The Ed Show for Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

Show: THE ED SHOW
Date: January 13, 2015
Guest: Jeremy Scahill, Jim Clyburn, Bernie Sanders, Montel Williams


ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans, and welcome to Ed Show
live from New York.

Let`s get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a somber day for Paris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10 thousand military troops will be deployed around the
city, and around major cities...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s largest deployment of armed forces since World War
II.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The survivors of a massacre are back at work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have to make a news paper with intelligence,
not just any other newspaper.

UNIDENFIED MALE: On its cover, yet again, another cartoon of the Muslim
Prophet Muhammad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to start asking the question. We have to
figure it out how we can have it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This time he`s holding a sign that says, Je Suis
Charlie, I am Charlie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to make this news paper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re trying to kill Charlie Hebdo they make Charlie
Hebdo the most famous newspaper in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The outpouring of emotion on the journalism community in France.
We start tonight with the latest developments in that country. Charlie
Hebdo will release the latest issue of their newspaper tomorrow. They will
be printing 3 million copies instead of their usual 60,000 copies.

The copy shows a weeping Muhammad, holding a sign saying, "I`m Charlie",
with all the words, "All is forgiven", written above him. NBC and other
networks have decided not to show the cover. Muslim groups have raised
concern over the issue. Some say the cover could ignite dangerous do
passions in the debate over free speech and religion.

The New York Times reported death threats we`re circulating online against
surviving staff members of the newspaper. Earlier today, Charlie Hebdo
staff members held an emotional press conference about tomorrow`s issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to make this newspaper.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we had to make a newspaper with intelligent
drawing, not just any other newspaper. We needed it to be emotional,
something sensible.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something with a lot of heart for us, more than
anything we try to put the drawing of those who are no longer here in the
newspaper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: There is new video of the Charlie Hebdo attackers and it has been
released today, the video from last week`s attack shows Kouachi brothers
waving their guns in the air, jumping into the car and driving away.

The manhunt continues for terrorist suspects from the Paris attack, the
French national with ties to the brothers who carried out last week`s
attacks on Charlie Hebdo was arrested in Bulgaria. Fritz-Joly Joachin was
arrested for allegedly kidnapping his 3-year-old son and trying to take him
into Syria on New Year`s Day. Authorities are still searching for
suspected accomplice Hayat Boumeddiene who entered Syria last week.

Funerals were held in Israel today for the four Jewish victims of last
week`s grocery store terror attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu attended the services in Paris. French President Francois
Hollande, awarded the three French police officers killed last week, the
posthumous Legion of Honor, its France`s most prestigious decoration for
civilians.

Meanwhile here at home, criticism continues to mount on the White House.
Many are upset the United States did not send any high-ranking officials to
Sunday`s mass anti-terror rally in Paris. But Republicans are taking
criticism to I think a disturbing new level. Congressman Randy Webber, for
whatever reason of Texas, Twitted this out. Even Adolph Hitler thought it
more important than Obama to get to Paris for all the wrong reasons in
parenthesis. Obama couldn`t do it for the right reasons.

Well the Congressman from Texas apologized today via Twitter and I think it
isn`t enough. It reads in part. I need to first apologize to all those
offended by my Tweet, it was not my intention to trivialize the holocaust
nor to compare the President to Adolph Hitler. The mention of Hitler was
meant to represent the evil, of the face of evil that still exists in the
world today. I now realize -- he now realizes that the use of Hitler
invokes pain and emotional trauma for those affected by the atrocities of
the holocaust and victims of anti-Semitism and hate.

It seems to be a different standard for Republicans when it comes to
insulting remarks like this. This congressman should have better judgment
than to associate any president of the United States in the same senates or
same vain, or in any comparison whatsoever with Adolf Hitler.

Does he not know what happened back in World War II, does he not know that
there is a museum not far from where he works, that honors those who died
in the holocaust? An apology congressman not on Twitter. Call the
president of the United States, go to the floor, go to the well of the
United States House, go to the people`s house and do some restitutions so
we all know, that you got your head screwed on right. No congressman -- no
elected official should ever do that to any sitting president.

But the Republicans have a different standard, if Democrats do something
and I`m going to politicize this, if Democrats do something wrong, you have
pundits out all over the place calling for people`s jobs, calling for
restitution, calling for apologies, but a Republican congressman from
Texas, just put it that on Twitter and tell people that you now realize
that it was the wrong thing to do.

