captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: covid on the rise. infections and hospitalizations increase in areas of low vaccination rates, as misinformation about the virus abounds. then, at t extreme. major flooding turns deadly and destructive across europe with climate change as a major factor. plus, raising the future. is this a moment for the country to step up to do more to provide good child care, now that the pandemic has exposed a system both inadequate and unequal? >> child care is an investment. obviously, the parent needs to be part of it. but maybe the rest of us need to

be part of it, too. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart analyze the massive budget blueprint in congress, and the potentially game- changing new child tax credit. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management. >> bnsf railway. >> 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 from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the biden administration sounded the alarm today about a surge of covid cases in some states, and the direct connection with low vaccination rates. the centers for disease control reported about 33,000 new covid cases in the u.s. yesterday. that is a rise in new cases of about 70%, compared with a week ago. by 36%, and the average death

toll of the past week has climbed to 211 people a day. during a briefing today, c.d.c. director dr. rochelle walensky and other top officials outlined the danger. >> this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. we are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage, because unvaccinated people are at risk. >> woodruff: one of the reasons for stubbornly low vaccination rates is misinformation-- erroneous, or outright false information that may dissuade some people from getting a shot. the white house has been particularly focused on this, and the role of social media in allowing false information to spread. on his way to camp david today, president biden laid unmistakable blame on facebook. >> what's your message to platforms like facebook? >> they're killing people.

i mean, they're really-- look, the only pandemic we have is among unvaccinated. and they're killing people. >> woodruff: all of this comes as concerns over the spread of covid are spiking regionally as well. this afternoon, nevada officials recommended the use of masks in las vegas in crowded indoor spaces. the rise in cases and hospitalizations in the u.s. is particularly bad in parts of the south and the midwest. that's where lisa desjardins picks up the story tonight. >> desjardins: judy, to get a sense of this, take a look at this map of hot spots where covid cases are rising. two months ago, there were no red spots on this national map. but today, there are a significant number of states that are red, representing new cases and positive tests. in fact, seven of the ten counties with the highest

percentage of new cases per capita are in missouri and arkansas, and arkansas's new cases have risen by 121% over the last two weeks. we look at the situation in that area, and the concerns about the unvaccinated, with an epidemologist for the state of arkansas, dr. jennifer dillaha. , dr. dillaha, take us into what the situation is right now with the coronavirus in your state. >> well we are a state right now that has low vaccination rates. and at the same time, we're having a great deal of spread of the virus that causes covid-19, but it's the new delta variant, which is highly contagious. so it's leading to a surge in cases. and a great increase in the number of hospitalizations in our state. >> i want to talk more about the vaks inflation rate. you have one of the lowest vaks inflation rates, about 35% of your population. what do you know about why that

is? >> it is multifactorial. people don't understand the you are urgency of being vaccinated. we are a rural sedate so there were many rural communities that weren't particularly affected there last wusht. so they underestimate the potential for the disease to spread in their communities and they're underestimating the infectiousness of the new delta variant. and thin on top of that there is a great deal of misinformation out there. and people struggle with telling the difference between the misinformation and the accurate information. so they're unable to make an informed decision to get vaccinated, because they struggle with understanding what the need is, and what the risks are. and then, on top of that, we have low health care providers in our state. we have underserved areas. so we have worked really hard to get vaccines out into the rural

communities through our pharmacies because oftentimes it's the pharmacies that's the only health care provider in the town. >> reporter: on that idea of misinformation we're seeing reports that sometimes there is even hostility now, people including your governor to present the facts about the dangers of the coronavirus. how do you combat that? at this point you have put out the message. what can you do? >> i think one thing is to have empathy and compassion. and then to help people address their concerns about whatever they have. they need to be heard, and then supported to move to a new position where they can accept new information. >> reporter: you mentioned the delta variant here. how dangerous do you believe that is? >> i think that the delta variant is very dangerous. it is highly contagious, it is very quick to put people in the

