captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a surprising report. a sharp drop in the number of new jobs raises questions about the economy, and concerns about the labor force. then, hate on the rise. multiple recent attacks against asian americans highlight the threats of violence and prejudice faced by the community. plus, one on one. we discuss the ongoing pandemic response and economic recovery with senator elizabeth warren. and, it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart consider the shakeup in republican leadership, and

the biden approach to the economy. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm raymond james.

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: april's jobs report for the u.s. fell far short of what many analysts expected. the labor department today reported that employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.1%.

at the white house, president biden urged patience as the latest covid stimulus package is implemented. >> it was designed to help us over the course of a year-- not just 60 days, a year. we never thought after the first 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine. today, there's more evidence that our economy is moving in the ght direction, but it's clear we have a long way to go. >> woodruff: we'll take a closer look at the jobs report, after the news summary. india broke another grim record today with more than 414,000 new vid infections in the last 24 hours. school buses are being converted into mobile oxygen sites, as hospitals scramble to find space for the surge of covid patients. a representative with the united nations' humanitarian agency in geneva voiced concern about the escalating crisis. >> this wave is almost four times the size of the first wave, and the virus is

spreading much faster. on an average, there were more than four new cases every second, and more than two deaths every minute in the last 24 hours. what is happening in india should raise alarm bells for all of us. the pandemic is far from over. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the world health organization granted emergency authorization to china's sinopharm covid vaccine. it is 78% effective among those younger than 60. pfizer has started the application process for a full food and drug administration approval of its covid vaccine for people 16 and older. it is the first vaccine manufacturer to do so. meanwhile, the centers for disease control and prevention are looking into whether the official global covid death toll needs to be revised higher. its director weighed in on a university of washington report that estimates there were more than 900,000 u.s. deaths.

that is far higher than the current toll. >> we've known that the toll of this pandemic is not necessarily just those who passed from covid-19 specifically, but excess deaths relating to access to care, not presented to care, and many other things. so we will look at this carefully, and then we will work within the c.d.c. to make decisions as to whether to count them as excess or to count them as covid-specific. >> woodruff: the current u.s. covid death toll stands at over 581,000. vice president kamala harris appealed for cooperation with mexico today to curb the rise in migrants arriving at the u.s. southern border. she held a virtual meeting with mexico's president. harris has been leading the diplomatic effort to address the challenges in guatemala, honduras and el salvador that are driving migration. >> together we must fight violence, we must fight corruption and-- it is in our

country's mutual interests to provide immediate relief to the northern triangle and to address the root causes of migration. you and i have discussed before, an understanding in a belief, most people don't want to leave home. >> woodruff: harris plans to travel to mexico and guatemala next month for her first foreign trip as vice president. meanwhile in donna, texas, secretary of homeland secretary mayorkas toured a processing facility that housed nearly 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children at the start of april. today he said that number is just above 300. a federal grand jury has indicted four former minneapolis police officers involved in the death of george floyd with violating his civil rights. the three-count indictment said that derek chauvin and the other officers failed to provide floyd with medical care, among other charges. last month, chauvin was convicted of murder and

manslaughter. texas is now the latest republican-led state to advance a restrictive election overhaul. the bill would limit mail-in ballots and empower partisan poll watchers, among other things. it passed the state house after an all-night debate, but it still needs to be reconciled with the state senate before it is sent to the governor's desk. in jerusalem, clashes erupted tonight between palestinian worshippers and israeli police at the al-aqsa mosque. more than 50 people were injured. violence escalated over the potential eviction of palestinians from land claimed by jewish settlers. protesters threw rocks at israeli police, who fired back with stun grenades and tear gas. emergency crews rushed the wounded away. and on wall street today, stocks rallied in spite of last month's hiring slowdown. the dow jones indusrial average jumped 229 points to close at a record 34,778. the nasdaq rose 119 points, and

the s&p 500 added 31 points, to hit another record high. still to come on the newshour: attacks against asian americans highlight the prejudice faced by that community. we discuss the president's economic agenda with senator elizabeth warren. david brooks and jonathan capehart break down the week's political news. and, much more. >> woodruff: with millions of people still out of work, today's jobs report was a puzzle to many analysts, who had expected hundreds of thousands more new jobs to have been created. as we heard, president biden picked up on this today, to try to make his case for large federal spending on the economy, infrastructure and

