03/01/17 03/01/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: america must put its own citizens first because only then can we truly make america great again. amy: in his first address to a joint session of congress, president trump vowed to greatly expand the military budget, end obamacare, and restrict immigration in the name of national security. pres. trump: we cannot allow terrorism to form inside america. we cannot allow our nation to become a section where for extremists. amy: trump also repeated his call for a wall on the southern border and to create a

government registry of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. pres. trump: i have ordered the department of homeland security to create an office to serve american victims. the office is called voice -- victims of immigration crime engagement. amy: we will get response from around the country. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in his first presidential address to a joint session of congress, president donald trump vowed to expand the united states' military budget, end the affordable care act and sharply , restrict immigration into the united states. "the washington post" reports the 60-minute speech included multiple factual inaccuracies, which include trump taking credit for jobs that were actually created under the previous administration and misrepresenting statistics to make unemployment and crime rates appear significantly worse

than they are. trump also repeated his claim that he is draining the swamp of government corruption -- a statement that caused some democratic lawmakers to laugh, given trump's cabinet largely consists of millionaires and billionaires with unprecedented conflicts of interest. many democratic congress women wore white to trump's speech. throughout the dress, he reiterated his extreme proposals, although he sought to soften his language and delivery. trump opened his speech by condemning attacks against jews and the murder of an indian man in kansas last week. and. trump: recent threats vandalism of jewish cemeteries as well as last week's shooting in kansas city remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very

ugly forms. amy: that's president trump speaking last night to congress, condemning the five nationwide waves of bomb threats targeting jewish community centers, the desecration of hundreds of grave sites at two jewish cemeteries, and the murder of an indian man in kansas by a white man who reportedly yelled "get out of my country" before opening fire. trump has been under enormous pressure to condemn the threats and attacks. but just earlier in the day, president trump reportedly made a strange comment about the anti-semitic threats during a meeting with state attorneys general, in which he appeared to question whether the jewish community itself was behind the bomb threats. pennsylvania attorney general josh shapiro says trump said of threats -- "sometimes it's the reverse, to make people -- or to make others -- look bad." shapiro said trump went on to use the word "reverse" two or three more times. in response, steven goldstein of the anne frank center said --

"mr. president, have you no decency? to cast doubt on the authenticity of anti-semitic hate crimes in america constitutes anti-semitism in itself, and that's something none of us ever dreamed would disgrace our nation from the white house." during president trump's speech to the joint session of congress last night, he announced plans to create a new office called voice -- that's victims of immigration crime engagement. trump has previously directed the homeland security department to publish a list of crimes committed by immigrants, which some historians have compared to germany's nazi-era policy of publishing lists of crimes committed by jews. trump invited family member of people killed by undocumented immigrants to his speech last night. democrats, meanwhile, gave their tickets away to immigrants, including 16-year-old angel and 14-year-old jacqueline rayos-garcia, whose mother guadalupe was deported back to mexico earlier this year after she went to a routine ice check-in. during trump's speech, he reiterated his campaign promises to crackdown on immigration and immigrants living in the united states.

pres. trump: my administration has answered the pleas of the american people for immigration enforcement and border security. [applause] trump: by finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone. amy: but only hours earlier, trump reportedly suggested during a meeting with tv s at -- tv anchors at the white house that he might be open to a form of immigration bill that would grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants. we'll have more on trump's speech and immigration policies later in the broadcast. during trump's speech to congress last night he also , honored navy seal ryan owens, who was killed in a botched raid on a yemeni village that also left 25 civilians dead, including nine children under the age of 13. last night trump referred to the rate as being highly successful. at the speech, owens's widow,

carryn owens, fought back tears as trump called her late husband a warrior and a hero. however, in a taped interview with "fox and friends" that aired earlier in the day tuesday, trump refused to take -- blended on the generals. pres. trump: this is something they wanted to do. they explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are rude -- who are very respectful. lost ryan. amy: owens father, bill owens, refused to meet with president trump at dover air force base and has called for an investigation into his son's death. speaking to the "miami herald," bill owens said his conscious wouldn't let -- president trump is expected to sign an executive order in the

