Portman told reporters, well get it done, but i dont know if well make anybodys arbitrary Time Line. Schumer has also set wednesday as the deadline for senate democrats to finalize their larger 3. 5 trillion Infrastructure Big which they plan to pass through Budget Reconciliation. That Bill Deals with Human Infrastructure such as paid family leave, universal prek, and subsidies for Community College among others. The Wednesday Deadline is set in order to get ahead of the month long August Recess and to avoid crashing into fall deadlines to fund the government and lift the debt ceiling, who issues that will inevitably become contentious because everything is contentious these days. Meanwhile, were already seeing results of President Bidens efforts to support the countrys Human Infrastructure in the form of a temporary Child Tax Credit. The White House estimates the provision will cut Child Poverty in half. As of now the credit is only for this year, 2021. But if it were extended in another piece of legislation, it would continue to be a boon for millions of families across the country. Joining me now is a political correspondent for npr and she is the cohost of nprs politics podcast. Good morning. Thank you to you. Let talk about this ambitious schedule. The democrats are putting a Time Table on this. Is it likely given that we have two massive bills both of which have not had the details ironed out yet . Yeah, this is to me just an indication of how democrats intend to tie this legislation together. And weve heard it from democratic leaders from the outset. But as you said, there are two massive pieces of Legislation And Particularity that the democrats in the senate have is that House Leadership does not intend to vote on one package over the other. They want the two pieces of legislation tied together because there are concerns among some other more progressive members of congress that if folks just vote on the bipartisan 1. 2 trillion infrastructure package, there may not be this larger 3. 5 trillion Budget Reconciliation deal. So the challenge right now is to tie them together in the hopes that both will pass. What i will say is that this is an extraordinary i would say legislative challenge for both Senate Leadership and House Leadership to ensure that they can simultaneously get both of these pieces of legislation done. I think what were seeing from schumer this week is just an indication that he wants to get the ball rolling. Look, i think both of these packages are a real legislative maze for them to navigate. You pointed out one side of things, Progressive Democrats in the house who say we want both bills because if you get everybody the bipartisan thing they want, which is the bridges and roads and things like that, which generally should be bipartisan, nothing is really bipartisan these days, but should be, you may not get the human Infrastructure Side of things, the child care, the elder care. What are republicans saying . They are saying we dont want one Bill Contingent upon the other. Yeah, look, there are certainly republicans who do not want one bill tied to the other. What i will say though is from the outset, the handful of gop senators who are negotiating the bipartisan Infrastructure Deal were well aware that President Biden that this White House always intended to have a two tier track. There were no secrets about that. What i will say is that there are certainly political theater though to the Degree Republicans who perhaps do not want to vote for that bipartisan Infrastructure Deal can point to the larger 3. 5 trillion Spending Package and use that as an excuse for perhaps why they dont want this bipartisan deal. Lets talk about other things going on, because if we werent thinking about the Infrastructure Bills or these two bills that are going through, really the biggest story in the country right now is the Voting Rights push, the stuff going on in texas, the fact that all these texas legislators have now gone to washington to avoid there being a quorum so that the Texas Legislature can pass Voting Rights stuff. A lot of these texans have met with the Vice President and other legislators in washington. We also saw joyce beatty, the congresswoman, being arrested along with others later earlier this week. Or later last week. Where does that stand, and is the White House providing the necessary backing that these state and federal legislators are asking for . I actually interviewed the Vice President about this very issue earlier this week. We had a pretty good conversation at length about Voting Rights. And where i began the conversation with her is i asked that in lieu of congressional reform, what can the White House do, right . Because it doesnt look like any of the major voting Rights Legislation has a good odds of getting through congress. And what it came down to from this administration, it seems like a major focus for them is on boosting voter turnout, boosting voter protection. They see that as an opportunity to ensure that they can have essentially just the turnout that they need ahead of the 2022 midterms. What i will say is that is not a satisfactory answer for many folks on the progressive side of the democratic party who feel like this White House is putting their resources behind say infrastructure and they