amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this moment in our union is not about left, right or centrist. it should not be about republicans and democrats. even what we saw happened the capital two weeks ago is the result of a long history of politics of division, that were cynically named

positive polarization by those who thought they could use it for their own political advantage. amy: as the number of u.s. covid cases tops 25 million, we speak to the reverend william barber about the challenges ahead for the new biden administration, from the pandemic to poverty to growing inequality. reverend barber gave the homily at the post inaugural breakfast. then to "kill switch: the rise of the modern senate and the crippling of american democracy.” >> one of the things that will determine wheth he accomplishes his agenda or not isf democrats remove the filibuster. the libusteras a deepl racist history. it was not parof the original senate. it has come to paralyze the enre senate frometting anytng done, in terms of what was supposed to be a cooling software into a kill switch. amy: we will speak to former top senate aide adam jentleson about how democrats could use their

power to enact biden's legislative agenda, but will they? plus workers at the largest wholesale produce market in the country won a major victory after going on strike for nearly a week to demand better wages. supporters included congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, who skipped the inauguration to be on the picket line. >> yes, change happens at the ballot box. change happens in policy. it happens on the picket line too. we must never forget that. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. topped 25 million confirmed coronavirus cases sunday, over one quarter of the world's caseload, which is approaching 100 million. the u.s. has recorded over 419,000 deaths. president joe biden is

expected to reinstate travel restrictions from brazil, britain and much of europe, as well as impose a new ban on non-u.s. citizens traveling from south africa, where health officials have said a more transmissible variant is behind a devastating surge. top infectious disease expert dr. anthony found she said over the weekend data shows covid vaccines appear to be less effective against some of the new variance. british prime minister boris johnson said for the first time friday the u.k. variant may be not just more infectious, but up to 30% more deadly as well. britain's chief scientific advisor cautioned evidence of the claim is not yet strong and that more research is needed. president biden and members of his team warned over the weekend the coming weeks and months will be tough. biden addressed u.s. mayors at a conference sunday. es. biden: the brutal truth is things are going to get worse the next several

months, before they get better. we didn't get into this mess overnight. it is going to take time for us to turn things around. amy: meanwhile, in an interview on cbs's face the nation, former president trump covid-19 task force coordinator deborah birx said trump received "parallel" coronavirus data. dr. birx: i saw the president holding graphs i never made. someone out there or inside was creating a parallel set of data. amy: the biden administration confirmed over the weekend they were essentially left with no national vaccination plan from the trump team. white house chief of staff ron klain said the administration is also concerned about "vaccine hesitancy" which could prevent the u.s. from reaching herd immunity. meanwhile, moderna and pfizer would need to nearly double the manufacturing and delivery of their vaccines in order to meet inoculation goals.

in texas, dallas county has reversed a plan to prioritize vaccinating people in its hardest hit areas, largely communities of color, after state authorities threatened to cut their supply, saying it did not meet official distribution guidelines. the pandemic is continuing to take a severe toll on children and young people. a new report finds 1 in 6 households with children have not been getting enough to eat. school closures have also meant many young people are not getting essential mental and emotional support from teachers and therapists. in nevada, a surge in student suicides has led officials in las vegas to move towards reopening schools, even with the risk of staff and students becoming infected with covid-19. president biden signed more executive orders friday to expand food assistance and to move towards raising federal wages to $15 an hour. incoming senate budget committee chair bernie sanders said the senate will

move to quickly pass an economic recovery package, bypassing republican approval if necessary. sen. sanders: reconciliation, which is a senate rule, was used by republicans under trump to pass massive tax breaks for corporations. it was used as an attempt to repeal the affordable care act, and what we are saying is you used it for that, that is fine. we will use reconciliation, 50 votes in the senate plus the ce presint, to pass legislation desperate leave needed by working families -- desperately needed by working families. amy: in other news from d.c., biden has rescinded trump's order banning federal agencies and recipients of federal funding from conducting diversity training. he is expected to lift trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military today. in cabinet news, lloyd austin was confirmed 93-2 by the senate friday, becoming the first black defense secretary. he is a retired army general.