And you`re sorry if you offended those people out there, just a few people?
Get your cellphones out, I want to know what you think tonight`s question.
Back to the cartoon, is Charlie Hebdo doing the right thing by publishing
the Prophet Muhammad on their new cover? Text A for yes, text B for no to
67622, you can leave your comment at our blog at ed.msnbc.com and we`ll
bring you the results later on in the end of the show.

For more, let me bring you Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of "The Intercept"
and Steve Clemons with us tonight, MSNBC contributor and editor-at-large at
"The Atlantic". Gentlemen, great to have you with us. Jeremy...

JEREMY SCAHILL, THE INTERCEPT: Good to be with you.

SCHULTZ: You bet. Jeremy, you first. The rally, what did it mean, and
what`s your response, what`s your analysis of the intense security and
scrutiny that has followed since?

SCAHILL: Yeah, I mean, well, first of all on the one hand I think it`s
moving to everybody to see so many people pour to the streets. And to have
this discussion about freedom of the press, and to defend journalists even
when they are saying something or drawing something that we find hateful or
offensive or demeaning to our faith, those are all important principles.
But when I watched it, I looked at all those leaders and the world leaders
that were in the front row there, by the way, they weren`t on the side
street, they weren`t exactly leading this march of millions of people.

Many of them are enemies of a free press. There are several dictators from
Africa there who are enemies of a free press. The leader of Ireland has
outlawed blasphemy. You now, Benjamin Netanyahu who`s government has
killed scores of Palestinian journalists, apparently targeting some of them
at times. So I think that we have to weigh the hypocrisy that`s almost
always on display when world leaders are at the forefront of what`s
supposed to be a sort of, you know, people`s response with the actual
facts.

For instance the U.S. is a close ally of the dictator in Egypt right now,
General Sisi. General Sisi apparently is marking his solidarity with the
free press by keeping the Al-Jazeera journalist who locked up in prison.
So, I think that we have to realize the positive that`s come up this, which
is at the world is talking about a free press and what to do with unpopular
speech, but at the same time, many of these world leaders aren`t practicing
those same principles back at home.

SCHULTZ: You response to what to Charlie Hebdo is going to release
tomorrow and the number that they`re going to print, and more with Muhammad
on the front cover.

SCAHILL: You know, this is something that I think all of these in the
press are dealing with right now. Your network has taken a position that
they`re not going to show these images. I think it`s up to the individual
news outlet to weigh those, that decision. You know, Dean Baquet, head of
the New York Times, has been criticized recently for this very thing, and I
think that he`s raised a valid point which is that part of my job as the
head of the news organization is to asses the safety and security of my
staff.

For instance, I think that we should be covering on the ground what the
Taliban are doing, what al-Qaeda is doing. But if you`re a news
organization and you want to imbed a reporter with al-Qaeda or with the
Taliban, you`re not just going to say, well, we need to get that side of
story, therefore, I`m sending this reporter to go to do it.

You have a responsibility to weigh all of the factors involved. It`s not
just cowering to people who would kill journalist to make a decision not to
do it. Part of a free press means that you have responsible managers of
these news organizations whose job it is to defend their reporters at the
end of the earth, and sometimes that means taking decisions that end up
being impact (ph) in public.

SCHULTZ: Those who want to hurt the Western world, those who were the
perpetrators of terrorism, what does this rally do, what impact do you
think it would have on them?

SCAHILL: Well, I mean...

SCHULTZ: And the publishing of what`s going to take place tomorrow?

SCAHILL: You know, look, I think that part, again, empowers them to be
honest. I think that to see the response like this is in part what some of
these groups that may or may not have been involved with this, wanted to
see. This idea that, the Western Islamaphobic world, I mean this is the
way it`s being portrayed, that if you look at a lot of the Jihadist forums
that this is a pro-Israel movement, that is largely made up of white
Westerners coming out into the streets, and that Islam is under attack in
Europe and it encourages an (inaudible) mentality.

I`m not saying that`s my position, I`m saying that that`s I think how it`s
being interpreted by a lot of the most radical elements who are cheer
leading this attack on Charlie Hebdo.

SCHULTZ: Steve, how will the publication tomorrow be received as you see
it?

STEVE CLEMONS, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well I think it`s going to be received
overwhelmingly. I think that it rallies people to the important notion
that freedom of expression is fundamental to a healthy civil society, and
we have a lot of places where that health has been eroding for a long time.

You know, where -- I agree with Jeremy`s take on the hypocrisy of some of
the leaders, this publication isn`t going to be just in French and in
France, it`s being issued globally in many different languages in many
other different markets as well, which I think is a tremendous boost.