hospital. and at younger ages. so i think it's going to be hard for people to make decisions if they're basing those decisions on their experience of this past year. this is new. and people are underestimating it. >> reporter: how are your hospitals doing right dplow with this surge? -- right now with this surge? >> so our hospitals are full and not so much with covid cases right now but with cases that have resulted from delayedare or other health conditions that need immediate attention. and on top of that, the staff are tired. they have worked so hard over the last several months and they're not getting a break. and they really need a break. we looked at our hospital numbers in the last several days today. they're increasing every day for the past two weeks or more. and at the current rate of the

increase, we will double our hospitalizations by the beginning of august. and at that point, we will be at the peak in terms of the number of our covid hospitalizations where we were in the winter time. it's very concerning. >> reporter: around that siem time just a month from now is when freshman orientation begins at the university of arkansas. students will be back after that, home game scheduled, tens of thousands of people. what is your concern level about that? is there a conversation about whether those things should go forward? >> so we do have a concern about those things and it is really important for people to follow public health recommendations which are if they are not vaccinated to wear masks and practice social distancing. i think in the current situation with schools starting, that's going to be very difficult for people to adhere to. and for that reason, we're strongly urgg people toget

vaccinated. get fully vaccinated, as soon as possible. >> reporter: strong and important message dr. jennifer dillaha from the state of arkansas. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, britain reported 51,000 new cases of covid-19, the most since january. and, the country's top medical adviser warned that hospitalizations could reach what he called "quite scary" levels. for now, however, england is set to scrap almost all covid restrictions on monday. scotland and wales will keep mask mandates in place for now. devastating floods across western germany and belgium claimed more victims today-- at least 125 dead, with hundreds still unaccounted for. thousands more have been forced

to flee after what would typically be two months of rainfall falling in two days in some places. we'll take a closer look, after the news summary. in the western u.s., an inferno in southeast oregon destroyed nearly 200 homes and out-buildings overnight, and threatens 5,000 more. the bootleg fire is the largest of dozens of wildfires now burning in the u.s. it is so intense that fire crews had to pull back overnight, for their own safety. russia warned today that the u.s. military pull-outrom afghanistan is causing chaos across the wider region. the warning came at a conference in uzbekistan. american envoy zalmay khalilzad acknowledged that taliban forces have captured dozens of afghan districts, and he called for a cease-fire. >> the speed with which and the amount of territory that they have acquired is unexpected. but i believe that there is

no military solution, despite the progresshat the taliban have made. for the war to end, there has to be a political agreement. >> woodruff: separately, a reuters news photographer, danish siddiqui, was killed today in fighting between afghan troops and taliban fighters along the pakistan border. his images of rohingya refugees in myanmar won a pulitzer prize in 2018. he also covered protests in hong kong and unrest in india. danish siddiqui was 38 years old. back in this country, a federal judge in texas found the daca program was created illegally by then-president obama. it bars deportations of those brought into the u.s. illegally as children. the ruling does not affect the 650,000 people already protected under daca-- at least for now. it does block approval of new applications.

federal prosecutors in california have charged two men with plotting to blow up the democratic party's state headquarters in sacramento. they allegedly planned to attack a string of democratic targets after the 2020 presidential election. and on wall street today, stocks gave ground as tech companies and banks led the way lower. the dow jones industrial average lost 299 points to close at 34,687. the nasdaq fell nearly 116 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 32. still to come on the newshour: interior secretary deb haaland discusses this moment of reckoning for native american boarding schools. the u.s. sanions chinese officials for the crackdown in hong kong. advocates wonder if this is a moment of systemic change for the american child care system. and, much more.

