Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour Weekend 20170227

And Group Retirement products. Thats why were your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios at Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening and thank you for joining us. With President Trumps first formal address to congress two days away, an analysis of the draft republican congressional plan to replace the Affordable Care act, also known as obamacare, finds it would significantly reduce the number verage and cost the states billions of dollars more than theyre already spending. A 36page analysis of the plan was shown at the National Governors Association Conference this weekend, and obtained by the Washington Post and the news site vox. The analysis by Research Firm Avalere Health and the Consulting Firm mckinsey and company says the plan would today, a white house spokeswoman said one goal is for no one to lose coverage. We have to make big changes. I think both republicans and democrats agree with that. This is a program that was shoved through with so many problem, and were still every day finding out new problems to this program. We know that we cant just repeal it and not do anything else. We have to repeal it and presentatives, nancy pelosi, says shes skeptical the trump plan will improve access or benefits. What they have put forth and outlined will cost more to consumers, it will cover fewer people, it will give tax breaks to the wealthiest people. Sreenivasan today, republican Governor Scott walker said block grants can adequately cover people in poverty, as he did in wisconsin. We have under our plan, we have one of the lowest rates of forms to get people into theed marketplace and to make things work there. I think thats exactly what we want as a nation. Sreenivasan the democratic governor of virginia , terry mcauliffe, said today he opposes any decrease in federal funds to provide coverage. We dont like block grants. If block grant us, were gonna have a set number. And what happens if we have a recession . What if the stock market goes down . We at the state level have to incur those costs. Sreenivasan newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman tom perez says his party will rebuild from the school board to the u. S. Senate. Outnumbered in the senate, house of representatives, governors mansions, and state legislatures, perez said today the democrats will invest more in state parties. We have to make sure we have an everyzipcode strategy. Thats how we win. Thats exactly what were going to do. These investments in grassroots organizing, because our values are the right values, but weve got to put those values into action. Sreenivasan perez is the first latino to chair the Democratic National committee. In russia and ukraine today, there were large protests against russian president vladimir putin. In moscow, thousands commemorated Opposition Leader boris nemtsov, who was shot to death on a bridge near the kremlin two years ago tomorrow. Nemstov, a former deputy prime minister, was a staunch critic of putin, and many marchers carried antiputin posters. Five chechen men are being held in nemtsovs murder, but they deny the charges. Nemstovs family says the investigation has not uncovered who ordered the killing. In kiev, a march protested russias annexation of the Crimean Peninsula three years ago. The march also commemorated those killed or arrested during the 2014 uprising that preceded the annexation and drove ukraines russiafriendly president from power. Irans former hard line president , mahmoud ahmadinejad, has written a letter to President Trump criticizing the united states. In the lengthy missive published today by iranian media, ahmadinejad told mister trump he won the election, because he, truthfully described the u. S. Political system and electoral structure as corrupt. Alluding to the u. S. Administrations travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly muslim countries, including iran, admedjinjad said the u. S. Should, value respect toward the diversity of nations and races. Ahmadinejad gave the letter to the Swiss Embassy in tehran, which represents american interests there. Police in sweden are investigating the cause of a last nights fire at one of countrys largest migrants and refugee shelters. It occurred in southwestern sweden at a Shelter Housing more than 150 migrants and refugees. At least 15 people were treated for smoke inhalation, and two for injuries after jumping from windows to escape. There were 112 fires at swedish Refugee Centers last year, according to the associated press, and most of them were caused by arson. One swedish newspaper counts 18 arson and other attacks on Refugee Centers just in the past week. In the past two years, sweden has taken in the most refugees per capita of any european nation. It is now the fourth month that the iraqi army has been working to drive isis out of mosul, the countrys second largest city. Iraqs air force has carried out its firstever strikes on isis positions inside in neighboring syria. Wall street journal reporter ben kessling is covering the conflict and joins me now by skype from irbil. Ben were catching up with you partly because oftentimes the news about the fight in iraq gets buried about the things that are happening in washington. Whats been happening the last few weeks . The most important thing is over the weekend, the Iraqi Ground Forces launched an offensive on mosul. The east side was taken by Islamic State by iraqi forces. In a campaign that began october. Now that campaign has resumed on the other side of the tigris river, on the west side of mosul. West side of mosul is