captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff:ood evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, the drive to a deal: president biden pushes to ramp up economic relief to the pandemic, but faces reluctant republican lawmakers. then, seeds of an insurrection: we dive into the details of the days leading up to the mob attacking the capitol on january 6. and, separated families: we explore the legacy of one of president trump's most controversial policies and how the biden administration wants to change going forward. >> every parent dreams of always being by their child's side, never being separated, watching them grow up, seeing every stage

they go through. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> fidelity investments. >> change plans >> consumer cellular.

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public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers le you. thank you. >> woodruff: the united states has now passed 443,000 pandemic deaths after the worst month yet. more than 95,000 lives were lost in january alone nationwide. but there is also news that the average daily death toll has begun to decline, along with overall infection, and the number of americans hospitalized with covid fell beyond 100,000 today for the first time in two months. heavy snow shut down some covid vaccination sites today, from the northeast to new england. a winter storm sent cars skidding, and brought out the shovels, with some places getting two feet of snow. in new york and elsewhere, it meant more delays for people waiting for their shots. >> we don't want folks, especially seniors, going out in

unsafe conditions to get vaccinated. we can take the supply we have and distribute it very quickly in the days to come and make sure everyone gets their appointments, but it's not safe out there today, so vaccinations are canceled today and they are also going to be canceled tomorrow. >> woodruff: the storm also grounded hundreds of flights and disrupted rail service. the u.s. and other nations have condemned a military coup in myanmar. the army seized power early today in the former burma. civilian leader aung s suu kyi was arrested along with other officials. police blocked access to the international airport in yangon. phone and internet service were cut in the country's capital. we'll take a closer look later in the program. in russia, the kremlin denounced ma protests in support of jailed opposition leader alexei navalny and defended mass arrests. hundreds of thousands turned out on sunday, but officials branded

them "hooligans and provocateurs." more than 5,400 people were arrested, sparking complaints of brutality today. >> ( translated ): the riot police attacked us many times and beat us, even though we were just peacefully standing there. there were people who shouted, and after we were attacked we also started to shout. >> woodruff: navalny has a court hearing tomorrow, and prosecutors say they will ask to keep him jailed for up to 3.5 more years. back in this country, there's word that the number of identifiable hate groups in the u.s. actually declined last year as extremists moved to online networks. the southern poverty law center reports that shift makes them more difficult to track. the report identified 838 such groups, down from a high of just over 1,000 in 2018. and, on wall street, stocks recouped some of last week's losses.

the dow jones industrial average gained 229 points to close near 30,212. the nasdaq rose 332 points. and the s&p 500 added 59 points. still to come on the "newshour," seeds of insurrection: what we know now about what lead to the siege on the capitol; a coup in myanmar leaves a nobel prize winner out of power; our politics monday team breakdown president biden's push for economic relief; and much more. >> woodruff: negotiations over new action to stimulate the economy are moving into

higher gear tonight. president biden has held a first meeting with senate republicans who are pushing an alternative plan. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. >> yamiche: >> reporter: late this afternoon, president biden welcomed the group of republican senators to the white house. he again called for quick action for americans struggling in the covid economy. the invitation came quickly after ten republican senators sent the president a letter outlining their counterproposal to his $1.9 trillion covid plan. they urged biden to negotiate, rather than force through his bill solely on democratic votes. the g.o.p. group, led by senator susan collins of maine, presented a $618 billion plan. that's less than a third of biden's plan. it includes $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment, and personal protective equipment. biden's plan would provide $400 it also counters the president's proposed direct payment of $1,400 to most americans, with $1,000 targeted to individuals who earn up to $40,000 a year.

in addition, it calls for $50-billion in aid to small businesses. the g.o.p. plan also provides $20 billion for k-12 schools. biden is proposing $130 billion for schools and for extended federal unemployment benefits through june. biden proposes extending unemployment insurance programs through september. republicans also zero out biden's plan to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for state and local governments. today, white house press secretary jen psaki said at the meeting president biden would not make or accept any offers. and she made clear, he wants to go big. >> the risk is not that it is too big, this package. the risk is that it's too small. his view is that the size of the package needs to be commensurate with the crises we're facing. >> reporter: today's talks came as the congressional budget office projected that this year economic growth will surge, but without any new stimulus bill the nation's workforce will not

