can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. oh we're ready. ♪ captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, making their case-- the president's team begins its push to sell the historic covid economic relief law to the american public. then, famine-- the situation in yemen grows ever more desperate as the ongoing war leaves millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance. plus, getting the vaccine-- despite higher infection and death rates, many states do not prioritize prisoners for covid inoculations. >> we knew that prisoners were far more likely to contract covid. we looked at risk of death.

which prisoners are more likely to die of covid if they were to contract it. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> 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 chan-zuckerberg initiative. working to build a more healthy, just and inclusive future for everyone. at czi.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: a new wave of economic relief for americans struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic is on its way. stimulus checks that are part of the recent covid relief law began hitting americans' bank accounts over the weekend. today at the white house, president biden said his administration would also soon meet its first major vaccination goal. >> over the next 10 days we'll reach two goals. two giant goals. first is 100 million shots in people's arms will have been completed in the next 10 days and 100 million checks in people's pockets in the next 100 days. shots in arms and money in pockets. that's important. the a.r.p. is already doing what it was designed to do-- make a

difference in people's everyday lives. >> woodruff: we explore exactly when and how this relief will be distributed to americans with cecilia rouse. she chairs the white house council of economic advisers. cecilia rouse, welcome to the newshour. how quickly is the aid from this relief package going to reach people and i'm asking because ople like the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell say that the economy was already poised to take off. that this isn't really going to make that much difference. >> oh, well, i guess i would beg to differ. first of all, the aid ialready reaching people. the treasury department worked very hard to be able to distribute checks, i think already 90 million people should have already been receiving checks or will receive them this week. more to come over the following week. so people are already receiving

the aid. i disagree with senator mcconnell. our economy is still suffering. just last month we got our employment rort and we saw that we are still nine and a half million jobs short of where we were last year this time. we know that over four million individuals have been unemployed for at least half of a year, we know that over 4 million people had completely withdrawn from the labor force so the official unemployment rate is 6.2 percent but really if we were to add back in a good fraction of those who have gone out, left the labor force it would be closer to 9%, maybe even as high as 10%. we know for some populations, the official rate, unemployment rate is closer to 10%. so we are far from having a healthy economy. and give enthe depths of this recession, it's going to take us some time. most forecast have us back to where we were last february sometime in 2022. >> woodruff: so you don't agree with forecasts like that of the global investment bank

goldman sax which just last night was projecting the economy is going to grow 8 percent this year, the unemployment rate is going to be 4 percent by the end of this year, three and a half percent by the end of next year. >> first of all we expect a large increase in gp growth but we are starting from a lower base, so therefore when we are goaing, it doesn't mean that our economy is back to where it was last february. two, the official unemployment rate does not reflect those who have completely withdrawn from the labor force. so yes, we expect there to be rapid increasing and job growth over the coming months, as people get vaccinated and businesses get up and activity picks up. bui don't expect us to be back where we were, where people were back in the labor force, back employed, for some time. >> cecilia rouse, what are your concerns if any about this money getting to people as quickly as possible, those who need it the most.

and with regard to rental aid, for example. i have seen today that very little of the $25 billion that went out under the trump administration has reached renters who need t and the people who need unemployment assistance, for people whose assistance has run out as of today. how concerned are you? >> so this is why the president has brought on jean spurling to be the zar to be sure the american rescue plan is implemented as efficiently and quickly as possible. because you are right, this is an ambitious law, an ambitious effort, it sab important effort and we need to be helping all of the agencies and the parts of government to get this aid to people just as quickly as possible. >> we are hearing though even from democrats like the former treasury secretary larry summers, tt the sheer size of this package makes him worry

about inflation. he said the worst, he worries in a generation and he went on yesterday in an interview to say i wish it were actually true that even a third of this money were going to people in poverty. most of it is not. he said most of it is going to the middle of the population, it is going in one shot transfer, not in things ultimately going to build and strengthen the economy. >> right now our economy is in a big hole. we know that one in five renters are behind on their rent payments. we know that people are behind on their mortgages. we know that millions of adults, millions of children have been suffering food insecurity. so many people and not just those in, under the official poverty line but many people are struggling to get by and are behind on their bills. so this aid is really meant to address all of the different components of the economy and the u.s. market and u.s., the people that have been so profoundly affected by the pandemic.

