Economic and Policy Research an economist Jeffrey Sachs estimates 40000 people may have died in Venezuela since 2017 because of u.s. Sanctions visit Democracy Now dot org to see our recent interview with a kind of a sax in Colorado an 18 year old student was killed and 8 were injured Tuesday in a school shooting at the to stem school Highlands Ranch south of Denver authorities have taken 2 students into custody Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock spoke to reporters outside the school 2 individuals walked into the stem school. Got deep inside the school and. Engage students in 2 separate. Locations we do have 8 students that are in area hospitals right now. Several of them are in critical condition both of the suspects we believe are students of the stem school. They are not injured the stem school Highlands Ranch school is located just 7 miles from Columbine High School where 12 students and a teacher were shot dead 20 years ago April 20th 1909 the school is also about 20 miles from Aurora Colorado where a gunman killed 20 people at a movie theater in 2012 Tuesday shooting in Colorado came a week after 2 students were killed and 4 were injured and a mash rooting at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. The New York Times has obtained tax information on Donald Trump showing his businesses lost more than $1000000000.00 from 1905 to 1904 while Trump continues to refuse to release his tax returns the times of Tain printouts from his official lie arrest tax transcripts for 10 year period ending in $94.00 in multiple years during that stretch Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual taxpayer in the United States in 1991 trump lost more than a quarter of a 1000000000 dollars each year more than double any other individual u.s. Taxpayer according to I arrest documents in 8 of the 10 years Trump paid no federal income taxes we'll have more on this story after headlines with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston and news from Washington tension continues to escalate between Congressional Democrats and the trumpet ministration the House Judiciary Committee is preparing to vote today on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to provide lawmakers with an unredacted copy of the Miller report the Justice Department's now advising Trump to invoke executive privilege over the entire unredacted report and underlying evidence in related news the White House has directed former counsel Don again not to comply with a congressional subpoena to hand over documents related to the Russia probe Meanwhile f.b.i. Director Christopher Ray appears to have directly contradicted his boss Attorney General William Barr on whether federal authorities spied on the Trump campaign in 2016 last month Barr said quote spying did occur on Tuesday Ray says he has not seen any evidence of illegal surveillance Georgia's Republican governor Brian Campese signed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country the law bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected which often occurs at around 6 weeks into pregnancy before many women even realize they're pregnant the new log. Into effect January 1st the American Civil Liberties Union Planned Parenthood southeast and the Center for Reproductive Rights have announced plans to challenge the abortion ban reproductive rights groups are also challenging fetal heartbeat bills that were recently passed in Mississippi and Kentucky will speak with former Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards and labor news and lift drivers are planning to strike today and over a dozen cities ahead of his debut on The New York Stock Exchange while expected to be valued as high as $90000000000.00 The driver say they have not benefited from mover success citing low earnings and no benefits over driver Esta funny St Joost is taking part in the strike in Los Angeles. You know it was good that I could I was able to make probably. I would say. Easily over a $1000.00. And still have 2 days off. Seem to make sense of well now. I haven't had a day off since January. Because I can't afford. Any other labor news tens of thousands of teachers in Oregon are planning to walk out of classes today forcing at least $23.00 school districts to preemptively cancel school the teachers are calling for legislators to increase school funding and reduce large class sizes the family of Sandra Bland is calling for authorities to reopen its investigation into her death the 28 year old African-American woman died in a Texas jail cell and 20153 days after she was arrested for allegedly failing to signal a lane change authorities have claimed Sandra bland committed suicide while in jail by hanging herself with a garbage bag but her family has long rejected this claim on Monday the Dallas t.v. Station f.a.a. Aired cell phone video filmed by Bland capturing the moment when she was pulled over in the 39 2nd video you can see the officer Brian and Cynthia drawing his stun gun and saying I will light you up. Yes or No Why am I being abrogated you're trying to give me it's not the sort of failure why am I being everyday did you get a market card or you just open my guard or so you go you're going to drag me out of my own car you know the plan and then you have you know I mean look dude wow now wow do you know the doorbell you know thing no you do and I'll bet it's more you know everybody here right yeah yeah let's take the court let's do it for failure to signal you know for failure to signal the phone not you I'm not on the phone I have a regular short this is not property this is not crowded I'm sorry Put your phone right now attorneys for the blind family say the cell phone video proves the officer lied when he claimed he felt his safety was in jeopardy when he pulled over Sandra bland The actress Pamela Anderson visited Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange at the high security Belmarsh Prison in London Tuesday