captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: insurrection aftermath. the proposal for a bipartisan commission to investigate the violent assault on the capitol by trump supporters meets republican opposition in the senate. then, the origins of covid. president biden orders intelligence officials to redouble efforts to uncover the genesis of the pandemic-- including its possible emergence from a chinese laboratory. and, the cost of war. hundreds of thousands of veterans return home with illnesses they say are due to their exposure to burn pits, and they struggle to get benefits from the veterans affairs department. >> all the contaminants from the burn pits-- i was basically breathing those in every other day, and at a high level, and

i didn't even realize it at the time. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about your investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> change in plans. >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing

restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.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: it is ambitious, and not cheap.

it is also historic in its price tag: $6 trillion. president biden's first budget proposal looks to transform the economy, from transportation to education, all the while confronting climate change. our yamiche alcindor joins me now to break down this blueprint of priorities. hello, yamiche, tell us what more do we know about this proposed budget document that the president is expected to unveil tomorrow? >> that's rightwell president biden is expected to unveil a $6 trillion budget and if passed in its form currently it would be the highest federal sustained spending since world war ii. now the white house says this say big budget because we have biproblems and big chal eggs ahead. i want to walk you through what is in this budget based on what white house sources have been telling us all day. there are $8 trillion in total spending by 2031, $6 trillion

for fiscal year 2022, 1.512 trm sphor discretionary, education, housing, and climate change and $1 trillion in deficits for at least the next decade, white house press secretary jen psaki was out and said the budget we will see more details tomorrow reflects the priorities of president biden and that is about creating jobs and doing the types of things talked about including having generational investment in americans. >> woodruff: and yamiche, what is the white house saying about why so mucmoney is needed at this point and what is the expectation in terms of republicans willingness to support even a part of this? >> well, president's budget never really pass in the way they are presented to congress. that saids, the white house is saying this needs to be a big investment because there are so many challenges ahead for the american people. have i been talking to officials from the office of management and budget and white house sources and they all underscored

the idea that president biden wants to really invest in a way that changes people's lives, that is transformational. they also said that republicans they are hoping will come along but also understanding that republicans, are still dealing with the infraructure deal that is separate from this. that this is really still a contentious fight but hoping this budget at least in large part is passed. >> woodruff: all right, yamiche alcindor, following it today for us at the white house. thank you >> woodruff: now to capitol hill, where four powerful advocates join the push for an independent commission on january 6. lisa desjardins reports. >> desjardins: an unexpected and emotional appeal on capitol hill today, as senators considered a bill to establish a commission to investigate january 6. >> usually i stay in the background, and i couldn't stay quiet any more. >> desjardins: the mother of officer brian sicknick, who died after the attack on the capitol, joined by his longtime partner and two capitol police officers

injured that day, made the rounds to urge the commission's passing. >> that day should never have happened. it was terrible. we want members of congress to ensure that it never happens again. >> desjardins: at least 15 republican senators agreed to sit down with the group. some, like susan collins, are trying to find a compromise version. >> we owe it to the brave men and women who defended our lives that day, and in some cases, did so at the cost of their lives. >> desjardins: the house passed their version of a january 6 commission last week, with 35 republicans joining democrats in support. it's modeled directly after the commission to investigate the attacks on september 11, which passed in 2002 with overwhelming support from both parties. like the 9/11 commission, the january 6 commission would have

ten seats total, with five appointed by democrats and five by republicans. a bipartisan majority is needed to subpoena witnesses and documents. in the nearly six months since the insurrection, the department of justice has arrted over 400 people. senate republicans opposing the commission say democrats want to score political points, and that other investigations underway are sufficient. >> there's no new fact about that day that we need the democrats' extraneous commison to uncover. >> desjardins: frustrated democrats pushed back. >> the democrats have basically given everything they asked for any impediment they would have been there, and there's no reason not to now. unless you just don't want to hear the truth. >> the truth of the matter seems to be that senate republicans oppose the

commission because they fear it might upset donald trump and their party's midterm messaging. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. lisa joins me now, so lisa, as you reported it was just a little over a week ago that the house passed legislation to create this commission. tell us what is going on in the senate now. >> judy, this is the critical thiet for decision making on the january 6th commission. we expect the u.s. senate to vote tonight on this idea, whether to move it forward or to block it. we don't know exactly when but we do know it's got an uphill fight right now. it needs ten republicans to move forward but only three so far, you can look at threes of them, susan collins of maine as well as two others, are in support of this bill right now. now i want to talk about the reasons why people say that this commission is needed. st important to talk about that. some say, point out there is no definitive account right now of what happened on january 6th. that includes those who attacked