return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. the overall unemployment rate is expected to continue declining through 2026. the president and his supporters argue that fresh stimulus is also essential to help ramp up vaccine distribution. today, white house coronavirus adviser andy slavitt voiced his frustration with the pace to date. >> when the rollout of the vaccine first began in december and early january, this slow start obviously caused a delay in people getting their first doses, but not only did this delay first doses, but it created a backlog of second doses that had been sitting in states waiting for a 3-4 week period to pass before they can be administered. >> reporter: ultimately, congressional democrats insist those are all good reasons to act on pandemic relief now-- with or without support of

republicans. they are pressing the president to move quickly, without giving ground. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now. we're hearing the meeting is still under way. please tell us what more are you learning about this talks over economic relief? >> yamiche: well, president biden's talk of bipartisanship has now turned into action, and that action is happening right now in the oval office. he is meeting with the republican senators who laid out a plan that is only a third -- less than a third of the price of his $1.9trillion plan. the white house is clear to say this is an exchange of ideas, that there is not going to be any negotiation for an offer that is taken into account or one that is accepted by president biden with the changes here. but that being said, what you see here is republicans coming to the table and telling biden, if you want unity, here is

what we can offer you, and your bill is essentially too big. white house officials i've been talking to say they feel like the republican plan is way too small, and so much needs to be done, that their plan is not feasible, but on the record, the white house is saying they're open to all sorts of ideas. president biden spoke to reporters and said he wouldn't answer questions about how much he would take away from his plan. instead, he joked about the fact that he felt like he was still in the senate. the most telling thing is even though he is sitting down with the republicans, he is still in support of starting to go with the process of budget reconciliation, and a wonky word that people are going to get very familiar with, essentially meaning that democrats may be going it along and not needing republican support. he is already in some ways backing the back-up plan here. >> woodruff: yamiche, i know you'll continue to report at the white house until you know more about what happened at that meeting after it ends. you're not only covering this president, but you're

covering the former president, donald trump. he, as we know, is facing an impeachment trial in the senate next week. and, yamiche, what are you learning about his legal defense? >> yamiche: well, president trump's legal defense got even more complicated than it already was over the weekend. he parted with not one, but five, attorneys, including the head attorney, butch bowers. he told the "washington post" he didn't hesitate to try to back the president, to try to defend him. he said it was all about the constitution. but reports are that president trump wanted his attorneys to go forward with the claim that he falsely won the 2020 election, essentially trying to repeat some of the smot disinformation that led to the mob storming the capitol, and his lawyers didn't want to do that and they parted ways. one of the new attorneys is david shoon, and the

second is bruce caster, jr., and so he has a new legal team. we're waiting to see whether or not they're gog to make the argument that it is unconstitutional to impeach a president while he is out of office or if they're going to come up with something else. >> woodruff: and finally, yamiche, you have also been doing some reporting on how much money the former president was able to raise after the election? >> yamiche: that's right. the money story here is really important. walking people through this. the president was able to really raise a lot of money even after he lost the 2020 election. $290 million raised by official committees, supporting president trump and the g.o.p. since november 3rd. $31.5 million by the leadership pack, and only $218,000 has been spent by that pack. this really tells you that president trump has a big influence over the republican party, and he can use a lot of the money

from this pack, not on his own campaign, but he can use it on the mid-terms. he can use it to sway republicans. and a lot of republicans are saying don't count president trump out just yet. >> woodruff: a significant amount of money. so much to keep an eye on. yamiche alcindor on the job at the white house. thank you, yamiche. >> yamiche: thanks so much. >> woodruff: the storming of the u.s. capitol on january 6 was a shocking moment to many americans, but more details are emerging about who was involved and how it was planned. a new report examines the role president trump and his allies played in the crucial weeks leading up to the attack. amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: judy, this sweeping "new york times" report looks at the 77 days between the election and the inauguration. it examines how the then- president leveraged political,

personal and media allies-- and ultimately a mob at the capitol-- to undermine the election results and the centuries-old tradition of a peacul transfer of power in america. through interviews, documents and examination of videos and social media posts, the report tells the story of a coordinated campaign. now, to look at some of the key points in that weeks-long campaign, jim rutenberg joins me. he's a writer at large for "the new york times." >> jim, welcome back tol"newshour," and thanks for being here. >> thanks so much for having me. >> let's start with november 4th, in the early morning hours after the election, president trump throws down the gauntlet and calls it a fraud, and republicans echo that claim, among them congressman mccarthy and lindsey graham. take a listen to this. >> do not be quiet. do not be silent about this. we cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes. >> the media can project,

