judy: 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. judy: all that and more on

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♪ judy: 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 american rescue plan is already doing what it was designed to do -- make a difference in people's everyday lives. judy: we explore exactly when and how further relief will be

distributed to americans with cecilia rouse. she chairs the white house council of economic advisers. welcome to the "newshour." how quickly is the aide from this relief package going to reach people? i'm asking because people like senate republican leader mitch mcconnell say the economy was already poised to take off, that this isn't really going to make that much of a difference. cecelia: i would beg to differ. first of all, the aid is already reaching people. the treasury department worked very hard to distribute checks. 90 million people should have already received them this week. more to come over the following weeks. so people are already receiving the aid. i disagree with senator mcconnell. our economy is still suffering.

just last month, we got our employment report and saw we are still 9.5 million jobs short of where we were last year at this time. we know over 4 million individuals have been unemployed for at least half of the year. we know over 4 million people have completely withdrawn from the labor force so the official unemployment rate is 6.2%. really if we were to add back in a good fraction of those who have drawn -- left the labor force, it would be closer to 9%, maybe even 10%. we know for some populations, even the official unemployment rate is closer to 10%. we are far from having a healthy economy. given the depth of this recession, it is going to take us some time. most forecasts have us back to where we were last february, sometime in 2022. judy: so you don't agree with forecasts like that of the global investment bank goldman sachs, who last night was projecting the economy will grow 8% this year, that the

unemployment rate will be 4% by the end of this year, 3.5% next year? cecilia: first of all, yes we expect a large increase in gdp growth, but we are starting from a lower base. so when we are growing, it doesn't mean the economy is back to where it was in last february. two, the official unemployment rate does not affect those who have completely withdrawn from the labor force. yes, we expect there to be rapid increasing and job growth over the coming months as people get vaccinated and businesses get stood up and activity picks up, but i don't expect us to be back to exactly where we were, people back in the labor force, back employed, for some time. judy: what are your concerns, if any, about this money getting to people as quickly as possible, those who need it the most? with regard to ventilated for example, i'm seeing very little of the $25 billion that went out

under the trump administration has reached renters who need it. and the people need unemployment assistance, the people whose assistance has just run out of of today, how concerned are you? cecilio: this is why the president has brought jean sperling to be the czar to ensure the american rescue plan will be implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible. you are right, this is an ambitious law and ambitious effort and we need to help all the agencies and parts of government to get this aid to people as quickly as possible. judy: we are hearing, even from democrats like the former treasury secretary larry summers, that the sheer size of this package makes them worry about inflation. he said the worst, he worries in a generation. he went on in an interview to

say, i wish it were actually true that even a third of this money would go to people who are in poverty. most of it is not, most of it is going to the middle of the population, in one-shot transfers, not things that will ultimately build and strengthen the economy. cecilia: right now, the economy is in a big hole. one in five renters are behind on rent payments. we know people are behind on mortgages. millions of adults, millions of children have suffered food insecurity. many people, not just those under the official poverty line, but many people are struggling to get by and are behind on their bills. this aid is really meant to address all of the different components of the economy and the u.s. market and the people that have been so profoundly affected by the pandemic. is there a concern that the package is too large? there's always that risk. i think many of us, a broad

swath of economists, leave the risk with actually -- believe the risk was actually doing too little. if we don't get people back to work and the economy going, scarring can set in and we won't be able to get back on track. judy: you also hear from people like former treasury secretary larry summers and others, the concern that this will crowd out the ability to address oth real needs that the country has like infrastructure investment, climate change investment. there was an editorial in the washington post this week for example,aying the president should plan to offset some or all of the cost of these things through higher taxes, reduced spending on other priorities. are you already beginning to think about these trade-offs? cecilia: the priority right now is getting us to the other side of this pandemic. that is the focus of the president and the vice president