I want to see those hypocritical leaders out marching and making a
punctuation point about the importance of this, that they`re held
accountable for their role in that march when they go back home, I would
have liked to seen other illiberal leaders around the world also saying,
you know, I need to put my marker in around Charlie and what happened.

So hypocrisy can be a useful wedge in reminding people that they`re -- they
were all living in places where the state of journalism, free expression,
film making, cartooning, whatever it may be, has been under assault even
inside the United States as Jeremy knows. I think it was interesting that
yesterday, finally, the news came out that Jim Risen of the New York Times
now definitively will not face jail.

That is happening in this country for somebody reporting the news. So the
state of journalism is getting a boast by this, and I think that that
magazine is uncomfortable as it makes many people is reminding people that
it is uncomfortable thing to stand by first amendment rights in this
country, where freedom of expression however it`s defined and protected
elsewhere in the world.

SCAHILL: Can I add some to that?

SCHULTZ: Yeah, absolutely.

SCAHILL: You know, there`s another reality I think we can`t ignore when we
talk about this, and that is that there is an intense Islamophobia in
French society. In fact, the perception of a lot of Muslims in Europe is
that France is potentially the most Islamophobia society in Europe. It`s a
place where for instance the ban on a hijab, the religious headdress of
Muslim women, that`s been an intense issue there.

SCHULTZ: So these events unfolding empower the right-wing in France?

SCAHILL: Actually, I mean, that wasn`t the point I was making.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SCAHILL: But I do think impart that`s happening.

SCHULTZ: OK.

SCAHILL: I mean you just saw there was a big anti-Muslim rally in Germany
today which is, you know, another country in Europe of course. And I do
think that neo-nazis are going to be empowered by this. But if we erase
the context to the fact that, because George Bush decided to invade Iraq,
because he called it a crusade, because we used the Guantamo Prison Camp,
because we have all of these CIA black sites around the world, because we
have a young generation of Muslims who are growing up, whether rightly or
wrongly perceiving that the West is at war with their religion.

This takes on much greater significance in terms of the public debate, and
I think a lot of Muslims that I talked to, including almost every single
Muslim I know that condemns this attack, they say, this is happening to the
Prophet Muhammad and people are OK with printing this, but they wonder if
anti-semantic cartoon would be printed in the same manner in solidarity.

Now there`s not an exact comparison there, but there is a sense that
because it`s the Prophet Muhammad, that it`s more acceptable than any other
religiously offensive image, and that`s -- I think the point worth
debating.

SCHULTZ: Well I think the question is -- I think Christians in this
country would be seriously offended if Christ were degraded in anyway,
shape of form by any publication.

SCAHILL: Yeah I mean that wacko Bill Dana who, you know, the head of the
Catholic leader, or whatever it does (ph). I mean he`s running around,
crying about this all the time on the most, likely minor infraction that
someone made of it.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. Steve...

CLEMONS: I like to just simply, remind people that both, you know Jesus
Christ and other Jewish leaders have all been lampooned on the front of
Charlie Hebdo as well, I mean, you know, we`ve been talking a lot about the
fact that it`s going after everyone, but if you go back in the history of
the images in Charlie Hebdo, there`s plenty to grab in terms of equal
opportunity taboos in a variety of religions that magazine has taken on.

And so, I agree with Jeremy that it will be interesting to see what comes
out next, but the notion that, you know, we have one publication targeting
this week, you know, Muhammad and with all that represents, I think, if you
go back to this -- that`s what made the magazine so interesting...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... it`s the sarcasm, you know, reveal certain truths. But those
truths we`re, you know, definitely trends religious.

SCHULTZ: And one more question for both of the gentlemen, Steve you first.
What is our role right now globally as this new genre of terrorism seems to
be unfolding? There`s a fear of more attacks similar to what we saw
recently. Where does this take America? Now, I realize...

CLEMONS: Well...

SCHULTZ: ... that what the Congressman said is a ridiculous side show
that`s disgraceful. And here we are as country supposedly speaking with
one voice in unity to fight terrorism and then a comment like that comes
up. I see it certainly not helpful. But as a country, where do we fit in
all of these as a leader?

CLEMONS: Well the Congressman made himself a buffoon and that`s
unfortunate, I hope he walks it back. But comments from people like John
McCain and Lindsey Graham are more substantive and, I think what the United
States needs to do is to set a tone. And I`ve fought, you know, to -- for
people to understand terrorism, they need to understand that those
terrorist are trying.

We may not like it but they are trying to look legitimate in the eyes...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... of some people in the world out there. They`re killing
people, bombing people, but they`re tying to look legitimate...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... they`re an actors on a stage. And we`re tying to kill those
actors rather than steal the audience...