the capitol, their reasons for attacking the capitol. how much political rhetoric played into that, as well as the failure of security at the capitol and defense department. there are conflicting versions all around and no definitive account of that. in addition capitol police would like some leadership who are responsible for security to be held accountable. this report could do that. other capitol police tell me they want their stories told. i spoke to one voferred in the battle of the rotunda a harrowing account that has not been told. all of this happening as of course capitol security itself is still unresolved. the national guard has left but little else has changed really since january 6th, a major configuration. >> woodruff: so it is clearly, many people are saying in has-- this has to happen, it's necessary. why then so many republicans opposing it? >> an important question. i have talked to dozens of republicans who oppose this. their number one reason, judy, is they say they think this is a political smear attempt.

they don't trust democrats, they believe democrats will hijack this commission no matter how bipartisan or even it is, in order to try and make them look bad in an election year. another argument that they have is they say that the time line is just too short for this. in addition they say they don't think it's likely that the events of january 6th could be repeated because it was a unique circumstances with a rally outside the capitol, unprepared security forces. to that argument, i have to say, i have sto to point to what is happening across the country, some 430 people so far have been arrested and the fbi even today sent out an alert looking for photos and help in identifying peopling. and we know that judges ruling in these cases are saying they believe there is still a threat fr this idea that the election was fraudulent. i want to read some words of jaim amy berman jackson, a district court judge here in washington d.c. she wrote in one of her rulings denying release for a suspect. she said six months later after

january 6th the canard that the election was-- election is stolen is being repeated dalely on major this is part of the debate, that the idea that you cannot move past it without addressing still a thought in this country that some see is very dangerous even at this moment. >> woodruff: so if lisa, as you are reporting say the votes are not there to pass it, what happens next? >> then it falls bak to what speaker pelosi is planning to do in the house which is a select committee to look into this. and that of course could get some answers but that will be more partisan, more like the benghazi investigation that the republicans lead in years past than and the 9/11 commission, it do not move past the feels of january 69, just sort of bubble them up again, judy. >> woodruff: well, it san important story, so important to be following this, lisa

desjardins, we thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, senate republicans put forward a counter-offer on rebuilding infrastructure. it totals $928 billion-- just over half of president biden's latest offer. republican negotiators, led by west virginia senator shelley moore capito, said that it's a serious attet at finding common ground. >> there's a real hunger for bipartisanship in the united states senate. there's a real ability to achieve that, and we're hoping that this moves the ball forward. >> woodruff: the president said he is talking with capito, but he suggested he won't wait much longer before trying to pass his plan with decrats alone. a key sticking point is how to pay for it. republicans pose mr. biden's call for higher corporate taxes. they want to tap unused pandemic relief money, which democrats

oppose. in san jose, california, the sheriff says that a gunman appeared to target specific victims yesterday at the rail yard where he worked. he shot nine people to death, and then himself. investigators looked for more evidence at the rail yard and the man's home today. they say that he fired 39 rounds from semi-automatic handguns. it is also reported that he was detained by customs officers in 2016, and talked about hating his workplace. china fired back today at president biden's call for u.s. intelligence agencies to find the origins of covid-19. that includes whether escaped from a chinese research lab. beijing charged that the u.s. has no interest in facts or truth. meanwhile, facebook announced that it will stop removing claims that covid is manmade. we'll return to this story, after the news summary. the u.n. human rights council

has voted to investigate israel's treatment of the palestinians. that follows this month's israeli-hamas war. the u.n.'s human rights chief said today that israeli air strikes on gaza may have been war crimes. the israeli ambassador insisted that hamas bears the blame. they addressed a virtual session. >> air strikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure. >> the resolution does not mention hamas, does not mention the more than 4,400 rockets that were launched at israeli vilians indiscriminately. >> woodruff: the united states criticized the council's vote as "a distraction that adds nothing" to diplomatic efforts. syria's president bashar assad has been re-elected, in a vote that western nations branded a sham. government officials say he won

