captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a deep dive into the fight to replace the affordable care act-- what the republicans health care plan americans. also ahead this wednesday: >> this has been seriously damaging to the c.i.a. and its ability to conduct intelligence operations. >> woodruff: we sit down with former c.i.a. director leon panetta to talk about the wikileaks documents and what it says about the nation's top intelligence agency. and, miles o'brien takes us to antarctica, where a growing crack threatens to create one of the largest icebergs in history. >> what we're talking about is a calving of an iceberg that's a

size of a state. to get that, you really need a satellite to be able to see all of it in one shot. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> patagonia. >> xq institute. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention. in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. 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. >> woodruff: the republican bill to replace obamacare has officially begun its journey through congress today. republican leaders and the white house are pushing it, against opposition from conservative critics and powerful lobby groups. lisa desjardins reports on the day's events. >> this is a good day. >> reporter: house speaker paul ryan was soaringly optimistic this morning, defending the g.o.p. healthcare plan that some conservatives have called it "obamacare lite." >> this is what good conservative health care reform looks like. it is bold and it is long overdue. and it is us fulfilling our promises. >> reporter: this as two

committees started slogging through the bill section by section. as democrats and republicans fought over procedure and amendments... >> excuse me, if you would suspend, we're going to move to regular order. >> reporter: if you knew where to look, you could see in the audience signs of the larger battle fully underway. at the energy and commerce committee, we saw representatives of doctors groups, like this woman from the "american academy of family physicians," and of hospitals, like this lawyer whose firm represents several, and of biotech interests companies, including this man from well- known company, genentech. democrats like raul ruiz, who is a doctor himself, are highlighting some of those groups' reactions. >> the american medical association came out strongly against this bill this morning. they are the largest organized group in the country. >> reporter: the a.m.a. specifically said the bill would "result in millions of americans

losing coverage and benefits." another major group, the a.a.r.p., also is opposed, saying the plan would "dramatically increase" costs for people between the ages of 50 and 64. but the u.s. chamber of commerce praised the plan, calling it "absolutely critical" in restoring "health care markets." at the white house, press secretary sean spicer read his own list of supportive groups, and then dismissed the list of doctors and others opposed so far. >> this isn't about trying to figure out how many special interests in washington we can get paid off. it's about making sure that patients get the best deal, that >> reporter: meantime, multiple analysts have concluded the g.o.p. bill will leave millions more without health coverage. spicer responded to that by questioning a main arbiter, the non-partisan congressional budget office, which has not yet released its estimate. >> if you're looking at the c.b.o. for accuracy, you're looking in the wrong place. they were way, way off last time, in every aspect of how they scored and projected obamacare.

>> reporter: spicer said the white house will begin a full- court press on the bill. that started late this afternoon as president trump met with conservatives. republicans in congress are aware that they have critics on the left and within their own camp on the right, but are not yet showing any sweat. >> this is just the beginning of the process and this is the way legislating takes place. >> reporter: it is a tedious but important week-- house committees may take until friday to work through the bill. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins at the u.s. capitol. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, heavily-armed gunmen disguised in white lab coats stormed a military hospital in kabul, afghanistan and killed at least 30 people. the islamic state group claimed responsibility. footage from the scene showed afghan soldiers rushing to the complex as helicopters landed on the roof to rescue trapped victims. the fighting lasted for hours. meanwhile, two suicide bombers

in iraq killed at least 23 people at a wedding party. the u.s. military publicly accused russia today of deploying a land-based cruise missile that violates a nuclear arms treaty. air force general paul selva is vice chairman of the joints chiefs of staff. he told a house hearing that moscow broke the "spirit and intent" of a 1987 agreement, in a bid to pressure the u.s. and its allies. >> the system itself presents a risk to most of our facilities in europe, and we believe that the russians have deliberately deployed it in order to pose a threat to nato and to facilities within the nato area of responsibility. >> woodruff: the obama administration had previously accused russia of breaking the treaty. the kremlin has rejected the u.s. complaints. this was international women's day, and in the united states, a "day without a woman." organizers called for women to

