captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the biden agenda-- the president lays out his plan to push to buy american-made products and confront the economic crisis. then, the pandemic persists-- infections and deaths continue to rise as the vaccination campaign lags behind projections. and, taking to the streets-- hundreds of thousands of farmers protest new laws deregulating agriculture in india. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs

newshour has been provided by: >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.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. >> woodruff: president biden has had a full day, lifting a ban aimed at transgender troops;

imposing a ban aimed at covid- 19, and expanding a mandate to buy goods made by americans. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports on the day's events. >> alcindor: president biden's first full week in office, and a flurry of executive actions. at a morning meeting with defense secretary lloyd austin, biden revoked president trump's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. >> what i'm doing is enabling all qualified americs to serve their country in uniform. transgender personnel qualified in every other way n serve the government of the united states going forward. >> alcindor: the president also issued a “buy american” order. it is aimed at providing support to u.s. manufacturers. the order raises the threshold for products to qualify under existing “buy american” regulations; calls for a review of waivers of “buy american” requirements; and, appoints an official in the office of management and budget to oversee

the order's implementation and, the president is reimposing a covid-19 ban on foreign travelers from the u.k., brazil and ireland, as well as other european countries with open borders. south africa was also included on the list over concerns about a coronavirus variant there. meanwhile, the biden white house has begun its push for legislative action on a $1.9-triion covid relief package. on sunday, national economic counl director brian deese and other white house officials held a call with a bipartisan group of senators. but republicans susan collins of maine and mitt romney of utah said they remain concerned about the size of the package. many others in the g.o.p. are too. vermont independent bernie sanders, who caucuses with deocrats, has said he is also skeptical that a bipartisan deal can be reached. instead, he is suggesting a process called budget reconciliation. that would let the bill pass with a simple majority instead of 60 votes.

for his part, today, president biden again voiced hope for a bipartisan agreement. >> whether we get it all done exactly the way i want it remains to be seen, but i'm confident that we can work our way through, we have to work our way through, because as i've said 100 times, there is no ability in a democracy for it to function without the ability to reach consensus. >> alcindor: meanwhile, the looming second impeachment trial of former president donald trump threatens new divisions. the first step is tonight, with house managers formally delivering the impeachment article to the senate. it accuses trump of “incitement of insurrection.” that comes after he urged supporters to march to the capitol on january 6th, and a mob of them stormed the building. on sunday, florida senator marco rubio was questioned about whether it was unconstitutional to try a former president, he said this: >> yes, the first chance i get to vote to end this trial, i'll do it because i think it's

really bad for america. if you want to hold people accountable, there's other ways to do it, particularly for a president. >> alcindor: senate democrats on the other hand, say it's important that president trump be held accountable. >> it makes no sense whatsoever that a president, or any official, could commit a heinous crime against our country and defeat congress' impeachment powers by simply resigning. so as to avoid accountability and a vote to disqualify them from future office. >> alcindor: the trial will not begin until february. that gives the former president more time to mount his defense and the current president more time to confirm his cabinet nominees. that includes this evening's senate vote to confirm janet yellen as treasury secretary. next up: antony blinken, the nominee for secretary of state. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now along with our lisa desjardins. hello to both of you. and yamiche, i'm going to start with you. tell us a lile more at this point about, i'm told that

yamiche is having a little deficit with her earpiece with audio. if that is the case, i'm going to switch over, is lisa with us right now? all right, lisa, i'm going to start with you. what do we know at this point? we know we heard some of that in yamiche's report about what president biden is trying to do. what do we know at this point about republican pushback resistance to what they are hearing from the new president. >> well, judy t isn't just republican pushback talking to offices and to people involved in the phone call that happened that yamiche reported about. democrats also have some concerns about this package. but let me talk first about what they agree on. overall their agreement that there is more money for vaccine distribution and production has to be passed and passed soon. but let's look at everything else that they are talking about. where there seems to be some agreement in the senate, where there is disagreement. first there seems to be general agreement across partisan lines

that there could be more room for unemployment assistance. also it looks possible that another round of 1400 dollar checks could be passed. but senators on both sides of the aisle are interested in targeting that to lower income, below the 300,000 threshhold that is currently in place. now some problems. president biden has asked for a $15 minimum wage, that seems to be a nonstarting, also the price tag is probably the largest red flag. again four members of both parties, republicans especially, but democrat-- democrats as well, the main thing brought up on this call was questions about exactly what president biden needs the $1.9 trillion for. we understand from senators on the call that the white house sent out a more detailed plan today. one other note, judy, all of this as we're learning more about the impeachment trial itself. we know who will preside. not chief scrus tis john roberts as we had last time but instead a senator. patrick lahey. is he the president's-- leahy,