coming days limiting or barring three into the united states i refugees are residents of some majority muslim nations. his first executive order banning people from iraq, syria, sudan, lit it, smiley, yemen from entering the u.s. was blocked by the courts last month. according to the associated press, trump's new order will not been iraqi citizens from traveling to the united states. education secretary betsy devos is facing backlash and ridicule after she claimed that historically black colleges and universities are an example of school choice, following a listening session at the white house monday with the presidents and chancellors of these historically black colleges and universities, often known as hbcu's. in a statement she wrote -- , "hbcu's are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. they are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality." on twitter, many ridiculed devos' comments, saying they displayed a lack of historical context.

hbcu's were established because black students were prohibited from attending public colleges and universities throughout much of u.s. history. one twitter user wrote -- "betsy devos said hbcu's were about school choice. as if white/colored water fountains were about beverage options." another user joked that it was as if devos had said -- "rosa parks is a real pioneer when it comes to seat choice." the backlash against devos' comments come as white house counselor kellyanne conway has responded to criticism over a series of photos showing her kneeling on a couch in the oval office with her shoes on in the middle of president trump's listening session with the presidents and chancellors of the hbcu's. in her response, she repeatedly used the wrong acronym to refer to the hbcu's. >> a certain angle and always doing that. i'm in a disrespect. i did not meet at my feet on a couch. i want people to focus on the bduat work of the h

presidents. amy: in india, crowds of people protested against donald trump at the funeral of 32-year-old srinivas kuchibhotla, an aviation engineer who was shot and killed by a white man in kansas last week. navy veteran adam purinton reportedly yelled "get out of my country" before opening fire on kuchibhotla and his friend, who was wounded. purinton apparently thought the two indian men were iranian. at the funeral in the southern indian city of hyderabad, mourners chanted, "down with trump" and held up signs reading, "down with racism." in colombia, the constitutional court has ruled in favor of the miners and residents of town of marmato, who have been fighting an open pit gold mine for 10 years. in their ruling tuesday, the judges said the town's afro-colombian and indigenous residents, who have been fighting the massive project, have the right to be consulted about whether the canadian-based gran colombia gold corporation can continue parts of construction. in louisiana, news has surfaced

that black transgender teenager jaquarrius holland was murdered last month, making her at least the third transgender woman to be killed in the state of louisiana in february. holland was 18 years old. she was initially misgendered in local news reports about her killing on february 19. she is at least the seventh transgender woman to be murdered in 2017. uber ceo travis kalanick is under fire after bloomberg news published a dashcam video of him arguing with and insulting an uber driver in an expletive filled tirade. this is driver fawzi kamel, confronting kalanick about his decision to lower the prices for rides for the company's high-end service, uber black. 97 thousand dollars because of you. i am bankrupt because of you. yes, yes. you keep changing every day. >> hold on a second. what have i changed about black? >> you changed the whole

business. you dropped the prices -- >> on black -- [bleep] >> you know what? some people don't like to take responsibility -- >> at town cars? >> good luck. after the video surfaced, ceo amy:after the video surfaced, ceo travis kalanick said -- "to say that i am ashamed is an extreme understatement." uber is also embroiled in a controversy over allegations of sexual harassment. on monday, the head of the engineering department was fired after it emerged he'd failed to disclose that he'd left his previous job at google amid sexual harassment accusations. his departure comes a week after a former uber engineer said she endured sexual harassment on the job, and that uber's hr department had refused to take action. and today is legendary singer, actor and activist harry , belafonte's 90th birthday. for decades, belafonte has been a leading voice for civil rights. he was one of martin luther

