captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the first missed paychecks. 800,000 federal employees go without pay, as the shutdown ties the record for the longest in u.s. history. then, an on-the-ground look at how border patrol agents in arizona are responding togr ants seeking asylum. >> once you see those individuals crossing over the border wall, there's not much you can do to stop it. you can't go up to them and tell them, "you have gback." you can't physically force them to go back. so all we can do is just ing topate what's go happen next. id>> woodruff: plus, it's y. mark shields and david brooks analyze the alemate in washington, with no deal in sight. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> wdruff: the partial government shutdown has now dragged on for three full weeks, with nlegislative compromise in sight. even so, president trump signaled that he otiset ready to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall. white house correspondent miche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: no compromise. no payday. at was the reality on day 21 the government shutdown. onwith washington negotia stalled, hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed theirs first paychece the shutdown began. joanna mcclela has been furloughed from the department of homeland security's customs and border protection agency. >> almost everybody in my office that i've talked to has expressed that they are really woied about their making payments. i'm having ot defer my student loans. so this is just-- it's an untenable situation. >> alcindor: today, congress passed a bill to ensurral

workers get back pay after the shutdown ends. but, thousands of private contractors who work on federal projects, will not. even if a deal is reached on, federal workers won't be paid until january 25. that will mean almost a full month without pay. at a jobs ugfair for furd workers in fairfax, virginia today, anxiety set in. >> we don't have any idea as to when we're going to be able to start ck up, so that makes it very challenging, with the ongoing expenses and all the bills at the keep coming in, and it's a real tough time. >> alcindor: t.s.a. agents are among the nearly 400,000 federal workers quired to work during the shutdown. the miami international airport was forced to close a terminal because of agents calling out sick at twice thnormal rate. today, the national air traffic controllers association filed a lawsuit, saying workers have been unlawlly deprived of y. meanwhile, across the country, the shutdown impacts are setting in. at the department of housveg and urban pment, some rental assistance programs have been suspended.

at t department of agriculture, some farmers have been unable to secure loans or bailout chec,eant to alleviate the economic costs of the trump administration's trade war with china. at the white h,ouse tod president trump again said he will not re-open the government unless hnge gets funor a border wall. >> we have a country that is being invaded by criminals, and by drugs, and we're going to stop it. the only way to stop it--ou wiquestion-- is with a very powerful wall. or steel barrier. i don't care what they name it. but we need oney for that barrier. >> alcindor: at a roundtable onr boecurity, the president said he is not in a rush to declare a national emergency, thatould let him use defense funds for the barrier. >> congress should do this. if they can't do it, if, at somn they just can't do it-- this is a 15-minute meeting-- if they can't do it, i will declare a national emergency.

i have the absolute right to do it. >> alcindor: on twitter today, the president insisted again that tough the new trade deal with mexico and canada, mexico will pay for the wall. . trump claimed that billions of dollars in new trade "pays for the wall many times over!" but that is misleading. first, the new tra deal does not add new tariffs on mexican . trade experts don't expect a sudden increase in money from mexican exporters. second, trading is done mostly by private individuals and companies, not the u.s. government. ird, congress has yet to approve the new trade deal, which means it is not curntly in effect. on capitol hill, president trump's shutdown strategy is dividing republicans. >> shutting down the government is not governing. nobody is winng in this.la >> alcindor:a's lisa murkowski is one of a handful of

senate republicans who say they will support legislation passed by house democrats to re-open the government piece by piece, without a wall >> let's do what we need to do when it comes to ensuring the security of our nation d our borders. let's navigate those issues. but let's not hold hostage goodh men and womeare working hard to keep us safe every day through the basic functions of government. >> alcindor: but, senate reblican majority leader mitch mcconnell is blocking that effort. he said he won't bring up any bills unless president trump will sign the rm. but ublicans held firm, so did speaker of the house nancy pelosi. >> spending money on whatever that is that the president is describing it now as, is an opportunity cost for doing what we know will work to secure our border-- all of our borders. >> aindor: with no end sight, tomorrow the partial governmewint shutdow become the longest in u.s. history.

>> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now. so, yamiche, as we have been reporting, this is the first time today hundreds of thousands of fedeerral gent employees will not get a paycheck. how is the white house addressing this? >> the presideg is tell workers i feel your pain, i hope you get some help, but, ysentially, i am rea concerned about this border security and that is my primary thconcern. president today was asked about whether or not federal workers should be getting some sort of elief, and his answer was i appreciate the fact that they support what i am doing and they are handling this incredibly well, for idthe prt sees federal workers as backing him. it's important to note that the president tweeted last week that most of the federal workers were democrats and some people thaw he was politicizing them saying i don't ca as much about them because they aren't part of my political party. as far as we know, federal

agencies are encouraging employees to apply for unemployment. local governments are starting to kick in andlp federal workers. food banks are saying workers are calling in needing nutrition. one local governmentn california is doing $20,000 in food banks to hp federal workers. it's interesting how widespread the repercussions are. ddo u get a sense of how this this could go on? >> the president is in it for the long haul. he said he didn't want to declare a national emergency because that's the easy way out, he says he wants the government and congress to act. i have sources that tell me the white house is directing the army corps of engineers to look into using disaster funding money, this would be about $14 billion to set aside for states like texas and florida impacted by hurricanes and natural disasters. president says republicans aite sticking w him but on this

issue they are not sticking with him. i want to etad one trom marco rubio, florida senator. he says i will do everything i can to overturn such a decision. so that's really key. the republicans haven't always pushed back on president trump, but in this case, they are. other thing to note, white house officials are aring up and talking about this shutdown going into february and they're also preparing the president's state of the union speech to talk about the shutdown and the speech isn't till >>nuary 29. oodruff: so weeks away from now. yamiche, today being the 11th, you were on border with texas yesterday, there when the president was there. he again used the arguments that we're facing a crisis, the country is facing a crisis on the border. how are they keeping that argument going today? >> today the president kept the argument going by holding a round table with local officials to talk about border security. some of the information they were talking aboutdn the ro table is misleading. one thing that's important to

note, the president says a lot of themmigrants a criminals. i confirmed today only six people were suspected to have rrorist ties that were caught at the southern border in the first half o18. there were 41 suspected terrorists caught in the northern border with canada, so that's where he's not talking about. as for the fact that the president has continued to say there are fake families coming across the border. was talking to people in mcallen yesterday, they say these are people hurting and neating support, and they're saying the president is using stereotypes to talkbo immigrants, when, in fact, that's not entirely the case. >> woodruff: only six at the southern border. >> only six at southern border, 41 at the northern boarder. >> woodruff: fascinating, good reporting. e alcindor. >> thanks. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, u.s. military officialshe

confirmed thathave begun pulling cargo out of northeastern syria. that is ahead of some 2,000 american troops withdrawing, as president t the troops have helped syrian kurdish forces wth are battling islamic state group. but, a kurdish militia spokesman charged today that they are being abandoned. >> ( translated ): the existence of the islamic sta group in this region is an international issue, and therefore the world take responsibility in this matter. however, until now and despite the presence of amioican and coalforces, they haven't fulfilled their responsibility towards these people. we see that we have been left >> woodruff: the u.s. withdrawal also leaves the syrian kurds facing threats of attack fro turkey. turkish military units continued moving today toward the border with sye ria. rkish government insists the kurds are terrorists. a saudi arabian teenager who fled to thailand to escape her allegedly abusive family has now been granted asylum in canada. 18-year-old rahaf mohammed alqunun departed fortoronto

today after securing refugee status from the united nations. her story ew global attention when she barricaded herself in a bangkok airport hotel room last saturday. she tweeted that her life would be in danger if she returned to saudi arabia. snowstorms roaring across europe today, in th lives balkans. two snowboarders were killed inn valanche in bulgaria. over all of the continent, severe winter weather has killed at least 20 people in stth week. heavy snowfall has cut off remote villages and triggered olwer outages amid bitter c temperatures. bficials in oneosnian town declared an emergency today. >> ( translated ): because of heavy snow, in somparts over three feet, some of the roads have been blocked. we need more machines to clean. weave run out of resources and money from the town for emergency services during

winter, so it was inevitable for us to declare a state of natural disaster. >> woodruff: meanwhile, crews in switzerland are still shoveling snow out of a hotel ialps a day after an avalanche injured three people there. florida's state clemency board posthumously pardoned the - called "groveland four" today. the four young black men were falsely accused of raping a white teenage girl in lake coty back in 1949. a mob of white residents killed one of the men. the three othe were convicted on scant evidence, including one who was lateshot dead by the sheriff while awaiting a retrialup. u.s.reme court justice ruth bader ginsburg's recovery from lung cancer surgery is e n track." a spokeswoman for urt said that ginsburg has no remaining traces of cancer, and no further treatment is needed.

