Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170428

Speak with Vermont Congressman peter welch, chief deputy whip of the House Democratic caucus. Thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of climate activists from the around the country are converging in washington, d. C. , for the peoples climate march on saturday. Trump has already begun dismantling president obamas , legacy and revived the keystone xl and Dakota Access pipelines. He has also put Climate Change deniers in charge of several key agencies, including the Environmental Protection agency and threatened to pull the u. S. Out of the paris, the court. All this as scientists have confirmed 2016 was the warmest year on record. We will speak withh 350. Org founder bill mckiobben. Physics is our enemy and it poses a diffefent dish difficult time wit timime limit. We havave to have to work around trump one degree or another. Amy all of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , demomocracynow. Org, the war and pepeace report. Im amy goodman. N. The state of arkansas on thursday carried out its fourth execution in eight days, injecting 38yearold Kenneth Williams with a threedrug cocktail that paralyzed him and stopped his heart. An Associated Press witness said williams body jerked 15 times in quick succession as he was administered the drugs, before slowing for a final five movements. He was pronounced dead at 11 05 p. M. A spokesperson for republican governor asa hutchinson, who did not witness the execution, called williams movements a an involuntary mumuscular reaction. An attorney for williams called the claim a whitewash and called for an investigation. Arkansas rushed to carry out an unprecedented series of killings as its supply of the sedative midazolam was set to expire at the end of april. Midazolam has repeatedly failed to make prisoners unconscious in other executions, leading to painful deaths. Arkansas carried out Kenneth Williams execution after the u. S. Supreme court declined to intervene. Ahead of thursdays execution, the daughter of one of william victims, kayla greenwood, pleaded for the state to call off its plans, writing his execution will not bring my father back or return to us what has been taken, but it will cause additional suffering. The Trump Administration sent them as wewe continue withth our headadlines now the Trump Administration sent mixed signals on north korea thursday, as secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the u. S. Is open to direct negotiations with kim jong uns regime over his countrys nuclear program, while President Trump hinted at a possible nuclear war. Trump made the remark in an interview with the reuters news service. Pres. Trump well, there is a havingthat we could end a major, major conflict with north korea. Absolutely. Amy trumps comment came as secretary of state tillerson told npr hes open to direct talks with north korea if the country is serious about permanently abandoning its nuclear program. Meanwhile, President Trump told reuters south korea should pay the 1 billion price tag for a thaad Missile Defense system the u. S. Recently began installing. Trump suggested the u. S. Could cancel a free trade deal between south korea and the United States if south korea doesnt accept this demand. Back on capitol hill, House Republicans have called off their efforts to revive a bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. The white house had been pushing for a vote as early as today, as President Trump sought to win his first major legislative victory ahead of saturday, which marks his 100th day in office. Trumps initial push for a healthcare bill failed after members of the farright Freedom Caucus insisted the legislation did not go far enough toward rolling back president obamas Signature Health care bill. The pentagon has launched an investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn after he ignored a warning by the Defense Intelligence agency not to collect payments by Foreign Governments. Despite the warning, flynn accepted tens of thousands of dollars of fees from russian sources, including rt, the krememlinfunded television network. Flynns firm also collected more than for lobbying work that may 500,000 have benefited the government of turkey. On capitol hill, congressmember elijah cummingngs of marylanande ranking democrat on the house respect committee, said flynn appeared to break the law by accepting the payments. Cooks we have no evidence that he obtained permission from the secretary of the army and the secretary of state to accept any foreign payments as required by law. Amy white house spokesperson sean spicer sought to deflect blame for the growing Michael Flynn scandal, noting the Obama Administration granted flynn security clearance in 2016. Congressman cummings fired back, accusing spicer and the white house of covering up for flynn. President donald trump is set to sign an executive order today that would further expand offshore oil drilling in the pacific, atlantic, and arctic oceans. Trump is expected to order a review of the governments fiveyear oil and gas drilling plan, seeking to reverse protections set by former president barack obama. Trumps order comes as new data show last month was the hottest march on record for a year without an el nino episode. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the average global temperature last month rose 1. 