>> is there a concern that the package is too large? well w there is always that risk. i think many of us and a broad swath of economists believe that the risk was actually in doing too little because we know if we don't get people back to work and if we don't get the economy going, scarring can set in and then we won't be able to get back on track for economic growth. >> well, you do also hear from people like former treasury secretary larry summers and others, the concern that this is going to crowd out the ability to address other real needs that the country has like infrastructure investment. climate change investment. there is an editorial in "the washington post" this week, for example, that said the president should plan to offset some or all of the costs of these things to higher taxes, reduced spending on other-- on other priorities. are you already beginning to think about these tradeoffs? >> the priority right now is

getting us all to the other side of the pandemic. and that is the focus of the president and the vice president at this time. we d know that in build back better, there is a better part of that. we know that the united states, and there is what larry summers is referring to, is in desperate need of some public investment. and so we are also going to be turning our attention to and have been working on what are the most effective ways to improve our infrastructure, to address climate change and the president has said for these permanent kinds of investments that some of it should be paid for. the permanent part should be paid for. we are still working to put together a package of what those revenue races might be. but the goal here is to really put the u.s. economy on a path of more robust growth than we've had in the past. so we need to get back to this pandemic, and then we need to be investing in our country so that we can have even great prosperity that is widely

shared. >> we are going to leave it there, cecilia rouse, chairman of the president's council of economic advisors, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president biden voiced hope of reaching covid vaccine skeptics among former president trump's supporters. polls show many of those voters oppose the shots. but, the president said doctors and ministers might do more than mr. trump to sway them. also today, officials announced bigger medicare payments for giving the shots, in a bid to reach under-served areas. >> we believe that the medical professionals that are on the frontlines of this vaccination effort. by the way, the same people that are on the front lines of this entire pandemic need to be taken care of. and we think that's going to do the job of both increasing vaccinations as well as improving equity. >> woodruff: overseas, germany,

france, italy and spain temporarily halted the use of astrazeneca's vaccine after reports of blood clots. the company and the world health organization denied there is any link. there's word that the dallas, texas convention center will house up to 3,000 migrant teenage boys. the associated press reported that today, as a dozen congressional republicans visited el paso, texas. they charged that president biden's policies are encouraging illegal crossings. in myanmar, the military imposed martial law today over much of yangon, a day after troops killed 38 protesters. the u.n. reported 138 people have been killed since the february coup. meanwhile, smoke could be seen near yangon. crowds set fire to chinese-owned factories on sunday, over allegations that beijing backs the military coup.

the vatican has formally declared that the roman catholic church will not bless same-sex marriages. today's decree was approved by pope francis. it said the church respects the l.g.b.t.q. community, but cannot recognize any marriages because "god cannot bless sin." tens of thousands of women marched in australia today, demanding justice for victims of sexual assault. in canberra, demonstrators rallied outside parliament. brittany higgins said she was raped by a senior colleague in the defense minister's office, but got no support. >> it was so confusing because these people were my idols. i had dedicated my life to them. they were my social network, my colleagues and my family. and suddenly they treated me differently. i wasn't a person who'd just gone through a life changing traumatic event, i was a political problem.

>> woodruff: the defense minister has apologized for referring to higgins as "a lying cow." in addition, australia's attorney general has denied allegations that he raped a girl, when he was 17. northern china was hit today by its worst sandstorm in a decade. in beijing, thick dust tinged the skyline with a bright orange hue, and canceled hundreds of flights. the storms historically come in spring time, with sand blowing in from western deserts. back in this country, parts of colorado, wyoming and nebraska woke up buried in snow. the denver area got more than two feet on sunday, closing roads and shutting down denver international airport through today. major roads in eastern wyoming and eastern colorado also were closed. the u.s. senate today confirmed

deb haaland as interior secretary, the first native american to lead a cabinet agency. progressives hailed her nomination, while some republicans objected to her support for restricting use of public lands and fossil fuels. on wall street, stocks gained for a fifth straight day. the dow jones industrial average gained 174 points to close at 32,953. the nasdaq rose 139 points, the s&p 500 added 25 to reach a record close. and, women won the top four grammy awards last night. they included beyonce, who now has 28 grammys, the most ever for a woman; and, taylor swift, the first woman to win "album of the year" three times. still to come on the newshour: the ongoing war in yemen leaves millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance. deb haaland becomes the first

