wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. geoff: good evening. i'm jeff bennett. amna: on "the newshour" tonight, the supreme court rules that states cannot remove former president donald trump from their presidential ballots. geoff: the vice president calls for an immediate cease-fire in gaza as negotiations to release israeli hostages held that's how buck moss continue. amna: and our new series on america's social safety net takes a look at how the system began, the political fights from the last 90 years and where it stands today.

>> a majority of americans, 60%, depending on when you measure and how you measure will , experience poverty at some point in their lifetime. ♪ announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma klorfine and judy and peter blum kovler. >> actually, you do not need vision to do most things in life. yes, i am legally blind and yes, i am responsible for the user interface. data visualization, if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can.

it is exciting to be a part of the team driving the technology forward. i think that is the most rewarding thing. people know, know bdo. >> two retiring executives turned their focus to the greyhounds giving these raised dogs a chance to win. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose and how you give back. life well planned. announcer: the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. the u.s. supreme court ruled unanimously today that the 14th amendment does not allow individual states to remove former president donald trump from their ballots. geoff: in an unsigned opinion, the court said only that congress, not states, can disqualify presidential candidates under the constitution's so-called insurrection clause. the former president celebrated the decision. >> essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way. and it has nothing to do with the fact that it's the leading candidate. whether it was the leading candidate or a candidate that was well down on the totem pole, you cannot take somebody out of

a race. geoff: and william brangham joins us now. so, william, the court was unequivocal. states do not have the power to remove federal candidates from the ballot under the insurrection clause. help us understand how the justices arrived at this ruling. william: remember, geoff, this came out of a group of republican voters in colorado saying that january 6, to their mind, was clearly an insurrection, and that donald trump was the cheerleader of that insurrection. and they cited this section 3 of the 14th amendment, which is, as you mentioned, the insurrection clause. and it argues that, if you have sworn an oath to uphold the constitution and then you engage in an insurrection after the fact, you can't hold office again. and so they appealed that all the way to the colorado state supreme court, and they won. and donald trump was ruled that he has to be taken off the republican primary ballot. the supreme court is what, they overturned that today. and they basically said, you cannot have a system where a lot of different states are making this decision, because it would simply be a sort of ad hoc state-by-state basis.

in their ruling, they said: "for the reasons given, responsibility for enforcing section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with congress and not the states. the judgment of the colorado supreme court therefore cannot stand.” it said states can choose to withhold and withdraw state candidates, not federal candidates. geoff: so, tomorrow is super tuesday. colorado is one of the many states holding a primary tomorrow, but the impact of this decision sweeps far beyond colorado. isn't that right? william: that's exactly right. trump will be on the ballot in colorado. they printed the ballots already and thought, ok, if the ruling comes in the other direction, those votes just won't get counted. that doesn't matter now. as you mentioned, there are over 30 states that were examining some kind of a challenge on 14th amendment grounds to pull donald trump off their ballots. all of those go away now. trump will be on the ballot in all the states. geoff: how did the court deal with a specific question of whether donald trump is an

insurrectionist? william: they didn't. they didn't bring it up in the hearing last month. they didn't bring it up in this ruling. there was some disagreement in the ruling today as to who gets to make that decision and when they make the decision. the four female justices, it was interesting how it split on gender lines here, all four female justices said that the ruling that states shouldn't be able to make this decision should have stood. but kagan, sotomayor and justice jackson all took issue with the further breadth of this ruling, which they argue made it much harder to actually enforce section 3, saying that congress has to write a particular statute in order to enforce a part of the constitution. it's very unusual. these three justices wrote that the other justices crafted this ruling to insulate themselves and donald trump. i'm going to read a little bit of what they said. they wrote, quote, "the majority announces novel rules for how that enforcement must operate.

it reaches out to decide section 3 questions not before us and to foreclose future efforts to disqualify a presidential candidate under that provision. in a sensitive case crying out for judicial restraint, it abandons that course.” they are clearly not happy with this, something to remember when we see all these headlines that this was a unanimous ruling. geoff: and separately, william, allen weisselberg, who is one of donald trump's longest-serving associates, he pleaded guilty today to perjury? bring us up to speed on that case. william: that's right. weisselberg was for almost 50 years donald trump's chief financial guy. he got his start as fred trump's, donald trump's father's bookkeeper. he admitted that he lied under oath as part of, he lied to investigators and on the stand, as part of this big sweeping civil fraud trial that just socked donald trump with nearly half-a-billion dollars in fines. in that ruling, the civil fraud ruling, the judge in that case ruled that weisselberg was central to all of the different fraudulent things that donald trump got up to, banned him from