SCHULTZ: Jeremy?

CLEMONS: ... and I think we need to deal with that.

SCAHILL: Right. First of all, and for people who are criticizing
journalist that don`t want to just print these images of Prophet Mohammed,
you know, they`re not in a position where if one of their journalist dies
or their place gets laid to siege, that they`re going to be the once
dealing with it. It`s very easy to cherry pick, you know, where you have
your moral outrage when you don`t have any skin the game.

SCHULTZ: OK, Jeremy Scahill, Steve Clemons, gentlemen thank you so much
being on the Ed Show tonight. Deep into the subject no doubt, I appreciate
it.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of screen, share
your thoughts with us on Twitter @edshow and like us on Facebook, we
appreciate that. We always want to know what you think and we pay
attention to your comments.

Coming up, Republicans gain control of Congress and their top priority is
slashing the social safety net, Congressman James Clyburn here with the
reaction.

Plus, Senator Bernie Sanders putting science denying Republicans right in
the hot seat. Vermont senator is here with his game plan to expose climate
deniers.

Stay with us, we`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Time now for Trenders in our social media, this is where you can
find us, join the Ed team, Facebook.com/edshow, Twitter.com/edshow and at
wegoted, and also at ed.msnbc.com. You can get my podcast it`s free, it`s
on iTunes. You can get it 24/7 at wegoted.com, rawstory.com, and
ringoffireradio.com.

The Ed Show social media has decided and we are reporting. Here are
today`s top trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The number three trender, training day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With their soft yellow fur, big brown eyes and
endless energy...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to take him and I just want to bite his
little ears off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meet our puppies.

SCHULTZ: The Today show`s new furry friend promotes a good cause.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`ll be spending 16 months with us. They`ll be
trained to be one of the Guiding Eyes` guide dogs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Winchester County trains
the guide dogs and visually impaired humans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The guide dog in training...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Training and love are stressed -- Guiding Eyes for
the Blind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going to name him George and I will hug him and pet
him and squeeze him.

SCHULTZ: The number two trender, Sarah speaks.

FRM. GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) ALASKA: You probably just so tired of hearing
the talk, talk, talk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please stop talking.

PALIN: We`ll go beyond the sound bytes and cut through the media`s
politically correct filter.

SCHULTZ: The Wasilla wordsmith gets an invite to speak at Cambridge.

PALIN: A T.V. character, a media personality...

We got start raising (ph) and spending...

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT" HOST: Writing notes on your hand
shows she`s an average Jane, not like elites and their memory.

PALIN: They`re looking for that got you moment.

SCHULTZ: And today`s top trender, Price is wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman Price seems to budget care (inaudible) at a
very important time...

SCHULTZ: The GOP is setting the ground work for a showdown over benefits.

Budget Committee Chair Tom Price plans to tear open the social security
safety net.

REP. TOM PRICE, (R) ATLANTA: The budget as you know isn`t just numbers,
it`s our vision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans never really liked social insurance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s their philosophy.

PRICE: It`s important to save and strengthen and secure Medicare, Medicaid
and social security. Everyone of those programs is going broke.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: Social security is not going broke.
Social security has a surplus of $2.76 trillion.

PRICE: When you hear folks say, you don`t need to worry about social
security, that`s only irresponsible it`s deceitful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining us tonight Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina,
Congressman, good to have you with us. Congressman, as I see this,
Republicans are better positioned now than ever before to go after social
security, not because of only Tom Price`s position as head of the budget
committee but Paul Ryan is the chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee...

REP. JIM CLYBURN, (D) SOUTH CAROLINA: Right.

SCHULTZ: ... which has an awful lot to do with social security. How
dangerous is this to recipients and to the program as you see it sir?

CLYBURN: Well, it`s very dangerous and I think that all of us should be
aware of the fact that this is a position that the Republicans have had for
a long, long time. You may recall George W. Bush made it very clear he
want to privatize social security, even back in the 1930s when social
security first came on the scene. They were against it then, they are
against Medicare, Medicaid and they`re still against social security...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: ... and they want to privatize it, they allow Wall Street to
gamble with the trust fund. We aren`t -- not allow that to happen. And
people should wake up and let the Republicans know that social security is
a safety net that`s been put there for people who don`t have as much means
to invest in the stock market but they can put their money into social
security so it can be there for them in their golden years...

SCHULTZ: Now...

CLYBURN: ... this is a very serious issue.

SCHULTZ: Well it affects 16 million people in this country but they`re
targeting -- right now the Republicans are targeting social security
disability insurance.

