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tv   The Week With Joshua Johnson  MSNBC  January 23, 2021 6:00pm-7:00pm PST

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in the show, i got my line of presidential succession wrong. i mentioned that the secretary of state is behind the vice president. that's kind of true but not quite right because i was missing a word. "executive." if you just count the executive branch, then the line is correct. but actually, and my brain knows this, the house speaker comes after the vp, then the senate president pro tem, then the secretary of state. sorry about that. it's the top of the hour. monday's a new start. this hour is a new start and monday starts president joe biden's first full week in office. he's already signed dozens of executive orders and it's a lot to take in but that's why we're here. we're dedicating this entire hour to breaking the executive orders down. what do they do? what don't they do? from nbc news world headquarters in new york, i'm joshua johnson and this is "the week."
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the new administration is getting down to business as the former president is getting ready to face the music. again. donald trump's second impeachment trial is set to begin the week of february 8th. the house will deliver the article to the senate on monday. majority leader chuck schumer has agreed to delay the trial. meanwhile, we've confirmed some reporting from "the new york times" about the former president and the justice department. president trump planned to fire the acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen, before the inauguration. he was going to replace the a.g. with an attorney named jeffrey clark. reason being mr. rosen would not support mr. trump's efforts to overturn the election. as for our current president, he spoke with britain's prime minister boris johnson this afternoon.
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johnson tweeted the two countries are looking forward to deepening their longstanding alliance. he praised president biden's decision to rejoin the world health organization and the paris climate accord. president biden has signed well over two dozen executive orders focusing on the pandemic, the climate crisis, immigration, and racial equity, and more. we're devoting each segment this hour to these topics and to what legislation might look like under the new administration. let's start with the basics. what is an executive order? simply put, it's how the president uses his executive authority. it's a rule or an order that's issued to an executive agency within the government. and it has the force of law. all presidents issue executive orders. since george washington took office back in 1789, there have been nearly 14,000 of them. these are different from legislation. they don't require approval from congress, and congress can't just overturn them.
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only a sitting president can roll back an existing order. mr. biden says he plans to announce dozens of measures during his first 10 days in office. again, that's not uncommon. in his first three weeks in office, donald trump signed a burst of orders to undo president obama's political achievements, most notably, to undermine the affordable care act. let's start working through the measures president biden has signed already, starting with climate change. on his first day in office, mr. biden recommitted the united states to the paris climate agreement. he also canceled the keystone xl pipeline. beyond that, the president ordered federal agencies to review and reverse more than 100 environmental regulations that his predecessor put into place. president biden's aggressive climate strategy aims to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the u.s. economy by the year 2050. next racial equity. on day one the president launched a whole of government
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initiative to advance racial equity in federal policy and root out systemic racism. he rescinded president trump's 1776 commission, that's a group that just released a report on american history. critics say the commission is trying to rewrite history, especially on matters of race. president biden also canceled an order preventing federal agencies from holding diversity and inclusion training. now every agency will conduct an internal review of its equity or perhaps lack thereof. immigration. also on day one, mr. biden signed orders to preserve and fortify the dreamer program to end the sew-called muslim travel ban, reverse an order that expanded deportation priorities, and stop construction of the border wall. but nothing has commanded more attention in his executive orders so far than covid-19. this week the administration launched what it calls a full-scale wartime effort to address coronavirus.
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>> our national plan launches a full-scale wartime effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment, syringes, needles, you name it. people lack at me, wartime? as i said last night, 400,000 americans have died. that's more than died in all of world war ii. >> addressing the supply shortages just one of many pandemic-related actions president biden has taken. other executive orders include establishing a pandemic testing board to expand capacity, new requirements for masks during interstate travel and on all federal property, mandatory quarantines for international travelers, and reconnecting with the world health organization. the president has also promised to provide 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office. that last one's controversial. some question whether it's doable. or even whether it's enough.