king's closest confidants and helped organize the march on washington in 1963. more recently, he was an honorary co-chair of the women's march on washington, the largest protest after a president's inauguration in u.s. history. in december, harry belafonte joined democracy now! for our 20-year anniversary celebration in the historic riverside church here in manhattan. >> the group of young black students in harlem just a few at this point me in my life what was i looking for. and i said, what i have always been looking for -- where resides the rebel heart. without the rebellious heart of people who understand there is no sacrifice you can make that is too great to retrieve that which you have lost, we will forever be distracted with

possessions and trinkets and title. amy: harry belafonte turns 90 years old today. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in his first speech to a joint session of congress, donald trump vowed to greatly expand the pentagon's budget, to repeal and replace obamacare, to build a wall along the southern border with mexico, and to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the name of national security. "the washington post" reports a 60 minute speech had multiple factual in a greece which include trump taking credit for jobs that were created under the previous administration. representing statistics to make unemployment and crime rates of your significantly worse than they are. while the tone was softer than his inaugural address, trump focused on his extreme nationalistic vision for the country. pres. trump: america must put its own citizens first because only then can we truly make

america great again. amy: during his speech, which he closely read from a teleprompter, trump repeatedly called for curtailing immigration for economic and security reasons. pres. trump: our obligation is to serve, protect, and defend the citizens of the united states. we are also taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical islamic terrorism. [applause] pres. trump: according to data provided by the department of justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorists and terrorism related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.

we have seen the attacks at home -- from boston december latino to the pentagon and, yes, even the world trade center. we have seen the attacks in france, belgium, germany them and all over the world. compassion, but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. [applause] those given the high honor of admission to the united states should support this country and love its people and its values. we cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside america -- we cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for

extremists. [applause] why my administration has been working on improved vetting procedures and we will shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe and to keep those out who will do us harm. amy: while he gave no details, trump is expected to sign a new executive order in the coming days limiting or barring entry into the united states by refugees or residents of some majority muslim nations. his first executive order banned people from iraq, syria, iran, sudan, libya, somalia, and yemen from entering u.s., but it was blocked by the courts last month. according to the associated press, the new order will not been iraqi citizens from traveling to the united date. it will also reportedly exclude legal permanent residents in existing visa holders. to talk more about trump's reach to congress in his first 40 days in office, we will be joined by a number of gas.

-- guess. hartung,achs, william , kelly lytle soon ola ojewumi will be with us, community founder of project ascend. she was at the event last night. she was at the hearing -- she was at the speech of president trump. his first address to a joint session of congress. with lindaegin sarsour. your response to what president trump said last night? >> i'm so mind boggling by people who are saying he sounded presidential. i guess reading and be able to follow a teleprompter is a bar to what it means to be presidential. it is outrageous have be used

tragic events of people who lost loved ones to instill fear. he talked about these things, military expansion, the wall, but never told anyone how we were going to pay for it. he took a lot of credit for things that happened under the previous at administration when it can to job growth in this country. there was so much inaccuracy. i dared people on twitter -- i made a bet how long it would take for them to talk about radical islamic terrorism. it did not take quite long for him to talk about radical islamic terrorism in his speech. again, just overall, really outrageous and i was -- i was actually invited to attend the address. i could not bring myself to come into that space and legitimize a man i believe is not my president. amy: jeffrey sachs, your response to what president trump said last night? >> it does that make sense and it does not add up.

he has a theory, if you could dignify it that way, which is that america somehow is being cheated by the rest of the world and he is going to help people who are hurting by getting back at the rest of the world. whether it is the mexicans, muslims, chinese, and so on. unfortunately, like many bad theories -- ronald reagan had a bad theory to destroy government to solve such problems -- trump has the wrong theory. it can't work because our problems are not the ones that he is pointing his finger at. he is no way to pay for what he says. the only proposal to pay for what he says is "tax cuts," which, obviously, expands deficits. this is an anti-young people's administration. also, he is out to destroy the environment, out to increase the public debt massively. it is young people that will pay