8 degrees fahrenheit, or 1 degree celsius, above normal. The finding came as ththe Mauna Loa Observatory in hawaii said atmospheric levels of Carbon Dioxide reached a record 410 parts per million this month. Climate Scientists Say the maximum safe level is 350 parts per million. Meanwhile, in washington, oregon senator jeff merkley introduced a bill thursday that would transition the u. S. S. To 100 Renewable Energy by 2050. Our responsibility is to stop burning fossil fuels and stop putting Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. That is why we have to rapidly transition from in Energy Economy based on fossil fuels to one based on clean and Renewable Energy. Amy senator merkleys bill came as climate activists from the around the country are converging on washington, d. C. , on saturday for the peoples climate march. Over the past 100 days, trump has threatened to pull the u. S. Out of the paris climate accord, begun dismantling president obamas climate legacy, and revived the keystone xl and Dakota Access pipelines. He has also put Climate Change deniers in charge of several key agencies, including the epa and proposed slashing the , budget of the epa and other climate programs. Democracy now will broadcast five hours of live coverage from the climate march saturday beginning at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time. You can go to our website at democracynow. Org to tune in. And after headlines, well speak with climate activist bill mckibben. In texas, state lawmakers have approved sb4, a harsh antiimmigrant bill that will outlaw sanctuary cities and allow Police Officers to check the immigration status of anyone they detain. The texas house of representatives approved the bill on a final vote of 9453 thursday afternoon after a marathon debate wednesday evening that stretched past 3 00 a. M. Texas democratic representative Mary Gonzalez of el paso broke down in tears as she recounted how she was a victim of sexual assault, pleading with her colleagues to reject an amendment that she says will prevent undocumented immigrarans frfrom contactcting police or testifying in court. T. The people e who will feel te bibiggest effects of this are te most vulnerable are the women and the children who are survivors of sexual a assaults,f rape, human traffickers. The p people were spoposed to make t them save. If i have the bravery to ststand upup h here a and tell you u tht i dont like to shshare in h hos ththat maybebe it ll c change yr thing, toto not do the wrong i am asking you to be as brave as me. Despite her plea the republicandominated house , approved the amendment. Democrats warned the measure will lead to racial profiling. Republicans also rejected an amendment that would have prohibited police from interrogating children about their immigration status. The debate drew hundreds of protesters, who dressed in black and packed the Capitol Rotunda and house gallery. The house version of sb4 will have to be reconciled with a Senate Version of the bill, which Texas Governor greg abbott has promised to sign. In washington, d. C. , Homeland Security secretary john kelly officially opened the office of voice. That is the victims of immigration crime engagement. The Trump Administration says is aimed at helping the victims of crimes committed by unlawful immigrants. Were giving people were victimized by illegal aliens, for the first time, a voice of their own. All crime is terrible, but these here,s, as represented are unique. Theyre all too often ignored. Amy critics say the Voice Program will demonize undocumented immigrants, comparing it to germanys naziera policy of publishing lists of crimes committed by jews. Meanwhile, a hotline set up by voice to report crimes committed by aliens has been flooded with calls from people reporting they have been victimized by extraterrestrials. One twitter user urged her followers to dial the hotline at 185548voice, tweeting i plan on calling every day to report how badly these green aliens from outer space are treating me. How about you . In syria witnesses said , warplanes bombed a pair of hospitals in the rebelheld prprovince of idlib on thursday, killing 10 people including two , newborn babies. The union of medical care and relief organizations says eight medical facilities in idlib were deliberately attacked so far this month, leaving thousands without access t to medical car. Local medics saiaid either russn or syrian planes were e to blame for the assaulults. The attacks s came as israel launched a series of airstrikes around damascus main airport. The strikes appeared to target weapons caches bound for hezbollah in neighboring lebanon. In the gaza strip and the occupied west bank, palestinians shut down businesses and halted services thuhuday in a g general ststrike held inin solidarity wh prisoners on Hunger Strike in israeli jails. This is hebron resident shadia sultan. The solidarity is very nice and organized. Everything is closed. Everyone is in solidarity with prisoners, even the store owners who hahave put up closed signs saying today were on strike in solidarity with the prisoners. Amy more than 1000 prisoners began refusing food on april 16 to protest poor conditions in israeli jails, as well as israels policy of administrative detention, which allows palalestinians to be held for months without trial. In senegal, a coururt has uphela life sentence for the rmerer u. S. Bbacked dictatator of cha, hissene habre, who was convicted last year r of crimes against humanity. A 1992 truth comommission n in d dedetermined habre sysystematicy tortured his oppononents, killig up to 40,000 people during his eight years in power in the 1980s. Habre was tried in a special african unionbacked court estatablished after a twodecadelong campaign led by his victims. In brazil, labor unions have called a nationwide general strike today to protest president Michel Temers plans to dramatically roll back pensions and weaken labor laws. Organizers predict it will be the largest work stoppage in brazils history. The strike comes just over a year after the impeachment of former president dilma rousseff, who called her ouster a coup, amid a huge Corruption