addressing inequality. his plans could add $4 trillion more in spending, but it is the subject of considerable debate. lisa desjardins looks at all of that. >> desjardins: judy, as more americans get vaccinated, there's been much speculation that the economy could roar back this year. today's report wasn't bad, by any means, but it didn't suggest that kind of recovery is underway. instead, it left questions about what it means, and the economic prescriptions being debated right now. for that, we turn to ellen hughes-cromwick, a former chief economist at the commerce department during the obama administration. she's now at third way, a center-left think tank. and, michael strain, director of economic policy studies at the conservative american enterprise institute. these were some sur surprising and disappointing numbers and also i have to say, a blit confusing, unemployment is still high but yet i businesses say

they can't find workers, ellen, i want to start with you, what do you think those numbers are telling us? >> thank you for having me. it really is a snap shot were last month and as we know looking across the country, there are very different ways in which states are opening up. and therefore the restrictions still from the covid crisis are really impacting businesses. but just to be clear, it's one snap shot. we actually lost 22 million jobs during the covid crisis, as it emerged last year. and we have gained back a substantial amount of those jobs. we're still losing about 8 million as compared to our precovid job level. a lot of, you know, hopefully good recovery ahead. but we're still in the middle of

this. and i think maybe expectations ran a little bit over the edge of the scheme when people thought about a million new jobs in april. >> michael, what did you get from this snap shot as ellen calls it? >> well, i would like to just echo one point ellen made, i think it is important not to read too much into any one month's data. and there is a risk of doing that given how disappointing the data were for the month of april. to mymind the basic story of the labor market is still the same. we have a job gap of about 11 million. we have a workforce participation rate that hasn't really improved since june. and so talk of the jobs market being hot, i think is just premature. the demand aside of the labor market is in better shape than the supply side. and that could cause issues with

wages spiking. it could cause issues with what is deemed in the press as worker shortages but the important thing to do is to keep your eye on the ball, that 11 million job polled in the labor market. supply issues are going to resolve were as daycares reopen and schools reopen, as the extra generous unemployment benefits expire in september. i would expect supply to come back, and i think the story from 2021 is still going to be a pretty rapid recovery. >> this seems to be e of those times where policy makers have to make decisions before they make all of the conversation. because as both of you are saying we are still in the middle of this. and this isn't just academic. mononeucliosis and south carolina are both ending those added unemployment benefits early because what you are talking about, michael, they believe there's a real supply issue with labor that those

unemployment benefits are helping to keep people home. the two of you had differing opinions on this, on twitter. and i want to start with you, michael. do you believe or why do you believe that those added unemployment benefits are, in fact, keeping people home? >> well, i do believe that. i think that if you look at the, kind of totality of the evidence on this question, the conclusions are that the more generous unemployment benefits are, the longer workers stay unemployed, that didn't happen in the spring and summer of 2020. but of course that was a pretty unusual period when lockdowns were very severe. if you look at the half century before the pandemic, what you would take away from the body of evidence is that more generous unemployment benefits keep workers unemployed for longer. with the 300 supplement that is currently in place until september, about half of workers have a higher income from

unemployment benefits than they would have from working. i think it's just common sense that with unemployment benefits that are that generous, workers are going to take longer to search for a job than ey otherwise would. >> ellen, what you do you think is keeping people home, is michael right about this? >> i really disagree with that assessment of unemployment insurance. and let me give you one example that i think is very clear. in the data today we learned that the leisure and hospitality sector grew jobs by over 300,000. and in fact, if you look at just hotel and strant jobs, they rose by over 200,000 in one month. in fact, those jobs have grown by 60% since the the depth of

the coindividual job loss in april of-- covid job las in april of last yoor. in other words it's growing six times more or faster than the average job-- so that suggests to me for those workers, the average wage is $17 an hour, they're getting back to work as fast as they can. that is that it is safe to get back to work. so the people that would benefit from unemployment insurance benefits, they're coming back to the workforce. and that's why we see restaurant and hotel workers going back, if they can. that is if they can get daycare and their kids are back in school. which was one of the other key items in the reform, was that actually women lost jobs last month. so you have to sit back and say why are these women not coming back? why aren't they getting jobs. well, they've got challenges when it comes to dayre and school.

