to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, covid's surge-- we visit louisiana to report on strained i.c.u.s and talk with the governor of maryland on how he's addressing the newly resurgent covid threat. then, the road ahead-- as the white house pushes electric vehicles, we take a look at the major climate-related provisions in the infrastructure deal. and, the fight to vote-- restrictions on access to the ballot box nationwide raise alarms for democracy advocates. >> it took mass mobilization to get voting rights, it's going to take mass to keep it and go further. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshouras been provided by: >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the kendeda fund. committed todvancing 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: there's fresh evidence tonight that the delta variant of covid-19 is piling up casualties, nationwide. federal health officials say

hospitalizations have more than tripled in the last month. and, they say, the daily average of new infections is the highest since february, driven by a failure to vaccinate. >> in seven states alone, florida, texas, missouri, louisiana, alama, mississippi, states with some of the lowest vaccination rates account for about half of new cases and hospitalizations in the past week, despite making up less than a quarter of the u.s. population. >> woodruff: also today, the white house confirmed it's looking into requiring covid vaccinations for foreign travelers entering the u.s. and, amazon delayed its return- to-office date for corporate and tech employees until january. the c.d.c.'s newly announced eviction moratoriuis already facing a legal challenge. the alabama association of realtors went back to federal court last night, asking for an

injunction that would let evictions resume. the judge ordered the biden administration to respond by tomorrow morning. a wind-blown fire in northern californ consumed a gold rush town overnight. the "dixie" fire, largest in the state, torched block after block of greenville. buildings that had stood for more than a century, burned, but no one was killed. and thousands of people were under evacuation orders. in greece, firefighters carried out evacuations just north of athens today, ahead of a wildfire fueled by record heat. meanwhile, in southern greece, crews battled a firehat threatened the site of ancient olympia, birthplace of the olympics. and, in turkey, firefighters contained a fire that threatened a power plant. iran now has a new president, ebrahim raisi, cementing hard- liners' control of the government. raisi was sworn in today before parliament.

he called for u.s. sanctions to end, but he insisted tehran will not stop trying to project its power. >> ( translated ): we are the true defenders of human rights. we do not accept silence in the face of tyranny, crime and violation of the innocent and defenseless people's rights. whenever there is crime and oppression, we will stand by the oppressed ones. >> woodruff: in washington, the u.s. state department pressed iran to resume negotiations on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. it said the opportunity won't last forever. the u.s. justice department opened a full-scale review today of police practices in phoenix, arizona. the focus is on whether phoenix officers use excessive force and abuse the homeless. the mayor and police department leaders say they welcome the investigation. similar federal probes are already under way in minneapolis and louisville. police who battled pro-trump rioters at the u.s. capitol on

january 6th received congress' highest honor today. at a white house ceremony, president biden signed a measure awarding the congressional gold medal to the u.s. capitol police, washington, d.c. pole and others. the president said their courage helped preserve democracy. on wall street today, new job market data and corporate earnings pushed stocks higher. the dow jones industrial average gained 271 points to close at 35,064. the nasdaq rose 114 points to a record high. the s&p 500 added 26, also finishing at a record high. and, at the summer olympics in tokyo, the u.s. women's soccer team beat australia 4 to 3 for the bronze medal. and the u.s. men's basketball team downed australia 97 to 78, and faces france for the gold medal, on saturday.

americans also won gold in the women's pole vault and the men's shot put. still to come on the newshour: how maryland governor larry hogan sees the surge in covid-19 cases. why the white use is pushing for more electric vehicles on the road. restrictions on voting rights nationwide raise alarms for democracy advocates. and much more. >> wdruff: let's take an in- depth look at the real impact of the surge in covid. louisiana has the nation's highest per-capita infections, driven in large part by the extremely contagious delta variant. at the same time, louisiana also has one of the country's lowest vaccination rates.

this week, governor john bel edwards reimposed a statewide mask mandate for all indoor settings. william brangham and our team were given special access to one hospital, baton rouge general, as staff there try to save lives, and to convce more people to get vaccated. >> so we've got 59-ish, fixing to be 60 i.c.u. patients. of those, 47 are covid positive. >> brangham: each morning at baton rouge general hospital begins like this: >> yesterday was incredibly busy. we went from 39 to 47 covid i.c.u. patients. >> brangham: dr. stephen brierre, the chief of critical care, briefs the hospital's division chiefs on the latest covid numbers. >> this is ugly. i hate to talk about it, but we need to expand the morgue. >> brangham: right after, dr. brierre isack upstairs in the i.c.u.