his son just serving a 50 week prison sentence for skipping bail and Britain and faces possible extradition to the United States to face charges related to the Chelsea Manning Leaks Pamela Anderson spoke outside the prison after seeing him. It's been a very difficult to see. Here and to make really really the president to get to Melissa played such a difficult. Does not deserve to be in a supermax prison he has never committed a violent act he's an innocent person he's sacrificed so much. Bringing out so we deserve the truth. And the full again I'm sorry I missed. The feel of. Anderson was wearing a cloak covered with references to the history of free speech in Britain as well as prisons tyranny and the levelers President Trump us pardoned a former us soldier who was found guilty of unpremeditated murder for killing an unarmed Iraqi personnel in 2008 the soldier 1st Lieutenant Michael the henna drove an unarmed Rocky person or into the desert for an interrogation he then stripped the prisoner naked interrogated him a gunpoint then shot him in the head and chest and I was initially sentenced to 25 years in 2009 he was released on parole in 2014 in a sham c.e.o. Of the American Civil Liberties Union criticized Trump's move she said quote this pardon is a presidential endorsement of a murder that violated the military's own code of justice and those are some of the headlines This is Democracy Now democracy now or of the war and peace report I mean we couldn't in a major Expo say the New York Times has attained tax information on Donald Trump that shows his businesses lost more than a $1000000000.00 from 1905 to $94.00 while Trump continues to refuse to release his tax returns the Times obtained printouts from his official i.r.s. Tax transcripts for a 10 year period ending in 94 and multiple years during that stretch Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any. Other individual taxpayer in the United States and both $990.91 trump lost more than $250000000.00 more than double any other individual u.s. Taxpayer according to i.r.s. Documents in 8 of the 10 years Trump paid no federal income taxes to unpack these revelations we're joined from Rochester New York by David Cay Johnston the twice Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times now founder and editor of d.c. Report dot org He's been reporting on Donald Trump since the 1980 s. His most recent book It's Even Worse Than You Think what the trumpet ministrations doing to America and he's just published a piece in The Daily Beast it's headlined Trump's tax Lake handset potential fraud investigations that begins the myth of Donald Trump the modern lightest who turns to gold all that he touches died Tuesday afternoon David Cay Johnston Welcome back to Democracy Now what were you most surprised by in this New York Times x. This a and explain exactly what they got ahold of it wasn't the actual tax returns of Donald Trump from the eighty's to ninety's what was it the Times got from a source who properly had them what are called tax transcripts of the i.r.s. Takes information from your tax return and puts it into a summary. Agents work from so it is the official numbers of the Times has some of Fred Trump's tax returns Fred is Donald's father and the numbers line up perfectly for those areas where they would need to be consistent so we can rely that this is highly accurate data on what Trump told the i.r.s. In his tax returns who would have access what is a sign of information David. Oh a lot of people if you've taken out a mortgage you signed a form saying that you were submitted to having your tax information given to your lender when Trump was raising money on Wall Street he might have had to supply this litigants may have gotten it and of course his own family and staff and advisors would have this information so there are numerous copies out there of of this and other top tax information just as with the 2005 trump tax return that was mailed to my home here in Rochester so took about exactly what has been exposed this he lost more than a $1000000000.00 more than any u.s. Taxpayer. Yes almost $0.02 of every dollar reported as losses one year by everyone in the United States were reported by Donald Trump and what this shows is something I've been saying and writing about Trump for 30 years he's a terrible businessman his business model is not to get an enterprise to nurture it to grow it to make it more profitable over time his business model is the same as a mob bust out get your hands on the Enterprise squeeze all the cash out of it don't pay your vendors try to cheat as best you can your employees don't pay the bankers and Trump once said I borrowed money knowing I wouldn't pay it back and then leave the carcass and go on to the next deal that's why the art of the deal is so significant mall of this because Trump's business model is to rip off one person after another who gets involved with him thinking he will make them wealthy while he is destroying their wealth Donald is after Bernie made off arguably the greatest wealth destroyer in American history President Trump tweeted at 4 am this morning Eastern time real estate developers in the 1980 s. And ninety's more than 30 years ago were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would if one was actively building show losses and tax losses in almost all cases much was non-monetary sometimes consider tax shelter you would get it by building or even buying you always wanted to show losses for tax purposes almost all real estate developers did and often renegotiate with banks it was sport Additionally the very old information put out as a highly inaccurate fake news hit job exclamation point Trump tweeted for this morning your response David Cay Johnston. Well buildings are depreciated by owners and many big real estate developers routinely report losses on their tax returns but Donal didn't have anywhere near the value in the buildings he controlled to take the kind of