captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition fosunday, december 20: congress sets its sights on a stimulus deal for covid relief to fund the government. officials urge caution for the holidays as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb. and in our signature segment: an incoming biden administration gives lebanon's refugees a glimmer of hope. next on "pbs newshour weend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue .d edgar wachenheim iii de the on family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg.

the leonard and norma klorfine undation. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, front of us.what's right in at mutual of america, we e of tomorrowng c can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and invests. >> for 25 years, consumer ceofllular has been fering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service am can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: d by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sd eenivasan: gening and thank you for joining us. congress is continuing to try to reach agreement on spending and stimulus legislation that will

fund the federal government and 00 billion in new covid-19 relief aid as of late this afternoon. ofnths rangling led to stop gap funding on friday that kept the fedoveralnment open through the weekend. oe house and senate have until midnight to voteanother extension will be needed to prevent a partial government shutdown. the senate began its sunday session with majority leade republican mitch mcconnell suggesting lauage in the bills could be finalized today. >> we are winnowing down the remaining differences. i believe i can speak for all can nail down thegreement in a matter of hours. >> sreenivasan: democratic minority leader senator chuck schumer said language was still being worked out this afternoon. >> there are a few issues outstanding. i am quite hoping that we are closing in on an outcome. >g,> sreenivasan: this morn senator mitt romney of utah-- one of the members of a bipartisan grthp that drafted

coronavirus relief bill-- was cautious about the timing of a final vote. >> we came up with a $900 billion proposal. that picked up by leadership on both sides and they're working on additional poin, but i think it's going to get done and it's gonna get done before christmas. >> sreenivasan: last night, senators said they had reached a deal on a sticking pointhehat involvedederal reserve's expanded lending powers during the pandemic. the current provisions in the covid-19 relief bill reportedly include $300 billion in small unemployment benefits of $300 per week, and direct payments of $600 per person. thesident trump tweeted early morning, "get it done and give them more money in direct payments." there was no indication the amount was changing. llin addition to the $900 n relief spending, congress is also finalizing a $1.4-trillion spending bill anr legislation on taxes, health, infrastructure and education. shipments of the second

ed covid-19 vaccine are now on their way to healthcare facilities around the country. early this morng, workers began packaging and shipping the vaccine, which was developed by the bioth company moderna and e national institutes of health. the first shots of the vaccine are expected to be delivered tomorrow, just three days after the food and drug administration authorized it for emergency use. in all, 5.9 million doses e cted to be delivered this week. unlike the pfizer vaccine, which was fit shipped out a week ago, the moderna, n.i.h. vaccine does not need to be kept at ultra low temperatures, but both approved vaccines do require two doses, weeks apart. the first in line for the vaccines are healthcare workers and residents of long term care facilities. a c.d.c. expert committee said tlday that next should be those er 75 and frone workers, but u.s. officials are hopeful that the availability will increase rapidly. >> we are very confident that by june, anyone in america who wants to have a vaccine can have

that oppty. >> sreenivasan: admiral brett giroir also said he's hopeful thathird vaccine candidate-- from johnson & johnsonl be ready for emergency f.d.a. approval in january. the promising news around vaccines comes as confirmed coronavirus caseinue to rise around the united states. average dails continue at record levels, according to "the new york times." and dend hospitalizations continue to rise, on average, compared ttwo weeks ago. the head scientific advisor for the trump administration's vaccine program said today he expects the spread of the worse.vis to continue to get >> we still are experiencing the outcome of the thanksgivin s,holidays and the gatherind unfortunately there may be more over the christmas holid, so there will be a continuing surge. i don't know what the numbers will be, but unfortunatelyhey will be higher than they are today. >> sreenivasan: in europe, several countries, including germany, spain, ity, belgi,

and the netherlands, have halted flights and trains to the united kingdom. the new restrictions are to prevent the spread of a new strain of coronavirus that is sweeping across parts of ela. it appears to spread more easily, but is not believed to be more dangerous. u.k. prime minister boris johnson imposed a strict lockdown to prevent the spread yesterday on london and southeast england. president trcap's reelecti aign is asking the u.s. supreme court to overturn three peiannsylvtate supreme court decisions in another attempt to chvoange the presidentia which he lost. the filing today seeks to overturn the pennsylvania court's rulings against trump campaiaignhallenges toin ballots and alleges the court violated the constitutional rights of the pennsylvania legiosslature to celectors. pennsylvania's electoral college votes for president-elect joe biden have be certified. the filing asks the supreme courtis to fast-track a dn. the u.s. supreme court receives thousands of similar review requests every year and usually