95% of the vote on wednesday. syria has been ravaged by a ten-year war pitting assad's dictatorship against rebels. lawmakers in hong kong approved sweeping election changes today to give mainland china more control over the territory. they're adding more pro-beijing lawmakers, and cutting the number elected by the public. candidates will also be checked for loyalty to beijing. back in this country, the u.s. senate confirmed christine wormuth as the first woman to become army secretary. the vote was unanimous. wormuth takes over amid problems of sexual assault and racial tensions in the ranks. new claims for unemployment benefits dropped again in the last week, to 406,000. and on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 141 points to close at 34,464. the nasdaq fell one point. the s&p 500 added nearly five

points. still to come on the newshour: new details on the a.t.f.'s peferential treatment of the gun industry. new jersey governor phil murphy discusses recovering from the pandemic. countless veterans return from war with serious illnesses after exposure to toxic burn pits. plus, much more. >> woodruff: where did covid-19 come from? at the moment, it raises more questions than clear answers. president biden wants u.s. intelligence to determine if the virus jumped from animals to humans, or somehow escaped from a lab in china. amna naw looks at what we know now.

>> nawaz: that's right, judy, thtrump administration emphasized that it thought the coronavirus leaked from the wuhan institute of virology in southern china. but the u.s. intelligence community has been split. nick schifrin has been following this closely. reporting on this all day, he joins me now, nick t is good to see you, let's start with president biden's call for this review, why now. >> senior administration officials say th overall motivation is that the world needs greater clarity on the origins of covid-19 in order to prevent the next pandemic but this week the biden team took affront to china's rejectioning any calls for further investigation. back in-- senior officials tell may back in march he requested the or i girchs and received that but china rejected a call for further investigation. a senior official says that lead the white house to accelerate their declassification of the originf covid, leading to yesterday's statement, calling

for the intelligence community to redouble their erts-- efforts and a promise to release more information in the next three months. >> judy mentioned one of the theories that the scrie russ escaped from a lab, what is the evidence. >> since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic the intelligence community has keghted that it leaked from the institute of virology whens scientists said they experimented with bat virus including by making them more lethal and happen to be in would you hand. last-- would you han, last fall they mu are-- they said several researches became sick like a covid like il innocence in 2019, they had a military run area and the lab altered and removed online records of its work. two former senior officials tell me that those researchers got so sick they were hospitalized. but initially the biden team said that none of that is a smoking gun. in fact, in march a senior

intelligence official told me that that statement was quote not a complete story. the fact is, amna, that the intelligence community has failed to create a definitive assessment. covid could have leaked from the lab. covid could have jumped from animals to humans. all of those theories are low to medium confidence within the intelligence comument and there is not even agreement about them. the fact is there is no new intelligence today, according to officials, but a senior administration official tells me the white house thinks the intelligence community can do more and is trying to provide more resources to the big data to the intelligence community to do so. >> what does that mean if they can do more. does that mean they could come up with a less ambiguous statement at some point. >> i think that say good question and the answer is simple, no. senior administration official admits that they may not have a definitive answer. the fact is intel gengs officials try to be definitive but they provide the answers that they have. and the fact is the intelligence community has looked at this

profusely in the last year and a half. they have not had a definitive answer and they may not have one in the future either. >> nick, what about political pressure back here in the u.s. how much of a factor is that in all of this. >> there is certainly pressure from republicans who have and or are threatening to call president biden weak on china. in fact yesterday legislation sponsored by republican senators josh hawley and mike braun calling on the administration to declassify their intelligence on the origin of covid, passed unanimously. administration officials also acknowledged they feel a different kind of pressure. a pressure to us the power of the presidency to convince americans that they are taking this seriously. >> what about the origin of this? why is it so important for officials to figure that out? >> scientists say that the world needs to know the origin of covid-19 to prevent the next pandemic. this administration believes that china has more answers when it comes to the origin than the united states does. and that is simply unacceptable to them. just yesterday amna the white

house's top asia official said that the era of u.s.-china engagement had come to an end and the future relationship would be one of competition. clearly amna, including over the origins of covid-19. >> nick schifrin reporting on the latest, looks like a long way to go for answers. good to see you. >> thanks very much. >> woodruff: the shooting in san jose that took nine lives is the latest in a spike of mass shootings. in fact, the u.s. is averaging more than ten a week this year, according to the gun violence archive. the archive defines a mass shooting as "one where four or more people are injured or killed." it's led many to ask once again about guns and what can be done. stephanie sy looks at the role of the federal government's chief watchdog, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, in a conversation she taped a

