Logical pay for it. Why there is bipartisan support to make you pay for it. They understand an additional investment in our infrastructure is really critical. Soledad im old so soledad obrien. Welcome to matter of fact. The infrastructure is crumbling. 54,000 bridges structurally deficient. Damn, levies, ramways get a d plus from the asce. The president wants to invest at least 1. 5 trillion to rebuild the infrastructure. But the asce says that is not enough. They estimate it needs 4. 6 trillion. Fixing the infrastructure is a project that sounds like it would be ripe for a bipartisan deal but can it get caught in congressional gridlock. One question everybody has is who will pay for it. Republican representative Lloyd Smucker of pennsylvania and democrat representative elizabeth are on the Transportation Committee and part of the Problem Solvers caucus. Nice to have you both joining me. Problem solvers caucus put out recommendations. You call it dire. Were you encouraged by what you heard from the president specifically about infrastructure when he was talking the other day in the state of the union address. Congresswoman esty all of us are glad to hear more but congress and the president has not talked about fixing the baseline. That is what our group is proud of our work with 100 different groups because the baseline funding needs to be fixed. The American People need confidence that if they are going to see increases in fees they want to see it go into the roads and bridges and airports. That is our job. Soledad you cant cut your way to fixing infrastructure or tax your way into fixing infrastructure, can you . Congressman smucker we will need to see additional revenue. Solving this is a top priority of the president and administration and committee of which we are both members. Transportation infrastructure committee. The public is ready to support it. People understand infrastructure is a core function of government and they understand when they are impacted by roads and highways not up to par. For instance i had in my district years ago in fact in other areas of pennsylvania as well there have been bridges more recently that literally couldnt take the weight of a school bus. The bus was full and they would drop them off at one side of the bridge and either the bus has to drive around or another bus picks them you have after they walk across the bridge. Soledad so the kids walk the unsafe bridge and bus is too leaf congresswoman esty with the kids on. Soledad do you feel good about the 1. 5 trillion which is 200 billion leveraged or do you think it is not enough . Congresswoman esty i think it helps. I think of it as a bells and whistles. They are additional projects. But it doesnt address the baseline. Congressman smucker projects in my area is generally several sources of funding, federal government is a key component then often a state and often a local component. By leveraging that we are able to get more dollars into projects. Soledad that shoves a lot of cost on the states and they will be the first since you know having spent time that states would say we do not have these kinds of dollars to do these kinds of projects and we are in this cyclical mode of we agree but theres no money to make it happen. Congresswoman esty we got to this points by years, decades of underinvestment. And you cant build half of hoover dam. We have been trying to get by on the equivalent of duct tape. We are way beyond that. I have a major highway in my district i84 and people who are coming from new york and new jersey and headed to new england cut across my district on that. The mix master, which is named because of it looks like a mess in waterbury, connecticut, underneath that if you look up you can see through the decking. You can see crumbling, rusting rebar. That has to be fixed. That will take real money. That is not financing from wall street. Congressman smucker theres a lot of work going on to prepare for the straugs plan we expect Administration Plan away expect in the next few weeks. The committees have been working on this and Problem Solvers proposal is the result of a lot of work that has been done as well. Soledad how come every Congress Person is not a Problem Solver . Congressman smucker i think this group is bipartisan and there are 24 democrats and 24 republicans now. We understand there are major problems physical being the country and infrastructure is one of the they impact all of us so we have to find solutions. That is the goal. Congresswoman esty i think we have got about two months before the silly season of primaries takes over before the mid terms and we need this. The American Public knows this. It is time for congress to get with the program and get it done for the country. Soledad congressman smucker nice to have you and congresswoman esty. Next on matter of fact jack daniels an iconic american brand unafraid of up embrace being the past. That is part of history. What steps the country is taking to make sure a former slaves contributions are getting top shelf treatment. How it could inspire others to rewrite history. Plus. President trump wants tighter control over Legal Immigration. By ending chain migration. The phrase that is becoming a controversy. We separate fact from tpubgs when it comes fictiti friends, colleagues, gathered here are the worlds finest insurance experts. Rodney mastermind of discounts like safe driver, paperless. The list goes on. How about a discount for long lists . Gold. Mara, you save our customers hundreds for switching almost effortlessly. Its a gift. And jamie. Present. Together we are unstoppable. So, what are we gonna do . Insurance. Thats kind of what we do here. Soledad when you think of black History Month the legend of jack daniels is probably