accepts fewer than 150. in the himalayan country of nepal, the parliament was dissolved today, a sudden move thatushes this multiparty democracy into political turmoil. general elections are set for this spring, more than a year ahead of schedule.e prminister k.p. sharma oli has been in power since his nepal communist party won he led an alliance with former maoist rebels. the power sharing agreement has become an obstacle. the political upheaval comes as the country battles the coronavirus, and as it has middle of geopolitical battleshe between traditional partner india, and china. for more national and international news visit pbs.org/newshour. re >>ivasan: one month from today, president-elect joe biden wil be sworn in as the couns trth president. and while every new president faces challengeshen they enter the office, his inauguration

comemis at a time of sly unprecedented challenges. for a look at hec president- biden's hurdles compare with his predecessors, we turn greenfield for an assessment. >> when it comes to a tough beginning, abraham lincoln wins the gold medal. by the time he came into office-- after sneaking io washington to avoid an assassination plot-- seven southern states had alrdy seceded. within a month, fort sumter had fallen and the civil war s on n earnest, a war that haunted lincoln throughout his presidency. just five days after lee surrendered to grant at aasppomattox, lincoln assassinated. but other presidents who faced grave challenges also d powerful tools. f.d.r. came into office at the height of the great depression, with a quarter of the nation out of work and banks collapsing every day. but he also had huge majorities in the congress and a nation willing to follow him almost anywhere, as it found assurance in his fireside chats. within 100 days, 15 pieces of

legislation were already in ple-- the start of the new deal. richard nixon came into office in 1969 th the vietnam war taking hundreds of american lives a week, racial upheaval in countless cities, generational protes that at times turned violent, and he faced a democratic congress. but a swift turn toward de- escalatioietnam and a drop in urban violence calmed the water 3s. it todays and aupreme court decision to put george w. bush , into the white houth 537 votes in orida making the fference, but he also had a booming economybubig projected et surpluses, a republican congress, and a much less polarized politicaclimate. after september 11, a strong hunger for national unit strengthened bush' political hand. barack obama took the oath in the midst the great recession, with 600,000 jobs lost in just his first month. but big democratic majorities in congress gave pom just enough

itical muscle to get his recovery plan-- and his affordable healthcare act-- into law. but for joe biden, there is trouble on every front. he will take office when wter is at its worst, making the pandemic dangers especially severe. even his inaugural will have none of the celebratory trademarks of that event. even if vaccines become available in the spring, the virus's economic impact will cloud his first months, with countless families struggling to find food, save their homes, grapple with the challenges of remote schools. on the political front, biden will have a house with a razor- thin democratic majority anda senate that will be at best 50-50, at worst in the hands of a republican majority with the power to block ever lhing from keislation to appointments. trump to delegitimize the election has taken hold among mohis party. than half of republicans believe joe biden did not legitimately win the whi house-- and that view has been

echoed by key republicans on capitol hill. prospects for a bipartisan honeymoon have never been less likely. further, biden faces trouble from within. he transition has seen progressive and centrists arguing over key cabinet and whe house staff positions. and representative alexandria ocz,asio-cor prominent progressive, is publicly calling for new leadership in both houses of congress. in fairness, the prospects are not all bleak. if the pandemic eases by mid- 2021, the built-up demand for goods, for travel, for enertainment, for a return to normal life, could trigger a huge economic resurgce, and with it, a feeling of goodwill. and even with the forts to discredit his victory, biden now has a higher approval rating than donald trump had at any point in his presidency. still, it's safe to say that if an incoming president was measured by how difficult the task faced, joe biden would be very onhigh uhe leader board.

>he> sreenivasan:nited nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees, or" unrw says more than 470,000 rngefugees are lin lebanon. most of them have been there for generations. tidhe agency helps prsocial services, healthcare and education to moli than 5.5 m registered palestinian refugees in the middle east. until it pled its funding in 2018, the united states had been the largest single donor. now, some of lebanon's palestinian refugees are holding out hope that a biden course.tration might reverse newshour weekend special correspondent leila molana-allen has more. >> reporter: it's 8:00 a., and the clinic waiting room is already packed in burj al barajneh camp in west beirut. rola has three children under 12. she's here to get medicine for her two-year-old son's flu. the clinic and drugs ap rovided for free by unrwa, the

u.n. organization that funds aid for palestinian refugees like rola. but recently, she's seen the ces start to deteriorate >> ( translated ): life is difficult here, now it's gotten more difficult. unrwa used to be better before, its services have gone down a lot. >> reporter: it's not just he.ealthcar food aid has reduced, and other services are being restricted. unrwa simply doesn't have the money to keep funding them. >> ( translated ): we are not living like human beings, there are no human rights. my children are little now, i don't know what tomorrow holds for them. >> streporter: paian refugees here don't have citizens' rights. they can't use normal state services and face restrictions oown working anng property. many refugees around the world ainre similarly const, but difference is that this situation isn't temporary. many of these falies have been here for 70 years. therere more than 450,000 palestinian refugees living in lebanon, many of them 4th or 5th generation stateless people.