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and president biden has signed a number of orders aimed at providing economic relief from the pandemic. he extended the nationwide moratorium on evictions through march. he paused student loan payments and interest through september, though to be clear, that's on federal student loans. the administration stressed these are not a substitute for the $1.9 trillion covid relief package he wants congress to pass. so that's the big overview. let's start diving into each subject area starting with covid. this week the biden administration unveiled a 200-page national pandemic strategy. by our count the u.s. passed 25 million confirmed covid cases today. the current death toll, by our count, stands at nearly 417,000 people. the president says we will likely pass the 500,000 mark next month. joining us now is former kansas governor kathleen sebelius. she served as secretary of health and human services under
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the obama administration. secretary sebelius, good evening. >> nice to see you, joshua. >> good to see you, too. where do you think the problem is in terms of getting enough vaccines to people? is this a supply chain issue, is this a raw materials issue, is this a we didn't have a plan so we didn't know which way was up issue? where should the administration start to solve this problem? >> i think it's probably all of the above. the united states has never conducted a vaccination campaign of this size at any time, in any place. so it was always going to be an enormous logistical challenge, supply challenge, communication challenge. it has been made much more difficult by the outgoing president, who really i would say stopped being president, stopped focusing on covid, in early november, about the time of the election. the only thing he has talked about until he left office was
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an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. so covid, meanwhile, was percolating wildly throughout this country. just last week, we hit 21,000 deaths. we have people in the hospital all over the country. very alarming numbers out of arizona, where we're suddenly seeing a huge increase in pediatric cases. children under the age of 20 in the hospital, in emergency rooms, needing care. so to get vaccines to the american public, we've got to do more than authorize the vaccine. we have to have a logistical mobilization to get vaccines not only to each and every state, but to remote corners of each and every state. we have to get people ready to administer the shots, well beyond using the pharmacies, cvs and walgreens.
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there are lots of counties in my own state of kansas that don't have a cvs and walgreens, which means they don't have the personnel to administer the shots. we need personnel, we need the vaccine to be put into syringes. that's a supply chain side of the problem. you need the needles, wow need the glass vials. and with this vaccine, you need a lot of cold storage space. and the communication has to be very clear, very consistent. governors need to know what to expect, when to expect it. so this is a multifaceted issue which involves the national government, state and local governments, but also all the private sector partners we can possibly mobilize from the health community, the faith communities, the advocacy communities, to really be in this all together. >> yeah, and it's interesting you mention that. my family's finally getting their vaccine doses. my mom finally got vaccinated. >> all right. >> yes. that was partly arranged through their church, that they were
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able to kind work with community partners and start creating inroads for people. then it grew from there. that makes me wonder about that multi level strategy. because we heard from andrew cuomo, governor of new york, that new york's out of doses. we were the first ones who got hit super hard by covid, we were the epicenter at first, and we're out of doses? how do you prevent that from happening? is it a matter of of saying, if you have doses, administer them? do we need to keep this system of tiers where certain populations get it first? what do you think is the way to go? >> i think, first of all, we need a lot of transparency about how many doses there are and where they're going. that has not been part of the prior plan. it will definitely be part of the biden plan. people will have a sense of fairness about this. one thing joe biden's team cannot do is manufacture more doses. we rely on these very
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specialized lines of manufacturing to make sure that the drugs are safe and secure when they come off the line. but to report accurately what's coming off, how they're being distributed, how many new york has versus florida versus kansas versus idaho. and then i think the tiering system does make a difference. what you want to do is start to save lives. so the most vulnerable, the most susceptible, the oldest, most chronically ill individuals need to be at the front of the line so we have fewer deaths. 21,000 deaths a week is totally unacceptable. but there won't be enough vaccine for everybody who wants it for a while. but if people know it's fair, if people know they're in line, how they're going to get it, if they know that their grandmother gets it first because she may be much more susceptible to serious illness or death than the
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neighbor next door, i think people will be more patient. but right now none of that has been very available in terms of the public realm. >> briefly, what do you think should be done in terms of just lingering unease or cynicism about getting the vaccine at all? how much of that is on the administration to deal with and how much of that is on the rest of us to deal with? >> i think it's on all of us. again, i think you'll see from the biden administration that the scientists will be allowed to talk and talk candidly and talk frankly to people. that's a big first step. much like you describe your parents working with their church community, the more we can have trusted partners in communities, particularly where there's vaccine hesitation, trusted medical partners, trusted faith leaders who actually validate the fact that
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this vaccine is safe and secure, that they're getting it, that you should come to church and all of your parishioners are going to be getting a shot at the same time, that gives people great confidence that, again, there's not some secret plan that they're getting some offshoot, that this isn't safe and secure. so we really need a coordinated communications strategy where everybody's on the same page, but trusted community partners to be the messengers. >> former hhs secretary kathleen sebelius. secretary, i appreciate you making time, thank you. >> nice to talk to you. still ahead, president biden signed 30 executive orders during his first three days in office. we'll look at how his administration is putting racial equity in the forefront. the president wasted no time reversing an array of immigration policies. we'll focus on the southern border where construction on the wall has stopped. when we come back, the u.s. has rejoined the paris climate accord. what exactly does that mean? first, richard lui is here with
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the headlines. stories we're watching this hour. protests swept across russia in support of jailed opposition leader alexei navalny. more than 2,000 demonstrators were arrested. the u.s. state department wants the immediate release of navalny and the protesters. a texas man from the recent capitol riots was charged with threatening to assassinate congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. court documents say he posted "assassinate aoc" on twitter. the nfl is giving free super bowl tickets to 7,500 vaccinated health care workers. they'll be part of a crowd that's less than a third the usual size, and these workers won't have to pay the thousands of dollars others will. the nfl commissioner hopes this inspires the country and recognizes american heroes.