the president's protell. this can happen when st not a sitting president being impeach approximated and democrats will use that fore mat with one of their own senators presiding. >> very interesting. so i think yamiche are you now able to hear us, and we can hear you, there you are. we are doing this a little bit bayard-- backwards. we heard lisa talking about congressional reaction but fill us ina little bit more on what president biden was trying to do today. >> what lisa just outlined is the biggest test of the biden presidency. st now this issue where he had 1.9 trillion in his covid relief bill and is he running into bipartisan backlash. officials that i have been talking to at the white house say joe biden is now going to have to show his skill, the skill he talked about on the campaign trail to get in there and negotiate this. i talked to a lawmaker familiar with biden's thinking and there is some thought he might have to

break up this bill and do billions at a time. they're really focused on trying to get vaccine, vaccine distribution as well as more vaccinators meaning that they might have ways to have americans come and be hired as health care workers to distribute the vacs even. another thing to note, as he is dealing with the covid relief bill, he's also still busy at work signing executive orders. today he signed an executive order on buying american. it's really about aiming to get the federal government to buy more american products. in some ways st also white house officials say, biden white house officials say it is about putting more teeth into what president, former president trump was trying to do. another thing president biden is also revoking some things that president trump has done. today it was the transgender military ban. it was seen as discriminatory when president trump passed it two years ago and now joe biden is saying no gender issues including if you are a transgender person should be looked at in a negative way in order to serve in the military. >> and meantime, lisa, back to

you, as all this is going on. the senate, 50/50 senate split between republicans, democrats still struggling to get themselves organized to figure out how they will operate. >> right, why isn't the senate organized yet? here is why, judy let's break this down quickly t takes 60 votes to pass new rules for a new senate that means republicans operating under the former rules of the last senate still chair committee t means new senators including the senators from georgia still have in committee assignment and it also means that any single senator can block any vote. so this is why things are tied up in the senate right now. we don't know when we're going to have a resolution for how the senate will organize, when committees can proceed. there's hope that that can happen before impeachment but it's not clear. >> woodruff: wow, sounds like a lot still to be worked out in the senate. and finally, yamiche, back to you, there is some news today

out of the justice department. fill us in on what happened. >> well, president trump even though he's gone is really still being attached to some chaos. this time at the department of justice. the inspector general today announced that his office is going to be launching an investigation to see if any d o.j. officials try to wield power to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election. that news comes as there were reports that president trump workg with the d o.j. official was trying to get georgia to overturn its election, to force that date that joe biden wanted to go back into the camp of president trump t is still an area we will watch closely and it is the d o.j. saying we'll look at our own people to see whether they did anything that was illegal or unethical dealing with the 2020 election. >> woodruff: and nienlly lisa, i do want to come back to you on some news today, republican senator who is from the state of ohio, making a big announcement.

>> that's right, rob portman will not be running for re-election. he's up in 2022, that is another potential pickup for democrats in a swing state. we'll have to watch it closely. he just said legislating has become too hard. >> woodruff: all right. lisa and yamiche, filling us in on everything there is. lissar desjardins, yamiche alcindor, thank you both. >> woodruff: as yamiche reported earlier, president biden's $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan is being met with bipartisan resistance in the senate. heather boushey is a member of the president's white house council of economic advisors and she joins us now from washington. heather boushey welcome back to the newshour, you were with us about a week and a half ago when president biden was still president-elect biden.

first ming i-- thing i want to ask you about is the time table. the president stressing today he wants to get this economic package passed as soon as possiblement but we heard the senate incoming majority leader chuck schumer say march, mid rch. is chuck sheum-- schumer's schedule the president's schedule? >> well, let me say from the economic perspective, making sure that we have clarity, that we have the relief that we need for workers, for families, for communities, for state and local governments all across the country, is the priority to make sure that everyone kws what they can weather the storm of this crisis. now my understanding is that part of the reason that senator schumer is delaying until march is because many of the pieces don't expire because of the package passed in december. but i think it is really imperative that we act urgently on this package. >> woodruff: let me ask you about some of the reporting from our colleagues and what we have been hearing from the senators who were on a call yesterday