stay off the job and protest for pay equity and against a ban on funding international groups that offer abortions. it is a follow up to the mass marches after president trump took office. we'll have a full report, later in the program. firefighters battling wildfires in the plains made some headway today as winds that had fanned the flames eased slightly. the fires continued to burn across four states: kansas, oklahoma, texas, and colorado. they've killed at least six people so far, and burned more than a million acres of land. in guatemala, at least 19 girls died today in a fire at a shelter for abused teenagers. police said some of the teens set fires to protest overcrowding. in the aftermath, relatives gathered outside the government- run center near guatemala city, demanding answers. >> ( translated ): it was lit, i don't know what it was, but mattresses were lit, since last night. there are many children who have burns.

19 are dead. they haven't given us an explanation, and they don't let us go in. >> woodruff: the facility has been criticized for overcrowding and other problems. the u.s. department of veterans affairs is moving to offer mental health care to vets who received less-than-honorable discharges. secretary david shulkin made the announcement at a house hearing last night. it is part of a new effort to prevent suicides. pentagon data indicates thousands of former service members could be affected. los angeles mayor eric garcetti has won a second term, easily beating ten rivals in tuesday's election. just 250,000 voters turned out in the nation's second-largest city. garcetti, a democrat, claimed 81% of the vote, and said it's a victory for an all-inclusive ideal. >> everybody, regardless of their religion, regardless of their race or ethnicity,

regardless of their legal status, regardless of whom they love, regardless of where they come from, is a part of this los angeles dream and always will be, as long as i am your mayor. >> woodruff: under garcetti, downtown los angeles has seen a rebirth, but the city's poverty and homeless rates remain high, and violent crime has risen for three years running. f.b.i. director james comey says he means to serve his entire ten-year term. in a boston speech today, he joked, "you're stuck with me for about another six and a half years." comey became a lightning rod over his handling of the hillary clinton email investigation last year. and last weekend, he urged the justice department to reject president ump's claim that president obama tapped his phones. china has approved 38 new trademarks for the trump family company. the announcement today covers an array of potential enterprises-- from hotels, to golf clubs, to a class of businesses that includes escort services.

trump organization lawyers applied for the trademarks last april. china also reports it ran a trade deficit last month, for the first time in three years. it could signal improving economic growth. meanwhile, wall street mostly gave ground today. the dow jones industrial average lost 69 points to close at 20,855. the nasdaq rose three points, and the s&p 500 dropped five. still to come on the newshour: a former c.i.a. director on what the wikileaks documents mean for the agency; women show their economic strength by striking across the nation; how a growing antarctic rift could create one of the biggest icebergs in history, and much more. >> woodruff: yesterday's

wikileaks dump of documents was yet another major breach of classified information inside u.s. intelligence services. hari sreenivasan picks up our story. >> sreenivasan: today, the story about intelligence leaks advanced on multiple fronts. reuters reported intelligence officials have known about the security breach since last year, and are focused on contractors as the likeliest source of the leak. and, white house press secretary sean spicer said president trump is extremely concerned about the breach. for more on all of this, we turn to leon panetta. he served as c.i.a. director and defense secretary during the obama administration. mr. panetta, first, what's happening in the c.i.a. right now? if it's a mole, how do they find him, if it's an inside job, him or her? ear if it's from the outside, how do we figure out where we were hacked? >> well, i think the more important issue is going to be how do you replies those important tools that will have now been made public and try to