janet yellen is expected to be confirmed as treasury secretary today. the house is sending the article of impeachment against former president trump to the senate today, for inciting the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol. the senate trial will begin the week of february 8. trump will become the first president to have an impeachment trial after leaving office. nearly 200 national guard members have tested positive for coronavirus after they deployed to washington, d.c., to protect joe biden's inauguration, following the deadly failed insurrection at the u.s. capitol on january 6th. guard members say they did not receive covid tests on their arrival in washington and were left "packed like sardines" in cramped spaces in and around the capitol, including in an unheated parking garage. the guard says troops will remain in d.c. to protect the capital through trump's

impeachment trial. in texas, federal prosecutors have charged 34-year-old capitol insurrectionist garret miller with threatening to assassinate progressive new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. capitol police are investigating marlyand republican congressmember andy harris after he tried to bring a concealed handgun onto the house floor. harris was turned around last thursday after he set off a metal detector. the washington post reports the justice department and fbi are considering not bringing charges against hundreds of people who joined the insurrection inside the capitol. the fbi has only arrested about 125 people in connection with the siege. last summer, over 14,000 people were arrested for protesting against racial injustice during the nationwide black lives matter uprising. meanwhile, the white house has ordered the office of the director of national intelligence to oversee a comprehensive assessment of the threat of domestic violent extremism, to be

carried out by the department of homeland security and fbi. in internationalews, the world health organization has struck a deal with pfizer and biontech for up to 40 million vaccine doses for covax, the international effort to distribute the vaccine to poorer nations. covax is set to start distribution next month with a plan to deliver around 1.8 billion doses to 92 countries this year, which would cover just over one quarter of their populations. this comes as news that south africa is paying nearly 2.5 times more for the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine than european union countries has prompted stronger calls to halt vaccine nationalism and price gouging. eu nations are reportedly paying less because they funded research and development of the vaccine. mexican president andres manuel lopez obrador has tested positive for covid-19 and is receiving treatment. he has come under fire for refusing impose mandatory

lockdowns. mexico now has the fourth highest death ll with nearly 150,000 reported fatalities. in brazil, motorcade rallies rolled through more than 20 cities saturday, calling for the impeachment of president jair bolsonaro over his mishandling of the pandemic. >> i feel as if brazil does not have a government. brazil has been left to fend for itself. we left psychopaths in power and the time has come. no one can take it anymore. we will not wait for one million of our people to die before the rest of us rise up. nobody can take it anymore. amy: brazil has the world's second highest pandemic death toll after the u.s. at 217,000 and the third highest caseload with 8.8 million confirmed infections. in new zealand, officials reported its first suspected case of community transmission since november. the case has been identified as the variant first spotted

in south africa. in russia, police violently broke up rallies and arrested more than 3,000 people in over 100 cities saturday, as protesters braved sub-zero temperatures to demand the release of nationalist politician and opposition leader alexei navalny. a rally in moscow drew over 10,000 people -- the biggest in years -- with protesters chanting slogans against authoritarian president vladimir putin. among those detained was navalny's wife, yulia, and a prominent lawyer with the anti-corruption foundation, who was arrested by riot police as she held a press conference. in tunisia, hundreds of -- protesters took to the streets of the capital tunis saturday protesting police repression, political corruption and poverty in the country. human rights groups say at least 1,000 people have been detained in ongoing demonstrations in recent days. this is one of the protesters. >> we want the state to seek to serve the citizens, not

the people who are not worthy of it and suppress employees and people who are vulnerable. we went out today as their voice, and the voice of the oppressed and marginalized parties inside tunisia. amy: in mozambique, at least four people have been kill and thousands displaced after tropical cyclone eloise tore through the central coast of the cntry saturday. the region is still recovering from two devastating cyclones as the area becomes increasingly subject to extreme weather due to the climate crisis. back in the u.s., in kentucky, three grand jurors from breonna taylor's case have filed a petition calling for the impeachment of the state's attorney general, daniel cameron, accusing him of mishandling the case and misrepresenting their findings. breonna taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency room technician, was shot to death by police officers in her own home in march of last year. former officer brett hankison was indicted by the ju for shooting into the