with white house officials rolling out trying to explain what is in this package. several of the senators came out of that meeting yesterday and said they like some of what is here. they especially like what the president is trying to do with regard to money for more vaccine distribution, getting more of it out there faster. but they are still concerned about those 1400 dollar direct payments. they are saying they are not targeted enough to people at the lower end of the income scale. is the white house prepared to compromise on that? >> well, i think at this point st still early days but the important thing is that we make sure that we get that support out to all the families that need it. and part of the reason that direct payments can be so powerful is that while you have unemployment benefits that go to those that are out of work, the direct payments go to families that might be struggling with additional cost. and so we want to make sure that we do reach everyone. i do think though that making sure that they are really

focused on those,-- we do well just want to make sure that everyone who needs help gets access to it. >> woodruff: we were also hearing from my colleagues lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor reporting, there is opposition among some of these senators to the $15 minimum wage. how integral a part of the package is that? we heard president biden say today he is prepared to negotiate. could you be in the end prepared to break this up into smaller packages? >> well, the minimum wage, raising it is certainly one of the promises that candidate biden made to the american people. minimum wage wasn't been increased in quite a long time. and especially as you saw in 2020, so many of those sential workers, the grocery store clerks, the food delivery folks, the orderly, the lowest level

folks in medical facilities, child care workers, these are folks that are disproportionately minimum wage workers or who would be affected by this increase. and so this is absolutely mission critical in this economy that we value them and show them just how much their work means. so i think it's too early to say what exactly the compromise is. but the minimum wage is certainly an important piece of the puzzle. >> woodruff: another comment we hear from out, i guess these are from more conservative commentators, people that speak for the busins community, is that it is all well and good to help those who are in need but you have a number of people who own businesses who are struggling. who are looking at either their businesses dissolve or about to go under. and they worry, or they complain there is not enough in here for those struggling business owners, small business owners. >> -- i think we may have an

audio, can you hear me, heather boushey? apologies. we're going to try to figure this out, are you able to hear me, heather boushey. >> i am, i am able to hear you now, the internet. >> woodruff: apologies about that. i will make this, i will try to make it briefer. small business owners, the argument is that they are struggling. they need help too. that there is not enough help here for them. >> well, you know, there was extensions of small business aiding the prior package and the goal of the incoming administration is to make sure that those benefits get out and they reach all of the small businesses that need help. small businesses all across the country, especially focusing on making sure that businesses owned by women, people of color, get the benefit this time around. and there is also ihink a connection to the buy america executive order that the

president signed today where he's going to make sure that those small manufacturers actually have an opportunity to participate in government procurement. >> and we are having a little bit of deficit. i will ask you one other question and hopefully we'll be able to hear each other. you and the president both said it's important to go big, that the mistake would be not to do enough and yet the pushback you're getting from the congress is to go smaller. how small or how much smaller can you be prepared to go with this aid. and still make the difference you need to? >> our apologies. we're depend ent on the internet and sometimes it isn't there for us. heather boucher, member of the president's council of economic advisors, thank you so much for join us.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, president biden suggested the nation could soon vaccinate 1.5 million people a day against covid-19, up from one million a day now. that came as the u.s. death toll reached 420,000 deaths, and the president warned it could hit 600,000 before the tide turns. meanwhile, infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci said the surge is starting to recede. he spoke on nbc's "today show." >> what i think this really is is just the natural peaking and then plateauing and coming down. the number of vaccines that we've gotten into the arms of people, you know, good start. we want to keep going, get a lot of people vaccinated. but i don't think the dynamics of what we're seeing now with the plateauing is significantly

influenced yet, it will be soon, but yet, by the vaccine. >> woodruff: meanwhile, california lifted regional stay- at-home orders. future restrictions will be on a county-by-county basis. we'll turn to the challenge of vaccinating the country after the news summary. dominion voting systems is suing former president trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, for defamation. the suit asks more than $1.3 billion in damages. dominion is a leading maker of voting machines. it says giuliani falsely claimed that it helped rig the election for president biden. giuliani says the lawsuit amounts to intimidation. in russia today, president vladimir putin condemned mass protests in support of jailed opposition leader alexei navalny. over the weekend, demonstrators clashed with police in more than 100 russian cities. activists say at least 3,700