reestablish our intelligence capability so we can gather the information that is absolutely essential in order to protect our country. this has been seriously damaging to the c.i.a. and its ability to conduct intelligence operations. so i would imagine the first focus is on what do we do to try to replace our ability to go after terrorists? >> sreenivasan:, you know, we had chelsea manning from the army. we had edward snowden and harold martin from the flrk n.s.a. weren't there reforms taken after these things? why didn't they work? >> you know, i'm sure there were steps taken to try to make sure that this would not happen, but we are, clearly, living in a world in which the ability to hack has developed to a point where i happen to think that,

that probably anything is vulnerable today. so i think you try to take steps to try to protect that kind of sensitive information, try to do what you can to make sure that those who are working for you are taking steps to protect it, contractors are taking steps to protect it. but the bottom line is that in today's world, i think you always have to be prepared that somebody may very well be able to get access to that kind of information. and if they do, that they will make it public. i think that's the world we live in right now. >> sreenivasan: you know, i think it caught a lot of people by surprise that the c.i.a. has such an extensive hacking operation. don't we have the n.s.a. for that? why is the c.i.a. doing this? >> well, the c.i.a. does it for intelligence gathering purposes abroad. it's not done here in the united states. it's done abroad. and for that reason, the c.i.a. has to develop the capabilities

that it has developed in order to be able to track those that are known suspects of terrorism. you know, we went through 9/11. there was a national commission that was established to find out why we were attacked on 9/11. and the result of that is that the c.i.a. and other inlligence agencies develop better capabilityes and to go after terrorists and to try to locate them. there is a reason we have not had another 9/11 attack in this country, and a lot of that is because our intelligence agencies, our law enforcement agencies have sharing information and gathering information that makes sure we protect the united states. >> sreenivasan: speak of sharing information, back in 2010, when you were still c.i.a. director, the obama administration said they would share zero-day vulnerabilities, those hacks that are core in pieces of software, like in an apple iphone or an android

operating system with the technology companies. but here, we have evidence that the c.i.a. has hoarded a lot of those zero-day vulnerabilities and really violated that trust. >> well, i have to tell you, at least in my time as director of the c.i.a., that we had a very good relationship with silicon valley and with high-tech companies, and, you know, we had a cooperative relationship. obviously, they have their interests, and we respect that. they are dealing with privacy issues, and we respect that as well. but in the end, all of us are concerned about being able to ensure that we are able to go after terrorists, that we're able to detect when they are planning attacks on this country and elsewhere, and that we are able to take steps to protect this country. and i think what we have to do is make sure that we get back to that kind of cooperative

relationship. >> sreenivasan: the thing that has a lot of people concerned is when you keep these zero-day vulnerabilities to yourself and you don't tell apple or you don't tell google, or you don't tell microsoft, hey, there's a hole in your software, that means identity thieves and others could be using this. i think there's general discomfort, to put it mildly, with consumers who say, "wait a minute, i thought that my product was safe, but here i don't necessarily know whether it's even my government's look out for my best interests." >> well, again, i think the fundamental issue that's involved here is whether or not we want our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies to be able to protect our country. and i know that there are-- there's often this debate about are we going to be able to protect our security and our freedoms at the same time? i believe we can. i don't think we have to make a choice on that. the reality is that what the

c.i.a. has done in terms of its capabilities and what it is able to do is done pursuant to the law and is done pursuant to oversight by the congress and by the intelligence committees will on the hill. they are fully aware of what capabilities the c.i.a. has, and that is the way we try to protect our freedoms at the same time. >> sreenivasan: former defense secretary and former head of the c.i.a., among many other things, leon panetta, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: at least 13 protestors were arrested in new york city today, as strikes and rallies unfolded across the globe in the name of women. international women's day became

"a day without women" in some american cities. thousands stayed away from work and took to the streets-- partly to demonstrate contributions that women make to the economy. >> woodruff: in washington, a march to the white house targeted the reinstatement of the so-called "global gag rule." it denies foreign aid to groups that provide abortions or related services. >> this is about denying health providers from providing healthcare-- just information about women's options and choices >> woodruff: overall, the marches were smaller than the one million or so who turned out after president trump's inauguration, but leading women in congress appeared outside the capitol dressed in red, the color associated with the labor movement and today's strike.