native american confirmed to a presidential cabinet. despite higher infection and death rates, many states do not prioritize prisoners for covid vaccines. plus much more. >> woodruff: now, two looks at the world's largest humanitarian crisis: the war in yemen. in a moment, nick schifrin speaks with the biden administration's envoy there. special correspondent jane ferguson updates us on the war's terrible toll. she begins in sana'a, yemen's

capital. and a warning: images in her report will upset some viewers. >> reporter: in sanaa's hospitals, the children's wards offer a glimpse into the suffering of millions. a country so hungry, the weakest no longer survive. like asaad hasaan, nine months old, but fading away. he's the most recent member of his family, but may be the next to leave it. and many others are like 13 year old murad, caught in a cycle of malnutrition and sickness that grips children and makes recovery near impossible. his father has nowhere else to turn. >> ( translated ): my son suffers from malnutrition and now he is also sick. he has been like this for three months, and he cannot walk. i brought him to this hospital but still have to buy the medicine from outside. >> reporter: the hospitals here constantly run out of medication. for each starving child here,

there are an untold number famishing silently, in a home somewhere, hidden from view, unable to afford a journey to the hospital. even the staff here can't make a living. >> ( translated ): the situation is getting worse. we are receiving many cases from all over the country. the doctors and nurses here, we work without salaries and can barely pay for the bus to come to the hospital, but we arete tn has caused a man-made famine. three quarters of the country's population of 29 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, and the united nations says the most vulnerable 400,000 children have begun to die. american support for the war began under president obama, and was ramped up by president trump. now, the new biden administration has ended america's military support, in line with what it calls a¡ recalibration' of the u.s.'s relationship with saudi arabia. but that won't be enough to stop this famine.

the u.n.'s world food program head david beasley visited yemen last week, touring hospitals and talking to key players. >> i talked to the doctor, i said ¡doctor how many beds do you have here?" i said what do you do if you don't have enough beds? and she said ¡i send them home'. and i said ¡well that happens when you send them home?' and she said ¡most of them die'.” >> reporter: the technical classification for famine, as calculated by the u.n., has been met for tens of thousands of yemenis. it's called the integrated food security phase classification, or i.p.c. for short. but the group of people just underneath is so vast it encompasses millions. that has never been seen on this scale before in modern times. >> well actually when famine hits, it's almost too late. supposedly we have got about 50,000 or 60,000 people in famine conditions. that would be i.p.c. level 5. i.p.c. level four, and that is emergency level, which means they are knocking on the door.

that doesn't mean people aren't already dying. that just means it hasn't reached a classification high enough to qualify for famine. but people are dying as we speak. >> reporter: the blockade on rebel held areas has made it difficult to access fuel. >> i can understand in war you have certain types of blockades, but there are certain things that must come through that allow innocent victims of war to survive. and so here we are again now with this fuel blockade allowing just enough fuel to allow certain parts of the humanitarian system t it's not enough. >> reporter: the u.n. says it needs $4 billion to keep feeding the people of yemen. in a summit last week, international donors pledged less than half of that. david miliband heads the international rescue committee. >> the lesson of covid is money isn't short if you decide it's needed. because countries around the

world have delivered trillions of dollars in support for their domestic economies, quite rightly. we are talking here about billions of dollars which are needed to prevent people from dying. >> reporter: the biden administration has appointed a new u.s. envoy for the peace process and there are efforts to get all sides to negotiate. yet, in the meantime, paradoxically, fighting has ramped up. an offensive by the houthis to take the eastern city of marib has intensified in recent weeks, and houthi drones sent into saudi arabia resulted in saudi air strikes on the rebel-capital last week. >> everyone claims that the war can't be won militarily, but it sure seems as though the houthis think it can. >> reporter: elana delozier is a fellow at the washington institute, and an expert on yemen and it's fighting factions. the road to peace, she says, will be complicated by the fractured reality of the fighting groups on the ground >> i think what they are doing