people were detained. but during a video call with students today, putin branded the protests illegal. >> ( translated ): all people have the right to express their point of view within the framework of the law. everything that goes beyond the framework of the law is not only counterproductive but also dangerous. >> woodruff: navalny's supporters are calling for more demonstrations this coming sunday. the president of brazil, jair bolsonaro, is also facing protests over his handling of the covid crisis. thousands of brazilians took to the streets in several cities over the weekend, riding in socially-distanced motorcades. they demanded that bolsonaro be impeached. more than 217,000 brazilians have died in the pandemic, second only to the u.s. toll. back in this country, the u.s. supreme court dismissed lawsuits accusing president trump of illegally profiting from his

businesses and washington, d.c. hotel while in office. the court ruled the cases are moot because he is no longer in office. the suits alleged that mr. trump violated the constitutional ban on taking payments from foreign offials, through his business ventures. the biden white house says from now on, its daily briefings will include an american sign language interpreter. press secretary jen psaki was joined by one today on a youtube stream of the event. previous presidents used interpreters occasionally. and on wall street today, stocks had a mixed monday, searching for direction. the dow jones industrial average lost 37 points to close at 30,960. but, the nasdaq rose nearly 93 points, and the s&p 500 added 13. still to come on the newshour: covid infections and deaths continue to rise as the vaccination campaign lags behind projections.

hundreds of thousands of farmers protest new laws deregulating agriculture in india. our politics monday team breaks down the many changes made by the biden administration. and much more. >> woodruff: there has been some better news about the pandemic of late. more than two-thirds of states are reporting a decline in the number of new cases. but, the country is averaging 170,000 new cases a day over the last week. more than 130,000 people are hospitalized. and vaccine distribution has improved some. but as concerns over new variants of the virus loom, amna

nawaz looks at how far we still have to go with vaccinations. >> nawaz: judy, so far there have been more 40 million doses of the moderna and pfizer vaccines delivered around the country. more than half, about 22 million, according to "bloomberg's" vaccine tracker, have been administered to people. and the pace has increased to more than 1.1 million shots a day over the past week. as a whole, the country has given out nearly seven doses for every 100 people, according to "bloomberg." but the rates of vaccination, and just how much supply is going out, vary widely by state, city or county. as you can see on this map, states like west virginia, with darker shading, have the highest percentage of vaccines given out. the lighter colors around much of the u.s. reflect lower rates of distribution. so what's driving these disparities? and what does mean for the country as a whole? jen kates of the kaiser family foundation joins us again to dig deeper into all of this.

jen kates, welcome back to the newshour, and thanks for being here. let's start with the differences we're seeing state by state, broadly speaking, why are some states so much better at getting the vaccine that they have out the door and into people's arms than other states. >> it is good to be here. i think what we're seeing right now, if you look across the country is a pretty complicated labyrinth and you know, it's different everywhere, so there is no similar experience happening in any county, really, compared to the next county. and part of the challenges that states, wee starting at different places and dealing with a whole range of issues to try to figure out the most complex mass vaccination campaign ever. and we're already operating from a deficit of having a lot of, you know, challenges just dealing with covid. so what we are now seeing is states pushing out doses to different eligibility groups, using different systems to alert people and it's pretty complicated. >> so that first eligibility group, the folks who live in nursing homes and long-term care

facilities, there say federal program partnering with cvs and walgreen to administer those shots. governor pritzker of illinois was asked why his state was lagging about getting the supply they have out the door. he blames that program. he says they have removed hundreds of thousands of doses from our state's supply and they are slow to deliver them. is that a problem you have been seeing in other places? >> some places there have been complaints about how slow that program has been. in others it's not clear where the bottle neck is but there are bottle necks. and i think it's just symptomatic that this rollout has not been smooth yet. hopefully it will get smoother but there's been a lot of catchup being played and with that program which is a federal program that most but not all long-term care facilities are participating in, some are well along the way and others are really lagging for a whole variety of reasons. >> the other thing we're hearing a lot about is vaccine shortage. people saying they will run out of supply soon. why is that? are the pharmaceutical companies not making enough or is the federal government not distributing them fast enough? >> there is several a supply issue and i think what we are