losses you're seen and he doesn't mention things like he bought the old Eastern Airlines shuttle with its broken down aging gas guzzling jets and lost $7000000.00 a month and did numerous other business deals where he just lost money left and right so he's taken a little element of truth if you're a major real estate family you probably don't pay income taxes and tried to make that cover all of this other stuff in terms of losses that are way out of proportion but more importantly you know Donald Trump held himself out as this great deal maker this genius businessman he pushed himself into the front of the pantheon of the economic heroes who were lionized in the eighty's for making money without any regard to how they made it when he didn't belong in their league at all to those of us who've been covering him closely and not buying at the surface what he says but checking the facts the broad story here isn't true the size of the losses however is stupendous much larger than I ever imagined whom was backing him talk about the banks and there seems to be some unexplained. Large sum of money that he got at that time $52900000.00. Yet Trump reported one year for almost $53000000.00 of interest now if he'll Treasury notes that means he had over $660000000.00 of Treasury bonds and if they were junk bonds of more than 350000000 we know from other things that Trump had disclosed over the years that he didn't have a portfolio anywhere like that so the question is did he report some income that was from some other source he was trying to hide as interest and then the question would be was it benign and if Arius and I would point out that this was during or right after the period when we know that Donald Trump was very deeply in tangled with the international cocaine trafficker Joseph wax Obama so deeply in Tangled and does so many favors for him that I've said and I'll say again the only logical explanation for his conduct is that Donald was in the cocaine trafficking business with Joe what's Obama and Donald if you're listening sue me if you think you can prove what I just said isn't true. The backers of Trump were banks up until 990 when he could not pay his bills as they came due and Don and I had a conversation one day we're right I said Sandwich you were at Donald $3000000000.00 And I said I don't believe you and he was agitated about that but I said Don Lemon I'm a reporter I'm a journalist I can pay my bills as I come do if you actually had $3000000000.00 you would find a way to pay your bills by the way later that day he told another reporter he was worth $5000000000.00 which tells you that he just makes this up he's a con artist he's a criminal he's off fraud and once the banks realized that they'd been had nobody would loan money to him anymore except Deutsche Bank which was the preferred bank for Russian all of that is the criminal gang around but I'm reputed to launder their money so you have written that. Congress should investigate. Fully what we know Trump was that Trump was faking his wealth and may have been vulnerable to foreign espionage you also say the new reporting by The Times also hints at what may be more trumped tax fraud and which there is no statute of limitations when it is criminal rather than civil What does that mean criminal. Well we don't prosper we don't seriously enforce the criminal tax laws in this country there are over $150000000.00 tax returns filed this year and there will be maybe $800.00 prosecutions and many of those will be connected to either drug trafficking or bribing politicians it's one of the major shortcomings in our law but Donald Trump had 2 civil tax fraud trials and he lost both of them in it one of them his own longtime tax lawyer and accountant who is also his father's tax lawyer and accountant Jack Mitnick testified under oath quote That's my signature on the tax return but neither I nor my firm prepared that tax return that is criminal tax fraud and that Donald Trump was not prosecuted at the time goes to how he's been very effective at hiring lawyers to intimidate journalists to persuade governments of these not worth the time to go after and cheat the system. So if Congress gets its hands on his tax returns and I'm confident they will and if not they'll get his returns from New York State which are virtually identical I'm sure they will show that Donald Trump like Richard Nixon is a criminal tax cheat and let's remember Richard Nixon's lawyer went to prison the only reason Richard Nixon didn't go to prison was he was pardoned by Gerry Ford. Well I want to thank you very much for being with us a small correction I said trying to we did it for a young a smart and it's actually 7 am It was 4 am calling Frank a 2nd I only have I only have one Pulitzer Amy Ok. To corrections there David Cay Johnston I want to thank you so much for being with us Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter previously with the New York Times now founder and editor of d.c. Report dot org He's been reporting on Donald Trump For decades his latest book It's Even Worse Than You Think what the trumpet ministration is doing. To America this is Democracy Now when we come back and new organization has been formed it's called super majority stay with us. And I'm. Being called. A. Knot in. This is. The people over. There. For the love of money by the O'Jays This is Democracy Now I mean a good man is a 2020 election season heats up we turn now to the launch of a new political action group by 3 prominent women's rights activists it's called super majority its goal is to train a new generation of women activists to take on grassroots campaigns and at electoral politics. We are the majority of Americans we are the sure there's where the majority of grassroots volunteers and donors government should look like us the syllabi how government should look like us that. Are you should fight for us the only way we can make that happen is by standing shoulder to shoulder with the women