A8
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Congress finalizes Biden victory
Oregon’s Rep. Bentz
splits votes
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
In a day scarred by a his-
toric violent attack on the
U.S. Capitol as Congress met,
shaken lawmakers insisted on
resuming a session that went
late into the night to approve
the Electoral College vote for
President-Elect Joe Biden early
Thursday morning.
Lawmakers had come to
Congress Wednesday expect-
ing a contentious day of debate
as a splinter group of Republi-
cans said they would slow and
perhaps even halt the tradi-
tional reading of the votes for
president cast Dec. 14 by the
Electoral College.
President Donald Trump
had been ceaselessly pushing
claims that the election was
stolen from him despite los-
ing to Democrat Joe Biden by
more than seven million votes
and a 306-232 tally in the
Electoral College.
Trump addressed tens
of thousands of support-
ers just prior to the vote, and
the crowd pushed up Penn-
sylvania Avenue. Some in
the crowd pushed up Capitol
Hill, fighting police along the
way, then smashing through
the doors of the Capitol’s cen-
tral chambers. National Guard
and an FBI tactical squad
arrived to bolster defenses and
push the invaders out using a
plume of tear gas in Statuary
Hall, home to images of great
Americans of the past.
Leaders discussed calling
off the session, but opted to
continue to get their job done
and as a symbol of the continu-
ity of American government.
Some but not all of those
challenging the Electoral Col-
lege votes announced they
were dropping the effort after
the rash of violence.
Objections to the vote
totals in Arizona and Penn-
sylvania, a
smattering
of the states
originally
targeted,
went
to
debates and
Cliff Bentz
votes in the
chambers.
Among Oregon’s nearly
all-Democratic delegation, the
Electoral College votes were
supported by both Sen. Ron
Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merke-
ley. Four of the five Ore-
gon Democratic House mem-
bers — Suzanne Bonamici,
D-Beaverton, Earl Blume-
nauer, D-Portland, Peter
DeFazio, D-Springfield, and
Kurt Schrader, D-Salem —
supported the slates brought to
the Capitol in thick mahogany
boxes.
Oregon’s wild-card on the
day was Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, the only Repub-
lican in the state’s delegation
to Congress, and a freshman
who had only been sworn into
office the previous Sunday.
Bentz had been among a
group of incoming GOP law-
makers who issued a state-
ment last month calling for
“a congressional investiga-
tion and review into what has
happened in states where elec-
tion irregularities have been
observed.”
Over the next six weeks,
Bentz said he talked to constit-
uents in Congressional Dis-
trict 2, which takes up most of
Eastern and Central Oregon.
“I had heard many speak
of distrust in the elections that
were facilitated by several
states,” Bentz wrote. “That is
why I wrote to Speaker Nancy
Pelosi last month, urging for a
prompt and thorough congres-
sional investigation into vot-
ing irregularities during the
2020 presidential election. So
far, my request has fallen on
deaf ears.”
In the end, Bentz split
his votes, opposing the GOP
objection to the 11 Electoral
College votes for Biden sent
by Arizona. But several hours
later, Bentz was on the side of
those Republicans objecting to
the 20 Electoral College votes
from Pennsylvania.
In a press release issued just
before 4 a.m. in Washington,
Bentz said the issues in each
case were different, but his
constituents believed the elec-
tion was tainted by unspecified
fraud.
“My goal was to protect the
integrity of our elections and
to prompt all states to uphold
election laws as determined by
their state legislatures — all in
accordance with our Constitu-
tion,” Bentz said.
Rep.
Conor
Lamb,
D-Pennsylvania, dismissed
the stalling with objections
and repeated recitations of
legal arguments rejected over
50 times by various courts as
dangerous “lies” that were
getting people killed.
“These objections don’t
deserve an ounce of respect,
not an ounce,” Lamb said. “A
woman died out there tonight,
and you’re making these objec-
tions. Let’s be clear about
what happened in this cham-
ber today — invaders came
in for the first time since the
War of 1812. They desecrated
these halls, in this chamber,
and practically every inch of
ground where we work.”