Scandal involving much of Brazils Congress and a third of president temers cabinet. Back in the United States, a Union Representing some 5000 workers at chihicagoarea nursig homes have authorizea a stri next week,s longrning contra talks slled ove wawas and stfifing lels. S. Thservice ployee internional unn says the emoyers gan negoations king nurng home woers to accept lesthan minimum wage. The strike would begin as a roining series of work stoppages beginning may 4. United airlines has reached a settlement with dr. David dao, a passenger who was beaten and dragged from a united flight earlier this month after he refused an order to give up his paid seat. As part of the deal, dr. Dao will not disclose the terms s of the settlement or the amount paid out. Viral video of the incident shows a bloodied d dr. Dao being dragged semiconscious down the aisle of a united jet by an Airline Security officer. Dr. Dao reportedly suffered a concussion, broken nose, lost teeth in the attack. After 17 years on the air, one of the longest Running Community news programs, free speech radio news, will go dark after its last weekly broadcast today. The worker run news collective produced a daily news hour for Pacifica Radio Network until 2014 when it switched to weekly. Fsrn helped pioneer a decentralized grassroots model for independent, International Journalism with reporters covering issues in their communities. It has struggled to find Firm Financial footing. And in new york city, hundreds of people rallied thursday at city hall and then marched to the Metropolitan Correctional Center federal prison on the First Anniversary of the arrest of the bronx 120 120 young men who were arrested en masse in whats been described as the Largest Police raid in new york city history. The city says the militarized raid on the eastchester gardens Public Housing project targeted gang members. But family members and residents say the raid racially targeted young black men, many of whom, they say, were not part of the gangs. The organizers of thursdays rally say more than new yorkers 1000 have been arrested in a series of mass police raids over the last year alone. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Just hours before a deadline, congress has averted a Government Shutdown by working on a shortterm spending bill and a broader deal to Fund Agencies through september. Without the extension, federal agencies would run out of money by midnight tonight. One of the key disputes stemmed from trumps demands that the government funding bill allocate 1. 4 billion for border wall construction. In the midst of negotiations, he lashed out at Congressional Democrats thursday with a series of tweets, writing i promise to rebuild our military and secure our border. Democrats want to shut down the government. Politics whitite house spokesesperson sen spicer addressed thehe budget fight during his d daily press briefing. There needs to be a continuing resolution effective this friday. The president has done every ththing possible, work extremely hard with congress to ensure that we maintain a government keep the government open. The democrats at the last minute have come in and thrown a lot of monkey wrenches into the ability to get this done. Despite the president doing every thing he can to show good faith to keep this going. Amy speaking earlier this week, new york senator Chuck Schumer expressed hopepe that a deal wod be reached. The democratic and Republican Leaders of both the house and senate were making good progress. I am very hopeful we can get a budget done by friday. We have asked the president not to interfere. If he doesnt interfere, we can get this done. If you demand things, poison pills like the wall, which not only democrats, but republicans oppose every single republican on the border, texas, arizona, new mexico oppose it. We can get this done. We ask them to let us do our work am a not throw in some lastminute poison pills that could undo it. And we could get this done. Amy this comes as House Republicans have called off their efforts to revive a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act. The white house had been pushing for a vote as early as today, as President Trump sought to win his first major legislative victory ahead of saturday, which marks his 100th day in office. In just a moment, we are going to capitol hill where were joined from the russell rotunda by Vermont Congressman peter welch chief deputy whip of the , House Democratic caucus. S. We will go to break and then come back with the Vermont Congress member. This is [captioning made possible by democracy now ] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from vermont tbs as we continue our many city tour around the country. We will be in washington covering the People Climate march tomorrow from 10 00 in the morning eastern to 3 00 p. M. In the afternoon. But we right now are joined in the russell rotunda by Vermont Congressmember peter welch, chief deputy whip of the House Democratic caucus. Welcome back to democracy now it is great to have you with us. Can you start off by assessing President Trumps first 100 days and where you are in congress right now on this eve of the 100th day . It is pretty much of a mess. The border wall he promised has not gone up they could miss. The ban on muslims coming into the country hahas been declaredd unconstitutional, so we haveve a check and balance o operating wh the judiciary so far. We are having g the hehealth cae debate it was a complete failure. A lot of the bigtime promises the president made he has failed to deliver on. The first 100 days, they are important because ththere are three things w we president can do. Number one, make good on promises he made during the campaign. What you have seen is ann inability on the part