who believe this too maybe you fought for change for decades demanding equality in your home in your workplace from your government maybe you're just getting started let's work together. Supermajority is a new organization for women who want to build their collective power and use it to change this country for good. Because one of us can be dismissed 2 of us can be ignored but together we are just the majority we are a super majority and we are on the stoppable. Let's make sure the entire country knows it that's the promotional video for super majority the new political action group call was founded by black lives matter co-founder Lee should the execrate director National Domestic Workers Alliance and former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards who joins us now in our studio Cecile Welcome back to Democracy Now 1st time in this position as one of the heads of super majority but one of the founders I think there is like so many women now that are coming out of the woodwork to do this work and so explain what you're doing you know so well you know I spent 12 years of Planned Parenthood organizing women around a certain set of issues bitterly reproductive health and health care access my my colleagues and I have been doing the same work with different groups of women and we realize that actually there even millions more women that we haven't organized in that are but certainly since those election about raising their hand and saying I want to do war I've never been so the Glee engaged I've never been politically involved and so we've spent the last few months actually traveling around the country listening to women about what they need and want and what they want they want to be activists. And I think there is a as you saw in the video there is a sense that women are were doing where the majority of voters 54 percent of women voters last election were women where the volunteers were increasingly the donors increasingly the candidates and it's time for political equity so that's the idea behind super majority we want to build a multi-racial intergenerational movement to increase women's power political power and civic engagement you've talked about a new deal for women well that's what I think and I think you know Elise and I John would say the same which is you know women again do most of the work around political campaigns and candidates and yet the issues that women talk to us about on the road the lack of affordable child care in the United States the fact that maternal mortality rates are at epidemic levels the fact that equal pay gets a lot of lip service but we never actually make progress these are issues that we believe need to be front and center of any political campaign and although I'm so grateful that there are so many women running for president raising this issues they need to be raised by anybody who wants to be president States so how did you come up with the title super majority I guess is just that you know women I think aren't just the majority I think women have superpowers and they've been expressing that and showing that and I think actually I think it's kind of caught on and in fact just we we launched I guess a week ago and we've now had more than 80000 folks sign up and that's before we really even begin to get on the road so I feel like there's a real need and interest in the country. Particularly among women who want to become better activists more effective AK actress they want to know what other women are doing and how they can support them as well I want to turn to elation Garza leashes away so we were able to bring her on with you today and we should Garza co-founder of Black lives matter in 2017 and she spoke on Democracy Now about how women of color must be included in political organizing especially against sexual assault and harassment. Women of Color immigrant women black women who are low wage workers are extremely vulnerable to this kind of abuse and violence and frankly because of the lack of protections that exist or to be honest the marginalization that these communities already experience in our society in our economy and in our democracy there really is not only not conversation about the prevalence in which this is happening to women of color and immigrant women in the service industry but there's also not a lot of conversation about what the solutions look like outside of criminalizing the perpetrators or the survivors themselves so that very important black lives black lives matter co-founder Alicia Garcia who is one of the co-founders of this new organization with the sale Richardson called super majority so how do you think organized this. Multi Racial coalition I mean when it came to voting in 2016 wasn't something like 62 percent of white women voted for President Trump that actually I don't think that is the number but definitely a plurality of white women voted for President Trump and I do look I think that this is work that women want to do not only to learn how to be better activists to work across issues but also to work across race lines because I think there was a real recognition among a lot of white women is that you know we're not that we cannot continue to rely on women of color to sort of save this country or save us from ourselves and it is important we do this work as well and intentionally in a multi-racial way and one of the things I But you know I'm going to organize around a whole life Amy And so this is to me a very important and exciting moment where I'm seeing women across the country in Midwestern states in southwestern states come into rooms with women they've. Never met before and say this is the most exciting thing I've ever been able to do is actually meet with women who also care passionate at the same issues I do and we need to do this work together and I can't I'm so glad you had the clip from Elisia I think she's one of the most phenomenal leaders in this country and I Janet's well but there are