seeing right now is a short-term challenge where the amount of doses being provided to states is just not enough to vaccinate all of the eligible groups that they are trying to reach. and states as you probably know are expanded who is eligible so they are casting a wider net but they have limited supply. part of it is the delivery schedule of these vaccines, they're not due to deliver the first big traunch until the end of march but there are many, many more people eligible now that say big short term issue, even long-term there could be supply challenges. >> president biden said today when asked about a time line the goal for them when they came in was a hundred million shots in the first 100 days. they say they think they can ramp that up to 150 million shots and by their time line he said the country could be well on its way to herd immunity by the summer. based on the production and distribution you have seen so far, do you think that is a reasonable goal? >> i think the first part, the ramping up to 1.5 million a day is possible. and getting to vaccinate many more people than the original

goal, i think that original goal was a bilt of a floor. i mean the pace is picking up. but getting to herd immunity to the summer, that is going to be tough. part of the challenge here is unless there is another vaccine authorized which could be around the corner or the federal government is able to get more vaccines, we may not have enough to actually reach the number of people who will need to be vaccinated. so in addition to the pace theeding to pick up, there may be a supply challenge at the end there. i think it's going to be a stretch. >> i have to ask you about something else. because with all the focus on the vaccine, something else that a world health organization official said today caught my attention. he said if countries bet everything on the covid-19 vaccine they are going to lose. in other words he said you have to keep doing the testing and distancing and the tracing, that the u.s. has not been good at so far. without those things in place, are we working against the efficacy of the vaccine? >> yeah, i think the lesson we learn here is that the basic public health interventions that work, testing, masking, social distancing are still going to be needed and going to be needed

now and to some extent later. if we don't heed that lesson we are going to be in a challenged place. already there are examples in the united states of counties or cities having to take staff from testing to deploy them to vaccination, that is really not the best way to achieve the goal. vaccines will make a huge difference in all of our lives but they are not going to be the only thing here and we could be in a lot of trouble if we forget that lesson. >> a big, big challenge ahead. jen kates of the kaiser family foundation, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: india celebrates republic day tomorrow, a holiday observed with elaborate military parades. this year, hundreds of thousands of protesting farmers are planning their own tractor parades. for months they've camped just outside the capital, delhi,

demanding the repeal of new laws that deregulate agriculture, which directly employs near half the country's 1.3 billion people. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has our report. it's part of his series, agents for change. >> reporter: the police have used tear gas, batons and, in near freezing temperatures, water cannons to keep protesting farmers from entering central delhi. still, they've traveled hundreds, even thousands of miles and encircled the capital, protesting the end of a system of subsidies and price guaranteeshat for decades have provided some certainty, though hardly a comfortable livelihood. >> ( translated ): we're not going to leave. >> reporter: most visible in the crowds here are sikhs from the breadbasket state of punjab, their hallmark turbans far more evident than face masks, despite the pandemic. >> they're sleeping under trolleys, they're sleeping in their trucks.

they're challenging the cold, they don't have resources >> reporter: gurvinder singh is with united sikhs, a u.s.-based relief organization that's provided water, medicines, blankets, even shoes to protesters. united sikhs has worked natural disasters from the philippines to the horn of africa. but this one is different, says singh, who lives in dallas. it's a man made disaster, he says and profoundly affects farming, where sikhs have a rich tradition. >> it's farming as your legacy as what your forefathers have bequeathed to you. i'm an engineer, you know, but whatever you are, you owe it to those seeds that were planted in the soil that allowed you to flourish. >> reporter: the vast majority of india's farmers own fewer than three acres. for decades, they've sold their produce in their home states in government sanctioned markets called ¡mandis'-- a system that

guaranteed minimum prices on several key commodities. the new laws take a deregulated, free market approach and make no mention of minimum support prices. farmers can now sell to anyone, anywhere. but small holders, like dalvir singh and raju pradhan, say that's meaningless to them. >> ( translated ): we don't have the ability to take our crops to a different country, to a different state, this whole law was designed for the corporates, it is not in our favor. >> ( translated ): they did the same thing with phones and reliance, now they are doing the same thing to agriculture; they are totally against the farmers. >> reporter: they fear conglomerates like reliance which have grown dominant as india has deregulated its economy, will now take over agriculture and put small farmers out of business. and they accuse prime minister narendra modi of doing the bidding of wealthy industrialists like the adani and ambani families. >> ( translated ): this country

is ours! it's not adani's or ambani's or modi's. he's not the prime minister of the corporations. he's fighting for the rich, we are fighting for our children. >> ( translated ): there is a huge conspiracy underway to confuse the farmers. they are being frightened that after new reforms, farmers' lands will be snatched by others. >> reporter: prime minister modi says the new laws will boost farmers' income and productivity and lure private investment into an agricultural sector that's widely seen as costly and inefficient, with outdated infrastructure. >> ( translated ): now these people who are in opposition and deluding the farmers, they were also in favor of these reforms when they were in power. but they couldn't make the decision during their government and kept making false promises to farmers. >> reporter: despite modi's reassurances, there could be some hard truths facing indian farmers as they have elsewhere in the world. i reached sumit ganguly, dstinguished professor of political science at indiana university.

