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Is Puerto Rico America's Greece? U.S. Commonwealth Seeks Bankruptcy Help in Face of Crushing Debt
Puerto Rico could be on the verge of following Greece in defaulting on its debt. Puerto Rico’s government and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority say they will miss today’s deadline for more than $1 billion in payments on a debt of more than $73 billion. This comes as Puerto Rico’s unemployment is more than twice the U.S. national rate, and its poverty level is nearly double that of the poorest U.S. state. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s healthcare system may also be on the verge of collapse. We are joined by Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, Democrat for New York and the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show in Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory that could be on the verge of following Greece in defaulting on its debt. Puerto Rico’s government and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority say they will miss today’s deadline for more than $1 billion in payments on a debt of more than $73 billion. In an interview with The New York Times, Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro García Padilla admitted, quote, "The debt is not payable. There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is math." During a televised address Monday, García Padilla announced his plans to restructure the debt.
GOV. ALEJANDRO GARCÍA PADILLA: [translated] The goal would be to achieve a negotiated moratorium with the bondholders to postpone for a number of years the debt payments in a way so that we could use that money in these years to pay the debt and invest here in Puerto Rico to create jobs and accelerate the economy.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The retired U.S. bankruptcy judge who oversaw Detroit’s bankruptcy has now been retained by Puerto Rico. But the island cannot legally file for bankruptcy because it is a commonwealth. García Padilla called for this to change in Congress.
GOV. ALEJANDRO GARCÍA PADILLA: [translated] It is the moment for us to speak as one voice to demand concrete action from Washington, action from Washington now, action so that they finish approving the changes to Chapter 9 and so that Puerto Rico can count on the same protection that other jurisdictions have.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: García Padilla has already tried to generate more government revenue with a sales tax increase to 11.5 percent that goes into effect today. He said he would also form a financial team to try and obtain a moratorium on repayments for several years. The team would develop an economic reform that would require legislative approval.
AMY GOODMAN: All of this comes as Puerto Rico’s unemployment is more than twice the U.S. national rate, and its poverty level is nearly double that of the poorest U.S. state. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s healthcare system may also be on the verge of collapse. More than two million people, roughly 6 percent of Puerto Rico’s population, rely on Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medicaid to pay for their healthcare. But the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services is set to implement an 11 percent cut in Medicare Advantage reimbursements for Puerto Rico, costing the island’s healthcare system an estimated half a billion dollars.
Well, for more, we’re joined by New York Congressmember Nydia Velázquez. She has served in the House of Representatives since 1993. She’s the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress and is the former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. Juan, you wrote a piece in the New York Daily News today, "Puerto Rico—like Greece—will default on its debts, as the U.S. has ignored the island’s financial problems for decades."
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, well, I began in my column with an old headline familiar to an older generation: "Obama to Puerto Rico: Drop Dead," which is a takeoff on the old headline when Gerald Ford told New York City during its financial crisis 40 years ago, that "Ford to New York: Drop Dead," and because the Obama administration has basically said there’s no bailout.
And I think one of the things I tried to show in my column is that there is a historical context to this. It’s been 117 years since the United States took over Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, occupied the country. And we have seen one—decade after decade, American companies take huge amounts of profit out of the island. For the first 50 years, it was the sugar barons with their plantations in Puerto Rico. Then, the next 50 years, it was the pharmaceutical and the textile companies using Puerto Rico as a tax haven, made it the biggest source of profit to American companies in the world. And now you have the hedge funds and the banks that have been peddling all this debt to Puerto Rico for the last few decades and now are demanding payment before anything else, and, of course, the Puerto Rican people are an afterthought. So this is the problem, that for 117 years the United States has been milking Puerto Rico, and now it wants to basically say, "Well, this is your problem. These financial issues are your problem."
AMY GOODMAN: So, Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, is Puerto Rico America’s Greece?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, to some extent, yes. If the bondholders are not willing to come to the table and negotiate an agreement with the Puerto Rican government, Puerto Rico could default. And so, my message to the bondholders and hedge funds is that it’s not business as usual. They need to come to the table. Puerto Rico cannot, as part of the United States, and the federal government cannot allow for a situation like this to go on. Puerto Rico cannot turn the lights off of the Puerto Rican community in Puerto Rico. And this is the time for the federal government to assume its responsibility. They cannot continue to turn their face the other way while all these corporations came to Puerto Rico, reaped profits and didn’t create the type of infrastructure that was needed in order to get economic growth, long-lasting economic growth. And that is the reality that the people of Puerto Rico are facing today. 936 of the—Section 936, that provided tax preference for American corporations to come and do business in Puerto Rico, and basically there was no oversight mechanism to make sure that the promises that were made happened. And it didn’t happen. There was not the type of investment that produced the type of economic growth that was required.
AMY GOODMAN: What are the companies?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, Pharma, the manufacturing sector. They’re gone.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And they’re gone after the Republicans in Congress eliminated the Section 936 benefit—
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: —which ended, I think, in 2006, right? So Puerto Rico has been in a population decline and economic collapse since then, right?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Right. The stagnation of the Puerto Rican economy basically started 10 years ago, 2006, and then the housing bust that in Puerto Rico preceded the housing bust here in the United States, coupled with the collapse of the banking sector in Puerto Rico, that has not really recovered.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, I want to ask you about the role of Congress and the White House. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the U.S. is not considering a bailout for Puerto Rico. This is what he said.
PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST: There’s no one in the administration or in D.C. that’s contemplating a federal bailout of Puerto Rico, but we do remain committed to working with Puerto Rico and their leaders as they address the serious challenges, serious financial challenges, that are currently plaguing the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Treasury Department and other administration officials have been engaged with Puerto Rico to try to help them get access to all available and existing federal resources. And the Treasury Department, over the last year or two, has shared its expertise with local officials in Puerto Rico.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was White House spokesman Josh Earnest. But what can the Obama administration do? And specifically, you have raised your voice about what it’s doing in terms of the healthcare system, that could also—is related to exactly what—the financial crisis occurring now.
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: It is ironic that candidate Obama came to Puerto Rico to campaign and said that one of the first issues that he wanted to address was the unequal treatment of Puerto Ricans when it comes to access to healthcare. Here we are. We passed the Affordable Care Act to provide access to healthcare to all Americans, including the people of Puerto Rico. But when it comes to the funding, Puerto Rico Medicare gets only 60 percent of the reimbursement rate that the average state gets in the U.S. and 70 percent of reimbursement for Medicaid. We’re talking about a poor economy, and Puerto Rico cannot absorb the difference. This, after Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico pay the same taxes to Medicare and Social Security. So they could start by addressing this issue, that will take half a billion dollars from the federal—from the Puerto Rican government operations’ money to be able to continue to provide access to care to the Puerto Rican people in the island of Puerto Rico.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what could Congress do right now?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, I believe that the government, the federal government, has the legal authority to address this issue, that we don’t have to fix it legislatively.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re joining with others now. Do you feel betrayed by President Obama?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: I feel that every administration that comes to the White House basically continues to treat Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens, and that is not right. When Puerto Ricans come to war and participate in any conflict on behalf of this country, they go as American citizens. And it’s just not right that veterans in Puerto Rico do not get the same quality healthcare as veterans here in the United States.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’ve also said that you’d like to see some of the Republican presidential candidates put on the spot on this issue of what to do about Puerto Rico, especially Senator Marco Rubio in Florida, who has a huge, probably the fastest-growing Puerto Rican population in the country in Central Florida.
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Definitely. I think that Marco Rubio is going to be hearing pretty soon from the Puerto Rican community in Central Florida. There is no way that a candidate could aspire to get the nomination without winning Florida—or get to win the presidency without winning Florida. And you cannot win Florida without Central Florida, where we have a large concentration of Puerto Ricans. The fact that we don’t have—that Puerto Rico do not have the legal authority to use bankruptcy law was not a decision that was made by the Congress. We didn’t address that issue at all when we passed the bankruptcy law. So, we have legislation that has been filed by Commissioner Pierluisi in the House of Representatives. Chuck Schumer, Senator Schumer, is prepared to introduce the legislation. We need Republican support.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of presidential candidates, I wanted to ask you about the man who supposedly is number two in the Republican presidential polls now: Donald Trump. NBCUniversal has fired the real estate developer after he made derogatory comments about Mexicans when he announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. This is part of what Donald Trump said.
DONALD TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
AMY GOODMAN: Trump later stood by his statements. And on Tuesday, he sued Univision for ending its contract to broadcast the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageant. Mexico has refused now to send a contestant. And the two co-hosts of the Miss USA pageant, one of them Thomas Roberts of MSNBC, have pulled out. Your response?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, shame on Donald Trump. I think that it shows that he’s not serious about running for president, because you cannot win in this country with this type of rhetoric. And he could win the nomination of the Republican Party, but when you look at all the battleground states that you need to win, those states, the swing votes in those states, great portion of that are represented by Hispanic voters. So when you move to the extreme right during the primary, it’s going to be very difficult then to move to the center to be able not only to appeal to Hispanic voters, but independent voters. They care deeply about having responsible people at the helm of the White House.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez: Freedom for Oscar López Rivera Unites Puerto Ricans Across Political Lines
Thousands of people gathered in New York City last month for a march calling on President Obama to release a longtime Puerto Rican independence activist from prison. Oscar López Rivera was convicted in 1981 on federal charges, including seditious conspiracy — conspiring to oppose U.S. authority over Puerto Rico by force. He was also accused of being a member of the FALN, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, which claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings to call attention to the colonial case of Puerto Rico. In 1999, President Bill Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of the FALN, but López refused to accept the deal because it did not include two fellow activists who have since been released. 2015 marks López’s 34th year behind bars. He is scheduled for release in 2027. We discuss López’s case with Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, Democrat for New York and the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Congresswoman Velázquez, I’d like to ask you also about another issue that you’ve been involved with, which is the issue of Oscar López Rivera, the Puerto Rican prisoner who’s been in jail now for decades on sedition charges. And you joined thousands of supporters earlier this month for a march calling on President Obama to release Oscar López Rivera from prison. He was convicted in 1981 on federal charges of seditious conspiracy and conspiring to oppose U.S. authority over Puerto Rico by force. He was also accused of being a member of the FALN, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, which claimed responsibility for more than a hundred bombings to call attention to the colonial case of Puerto Rico. In 1999, President Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of the FALN, but López refused to accept the deal because it did not include two fellow activists who have since been released. In a rare video from prison, Oscar López Rivera said the charges against him were strictly political.
OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA: I think the fact that I was charged with seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States speaks for itself. But the charge in reference to Puerto Ricans has always been used for political purposes. It goes back to 1936. The first time that a group of Puerto Ricans was put in prison was by using the seditious conspiracy charge. And this is—has always been a strictly political charge used against Puerto Ricans.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was Oscar López Rivera speaking from prison. Could you talk about the importance of this case, both on the island and Puerto Ricans here in the U.S.?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, as you know, because of the unique political situation between Puerto Rico and the United States, the Puerto Rican family is divided in Puerto Rico along party lines regarding, you know, statehood, commonwealth and independence. And so, this is the one issue that has united the Puerto Rican community, both in the island of Puerto Rico and in the mainland. Every political party, every sector, every faction in Puerto Rico has rallied together to ask President Obama to do the right thing, in the name of reconciliation, to pardon and to release Oscar López. And given the difficult situation that Puerto Rico is going through, it will be a great, great action by this president to, once and for all, send the son of Puerto Rico home.
AMY GOODMAN: He could have taken the deal earlier under Clinton and been out, but he stood up for two other prisoners who remained in jail—and they’re out.
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: It shows the humanity of Oscar López. You know, he decided to stay because he wanted for all of them to be released from prison. So, there’s no reason, there’s no valid excuse, to keep this man in jail anymore.
AMY GOODMAN: Have you spoken to President Obama about it?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Yes. The three members of Congress of Puerto Rican descent—Luis Gutiérrez from Chicago, myself and Congressman Serrano—during the Christmas ball, or the holiday ball, we approached, the three of us, President Obama. What he said at that point is, "Well, let me deal with the immigration issue," when right before that he had an issued an executive order. So, it is time for the president to act. This is something—you know, this is about justice. This is about humanity.
AMY GOODMAN: And in the last minute we have, your assessment of President Obama on immigration?
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: Well, given the fact that we have to get 60 votes in the Senate, he has done everything he can, and we need to, you know, get a compromise and bring the Republicans to the table. It’s an uphill battle. You know, you’re going to have at least five or seven conservative Democrats in the Senate that will not support it, because of their own self-preservation, so we need to get support from the Republicans. And they need to understand that if they don’t address the issue of immigration now, they’re going to be relegated as a minority party in this country. The growing Hispanic population and the growing influence, political influence, of the Hispanic community cannot be denied.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, we thank you so much for being with us, a Democrat from New York, has served in the House of Representatives since 1993, the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress, former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And we will also link to Juan’s column in the Daily News headlined "Puerto Rico—like Greece—will default on its debts, as the U.S. has ignored the island’s financial problems for decades."
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Supreme Court decisions issued this week. Then, Governor Christie of New Jersey enters the presidential race. Stay with us.
After Marriage Equality & Obamacare, Mixed Results from SCOTUS on Abortion, Pollution, Executions
After historic rulings that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, this week the Supreme Court handed down its final rulings for the current term, dealing with abortion access, air pollution, executions and elections. We examine the decisions and look at pending rulings on affirmative action and union dues with Ian Millhiser, editor of ThinkProgress Justice and author of "Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: After historic rulings that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, this week the Supreme Court handed down its final rulings for the current term, dealing with abortion access, air pollution, executions and elections. On Monday, the court blocked a lower court decision that threatened to leave Texas with fewer than 10 abortion clinics. It said clinics do not have to follow requirements forcing them to meet the standards of hospital-style surgery centers that were set to take effect today. In another decision, the court blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s first national standards to cut emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants from coal-fired power plants.
AMY GOODMAN: This week, the Supreme Court also rejected a challenge to the use of a controversial sedative in executions. Three Oklahoma prisoners had sought a ban on midazolam, which has been tied to several botched or prolonged lethal injections. But a five-to-four majority rejected the prisoners’ claim that the drug violates a ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
For more, we go right to Washington, D.C., to Ian Millhiser, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the editor of ThinkProgress Justice, author of the book, Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.
First of all, Ian, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you, overall, assess the direction of the court, from upholding Obamacare and same-sex marriage to this series of lesser-known decisions that they issued this week, including the issue of lethal injection and the death penalty?
IAN MILLHISER: Right. So, this was a very unusual term. You know, the Roberts court is a very conservative court, and most terms I wind up pretty depressed this time of year, because they’ve just handed down a lot of conservative decisions. The good news is, for the most part, that didn’t happen this term. Obviously, we got the big marriage equality holding. There were also a lot of disasters that did not happen. They could have gutted the Affordable Care Act and sent America’s healthcare markets into turmoil; that didn’t happen. They could have gutted the Fair Housing Act, and that didn’t happen. They could have cast a bunch of state election laws into chaos, and that didn’t happen. Now, most of those were five to four; one was a six-to-three decision. So there were justices who wanted to do some pretty terrible things. But the good news is that there were a lot of crises that were averted this term, and then, of course, we had the marriage equality holding, which is a huge victory.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Ian, in terms of—there are some analyses that have said that the surprising outcome of the decisions in this term are resulting from divisions that have occurred among the conservatives, while the liberal justices have stayed pretty much united. What’s your assessment of that?