serving as a financial officer, said he's got to pay back half the $2 million severance that donald trump gave him when he was walking out the door. so now that he's pled guilty to perjury, he could spend a couple of months in prison. notably, in this case, and, all along, and this has been an incredible frustration to prosecutors in this case, weisselberg has never implicated donald trump in any wrongdoing. geoff: all right, william brangham, thank you so much for all of that reporting this evening. we appreciate it. william: thanks, geoff. stephanie: here are the latest headlines. the biggest blizzard in the west so far this winter has moved on after dumping mountains of snow in the sierra nevada. but another, more moderate storm, is piling on. a new round of snow is

blanketing the mountains of northern california, even as residents struggle to dig out from an epic days-long blizzard. hurricane-force winds whipped up snow squalls in the sierra nevada, where some communities were buried under more than seven feet of snow. snowplow driver kyle frankland says his equipment is wearing out. >> the snow is wet underneath and there's about a foot of fresh snow in truckee here, and it's been hectic. i have broken a lot of parts. stephanie: of course, there's also the fun part. >> our dogs are having a blast. our neighbors are having fun. everybody's snowmobiling and skiing in the streets. stephanie: the storm closed ski resorts, but die-hard skiers weren't deterred. >> the storm has been pretty crazy. i have mostly just been hanging out inside. but, today, we're going to go ski some mellow tree lines and hopefully avoid the avalanches. stephanie: after a weekend spent closed, interstate 80 outside lake tahoe reopened today to all

but big rig trucks. an avalanche also briefly closed a separate highway into tahoe. truckee business owner kevin dupui saw only a trickle of customers. >> business has been pretty slow, considering all the roads were shut down and some of the hills were shut down, but we totally get it, because the roads haven't been that safe, so don't really want people driving around. stephanie: utility crews have been working to restore power to thousands of businesses and residents. meanwhile, in the texas panhandle, it's fire, not ice, that's the problem. the largest wildfire in the state's history continues to rage, fueled by strong winds. the smokehouse creek fire is 15% contained. it's one of a cluster of blazes that have already burned some 1,900 square miles around amarillo.

the u.s. supreme court today temporarily blocked a texas law that would allow the state to arrest and deport migrants who enter the u.s. illegally. the biden administration is challenging the law, claiming it interferes with federal law and international affairs. it was set to take effect on saturday. a massachusetts air national guardsmen pleaded guilty today to leaking highly classified military documents online. the 22 year old agreed to serve a maximum of nearly 17 years in federal prison. after the hearing in boston, federal prosecutors said they hope the case and the plea deal send a message. >> jack to shara will never get a snippet of a piece of classified information for the rest of his life. the message goes out to anyone who may be tempted to violate, that there are serious consequences. stephanie: he posted topics on

the social media platform discord. the state department urged americans today to leave haiti as heavily armed gangs attacked the main international airport. late sunday the haitian government declared an after gangs freed thousands of prison inmates, leaving burning tires and open prison doors in their wake. police said an overnight curfew could help them recapture the escapees. in iran results from friday's election show hardliners kept control of parliament but turnout was just 41%, the lowest since the revolution of 1979. it was in part due to an opposition boycott. still, officials rejected american criticism of how the election was conducted. >> if u.s. government officials are concerned about democracies and votes of nations, they should first find a fix for their own country and the health of the election system itself as we are seeing

strange stories and every u.s. election. stephanie: the election was the first since protest rocked -- rocked the country a year ago. lawmakers in france voted overwhelmingly to enshrine abortion rights into the national constitution. president emmanuel macron pushed for that after the u.s. supreme court overturned abortion rights in america. abortion has been legal in france since 1975 and is widely supported. the european union has find apple nearly 2 billion dollars for antitrust violations involving music streaming. the blocks that apple has illegally barred spotify and other rivals from telling users they can save money on subscriptions outside the iphone system. >> for decades apple has restricted music streaming developers from informing their consumers about cheaper options available outside of the app. this is illegal.

it has impacted millions of european consumers. stephanie: apple disputed the finding and said it will appeal the decision. back in this country, jetblue and spirits airlines scrapped plans for a merger valued at 3.8 billion dollars. a federal judge had blocked the plan in january, saying it violated antitrust law. the away to form the fifth largest carrier in the nation. still to israelis who live near the gaza border return home for the first time since hamas' october 7 attack. presidential candidate's make their last push to voters before super tuesday. and much more. announcer: this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in

washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: today -- it came without the authorization of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and negotiations over possible deal that would release israeli hostages. nick schifrin is following all of this and joins us now. let's start with negotiations in cairo. what do we know about how they are progressing, based on your reporting? nick: publicly, both sides are sticking to their longstanding combative positions. israel didn't even send its negotiators to cairo to be part of these negotiations. and hamas says it demands a permanent cease-fire, something that israel has rejected out of hand. but u.s. officials tell me the negotiations continue, and they have made progress with the idea of having some kind of deal before next week, before ramadan begins.