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president biden has wasted no time making climate change a priority. his early actions include rejoining the paris climate accord, reversing rollbacks on vehicle emissions standards, revoking the keystone xl oil pipeline's permit. that's just the beginning. president biden promised to reinstate more than 100 rules and regulations aimed at environmental protection that had been rolled back. joining us is coral davenport. she covers energy and environmental policy for "the new york times." also bill nye, science educator and host of the podcast "science rules with bill nye," author of
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"bill nye's great big world of science." coral, can you give us the 30-second definition of the paris climate accord? >> sure. the paris climate accord was a deal reached in 2015 binding almost every country in the world, over 190 countries, to an agreement saying, every one of those countries would put forward a plan, which they did, detailing how they would cut their carbon emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, domestically. and that every five years, they would come back with a plan showing how they would increase those targets, how they would further ratchet up. and also showing accountability. showing how they were meeting their own target. >> are there punishments if we don't hit the targets or incentives if we do?
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>> no. it is not -- the part of the paris accord that is legally binding is that you show what you're going to do, then you show your work. and the idea -- but the targets themselves are not legally binding. there's no punishment if you don't meet it. the idea of it is very similar to a lot of human rights agreements, where because you kind of have to get up every couple of years in front of the whole world and show what you've done, show accountability, kind of like a name and shame. the idea is if the biggest economies take this seriously and do it and are accountable and create accountability mechanisms that sort of require everyone to show what they're doing and allow for transparency where the rest of the world can see it, it's sort of like -- it's designed to kind of be a name and shame sort of thing. it's designed to be -- to show if this is something that all the biggest, most major
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economies are doing and following through on, then all economies would kind of want to do it. so it is very based on the idea that the major economies and the superpowers would take it seriously and do it. and of course, this got a big hole punched in it in the first months of the trump administration. the idea was this was sort of forged in part by the u.s. and china, the world's two biggest economies and two largest emitters saying, we will do this. president trump said, the u.s. is out, we're not going to do it. in many ways, that really deeply weakened the fundamental concept and structure of the paris agreement. >> bill nye, if we had not punched that big hole in the agreement, if the u.s. had remained involved in that, how do you think things might be different today? >> well, the longest journey begins with but a single step. the united states, as coral mentioned, is the world's largest economy. so we have to lead -- or it
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would be better if the united states were leaders. but everybody in the world, 196 countries, the conference of parties, signed on to the paris accord. because everybody in the world is concerned about climate change, as i say all the time, if you talk to any young person, he or she is very concerned about climate change. the problem i think for conservatives, what has enabled the previous administration to punch a hole in it, is this business writ large of social justice. where people are resentful of the idea that if you contribute to lifting up, say, of a developing world country, that means you've given them something, and that must mean you've taken something from somebody else, notably, people who -- the kind of person that perhaps stormed the u.s. capitol a few weeks ago. and this perception is a real stumbling block.
