to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a worsening crisis-- india struggles to handle a massive surge in covid cases and deaths as many question the prime minister's leadership during the pandemic. then, the immigration agenda-- we discuss policy changes aimed at reuniting separated refugee families with homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. and, battle for yemen-- we report from the front lines as houthi rebel forces converge on the government's last stronghold and the war for control of the country intensifies.

>> the houthis are just beyond this berm and over through those trees. the yemeni soldiers are in the trees fighting back at them. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> 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 william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> 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: there are fresh reasons for optimism tonight in the u.s. pandemic recovery. the daily average of new cases is below 50,000 for the first time since october. and, airline traffic is the highest since the pandemic began. but in india, makeshift medical camps have sprung up and official numbers show new infections at or near 400,000 a day. we'll focus on india, after the news summary. people across mississippi spent today cleaning up after multiple tornadoes struck on sunday. intense storms swept through communities in and around tupelo, tearing up trees and destroying homes.

some were in disbelief today, after seeing the damage. >> i really don't know. i don't... i can't... i just never seen nothing like this before that happens to me. you know... i'm just hurt. >> woodruff: there were no reports of deaths or injuries in mississippi. but as the storm front moved east, a tornado was blamed for one death in atlanta. president biden says the u.s. will admit 62,500 refugees through september, when the federal fiscal year ends. today's announcement came after he was criticized for keeping the trump cap of just 15,000. also today, the biden administration said it's begun reuniting families who were separated at the southern border during the trump era. we'll talk to secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas, later in the program.

three people are dead off san diego, california, in a suspected human smuggling operation. 29 others were injured, and one remained critical today. the boat broke apart sunday in strong surf along a rocky shoreline. there was no word on the nationalities of the victims and survivors. in elizabeth city, north carolina, today's funeral for andrew brown junior led to fresh calls for police accountability. brown was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies last month, but a judge has blocked release of the bodycam footage for now. as mourners filled a local church today, speakers, including family attorney bakari sellers, demanded immediate release of the video. >> we're going to stand up for what we believe to be right. we're going to stand up for justice. we're going to stand up for andrew brown. we're going to stand up for his memory. we're going to stand up because we want to be free.

>> woodruff: the seven officers the nation's top general, mark milley, says he'd consider letting independent prosecutors decide on pursuing sexual assault cases in the military. a review panel has recommended taking the decisions away from commanders. milley chairs the joint chiefs of staff, and he spoke to the a federal trial began today in california on whether apple's app store is an illegal monopoly. epic games, maker of the popular video game "fortnite," alleges that apple charges excessive fees to force out smaller developers. apple denies it. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 238 points to close at 34,113. the nasdaq fell 67 points,ut, the s&p 500 added 11. microsoft founder and billionaire bill gates and his

wife, melinda, are divorcing. they issued a statement this afternoon saying they no longer believe they can grow together as a couple. the gates have been married 27 years and have three children. and, bob abernethy, a longtime member of the pbs family, has died. he was founder and host of "religion and ethics newsweekly," and for more than 40 years, an nbc news correspondent. in that role, he covered the collapse of the soviet union and the cold war. bob abernethy was 93 years old. still to come on the newshour: homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas discusses reuniting families who were separated at the border. we report from the front lines of the intensifying war for control of yemen. the biden administration announces new restrictions on climate pollutants. and much more.

>> woodruff: the covid crisis in india is relentless, and shows little sign of slowing down. and, as death tolls and infections skyrocket, prime minister narendra modi is under increasing political pressure. here's william brangham. >> brangham: it's a horrible sight, one repeated across across new delhi: crematoriums running out of space for the victims of this virus. many grieving families are told to just wait in line. >> ( translated ): people have to wait foat least five to seven hours before getting a chance to cremate the bodies. although, as you can see, the bodies are being cremated rapidly, there is still a long queue of ambulances carrying bodies of covid-19 victims outside the crematorium. >> brangham: india reported