IAN MILLHISER: Yeah, no, I’m one of the analysts who has said that. I mean, what’s interesting about this court is that the four liberal justices, even though they’re in the minority, have largely stuck together. The conservatives, you know, there’s real disagreement about how far they want to take their conservatism and of their general approach to the law. You know, Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts, is a Reaganite conservatism. He wants to do a lot of very conservative things on race. He wants to do a lot of very conservative things on campaign finance. But he doesn’t embrace the kind of radicalism that you’ve seen take over the conservative movement in the United States since President Obama got elected. You know, he doesn’t believe that the court should be used to dismantle the whole regulatory and welfare state. You know, Justice Thomas is at the other extreme, where Thomas has said he would go back to the world where child labor laws are struck down. So, what I think a lot of the reason why this case didn’t go as well for conservatives as they had hoped is they really pushed the envelope this year. They acted like they had five Justice Thomases on the court, or maybe five Justice Alitos, who’s also another very conservative justice. And what happened is, Roberts and Kennedy said, "Wait a second. Like, a lot of these things that you’re asking for, that’s a bridge too far."
AMY GOODMAN: In fact, we just interviewed a couple who were plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage case, and they are naming their daughter "Kennedy." Now, but I want to go to the issue of the death penalty, which was so critical this week, the Supreme Court rejecting the challenge to use a controversial sedative in executions. The three Oklahoma prisoners had sought a ban on the sedative, which has been tied to several botched or prolonged lethal injections, the five-to-four majority rejecting the prisoners’ claim the drug violates a ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Last April, Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett died of a massive heart attack when his lethal injection with an untested cocktail of lethal drugs was botched. After struggling violently on the gurney, doctors halted the killing 13 minutes in, when discovering Lockett was still conscious and trying to speak. About 30 minutes later, Lockett died of a heart attack when the drugs spread through his body. This is Ziva Branstetter of Tulsa World, one of the 12 media witnesses, describing what she saw.
ZIVA BRANSTETTER: So what happened is, at 6:23, the execution began. The inmate had no last words. About 10 minutes later, they pronounced him unconscious. There was no reaction for about three minutes. And then, at about—about, you know, I would say three minutes after that, he began a very violent reaction. He began writhing, lifting his shoulders up off the gurney and his head up off the gurney. He was clenching his jaw, exhaling. He was mumbling phrases that none of us could really hear. The only audible word we could hear was him saying "man." And he appeared to be in pain, but we couldn’t understand what he was saying. This lasted for about three minutes. The physician in the execution chamber went over, lifted up the sheet, looked at his right arm. The warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, who was also in the execution chamber, said that they were going to have to temporarily close the blinds. And after that, they never reopened them.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Ziva Branstetter of the Tulsa World describing the botched execution of Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett last April. Charles Warner was originally scheduled to die that same night as Lockett, but his execution was postponed until January. Then, when the state carried out his lethal injection, he took 18 minutes to die, twice as long as the average. His final words were, quote, "My body is on fire." Can you talk, Ian Millhiser, about what the court ruled?
IAN MILLHISER: Sure. So, I mean, this case was called Glossip v. Gross, and it’s one of the big disappointments of the term. The court essentially gave superlegal status to the death penalty. You know, the way that the Constitution is supposed to work is that there’s a prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. And so, if the state wants to carry out a punishment—if they want to execute someone, in this case—you look at the method they want to use, determine if it’s cruel or unusual. And if it is, then they can’t do it. And what the court said instead is they said that executing people is of paramount importance. They said that the death penalty was something we’ve said is constitutional, so there must be a way to execute people. And that means that—and there’s various reasons why the state wasn’t able to get other drugs that would have been more reliable. If the only methods that are available to them are drugs that are not reliable and that may lead to the inmate being in excruciating pain, then you know what? That’s what the state gets to use, because, again, the court said that, essentially, executing people is of paramount importance, and in this case it trumps the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Ian, I’d like to ask you about some of the surprising decisions, especially when it comes to redistricting and fair housing in the Arizona redistricting case. Could you talk about those, as well?
IAN MILLHISER: Sure. And I mean, these were two—I mean, especially the fair housing case—were two of the more pleasant surprises this term. So, Chief Justice Roberts, one issue where he is extraordinarily conservative is race. You know, he has made it his mission on the court to cut back on civil rights laws. He struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act. You know, he’s famous for his naive line that the way to end discrimination on the basis of race is to end discrimination on the basis of race, as if that’s all there is to it.
And there was a case this term that sought to really gut the federal Fair Housing Act that bans race discrimination in housing. The law allows what’s called disparate impact suits, where you can start to prove discrimination if you show that there’s bad outcomes, where a company has a policy that continually leads to people of color getting the shaft. The court—most people thought they were going to get rid of this disparate impact litigation, which would have made it very hard to prove these cases. And Justice Kennedy blinked, so it was a five-to-four decision. The Fair Housing Act still gets to live in the form that it has lived for many years.
In addition to that, as you mentioned, there was this redistricting case, which wasn’t just about redistricting. It was a very broad theory, which, if it had succeeded, could have led to the Supreme Court taking a red pen and randomly crossing out lines in a bunch of states’ election laws. So, that was a five-to-four decision where Justice Kennedy also crossed over to join the liberals. I suspect the reason why he did is because he realized that it would just throw our next election into chaos if states didn’t know what their election law was.
AMY GOODMAN: The issue of abortion, Ian Millhiser?
IAN MILLHISER: Sure. So this came up, and I think we shouldn’t overstate what the Supreme Court did here, but it’s good news for the right to choose. So, there is a Texas law that, if it is ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, is really an existential threat to the right to choose an abortion. This is one of a number of sham health laws where the state enacts a law which, if you look at it just on the surface, it appears to be a health regulation, but really what it is, is it’s an attempt to ban abortion by pretending that you’re regulating health. The Supreme Court, five to four, temporarily allowed that law to go into effect. This probably buys women in Texas who seek an abortion about a year. It’s likely the Supreme Court is going to take this case up and, probably in next June, decide whether or not they’re going to strike down the law. If they uphold the law, then that is terrible news for Roe v. Wade. If they uphold the law, it means that the only limit on states’ ability to restrict abortion will probably be the creativity of lawmakers to find a way to dress a wolf up in sheep’s clothing.