are frustrated that they are not putting kind of the real muscle of the White House behind getting a voting Rights Piece of legislation through congress. Long story short, that would entail an amendment changing the filibuster and we just dont have an indication that democrats in the senate are on board with that. It is a busy week, it will be another busy week. They are all busy for you, but this one feels busier than even usual because of these dual priorities that are meeting on Capitol Hill. Thanks again for your time. With me now is representative cheri bustos, member of the house appropriation committee, she represents the 17th District of illinois. Representative, good to see you again. Thank you for being with us this early morning. Lets put some flesh on the bones of this conversation. Lets start with the issue around the two bills, the Infrastructure Bills. Where do you see them going . Either one of these bills would be massive standalone legislation on their own. And Chuck Schumer is trying to get them both done. Well, they are massive and they both have to get done. Issuing that you did a very good job of explaining all the nuances here. One of the things that you know well and a member of the house or senate, these very narrow majorities that House Democrats have and obviously senate democrats have. So this is what Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Bidenw we cant lose a vote. Whether we take Reconciliation Route or just the straight, you know, that we need all 50 of those votes, well need Kamala Harris to break any tie. And on the house side, were down some members right now because of special elections. And so really we only have about a four Vote Majority so the moral of the story here is that this is a very tough legislative needle that we have to thread. And in the end, we just have to get this done. Whatever that process looks like, whatever order it is, where you are looking at progressives or blue dogs or new dems or whatever it is, we got to get this done. If there is a word that we need to focus on, it is results for the american public and these are massive bills but we have to get them done. You come from a swing district. Polling continues to indicate that there is actually broad bipartisan support for both of these bills. And there shuld be bipartisan support for the physical infrastructure, but there is even bipartisan support for the things Joe Biden is calling Human Infrastructure which many republicans on Capitol Hill are saying it is something, it is not that we dont like it, but it is actually not infrastructure so dont think about it as infrastructure in an Infrastructure Bill. What are your constituents saying about this other piece of infrastructure or what democrats are calling infrastructure but republicans are calling Something Else . That when they look at their own families is, and you look being at things like the Child Tax Credit, you look at things like care for when you are like my generation where were having grandchildren and youve got that component of our kids talking about that, you have our parents now who are aging. I have a sister who looks after my mom. So these are like real life things that families are dealing with. You know, when you look at an area like mine, im in down state illinois talking with you today from is moline, illinois. We have 150 plus towns in this congressional district that i serve where youve got kids who have no access to high speed internet, where the kids will go on the Library Stoop to get Internet Access or will have to go in their high School Parking Lot at 11 00 at night to do s. A being says the internet. All of that stuff is real Life Day to day activities that feels are dealing with. And so these are programs that are important and if you want to call them Human Infrastructure, you can do that. But it is also a jobs plan. These will have jobs that will come out of this, and so we got to look at it through that lens as well. You mentioned the Child Tax Credit. People have started seeing money going into their Bank Accounts this week, there is an estimate from the White House that it will reduce Child Poverty by half. A lot of people say 2021, why is there Child Poverty in one of the richest countries in The World. But that also feels like an obvious thing that we should be thinking of in terms of investment as opposed to expense. The Saving Grace of having children not be hungry makes those children better educated over time, makes them more employable, makes them taxpayers over time. We do have to start thinking about these things more creatively in order to get broader bipartisan support. As of the 15th of this month, people can go into their Bank Accounts and see the extra if you have depending on the age of your child, that extra 300ed in your bank account, depending on how many children you have, it could be more than that. But this is money that is needed. And again in the congressional district i serve, you can look at all 435 and there is not a congressional district out of all 435 of them where you didnt have families who benefited from this. In my congressional district, 92 of kids benefit from this Tax Credit that just kicked in last week. We as democrats, we made that happen. And believe me, i can tell you were talking about