. know in build back better, there's a better part of that. and this is what larry summers was referring to, america is in desperate need of public investment. we are also going to turn our attention to and have worked on, what are the most effective ways to improve our infrastructure and address climate change? the president has set for these permanent investments, that some of it should be paid for. we are still working to put together a package of what those revenue raisers might be. but the goal here is to really put the u.s. economy on a path of more robust growth than we have had in the past. we need to get past this pandemic and then we need to be investing in the country so we can have even greater prosperity that is widely shared. judy: we are going to leave it there. cecilia rouse, chairman of the president's council of economic advisors, thank you.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. we will return to judy woodruff and the rest of these -- the program after these headlines. today, southern counties in southern california east covid restrictions allowing in-person dining, movie theaters, and gyms to reopen with capacity limits and mask requirements. meanwhile, president biden voiced hope of reaching covid vaccine skeptics among former president trump's supporters. polls show many of those voters oppose the shots. 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. stephanie: overseas, germany, france, italy, and spain temporarily halted these of astra-zeneca's vaccine after reports of blood clots. the company and the world health organization denied there is any link. up to 3,000 migrant teenage boys will be housed in the dallas texas convention center as first reported by the associated press today. that, as a dozen congressional republicans visited el paso, texas. they charged that president biden's policies are encouraging illegal crossings. in a 51-40ote, the u.s. senate confirmed deb haaland as interior secretary. she is the first native american to lead a cabinet agency. progressives hailed her nomination, while most republicans objected to her support for restricting use of

public lands for fossil fuel drilling. myanmar, the military imposed myanmar, the military imposed in 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 lgbtq 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. stephanie: the defense minister has apologized for referring to higgins as "a lying cow." 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 springtime, with sand blowing in from western deserts. back in this country, a driver plowed through a sidewalk homeless encampment, killing three people and injuring six more. it happened in downtown san diego in a tunnel where a well-established encampment sets. a man was arrested at the scene

and faces a felony dui and manslaughter charges. more than 150,000 people are homeless in california. parts of colorado, wyoming and nebraska woke up buried in snow. major roadways were closed. the denver area got more than two feet on sunday, closing the international airport before it reopened this afternoon. and women won the top four grammy awards last night, including bence, who 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 what a . what a historic cabinet secretary means to native americans. despite higher infection and death rates, many states do not prioritize prisoners for covid vaccines. and much more. announcer: this is the "pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and in the west from

the walter cronkite scho of journalism at arizona state university. judy: now, two looks at what is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis the war in yemen. what began as civil war in 2015 between the government and iranian-backed houthi rebels has evolved into a brutal proxy conflict, between saudi arabia and iran, with u.s. involvent. in a moment, nick schifrin speaks with the biden administration's envoy there. but first, 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, 9 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. >> 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. >> 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 are doing our best. reporter: the war in yemen 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 un's world food prograhead david beasley visited yemen last week, touring hospitals and talking to key players. >> i said, "doctor, how many beds do you have here?" he said 25. 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 un, has been met for tens of thousands of yemenis. it's called the integrated food security phase classification or ipc 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. >> 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 ipc level 5. ipc 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. the gas is nearby on ships in the waters off the main port controlled by the rebels, but being blocked by the saudi led

coalition from coming into dock and offload. >> 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 elements of the humanitarian support system, but 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, to make the lender king. -- timothy lender king.

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 the war cannot be won militarily but it seems like the who sees -- 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. nick: and we are now joined by tim lenderking, the new us special envoy to yemen. welcome back to the "newshour." let's start with the humanitarian crisis and look 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? tim: we do think that moving the the fuel ships into hodeida is a critical priority for yemen. we've seen the incrible images of hospitals and other areas

where the, the lack of fuel is is hurting yemenis. i've been in touch with the saudis and the yemeni government just over the weekend, of course, in a renewed push to to see this all happen. i'm optimistic that we'll see some movement here in the near term. and i think that's very important also as, you know, sort of, as a confidence building measure. nick: on friday, you and usaid announced the biden administration had reversed the trump administration decision and you'd now be allowing aid to go into northern yemen, to houthi controlled yemen. the houthis have diverted aid in the past. how ll you guarantee that the aid is not diverted? tim: this is a critical priority as well. not only getting supplies into the country, but then moving them to the, the people in the greatest need. i'm relatively confident that with some of the measures that we have in place, we will, we will be able to get more supplies into north yemen and into other parts of the country. nick: the houthis have been presented a new cease fire

proposal. how, if at all, does that cease fire proposal differ from previous attempts? tim: it is a y and proposal and i'm hopeful -- you and proposal, and i'm hopeful all the parties will realize this is a critical moment and if we want to see a better situation in yemen, we want to see a move toward a cease fire that's a lasting cease fire, a durable cease fire, and not just one that that is broken by one side or the other after 24 hours, that it's going to require international buy-in. nick: have the houthis express ed any interest? tim: there is a tough road ahead but i think that the discussions are underway, and, and we feel that they're productive. there is a sense that this is a moment at which progress can be made. nick: from the outside, it seems the momentum is negative. there have been 30 attacks by the houthis into saudi arabia this month alone. the houthis have launched a major offensive in marib, that's one of the remaining strongholds in the north of the yemeni government. the saudis just packed sanaa for the first time in six months. it does seem, again, from the