but the media doesn't get to decide who the winner is. >> i've had it with these people. let's fight back. we lose elections because they cheat us. >> jim, the same leaders accepted election results. what does your reporting show as to why they wanted to back this false claim? >> it was three tiered, the republican voters were angry, and there was ramp and fraud if he lost, and that was already in the mix before election day. you have a georgia run-off coming up, and the party really wants the georgia base to turn out and still be with president trump. and lastly, there is pure ambition, that the last standing republicans, they want to pick up the trump base to power their own rises through the ranks. >> so essentially the effort to challenge election results is around this idea that there were votes stolen, and fraud committed. ad that has been floated

in right-wing and media circles, people like stephen bannon and charlie kirk and paul gosar. nine days after the election, you report on november 12th, it was brought to president trump by rudy giuliani, and you call that day a turning point, why? >> it is basically when the trump sort of forces, or the president himself, decides that he is going to plow forward and dispute this election when, in fact, his legal options are dwindling to the point of nothing. his own election lawyers, at this point, have concluded that they don't really have any options. they have not produced evidence of fraud. they have not found anywhere enough irregularities to overturn a state. they have a couple of small cases left, but that same day they have lost arizona. arizona is now out of reach. and here comes rudy giuliani to tell the president, we're going to keep fighting. he wants to file these mega lawsuits that have questionable legal basis, but they got to float

these conspiracy series about tampering with voting machines and foreign meddling and malfeasance. and the president's own lawyers, who, by the way, have pushed the limits of the law to begin with, have hit their own limit, and they are saying, don't go with these arguments that mr. juliani is making, and the president shoved them aside because rudy giuliani is telling him what he wants to here. and from there it is off to the races, and it is a wilder story line that the president pursues, and it gets wilder by the day. >> and the election challenges continues day after day, and even though they are thrown out. there is another effort in george, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. it is taken off by ken paxton. you mentioned by the conflict between white house lawyers and rudy giuliani, and president

trump's other allies. how bad did that conflict get? >> they were shouting, and ther was an exchange of words between justin clark, a lead coordinator for the legal team, and mr. rudy giuliani, where mr. rudy giuliani accuses the president's rank-and-file lawyers of lying to him. they're lying to you, sir. and justin clark responds by calling rudy giuliani a name i will not share on national television. but what we learned is, and some of this we all got to see before our very eyesfor every attorney who isn't going to go down the rabbit hole with the president, he can find five who will. and that certainly happens with these national -- these attorney governs in the many states. >> we see over the weeks in the coming weeks the legal strategies. and they want to block the certification of results on january 6th. jim, tell us how that message spreads, how it makes its way to thousands of americans, and how

they're convinced to make their way to washington, d.c. on the basis of a lie? >> that is sort of the real sort of engine behind all of this, the big lie. obviously the president himself is tweeting at the time, multiple times a day, making outlandish claims. you have a conservative media sort of ratings war, where these new players like newsmax and one american news are finding new ratings by carrying this idea that the president actually won, and this is going to and its own election. which fox news could do in its prime time, but its news division had already declared joseph biden the winner. and it is driving a competition to be more trumpy in the hours when fox can, and in these other networks. you have social media, of course, with crazy conspiracies ricocheting through. and you have a group called "women for america

first," which is running a bus tour, going state to state, pressing local officials and national sitting senators and congressmen to get behind the president's bid to object to these results, or reject these results on the 6th, which would be the equivalent of rejecting 20 million votes across the country. >> and we all know what unfolded at the u.s. capitol on january 6th. jim, before i let you go, i need to ask you about the role that mitch mcconnell played. there is a real evolution in his statement. take a listen to what he had to say on november 9th, and then later on january 19th. >> president trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. they were provoked by the president and other powerful people. >> jim, what did your reporting show led to that evolution over time?

