06/24/21 06/24/21 . [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: we have an opportunity to come together as democrats and republicans come as fellow americans to fulfill the first responsibility in our democracy -- keep each other safe. amy: president biden vowed to crack down on illegal gun dealers and to boost funding for police departments in an effort to combat gun violence across the country. we will speak to an anti-violence activist in new

york who has spent decades promoting community-based responses to violence. plus, over two dozen trans women previously detained by ice travel to washington to urge the biden administration to end the detention of trans immigrants. >> end trans detention! amy: and we speak to democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon about the republicans blocking the debate on for the people act, the most sweeping voting rights legislation in decades. >> mitch mcconnell is not interested in the principles of our constitution, the rights of americans. instead, he is a cynical our strategy saying, gerrymandering is good for my party. amy: senator merkley sponsored

the bill. we will speak voting rights and climate change. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president biden said wednesday his administration will crack down on illegal gun dealers and will increase funding for police departments as part of an effort to combat a spike in gun violence across the united states. pres. biden: today the department is announcing a major crackdown to stem the flow of guns used to commit violent crimes. zero for gun dealers who willfully violate key existing laws and regulations. amy: biden's plan includes doubling funding for the community oriented policing services -- or cops -- program, a federal scheme that pays state and municipal governments to hire more police officers. on wednesday, white house press secretary jen psaki pushed back against republican claims that biden supports calls to defund the police.

>> the president has been. consistent in his views over the course of decades. he has never been pretty funding the police. he has always been a supporter of ensuring that local policing is funded and adequately supported by the federal government. amy: when we come back after the headlines, we will speak to an anti-violence organizer here in new york about the white house's plans to increase funding and crackdown on illegal guns. as we move forward with the headlines, in washington, d.c., several civil rights leaders, including reverends jesse jackson and william barber, were arrested wednesday at a nonviolent protest outside the u.s. senate as they demanded west virginia democrat joe manchin and other lawmakers abolish the filibuster to pass a major voting rights bill and other legislation. their protest came a day after all 50 republican senators

blocked the for the people act from advancing. the bill would restore the protections of the 1965 voting rights act, which was gutted by the supreme court eight years ago. this is reverend william barber speaking ahead of his arrest. >> yesterday's partyline vote to kill debate on the for the people act certified what we already knew, mcconnell's obstructionist caucus mean, regressive and anti-constitution , anti-the very constitution they swore to uphold. amy: to see our interview with reverend william barber about the filibuster and the fight for voting rights, visit democracynow.org. later we will speak with senator merkley of oregon, lead senate sponsor of the for the people act. this likely pfizer and moderna's

vaccines are linked to rare cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults. the cdc cited about 1200 cases of a myocarditis or pericarditis in vaccinated young people. people usually recovered on their own or with minimal treatment, and the cdc said the disorder posed a minimal risk compared to the risks of going unvaccinated. covid-19 itself often causes myocarditis and much more severe heart complications. the u.s. supreme court ruled 8-to-1 wednesday that a former cheerleader's profanity-laced social media post was protected speech under the first amendment. civil liberties groups celebrated the decision as one of the most important free speech rulings in decades. in 2017, school officials in pennsylvania suspended 14-year-old brandi levy from her cheerleading squad after she used the f-word in a snapchat post to complain about failing

to win a promotion to the varsity squad. the court ruled in levy's favor, arguing she should not have been suspended for off-campus speech. >> it is not oy a win for me, but for everne else beuse now students can reallexpress themselves about them being -- without being scared they will be punished by the school. amy: the court did rule, however, that schools may punish online speech if it genuinely disrupts classroom study or is otherwise harassing or bullying. justice clarence thomas wrote in a lone dissenting opinion that the school was right to suspend levy. thomas has long held that students have little or no right to free speech. in another supreme court decision wednesday, justices ruled 6-to-3 that a california labor law violated the constitutional rights of property owners by giving union organizers access to farm