outside that things are going in the wrong direction. tim certainly the situation on : the ground is very negative. it's going to be incumbent upon the parties, i think, to 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 is important is that nothing has been agreed to yet. so i wouldn't anticipate seeing improvements on the ground until there's an agreement, unfortunately. nick: you've been in and out of riyadh, saudi arabia, over the last few months as the biden administration decided to make public an intelligence assessment that said crown prince mohammed bin salman approved the capture/kill order forger journalist jamal khashoggi. have the saudis changed how they interacted with you because of that release? tim: i have not. of course, that's that's not part of my, my particular mandate. i focus really exclusively on yemen. and what i found in saudi arabia is a strong commment from the

saudi leadership to approach the conflict in a way that is constructive. nick: do you think by not sanctioning mohammed bin salman over the khashoggi killing, does that give you the ability to continue to work to saudi arabia and perhaps even have a little bit of leverage over what saudi arabia does when it comes to yemen? tim: i think saudi arabia has viewed this conflict as something that is has gone on too long. and what i hear is a consistent 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're going to be able to count on saudi arabia to do its part. nick: tim lenderking, thank you very much. tim thank you, nick. : judy: as we reported earlier,

the senate confirmation of congresswoman deb haaland as u.s. interior secretary makes her the first ever native american to serve as a cabinet secretary. lisa desjardins reports. lisa: to understand this, we go to a reservation -- the hopi reservation in northeast arizona to speak to the tribe's chairman, timothy nuvangyaoma. there are some critics and western states, that she will shut down too much drilling. what does this mean to you? >> h from the hopi nation, we are excited that she will fill this critical role and across native communities, to have someone actually said in that position that understands what

we are dealing with and someone who has that compassion to look at, of course there will be some of those challenges you mentioned. but as stewards of the land, she has the overwhelming task of managing such a large land base and looking at ways -- and the overall view of that which will definitely protect and overseas these areas. lisa: whether the biggest issues on your reservation right now that any covid relief money in particular could help with? timothy: we have a number of different areas, but i will focus on just a couple. broadband infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, and water. i know the cdc keeps talking about having to wash your hands quite often, but not here on hopi. i'm not sure how much of the listening audience knows that. and several villages, we have water polluted with arsenic and

are currently at three times the level of the allowable standards. having fresh, clean water to consume has made it very challenging. with the executive orders to stay at home and mitigating movement, it has pushed community members to rely on that one source, which in our viewpoint is poison water. so we want to make accessible and clean drinking water to be assimilated reservation wide. nobody should have to deal with this. if we could get national attention with the water situation national -- right away, stillwe still have that infrastructure that is needed across the reservation. lisa: put 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 is $20 million going to native american language preservation. what do you say to taxpayers and republicans who say that kind of honey doesn't belong -- doesn't belong in a relief bill like this? timothy: that is really important. for the hopi people, our language is really our identity. we are trying to strengthen key areas of continuation of our native language out here, which means with that disconnect, with broadband infrastructure and keeping up the education component of that has made it really difficult. another portion is we are heavily connected and remain connected to our culture and traditions. looking at it from a native lens is hard to explain to someone unless you are sitting in our shoes and really truly understanding those dynamics.

that has been part of our struggle at the national level. there has been a lack of that education of who we really are as a people. lisa: timothy, thank you so much for joining us, chairman of the hopi tribe. timothy: thank you so much, i appreciate being here. judy: 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 thastory. stephanie: at age 19, anthon 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. stephanie: his parents, anthony seni 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 from computers to , electric to hvac heating and cooling, bricklaying, programming -- plumbing. kathryn: electric. and he's a musician also. stephanie: you sound like you are really proud of your son. >> we are. >> we are not proud of where he's at but we are proud of everything he's done. stephanie: 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.