u.s. officials tell me israel has agreed to the outline of a deal that would pause the war for six weeks and release 35 to 40 hostages in the first round. israel would release palestinian detainees, and israel would allow increased humanitarian aid into gaza. now, there are two major sticking points at this point, geoff. hamas refuses to hand over the names of those 35 to 40 hostages they would release in the first round. and israel is pushing back on hamas demands on specifically which palestinian detainees they want released. u.s. officials do believe that the decision point at this point really rests in the hands of hamas. meantime, of course, the humanitarian crisis in gaza continues. those u.s. airdrops we saw right there beginning this weekend will continue. and u.s. officials say they're considering other means to deliver aid, including through a northern point into gaza using private security firms, even, geoff, by the sea. geoff: yes. let's talk more about the u.s. approach, because we mentioned this meeting that happened today between the israeli opposition

leader benny gantz and the vice president, kamala harris. help us understand what led to it and what they actually discussed. nick: yes, u.s. officials tell me that gantz requested this trip. and the people who met gantz today tell me that he's likely here really just to check out where the u.s. stands on all of the issues that israel is dealing with, especially with gaza and the region. and the u.s. priorities, according to kamala harris, who spoke to reporters earlier today, are aid to gaza and the hostage deal. kamala harris, vice president of the united states: far too many palestinian civilians, innocent civilians have been killed. we need to get more aid in. we need to get the hostages out. and that remains our position. and i will tell you that it is important that we all understand that they're, we're in a window of time right now where we can actually get a hostage deal done. we all want this conflict to end as soon as possible, and how it does matters. nick: administration, administration officials tell me that harris is trying to

pressure both hamas and israel to make that deal before ramadan begins. as for gantz, he is leading in israeli polls right now. a and he said over the last few months that perhaps he would be willing to take steps that would bring down the israeli government. but those people i spoke to who spoke to gantz earlier today say he's actually less interested in that and is more interested in trying to get a deal with netanyahu to have an election by the fall. geoff: separately, the u.n. today released a report about sexual violence on october 7. what did it say? nick: yes, this report is horrific. it concluded that there is, quote, "clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against hostages.” and that echoes, of course, what israel has been saying happened by hamas militants on october the 7th in israel. but the report also concludes this, that there are, quote, "reasonable grounds" to believe that such violence may be ongoing to those hostages in gaza right now. israel certainly believes that to be the case.

and israeli officials believe that that may be one of the reasons why hamas is resisting releasing some of the female hostages. geoff: wow. inside southern gaza near israel much of life has been paused, but you have more of the story. >> we filmed in the largest city in southern israel, nearest gaza, on october the 7th, hamas killed at least 50 civilians and 20 police officers. now the government is facilitating families to return and restarting schools. and a warning: some of the images in our report are disturbing to watch. in sderot's hamakif haklali amit secondary school, it's the first day of school for the second time this year. for five months, all of these students and their families have been displaced. and so today's a reunion for boys who can be boys again,

including joseph hi. >> i am very, very, very excited to see the new school year. i'm not so excited to see the teachers. nick: those teachers feel being here is their duty, and mali nesimpour brings additional responsibilities, her two youngest children. she doesn't have childcare, but she felt she had to be here, as we talked about before she returned. mali nesimpour, teacher: i must go do my job. i have responsibility to my students. nick: she made those students responsible for one homework assignment, create cards of the israeli soldiers who've died since october the 7th and the words they lived by. >> love everyone. love every people. nick: ilan abecasis is trying to give a lot of love. he's a history teacher and the vice principal, and he knows what the students have endured. >> they absolutely with the post-trauma, and we are trying

to make educational and routine, but how can you come to, come back to routine when this movie is on your mind? nick: that very real movie of israel's black saturday is enshrined on the school's wall. on october the 7th, hamas terrorists killed 51 people in sderot, including dolev swisa, a former student at the school, and his wife, odaya, a former staff member. that morning, hamas gunmen drove into downtown sderot unimpeded, and odaya swisa ended up in an ambush. a gunman shot and killed her point blank. and in the back seat, their 6- and 3-year-old daughters. police approached, and the 6-year-old asked which side they were on. she tells them she was protecting her little sister. that day, gunmen also killed dolev swisa, leaving the girls orphans. sderot is the closest israeli city to gaza, and hamas left it in flames.