3,400 official covid deaths yesterday, and nearly 370,000 infections. it was 400,000 last friday. but experts believe all these numbers are likely a vast under- estimate of the crisis. widespread shortages of covid tests and the numbers of cremated bodies have added to the discrepancies. the impact the coronavirus is having has created a horrific reality for many here in india. several hospitals stl lack enough oxygen to treat patnts, leaving families to look after the sick on their own. >> ( translated ): we came twice but they said home isolation is enough and sent us back, he was fine, recovered 75%. if oxygen was available he would have survived. but without oxygen last night he died. >> brangham: makeshift solutions are requir to treat the growing numbers of suffering people. ambulances line up outside a hospital, waiting for precious beds to open.

old train cars are transformed into isolation rooms for the infected. amid this crisis, though, there are glimmers of hope. shipments of relief supplies-- everything from oxygen to protective gear, arrived from italy, the u.k., and germany today. and vaccination efforts are starting to ramp up. schools are being turned into makeshift vaccination centers. to date, just 2% of adults have been vaccinated in this country of 1.3 billion people. >> ( translated ): across delhi, we have started a mass vaccination drive for those aged 18 to 44 years. it's the first day today. we will take it further. our target is to have at least 10 such centers at every school and slowly, we will increase it to 300 schools. >> brangham: meanwhile, prime minister narendra modi and his political party suffered a major blow yesterday after losing regional elections in west bengal, a clear sign that modi's political reputation is being tested.

over the years, modi has deployed hindu nationalist rhetoric and nationalist policies that have raised his popularity and transformed india's politics. his version of nationalism has bitterly divided hindus from other ethnic groups. his refusal to stop holding large campaign rallies, and to allow a huge hindu religious festival are believed to be major contributors to this spike, and now, as a new, highly contagious variant has emerged in the country, modi has resisted calls for any further lockdowns. i am joined now by someone who has been covering india's pandemic from the very beginning. barkha dutt is a journalist based in new delhi. her work appears in many places, including the "washington post." thank you very much for talking with us on the newshour. first off, i should say our understanding is you lost your father last week to this coronavirus. and i'm terribly sorry about your loss and especially

grateful for you taking the time to talk with us. could you just give us a sense of the latest of what you've been seeing on the ground there? >> and in some ways, it's been a surreal week because 15 months of my journalistic life have been spent reporting this pandemic. and when the news came home, when i lost my dad, in some ways, i became every family that i have reported on outside of hospital doors that are too overrun to make space for patients or cremation grounds that have run out of spaces. that having been said, i do want to underline that even in this moment of deep personal loss, i am aware that i have been luckier than most of my countrymen and women. however, when i look at what's happening on the streets of my country, in the major cities, most indians are not able to get a bed. they're not able to get a doctor. and if they do get a hospital bed, they are dying in hospital because of a murderous disruption in oxygen supply to our health facilities.

so what we're seeing is, in the words of one doctor, health care workers who have been sent in to fight a nuclear war with a stick. it has been a monumental betrayal. it has been a monumental failure of policy. it has been a monumental illustration of misjudgment, and it has been a monumental absence of preparing for the second wave. >> brangham: we mentioned how prime minister modi has certainly seen his reputation badly dented because of this. and as we reported, he took a pretty bad beating in the state elections in west bengal. is it your sense that that election and people's discontent is a real reflection on him and his failures here? >> you know, just because i'm a hardened journalist, i don't draw quick political conclusions. i know a lot of people have wanted to see in that result some sort of comeuppance for the policy failures that have brought our country to this pass. i don't know, because this was a state election, the national

election, which will decide the fate of prime minister modi still three years away. public memory is short, but what i can confirm is the pain and helplessness among people is turning to rage. any number of people on the streets that i meet and interview with, say, what did we vote for you for? and i think a lot of people are asking the following questions. why did india give the way or export vaccines before it had enough for its own people? why did india not order more vaccines? why did the government continue to hold, including by the prime minister and the home minister mammoth, political rallies to the past month that this carnage has been unleashed on our people? there has been a flip of a turnaround on almost all of these decisions, but it's too late. and experts are telling me that there are not enough vaccines to take india out of the second wave. it's almost as if we had no choice but to live to the carnage. so, yes, i think people are right. >> brangham: i know the indian supreme court ruled recently

that the government ought to re- impose some strict lockdowns, which we know caused incredible economic pain in india the first time around at the beginning of the year. do you think that that's likely? do you think the government will take that step to try to put this fire out? >> i think that although the government was against a national lockdown and i can actually see the logic that because we are such a big, diverse country, that that may be a one size fits all formula doesn't work. i think we're now at such a cataclysmic inflection point that that even those of us who've been critical of lockdowns are probably going to say you have no option but a lockdown, if it's not accompanied by vaccines, william, is meaningless, right? and no matter which city i travel to, sometimes the gap between what the official data is reporting that and what i'm physically counting myself is four times.