kathy: it just really scared me because, you know, of the close, closeness in that facility. you know, i just i really worried. stephanie: 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. stephanie: 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. dr. anuj mehta: 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. stephanie: 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 elderly. 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 ller. >> if we have one vaccine and the two people to choose from 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. stephanie: right wing media outlets amplify the outrage. >> how many people would get arrested just so they could go into jail and get a shot? stephanie: and speaking with reporters at our coronavirus briefing, 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 cow towed. stephanie: 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. is that your sense? >> 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. stephanie: 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? and then if they go home, they don't know if they can be exposing their family. stephanie: 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 difference in terms of the timing of receipt of the vaccine." 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 thirty five year old prisoners, there's no question in my mind where that vaccine should go.

stephanie: 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. stephanie: back at limon, anthony quintana jr is on the mend, but his parents still worry about him. >> all the inmates are really scared in there. they're completely scared. stephanie: his activities and visits have been cut. kathy: i mean, they've paid for the miake in prison, you know? i mean, are they supposed to be punished all their lives? isn't there any room for rehabilitation? >> 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? stephanie: 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. judy: president biden is focused on selling his covid relief plan, signed into law just a few days ago. but republicans and even some democrats are quickly turning to a new hot-button issue, immigration. r 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 by talking about president biden, vice president

harris and their spouses, out in the country trying to sell the covid relief plan. why is it necessary, or is it necessary for him to do this? what do you see behind this? >> every day this week will have a theme. if this seems 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 did not have a lot of legislative accomplishments either. but the idea of going out to local media markets, getting that earned media, getting the story out about this accomplishment, selling it, that is a pretty standard thing president have done for a long time. one thing i will point out that's interesting about the language biden and vice

president harris are using is they are also selling the idea that this is what government can do for you. they are selling the democratic idea that the government can work for people and governments should be there when people are in trouble. it is an interesting pitch beyond here are some checks and relief from eviction. judy: a marked change from -- go ahead, amy. >> you are exactly right, judy. it is a marked change from the last four years. but what i also found interesting is the way the biden administration is selling the covid package is as much a response to 2009 as it was to 2020. there are a lot of folks, including the president himself, who were there from the last big rescue package. at that time, now looking back, democrats saying we didn't go big enough. we went for $813 billion.

we should have gone bigger because it was not enough of an economic stimulus to bring the economy back. it was a slower recovery. we are not going to make that mistake again. this time, joe biden has something barack obama didn't. he has fewer democrats in the senate, but they 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 second thing they look back on in 2009 and wish they had done differently is selling it. to go out there and brad all the time, every day. they feel they did not do that well enough in 2010 and never really embraced the economy and it's come back, and it put president obama on a back foot for much of his tenure, even going into the 2012 election. judy: and we will see how much

difference it makes. meantime, you have the president and his address to the country last week talking about the covid plan, but he also offered a bit of hope. he said by july 4, independence day, you will be able to be -- hang out in your backyard and have a barbecue with a small group. so a promise of a sort. is that a risk for the president? >> this president has sort of gone out of his way to make promises that seem big, and really builds them as ambitious. but in the end, he's actually under promising and over delivering, 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 lose faith in the government or response. so july 4 barbecues, a lot of

people with warm weather are having barbecues now, especially if people are vaccinated. it's already happening in many places. and there are other places where there aren't as many restrictions. for instance, the 100 million vaccines in arms, they met that halfway through the 100 days. joe biden has said this was ambitious, nobody believed we could do it, but a lot of people believed they could do it, and now they are setting new goals like may 1 for all adults to be able to get vaccines. they are still keeping it tame. they are not making the kind of promises they don't think they can keep. judy: nothing bold here, is that -- are you agreeing with that? >> right. i do think the summer will be critical here. how positive people feel about

the coronavirus and the economy. we will learn a lot over the course of the summer. we 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 gave himself a little bit of room in the speech, saying things could change, but for the most part, it is tapping into the enthusiasm some folks in the country have about the end being insight. judy: we are all pulling for it. just in the little bit of time we have left, a new headache for the administration, or a building headache. the migrants at the border, growing numbers of children, the republicans jumping on this today. the republican leader of the house called the biden border 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 are having to rapidly expand capacity to house them in situations that 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 sense politically. immigration, raising fears about immigration, this is a playbook that has played well in 2014, in 2018, and 2060, -- 2016, and they are running ts play again as this seasonal crisis is occurring along the border. among their voters, it is easy. immigration concerns are solid

republican territory. when it comes to the recovery act, something like 40% of republicans don't oppose it. judy: 15 seconds of wisdom. >> [laughter] i think this has a potential to be problematic for the biden administration. what i am curious to see is if voters will attach more to how a president response to this, or much more to the personality of the president. 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 then it was about the policy. will that change with a new president? wisdom judy: from both amy walter and tamra keith. thank you both. 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 yun the first asian-american to be nominated. another to get a lot of attention, the film “minari,” a story of korean immigrants rarely portrayed in popular culture. it received six nominations, including best pictu and best director.