is saying ¡ok my enemy did this yesterday, i'm going to do this today' in order to position themselves best in the future. >> reporter: as for the saudis, it will be very tough for them to get out of their six year quagmire in yemen without further destabilizing their own long border with the country, >> in some ways the war has become a defensive war. i'm not saying it's not still also offensive but i'm just saying there is more of a defensive element to it since the houthis have been able to send missiles into riyadh. >> reporter: for the 29 million yemenis left stuck in this war, diplomatic efforts to end it hold their greatest hope. a vital part of that will be getting the economic hardships eased, and also, getting the world's attention long enough to care. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson. >> schifrin: and we are now joined by tim lenderking, the new u.s. special envoy to yemen. welcome back to the newshour. let's start with the humanitarian crisis and ok at that blockade that we just heard from from jane and david

beasley. the houthis have said the lifting of the saudi blockade is a precondition to peace. have you pushed the saudis to lift the blockade and does it need to be lifted in order to have diplomatic progress? >> we think moving the fuel ships in is a critical priority for yemen, we have seen the incredible images of hospitals and other areas where the lack of fuel is hurting yemenese. i have been in touch with the saudis and yemeni government just over the weekend, of course, in a renewed push to see this all happen. i'm optimistic that we will see scom movement here in the near term and i think that is very important also as sort of as a confidence building measure. >> schifrin: on friday you and u.s. aid announced the biden administration reversed the trump administration decision and will be allowing aid to go into northern yemen, to houti controlled yemi. they have diverted aid in the

past, how will you guarantee it is not diverted withness this is a critical priority, not only getting supplies into the country but then moving them to the people in the greatest need. i'm relatively confident that with some of the measures that we have in place, we will be able to get more supplies in to north yemen and into other parts of the country. >> houthis have been present aid new ceasefire proposal. how does that ceasefire proposal differ from previous attempts. >> st a u.n. proposal and i'm hopeful that all of the parties will recognize that this say critical moment. that if we want to see a better situation in yemen, we want to see a move toward a ceasefire, this is a lasting ceasefire, a durable ceasefire and not just one that is brk inby one side or the other after 24 hours, that is t is going to require international buy in. >> schifrin: have the houthis expressed any interest. >> there is a tough road ahead but i think the discussions are

under way and we feel that they are productive. there is a sense that this is a moment at which progress can be made. >> schifrin: from the house it seems that momentum has been negative, there are have been 30 attacks into saudi arabia, houthis launched an offensive in mara, saudis-- it does seem from the outside that things are going in the wrong direction. >> certainly the situation nick on the ground is very negative. it is going to be incumbent on the parties to start to de-escalate. the question is whether we can bring enough influence on that situation to do that. but again what i do think is important is that nothing has been agreed to yet. and is i wouldn't anticipate seeing improvements on the ground until there is an agreement, unfortunately. >> you've been in and out of riyad, saudi arabia over the

past few month, as the biden administration made public intelligence that crown prince salomon approved the capture kill order for the murder of the journalist. >> that is not part of my particular mandate, i focused really exclusively on yemen and what i found in saudi arabia is a strong commitment from the saudi leadership to approach the conflict in a way that is constructive. >> schifrin: do you think by not sanks mo hack ed bin sal man over the killing that gives you-- to work with saudi arabia and have leverage over what saudi arabia does when it comes to yemen. >> i think saudi arabia viewed this conflict as something that has gone on too long. and what i hear is the kofn sis ent message from the saudi leadership that they want to do their part to bring the conflict to a close. and as we go further in this

process, we, you know, obviously the devil will be in the details but i'm confident that we will be able to count on saudi arabia to do its part. >> schifrin: thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the confirmation of congresswoman deb haaland as interior secretary for the biden administration makes her the first ever native american to serve as a cabinet secretary. lisa desjardins reports. >> desjardins: to understand this, we go to the hopi reservation in northeast arizona, to speak to the tbe's chairman, timothy nuvangyaoma. first on deborah haland, she does have critic this western states those that think she will turn down too much drilling or energy production, what do you think of her and what does this mean to

you? >> from the hopi nation we are extremely excited and we're also really encouraged that at this level that she has been appointed to fill this very critical role. and i think that resonates across native communities. they have somebody to actually in that position that understands through a tribal lens what we are dealing with. it is somebody that has that compassion to look at. of course there is always going to be some of those challenges that you just mentioned but you know, i know she has that overwhelming task of managing such a large land base and you know, really looking at ways to print the overall view of that, it is definitely going to protect and oversee the areas that. >> what are the biggest issues on your reservation right now, that any covid relief money in particular can help with. >> we have a number of different areas but i will focus on just a

