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Gail Collins PAGE A22

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

A high-level New York City pan-el appointed by Mayor Bill de Bla-sio and other officials intends topropose a bailout for thousands oftaxi drivers trapped in exploit-ative loans that could cost asmuch as $500 million, several pan-el members said this week.

The panel, which has beenmeeting regularly since last sum-mer, wants a new public-privatepartnership to essentially absorbmuch of the debt that the driverstook on in recent years in order tobuy medallions, the city-issuedpermits that let them own cabs.Many of the medallions were soldat artificially inflated prices by in-dustry leaders who brought aboutone of the biggest speculative loanbubbles since the American finan-cial crisis.

The drivers, nearly all of whomare immigrants, were channeledinto reckless loans totaling bil-lions of dollars, leaving manybankrupt and struggling to sur-vive.

The proposal would call for thepartnership to buy medallionloans at discounted prices andease the burden on borrowers byforgiving much of the debt andlowering interest payments, panelmembers said.

Officials cautioned that theywere still working out the details

City May OfferAid to Cabbies

Mired in DebtBy BRIAN M. ROSENTHAL

Continued on Page A18

MOSCOW — Russia’s politicalorder, largely unchanged since theearly 1990s, was thrown into fe-verish uncertainty on Wednesdayafter President Vladimir V. Putinproposed sweeping constitutionalchanges that could extend hishold on power indefinitely.

Adding to widespread bewil-derment, Mr. Putin’s loyal protégépromptly resigned as prime min-ister, along with the rest of thegovernment.

Mr. Putin described his propos-als, announced in his annual stateof the nation address, as an effortto enhance democracy. But his po-litical rivals and many independ-ent analysts interpreted them

more as a strategy for keepingpower after the end of what is sup-posed to be his final term in 2024.

Mikhail M. Kasyanov, a formerprime minister under Mr. Putinwho is now a fierce critic, said thepresident had given a “clear an-swer” to questions about his fu-ture: “I will remain president for-ever.”

Few others found that degree ofclarity, especially after the sur-prise announcement shortly afterMr. Putin spoke that Prime Min-ister Dmitri A. Medvedev was re-

signing. Mr. Medvedev then tooka new job as deputy head of the Se-curity Council, an important bodybut one that will leave him littlespace, since it is headed by Mr.Putin.

Posing a question asked bymany shocked observers, DmitriSmirnov, a Kremlin reporter forthe Komsomolskaya Pravdanewspaper, said on Twitter: “Whyhas this all happened in a singleday?” His answer: “It just meansthat those in Kremlin know his-tory well: revolution has to bemade swiftly, even if it’s a revolu-tion from above.”

In his speech Wednesday, Mr.Putin proposed amending theConstitution to expand the powers

Putin Pushes Changes Likely to Extend His RuleBy ANDREW HIGGINS

President Vladimir V. Putin proposed constitutional amendments in Moscow on Wednesday.MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK, VIA REUTERS

Russia Is Bewildered asEntire Cabinet Quits

Continued on Page A5

WASHINGTON — The Houseof Representatives voted onWednesday to transmit two arti-cles of impeachment against Pres-ident Trump to the Senate, send-ing the president and his partyinto uncharted territory in adeeply divisive trial fraught withhistory and political risk.

In a choreographed ritual, theHouse formally appointed sevenDemocrats to serve as impeach-ment managers prosecuting thecase before the Republican-controlled Senate. The group si-lently marched two charges ofhigh crimes and misdemeanors,encased in slim blue folders,across the Capitol to set in motionthe third presidential impeach-ment trial in American history.

The proceedings commencingon Thursday will play out in a Cap-itol already rived by politics dur-ing a contentious election year.Among the senators who will besitting in judgment of Mr. Trumpwill be four Democrats who arerunning for president, jugglingtheir campaigns to defeat himwith their duties as jurors.

The trial is laden with peril forMr. Trump. He will face weeks ofpublic discussion of the allega-tions that he solicited foreign helpin the 2020 presidential election,abusing the power of his office andobstructing a congressional inqui-ry in the process. But the presi-dent is almost certain to cast hislikely acquittal as a complete ex-oneration and turn the consider-able apparatus of his campaign tostoke public outrage.

SENATE TAKES CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT,SETTING UP A TRIAL

Delivering Charges, House Appoints

7 Managers

By NICHOLAS FANDOSand SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — It is finallythe Senate’s turn. And if recenthistory is any guide, PresidentTrump’s impeachment trial willbe an intensely partisan display

that will make thepolarization of theClinton era looklike a bygone peri-od of political har-mony.

While Demo-crats and Republicans managedto unanimously come to terms onhow to start President Bill Clin-ton’s trial in 1999, the two parties— and their two leaders — aretoday irreconcilably divided onhow to proceed and whether thetrial is even legitimate.

Hanging over the showdown isa decade of intensifying Senateconflict exemplified by ruthlessparty-line rule changes, constantfilibusters, the Republican block-ade of Judge Merrick B. Garland,poisonous confirmation fightsand a dearth of legislative actionas Senate leaders shy from votesthat could threaten incumbentsup for re-election.

The Trump trial provides anopportunity for senators to showthat the institution can still riseabove brutal partisan combat ata moment of constitutional grav-ity. But there is little reason foroptimism as Senator Mitch Mc-Connell, Republican of Kentuckyand the majority leader, hasrepeatedly expressed deep dis-dain for the House proceedingsand the conduct of his politicalrivals across the aisle, a reflec-tion of the view held by most ofhis Republican colleagues.