jeffrey brown has a look for our arts and culture series, canvas. reporter: it's an american film largely in a foreign language. "minari," set in the 1980's, follows korean transplant jacob yee, played by actor steven yeun, who moves his young family to an arkansas farm. >> the house, we have to pay for water. [speaking korean] reporter: he struggles 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 like the ozarks. reporter: it is a fictionalized account of writer-director lee isaac chung's own childhood. >> i started with about 80 memories. once i did this exercise of charting out different things i remember from being that age

, around five to six years old, i saw the arc of the family story, the journey a family takes together. reporter: taken together but following jacob's dream, leading to tensions with his wife monica. >>[speaking korean] >>[speaking korean] reporter: the film is named for a bitter herb popular in korea. here, it is a symbol of resilience that comes at great cost. this is basically your parents' story. how much did you know if there -- of their struggles? >> growing up, we always knew that their lives were a bit of a compromise, not exactly what they wanted to be doing. life wasn't turning out exactly how they would have hoped. so that always filled my sister and i with a deep sense of desire to make their sacrifices count in some way. reporter: 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 ironic in some sense. when my mom found out i wanted to become a filmmaker, her first thing that she did was, she turned to my dad and said, "this is your fault, you watched too many movies growing up." reporter: his story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old david, as he navigates a new world other children. >> why is your face so flat? reporter: and then in the films most poignant relationship with his own grandmother, newly arrived from korea to help the family with little english. a mischief making figure from the old world. >> are you pretty boy? pretty boy? >> i'm not pretty, i'm good-looking! reporter: veteran south korean actress youn yuh-jung saw guidance from the director on the role.

>> i'm sure he had a vivid memory of grandmother, so should i imitate her? i asked him. he said no, just play yourself. it's fine with me. so actually, we created that character together. later on after we finished that, isaac said, my grandmother was not like you at all. [laughter] >> strong boy. reporter: chung in fact dedicated the film to all of our grandma's. youn said she thought of her own who made so many sacrifices for her family and the difficult years after the korean war. >> i didn't realize until i was over 60, i was so bad to my grandmother. so from that time, every night, i pray for her, just ask her forgiveness. i was so stupid and i didn't know your sacrifice and your love and your devotion. i understood perfectly this script.

reporter: in the fil his wrestling watching, profane grandma learns to love mountain dew. in one memorable scene, david puts urine in her cup instead of soda. it was eight-year-old actor and as you can see, stylemaker alan kim's favorite scene. >> it wasn't real pee though, because that was very bad. it was mountain dew. reporter: did you know much about that generation of people coming from korea to the united states? >> my mom and dad say it's called the american dream but i've never heard about that. reporter: "minari's" golden globe win came in the foreign language category, that sparked a mini controversy for a film by americans. chung wrote in 2018, among political divisions. it comes out amid violence against asian americans during the pandemic. but also as part of a flowering

of asian-american stories and popular culture. >> i feel like audiences are starting to hunger this more or at least showing they start to hunger more diverse stories and experiences outside of what they are used to. reporter: i did see where you said that maybe this film can help challenge the categories, how we even think about perhaps what is an american film. >> one of the things i feel we are doing now in this culture is we are so quick to categorize people. we are so quick to assume what a person feels what a southern , white farmer might feel or southern white christian farmer might feel, and also an immigrant. i felt as though this is a story that removes those divisions and instead invests in the idea that we are just people. reporter: "minari" is now streaming and in theaters. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown. judy: really looking forward to seeing this one. thank you, jeffrey.

and that's the “newshour” for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon. announcer: major fding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided -- consumer cellular. johnson and johnson. bnsf railway. the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful worth through investments and transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. ♪ >> the alfred p. sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas. announcer: supported by the the

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -welcome to "america's test kitchen" at home. today, i'm making a wonderful greek pastitsio, jack's gonna tell us all about feta cheese, and lan has an amazing recipe for braised eggplant.