couple. broadband infrastructure, and i know the cdc keeps talking about having to wash your hands quite often but out here on hopi, i'm not sure how many of the audience knows that, in several of our villages, we have water that has been polluted with arsenic. and are currently at three times the level of the allowable standard. so when we come to this and having fresh, clean water to consume has made it very challenging because we have orders to stay at home and mitigate the movement out here has really pushed community members to rely on that one source which is, again, in my view point is poisoned waters. so we definitely want to make changes and make accessible clean drinking water to not only the villages that are impacted but reservationwide.

nobody should have to deal with this. flint, michigan, brought that national attention with their water situation, almost right away. still hopi, since the 19 '60s have been dealing with this matter, we're finally getting the project to offset that but we still have that water infrastructure that is needed across the hopi reservation. >> but on the topic of relief money, those billions of dollars in the american rescue plan also contain one provision, that republicans criticize in particular. it's $20 million going to native american language preservation. what do you say to taxpayers and republicans who say that kind of money doesn't belong in a-- like this. >> that is really important because for the hopi people, our language is really our identity. and we are trying to strengthen key areas of continuation of our native language out here on hopi which means that with that

disconnect, with broadband infrastructure and keeping up the education component of that has really made it difficult. another portion to that is we are heavily connected and remain connected to our culture and our traditions. so from a native lens, st hard to explain to somebody, unless you are sitting in our shoes and really truly understand those dynamics. that has been part of our struggle is at the national level there has been a la-k of that education of who we really are as a people. >> timothy nuvangyaoma, chairman of the hopi tribe, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. i appreciate being here. >> woodruff: now, vaccines for those who are incarcerated. prisons and jails have been hit hard by the pandemic with major outbreaks across the country. but when it comes to allocating

scarce vaccines, states have dramatically different ideas about how inmates should be prioritized. the experience of one state, colorado, shows the role politics can play in these difficult decisions. stephanie sy has that story. >> sy: at age 19, anthony quintana jr was convicted of murder. now nearly 51, he's still serving out his 40-year sentence at limon correctional complex in colorado. >> he's admitted to his part and he's been there for 32 years. that's a long time. we're trying everything we can to get him home. >> sy: his parents, anthony senior and kathryn quintana, say their son grew up in prison, and has tried to put his time there to good use. >> he's taken every program imaginable in there, from computers to electric to h-vac heating and cooling, bricklaying, plumbing. >> electric.

>> yeah, absolutely. >> and he's a musician also. >> sy: you sound like you're really proud of your son. >> we're not proud of where he's at, but we're proud of everything that he's done. >> sy: he is still paying for his crime, but the pandemic has meted new punishments. in december, anthony jr, a diabetic with asthma, was among hundreds of inmates infected with covid-19 at limon. >> it just really scared me because, you kno of the close, closeness in that facility. you know, i just i really worried. >> sy: according to department of justice data, many inmates have chronic health conditions and covid-19 can be more deadly in those cases. not only do inmates face a 45% higher covid mortality rate than the general population, their rate of infection has been four times greater. just in colorado nearly half the state's inmate population has been infected with the virus. >> i think purely based on the

science that warrants some prioritization over the general population. >> sy: dr. anuj mehta is a pulmonologist and intensive care physician in denver. he chaired a panel convened by colorado's governor, democrat jared polis, to offer science- based recommendations on prioritizing vaccine distribution. incarcerated individuals were included high on the list, namely because, like in nursing homes or homeless shelters, congregate living in prisons and jails makes controlling covid outbreaks extremely difficult. >> we knew that prisoners were far more likely to contract covid. we looked at risk of death. which prisoners are more likely to die of covid if they were to contract it, and then also the ability to socially distance or the ability to employ those core public health measures like mask wearing. and on all three of those levels, regardless of the congregate setting, they were unable to do that. >> sy: but when the recommendations came to light, there was a backlash.

an op-ed appeared in the "denver post" criticizing the governor for prioritizing prisoners over the elrly. the writer, then-arapahoe county district attorney, george brauchler, argued his 78-year old father would have a harder time getting vaccinated than a convicted killer. >> if we have one vaccine and the two people to choose from are a 45 year old mass murderer or a 65 year old innocent person, there's no there's no question it is the 65-year-old innocent person. >> sy: right-wing media outlets amplified the outrage, and speaking with reporters at a coronavirus briefing late last year, governor polis walked back the state plan, and then some. >> there's no way it's going to go to prisoners before it goes to people who haven't committed any crime. that's obvious. >> he got poked in the eye and he kowtowed.