she also announce that the 85- year-old will miss next week's court arguments while she continues to recuperate at home. early reports indicate thathe current flu season may be milder than last year's. the centers for disease control and prevention estimates six to seven millio fallen ill with the flu since october, and nearly 85,000 of those have been hospitalized. last year's flu season was much worse than usual, with nearly 80,000 deaths. on wall street, stocks fell for the first me in six days, amid concerns about the lingering federal government shutdown. the dow jones industrial average lost six points to close just under 23,996. the nasdaq fell 14, and the s&p 500 slipped a fraction of a point. and, a rare bronze penny-- minted during world war i $- has sold f04,000. it was auctioned last night in orida. the lincoln penny is part of a small batch mistakenl

in 1943, when bronze was to be saved for thwaeffort. only 10 to 15 are said to existl stto come on the newshour: feeling the effects of the ongoing shutdown. a ride-along with arizona border patrol agents. fears of aai new strn of drug- resistant malaria inambodia. mark shields and david brooks analyze where we go from here. plus, much more. >> woodruff: as we said, today marks the first missed paychecko hundreds of thousands of federal workers. whatthis all means for air travel-- especially t.s.a. workers and screeners-- has been the subject of mansoquestions an anxiety. amna nawaz is here to help unpack what we know.az >> nthe decision to close one of the terminals at miami's

international airport this weekend only adds to the anxiety. in miami's case, security reeners have been calling in sick at twice the normal rate. officials say here may not be enough personnel to handle all of the checkpoints otherwise. r traffic controllers nationwide also made their anger clear by suing the trump administration for being forced to work without pay. but wait times at most airports do not seem substantially, and the t.s.a. itself says there's only been a tiny pcentage of the overall force calling in sick. alan levin ofloomberg covers the air travel business, and joins me now. welcome to the "newshour".ou thank y >> so far we're hearing about wait times being minimally mimpacted. oniami seems to be the major hub that had to make a big decision about ndthis wee what's been the overall impact of these t.s.a. workers calling out sic >> frankly, the overall impact has been a hug spotlight in the

news media. t.s.a. workers are probably the number one federal employee that you're likely to come inontact with, and, so, they're slowly increasing sicknd calls some anecdotal evidence of increased wait times that is really garnered a lot of attention. but the industry, quite frankly, is gettinreally worried that this could spiral very quickly. >> you mention it's anecdotal. we have been hearing stories and collecting them from here and there. our colleague lisa desjardins is speaking to people who are worried and making the decision about whether to go in without pay, but overall it doesn't seem to have an impact thus far, correct? >> that's correct. in miami, if you had a flight scheduled at i believe it's roncourse g tomafternoon or the next few days, you will have to go to anonier scr portal, your plane might be thereto another gat

might be confusion but not a huge impact. >> back up a littlebi not just the t.s.a. workers, we're talking air traffic controllers and safety inspections. when we're talking about air traffic control and safety, has there been an impact? >> it's hard to put your finger on a concrete i impactn terms of decreased safety and that sort ti thing. the system fu as we know well from the low accident rate, and, so, it cran go fo a few weeks with little or noroblem. but the reason the system is safe is because there are these controls in place, it's because we're doing random inspections on airport ramps, an that sort of thing, and those have pretty much stopped. k and, so, yw, over time, there's no question that that margin of safetyin is to gradually decrease. >> sounds like you're saying for a lot of people, the longer this goes on, the greater the chances

of there beig safety impacted? >> that is correct. you know, more immediately what we're seeing is they can't do these routinetnspections t keep the system functioning. so airlines can't add a new aircraft to their fleets without f.a.a. approval. i talked to somebody yesterday s ose comen company hacouple of aircraft getting painted in canada. the painting is done but they can't bring them back into the country because there's ntoody ign off, that sort of thing. >> how do you put a final point on is to help us understand what same of these federal workers are weighing right now cause t.s.a. workers work on the front lines of the security airport operations,hey also have some of the lowest starting pay rates. the agency overall has some of the lowest employee morale. that's not even during a shutdown decision. what are they going through right now? what kind of pressures are they facing, especially now that they have miss their first paycheck?