of the president to do that. Number t two, an opportunity to create uninity in the country. Y. The president i is given a honeymoon, republican or democrat. That requires them too reaeach t erere there is someme common ground. There were two opporortunities r president bush that hee squandndered or president trp that he squandered. One was the infrastructure. They have not presented a plan. Two, lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Forpresident has said he is that. Democrats are all in on that. But there is no plan. The third thing is the presisidt cacan idedentify what he or shes going to focus on in the next four years and i identify the bg chchallenge in t the country. The big challelenge in the couny is income inenequality. Everything the president has proposed with would intensify it, accelerate it, not diminish it. I think it is been a pretty poor showing for the first 100 days. Amy we all know he did not succeed in revealing obamacare the first time. Then there was this 11th hour effort to do it again. What happened . It was never in the cards because the plan is not even written. What happened on health care is that the republicans own this thing. They had kind of a lounge act. For attacacked obama c care seven years. They said they had a replacement. The replacement arrived and it was not written. So they really did not have a plan. They substituted a Health Care Plan with something that was going to be a tax cut, in effect. 24 Million People lost their health care over 10 years. We were going to have a 1 trillion shift out of health care as a tax cut would essentially to people making over 200 50,000, but largely over 1 million. The 400 wealthiest families in the country under that healthcare bill, were going to get a check for 7 million. This was not a Health Care Plan. It was nevever written. You had controversy on the republican side between the Freedom Caucus who wanted basically no coverage whatsoever, and the moderates, who are really concerned some people in the district were going to lose coverage. It collapsed. I think there are struggling with that conflict. Amy what happened with the spending bill . Signed as wet been go to broadcast. Theres been an effort on the part of the president to inject things like Defunding Planned Parenthood o omoney for r the wl , which are nonstarters on the democratic side. Theyey cant keep the lights on in government without some democratic votes. The democrats, rightly, and i strongly support this, are unwilling to essentitially have keeping the lights on in governmentnt held hostage to get the wall l the presidident want. Wall funding or defufunding planned parenthood. Atat the end of the day, i think theyre going to put down their demands andnd will keep the ligs on in government. Let me give some context. It is now the end of april. The budget were talking about was supposed to begin last october. We dont have a budget. We have a continuing resolution where basically were operating under lastst years numbers. The fundamental responsibility of the legislative body is to pass a budget. We have not done that during the entire time that paul ryan has been the speaker of the house. It has not gone well. That is really bad for the country. Amy in an interview with reuters, President Donald Trump has warned there is a chance we could end up having a major, major conflict with north korea. Absolutely. And then you have the secretary of state Rex Tillerson saying that he might engage in direct talks with north korea. Can you talk about whahat is happenening right now . Whahat we see with President Trump is he just flies off whatever is in his head comes out in his mouth or in the formm of h we. When he is talking about military action in north korea, it is pretty reckless. Think about it. North korea has artillery pieces. They have like 30,000 within 30 miles of seoul. Seoul has millions of People Living there, including almost 300,000 americans. So any military action on our part is going to have massive retaliation. The military action is not realistic without this having is drawn into a conflagration and hundreds of thousands of people possibly losing their lives. That is a really bad situation. I think the president should be talking diplomacy, not making a reckless threat of military action where i it is going to be very damaging. A lot of people would lose their lives. To what you go back President Trump did propose yesterday, which was this week, the tax plan and how you would assess this plan . Who benefits and who loses . The bottom line is, what he does is propose about 5 trillion addition to the deficit. It would significantly lower taxes. If you were in the top 1 of this country, it is a pretty good plan for you. If you or anyone else, it is pretty bad. First of all, it is only on one page. There is no details. There is no detail on this whatsoever, except in the brbrod strokes. It would add five choice in dollars to 720 to the deficit. It would add a lot of individuals to essentially get that hedge funds exemption. Instead of paying taxes that 35 , 36 , they come down to 15 . It would eliminate the estate tax that would benefit abobout 5000 to 6000 families in the u. S. Most families do not have to pay the estate tax. I think a number of reasons to be stronglgly against this. First, it would hurt economic growth. We saw what happened in the bush tax cuts, the promise it produces growth, doesnt work. Accelerates income inequality. That is a major issue of our time. It shiftss an enorormous amountf benefits to veveryealthy people at the expense of the middleleclass and lower income people and at the exexpense of investing and our economy. Third, the deficit is something aggressive should talk about because what happens here is if all do a tax cut, it shifts of