>> well, in the beginning, mr. mcconnell is very concerned about georgia, like his other party members. he wants the president's help. because, by the way, holding georgia is vital to mitch mcconnell remaining the majority leader of the senate. they need to win those two races. on top of that, there are messages being sent through the president's chief-of-staff, mark meadows, as well as the presidential son-in-law and aide, jared kushner, that the president will come around. as the legal process plays out, he will, of course, accept reality and concede. we, when that still hasn't happened by december 14th, when the electoral college certifies the vote, mitch mcconnell is getting fed up and realizing that is not going to happen. and then there is a political component to this that becomes very important as well. the republicans start realizing their best argument in the georgia senate contest is that we need to have a republican senate to be a check on the democratic president, and president trump at that point is not really

allowing them to make that case. so from there he just gets angrier and angrier. and he says himself there that it spun so out of control he couldn't take it, and so that's certainly an element, too. >> one of the many elements in a sweeping report out in the "new york times" from jim rutenberg and his colleagues. an incredible crucial part of american history. jim rutenberg, editor-at-large for the "new york times." thanks so much for being here. >> thanks so much for having me. >> woodruff: instead, the military launched a coup, and a nobel laureate is now back in jail. nick schifrin has the teenage. >> reporter: in myanmar's capital, the bridge to parliament is blocked by police, and the roads are lined with military. ♪ ♪ ♪

in the country's largest city, yangon, military supporters play army anthems. and the police keep a close eye on residents shut into a country where the internet was shut off, and the airport closed. military tv declared a state of emergency, and reported army leader min aung hlaing, would take control for a year. it is the end of five years of asi-democracy. early this morning, military officials arrested the country's civilian leader, aung san suu kyi, and dozens of others, including a lawmaker holding his young son as he broadcast his arrest on facebook. in a statement, suu kyi called for peaceful resistance. "i urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military. only the people are important.” >> there are a few of my friends who are on the list of being detained, arrested, so i do not know where they are or how they're being treated. >> reporter: tun myint is a professor at carleton colleg he says the problems began in november, when suu kyi's party

won an election landslide. military officials called the results fraudulent and the voter rolls inaccurate. last week, su kyi and min aung hlaing held last-minute talks about his future, but they are believed to have broken down, the product of a long history of distrust. >> when you dig deeper into the personal relationship between assk and the military leader, and there are so many occasions where they have been rubbing one another. >> reporter: the military first arrested su kyi in 1989, when the army had already been in democrats won the next election, but generals ignored the results. ( applause ) in 2010, su kyi was released, and the country tentatively opened. in 2011, she met hillary clinton. and in 2012, president obama became the first sitting u.s. president to visit. in 2015, her party-- the national league of democracy-- won decisively. and this time, the mility honored the results. but the military lurked in the background. the military-written constitution reserved 25% of

parliament for military officers. and suu kyi remained silent, as the military committed what the u.n. called genocide against minority rohinga muslims. >> surely, under the circumstances, genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis. >> reporter: u.s. officials once celebrated myanmar as a country where military officials willingly handed power to civilians, but today the white house released a statement calling the coup a “direct assault on the country's transition to democracy and the rule of law.” for more on all of this we turn derek mitchell. the former u.s. ambassador to myanmar during the obama administration, and the first to serve there since the u.s. downgraded diplomatic ties with what was then called burma, after a 1988 coup. he is now president of the national democratic institute for international affairs. >> derek mitchell, welcome back to the "newshour." why do you think the military launched this coup on this day? >> the reason, the one they're saying, is that

they detected electoral fraud that is not being adjudicated properly, and their strange logic is they should take over in order to restore and protect democracy. but, you know, there are a lot of people asking the question, why did they decide now? i think they thought they would do much better. their political party, in the latest election in november, and they didn't do very well, they ver do as well as they expect. the commander in chief had to retire in july at age 65, and he had political aspirations. >> and there are questions about experts i talked about whether the commander in chief was worried personally about his own finances after he stepped down this summer. do you believe that he has considered that when deciding what to do today? >> we can't rule that out. there is no question his family is lucrative in myanmar, and he, himself,