the cost of all of this. --be it is mass uprising maybe it is not surprising for a man who lives in the past, thinks in the past, has no vision of the future, ironically, he tried a kennedyesque twist. he talked about the torch being passed. but when he became president, the torch was passed back, not forward. amy: we're going to go to break. when we come back, we will get response from bill hartung on the massive increase on the military budget the president trump is calling for and spoke about last night. this is democracy now! we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "leave me alone." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. speaking tuesday evening before a joint session of congress, president donald trump called for a historic increase in military spending. pres. trump: finally, to keep america safe, we must provide the men and women of the united states military with the tools they need to prevent war, if they must, they have to fight and the only have to win. [applause]

pres. trump: i am sending conga say budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester -- [applause] and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in american history. amy: that was president trump last month. bill hartung, your director of arms and secured project at the center for international policy. your response? is one of the largest military budget increases in history. post up $54 billion. to put it in perspective, would be about what the united kingdom spends. just the increase. that would be the seventh biggest military budget in the world. at historicing levels. $600 billion year, which is more

than reagan. the obama years, more than under george w. bush. the idea there is a gap in military spending is ludicrous. he has not talked about tens of billion dollars in pentagon waste. he has not said how he is going use the military, other than rallying sabers about iran. as one person said, that would make iraq look like a walk in the park. money ishe problematic, but also kind of the reckless possibilities of how they might use the military. given the people around them -- steve bannon -- it also these generals who are supposed to be the adults in the room, are probably the most hawkish generals in some ways of their generation. mcmaster helped with the surge. mattis wanted to attack iran in the middle of the iraq war, which is why he left the obama team. the idea these are the sober voices that are going to restrain things, i think, to

some degree, is wishful thinking. amy: jeff sachs? >> i was going to add the $600 billion we spend is only counting part of what we really spend on the military. we have another $60 billion in addition to the 600 billion does of the pentagon that is the intelligence agencies, homeland security, military expenses hidden in the department of energy. of course we have the incredible costs of human damage and health and the veterans of administration. if you add it all up, it is probably closer to $900 billion in year. it's completely swamps everything else that we are doing right now. now he is going to add on top of that. and propose tax cuts for rich people and corporations. this is just one illusion after another. it has got to come to a bad end and someone. amy: on tuesday night, president

trump suggested the united states should transition to a merit-based immigration system. pres. trump: the current outdated system depresses wages for our poorest workers and puts great pressure on taxpayers. nations around the world, like canada, australia, many others, have a merit-based immigration system. [applause] it is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially. yet in america, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon. according to the national academy of sciences, our current immigration system costs american taxpayers many billions of dollars a year. switching away from this current system of lower skilled immigration and instead adopting a merit-based system am a we will have so many more benefits.

it will save countless dollars, raise workers wages, and help struggling families -- including immigrant families -- enter the middle class. and they will do it quickly. and they will be very, very happy indeed. amy: that was donald trump before that joint session of congress last night. is withtle hernandez us, associate professor in the ucla department of history. author of "migra! a history of the us border patrol." >> in terms of a merit-based immigration system, it highlights the fact i don't think he understands immigration system we currently have in place. it largely is a skill-based system and a family unification system. skill-based innocents we are filling needs in the labor market here. once again, i'm concerned we have a president who is issuing policy or making statements without fully understanding the

system which we are working. amy: let me play another clip of president trump last night. crackterated his plans to down on undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the southern border. pres. trump: at the same time, my administration has answered the pleas of the american people for immigration enforcement and border security. [applause] enforcing immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our community's safer for everyone -- communities safer for everyone. [applause] we want all americans to succeed, but that cannot happen in an environment of lawless chaos. we must restore integrity and the rule of law at our borders. [applause]

pres. trump: for that reason, we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border. amy: professor kelly lytle hernandez, talk about this. this is your focus, your specialty. >> he has promised us a great, great beautiful wall along the u.s.-mexico border and promised us the mexican government is going to pay for it. historically speaking, this is one of the most interesting parts of the trump lastistration, that the 100 years, war or less, the mexico and u.s. have worked collaboratively uncontrolled immigration across the border. but it is on this point the