>> sy: christie donner is head of the colorado criminal justice reform coalition. she said the governor's pivot was political. it's being suggested by some that this population is somehow less deserving of the vaccine. >> our perspective is that the question of deserving isn't even relevant because we're all deserving. we all deserve to survive this. and so that's why we're so committed around following the science and helping people have good information about how they can stay safe and well to the greatest extent possible. >> sy: not just science, but social justice is at play, donner says. >> our governor has indicated that he is very aware of the disparities and wants to have a communication and an outreach strategy, specifically in black and brown communities in the public at large. and we keep saying to him, do you realize the contradiction there where you're ignoring people that are in prison who

are disproportionately people of color? >> sy: according to the prison policy initiative, which tracks how states are prioritizing inmates in vaccination distribution, only 10 states specifically make the incarcerated eligible in the first phase. most states put them in phase 2, before the general population but after the elderly and other at-risk groups. in a statement to the newshour, a spokesman for governor polis wrote: “the governor supports the dignity and innate worth of every human life, and declared early on that incarceration status will not make a differ in terms the ming of receipt of the vaine.” but colorado now gives no specific prioritization to inmates, a policy which even george brauchler, the republican who wrote that scathing editorial, says fails to take into account the risks of

congregant living. >> i want those inmates to be vaccinated. i'm completely comfortable with the idea that they should be vaccinated before me and the other healthy members of my family. i don't have any problems with that at all. but when it comes to discriminating between 60, 65 year olds, immunocompromised, medically compromised and those healthy 35 year old prisoners, there's no question in my mind where that vaccine should go. >> sy: for criminal justice reform advocates, the state's current plan also ignores another issue: the impact the pandemic has on inmate operations like food service, maintenance and laundry, functions often performed by inmates themselves. donner's organization is now asking the governor to at a minimum start vaccinating that critical workforce. >> at least understand that in a prison context you have essential workers and that those essential workers should be prioritized. >> sy: back at limon, anthony quintana jr is on the mend, but his parents still worry about him.

>> he says out of all the inmates are really scared in there. they're completely scared. >> sy: his activities and visits have been cut. >> i mean, they've paid for the mistake in prison, you know? i mean, are they supposed to be punished all their lives? isn't there any room for rehabilitation? i mean, this virus can be a death sentence to many, which it is. now, why should they draw a death sentence for a mistake that they made? >> sy: their last visit to see their son was in march of 2020, before the pandemic began. they're dreaming of the day when it's safe enough to see him again. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: president biden is focused on selling his covid relief plan, but republicans and

even some democrats are quickly turning to a new hot-button issue: immigration. our politics monday team is here to analyze it all. that's amy walter of the cook political report. and tamara keith of npr. hello to both of you on this monday. let's start, tam, by talking about president biden, vice president harris and their spouses, out spreading around the country trying to sell or talk up the covid relief plan. why is it necessary or is it necessary for him to do this? what do you see behind it? >> well, every day this week is going to have a theme. and if this seemed unfamiliar it's because we haven't seen this kind of rollout for a legislative accomplishment in about four years. or longer than that, actually, because the end of the obama administration didn't have a lot

of legislative accomplishments either. but the idea of going out to local media markets, getting that earned media, getting the stooree out about this accomplishment, selling it, that is a pretty standard thing that presidents have done for a long time. one thing i will point out that is really interesting about the language that biden and vice president harris are using, is they are also selling the idea that this is what government can do for you. they're selling the democratic idea that government can work for people and government should be there when people are in trouble. it's an interesting pitch that gets beyond just like hey, here's some checks and relief from eviction. >> woodruff: you know, a lot has changed amy-- well, go ahead. >> you are exactly right, market change from the last four years but what i found really interesting too is the way that the biden administration is