they targeted police vehicles with heavy weapons, left executed bodies on the road. they captured the police station, and they massacred dozens of tourists waiting at the bus stop. today, the bus stop has been cleaned up. a mall has reopened. but the scars are everywhere. this tour is standing on the side of what used to be the police station. and the playgrounds are mostly empty. mali: now the city, it's kind of a ghost. and it's very hard to live like that. nick: nesimpour and her six children evacuated from sderot to three different hotels and homes, ending up in jerusalem. mali: we want our house back. it's not comfortable to live in another house. nick: how does it feel to be back in sderot? mali: the parents in sderot are very, very, very afraid to send their children. our city will be alive.

we will be alive, but we must be patient. we must say that we're under war. the war is not ended. nick: abecasis evacuated his family 175 miles south to eilat, except for his youngest son, who deployed to gaza for a hundred days. abecasis also evacuated what he calls his second family to eilat, his students. he calls himself his students' anchor and hopes that education in the desert or in sderot provides routine and reassurance. ilan abecasis: what does child ask for everywhere in the world? quiet, security, education, run like children in street, like any other child in the world, sderot children too. nick: do you feel safe in sderot? ilan abecasis: personally, yes, i feel safe because i'm sure

that october 7 will not come back again. but i know a lot of people, they don't want to come back to sderot again until the government or someone gives them a promise that this is the last war. nick: but eli butera doesn't believe that promise yet. >> the trust has been gone. we don't trust the government. nick: butera and his wife and daughter have also lived in multiple places since october the 7th. they returned to sderot when his daughter's state-sponsored childcare ran out. he supports the war in gaza, but cannot forgive his own government for a generational intelligence and security failure. eli: they have been ignored all the alerts. there were a lot of alerts that they're going to do it. the government, the army and the intelligence just ignored. the monster needs to die. but who's the real criminal here? nick: for tali levy, those politics can wait, but she remains in a rented apartment. she refuses to return to sderot

because she doesn't think it's safe. >> i have to take out the poison from there. i have to clean it. i can't even, i can't even smell in the house. nick: for months, levy has stayed busy helping others and giving tours to visitors who support israel. but now she feels she needs her own support for post-traumatic stress. tali: i was so strong. i suddenly felt that i'm not good. it's very hard for me to be on the other side, the one that needs help. nick: all she can hope is that, one day, she will feel confident enough to return to sderot and that the city's recovery will also be the country's. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪

amna: it's the final countdown to super tuesday, when voters in 16 states will make their voices heard and a third of all republican delegates are at stake. the two remaining gop candidates both tallied primary wins over the weekend and hit the campaign trail with their sights set on trail trail with their sights set on tomorrow. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. lisa: at wilber's barbecue in eastern north carolina, the food has always been served with a side of politics. >> nobody gets mad if you're talking about politics while you eat because they're too busy focusing on trying to get their bellies full. lisa: the restaurant has hosted its fair share of politicians across its 60-year history, including presidents george h.w. bush and bill clinton. but in the days leading up to super tuesday and the state's presidential primary, the focus has been the next race for president. >> i would like to see donald trump on it. i don't really care about a career politician or somebody that's just going to talk a

bunch of smoke. lisa: in this town hundreds of miles from the u.s.mexico border, immigration is top of mind for some voters. >> i think that immigration is a key issue for most americans right now. and i think that it's a big problem. and the next one would be inflation. a lot of families are suffering because of inflation. lisa: the former president, fresh off a trip to the border, seized on those concerns during a rally in north carolina this weekend. donald trump: our border is an open and gushing wound. lisa: trump railed against the bipartisan immigration deal that he helped demolish last month. he ramped up attacks on migrants and, aware that many voters see him as a threat to democracy, made unfounded accusations trying to pin the idea onto his rival, president joe biden. donald trump: biden's conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the united states of america. lisa: the message resonated with the thousands of trump supporters who lined up outside

hours before he took the stage. >> we're coming to support a man that has been brave enough to withstand all kinds of persecution. and i love him. i don't care what anybody says about him. i freaking love him. lisa: but trump's last remaining republican rival, nikki haley, is staying in the fight, at least for now. >> we defeated a dozen of the fellows. i just have one more i'm trying to catch up to. lisa: the former south carolina governor won her first primary contest yesterday, earning all of the gop delegates in washington, d.c., and making history for a republican woman. she hopes the endorsement of two moderate senators, lisa murkowski of alaska and susan collins of maine, give her momentum heading into tomorrow, when republicans in both states head to the polls. haley has said she's not looking past tomorrow, but if trump is the gop nominee, she opened the door to abandoning her pledge to support the party's choice. nikki haley: at the time of the debate, we had to take it to where would you support the