workers nkring their breaks. the ruling strikes down part of a landmark 1975 labor law that was the nation's first to recognize agricultural workers' rights to collectiveargaining. chief justice john roberts wrote for the majority -- "the access regulation grants labor organizations a right to invade the growers' property." it's a devastating blow to the united farm workers. in a statement, the union said -- "the supreme court ruling makes a racist and broken farm labor system even more unequal for farm workers. this decision denies workers the right to use breaks to freely discuss whether they want to have a union." a new report reveals ice has force-fed immigrant prisoners who go on hunger strike. as well as force-feeding, ice also performed forced urinary catheterization at least once, which is illegal under international law. ice agents also used harsh

tactics to deter hunger strikes includg water deprivation and threening osecutn. some of the uses in threport date bacas far athe oba admistrationn 2015 this comes as viceresident kamala harris will visit the u.s.-mexico border friday to try to show they're moving away from the hard light immigration policies of trump. harris will goo el paso, texas, with a trumpet administration started the family separation policy in 2017. the united nations general assembly voted 184-to-2 wednesday on a resolution demanding an endo the 60-year u.s. economic blockade on cuba, which has devastated the economy of the island nation. only the united states and israel voted against it. cuban foreign minister bruno rodríguez padilla blasted the embargo as a massive human rights violation, particularly as cuba works to combat the covid-19 pandemic. >> this is made visible by the

lines which every to overwhelm the cuban people in the midst of the pandemic to access basic goods, the shop shelves that are empty and the increasing food prices. the blockade is a massive, flagrant, systematic relation of human rights of all of the cuban people pursuit of article 2 of the geneva convention of 1948, the blockade constitutes an act of genocide. amy: it was the 20 not straight year -- 29th straight year the general assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the u.s. embargo on cuba. russia said wednesday its military fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a british warship in the black sea that entered waters claimed by the kremlin off the coast of russian-annexed crimea. britain denies theccount and accused russia of sowing disrd with a false story. e naval tensions came on the same day that german and french leaders called for aeset of relations between the european

union and russia, with plans under consideration to invite russian president vladimir putin to a summit with eu leaders. in brazil, environment minister ricardo salles has resigned amid a federal investigation into his ties to illegal logging in the amazon rainforest. but environmental activists say the situation is unlikely to improve since salles will be replaced by joaquim alvaro pereira laitch, who previously advised a farming lobby. this comes as brazilian riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets at indigenous activists in brasília who were protesting new bills that would weaken protections for indigenous land, opening them up to agricultural and mining interests. back in the united states, house -- an indiana woman wednesday became the first person to be sentenced over the deadly january 6 insurrection. anna morgan-lloyd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and will serve no jail time after she said she was sorry for joining the violent

pro-trump mob that breached the u.s. capitol seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. two other participants pleaded guilty wednesday, including a member of the oath keepers militia who will see a reduced sentence in exchange for cooperating with federal prosecutors. this comes as house speaker nancy pelosi is expected to announce the creation of a select committee to investigate the u.s. capitol insurrection, after senate republicans last month blocked a bill that would have created a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack. mark milley, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, defended the military's teaching of critical race theory after republican florida congressmembers michael waltz and matt gaetz attacked one academy's curriculum and as -- during a house hearing and as prominent republicans have suggested the military is becoming too "woke." this is general milley speaking the hearing wednesday. >> i personally find it

offensive that we are accusing united states military, our general officers, mission and noncommissioned officers, "woke" or something us because we are studying some theories. it was started in harvard years ago a proposed there were laws in the united states, prior to the civil war, that led to a power differential with african-americans were three force of a human being with this country was formed. then we had a civil war in emancipation proclamation to change it. took another 100 years to change. amy: that was general milley responding to congressmember matt gaetz who was currently under investigation by the fbi over possible violations of sex trafficking laws and for allegedly paying a 17 year old have sex with him. general milley also elaborated on why teaching about historical racism is essential to understand the events of january 6. >> the military academy is a university and it is important

that we train and understand -- i want to understand white rage and i am white. i want to understand it. what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the constitution of the united states of america? what caused that? i want to find that out. amy: connecticut has become the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana. democratic governor ned lamont signed the legislation tuesday, which expunges thousands of convictions for possession and will prioritize granting retail licenses and directing revenues towards the communities of color that have been disproportionately targeted by the war on drugs. the aclu found black people in connecticut were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. a new york state supreme court judge has sided with new york city police, striking down a city council law passed last year which banned chokeholds and other violent restraints.