filled with old neighborhoods, twisted, dense, its supposed to be very difficult for the Iraqi Military an they are facing that now. But over the weend weekend that weekend that offensive was lost. In the past few days they have pushed through taken the airport in the city and started moving north into some of these dense neighborhoods. Sreenivasan one of your recent stories talked about the drones, not predator are drones but what you might see in the malls the quadcop ter ones. Thats right. The Islamic State has modified their drone technology, months ago, when you got to the battlefield you would see some of these drones that would be shot town, and they looked like crude model airplanes in some cases. But over time, using quad copter type drones, the kind you can go down to the mall and pick up, theyve retrofitted these things with some sort of relief mechanism and now they are flying over iraqi position he both Iraqi Military and civilians in some cases and dropping conventional grenades which tet necessitate on impact. Which detonate on impact. The Iraqi Military and civilians have said this is not going to prevent the retaking of mosul but it is causing tet it is causing injuries and it is worrisome for the iraqi Ground Troops and for civilians in the city who have to deal with this threat. Sreenivasan tell us a little bit about that. How many civilians are still stuck in that part of the city . It is unclear. There is no great estimate on the number of civilians. But its be likely that there are it is likely that there are still hundreds of thousands of people. Just ore the over the past couple of days there have been more than 3,000 people who have pushed out of the city, 30,000 civilians, according to a new count that came out on sunday from iraqi officials. And the u. N. And other aid organizations are expecting to see a number of more civilians that are being pushed out as displaced persons. Sreenivasan all right, ben kesling of the wall street journal, joining us via skype from irbil thanks so much. Sreenivasan the controversial Dakota Access pipeline is designed to carry north dakota oil through the dakotas and iowa to an existing pipeline in illinois. Following months of protests, the Obama Administration stopped the project, but President Trump has put it back on track. The public media collaboration inside energy, in partnership with Rocky Mountain public media, has produced a documentary called beyond Standing Rock, about what led to the protests and president ial actions. Reporter Leigh Paterson has this excerpt from the documentary. It is our duty to fight for our freedom it is our duty to win reporter the protesters came from all over the country to fight the Dakota Access pipeline. For many this is a fight over clean water. For others its a fight against big oil and climate change. For the Standing Rock sioux its a fight for control. Tribes are flexing their muscle. They are sovereign nations and they have the ability to get engaged. Reporter misinformation, emotion, and confusion surrounded these protests. More than 600 protesters have been arrested. Its kind of turned unfortunately into kind of a small truly peaceful protest, native american movement, into a big white hippie burning man on the plains of north dakota in the middle of winter. Sometimes people just say, like, theyre opposed to Pipeline Development, and theyre opposed to pipelines. Well, thats fine, and theyre entitled to their opinion, but Pipeline Development is legally permissible in north dakota, and were obligated to enforce the laws. So when a Company Meets the conditions set by law for a permit, they receive one. Reporter the standoff here was brought on by a convergence of issues tribal sovereignty, energy infrastructure, environmental activism, and federal law. Were a sovereign nation, and were putting our foot down, and you cant do this to us anymore. In the past the federal government steam rolled through us and did everything that they wanted to do without giving us an opportunity to have any consent or consultation. Reporter the Dakota Access pipeline stretches for nearly 1,200 miles, completely buried underground. The dallasbased pipeline company, Energy Transfer partners, says its a nearly 4 billion dollar project. The company declined inside energys request to be interviewed. But it has argued that the pipeline is the best way to move crude oil from the bakken region of north dakota to market. Last month, Energy Transfer partners posted this video on youtube explaining the projects merits. Pipelines are the safest, environmentally cleanest, and least expensive way to transport the fuel that our communities need. We can look at this pipeline and say that it puts our water at risk. We could also take a look at what it also puts at risk. It puts our sacred sites at risk. Reporter the controversy has centered on the only incomplete section of the pipeline. Energy transfer partners says there is 1,094 feet left to build. A stretch thats around three football fields long that crosses under the Missouri River, just north of the reservation. Its not if it will break, its a matter of when it will break and where its gonna break and if it breaks under this river, it puts us at risk. I would counter that the Pipeline Safety record in this country for crude Oil Pipelines is incredibly strong. Reporter the u. S. Produces billions of barrels of crude oil a year. Much of it travels through a vast Pipeline Network thats tens of thousands of miles long. Weve had very few issues with natural gas, crude oil, and other kinds of Pipeline Infrastructure in the united states. It is a very high risk, low probability scenario