CLYBURN: Yes.

SCHULTZ: This would affect some 11 million people who received those
benefits. And what does this mean to the program as whole if they are able
to chip away at certain aspects of it? And how big of a fight is this
going to be for the Democrats?

CLYBURN: This is going to be a big fight and we are going to fight. And
going to wake the American public up to the fact that what is going on with
disability is something that is -- sort of a self defuse (ph), they want to
triple it so that in a few years, they`ll look back and say, OK we can
afford to have it. Remember Ed, you talked about this a lot. That`s the
same principle that they used with the post office...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: ... and now they`re talking about -- they`re requiring the post
office to pay into their pensions, signify (ph) these out into the future,
and now they`re saying the post office is going broke. Yes it`s going
broke because we are not allowing them to do the pitches like every other
entity in doing their pensions.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, you met with the President today with a number of
other law makers. And the President has been somewhat open to change CPI,
is there some vulnerability here in the White House on social security?

CLYBURN: Well, I don`t think so. We didn`t discuss the social security
today, we we`re talking about how to get Americans back to work and I was -
- I thought it was a very good meeting, the tone was great...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: ... great on substance but we did not discuss social security
today and I think that that is something that the White House is not
focusing on at the moment.

SCHULTZ: Congressman I appreciate your time, I know you got to go. Thanks
so much for being with here on the Ed Show tonight. Thank you.

CLYBURN: Thanks for having me.

SCHULTZ: Coming up, Bernie Sanders wants to get Senate Democratic and
Senate Republicans, who are deniers, get them on record. He`ll explain why
and how next.

And later, Ohio State went duck hunting last night. I`ll recap the
National Championship game in the two minute drill coming up. Plus your
questions next on Ask Ed Live, we`ll be right back, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show, appreciate all the questions from
our viewers in our Ask Ed Live segment tonight. Our first question comes
from Richard and he wants to know, "With the economy showing improvement
and reports of manufacturing coming back, how do we even fathom passing the
TPP?"

Well, first of all, this is -- I think this is -- would I say
steelworker4889, not to embarrass you or to pick on you at all but I have
to take exemption with the economy showing improvement. Don`t fall into
the trap folks. Let`s go back to October 28th and 29th of the year 1929,
when the great depression started, the stock market crashed. Think about
that date and think about where we are right now with 58 months of private
sector job growth adding over 10 million jobs. I could on and on and on.
It`s the best economic growth we`ve had since the great depression.

The economy is not showing improvement. The economy is kicking ass and
taking names. Look at the automobile industry. Look at the record closes
on Wall Street. What do the Republicans want? And this President hasn`t
thrown anybody in jail and they haven`t really given in any kind of
regulation that would really stop or prevent the potential of what we saw
in 2008.

The economy is in great shape. The problem that we`re having in economy is
that there`s wage disparity. We are seeing record profits by corporations.
We are seeing money parked off over shore and we are seeing a dwindling
middle class. But everybody is better off since President Obama got the
stimulus package through. These are facts. You can`t deny it.

Now, the TPP is the second party of question. How could we even fathom
passing the TPP? I don`t know, because I think the TPP has a real
mechanism in it that is going to destroy a lot of what we have accomplished
over the last 58 months. It makes no sense. It outsources labor to what
the conservatives called emerging markets. An emerging market is cheap
labor.

Vietnam, 18 cents on a dollar, that`s where the market is going to grow.
It`s not going to grow here and believe me, it is a real treat to our
economy. I appreciate the question, but my friend I think it`s --
STLWRJR4889, don`t fall into the trap of believing that is just showing
signs of improvement.

Our next question is from Frankie. He wants to know, "Why isn`t anybody
calling out the Republicans for putting Ted Cruz in charge of NASA?"
Actually there`s been so much to the news, we haven`t had time to get to
that story yet but it`s coming. Doesn`t it make the people at NASA feel
all warm and fuzzy that a climate denier across the board is now in charge
of their funding or should I say, has a great deal of influence on it?

I bet all the scientists in the world are really excited about that. It`s
going to be a rough two years I`d say.

Lots more coming up on the Ed Show, stay with us.

JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC MARKET WRAP: I`m JULIA BOORSTIN with your CNBC Market
Wrap.

Stock closed down as a 280 point gain evaporates. The Dow falls 27, the
S&P is down 5 and the NASDAQ losses 3 points.

Home builders stumbled today after KB Home didn`t expect a "significant
drop" in gross margins because of higher labor and material costs. KB slid
16 percent, D.R. Horton fell almost 5 percent and Lennar shed nearly 2
percent.