>> they also have historically very high turnover rates, so i think it's reasonable that they expect that t longer this goes on, you might see even morturn turnover. we've heard reports from the union some of these people might be tempted to get and get othera jobs so the get pay. we haven't seen evidence of eswidespread cf people quitting and, in fact, it's a little counterproductive. you know, bothhe house and senate have passed measures to give them back pay, so if ey hang in there, they will get ldeir money. >> pressure is bg. we'll see what happens the longer it goes on, alan levin from bloomberg. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we have been trying to show each night, the reach of this partial shutdown is much wider than many rlulize. that ies preparations for battling wildfires. this is a time of the year when federal d state firefighters go to training, and refresher courses. these winter ntmohs are also when contracts are awarded for

aircraft, important equipment and gear neeevded for th- longer fire season ahead-- a season growing, in part, because of clim, ate chand seems to be stretching ever longer. but the funding for these preparations is now in limbo. while some firefighters are otected from furloughs, many of ttise key operas aren't happening. stme training courses have been canceled in westeres. jim whittington, wbu worked at thau of land management ngd the u.s. forest service, now has his own consulirm in oregon. >> training for wildland refighters has been greatly affected by the shutdown. there's already a compressed timeframe because of climate change, fire starting earlier, fires going later. when you take three or four or more weeks out of the timeframe that is there for the training and the learning for our firefighters, that creates a tremendous burden on everybody within thedland fire community. federal, state and local. it alsmakes it more difficult to plan for the early-- at least the early stagre of the 2019

ear. and it may be difficult to fill some of the positions early on, as folks scramble to meet th alifications and take the courses that are needed so they can fill the positions. i think morale is definitely suffering within the wildland fire community, because there is this sense of inevitability, of the 2019 fire year coming down the tracks and bearing down on people, and a frustration that they are prevented right now from doing the work necessary tl prepare, not themselves but their communities, partners, d, and everyone else who might be affected by a fire in 2019. >> woodruff: jim whittington. the u.s.orest service and the department of interior have also suspended some managed burns of built-up fuel to decrease the likelihood and severity of fires.

>> woodruff: as the debate in washington over a wall drags border patrols and immigrant crossings continue, with a rise the number of families asking for legal asylum over the last year. from arizona public media in cson, lorraine rivera recently went out with customs and border protection to get a first-hand ok at how officers are handling the influx of immigrants. >> reporter: our ride with yuma sector border patrol begins before sunrise. agent jose garibay is showing us an area along the colorado river. >> we're about a halmile from the border. >> reporter: we're here because the areaas seen more large groups of central american immigrants walk past this vehicle barrier fencing and surrender to federal agents. the agency refers to this tactic as "give-ups." >> there are so many different reasons why an individual or smugglers may choose to cross here. maybe because of smuggling

organizations owns routes to this area. they know it works. why chan, if it's not broken? >> reporter: this past november, agents apprehended nly 5,800 family units in the yuma sector. last year in november, the number was under 2,000. that's nearly three times the number of apprehensionas a year ago >> we're seeing activity at all times of the day. there's no specific popular timeframe. it's just whenever tse smugglers that are taking these families up from central america, smuggling them fromov san luis to here-- we're on their timeline. they know we're here 24-7. >> reporter: on this particular rning, along this portion of the border, no one crosses. agent garibay drives us south into san lui. we see the new modes of enforcement. that includes concertina wiring surrounding the port of entry. agent garibay salyys yuma recent received 50 additional border patrol agents to help with the

increased arrests. farther east, we see different styles of fencing, and reminders that this border has had security measures in place for a very long time. vietnam era landing mats. steel bollds and a secondary fence referred to as expanded steel, that's 18 feet tall. ent garibay says crossing the border has always been dangerous, but it's becoming riskier. >> a 14-year-old child attempted to breach the wl with her mother. during the process, she actually fell backward off the border wall, and broke mult vertebrae in her back in the process. once you see people crossing the boer wall, there's not much you can do to stop it. you can't go up to them antell them, "yu have to go back." you can't physically force them to go back. so all you can do is anticipate what's going to happen next. >> reporter: this surveillance video from november show smugglers dropping small children over the wall. >> so, we wa to advise these individuals that are thinking about coming to the united

states, go through the proper channels. don't put your children through a dangerous situation, where sothing like this could happen. >> reporter: garibay says added secuty measures have pushed people further out, into areas where it's easier to cross. >> specifically referring to the colorado river area, where we have vehicle barriers that stand about four feet high and are designed to stop vehicles from traversing illegally into the united states, and not necessarily family units who eoe hundreds, in some cases. r >>orter: from here, we drive back to the colorado river area. on the r woad,listen to radio traffic, talking about a group of nine people who just surrendered to agents. >> go ahead. >> i just picked up nine. >> yeah, copy. >> reporter: a and as soons we park along the levee, we see first-hand what agent garibay described earlier-- a young couple carrying a child, who crossed a vehicle barrier, and walked directly into border totrol c. >> these three individuals, a father, mother, and the child they were traveling with. he said he was 18 years old.