in this country for a pipeline failing, so youve got to put that on the table. Reporter nearly all of the oil moved by pipeline arrives at its destination safely. But its the fraction of a percent thats spilled that can have devastating effects. Im a north dakota citizen. I dont want these pipelines spilling into our waters and on our land and ruining our beautiful landscape in north dakota either. Reporter beginning in the spring of 2015, the north Dakota Public Service Commission Held three public hearings on the Dakota Access Pipeline Route. None of those hearings were on the Standing Rock reservation, because the pipeline wouldnt actually cross it. So i had no idea that this was a concern to the Standing Rock members or the Tribal Council at all. Reporter the state is not the only party that had to sign off on the pipeline. The federal government, in this case, the army corps of engineers was also charged with permitting certain sections and consulting with the tribe. Consultation, as we understand it in federal law, doesnt say tribes can block every project. What it says is that they have a seat at the table as a government to express a point of view and that you cant ignore that. Every time we called and every time we talked to the corps of engineers we said, this is not consultation, and we dont agree with this pipeline. Can we take a step back and start over . And the corps of engineers says, well, we called them, we emailed them, we called chairman archambaults office. Every time we didnt agree with what they were doing. But thats not heard. So we dont get listened to, we dont get heard. Check off the box we talked to the tribe. Reporter the Dakota Access pipeline is not the first controversial piece of infrastructure to cross this land. In the mid20th century, the army corps of engineers created dams up and down the Missouri River as part of a large Flood Control and hydropower project. Here in this state, there is being built the largest dam of its kind in the world. It is a source of pleasure to me as president therefore to come here on this occasion. Reporter villages were flooded, including an area where many Standing Rock sioux had made their homes. This dam created lake oahe, flooding over 50thousand acres on the reservation in both north dakota and south dakota, driving families out. President obama visited Standing Rock in 2014. It was his first visit to a reservation as president. And it was the first time any sitting us president had visited the reservation. To build more Economic Opportunity in indian country, because every american including every native american deserves a chance to work hard and get ahead. Reporter following president obamas 2014 visit, the Dakota Access pipeline protests grew and energized the Standing Rock sioux. After the army corps announced last july, that most of the Dakota Access Pipeline Route had been approved, the tribe filed suit in federal court in washington d. C. Claiming the consultation process was fundamentally flawed. The tribe also argued the pipelines impact on Historic Properties was not properly considered in the permitting process. Federal law requires that, even if the affected property falls outside of reservation boundaries. The army corps disputed the tribes claim. Last september, the u. S. District judge James Boasberg ruled on the tribes request to halt construction. The Standing Rock sioux lost, but the Obama Administration stepped in and put the project on hold. I think its unprecedented in terms of Energy Development in this country, that youd actually have the governments lawyers, join in a statement, after they lost in court the same day, that theyd go out and say, by the way were pausing this project. They didnt convince the judge, so they did something else. Three months later, as fall turned to winter, the protests continued to grow. Then the Obama Administration blocked the final permit needed to build under the river. The corps of engineers is gonna deny the easement reporter for the protesters and the tribe, it felt like victory. But it would be shortlived. This is with respect to the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Reporter seven weeks later, on his fifth day in office, President Trump issued an executive memorandum instructing the army corp of engineers to expedite the permitting process. Just last week, by order of north dakotas governor, protesters left their camps near the pipeline site. Before going, some burned their tents and other structures. Police arrested dozens of protesters that defied the order and forcibly removed them. Sreenivasan tomorrow, in washington d. C. Federal court, judges will hear arguments from Energy Transfer partners and the Standing Rock sioux on whether work on the pipeline should be completed or blocked due it its environmental impact. Beyond Standing Rock premieres on pbs stations this spring. Check your local listings. Sreenivasan in his first address to congress this tuesday, President Trump is likely to talk about his vision for rebuilding americas infrastructure. Hes previously touted a trillion dollar price plan without detailing how he might pay for it. One hurdle . The federal gas tax, the nations number one Funding Source for transportation projects, has been stuck at 18 cents a gallon since the early 1990s. With average gas prices remaining low at 2. 