thousands and thousands war and that's really what we're seeking to do is to make sure that these women's voices are being lifted up that they're feeling that the empowered supported and that they could be active in getting other women involved what would be the role of unions supermajority education friends leadership committee includes Mary Kay Henry the international president of Sci you how will you reach into unions Well it's I mean of course I came out of the labor movement so I have enormous respect for the work that none of the labor movements doing particularly and the teachers movement as we know there been wildcat strikes by teachers overwhelmingly or women across the country are some teachers are striking today it's just I mean it's a it's a it shouldn't be on the public school teachers of this country to say the public education system but this is where we see over and over again women basically taking action where government is failing them and so absolutely the teachers the labor unions they also majority of these organizations are women and they want to walk work across issue lines as well and and I'm really grateful to Mary Kay for being an important leader and not only the labor movement but understanding that we can build power women across this country I want to ask you about a comment of the new head of the n.r.a. Carolyn Meadows she's there because it was just ousted. She apologized after coming under fire for attacking fellow Georgian Democratic freshman Congress member Lucy neck Bath who lost her son to gun violence a few years ago Jordan Davis in Florida he was a teenager who was shot dead when he was sitting in a call. Are in a gas station parking lot Meadows said the reason Lucy make path one was not because she was anti gun but because she was a minority female your thoughts Well of course that was one of the worst I mean there are so many things about this I see let me go back Lucy Macbeth is a national hero the fact that a woman who went through what she did lost her child and then committed herself to addressing the criminal justice system in this country is phenomenal and the fact that she's in Congress is is so fantastic of course she was elected in a majority Anglo district she was not elected because she was a woman of color but frankly despite the fact that she was a woman of color and I think it is an enormous testament to her to her candidacy to her leadership and it's also a testimony to the important role that Stacy Abrams is playing and has played in the state of Georgia to increase participation of of all people but the dearly people of color and because you open the topic of Georgia which I hope will talk about in a minute because this outrageous bill that has been announced signed by the governor if you know I spent time with in Georgia with with Stacy Obviously if every person in that state had been allowed to vote and if their vote had been counted Stacy Edwards would be governor today and would be serving as well as having Lucy McGrath in Congress Well let's talk about what's just happened in Georgia the Republican governor who beat Stacy Abrams Brian Kemp who is secretary of state and she has sued over his both remaining secretary of state in charge of the elections and running for governor but the Republican Governor Bryant camp has signed into law a 6 week abortion ban or so-called fetal heart the law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected something that typically happens just 6 weeks into a pregnancy and before many women realize they're pregnant This is Camp speaking at the signing of the bill on Tuesday. The life is very simple but also very powerful a declaration that all life has value that all life matters and that all life is worthy of protection I understand why others have said that some oppose this legislation. Some might challenge it in the court of law but our job is to do what is right. Not what is used. We are called to be strong and courageous. And we will not now we will always continue to fight for life so that's George's Republican governor Brian can the latest and serious attacks on reproductive rights across the u.s. Last month Ohio governor Mike De Wine also signed into law a 6 week abortion ban legislation doesn't include exceptions for cases of rape or incest when I think 2 dozen other states are considering legislation to ban or restrict abortion in various ways among the slew of strategies or trigger bans to make abortion completely illegal in a state should Roe v Wade be overturned as well a 6 week abortion bans respond to camp and what's happening across the country well obviously the the hypocrisy of this just that clip you played is underscored by the fact that in fact there is a crisis in this country and that is maternal mortality rates which are the highest in the developed world I actually believe Georgia has the 2nd highest rate of maternal death related to pregnancy of any state so if there is actually a medical crisis in Georgia it's about women dying as a result of our complications from childbirth so that's on the one side governor can actually want to do something about a real problem that's something that they could address but you hear him say nothing about that and of course it's higher for women of color I think 3 times the rate for black women than it is for white women this bill though not only is it unconstitutional and I believe will be declared so but one of the things he doesn't mention is that it actually criminalizes women as well it doesn't just make abortion illegal it basically would allow women to be convicted and either sentenced to death or to life imprisonment in Georgia so we are now going from not only making abortion illegal I believe goal but criminalizing women who make this decision that has. But been constitutional now for more than 40 years the United States of America I mean this is and I think it directly relates back to the work we talked earlier about supermajority