just over a month ago, there were 10 covid patients in the hospital. the day we visited, there were 129. it's a surge that's caught dr. brierre somewhat by surprise. >> i thought we were close to done. i knew delta was going to be a little bit of a surge, especially in louisiana, given our low vaccination rates. but i had no idea that the impact would be almost as severe as the first surge that we saw. >> brangham: more than 60% of people in louisiana are not fully vaccinated, and that's overwhelmingly who's ending up in this hospital with covid. of those 129 hospitalized covid patients, nearly 90% are unvaccinated. and, doctors believe, in part because of the delta variant, patients may be getting sicker, faster. >> we're certainly seeing a group of people, not all of them, but a group of them in the i.c.u. who rapidly deteriorate. so people that we would have thought we would have been able

to support without a ventilator for a week or two to get them through it. we're running to the bedside to intubate them 24 or 48 hours into the hospital. >> brangham: that fast? >> yes, sir. >> brangham: seeing this large number of unvainated people coming through your doors-- is that frustrating to you? or is it just-- you just think at's just the way ousociety is? like, how do you square that? >> i try not to dwell on it too much. >> brangham: why not? >> because it does frustrate-- there is a little bit of ¡we shot ourselves in our foot.' i'm not mad at people who, who didn't vaccinate. and i understand a lot of it. i mean, there was so much misinformation out there. and the country is so polarized, >> until it affects you personally, you don't know. now i know. >> brangham: in one of those in- demand hospital beds is robert wilson, a 49-year-old who contracted the virus last month.

he wasn't vaccinated. >> it wasn't political. it just-- i didn't figure i was going to need it. because nobody really knows the long term of this vaccine, and people are scared of it. >> brangham: so that was your concern? that you might take the shot, and it might harm you? >> down the road, we don't know. and that's most people's experience that i know. but if it combats this, i'm gonna get it. >> brangham: because of his brush with the virus, wilson says his family is planning to get vaccinated too. 32-two year-old jordan miller is an i.c.u. nurse. she's been here through the whole pandemic, and she says for her, this is the worst yet. staff are tired, burned out. they're working overtime. and she says too many people don't take the virus seriously. >> it's something that could have been prevented, and that's what's so hard, and because these people are younger and

healthier, it hits even harder. you know, i had a 34 year old patient that i was talking to, communicating with, having a discussion about his family. and then within four hours he coded and died. 34 years old. no medical history. >> brangham: unvaccinated? >> yes. >> brangham: while the unvaccinated are the lion's share of hospitalizations and deaths here and nationwide, that's not true for all. >> i had my vaccine in january and february and i just started feeling bad a couple of weeks ago. >> brangham: 70-year-old rita eames says she did everything she was asked to do to avoid covid: including getting her and her family vaccinated. nevertheless, she developed a rare, breakthrough case a couple of weeks ago. >> i think my odds are much

better than me not having any vaccine. if i had to do it all over again, i'd do it all over again. >> so what could we have done as a population to decrease her risk of being in an i.c.u. for her fifth day now. and what we could have done is the rest of us could have been vaccinated. because we know if we're vaccinated, we decrease the probability of catching it ourselves and transmitting it to someone like miss eames who we >> brangham: louisiana's low vaccination rate applies to medical staff as well: at baton rouge general, about half the hospital staff haven't taken the vaccine. one of them is surgical tech ashley lanoux. she spent much of last year recovering from breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. >> i was very unsure about it just because it was thrown out so quick. >> brangham: you mean they developed the vaccine so quickly.

>> yeah. >> brangham: and that made you nervous. >> yeah. i mean, it was it felt very rushed. like, why did you all of a sudden come up with a vaccine so quickly for something that just came around? >> brangham: well, they would say it's because over 600,000 americans died and we've got to stop those deaths. that doesn't persuade you? >> no. >> brangham: then two weeks ago, lanoux got covid, and ended up at urgent care needing an infusion of monoclonal antibodies. that experience pushed her closer to getting the vaccine, but not fully. >> i'm on the yes side, but i'm not 100% yet. i mean, there's a lot of people even around here that have questions about it and the uncertainty just with the employees. >> brangham: this week, another major hospital in baton rouge,

our lady of the lake, said it would now require its employees to get vaccinated. baton rouge general says it's not quite ready for that step. >> i do think that mandating vaccines would be helpful when it comes to increasing the vaccination rate. >> brangham: pediatrician dr. dawn marcelle is the public health director for the region that includes baton rouge. she works with hospitals, clinics, the national guard and many others to increase covid testing and vaccination. she says in addition to more mandates, this surge in cases and deaths is already motivating some to change their minds about getting the shot: the state saw a four-fold increase in first doses received in the six weeks from mid-june to late july. >> people are calling now like they were at the very beginning of vaccine availability. so we are seeing a definite