>> woodruff: returning now to the catastrophic flooding in germany and belgium. in a moment, william brangham will talk with a climate scientist about this, and other, extreme weather events. but first, he has an update on the latest. >> brangham: in western germany this week, whole cities seem to be underwater. days of heavy rainfall filled rivers to capacity, and quickly turned into flash flooding, water moving with such force it swept cars away, and undermined the foundations of houses. >> ( translated ): i'm 58 now. i have never experienced anything like this in my entire life. >> brangham: in the german town of erftstadt, several people died when floodwaters caused the land beneath their homes to collapse.

search and rescue crews are on a desperate hunt for the missing. >> ( translated ): there is little sleep at the moment. but the emergency workers feel obligated to help. because they know how desperate some people are for help. >> brangham: entire communities have been left in ruins. as floodwaters started to recede today, the full extent of the destruction was revealed. on her visit to washington, d.c. yesterday, german chancellor angela merkel called the flooding a catastrophe. >> ( translated ): these are terrible days for the people in the flooded areas. my thoughts are with you, and you can trust that all forces of our government will do everything to save lives, alleviate danger, and relieve distress. >> brangham: as parts of europe dig out from this latest weather disaster, the european union this week revealed an ambitious climate change plan-- one that could hopefully, in time, lessen these types of disasters.

the e.u. is proposing a slew of initiatives, including a tax on jet fuel, and completely phasing out new gas and diesel cars by 2035. policy makers say the whole plan could cut europe's greenhouse gas emissions by 55%. >> change on this scale is never easy, even when it's necessary. and for that reason, there are some who will say that we should go slower, that we should go lower, that we should do less. but when it comes to climate change, doing less or doing nothing literally means changing everything. >> brangham: scientists have linked extreme weather fluctuations, from heatwaves to torrential rains, to climate change, and these extremes are not confined to europe. last month, ground temperatures in the arctic circle reached over 100 degrees fahrenheit. much of the western united states is suffering through a severe drought, which has

provided ready tinder for the wildfires that've broken out especially early this year. and, for the first time in recorded history, deforestation and fires in the amazon, coupled with warmer temperatures, is causing parts of the rainforest to now spit out more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. scientists fear that this reversal could be a tipping point, where one of the earth's best ways of storing massive amounts of carbon is now becoming a carbon emitter. and joining me now is gavin schmidt. he's a climatologist, and serves as nasa's senior climate advisor. gavin schmidt great to have you back on the newshour. we're seeing this devastation and the flooding in europe and also here in the u.s. the west is baking with this drowtd and these wildfires. these are the things that climate models have always predicted would happen, right? more and more of these extreme

fluctuations. >> so current models have been pricting that the globe as a whole would get warmer and along with that that we would be seeing more heat waves and more intense precipitation and an exacerbation of drought signals, particularly in places like the southwest or in the mediterranean region where you're seeing a lot more eevapoevaporative demand, makine droughts that are caused by lack of rainfall more serious for people on the grounds. >> reporter: can you explain how the mechanism actually works here? for people who might look and think, how is it that climate change floods western europe and parches western pa america? >> there is still a lot of variability, chaos in the system. but what happens is when the planet warms there is more vaich oar in the disappear as a whole,

so when it's raining it is raining more intensely. that's what we're seeing in germany. the rainfall itself is more intense and that's led to significant increases in flooding in germany. in places that are drier or that are having a rainfall anomaly like in the american southwest, the warming is drawing more moisture out of the soil, and so that's intense certifying the drought. and that's --ence fieg the -- ie drowtd. that leads to bad health outcomes because of that. >> reporte it seems that we have caught our sestles into if re-- ourselves into the reinforcing loop. this process keeps feed being on itself. >> yes, there's undoubtedly what are called positive amplifying features of the climate that 1st we start changing things,

that -- once we start changing things the system reacts and it makes it a bigger change than it would have otherwise. we know that's what's happening in the arctic, where the ice is meing, we know that that's happening in places like the per ma frost regions or in the amazon where we're changing the climate and that's changing the carbon fluxes coming out of the system. >> reporter: i touched on this study that has just come out about the amazon seeming in certain parts to be emitting now more carbon that than it can absorb. do you share the same feelings tof this could be a change in te timtion point? >> it is part of the positive amplifying features of the system. but if some parts of the amazon go from being a small carbon sink to being a small carbon source, that impacts the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere but it isn't, you