the law was passed amid nationwide protests following the police murder of george floyd. new york still has a statewide ban on chokeholds. and the parents of a student killed in the 2018 massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school have tricked a former president of the national rifle association into giving a high school graduation speech defending gun rights in front of 3044 empty white chairs -- one chair for each student who could not graduate this year because they were killed by gun violence. david keene, who still serves on the nra board, thought he was giving a rehearsal speech for graduating students at the james madison academy at las vegas, but no such school exists. this is part of what david keene said. >> the are somwho will

contin to fig to guthe send andmentbut i wod be lling toet thamany of y will be ong thoswho stan up and prevent them from succeeding. amy: the stunt was organized by change the ref, a group founded by manuel and patricia oliver, whose son joaquin "guac" was shot dead in the parkland , florida, massacre in 2018. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: president biden vowed wednesday to crack down on illegal gun dealers and to boost funding for police departments as part of an effort to combat a spike in gun violence across the country. rejecting calls by activists to defund the police, biden said cities could expand their police forces by diverting federal money allocated for the

pandemic. he also pledged to strengthen enforcement of existing guns laws. pres. biden: today the department is announcing a major crackdown on stem the flow of guns used to commit violent crimes. zero-tolerance for gun dealers who willfully violate key existing laws and regulations. i repeat, zero-tolerance. if you willfully sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from possessing it, if you willfully fail to run a background check, if you willfully falsify a record, if you willfully fail to cooperate with the tracing request or inspections, my message is this -- we will find you and we will seek your license to sell guns. we will make sure you cannot sell death and may have on our streets. it is an outrage. it has to end and we will end it. amy: president biden spoke wednesday, along with attorney general merrick garland. >> the department is also

strengthening our project safe neighborhoods, or course of initiative that brings together law enforcement and community stakeholders to develop solutions to pressing violent crime problems. community-led efforts are vital to preventing violence before it occurs. the justice department has available over $1 billion in funding over a dozen grant programs that can be used to support evidence-based community violence and revision strategies. amy: we are joined now by erica ford, a longtime anti-violence activist in queens, new york. queens is the most diverse borough in the country. erica ford is ceo and founder of life camp, inc. she is also co-creator of new york city's crisis management system. erica, it is great to have you with us. thank you for joining us. can you talk about what community-based, anti-violence work is and respond to what

president biden put forward yesterday. >> thank you for having me, number one. you're doing great work for many years and i love what you do. community-based violence is the people who are closest to the problem bringing the resolution and addressing it from the perspective of a holistic and comprehensive approach. and so what we develop here in new york city was a new york city crisis management system. it is over 35 different sites, over 60 organizations that coproduce public safety. what does that mean? it means we not only take the guns out of the hands, but we help theeople heal on both sides of the guns from the trauma of violence, that we deal with it from the perspective of response, recover mitigatn, and prevention.

and so when you're looking at the four buckets, all of the work that different organizations do, whether it is afterschool programs, jobs, whether it is community policing, partnership with clergy andrganizations, whether it is giving out food, helping people therapeutically heal from the consistent presence of gun violence in their community, whether it is working directly with the highest individuals and giving them a work plan or helping develop within a work plan that pushes them into another trajectory in life and helping change community normso that when we seeituations that will rise to an incident of violence, we immediately separate and intermediate and negotiate between those two individuals so they don't use a gun as a form of a weapon to heal -- more important, that interpersonal trauma they feel that causes