I think women are tired of basically being seen as a special interest as a side issue these are issues that affect every single woman in this country so what exactly are you going to be doing you talked about mobilizing when there are you registering women well I mean I think eventually as we get into next year but right now what women are raising their hand saying they want to be trained they want to and we actually just did a call yesterday with about 1500 women the 1st 1st folks that signed up to do a call they want to be trained in active activism they want to know how to actually affect legislation and they absolutely are going to be part of designing a new deal for women so that in this all important presidential election Amy as well as all the other elections that are being going to be going on that candidates and one who wants to be elected has to respond to the issues that women care about and so that will be a lot of the organizing work we're doing both online and offline in the coming months for Democratic women have now announced their plans to run for president the significance of this for you and will you be endorsing I think the importance of obviously there's there's no way to overstate the importance of women running for president and I'm thrilled that they are and I think they're raising issues that have long been needed to be raised I think it's just serving to see what I believe is a real double standard in how they are being treated versus the many many many men that are running for president you know 2 thirds of political reporting is still done by men and so I'm hoping that both through supermajority through other folks that follow the media we can actually be lifting up the important work that these women have done as you probably know these are women who in large part have never lost a political race and so when people talk about women being unelectable I think it's really important to look at their record because. It stands up really in contrast to a lot of a lot of the men who are actually in the race right now today the House Ways and Means Committee is holding its 1st ever hearing on paid family and medical leave what do you want to see come out at this hearing I think it's one it's incredibly important you're reporting that I think it's been under reported we're the only developed country with no nationally mandated family leave policy this is an issue that every person in the country that I talk to raises the difficulty of taking care of their families and their children of their of their loved ones of their parents I think the important thing and where I believe supermajority can play a real role is lifting up what is happening in Congress so that anyone in the United States Senate is held accountable about where they vote on this issue this should be and could be the 1st thing that the new president signs into law and just a correction what I said earlier and that you question is 52 percent of white women voted for President Trump in 2016 although Pew put it at something like 47 percent not 52 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump according to the Pew Research Center they found 45 percent voted for Hillary Clinton Yes And that's that's why there have been different numbers come out definitely a plurality of white women but one of the things I think is also worth looking at Amy is in this last election and 28 team were reelected a record number of women to Congress a record number of women of color to Congress actually for the 1st time in years white women split their votes evenly between Democratic and Republican candidates now that's not true across the board it depends on the state but I do think there is really a growing recognition that there are opportunities to talk to women about the important issues they care about and how the candidates stand how is it that though there is a clear pro-choice majority in this country yes most states are imposing some kind of abortion ban Well because if you look at who is actually. I mean look at my home state of Texas where we've had the most gerrymandered districts for years and have been fighting in court forever so I would say the state legislature is in a lot of these states including Texas are not representative of the majority of people you pile on that as we know the restrictions on voting for people in this country Georgia Texas many many states we don't have a representative democracy one of the things we need this country is we need to mark receive reform and I know that's something that Stacy Abrams is fighting for Indra Gillum other folks this is really important because we can't have a true democracy that represents the majority of people unless everybody can vote and every vote is counted finally how much does your mother and Richards the former governor of Texas. Influence her legacy and fluence what you're doing today moving from Planned Parenthood to super majority Well I think I'd like to think that that Ann Richards would have would be the 1st one of the early sign folks to sign up for super majority she believes so profoundly in the importance of democracy representing all people not only women people of color people who have been under represented and I think that's actually what most people in this country believe and I'm grateful to Mom I'm grateful to the obviously centuries women the people of color and women of color who fought to make this is stronger democracy and now it's on the rest of us to keep that going to see overexercising so much for being with us co-founder of super majority former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund when we come back Congress holds the 1st hearings on the way that's the Equal Rights Amendment and more than 3 decades Stay with us. Then. This is Democracy Now I'm Amy Goodman. Colony of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state and account of sex Those are the words of the Equal Rights Amendment which may be heading