has his own personal ambitions that were not being respected in his view. >> the u.s. already has sanctions on military leaders. should the u.s. impose additional sanctions? do you believe that could change the military's behavior? >> we don't have a whole lot of leverage. we need to get our allies engaged. we need partners to also engage, not just in the hammer, although that could be very important, in additional sanctions, but see if there are trusted people that can get to the commander in chief, and com explain to him woo is going is not owner the interest of myanmar or the myanmarilitary. >> he has, in the last few years, defended the military, and she says she was trying to balance democracy with military leaders over the last few years. do you believe she should have been criticizing the military more? >> she was always in a very difficult spot. i think she was somewhat

misunderstood in recent years, not entirely, and she didn't speak out about the violence, whether it is genocide, the massive violence. but she also recognized she was boxed bine the military who had control over all of the lef verse of military power. criticizing t the military won't have done it. she and particularly the commander in chief had a very bad relationship. it was exacerbated in recent months. criticizing them more would not have made a difference and may have precipitateed action even soorng. sooner. >> some experts told me chinese officials may have been visiting myanmar recently and may have given myanmar the green light to do so. do you think that's what happened? >> there is no love lost between the myanmar

military and the chinese. there is a lot of distrust of chinese influence in the country. the chinese provide weapons for a lot of ethnic armed groups fighting the myanmar military. somehow when they abscond they take the weapons away from this military groups and they find the chinese markings on them. they are not very trusting of the chinese. the russians have a closer relationship potentially there. and the former chief in thailand, who took over leadership recently after a coup -- i worry muc more about that kind of a conversation. the chinese feel they may have an opening, they may feel there is a vacuum to get more influence in the country, and one has to wonder what is going through the minds of the myanmar military if they do not trust the chinese. and they want to have balance in their relations with great powers. why they would do this and box the west into a corner -- we

how they play this out. >> ambassador derek mitchell, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: president biden is expected to sign a series of executive orders on immigration this week, including one setting up a task force to reunite families separated at the mexican border under former president trump's "zero tolerance policy." we met two mothers in central america who have been waiting years to be reunited with their children. we begin with one of their daughters who is now living in the u.s. to protect her identity, we don't show her face. amna nawaz is back with the story. >> reporter: it's saturday morning and that means horseback riding lessons for maria. her life today is a world away from the life she left behind. in august of 2017, she and her mother fled violence in el

salvador after local gangs threatened to kill maria, a name we're using to protect her identity. maria and her mother requested asum at the u.s. border, but like thousands of other families at the time, were separated by u.s. officials under a trump administration policy. maria was 12. her mother was depted, and maria was left behind. >> ( translated ): she was sent to el salvador and i stayed here. i didn't know anything about all this at the time. >> reporter: more than 2,000 miles away, her mother yeni remembers the last time she saw her daughter. >> ( translated ): the idea was to protect her, not make her suffer. i cried to the officer. i cried and told her, “i don't want to be separated from my daughter. i don't want to be separated." >> reporter: yeni says u.s. officials told her if she signed a document droppg her asylum case, she and maria would be reunited and deported together.

>> ( translated ): and i showed the officer the paper i signed, because it said my daughter was going to come with me. and he said, "we don't know anything about that." and i had to go home alone. and i left my daughter. >> reporter: back in el salvador, yeni reunited with maria's father. she has her hands full with their two-year-old twins, while he runs their small grocery store. as much as yeni misses her daughter, she knows maria is safe from the gangs that threatened her. meanwhile, after more than seven months in federal custody and two, difficult, temporary homes, maria now lives with a stable family in wisconsin, who are also hosting other migrants. >> i'll tell you one story, we >> reporter: danae steele and marijke van roojen are maria's legal guardians in the u.s. in nine short months, they've tried to help her build a new

life, with school, friends, and family activities. but the separation, they say, has traumatized her. went camping one night... so, i went to look for her and she was in my car, curled up in the back seat just a bit. and so, i cry when i say this, but, so, i just sat there and held her. she kept saying, "my heart is broken, my heart is broken." >> we cannot replace her relationship with her family. we love her dearly. and i, i know she loves . and it's still like, if you have a beloved family member and/or your grandmother, they still do not replace your parents. >> reporter: maria's immigration case, to decide if she can stay in the u.s. or not, is pending. phone calls and video chats like these are the only contact she has with her mother. >> ( translated sometimes i