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but it's science based. it turns out in the developing world, they want to have the same standard of living that people in the developed world had, have, and we got here in the developed world by burning fossil fuels. but we can't do that, we can't keep burning fossil fuels. and this social justice component has just really caused trouble. the paris accord is full of a bunch of acronyms about your national development contribution, your long-term low-emission goals, so on. but it's all worked out, as coral points out, in mutual trust. and this is a result of the big idea in science, we all share the air. there's nobody on earth who doesn't breathe the atmosphere. >> right. >> and so we just have to get past this. it's going to take a lot of working together. >> yeah. i hear you in terms of how social justice language can kind of be twisted or misinterpreted to kind of mean that you have to
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rob peter to pay paul, and by the way, my name is paul. it just feels like it is inherently inequitable, saying we all need air and water. and i get that. before i have to let you all go, bill, what should we know now about how the climate is doing, broadly? >> oh, man. >> any recent climate stats that stand out? one maybe that typifies how we're doing right now? >> well, okay. okay -- >> i know that's a mean question to ask, i'm sorry. >> i bet -- i offered to bet two notorious climate change deniers $10,000 each, twice. i was willing to offer them $40,000. and one of the bets was 2010-2020 would be the warmest decade on record. sure enough, of course it is. not of course, but sure enough it is, because we keep pumping carbon dioxide, natural gas into
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the atmosphere, and the world is getting warmer because the greenhouse effect, which keeps the ocean liquid, that's good. if we have too much of it, too much of a good thing, you end up warping the planet. as i tell everybody all the time, it's not just that it's warming, it's the speed at which it is warming. it's the rate that's so troubling. and for everybody out there, the problem is, if you allow the developing world to continue to burn coal and fossil fuels to get their standard of living approaching what we have in the developed world, it's going to be a catastrophe. and so the paris climate accord is intended to try to keep the world from getting 1.5 degrees warmer, and certainly not 2 degrees. these are celsius numbers, like everybody uses. 4 or 5 degrees fahrenheit is really bad. so the sooner we get on this, the better. and as a guy born in the u.s., i mean -- joshua, look. look at me, i'm the dorkiest man
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of my ancestry you're ever going to meet, okay? i have had every advantage imaginable. but what we want, what i'm still a patriot, i want the u.s. to lead the world in these technologies. and the paris accord talks about technology, economics, and this other thing you'd call capacity-building, which is enabling the developing world to have the capacity to use electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel-burning vehicles. all right, thank you for listening, sir. thank you. >> no, i appreciate you. i appreciate you laying it out. this is the first part of a longer conversation we're going to have about this. i appreciate you two helping us start it off. coral davenport, bill nye. >> thank you both for being with us. i appreciate you starting it off. bill's right, there's a lot here to encompass and this is impossible to cover in one conversation. that is why we are going to return to climate change for the next few weeks. we're going to talk about the
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science, the economics, the best policies to reduce emissions, the politics of what's possible. because this is partly a political story. we're not going to cut this short, climate's too important. we're going to continue with this topic next week and in the weeks to come. from president biden dissolving the 1776 commission, to restoring diversity training in federal agencies, a number of his executive orders focus on racial equity. that is next. it's either the assurance of a 165-point certification process. or it isn't. it's either testing an array of advanced safety systems. or it isn't. it's either the peace of mind of a standard unlimited mileage warranty. or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through march 1st. shop online or drop by your local dealer today.
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hours after his inauguration, president biden signed 15 executive orders. among these he revoked an executive order limiting federal agencies' abilities to hold diversity and inclusion training. he also dissolved the 1776 commission. it aimed to promote a patriotic education and glorifies the country's founders, as well as playing down america's role in slavery.
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a white house web page published a report from the commission on monday. martin luther king jr. day. now it shows this error message. these executive orders all fall under the broad category of racial equity. the biden administration defines equity as the consistent and systematic, fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment. it goes on to list out different groups that are affected by persistent poverty or inequality. joining us is rashad robinson, president of color of change, and journalist and host of the podcast "spilling chai." where would you like to see the biden administration start first with efforts on equity? rashad? >> i think right now we need dollars in people's hands and
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shots in people's arms. i mean, to the extent that all the ways in which the coronavirus has impacted our community in deep ways, from the economics of small businesses to the inability for people to be able to pay their rent or take care of their housing to jobs. all of that is front and center in our minds. and in many ways, as we think about equity, equity across the movement, we have to remember that budgets are moral documents. so it's not just enough to talk about racial equity. if it doesn't show up in tears of the budget, it's not enough to talk about criminal justice reform if you're still budgeting for the prosecution of low-level offenses and not actually dealing, for instance, with corruption. so all of that is not just going to be on the biden administration, but also on congress and the ways in which they both work together through the appropriation process to move these conversations, to move just from stopping the stump from trump, to moving us