nominee, and you had to, in order to get on that debate stage, you said yes. the rnc is now not the same rnc. now it's trump's daughter-in-law. kristen welker, moderator, "meet the press": so you're no longer bound by that pledge? nikki haley: no, i think i will make what decision i want to make, but that's not something i'm thinking about. lisa: her campaign's future and, she says, her party's future, are riding on how well she performs on super tuesday. for the "pbs newshour," i'm lisa desjardins. amna: on this super tuesday eve, it's a perfect time for some analysis from our politics monday team. that is amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr, who joins us from raleigh, north carolina. and it's great to see you both. thanks, as always. so, tam, let's start with you. you're there in north carolina. voters there will vote tomorrow. you heard from some republican voters in lisa's piece there, but what are you hearing from democratic voters on the ground about what are the issues that are animating them tomorrow? tamara keith, national public radio: it's really quite interesting. i was at an early voting location in the area in and

around charlotte. and i initially would ask voters coming out of their polling place, what issue are you most passionate about? what is driving you? didn't ask them anything else before that, really was just trying to understand. and the vast majority of the democratic voters i spoke to said that abortion and reproductive rights are their very top issue. and that reflects the view of democrats in the state and also the view of the biden campaign that this is such a hot issue, so front of mind for voters, democratic voters especially here in north carolina because of some changes and some restrictions that have been added in the past year, that they believe that puts this state into play. i spoke with the state's democratic governor today, and he is insistent that, even though no democratic presidential candidate has won the this state since 2008, and it was a narrow margin then, that this state could be in play this time. amna: tam, briefly, and to that

point, the narrow, the margins can be narrow. have you seen any sign of any uncommitted voters in north carolina similar to the ones we saw in michigan? tamara: not in terms of a i protest vote related to gaza. spoke to a bunch of voters early in voting and only one of them even brought up the issue of gaza. certainly, that doesn't mean that i was speaking to a representative sample of voters, but certainly did speak to a lot of voters who are not thrilled about their general election, their very likely general election choices, voters, democratic voters who are concerned about president biden, but who are saying, well, you know, better than the alternative. amna: so, amy, it is the single biggest primary contest day. on the republican side, here is your a look at the latest delegate count, with the last two remaining candidates there. you see 244 for mr. trump, 43 now for former ambassador nikki haley.

look, haley's team has made a big push, right? they just launched a seven-figure ad deal, tv ad deal. she won her first primary in d.c., got key endorsements from both lisa murkowski and from susan collins, two key republican senators there. could any of that, all of that in some way move the needle for her tomorrow? amy walter, the cook political report: no. amy: anyway, no, look, the math is just so, so very hard, not just because these are states where donald trump is polling well, but because of how the rules work, that even if she were able to get 25 or 30 percent of the vote, she's not going to get, in some cases, any delegates or the same number of delegates that you could get on the democratic side. it's just how this works. so, sort of back-of-the-envelope projections right now, if things go as the way that polling suggests they are, by the end of super tuesday, donald trump is

basically 75 percent of the way there in terms of the number of delegates that he needs. (crosstalk) amna: he needs to get to 1,215. amy: he needs to get to 1,215. he would be about 75 percent of the way there after super tuesday. amna: ok. amy: i think the one thing that we do have to appreciate, there's a lot of attention nikki haley, and understandably so, because there's still officially a contest. but i think it's important to appreciate too that donald trump got to this place where he is rolling up these kind of margins and can wrap up the nomination this quickly. i went back and looked where the polls were sitting in april of 2023 or at this point in 2023. less than half of republicans said they wanted to see him as their nominee. and here we are, as i said, so close to him wrapping this thing up. it is quite an important thing to appreciate, not just what the challenger of donald trump is doing, but the fact that he was able to come from such a deficit to where he is now. amna: to be clear, the

mathematical path for haley to 1,215 likely closed after tomorrow. amy: yes. amna: the math is what it is. well, tam, let's talk about something else big that's happening later this week, because, of course, the state of the union address is on thursday. president biden will be every delivering that. and he's got a strong legislative record to talk about, objectively a strong economy to be talking about, headwinds, as you mentioned, on the israel-hamas war front, ukraine aid, immigration, for sure, low enthusiasm. but how do you think the white house is getting ready for this, and how high are the stakes for this particular state of the union? tamara: well, this state of the union is essentially the first big speech of the general election. after what happens on super day tuesday, it's going to be . very clear to many more therevery clear to many more americans than before that this is going to be a rematch between donald trump and joe biden. a lot of people it's a rematch a lot of people don't necessarily want.