>> brangham: if, as you say, the numbers are being seriously undercounted, is that an administrative failure? or do you think it's something more overt that they're trying to keep the numbers low? >> i think at every level there is some attempt, a clumsy attempt to contain panic by keeping numbers relatively down. for example, a major doctor who owns laboratories that does p.c.r. testing for covid told me that the moment his laboratories start turning in results, which are very high, which reflect a very high positivity rate, he actually gets calls. he didn't name from whom, but he's had from powerful people asking him to slow it down. this is on record to me in an interview. when it comes to fatalities, one of the things that's happening is not everybody is going to get a death certificate. not everybody is getting a test run once somebody has died. and i've also met extremely poor people who can't even find an ambulance to ferry the dead to crematoriums. so i think it's fair to say that we are certainly not counting all of our dead. an undertaker at one crematorium

in delhi told me that at the peak of the first wave in 2020, he was cremating 30 bodies at his site in delhi. and now he's cremating over 100 every night through this past week when delhi's overall figures, for example, reflect an implausible 400 for the entire city. so those are the kind of gaps we are seeing. some of it, i would say deliberate, some of it clumsy, some of it incompetence, and some of which is slipping through the cracks. >> brangham: as you say, with mean, even if even if you had enough vaccine for everyone in the country, those take a good deal of time to both be distributed and to get into people, as well as take weeks to start taking effect. so, i mean, there's still, it sounds like, worse to come for you all. >> well, you know, william, even speaking with my own father, my father had one jab. and i keep thinking that if he'd managed to if the vaccine program had rolled out earlier, if it had vaccines earlier, maybe if he'd had a second job, maybe, just maybe something would have worked out differently for him. our vaccination rates are among the lowest they've been in this week at a point when we needed them to be the highest.

so, yes, i think there's no easy way to say this, that vaccines are over as a way out for us out of this pandemic. vaccine manufacturers in india have told us that shortages will continue through july. the only thing that could save some lives is a steady supply of high flooxygen. and for reasons that the government cannot explain to us, we are not receiving that at all of our hospitals. and so this is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis unfolding here in my country. >> brangham: all right, barkha dutt in new delhi,hank you very much for being here. and again, i'm deeply sorry about the loss of your father. thank you, thank you. >> thank you. thank you for having me on. >> woodruff: the biden administration announced today it would reunite four families that u.s. officials separated at the u.s.-mexican border during

donald trump's presidency. more than 5,500 children were taken from their parents to deter illegal immigration. those separations started in july 2017, nearly a year before the trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy became official. the policy was eventually ended. the biden administration says 1,000 families still remain separated. secretary of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas called today's announcement "just the beginning" of an on- going effort to reverse those separations. and he joins me now. welcome mr. secretary. we appreciate yir joining us. four families out of about 1,000, every family matters, of course, but tell us how you decided on those four, how were they chosen, and what was the process like getting it done? >> judy, thank you very much for having me.

and it is absolutely correct. this is just the beginning. president biden directed us from the very first day, do everything you can to reunite these families. bring resources to them, to help them in their. we are to be part of the effort. these families were not chosen for any particular reason. other than the fact that these families were the first to benefit from our active conscience to really bring back to restore humanity in a way-- these are first of many. we will reunit all of them. >> woodruff: as you said every family is important for every family but if it is taking this long to do just four families, help us understand why it is so

