Dozens of cities vying for attention. See how this mayor is courting the company thats promising 50,000 new jobs. Oh boy. Pretty cool. [laughter] soledad im soledad obrien. Welcome to matter of fact. President trump is pursuing a strategy to deliver on his agenda, using the power of executive orders in part, he says, to force congress to do its job. Despite republican control of the house and senate, they have failed to pass any major element of the president s legislative agenda. In play or not infrastucture, keeping the government open by agreeing on a 2018 budget, changes to the Affordable Care act, a solution for dreamers, and immigration reform. And the top gop priority an overhaul of the federal tax system. Here to discuss the likely outcomes of Current White House and Congressional Strategies are republican political strategist Ford Oconnell and democratic strategist jamal simmons. Nice to see you guys. Jamal good to be here. Soledad lets dive right in. President trump has signed executive orders by october 12, he had. Some say the foc back anything obama has done. Other people say no he is really trying to deliver to his base. What do you think is the strategy here . Ford basically, think trump wants to make good on several campaign promises. The clock is ticking. Congress is useless and portions of his base are frustrated. And he knows he has got to a deliver. But obviously he would like to get a key legislative win in congress on tax reform. That is definitely his top priority. Soledad well t reform in a moment. It feels very chaotic. I mean, you dont feel like there is some negotiation toward a win. Jamal it is anything lets kill it. This is a total and complete utter failure. You have a president of the United States of the same party and the majority of the house of representatives. They cant pass a single piece of major legislation. We are now into october of his first year in office. By this point, president obama had already passed an economic package and they were on their way to passing a healthcare plan. This is soledad ford is fidgeting in his chair so badly to jump in. [laughter] ford what you have just done is made a wordplay on the word legislative process. In the first two years of president obamas term, he hadse to pass legislation in washington, you dont need a majority in the senate. You actually need 60 votes. Jamal or you have to do business with the other party. Ford or you have to do business with the other party, something in his first two years. And the only time you can pass with a majority in the senate is through budget reconciliation. So that is why we are where we soledad the democrats are in a lot of chaos. The republicans are probably in right . Thats fair to say. Jamal we lost our election. That is the thing. We lost on they won theirs. It is their turn to govern, and they are not doing it. Ford they definitely do have to deliver. It is the republic govern. But at the same time but at the same time, the democrats like to say, gee, look at what a mess the republicans are, but the democrats are in a lot of trouble too, particularly in what direction they go, and what exactly it is they want to accomplish. Soledad listen, you is cheering me up very much about the state of america today. [laughter] soledad but we move on. So going to be able to bring us tax reform . Ford well the question is whether he gets 60 votes or he does it with the republicans he has a chance to get 60 votes. But understand what it is what he wants to do. He wants to put money back into the pockets of hardworking americans. He also wants to boost wages and but that cant happen without0 votes. So that means he needs at least eight democrats in the senate, if all republicans agree. And essentially he has a very small chance to get that done, because there are 10 democrats up again who want to save their political livelihood in states that he won in 2016. It could happen. Most likely, we are only going to get tax cuts, though. Jamal yeah, here is the problem. If you are cutting taxes for the income bracket even more, the people in the middle and lower class who have been catching it for the last 20 years are going to be put in a tougher position. And if you want to run an election where you are telling people you took taxes down from the wealthy from 35 to 28 , lets have that conversation. Ford well no, but thats the whole point. This isnt everyone says tt tax reform is the devil is in the details. Thats not true. It is a messaging game. Based on what the white house is framing it right now, they are saying middle class households are going to get about 4000 back annually on their salary. That is a lot for a lot of people. 4000 a year is a ton. Heres the thing. We have some real problems to address. We have got to figure out how we educate population for a more we have got to figure out, how do we knit together a society that is going to be more diverse in the next 20 years than it was in the last 100. We have got some real problems. Taking money out of the federal treasury is not going to help solve those problems. Jamaal and ford, we will leave it there. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Jamal thanks for having us. Soledad you bet. Next on ma whats at risk in the Health Care Debate . Julie healthier consumers will move tow costefficient plans, leaving the sickest behind. Soledad are we cutting subsidies or cutti soledad and federal judges appointed for life. Only two people hold the power to block their appointments. Its called the blue slip tradition. Well explain why a small pie of paper matters to you. What if you had a medical emergency away from home . My chest hurts. I cant breathe. What you need is mobile help. Americas premier mobile medical alert system. Most systems only work at home. But with mobile help, you get help outside the home, with coverage nationwide on one of the largest cellular networks, at the press of a button. Call the number on your screen for a free, full color brochure. Well send you everything you need including this base station, the patented mobile device, and the waterproof pendant and wrist button. You can also add the fall button that automatically detects falls and signals help. Call today and receive a riskfree 30day trial. There is no equipment to buy and no longterm contract. For a limited time, you will also receive a free emergency key box with your plan purchase. Remember, mobile help keeps you safe coast to coast. Call kyle, we talked about this. Theres no monsters. But you said theyd be watching us all the time. No, no. No, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24 7. We just bundled home and auto and saved money. Thats nothing to be afraid of. But good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle. Hes never like this. I think somethings going on at school. [ sighs ] hes not engaging. Soledad some members of congress are pushing back against president trumps decision to cut health care subsidies. A bipartisan fix with an uncertain future is the work of republican senator Lamar Alexander of tennessee and democratic senator patty murray of washington state. Their proposal restores the subsidy payments canceled by the president for at least the next two years. The subsidies help pay for individual policies based on income. The deal includes money to promote the Health Care Exchanges which open on november 1. In return for those two items, the democrats agreed to expand eligibility for cheaper, catastrophic insurance. And they agreed to make it easier for states to opt out of some of the obamacare regulations. Still in place protections for people with preexisting conditions and coverage for mandatory services. Julie mix mcpeak is tennessees insurance commissioner and president elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. She joins us from nashville, tennessee. Nice to talk to you. Thanks for being with us. There was a letter that the Insurance Commissioners wrote to the Congressional Committee chairs, and they said basically, in a nutshell, that they are concerned that irreparable harm could be done to populations. What specifically are you concerned about . Julie our biggest concern is further segmentation of the risk in the market, and that the healthier consumers will move toward the more costefficient Association Health plans, leaving the sickest behind for the exchanges, which have already suffered some pretty adverse claims experience, and then of course premium increases as a result. Soledad so the sicker people stick with the exchanges. That of course then makes the exchanges nonviable. Julie that is exactly right. That is our largest concern. Soledad open enrollment begins around the corner on november 1, as you know. Funding was take advertising. Are you concerned about what is going to happen when people actually log on . Julie i am significantly concerned about Consumer Awareness of the changing Market Conditions on all Exchange Products nationally. We have seen a lot of carriers withdraw from the market. Consumers are going to have very limited choices for plans and benefit coverages, and we are trying to reach out to consumers to let them know it is critical that they look at their benefit options, that particularly Provider Networks and drug formularies make sure that their current levels of coverage remain to be in place with the limited options on the exchanges. Soledad the cbo predicts that it will be middle class people those people using the silver plan will be most affected. There is a Health Insurance analyst who says someone who is making 48,000 a year as an individual or 98,000 a year as a family of four is going pay the full amount of an increase in premiums. Is the middle class going to be hardest hit by this change . Julie that is exactly right. The middle class that is eligible for any kind of premium subsidy or tax credit to afford insurance are going to be the ones eligible for those reductions in copayments and coinsurance amounts, and if the funding is cut off, the premiums must be increased to cover those benefits. Those are still required to be paid under the aca. They can see those consumers could see rate increases of 15 to 20 , based on lack of fund soledad if the bipartisan plan we discussed went forward, what it would do is renew those subsidies for just two years, which to me