it's a rematch that even many ourit's a rematch that even many democratic voters are concerned about. and so the stakes are quite high for this speech because the audience is always so big for a state of the union and because we always talk so much about a state of the union. it's like a, it's a news cycle. it's a big one, and especially because, at the last state of the union, president biden got into this back-and-forth with republicans in the chamber. and he really, like, jousted with them and came out feeling like a winner. and it changed the dynamic of democrats, establishment democrats, who had been questioning, does he have the vitality to run for reelection? after that, those concerns were that might really quieted for many many months. now they're back. and so heading once again into this state of the union after the special counsel report drew attention to the president's age and sort of rekindled those concerns, once again, voters and also more establishment democrats and others are going to be looking at this and saying, does he have the fight? and i spoke to a number of speechwriters and others who

say say, more than the words that he says, it's about whether he shows that he is fighting for about the american people. amy: yes. amna: amy, is this a chance, though, to quiet some of those concerns? amy: well, i think that is correct, and also the blueprint for going forward and the contrast. he obviously, this is an official speech. this is not a campaign speech, but to lay out what the goals would be, not just for the next year, but what really is at stake in the november election in terms of the differences between the path that president biden would like to go and the path that republicans would like to go. obviously, we're also talking about a moment in time where it's pretty clear that congress itself has ceased functioning, doing anything. so, if you're thinking about, as a president, well, what can i your talk about, what will happen in the next year, very little of it is actually going to come through this body that has become paralyzed, so paralyzed. caroline and so i will be very

curious to see if he's drawing that contrast as well between what's happening in congress or not happening in congress and what he would like to see get done. amna: amy, before we go, go speaking of things happening in congress, the battle for who will replace senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is already taking shape, when he steps down from leadership later this year. we know the minority whip, john thune, of south dakota has thrown his hat into the ring. senator john cornyn of texas has said he will pursue that leadership role. it's one of the most consequential battles on capitol hill. amy: yes. amna: how are you looking at that? amy: well, the hardest piece in handicapping this race vs., say, the speaker's race is that the speaker's race is public. you see who's casting their ballot. you do not see that in the race for leader. this is a secret ballot. so people can talk, people can make promises out loud, but you will never know who they actually voted for. so the influence that, say, a donald trump could have or other people could have will be significant. i think the biggest question

beyond that of what, people saying what they actually do, is who the president will be, because, remember, this is an election that will take place after the election, what the makeup of the senate will be, and what those folks would like to see that leader do going forward. that is probably going to tell us more than what they talk about today as they're campaigning. amna: tam, we have only got about 15 seconds left. quick thoughts on this? tamara: yes, well, the big question that i have is that the johns, as they have been referred to, have been loyal lieutenants to minority leader mitch mcconnell. so a question is, will republicans who have been moving away away from mitch mcconnell and towards donald trump want a leader who is closer to mcconnell, or are they going to want to completely shake things up? could the dynamic be upended from anything we're expecting? amna: we will wait and see. tamara keith and amy walter, great to see you both. thank you so much. amy: you're welcome. tamara: thank you.

geoff: tonight, we begin a new you series, america's safety net, on the complicated web of programs meant to help americans in need. over the coming weeks, we will take an in-depth look at the different forms of welfare in the u.s. but, first, with producer sam lane, we're going to spend some time explaining what the american social safety net actually is, who it serves, and how it came to look the way that it does today. the year was 1935. the u.s. was still struggling through the great depression. a quarter of the population was just unemployed, a level the country hadn't seen before and hasn't seen since. that august, as part of his new deal, president franklin roosevelt signed the social security act into law. franklin roosevelt, former president of the united states: to safeguard the security of american workers and their families. geoff: in addition to the retirement benefits it's now known for, the law laid a foundation for the government's

role in programs like unemployment insurance and cash assistance for families. roosevelt called it a cornerstone in the structure which is being built, but is by no means complete. franklin roosevelt: we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family. geoff: in the nearly 90 years since roosevelt signed that law, politicians in washington and in statehouses across the country have argued about the best ways to help americans who live in and near poverty. the disagreements have ranged from the dollar amounts of that assistance to how much it should be tied to work requirements and even to how poverty itself is defined and measured. during his state of the union in 1964, president lyndon b. johnson announced an unconditional war on poverty in america. lyndon johnson former president of the united states: our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.