mexican government has really dug in its heels and said, we thisnot assist in building wall. we will not assist in the mass deportations plan from the united states to mexico. the mexican government is providing legal services for mexican residents living within be united states should they apprehended by the u.s. border patrol or eyes. what is interesting about this and the last time i am aware of the mexican government really opposing cooperating with the united states on immigration patrol desk control along the border goes back to the 19th century. that had to do with slavery. during the times of slavery in the u.s., your slaveholders would put pressure on the mexican government to return slaves who ran away and found freedom and liberty in mexico. the mexican government refused to do so. we have gone more than 100 years since we have had this kind of opposition from the mexican government on this issue of

collaborating over migration control. amy: what is your sense of how many people have been rounded up since president trump came into ban, which hashe been stopped by the courts but could not -- because he could not enforce what he is even called the muslim ban, this crackdown on immigrants in this country, particularly latino immigrants and sending them over the border? >> the crackdown has not come yet. so far, we have a lot of rhetoric and scare tactics. trump really does not have the funding, does not have the cooperation of the local level to fulfill his promised crackdown. this is interesting because he did promise us a resurrection of operation wetback of 1954, which is usually cited as the largest mass deportation campaign in u.s. history. but the fact is, not that many deportations happened during 1954, and maximum, 300 thousand, not the one million usually

cited. what happened during the summer was a scare campaign and u.s. border patrol and immigration and naturalization service led a campaign, issued statements promising to round up, detained in large numbers, and deport up to one million mexican immigrants. and it was that campaign that frightened many people into self-supporting. i think this is the stage we are seeing trump resurrect right now is the scare tactics. whether or not he gets the funding from congress to turn this into a real immigration lockers may campaign, that remains to be seen. the in the first week after ban was rejected, something like 700 people were rounded up in raids from los angeles to arizona, to other places. >> i'm not saying the raids are not happening, they're not happening at the skill of mass deportation that would lead us sign million, 7 million

deportations. amy: president trump opened his speech last night by condemning bomb threats against jewish community centers and the murder of an indian man in kansas last week in an apparent hate crime. recent threats targeting jewish community centers and vandalism of jewish cemeteries as well as last week's shooting in kansas city remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of it's very ugly forms. amy: that is president trump condemning the five nationwide waves of bomb threats targeting jewish community centers, desecration of hundreds of grave sites at two jewish cemeteries, and the murder of an indian man in kansas by white man who reportedly yelled "get out of my country" before opening fire. he apparently thought the men were iranian.

trump has been under pressure to condemn the threats and attacks. an earlier in the day, president trump reportedly made a strange anti-semitic the threats during a meeting with state attorneys general in which he appeared to question whether the jewish community itself was behind the bomb threats. pennsylvania attorney general joshua bureau said -- shapiro said trump went on to use the word "reverse" two or three more times. in response, stephen gold dean of the anne frank center said -- linda sarsour, when the attack on the missouri jewish cemetery took place, the toppling of the scores of tombstones, you immediately went online to raise money for the cemetery. then you tell us what you did? >> i was horrified that people

or someone can desecrate a cemetery were there have been people buried there since the 1800's. i was very moved as a muslim and i join a colleague of mine in philadelphia. we started a campaign and said ofare going to give a symbol solidarity, $20,000, and within three hours we had raised $20,000. we have raised over 120 $5,000. we're going to be sharing those resources with the philadelphia cemetery that she had just visited. for me, the words of donald trump at his joint address was a little too late for me. they're even dozens upon threats across the country against jewish centers. the two cemeteries, the indian man -- there have been auto mosques that have been victims to arson in the past six weeks. he has said nothing.