AMY GOODMAN: Union fees?
IAN MILLHISER: And that’s another huge case they’re deciding next term. So, the issue here is that if you are a union, you have to bargain on behalf of everyone in the bargaining unit. So everyone in the shop, regardless of whether they join the union or not, they get the higher wages you bargain for, they get the increased benefits you bargain for. And in many cases, the nonmembers also have to reimburse the union for the cost of their share of the bargaining. So no one gets to be a free rider. No one gets something for nothing. This is a case about whether non-union members in public sector unions can get something for nothing, whether they can get all the benefits, get all the higher wages, and yet not have to pay their share of the bargaining cost. If the Supreme Court says that they don’t have to pay their fair share, which I think is likely, it’s going to be a huge blow for public sector unions, because there’s a lot of workers who are going to say, "Well, why am I going to pay to join the union when I get all the benefits of being a member for nothing?"
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you about the subtitle of your book, Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted. Why that subtitle, and what’s the broad strokes of your analysis on the court’s historical record?
IAN MILLHISER: Sure. I mean, the court has a dark history. I mean, this is the court that upheld segregation. It’s a court that struck down child labor laws. It’s a court that struck down the minimum wage. It’s a court that said a woman could be sterilized against her will. The modern Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Roberts, gave us Citizens United. They gutted the Voting Rights Act. You know, if you go back a few years, we get Bush v. Gore. So, you know, we had a decent term, but this was a really anomalous term, not just in terms of the Roberts court’s history, but in terms of the Supreme Court’s entire history. You know, for almost all of the Supreme Court’s history, it has been terrible to workers, terrible to women, terrible to racial minorities. And I worry that, you know, depending on what happens in the next few presidential elections, it could go back to the worst form that it was in many years ago.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, affirmative action next term?
IAN MILLHISER: Yeah, and this is a case that they’ve heard now twice. This is a challenge to the University of Texas’s affirmative action program. It came up before the court a few years ago, and the court basically gave the program a stay of execution. They sort of upheld the program. They said that they weren’t going to strike it down yet, but they were going to send it down to the most conservative court of appeals in the country to look at it again. That court of appeals surprised everyone by upholding the program, and now it’s back in front of the Supreme Court. You know, I mean, they surprised us on the fair housing case, so I’m not going to write affirmative action off entirely, but it’s going to be a tough road for affirmative action to survive the second trip to the Supreme Court.
AMY GOODMAN: Ian Millhiser, we want to thank you for being with us, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, editor of ThinkProgress Justice, author of the book, Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Governor Christie makes 14. We’ll talk about the newest entrance into the Republican presidential race. Stay with us.
NJ Gov. Chris Christie Faces Economic Turmoil at Home as He Seeks GOP Presidential Nomination
Two-term New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has formally launched his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, promising "straight talk" and touting his record. In the months ahead, Christie will work on repairing his battered image after last year’s "Bridgegate" lane closure scandal. Critics say the closings were political retribution against a Democratic New Jersey mayor who refused to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign. But the governor has denied any knowledge of the closures. Meanwhile, Christie’s approval ratings in his home state have fallen to new lows amid a series of credit downgrades and weak job growth. We are joined by Bob Hennelly, political analyst and investigative reporter for Newark’s WBGO and a regular contributor to Salon.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: On Tuesday, yet another Republican candidate announced he’s running for president. Two-term New Jersey Governor Chris Christie formally launched his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, promising "straight talk" and touting his record.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE: America is tired of handwringing and indecisiveness and weakness in the Oval Office. We need to have strength and decision making and authority back in the Oval Office. And that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of United States of America. And unlike some people who offer themselves for the presidency in 2016, you’re not going to have to wonder whether I can do it or not. In New Jersey, as governor, I have stood up against economic calamity and unprecedented natural disaster. We have brought ourselves together, we have pushed back that economic calamity, and we are recovering from that natural disaster. And that’s because we’ve led, and we’ve worked together to do it.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In the months ahead, Christie will work on repairing his battered image after last year’s Bridgegate lane closure scandal. Critics say the closings were political retribution against a Democratic New Jersey mayor who refused to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign. But the governor has denied any knowledge of the closures. Meanwhile, Christie’s approval ratings in his home state have fallen to new lows in a series of credit downgrades—amidst a series of credit downgrades and weak job growth.
AMY GOODMAN: Governor Christie now heads out on the campaign trail to New Hampshire, where he’ll hold the first of what’s expected to be a series of town hall sessions.
For more, we’re joined by Bob Hennelly, political analyst, investigative reporter for WBGO, Newark’s NPR station, and a regular contributor to Salon. He’s also a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!
BOB HENNELLY: Thanks for having me.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us what you think we should know about Governor Christie.
BOB HENNELLY: I think there’s really key three things. One is that you had a situation where we have not really come out of the Great Recession in New Jersey. The reality is, out of the top five American cities with the most mortgages underwater, where the mortgage is at least 25 percent, sometimes higher, more higher than the actual value of the home, three of them—three of them—are in New Jersey. That would be Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth. Every day, Amy and Juan, this is what we see—page after page of foreclosure notices—
AMY GOODMAN: What are you holding up?