uptick in interest in vaccines and people getting vaccinated. >> brangham: back on the i.c.u. floor, staff have already built two additional units and are planning on a third. >> you're already down to 80% oxygen, and i'm going to decrse it some more. >> reporter: >> brangham: dr. brierre, nurse miller and the other staff are stressed out and stretched thin, just hoping more people will hear their pleas to get vaccinated. do you think if i come back here six months from now, we're going to still be having this debate? >> i didn't think we'd be here today, six months ago when we knew that a vaccine was fixing to be available to us. so i don't know. >> brangham: the covid surge here isn't expected to peak until mid-september. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in baton rouge, louisiana.

>> woodruff: the recent surge of covid-19 and the new and contagious delta variant have the biden administration as well as state and local officials facing tough decisions, including whether to impose vaccine mandates. we turn now to the governor of maryland, larry hogan. governor hogan, thank you very much for being with us. as we've been reporting, this delta variant is rising across the country. we saw in your state of marmd md hospitalizations are up, something like triple what they were a month ago. what are you seeing? >> well, so, we're a little bit luckier than most of the rest of the country, because we're one of the most vaccinated state in america. and, you know, we've vaccinated 78% of the people in our state, and nearly 94% of all of our seniors. so we were down to almost no cases and no hospitalizations, and it's gone up.

we're concerned about it, but we're much lower than just about any other state. this delta variant is of great concern to us, though. it's much more contagious. it's potentially, you know, causes more serious illness. but right now, our big focus is just continuing to vaccinate those last few marylanders because right now, nearly 100% of all of our hospitalizations and deaths are people who are not vaccinated. >> woodruff: you are doing well with vaccinations, and, i don't want, you have announced you are going to be requiring state employees who work in so-called congregate settings with individuals who are vucialg, to be vaccinated. tell us how that's going t work. >> well, we're concerned about our most vulnerable citizens. so people that are in congregate facilities, that are in our department of corrections, our juvenile services, our health department facilies and our veterans agency where's we're taking care of some, you know, seniors and veterans in a

nursing home. we want to make sure-- we've done pretty well with them. there are about in line with some of the rest of the population, but we can't take any chances. this is where we had all the problems early on was with folks in some of those congregate facilities. they're putting folk as the risk. so we're controlling those employees who work for us and asking them to make sure that they get vaccinated, have a first shot no later than september 1. and if they don't and can't show proof of vaccination, then we're going to require, you know, masking requirements and constant, ongoing testing to make sure that they're not bringing the virus into our facilities. >> woodruff: as i'm sure you know, governor, the governor of your neighboring state of virginia has announced that he's going to require all state employees to be vaccinated, or else to undergo rigorous weekly testing. why not do that? >> well, virginia's in a much different place than we are. the virus is much stronger, more

cases, more hospitalizations and a much lower rate of vaccinations. these are the first steps that we thought were kind of the measured response to take today. that doesn't mean we may-- we watch these things every stng day, and if we feel other measures are necessary, then we'll certainly consider them and take action. >> woodruff: and what about mandating masking, governor? you've been quoted as saying that you don't believe that that-- that that works. and, yet, you now have-- i'm reading today the city of baltimore mandating indoor masking, clearly experts are saying masking is the way to protect people from this delta. why are you opposed? >> well, i'm not opposed. i was one of the first governors in america to require masking, and we just lifted our mask mandate back in may because of our vaccinations are so great. we don't have anybody being-- our main focus is hospitalizations and deaths. we don't have any vaccinated people who are going to the

hospital or dying. we have it fairly well managed because of the vaccinations. upon i'm not opposed to masking at all. in fact, we still strongly recommend that people who are not vaccinated should wear mask, particularly in indoor settings. and we provide the therapist of all of our local governments to make those decisions based on the metrics on the ground and in their particular jurisdiction, following along c.d.c. guidance. but we also pport businesses' abilities to make those decisions as well, and our hospital systems and others are taking actions that we support. >> woodruff: but i guess what i'm asking is, in a situation like right now, where you have the delta variant posing this dangerous threat, why not go ahead and go back to requiring masking when everybody can transmit, including people who are vaccinated? >> well, you know, from the beginning of this, we've always followed the science. we have a terrific team of public health professionals and epidemiologists, and we're