apartment of a neighbor, but no one has been criminally charged over taylor's death. the new york times is reporting former president trump conspired with a lawyer to out temporary attend -- temporary attorney general -- to overturn george's election results. rosen reportedly had to argue against his own removal with the department lawyer jeffrey clark, before trump, in a scenario akin to "the apprentice." trump -- in a scenario akin to "the apprentice." trump ultimately dropped the plan after justice department officials unanimously vowed to quit if acting attorney general rosen was fired. meanwhile, the wall street journal reports trump pushed the justice department to directly ask the supreme court to invalidate biden's victory. indigenous leaders, immigrant justice advocates and veterans held a national day of action in over a

dozen u.s. cities yesterday urging president biden to take further steps to stop the construction of the u.s.-mexico border wall. this is stan rodriguez, a kumeyaay indigenous leader, speaking from the nation at the california-mexico border sunday. >> this is a national call to action. the border wall and the damage that has been done, not just to the environment but also cultural sites, religious sites that are important for our people. amy: in new york, over 1,400 essential workers at hunts point produce market -- the largest wholesale produce market in the country -- won a major victory this weekend after going on strike for a week, demanding a $1 an hour raise. workers voted to end their strike saturday after approving a new contract that includes a $1.85 wage increase over three years, and ends out of pocket payments for family healthcare plans. we'll have more on their

victory later in the broadcast. in more labor news, the chicago teachers union rejected district directives to return to in person schooling today, due to the dangers posed by the pandemic. the nation's third-largest district has delayed the start of school for staff and students from kindergarten through eighth grades until wednesday, to continue negotiations with the union. veteran talk show host larry king has died at the age of 87, following his hospitalization for covid-19 last month. for a quarter century, he hosted larry king live on cnn. and baseball legend hank aaron, whose 755 career home runs stood as a record for over three decades, has died at the age of . aaron began his career as an 18-year-old in the negro leagues before joining the major leagues in 1954, following jackie robinson and several other black players. as he approached babe ruth's long-standing home run

record in the 1970s, aaron and his family received a torrent of racist hate mail and death threats. he told the new york times in 1994, quote, "i had to have a police escort with me all the time. i was getting threatening letters every single day. all of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won't go away. they carved a piece of my heart away.” and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we look at what is happening in the senate, and then we will be joined by the reverend barber, who gave the homily at the post inaugural prayer breakfast. back in a minute. ♪ ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. democratic lawmakers are moving ahead with plans to hold an impeachment trial of former president trump for inciting the deadly january 6 insurrection at the u.s.

capitol. house impeachment managers are walking the single article of impeachment to the senate today. the senate trial will begin the week of february 8. senate majority leader chuck schumer spoke on friday. sen. schumer: as i mentioned, the senate will also conduct a second impeachment trial for donald trump. i've been speaking to the republican leader about the timing and duration of the trial. make no mistake, the trial will be held in the united states senate, and there will be a vote. amy: as senators prepare for the impeachment trial, lawmakers are also debating how to move forward on president biden's proposed $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. the senate is split 50/50 but the democrats control the senate with vice president kamala harris serving as a tie breaking vote. schumer and former senate majority leader mitch mcconnell are locked in negotiations over how the senate will be run over the next two years. mcconnell is pushing to

preserve the filibuster, which allows any senator to block a bill's passage unless it is supported by 60 senators. critics say the filibuster is a relic of the jim crow era that preserves minority rule. a group of civil rights and social justice organizations are pushing democrats to eliminate the filibuster to limit mcconnell's power and give biden a chance to enact his agenda. on sunday senator bernie sanders, who is the incoming senate budget committee chair, appeared on cnn and promoted using a process known as reconciliation to quickly pass part of biden's covid relief plan. sen. sanders: what we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months and months. as you know, reconciliation is a senate rule that was used by the republicans under trump to pass massive tax breaks to the rich and large corporations. it was used in an attempt to repeal the affordable care act. what we are saying is you

used it for that, that is fine. we will use reconciliation, 50 votes in the senate plus the vice president, to pass legislation desperately needed by working families in ts country right now. you did it, we are going to do it, what we are going to do it to protect ordinary people. amy: to talk more about the state of the senate, we are joined by adam jentleson, the public affairs director at democracy forward. former deputy chief of staff to democratic senator harry reid of nevada. jentleson's new book is titled, "kill switch: the rise of the modern senate and the crippling of american democracy.” start -- let's start with what is happening in the senate right now. you say it is the most unequal body in the u.s. federal government. explain why, and how that impacts everything from reconciliation to the filibuster. adam: that'sight, and thanks for having me. the senate was created to

provide a counterbance to the house. the house was supposed to be sort of the direct body that represented the people. the senate was designed to provide a counterweight. it was designed to be a little bit antidemocratic, in its inception. in the house, a portion is based on popation, every state has the same numr of house members proportion -- proportional to their state population. in the senate, every state gets equal representation. wyoming has two senators and california has two senators. california dickey population is about 39 million people and wyoming's population is about 600,000 people. by that representation, it creates a disproportionate voting power.