BOB HENNELLY: I’m holding up The Star-Ledger, just a sample day, three full sections of household after household that is imploding. This is not really covered by the media, because the narrative is that this—we’re in recovery. And the reality is that money that was—came through these universal settlements, when the banks didn’t admit wrongdoing but passed money through to the department of—to the Treasury, that money didn’t find its way to New Jersey’s homeowners. So, in places like Newark, you have a situation where, in 2012, three children and two adults died in a fire in their home because squatters had moved in, smoking crack, and set fire to the house. If you walk in the West Ward, you will see that every other home is abandoned. This is the New Jersey that Chris Christie has presided over. Job growth—he’s only brought back 72 percent of the jobs lost in the recession, compared to the robust performance by Governor Cuomo, over 200 percent. So that’s the reality, and that’s why you’ve seen the downgrades. He just didn’t understand how to fix the economy. And when it came to crunch time, he became distracted with running for president.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the situation with New Jersey’s pension systems? And teachers have been in the forefront of all the protests against Christie.
BOB HENNELLY: Right. Well, that’s the tragedy, because, I will say—I live in the same town as Governor Christie. I’ve been covering him since he was a freeholder, which is a county legislator in New Jersey. And there was a moment—there was a potential Capraesque moment, if you will, in 2011, where Steve Sweeney, the Democratic Senate president and ironworker union leader, and Speaker Sheila Oliver, former speaker, came forward. The unions saw their retirement age pushed off. They were going to contribute more. And all he had to do was fully fund the pension. And that was the grand bargain. Had he done that, you would have seen something where he would have had something to bring to the nation, that he could resolve something that his predecessors had failed to do. But he didn’t make that payment.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about how he compares to other candidates who have entered the presidential race. He is often referred to as one of the, well, more moderate.
BOB HENNELLY: Well, I think moderate—you have to look at how has he governed. And what’s happened is that the gap between the super wealthy and the working class has only opened up more wider. The one area where he is, I will say, offering something different is the idea that he wants to see drug addiction looked at as a public health issue and not as a criminal justice matter. We’re seeing that kind of movement with Senator Booker and Senator Paul coming together. So, that is something where he—but as far as in urban policy and as far as how he governs, what you see is pretty much how it is: He just brutalizes people he doesn’t agree with.
AMY GOODMAN: We mentioned Bridgegate at the top of this. Is it fair to say he’s scandal-plagued? And for people who don’t live near the Washington—George Washington Bridge, explain what happened and the number of people who have been indicted around him.
BOB HENNELLY: All right. So, in a couple of minutes, right. Well, I think it’s important to understand that back in—around the time of the September 11th thing, he had just—he was trying to get ramped up for re-election. There was tremendous pressure to have Democrats—
AMY GOODMAN: Just a few years ago, not 2001.
BOB HENNELLY: Yeah, right, right. And we were looking for—he was looking for Democrats to endorse him. There were a number who did. The idea was, if we can get Democratic mayors to endorse him, he’s going to look like that dream candidate—in a blue state, getting re-elected as a Republican. There were people around who were pressuring the mayor of Fort Lee, Sokolich, Mayor Sokolich, to endorse. There were other mayors who he was pressuring. And then, around September 11th, all of a sudden the Port Authority—well, the George Washington Bridge is controlled by the Port Authority. Governor Christie has people within the Port Authority who are political supporters. They came up with this idea of basically shutting down one of the toll lanes as some kind of retribution. Subsequently, what’s happened is David Wildstein, who is a close Christie confidant and was working in the Port Authority, has agreed to plead guilty. You have Bill Baroni, another confidant of Governor Christie, who was working in the Port Authority, and Bridget Kelly, a high-level staffer within the Christie administration, are going to be on trial this summer for their role in it. This is something that Christie denied his staff had anything—
AMY GOODMAN: This was back in 2013.
BOB HENNELLY: Right. And he—this was something he had denied his staff had any role in. And then, finally, when emails came out and were published by the Bergen Record that showed this internal scandal was going on, he then summarily fired Bridget Kelly, but made no inquiry of her about why she did what she did. And so now, this summer, you’re going to see a major political show trial, which is going to keep this in the headlines, and it’s going to be hard, I think, for Christie to get away from it.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you about something that Governor Christie touts a lot: his role in rebuilding the Jersey Shore after the Sandy damage that occurred. I know in New York City, it was very, very slow, the rebuilding process.
BOB HENNELLY: Right.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: What’s happened in New Jersey?
BOB HENNELLY: Well, there are people that kind of follow him around, making a point that they’re not back in their homes. Star-Ledger has done a good job reporting on that. Years later, people are still totally outside of their homes and dealing with all kinds of fraud, waste and abuse by the contractors and the insurance companies.
Also, it’s important to know that what Governor Christie did with the Exxon settlement, which we covered the last time I was on. The state had contemplated getting $9 billion from Exxon to make up for environmental damage that they had done in the Newark Bay, which was badly hit by Sandy, in an urban environment. By not fully funding that settlement and by agreeing to let Exxon off the hook for just $225 million, the governor gave up on a plan to put 30,000 acres of wetland and marshland as buffers to protect the most critical part of New York and New Jersey’s port. By walking away from that, he left that entire urban area, which, I might say, is primarily new immigrants—the people that live there are primarily low-income, were already hit by Sandy and the toxic waste that came out of the wall of water. So, he really has—he really shouldn’t base his running for president on Sandy. There’s too much of a record out there.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, there was the politics of it, embracing President Obama, and a lot is being made of this now by the pundits, and then—and touring with him, of course, around Hurricane Sandy, and then basically saying that Romney should stay away.