following their advice every single day, and they're not advising that at this point in time, because our numbers-- our virus numbers, our positivity rate, our transmission rate, our hospitalization rate, are all the lowest in the country, and our vaccination rate is the highest in the country. so we-- we are doing-- taking the steps that we think are important, and other states are in a much different situation than we are. >> woodruff: i do want to ask you about children in particular, governor. the c.d.c.'s director, dr. wolen ski, said today only 30% of challenge 12-17 are fully vaccinated. and this is at a time when you have, again, pediatric infectious disease experts saying we know children now account for something like 15% to 20% of new covid weekly cases. and so children are vulnerable, not just children themselves, as these cases go up, but also the ability of children to spread covid back to whoever they're living with.

>> yeah, well, obviously, we're concerned about our children. again, we're, i think, the best in the country on vaccinating 12- to 17-year-olds. we haven't gotten to the point where we did with adults will because they started much later. we're well into the 60% of our 12- to 17-year-olds vaccinated and 18 and over one of the best in the country. but on the kids, we're doing great, also. while we are seeing more infections with younger people than we were earlier, we are not really seeing that translate into serious illness or hospitalizations yet. but it's something-- we're very conscious of it and trying to keep a close eye on with is new variant which, you know, everybody is learning more about as we go along every day. >> woodruff: so you're open to doing something more with regard to children, either requiring masking in schools? >> most of our school systems are requiring masking. our primary focus is to try to make sure that we get our kids back in school, because they really suffered over the past year or no not being in school.

we've had more than half of our school systems open for the entire year. all of our private schools and about half of our public school systems with almost-- very little cases or serious problems at all. this variant is different. and that's why, again, our duly elected school boards that have the power to make those decisions, and most of the of them are making decisions to require masks for the kids because they're really trying to get kids back in, in a safe way. we also put $1.2 billion into our schools to help address filtration systems and h.v.a.c. systems that will help also to keep the kids safer. >> woodruff: all right, governor larry hogan of the state of maryland, thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: now, a look at president biden's plans on climate change in two parts. reducing emissions from cars and

trucks is a big part of that. gasoline-powered vehicles are the biggest source of emissions from the u.s., accounting for more than a quarter of emissions. today, president biden laid out new rules, agreements and timelines to try to cut that percentage down significantly. >> nawaz: judy, a fundamental piece of that plan is geing people to buy electric vehicles and other so-called zero emission vehicles. surrounded by automaker leaders biden said tay that he wants half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emission cars and trucks. >> they're a vision of the future that is now beginning to happen, a future of the automobile industry that is electric, battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, fuel cell electric. it's electric. and there's no turning back. the question is whether we'll lead or fall behind in the race for the future.

>> nawaz: for some perspective on president biden's guidelines, automakers are expected to have to meet an average of 52 miles per gal mieg we turn to two people deeply immersed in the challenges we face to both power our economy fred krupp is president of the environmental defense fund. and dan becker is director of the safe climate transport campaign at the center for biological diversity. welcome to you both, and thanks for being here. i want to come to both of you for a quick reaction to the announcement. fred, i'll start with you. you call this a defining moment. why? >> well, it's just inspirational to be out there on the south lawnl. the president's vision of half of cars being electric vehicles by 2030 brought people together. it brought all three of the big-three automakers-- ford, chrysler-- it brought the u.a.w., lawmakers, environmental

groups, all supporting the president's vision because it can protect the climate, clean our air, and create good, high-paying jobs for american workers. >> nawaz: dan, i want to come to you for your reaction and i'll quote you quickly. in a strong statement you said this look like a loophole-laden, swiss cheese rules. why don't you think this is going to work? >> well, i think fred is-- first of all, thank you for having me on. fred is right. the vsion is good. but action is better. and these standards don't take enough action. the president is right that global warming is an existential threat. it's roasting the west. t's stoking forest fires. it's worsening storms. so now isn't the time to propose weak standards riddled with loopholes and promise strong ones later. the biden proposal expands loopholes, and so it cuts less carbon emissions than the obama standards that auto companies agreed to nine years ago. and the climate crisis was alot

less worse then. >> nawaz: so, fred, a lot of people have raised this question about some of the existing loopholes and the enforceabily of a lot of this. the biden administration says this will dramatically cut emission but if it it's not enforceabl does it really make that much of of a difference? >> agree with can. this is an urgent problem. we have to get at it. but what the president did wth his executive order is order the e.p.a. to put in place binding standards, and we will work with dan and everyone else to make sure the standards are robust, that there's accountability, and that they are transparent. the obama standards only went out to 2026. these go out to 2030. the obama standards didn't mandate any electric cars. the president is promising half the fleet, half of new car sales will be electric by 2030 under an e.p.a. rule grawm so, dan, on those numbers when you look at-- and we want to make this point. the new standards apply to new cars, right, not to the full existing fleet. but it's worth pointing out, 17