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forward, to moving equity in real ways where people can experience it in their health and bank accounts. >> anisha, where would you like to see the administration start? >> i agree with rashad, we have to start with people's health. we are facing an unprecedented pandemic. as we have seen, there's a really gendered and racialized impact of covid. in december alone, 140,000 jobs were lost. all of those jobs were jobs of women of color and women. that is striking in and of itself. i do have to say personally, as a woman of color, as a muslim-american, i am so grateful to joe biden. he has repealed the muslim ban, he has repealed the global gag rule, he is rejoining the paris accord. it's really important that people know that america is back. and after four years of the trump administration, of having policy -- especially on the
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immigration front, policy dictated by a known white nationalist like stephen miller, it's really important for bide ton set himself up as the anti-trump. >> rashad, on his way out the door, secretary of state mike pompeo tweeted something that raised eyebrows where he wrote, quote, wokism, multiculturalism, all the isms, they're not who america is, they distort our glorious founding and what this country is about, our enemies stoke these divisions because they know it makes us weaker. and included another quote from him there. i hate to say that multiculturalism may have not been what the founders are about, that may be accurate in a backhanded way. but this idea that our enemies stoke these divisions -- in a way it's -- i see how, say, social media has been used to play into our social fault lines. we know that's real, we know that's part of the 2016 election interference. but just the tone of it. this kind of powerful white guy
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telling everybody about multiculturalism. bad look. where do we go from there in terms of the way we talk about these things? >> yeah, i mean, you know, in so many ways black communities showed us, led the way in terms of what does it look like to defeat trumpism? ensuring black communities and all communities who have been oppressed are strong and have the resources they need is only going to help our country move in the right direction. this summer racial justice became an issue at the polls, voting booths, it led to that spike in voter registration. black phones are not the majority in this country but racial justice has become a majority issue. if we can do the work to make it a governing majority, yes, there are going to be people who are going to feel a way about it. but i do believe it moves us in the right direction. it has the ability to undo so many of the challenges we face.
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the ways we have challenges around climate and where it exists, racial injustice. criminal justice, health care, jobs, it's because of racial injustice. if we can leverage the power of racial justice, we can build not just back better, we can build toward the future. i've been saying this a lot. i think it's so true. it's not that we're going to get racial justice out of a true democracy, but we are going to get a true democracy because of racial justice. there are going to be those because of power, because of money, that want to stand in the way of the future. but for everyone watching right now, there is so much opportunity to bring us together when we actually work towards real change. i believe that racial justice can truly be a force multiplier. this summer and what happened at this election, what happened in georgia, is one example of that possibility. >> for people eager to see change but who are not sure what
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the first step is, where do you suggest people start? >> who knows where to start, but how great is it that we have a leader of this country who's trying to make it as clear as he can from day one that he is a president for all americans. and not just some americans. >> i appreciate your honesty in terms of the vastness of this, knowing where to start. i think even being willing to look in and to engage, might not be a bad place to start, even if you don't know what to do. appreciate you both. there are big expectations for the biden administration's immigration policies. we'll take a look at what he's starting with next. commercials with nostalgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
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♪ when the chapstick goes on. it's on. get yours on at chapstick.com when joe biden assumed the presidency, he immediately got to work undoing old immigration policies are that included ending the ban on travel from a number of muslim majority countries. president biden also stopped
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construction of the border wall, and he reinstated the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, daca. dhs also issued a 100-day pause on some deportations. as we mentioned earlier, executive orders are not legislation. they can be reversed by one president just as easily as they were signed by a previous one. president obama signed daca in 2012. that order protected people who were brought into the united states as children from deportation. the trump administration moved to end the policy in 2017. the program went through a very uncertain time with a legal fight that went all the way to the supreme court. for more we're joined by arizona congressman ruben gallego. he represents phoenix. what do you make of what the biden administration has done so far with immigration policy? >> it's a very good understanding of the problems we have had under president trump in terms of families that have
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been scared and exploited at the same time. also a recognition about whether these innovations keep this country alive during a pandemic. let's not forget while these people were being threatened by deportation, they picked our food, process asked delivered our food, while being hunted by i.c.e. that's recognition that we need to support these families, keep them together, and reverse decades of discrimination. >> among other things this bill would allow central american children to apply for refugee or asylum status, hire more immigration judges to handle asylum cases. there has been a gigantic backlog of immigration cases in recent years. it would offer what they describe as humane alternatives
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to immigrant detention. also would change the term "alien" to "noncitizen" and provide an expedited path to citizenship. what do you make of that bill? >> look, it's a bill that is looking at the reality of our immigrant communities, specifically to our dreamer community, that they are essentially so much a part of america that we want them to be citizens as fast as possible. it also has a recognition the fact that we have a very fluid situation when it comes to immigration, when it comes to central american refugees that have been coming here, specifically children, and those that have been separated from their families. a very realistic view about how immigration is -- it's not the end all, be all. we need to negotiate on this because we know from polling that immigration reform is popular, it's demanded by the