BOB HENNELLY: Well, I think that what he did then was, in his—he’s a brilliant politician in the sense of figuring out the thing that appears to be in the public interest but also in his political interest. And that’s why his opponents should keep an eye on him, I mean, shouldn’t count him out.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s talk about healthcare for a moment. Christie gave the keynote at the 2012 Republican National Convention, drawing loud applause for a comment he made about healthcare.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE: Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to end the debacle of putting the world’s greatest healthcare system in the hands of federal bureaucrats and putting those bureaucrats between an American citizen and her doctor!
AMY GOODMAN: So, there he’s talking about healthcare. I think he didn’t mention Mitt Romney’s name, though he was chosen to be the keynote—
BOB HENNELLY: Right, right.
AMY GOODMAN: —until 17 minutes in. But what about this? And the significance of what he’s saying?
BOB HENNELLY: Well, I think it’s important to know that Governor Christie has made war on Planned Parenthood. One of the key things to understand is that he has single-handedly undercut funding there consistently. And what’s so shortsighted about it is it means he walked away from millions of dollars of federal money. So, when it comes to certain kinds of ideological things, there’s no compromise. Chris Christie, it’s either his way or the highway.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to ask you about education, too, because public education is going to be a big topic in this presidential campaign. What’s been Christie’s record in terms of the inner-city public school systems? And he’s put in quite—he’s had quite a few state controls of a lot of city school boards, hasn’t he?
BOB HENNELLY: Right, right, and that state control went on a long time before Governor Christie. And what’s happening now is that his whole approach has been—and his predecessors’, too—to impose these kinds of changes and reforms from the outside. And it creates a tremendous problem, because the reality is, experts will tell you, the way for transformation in school districts is through each household. People themselves in their household have to buy into what you’re doing. And what he did was that whole approach he had just created more conflict, and they lost a lot of time. But I think what’s also important to keep in mind is that he has flipped on things like Common Core. He was for it, then he saw something stirring, and he flipped on that. So, he put his finger up in the wind on that.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Bob Hennelly, thanks so much for being with us, political analyst, investigative reporter for WBGO.
Headlines:
Greece Misses IMF Payment; Crisis Talks Set to Continue
Greece has missed a $1.8 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund as it stands on the brink of a financial meltdown. The deadline coincided with the end of Greece’s international bailout, leaving it without an infusion of the money it needs to meet its obligations. On Tuesday, European creditors rejected a last-minute proposal from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for a new financial lifeline. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said a new bailout program could be negotiated, but only if the Greek government backs down from its rejection of austerity demands.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem: "What can change is the political stance of the Greek government that has led to this unfortunate situation. And what we could consider, but we will have another conference call tomorrow, is further talks on a new program. But given the current political position that the Greek government is taking, it’s very difficult to have constructive talks."
The Financial Times is reporting Tsipras has made new concessions in a bid to complete an agreement. Greece is set to hold a referendum on Sunday on whether to accept an austerity package of budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for new loans. On Tuesday, tens of thousands of people rallied in Athens in support of a "yes" vote, one day after a similarly sized crowd rallied against the austerity demands. With its missed payment, Greece becomes the first developed nation to fall into arrears with the IMF, and also for the largest-ever amount.
Report: Greek Creditors Acknowledge Austerity Measures Unsustainable for Debt Load
Meanwhile, a secret report from Greece’s three main creditors appears to support Greek government calls for major debt relief as part of any new agreement. According to The Guardian, documents from the troika of lenders acknowledge Greece would still face an unsustainable level of debt by 2030 even if it agrees to all of the group’s austerity demands.
Iran Nuclear Talks Extended as Deadline Passes
Talks on a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers have been extended after the two sides failed to complete an agreement by a midnight deadline. Some believe the real deadline is July 9, the last day for President Obama to present an agreement to Congress before a mandatory review period of 30 days jumps to 60 days. The outstanding differences include access to international inspectors and Iranian nuclear activity in the deal’s final years. Negotiators are also trying to determine the timing of sanctions relief and the scope of Tehran’s nuclear research. Speaking at the White House, Obama said he’s prepared to walk away from the talks if Iran fails to make sufficient concessions.
President Obama: "There’s still some hard negotiations to take place, but ultimately this is going to be up to the Iranians to determine whether or not they meet the requirements that the international community has set forth to be able to fairly and accurately and consistently assess whether or not they have foreclosed the possibility of obtaining a nuclear weapon."
FISA Court Re-authorizes Bulk Collection of Phone Data
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has re-authorized the bulk collection of U.S. phone records for another 180 days. The program lapsed with the expiration of the PATRIOT Act last month, but Congress authorized a six-month transition period to move into a new system where telephone companies hold the bulk records. A federal appeals court had declared the bulk collection illegal, but the FISA court decision overrides that ruling. The American Civil Liberties Union now says it will seek a new injunction to block the FISA court’s decision.
Fire at South Carolina Black Church is Latest to Hit Black Congregations
A black church in South Carolina has caught fire in the latest in a series of similar incidents. The blaze at the Mount Zion African Methodist Church in Greeleyville is believed to be the seventh fire at a black church across the South since the Charleston massacre less than two weeks ago. At least three fires have been caused by arson. Mount Zion African Methodist was burned to the ground 20 years ago by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK has announced a rally for later this month at the South Carolina state House in support of the Confederate flag. There are reports South Carolina legislators now have enough votes to push through the flag’s removal.