million new cars sold every year in america. so even if half of those do improve their fuel efficiency, doesn't that make a substantial difference? >> oh, of course it mes a big difference, if it happens. but as to voluntarily pledges, the only way to ensure that carmakers actually make the clean cars that they're talking about is to require it by law. they're not very good at doing things by themselves would you want the prodding of the force of law. and these are the same companies that tore up the last set of standards, the obama standards, that they negotiated in 2012. so how can anybody trust them on a voluntary basis to go forward? the executive order that you referred to lacks the force of law, and the automaker aspirations lack any meaning whatsoever. >> nawaz: dan, i'm going to stick with you for a moment, stepping aside from the automakers, there's a consumer component to all of this as well. when you look at auto sales right now, just 2% of auto sales in america are electric right

now. did you see a plan for how to incentivize consumers to get on board with this? >> first of all, the companies have to make the vehicles. and ford, for example, only sold 11,000 e.v.s, electric vehicles, up through last year, through april. so the auto companies are whining a lot about the consumer, but they're n advertising these vehicles. they spent $14 billion last year, mostly advising gas-guzzling pickups and s.u.v.s. if they start advertising tric vehicles, maybe some consumers will learn about them and will want to go and buy one. >> nawaz: fred, what about the consumer part of this? we mentioned the billions of dollars in the infrastructure bill for charging stations, but the automakers say they're going to need billions more. there are no consumer inentives in the plan right now. is that a problem? >> pending in congress is also provisions, senator wideep as clean america for america act, thats has plenty of consumer

incentives and we're supportive of that, too. so other things have to happen. ut but the president's order saying e.p.a. should immediately begin working on those rules, i take that seriously. and the fact is the big three auto companies are going to invest-- they've announced investments of $100 billion. why? because these are the cars consumers now wat. they're just fun to drive. they perform better. my three-year-old electric car, i haven't had to have maintenance. i'm saving thousands of dollars on gasoline. americans are going to love not having to going to gas stations. electricity costs half as much to drive. on the ford f-150 lightning, there's 100,000 people on waiting lists to get it. the mustang electric car is outsellinghe internal combustion engine version. g.m. has announced electric school buses. why? because these are the cars consumers want. the real question is are we going to make them here or be

importing them from germany and china? an awful lot of people at the white house today would be rather-- would rather be driving cars made in michigan and in georgia and infection and not importing them from germany and asia. >> nawaz: and we know a big part of this, of course, is remaining competitive with china. dan, i want to come to you on the final point, which is the rules seem to change with each administration. and in this move today, you had president biden's administration going back to obama-era rules that had been undone by president trump's administration. none of these things go into effect tomorrow. so could these all have the impact of not having any impact at all? >> that's a big fear. these standards are an edsel not a tesla, not very good. and if they remain the standards that are implemented and the long-term visionary standards we hope the biden administration

will pomulgate, are thrown away by the next president trump, then we end up with really nothing. and the fact thathe auto companies have been a nefarious player trying to prevent strong standards from coming into force, telling president trump to roll back the obama rules that they had just negotiated. these weren't fred's and my rules. these were g.m. and ford rules with president obama. so we really need to move forward and these standards will get us on-- should get us on a trajectory to really get to those visionary standards of the future. and we call on the president to treat this set of standards as a first draft and to order his staff to go back and do a better job, toughening them up so that they get us on that trajectory for the long-term goals. >> nawaz: that is dan becker of the safe climate transport campaign and fred krupp of the environmental defense fund. thank you to you both. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us on.