hard, what are the obstacles? >> the obstacles are many, unfortunately we inherited records that were incomplete, inaccurate and the like but also what we're doing is building a foundation for a program. the american public will see families reunited at a quicker pace now that we have overcome some of the obstacles. we have a tremendous workforce across the federal government working in partnership with community-based organizations to deliver union if i kaition to these families. these are sons, daughters, sis pers, brothers, fathers, mothers, we are so privileged to be a part of this effort. i think that it will increase as the obstacles have been overcome. more to come, more obstacles. and es keuks me but i would like to read your comment from the attorney for the aclu which is behind several lawsuits filed to locate deported parents and the

children they were separated from. he said quote reunification is not enough. the families, especially the babies and toddlers who were deliberately abused by our government also need permanent local status in the united states-- legal status, social services and compensation for the harm they suffered. he went on there are hundreds of families who have not been even-- even been located and as i said before, more than a thousand still separated. how long is it going to take to get these thousand families together. >> let me first say what a formidable advocate lee is. in terms, and his aclu team, in terms of the rights of these families and fighting for reunification. we are proud to fight alongside lee and the aclu team. however long it is going to take, we're going to achieve our mission of reuniting the families and we're day and night

to do so as quickly as possible that is our commitment. and quite frankly, or obligation. >> i saw what president biden said last week and i'm quoting we don't know yet where those kids are. we're trying like hell to figure out what happened. is it the case thayou don't know where most of these children are? we know where somewhere, we don't know where others are, when we know where, parents are, as a government becausef what we have inherited, because of the crueltiy that precedes this, we have to convince those parents on some occasions to actually have the courage to come forward given the mistrust that the prior administration has s ow n. we are bringing con she is because to the government it will take time. we have wonderful partners to work alongside, and we are committed to t effort. >> will the parents, will the families be allowed to stay in

the united states, going back to the point, will they receive social services, will they receive permanent legal status? >> we are working towards that. is he correct that the families need stability. they need resources, to really have to. >> tomorrow these families could be reunified. this is just the beginning of that heal prog ses. we intend to do more, and we're looking very carefully at what we can do. >> woodruff: but can you say at this point whether they will be allowed to stay in the united states. >> that is a legal question. what we have done is we have brought them into the united states under a program called humanitarian globe, to allow them to stay in the united states for a certain period of time. and we are exploring what other

avenues we can utilize to have them stay here with the stability that they need that is very much uppermost in our mind. >> anding a we reported, the families are-- what about the families. >> what percentage of them have been allowed to come into the country, what percentage have been turned away? >> those are two very, very different things, if i may say, e is the trump administration's practice of intentionally separating children from their parents, to de ter migration, the other is what we are doing with respect to families who arrive at the border, in between the ports of entry, who seek to enter you be lawfully during a time of the koa vid 19 pandemic. and we because of the public health and fairness, under the authorities of the cdc, to protect not only the american

public, but also the migrants themselves, are exercising that cdc authority and not allowing the families to enter the united states. >> woodruff: and finally, mr. secretary, president biden is announcing this afternoon that he is raising the cap on the number of refugees, this is a somewhat different issue but on refugees who would enter the united states from other countries, for reasons of safety, persecution, in other, wherever their home countries are. can you help us understand why this number was arrived at? >> soo this number, judzy, this number of 62,000-- 26,500 is a-- 62,500 is the number of refugees we as a nation will accept, to which we will aspire, in this calender year. or i should say in this fiscal year for the united states

government. this reflects president biden's unwavering commitment to our refugee program, to our proudest heritage, of leading the world in refugee admission. this number was a balance of between our highest aspirations and the reality, the reality. the fact that we will also have to rebuild the refugee system because of its dismantlement by the prior administration. so we are balancing our hopes and aspirations for people around the world without seek a legal pathway to humanitarian relief and the fact that we have inherited a system that was torn apart. >> woodruff: we will leave it there, secretary alejandro mayorkas of the department of homeland security, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me, judy.