County Clerks in Several GOP States Refuse to Follow Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality
Counties in a handful of Southern states are still refusing to issue marriage licenses to LGBTQ couples despite last week’s Supreme Court ruling. Officials in Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky have vowed to reject the court’s mandate, citing religious freedom. Injunctions have already been filed to force compliance. On Tuesday, the county clerk for Hood County, Texas, said she would back down from an initial refusal to offer marriage licenses to LGBTQ couples.
Florida Judge Blocks Law Imposing 24-Hour Wait Period on Abortions
A Florida judge has blocked a law forcing women to wait at least 24 hours to have an abortion, with exceptions only if women can document rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking. Opponents argue such measures burden women who have already made their decision or who live too far away from clinics to make repeated visits affordable. The law was due to take effect today and will remain on hold as a court challenge proceeds.
ISIL-Linked Group Kills Dozens in Egypt’s Sinai
A group tied to the Islamic State has launched attacks on military sites in Egypt’s Sinai desert, killing dozens. The strikes by a group calling itself the Province of Sinai hit several targets at once. The Egyptian military has deployed fighter jets to the area.
U.N. to Declare Yemen a Top Humanitarian Crisis
The U.N. is expected to add Yemen to the list of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, raising the pressure on the Saudi government to halt a deadly military campaign and blockade. The news comes as aid officials warn parts of Yemen are on the brink of famine amid internal fighting and a continued Saudi-led air campaign. U.N. aid chief Stephen O’Brien says 80 percent of Yemen’s 25 million people need aid and the health system faces "imminent collapse." The warning comes days after ceasefire talks between Yemen’s warring factions broke down in Geneva. At the Security Council, U.N. special envoy Ismail Ahmed renewed calls for a humanitarian truce.
Ismail Ahmed: "Both sides showed signs of constructive engagement. There is an emerging common ground upon which we can build to achieve an eventual ceasefire coupled with a withdrawal of combatants. While we pursue a sustainable longtime cessation of violence, I call on all the relevant parties to agree without delay to a humanitarian truce, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. We should not forget that Yemeni are living under dire conditions, and it pains me to witness this ongoing suffering."
In some of Yemen’s latest violence, 17 civilians were reportedly killed and dozens wounded today when Houthi rebels fired on the southern port city of Aden. More than 1,000 prisoners, including al-Qaeda members, also escaped a prison in the city of Taiz amid clashes between rival forces.
U.S. to Lift Military Freeze on Bahrain Despite Admission Rights Climate Not "Adequate"
The Obama administration is lifting restrictions on military aid to the Bahrain military imposed over the regime’s crackdown on Arab Spring protesters in 2011. Announcing the decision, the State Department said: "While we do not think that the human rights situation in Bahrain is adequate ... we believe it is important to recognize that the government of Bahrain has made some meaningful progress on human rights reforms and reconciliation." In response, Human Rights Watch said the move was "occurring in the absence of any real or meaningful political reform."
U.S., Brazil Announce Joint Climate Pledges
The U.S. and Brazil have announced new joint pledges on the use of renewable energy. President Obama unveiled the goals during a White House meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
President Obama: "Both our nations are setting new goals on clean energy. Beyond hydropower, the United States and Brazil will aim to increase the share of electricity we generate from renewable energy to 20 percent by the year 2030. These are very ambitions goals, a near tripling for the United States and more than double Brazil’s current output."
Rousseff in First U.S. Visit Since NSA Spying Row
Rousseff’s visit to Washington was her first since cancelling her trip last year following the disclosure of NSA spying. Leaks from Edward Snowden showed the U.S. spied on her personal communications as well as on Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petrobras. On Tuesday, Rousseff said she believes President Obama’s assurances that the spying has stopped.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff: "The change is particularly due to the fact that President Obama and the U.S. government have stated on several occasions that they would no longer engage in intrusive acts of spying on friendly countries. I believe President Obama. And furthermore, he told me that, you know, if he needed — should he ever need nonpublic information about Brazil, he would just pick up the phone and call me."
Study: Major World Aquifers Losing Alarming Amounts of Water
New satellite data shows the Earth’s largest underground aquifers are losing water at troubling rates. A NASA study finds 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers have provided more water than has been replaced, putting them at a sustainability tipping point. Researchers say the water reserves have been depleted by human activity including agriculture, population growth and mining.
NJ Governor Christie Enters GOP Presidential Race
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Gov. Chris Christie: "America is tired of handwringing and indecisiveness and weakness in the Oval Office. We need to have strength and decision making and authority back in the Oval Office. And that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of United States of America."
Outside of Christie’s kickoff event, a group of New Jersey residents gathered in protest.
Kathy Guner: "I’m protesting Christie as president. He has ruined New Jersey; he’ll ruin the United States. He has taken so much money. He’s taking from the middle class; he’s giving it to his corporate buddies. He has robbed our state. We’re practically broke."
Justice Dept.: Police Violated Ferguson Protesters’ Rights
And the Justice Department has concluded the police response to last year’s protest in Ferguson, Missouri, violated constitutional rights. A forthcoming report finds police tactics "violated citizens’ rights to assembly and free speech." The report criticizes the use of tear gas without warning and calls for an end to the use of police dogs on crowds.
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