this money to the high income folks and to corporations. The next year when the deficit goes up, it is a result of that tax cut. There is enormous pressure to cut the budget. And then blame the deficit on too much spending as opposed to tax cuts we never paid for. This is a very ominous direction the president is taking because neck of the on the middle class. It guararantees we wont havevee investment in an verse structure, Sustainable Health care, making College Affordable infrastructure, Sustainable Health care, making College Affordable. In my view, this is a very reckless plan. The good news is, i think it wont pass. Cuts,he Capital Gains tax talking about reducing from 35 addingat is, what is it, 3 trillion to the deficit . How does this square with deficit hawks in conongress . We have noticed the deficit hawks, u unfortunatelyly, susped their convictions in favor of a tax cut. I was s reading cocomments frome of my republican colleleagues wo says he is a deficit hawk. He says we have to endure the pain of a deficit. The weak turns out to be the market people. The benefit goes to the very wealthy. Here. Is hypocrisy it does s not work. I think the interesting thing for me is thatt i think progressives have to be concerned about this deficit because it serves s to become a tool, an argument after the deficit goes up as a result of these unpaid for tax cuts. There is enormous pressure to bring down spending on all of those things that middleclass america needs, including infrastructure and jobcreating opportunities. Y the way, theres another amy i want to ask you i was just going to say, donald trump i will stop. Im sorry. Go ahead. Amy n no, go ahead. What i im noticing the fit 100 days is something that is kind of puzzling. Donald trump won in Rural America. Every one of his policies, trying to repeal health care, this tax system that is an enormous shift of wealth to the all of theses things are really punishing to Rural America. He is going literally for policies that hurt the people whwho electe himim and put their confidence in him. So that t is a political puzzleo me, because it does not make sense to give the back of your hand to the people who got you across the finish line. Amy how do his planss increase inequality in this country . If yoyou have a Health Care Planan where 24 millllion peoplo have health care today lose it, that is pretty badad. If you have a health c care plan where a lot of these Community Hospitals all l around the couoy have gone from redding to black ink because all of the free care they had been giving are now covered by medicaid, that really hurts Rural America were summoned to those hospitals are placed. The tax plan is one where the inefits go to the elites urban areas and cocorporations. Jusust sucks more money out of Rural America. Those are direct policies that will b be crushing to the econoc prospects of f folks, especially in Rural America. It is an all othther an allt assault. Net neutrality, were talking about that. More than any other section of the country, we need broadband buildout in rural amemerica. The economy is struggling. If we are going to create jobs, we have to have a robust internet. We have to have access to the internet, whether you are a ,mall entrepreneur in a g garage no different than if youre in new york city or San Francisco or l. A. I am surprised he is a allowing his fcc commissioner now to propose, essentially, getting rid of Net Neutrality. We will end up with fast lanes and slow lanes and prioritization if theyre successful. That hurts Rural America. Amy so how can Congress Weigh in . Youre talking about ajit pai, from rightwing group, where he reallyt his plan to dismantle Net Neutrality, a plan that is backed by the Koch Brothers and classified the internet is a public utility, leaving the industry to largely police itself. Every greer of the Digital Rights group said how can congreress weigh in her . Firstst, we are weighing in. I serve on the telecom committee. Mike doyle is the chairman of the committee. We are mobilizing our colleagues to fight, make the arguments, have hearings. We are going to bee doing all that we can. Theres another reality here. The republicans enjoy a a majory in the house and senate. So we dont have the numbers to push them back. Its why evanan greer, what he says, the mobilization of people him is absolutely so important. If it is just the democrats in congress fighting for Net Neutrality without the dedemonstration of widespread grassroots support, were not going to succeed. If you remember, when in chairman wheeler was considering this whole issue, there was an enormous outpouring fromom the publicic about protecting Net Neutrality. I think it had an influence. Chairman wheeler came down to the decision and h he was in excellent fcc commissioner, but we have a new team in town. That Public Organization i think is absolutely crucial. It is not just congress. We dont have the numbers. We need help from the folks outside. Amy were talking to Congressmember Peter Welch in the russell rotunda in washington, d. C. He is the sole Vermont Congressmember. Were here in burlington at vermont pbs. I want to ask you about, its not your colleagague elilijah cummings the top democrat on the , House Committee on oversight and government reform. He spoke thursday about the investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Im releasing a letter that was sent directly to general flynn october 8, 2014, from the office of general counsel at the Defense Intelligence agency. His former agency. This letter explicitly warned general flynn as he entered retirement that the constitution prohibited him from accepting any Foreign Government payments without advanced permission. The pentagons warning to general flynn was bold, italicized, and