moik of them live in camps le these, which were ner meant r long-term use. they've been patched up for decades, and are crumbling where they stand. the clinic is the only one in burj al barajneh camp. it has two doctors serving 23,000 people. they each see up to 75 patients a day. wafa is here to collect medicines for herself and her familyge, but they're no l able to supply everything she needs, and she's afraid it's going to get worse. >> ( translated ): we are dying at the doors of the hospitals because unrwa can only cover a small portion of our healthcare because no one is supporting it. when america stops funding, they are killg a population of refugees. they say this new president is good. i don't know him, biden? let's see. >> reporter: the u.s. used to provide a third of unrwa's budget, its biggest donor by far. then suddenly, in 2018, the trump administration slashed the funding. meanwhile, the u.s. controveially moved its bassy to the disputed city of jerusalem, and endorsed the

bureilding of sraeli settlements in the west bank, eroding the hopes of palestinian ref fugees thature peace deal might one day allow them the right to return to the land where thcestors lived. having been the biggest foreign t player in the middle easace process for decades, the u.s. taking these steps prompted anger and despair among palestinian refugees across the region. >> palestinian refugees here in lenon and elsewhere feel very much that they have been abandoned. and, to some extent, 's true. >> reporter: in 2018, when the trump administration cut unrwa's funding, they called the organization irrbly flawed. they said that money was being wasted. they said that palestinian refugees have become too dependent on unrwa. >> the accusation is unfair, and we know that it was politically motivated. the reality is that the refugees are going to exist whether unrwa disappears or not. unrwa is not a solution. unrwa is a band aid, it's a temporarsolution. it's been temporary for 70 years, which is not an indictment of unrwa, it's

indictment on the inability of the parties to the conflict and the international community to achieve a solution which will resolve these issues. it's very important that the u.s. comes back into the fold. >> reporter: now, the refugees and those who support them hope he incoming administration will reinvest in pursuing a politil settlement, and reinstate the aid flow. these hopes aren't just scutive. speaking to a newspaper just before the election, kamala ha wrris said, "l oppose annexation and settlement expansion. and we will take immediate steps to restore economic and tamanitarian asse to the palestinian people." ins the meantime, unrwa heading for collapse. they've already had to delay no agency's 28,000 staff, most of whom are palestinians, and don't know if they'll be able to pay at all this month. >> we've reach the bone. wecan no longer cut. and this is a huge blow because, and as you've seen here in lebanon, palesteian refugees a very marginalized community. and so, there isn't any other alteivrn

>> reporter: it's the employment unrwa provides that is just as essential as its schooling aal heth services. palestinian refugees here are banned from most white-collar jobs that could earn them a good salary. unrwa is one othe only emplers that will hire them for professional work. a week ago, these protesting teachers were told the special needs classes they run will be cut at the end of the month. nearly 250 teachers ce losing their jobs. azhar is one of them. she teaches at toubass school in nahr el bared, a sprawling camp in northernmost lebanon near the syrian border. e's depended on this job for a decade, and now she'll be out of work, with no other options to support her young family. unemployed, and we have no other source of income. i'm not sleeping, just thinkit about wll happen after 2020.ep >>rter: with so few jobs that palestinians do here, life isly already a d struggle. these 11-yearld boys are paid

a couple of dollars a day to collect and sort garbage. theptake the money home to h their families. hussein is learning how to be a plu cmber on thisrse funded by american charity anera. he'll earn about $150 a month while training, practicine on homes in mp. it's a skill offers a ance of regular work,nd that's all he can hope for, he says. >> ( translated ): there's a lot of young men in the camps who are in a bad situati. the weren't many opportunities. thereh isn't mrk. ever since my youth i've been crushed. i don' it dream, becaus just dreaming. it can't become reality. old mais walks to school every day, she isn't thinking about can.n't do, but what she like so many others, she believes that one day she and her family will go back to palestine, a place she knows only in stories. "i'm notan le," she tells me. "i'm palestinian." i ask her what that means to her. "palestine, that's our country.