short time ago. >> sy: judy, a new investigation by "usa today" and the trace finds that the a.t.f., which is in charge of policing the gun industry, is "frequently toothless and conciliatory, bending over backward to go easy on wayward dealers, and sometimes allowing guns to flow into the hands of criminals." a team of reporters lookedt more than 2,000 gun inspections between 2015 and 2017. it found too many cases of dealers breaking the law without significant punishment, and managers who overrode recommendations to revoke gun licenses. it also found that dealers were inspted only once every seven years, on average. nick penzenstadler of "usa today" is one of the lead investigative reporters, and joins me now. nick, thank you so much for your time. i read the report. it's comprehensive. and every time there is another mass shooting in this country we

ask these questions. where can this cycle be broken. your investigation focuses on that point of sale of the gun. what did you find that the atf is falling short on there and what is an example you found? >> right, we found a two-part problem here. we found gun sellers not following the rules and not living up to their promise to dot paperwork correctly and to asfor identification and record all of that information about gun buyers correctly. and we also found the atf with came to inspect those gunshots not followinup on their inspections and revoking licenses or doing any meaningful pubbish am to correct this action. >> you specifically found that field investigators are coing up with recommendations and warnings, in some cases they are recommending that a licenseñi to sell a gun be revoked and higher up, are overruling that. i guess the question is why is that happening? >> there is tremendous pressure to not shut down a gun shop,

especially for the paperwork errors. but we're really focused on these willful violations when a gun shop is given a second chance and a third chance and they still can't seem to get it right. an many times a field investigator like you said will recommend them for revocation but then a higher up will give them some more leniency and another chance to reform. that is really based on that effort to get compliance versus shutting down a business. >> are there valid reasons for why they would overrule a recommendation to revoke a license? is it because they want to keep businesses open? or is there something more nefarious you found. >> we certainly found many reasons. i mean we saw reasons ranging from the shop just opened, we need to give them a chance to get their feet under them, to this shop has been open for decades, let's give them a break because this is only a few mistakes in hundreds of thousands of sales, we also sell that number based on volume. if a shop sold a ton of guns and had a small number of errors, obviously the atf would give

them more leniency, but the concern ask that the atf is unwilling or unable to shut down shops because of the political pressure and the legal resources it takes to string those out. >> because of political pressure. and gun shop owners seem to understand that. your report suests that a former aff officially the culture of leniency sunday stood by gun shop owners, so are we just talking about owners not stilling out-- not filling out paperwork or real world consequences, did you find a connection between criminality and the lack of oversight that you report by the aff-- atf? >> yes, i mean we found shops that were repeatedly warned that they were selling to straw buyers, ople who are prohibited and having someone else stand in for them. and then months down the line, a gun purchased by a straw buyer is used in a violented crime. so yes, these actions are not

just paperwork issues. this is the kruks of many criminal investigations where police are looking at the records generat from these sales to identify where guns came from. so this is a crucial link that the fbi and local police use to lve crimes. >> and nickwhat is the atf's explanation for this leniency? >> the word from the atf is that they really only go after the willful vy laters. they are only going to focus on the most serious issues and they only have the resources to go after so many. there is also a federal law that says a gun shop can only be inspected once a year. and obviously they are not even hitting that, averaging about one every seven years. >> president biden's current pick for heading up the atf is known to be a staunch proponent of gun control. do you see him having the authority to change this culture at the atf if he is confirmed? >> yes, he was on the hill yesterday talking about this exact issue.

one of his main points is that you know, the shop owner should be alerting local authorities when someone comes in and tries to buy a gun illegally fsm they are prohibited, they fill out the paperwork, as committing a felony stvment likely that they could go on and commit more violent felonies, so that was an issue that came up yesterday, a lot of these problems could be solved with administrative action that don't require new laws or big political fight it is really about to cuzzing resources and changing how we viewhis regulatory structure from leniency and second chances and compliance to more of a crackdown. >> nick penzenstadler, journalist with "u.s.a. today," thank you. once you're >> woodruff: and shortly after stephanie recorded that interview, officials at the a.t.f. wrote back with a response. it plans to hire 100 more investigators in the next year to increase compliance and enforcement. when there is willful disregard for regulations, the a.t.f. says it will seek criminal

prosecutions. >> woodruff: rules for how to stay safe are changing quickly, as covid vaccination rates increase nationwide. new jersey was once among the hardest-hit states. but, infections are now low-- just 350-plus new cases reported yesterday. governor phil murphy announced that many indoor masking requirements in public places will be lifted this memorial day weekend. the state also expects schools to fully re-open in the fall, with very limited virtual learning. governor murphy joins me now. governor murphy joins me, gvernor, very good to have you with us again. so tell us first overall how is the state of new jersey doing in the battle against covid? >> right now, judy, very well. thanks to the efforts of literally millions of new