>> and briefly, this sour last minute, i want to ask both of you, what do you think this moment means for the debate over the idea that president biden is putting forth. that government should go big. ellen, first you, should government go big now, and why. in just 30 seconds. >> absolutely. we need to invest it. we need to invest in the infrastructure, invest in the people. we have undervesm-- underinvested for many years. let's think about this opportunity right now to really make a difference, austerity doesn't work, austerity means that we are going to shrink, not grow. >> and michael. >> i think that there are good things, that the president is proposing to spend money on. there are certain aspects of the infrastructure plan and the family plan that i think would very much in people, invest in the economy and provide long-term benefits. i think the american rescue plan, the stimulus was much,

much too large and if we do have a period of serl month-- several months where demand is booming and supply can't keep up, which is what it looks like currently, then we're going to have the size of the president's stimulus plan partially to blame. and that's going to make it harder for him to do other big things. >> is there a robust debate that we hope we will keep up with you both on, ellen hughes-cromwick, and michael strain, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: it is a growing and disturbing trend: a rise in hateful acts, from slurs to physical violence, against asian americans and people of pacific islander descent. amna nawaz reports. >> nawaz: judy, there's been a series of brutal and public

attacks against asian americans. just last sunday, two women, 65 and 85 years old, were stabbed while waiting at a bus stop in san francisco. also this week, in the same city, a man was beaten on the street while pushing his toddler's stroller. in new york this week, two women were attacked by a stranger with a hammer, demanding they remove their masks. and here in washington, d.c., a local storeowner was punched in the face by a customer. the group, stop a.a.p.i. hate, this week released new numbers, showing a substantial rise in hate incidents-- more than 6,600 over a one-year period. russell jeung is the co-founder of stop a.a.p.i. hate and is a professor of asian american studies at san francisco state university. and he joins me now. russell, welcome to the newshour. and tell us, what can you share with us about these numbers? what kinds of incidents are we talking about? who is being targeted and where? >> thank you, amna, i'm glad to be here. yeah, the numbers are alarming, that the surge of racism against

asian-americans has continued from last year to this year. the crimes against asian- americans, especially the assault against the elderly, have been heinous. vulnerable populations are targeted. women get attacked twice as much as men; youth and elderly are attacked more often. we also know this is a case of racial profiling, that chinese make up 40% of our incident reports, but not with chinese. those who look east asian are also being attacked. they're racially profiling us and attacking us. >> nawaz: this may be an possible question to answer, but do we know why? do we know what's fueling these attacks right now? >> oh, yeah, i think it's pretty clear. the pandemic got exacerbated by the political rhetoric last year. the term "china virus" was deadly because it racialized the virus, and it made the virus chinese, and it stigmatized chinese people as being the disease carriers. so that that's one factor. the racism, the other factor. it's a separate trend.

it's the crimes that we're facing. asian-americans, especially in low income areas, have always experienced high victimhood to crimes because of the neighborhoods that they live in, and that-- in all urban areas there's been a higher crime rate because of the economic conditions caused by the pandemic. so the two trends are both, you know, being conflated as hate crimes. >> nawaz: so we know there has been some effort to try to address this increase at the federal level. we know president biden has taken executive action at the legislative level. we know congress has passed some related legislation. this task force is, too, in major cities, right, to address this. but what else can be done to prevent the attacks from happening in the first place? >> yeah, that's great. the steps you discuss are actually hate crimes, enforcement, police task force. but again, we want to prevent the crimes before they actually occur, right. and so for us to address the racism, we have about ethnic studies, to teach people about different racial groups and t

develop empathy, we want to expand civil rights protections so that people who get harassed in stores, for example, are protected. and we want to improve community conditions where violent crime arose, especially the economic conditions and the resources provided to those neighborhoods. >> nawaz: russell, this week also saw the launch of t.a.a.f., right, the asian-american foundation. it's an unprecedented effort led by sonal shah, with business leaders like jerry yang, the co-founder of yahoo!, tsai, the owner of the brooklyn nets, sports stars like naomi osaka and jeremy lin. they're putting $250 million into the community in an unprecedented way. where does that money go and what kind of difference does that kind of money make towards this effort? >> yeah, i think it's a great effort, a needed effort. and again, it's-- it's an asian- american initiative effort because the broader community, other foundations have neglected us. foundations, we know, have given just a small percent of their dollars to the asian-american