>> woodruff: this week we are turning our focus to the trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure package, and different ways it aims to help the country. the bill makes historic investments in roads, bridges, clean water and broadband. but as lisa desjardins reports, it also includes some unexpected provisions on climate change. >> desjardins: this is an frastructure bill, not a climate bill. but given the little action so far on the issue, what is in the bill would make it the most significant climate legislation to come out of congress yet. it includes $150 billion for clean energy and to protect from climate change. tens of billions are to fight extreme weather like drought, wildfire, flooding and erosion. and there's a host of smaller programs: low-emission buses, cleaner ports, streets with less run-off, even more trees. joining me to understand it is

rebecca leber who covers climate change for vox. rebecca, tell us, what do you think are the most significant things in this bill for climate change? >> i think this addresses two important sectors that contribute to climate change. one is our transportation sector. so the bill makes a lot of investments in electric vehicles and also public transit, which are both critical to bringing down our pollution and the biggest contributor to climate change. it also makes big investments in the electricity sector, so improving things like transmission and electric-buying parts of the country that also make it critical to cleaning up the economy. in addition, this billcracies by addresses the impact of climate change. we have to both bring down emissions, at the same time we prepare for the impacts that we know are here and are coming. >> desjardins: we spoke to a

young woman from california who is experiencing climate change right now. i want to play what she told us today. >> i live in an island in the bay area in california, and within 35 years, parent of where i live is going to be flooded and under water due to sea level rise. every time i bike on one of our bridges, i can look over the side and see that the water is almost at eye level. >> desjardins: so that's happening now in real time. rebecca,s you mentioned this, but i'm wondering overall what do you get from this bill where lawmakers are now thinking more about bracing for climate change versus actually trying to prevent it. >> the u.s. has lagd in its investments on climate change when you look at how it compares to other countries. so this bill is historic in that the government is finally putting funds into address the impacts of climate change. so we have, finally, both parties acknowledging-- at least in a bill-- that people like this young woman are dealing with the actual impacts of sea

level rise and increased flooding and wildfires. so this bill provides additional funding for some key federal programs, like fema, like the army corps of engineers, like the department of agriculture, that all play pivotal roles in providing grants to people to prepare their homes and their communities from the effects of wildfires and flooding. so it represents an historic investment in these kinds of programs to help prepare for these impacts and the impact we're already seeing unfold this summer. where we have to, as a matter of fact possible, so we hit net zero emissions by mid-century. that's critical for keeping climate change under a disastrous 1.fiech degree celsius. so the bill also has to address the amount of pollution that the u.s. is responsible for.

though is falls far short of investments that are actually needed to fully transition to clean sectors. >> desjardins: i know many climate change activists are looking to the next bill the democrats hope topaz, the so-called reconciliation bill. just briefly, in 30 seconds or so, how much do you think that bill could do on climate? that's the big hope i guess. >> this entire bill and what it means for climate really comes down to what happens in reconciliation. and now that's the parallel track that democrats are pursuing. those numbers are critical to see if we actually get those investments that's needed. and i think the policies to watch there include a clean electricity standard that sets an actual path for phasing out coal, and even natural gas in this country. and other things to watch out for are clean energy tax credits, and how democrats address other sectors, like our buildings and pollution from

other parts of the economy that are just left out in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. >> desjardins: we will keep watching and we will keep asking you as well. rebecca leber from vox, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, the loss of a giant player in the world of organized labor. richard trumka was at the helm of the nation's largest labor federation, the a.f.l.-c.i.o., for two decades. he died today. paul solman begins our look at his impact. >> the american labor movement is right here with you today. we'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you whatever it takes! >> reporter: richard trumka, unswerving advocate for working women and men, ally of democratic lawmakers and presidents. >> he was always there, he was

an american worker, protecting wages safety pensions and aility to build a middle class life. >> reporter: trumka grew up the son and grandson of miners, and followed his family into the coal mines of pennsylvania. college and law degrees helped take him to the top at the united mine workers. from there he moved to the a.f.l.-c.i.o., still as always a fiery and passionate presence. >> i'll stop demonizing big business just as sooas they put their country before their profits and they put their workers before their greed. i'll stop at that point! to reverse the waning influence of unions. but since the miners strike he led in 1989, union membership in america has dropped by nearly half, to some 10% of the workforce. an opponent of free trade, at the 2016 democratic national convention, trumka came out

against the proposed t.p.p. trade agreement, the trans pacific partnership. it was never approved. >> t.p.p. is a very bad agreement. covers 40% of the world's economy, and it will cost u.s. jobs. >> reporter: more recently, trumka made waves by supporting workplace vaccine requirements, a position many unions oppose. forever marchingo his own drummer, richard trumka died of a heart attack today at the age of 72. >> woodruff: nowwe take a closer look at the life and legacy of richard trumka with someone who knew him well. robert reich served as secretary of labor from 1993 until 1997 under president bill clinton. he's an author and teaches at the university of california- berkeley. robert reich, welcome back to the newshour. and we're so sorry for your loss. >> judy, it's really a loss for america, the loss for the labor movement, loss for the american