[applause] geoff: johnson's war included the creation of medicare and medicaid, a permanent food stamp program now known as snap, and the expansion of social security. at about the same time, the government came up with a uniform way to measure poverty by comparing a family's income against a national threshold. in 1959, the poverty rate sat at around 22 percent. by 1973, it had dropped to 11 percent, roughly where it was in 2022, with almost 40 million americans in poverty. but the measure is widely considered imperfect. for example, some say the poverty line, about $31,000 for a family of four, is far too low. so there are other measures that account for things like geography, cost of living, consumption, or how much government assistance a family gets. no matter how it's measured, poverty is often misunderstood, says cornell university professor jamila michener.

>> we tend to think about poverty as more niche and more limited than it actually is. and because of that, we can tell ourselves that people living in poverty are very, very different than people who aren't, that maybe there are some things wrong with them. a reality and something that people don't know is that, if we take a life course perspective, a majority of americans, something approaching 60 percent, depending on when you measure and how you measure, will experience poverty at some point in their lifetime. geoff: wow. jamila: so most people, if you geoff: sixty percent? jamila: or higher. it depends on how we measure it. geoff: is the social safety net, then, adequate in terms of meeting the need? jamila: what i would say from my perspective as a research expert is a resounding no. >> would answer yes. geoff: matt weidinger, a senior fellow at the conservative american enterprise institute, has a different view. he helped create this chart of 80-plus programs from food aid to housing to health care that shows the complexity of the safety net. he says it can be difficult to track the success of specific

but -- >> if you look at nuanced poverty measures that count all the assistance that taxpayers provide, that count the resources that families themselves have from work, from relatives, owning their own homes and all that, the level of poverty in the united states has actually dropped to a relatively low level. geoff: as a congressional staffer, weidinger helped draft the landmark welfare reform law in the 1990s. the legislation followed years of anti-welfare sentiment driven by perceptions of rampant abuse. in his presidential campaigns, ronald reagan popularized the welfare queen stereotype of people cheating the system to collect benefits. by 1994, the number of americans receiving cash assistance did reach its peak at 14 million. so, in 1996, after a pledge to end welfare as we know it, president clinton struck a deal with republicans in congress. it replaced the cash assistance program of the 1930s with temporary assistance for needy families.

it imposed time limits and work requirements on welfare and made states responsible for distributing money. the number of families on welfare plummeted. in the years since those reforms, debates have continued over the size and shape of the social safety net. matt weidinger: i'm much more supportive of a work-based safety net, including because that's what the american people say they want. it's consistent with how people understand the american dream. they don't understand the american dream as being something where the government gives you a big enough check that you can avoid working. they understand the american dream as helping people go to work, lift their family, rise over time. jamila: it's important to make the social safety net, i think, about what it is about, which is supporting people in times of need. and when we try to instead make it about making people work, it can end up not providing them with the support they need, ironically, with the support they need to work. often, we want to do that because there's some sort of principle. we just want to know that people aren't, like, mooching off the state or that they're working sufficiently hard.

geoff: and because the benefits are taxpayer-funded. jamila: yes, although, to be fair, people who are living in or near poverty pay taxes too. if you think about it over the long course, many of us are paying in to the social safety net system and many of us will draw out of that system in our time of need. geoff: before the pandemic, some 99 million americans, 30 percent of the population, used at least one of the country's key safety net programs. altogether, those programs cost the federal government well over $700 billion. and that doesn't include all of the money for things like the affordable care act, which helps tens of millions of americans access health care. when president obama signed the aca back in 2010, it represented the largest expansion of the safety net in decades. still, despite welfare's reach, almost half of american households struggle to make ends meet. and the number is even higher

among black and brown households. over the coming weeks, we will bring you the stories of those families and show you what it's like to navigate america's increasingly complex social safety net. we explore why up to half the people eligible for benefits don't actually receive them. woman: it's very time consuming. they want to know every little penny, every little change in your circumstance. and any of that could affect you. geoff: why it's so hard to access housing assistance, how safety net benefits expanded dramatically during the pandemic and poverty plunged, only to rebound when the policies expired. woman: i felt like somebody started to feel our pain. and then they lost all of that. they forgot all that. and we were, like, hung out to dry. geoff: and what works and doesn't when it comes to alleviating food insecurity nationwide. woman: i was digging through my purse trying to find two pennies just to pay the rest of my snap. i just feel like trash, that i'm here for a free handout, and i'm just nothing to this country.

geoff: this is "pbs newshour"'s special series america's safety net. and you can watch more stories on america's safety net on mondays here on the "newshour," and catch up with the series on our youtube page and web site. amna: more strong stories ahead. we will be back shortly, but first take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. geoff: it's a chance to offer your support which helps keep programs like ours on the air. amna: the gender gap that persist across the highest levels of u.s. government and business also endures in the art world. a male artist see fewer acquisitions and exhibitions, but washington dc's national museum of women in the arts exclusively features work by women.