community, even though we can clearly have needs, clearly have low income communities. so the asian american community has taken on itself to defend itself, and then hopefully but the asian american foundation can do is multiply the dollars that they seeded it with, and they sent their donated money to stop aapi hate. >> nawaz: russell, the numbers are certainly alarming, but the videos in many of these attacks are caught on camera are equally horrifying. and they do a great deal to spread more alarm and fear and deepen that fear within the community. i wonder if you can speak to that a little bit, because we're at a place where in some ways no place feels safe for asian- americans. have you seen that? have you heard other people expressing that same sentiment? >> yeah, i actually i just felt chills, as you mentioned, that how traumatizing it is and how much is creating a sense of fear and siege among the asian- american community. i know because we've been working with elderly and doing

research with them. they're especially concerned and staying indoors for fear of their own safety. so this is a moment of crisis for the asian-american community. i can't underscore how it's created a sense of anxiety and distress. and for our youth as they go back to schools, we're concerned for their-- that they may be bullied. so we really call on government now to really establish policies to address this racism in a comprehensive manner. >> nawaz: that is russell chang, co-founder of the group stop aapi hate, joining us tonight. thank you for your time. russell, thank you very much for that. >> thanks. >> woodruff: during her 14-month campaign for the democratic presidential nomination, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren was known for her plans. while she didn't make it to the

white house, she is now working with president biden on infrastructure, education and more. she also has just released a new book of campaign stories and, yesplans. it's called "persist." senator warren joins us now, it is very good to have you again on the newshour, i want to ask you to start off on today's jobs report because we are hearing from some critics who say the numbers were disappointing, that we need to give-- the country feeds to give more of an inceive to people who aren't working by ending extended unemployment ben filts. >> the numbers are a reminder that we need universal child care in this country. we've already seen how women have had to drop out of the workforce, have been pushed out of the workforce, and one of the principal reasons is because of child care.

you know, we had a child care crisis long before the pandemic came along. but with the pandemic, a bad problem got a whole lot worse, now the good news is that the rescue plan had child care in it. but we now need to make child care part of our basic infrastructure. >> are you saying that president biden's proposal on child care is what you agree with? >> he is in the right direction. the numbers are not high enough yet. he's proposed about four and a quarter billion dollars-- $425 billion dollars over ten years. it's really going to take about $700 billion to give us universal child care. but he understandings the problem. we just need to make sure that the solution is the same size as the problem. you know, since we're here to talk about the book in part, i will just make the note on this,

judy, this is where i start the book. is about how personal policy is. and for me, i start it with being a mother. about how i had my first teaching job, got fired because i was pregnant. i'm at home, i decide to go back to school. and come within a hair's breathe of not being able to do that because i couldn't get child care. i tell the personal story. but what really gets to me is that was four years ago. my daughter then faces the same problem and if we don't make changes in this country, my granddaughter will face those same problems. it is time to treat child care for what it is, it's basic infrastructure. we want people to go to work. we ne universal child care. >> a number of things i want to ask you about senator, but let me just ask you overall, put your professors hat on. what grade would you give president biden for these first, what, 108 days. >> now you know, judy, that

professors never give a grade until the end of the term. but do let me say, because i actually want to pass out some praise here. he helped us pass the most ambitious, the most progressive rescue package in american history. and he made a really important move during this, that i'm not sure enough people would pay attention to. he said he wanted to be bipartisan, he invited the republicans in to negotiate. when they said nope, they wanted no part of it. he talked to the american people and he saw the support from democrats, republicans and independents. he said that is bipartisan. and all of the democrats in the senate linked arms and we passed it. we got it through. that's momentous. >> and senator, as i said, number of things i want to ask you about, doesn't sound like you will give a grade but let's talk about how he plans to pay for these ambitious plans.

you were known for the tax proposals you had on the wealthiest americans, do his plans to tax the wealthy go far enough, in your opinion? yns. >> not yet. he's in the right direction again because he's talking about taxing the wealthy. he's got a little bit around the well. but let me give you a few idea, plans, if we put a wealth tax, 2 cent tax on fortunes above $50 million, a little bit more for billionaires, and a 7% tax on real corporate profits, flat, across-the-board for these companies making more than $100 million, this catches companies like amazon and fedex, nike, that me millions in profits and pay nothing in taxes. and if we step up enforcement of current tax laws, those three changes, we would bring in $6

trillion over the next ten years. that would be enough to pay for all of president biden's infrastructure plan, all of his family care giving plans, an still have a couple trillion dollars leftover. so we can do this. we just need to be willing to step up and get it done. >> woodruff: note worthy. you say that there is a new study out by the pen whorton school that they say 90% of the president's taxes on investment could be avoided by people who are at that level, but i want to ask you senator about student loan forgiveness. i know you and senator schumer and others arurging president biden to go along with a plan to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt. but there's astudy by the brookings institution that says those in the lowest income, the poorest would get an average of