selling the covid package is as much a response to 2009 as it was to 2020. and that is that there are a lot of folks including, obviously the president himself who were there for the last big rescue package. and at that time, knew, looking back, democrats say which didn't go big enough. we went for 813 billion, we should have gone bigger because that was not enough of an economic stimulus to bring the economy back. it was a much slower recovery. we're not going to make that mistake again. but z this time joe biden has something that barack obama didn't. he obviously has fewer democrats in the senate but the democrats are much more ideologically homogenous, there are fewer conservative democrats, moderate democrats, especially fiscally conservative democrats so they could go for a bigger package. the secretary thing they look back on in 2009 and wished they had done differently was selling

it. that is to tam's point. to go out there and brag, all the time every day, they feel that they didn't do that well enough in 2010. never really embraced the economy and its comeback, and it put them, president obama on a back foot for much of his tenure even going into the 2012 selection. >> and we'll see how much difference it makes. meantime, tam, you have the president in his address to the country last week talking about the covid plan but he also offered a little blit of hope. he said byjuly 4th, independence day, you're going to be able to be in your, hang out in your backyard, have a barbecue, with a small group, so a promise of a sort is thaa risk for the president. >> this president has sort of gone out of his way to make promises that seem big and he really builds them as ambitious.

but in the end, he's actually underpromising and overdeliverring which people who study public health messaging will say is an important thing to do in a situation like. this you don't want to disappoint the public or cause them to loose faith in the government or the response. but so july 4th barbecue, you know, like a lot of people with warm enough weather are having barbecues now especially if people are vaccinated. it is already starting to happen in many places. and then there are other states where there simply aren't as many restrictions and it is happening anyway. but you know, for instance, the hundred million vaccines in arms, they have met that halfway through the 100 days. and you know, biden has said this is ambitious. nobody believes that we could do it. but a lot of people believed that they could do it. and now they're setting new goals like may 1st where all

adults should be able to get vaccines. they are still keeping it tame. they're not making the kind of promises that they don't think that they can keep. >> nothing bold here, amy, is that, are you agreeing with that? >> yeah, right. and i do think the summer is going to be critical here. how positive people feel about the coronavirus, the economy, we're going to learn a lot over the course of the summer and you are already starting to see people feeling a lot more positive as they know more people now who are being vaccinated. they are much more optimistic that this is going to come to an end. the one thing that could stand in the way is a new variant or something else that makes these vaccines less effective. and then of course the president would have to come back which, give himself a little bit of room in that speech to the nation. things could change. but i think for the most part it's tapping into the enthusiasm that some folks in this country, more folks than ever have about

the end being in sight. >> we're sure all pulling for it just in the little bit of time we have left, tam, new headache for the administration or building headache, i should say, the migrants at the border. growing numbers especially of children, republicans are jumping on this today. the republican leader of the house kevin mccarthy called it the biden boferredder crisis, how big of a problem is this? >> it is a problem for the biden administration. it is a humanitarian problem, on the border with these unaccompanied minors and not having enough capacity, they're having to erksz panned capacity to house them in conditions the biden administration doesn't want to be in. but also for republicans, the fact that they are focusing on the border rather than the stimulus, rather than the recovery plan, it makes a lot of sense politically. immigration, raging fears about

immigration, this is a playbook that has played well in 2014, in 2018, in 2016. and they are running this play again, as this sort of seasonal, unfortunately seasonal crisis is occurring along the border. and you know, among their voters, it's easy. immigration concerns are solid republican territory. when it comes to the recovery act, something like 40% of republicans don't oppose i. >> woodruff: amy, 15 seconds of wisdom. >> 15 seconds of wisdom. >> look, i think this has the potential to be problematic for the biden administration, what i'm very curious to see is if voters are going to attach more to how a president responds to this, to the issue or much more to the personality of the president. i think so much of what we saw for the last four years was the administration's approach to

immigration was as much about donald trump the person than it was about the policy. will that change with a new president. >> woodruff: wisdom from both amy walter and tamara teeth. thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: the oscar nominations were announced today. the biggest haul: "mank," a black and white film about 1930's hollywood, received ten nominations. after years of frustration over the lack of diversity in awards selections, just one black- centered film, "judas and the black messiah," received a nomination in the best picture category. and no african americans received nominations in the directing category. there were several notable firsts: two women were nominated for best director: chloe zhao for "nomadland" and emerald fennell for "promising young