injuriesians that have done the right thing overwhellingly. we feel like we have this thing on the run at long last as you rightfully pointed out. new jersey got clob erred, particularly early on. and then the secretary wave that others ha, we lost over 26,000 of our residents. but as i sit with you today, we are in very good shape and god willing it will stay that way. >> and governor, you have announced new rules for public places indoors. people don't have to wear masks in many sirks. -- circumstances, tell us about that. >> yeah, beginning tomorrow you are right, based on the public health matrix and progress made, we have said for a long time if you are outside, you don't feed to wear a mask. now we are saying if you are inside, if you are vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask and you don't need to worry about social distancing. we're opening up completely our outdoor capacities.

it say big step. i mean we have been pointing toward memorial day since december. and early on it was tough sledding but i'm really happy we're able to take these steps, if is the jersey summer on the shore, that kicks off tomorrow. and i hope god willing it will be a great step toward a great recovery. >> the governor as we understand it, it is pretty much an honor system, you are asking people whether are you are in the workplace or public place to trust that others without masks have been vaccinated. what made you comfortable in going ahead with that? >> well, first of all, judy, our vaccination program is in full force. we put over 8.5 million shots into arms. about four million new jerseyans are fully vccinated, our goal is to get to 4.7 by next month,

hopefully we will get there. we talked since the beginning about the knuckle heads who did something wrong or stupid in this pandemic. there are, in, inact, very few f them. folks by the millions in our state did the right thing and lastly i don't want to put the burden on the supermarket employee or the hardware store employee to be the judge and jury on who has got a vaccine and who doesn't. i, we are asking folks to take personal responsibility and do the right thing. and we have done that before and i'm confident we can do it again. >> governor, you have another big decision to make as we mentioned. that is saying that your schools will be open in person for all children starting in the fall. what makes that feel like the children are not going to be-- we don't know in anyway whether they are going to be vaccinated by then. >> on the right decision

question we just feel again like we've got the virus on e run. the vaccination rollout in new jersey has gone not a straight line and we still have a lot of ground to cover on equity and brown and black communities but i am completely confident that we'll continue to have a strong program. and thirdly the learning loss, the metal health impact on kids their families, educators has been overwhelming. so we're tbing to be back in school monday through friday, full on. but it may well be with public health parameters because of among other things your very fair point, we now have vaccines that are authorized down to the age of 12, there are vaccines in trial for younger kids but not yet approved. so my guess is we're going to see some combination of public health parameters at least at the beginning of the school year to make sure we can open up safely and responsiblably. >> an even aside from those who are vaccinated, we are already heing from parents who are

saying if my child is imuno compromised or has other health issue or disability, i'm not comfortable wet having that child go back into the classroom. >> a couple of things. first of all new jersey has a great long-standing track record of watching out for kids and educators and staff who have got rious medical issues. that will not change. but secondly i have to say three and a half months from now in a pandemic with the numbers going in the right direction, it might as well be a lifetime. i really believe that we will be in a very strong position and very much able to safely and responsiblably to open up wide in september. >> woodruff: but will parents be able to appeal an individual situation? because i'm thinking parents from all around the country are listening to these conversations right now. >> yeah. the answer is they always have been able to. we've always in new jersey made accommodations. i think the bar has been historically very high for that.

and my guess is it there continue to be high but absolutely, we're not going to put someone's life at risk. and we wouldn't be making this steps we're taking to say definitively disool will be open if we thought we were putti folk's livers at rusk. but clearly we will not do that. >> woodruff: and one other thing on the schools, governor, i saw the head of your largest teachers union saying the other day that she doesn't, she say there are still many school buildings in new jersey that don't meet minimum standards for the health and safety of students and educators, how do you respond? >> yeah, we have heard the same. and the fact of the matter is we've got either old, a lot of old buildings and or buildings that are old with older ventilation and other systems. we have been shopping through these facilities. we'll continue to. the american rescue plan money that we've gotten is going to be a big accelerant in our able to get to that sooner than later.