california democrat barbara lee pushed back against criticism that only privileged women could afford to stay home. >> we also recognize that there are millions of women are unable to walk out because they might get fired, or cannot afford to lose their meager incomes. so we walked out for them, too. >> woodruff: teachers at the washington rally said much the same-- as the strike forced some school systems to close, leaving families to find last-minute child care. >> i think there's power in numbers. and i happen to work for a school district that had to close yesterday because we took leave. so i think that if we keep fighting for stuff like this and stand our ground, then change can come. >> woodruff: later, another crowd rallied at the department of labor, calling for pay equity and other rights, at a time when american women earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. president trump tweeted a

general statement of support this morning. "i have tremendous respect for women"-- he said-- "and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy." and, first lady melania trump and the president's daughter ivanka hosted a small white house luncheon in honor of the day. meanwhile, protests played out internationally, from mexico city, to istanbul, turkey. for more on the women's movements, and what today's events represent, we turn to farida jalalzai, author of the book "shattered, cracked and firmly intact: women and the executive glass ceiling worldwide." she teaches political science at oklahoma state university; and rebecca traister, writer-at- large for "new york" magazine and author of the book "all the single ladies: unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation." and we welcome both of you to the program. i'm going to start with you, farida jalalzai.

what do you think today's protests marches say about the state of the women's movement in this country right now? >> i think it states that it's essentially strong. it's burgeoning. i think it's a moment that women have seized on to say, "we're not going to just stop the post-inauguration activities. we're here. we're trying to build on momentum, and we're trying to bring to the floor lots of different issues that are about women's empowerment," but in many ways it's larger than that. so i'm very optimistic, from what i've actually seen as an academic, thinking that it could have just been a point that fizzled. and i'm seth that there's this building of strength and even conversations that we're having today that we wouldn't have had a year ago, actually. i'm very-- i'm surprised and pleasantly so. >> woodruff: rebecca traister, you're nodding your head. what is it about today? i mean, there were marchs in some places, not everywhere. what did it say? >> well, i think-- i think it says that the kind of mass

reaction and mass resistance that we saw in such huge numbers in january is-- it remains, that women are engaged politically, that they're interested in working together. as farida said, these are not issues we're seeing anything g.m. as compartmentalized. you had a reproductive demstration a wage demonstration. this is in cons wert women who have been striking around the world. there is history of this strike and this movement around the world. this is the united states working in solidarity with women globally, which is new, on this scale. and i think what you're seeing is women in huge numbers participating in political resistance and raising their voices in ways that we have not seen in decades in this country. and it wasn't a one-off in january. you see another mass uprising today. >> woodruff: at the same time, farida jalalzai, what percentage of american women are

represented by something like what happened today? we know not every woman's views are represented here. >> you're not going to represent everybody's views, but i don't think that the conversation has been limiting at all in terms of being more broad. in fact, i think it's just been the opposite where when you look at the leadership, say, for example, of the women's march in d.c. this was led by and it spoke to lots of diverse women. and if we can't capture all women, you know, that's something that it can't be disappointing because there's no way that we could capture every single heart and mind of every single woman. but that it's i think more broad than what we would maybe expect it to be, maybe limited to maybe while the, privileged upper class women. it's not. the discussion and i think the representation has actually been much broader, and in many respects, it's because the demands have been there for it to be drawd broad.