$570 in student debt forgiveness while those in the highest would get four times that much. at least. is there a problem. >> let me start by pointing out that what we are talking about is only canceling $50,000 of student loan debt, not 100 percent of student loan debt, the debts are the plastic surgeons and fancy lawyers, that is not covered here. but in that 50,000 dollars, let's make clear, 40% of those who are carrying student loan debt have no college diploma. in other words, they're struggling to pay off student loan debt, why, because they tried. they tried. but then had a baby, couldn't manage three jobs and going to school, somebody got sick, transportation broke down, and they are now dealing with student loan debt on what he make as a high school graduate. also we have a huge black-white wealth gap problem in this country. and the problem is exacerbated

by student loan debt, african-americans have to borrow more money to go to school, more money to stay in school, and have a harder time paying it off. just one stat on this, the typical white borrower, 20 years after they have borrowed on student loan debt, they owe five percent of their original amount that they borrowed, the end is in sight, the typical black borrower owns 95%. by canceling student loan deb we can shrink the black-white wealth gap for people with student loan debt by 25 points. this is the single biggest thing that president biden could do all by himself to help bring some equity and raitionz equality economicically to this country. >> woodruff: and in a word do you think he will go along with it? >> i sure hope so. >> woodruff: we will leave it there, senator elizabeth warren,

the title of her new book is "persist." senator, we appreciate, it thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and now to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that is "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, columnist for the "washington post." good to see both of you. miling, faces on this friday evening. and i do want to get to senator warren, david, but first let me ask you about today's jobs numbers. they were disappointing. it was expected there would be many hundreds of thousands more than there were. does these numbers say something about frankly the wisdom of president biden's economic plans? >> maybe. i don't think we know yet, but we're doing two gigantic

experiments unprecedented in american history. we never spent $6 trillion in such a short period of time and gone into debt while doing it. if the two other biden plans pass it ll be $10 trillion, at the same time we have never seen fedex pangsary policy this momentous. this san experiment and maybe it will pay off, but maybe there will be inflation. warren buffer et say little worried about inflation, other people are worried about inflation. maybe as michael strain said earlier in the program the fact that people are paid to stay home means that i don't want to get a job. i can hang out at home, seems a lot better. so i don't think we know the answer to what happened but it was a shocking number. and we just have to pay attention to the fact that this could go sideways in a million ways because we are doing something really risky. >> woodruff: jonathan, do you see that this makes some sort of statement about what president biden is doing? >> i don't think so, not yet. we cannot, you know, grade the entirety of president biden's fiscal plans based on one

unemployment number. we've got to look at the long haul here. and so you know, the jury is out on that. however we have to think about to all the things david was just talking about in terms of the inflationary concerns and all of that. we he to also talk about the fact that we are also dealing with, still, with a global pandemic. people being reticent as much as folks want to get out and restart their lives, there are a lot of people who can't find jobs. are too afraid to get out there fofear of what is going to happen with the pandemic and also on top of all of it, even though lots of states are starting to reopen, some more fully, like new york, new jersey and kentucky have-- connecticut have announced, but they are still slowly reopening. so i think it is a little too early judy and david, to start gloom and doom over the state of the economy, not just yet. >> woodruff: well, in connection with all of this, you heard senator warren, i asked

her about her plans to tax the wealthy. she has a much more, shall we say, ambitious set of proposals even than what president biden has put out there. david, what do you-- where do you see any of this going with regard to taxing the wealthiest in order to pay for what he wants to do? >> well, it's pretty popular. d it is also just a fact that wealth is concentrated over the last 30-- last 30 or 40 years t is also just a fact that corporations have done extremely well and corporate profits have done pretty well. so if you want to tax things to pay for things, these are probably the least bad things to tax. there is going to be a cost. when you raid the corporate tax, on the margins, companies will flock to a place with lower corporate tax rates than higher corporate tax rates, that is probably true on the imaginer ins but it seems the biden administration has choseen the appropriate areas to raise tax. >> woodruff: and jonathan, what do you see when you look attackses and president biden,