them to lash out on other people. that is one. nermeen: i would like to ask you as someone who has worked on this issue for decades, what do you think accounts for extraordinary rise in gun violence in the u.s.? peopleave pointed to the pandemic and a 2020, continuing into 2021 as one of the causes. but in many parts of the world, in the rest of the world in fact, violence, crime rates remain stable or fell during the pandemic, even where places where the lockdown was far more stringent than anywhere in the u.s. what do you think explains this? >> when you look at the pandemic and you look at the people who died the most from the pandemic and the precondition, right? the precondition of violence is

a lack of resources. so when you have a 14-year-old young man get killed on the basketball court and right across the street is a pal center that is not open for that ung man to ginside andlay basketballnd you have two pulleys standing on the basketball court with him? the precondition is that community center was not open. before, after, anduring covid, that community center was not open. so thereas no relief for this young man to go inside and play safe. there is no job opportunity. there is no education opportunities. so these preconditions that we face in our community help the disease of violence rise to a level that is addressable at a time because we don't have the tools and resources to address them. wh we look at the 1990's when it was 2000 people killed in new york city and when we

implemented this york city crisis management system, we were able to bring it down to 789 people shot, right? correct, 290 people killed in 2017, right? this happened because of the influx of resources on the issue. although it still was not enough, we had resources at that time that was never given in a new dynamic, so people work up an eager and working hard. so as the imbalance of resources and equity in resolving the problem did not rise, then the resolution that works can't rise. so when you see a $6 billion police force and you see a $43 million or $53 million new york city crisis management system, the equity, the imbalance does not allow us to address the problem from the perspective of

equity that we know will work. so that is why we met with biden 's team, bassett arrives, all of the -- ambassador rights, and requested the $5 billion be put into the job's plan. becauswe know with the access to resources, our people can do the work that is working across the nation. nermeen: what is also interesting is that while gun violence rates increased, other forms of crime, crime overall including rates, robbery, etc., actually dropped in 2020 in the u.s. by about 6%, which is one of the largest decreases ever. but of course, gun sales went up exponentially and reportedly more americans were carrying guns with them during the pandemic. could you comment on that? >> well, those crimes you're

talking about -- it people remember, in new york city in particular, and various other urban cities across america, on the fourth of july weekend in 2020, there were fireworks like never before. and those fireworks were dropped into these local communities from where? we don't know. and then we saw the influx of guns into our community. as you say this, the one thing that sales rose was guns. who is bringing them into our community? who is putting them in the hands of our children? who is putting that in the hands of these traumatized young men and women? and so when we have a problem, now have a gun in my hand. when i popped off from my and balance, from i,, from my pain, i have gotten it will resolve

this issue. i think this gun is what makes me perful. we need to remove the guns from our community and then we need to help people in communities heal from the trauma of gun violence. amy: i want to ask you about biden's history on policing. in 1994, he sponsored a sweeping crime bill that many have said lead to the mass incarceration of people of color. this is biden speaking in 1993 in an archival clip that was unearthed during the presidential campaign by cnn. pres. biden: we must take back to the streets. it does not matter whether or not the person that is accosting your son or daughter or my son or daughter, my wife, your husband, my mother,our parents, does not matter whether or not they were deprived as a youth. it does not matter whether o not th had a background that enabled them to become

socialized citizens in the fabric of society. it does not matter whether or not they are the victims o society. the end result is there about to knock my mother on the head with the lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat up my wife, take on my son. so i don't want to ask wt made them do this. they must be taken off the street. amy: that was then senator joe biden speaking in 1993. in march, we spoke with longtime organizer and abolitionist mariame kaba, founder of the grassroots group project nia, which works to end the incarceration of children and young adults. >> i always tell people what we talked about prison industrial, looks abolition, we're talking about a dual project, on the one hand a project that is about dismantling death making institutions like policing and prisons and surveillance, and

creating life-affirming ones, putting resources and investing in the things we know to keep people sick -- housing, health care, schooling, all kinds of other things living wages. amy: as we wrap up, erica ford, can you talk about how you feel this country needs to move forward? >> i think in an crack epidemic in the 1980's and 1990's, people were not able to transform. when i look at my friends that died and got arrested and went to jail from the crack epidemic, i dedicated my life to doing something different. i dedicated my life to building a system and interrupting the cycle of violence that took place in our community. and with that, i gave birth to the new york city crisis manament system. a system that works, a system that if invested correctly can