not a story that comes to mind. As legend goes a preacher and a distiller taught him how to run a still and he struck out on his own and created the best selling american whiskey. But there is an important person missi missing. His name is nearest green a former slave whose story is finally getting the attention it deserves. A distinguished taste, unmistakable bottle. The most popular whiskey label on the shelf. But perhaps mislabeled. My grandfather made that whiskey for jack daniel. Few know the history but it is a story debbie staples has heard her whole life passed down from generation to generation. Her great, great grandfather nearest green a former shape who was actually nature,created taste that became this legendary brand. Nearest was the person who day by day was there alongside of jack daniel showing him the whiskey making process. Soledad the story was well known in lynchburg, tennessee, it just never left lynchburg. He was not used to promote the Company History 19those mentioned in the official biography at least 50 times. His name was rarely uttered in distillery tours but hufrpb nelson eddy says green was never a secret. The company has always acknowledged it. I think that the real question is, how much weight has been put behind the story. Soledad the answer, not much. Until now. Brownforman, the company that owns jack daniels, is working to set the record straight. What we are doing is talking about something historically through to this brand. This is a descendant of jack and this is a descendant of nearest. Soledad fawn weaver first learned to have recognized an article in the New York Times celebrating jack danielss 150th birthday. The internet blows up saying you took advantage of a slave. You stole his recipe. All these different things. Soledad the blowback was swift and the company pulled back on initial plans to promote greens story. When it comes out this country is going through some pretty intense racial conversations. So, the president of jack daniels, mark mccallum, decided to not talk about it as were so people didnt think we were trying to get commercial gain because of it. Soledad but the story had such an impact on weaver it became an object some things. This is the original jack daniels legacy. Soledad she unearthed more than 10,000 documents and clues to unravel the myth of jack daniels mentor. Everyone assumed that nearest was his slave. He never had slaves. Soledad she shared her treasure troefr of history with the president of the company. Soledad he looked at a few things and said how do we make it right immediately. The man who taught jack how to make wheubg wheufblgy was nathan nearest green. They were rewriting it and rolling it out in the tours. We have never distilled whiskey in 150 years without a green working with us. Soledad he and his wife had 11 children. Some of them worked at the distillery including his son george here next to jack daniel. Debby has been with the company for 39 years. Language with her sister jackie and brother jerome they are the only three accide distance. I hope one day they will get to that point and you wont be a be able to say jack daniels without saying nearest green. Soledad fawn weaver and the green family are working with brownforman on efforts to incorporate greens past with jack danielss future. Many much the artifacts will be on loan to the Smithsonian Museum of africanamerican history and culture in washington, d. C. When we come back Winter Olympics 2018. World class skiing, skating and International Politics . The politics have been there ever since the nazi olympics of 19 1936. How the games being played behind the scenes can be more daring than the actual sporting events. And what is in the bag . Theres a mob leaving kindness in public soledad the Winter Olympics begin in south korea with the Opening Ceremony on friday and while the olympic charter expressly prohibits politics or propaganda at the games, the modern olympics have often navigated political statements. For example this famous photo from the 1968 summer games in mexico city americans tommie smith and johncarlos with the black power salute during the National Anthem to protest racism in the u. S. A. The 1972 games in munich remembered for the terror attack by palestinian gunmen that ended with 11 israeli athletes dead. The Upcoming Games are taking place in pyeongchang just 50 miles from the border with north korea. And in a rare show of unity north and south korean olympics will march in the same unification flag. Sports historian John Hoberman joins us from austin, texas. Thanks for talking with us. Professor hoberman hi, good to be here. Soledad when i hear there will be sort of a joint action in Opening Ceremony, did you read that as good news or maybe even great news for the hopes of any kind of unity one day for north south korea . Professor hoberman no, i did not. Over the years many wanted to believe athletes and sports officials could accomplish things that politicians cannot. It is right arm if ever the case. It is a rarely if ever the case. When you look at the situation on the Korean Peninsula you can see why. In the north you have a brutal dictator whose cynical participation in these games through sending athletes and pop stars really has one objective and that is to drive a wedge between south korea and its american ally. Soledad olympics have long been politicized as people say we should remove any sort of politics from the olympics. I guess i would ask you first, do you think that there should be no politics in the olympics . Professor hoberman it is not our choice. The politics have been there ever since the nazi olympics of 19 1936. The hitler regime enjoyed a great propaganda success by hosting the games in berlin and by fooling the