particularly with ventilation systems. but it's a work in progress but i'm highly confident we're going to get that. >> finally governor, for you what is the worry that you have as we head hopefully toward a much better place with this pandemic? >> you know, i hope that we continue to do the right thing. and am highly confident that we will. again by the millions, for all the press and focus including from yours truly on the folks who are not pling by the rules, folks just doing the right thing, enjoying the summer responsiblably, getting outside, d continuing along. the health metrics are really strong right now. we expect them to continue but we'll watch them like a hawk and tben we pay an enormous price here but we are clearly in better days right now. >> tbofer in phil murphy of new jersey. we thank you so much. again for joining us on the

newshour, thank you. >> thanks for having me, judy. >> woodruff: tens of thousands of u.s. veterans who served in afghanistan and iraq are sick, and have had to fight to get their illnesses recognized as linked to their service. it is a critical step to qualify for medical and disability benefits. congress is considering legislation to change all that. john yang reports. >> he said, "i can't get up. the only time this headache is manageable is if i'm laying flat on my back." and so it was a trip to the urgent care, and then to the e.r., and they came back and said "there's a mass in his brain and we think it is cancerous." >> yang: jennifer howard has to speak for her husband jason.

at age 44 he's barely conscious. the reason? glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that usually occurs in much older adults. >> they came in and said, life expectancy with this type of tumor is not long. make the best of your time that you have. >> yang: jason served two tours in iraq as a marine. he was always fit and healthy, and loved to run marathons. >> when they came back, they talked a bit about how everything was on fire. they burned everything. >> yang: jason took these photos of the thick noxious smoke that billowed from burn pits on the bases in iraq, where he served in 2003 and 2004. >> hey, we have a burn pit down here. >> yang: in iraq and afghanistan the u.s. military burned all its trash in open air pits. >> from plastic water bottles, styrofoam, and batteries, to tires, electronic equipment and

paint ca. >> yang: sometimes jet fuel was used as an accelerant. the smoke permeated the bases where soldiers slept, ate and worked. jennifer believes burn pits caused her husband's cancer. and, she says, department of veteran affairs made her jump through hoops to prove a direct connection between his exposure and his cancer before agreeing to grant benefits. >> i talked to that one v.a. 800 number to see where our claim is. they said, oh, well, we're finally sending it over so that you can get scheduled for his evaluation. and i said, are we going to do it before he dies? and i said it just like that. not yelling. and i was told to calm down. they wanted me to drive him to the v.a. for an in-person exam, which... he wasn't like this, but i wouldn't have been able to put

him in a car. so i had to file an appeal, to have an in-home exam done. >> yang: according to data obtained by the newshour, of the 2.5 million veterans who served in the global war on terrorism, almost 43,000 filed a claim for cancer. one prominent veteran who died from glioblaoma? president biden's eldest child, beau. he was exposed to burn pit smoke when deployed to kosovo in the late 1990s and to iraq in 2009. in a 2018 interview with judy woodruff, mr. biden spoke publicly for the first time about burn pits and his son's cancer. >> i think they play a significant role. science has recognized there are certain carcinogen when people are exposed to them, depending on the quantities and the amount in the water and the air, can have a carcinogenic impact on

the body. and just like we know now you don't want to live underneath a smokestack where-- where carcinogens are coming out of it-- we're saying you've got to put a scrubber on and you can't, you can't let this stuff get in the air. >> yang: he raised the issue in his presidential campaign. >> a lot of folks who served in iraq and afghanistan and iraq and even in parts of kosovo, are exposed to what we call burn pits. we should make it law because there's more people who are coming home with brain injuries and tumors as a consequence of this. but the point is, every single veteran should not have to prove, or wait till science demonstrates beyond a doubt, that that's the direct cause. >> that is what we live next to. >> yang: lung disease is another condition iraq and afghanistan war veterans have in large numbers. more than 780,000 of them have filed a va claim for respiratory

conditions. james raines is one of them. >> all the contaminants from the burn pits, i was basically breathing the in every other day, and at a high level, and i didn't even realize it at the time. >> yang: this burn pit was at the end of the runway at bagram airbase in afghanistan, where raines was deployed in 2006 and 2007. raines says he could always smell the smoke when he jogged on the base. when he returned home, his health deteriorated. >> i gradually noticed that it became more difficult and more difficult to run. and my times were slipping and i started to having problems. and i was close to, you know, basically reached a point where i was going to fail the only physical fitness test. >> yang: raines was diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis, a rare lung condition that makes it hard to breathe-- especially when exercising. >> in the past, i would, you know, mow my yard with a push mower just for exercise. but that's, you know, very difficult now. >> yang: the v.a. denied raines