know, the difference between us being fine and the whole thing running away to venus or something. that isn't going to happen. i mean there are thresholds in the amazon as the amazon dries we anticipate that it might kind of lose its ability to stay as rain forest and kind of won't become more savannah like. >> reporter: we've touched upon and the biden administration has put together its climate faces as well, some oon the other side would argue they are still nowhere near enough to address the magnitude of the crisis that we are facing. where do you come down on that spectrum? >> there is a lot of effort at needs to be done in order to make policies that are commensurate with the size of this problem. i mean to get to a point where

we've reduced emissions by 60%, 80%, 90%, is going to take an enormous amount of work. and as the chinese saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and i think that these plans from the european union and from the biems biden administration and from other jurisdictions around the world they are more than a single step but not yet a thousand miles. we need to start somewhere and we've had a -- let's say a slow takeup of practical plans to reduce emissions, up until now. >> reporter: all right, garch schmidt senior climate advisor for nasa. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: like canada, our country has a painful history of

creating boarding schools to to assimilate and reeducate native american children. it was a practice that led to trauma, abuse, and deaths. for more than 150 years, indigenous children were taken from their families and forced into far-away boarding schools. at one point, there were more than 300 such schools, often run by religious groups; some by the federal government. by the 1920s, over 80% of native american school-aged children were in these schools. those practices ended in the 1960s. but now, there's a reckoning, and a new federal investigation under way. it is being run under the department of the interior. and i spoke with interior secretary deb haaland about this, and her personal history. secretary holland, thank you so much for joining us. i have to say at the outset, that this is one of the saddest, most disturbing stories i've ever seen. to think of these thousands and

thousands of children, taken from their families, so many of whom never came back. the families never knew what happened to them. it's unspeakable. and your own family was touched by this. >> yes, it is a tragic era in our history, in american history. the boarding school era. i think about it as sort of one of the last-ditch efforts to get native americans out of their communities and put them into mainstream society, after, you know, genocide, after the killing off of, you know, vast numbers of native folks so that folks could take their land. and it was tragic, after everything else that had happened as well. and, you know, they took indians from their communities and their families so they could indoctrinate them, right. to take away their clothing, to

brutally, you know, take away their languages and their cultures. and many children, yes, they never made it back home. i am grateful that my grandparents made it back home. i wouldn't be here today if they hadn't, of course. and so, this-- this is a history that-- that is, that all of us need to know about, so that we can begin a healing process for the families who are still living with the generational trauma of the boarding school era, of the assimilation era, of the-- of all of the terrible eras of federal indian policy that that tribes have had to live with. >> woodruff: do you have a good understanding, do you think, of what happened to the children who died? >> well, i mean, we don't know, right? and that is one of the things

that we hope to find out with our-- a federal boarding school initiative. it was widely known that in indian boarding schools, that malnutrition was an issue there. you know, if you talk to folks whose grandparents went to boarding school, and they've heard stories, you know, the stories about kids jumping off of trains because they didn't want to go to the boarding school. running away and never being seen again. this was, you know, there were many ways, y, that children died in those settings. and that's one of the things that we're hoping we can find out. >> woodruff: and it was, as you said, a widely accepted policy in this country, in the united states, and in canada. i read your quote from the civil war veteran who founded the school for children in pennsylvania-- carlisle, pennsylvania-- who said, and i'm

quoting, "kill the indian in him and save the man." it is astonishing to think that that was the mindset behind this. >> yes, indeed. native americans weren't thought of as humans. we weren't considered citizens of this country until 1924. we didn't have the right to vote in many, many communities, some as late as 1960 or '62. we weren't thought of as valuable contributors to this country. and yet today, we see that, you know, native americans have the highest rate of military service. the ratio is higher than any other groups of people. we step up to defend our country. and of course, today we defied all the odds.