i don't know where it is. i wasn't bornhere. we left i" she says. she wants to be a teacher, and can't imagine her life without access to school. >> ( translated ): if there was no hosc, i'd be very sad. how can i become a teacher, without the school and teachers that are teaching me? >> fareporter: s holding out hope that the u.s. will change its mind. >> ( translated ): i hope that wiameric reconsider its position on this to help unrwa, hbecause unrwa is te of the refugees, it's all we have. honestly, it's our only shelter. >> reporter: like so many living in limbo here, hope is all she has left. >> sreenivasan: as vaccines roll frontline healthcare workers are among the first to receive the covid-19 protection.

one of them is dr. alexis langsfeld, a new york physician we've spoken with several times since the pandemic began. special correspondent karla murthy checked in with her about the vaccination and the continuing coronavirus pandemic. >> reporter: back in march, althcare workers were bracing for the first surge of coronavirus cases in the united states. new york city was the epicenter, where dr. alexis langsfeld works as an emergency room physician. >> they're ramping up supplies as fast as they possibly can. >> rorter: her biggest concern then was the lack of personal protective equipment, p.p.e. >> even by the end of every ft, we're out of gowns o we're out of, we're out of bleach wipes. we're out of all the thin. that we ne so, with the lack of personal pro atective equipmen with the worst of the disease still to come, knowing th, everything ou know, we're just at the beginning of that steep inclinem it's very, it's very scary. i'm afraid of not coming home to my kids and my husband.

and i'm afraid of them getting it emand me not being with >> reporter: to keep them safe, dr. langsfeld worked for weeks at a time separated from her family. >> i can tell them that i'm goi tng to very best to protect myself and that i have to do what has to be done because people neemy help. um... but i can't really promise them it's all going to be okay. >> reporter: a month later, p.p.e. supplies were beginning to be more availab, lockdown measures were in effect in many states and the curve was beginning to flatten. but when we spoke to dr. langsfeld in wote april, she rried about the new shape the battlefield was taking. >> now everyone's saying, "oh, look, it's slowing down. it's getting better. it's getting better." but our tremendous fear is that this is not one curve up and down that we're trying to flatten, but that we're actually going see a sine wave. and that sine wave is just going to be a tremendous load on all the healthcare providers. >> reporter: fast foard to december, a record number of

cases is now sweeping across the country. but while healthcare workers have continued to fight the disease on the frontline, an researchers had been racing to develop a covid-19 vaccine. and, thi ws pak, the first vaccinations in the united states weradministered to ontline healthcare workers. ( applause ) this past thuray, dr. langsfeld also received a vaccine. >> so, here's my injecon site. you can't even see it. i always feel li i don't wt coming off to me hurts more than the actual shot. so, it was pretty beni. >> reporter: and now that you have theaccine, are you as concerned about the safety of your family? i mean, away from them just to stay separated. >> with getting the vaccine there is this piece of me that feels like, "oh, i'm much more likely to come home." i mean, not that at is point i really feel like my life is at

risk when i drive away, but-- but getting toward a place where, where it's safer for me is really, is really wonderful. >> reporter: when we first spo e rch it was about flattening the curve. and then we talked again, it was about this sine wave and the long haul and the toll that was goingve to n healthcare workers. where do you see us now? >> i hopthat over time the vaccine will be able thelp uer to develop aimmunity through the vaccine that will n- able to flatflatten this out for real and give us a real sense of security where we can go back to a more normal existence. um... but i don't, i-- this is like the ray of hope. i don't yet feel like at the point where we can take the big sigh out. it's crazy all over the country. there are so many people sick and dying. there are full hospitals and

there are healthcare works that are overwhelmed and the fatigue that people are starting to feel psychologilly is not the virus is just as strong and is just as aggressive and is-- i mean, maybe you could say that there aren't the same proportions of people ending up in the i.c.u. as there were at the very beginning, but, you know, no one can get tired of like, nobody can get lazy.w. and so, the place that where i saat i could intervene to stop the spread was to get vaccinated. >> reporter: what was it like getti>> the vaccine? walked in. it was quick. everybody was in a great mood. and i got a nice little sticker that said i got vaccinated. and it feels like a really gd day. >> sre

this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." for the latest news updates visit pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy and havod night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media acce group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weeke is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg.

he leonard and norma klorfine foundation. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in frontf us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: conslaumer cel pond by: and by the ction for public broadcasting, a private th corporation funded b american people. pbs station from viers like you. thank you. you're watchi

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contriattions to your pbs stn from viewers like you. [tog: the brain is what makes humans han. it's central to everytng about us. the ability to learn things new, to experience new things. it's all between my ears. [banfield]: e brain is our command center and it's imbued with an incredible gift. it can change its structure and function through a process called neuroplasticity. offett]: we used to thinthat s set up the way it was set up. but it tur out, the brain can adapt so. and if it's giveira different set of cmstances, it'll change. so, if we accepted that we've be able to learn, we probably