every citizen in wyoming has many times the voting power than a citizen in california. this was something that the framers were aware of when they created it, but some of them decried it at the time and said this is a big problem. madison, often cited as the chief framer and constructor of the senate, strongly opposed this kind of equal representation, and by equal i mean the same number of senators. it plays out as very unequal representation for the voters. madison at the time said it would be a great source of, his work, and justice to give states equal representation. at the time he called this injustice, the biggest estate was virginia, 10 times as big as the smallest state, delaware. madison was right that it creates injustice, but that injustice is several orders of magnitude bigger now than

at the time. california is about 70 times the size of wyoming. amy: 70 times the side -- the size. each of them because they are each a state have two senators, equal representation in the senate. adam: that's right. the way this plays out is that what that translates to is not just disproportionate representation geographically but disproportionate presentation in terms of racial, ethnic minority voting power. california is an incredibly diverse state. wyoming is an incredibly monolithic state, but wyoming has powerful -- has incredibleoting power. the generapattern is that the more rural states, the lower population states tend to be overwhelmingly white, and so what that translates to in our modern era is a dramatically this

proportionate amount of voting power to white conservatives in america. amy: so take this to the history of the filibuster. i want to play a clip of president obama, speaking about the filibuster at the funeral of the late georgia congress member john lewis. pres. obama: and of all of this takes limiting the filibuster, another jim crow relic, in order to secure the god-given rights of every american, then that is what we should do. amy: another jim crow relic, says obama. you take this back to slavery. adam: that's right, and obama is 100% right. he has been consistent on the filibuster. he has always want to get rid of it. he says he wishes he had stted his first administration by rallying democrats to get rid of it, so he could have passed more and bigger things. he is right about the history. it is important to understand that the framers,

for all of their own racism and slaveholding status, even they did not want the filibuster to exist. when they created the senate , it was an institution that had no filibuster power. it was designed to be a majoty ruled body. it was designed to be discouraged of a -- of obstructionism. this wasn't just a coincidence or some gray area. the reason they were clear about it was they created the constitution in the shadows of the article of confederation, and the widespread view at the time was that the reason the articles of confederation failed was that if congress required a super majority threshold to pass most major legislation. the framers saw that as a disaster and they created the senate with majority rule and they made it very clearly in the federalist papers that they believed that a minority -- a

numerical minority in the senate should not be given the power to obstruct what the jority wanted to do. by all means the senate was supposed to be deliberative and thoughtful and take things slower than the house, but there was a certain point where debate was thought to have run its course. at that point, the majority was allowed to end debate and pass a vote. what happened over the course of several decades, after all the framers had passed away, other senators used obstructive tactics over the early decades. it was very rare. john c calhoun came along, the great nullify or, the grandfather of the confederacy. he innovated some of the tactics that became known as the modern filibuster. he did it for the express purpose of increasing the power of the slaveholding class. what he saw at this time was around the 1830's, slaveholders and slave states were becoming

steadily out powered in congress. he knew if majority rule was allowed to continue, slavery would end. he had a compelling desire from his perspecti, to increase their power in the senate. what he did was innovate, we would describe the modern talking filibuster, this jimmy stewart style holding the floor, joining with allies to delay a vote he opposed. at the same time, doing it all in this lofty principle of minority rights. the minority he sought to protect was not a vulnerable population by any means. it was the planter class, the slaveholders. that was the origin of this special principle of minority rights being tied to this filibuster, that was designed to protect not vulnerable minorities but the minority planter class against the march of progress. amy: so take that to today,