he is ignored the arsons and islamic attacks. amy: the center in texas, the mosque burned to the ground and the jewish synagogue handing their keys to the muslim worshipers to say, our house is your house. we have seen this kind of just grassroots solidarity. you raise that amount of money without donald trump -- donald trump is a notorious twitter. he did not tweet on any of these attacks. >> they said, how could donald trump -- what does he have to do, what actions does he take to stand up against anti-semitism and islamophobia? i said he can start with moving the islamaphobic in the senate and white house. we of the most notorious was the premise and islamaphobic that have created this. i put blame on this administration.

amy: bill hartung, your thoughts on this? >> i think it is interesting he has a special unit to do with crimes by immigrants. they commit crimes at a lower level than pretty much any other group in america, where is the unit to deal with gun violence? to deal with police violence? to deal with islamophobia? to do it anti-semitism? the fact he can read one line of a script groups nothing. he would have to go a long, long way before i would believe he has changed his tune on this. as linda said, he should start by getting rid of the people around him who have documented records of hate. amy: let's go to donald trump calling for this new government agency for victims of crime i immigrants. pres. trump: and we must support the victims of crime. i ordered the department of homeland security to create an office to serve american

victims. the office is called voice. victims of immigration crime engagement. we are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests. amy: professor kelly lytle hernandez, your comments on this? the idea that president trump has repeatedly trumpeted that immigrants commit more crimes. >> that is factually untrue. we have research out of the pew research center and track researchers from syracuse university and many others who have repeatedly documented immigrants have a lower crime rate the nativeborn u.s. citizens. so that is factually untrue. what is really happening here is a demonization campaign and a criminalization campaign trying to lift up and put a spotlight on a small number of tragic crimes impacting u.s. citizens, meaning usually he is talking

about the killing of u.s. citizens by undocumented immigrants. and he is highlighting it in a way to demonize an entire population, immigrant population, namely muslim and latino immigrants. i would suspect to shore up his broader policies on immigration restriction. so this is a historically familiar act that these kinds of criminalization campaigns have always preceded immigrant exclusion. we can go back to the chinese exclusion act where folks in the american west, particular asonized chinese immigrants opium dealers, and that led to support for the chinese exclusion act a mass deportation of chinese immigrants. we can also go back to the early 20th century where a tying immigrants were demonized as being biologically criminal and inferior, leading to the immigration control act or the national -- act of 1924 which largely prohibited its i and

immigrants from entering the u.s. this is historically -- recallingcholars say nazi-era. we recently spoke to andrea pitzer, her upcoming book is called "one long night: a global history of concentration camps." >> this weekly report he is called for recalls a number of things from the past that we have seen before, which is this move to isolate and identify and bill if i a vulnerable minority group in order to move against it. i went back last and reread his speech from when needed cleared his candidacy and the mexican rapist, it was in from the beginning. this is been a theme throughout. wasee a nazi germany there a paper called the -- that a department called letterbox.

readers were invited to send in stories a supposed jewish crimes and may magazine would publish them including some pretty horrific graphic illustrations of these crimes. there was even a light version of it, if you will, racism-light a magazine more like "life" that highlighted beautiful areas and homes, would run a feature like the criminal jew and showed photos of jewish-looking people, say club, who represented different kinds of crimes that one ought to watch out for from jews. focusingccupation of in on one subset of the population's crimes and depicting that as somehow depraved and abnormal from the main population is something we have seen quite a bit in the past. amy: that is andrea pitzer. her upcoming book is titled,

"one long night: a global history of concentration camps." we are talking about president trump announcing he has said up the voice office. ofce standing for victims immigration -- immigrant crime engagement, professor? groan whens a loud he said that throughout the chamber, not in applause. because that one is so absurd, so transparently phony that while the republicans were jumping up and down and every bit of nonsense, that was nonsense too far. amy: we're going to go to break and come back. we want to talk about the affordable care act and also what got the most sustained applause was the widow of the navy seal who was killed in yemen. president trump called it a

highly successful raid. many others have called it a botched catastrophe, including the victims father -- victim father. we're talking to jeff sachs, lindalytle hernandez, sarsour. that can a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. during his speech before the joint session of congress tuesday night, president trump called on congress to address the "imploding obamacare disaster." pres. trump: tonight i'm calling on this congress to repeal and replace obamacare. [applause]