Earlier in the debates, Sen-
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell chastised any of
those considering an objection
as setting in motion a danger-
ous path for democracy.
“We’ll either hasten down
a poisonous path where only
the winners of an election actu-
ally accept the results, or show
we can still muster the patri-
otic courage that our forebears
showed, not only in victory,
but in defeat,” he said. “If this
election were overturned by
mere allegations from the los-
ing side, our democracy would
enter a death spiral.”
Democrats easily repulsed
the objections when they
finally came up for a vote.
McConnell and several other
senior Republicans, espe-
cially in the Senate, joined in
upholding the Electoral Col-
lege tallies.
It was during the Arizona
debate earlier on Wednesday
that tens of thousands of pro-
Trump demonstrators, fresh
from a rallying speech by the
president, streamed up Penn-
sylvania Avenue where more
militant activists in the group
stormed the capitol, attacking
police and crashing their way
into the heart of the building.
Lawmakers in the chambers
barricaded the doors, while
those in their offices were
told to shelter in place. Police,
aided by National Guard and
an FBI Tactical Weapons unit,
were able to extract the dem-
onstrators from the Senate and
House galleries.
Demonstrators had broke
up and carted off furniture
from leadership offices, set
small fires and left behind at
least two explosive devices. A
billowing cloud of tear gas was
needed to push the stragglers
out of the Statuary Hall, ringed
by images of famous Ameri-
cans such as Samuel Adams,
Ronald Reagan, Billy Graham,
Thomas Edison and Kame-
hameha I.
With less than two weeks
until the inauguration, CNN
at 4:30 a.m. reported that top
government officials are dis-
cussing the invocation of
the 25th Amendment, which
would allow the neutralization
or removal of President Trump
from authority.
After about 20 hours of
debate in Congress, inter-
spersed with the attack on the
Capitol, the final ceremonial
acts of the day were closed,
leading to the finalization of the
votes to elect President-elect
Joe Biden and Vice-presi-
dent-elect Kamala Harris.
They will be sworn into office
on Jan. 20 on the same steps of
the Capitol occupied by riot-
ers. Officials promise a much
heavier security presence.
Wyden says new political era in D.C. will speed COVID-19 aid
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
With Democrats in con-
trol of the U.S. Senate and
U.S. House, and Democrat Joe
Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration
approaching, Americans can
expect a large, long-term pack-
age of aid to help get through
the COVID-19 pandemic that
will likely last well into the
year, Sen. Ron. Wyden, D-Ore-
gon, said in a Friday interview.
Wyden said he was sup-
porting efforts to get President
Donald Trump to resign or be
removed from office after the
Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol,
sparked by Trump’s speech to
protestors. On Friday he called
for the resignations of Sen.
Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen.
Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, for
their roles in the Electoral Col-
lege challenge that set off riots
culminating in a siege of the
Capitol.
“Any senator exhorting such
an assault violates their sworn
oath and is unworthy of hold-
ing federal office,” Wyden said.
“There must be consequences
for senators who would foment
a violent mob for personal
gain.”
But focus also has to be
sharp on what to do after Trump
is gone.
“We’re going to get $2,000
checks out to Americans as
soon as we can,” Wyden said.
“We’re going to get those $600
federal unemployment benefits
back. We’ve got folks who are
hurting desperately — they’re
not able to pay their rent, buy
their groceries, get medicine for
their kids.”
Wyden said the political
change in Washington, D.C.,
will reveal the reality that
Wyden said Trump and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McCo-
nnell, R-Kentucky, have tried to
hide: The COVID-19 crisis is
deep, hard and won’t be under
control for months, even a year.
“These safety net issues are
so essential, they should not
depend on whim of one polit-
ical person,” Wyden said of
McConnell. “There was a strat-
egy before not to admit how bad
things are.”
Congress is also ready to
help Biden lift the fog of con-
flicting policies and state-
ments about the pandemic that
has killed more than 367,000
Americans this year. Demo-
crats believe they will get sig-
nificant Republican support for
a major push to get vaccines
created, transported and into the
arms of Americans as swiftly as
possible.