and this battle over the filibuster in the senate. the trajectory you see from slavery to jim crow, to the new biden administration, and the democratic majority, and what they are trying to do. whether we are talking about covid relief, or talking for example, about impeachment. adam: sure. the key development in the history of the filibuster from the time of calhoun to now is the transition from this talking filibuster, the holding the floor, into a super majority threshold that can be applied to block any bill. just to underscore, for the first 200 years of its existence or so, the senate was majority rule. even as the filibuster started to develop, all the senators could do was delay a bill. they had a talk on the floor and eventually had to give up. there was no ability to impose a super majority threshold. that didn't arise until

after 1917 when the senate put a rule on the books was ironically supposed to end the filibuster. under this principle, after debate had gone for long enough, two thirds of the body would be able to come together and say this is enough, let's cut this off and move to a final debate, a final vote. it took a long time for this to happen, but southern senators in the jim crow era started to reverse the purpose of that rule and instead of using it to end debate as it had been designed to do, started using it as a higher threshold for civil rights bills to have to clear. it is important to underscore how transformative the power of racism was in this evolution. amy: we just have a minute. i wanted to take this forward to what is happening now and play a clip of the incoming senate budget committee chair, bernie sanders, speaking on cnn,

defending his call for using reconciliation to pass the covid relief bill. and then ask how that fits into this paradigm you are describing. sen. sanders: dubai critize republican yes, to use reconciliation to give tax breaks to large million -- tax breaks to millionaires. i do criticize them for that. if they want to criticize me for helping feed children who are hungry, or senior citizens in this country who are isolated and alone i don't have enough food, they can criticize me. that is the appropriate step forward. amy: that is bernie sanders, senator mittens for those who have been following the meme of him wearing his vermont mittens at the inauguration. adam jentleson, if you could end by talking about what this means for the covid relief bill. who gets help and who doesn't? adam: what sanders has done is identified budget reconciliation which is an

end around the filibuster. that goes from the jim crow era being applied to only civil rights bills to today, being used for every bill. senators can use reconciliation to go around it. he can use it for the covid relief bill. it will enable us to pass covid relief over the objections of republicans and not have to clear a 60 vote threshold. long-term, the filibuster will rear its head because any types of reforms cannot go to reconciliation. reconciliation is a restrictive process that has tight rules. it has to have budgeitems. ultimately we will have to face this question of the filibuster if we want to do things like d.c. statehood or puerto rico statehood. all of that stuff cannot go through reconciliation. if we don't reform the filibuster, it will die by the filibuster. amy: adam jentleson, i want

to thank you for being with us. the public affairs director at democracy forward. former deputy chief of staff to democratic senator harry reid. his new book, "kill switch: the rise of the modern senate and the crippling of american democracy.” next up, as the number of u.s. covid cases hits 29 million, we will speak to the reverend barber about the challenges ahead. he gave the homily at the post inaugural prayer breakfast. we will talk about inequality and what does unity really mean? stay with us. ♪ ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracynow, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. to get our daily digest email to you, go to democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. as the number of u.s. covid cases tops 25 million, we turn now to the reverend william barber to discuss the

challenges ahead for the new biden administration. from the pandemic to poverty to growing inequality, reverend barber's the cochair of the poor people's campaign. he gave the homily at the post inaugural prayer breakfast. as president joe biden and vice president kamala harris began their first full day in office. rev. barber: the only way to ensure domestic tranquility is to establish justice. it is pretending that we can address the nation's wounds with simplistic calls for unity. that is not how we can close the breach. the breach is telling lies when we need to truth. greed when we need compassion. amy: part of rev. dr. william barber's homily at the official inaugural prayer service last thursday. the poor people's campaign has launched a platform of 14 policy priorities for biden's first 100 days in office. reverend barber joins us now