could not have been clearer. We have no evidence that he obobtaineded permission from the secretary of the army and the secretary of state to accept any foreign payments as required by law. Amy that is maryland commerce member of elijah cummings. Congressman peter welch, just to correct what i said, you are the only congressman from vermont. Of course, there are two senators. It you join with your democratic colleagues in the House Oversight committee in demanding white house documents on Michael Flynn. What are you looking for here . You also have the Trump Administration blaming president obama for giving Michael Flynn security clearance. First, with respect to general flynn, we are looking for evidence of the papayment tt he received from Foreign Governments that wowould be in viololation of the law. There is an immense amount of evidence. He h has acknowledged sosome of this, that he was on the payroll , getting conversation from Foreign Governments during the time he had security c clearanc. There are serious questions about him being in absolute violation of the law. That is the issue with respect to general glenn. The second issue, the one that is really ongoing, is the russian connection. And what was it, if any, and the campaign. There is no question, all of the intelligence agencncies have acknowledgeded the russians stil worldly still really hacked and disseminated information in an effort to tip the balance in that campaign. The question is, whether Trump Campaign associates were participating and e engaged in ongoingg discussionsns with anyf the russian operatives. We dont have the answer to that question, but we deserve the answer to that question. That is the point of these investigations that are incurring in the intelligence committees and the house and senate. Amy commerce member peter welch, we will leave it there. I want to ask you one questionn going on not only in vermont around the country, and that is the issue of sanctuary cities. We are innt burlington, burlington becoming a sanctuary city, montpelier, the capital. Talk about what this means and the resistance at the state and local levels to the trump adadministratition immigigration policies and cooperating with ice arrests. First of all, i think there is a normas citizen reaction enormous citizen reaction to the president s fears hostility toward immigration and towards unundocumented workers and good citizens good people in this country. Building the wall, vilifying hispanics, youre just seeing people across this country say, wait a minute, that is not the america i know. This is athere is local control issue in many respects. The local Police Department in your city and mine essentially or is it the primary responsibility to prprotect and d enforce the laln thatat community and make that community a safer place . Some of this is push back by local communities who dont think their Police Forces should be pushed around by the political agenda of President Trump. You are seeing a a combination f political leaders saying, hey, we want to have our Police Forces protecting our people and enforcing our laws. You are seeing citizens rejecting the dragnet approach that President Trump is taking toward immigration. Discretionlot of that lawenforcement agencieies have. It is appppropriatete Law Enforcement to have discretion. If yououre going three milesesr the speed limit, most Police Officers wont give you a ticket even though legally they could. Does it istion that really aggressive. I think that is what your thing with the century city movement. Welch,mmerce meant peter thank you for being with us, these all u. S. Congressman from vermont, chief deputy whip of the House Democratic caucucus on the eve of the 100th day of Trump Administration. When we come back, we will turn to his fellow for a monther, who is also in washington, bill mckibben, cofounder 350. Org, who is there along with thousands of other people as they stream into washington for the peoples climate march on saturday. Democracy now will be covering it live. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. To mark the 100th day of Donald Trumps presidency, climate activists from the around the country are converging on washington d. C. , on saturday for , the peoples climate march. Over the pasast 100 days, trum has threatatened to pullll the. Out of the paris climate accord, begun dismantling president obamas climate legacy, and revived the keystone xl and Dakota Access pipelines. Trump has also put Climate Change deniers in charge of several key agencies including , the Environmental Protection agency and proposed slashing the , budget of the epa and other climate programs. This comes as scscientists have confirmed 201616 was the warmest year on record and that the amount of carbrbon in the earts atmosphere i is now at a new hih , recently topping 410 parts per million for the first time in human histstory. Ahead of saturdays march, organizers of the peoples climate marcrch recently releasd thisis short video. All the way from the arctic, all the way from the gulf. Standing sidebyside, refusing to give in. Climate change has happened. Reality. We are dyingng. Believer in bigg manmade Climate Change. Same consnstruction can resu. Comes a administration ordered a medidia blackout. We tetell them, no more. This is the greatest uniting weve seen in the countntry in a very longg time. Our emotions are not for sale to the highest oil and gas it isis about public health. It is about jobs. It is about justice. Amy well, activities are already underway in washington, d. C. , ahead of tomorrows peoples climate march. Thursday night indigenous , activists took over the intersection outside of Trump International hotel and shut it down by performing a round dance. This is Indigenous Environmental Network