with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time provide better health care. [applause] mandating every american to buy government approved health insurance was never the right solution for america. amy: we're joined right now by ola ojewumi, a community organizer and founder of project ascend, which provides opportunities to local income and disabled students. -- to lower income students. she attended the joint session of congress last night as a guest of maryland representative steny hoyer, as someone affected

deeply by the affordable care act. can you respond to what president trump said last night, what it was like to be in the room and your thoughts? it was wonderful to be in the americans onwas quite scary the portable care act. the plan to repeal and replace would mean higher costs are health insurance and lower benefits for health insurance recipients. i am terrified of what a repeal for the affordable care act we do for people like me, disabled

americans like me. i'm sitting in a wheelchair now, but disabled people, americans, are the largest minority in the unit -- united states. we are not protected i needed the protection of the aca and i'm grateful to president obama for that. amy: something prompt did not mention last -- president trump to not mention last that was planned parenthood. but it is clearly at the targeting of republican policy right now, the new head, among other examples, of the department of health and human is one of the leaders to defund planned parenthood. your thoughts on this? >> planned parenthood has made an astounding -- i have worked with their developing leaders program. i have distributed condoms with them at local gay pride parades for the past five years. a plan to defund planned parenthood would harm reproductive health in the u.s. it was quite a contradiction in trump advocate for women's health rights, but in the same

plannedbefore defunding parenthood, which is not just a means for woman to have an abortion, but provides health screenings, mammograms, and are -- a a light of c lot of care that women cannot otherwise get. it would be a sad day in america for us to see more limited options for women's health care at a time when planned parenthood is villain eyes and defined by the government doubt women's health would be to support it. so i want to turn to what president trump said about health care on monday when he spoke before a room full of state governors. pres. trump: i have to tell you, it is an unbelievably complex object. nobody knew health care could be so complicated. amy: professor jeffrey sachs and "unbelievably complicated" he said. something that is not unbelievably complicated is medicare for all.

this is something that, well, bernie sanders has talked about a great deal. i want to turn to what bernie response was to last night, you can't call it the state of the union address, but that -- the speech the president trump gate before a joint session of congress. sen. sanders: i urge president promises.p your tell the american people, tweet to the american people that you will not cut social security, medicare, and medicaid. further, i did not hear president trump tonight mention the words "income and wealth inequality" or the fact that we now have the widest gap between the very rich and everyone else since the 1920's. i did not hear president trump mention the fact that as a result of the disastrous citizens united supreme court decision, five to four decision,

we now have a corrupt campaign finance system that is allowing buy electionso and undermine american democracy. how could you give a speech to the nation and not talk about that enormously important issue. furthermore, not only to president trump not mention the issue of voter suppression, but -- whatan governors republican governors are doing to make it harder for people to participate in our democracy, but the truth of the matter is, this administration is now working overtime with republican governors to make it harder for young people, low income people, senior citizens, and people of color to vote. that is an outrage. perhaps most astoundingly, at a time when the scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, that it is

caused by human activity, that it is already causing devastating problems in our country and all over the world, i did not hear president trump say one word -- not one word about the need to combat climate change, the greatest environmental threat facing our planet. amy: that is bernie sanders. his response online last night to president trump's address. forforeign-policy adviser bernie sanders, professor jeffrey sachs, your head of the center for sustainable development at columbia. we start on the issue of health care and the issue that certainly sanders has put forward, medicare for all. what about what is happening to the aca or maybe what isn't, because it is clear there are having a great deal of trouble everywhere republicans go, there being faced by massive protest and a lot of that is centered around, don't take away my health care? >> this is true of every part of it iss agenda, which is