28 a gallon, many governors, from new jersey to tennessee to montana, are raising or considering raising state gas taxes to jumpstart road, bridge, and tunnel repairs. Financial times editor ed crooks joins me now to discuss this. States, some of the states, tennessee, oklahoma, alaska. These went trump fairly significantly and theyre considering an increase in taxes which is usually not very favorable to republicans. Exactly and as you say new jersey went and increased their gas tax last year. It seems people feel there is a real problem, american infrastructure is crumbling, people are really worried about the states of roads and bridges in particular and they need to do something. I guess youve got to make the case if you have to cax something, better to tax fuels, people that like and want to happen. One of the things about taxation, people say if you tax something you tax less of it. Tax fuel consumption and have people get let of it. And people make fair profits. Sreenivasan we had a story on this program a few years ago, in sort of the irony, when you increase the price of gas, people think about more fuel efficient vehicles, hybrid vehicles, if they purchase those, they purchase less gas. That is absolutely true. Dont forget at the moment, oil price are fairly low. A few years ago, oil price he were 100 per barrel, and now, they are 50, 55 a barrel. There is that opportunity there to probably make a bit of that gap in high taxes. And of course one of the things lower gas price he have been doing is they have been encouraging people to buy bigger vehicles, less fuel efficient vehicles so on. Heading on a path towards high consumption. If you put the tax up a little bit, it wont have the effect to deter people from driving. Sreenivasan greive taxes, if you dont have any other means to get to work than a vehicle, if you are poor, you are likely to spend a greater portion of your income when you see a fixed price go up. That is the biggest number 1 problem with raising the gas travel is the distribution impact. Probably doesnt hit people right at the bottom, not so much of an issue for them but certainly people of lower to middle incomes, modifier an issue to them, they pay more of their income in gasoline than other people do, than richer people do and they would be as you say hit harder by an increase in gas tax, that is a hard thing to offset, there is no probably obvious way to make it up to people. There are other issues, if you live in town you may have a mass transit option, buses trains or other issues, but in the country you have to have your car if you have to get to work to the shops whatever, that is potentially a big issue for raising the gas tax. Sreenivasan Financial Times editor ed crooks thanks for joining us. Sreenivasan the mayor of new orleans says a drunk driver was responsible for last nights crash into spectators watching a mardis gras parade. Police say at least 28 people were injured, five critically, when a 25yearold man struck three vehicles and plowed his pickup truck into the crowd. The driver was unhurt, but jailed and charged immediately after the accident. The father of the navy seal killed in an attack on an al qaeda compound in yemen is calling for an investigation into last months military action. In his first interview since his son, ryan, was killed, bill owens told the miami herald he questions why President Trump ordered the ground raid during his first week in office, when prior attacks had been limited to drones and missiles. Ryan owens, a 36yearold married father of three, was the only american fatality in the raid, which also killed 30 yemenis, half of whom were civilians. A white house spokesperson was asked about it this morning on abc. Does the president want an investigation . I havent had the chance to speak with him directly about that, but i would imagine that he would be supportive of that. Sreenivasan pope francis today became the first Roman Catholic pontiff to visit the anglican parish in rome, praying with the anglican bishop and calling for greater closeness between the two churches. The churches split almost 500 years ago, when king henry the eighth founded the church of england. During his visit, francis said he and the head of the Anglican Church plan to visit south sudan together to focus attention on a country plagued by famine and civil war. As hollywood prepares for tonights Academy Awards, veteran film actor bill paxton has died following complications from surgery for an undisclosed ailment. Paxton appeared in such blockbusters as aliens, titanic, twister, and apollo 13, and starred in the hit hbo series, big love. He was currently starring in the Cbs Television series training day. Bill paxton was 61. At the oscars, historically and a reminder, that you can follow coverage of the Academy Awards tonight online at pbs. Org newshour. Tomorrow on the newshour, the latest on the trump warehouse and the democratic partys new leader. Thats it. Im hari sreenivasan, thanks for watching. Captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz. Judy and josh weston. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. The john and Helen Glessner family trust supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. Sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. Barbara hope zuckerberg. By mutual of americaovided designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why were your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. By a passion for better understanding our world. T thoughtful travel can engage our minds, challenge our assumptions, broaden our perspectives, and completely surprise us, just like public television. And by. Bread for the world, an Advocacy Organization working to end hunger and poverty at home and abroad. Hi, im rick steves, back with more of the best of europe. And this time, were in the very southwest tip of great britain. Its lands end, and were exploring englands cornwall. Thanks for joining us