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public, and we've seen it in terms of the outcomes from the 2020 election. >> i wonder what your sense is of congress' attitude to do anything on immigration. it's just one of the hottest third rails of politics that everyone says they want to do something about, then it seems so hard to get anything done. particularly now that you've do the got the impeachment trial coming up in the senate, you still have confirmation hearings in the senate with the president's cabinet nominees, and then just covid relief continues to be an ongoing challenge. where do you see immigration realistically fitting into all those priorities? i understand it's important, but in terms of the actual process of making anything into law, how does that look to you? >> down this road, we know how immigration reform looks. the politics of it really that is we can't wait for this to be on the back burner behind everything else. we can chew gum and walk time. we can have covid relief
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understanding that it's the undocumented community of this country that put themselves on the front line and continue to expose themselves to covid to make sure this country is fed, to make sure this country -- the hospitals are cleaned. we did all the dirty work for this country, now we're going to say, i'm sorry, it's time for you to go. other countries are giving their undocumented immigrants citizenship for the work they did during covid, the covid pandemic. we need to give this workforce the same, they're an asset to this country. their hard work has kept this country alive. >> briefly, congressman, before i have to let you go, even though there's a lot the biden administration can change, that border wall is still up, there are still hundreds of miles of new border wall that are up, i would imagine, for the foreseeable future. how much of the former
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president's immigration legacy are you expecting president biden to undo as opposed to just moving forward with something new? briefly, before we go. >> i wouldn't anticipate the president putting up new border wall, just reinforcing existing border wall. at the end of the day -- this new president is going to come in recognizing that border protection also includes a border process, dealing with immigrants at the border. border walls don't do anything. we've seen it in arizona for decades. it doesn't -- it creates more problems in the long run. >> congressman ruben gallego of arizona, appreciate your time, thanks very much. we are saying hello to a new
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president and saying good-bye to two legendary broadcasters. they embody something president biden asked us for in his inaugural address, a call to action before we go. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ with hepatitis c... ...i felt i couldn't be at my... ...best for my family. in only 8 weeks with mavyret... ...i was cured. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. i worried about my hep c.
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president biden is asking a lot of us. right now we're struggling with one request in particular, his call for unity. in his inaugural address, mr. biden said that peaceful disagreement is one of america's strengths. we can be united without being unanimous. but the task we face is very different. in some ways, it was the life's work of two broadcasters who we honored this week. yesterday nbc news announced that tom brokaw is retiring. he has been with this network for 55 years. tom's the kind of anchor who's easy to listen to, and not just because of that steely expression or that baritone. you knew when he opened his mouth he'd done the homework and the leg work to know that story cold.
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great reporting requires you to listen and observe before you speak. then this morning we learned that larry king was dead. he became cnn's first big star with a 25-year run hosting "larry king live." critics called his questions soft balls. fans liked that he kept the questions short and got out of the guest's way. a larry king interview always gave you a lot to listen to. that's the key. you can't produce work like the greatest generation or interview people from every walk of life if you're caught up in making them hush while you hold court. tom brokaw and larry king were masterful listeners. that might help us meet a manned dade president biden laid out, to connect, not in spte of our differences but regardless of them. >> the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting
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those who don't look like you or worship the wave you do or don't get their news from the same source as you do. we must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. we can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes. as my mom would say, just for a moment. >> an uncivil war, well put. now, i know some of you just started shaking your heads. joshua, if you're asking me to just let those people say those things and not say anything back, well, then you've lost me. okay, i hear you. two things. one, no one is asking you to
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suppress your convictions and-- two, i'm not asking you to do anything. the president of the united states is asking you for the sake of our country to stand in the other person's shoes. you don't have to concur. you just have to connect, to show empathy and act with decency. just because donald trump and some hosts on fobs news decided to weaponize information that does not excuse the rest of us from treating others like they're human beings. you can validate where someone is, speak your truth and treat them the way you would want to be treated. that rule is golden for a reason. and here's the best part of what tom brokaw and larry king and all the great interviewers show us -- the person controlling the conversation is the one who's listening, not the one who's
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talking. you set the tone, the timing, you ask the questions and when you stop listening, it's over. you'll know you're leading the conversation when you hear yourself say, hey, let's talk. you go first. with that said, we'd love to hear from you. how have you worked around your disagreements with people to connect with them? e-mail us, theweek @msnbc.com. please keep it brief, 100 words or less. we will share some of your stories tomorrow. can't wait to see you tomorrow. tomorrow at 10 p.m. eastern, ari
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melber will address what comes next in donald trump's people trial. until we meet again, thank you for making time for us. good night.
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