really eliminate violence on a holistic level in new york city and be duplicateacross the nation. we have to believe this. we have to bieve we have the answer and a representative have to believe in the people closest to the problem. in 1993, there was a mistake made. in 2021, we have to correct that mistake by investing in the people who have the answer in the revolution that has the tools to go out and face the issues of violence inur communities. we have the power to do it, we just need the resources and the tools and the level of equity from the criminalization of our children in this and act. amy: erica ford, thank you for being with us, ceo, founder of life camp, cocreator of new york city crisis management system. next up, over two dozen trans women previously detained by ice travel to washington to urge the biden administration to in the detention of trans immigration.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. vice president kamala harris will visit the u.s.-mexico border friday to try to show the biden administration is moving away from trump's hardline immigration policies. harris will go to el paso, texas, where the trump administration started its family separation policy in 2017. next week, donald trump will also visit the border, on wednesday, along with a dozen republican congress members and republican texas governor greg abbott, who has plans for the state to construct its own border wall. meanwhile, immigrant rights activists, including more than two dozen trans women previously detained by ice, marched on the

white house wednesday calling on the biden administration to stop detaining trans asylum-seekers, who often face severe abuse, discrimination, and medical neglect. this is trans rights activist june kuoch speaking at the rally about a member of the queer and trans communy detained by ice. >> originally from venezuela and has been living in the united states since he was three years old and calls new york home. he is a former daca recipient and a proud member of the queer and trans community. while living in it unapologetic queer live in new york, was criminalized by the police for his acts of survival. and on june 13, monday, he was transferred from prison to ice detention.

as an organizer, i do not care what george did. he deserves freedom! queer and trans people deserve freedom! amy: wednesday's actions included a service honoring and mourning the deaths of several trans people who died in ice detention due to neglect and abuse. among them, victoria arellano, roxsana hernandez, and johana medina. this week eight immigrant rights groups also sent a letter to the white house demanding the release of all transgender people and people with hiv/aids from immigrant detention centers where they cannot get adequate care. one of organizers of the movement to end trans detention is jennicet gutierrez, who last joined us on democracy now! in 2015 after she interrupted president obama as he spoke to a

gathering celebrating lgbtq pride month at the white house. pres. obama: i told you this of rights of lgbt -- >> president obama, release all -- [indiscernible] i am a trans woman. amy: that was jennicet gutiérrez interrupting president obama in 2015. she joins us now from washington, d.c., after helping organize wednesday's protest on the white house to end trans detention, which followed 10 other actions in major cities across the country by trans immigrant women. she is a community organizer and advocate with familia: trans queer liberation movement. it is great to have you back. first talk about the funeral that was held yesterday in front

of the white house. >> yes, thank you for having me back. yesterday we came together in washington, d.c., and we did a funeral service honoring the toriano arellano, roxsana hernandez, and johana medina. it was very symbolic to this community because a lot of times trans people don't have the opportunity to honor them after death with their full dignity and humanity. so for us to honor their lives and dignity and a very humane way, it really touched the community. it reminded us also the work we have to continue to do to stop another case of our community members were dying in ice custody. that is what after the service, we did a march to the white use demanding the

administration to end trans detention. nermn: could you tell us the story of roxsana hernandez, whom you just mentioned, 33-year-old trans asylum-seekers from honduras who died in ice custody in may 2018? >> one of the very touching moments is when roxsana hernandez's nephew sent her rerding humizing hisaunt. through the voice message, he was describing how wonderful she was and all the dreams she had most of a beauty salon to support the family. it would happen, she found her death in ice custody. at 33 years old, seeking

protection through the border -- which is a human right -- and living with hiv and need of medical care, none of that was provided to her. so by the time she was heard, it was too late. she died in ice custody in 2018. so that is why for us it is very important during pride month to continue toumanize our community against on the anti-trans legislation happening. in roxsana's case, we ha to remind communities that we cannot celebrate while people are still suffering in detention. nermeen: could you talk about the kinds of difficulties that trans people face coming across

the border, the u.s.-mexico border, both in their journey as well as the situation for the trans community in the countries from which they come -- mexico, but also central america? >> there are tremendous challenges that trans immigrant people face come lgbtq immigrants in general. many are rejected from their home. theyre not supported. they have no choice but to be out on the streets trying to survive, trying to find the basic needs. and what happens is a lot of them at face tremendous discrimination.