worker. rich trumka embodied the best of the labor movement, in terms of protecting workers and understanding workers needed more bargaining power in our system, not only in our particular companies but also in our political system if they were going to do better. >> woodruff: what made him the leader that he was? >> i think it was a combination of his tenacity and genuine passion. you know, washington is filled with some very good people and some pretty cynical people. but rich trumka really did understand the plight of working people in america. he never forgot his origins, and he felt it deeply. every time you were with him, every time i was with him, i understood where his passion came from. it came from his heart. it came from his background. he knew that working people in america were being-- let's face it-- shafted by many large companies. >> woodruff: as we just reported, robert reich, at the same time, we know that the

number of american working people represented by labor, by organized labor has shrunk. it's something like 10%. it used to be much more than that. how did he deal with that? and it clearly had to be enormously frustrating to him. >> i'm sure it was. and he said toe a number of times he shared the frustrations. i think the way he dealt with it was to push as hard as he could. but he was, judy, facing the headwinds of corporate america that was determined to shrink and bust unions. i mean, look what amazon did in alabama just a few months ago. the national laker relations board just found that amazon had violated the law. but it doesn't matter. it's like-- it's like a kind of slap on the wrist for many of these large companies. clearly, we need, if we care about american workers, if we care about wages and the only

way that workers are going to get real wage increases that really last is if they have more bargaining power. if we care, then we are going to support legislation that strengthens unions. >> woodruff: and what more did he think needed to be done that wasn't being done, that kept seeing organized labor lose rather than win? >> one of the most important aspects of reform to rich trumka is embodied in what's now on the hill called "the pro act." it increases penalties on employers for violating labor laws. and, remember, we're talking about a law, the basic law from 1935, the wagner act, the national labor relations act, but with increasing frequency and boldness. and as i said, because the violating the law is almost the cost of doing business, businesses are makg it harder for people to organize. a lot of surveys show that about

60% of american workers would like to have a union if they could. but there has been a tremendous decrease in the number of workers. in the 1950s, about a third of america's private sector workers were unionized. it gave them the power toet better wages and working conditions. today, it's now down to 6.2% of private sector workers unionized. that really eliminates most of their bargaining power. that's what rich trumka really was concerned about. >> woodruff: and if you had to sum up what his message would be fhe had known he had so little time left, what would it be? >> he would say over and over again, in union, there is strength. >> woodruff: robert reich, we thank you for joining us. and, again, we're sorry for the the loss of your friend. >> thank you, judy.

>> woodruff: we turn now to the fight for voting rights. democrats in washington have so far been unsuccessful in their push for federal election reform. some republican state lawmakers meanwhile are passing their own, more restrictive voting laws. yamiche alcindor takes a deeper look at where the battle for voting access stands. >> alcindor: tomorrow is the 56th anniversary of the 1965 voting rights act. pressure is mounting on president biden and democrats in congress to protect voting rights. we look at the fight now with reverend doctor william barber. he is co-chair of the poor people's campaign, a group that has be protesting for voting rights protection on capitol hill and across the country. and state representative chris turner, chair of the texas house democratic caucus. he is one of the texas lawmakers who fled to washington, d.c. in an effort to stall passage of a restrictive, g.o.p. voting bill. thank you so much both of you for being here. representative turner, i want to

start with you. the texas republican governor, greg abbott, he is now calling a second special session of the texas legislature. tell me a little bit about what you plan to do. how long do you plan to be in washington, d.c.? and what's your response to his moves? >> well, good evening. thank you for having me on. you know, there was no question the governor was going to call another special session. we've known that all along. when we left texas nearly four weeks ago, we made a commitment, 57 of us in the texas democratic house caucus, we would do everything in our power to kill the vote suppression bill, the anti-voter bills the republicans are trying to pass for this 30-day special session. tomorrow, friday, is the 30th day of that special session, so we look forward to marking that milestone and that victory tomorrow. more importantly, for our whole country, we have been able to use our time in our nation's capital to advocate for the urgent passage of federal voting rights legislation to protect the freedom to vote for all

americans. and we believe we have made considerable progress in our conversations on capitol hill and with the administration in the intervening weeks. >> alcindor: and, reverend barber, you, of course, have been arrested on capitol hill recently. you have been protesting across the country on voting rights. what do you think it's going to take, though, to see real action when it comes to voting rights and voting right protections? >> well, first of all, we have to look at texas as the canary in the mine. it's one of the reasons we went to texas and walked 27 miles with 40 different organizations. baito o'rourke joined us. to say that this battle is not just about black people. it's not just binary. and we had to nationalize these states. secondly, it took mass mobilization to get voting rights. it's going to take mass to keep it and to go further. we have to think about the long term. you know, it took months to get the voting rights act of '65 signed. it wasn't that president lyndon johnson just did it. and, thirdly, we must break this