>> when starting out as an unknown artist in the early 1980's, the work and the artist herself took some by surprise. >> when i was doing proposals for other cities, i would write what i wanted to do and they would be at the airport with my name on a sign and i would get off and they would go, oh, we didn't think you were a woman. and i said oh, you thought i was a man? no, we didn't think you were a man, but we didn't think you were a woman. and i'm like, ok, well, here we are. >> today her sculptures are shown in major resumes around the world, including the newly re--- renovated and reopened national museum of women in the arts in washington dc. they are extraordinarily

labor-intensive, intricate and rich in detail, using a variety of materials. and, they take up space. >> i feel like the work has to be big, and it's all about scale. if this was small and petite, i think it would look goofy. it would look like a little christmas decoration. i'm not into christmas decorations. i want you to feel what that piece felt like to me. i want you to walk up near it and have it there in your space, the same way it felt to me. >> it's a kind of experience this museum seeks. following a two-year, $70 million overhaul, it has opened up his floorplan, enlarged its galleries, and given it the ability to show and hang larger works. and it is an experience with a

very specific mission, says the chief curator. >> we all wanted to make a bold statement about women and their creativity. there are conventional ideas of what women artists are and how their art looks. the statement is that women's creativity doesn't know any bounds or boundaries. >> the museum, the first in the u.s. solely dedicated to women, was founded in 1987 in what had been a masonic temple. ironically, a building from which women were once barred. as the story goes come on visits to your p.m. museums, holiday and her husband environ the work of a 17th century flemish artist, a contemporary of rembrandt. they were shocked to find no mention of her in our history books. now it's galleries are arranged

around showing how women have tackled certain subjects, materials, even colors, over time. artists of the past are connected to contemporaries such as these. >> this is a work by a brazilian artist, and it is sort of inspired by the landscape of rio de janeiro and so forth. in terms of its color and vibrancy and shapes and it weighs 450 pounds. >> your feeling is that people still don't expect this scale of work from women. >> i think it's true. i think there is this idea that women prefer to work or have a proclivity toward working on a smaller, more diminutive scale. we want to blow that idea out of the water with this scale.

>> in the 1980's when the art collective guerrilla girls were creating their direct confrontation advocacy art. art has changed. contemporary american such as sarah z. you are exhibited in galleries and museums around the country, around the world. is it still important for you to have work here in this museum? >> oh, absolutely. >> why? >> think it is said that we have to still have this museum. i am one of the privilege, lucky ones. i am. and maybe because i'm irish and we dig until we die, but all those that are not blessed, and are good, there are so many good

airplay. and it's terrible. so this museum must exist, and i think it shouldn't be the only one. >> resume officials cite da statistics,mning coding a survey of 31 museums that show just 11% of acquisitions and about 50% of acquisitions between 2008 and 2020 were of work by women. >> i've seen changes of the past couple of years and they hav been very encouraging. but i don't know if this is a seachange or if that's his the swing of the pendulum. so our work is still very critical. >> is it possible for you to imagine a day when this museum is no longer needed? >> my hope is that we will reach that day. there will always be a place for us a spine near's, the leaders on this topic as we go forward.

meaning all kinds of equity in the arts. geoff: i'm jeffrey brown at the national museum of women and the arts in washington, d.c. geoff: voters in more than a dozen sites will head to the polls tomorrow for republican and democratic presidential primaries. over one third of all the delegates needed to clinch the nomination are up for grabs and we will be here covering it all. >> candidates prepare for super tuesday. >> he can focus on delivering the future americans deserve. >> i really think it's time now for a country to come together. >> what challenges will president biden face? >> donald trump's campaign is

about him, not america, not you. >> coverage begins tuesday, march 5, at 11:00 p.m. eastern on pbs. geoff: we hope you will join us. that is the newshour for tonight. amna: on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> on an american cruise line's journey, along the columbia and snake rivers, travelers read -- retrace the route forged by lewis and clark more than 200 years ago. american cruise lines fleet of modern riverboats travel through american landscapes to historic landmarks, where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. announcer: the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and

meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendeda fund.org. ♪ supported by the john t and catherine t macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is the "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington, and from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," dan makes julia hot ukrainian borscht,