rejection. even violence by the police were supposed to protect many of them. so they embark on that journey with no one, right? they are on their own. even in the very few places that exist in that journey that is very difficult and dangerous, there is still no welcome immigrant shelters because of their transgender identity. so they are rejected. they are not given food. they are not given any attention, right? so they can make it safely to the u.s.-mexico border and ask for asylum. so all of those challenges of facing violence by the states, by society, even sometimes from their families. for example, a young trans woman

from guatemala talked about the challenges she faced when she was beat up on the way here, how she did not have anyone. her fear was that she did not want to be detained and put in these very inhumane like ice boxes pretty much where people are tortured or ultimately die in ice custody. these are very unfortunate circumstances. the advocacy must continue beyond pride month. the biden administration has the power to end the suffering. amy: have things improved since you protested under the obama administration within vice president biden, now president also in april, the and trans detention was successful with a

42-year-old trans woman who is being held at stewart detention center in georgia. can you talk about the success of that campaign and then what your demanding? >> yes. eva roeser is one ofhe latest examples, launched a after being detained in a detention center in georgia. through that advocacy, we put pressure on ice. she was detained for over a ar. after mobilizing the community and also her humanity helping acknowledge, providing hormone treatments she was seeking -- or any medical care she was seeking. only heard about her case, we knew we had to really call out the community and say that we are here to listen and support he within a week, ice released her.

so there has been some progress. also we are hearing other asylum-seekers winning their cases but it is part of the horrifying -- i think the campaign is crucial in ending the abuses that happen in ice custody. amy: jennicet gutiérrez, thank you for being with us, community organizer and advocate with familia: trans queer liberation movement. of the organizers of wednesday's one national #endtransdetention action in washington, d.c., calling on the biden administration to stop detaining trans asylum-seers. coming up, we speak to organ democratic senator jeff merkley, the lead senate sponsor of the for the people act, the most sweeping voting rights

legislation in decades. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. in washington, d.c., several civil rights leaders, including the reverends jesse jackson and william barber, were arrested wednesday at a nonviolent protest outside the u.s. senate as they demanded west virginia democrat joe manchin and other lawmakers abolish the filibuster to pass a major voting rights bill and other legislation. their protest came a day after all 50 republican senators blogged debate on the for the people act, the most sweeping voter rights bill in decades. we go now to washington, d.c., where we are joined by democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon, the lead sponsor of the for the people act. senator markley, welcome back to democracy now! we had you on during one of the

u.n. climate summits and now you're in washington, although, oregon is facing the hottest weather history. we will talk about that in a moment. that right now let's talk about the heat in the capitol. let's talk about what went down yesterday with your for the people act and what your plans are going to the now that the republicans defeated it in this residual vote, them did not kill it overall. >> absolutely. a pleasure to be with you. yesterday i was so pleased that every democrat stood up for the rights of citizens and the principals of our constitution, principles like defending the ballot box for every single american against the targeted attacks that are erupting all over the country. taking on gerrymandering, which is an attack on people representation. stopping billionaires and corporations from buying elections with dark money. these are things supported by republicans, democrats, independents across the country, but not here i republicans in

the senate. every voted against debating the bill. i must say it is really a disturbing moment and with republicans returning to any argument that was here throughout the jim crow past in which they say states rights try out equality of people to participate in our democracy. it is a shield for enabling states to pursue restriction against communities of color, black americans, tribal members, college students. it is simply ethically wrong, morally wrong, wrong in the concept of our constitution of government by and for the people. so think of that as the starting line, not the finish lin for the battle for this bill. democratic senator joe manchin, your colleague from west virginia, wrote a piece for "the