>> woodruff: it has been three months since president biden ended american military involvement in the war in yemen. the u.s. was providing logistical support to a saudi- led coalition fighting rebels in the country, known as houthis, who are allied with saudi arabia's regional enemy iran. before leaving office, former president trump designated the houthis a terrorist organization. biden reversed that move, when aid agencies warned it would make getting food to civilians in rebel-held areas harder. but as special correspondent jane ferguson tells us from the frontlines, shortly after biden's move, the houthis launched an offensive east from the capital, sana'a, towards the city of marib, the last stronghold of saudi-backed yemeni government forces. >> reporter: this is what six years of war in yemen has come to: an ultimate battle in the desert, for the future of this

country. a small trench manned by government fighters with little more than ak-47s, fighting iran- allied rebels called houthis. brigadier abdulrahman radman, led us to where his men are trying to hold the line. that line is a vague, dusty mark in the desert. the houthis are just beyond this berm and over through those trees. the government soldiers are in the trees fighting back at them. a major new offensive by the rebels to take this area called marib, began just days after president biden said he would cancel a last minute trump designation of the houthis as a terrorist group. these men believe that emboldened their enemy. >> ( translated ): when the biden administration took the houthis off the terrorism list, they became more aggressive. they took them off the houthis from the list of terrorists because of the humanitarian situation. but if they want to save people the best thing is to put them on the list of terrorists.

>> reporter: the terrorism designation however would also have made it harder to get commercially traded food to civilians in rebel held areas, accelerating a looming famine. as the brigadier arrived in the only armored vehicle for miles, they make use of the top gun to take the pressure off. with quick return fire, the houthi fighters remind us of their presence too. even in this vast expanse, the fighting is so close, it occupies just a thin strip of this landscape. the houthis are right there behind us, just 50 meters away the soldiers tell us. they are exchanging fire with them. this front line moves all the time as the houthis try to push towards marib. the rebels constantly test the government forces defenses. the fighting here is crude, brutal close combat. despite being backed financially and logistically by a saudi-led coalition of countries, conditions on the front are tough for the yemeni government troops. we traveled across yemen's

northeast desert, to where this war has reached a climax. we heard no saudi war planes providing air support, and the ly heavy weaponry we saw were these howitzers, unused while we were there. the medivac station is a shack with a few boxes of medines. the only way to a hospital is the same way we came, in the back of a truck. it's two hours from here, over the desert in trucks for injured soldiers coming from the front. there's not one helicopter in the entire front line. after years, yemen's war is reaching a defining point on this battlefield. the iran-allied houthi rebels seized control of the capital sanaa in 2014 and have bee battling the government of yemen and it's troops, supported by the saudi-led coalition, ever since. back in nearby marib city, both those fighting this war and those fleeing from it, share it's streets. once a small desert town, this is now the center of a final

government stand against advancing houthi rebels. soldiers with the internationally-recognized yemeni government, and allied armed tribesmen, rest, and catch up between spasms of fighting. those wounded on the front, the ones that make it back here, continue to fight for their lives at the hospital. marib owns the country's main oil and gas resources. if the rebels take the city it would not only push the government from it's last major stronghold, but it would provide a vital financial lifeline to the houthis. the defense minister of yemen knows this is a fight his men cannot afford to lose. >> ( translated ): the battle for marib is one of defending our people, our nation and freedom. we are in a battle to save the future of the next generation. the future of yemen. >> reporter: rebuilding the yemeni army in marib, after revolution, mutiny and war, have focused on professionalizing tribal fighters, recruiting those pushed from their homes by the houthis, and men from this region desperate to defend the

city from a rebel takeover. >> ( translated ): in the beginning of the war it was only resistance fighters and they fought the houthis in all the governorates. and tribesmen fought.they have good experience in fighting. >> reporter: the saudis' main partner on the ground in yemen, the united arab emirates, pulled most of its forces out in 2019, and riyadh is under increasing pressure to wind down this war. if the saudis stop fighting in yemen what will happen to the yemeni army? >> ( translated ): we thank them for everything they gave us, both military and civilian support to the official government. but i believe the houthis will never leave saudi arabia alone. or the gulf countries. god forbid the houthis ever control this area. victory must be ours. >> reporter: the biden administration has ended military support for the saudi- led coalition in yemen and

appointed a new u.s. envoy for peace. this disastrous war has become synonymous with human suffering, creating the worst humanitarian disaster in the world and pushing millions to the brink of starvation. potential peace talks and a cease-fire seem a long way off. persuading the houthis to come to the table before any marib takeover will be difficult. getting the saudis to make a realistic offer of a cease-fire equally so. we also traveled to houthi controlled areas to interview a senior leader of the group. will you take marib or stop for talks first? >> ( translated ): liberating all of yemen from the mercenaries and invaders is a duty for all yemeni people. who leads the fighters in marib? it's either american or saudi or emirati soldiers. >> reporter: will there be no peace until you take marib? >> ( translated ): when we