toward ratification decades after it was 1st considered by the American public following a powerful hearing on Capitol Hill last week activists and lawmakers testified before a House judiciary subcommittee in the 1st congressional hearings on the e r a in more than 35 years the constitutional amendment was approved by Congress in 1972 and was ratified by 35 states over the next decade 3 states short of the required total needed by in 1902 deadline Nevada and Illinois have since ratified the amendment a bill by Congress member Jackie Spear would eliminate the 1982 deadline leaving the ira just one state away from becoming a part of the us constitution this is actor and activist Patricia Arquette speaking at the hearing. Why didn't women achieve full constitutionally quality in 787982 because the country wasn't ready Well I hope you're ready now because women have been waiting 232 years for the quality in this country and it's failed them legislators have blocked the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for decades but we're done waiting Well for more we're joined by the co-presidents and C.E.O.'s of the Iraq coalition fun for women's equality Carol Jenkins and Jessica Neuwirth Jessica Neuwirth is also the author of the book equal means equal why the time for an Equal Rights Amendment is now Carol Jenkins and Jessica Neuwirth welcome you both to Democracy Now Kara let's begin with you what is it that you see could happen in 20192020 that hasn't happened in u.s. History Well 2 things the coalition is now working on 2 ways forward to the array being ratified One is we need the 38th state we think we're very close to that we've got as far as 37 and a half states Virginia Virginia Senate passes the House denied it so we would call that getting as close as you can get without getting there we think Virginia will be the next possibility for us as well there's an election in November and if they manage to turn the state blue they could take up the area again in January so we're just that close the other states searching on rather 5 states all working for that the reason we were in the Judiciary Committee last week was to get Jackie Spears bill marked up and voted on and that would be the removal of the deadline completely which is a barrier to the conversation not necessarily a barrier to ratification but to the conversation about the Equal Rights Amendment . Jessica Neuwirth you've been organizing and writing about this for decades explain the history of the Equal Rights Amendment especially for young people who may have no idea what this is all about well I was in college when the $992.00 deadline passed so I wasn't an active part actually of the of the 1st wave. Activism in the 1970 s. But really it goes all the way back to 1023 right after women got the right to vote in 1020 and Alice Paul and others drafted the Equal Rights Amendment it was introduced in 123 finally passed in 1972 I think there's just a long history of movement and it came so close even in 1902 just 3 states and if you talk to people who were active then it was literally just a handful of votes in a couple of states that made the difference so now with the power of social media and all of these new young women and men who have grown up really in a different culture where I think this is this is not only a not a no brainer it's just absurd to them that we don't have constitutional quality which is also true around the world I think people look at us and they just don't understand why we wouldn't have this basic provision in our Constitution which almost every other constitution has. So let me go to the testimony the hearing that took place last week I want to go to the House Judiciary Committee hearing in her opening remarks Kathleen Sullivan said the u.s. Constitution is exceptional in not including a gender equality clause United States Constitution the world's oldest written constitution is also the only major written constitution in the world that lacks a provision declaring that men and women are equal. And now is the chance to correct that omission that stain that embarrassment about our Constitution through the ratification by just one more state of the 1972 amendment just to give some examples the French Constitution provides that the law guarantees to the woman in all spheres rights equal to those of ban the German constitution provides that men and women have equal rights and that nobody shall be prejudiced or favored because of their sex the Constitution of India provides that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen I'm grams of sex and every written constitution promulgated since World War 2 contains a sex equality provision. How is it possible that the Iraqi hasn't been passed Carol and talk about that history and what. Olds Do you have showing how many Americans what percentage of American support Well the research that we've done indicates that 94 percent of all Americans of it every color political persuasion age supports equality constitutional equality for women the problem is that 80 percent of those people think that we already have it they cannot believe that in the United States we do not have this in our constitution so I think that it has been a long journey almost 100 years if we get this since Ellis Paul introduced it in 1923. That we've been on this this March towards the equality what states are you focusing on if it's just one state away if it's just one state away we're looking at Virginia. Louisiana has a possibility Arizona they all say we've put it in the terms of there is the math and there's the magic you know the math in many instances is against us just by a little bit or by a lot but magically what could happen if a person who has not supported the e-rate suddenly wakes up and says you know it's time for this to happen you know it's just unconscionable that the Constitution of the United States does not include women can you talk about intersectionality and the air raid