tell her to please forgive me for making that decision, i know though that i did it to protect her, not to hurt her more. but sometimes things don't turn out like you think they will. >> reporter: experts have been raising concerns about the harm caused to nearly 5,000 children like maria, separated from their families by the u.s. government in 2017 and 2018 after arriving at the u.s. border. only under a court order did the separations end and the reunifications begin, propelled by advocates and activists fighting to reconnect families. at the newshour, we followed the story of three-year-old sofi, separated from her family at the border... and reunited after seven weeks in custody. ( crying ) but months of chaotic separations, done with no central tracking nor plans to reunify, have left a long shadow. the parents of more than 600 children have yet to be located, and hundreds of children remain separated even though lawyers

have tracked down their parents. even for those reunited, experts say the trauma will be lifelong. >> in the 30+ years that i've been doing this work, i've never seen such an inhumane policy implemented by an administration. >> reporter: wendy young is the president of kind, an organization that advocates for unaccompanied migrant children. >> what we saw with many of the kids, was that they were angry with their parents or they were confused the parent had abandoned them because they didn't understand that it was the government, the u.s. government that was doing this to them and that their parent had no choice. >> reporter: sandra, who lives by herself in guatemala, was separated from her two children after requesting asylum at the u.s. border in may of 2018-- the height of the zero tolerance policy. they, too, had fled violence. her kids are now 13 an14, living with their uncle in cincinnati. after two years apart, this is how the family spent christmas.

>> hi mommy. >> ( translated ): when i left for the u.s., i never thought that they would separate us. when i got to the border, immigration picked me up. they told me that they had to separate mothers. for me, it wasn't easy. it isn't easy for mothers... or her children. >> reporter: after being deported, sandra first returned to her rural village in the highlands. six months later, she tried again to enter the u.s. >> ( translated ): why? because i wanted to be with my children. i wouldn't want to live here without them. i went back and i had to pay someone to take me. >>eporter: and once again, she was apprehended by u.s. immigration officials. >> ( translated ): they told me, "why did you come back, if you already had a deportation order from the last time." because i was separated from my

children. that's why. i wanted tcome back to be with my children. i was in jail 30ays and then they deported me again. >> reporter: she's at a loss of what to do, and desperate to reunite with her children, who don't see any future for themselves in guatemala. >> ( translated ): they tell me, "mama come. you're alone there. we need you mama." >> reporter: wendy young says the biden administration can and should act to reunite families quickly, and help them heal over time. >> we've done these families incredible harm, and we really owe it to them to do the best we can to provide them with that protection, and then also provide them with support services to recover from this trauma that they've experienced. >> reporter: back in wisconsin, maria is focused on her studies, and says she now wants to become a doctor.

>> ( translated ): god willing, if i can stay here and finish my studies, i want to have a profession where i can help people. >> reporter: her mother, yeni, has her own dream. >> ( translated ): every parent dreams of always being by their child's side, never being separated, watching them grow up, seeing every stage thego through. >> ( translated ): sometimes we talk about when we might see each other. we say we aren't going to see each other perhaps for many years. or sometimes it's very difficult to answer that question because it is out of my hands. there is no way to know when i will see her again. >> reporter: and no way to know yet where that will be. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz.

>> woodruff: today's meeting with republicans is the first test of president biden's promise to bring down the temperature and work with both parties. watching it all is our politics monday team. that's amy walter of "the cook political report" and tamara keitof npr. hello to both of you. the first monday in february, good to see you. let's talk about this meeting. amy, how significant is it that the president is having his first in-person meeting not with democrats but with republicans. what does that say? >> amy: well, it says that president biden is serious about the promises he made on the campaign trail, as you pointed out, judy, not to just lower the tonight but to try to work across the aisle.

thus far, and we'ronly two weeks into this administration, but there is recent poll out today, the maris college poll, that showed that 55% of americans believe that joe biden is doing just that, is focused more on unifying the country than being divisive. so he is already getting some plaudets for that. the challenge is he is a candidate -- as a candidate, he also made promises on a number of progressive policies. those are not policies that republicans are going to support. so balancing those two things is always going to be a challenge. it looks like right now the question is: is there a middle ground between the 1.9 trillion dollars that the biden administration put forward, and it's much smaller $680 something republican package. it seems very difficult to find a place in the middle, and all of the