many of us, many of our families, our ancestors persevered. my grandparents actually were part of the assimilation era. after boarding school, they went and worked on the railroad in winslow, arizona. my grandfather was a diesel train mechanic for 45 years. that's what they wanted to do, was get native americans off of their lands, out of their communities. and my grandparents did that. but instead, my grandfather protected our traditions, even in a place that wasn't his homeland, so that i could know and learn what it means to be a pueblo woman. and i'm so grateful that they persevered through-- through all of-- all of that history. >> woodruff: as we know, canada established an independent-- what they called a "truth and reconciliation commission" to investigate this, to get to the bottom of it, to try to, and to issue a report in our country.

we have what you just mentioned, the indian boarding school initiative. it's being run under your department, the department of the interior, but it was the federal government that was in charge of this system. so, my question is, can we be confident that we're going to get to the bottom of it when it's the government, in effect, investigating itself? >> well, i absolutely feel that with our initiative, that we can work on healing. i really feel confident that-- i mean, that's a goal for us. and we want to make sure tha the families get the answers that they need and they want. the federal government has a trust obligation to indian tribes. that is in exchange for all the land that essentially became the united states. this was all indian land at one time. and so, i feel confident that this is part of our trust obligation to indian tribes, this initiative that we are

moving forward with. i feel very confident that this is a new era and we want to make sure that tribes have a seat at the table. >> woodruff: and ultimately, how do you see holding the institutions accountable that were responsible for this? >> that remains to be seen. of course, there's a lot of-- recently, i was able to participate in a ceremony at carlisle. that's now an army war college. it was the carlisle industrial school for native americans. my great-grandfather attended that school. and i was invited by the rosebud sioux tribe, as they work to remove children from their tribe who were buried in a cemetery there, to take them home to their homeland in south dakota. and i think that it's up to every tribe, right-- how do they want to move

forward? how, what is their idea of healing, and, and what would make them feel like they've gotten the answers they want? and i think that it's up to the tribes, how, you know. and we're going to do our st to make sure that we are attentive to those needs. >> woodruff: secretary haaland, you also wrote recently about the challenge of loving your own country, a country that was responsie for committing these acts. how you explain that to others, to other native americans, who look at this and question, how can they-- how can you love a country that has done this? >> well, first of all, my ancestral homelands are here, and i can't go anywhere else. this is my home and, and this is where my family is. this is where my history is. we've been here for tens of thousands of years. and we want to make sure that we're defending this land for future generations.

i believe very strongly in democracy. and if you look at tribes across the country, so many indian tribes had long-standing historical democracies in their communities. and i am-- i'm confident that our country can live up to its promise to people, to our citizens, and i want to be a part of that. >> woodruff: secretary of the interior deb haaland, we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: for the first time, the united states government today warned american companies and individuals about the risks of doing business, studying, or investing in hong kong. the biden administration also sanctioned hong kong officials

and accused them of eroding the city's freedoms, as the chinese government continues to force its will on hong kong. here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: judy, today's business advisory says because of the 2020 national security law that beijing imposed on hong kong, americans are at risk of arrest, and businesses are at risk of electronic, warrant-less surveillance; restricted access to information because of a crackdown on the media, and chinese legal consequences if they comply with american sanctions. also today, the u.s. sanctioned seven officials in the chinese communist party'primary office in hong kong. for more on all of this, we turn to michael hirson, the china lead for the eurasia group, an international business consulting firm. michael hirson welcome back to the newshour. how significant ask it that the u.s. has issued this advisory for hong kong? >> i don't think any news in the advisory is going to be

shocking. it does represent a deterioration in hong kong's business environment and it shows that you the biden administration is quite willing to push the envelope essentially on this issue even though it's quite sensitive to china. >> reporter: you talked to businesses in hong kong. what are they saying, are they planning on any changes because of in business advisory? >> i don't think the advisory is going to lead to any kind of rapid change in terms of how businesses view hong kong. i think for financial services companies, hong kong is really still important as a capital gateway to china. but i think there are other companies who have maybe used hong kong as an asia regional hub for whom this is going to matter, it is going to play in conversations for example with their board where there's a diversity of views as to whether or not it makes sense to be in hong kong. and now that the state department has put out this advisory i think it does give a further color to those