charleston gazette-mail" titled "why i'm voting against the for the people act." in it, manchin wrote -- "i believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, i will vote against the for the people act." manchin also wrote -- "democrats have again proposed eliminating the senate filibuster rule in order to pass the for the people act with only democratic support. they've attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of democrats in the past." your twitter handle says you are dadr unnerchielffillibusterantagonist from oregon. your response? >>'s best framework, the idea is there's a social contract in the senate in which the majority does not run over the top

minority. the minority can delight in order to seek aompromise, delay late to make sure that a chance to be heard, participate in amendments, but there's another half of the social contract which is in the end, the majority makes the decision, not the minority. it is the second half that is broken. it is the basic strategy of the minority leader mitch mcconnell who believes delaying construction is an effective policy or strategy for power. he has a record to prove it by obstructing a lot of what payment did come help the senate be retaken by republican majority. i must say this is a little bit like the philosophy of an eye for an imax the whole world blind. where the minority is always primarily interested in obstructing majority from addressing america's problem. it meets the senate is broken does not address america's problems. i think there is room to honor

the best vision, best possibility of this social contract. it has to fulfill both paths that social contract, not just the delay for possibility of compromise half. nermeen: senator markley, could you talk about the importance of particular significance of the for the people act at this moment in the u.s. as we are witnessing a massive crackdown on voting rights and republican-led states? according to the voting rights lab, 18 states have enacted more than 30 laws to restrict voting since -- just since the november election. and this is quite apart from the fact many have commented on how difficult it is under ordinary circumstances without these voting right restrictions to

vote in the u.s., often very long lines complexions take place on tuesdays and not on weekends to make it easier for people to vote. your response? it is shocking to see state after state enact these laws. return the clock back, the supreme court gutted that voting rights act in 1965 act basically the courtside, we are out of that direct and we will not see it again. within days of them getting that , states started to develop the sttegies. it was irresistible to say, we get more partisan advantage if we can stop community's that tend to lead to the democratic party. well, that means more votes, more victories for the republican party. think about how the basic strategy works. the idea is try to make sure it

isard to vote before election day. why is that? on election day, there is true and tried methods of discouraging people from voting. shorten the number of hours in the evening to keep working people from voting. you decrease the number of polling locations in communities you do not want to vote. you reduce the number of staff so the lines get longer. you change the location so people are confused about where to vote. you put out false information about where to vote. you proceed to put out false information about when the election is. in some cases, social media says "sorry you missed the election last tuesd" of people think they already missed it and do not show up on election day. if you can take and use these strategies, reduce 2%, four percent swing, have a dramatic impact on races across the country in favor of the republican party. this is the temptation, temptation turned out to be all

to your resistible, its power over principle. it is up to us here in the capital come just as a 1965, to say, no, we're not going to allow this type of scrimmage or behavior, predatory behavior that assaults the rights of millions and millions of americans to cast their ballot with their boys about the direction of this country. republicans are saying, well, it is states rights. actually, it is not. the constitution calls for the opportunity for congress to set standards. it did that because all of us are affected about who goes to congress. in oregon, we don't just have an interest in fair ections oregon, but across the country and for citizens in every other state. that is true as well. at this moment, with these egregious acts are occurring, it is imperative that we stand up to stop this assault on the right of americans to vote.