that, it is incredibly important. And i like the fact that you talked about children and whether they go to bed hungry because it is more than just the words Child Poverty. This gets down to, you know, kids having for that matter shoes big enough to wear when they go to school. We have schools that literally 100 of the kids are on the free or reduced price lunch program. So this is money that is needed. We hope to make this permanent right now we know that well have this for a year. But when you are looking at the greatest lifter out of poverty for children, One Of The Best in the entire history of america, this is pretty darn important that we get that we keep this going and how important it is that we as democrats got will done. And before i let you go, i want to talk about an important issue that first came to light during the Me Too days and that is the concept of forced arbitration. The idea that many of women are not free to pursue complaints against their employers or coworkers because they have agreed to a certain way of litigating or managing these matters. You are a part of a movement to end this. Yeah, we just introduced legislation and it is worth noting that it is bipartisan and we have a House Version and senate version. But what this would do is simple, it would end what is called forced arbitration that the 60 Million americans that work under these forced arbitration clauses as part of their employment, that would no longer be legal if we get this legislation, but this is something that i think has a real possibility of getting all the way through. Senator durbin, my dear friend and our Senior Center in illinois, is chair of the judiciary on the Senate Side and he will help us get this through. But ali, we had senator lindsay graham, im the lead sponsor on the house side, and i have the republican out of indiana, we we are all there saying that we stand together, democrats and republicans, and say this is bad business. And i dont care what the size of your business is, this is bad business to force your employers to sign off on this typically as when you are a brand new employee, you go down to the human resources department, you are all excited, but this is taking away your rights to say, hey, you know what, if there is a sexual harassment problem, we want to be able to deal with this in a way that makes sense and we dont want the sexual harassers to be able to hide in the shadows any longer. Congress woman, good to see you. And by the Way Moline is the head quarters of deere. And all i have ever wanted is one of those little gators. I have no reason to have one, but this is the case i make. Thank you for joining us. And well have much more by the way on the Infrastructure Deals and the rest of bidens big plans with Senator Sherrod Brown of ohio. He will join our conversation in a bit. And we also have the secretary of my interview with pete buttigieg. He tells me what the administration is up against when it comes to fighting the Climate Crisis. And then we go live to havana, where dueling protests are rattling the island nation. All that and more coming up. Get outta here. Everybodys a skeptic. Wright brothers . More like, yeah right, brothers get outta here its not crazy. Its a scramble. Just crack an egg. Ugh, these balls are moist. Or is that the damp weight of selfawareness you now hold in your hand . Yeahhh. laugh keep your downstairs dry with Gold Bond Body powder. Subway®. Has so much new they couldnt fit it in their last ad. So, we gonna have to go fast. Ready . 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The judge claims the Obama Administration failed to follow federal administrative rules when it launched daca in 2012. However, this will not affect any of the 650,000 dreamers who are ready enrolled. This is for new enrollments. Since its inception, daca has been under immense legal scrutiny from the courts and the political right. In a statement President Biden called the Judges Decision deeply disappointing and said while the Courts Order does not now affect current daca recipients, this decision nonetheless rely Gat Relegates to anuncertain future. Biden is encouraging congress to give permanent security. Right now there is a bill stalled in the senate that can do just that, the american Dream And Promise agent would offer a. House democrats say that they will remain steadfast until it reaches the president s desk. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that democrats will continue to press for any and all paths to ensure that the Dream And Promise act becomes the law of the land. Coming up next, political Turmoil Spilling out across several uncans with fallout reverberating here in the united states. But first, another international crisis overnight, olympic organizers in tokyo announce that two athletes staying in the Olympic Village have tested positive for covid19. This marks the first instance of Athlete Infections inside the village. One other nonathlete has also tested positive. Thereis growing fear over a rise of covid cases in japan, a country that is only about 30 vaccinated. The summer olympic games are set to begin this friday. For mac. Who can come to a stop with barely a bobble. Lucia. Who announces her intentions even if no ones there. And sgt moore. Who leaves room for her room. With usaa safepilot, when you drive safe. You can save up to 30 on your auto insurance. Get a quote and start saving. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. History says fine jewelry for occasions. We say forget occasions. snap fine jewelry for every day, minus the traditional markups. Waves of civil unrest are hitting several already fragile countries, and some consequences will echo here in the united states. In south africa, arrest of the former president Jacob Zuma triggered riots and looting. Officials new say they believe the violence was preplanned by a group of bad actors and they intend to arrest the instigators. Over 200 people have died so far. The current President Ramaphosa tried to reassure Thearchy And T prevail. And in haiti, it is not clear who is leading the country after the assassination of Jovenel Moise earlier this month. A group of international diplomats released a statement appearing to snub haitis interim Prime Minister while throwing support behind his rival. Claude joseph had been serving as interim Prime Minister since april and is the De Facto leader. But the united states and a group of other countries have thrown their support between Ariel Henry who was elected by Jovenel Moise to be the next Prime Minister two days before moise died, though henry was never sworn in. And there is this other guy who led haitis dismantled senate who also claims to be leading the country. Are you still following . And in cuba, it is the tale of Dueling Movements from the antigovernment proud and rowe communist supporters. Thousands gathered on saturday for a pro Government Rally to denounce the u. S. Trade embargo and that isin direct response to the antiestablishment protestors who took to the streets over shortages of food, basic goods and medical supplies. Joining me now from havana is nbcs ed augusta. What is the situation now . It looks peaceful, but what is happening under all of that . Reporter well, it is peaceful, but peaceful in large part because the government has limited Internet Access, over the last couple of days it is starting to come back. And it is peaceful because police and other state forces have been deployed very heavily throughout havana. As you said, Yesterday Government supporters, both who believe in the revolution and those who support the government, rallied around the government in the capital and other cities throughout the island. But the fact that there was no big antigovernment protests again yesterday i think is due in spoke no small part to the state keeping a heavy eye on potential protestors. What does the state do . This is not a government that is prone to necessarily listening to the will of the people, but what do they actually do, do they deploy more police and soldiers, are there sort of the presence of Law Enforcement in areas where there are protests . Reporter it is exactly that. So heavy police deployment, some police with dogs. I saw a man wearing a black beret, equivalent to the s. W. A. T. Team, heavy deployment sending a message to the population. Ed, thank you for your reporting. Ed Ag Gus continue is a reporter in havana. Joining me now is member 69 house foreign Affairs Committee in havana. Joining me now is member 69 house foreign Affairs Committee. All of these global events that we were just talking about, you know a great deal about. Good to see you. What in your opinion is going on in cuba and what should the united states be doing about it . What is going on is that people are fed up with years of poverty and repression. It is really remarkable that weve seen these kinds of protests in cuba given the lengths that the Com Uhe Nis regime goes to stop them. It is incredibly risky and yet people were doing it. I think what we can do, weve been debating our Cuba Policy in our country for many, many years. We have a Trade Embargo on cuba. I think that it is incredibly important for people to know our Trade Embargo is not in any way responsible for the suffering of the cuban people. The government of cuba maintains their own embargo prohibiting them from owning private businesses, from exporting or importing goods, from being paid by foreign companies if the foreign company is doing business in the country, that that embargo still enables the communist regime to falsely blame the united states for these problems. And so i would gradually go back to the policy that the Obama Administration tried for a few years to try to take the u. S. Restrictions off the tables, an argument that the cuban oig regime can use. And also id be looking at every technical way that we have available to us to try to expand Internet Access this cuba so that these people who are protesting against the regime have a way to communicate and to know what is going despite the censorship of their government. A couple weeks ago i was talking to the Cuba Ambassador to the United Nations who says it is the embargo that causes these problems. So it is a Chicken And Egg situation. So you are arguing to go back to what President Obama wanted to do, which is a lot of americans sort of the anticuban lobby in the united states, calls appeasement. Not different from what the Obama Administration and now the biden administration wants to do with iran. Iran is being belligerent and is doing bad things to