conversations. >> reporter: let me zoom into the final warning in the warning today. and that american businesses could face chinese legal consequences just for following american sanctions. that actually hasn't hatched yet but are businesses worried about it? >> it's a serious concern. it means that there is to a political risk that companies face is not just about values issues about how you talk about hong kong or taiwan ority beth, it is about policies, it is actually becoming feasibly legal to implement u.s. sanctions u.s. laws in hong kong. i think the reality is likely to be a built nuanced here because i think hong kong authorities are going to be careful not to disrupt hong kong's role as a financial center. but it is an area that is i think fairly new for firms, and just given the sweeping nature of some of these chinese laws, you know, it's certainly a possibility.

>> reporter: we recently talked to a hong kong resident and activist glacier kong who moved to europe because after the imposed she didn't feel safe in hong kong. let's take a listen to what she said. >> i think one of the most visible changes i see, people self-censoring themselves. like, people are afraid to talk about things, like, because under the law, a lot of things are not allowed. in hong kong, the freedom of the press is no longer existing. the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression, the freedom of peaceful assembly. these are all gone. >> do businesses their those concns? >> they do so the quan airy in the coal mine here are the sectors that are most sensitive to the information environment and that is technology companies and media companies. and severalty of those firms have already now said they're leaving hong kong. something like financial services is a bit of a more nuanced area. they are less directly exposed so they are rried about it but it is not yet the kind of factor that would lead them to leave

hong kong. >> reporter: for many years hong kong has been one of if not the financial hub in asia. bottom line has that already changed? >> it has changed. essentially what's happening is hong kong is transitioning from being a global business hub, even an asian business hub, to more of a capital gateway to china. so ironically, hong kong's importance to the financial sector has actually increased. because of u.s.-china financial tensions. so hong kong is now the place where chinese companies are going public. it's where u.s. and other investors go to gain exposure to those companies. and it's where financial services firms need to be. but the notion that hong kong is kind of an all purpose hub, it would be where you would put your data center or technology or media operations i think that's already changed. >> reporter: michael hirson thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: over the past several days, we've looked at america's broken child care system, and some of the programs trying to address the challenges. in this final part of our series, "raising the future: america's child care dilemma," special correspondent cat wise d producer kate mcmahon examine a key question confronting the country: what now? >> reporter: it's the busy lunchtime hour at sehnert's bakery and bieroc cafe in downtown mccook, nebraska. the man behind the counter is matt sehnert. he's a fourth-generation baker who won a james beard award a few years ago. >> this is a family tradition. >> reporter: sehnert says there are a lot of ingredients needed to run a successful business, and for him, reliable workers are key. he has about 30 employees. and over the years, some ohis staff have had to quit due to

child care challenges. >> our people have to be here on time every day to make the product, because our patrons expect rolls and donuts and breads and sandwiches to be here. and when there's not adequate child care, it causes problems. >> reporter: sehnert is one of the many americans who have been impacted in some way by the country's patchwork child care system, which cost the overall economy an estimated $57 billion a year before the pandemic. >> im a registered republican. as a business person, my mind goes to investment. and i think that child care is an investment. obviously, the parent needs to be part of it. but maybe the rest of us need to be part of it, too. >> reporter: should the rest of us chip in for child care? what would a national child care system look like? in the wake of the pandemic, those are some of the many

questis being discussed and debated across the country in homes, board rooms, and washington, d.c. president joe biden's message? child care is as essential to the national economy as bridges and roads. >> american families plan will provide access to quality, affordable childcare. >> reporter: he is pushing for sweeping reforms that include: free child care for low-income parents; reduced fees for middle-income earners; a $15 minimum wage for providers; universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds; and paid family leave. the u.s. is the only industrialized country that does not have a national paid leave policy. it's an issue we heard from parents about, including child care advocate and author elliott haspel. >> i believe very strongly that the first few months of life should be-- all parents havehe opportunity to have paid family leave, to be with theichild. >> reporter: during her confirmation hearing, treasury secretary janet yellen said the u.s. is falling behind