>> the family farm in the united states is a kind of a romantic ideal anymore. it's unsustainable. but this is how the world has evolved. and i'm afraid that evolution is now coming to india. over the longer haul one could see a more successful agricultural bounty, but it will probably come at some cost. a number of these small farmers, they'll probably get wiped out. >> reporter: and unlike industrialized countries, or more recently china, he says india does not have factories to absorb displaced farmers or social programs to retrain them in, say, entrepreneurship or specialty farming. united sikh's gurvinder singh shares these worries >> there is no safety net, for example, there's no planning, unbelievably, you know, this was

done in the, in the haste of night, this was done without any consultation, without any studies, without any engagement with those who you're going to impact. >> reporter: his group is standing behind the protesters- and has helped organized huge rallies as far away as london and san francisco. outside delhi, as they huddle in their camp-like vigil, the farmers insist they'll stick it out until their demands are met. >> ( translated ): until we win and the government takes this back, until then, whether it takes six months or a year, however long it takes we'll sit here. >> ( translated ): i'll tell you one benefit of this law. they've brought us together. it's made us all brothers. we have become one! >> reporter: as the impasse drags on, talks to end it are being held in delhi, in perhaps the most serious pushback encountered by the modi government, which enjoys a commanding parliamentary

majority. small farmers may also be facing a reckoning on their future. but for now, they also form one of the biggest voting blocs in the world's largest democracy. for the pbs newshour, with rakesh nagar in delhi, this is fred de sam lazaro in st. paul, minnesota. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under- told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: it's the first full week of the biden administration. here to analyze the host of legislative goals, executive actions and more, our politics monday team. that's amy walter of the "cook political report." and tamara keith of npr. good to see both of you. i say it's been a week.

what, only five days, amy. so i'm already going to be asking both of you to size up what we se. you have the new president saying, doing exactly what he said he was going to do. he's rolled out a big economic proposal to the congress and already he's getting pushback. what do you make of this, of these first days? >> it's a great point, judy, how much can we read into something that has only been going on for four or five days. but to me it really, what really seems to be kming to the fore is the question about how both sides, democrats, republicans de fine some terms. terms like bipartisanship and unity and compromise and wh that means to one group of legislators or voters a end what that means to the other. for example, does something become bipartisan only if it passes with democratic and republican votes or can bipartisan mean just reaching

out to the other side. does unity mean we have to agree all the time or does unity mean we're just going to be more civil. and that's really, right now, where congress is sort of, and where congress and the white house and seem to be at loggerheads about this. and with voters as well, judy the pe-w research center released a poll earlier this month and it had some fascinating looks at how voters see the issue of compromise. we love to talk about compromise. we love this concept of people working together, whether it's politics or anywhere else. but where you sit whether you sit on the democratic side or republican side also de fines how you see the word compromise. and what's interesting is when they ask the question of democrats and republicans, do you think it's a good idea for president biden to work with republicans even if it means in compromising with them he

disappoints some of his voters? alst two thirds of democrats said they would be willing to do that. they thought that was a good idea. but when it was reversed, asked republicans do you think republican leaders should compromise with biden even if it means disappointing republican voters, only about 40% of republicans agreed with that. so the incentive structure right now is very much tilted against the republican office holder compromise. >> woodruff: how do you see all of this, tam? because you do have, the president as we suggested, he is doing exactly what he said he would do. and even when he was asked today about how he views the term unity he pretty much characterizes it as an absent of vitriol rather than saying he expects the republicans to climb on board with everything he wants. >> and reality is that the republicans are not going to climb on board with everything that he wants.