>> woodruff: rebecca traister, how much room is there in the women's movement for debate and discussion around questions like pay equity, equal rights for women, and all of its interpretations? >> well, the women's movement itself has always been, by definitionica calfinous, full of dissent. it's been motivated by dissent. in part it's because it's a majority movement. when you talk about women's liberation, or women's equality, you're talking about the liberation and equality of more than half of our population. and when you try to organize around a majority, what you get is an enormous array of perspectives, experiences, races, classes, economic positions, and, of course, if you're going to try to work on a movement that extends to represent all those different positions and perspectives, it's going to be full of dissent, and differ people thinking we should operate in different ways. that's a sign that the movement is healthy, and i think it is. the fact that there is dissent

within those-- the-- amongst the people who are participating is a sign that people are engaged and feel passionate about taking a hand in what direction we're going to go. the fact that women oppose it, as well, you know, that there are conservative women, we wouldn't have had patiaal power structures if there weren't women there to support it. that's nothing new. there are always going to be women who in some way disagree about the direction that women's rights should go. >> woodruff: farida jalalzai, both of you are suggesting the women's movement today say movement that evolved since the 1960s and 1970s. how do you measure success for the kinds of statements these women today are making? >> that's a really difficult question to answer but i'll give it my best shot. measuring success, sustained activity, asking, claiming different aspects of representation beremented fully, be represented fully. i think a lot of it is raising a

lot of these policy areas and being broad, and not just focusing on even women's empowerment, but how do you empower marginalized groups? and part of it does have to, i think, in some ways, be linked to the political elites. un, there's a lot to be gained from mass movements, and i would like that to also be in accordance with more women running and attempting to be the lawmakers. and i have this belief that when you have women towards make the bottom end as citizens who are articulating demands, they also want to see greater representation of women within political-- the political realm as policy makers. and to me that's the success, the sustained conversation, the policies that are ultimately proposed and hopefully passed. and, also, the ways that we can say the diversity amongst public officials has broadened, to including cld people of different genders and races. >> woodruff: rebecca traister,

what about that? how do you measure-- clearly part is getting more women elected with these views. >> more women elected, more women running, more women participating in the process. and the other half of that, which we have seen in unprecedented ways, not in my memory i have seen so many people participating in the act was political resistance, not just the demonstration but calling and writing representatives, finding out about policy and legislation. i have never seen so many people, women and men, as political plilly engaged as they should be. and we can see some of the fruits of that being brought to bear. we see public officials being hesitant on health care reform. you know, on repealing obamacare. a month another i would have sat here and told you that's going to be the first-- they've been promising they're going to repeal it. it's a bad exwrd. the number of people calling their representatives and saying, "don't do this," holding town halls. and that has been enabled by the women's movement, because the success of the marchs and protests like this are making

people feel like, "wait, i want to be a part of this movement that resists this power structure." >> woodruff: well, we see a lot of energy what's going on. >> that's the crucial thing. >> woodruff: it's a snapshot. we'll continue to watch. rebecca traister, farida jalalzai, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: a closer look at the details of the republican plan to replace obamacare; and, a new exhibit explores america's enduring fascination with poet emily dickinson. but first, there's a giant crack in an ice shelf of the antarctic. that's been the source of much attention this winter, and is raising new concerns over the larger stability of the ice there. miles o'brien has the story, the focus of this week's "leading edge." >> reporter: if glaciology is

all that it is cracked up to be, this long, fast growing rift in the antarctic ice is a huge iceberg in the making, one of the largest ever seen-- about the size of delaware. welcome to the larsen c ice shelf, teetering on the edge of breaking away from the glacier. so we've known about this for quite a while, right? >> we've certainly known about the bulk of this rift for a while, it's this accelerated propagation that's really new. >> reporter: it's moving fast. >> moving fast. >> reporter: kelly brunt is a glaciologist at the university of maryland and nasa's goddard spaceflight center. she used a wall of monitors there to show me the growing rift, fueled in part by rising air and sea temperatures. if the glaciers in west antarctica all dropped into the water, global sea level would rise by more than 15 feet. brunt showed me the big picture, a composite of images from several satellites. this is how the glacier ice