she stated she was in her early 20s. they said they traveled from approximately two months from honduras. ( speaking spanish ) they didn't say specifically where th were heading. but she did say she has agr andmother currently in the united states, in kentucky. so presumably they could be traveling there, or elsewhere. >> reporter: the agents begin the family's immigratn process. within minutes, another agent arrives to transport them to the yuma station, where they'll be evaluated, fed and questioned. then, minutes later, less than 100 yards from us, a group of americans approach agents, after crossing the same stretch of vehicle barrier. >> in this specific group, we had 29 illegal aliens.

26 of them were guatemalan, the other three were from honduras. ald we actu had 14 children here. many of these individuals come with documents prepared. some in ziploc baggies. they'll have their i.d.s photocopiedth. 'll have birth certificates. h >> reporte likely are these families, if they are who they say they are, to stay together? d ing the investigative process, we'll ask if they are families. families are put theog single males will be put together. single females will be put together. we want to make sure that they're safe while in custody, and we want to make sure that they have no criminal tihistory that could harm ns of the united states. >> reporter: in december, two children died while in the custody of border patrol in new mexico and texas. the week following our tour, secretary of homeland security kiersten nielsen visited the yuma station. c.b.p. has since deployed medical units from the coast guard to theer souborder to

ensure children receive at least two health screenings. >> we take special consideration wi small children, to make sure they're safe. ultimately, we don't want anyone to die in their journey to the united states. so we've taken precautions to ensure they're safe when they're in our custody. >> reporter: i ask if these individuals will be ted any differently than those at the ports of entry. >> if they are looking forr asylum claim credible fear, then they've cssed illegally, and that's a crime. the individuals waiting at the port of entry, they are doing it properly and are waiting in line in oer to be processed by customs officials. so thel individuals, that w be notated in their file and they will be transferred into the custody of i.c.e. we treat all irndividuals in custody the same, and that is with respect, as humor beings. >> rr: for the pbs newshour, i'm lorraine rivera in yuma, arizona.

>> woodruff: every year, nearly half a million people die from malaria across the globe. though there are drugs available to kill the parasite, there is new worry that those medications are long their effectiveness. special correspondent fred de m lazaro reports from cambodia. >> reporter: few cambians have a tougher commute to work than chrub prey. the 27-year-old malaria worker must wade knee-deep across aam strekeeping her treated bed nets dry, before reaching her motorcycle. >> ( translated ): sometimes it's very flooded, and i have to swim across the water. >> reporter: once on her motorbike, she tries to reach an elusive population of migrants she calls mobile workers, deep in the remote forest here in western cambodia. >> ( translated ): sometimes i

cannot find the mobile workers, because they are working. and i can't call them be there is no cell service. so that is difficult. >> repo irter: often only after an infection reaches an unbearable stat te tharkers themselves come out, seeking help. that's what happened to rat sophat, who is now back at wor as a hair stylist in he village.we tws after being treated for malaria, she still suffers from some effects. w ( translated ): after taking the medicine for tks, i still have the chills. i'm not really recoved yet. >> reporter: rat contracted thei ase when she was bitten by a mosquito, working on a logging team in a remote forest along the thai border. it's an area that is proving to be a particularly difficult place to wipe out the disease. about a decade ago, here in cambodia, scientists began to see cases in which the deadliest

form of the malaria parasite had mutated and become resistant to the last available drugs that could fight it. that resistant strain has since spread, with cases in thailand and southern vietnam. it raises the possibility of a resurgence of resistant malaria, s fear coutist spread far beyond southeast asia. and if it reaches africa, it can kill millions of african children. >> reporter: it's ha before, says arjen dondorp, who directs a major malaria research effort in neighboring thailand. back in the '80s, resistance to the widely-used drug cloroquine developed re in asia and quickly spread to africa, resulting in a huge spide in malaria hs. new drugs hav since contained the parasite, which has been wiped out in much ogithe mekong on, but hard-to-reach pockets remain.