this 1.9 trillion llar covid relief legislation that he wants is not going to be what he gets. and he essentially admitted that today in talking to reporters saying that you know, you don't want to give up at the beginning. but certainly there is a realization in the white house that that was an opening, that was an opening offer. and that there are going to be discussions. there are elements certainly of that big legislation that there is bipartisan agreement on. but there are other areas like a $15 minimum wage that may not have as much agreement, a $1400 direct payments to individuals may not have full buy-in. and there are a number of elements there, obviously. state and local government aid is something that was battled out in the winter or in december when the house and senate and

president trump came up with a bill. so there are a lot of challenges to this package and there is a deadline looming. it's not immediate though it doesn't come until march when those unemployment benefits expire. >> woodruff: exactly right. and amy i am going to come back to you with a question you sort of left hanging there at the end. which is what is the incentive for republicans to go along? with any of this? >> right, well wt democrats are hoping is that republicans are going to go along, especially on issues that relate to covid and health care and some of those other issues that have wide bipartin appeal. and especially in states, on people who are really suffering at that moment and time. being seen as the obstruction to those can be costly politically. what is the bigger cost to you as a republican incumbent, fear of getting prime aried on your

right because were you willing to wor with democrats? or fear of losing a general election because democrats painted you as you know standing in the way of getting stuff to voters. now it's hard for that latter to work, judy. usually 's party of power in a mid-term election, it's a referendum on them. but what we're going to find out in this next year is how much of a role roll done and trump will continue to play, both looming a figure out there, endorsing certain candidates or speaking out against others. but also, of course, we know that there is this impeachment trial coming up which is going to be a recorded vote and that is another thing sort of looming right now for so many republicans. >> woodruff: very much looming in the background, tam, as president biden does, yes, he

put out this economic agenda but is he also putting out as you pointed out today a lot of executive orders, executive actions. i guess setting a record for the first week for a new president. >> absolutely setting a record. exploding a record. you know, when president trump put out 14 executive actions in his first week in office, his team was describing that as shock and a-we. biden already not a full week in, has more than doubled the number of eck tiff actions taken by president trump. now part of this is simply that president trump and he followed president obama in this, ultimately decided or was forced to decide that he had to govern through executive actions. that getting things through congress simply wasn't happening on a schedule that he wanted or in a way that he wanted. but when you legislate by executive action it is much more easily reversed than when there

is actual legislation. it's not a law, it is an executive action that could be reversed just as easily by another executive action. so a lot of what biden is doing is keeping the promises he made during the campaign and reversing what trump did over the course of his presidency. for people who reqre stability or want stability or say people who are affected by immigration policy, where there hasn't been significant legislation since the bush administration, for people who want stabilities, this sort of ping pong of executive action is not helpful. >> and amy here, at the end, it also lowers expectations for what people can today expect the president to get done in the way of big sweepking legislation. >> that's exactly right. what these executive actions do as tam pointed out, there is the ability to go in and reverse instantly what your predecessor

had put forward through his own executive action. but it also puts ws up on the board. you can turn to your supporters and say i told you. within minutes of taking office i would do these things and look, they're done. of course what they are not saying is the next president could rolls to back but we won't talk about that right now. let's' just talk about the fact that we got these things done. but tam is right about a third of all of the executive actions that have been taken have been focused just on rolling back things that the trump administration put in executive orders during theirrtime. >> woodruff: no question the transgender ban on the military, the paris climate accord, building the wall, the list goes on. the pipeline issue. tam, just quickly here at the end, when it comes to impeachment, republicans all over the map at this point, but

no clear path to that 67 majority that it would take. >> right, and house republicans are being punished op their side strks notable that minority leader mitch mcconnell is not telling his members what to do. he is saying it is about a conscience. >> woodruff: we'll be watching that, february 9th. the trial start its. we get a chance to see the two of you a couple of times before then. tamara keith, amy walter. a lot going on. thank you both. >> you're well koblg-- welcome. >> woodruff: we want to now raise the curtain on an experiment to keep theater alive while propping up a local economy amid the pandemic. miami, one of the country's top tourist destinations, has been

hit hard by covid and the travel shutdown. officials at miami international airport, where some 90% of tourists arrive, say traffic is off by more than half. that affects hotels, restaurants, and hot spots like miami beach. somehow, though, live theater is happening. in fact, miami is now home to the largest live production in the country right now. jeffrey brown has our look for our ongoing arts and culture series, canvas. >> he said that he had taught you to value money over everything else. >> brown: making theater in the time of pandemic. it's the goal of miami new drama, in a project called“ seven deadly sins”: seven ten- minute plays presented to a limited outdoor audience, performed by actors inside empty storefronts. venezuelan-born michel hausmann is the company's co-founder and artistic director: >> it was a moment of reckoning