receive a serious approach to peace from them and practical steps, we will talk. but until now, nothing. all that is going on is just talk. whether or not we advance on marib depends on their practical steps. >> reporter: while arguments over war and peace roll on, families fleeing their homes are constantly on the move. rockets inching closer every day, gunfire and explosions often crashing into the makeshift camps just behind the front lines. tens of thousands of men, women and children wait here for the war to end, while just beyond the hills where it rages. those who cannot afford to live in the city set up camp in the dusty, unrelenting heat of the desert. she says just today, 1,000 families, they just scattered. they had to leave, just scattered out further, pushing back further from the front

line. this woman did not wish to give her name, but said she is here with her five children. i asked her if she is afraid.“ we never sleep,” she tells me.“ we are afraid for our safety, we are afraid for our children, everything. we fled our villages, we left our houses and our land. we left everything behind. they are chasing our husbands, they throw our children in jail. we got frightened, so we came here and they followed us. where should we go? we thought, ¡the only thing we have is god and marib', and now they want to take marib from us. some of the women gather around to tell us of the fighting that followed them here. they hand me bullets and shrapnel they have gathered from the dirt around their tents, landing just short of their children, sleeping under thin canvas. we met mohsin nsser in an abandoned camp nearby. it's dangerous he admitted, but at least he can graze his goats. >> ( translated ): i don't think the war with the houthis will ever stop. the houthis will never negotiate.

they just want death, not life. >> reporter: you think the houthis want marib or will stop here? >> ( translated ): i hope they do not enter marib. i ask god, where would the refugees go? should they go to the desert to die? i don't think god will let it happen. every time the war reaches us, we flee. >> reporter: and still they come. still they move when they have to. families packing and unpacking their belongings is a ritual of survival here. the exhausted, dreary transits between one dusty patch to another, in search of safety. in search of the promise of hope. hope for an end to this war. if efforts for a cease-fire do not succeed, these families will flee again. they are running out of places to go. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in marib, yemen.

>> woodruff: president biden's plans to combat the growth of greenhouse gases has many facets to it, and would affect many segments of our lives-- power, transportation, housing and more. today, the e.p.a. announced a new rule that targets a greenhouse gas that's important but less familiar to many americans, hydroflourocarbons. john yang has the details. >> yang: judy, hydrofluorocarbons, or "h.f.c.'s," are powerful greenhouse gases widely used in home and commercial refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps. today's e.p.a. proposal would cut the u.s. production and import of h.f.c.'s by 85% over the next 15 years. the agency estimates that would prevent almost a full degree fahrenheit of warming by the end of the century.

kristen taddonio is a senior climate and energy advisor at the institute for governance and sustainable development, which works to strengthen environmental law. she previously worked at both the e.p.a. and the energy department in the george w bush and barack obama administrations. thanks so much for joining us. in layman's terms, you can help us understand why hfc's are so mot ent-- potent in climate change. >> certainly. so we've all heard about carbon dioxide or co2 and we know that it is responsible for much of the world's warming. however there are these other classes of climate poll out ants called short lived climate pollutants of which hfc's are one of the most potent. so if you go out today and you have a pound of co2, that creates a certain amount of warming. if you go out and emit a pound of hfc's it is thousands of

times as co2 as warming the globe. >> that this is oftentimes when we see the epa or the government move to limit the production or the output of greenhouse gases, we see environmentalists on one side, the industry on the other but that is not the case in this. in this instance s that right? >> that is correct. this has been a remarkably bipartisan climate angsz. the american innovation and manufacturing act which passed and was actually signed into law by trump last year continues the legacy of bipartisan support for hfc mitigation efforts, hfc mitigation was proposed under the bush administration, continued and strengthened under the obama administration, signed into law by the trump administration and now the biden team is taking it for the win for the united states.

