Come as early as this week. We will talk about whats in the bill and look at how 40 graduate student walkouts are planned around the country to protest a measure in the house budget bill that reclassify tuition waivers as taxable income, amounting to a pay cut of thousands of dollars. Then p President Trump attemptso insult massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren by referring to her as pocahontas during a white house ceremony honoring navajo code tatalkers fofor ther service during world warar ii. Pres. Trump we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her pocahontas. But you know what . I like you because you are special. You are special people. Amy we will talk to cherokee lawyer and writer Mary Kathryn Nagle. She will share the story of pocahontas. And we will look at the case of olivia lone bear, yet another native American Woman who has gone missing in the oil fields of north dakota will stop then do honduras where tensions are rising as the countrys Electoral Court refuses to release results from sundays election that show opposition candidate they dedefeat the conservativeve president. Weve sent out an urgent alert. It is very serious. To practically carrying out a coup detat. Amy we will speak with an election obsererver just back fm honduras. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Republicans are rapidly pushing forwarard with their efforts to pass preresident trumps tax pl, which would overhaul the code in order to shower billions of dollars in tax cuts upon the richest americans, including President Trumps own family. On tuesday, the Senate Budget committee passed the Senate Version of the plan, with all republicans on the panel voting for it and all democrats voting against. Protesters disrupted the Committee Hearing tuesday with chants of kill the bill, dont kill us. Several people were arrested. The plan will now go to the full senate for a vote as early as thursday. The senate bill slashes the Corporate Tax rate and gives further tax cuts to wealthy Business Owners. It would also repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care act the requirement that most americans have Health Insurance. Experts say recalling this provision, known as the individual mandate, would cause the cost of Health Insurance to skyrocket. A house version of the bill would also reclassify tuition waivers for graduate students as taxable income, meaning graduate students could be saddled with massive tax bills. Graduate students at dozens of universities across the country are planning walkouts today to protest the measure, which they say would make Higher Education even more unaffordable. We will have more on the tax bill after headlines. North korea fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile tuesday, the first Missile Launch in two months. The missile flew nearly 600 miles before landing in the sea of japan. Defense secretary jim mattis said it was the furthest Missile Launch by north korea to date. This is south korean president moon jaein. North korea fired a ballisc missile today. This action does not only increased tension on the korean endangers but greatly the National Peace and security. We strongly condemn north korea in continuing such reckless behavior. Amy the launch comes after President Trump escalated diplomatic tensions by putting north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Ens President Trump has also threatened to totally destroy north korea, a nation of 25 million people. As Nuclear Tensions between the u. S. And north korea continue to rise, hawaii is preparing to test itsts early w warning systm aimemed at warning residents abt a nuclear attack. The test, slated for friday, will be the first time hawaii has deployed the Warning System since the 1990s after the cold war ended. This is hawaiis administrator of emergency management. Youhe basic guidance, if hear this, get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned. Simple, but when you have that short of time, about 12 minutes after we get the notification, 12 a 13 minute amy the New York Times is reporting President Trump is continuing to promote a racist and discredited Conspiracy Theory that president barack obama was not born in the United States, and therefore not eligible to be president. President obama was born in the u. S. State of hawaii in 1961. But for years, President Trump has been a leader of the socalled birther movement, a farrightwing fringe group, mostly of white supremacists, who question the validity of president obamas u. S. Birth certificate. Tensions are rising in honduras, where the Electoral Court still hasnt released the full results from sundays president ial election. On tuesday, the court released new partial results, showing the gap between opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla and conservative president Juan Orlando Hernandez has narrowed, with nasralla now leading by only 2 percentage points. Supporters and members of nasrallas coalition party, called the alliance against the dictatorship, are increasingly accusing the government of trying to rig the vote in favor of president hernandez, who is backed by the United States. This is guillermo valle, the head of the innovation and unity party, which is part of the coalition. An urgent sent out alert. For us, it is very serious. The situation where the conspiratorial traitors are practically carrying out a coup detat. Amy we will have more on the situation in honduras later in the broadcast. The pentagon has admitted there are thousands more u. S. Troops in iraq than previously acknowledged. In its quarterly report, the pentagon said there were nearly 9000 u. S. Troops in iraq more than 3000 more troops than the military has officially acknowledged. In new york city, lawyers with the Legal Aid Society staged a walkout at the Brooklyn Criminal Court tuesday a after immigratin and Customs Enforcement agents snatched a m man from the hallwy of the courthouse and took him into ice custody. Ice has got to go. Ll no ice has got to go. Amy immigration arrests at courthouses nationwide have surged since President Trump took office. The immigrant Defense Project says the man, genaro rojas hernandez, is at least the 70th person arrested by ice inside or just outside a a new york city courthouse. The lawyers are demanding ice agents not carry out arrests inside or in the vicinity of courthouses. Pope francis gave a highly anticipapated speech in burma tuesday, in which he choose not to speak publicly about the burmese militarys ethnic burmese militarys Ethnic Cleansing Campaign against Muslim Rohingyas in the majority buddhist nation. More than 600,000 rohingyas have fled burma into neighboring bangladesh amid the militarys campaign of murder, rape, and arson. On tuesday, pope francis did not even say the name rohingya after Church Leaders warned him that using the highly polarized word could a aggravate the burme military. The pope has also met in private with the head of burmas armed forces, as well as burmas de facto leader aung san suu kyi. Hes slated to meet with Rohingya Refugees in bangladesh later in the week. Back in ththunited statates, longtime nbc today show anchor matt lauer has been fired after he was accused of Sexual Harassment in the workplace. Nbc news chairman andrew lack said while it is the first complaint in over 20 years he has been an nbc news, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident. Meanwhile, theres growing speculation that Michigan DemocraticCongress Member john as hes may step down faces additional accusations of Sexual Harassment. Several Congressional Black Caucus members are urging him to resisign as another woman has ce forward to accuse a longtime civil rights leader of Sexual Harassmentnt. S said hetaff member repepeatedly made unwanted sexul advances on her, including once removing all of his clothes in front of her while there were staying in a two Bedroom Hotel suite while attending a threeday congressional caucus event. Conyers also reportedly settled a harassment complaint in 2015, paying out 27,000 to a woman who alleged she was fired from his washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. And illinois Democratic Congress member Luis Gutierrez announced tuesday he will not seek reelection because he instead plplans to focus on rebuilding puerto rico in the wake of hurricane maria. I love puerto rico. She is in a lot of pain. And there is a lot of people that have turned their backs on her. And she needs to be rebuilt. And i cannot be here in the fourth Congressional District in rebuilding the home of my mom and my dad, where my wife was born, a place that i i love so much. And im going to work really hard until she is completely rebuilt to 21st cecentury standards. But i cant do them both. Amy Congress Member gutierrezs endorsed Jesus Chuy Garcia to replace him. Fema gaverted that more than 30 million in contracts to a newly created Florida Company which failed to deliver any aid to puerto rico. Bronze star llc was supposed to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs, but never delivered the supplies. Fema canceled the contract without paying any of the money by the monthlong delay in getting turks to people in puerto rico means many homes have been further and unnecessarily damaged by rainfall after the hurricane. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now1, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy before we move on to the tax bill and speak with Heather Mcghee, what about this news, this doubleheader here . You have Luis Gutierrez saying he is stepping down and then you have got the news about puerto rico . Juan when it comes to the issue of gutierrez, it is a complete surprise. He was actually filing petitions , andn again for congress suddenly, within a day after filing this petitions, then has an announcement that he is resigning from congress and that he wont run again he will serve out his term, but he wont run again in 2018. And immediately then endorses Jesus Chuy Garcia to be the successor to his seat. Of course, by naming gararcia at the very last moment petitions at chicago have to be in very soon for primary in march. So he basically includedes anyoe of numerous other challenges that may have decided to run for the seat. At the same time, he takes chuy garcia out of a potential run for mayor of chicago against rahm emanuel. Amy a rematch. Rahm emanuel has said he is already going to run for a third term. Chuy garcia was the leading candidate to run against rahm emanuel. Amy and he lost in a close race at the time, laquan mcdonald, the killing of the teenager and with the city was doing about it and covering up wasnt known. It came out right after the election. Juan that was the key issue that perhaps allowed rahm emanuel win. Have the tape come out before the runoff i have major doubts as to whether rahm emanuel would have defeated chuy garcia. The problem is both chuy garcia and Luis Gutierrez have a long history. They were part of the young theno radicals who joined Harold Washington mayoral campaign. They both consider themselves sons of Harold Washington. Somegarcia has maintained was a more progressive politics. He backed Bernie Sanders for president whereas lose the tears activity clinton Luis Gutierrez backed hillary clinton. They seem to have come together. Chewy accepting chuy accepting the support. Amy and did he support rahm chuy garcia . St juan yes. Beforeck from emmanuel chuy into the race. Was the president of the Teachers Union was supposed to be running for mayor, karen lewis, but that she got sick. I then Luis Gutierrez had are ready endorse rahm emanuel, and therefore decided not to switch. Amy this in a sense would be taking chuy garcia out of this rematch that he could very well win with rahm emanuel. Rahm emanuel was not a popular person in chicago these days. Amy do you think Luis Gutierrez got rougher governor puerto rico . I doubt it. T. I dont thinink the people of puerto rico, as much a as luis s a puerto rican and has identified with the island, used a considered a u. S. Puerto rican. I find it hard to believe the people of puerto rico would decide they dont have anybody on their island that can be governor except someone who comes from chicago . Amy he said he would not run for governor of illinois, but did not rule out a run for the presidency of the United States. Juan and i think that is entirely possible. Certainly, we have seen from other members of congress who have run that they could at least raise key issues, even if they dont win. And i think luis has already staked out his identification throughout the nation as the leading voice on Immigration Reform. To me that was the most surprising thing, that he has worked for so many years to achieve conference of Immigration Reform and now is resigning when the job is not done, when the comprehensive Immigration Reform has not b ben won [captitioning made possibley democracy now ]. Amy and he is a great deal of power in congress. Juan and for chicago politics. Amy and this new news that ap broke about a Florida Company getting 30 million that they did not follow through him and this follows up on the whitefish Company Getting 300 million the governor puerto rico has well, that puerto rico has now canceled. Whitefish, the hometown of ryan zinke. Juan what a surprise, fema hahas failed again. I think anyone who is followed fema in these natural disastersthe agency, democratic and republican administrations, has been one that wastes money, provides contracts to friends are you have a company that was only formed a few days before it got a contract. How does that happen . Given a multimillion dollar project to provide tarps, which is not exactly Rocket Science . And it failed to do so. Another sad chapter in this history of not only of the federal governments failure to respond to natural disasters, but also particular problems of puerto rico as well. Amy on to the tax though. Repepublicans are lookingng t o pass the tax plan. On tuesday come the Senate Budget committee passed a Senate Version of the plan with all republicans on the panel voting for it and all democrat it voting against. Protesters disrupted the Committee Hearing with chants of kill the bill, dont kill us and several were arrested. The blame on the go to the full senate for a vote as early as thursday. The senate bill slashes the Corporate Tax rate and gives further tax cuts to wealthy Business Owners. It would also repeal the key provision of the Affordable Care act the requirement that most entrant americans have Health Insurance. Cost of would cause the Health Insurance to skyrocket. The vote came after President Trump met with Senate Republicans on capitol hill. He later told reporters he thinks the