“It is a bad beginning, but thatdoesn’t dictate the ending,” saidKent Conrad, a former Demo-cratic senator from North Dakotawho took part in the Clintonimpeachment trial. “We could

The seven House impeachment managers, led by the clerk and sergeant-at-arms, delivered the articles to the Senate on Wednesday.DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

A Bruised ChamberIs Unlikely to RiseAbove Its Brawls

CARL HULSE

TRUMP ON TRIAL

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump signed an initial trade dealwith China on Wednesday, bring-ing the first chapter of a pro-tracted and economically damag-ing fight with one of the world’slargest economies to a close.

The pact is intended to openChinese markets to more Ameri-can companies, increase farm andenergy exports and provide great-er protection for American tech-

nology and trade secrets. Chinahas committed to buying an addi-tional $200 billion worth of Ameri-can goods and services by 2021and is expected to ease some ofthe tariffs it has placed on Ameri-can products.

But the agreement preservesthe bulk of the tariffs that Mr.Trump has placed on $360 billionworth of Chinese goods, and it

maintains the threat of additionalpunishment if Beijing does notlive up to the terms of the deal.

“Today we take a momentousstep, one that has never been tak-en before with China toward a fu-ture of fair and reciprocal tradewith China,” Mr. Trump said at aceremony at the White House.

“Together we are righting thewrongs of the past.”

The deal caps more than twoyears of tense negotiations andescalating threats that at timesseemed destined to plunge theUnited States and China into apermanent economic war. Mr.Trump, who campaigned for pres-ident in 2016 on a promise to gettough on China, pushed his negoti-ators to rewrite trade terms thathe said had destroyed Americanindustry and jobs, and he imposedrecord tariffs on Chinese goods in

Trump Signs China Trade Deal, Pausing Sticky Economic ConflictBy ANA SWANSON

and ALAN RAPPEPORTPact Is Turning Point in

U.S. Trade Policy

Continued on Page A9

Cities like Lawrence, Mass., are waivingfares to fight inequality and emissions.Critics wonder who will pay. PAGE A10

NATIONAL A10-16

Where the Buses Are FreeLouis Vuitton has bought the 1,758-caratSewelo (above, with friends). For now,it resembles a big lump of coal. PAGE D2

THURSDAY STYLES D1-6

A Most Fashionable Diamond

As Riyadh relaxes restrictions on menand women working and socializingtogether, coffeehouses are on the frontlines of rapid change. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

Saudi Cafes Go Coed

A privacy law grants the right to seeand delete personal data. But the priceof access is often more details. PAGE B6

BUSINESS B1-6

Want Your Data? Give Up More

The mayor tweeted that he liked wholewheat bagels, lots of cream cheese —toasted. But his favorite shop has notoaster. The puns were fiery. PAGE A17

De Blasio’s ‘BagelGate’

A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora have bothbeen fired for cheating. So what do theMets do with Carlos Beltran? PAGE B7

SPORTSTHURSDAY B7-11

Mets’ Managerial Quandary

Starring in an adaptation of the novel“My Name Is Lucy Barton,” LauraLinney may be the most translucentfigure now on any New York stage, BenBrantley writes. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

A Perfect Match

If there’s a word for simultaneouslygasping, crying and laughing, that’swhat the TV show “Everything’s GonnaBe Okay” will make you do, JamesPoniewozik says. PAGE C1

Half Siblings, Whole FamilyRestarting military operations cametwo weeks after Iraq’s Parliament votedto expel American forces. PAGE A5

U.S. Resumes Missions in Iraq

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

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Global average temperature above or below the 1951 to 1980 average.

Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies THE NEW YORK TIMES

In the latest sign of global warming’s grip onthe planet, the past decade was the hotteston record, researchers said. Page A8.

Warmer and Warmer

MASON CITY, Iowa — KristenMarttila’s alarm went off at 6 a.m.on Saturday and soon she was fill-ing up two thermoses — one withhot water, one with soup — to girdfor the day ahead: a two-hourdrive to Mason City to campaignfor Senator Elizabeth Warren inthe icy cold.

As it happened, Ms. Warrenwas holding a town hall eventhere, and Ms. Marttila won a rafflethat allowed her to ask the finalquestion of the day. She began bydescribing what she had learned

across six miles of door knocking.“I talked to a lot of people today

who really, really like you,” shesaid. “They might even like youthe best. But they are reallyscared to vote for who they likethe best. Because they’re worriedthat not enough people feel thesame way.”

Then she posed perhaps themost urgent question facing Ms.Warren in 2020.

“What do we do,” she asked, “togive people the courage to vote for

Warren Confronts the SkepticsWho Fear Her Plans Go Too Far

By SHANE GOLDMACHER and SYDNEY EMBER

Continued on Page A16

THE ECONOMY American officialspredict growth. Some economistsare less optimistic. PAGE B1

New Jersey’s plan was one of the na-tion’s broadest, but vaccine skepticsmarshaled hefty opposition. PAGE A17

NEW YORK A17-19

How a Vaccine Bill Died

After the debate, Elizabeth Warren toldBernie Sanders, “I think you called mea liar on national TV.” PAGE A16

Warren and Sanders on Audio

DEFENDANT TALKS A key figure inthe Ukraine case says the presi-dent knew “everything.” PAGE A14

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,574 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020

Late EditionToday, sunshine and clouds, windsgusting to 45 miles per hour, high 49.Tonight, partly cloudy, winds sub-siding, low 22. Tomorrow, sunny,high 31. Weather map is on Page B8.

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