GameStop is up sharply after hours. It says holiday sales totaled $2.94
billion.

That`s it from CNBC first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) MAJORITY LEADER: I know Senators from both
sides are hungry for a real Senate debate. I know they want to offer
amendment, I know they`re anxious to finally have their voices and the
voices of the people they represent heard here on the Senate floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: I`d tell you I`d stayed up in the middle of the night to watch
that. Welcome back to the Ed Show. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
said he was going to do things differently in this session of the Congress.
McConnell promised to allow an open amendment process for the Keystone XL
Pipeline. My next guest is putting McConnell pledge to the test.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the Chairman of the -- the ranking
member of the Senate Budget Committee plans to introduce an amendment
forcing Republicans to go on record with their views about the connection
between humans, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The Senator`s
amendment will ask lawmakers if they believe "climate change is real,
climate change is caused by human activities, climate change has already
caused devastating problems in the United States and around the world. And
it is imperative that the United States transform its energy system away
from fossil fuels and toward energy efficient and sustainable energy."

It`s important to know where law makers stand, especially ahead of 2016.
However according to Politico, Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois
declined to say how he would vote because he was told by the powers that be
that Senator Sanders amendment would not get a vote on the floor. We`re
just one weekend of the new legislative session, hopefully Senator
McConnell, the new Senate Majority Leader hasn`t already abandoned his
promise in an effort to protect the science deniers of his party.

Joining me tonight Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the ranking
Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. Senator, good to have you with us
tonight. This is calling them out and making a few folks bring in their
markers I would say. Do you think Majority Leader McConnell is going to
actually allow your amendment to get a vote?

SANDERS: I surely hope that he does. Ed as you`ve indicated this is a
very foundational issue, very basic. Do members of the Republican Party
believe in science? Do they respect what the scientific community is
telling us in climate change? Are they going to learn from that or do they
choose to be deniers? We know that the Chairman of the environmental
committee believes that climate change is a hoax. He is prepared to reject
science. How do other Republicans feel?

So I hope very much that we get this amendment. We will see whether or not
it can pass. I could tell you that on the energy committee when I authored
a similar amendment all the Republicans voted to table it (ph).

SCHULTZ: Well, I read somewhere where 72 percent of Republicans in the
Senate are climate deniers. Is that an accurate number? Would you say
that they have...

SANDERS: I have -- no, well will Ed and, you know, I have heard numbers
like that as well. And if they are prepared to reject what the scientific
community tells us which is pretty straight forward. And that is that
climate change is real. It`s caused by human activity. It is already as
we all know causing devastating problems.

And if we don`t transform our energy system away from fossil fuel it`s only
going to get worse. That is not Bernie Sanders that is what the scientific
community is telling us. And if those guys are prepared to reject that let
go back to their constituents and explain why.

SCHULTZ: So, there`s no better way to kick off this debate or to get them
on record that they really do believe that climate change is not real or
they just don`t want to go in the record because they know they`re wrong on
the issue.

So, there`s a real multiple choice here as to why Republicans would not
want to vote on this. Bottom line here, it really causes a problem for
them, doesn`t it?

SANDERS: I should think so, it really does. Look, you know, take a deep
breath and think what kind of world we are living and then by the way Ed,
you know, virtually every major scientific organization in the United
States is on record, in understanding that climate change is real.

There are 135 international economists and science all over the world
saying the same thing. And it really does become a frightening situation
when you have the dominant party on Capitol Hill controlling the House,
controlling the Senate saying, you know what? We reject science. We don`t
care what the scientific community is saying. We want more and more fossil
fuel in this country.

SCHULTZ: Why can`t we do this on other issues, Senator? I mean the
question begs, what about taxes? What about health care? What about
social security? I mean, the way you have worded this climate change is
real. Climate change is caused by human activities. Climate change is
already caused devastating problems. I mean, it would -- it`s forcing them
to deny the facts.

Well, I mean...

SANDERS: Well Ed, I think...

SCHULTZ: ... it seems to me that on minimum wage, it`s factual that our
economy is not hurt when minimum wage is raised which of course they are
against.

SANDERS: Look, I think you`re right and I think that is exactly what we
have to do. I think -- I am prepared and I think others are as well. For
example, in terms of social security, to bring forth a resolution which
says that the Congress will not cut social security benefits but rather
expand those benefits. They want to vote against that, let them vote
against it.

I think they will be very much in the minority in terms of how the American
people feel if they do.

SCHULTZ: And still on climate change and energy. Senator Ted Cruz is
pushing a measure to end the four-decade old ban on exporting U.S. oil.