for the whole industry, but it was also a moment for us to realize, okay, what it is that we do, right? are we ithe business of filling venues with people? or are we in the business of live storytelling? and i think the paradigm shift opened up the way we were able to see the possibilities of what we could still do. >> brown: the five-year-old company, described by hausmann as a ¡theater of color', proudly representing its diverse city, normally performs a lively mix of new playsnd classics in the“ colony theater”, a restored 1935 art deco gem in miami beach. when covid forced its closure, hausmann had a revelation while riding his bike along nearby lincoln road, miami beach's famed pedestrian street of shops and restaurants. >> i saw all the empty storefronts on lincoln road and

i thought, hmmm, there might be something there. >> brown: empty storefronts, the impact of the pandemic and earlier economic shifts. and now: a new kind of theater, performed twice during the evening. audience members gather at an outdoor bar aptly named“ purgatory”. they're divided into small groups of no more than 12, each with a guide, and move stefront to storefront, play to play, and earbuds that connect to wireless receivers. there is a kind of screen involved, but hausmann wanted to get beyond the virtual experience. >> i think it's as close to the real thing as you can get. the actors are seeing the audience and they're seeing the audience response to the work. and i think this is theater with a capital ¡t'. >> brown: it's also an artistic outlet and source of income for artists in need of both. hausmann commissioned seven acclaimed playwrights, five

latino, two black, to write short plays performed by one or two actors. >> when michel hausmann first called me to tell me about the idea, i was just like, yes! >> brown: yes? >> yes, sign me up! >> the people that surface in memory, people that cut you to your core. >> brown: playwright, filmmaker and actor carmen pelaez, a miami native, performs in one play,¡ memories in the blood”, written by dael orlandersmith. >> they say i'm to be placed in a center of study of learning. >> brown: and wrote another, titled “strapped”. >> i was excited to get my creative juices flowing again. i thought it was fairly ingenious. and i thought it was a huge relief for me not only to be able to address some of the things that i'm seeing going on and feeling artistically, but that i was going to have a paycheck. >> brown: strict protocols are followed, including weekly covid tests. backstage, actors prep in ¡pods' with their own ventilation system.

those performing in pairs are also isolating together. the writers picked one of the classic ¡seven deadly sins' and created mini-dramas. some, more personal, like pulitzer winner nilo cruz's“ amsterdam latitudes” >> it only takes one shattered storefront window for you to shake your heads in condemnation. >> brown: others directly address current events. carmen palaez chose pride as her sin and wrote a piece, performed by stephen g. anthony, in which a statue of the 19th century politician john c. calhoun, a defender of slavery, comes to life as he's being pulled down. >> now you want to gather here today and try to take me down. well, go ahead. my foundation is 400 years thick. >> brown: you were watching the same news stories we all were seeing, and then the playwright in you thought, what if one of

those statues could actually speak now? >> right, because if one of those statues could actually speak and full-throated in the defense of themselves, we would also actually see what they were defending. so when you see the banality and the cruelty of what they were actually defending, are you willing to still see that statue up? >> brown: artistic expressions, but also an economic engine. sold-out performances, with ticket prices at $60 and $75, are covering the non-profit theater company's costs. and for lincoln road, an upscale commercial center all about shopping and cultural¡ experience', a new sign of life. miami's mild climate helps, of course. but michel hausmann points out that theater has always adapted and changed. >> the way i look at it, theater has been around for 2500 years, and even at the most horrible

moments of humanity. there are different and new ways of telling stories that don't necessarily mean we all need to gather in a building and the lights dim and then there's intermission. but theater is a very vast art form that is very generous and very big. and we just need to keep exploring the outer rims of it. >> brown: and it's no sin at all to hope for the success of this and other experiments in live theater. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and that's the and new update the u.s. senate has confirmed janet yellen to be treasury secretary. she is the first woman to hold that post. she was also the first woman to serve as chair of the federal >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here

tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.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 u. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> my colleagues used to kid me about quoting irish poets. >> the irish prime minister joins us on biden, brexit and the new era ahead. plus -- >> midwest east peace is a very sexy topic. >> the personal side of making peace. we go behind the scenes of israeli/palestinian negotiations with the director of the human factor, plus two key players, aaron david miller and gemal. and then -- >> what e president was saying right from the get-g let's reset this, and everybody get on

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