other countries. >> where we stand out is that the united states does much less on the front of child care and paid leave than most other developed economies. >> reporter: the u.s. ranks 35th out of 37 wealthy peer nations in percent of g.d.p. spent on early childhood programs. iceland spends the most-- nearly 2% of its g.d.p. but the u.s.? spends less than half a percentage point. to boost the u.s. ratings, it will take a big investment. according to one report, it would cost $140 billion a year to provide high quality care for all kids from birth to five. in this era of hyper- partisanship, child care has become another hot button issue. on cable news... in local news... >> any bill that makes it easier

or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let somebody else raise their child? i just don't think that's the right direction for us to be going. >> reporter: and, as we traveled around the country, we heard from a lot of people that child care is an issue that needs to be addressed. but there are many opinions about how to do it. >> we already pay enough taxes. however, if they use the money that they're already collecting to help parents, it would be great. >> child care, even when a person starts making a living wage, it shouldn't be taken away from them. >> i think that child care should be free. >> reporter: how will america work through its child care dilemma? this may be the moment the nation dides. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise.

>> woodruff: and to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that is "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, columnist for the "washington post." welcome. so but i do want to start jonathan with what we heard a little earlier on the program from the secretary of the interior, this 100 year plus long system in the united states. of taking native american children om their families, putting them into boarding schools, many of them never were sent back home. what is your sense of the process, the biden administration has set up to

investigate, and then who should be held accountable? >> capehart: well one, i think it is terrific that secretary haaland is the one who's going t be leading this effort. as secretary of the interior, the first native american in a cabinet position to do that, a pueblo woman but also someone for whom this is not far -- this is not distant history. this is in her family. i believe we have to investigate. we have to know our history. and we have do know our history in order to atone for our history. and we have to do that in order to be better, to be better people, to be better americans, to be a better nation. and, you know, just hearing the word boarding school, for a lot of americans, you hear boarding school you think, you know, the kids in different strokes, you think of the british royal familiar where lots of well -- family where lots of well born

people become educate but for native american children it was the exact opposite, they were brutalized, they disappeared and we don't know, we need to know. it's terrific that this is happening. and how the nation should atone for thi that should be part of the discussion. i don't know exactly how we should do that but we should talk about it. >> woodruff: how do you see this? ness. >> brooks: >> brooks: i think this is traumatic. the canadians have done this for the last six months and it has been a national truly trauma as they face that reality but it has to be faced. there are to many levels of what has happened. they weren't taking ukrainian kids from their parents, they were taking necessitate aive american kids. after darwin there were all these pseudo scientific crappy

beliefs that civilizations were better than other civilizations and the idea that you were doing people a favor by taking them away from their heritage, that was a pervasive in western society that this crazy really garbage science darwinism. and what they did not have then but hopefully we're getting now, the idea is that cultural diversity is a plus not a minus. the book of jeremiah embraces cultural diversity but it was not commonly believed. and one of the things we have done is come to cherish different heritages, the way they interact, integrate without assimilate. >> woodruff: we can certainly hope so. it's just been as i said to the secretary one of the most disturbing things i ever read about. the more i read about it the sicker i became. lts bring it forward and talk

about what's going on right now in the congress jonathan. the democrats, president biden working very hard to try to push through this $3.5 trillion plan to boost education, health care, number of other things. as a companion to the infrastructure package, what are the prospects, does it look like they're going to get it done? >> capehart: i have a note written to myself judy and it is, honestly i don't know. there are so many moving pieces here. the 3.5-well, the $3.5 trillion plan is the american families plan, american jobs plan. it is everything that the progressives and the democrats ve wanted for maybe generations. you've got senator portman republican, they are all trying to come up with this compromise. but if the republicans walk away, it falls apart. whh you know i'm sort of girding myself for that prospect. but the other thing is, let's