its own people, but america over this Administrations View is if we open things up a little bit and make things a little better for them, what happens then, do the cubans get more of a taste for it, does it weaken the Governments Grip on the state. Why is doing good things for them right now helpful as opposed to hurtful . I think one thing that would be helpful to ordinary cubans would be if we allow cubanamericans to send remittances to their families in cuba. Even that is complicated because the communist regime is able in many respects to benefit from any money that is going into the country. But at least that is people to people. That is family to family. I think, look, it is not black and white. There are a lot of people on the left in the united states who buy into this notion that cubans are starving, cubans are poor because we have this block and i had or block and i had orem Bar Go against them. But that is not true. There are many foreign companies in cuba. The problem is that the communist regime has abolished private property and private enterprise and every sort of freedom that the people in other countries have to be able to feed themselves and to be able to prosper. So the reason i think that we should take the embargo gradually off the table is not because i think that it will have an immediate positive impact for ordinary could you ban cubans, but because it will take that argument away, it will make it plain that this poverty that the cuban people are protesting guess is 100 the fault of their communist regime. And i want to ask you about haiti. This is a confusing situation in a country that you and i are old enough to remember is fragile, it was an early democracy, earliest one in the western hemisphere, but it is fragile and it went through decades of disastrous government. What happens now . I dont know. I think the most important thing is trying to figure out obviously helping the haitians figure out who killed their former Prime Minister and make sure that the perpetrators, whoever they are, are brought to justice. And number two, and this is what we are doing with diplomats from other nations, to try to help facilitate a lawful and peaceful transition to a successor who is seen as legitimate by the haitian people. There is not much more that we can do in the short term than those two things. There is talk about sending american troops and, you know, weve invaded haiti it seems periodically over our history, it never seems to help. This is something that they have to work out. But we can facilitate a more legitimate transition through diplomacy. Congressman, good to talk to you. Thank you for joining us, Tom Malinowski of new jersey. Coming up, protecting the planet while creating jobs. Pete buttigieg says it is more than necessary. Plus i spent last week in oregon, got too much of late last night, but while i was there, i spoke with the locals about how the Climate Crisis affects their lives. Cts their l. This is a cold call hello, My Name is ice t. Can you spare a few seconds to learn about cold Water Washing with tide . Hi My Name is steve. Did you know washing in cold can save you 100 a year on your energy bill. Why wouldnt you turn to cold . It helps the environment. What . Because Stone Cold said so. Plus, tide cleans great in cold. This was a cold call this isnt just a walk up the stairs. When you have an irregular heartbeat, its more. Its dignity. The freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. With relapsing forms of ms. Theres a lot to deal with. Not just unpredictable relapses. All these other things too. It can all add up. Kesimpta is a oncemonthly athome injection. That may help you put these Rms Challenges in their place. Kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions, and slowing Disability Progression vs aubagio. Dont take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. 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Ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. Think of what peanuts have given Humanity Fuel for vast Migrations Sustenance for Mountaineering Expeditions and long journeys across The World but most importantly . They give us something to eat when we drink beer. Planters. A nut above. The Climate Crisis is here, it is real. No matter how much denial there continues to be, there is evidence of it every day and the Pacific Northwest has been taking the brunt of it in recent weeks. Currently the Bootleg Fire is tearing through southern oregon, largest wildfire in the country right now. It has burned nearly 250,000 acres in the state of oregon. The region just came out of a heatwave in which some cities saw their highest temperatures on record, period, for all of history. It even melted key infrastructure like the Power Lines on these cable cars. So as senate democrats try to push two Infrastructure Bills through congress, i thought it instructive to have a candid discussion. So while on the west coast, i spoke with five portland, Oregon Locals about how climate affects their daily lives and why the situation is as urgent as ever. Were all living in a kind of crisis in this country and around The World. Climate change is here. This is Climate Change. And this is actually not the worst impacts of Climate Change. This is the impacts from Degree Missions