>> malaria is a disease of rginalized populations, often living in border areas. very remote, diffilt to reach. >> reporter: that's where pe-ole like 61-ye soksam sambath come in. he lives in the village near pailin and makes a vili by selling fried banana chips. 15 years agohe received training to detect, treat and educate his fellow villagers about malaria. >> ( translated ): my jd is to go arothe community to help people. i don't have a salary. they pay me for transportation, and on the days when i see people. the pay is small, but i think tant becauseimpor can help people. that's why i do it. >> reporter: soksam is part of a pilot program in three provinces of cambodia, funded in large

part by the u.s.. government started in 2005, the president's malaria initiative was launched to reduce malaria deaths in sub-saharan africa. in this region, the money funds community malaria workers, as well as a d rapetection and reporting program to track and contain tbreaks, especially any cases that do not responto drugs. and it eprovidcation, as well as insecticide-treated bed nets, to farm workers, a critical group since theynt migrate freq in the region in search of work. project manager rida slot says the coordinated approach has started to show promising resus. >> despite the intensified resistance to malaria treatment, the country has successfully reduced malaria transmissions. and we are proud to say that we're moving toward elimination. >> reporter: still, she says the what roads they have are

freqntly impassable, and many of their activities-- like logging-- are illegal, making them especially reticent to deal with anyone from the outside.he >>oment they see some of the offi them, they feel fearful, because they are in a location where they are not supposed to be.ro >> reporter: sn thangadurai leads the u.s. effort in cambodia. >> they don't twaget themselves recognized. so these are some of the major challenges we face. >> reporter: chr prey is part a new effort by the president's malaria initiative to reach out to these marginalized people deep the rests. she's a "mobile malaria worker," who gives out bed nets, and let's people know that treatmlet is availab. she also randomly tests about 20 people each month, looking for those who might not yet show symptoms but carry low levels of the parasite. still, chrab guesses that she's probably missing about a quarter of the people who live in her

areaf the forest. ese are the first vials made. >> dr. nicholas white one tos have the worldading experts >> reporter: dr. nick white, one of the world's leading experts on malaria, says much more nee to be done about a disease that he says is often not a priority. >> almost, if you like, a military appreqch. it wouldre considerably more coordination between countries. such things as border checks, much more active use of mass drug admwhistration, ich is a crude but effective tool. ov>> recently announced gnment and non-government agencies to

even contai or eliminate area region.reat but dr. white says with dauntina geographic political hurdles, that prospectcan seem as remote as the villages wherea a for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro in pailin, cambodia. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with e under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: and to the analysis now of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. 21st day, mark, of the shutdown it is. you could say we're right where we were a week or two, but the difference is that the president went to the border, e e president had an oval office address wh made his case.

he was -- the democrats responded to him. are we hearing arguments from either st ide tuld give them the upper hand or are we j stuck in this stalemate forever? >> i hope we' not stuck here forever, judy, but i would say it's not an upper hand but the lower hand is held by the president. i mean, not that the democrats kiare celebrating or s the ball in the end zone or they have any reason to, but the president, you mentioned the speech he gave which hee acknowled to impress people, under diewrs going to the border reluctantly. and the spch came across as somebody who is going through the motions. it was done with no conviction, no passion, no intensity, and i think vertty e persuasiveness to et. the difference in the

relationship rig is that paul ryan of wisconsin is no longer speaker, nancy pelosi of california is. the difference is he's being called out which did not happen in the first two years of hiswh presidence he says there's a flood coming across, the lowest it'ins bee6 years, she calls him out on that. i think that's changed relationship, but i don't think this is the greatt hit for the democrats, especially the rebuttal of pelosind chuck schumer. it was staged away from a runaway vogue edition of thane amerothic and they looked uncomfortable close together and i don't think it prkarticularly , but i would say republicans and donald trump are on the defensive and remaining there. >> woodruff: do you see either argument.g a better >> at the underlevel, they're asving normal negotiations. the republicans arng for $5.7 billion for the wall.

they know they're not going to get that. they're thinking maybe they will get three. the democrats are thinking 1.3. and the republicans are wanting to get up to 2, so it' s armal negotiation like you're buying a house, and that sounds like a normalnegotiation, and, iit tos that, they could get and trump could walk away with money for the wall, not that much, and do would b with this, and it's crazy they're shutting the government over several hundred million dollars. at te ego level, the pelosi-trump level, you have different situation where it's not over money, it's an absolute egoist position, my way or zero. one sees the negotiations happening but crushe by the ego level. so, for example, this week, a bunch of republicans senators, with lindsey graham involvement, tried to propose another solution that trump could accepe thatalked about last week, which would be daca pass the