language coming from those around the president, whether it is his national economic council head or his press secretary, they sall seem to suggest he is looking for a big, bold plan that will be comprehensive, in other words, a bigger package than this. >> woodruff: so, tam, political risk -- at this point we know the meeting has gone on for over an hour and a half. political risks and benefits for the president? >> yamiche: certainly. these republican senators are smart. house democrats and senate democrats have just, today, begun the process of potentially going it alone through this procedure called budget reconciliation. and these republicans, ennumbering 10, which is a magic number that combined with democrats would be able to overcome a filibuster, are trying to make it harder for president biden to just do

it the other way, to go with democrats alone. they're trying to extract something by making an offer, by opening the door to a conversation and to negotiations. and they know that president biden is someone who wants to to sit down and talk, and which obviously they're sitting down and talking for a long time right no you know, there are risks. democrats are still scared scarred by the 2009 experience, where president obama came in, they were in the middle of a financial crisis, jobs were hemorrhaging, and he tried to get a bipartisan package. ultimately, it wasn't bipartisan, and it was smaller than democrats thought they should have done, and smaller than economists in the obama administration wanted to do. anit was all in this effort to get a bipartisan deal that ultimately ended up not being bipartisan.

so there is a lot of concern among the democrats they could be headed in that direction again with this. >> woodruff: amy, thinking about what the strategy is on the part of the republicans, here they come with a proposal that is, what, less than a third of what the president, which out of the box is saying he wants. do democrats take this seriously? or is it a lucy and the football kind of thing? >> amy: there are a lot of democrats who believe that to be the case. their worry is that, as tam pointed out, this will be another 2009, where the white house spent so much time trying to pull in republicans, that they waste the opportunity and they get too small of a package. the other risk, i think if you're democrats, or if you're at the biden white house, in doing a bipartisan bill, voters don't really focus on process and procedure. we love it because it is what we do, but i don't

know that voters are paying as much attention. what they are going to pay attention to, judy, especially at the end of the year, did it work? is the economy back on track? is unemployment down? has the vacne distribution process actually gone much more smoothly? are schools reopened? if those things aren't happening at the end of the year, it is not going to matter that it was a bipartisan bill. guess who is going to get the blame for things not going well? president biden and democrats. so if your worry is, as democrats are, which want to make sure we're going into 2022 with a hot economy, with things back on track, that is your risk in saying maybe pulling back just to get republicans on board, but you'll get all of the blame or all of the credit, no matter what happens. >> woodruff: tam, does the president need to worry about progressives in his party who really believe that more money

needs to be spent? and are looking at him and saying, wait a minute, what is going on here? if he were to bend in the direction of republicans. >> yamiche: there is certainly a challenge. we spend a lot of our time talking about divisions in the republican party, which are not really policy divisions. but in the democratic party, there are also challenges, too. you essentially have to find something that vermont senator bernie sanders, who is chairman of the budget committee, and joe mnuchin of west vvirginia can agree on, and that is not easy. this will be a real test, especially in democrats end up deciding to go the route of reconciliation, they don't have any wiggle room. they have to keep joe manchin on board. and the white house has been talking to him regularly. >> woodruff: all right. amy, just a quick post

script, the governor of west virginia, a republican, saying good to go big, which is interesting. >> amy: perhaps giving manchin a little more incentive, knowing that it is coming from republicans. to the other point, as tam notes, it is a very small margin on both sides. usually by this point, what unites the opposing party is they're in the minority and they're unified against the party in power. what is unique about this moment in time, it is the party out of power that is battling over who it wants to be, in large part because trump won't exit. but going forward, it is democrats we're going to probably spending a lot more time looking at, the point that tam made about trying to keep both the left part of the party and the moderates on the same squad. >> woodruff: not even two weeks in, and it is

already exciting. amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: a symphony requires all musicians playing their parts in harmony and covid of course makes that delicate choreography all the more challenging. jeffrey brown talks to maestro michael tilson thomas about that, and "passing the baton" to a younger generation as part of our arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: two musicians: one up and coming, the other, a recognized master. and in the time of pandemic, their interaction is all remote. 26-year old violist stephanie block: >> one of my favorite excerpts