from a couple decades ago. So Climate Change is here, it is now, we are living it. The Bootleg Fire is the largest fire in the united states at the moment, the heatwave that hit the Western United States during a couple weeks ago, it would have been virtually impossible that heatwave without Climate Change. And so we know that these are the impacts of Climate Change. Most vulnerable are those that are hardest hit and so investment is extremely important. Climate change is a public Health Emergency and it will continue to be a public Health Emergency. And so that idea of Human Infrastructure to be able to manage impacts on the most vaul vulnerable is important. Question need more technology to get to us move away from fossil fuels. Roads and highways are there for a reason. They connect people, they connect commerce. And we need to do other infrastructure that is outside of that again, we need to increase rail service. That is just where we need to go. We will never stop moving things. People still buy things from amazon and it has to get there somehow. And we cant pull a Boeing Part by bike or these other things. It will continue to be a part of our story so how can we do that in a cleaner way and that will take investment. I think it all depends on how were looking at what causes the Climate Change, right . So if were looking at the environment, of course ill go back to pavement and highways and things of that nature, that not only affects Health Despair days but affects how Ozone Emission and things like that. So like everyone on the panel said, we need to look at those technologies that would help to mitigate and keep us safe. I think the good news about Climate Change and people dont often say that, it is human made and so we have choices that we need to make now. And that is about Investment And Planning for investments moving forward and investing now in these issues. Because investing now is much cheaper than dealing with the impacts of Climate Change in a year or two years, ten years. Because the city of portland was not ready for this heatwave. People died all over the Western United States. And that was preventible. We just didnt anticipate the Frequency And Severity of Climate Change and those things will escalate quickly and they are not going to be linear. It wont be an increase in temperature over time. It is nonlinear and it will be sudden. So we have to invest and prepare for that. Weve august discussed this is a rural state. These electric trains behind us, theaugust discussed this is a rural state. These electric trains behind us, the idea of high Speed Rail that could work in a part of the country where i live, it is hard to sell to people who dont intersect with high Speed Rail and electric stuff. I got a simple life that is out in the country. How do we sell people on the idea that they dont get left out of this revolution . As weve talked about, you know, helping peel to look at it, you know, as an investment and benefiting everyone. And being able to show the benefits that will impact more rural communities. And how interconnected it all is. I think a lot of it will be, you know, communication and bringing people into the conversations as we talked about, you know. Really having the community drive these changes and approaching it with that Equity Lens so that there is conversations about who benefits and who doesnt. And how can we get to a point where we can all benefit from this. You work with the people who will inherit this problem. You work with kids. They will absolutely be going why didnt you fix this just as were looking at previous generations saying how did you get us into this mess. But it is not just about pointing fingers. We are at the point where we have to do something about it. So i think that it will be incumbent on us to take the first steps and at least lay the Ground Work that the leaders of tomorrow can get into. The frameworks that say here is a way that we can start solving this. And well make mistake along the way, into doubt. There is a huge Need Right how to deal with the wildfires. And weve got to solve for that. But we are not going to have the wildfires stop overnight. The heatwave is not going to come to a crashing end. But we have to take the first steps or the kids of tomorrow will be saying why the heck didnt you do more. My thanks to all five for joining me. It was a pleasure. Coming up next the pandemic silent killer, how Americas Drug Epidemic has only gotten worse over the last year and a half. Worse over the last year and a half age before beauty . Why not both . Visibly diminish wrinkled skin in. Crepe corrector lotion. Only from gold bond. An Amusement Park is like whooping cough, its not just for kids. Whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. And it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. Ask your Doctor Or Pharmacist about whooping Cough Vaccination because its not just for kids. Whooping Cough Vaccination it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. Tide Pods Childguard Pack helps keep your Laundry Pacs in a safe place and your child safer. To close, twist until it clicks. Tide Pods Childguard Packaging. At philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. The recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me. The worlds best, and possibly only, schmelier. Philadelphia. 