not thought out. on the health side, they don't have an alternative plan and people do not want to lose their access to health care. the governors in republican states as well are saying you cannot take these people off the rolls. they are stuck. they do not have a plan. what is interesting, i think there's one thing we should also mention, donald trump rightly said we need to get drug prices down. this is something where both sides could agree. we have a credible -- incredible abuse by the pharmaceutical industry. we have medicines, like one for for hepatitis c that charges 1000 times. this is an incredible abuse. we should take up the president and say, ok, let's get these drug prices under control. they are hideous and their big reason why our health system is so expensive. amy: during trump speech to congress, he also honored abc line owens who was killed in a botched raid on a yemeni village

that also left 25 civilians dead including nine children under , the age of 13. to beime, trump referred raid as being highly successful. pres. trump: i just spoke to our great general mattis just now who reconfirmed, "ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemies." intos legacy is etched eternity. thank you. amy: by far the longest standing ovation of the night. it may have been the longest standing ovation of any joint session of congress event. ryannding ovation for

owens' widow, carryn owens, in the audience. trump go and ryan is looking down right now. you know that. he is very happy because i think he just -- broke a record. amy: however, in a taped interview with fox and friends that aired earlier in the day, trump blamed owens debt on the generals. -- . trump: amy: so owens father the lowlands refused to meet with president trump at dover air force base when both president came and the owens family to greet the body of ryan. his father has called for an investigation into his son step. speaking to the "miami herald," is at his conscious with not let him meet with trump and said "why at this time to their have to be this stupid mission when it wasn't even barely a week into his administration?"

about whatachs, what took place, the attacks by sean spicer and president trump tound anyone who dared question the raid to? i believe sean spicer said at one of his press briefings, "anyone who questions this, has to answer to owens' family -- apologize to the family?" >> yetter member with the national security state on almost any occasion is filled with lies. let's know what this raid was about, how many children were killed, what are we fighting on the ground in yemen in the first place? who approved that? what is this all about? none of that is said. this is the sheerest foolishness, what happened last night. of course, you can get people to stand and cheer. it is sad to see a widow. a for foreign-policy terms? lies, complete

hiding of what is really going on throughout the middle east where the u.s. is fighting covert wars over the place. within the first week of office, trump added this raid, which apparently killed a large number of children and women. amy: and apparently, president obama had not signed off for something like two years. although, under president obama, in yemen andikes other places has been unprecedented. >> the truth is, whoever is president, that is where the buck stops. when john kennedy did the disastrous bay of pigs that was the eisenhower administration, he said, "i take full responsibility for it." trump never takes responsibility. amy: it is either obama or the generals. seemsis a fact which he incapable of taking responsibility. amy: even before bill owens son was killed, before ryan was killed, he was inferior rated by trump according to a is

interviewed in "the miami herald," by trump's attack on the gold star family. linda, as we come to the end of this hour, your -- you are a major organizer not only in new york but around the country, one of the organizers of the march on washington. what are the plans today. i don't know if it is because so many of the leading anchors on the networks got to have a private off the record conversation with president trump yesterday, but there is a great softening toward, oh, this is the day he has become president. this is donald trump adopting a very important new tone. how does that affect your organizing? >> i was fired up. we are all more fired up after hearing his address yesterday, literally targeting every issue we care about. we will continue to organize. using consistent organizing since the women's march on washington in every warner this country. have seen consistent

organizing says the women's march on washington in every corner of this country. to show him what happens when we keep our money and our pockets. that will be on international women's day on march 8. we as the american people have to start demanding transparency. early warning signs of fascism he's engaging in almost everything. stay alert. is not a teleprompter what makes you presidential. it is your actions you take and democracy. amy: we have to leave it there. thank you all for being with us, linda sarsour, thank you for joining us, leading activists here in new york. jeffrey sachs, professor at columbia university, head of the center for sustainable development, author of the new book "building the new american economy: smart, fair, and sustainable." i want to thank go hartung for joining us as well as ola ojewumi, who was in the room yesterday, and professor kelly lytle hernandez from los angeles

at ucla. i am amy goodman. this is democracy now! [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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