Yxxx,2017-01-14,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
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National Edition
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VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,477
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2017
© 2017 The New York Times Company
Printed in Chicago
$2.50
House Clears
EXCESSIVE FORCE
Path for Repeal IS RIFE IN CHICAGO,
Of Health Law
U.S. REVIEW FINDS
Republicans Call Move
‘Critical First Step’
POLICE DEPT. REBUKED
By THOMAS KAPLAN
and ROBERT PEAR
AL DRAGO/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Representative Trey Gowdy and other House Republicans voted on Friday on a blueprint toward repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
U.S. Charges
Ethics Official Spoke. Some Ask, Was It Ethical?
vestigation. Mr. Chaffetz noted
Takata Officers
Mr. Shaub had made critical
Head of Agency Faces that
public comments, including in a
In Airbag Case WASHINGTON — Until re- Possible Inquiry for recent speech at a left-leaning
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
and STEVE EDER
By HIROKO TABUCHI
and NEAL E. BOUDETTE
United States prosecutors said
on Friday that they had charged
three executives at Takata, the
Japanese auto parts maker, with
fabricating test data to mask a fatal airbag defect, a striking turn in
a case that set off the largest automotive recall in United States history.
Prosecutors also announced
that Takata had agreed to plead
guilty to charges of wire fraud for
providing the false data, a rare
outcome for businesses accused
of wrongdoing. The company,
based in Tokyo, was also fined $1
billion.
The guilty plea and fine had
been widely expected, but the
charges against the executives intensified a scandal that has roiled
regulators, led to congressional
hearings and brought the Japanese manufacturer to the brink of
bankruptcy. The airbags, which
can rupture violently when they
deploy, have been linked to at least
11 deaths and more than 180 injuries in the United States.
“They falsified and manipulatContinued on Page B6
cently, few had heard of Walter M.
Shaub Jr. or the agency he leads,
the Office of Government Ethics,
viewed in Washington as an unloved but necessary barrier
against ethical violations by federal appointees.
But now Mr. Shaub, after speaking out about the ethics plans of
President-elect Donald J. Trump,
finds himself in a rare clash between Republicans and the independent agency, even facing the
threat of a congressional inquiry
into his own ethics.
The battle comes as the incoming
Trump
administration,
stocked with billionaires and multimillionaires from the presidentelect on down, presents complicated questions about conflicts of
interest. The office is already under assault from Republicans over
its pace in vetting Mr. Trump’s nominees, and the new clash could
bring the process to a near halt.
Mr. Shaub, a longtime government lawyer who has led the Office of Government Ethics since
2013, has been accused by Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah,
the Republican chairman of the
House Oversight Committee, of
playing politics and letting “public
relations” seep into the office’s
Criticizing Trump
ethical guidance. Mr. Chaffetz requested that Mr. Shaub be interviewed by committee staff members by the end of the month.
“I’m concerned that the person
in charge of our office of ethics is
not the most ethical person,” Mr.
Chaffetz said in an interview on
Friday, a day after he sent a stinging letter to Mr. Shaub raising the
possibility of a congressional in-
think tank, about Mr. Trump’s efforts to separate himself from his
business interests.
Mr. Chaffetz said his committee
had previously complained that
the ethics office had failed to adequately investigate Hillary Clinton over fees she was paid for
speeches she gave after leaving
her post as secretary of state. He
criticized Mr. Shaub for then proclaiming the fees aboveboard at a
public hearing.
A spokesman for the ethics
Continued on Page A11
WASHINGTON — The House
cleared the way on Friday for
speedy action to repeal the Affordable Care Act, putting Congress
on track to undo the most significant health care law in a half-century.
With a near party-line vote of
227 to 198, the House overcame the
opposition of Democrats and the
anxieties of some Republicans to
approve a budget blueprint that
allows Republicans to end major
provisions of President Obama’s
health care law without the threat
of a Democratic filibuster in the
Senate.
President-elect
Donald
J.
Trump, Speaker Paul D. Ryan and
other Republican leaders now
face a much bigger challenge: devising their own plan to ensure
broad access to health care and
coverage while controlling costs.
While their party is far from a consensus on how to replace the
health care law — under which
more than 20 million Americans
have gained health insurance —
they will need votes from Democrats in the Senate to enact a robust replacement plan.
Republicans have argued that
Americans have been crushed by
soaring premiums and other unintended effects of the law, which
was adopted without any Republican votes.
“This is a critical first step toContinued on Page A12
BIG INVESTORS A tiny Australian
drug maker has influential backers in Washington. PAGE A10
AFRICA POLICY The Trump transi-
tion team seems to signal a retreat on African aid. PAGE A11
Justice Dept. Rushed to
End Inquiry Before
Obama’s Exit
By JULIE BOSMAN
and MITCH SMITH
CHICAGO — A blistering report by the Justice Department
described far-reaching failures
throughout the Chicago Police Department, saying excessive force
was rampant, rarely challenged
and chiefly aimed at AfricanAmericans and Latinos.
The report, unveiled on Friday
after a 13-month investigation,
forced a public reckoning for a police department with a legacy of
corruption and abuse. It came as
the department grapples with
skyrocketing violence in Chicago,
where murders are at a 20-year
high, and a deep lack of trust
among the city’s residents.