, for more from north carolina. welcome back to democracy now! we will continue on the theme of why you chose this issue of unity to take on. you take a very critical look at it. what do you want to see accomplished? rev. barber: thank you so much, amy for having me on this morning. i was asked by the administration to preach this once every four year inaugural service that was streamed out from the national cathedral. interestingly enough, they chose the scripture, isaiah 58, which is recognized by christians, jews and muslims. it says there is a way to repair the breach, repair the gaps and inequities of society. it says we have to end the first step is you have to repent of the sin of how we

got here. that scripture was written in a time of greedy leadership, but then it says you can repair the breach if you stop unfair practices. if you lift from the bottom. if you care for those who have been marginalized by oppressive politics and leadership. the reason why it was important to say, and i think this what -- i think this is what the president was saying is that unity does not repair the damage. enough of us come together and believe. there is no way to heal the soul of the nation, if you don'heal the sickness in the body of the nation. that means enough of us have to decide that we have to address systemic racism in all of its forms. ecological devastion,

denial of health care, the war economy. we cannot say we are unified. it cannot just be kumbaya. it has to be fundamental change, and what i talked about was a third reconstruction and facing the issues that divide us. it is public policy and enough of us have to unify to move the nation folder -- move the nation forward. it does not have to be unanimous. it is just enough of us who believe we have to go forward. amy: you spoke to the biden domestic policy team in december. did you speak with president biden, vice president harris? i know you hosted candidate biden when he was running for president. what did you say? rev. barber: we did. we invited trump as well.

president biden spoke in september, when he was a candidate. he said something very interesting. he said that ending poverty would not be an aspirational thing for his administration, but a theory of change. we took him seriously at that. after the election, we did not want to meet with the president and vice president. we wanted to give the team -- get the team in place. we wanted to meet them after the inauguration, with -- what we met with was the to mastic policy team, and it was a very powerful meeting. i did not just speak with them alone. we actually took in 32 people, white kansas farmers, black workers, undocumented persons, people

from appalachia to alaba, and we presented a 14 point policy for the healing of the nation. what we said was these 14 things. they must enact comprehensive free and just covid relief, that lifts from the bottom. we must have guaranteed quality health care that leads to universal health care. we must expand medicaid immediately, regardless of existing conditions. we must have a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour immediately. we must update the poverty measures so we get an accurate picture of poverty in this nation. we must guarantee housing for all. we must enact a federal jobs program to build up infrastructure and invest in public institutions, climate resilience, energy, in poor and low wealth communities

especially. we must guarantee safe, equitable and quality public education that supports protection against the resegregation of schools. we must have comprehensive and just immigration reform. we must ensure all the rights of indigenous people. we must enact fair taxes and repeal the trump tax cuts. we must use the power of executive orders to undo all the negative executive orders and we must redirect the bloated pentagon budget towards the iorities of real national security like education, health care, infrastructure, wages. we asked for a meeting at the white house with those people. that is the agenda we believe will hill -- will heal t nation cause it deals with the sickness in the body of the nation. amy: can you talk about this issue of the $15 men among wage? you do have president biden signing an executive order

to move towards $15 an hour for federal workers, but why just federal workers, and what is the path you actually see forward? comment on this $1.9 trillion covid relief package and the battle it will face, and what message you have for those opposed to it? rev. barber: 1963 at the march on washington, one of the agenda items in addition to the civil rights act was a two dollar minimum wage which is transposed today would be $15. we are 50 something years late and people can't survive on $7.50. particularly at a time during covid, billionaires have made almost $1 trillion. only 39% of the people in the united states of america can afford a $1000 financial emergency. we have 62 million people in this country that make less

than the living wage. if we actually had a living wage that kept pace with inflation, the living wage would be $20 an hour. the minimum wage was not minimum when it was passed years ago. right now, in the midst of covid when we have 120 million low wealth people going into covid and millions more have been added because of covid, we have to have $15 an hour, and it cannot be five or 10 years from now, it must be immediate. the president can sign an executive order for federal workers, but what we must have is legislation that passes $15 an hour. it is amazing to be that some of the people are talking against this, particularly, republicans are coming to the south. they live in the poorest states that have the lowest wages, which should always let us know that the people who come out of the south, many of them use racial tactics like voter suppression to get elected, but once they get elected, they actually passed bills

or block deals that benefit corporations, so there is a connection between racism and greed that we must always understand. when it comes to the covid relief plan, the comprehensive $1.9 trillion is a powerful beginning. there are some things that are not in thei that -- not in there that we are evaluating now. that needs to go through reconciliation. we do not need to allow a filibuster that could stop that. it is a trillion dollars too late because the first cares act that was passed, 84% of that money went to corporations and banks, and then they held up passing the $69 million. we cannot get out of this covid pandemic and economic problems without deep investment. we have to remember, it must be investments from the bottom. we talk about who is dying -- when we talk about who is