nermeen: president biden hself has vowed to protect voting rights at the federal level. what can the president do now? >> the president can activate his judicial department to challenge these laws in courts, seek stays on the implementation. but that is a very slow, difficult process. he could also use his bully pulpit to rally the country to say this is simply wrong. he can lay out the case as president johnson diover half century ago that the time has passed to allow -- not that it should have been allowed to begin with -- but certainly we cannot return to that jim crow era of directed discrimination. his bully pulpit and his judicial department are tools he can fully employ. amy: do you think you failed to do that this week, not tweeting

about or giving any kind of major speech, a push on your bill, on the for the people act? >> i did appreciate the statementsou put o, the beatings he held. i think this is kind of the first round of the battle. look for many more rounds to come. we anticipate the president will deploy additional tools in the coming battles. no, i'm not disappointed at this point but we do need full partnership. amy: would you call manchin's opposition to ending the filibuster racist? >> i won't call it that because his impulse is to say that this effort, these efforts should be bipartisan. he is right. republicans across the country support these principles of defending the ballot box, taking on gerrymandering, stopping millionaires from eyeing elections. he is basically sayg, let's do every thing possible to reach out and make this an inclusive

birtisan effort. i agree th that instinct. right now we are still on that path. that is joe manchin put out a stated the principles, we give a lot of feedback. when we have the language, anticipate he and every member will help him reach out again to republicans to say come join us. when that fails, because most likely it will fail give a mitch mcconnell, minority leader's fierce opposition, then we are going toave to have 50 democrats sit down in a room and say "ok, we pursue that vision a bipartisanship, but we took an oath to the constitution. we have to defend these rights of all americans. how are we going to get it done?" then we will have to look at restoring the vision that i referred to in which, yes, the minority can delay. we listened to them we should give them a fair debate on the floor, but when that is done, we

have to find a path to be able to pass this bill. amy: i want to ask about the climate crisis. much of the pacific northwest faces record shattering temperatures, 30 degrees or more above average. the national weather service production center tweeted wednesday, record-breaking dangerous he would come into the west, over 80 sites for pestering daily high temperature record starting this weekend. ice on sunday could approach an all-time high of 107 degrees fahrenheit in portland, oregon, were few people have air conditioning as lawmakers and a washington continued to negotiate over there structure bill the democrats they need to include major new funding to address the climate crisis. senator merkley, are not only in the hotseat and washington, d.c., but when you go home, really, to oregon, where it is to say the least hot -- if there is no climate, there is no deal,

is what progressive democrats are saying. do you agree? you yourself have said this. how do you accomplish this? >> yes. what we are concerned about, senator markey and i held a press conference to drive this thing home, no climate, no deal, given that carbon dioxide is building up so much heat and methods building up so much heat in the atmosphere, causing these usually disruptive effects -- you're referring to the heat in oregon. people are terrified of the coming fire season. last year we had the labor day fires in which have a dozen towns were burned to the ground. i drove 600 miles up and down the state and never got out of the smoke. people are terrified about the heat and the accompanying drought. not just an anomaly, it is very well anchored trend. you can. the last 30 years, previous 30 years and you see massive

drought across the west and decreasing rainfall and then you see significant heat increases. when it is an average over 30 years, you cannot blame it on anyone thing. very dramatic difference than the 100 years in the 1900s. here we are with the opportunity, with a president who believes whave to ive a bold transition from carbon dioxide and natural gas, methane, to electricity and renewable electricity, and there is the possibility that there is an infrastructure bill that set sail and when that ship set sail, it might leave energy transforming infrastructure, renewable energy infrastructure on the dock. that is unaeptable. we cannot let that happen. the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation infrastructure bill -- which would address the climate crisis boldly -- have to be welded together. amy: i want to ask about

republicans voting against the january 6 commission. house speaker nancy pelosi expecting to announce the creation of a select committee to investigate the u.s. capitol insurrection after republicans blocked that bill that would have created the bipartisan commission. you have 30 seconds. >> in the senate, they blocked even debating it. it is shameful when there such an assault on the capitol, has not happened before. we need to understand every aspect. republicans should have voted 100% with us. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon is the lead senate sponsor of s.1, the for the people act. that does it for our broadcast. a very happy birthday to karen ranucci! democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

announcer: on this episode of "earth focus"... we visioil-rich communities in california's san joaquin valley and along alaska's arctic slope, where residents are asking tough questions about the consequences of fossil fuel extraction. it's been the bedrock of their economic livelihoods for decades but is now fracturing communities and threatening the planet. [camera's shutter advancing]