Now, who would this -- who would benefit from that number one, and do you
see any real support for ending the ban at this point?

SANDERS: Well, I think we all know who benefits from that. Obviously the
oil companies who can make -- who can earn higher profits by selling their
product abroad will be the people who gain, the people who lose will be the
American people back here in our country will be forced to pay higher
prices for gas and oil. And clearly, you know, that Cruz is saying that`s
he`s interested in protecting the oil industry and the profits of the oil
industry than ordinary Americans.

I hope very much and between you and me, I don`t think that a resolution or
an amendment like that will succeed.

SCHULTZ: And Senator, do the Republicans realize that even if they vote
yes on Keystone and send it to the President, and even have a veto
overwrite that there`s still 100 land owners in Nebraska who were going to
go down the road of eminent domain and block this for at least another two
years. I mean there`s a lot of theater here on this Keystone issue at this
point.

There`s still a lot of legal Heathrow (ph) country to cut through on this.
Your thoughts.

SANDERS: Well, I think you`re right. I think they may not be aware of all
of that. I think that what they want to do is say, see that, the President
is vetoing legislation which creates jobs. And let`s be clear, the
Keystone pipeline creates 35 permanent jobs.

It creates some construction jobs but when we`re talking about an economy
which is creating 250,000-300,000 jobs a month, this is a minimal.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: If you want a jobs program, let`s rebuild our crumbling
infrastructure and put millions of people back to work.

SCHULTZ: Senator Bernie Sanders here on the Ed Show. Sir, thank you so
much. I appreciate it, great amendment. We should call it the in off
amendment too by the way.

Coming up, with former Senator Tom Coburn out of the way, a veteran suicide
prevention bill gets a second chance in Congress. Montel Williams joins me
to discuss. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And our two minute drill tonight, it`s all about the Buckeyes.
I`ll tell you, I`m watching the game last night. I`m thinking if someone
had told me that the Big Ten was going to produce the national champion
this year, I would have, no way. Maybe I had just drunk too much
Southeastern Conference Kool-Aid, I don`t know.

First of all, I`m kind of jaded opinion here. I wish it was eight teams I
do. I know a lot of people of talking about that, but I still think none
of these teams in it were as good as TCU. Now that`s just where I`m at,
but Ohio State, they did it, they`re the champions. They took in the
national champion last night, 42-20 with a win over the Oregon Ducks Ohio
State.

They were ringing the Ducks necks all night long. I mean, physical,
Heisman trophy winner and Quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 333 yards, a
couple of touchdowns, one pick but it wasn`t enough to stop the Buckeyes.

An absolutely solid performance from Ohio State`s Defense along with 296
yards and five touchdowns on the ground got the Buckeyes 42 points to the
win. Not a bad game for the first ever college football playoff
championship game. And there`s no doubt President Obama was watching the
championship game because earlier today, the President had a quick clap
with House Speaker John Boehner from Ohio about the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: To the speaker, I just want
to point out, I said there going to be some things that we agree on.
Having a college football playoff is clearly something that we can agree
on. I called it when I came into office. I think it turned out pretty
well particularly for Ohio so I want to congratulate the Ohio State
Buckeyes for their outstanding victory and commend Oregon as well for
building a great team because their quarterback is from my original home
state of Hawaii.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: I mean President Obama is such a nice guy. He could have turned
to Boehner and said, Boehner, how many Ohio State games have you actually
been too? You play a lot with golf. I think we know who President Obama
was pulling for.

There`s a lot more coming up on the Ed Show. Stay with us. We`ll be right
back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. A very serious issue as we close it
out this evening. Veterans are closer to getting the care they absolutely
deserve and the attention they need. The House unanimously passed
legislation to help prevent veteran suicides. Good bless them.

The Clay Hunt SAV Act was a single-handedly blocked last year by now
Retired Senator Tom Coburn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COBURN, (R) OKLAHOMA: My heart breaks for the people who commit
suicide. You know what it is? They find no relief anywhere else except
death. There`s no answer for them. We don`t give it to them. We have
failed them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The Oklahoma Senator is gone from the Senate but his opposition
did irreversible damage. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 22
Veterans commit suicide everyday. Congressman Tim Walz estimates over 750
veterans have taken their own lives since Coburn blocked the bill. Simply
put we can`t wait another day he said.

The bill requires independent review of suicide prevention programs within
the V.A. and Pentagon. The $22 million bill will also assist Veterans
transitioning out of active duty.