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For the last year and a half, the country has been focused on the Coronavirus Pandemic that has claimed more than 612,000 lives. But during that time, the Drug Epidemic got even worse with deaths from Drug Overdoses in america reaching new heights last year. This week the cdc reported that roughly 93,000 americans died from Drug Overdoses last year, that is a 29 increase from the year before. In fact preliminary data shows that ten or more states saw at least a 40 rise in drug deaths over that 12 month period. And while pandemicrelated stressors and difficulty accessing care were two big factors, one trend rose to its peak, the presence of fentfenta. It is a powerful synthetic opoid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Prior to 2016, there werent that many overdoses connected to fentanyl, but over the years it has been linked to a drastic increase in overdose deaths. In fact roughly 57,000 americans died from Synthetic Opoids last year and most have been from fentanyl. The drug is used as an important painkiller in hospitals to treat people with severe pain like in terminal cancer patients. But dealers realized that because it is so cheap and powerful, it was a way to increase their profits. So it is sometimes cut into Street Drugs bought illegally, meaning many users are consuming fentanyl ununknowingly. And an organization families against fentanyl penned an Open Letter canning that it be declared a weapon of mass destruction. About 38 of american adults have battled illicit Substance Abuse and the main way to fight this epidemic is through awareness. So if you know someone who is struggling with drug addiction, or Substance Abuse, take down this number for the national help line. 1800662help. Again, that is 18006624357. Ill also tweet that out so you have it. On my trip out west, i found portland was nothing like the lawless post apocalyptic city like the right wing media makes it out to be. Coming up, the true story. Portland has long had a Culture Of Street Protests and leftist militant activism where folks have taken action such as Property Destruction or clashing with police. What were you going to do if people came to vandalize . To be 100 honest, we definitely have firearms. And this is our business. S our s subway has so much new, i couldnt fit it all in the last ad. Refresh yep, so let me finish this. Theres new hickorysmoked bacon, fresh mozzarella, smashed avocado. You know what, theres a lot but it all makes a better footlong. Can i get a word, in . Sure, take the tagline. Because you gotta. You gotta refresh to be fresh. Its the eat fresh refresh at subway. And theyre refreshing everything from how they make it, to how they bake it, to how they bring it to you. This new Turkey Cali fresh is incredible. Do you even eat bread . Steph, its a commercial. [sizzling] i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is. [whispering] its grilled cheese oclock. But i know what time it is. Hey google, turn up the heat. Delicia this is where all our recycling is sorted 1. 2 million pounds every day, helping to make San Francisco the greenest big city in america. But thats not all youll find here. There are hundreds of goodpaying jobs, with most new workers hired from bayviewhunters point. We dont just work at recology, we own it, creating opportunity and a better planet. Now, thats making a difference. Show me the olympics. Buglers dream begins playing since the racial justice and protests erupted following the murder of george floyd, portland has born witness to some of the most destructive demonstrations in the nation. And if you follow social media, you would hear that it is a Hell Hole overrun by vandalism. I talked to people who live and work there about what is actually happening in their community. And what i found was not a post apocalyptic city ravaged by anarchist, but one like many others at a Post Pandemic Turning Point dealing with its own history. What we saw in the last year with protests here in portland is completely unprecedented. I mean, we had more than 100 consecutive days of nightly Demonstrations Downtown and across the city. Portland has a more active Activist Community and a sustained legacy of protests. And so i think here it has been able to sustain itself longer. And they are the stepping stone for a larger conversation and i think having the sustained protests have allowed people like myself, political leaders that want to do work or even Community Leaders or members to sustain the pressure necessary to make race an issue that is continued to talk about and actually dealt with. But there are many times too when some of these protestors and demonstrators would break the windows of a local Small Business and do it over and over again. What was it like in the worst of it . A nightmare. I wont lie. They were looting businesses. That was the truth. I saw that store across the street get looted for everything they had. I believe there were people who were taking advantage of it and using that time to destroy businesses. I cant say 100 those were all the protestors, but i believe that there were people who were taking advantage of the chaos and mayhem. I believe that there is an element within