citizenship for money for the wall, and the white e apparently signaled for them, no, we're not going for that deal. so the republicans didn't want to get in front of the whiten' house and dpropose a deal, same for the democrats and indianapolis. so we have two towers of ego who can't give and a lot of other people trying to do something in the middlwith not much effect. >> i take exception to the two towers of ego. let's get very blunt. i mean, if r tublicans cared about the wall, they had total control of the federal government for two years, and what did they do in those two years? they repealed but didn't replace pre-existing conditions for healcare, they repealed the affordable care act, tried mightily to do so, ty cast a tax c, which h actually reduced federal revnues we just learned this week, in spite of the fact that the economy has grown by 3%. the last time the economy grew

by almost 3%, t revenues were up 7%, but because of the structuring of it by this administration and what it cares about and, for some reason, donald trump and his advisors thought, well, it will be easier to deal with indianapolis. the democratic majority in the congress, than it s with paul ryan. where did this come from or did they get thaeat id? to me, the fault is on the blicans' side. what they cared about was the tax cut. what they cared about was repealing the affordable care act. i mean, those were the priorities. >> woodruff: what about -- ell, don't ask mgie t a linear description of donald trump's brain and what he's thinki at anyoment, but he should have fought this fight,ob ously, when republicans were there. if he cared about the wall, he was prompted by all the families coming across the border an suddenly he got hyped up about all this. but given where we are, he won

an election running on the wall and indianapolis won an election running on daca. it's not that complicated. both those sides come together, offer the proposal, and indianapolis doesn't give five dollars billion on the wall but two dollars billion, and we can have aern actual gent, and that's a deal to me that seems so obvious, but trump is not going there, and whatever anyone thinks of the merits of pelosi's condition, and i'm not a fan of the wall, but you have two parties coming to an agreement. >> woodruff: and 800,000 employees not getting paid an an increasing effect on the american people. >> you do.t' be blunt, bob teagueer, a republican pollster and strateist and admiral human being once said the american people are philosophically conservative but operational liberal, meaning you ask peopley what t think, too much red tape, get them off my back, get them out of my le, however,

when a single can of tunaish discovered in idaho with botulism, there s a universal reaction of where's the federal governnt and i want a report in 24 hours. we want a small government working 24 hours a dayor our side cheap. the fact is we're looking at 40 million americans whoepend on food stamps to put food on the table for their family. we're talkinabout children who go to school who need the extended healthcare and the school lunchrogram and, you know, we're talking about women's and infant care . we'rading toward and quite conceivably in the food and drug administration being underfunded, we could have soso sort of a breakout of disease or infection. i mean, so -- >> woodruff: and airline afety. >> andline safety as well. so ereally think this is pretty serious stuff, which i don't think has been accepted and

tknowledged by the presid >> woodruff: if that's the case, david, why -- where are rational minds in all this? it's a spectacle. >> el with, i think the leaders are both seeing all the people are upset by tha and they know they're paying a price. >> woodruff: on both sides. blth sides. donald trump pro has more conviction -- >> more convection than -- well, he believes his honeon propaganda probablyy?. >> reall no. okay. (laughter) i accept your sincerity on it. >> i think he fervently thinks there's some threat and believes in the position, but think they're also afraid they worked themselves to a spot where it hard for them to actually make a deal because they ve been so absolutist. indianapolis said the wall is immoral, trump said there's a threat from the whole world coming to get us,o they've built these barriers of absolutism around their position. you know, i look at this whole thing and think we re the

country that defeated fascism like we fought in world war ii. that's a complicated thing to pull off. you go back to the '60s and the great society legislation, looking into the 70s today, ted kennedy and he republicans got together to desegulate airl we had a history of taking for granted a level of professional craftsmanship in our professional slairtsz, and we don't have anything like that now. and that's been a long process over many decades that just the level of skill of crafting legislation has been a slow, gradual decline. >> donald trump may believe it t hs wrong. i don't fault the democrats for correcting him, when he saysdr thas are flooding across the sonar borde, 90% of illegal drugs that come into this country comen through legal ports, according to the drug enforcement agency of thunited states. >> woodruff: but that hasn't stopped the administration from making that argument. >> that's what i mean.