and what senator warren is saying. >> well one, i agree with david, in the last point that he made. but let's also remember, they're still in the middle of negotiations. and even though i think the initial number the president has put out there wanting to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, an before that under trump it was 35%, and he lowered it that much, that the president and the administration has been,-- have been sending signals all along that they are willing to negotiate, willing to negotiate on that piece. as for senator warren, of course she is going to shoot for the moon and the stars as a means of one, because she believes it, fully, firmly believes it. but also as a way of trying to push the president further. push him to do more than maybe he is constitutionally-- thinks he is constitutionally capable of. but if the american-- if the american rescue plan is any indicator, i don't think she's going to have to push too hard

to get the president to think imaginatively to think about how to go about his policy-- his plan. >> woodruff: let's talk about the republicans, david. a lot going on in that party the last few days, and next week a vote upcoming among house republicans. it looks like they are going to kick out congressman liz cheney of wyoming of the conference chair in the house because she is not only insufficiently loyal to president trump, she is saying he actively should not be the person the party is will toking. what does all of this say about the republican party? >> well, it is still donald trump's party. it shows that you have to more or less as everyone is pointing out, you sort of have to be a lie to qualify, you have to lie to qualify to be a republican. that is the standard that is now being laid down. and elizabeth cheney just didn't want to lie. there is also a lot of internlt politics here, that you know, what they want from a person in the leader shirp role is the ability to get them re-elected.

and so the house members are worried that because she keeps picking on this issue, she is going to be less effective at raising money and getting them re-elected. the person who is probably going to replace her has read the party. she was, you know, a harvard educated person who worked in the bush administration, endorsed john caseic and sat out the 2016 could be vengs because trump was going to be the nominee. and she is now a roaring trumper. and so she's read the winds and that is what this is all about. >> in fact he lease stefanik said in an interview yesterday that president trump is the strongest president ever when it cos to stand standing up for the u.s. constitution. but what is all of this stay from your perspective about what republicans are, where they are headed? >> that quote you just read from congressman stefanik-- proofs what david was just talking about, in order to be in the leadership, but also to be qured a republican, you have to lie. all of this tells me that the

republican party has officially lost its way. it is not about values and substantive issues and being a policy counterweight to the democratic party it is all about being loyal to donald trump, one. but also when it comes to house minority leader kevin mccarthy, it's do anything, say anything to ensure, you hope, that you are in good position to retake the house in 2022. liz-- congressman cheney is a conservative. she is a conservative. he lease stefanik by comparison from upstate new york is a moderate. and when you look at-- the club for growth, gives her a 35% rating. the heritage foundation gives elizabeth cheney an 80% rating. and he lease stefanik a 48% rating. and if you want to talk about cgop and royalty loyalty to

donald trump, congresswoman cheney voted with donald trump 92.9% of the time as compared to he lease stefanik who voted with him 77 percent of the time. and this is data from-- so it is like the scramble board here it is going to take awhile to figure out what the republican party is all about. really. but right now the republican party is about donald trump, only about donald trump, and how donald trump feels about everything. and one last point, judy, i know i'm going on. the number one reason why congresswoman cheney is in trouble is because donald trump hates her for telling the truth. >> well, david, as both of you are saying, it is not only what congresswoman cheney or congresswoman stefanik is saying about former president trump but it is also her continuing to insist along with so many other republicans that the election in her words, she said election

fraud was widespread. last year. she have has spoken out for this recount going on in mayor copea county, arizona, paid for only by republicans or being sponsored only by republicans, this says something about future elections as well. >> yeah, in a country with a lot of problems, the republicans have picked the one area that is not broken to address all their energy on. and that is elections. and so you know, they, all these laws, i doubt they will have a huge effect. i think studies show that they don't have a big effect on tamping dun turnout. but it is just a-- given american history, jonathan and i talked about before, it is a horrific look and the amount of energy gng into it and the fact that florida governor desantis did it, announced his, the signing of florida new election law on fox, you know, who does a news event on one network. i mean it just shows we are in a land of theater it is not about