flows, here. >> ice flows from the center of the continent out to the edges, much like syrup on the center of your pancake flowing towards the edges. and you can see there are areas where it's moving pretty slowly, and then there are areas where it's moving very quickly. and those quick places are generally in our areas of ice shelves. >> reporter: so, when we think about ice, we think about something static. it's not static, is it? >> not at all. actually, it's highly dynamic. you can see from this image, it looks to me a lot like a river system. >> reporter: ice shelves are connected to the glaciers that sit on land, but they are also floating, like ice cubes in a glass of water. >> if you have a drink with ice cubes in it, as this ice cube melts, they don't add to the height of the water in the glass. so when ice shelves break down and collapse, they do not have a direct impact on mean sea level rise. however, they've an indirect effect.

these ice shelves buttress the flow of the ice upstream, the ice that's flowing into the system. and when you lose that buttressing force, you allow the upstream glaciers to flow faster, and that is an addition to mean sea level. so that's similar to putting more ice cubes into the glass and letting those melt. >> reporter: ice falls off the edge of glaciers all the time. it is part of a natural process called "calving". kelly brunt says it is important to judge the size of the piece that breaks off, relative to the size of the glacier that is behind it. she says your fingernails offer a... handy... model. >> if you break your fingernail, inside the white part of your fingernail, you probably don't think much of it. if you break it below the white part, you put a band-aid on it, you think about it and you keep an eye on it. if you lose your whole fingernail, i don't know what happens. it's pretty catastrophic. this represents losing the whole fingernail. >> reporter: like so many features in antarctica, the larsen ice shelf is named for a famous 19th century explorer.

and it is disappearing, section by section, identified by letters. larsen a disintegrated in 1995. and in 2002, a series of satellite images captured the end of larsen b in dramatic fashion over the course of six weeks. the piece that broke off was the size of rhode island. >> losing ice that represents roughly the state of rhode island in a month and a half just far exceeded anybody's expectations of what could happen in the time scale that it could happen. >> reporter: so, it was kind of like, we have to rethink things here a little bit. i mean, this is a wakeup call. >> this was absolutely a wakeup call. >> reporter: scientists track the ice using a half dozen u.s. and european satellites, including landsat, which gathered these images. but some of their best data came from a satellite called icesat. launched in 2003, it ceased operation in 2009. it precisely measured the

glaciers using laser beams. >> this is quite a few years of icesat data merged together to get a sense in meters per year how our ice sheet is changing. and you can see the big picture here is that our ice sheets are changing where they are in contact with both our warming atmosphere and a warming ocean. so, it's basically along the fringe of the continent. >> reporter: when icesat failed, nasa started tracking the ice using radar and lasers on-board low flying aircraft. the ice bridge program is nasa's largest air campaign ever, but it still could not match the eye above the sky. it goes without saying that you would view these satellites the capability to look at these is essential? >> what we're talking about is a calving of an iceberg that's a size of a state. to get that, you really need a satellite to be able to see all of it in one shot. it's a function of scale and repeatability to go back and look at that area again with the

satellite that makes these the perfect tools for looking at the large scale change that we're seeing in this region. >> reporter: next year, nasa plans to launch a new and improved satellite to watch the ice. most likely, the larsen c ice shelf will be long gone by then. as the climate warms, there is no end in sight to the steady loss of ice here. miles o'brien, the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: now, a closer look at what could change if the affordable care act, often referred to as obamacare, is repealed and replaced. the battle is expected to last through the spring, or longer. tonight, we are starting an occasional series on the potential impact if the current republican leadership plan becomes law. first up: the tax credits that

go to uninsured people to enable them to buy coverage. to qualify under the current law, this is dependent on your income and where you live. the republican bill is shifting that criteria. income matters, but age is much more crucial to get a refundable tax credit. some people over 60 could qualify for $4,000 a year; those between 40 and 50 years old could qualify for $3,000 a year; people under 30 could get $2,000. here's the chairman of the house ways and means committee, kevin brady, talking about the republican approach. >> i think a key element of the tax credit is that it is really targeted and tailored to the individual. it is immediately available to them. it grows and increases with age because your health care costs go up as you get older. >older. >> woodruff: i'm joined by julie rovner of cielzer health