sincerity is one thing, stupidity is other or willfu.l ignoran >> i agree with you, but this is not a debating society, this is politics. in politics, they have a position, they have some power,o you have power, you reach a deal. you can't just say you're wrong -- >> you just lost an election, 40 use seats on the caravan, all right. the caravto turned oube not the great threat, no the marauding invasion. the is no kavan now and he's still trying to sell the same bill of s. atout some point you want to say, hey, pal -- they did have a compromise before cells and rush intervened and said, dny, you're not doing enough. >> woodruff: the conservative talk show. >> yes. >> woodruff: two minutes or left. a much more uplifting subject. a mueller russia investigation. david, there were a couple of developments this weeke now

know michael cohen is formally going to testify before congress and, i a surprising move, paul manafort, former campaign chairman for the president, his lawyers had a piece of paper in their filing that disclosed manafort shared election campaign polling data with the russians. what are we to tnk about this? >> i hate when incompetence ruleuss,ans. we learned a few things. cohen thing would be interesting because cohen was trump's fixer for a long time, so there are f l sorts oories about playmates and other things that o thathas access to, will be a week of our life that will be dedicated to analyzin g but the mueller thing is like a growing algae or sngomet there's always something new here and none of it is killer impeachable events, but when you see all thekrnians heavily

involved who paid all the mey, the oligarchs, the pro russia thing, who manafort networks they had a vested interest of the lifting of sanctions. >> woodruff: 25 seconds in 25 seconds i will say the following -- the mueller asinvestigationnitially about russian intrusion, intervtion in the election of 2016, and both david and i, i think we're skeptical about it -- more than a little skeptical about it -- and, if anything, the evidence just keeps building.is i mean, s back, now, to the mandate mueller had which is russia intervention, and when finding out abouta russi intervention, are we going to find out whether the information went to -- polling information we want on michigan a pennsylvania and wisconsin? >> woodruff: we've got a peek about it this week. >> and michael cohen will be the

john dean of this conversation. mark shields, david brooks, thank you. >> woodruff: and now to ourr "newshares:" something that caught our eye, that might be of interest to you, too. with christmas season over, one questionhat gets raised every year-- what to do with all those trees? as brian sullivan of pbs station wgby in springfield, massachusetts reports, one farm has a novesolution. >> reporter: this pile of undecorated christmas trees serves as a reminder that the holiday season is officially over, which can be a grim prospect for many of us, knowing we still have about three more months of winter ahead. just don't tell the nigerian dwarf goats of hokaheh farm that. to tm, the sound of one of these balsam firs hitting the ground might as well be a dinnel bell to a d full of hungry farmhands. named after a battle cry said to be used by crazy horse and his men before the battle at little big horn, hokaheh is a hillside hrm in the berkshires owned by

a local doctor ae to 19 of these tree-eating goats. >> reporter: while they appear to be going to town on t one-time living room showpiece, a popular misconception is that goats will eat anything. we can probably thank the old sarday morning cartoons for reinforcing the image of them eating tin cans and anything else that gets in their way. the truth is, gyoats are actuall pickier eaters than many people realize.

>> they physically know what to eat and what not to eat. if somhing's not good for them or they don't like it, they will shun away from it.re theyvery clean eaters. if you give them something they really love like a piece of carrot or a piece of am and they drop it on the ground, they're done.ou they won'tch it. it's dirty. they're cleaner eaters than i am >> reporter: it should also be noted that all trees must be clear of ornaments and any other decorative debris before they're to be consumed. metal hooks and tinsel can do major damage to their stomachs. the goats uslly don't eat the trees in their entirety, either, but since nothing goes to waste here, whatever doesn't get finished, just econds up in the ost pile. the goats here are for breeding purposes only. they share the with a donkey, a pony and several chickens and roosters. one whole atmosphere is a little slice of heaven arth for condon, who originally camto hokaheh fa to do a week's worth of work. he's now been here for the better part of a year, a has signs on future endeavors for the farm.

>> it's hard to explain, but the first time i came to this farm, i got a feeling, like, this was the place i always wanted to be my whole life, and here i am. this pce, is just something -- i can't put it into words, there's just something magical about being here, having animals love you as much as you love theme working nd, growing things, it's incredible. >> for the "pbs newshour," i'm bryan sullivan. >> woodruff: a whole new way of thinking about what happens to you t christmase. so this week marks three years since da.vid bowie di but, his iconic fashion sense lives on, including through a striking and unexpected resemblatoncea slugs. there's a science behind that. you can see pictures and read more on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a g wrekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by:

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welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. mike pompeo is in cairong tal up america's mideast leadership role 100 days after saudi arabia's brutal murder of jamal khashoggi. i speak to his friend, lawrence wrig the former fbi agent. plus --lack police officer infiltrates the ku klux ankl. it is award season and spike lee talks aboutsm "blackkkl." could credit card companies stop mass shootings? walter isaacson drills down with