“Deployment
without
delays,” Wyden said.
Because President Trump
at first dismissed, then down-
played, the exploding spread of
the virus, Wyden said, Trump
could never get beyond what the
crisis meant to him personally.
The national response became
politicized. When Trump him-
self was infected, he was given
emergency treatment using rare
medicines that allow for a swift
recovery. Instead of being chas-
tened by his brush with COVID,
Trump told Americans not to let
it control their lives, and he per-
sonally rarely wore a mask.
Even when the Trump-ini-
tiated Operation Warp Speed
helped scientists create two vac-
cines in less than a year, with
more to come, Trump was still
holding parties and large ral-
lies with supporters who did
not wear masks, spreading the
infection.
“He didn’t want to do the
hard work needed,” Wyden
said of a national fight against
COVID-19.
File photo
The Oregon Capitol building in Salem was the site of protests
last week.
Right-wing
protesters rally
outside Oregon
Capitol in Salem
Legislature begins
160-day session
Jan. 19
By George Plaven
and Peter Wong
EO Media Group
and Oregon Capital Bureau
Right-wing demonstra-
tors and supporters of Pres-
ident Donald Trump rallied
outside the Oregon State
Capitol on Jan. 6 as part of
a nationwide protest of the
2020 Election results.
Protesters also took the
opportunity to decry Gov.
Kate Brown’s COVID-19
emergency orders.
While the crowd of hun-
dreds had largely dispersed
after 2:30 p.m., video taken
by the Salem Reporter ear-
lier in the day showed vio-
lent clashes with count-
er-protesters that led Salem
Police to declare an unlaw-
ful assembly.
The police department
later Tweeted that no force
was needed to separate the
groups. One person was
arrested for harassment and
disorderly conduct.
Many protesters held
America, Gadsden and
Trump flags, and some
openly carried firearms.
They chanted, “Freedom!”
and hurled insults at Brown,
calling her a tyrant.
One man standing at the
Capitol Mall with a speaker
said it was “1776 all over
again.”
“This is America,” the
man called out to cheers of
support from fellow pro-
testers. “Communism will
never, never be America.”
No official activity was
scheduled inside the Ore-
gon Capitol on Wednesday.
Oregon electors had already
cast the state’s seven elec-
toral votes for Biden and
Harris on Dec. 8 during an
in-person ceremony that
was streamed live.
The Oregon Capitol has
been closed to the pub-
lic since March 18, after
the start of the coronavirus
pandemic.
Police sealed off the
building Wednesday after
Capitol authorities, antic-
ipating problems, decided
Tuesday night to close the
building to the few workers
who remain.
Metal shutters cov-
ered the glass doors at the
east and west entrances.
They already were in place
on the iconic revolving
doors at the north entrance.
About two dozen troopers
were stationed at the south
entrance, which faces Wil-
lamette University.
Wednesday’s
protest
was not the first instance
of potential trouble at the
Capitol, which was built in
1938.
Anti-lockdown,
pro-
Trump supporters briefly
occupied a vestibule on
the northwest side of the
building on Dec. 21, when
state lawmakers met for a
one-day special session.
They were ejected, and
police rebuffed their second
attempt to force their way
through the west entrance,
although they broke win-
dows on the doors. Five
men were arrested, and Ore-
gon State Police are seeking
the identity of another man
caught on camera.
Concrete barriers were
placed in front of the Cap-
itol on New Year’s Eve.
Salem Police arrested
three people during New
Year’s Day protests, which
extended to downtown and
the governor’s official resi-
dence at Mahonia Hall.
The Oregon Legislature
is scheduled to start its 2021
session on Monday, Jan. 11,
with the swearing-in of all
60 representatives and 16 of
the 30 senators, and the elec-
tion of the House speaker
and Senate president. The
organizational session is
expected to last a day.
Lawmakers get down to
business on Jan. 19, when
the clock starts on the 160-
day session.
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