news. welcome back to the the program, julie. why did the republicans decide to change these criteria? >> one of the problems with the existing credits is not enough young, healthy people were signing up. so this is an effort to say we want to get more young, healthy people into the pool, and now while the credits are smaller for younger people, they're also going to reduce their premiums by changing how insurers can charge. right now, insurers can only charge three times as much for older people as younger people. they're going to make that five times as much. so that's going to make premiums much less expensive for the younger people-- hence, even the smaller tax credit gl further. >> woodruff: so how much is this expected to change the group of people who then will be able to be eligible for the tax credit? >> well, it's not entirely clear. it's going to change who are winners and losers. older people will, obviously, have to pay more, even though they guest gettwice as big a tax credit, they could be charged five times as much in premiums. so it's not at all clear that it's going to entice that many

more younger people to join up. republicans also wanted to scale back how complicatedly the tax credits are under the current affordable care act, and this would definitely do that. >> woodruff: do we have a way of knowing how much premiums would change in cost? >> well, we don't, other than the facts that premiums could change for a lot of different reasons. but one of the important things here is that premiums vary by where you live because health care costs different amounts in different parts of the country. so if you live in a low-cost part of the country, that same flat tax credit would go much further than if you live in a much movie expensive part of the country. the current affordable care act tax credits take that into account because they take into account how much insurance costs in your area. these are not. >> woodruff: so that geography issue is another significant change here. >> that's right. it's really the way it all acts together. it's not just the tax credits. it's the tax credits, plus what they're based on, plus how old are you, plus where you live, and a little bit of income. the affordable care act tax credits are based almost

exclusively on your income. they basically say you only have to spend a certain percentage of your income to afford health insurance. that's not what these tax credits would do. the republicans hope there would be insurance available that would match or at least almost match these tax credits so people could afford to buy coverage. >> woodruff: we see, julie, among the more conservative republicans they are still unhappy with this approach. >> they are very unhappy. they call it obamacare lite. they are tax credits to. and they say it's a new entitlement and why should they vote fair new entitlement if they were going to repeal the old one. >> woodruff: and the leadership defense of it is? >> they don't want to throw people off of their coverage. there are a lot of people who got coverage based on the existing tax credits. there might be different people who could afford insurance on the new tax credits but at least they wouldn't be taking them away and telling everybody, "we're not going to be giving you any help anything g.m. you're on your own."

>> woodruff: quickly, julie, under this new proposal, would there be a lapse in coverage, some kind of penalty? what is in there to protect people now covered. >> unlike the mandate requiring people to have coverage or pay a telpenalty, if you have a lams f more than 63 days and sign up again you have to pay 30% more a year. so there would be a pltd when you re-up instead of a penalty for not having coverage. >> woodruff: julie rovner, thank you. and next time we're going to take a closer look at the medicaid changes proposed in the american health care act. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a look at a new exhibit about emily dickinson. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station.

>> woodruff: finally tonight on this international women's day, she is as beloved as ever. and now, the poet emily dickinson is getting even more attention and a new look: in books, online, on film and a major museum exhibition. jeffrey brown reports from new york. >> reporter: she is at once among the most known and most mysterious of american cultural figures: emily dickinson, subject of an exhibition at the morgan library and museum in new york titled, "i'm nobody, who are you...", the first line of one of her most famous poems. who was emily dickinson? scholar marta werner offers this:

>> she is a constant summons to me to think about language and its preciseness. and not only its preciseness, but its power. >> reporter: here, visitors can listen to readings of the poems... while examining remnants of a circumscribed 19th century life lived almost completely in one town: amherst, massachusetts. the only known painting of dickinson as a child with her siblings, a daguerreotype of her as a young woman-- the only authenticated photo of the poet. there's also a lock of her auburn hair; a replica of cut and pressed botanical specimens; and another of the rose wallpaper in the bedroom to which she retreated in her later years. this exhibition, with some 100 rarely-seen items, is eager to present a different, fresh take

on dickinson. curator carolyn vega: >> the stereotype that was attached to her very early on of this total recluse, of this woman in white who never left her bedroom, who penned these amazing verses, like in a vacuum almost, in total seclusion, has really stuck to her. >> reporter: you're fighting that? >> yes, we're just bringing it into context a little bit. >> reporter: this emily dickinson engaged with her times-- including the civil war years-- through her reading and a constant correspondence with friends, leading thinkers, and others. often, she sent poems, in part or whole-- sentences, stanzas and entire poems written on scraps of paper and envelopes, even chocolate wrappers. a new book, "envelope poems," as well as the recent "the gorgeous nothings," document this aspect of her work. >> by god, she broke the glass ceiling. in poetry! emily dickinson is like a beacon

of verbal power that will not be silenced. >> reporter: for susan howe, a leading contemporary poet and dickinson scholar, the powerful voice of dickinson is best heard and seen in these original manuscripts-- the unusual line breaks, alternative word choices, poems as virtual works of art. >> ultimately, she leads me to the fundamental mystery of all poetry, which is the relation between the ear and the eye. every mark on paper is an acoustic mark. dickinson breaks down the barriers between poetry, prose and ear and eye. >> reporter: marta werner, a former student of howe's who is now a leading expert on dickinson's manuscripts, showed me one--

>> and as the poem unfolds, all right, the way that the writing almost stumbles, right, performs that hindering of time, right? but you're seeing, to some extent, the mind thinking. >> reporter: the first editions of dickinson's poetry came out only after her death in 1886, and from the beginning, editors ignored her idiosyncrasies and formatted her writings into a more conventional style. she wrote some 1,800 poems, but only ten were published, in newspapers, during her lifetime. >> it's unsigned, it's anonymous. her name, you know, never appeared in print during her lifetime with any of her poems. its dropped in the middle of this column. what comes after it is a little piece on how to use chloroform! >> reporter: dickinson was thought to be reticent about seeing her work-- as well as her image-- in public, so we can only wonder what she'd think of "a quiet passion," a film due in

april, starring cynthia nixon. but there's no denying the continuing fascination with the woman and love of her work, as as at marathon readings put on by the library of congress, and and the restoration underway of her amherst home. and now, both scholars and everyday fans have access to a trove of original manuscripts and more online-- digitized from the collections of amherst college, harvard university and the boston public library. for marta werner, the power of dickinson's poetry goes beyond professional scholarship to the deeply personal: to her father,

who, as he was dying, shared poems with his daughter. >> it was his idea. he started to write me letters. and then he would ask me to send back my list of poems, and so, it was an extraordinary thing. >> reporter: the enduring power and mystery of one of america's greatest poets. from the morgan library and museum in new york, i'm jeffrey brown, for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: acclaimed writer jonathan franzen pays tribute to paula fox, a prize- winning author for adults and children alike, who died last week at age 93. franzen talked to jeffrey brown about finding inspiration in her work and their friendship. all that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour.

and that's the newshour for >> a quick correction. in the report on the new republican health care bill, we misidentified a woman in the audience at today's congressional hearing as from the american academy of family physicians. we apologize for the error. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening, making sense of how testoterone and anger are indicators of c.e.o. success. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> patagonia. >> bnsf railway. >> xq institute.

>> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at www.rockefellerfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> 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 sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> you're watching pbs. and my friends have painted. and we'd sit down and paint, kind of therapeutic for me to just talk. it made me feel happy. just paint. of healing as a community-- people are here for other received stars previous in their community, to us in san bernardino. sending, basically, hope. i never thought that this is going to doctor's appointments