that i learned is the partida from jazelle ballet. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: her mentor? michael tilson thomas. one of the world's greatest conducrs. ♪ ♪ ♪ in march, tilson thomas was ending a 25-year run as conductor and music director of the san francisco symphony, when the covid shutdown began. >> it was a shock, kind of numbing at first, right in the middle of a rehearsal day before we start to tour to carnegie hall and you're saying, "well, guess what, it's not happening or some of it's not happening." and then, gradually, more and more of the tour wasn't happening, and then the end of the year wasn't happening. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the planned celebration of his tenure? cancelled. life and art interrupted by the

reality of a deadly disease. >> and so, we came to the strange situation where metabolic beings as musicians are. it wasn't that get up in the morning, go to rehearsal practice, get home, get a rest, and then go on and read your metabolism up to its highest and around 10:30 at night and go home, put yourself to sleep and then do it the next day. that's the way we live. and suddenly that was all gone. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: m.t.t., as he's known, is using his time to lean into his craft as musician, composer and mentor. tilson thomas was born in los angeles into an artistic family. his grandparents were yiddish theater stars, his father and mother both worked in the film industry. by 19 he was working with and conducting premieres by great composers like stravinsky and copland. his big break came with the boston symphony. then london. and finally, in 1995, san

francisco. ♪ ♪ ♪ in 1987 he founded miami's new world symphony. the goal: an orchestral academy to prepare young musicians for professional careers-- a bridge between conservatory training and a player's first orchestral gig. ♪ ♪ ♪ chelsea sharpe is a new world violin fellow. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> wow, you sound that absolutely great shape. >> reporter: what have you seen in the young musicians you work with? how are they coping? how are they dealing with this year? >> all the plans that they had, the auditions they were set to take, the new positions they were about to begin, the most creative time of their lives had to stop, so they had to look around and think, how can i reinvent myself? what else is there for me to do? how can i come out of this period being the best that i can be to go forward?

>> reporter: here you are wanting to be in front of people, trying to get your start a career and make a life as a musician. how hard has it been and how have you coped with it? >> we finally had time to sort of reflect and, personally speaking, i was grateful for that time to just sit with the instrument and, you know, maybe think about some things technically that i hadn't had the luxury of time to kind of think about before. >> reporter: a luxy tilson thomas believes they all need. >> normally musicians are worried about what is going to happen this weekend, the next concert and the next and the next and the next. and now we're in this period where we need to turn our attention just to how are we slowly developing as musicians, as artists and as people. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: that's just what los angeles native corbin castro has managed, creating an online music academy from scratch for children aged 8-12.

developed without prior connection to any youth music programs-- and it's all virtual. >> it became very apparent to us the possibility that this program had to reach under- resourced students and provide technical training and super personalized mentorship in order to show them how classical music can have a positive influence not just on their lives, but also the lives of the people in their communities. >> reporter: is this all pandemic related to start thinking this way in different terms about yourself as a musician and part of the community? >> yeah, exactly. it kind of combined all the best parts of what music can offer and how music can enrich lives >> reporter: violist stephanie bloc agrees. >> it's the courage to take on something that challenges you as a player. it's the courage to put yourself

out there again after a long time of not doing so. and then it's the courage to kind of bury your soul again and give yourself to whoever needs it. >> reporter: what future do you see for classical music, especially given the young people that you're working with? >> all the young people i'm working with have a real commitment to sharing their music and their vision with people younger than they are and as a real life, commitments have taken on the role as a teacher in a very expanded way, not just in a studio, but over the internet, in communities. they're much more dedicated to it and i think the new ways that they're going about this will bring great new things. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it is a commitment tested and rediscovered during pandemic. for the pbs newshour i'm jeffrey brown. >> for the pbs "newshour," i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: such a great story, and on the

pbs "newshour" onle, 37 states and the district of columbia suspend drivers' licenses for failure to pay court fines and fees. reporter elizabeth flock looks at this issue in new mex, where experts say hundreds of thousands of license suspensions contribute to poverty and unemployment. you can read her report on our website, and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line 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: >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through

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hello, everyone. welcome to “amanpour & company”" here's what is coming up. after a stellar career spanning half a century and all of the major news stories of our time, marty baron says farewell as the we get his first tv interview as he says he's stepping down as "the washington post" executive editor. then, 10 years since the arab spring. what is there to show for it? i asked two women who played a part in those revolutions that sparks so much hope. also ahead -- >> i did commit crimes, but he seen past that and saw that i was a human. >> a judge and the young man he sentenced to life in prison tell our michel martin how together