sounds a bit like lets deal with this problem i 700andsomething odd days and not right at this moment. Is that basically what it would do . Julie not only that, but it really does put the states in a difficult position, because under cms guidelines, we have already approved rates for 2018. The clear majority of states included premium increases for these csrs not being funded. It does just postpone the debate for two years. And that regulatory uncertainty when theyre making participation decisions, not knowing whether csrs are going to be funded past october, or in the case of the legislation, for two years. And its really concerning for me and my colleagues to know that insurers are trying to decide whether to participate in markets when the rules are remaining pretty unclear. Soledad julie mix mcpeak, thank we appreciate it. Julie it is a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for having me. Soledad you bet. Fact, 70 matter of of victims dont report sexualhd neither do their coworkers. Chai people dont like seeing harassment happening. They are just clueless about what to do. What is the cost of silence . And cities delivering a message five stars. Well make you a package deal if you make us your corporate home. Will these grand gestures get i am your mayor. Food. Water. Internet. We need it to live. But what we dont need are surprises, like extra monthly fees. I see you, fee, played by legendary actress anjelica huston. You got me, mark. Internet for one everyday simple price and no extra monthly fees. Food. Water. Internet. We need it to live. For all the streaming and the shopping and the newsing, but most of all. For the this. Internet for one everyday simple price and no extra monthly fees. Soledad millions of posts on twitter and e scope of Sexual Harassment and assault. More than half a mil survivors have used the hashtag me too to reveal their experience, and more than 600 thousand facebook posts addressed the issue. Many are calling this the Tipping Point. All this spurred by a series of Sexual Harassment and abuse allegations against Film Producer harvey weinstein. The result a more open conversation about the experiences of those whove endured the abuse, the difficulties of reporting harassment, and why too many are silent bystanders. Chai feldblum serves on the equal Employment Opportunity commission. She focuses on employment civil rights issues and harassment prevention. Nice to have you with us. Chai thank you. Soledad so many questions for you, because this me too hashtag i was surprised at how effective it was, how it took off. Were you surprised by that . Chai im afraid i wasnt surprised, but i was gratified to see that women are stepping up and saying what happened to them, because that is key. Soledad it feels key, but only a start. For many of these women, someone is not named. They are just saying yes, as part of the sisterhood, i experienced this too. What does really it do . Chai right. So, it is interesting. Point. Use the idea of tipping i think we need two Tipping Points. One is a Tipping Point about conversation and information. The other Tipping Point is about change. Right . In the work that i have done at the commission, one of the mottos that i love was a James Baldwin statement that said, not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. Now, we are hopefully getting more of a focus on this. Now we need to give these women and employers a Strategic Plan of how to change, how to move forward, and how to get engaged bystanders in the workplace. Soledad how do you move out of how do you get the change of the silent bystander to move into that engaged bystander . Chai leaders have to decide that it is better to do Something Different than they have done before. You know what they have done before . They have swept things under the rug. They have gotten rid oe people who have complained. Now they have to realize that it is bad for business to have harassment happening. Often in companies, there are people making a lot of money for the company. Or they are wellknown, and employers make the wrong cost benefit decision. They decide that it is more costly to get rid of the person than to pay off the people raising the problems. It is not. I mean, the Research Shows that overall, in terms of impact of business, keeping a toxic worker will have ultimately have higher cost. We have to have supervisors realize that if them with a comy almost take it as a gift. Thank you for letting me know what is going on here, because now i will try to do something. Soledad what does the eeoc do for people who are victims of chai so, if you have been sexually harassed, you can come to the eeoc. Bring a charge. We will investigate. We will try to settle for you. We will try to get it to change. Soledad what is your guess about the percentage of people who come to you . Chai we dont have a guess. The survey data tells us that it is only about 15 of people who ever come. Most people stay silent. Soledad so 85 of people who feel they have been sexually harassed actually dont bother to come to you. Chai they dont bother to co to us. And in fact, 70 dont even complain internally. They dont