Over 161 pages, the investigation laid out, in chilling detail, unchecked aggressions: an officer
pointing a gun at teenagers on bicycles suspected of trespassing;
officers using a Taser on an unarmed, naked 65-year-old woman
with mental illness; officers purposely dropping off young gang
members in rival territory.
The department’s missteps go
well beyond the officers on patrol,
the report said. After officers used
excessive force, their actions were
practically condoned by supervisors, who rarely question their behavior. One commander interviewed by the Justice Department
said that he could not recall ever
suggesting that officers’ use of
force be investigated further.
The investigation is the latest of
Continued on Page A15
For a Fragile Chelsea Manning,
‘Being Me Is a Full-Time Job’
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Most mornings at 4:30, half an
hour before the “first call” awakens inmates at the Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas, an alarm rings within an 80square-foot cell. Inmate 89289,
slightly built
with
short
hair, rises to
apply makeup
and don female undergarments and
a brown uniform
before
the still-slumbering men in
the adjacent Manning
cells stir.
That is the routine for Chelsea
Manning, America’s most famous
convicted leaker and the prison’s
most unusual inmate. She is serving the longest sentence ever imposed for disclosing government
secrets — 35 years — and her status as a celebrity of sorts and an
incarcerated transgender woman
presents continuing difficulties
for the military.
During the day, Ms. Manning,
who was an Army intelligence analyst known as Bradley Manning
when she disclosed archives of secret military and diplomatic files
to WikiLeaks in 2010, builds picture frames and furniture in the
prison wood shop. In the evenings, before the 10:05 p.m. lockdown, she reads through streams
of letters, including from antisecrecy enthusiasts who view her as
a whistle-blower.
“I am always busy. I have a
backlog of things to do: legal, administrative, press inquiries, and
writing — lots of writing,” Ms.
Manning wrote in response to
questions submitted by The New
York Times because the Army
does not permit her to speak directly to journalists. “Being me is
a full-time job.”
Continued on Page A16
TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Hero Revered for Forgiving His Attacker Is Laid to Rest
Officer Steven McDonald’s widow, Patti Ann, center, and his son, Conor, right, after his funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Page A17.
In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of Soda
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
What do households on food
stamps buy at the grocery store?
The answer was largely a mystery until now. The United States
Department of Agriculture, which
oversees the $74 billion food
stamp program called SNAP, has
published a detailed report that
provides a glimpse into the shopping cart of the typical household
that receives food stamps.
The findings show that the No. 1
purchases by SNAP households
are soft drinks, which accounted
for about 10 percent of the dollars
they spent on food. “In this sense,
SNAP is a multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidy of the soda industry,” said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and
public health at New York University. “It’s pretty shocking.”
For years, dozens of cities,
BUSINESS DAY B1-8
INTERNATIONAL A3-8
China Curbs Web-Detox Camps
China seeks to regulate camps that use
electroshock and drugs, above, on
youths addicted to the internet. PAGE A4
states and medical groups have
urged changes to SNAP, or the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to help improve
nutrition among the 43 million
poorest Americans who receive
food stamps. Specifically, they
have called for restrictions so that
food stamps cannot be used to buy
junk food or sugary soft drinks.
But the food and beverage industries have spent millions opposing such measures, and the
SPORTSSATURDAY B9-14
THIS WEEKEND
What’s Next for Wells Fargo?
46 Pairs of Expensive Sneakers
Many Wells Fargo products have been
mediocre, Ron Lieber writes. The bank
could mend fences, he says, by being
more generous, fair and clear. PAGE B1
LeBron James, eyeing Michael Jordan’s
legacy, tries to make a splash with a
very limited release.
PAGE B9
More VW Charges Possible
Two suspects were missing from this
week’s indictment of Volkswagen executives over emissions fraud.
PAGE B1
NEW YORK A17, 20
NATIONAL A9-16
New Face for an Old Symbol
The Mint will release a commemorative
gold coin featuring Lady Liberty as a
black woman.
PAGE A15
Cubans’ New Reality
Yakety-Yak to Clackety-Clack
Charges for Cleveland Officers
A change to American policy on Cuba
has upended plans for thousands who
hoped to come to the U.S.
PAGE A6
Starting this week, nearly all underground subway stations in New York
have cell service and Wi-Fi.
PAGE A20
Three men face administrative hearings
in the shooting of Tamir Rice, 12, whose
death set off national outrage. PAGE A14
U.S.D.A. has denied every request, saying that selectively banning certain foods would be unfair
to food stamp users and create too
much red tape.
While the report, published recently, suggests that a disproportionate amount of food stamp
money is going toward unhealthful foods, the U.S.D.A. said it was
unfair to single out food stamp recipients for their soft drink conContinued on Page A14
ARTS C1-6
‘Patriots Day’ Up Close
Peter Berg, the director of this film on
the Boston Marathon bombings, discusses why New Englanders have a
different reaction to his movie than
audiences elsewhere do.
PAGE C1
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19
Roger Cohen
PAGE A19
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