anything but the symbols of showing donald trump is right about the election, there was a lot of fraud. and it is a theatrical gesture, set of laws to reinforce the trump narrative. >> woodruff: and as both of you have said, these election laws have a very real effect on what happens-- what happened going forward in the congressional elections, next year, the mid-term elections and of course beyond. >> right, i think a few shows ago i said that these election laws were a solution in search of a problem. and can i not remember the person who sent me an email that they wrote me and said listen, stop saying that because it's not true. because from the republican perspective, it is the solution in to solve a problem, and the problem from the republican perspective is too many democrats voting. and in the end, that's what this is all about. the mail-in vote, the absentee balloting that democrats pushed

hard because of the problems with the postal service, because of fears of going out in public, because of the pandemic, democrats who used to not vote-by-mail and not absentee vote did it in droves, in the safest election in american history, as we learned from the federal government. and so all of these laws are about stopping as many democrats as possible from voting as a means of increasing republican power and increasing their chances of retaking the house. >> only a little more than a minute left, but i do want to finally quickly ask both of you, david, about this idea of how the insurrection at the capital was investigated. i interviewed speaker pelosi this week. she said it's not something that should be chosen by the president. it needs to come from congress. and right now republicans and democrats are at loggerheads. >> i'm dubious, i support the idea, i guess but i'm dubious they can come up with a commission filled with people who have credibility on both

sides. when the 9/11 commission happened we had hamion and keen from if you jersey, people who really are part of the steb establishment center. we don't have as many people like that even those in the establishment center have less credibility with the polarized wing so it looks, i'm much more pessimism than i would have been after 9/11 that we can put together a commission we can trust. >> we have to put together a commission, it must be done. the horror of january 6th, the tipping point that those events put american democracy on, we cannot forget it we must investigate it, we must find out what really happened. what truly happened. all of the things that we don't know about right now. it must be put before the amican people so that at a minimum we can try to not have that happen again. >> i know we are going to continue to ask those questions, in the meantime we thank you both. jonathan capehart, david brook, have a good weekend. >> thank, judy, you too. >> see you david.

>> woodruff: as we do each friday evening, we pause to remember just a few of the more than 580,000 americans who have lost their lives to covid-19. darrel eason was a mainstay of st. louis radio for decades. >> 15 minutes after 6:00, on a wednesday, january 10... >> woodruff: a friend said it was because of his smooth voice and charisma-- and the fact that the 58-year-old gave "his very, very best every time he turned on that mic." he also poured himself into charitable causes, his family said. when he died, he had been working with his sons to launch a scholarship, to help promising high school student-athletes attend college. peggy furniss lee's love of music touched many facets of her life. the 71-year-old from utah had

made her living as a piano teacher, volunteered as an organist at chur, and made sure to pass on her piano skills to her eight children. she "made every occasion a family celebration," her daughter said, whether it meant getting halloween and valentine's gifts for her 33 grandchildren and sole great-grandchild, or baking special cookies to mark the 2017 solar eclipse. while family and colleagues described deran hill as kind and shy, he was still a linchpin at the decatur, alabama restaurant where he worked. the 41-year-old had been a chef there since its early days, and he prided himself on his baking. but his cousin said he also aspired to start his own business, or return school to go into the medical field instead. deran was well-known at his church as well. he especially appreciated singing in his church's gospel choir, his cousin added.

it was the sort of music he enjoyed most. heidi brevet "lived in the moment," her sister told us. the 61-year-old relished traveling with family and friends, which included a visit to antarctica. but the trips that heidi enjoyed most were the ones where she could relax and enjoy the banter with those around her. an avid sports fan, she could often be seen in the green and gold colors of her home-town team-- baseball's "oakland athletics." and, she made a career out of working at non-profits, her sister said, because she cared more about giving back to the community than anything else. mary barber lived in pottstown, pennsylvania, for most of her life, and she spent so much of her career in its service. one of her most vivid memories was of attending the 1963 march on washington. after some time in local government herself, mary became

director of a community center, before moving on to a job as a teacher's assistant. her daughter told us that the 79-year-old cancer survivor and church leader was especially motivated to help the children of her community. as always we are so grateful to the families who shared these stories with us. our hearts go out to each and every one of you. and we want to note that mary barber whom you just heard about was an aunt of one of our colleagues right here at weta where the newshour is produced, it is a reminder again that the pandemic has touched so many lives over the last year, even those close to us here. it was 60 years ago this