disability compensation. his appeal is pending. >> this is a moral outrage. >> yang: now, lawmakers want to change how the v.a. deals with claims from veterans exposed to burn pits. >> our veterans are coming home from war only have to start a new battle with the v.a. for the care and benefits they've earned. >> this is the price of sending men and women to dangerous places to do dangerous things. >> yang: two senators-- new york democrat kirsten gillibrand and florida republican marco rubio-- are sponsoring a bill that would require the v.a. to give benefits to any veterans who served in iraq or afghanistan or in a nearby nation, and have conditions such as cancer or lung disease. their legislation would also cover veterans who served in the middle east since 1990, the year of operation desert shield, the u.s. troop build up before the invasion of iraq. gillibrand says veterans and their families shouldn't have the burden of proving that burn

pits caused their illnesses. >> we know what was burned in a burn pit. we know what's emitted from these kinds of burn pits. we have the epidemiology. and that's why it has to be presumptive. it should not be on them. it should be on us. it is our duty and our responsibility. >> yang: a high-profile backer is lobbying for their bill. >> you can't support the troops and then abandon them when the troops need support. >> yang: former "daily show" host jon stewart advocated for the first responders who searched the rubble in lower manhattan after 9/11 and developed similar illnesses. >> the v.a. should function as an advocate for care for the veteran, not as an obstacle, not as, like, an insurance company, where you come in and somebody sits back and says, prove it. prove that just-- just because you slept next to a toxic waste stew for 24 hours a day and now you have a glioblastoma, prove it. i mean, they've set an

impossible bar. >> yan while the congressional budget office hasn't estimated the cost of providing disability compensation for these veterans, the bill's advocates say it's irrelevant-- it's a cost of war. >> as far as the money is concerned, it should be baked into the pie. you know, you don't get to order a meal and then when it comes back, i'm not-- i'm not paying for this-- you know, the potatoes. hey, man, you ordered it. you don't get to the back end of it, go, yeah, we don't have any money for that. that's the total cost of war. that's the true cost of war. and you can't just have money for war and the toys of war and not for the consequences of. and that's really what we're dealing with. it's-- it's absurd. >> i do not believe the v.a. treats folks like an insurance company. >> yang: v.a. deputy undersecretary ronald burke says of the 2.5 million iraq and afghan war veterans, more than half have had their claims

approved just for respiratory problems alone. he says the v.a. is working to improve how claims are processed. >> the secretary has committed publicly and privately that this is a top issue for him. and in essence, we understand that the current process is cumbersome. it is not-- it is not a friendly process, if you will, from the veterans perspective. >> yang: to help them gather more data, the v.a. encourages veterans to register on their burn pit registry, and file a claim. they are not enthusiastic about the proposed legislation. >> this is a very complex issue. anour position is, using the new holistic approach that the secretary has demanded that we utilize, we're going to find better outcomes. to rush to a piecemeal approach right now, we don't believe is meeting the intent or the goal of a holistic, thorough but expedient review. >> yang: dr. david shulkin-- v.a. secretary under donald

trump-- disagrees. >> i think that this legislation is what's needed now. it gives veterans the immediate help that they're looking for. they've waited too long to get this type of help. there needs to be better definition on how v.a. can help veterans. that needs to come from congress, and that needs to be supported then by the president, for the law to change. >> yang: for jen howard, this legislation can't come soon enough. >> i know that there are other caregivers out there, and vets, that don't have the support that i have. and that's why, when jason and i talked, we both felt that he wanted to be counted and he wanted other vets to be able to be counted. so, that's why this legislation is so important. >> yang: 20 days after we spoke to her, her husband jason died. he was 44. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang.

>> woodruff: heartbreaking. and just today, the u.s. department of veteran affairs said it is considering giving vets who served in southwest asia since 2001 automatic benefits for some chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis. senator gillibrand said that is a good first step, but it is still far from enough. >> woodruff: it was a day like no other recently for several of the world's biggest oil and gas companies. three major firms suffered hits in the courts and among their own investors yesterday. this comes as pressure is mounting from many fronts for businesses and governments to get more aggressive about curtailing the emissions that are driving the dangerous warming of our planet. william brangham explores the significance of these

developments. >> brangham: that's right, judy. it was a stunning day. first, citing the severe consequences of climate change, a court in the netherlands ruled that royal dutch shell must dramatically cut its greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. then here in the u.s., a majority of chevron's shareholders voted that the company has to do more to limit its emissions. and then, exxon mobil's shareholders-- over the strong objectionsf management-- elected two new board members, people who've promised to act on climate change. for more on what this all means, we've brought back dr. leah stokes. she's a political scientist with particular expertise in environmental and energy policy. she teaches at u.c.-santa barbara. dr. stokes, great to have you back on the newshour. as someone who has long advocated that oil & gas companies need to do a better jowith regards to their emissions, this must have been a