I`m joined tonight by Montel Williams, veterans advocate and Emmy-award
winning television host who has served in the marines in the United States
Navy and has been a steward advocate to get something done on behalf of
Veterans, this very serious issue. You have to be encouraged by the
unanimous vote. Now where`s the Senate?

MONTEL WILLIAMS, VETERANS ADVOCATE: And I am encouraged because I don`t
know if that unanimous vote would have happened have you not given some
eyes for us. Of course this has happen today, tomorrow. We have veterans
across the country and this has really affected our younger generations of
veterans more than any. The 35-year-olds and below, they are thinking what
the heck happened before Christmas that the Congress and the Senate could
leave us in a (inaudible) situation.

Well I say forgive them for they knew not what they did. But understand
that they came back recognizing they had to get something done, if you
didn`t mention on light on this before Christmas I don`t think we would
have got it done. So thank you for that.

And now so what has to happen? Tonight, I got to get people out here
watching right now, they need to get on the phone and tell their Senate --
their senator, you need to put this on the floor tomorrow, you need to put
this on the floor tomorrow. You need to vote on this and pass it so we can
stop the carnage.

SCHULTZ: What will $22 million do? Where does this money go? What will
it do?

WILLIAMS: A couple of things that`s going to do that`s really impressive
is the fact that for the first time we`re going to start being able to
reimburse some college students that are going to college right now who are
studying those specialties that are required to be able to meet the demands
of this in the future.

SCHULTZ: Hands-on experience to help veterans.

WILLIAMS: Yes sir, one. Two, we`re going to set up out sourcing programs
that community needs to get involved. Let me tell you a real quick story.
Everybody knows that I was involved with, you know, Sergeant Tahmooressi
and helping him get out. But people that I left that alone since he was
gone. I had Andrew talk a lot. We tested (ph) today. By the grace of God
I`ve got some members who have and Anheuser-Busch who said Montel, let`s
get that young man to a Super Bowl.

So I`ve got a collection of people coming together to support Andrew.
We`re going to take him to the Super Bowl this weekend. Anybody in the
community can bring together -- what this bill is going to do is ask for
community outreach groups. So that veterans can have people to reach out
to. But we all don`t have to wait for a bill to be signed. We could give
(ph) help veterans ourselves by reaching out on this.

SCHULTZ: And that -- reaching to someone who`s willing to help that`s
involved in this program is a lifesaver because isolation is so important
with these veterans.

WILLIAMS: Yes sir. And we have to have to understand, like right now
seriously if you heard from some of the guys that I heard from when this
bill did not make it to the floor in the Senate they actually were saying
things like, you know, the Congress doesn`t exist, (inaudible)...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: So, and I`ve got a note very recently from a young lady. And I
got to read this to you because this is a Tweet. And she said, this is in
the Marine Times. My husband was one of those marines who took his life.
This bill passing means everything to me. I became a widow at age 34. How
many more widows do we have to wait for?

SCHULTZ: You`re absolutely convinced that if this money is allocated to
the veterans that it will save lives.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

SCHULTZ: That we have this big void right now that deals with -- that we
were not dealing with veterans the way we should. We have all of these
Americans coming back with posttraumatic stress disorder which is at the
doorstep of suicide.

WILLIAMS: Sure. What I believe very strongly, this bill passes, America
recognizes there`s an illness that`s called mental illness among our
troops. This is the beginning. The $22 million is going to save --
tomorrow it`s going to start saving lives the second they pass it. But
it`s going to also put in place the fact that we need to do so much more.

SCHULTZ: If you had a chance to visit with President Obama what would you
say?

WILLIAMS: I would say as we have all these discussions every single day
outlining the threat to the American people. We recognize that we have to
put boots in the ground somewhere to be able to defend this democracy.
Please start today, put in place those things that guarantee once we serve,
leave body parts behind, leave parts of our humanity behind you will invite
us back and embrace us and help heal us. That`s what I want him to know.

SCHULTZ: And do you think Mitch McConnell would give you an audience to
get this on the floor?

WILLIAMS: I`ll -- listen to me and you know me. I would go down to D.C.
tomorrow...

SCHULTZ: It is politics and the Republicans wrapped themselves in the
flank. And they say how they support the veterans. There`s no better
chance than to do it right now unanimously passing in a Republican House.

WILLIAMS: We`ve got Blumenthal, Isakson, McCain, Reid, McConnell all
saying that they support this in a bipartisan way. If they want me to come
down and address them, I`m there tomorrow. Call me.

SCHULTZ: Montel Williams, thanks so much. Montel Williams with us here on
"The Ed Show" tonight. That is "The Ed Show." I`m Ed Schultz. "Politics
Nation" with Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END

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