sunday, may 9th, 1961 when president john f. kennedy's head of the federal communications commission newt min ow gave his first major speech declaring america's television programming a vast waste land. minow was addressing what he saw as a mied opportunity of what television could offer, there were only three networks then, all commercial. minow's phrase became entrenched in american culture. and it helped lead to the genesis of pbs. the television landscape has changed dramically since then, newt minow joins me now to reflect on that legacy. and he is joined by two of his three remarkable daughters, they are peculiar that minow and mary minow. and we say hello to them at the same time. it was 1961, you were just what, 35 year old, precocious head of the federal communications imhition commission, television was exploding with americans but

something you saw bothered you. >> what bothered me was we were wasting this extraordinary technology. i was particularly concerned about children. children were spending por time with television than they were in school. and they were learning that too often, that the solution to a problem was a smack in the head or shot with a gun. and i was very concerned that children, particularly, and also i was very concerned with the lack of what we then called educational television, now called public television. and i was determined to do something about it. and so was president kennedy. >> woodruff: and what was the reaction from the commercial network bosses when you made that speech. >> well, the founder of gilligan's island was so irritated with me and what he said that he named the sinking boat on gilligan's island the ss minow. i think many broadcasters realized for the first time that

there obligations under the law was to serve the public interest, the public interest, not the private interest. >> woodruff: and we know newt minow at the time you went on to make sure that there was a public television. originally it was educational television, in fact, were you involved in the launch of this station, weta where we broadcast the news ddz hour. as you reflect on it, what changes began to happen at that time? >> i had the privilege, judy, of getting the first license for weta personally, personally biving it to ms. elizabeth campbell on the same day i gave that speech. and what i envisioned, my dream has been fulfilled. when i see the programs like the newshour, when i see what ken

burns has created. when i see "sesame street." i say this was what i hoped would happen, and we more than fulfilled my dream. >> woodruff: and as you cast your eye across television broadly, what do you see today? >> well, what we were trying to do was to enlarge choice for the viewer. and we certainly did that. there's plenty of choice today. but i'm disappointed about is that in the course of that, we seem too often, particularly in the news world is confuse facts with opinion. and we're no longer agree on what is a fact. and when that is the situation, which it is today, i think we're in a very dangerous, scary period. remember what pat moynihan, my friend who later became a senator said. he said this is a free country, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. but not to their own facts.

and now we have people who think they can make up their own facts. >> woodruff: if you could wave a magic wand, what would you like to see change about what television offers today? >> i would like to see more pbs newshours. i would like to see more "sesame streets." i would like to see more ken burns. i would like to see the opportunity for people-- there is a favorite quote i have almost memorized. but i would like to read it to you. ed white said, what he hoped television would be. noncommercial television should address itself to the idea of excellence, not the idea of accept ability. tv, television shuled be providing the visual counterpart of the literary essay, should arouse our dreams to satisfy our hunger for beauty, should take us on journeys.

should enable us to participate in events. shus presenter great dramas of music, explore the sea and the sky and the woods and the hill it should state and clarify the social dilemma and political pickle. once in a while it does. and you get a glimpse of its potential. that's what we were dreaming about when we created public television. >> woodruff: and when you made that speech that we all remember, when you said it is all about what should be in the public interests. newt minow, thank you very much. i think the country is greatful to you for what you did 60 years ago and ever since. thank you. >> judy, bless you, and hope you keep on doing what you are doing. >> woodruff: thank you, on behalf of all of us. such a thrill to be able to talk to newt minow and congratulations on the 60th anniversary of

that speech. and we ask all of you to stay with pbs tonight-- you will not want to miss yamiche alcindor in her debut as the new moderator of "washington week." you can make it a weekly ritual, as yamiche brings insight into the politics of our times. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here on monday evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, have a good weekend. thank you, please stay safe, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> 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. >> supporting social

entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group a

♪ hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. colombia is rocked by deadly protests. from poverty to police violence, we hear how covid has unleashed demonstrators determined to hold their government's feet to the fire. >> every day with the daily cases continuing to fall, we are hopeful about these really encouraging trends. >> americans start to see light at the end of the tuel, but did the pandemic have to be so bad? best selling author michael lewis explains why he thinks the system failed in his new book "premonition". >> this is not the usual suspects. >> profiling the

insurrectionists.