there that it is just destructive, it is happening. And it is random and not helping the situation. They view it as rampant and everybody who comes down here is participating in it, that is very untrue. I would say it is a small percentage. I would say the majority of protests, 98 of them, are clear on the issues which is black Lives Matter and pushing that narrative. And also the homeless Population Sort of increased due to that and due to businesses shutting down. We have a severe homelessness crisis. During the pandemic we saw a lot of folks kind of taking up space and sleeping on sidewalks and parks, cars. When we look at portland specifically, we have huge disparities and overrepresentation for people who are black and africanamerican. We have an overrepresentation of people of color experiencing homelessness. That didnt happen by chance. There has long been questions and concerns about policing locally in portland as well. Portland police have had a history of fatally shooting people of color but also people of mental illnesses. Give me a sense of what the relationship is in the city between black people and police. It is strained. But there is a narrative that there cant be an understanding. And there can be. The issue isnt the officers per se, but it is the system on how policing is done that it targets people of color. And the system does not allow accountability and does not allow officers you can many of whom are well intentioned individuals, do their best work. And if you put in the fact that they are overburdened with so many different things particularly here in portland, when you look at things like homelessness, mental Health And Hose other systems that are broken. Do you think portland is getting a bad wrap . I think portland is probably in a similar position to many other major cities. And i think we have a really visible population of people who are sleeping unsheltered. I think that weve had a rather loud year. I think portland has some reckoning do with its history and how we move forward together. And i think that we are having a reckoning with our racial past. So the truth here lies somewhere in the middle. It is not that portland doesnt have problems, but you are suggesting that some of the portrayal of portland is focusing on the wrong problems . Yes. And it is an unfair assessment. If you walk around portland, you would have a great time. The problem is that it is not equitable. Everybody doesnt have access to those resources. What has been the reputational damage to the city of portland in the last year is row found. Portland depends on tourism and there is a concern that there is this thing in the ether that this is not a safe place. The stigma is that portland is on fire and i think if we begin to change that narrative, it will help the tourism just because, yes, there were bad times, but as of now, things are starting to change. Since vaccinations have gone up and weve started to see sort of a reopening and the city coming back to life, irrespective of the protests and demonstrations, that is changing things very rapidly. If you were in Downtown Portland eight weeks ago, it would have looked dramatically different than what you are seeing today. And lets be clear, there is still a Long Way To Go for Downtown Portland to sort of revive itself. I mean, it had its teeth kicked in for 18 months. I think the truth is that portland is a great place to live. Stick around, more velshi lined up for you this sunday morning. Ill talk to Sherrod Brown about the new Child Tax Credit and democrats accelerated Time Line to try to pass at least something on infrastructure. Plus part two of my interview with pete buttigieg. He wants americans to understand something important about Climate Change. Climate change good morning, it is sunday, july 18th, im ali velshi. Welcome to what may actually end up being an Infrastructure Week or at least more so than the Punch Line that became over the last several years due to the fact that the former president kept announcing Infrastructure Weeks but failed to follow through. Lawmakers from both parties have been working through the weekend negotiating the details of two Infrastructure Bills, one with republican support and one without. Negotiations for the bipartisan bill continue to be caught up in a competition between the needs of the rich to not pay higher taxes and the needs of regular folks who would like to drive across bridges that dont crumble in buses that dont poe loot the Planet And Fun stuff like that. Infrastructure pays for itself. F like that. Infrastructure pays for itself. Republicans say their issue is with how the 579 Billion Infrastructure Bill will be paid for. That is actually the wrong question. Politico notes that conservatives are increasingly leaning on the Senate Gop to rip up the bill and kill its attempt to pour 40 Billion into increased irs enforcement. End quote. And that extra money for the irs would help the agency collect billions in unpaid taxes mainly from wealthy individuals and corporations. So in reality, republicans are worried that their rich constituents and corporate donors may have to actually pay their taxes if the democrats get their way. That is not representation, that is a racket. Chuck schumer is dialing up the pressure, says a procedural vote