world that this was a phmore peaceful regime th it was. Ever since it has been dictator ships in particular soviets, chinese, now the russians, who have done everything they could to exploit the Olympic Games for propaganda advantages. Soledad so there are a couple other big issues right now in olympic sports. I would talk about the scandal with the u. S. Womens gymnastsics and russian doping scandal for multiple years. Do you think that historically speaking we could be at a Tipping Point for both of those . Professor hoberman in the case of doping we have been at a long drawn out Tipping Point for the last several years. In the case of the sexual because of young female athle s athletes, hopefully this will be a turning point because it is such a spectacular case but if you really want change dont just fire as the United States Olympic Committee did, the top three people in the u. S. A. Gymnastics. There are a lot of selfserving opportunists who do not have the best interests of sports. Soledad historian John Hoberman nice to have you talk to us. Coming up next. Socalled chain migration. A single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives. How easy it it for americans to help family members immigrate. The wait times may surprise you. How one womans mission to pay it forward sparked a movement. First, you dreamed up the career. Then you put yourself through school. Got the degree. Youve given it your all to reach the goals you set. Dont let student debt hold you back. Refinancing Student Loans with sofi can save thousands. So you can get where youve always been headed. Sooner. See how much you can save with sofi. The leader in student loan refinancing. Soledad now to our weekly feature we call were paying attention even if youre too bus busy. A closer look at the phrase that is a political lightning rod. Chain chain. Soledad chain migration used by President Trump to describe family reunification visas. They allow legal u. S. Residents to bring immediate family members to america. It is estimated about 60 of Legal Immigration to the u. S. Is family based. My mom, whos cuban, sponsored my dad, whos australian. The term chain migration was never listed in the original 1965 immigration and nationality a act. Never called for an unlimited number of family members. Instead it started appearing in academic journals in the 1960s. But critics of the term chain migration say it is oversimplified. It takes five years for a foreign born spouse to become a citizen. Most foreign siblings need to wait 13 years before they can apply for a green card. But if they are from countries with many applicants like say mexico it could be more than 25 years. According to the state department there are nearly four Million People waiting for family sponsored visas. President trump has been a vocal critic blaming it for allowing low skilled immigrants into the country claiming it aids terrorists. Time to move toward a merit based system. Soledad any overall must include a plan to limit family based visas. Delivering kindness with a 21st century twist the how one woman uses social media to keep thousands worm. Woman uses social media to keep thousands worm. That is just the start. Fire fighting is a very dangerous profession. We have one to two fires a day and when you respond together and you put your lives on the line, you do have to surround yourself with experts. And for us the expert in gas and electric is pg e. We run about 2,500 2,800 fire calls a year and on almost every one of those calls pg e is responding to that call as well. And so when we show up to a fire and pg e shows up with us it makes a tremendous team during a moment of crisis. I rely on them, the firefighters in this department rely on them, and so we have to practice safety everyday. Utilizing pg es talent and expertise in that area trains our firefighters on the gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. The things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. Soledad if you think the world could use a little more kindness these days one cincinnati woman is pulling it off using the hash tag kindflash a play on flash mob a bunch of people get together for a surprising dance or song or performance. Liz wu has put a spin on it. In 2015 she with a group of volunteers collected and handed out winter coats. They were placed in plastic bags in Public Places and they included a note that said if you are cold and in need of a hug please take me with you and i will keep you snug. In the first 10 days of that cold for a kindflash volunteers passed out more than 2,000 warm sweaters and hats and scarfs. Now they do monthly kindflashes and it is not just coats. This month kindflash is collecting items for goodie bags to donate to an assisted living home. Mission statement simple. Create a sense of community by cultivating a culture of kindness. We think that kindflash is a great idea. Im soledad obrien. We will see you back next week im robert handa, your host fore our show here on nbc bay area and cozi tv. We live in one of the richest regions in the world, but many in our community dont get to share in that prosperity. And today, we look at why and how they cope. Today, we examine homelessness and income disparity in the Asian Pacific American Community of san francisco. First, with an awardwinning documentary reporter producer who put the spotlight on filipino homeless with her film box city. Then we look at Asian Pacificer islander income disparity. How bad is it . How do people cope . Whats being done to help . And well wrap up with an organization that helps with affordable housing, homelessness, and much needed services. All that, as well as information on the showcase pinays in the arts, as well as the upcoming Winter Olympics