the importance of African-American leadership around me are I well we are at this moment because of women of color because of black women Spearman in 2017 magically got Nevada to ratify the e r a and those of us who had been working on this for years looked at each other and we said Does this count and our legal people said yes it does scout and then the next year Illinois did the same thing extraordinarily Julianna struck who's now lieutenant governor there was a. Powerful voices on it in the Illinois House to make sure that the area got passed and now in Virginia we have several black women who are in the forefront including Jennifer McClelland in the Senate Jennifer Carroll for a who was the chief sponsor in the House of Delegates and we remember we came so close that was shockingly close one vote away from me or a Jessica Neuwirth How does the array address transgender discrimination or we are a group of discrimination on the basis of sex and right now actually the Supreme Court has a case has taken a case and will decide what that word means and whether it includes transgender. Let me go back to 1976 This is Good Morning America hosting a debate between fellows Schlafly and Betty for Dan on the Equal Rights Amendment this is conservative activists Schlafly who was at the time the chairwoman of the stop a campaign. Raise a big attack on the rights of the homemaker the laws of every state make it the obligation of the husband to support his wife to provide her with a home to support their minor children the woman in the home can draw Social Security benefits based on her husband's earnings even though she's been a homemaker all her life now all these things will be lost when you apply a rule that says that everything must be equal now until you can make it equal for men to have the babies just like women then it is a double burden to the women to say that the rules for family support should be equal on the husband on the y e r a ends up in taking away the right of the wife to be supported by her husband so that's a fella Schlafly you're smiling right now the conservative activists who tried to. Go They are a right but that's what someone's going to have to say if they're going to say no to it today talk about why you feel it is critical today and even talk about your own story you are a famous newscaster your journalist. The lack of pay equity. Well precisely when people say to us why would it be the Equal Rights Amendment I'd say look at our country who are the poor people in our country it's the women in this country families headed by women who can't feed their children cannot find homes they're homeless they're impoverished corporations have made billions and billions of dollars by paying women a less than they pay men it's a good business strategy but it's a very poor strategy for equality in this country so we cannot go on diminishing the rights of women in the United States how many years that we've done this you know pay equity today it's so infuriating it doesn't change you know women women wanting pay aquittal bad we just asked right it's the amount of time to the dated which in the next 2 year a woman or woman of color a black woman Latina woman will equalize what a white man made the year before for let's you know women it's November I mean that is you know almost a full year of working before she you know she matches that income it's a disgrace and so we think that pay equity that. Eligibility to recourse in sexual intimacy could be use pregnancy discrimination these are all things that would be affected by the e.r. And Jessica Neuwirth. How are you moving forward on this right now what's the actual organizing going on on the ground and what would change I mean Carol is just describing page asperities what would it mean to have this amendment in the Constitution well just just one example Phyllis Schlafly talked about. About women who are in the home more and more women are in the workforce and there are some women who never could afford to be in the home and one of the many reasons we need a as Carol mentioned is pregnancy discrimination there are women who are getting fired every day because they're taking too many bathroom breaks while they're pregnant I mean they have no effect. Of legal recourse so I think that you are a would give women in areas like pregnancy discrimination gender based violence we course that they've been denied. In many many cases and continue to be denied and at the same time I think it's really important for us at a higher level to put in the foundational document of our country. In the bedrock of law that women are equal and to finally send out the message that we're no longer going to be treated as 2nd class citizens and in terms of organizing it's been an explosion across the country I think what we see is this this groundswell has to happen 1st which I was and so what has to happen is we need we need the committee the Judiciary Committee to do a markup in a vote we need the House and the Senate to remove the deadline they don't with They've proven Well we're we're we just we're 2 quotes away we think from a majority in the Senate which is what we need just to 2 more Republicans and I think we'll get there Senator Senator Cardin and Lisa Murkowski are sponsoring the bill to remove the deadline in the Senate just in Collins has signed on so you know we're working on Republican support you know as a bipartisan issue but we'll certainly continue to follow this Carol Jenkins Jessica Neuwirth co-presidents of the Arab coalition fund for women's equality just going north also author of equal means equal why the time for his rights amendment is now that does it for our broadcast thanks so much. I am. This is carrying Carbondale community access radio Glenwood Springs Carbondale Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. Here listening to you. 7 o'clock and this is. Community Access radio going and springs Carbondale the running for valley and beyond.