stunning day for you. >> absolutely. i mean it wasn't just one company, it was three. these are all three really big events. and they all happen to fall on the same day. >> brangham: let's talk a little specifically btd shell ruling, what shell has said it is going to try to appeal am but if that ruling goes forward and the company has to curtail its emissions quite dramically, in some ways that calls for something of a retooling of its whole business model. >> absolutely. you know scientists released a report in 2018 which said that the whole planet has to cult cut emissions by 45 percent to limit warning to 1.5 degrees celsius. and so what the ruling said is that shell has to do the same thing. they need to be cutting their emissions by that 45%. and critically it is not just their emissions from the separations-- operations that they have but also from the products that they sell. so this would be a very dramatic shift in how that company

operates. but the reality is all fossil fuel companies have to be starting to make these dramatic shifts. and they haven't really been willing to do it without pressure, whether that is from the courts or from shareholders or other activists in society. >> brangham: then as we were talking exxon and chevron both faced thee internal revolts here from groups that have said basically that you guys have dit erred, this is not their wordings, those are my words. you have dit erred long enough about emissions and it's time to get serious. how meaningful do you think those interventions will actually be in those companies' policies. >> well, activists have ben trying for quite a long time to get things like shareholder resolutions passed as fossil fuel company so the fact that we got such big changes yesterday at both exxon with the board vote, keep in mind exxon has 12 board members, i believe. and a relatively new organization called engine one said let's field some new candidates, people that care

about climate change. and why did they do that? because exxon is doing very poorly financially. investors who have been giving their money to this company have been seeing pretty poor returns. and so shockingly, really large institutional investors like blackrock for example said you know what, we are going to back those candidates for the board. we want to have different voices. at chevron it was a sort of resolution to get the company to similarly think about the effects of its products. so just like the shell ruling which said that you have to think about how are your products creating pollution, at chevron they're saying we want you to be thinking about what are the climate impacts of the drug, so to speak you're selling, which is oil & gas and fossil fuels, so these are really big changes. and it's a tactic that activists have used for a long time but we're starting to see breakthroughs. and i think that is because investors are seeing, they are continuing to prevent that climate change is not here say

bad financial decision. >> brangham: lastly, this all dovetails with some fairly surprisingly aggressive moves by the biden administration in its infrastructure plan. clean electricity, electric vehicles, do you think that those elements will with dran-- withstand this pretty well demonstrated republican opposition to those ideas? >> imam sure hopeful that they will because we cannot have an infrastructure package without investment in clean electricity, without investment in clean transportation. this is really the pathway forward for job creation in this country. fossil fuel companies are struggling financial qulee and laying people off, we need to have investment in industries that will be employs people at really good paying wages and cleaning up our air and our water and so much of our infrastructure across this country. so i think the biden administration and the senate and house democrats are committed to true climate action to things like a clean electricity standard, investments in vehicles, investments in clean buildings. and i'm hopeful that at the end

of the this the republican party which is very in bed with the fossil fuel industry will not win the day and we will see a bold american jobs plan coming out of congress. hopefully this summer. >> brangham: dr. leah stoarks at u.s. santa barbara, good to see u. >> thanks for having me on. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: and on the newshour online, you can see a complete profile of beloved children's author and illustrator eric carle, who died this week at 91. jeffrey brown visited him at the eric carle museum of picture book art in amherst, massachusetts, when it opened in 2002. eric carle created imaginary worlds for children through books such as "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?", "the grouchy ladybug," and, of course, "the very hungry caterpillar." it has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. here is carle explaining its resonance: >> i never imagined that it would become so important to so

many children. why do children love it? it's a book of hope. you little, ugly, little, insignificant bug, you, too, can grow up to be a beautiful, big butterfly and fly into the world, and unfold ur talents. >> woodruff: clearly one of our all-time favorite writers of children's books. you can find all that and more on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for 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: >> architect. bee-keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial

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♪ hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour and company" here's what's coming up. >> as we predicted, ill-wishes both outside and inside the country have changed their methods of attacking the russian state. >> belar defiant as the world condemns the arrest of a journalist but with russia sticking by its close ally we hear from moscow's ambassador to ireland. and. >> our objective is to have in place the information, tools in the market so the private financial system can take change into account with every sion. >> ensuring big business thinks green. i talk to the u.s. special envoy on climate action and finance mark carney about building a better world for all. >> p