talk to their they dont go to hr. They dont trust those people soledad last question for you. Are you hopeful that this moment in time will actually change the workplace culture, which i think is a very big ask . Chai it is a huge ask. But and optimist doesnt mean ignoring the reality on the ground. Optimist means recognizing the reality and based on that, pushing forward to make change. We have a moment here, because the issue is being faced in a very real way. I am optimistic if everyone in society, everyone from the media to Government Agencies to the regular person on the ground, works together to make change, yes, i think we can do something. Soledad Chai Feldblum is an eeoc commissioner. It is nice to have you with us. Thank you. Thank you, it has been a delight coming up t , trumps judicial vacancies, soledad giving him the potential to resha philosophies controlling the federal bench. How this blue slip of paper could hold up his nominees. And, how do you ship a cactus . Amazon knows the answer very and now to a weekly feature that we call were too busy. State gun control laws, abortion restrictions, voter laws, anti discrimination measures, and immigrant issues are all heard by federal judges who receive lifetime appointments. Thats why a challenge to a bipartisan tradition tied to their confirmation struck us as important to discuss. Its called the blue slip tradition. The blue slips are literally blue pieces of paper used by the home state senators of both parties, that must be returned the Senate Judiciary committee before a judicial nominee can be scheduled for a confirmation last week, gop Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell came out against blue slips. He and other leading republicans are asking for the tradition to be dropped. Why . He says democrats are using it to bottle up the nomination process and slow down appointments a process he advocated for during the obama presidency. Senate judiciary chairman chuck grassley, a republican from fellow republicans, and says he wont make any changes to the process. In fact, the process has made way for nearly 30 of president trumps nominees. President trumps inherited ov 100 judicial vacancies, giving him the potential to reshape the philosophies controlling the federal bench. The vacancies . The result of gop obstruction under the obama administration, often through the use of the blue slip process. We return, is your city g incentives, hoping theam one question did yot shipping . Soledad amazon has to deliver a big decision and soon. The company, based in seattle, is looking to build a Second Headquarters somewhere in north america a corporate campus for up to 50 thousand people and an investment of 5 billion to build it. The company is being wooed by cities and states across the country a competition that mirrors shark tank tactics, with pitches that include everything from financial incentives to quirky gifts. How do you size up the competition . New york city took the conventional route, promoting its workforce and available infrastructure. Tucson, arizona sent an unusual gift a 21foottall saguaro cactus. Unfortunately, amazon said they couldnt accept the gift, and donated it. Stonecrest, georgia announced its plan to rename a portion of the area amazon, georgia. And kansas city, missouri took to social media. The mayor posted pictures of his thousanditem buying spree all of the goods delivered to his office in familiar amazon boxes. The bidding war is not without controversy over how much cities should spend to snag the deal. While new Jersey Governor Chris Christie offered 7 billion in tax breaks, the mayor of san jose, california said his city would offer nothing. Even the city of little rock took out a full page add to say, the caveat from skeptics bem. Caawstore to get the online gia. Good luck to whoever gets the order. Im soledad obrien. Well see you next week on matter of fact. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] who are these people . The Energy Conscious people among us say small actions can add up to something. Humongous. A little thing here. A little thing there. Starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. Who are all these caretakers, advocates too . Turns out, its californians its me and its you. Dont stop now, its easy to add to the routine. Join Energy Upgrade california and do your thing. Robert handa hello, and welcome to Asian Pacific america. Im robert handa, your host for our show here on nbc bay area and cozi tv. We start with comedy in the south asian or desi comedy festival in san francisco. We like to showcase artists because the arts is an area where there are often not enough opportunities for talented asianamericans and pacific islanders. Well, this is one. Then we profile the Japan Society of northern california, its importance in the relationship between the bay area and japan, and its upcoming celebration. Next, a new group helping working families in Silicon Valley get more flexibility in their schedules by solving an important problem, transportation for their children. And then we close with another cultural showcase, our friends with the parangal dance company