>> this proposal, today's proposal from the epa does not eliminate hfc, it phases them down but not to zero. it also doesn't limit their use in products, in end-use products, why is that. >> that's right. we know that scientists have told uwe have about ten years to take fast action on climate change and mitigation of hfc's is one of the most important actions question take. what the epa is doing here is really starting out of the gate and allocating to different sectors of the economy, and based on the allocation, schedule that congress passed. so this is the first step. and we hope the epa continues by setting common sense requirements for certain end-use applications, but today what he is doing is a strong signal that the u.s. is ready to start

phasing down. >> and are there readily available or substitutes for hfc's in refrigerators and air conditioners and the like? >> if you bought a refrigerator recently you mate actually already have a climate friendly alternative in use. many factors factories in the united states have been transitioning to alternatives at this point. if you go out and buy a new car today, chances are your car is using a refrigerant that is much better. and the rest of the u.s. manufacturing sector is going to follow with climate friendly alternatives as well. >> viewers may be wondering will they have to replace their refrigerators and air conditioners, and will this add to the cost of the product? >> in a word, no. it will not add to the cost of the product. we know this because of history. we have already been through transition in refrigerants

before. refrigerator used to use cfc which are not only ozone depleting, they were increedly high in greenhouse gases as well and when industry transitioned, to protect the ozone layer it had a good climate benefit. but we also saw over that same time period consumer prices for refrigerators and other products like air conditioners come down. and we know. >> i noticed researchers have found that a big source of hfc's, the release of hfc's is from refrigeration systems in grocery stores, lease, how we will address that. >> this is true, unlike domestic refrigerator, not to leak too ch. grocery stores use large system, it is a very large technology. they have many-- today, that creates a larger opportunity for leaks. it has been found that

in the grocery sector it is not uncommon to be leaking 20% per year so what this initial step would do is send a signal to the u.s. grocery industry, that is trying to start the transition. if they haven't started it already, and hopefully encourage them to start-- to better machine those refrigerant leaks. doing so is not only common sense for the environment, but also common sense for business. leading organizations already finding that by managing these grocery store refrigerant emissions f has fewer instances where they are losing food because there is a lot of product loss associated with a refrigerant loss. so it is a win, win for the environment and baltimoreians. >> kristen tadonia, from the institute of governance and sustain ability, thank you very much. >> thank

>> woodruff: and now, it's time for our regular politics monday duo. lisa desjardins is in charge. >> desjardins: thanks, judy. president biden traveled to virginia today to pitch his american families plan, all while negotiations around his large infrastructure proposal continue. for more, i'm joined by amy walter of the cook political report and tamara keith of npr. it will be another great politics monday, ladies and let's start with you. president biden is pitching these large concepts like reworking child care in america by raising taxes on the wealthy. what are the political risk and rewards here for him and for democrats. >> he is pitching not just government but a big idea, the whyed that government can work for people, that in a democracy, that government should function and should work for the people and he is putting out what are

generally in isolation quite popular ideas. and the risk is though that there are disagreements about how big it should be, how it should be paid for, whether it should be paid for at all. and the issue is that they probably, you know, it is is talked about bipartisanship but they will probably get to a point where at least part of this is going to have to be democrats going it alone and he's going to need to keep democrats together. and the way to do that is, is challenging. but he needs them, particularly because they're a moderate democrats who are going to face difficult re-electionsn the not so distant future in 2022. >> let's talk about the other party, let's talk about republicans and the tensions within their own party today. after fompler president trump issued a statement again saying that the 2020 election was fraudulent, he offered no evidence of that. we saw fellow republican, house, congresswoman from wyoming liz

cheney issue her own statement on twitter, listen to these words she wrote. >> the 2020 presidential election was not stolen. anyone who claims it was is spreading the big lie. now there is talk of whether cheney can again survivor as the number three leader in the house republican caw sus-- caucus. my republicans were texting me about this, and this is the same tie we saw this similar reaction in utah, at the utah republican state convention when senator and former republican nominee for the presidency, mitt romney took the stage. here is what happened. >> i wasn't a fan of our last president's character issues. and i'm also no fan. >> yeah, those are boos. amy, where are we in the battle for the republican party? >> well, the battle is over, lisa. and donald trump won. it is donald trump's party. there are some strag ellers who have continued to speak out against the president as you

