward.”
At the White House, an official
said Trump looked forward to seeing
legislation this week, adding the
administration was confident the
delay wouldn’t affect the ultimate
timing of the bill. Brady said his
panel plans to vote on the bill next
week.
Although they had settled on
some key details — such as a cut in
the corporate tax rate to 20 percent
and maintaining the top personal
income tax rate for the wealthy of
39.6 percent — other elements still
had to be resolved, including the
income levels for the tax brackets.
Trump has intensified his
lobbying for the nearly $6 trillion
tax overhaul plan, seeking a major
legislative achievement after the
collapse of the health care repeal.
Republicans see taxes as a political
imperative that will decide whether
they keep their congressional majori-
ties in next year’s midterm elections.
The president set an ambitious
Continued from 1A
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin listens as President Donald
Trump speaks during a meeting on tax policy with business leaders
in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday in Washington.
timetable and predicted a grand
signing ceremony before Christmas
at “the biggest tax event in the
history of our country.”
Late Tuesday, Trump renewed his
cheerleading on Twitter.
“The Republican House members
are working hard (and late) toward
the Massive Tax Cuts that they know
you deserve. These will be biggest
ever!”
The plan originally unveiled
by Trump and congressional
Republicans called for shrinking the
number of tax brackets from seven
to three, with respective tax rates of
12 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent.
That plan drew immediate criticism
from Democrats, who complained it
was too favorable to the wealthy and
undermined Trump’s rhetoric about
it benefiting the middle class.
The current Republican plan calls
for nearly doubling the standard
deduction used by most average
Americans to $12,000 for individ-
uals and $24,000 for families, and
increasing the per-child tax credit.
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In addition to slashing the corporate
tax rate, it also seeks to repeal inher-
itance taxes on multimillion-dollar
estates, a big break for the wealthy.
Brady did not answer directly
when he was asked — while leaving
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s suite
Tuesday — whether the drop in the
corporate tax rate would happen
immediately. But, he said: “I want as
much growth right from Day One as
I can.”
Trump intensified his lobbying
for the tax overhaul plan even as its
shape was still under negotiation by
the Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“The process is complicated
but the end result will not be that
complicated. It’s going to be: People
are going to pay less tax by a lot,
companies are going to pay less tax
by a lot - that’s a big difference —
and companies are going to start
rebuilding and they’re going to stay
here,” Trump said in the Roosevelt
Room, where he was joined by the
heads of more than a dozen business
and trade allies.
Hermiston Police Chief Jason
Edmiston said he is fine with the
public having access to the main
police channel, but circumstances
can arise that create a thin line
between officer safety and being
open to the public. For tactical
situations, encryption could prove
valuable.
Even without encryption,
Edmiston said there are
workarounds to keep sensitive
information private, such as text
messages and the police computer
system that can send messages
between police vehicles. He
said those communications also
stymie bad guys who might have
a scanner or radio.
Encryption also costs, but
Halsey said how much would
depend on the vendor. He said
the data district can afford to pay
about $400,000 a year for a radio
system.
Edmiston said as a department
head he has to keep an eye on
the bottom line, and cost for the
service could be the deciding
factor.
Bill Medlock, a 55-year-old
Hermiston man who is never far
from a police scanner, is against
encryption.
“I hope they never do that,” he
said.
Medlock dispatches for a
trucking operation and listens to
an emergency scanner much of
the day. He said he has one in his
home office and another in his
pickup.
“It’s mainly for the weather,”
he said, “I really don’t care where
the cops are.”
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For referral to an attorney,
call toll-free: 1-855-673-2372.
For a free handbook,
“Legal Issues for Older
Adults,” published by
the Oregon State Bar,
call: 503-945-6237
(available in English,
Spanish, Vietnamese,
Russian, or Chinese).
But he listens to emergency
chatter and posts information
from some transmissions on the
Facebook page What’s Happening
Hermiston. When it comes to
emergencies, he said people want
immediate information.
“I can update as soon as I hear
more,” he said.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation’s website Trip-
check.com does not update often
enough, he said, so he and others,
including a buddy at Meacham,
can find out real-time information
on road conditions and more.
“We need to know what’s
going on,” Medlock said. “I
think it’s our right to know what
the police are doing, if there is
an emergency, a shooting some-
where. We need to know about
it then, not the next day. If the
freeways are shut down, we need
to know.”
Encryption cuts out the
public’s right to know, he said, and
allows agencies to hide what they
do. Medlock said public agencies
need a good reason to operate in
secret. During a raid or an armed
standoff, for example, police
probably should not broadcast
certain information, he said, but
emergency agencies also should
let people know what places to
avoid or when to stay indoors.
“It’s not just a safety situation
for police, but also concern for
others that could show up,” he
said.
Halsey said the data district
board and local agencies are going
to have to answer whether public
safety outweighs the public’s
right to know. Halsey said he did
not have that answer.