organizer joye braun. stand up, fight back what do you do when the water is under attack . Stand up, fight back what trumpt matter says. In the end, were still going to be standing. In the end, no matter what he tries to put through up there on the hill, were going to overturn it. You have to have faith. Amy democracy now will broadcast five hours of f live veveragerom m the climatate marh sasaturday beginning 10 00 a. A. Eastern time. You can n go to democracynow. Org to tune e in. For more now, we go to washington, d. C. C. , where we are joineded by bill mckibben, cofounder of 350. Org. Usual here in vermont, but now in washington for the climate march. Bill, what are the plans . Normally, amy, i would rather be in vermont with you. I got to say, washington is pretty exciting right now. That round dance last night was amazing. At the same time, or just before, there was a big party at the hiphop caucus headquarters were dr. Beverly wright, the environmental l justice plane nr , was honored and so was the great singer anthony smith. This town is starting to buzz. Urday is going to be saturday is going to be ininten. In p part becausese theyre forecaststing the hottest april9 on record for washington, d. C. It will bebe beautiful w weathe, butt, please, bring g a water bottle and some sunscreen and wear a hat. It gets a something clever, but make sure it is on top of your head. Is going g to be a remarkable day as people march and is peopopleurround the white hohoue and ththen sit down fofor a whi. I guess people are saying it is gogoing to be one of the biggest sitdowns if not one of t the biggest sititins. Wewe are well aware ofof what tp has done in his firs100 days. People a are organized all over the place to fight back. Massingk about who is organizing g this massive assembly and why youre doing it now. Not me, and the first place. There are hundreds of groups involved in this organizing. They have run the spectrum. In the lead, as usual, the Environmental Justice groups, indigenous groups, the people who have been leading this fight from the start. A really big addition this time around is the large, large participation by the labor movement. People have tried to make out there is a split between environmentalism and labor over the years. If that was ever true, it becomes less so all the time. Nurseslike seiu and the and the transportation workers and everybody just flooding in for this fight. It is going to be well, it is going to be not carried out in the hope we can convince donald trump to do something different. We cant. The gop in congress, which is a whollyowned subsidiary of the fossil fuel industry, isnt going to do anything, either. We are well aware of that. What we are doing is laying down the most serious of markers about the future. And one of the numbers that will be on everybodys lips is 100, as in 100 Renewable Energy. Yesterday, i stood with jeff merkley, the senator from oregon. And bernie sanders, who i think may come from the very state you are in today. They put forward really a landmark piece of legislation. For the first time, they said we need 10000 Renewable Energygy. Not, we need some solar panels and we need some fracking wells. Not the all of the above Energy Policy that the Obama Administration favored. Instead, finally saying, we are ready to go, 100 . The technology is clearly there. The price of a solar panel keeps plummeting, which is why it is so absurd to watch donald trump try to somehow revive the expensive and dirty coal industry. We are ready to go, and now we have got, i think, what is going to be the flag around which progressives rally. Nothing less than 100 will do. I know Washington Post article is headlined the come to buy the dakota a access pipeline is in another controversy. It details how Energy Transfer partners, the Company Behind the Dakota Access pipeline, has now twice spilled Drilling Fluids in ohio wetlands this month while constructing the 4. 2 billion gas pipeline, the rover pipeline, which is slated to stretch from appalachia to ontario, canada. One included 2 million gallonsns ofrilllling fluiuid. Bill mckibben, your responsese . I guess i cant say it comes as in enormous surprise, amy. There have been does any Pipeline Company you look at, transcanada or Energy Transfer partners, they all have a long list of these kind of spills. Some of them a few thousand dollars, some a few hundred thousand gallons. That is precisely why people at Standing Rock were so right to say, do not putut this across or water supply. We know what will happen. We do not know the day it will happen, but t weo know it will happen. That is why people are standing up again to fight the Keystone Pipeline in the brassica in nebraska and elsewhere. Everyone is well aware what this industry is about. It e engages not onlnly in those kind of practices, pollutingng water, but polluted our political lifefe now for a quartercentury. One of the really powerful things going on in this country right now is watching attorney generals like air schnider men generalsrk attorney takeke on those ththat systematically have lied, that exxon is the mainly in the crosshairs right now, but systematically lied for a quartercentury. Those cases are advancing. In new york judge has taken the exxon case under her wing now and i think we are going to see remarkable disclosures about all of the things that they knew all along. Amy . the significance of 410 parts per million. Your group is called 350. Org. Anything greater than 350 parts per million is more than the planet can safely deal with. It is what is overwhelming our climate system will stop we were going up about reports per million per year. Two days ago, for the first time in we think at least 5 million years, the planet broachehed the 410 parts per million