mointed-- pointed to. congresswoman cheney. but they are a very rare commodity right now. many of them are already facing primary challenges. many of them are, there aren't that many but the ones who are there, are, could lose their primaries. or get redrawn out of their diricts in redistricting. and we saw most recently there was a special election this weekend in texas to fill a republican seat, not an overwhelmingly republican seat but still a republican-leaning district outside of dallas, donald trump's endorsed candidate did take the most votes. the dan dat who was campaigning as the never trumper, who had gotten support from congressman adam kinsinger who has been voted for impeevment, has been outspoken about the republican party moving beyond donald trump, that candidate got 3%. st pretty clear that this is a party now that has decided to

line up behind president trump. the only question is what happened in 2022, especially in these battleground districts where trump may endorse a candidate and you may see democrats using that endorsement against them in the again election, right, may work in a primary, good to have the endorsement of donald trump in a primary if you are a republican but it may not be a great badge to wear in, in a state that is leaning more blew. >> tam, the former president really thrives on the feuds. and you saw him put out multiple statements today going after all of the people who amy just mentioned. and part of this is he's trying to maintain relevance. he's trying to maintain control over the party. you know, it's clear that the never-trumpers don't control the party but it's not clear that trump will ultimately be the standard bearer or if they will find someone else to sort of lead the path forward. and today he put out this

statement where he said the big lie shall now forever be known as the election fraud, making a false accusation about the election being stolen from him, he is trying to rebrand the concept of the big lie, just like he tried to rebrand and successfully rebrand fake news back in 2017. >> amy, on that battle for the house of representatives, the census actually brought some good news for republicans in general, they may pick up a few seats because of population changes. and also democrats refeel a he can democrat of illinois says she is not going to run again, she say rural democrat, what do you make of all of that? >> you are right, she is one of the handful of democrats who represent a district that donald trump carryied but i think what is the bigger challenge for democrats as you pointed out is the fact that when it comes to redrawing these lines, republicans have more

opportunities to draw them good lines or on the flip side to draw out democrats. and so we're hearing a lot of names with members right now, especially in places like florida who they know if you are a desm krat, the line-- democrat, the line drawers are coming for you, and so we're likely to hear folk there announce their retirements, potentially running for governor, or other statewide offices. and that is the real issue here for democrats coming too 2022. they've got history working against them. traditionally it's almost impossible for the party in the majority to pick up seeds-- seats. they only have a five seat margin as it is. they don't have the control of redistricting as many of the big states, as publicans do. so i think the retirements are really a reality check. many of these democrats know that their districts are probably going to be a lot

unfriendlier in the next election. >> tam, finishing this up i want to talk about the challenge of vaccine and vaksz nations, you have been reporting on a focus group held by republican consultant frank luns who was talking to people who were vaccine hesitant but ended up getting the vaccine. some of what those people said about why they changed their minds i shifted my focus from myself to other people, sto herd immunity, and that is when i decided to get the vaccine. >> i came around because people are going to want to do things that they will not be able to do without the vaccine. >> tam, briefly, as we wrap up politics pond today, what is the message that policies that president biden should get about how they encourage people to vaccinate. >> these are really truly personal decisions and for lauren there, and i watched a previous focus that she was a part of, whe she was very hesitant, for her it came down

to things that she wanted to do in her life including going to yankee games, so for some people it is about what teubilities vaccinations open up. for other people it's about overcoming fear, and what i heard again and again is that doctors, your personal doctor was important for many of these hesitant folks to come over and get vaccinated. and the biden administration is well aware of this. and i talked to a top official who says that they are working hard to get vaccines into doctors offices so that continues to be a bit of a logistical challenge. >> all of this, so many important topics. thankers to both of you, amy walter, tamara keith. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: interesting, about getting vaccines into doctors offices. and tonight on the >> woodruff: and tonight on the pbs newshour online, 16 states and washington, d.c. have legalized recreational marijuana over the last several years, but what happens to people with lingering drug convictions?

we talk to experts and people with criminal records about the barriers these convictions create, and some of the new proposals on the table to help them expunge their records. read more right now at: pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshoufor tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned.

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