dying, it is not just brown or black people, poor people, whether they be black, brown or white, they are the ones who are dying. those who work those face-to-face jobs in construction and food services, the other ones getting the sickest and they are the ones dying and there is no way we can come out of this economically, unless we have investment. we think the 1.9 is great. it is not final. we are evaluating it now. what we are glad about, the $1.9 trillion, is that we see a call for $15, we see the call for more money for schools and cities. we see the call for health care. we see the call for free and just covid relief. what we must do is we have to say as a nation, we cannot be the wealthiest nation in the world, we are billionaires in this country made $1 trillion during

vid, while poor and low wealth people of every race, creed, color and sexuality have continued to suffer, the very people who are holding this economy up. that is what i tried to say in that sermon, what the scriptures say. unless you lift from the bottom, you can never really have unity and never really pair the breaches and divisions of the nation. amy: the senate is receiving the article of impeachment against donald trump. the trial will begin the week of february 8. your thoughts on what you believe justice would look like for president trump, charged with inciting the insurrection of neo-confederates, the owner sees, weitzer from assists -- neo-nazis, white supremacists. rev. barber: a number of opinions on that. we had sixeeks of nonviolent civil disobedience of the capital,

trying to deliver to mcconnell because he would not meet with us. for six weeks, we tried to deliver a position, a policy agenda for low wealth people. when we went to the offices to try to meet, we were arrested and charged and put in handcuffs in that same capitol building. i was arrested with clergy and poor and low wealth people in those same areas when we were praying. there is no way in the world you are going to arrest nonviolent protesters. when we came, the police were already there. they had the long guns, the zip ties. they met us. we tried to go to the plaza just to pray at the steps, hundreds of us were arrested, over 5000 people

arrested across this nation from may of 2018 -- march of 2018 to june of 2018. when it comes to trump, he should have been found guilty long before. the senate did not do its job. mcconnell did not do his job. mcconnell has proven that he was more interested in getting people in seats on the supreme court than protecting people from dying from covid. he is more interested in his own power than finding a president guilty that time and time again has engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors. there must be punishments. i am a preacher who believes in mercy and love, but love also has to include justice. this was dangerous and it was demonic.

did you see the people climbing the walls? this was a mob mentality. the talking hds kind of messed up when they said we have only seen this twice in america. black people and brown people and women and labor movements through history have seen this kind of mamba mentality that will destroy whoever is in its path, that will hurt whoever is in its path, that will burn judges -- churches and hang bodies. it just spilled over to the capital. it is not just trump. he is the latest one to come along. he let the match of gasoline that has been pouring for years. he has to be prosecuted. we have to have this trial. it will expose the republicans if they do not act. here is one simple way of looking at it. what would they do if it was obama? what would they dof it was

william barr? what would they do if it was my new friend, raphael warnock? what if -- what would they do with it was nancy pelosi or chuck schumer? what would they do if it was amy goodman who led a violent insurrection or encouraged and incited the violent insurrection? we all know the answers to those questions. nothing less can happen to trump. if they don't do it, we in danger the democracy -- we endanger the democracy even more because we are saying some people can skirt the law and other people will always be prosecuted, even if they are nonviolent. amy: reverend dr. william barber, i want to thank you for being with us, cochair of the poor people's campaign and president of repairers of the breach. as we turn now to look at how 1400 essential workers at the largest wholesale produce market in the country won a major victory this weekend after going on strike for nearly week to

demand better wages. before the strike, workers at the hunts point produce market in the bronx tried to negotiate with management for a one dollar an hour raise after keeping the new york city region's food supply going throughout the pandemic. they voted to end their strike saturday after approving a new contract that includes a $1.85 wage increase over three years, this is atriking worker named ctor. t years have be here, iave felt unapprected. superviss, theay ty trt us, and jt the moy situion as well. we arenly tting tw dolls more tn minimu wage. to g moreoney, have to g two nights -- to nights. amy: the victory comes after an outpouring of solitary.

congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez skipped president biden's inauguration to join the striking workers on their picket line. >> yes, chains hat -- change happens at the ballot box and in policy but change happens on the picket line too. we can't ever forget that. that kind of solidarity is how we win everything. it is how we win our wages, it is how we win our rights, it is how we win a better country, and it is how we win our future. i think it is so important that we remember that. amy: for more, we are joined by daniel kane, president of teamsters local 202, which organized the strike. thank you for being with us and congratulations on your victory. can you talk about how you achieved it? what exactly you won this saturday? daniel: during the strike,

about midway through, people, workers, engaged in a struggle that was obviously harrowing to them, because their livelihoods were on the line. but they were resolved with each other, and they were standing shoulder to shoulder on the basic premise of being treated with respect. i said no matter what at the end, we have won already, because we thought -- we fought. someone asked why is it different during the pandemic? these workers are already essential. essential workers by definition can't phone it in. they can't do what your fire doing right now. they have to show up, they have to be there. they have to provide

essential things like medical assistance, feeding us. all the stuff that we sort of forget about. i started here many years ago working at hunts point and i always knew these folks were special. they fought and they came away with their dignity. most of the workers, i was listening to reverend barber, and he was right. most of the workers are not even close to $25 an hour. even the teaters union, which has negotiated many contracts, most of our members make between $16 and $23 an hour. they have good health insurance and we fight for all of those things, that i don't think the rest of the country realizes that a dollar raise is what most americans don't get. they might not get that over three years. we are using that to highlight it from the outside, for those not involved in this country -- not involved in this. amy: i wanted to turn to

leonardo servedio, vice president of teamsters local 202, who described the moment of solidarity last week between teamsters turning back 21 train cars of merchandise from their hunts point market strike line. >> after 7:35 p.m. tonight, they drove 21 freight cars into the market. our union guys came in to support our union. the engineer came out and saw them come out said we are teamsters to and head back -- headed back to ohio. amy: explain exactly what you got and what lesson you think people can take not only are on the country but in other parts of the world -- not only around the country but in other parts of the world. daniel: what we had was a decent and fair wage increase. we represent working-class people. in my mind, it is never enough that workers are

always battling in the society, to get what is just and fair. we were able to save our health care system. we have a pension plan, a night differential. all of these things we fought for over the last 50 or 60 years, our contract had basic tenets in it like a eight hour day. all of these things were on the line in the strike. like a regular work week. i will give you an example. one of them said to me, with my overtime, i made $64,000 last year. that is twice the wages my father made. this type of work, when it is represented and they work hard and they earn every dollar. but that is not too much to ask, for a worker with a 10-12 hour day. amy: can you talk about the importance of hunts point,

especially for people who don't live in the area? daniel: hunts point is the largest produce market of itsin kind the count. it provides the most diverse product line of produce, fruits and vegetables to the city of new york. it is very important to the city of new york, because the largest industry in the city of new york is tourism, and people come here for the culture, to eat here, they may come here for one show but they will eat three times. the diverse palette line that we have in the city starts here at this market, because of the markets. it is a very unique place. it was built in the 60's -- in the 1960's by a public-private partnership. it is a place of hope, and it does provide hope for these workers and for the city. amy: and how have the workers fared during the pandemic? getting food to people all

over this region, risking their own lives? daniel: the pandemic really put it on everybody. they were nervous about coming to work because like all of us who we worried about getting sick, nobody wants to infect our families. yet the work we do is essential in that we want to make sure that people understand, that they don't have to worry during a pandemic, that you will have food. the food service wl continue. we took that very seriously, and our members did. even though they were scared to come to work, they knew it was important. amy: daniel kane, as bernie sanders was going viral with his vermont mittens, he tweeted essential workers should not have to go on strike for decent pay. daniel: bernie is right and reverend barber.

what we wanted to highlight in this strike was not only our plight, but that most of the workers, the essential workers that people pass by every day, provide the services for all the rest of the workers. they are not getting a fair deal in the society. they are making $14, $13. in other states, seven dollars. the better paying jobs are getting $19, $22. none of those folks, a dollar to some folks seems like not much. i can count on my hands, and at times a worker who makes less than $25 an hour, the majority of people in this country. amy: we just have 10 seconds. as essential workers are people at hunts point, are they prioritized for a vaccine? daniel: they are, now. we are in the second phase, according to the guidelines,

as essential workers. it is supposed to be rolling out soon. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. daniel kane, president of the teamsters local 202 which organized the hunts point market strike last week. ó■

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