level. It will go down for a while and then back up. Eventually, we will always be above 410, then for 20, and 430. We just keep pouring more carbon into the atmosphere. The toll it is taking is now not some future or abstract threat, it is what happens every day. The latest demos we have for march, they showeded that march was the fourth largest month we have records on dating back to the 1880s. The warmest month in a nonel nino evening. That is to say, we are in a permanent el nino now. The temperature is always elevated. March so record lows for the date in global sea ice. That is really, really scary. We are melting some of the biggest physical futures on our earth. But it is not just remote places. Pakistan, which is always a pretty hot place, crushed all its heat records a couple of weeks ago. It was 122 d degrees in apriril. Up in siberia, this years massive wildfires began in april. These are not good signs. Not at all. Not for billions of people on this earth who are living close to the edge. I think the place maybe to watch with the greatest worry right at the moment, to try to help the most, maybe those parts of africa around somalia that are in during a climatecaused and really recordbreaking drought. The times said not long ago it may be the greatest humanitarian crisis since the end of world war ii. Humanitarian crises happen, so to political instability. This is the world we are building and building fast. It is the world that people are trying somehow to slow down. That is what this march on saturday is about. That is what this bill introduced yesterday by jeff merkley and sanders is about. Were looking trying very hard to bring down this fossil fuel machine before it d does ay more damage. Amy bill mckibben, President Trump is signing an executive order today that would further expand offshore oil drilling in the pacific, the atlantic, and arctic oceans. President trump also ordered this week a review of national monuments, potentially opening up millions of acres of public mining, andilling, logging. Trump said his executive order was aimed at reversing obamas use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect federal land from development. The significance of these executive orders . Will he be able to move forward and do this . He will be able to do some of it. They spent part of the week talking about how theyre one to be trying to do more trolling for oil and gas in national parks. Who wants to go look at old faithful when you canan see a dererek pumping up and down someplace . Look, theyre doing everything they can onon the koch brotheres fossil fuel industry wish list. These guys have waited a long time for absolute power. They have got it. They are making the most of it. The e only s of gooood news ist is incredibly the only piece of good news is it is incredibly unpopupular. The polllling shohows the o onet is m most out t of whackck wh americansopinions are these attacks on the environment. It means, too, that people are going to have to start stepping up a little bit in other places. I noted this week after an amazing sixyear campaign by students and faculty and alumni at harvard university, the richest and most famous Educational Institution on the planet, more or less, announced it was divesting from fossil fuel. It did not use those words because it would be too embarrassing, i guess, for it to back down on its strident position on divestment. But its Investment Managers awe put a positive fighth pause on fossil investment and dont think we will resume. People are realizing that they cannot has the buck to the government because the government, as far as Environmental Protection, doesnt exist. Theyre going to have to bite the bullet a little themselves. Look, there are no solar linings to trumpism. This is an unmitigated disaster. Its open at least it else people find their courage and this resistance. Saturday will be another episode in this ongoing saga of citizens stepping up. Citizenship has been out of fashion for some decades in our country, but now it is back in fashion. Weekends are for fighting tyranny. That is why it is going to be really fun to see democracy now and everybody else out on the mall on saturday. Amy why does marching matter, in this last 30 seconds . And are these marches happening around the country . Marches all over the country. They matter. It is a beautiful week of action. It began with the scientists marching last week, and marching about facts. And now it is the rest of us who are not scientists, which we can take those facts and news them to turn into action. That is what we are marching for. The marching the action wont come in the short run from d. C. We need to come together once in a while from our work out in the woworld fighting g every pipelie and coal mine and backing every solar panel and windmill. We need to come together sometimes and show our strength so the trump admininistration at its s 100th day is u under no ilillusions that people are somehow in a fofog. Wewe know absolutely what this y is doing. Off aboute pisssed it. Amy bill mckibben, thank you for being with us cofounder of , 350. Org. That does it for our broadcast. We will be broadcasting saturday starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern standard time for the peoples climate march. Where ilete list of will be speaking, go to democracynow. Org. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Announcer this is a production of China Central television amererica. Mike its said that were better united than divided. And this week on full frame, some of the worlds brightest minds discuss the importance of coming together and how human connectionons make a difference. Im m mike walter congng to you from t the heaeart of new york citys times square. Lets take it full frame