understanding this is just a black issue. it's not binary. this is a moral, constitutional issue. i love what brother turner said, it's impacting all americans. i think democrats nationally made a litle mistake there. they should have never framed this as jim crow. this is james crow esquire, an attempt to cut down the progressive voice, undermine the changing demographic, block the voting processes that 56 million americans used in the last election. >> alcindor: and a broad and complete strategy, that's what reverend barber is talking about. i want to come to you, mr. turner. you have been talking to national democrats on capitol hill. talk a bit about how confident you are that national democrats will be able to pass a federal voting bill. and what do you say to republicans all across this country who say if that sort of bill was passed, that it would be federal overreach. >> yeah, well, i'm very confident. i think that in our conversations with congressional leaders in the house and the senate, i come away assured that there is going to be action soon

on federal voting rights legislation, both h.r.1, s.1, for the people act, and the john lewis voting rights act, which will be introduced in the house in the coming month, perhaps. spo we are very encouraged by that. what i say to republicans is why are you so afraid of people being able to cast a ballot? if you're afraid of americans voting and you're afraid of people being able to exercise their franchise, perhaps you need to look in the mirror. andaybe you need to start talking to voters and talking to them about the issues they care about and you wouldn't have to be so afraid of the voters. and in texas, you know, to tie it back to what reverend barbe just said, because i just could not agree more, voting is the tip of the spear. this is-- this is intertwined with so many issues that are vital to people's lives. and my constituents in texas

right now, if they live-- i have a lot of constituents if they lived in 38 other states, they would have health insurance because they would be eligible for medicaid expansion under the affordable care act passed by president obama. but because ey live in texas and because greg abbott is their governor they don't have healthcare. and that's what this is about, whether it's in the minimum wage where in texas it's still $7.25 an hour, or lack of access to healthcare, our or failing electric grid, republicans have failed consistently on these issues that are pocketbook, bread-and-butter issues for all americans, for all texans. and they continue to fail, and they continue to pass these anti-voter bills to try to hang on to power so they can benefit their big corporate donors and not the people they're elected to represent. >> alcindor: and, reverend rber, senate majority leader chuck schumer said he has told colleagues that there will be some sort of vote on voting right legislation in the future before the senate leaves for recess. that being said, talk a bit about whether or not you think

campaigns are showing enough urgency on this issue of voting rights. and, also, i wonder what do you make of the scaled back bills that we've seen democrats try to pass? >> i don't think they're showing enough urgency. i think the president needs to come to texas, go to west virginia, go to arizona. then pelosi and schumer need to crawl into the whale of congress. they need to make the connection between this crisis and the character of our democracy and say that we will not only have infrastructure but we're going to protect the infrastructure of people's wages and the infrastructure of our democracy, which iset vog. and we can do it all. they need to get manchion and sinema say we're not going to pass anything on infrastructure until you pass the infrastructure on voting. until you lift the essential workers you said you cared about-- 32 million of them that make less than $15 an hour-- tharnd not come out of this pandemic and still be in poverty. these are things we have been programming. we haven't raised the minimum wage for 12 years. the problem is when democrats

allow them to separate the issue. we can't separate the issues. they must be together. democrats must bring their caucus togher to block this non-constitutional filibuster. >> alcindor: in the 10 seconds we have left, i wa to ask you, representative turner, where do you see this goi? what is the end game here with republicans moving very quickly in passing voting bills, if democrats can't pass a federal bill? >> well, democrats have to pass a federal bill. that's where this has to end. we need the "for the people" act, we need the john lewis voting rights act with strong provisions to stop states like texas, georgia, and other place from passing discriminatory voting laws and discriminatory redistricting plans. that's when we need. that's how this has to end. >> alcindor: this is an important conversation, thank you so much reverend william brber and representative chris turner. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, no matter how high an olympian jumps, how hard they kick a ball, how fast they run, their amazing feats are governed by the laws of physics. learn how athletes use these rules to their advantage on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's 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 advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less.

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hell everyone. welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. they destroyed us. they want kill us. >> survivors of beirut port explosion condemn authorities and line up to feed a failing state. i'll speak to head of t lebanese red cross and journalist robin wright about iran's influence and its new president means for the united states. then. >> i do believe that fighting for the righto vote is as american as apple pie. >> access to the ballot is once again under threat in america, on the 56th anniversary of the voting rights act.