say there is an agreement with the republicans. the president only has -- he can't lose anyone. and that's a very ream prospect, especially when you have senator joe manchin out there saying, the price tag is too high, we have to have it all paid for and i don't like the climate change in it. after all that said, i don't know what the prospects are but we will find out on wednesday. >> woodruff: but you know the answer right? >> brooks: i have a very firm guess. first starting with republicans, my basic view is they are in the ballpark. they are far down the road mixed metaphors as is likely. i think they might have walked away when joe bden announced the agreement, they did not walk away. senator portman from ohio the republican, said, if we throw it in the democrats will throw it into their reconciliation package and let's stay in the

me. i would say the bernie sanderses of the world, practicing the art of the possible so they got down to 3.5 billion and i imagine they'll have to come down more an then if you look at the manchins, president manchin and vice president tester and others, they are not saying yes they're going to support, they're not going to say no, they're going to negotiate. i really don't know either but i do think they've done a pretty good job of getting closer so they are in the ballpark of where it seems plausible. >> woodruff: i had to ask you even though i suspected you might not be prepared to tell us the final-final. but another thing that did happen for sure this week jonathan is these checks for child tax credits are now in the bank accounts of millions and millions of american families. is this going to make a difference? >> capehart: well in the short term it's going to make a difference to those families who

get those checks. everyone likes to get money, whether they find them in a coat pocket or wherever. but when it's the federal government saying, we know you've been through a hard time. and here is some help, that is terrific. the problem however is twofold. one it's temporary. i believe it's only just one year. and then the other problem is, a lot of the people whreally need the checks and should be getting the checks won't be getting them because they don't make enough money to time taxes and therefore, there's no record of them at the irs. the biden administration is moving quickly in trying to resolve that. but those are short term problems. i think in the long term, the administration and democrats would love to make this permanent. and, you know, we've been around this town a long time. once you get an entitlement or something like this, on the books, it's kind of hard to wipe it out.

and i think this is going to be something that will be popular. and that there will be popular pressure on congress to make it permanent. >> brooks: if you ask me to pick one policy to reduce poverty this would be it. the child tax credit. marco rubio had a plan had e-the conservative think tanks had a plan. if you want to get rid of child hootd poverty, you give the families the money to think for their kids. the families ae police financially stressed. the kids can you just have this massive effect. i'm betraying my canadian roots, dand this years ago, massive effect. reduction of child poverty by 40%. very rarely do you get a social program that reduces poverty or has any effect that big. there are some republican talking points that will create again attendance an government, there is no evidence of that canada or australia or other

places. people are not aging backwards because of this. they are not turning into children to get the benefit. even from a conservative view this is a fantastic program and in this 3.5 billion thing that he hopefully will build on whatever has already been passioned. and it should have, it did have until the town became so partisan, marco rubio mitt romney, in the same direction. >> woodruff: secretary yellen i asked her this question could it discourage some families from going back to work? she said we don't think so, we think parents are going to continue. we'll see. last thing jonathan two books out in the last week or so with form are president trump in the center in the final days of his administration after the election can desperately trying to reverse the election results. what have we learned from this? what do we see? and are there heroes in people

like joint chiefs chair mark mille? >> in the one hand it's nothing new if you have been hanging on with your finger nails watching things in real time. i liken it to aoloring book. when you have a coloring book you have the outlines and then you take crayon and you color it in. what these books are doing they're coloring in more, giving us more information about the skeletal view of what we know and it's vivid. it's horrifying. it's dangerous. particularly what we find out from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. i would say he's a hero in you know now we're finding out all the things he did behind the scenes. part of me wonders why can't we have heros in real time? why can't these folks who were speaking off the record or on background in realtime, doing so maybe more openly now that the administration is over, where were they when the country

really needed it? >> brooks: it's tough for military, this is the jim mattis problem. one of the stories, the outrageousness of those four years was the outrageousness. but in all department of government people did the right thing and they made sure the system basically worked. the secretaries of state in the state of georgia, republican, did the right thing. the system basically held. >> woodruff: and we -- and there are more books to come. we're going to find out even more. important question, thank you both, very good to have you here, have a great weekend, jonathan capehart. .david bro and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and have a good weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management.

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