woman". in the best actor category, riz ahmed became the first muslim and steven yeun the first asian- american to be nominated. another big winner: the film "minari," a story of korean immigrants rarely portrayed in popular culture. it received six nominations, including best picture and best director. jeffrey brown has a look for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> it is an american film largely in a foreign language, minari set in the 1908s follows korean transplant jacob yi played by steven yeun who moves his young family to an arkansas farm. >> with a house, we just pay for water,. >> he struggled with the soil

while they all struggle as strangers in a strange new land. >> inside of our little trailer home it was like korea, and outside it was the ozarks. >> the film is a fictionalized account of writer, director lee isaac cheung own childhood. >> i started with about 08 memories and once did this exercise of charting oul different things from what i remember being that age, 5 to 6 years old, i saw the arc of the family story, the the journey that a family takes together. >> taken together but following jacob's dream, leading to tensions with his wife monica played. >> . >> the film is named for a bitter herb popular in korea. it is a symbol of resilience that comes at great cost. >> this is basically your parents' story, how much did you know of their struggles? >> growing up we always knew

that their lives were a bit of a exriesms, not exactly what they wanted to be doing. life wasn't turning out exact leigh how they had hoped. and so that always filled my sister and i with a deep sense of desire to make their sacrifices count in some way. >> i read your father told you that he came to this country because he watched hollywood movies, and then here you are later creating movies to tell that american story in a different way, perhaps? >> it is quite ironiin some sense, when my mom found o that i wanted to become a filmmaker, her first thing that she did was that she turned to my dad and said this is your fault, you watched too many movies growing up. >> hig story is told through the eyes of 7ier o david as he navigates a new world with other children. >> why is your face so black?

>> the film most poignant relationship is with his own grandmother, newly arrived arrim korea to help the family, with little english, a mischief making figure from the old world. >> pretty boy. >> i'm not pretty, i'm good looking. >> veteran south korean actress sought guidance from directedder cheung on the role. >> i'm sure he had a vivid memory of grandmother so should i imitate her, i asked him. he said no, no, no, you just play yourself. it's fine with me. so we actually created that character together and later on, after we finished that movie and isaac said my grandmother was not like at all. >> he dedicated the film to all of our grandmas, eun said she thought of her own who made so

many sacrifices for her family after the korean war. >> i didn't realize until i get 60, i was so bad to pie grandmother. but from that time, every night i prayed for her, just ask her forgiveness, i was so stupid and i didn't know your sacrifice and your love and your emotion. ind stad perfectly. >> in the film the wrestling watching propane grandma learns to love mountain dew. >> good boy, good boy. >> in one memorable scene, he puts urine in her cup instead offed soar. it was eight year old act are and as you can see style maker alan kim's favorite sceep. >> it wasn't real pee though because that is very bad. it was mountain de-w. >> did you know much about that generation of people coming from tor korea to the united states. >> my mom and dad say it is

called the american dream but i never heard about that. >> mineri golden globe win came in the foreign language category, that sparked a controversy by a film by americans. wrote it in 2018 amid political divisions. it comes out amid violence against asian americans during the pandemic. >> but also as part of a flower ing much asian maryb stories in popular culture. >> i feel like audiences are starting to hunger for this more or showing that they hunger more diverse stories and experiences outside of what they are used to. >> i did see where you said that maybe this film could help challenge the category, how we even think about perhaps what is an american film. >> one of the things i kneel we are doing now this this culture is we are so quick to categorize people, so quick to assume what people feel, what a southern white farmer might feel or a

southern white christian farmer might feel and then also an imgrand. i felt as ough this is the story that removed those divisions and instead invests in the idea that we're just people. >> minari is now descreeming and in theaters. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: really lacking fooferred to seeing this one. thank you jeffrey. and that and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. 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.

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> 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 viewersike you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan

with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> i'm using every power i have as president of the united states to put us on a war footing to get the job done. >> as the president hits the road to sell his historic american recovery plan, i ask author annalee newitz and "the washington post" e.j. dionne about the details and what history tells us about going big. plus -- >> i'm ready to help those who need justice, especially the battered women. >> jane manyonge and attorney alexander mclean tell me about the justice defenders in african prisons. then --

>> when you feel honorable, when you feel scared, it turns out all our minds very quickly