i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. president biden calls on world leaders and global business to "go big" to get the globe vaccinated and combat covid. then. the democratic divide -- a leading progressive lawmaker on conflicting priorities as the fate of president biden's agenda is uncertain and a possible government shutdown looms. plus. after ida -- how louisiana is struggling with an energy and housing crisis in the wake of the storm. >> we're still without everything. we've actually seen nobody to come and help. and it's -- nothing's changed. judy: and.

bob woodward and robert costa talked to more than 200 people in the trump and biden administrations about one of the most tumultuous transitions in american history. they join us to discuss their new book, "peril." all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160

years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bdo, accountants and advisors. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. >> the lemelson foundation, committed to improving lives in the u.s. and developing countries. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the biden administration today announced a new step to try to ease the massive global inequity around access to life-saving covid vaccines. the president announced that the u.s. would purchase an additional 500 million doses from pfizer, and donate it to other nations. >> it brings our total commitment of donated vaccines to over 1.1 billion vaccines to be donated. put another way, for every one shot we've administered to date in america, we've now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world.

as we do so, we should unite around the world on a few principles -- that we commit to donating, not selling, donating, not selling, doses to low and lower income countries. and that those donations come with no political strings attached. judy: now we turn to william brangham who has more on this, and on several other pandemic developments. william: that's right. there is so much going on with the pandemic, including their i say some actual good news on the horizon. first, the who reported that last week the number of covid cases and deaths had declined from 4 million to 3.6 million globally. secondly, some positive predictions here. a modeling group that works with the cdc says we might see similar declines herin the u.s. throughout the fall and into the winr. deaths have been climbing all mmer, about 2000 peoe dying every day america. their prediction as we might see

a similar dip back down into the hundreds of deaths only by march this winter. there is a lot of caveats involved, including the fact that we have to get a lot of kids vaccinated, but it could be good news. on the vaccine front, last week, the fda said that the evidence for booster shot, pfizer booster shots for the general population were not recommended, but they did recommend them for 65-year-olds and up and vulnerable populations. the cdc is looking on that and debating how that might rollout. back to this biden announcement we just heard. this is what critics he been saying all along he needs to be doing, to ramp up rich nations, to ramp up the spread of the vaccines to poorer nations. even so, some critics are looking at today and saying it is still not enough. just an hour ago, i talked with tom frieden, the former head of the cdc, now head of a group called "resolve to save lives"

and we talked about this exact issue. always good to have you another newshour. president biden said we would not get out of this pandemic with half measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions. he made this announcement of an enormous purchase of pfizer doses to donate to the world. does it meet that bar? >> there is a lot to like in the announcements from today, but unfortunately it is too little and too late. we need a different approach. we are billions of doses short and the missing link here is my dharna -- moderna. the united states tpayers paid for e invention they are selling. the safeguarding of the world is dependent on their technology d pfizer's scaling up massively. mrna vaccines are our insurance against variants and production

failures and our most hopeful way to get the world through this disaster. william: i want to get back to the pharmaceutical companies and a second, but back to the president. too little too late, what do you want him to be doing? >> credit where credit is due. the u.s. is donating hundreds of millions ofoses, they are accelerating the schedule. they are funding the delivery of vaccines, education administration programs, not just dumping them and hoping it will work out. that is very important. the real challenge is that there are too few doses being produced. we are likely to have a real shortage of the most effective vaccines through 2022 and because of that, we will have more risk of dangerous variants, slower recovery of travel and trade, more political instability, and millions of lives lost that could be saved.

william: in the past, you have been critical of the pharmaceutical companies. you said, people are dying because of the choices of my dharna -- moderna and pfizer. what are the things they could do to speed this effort more? >> the way it works really is that governments do a lot to make things possible for pharmaceutical companies that sell vaccines. they do the science, thereby the vaccines, they indemnify them against legal challenge, they educate doctors and patients, they by the vaccines at high cost. what many vaccine manufacturing companies do, but not these two, is understand they have a responsibility and have includes technology transfer when they cannot meet global need immediately. what has to happen is a combination of legal pressure, support, incentives, and ensuring they transfer

technology to entities that are able to scale up production of their vaccine much faster than is currently being scaled up. william: the companies argue we are making vacne as fast as we can, we did not decide who we sold them to, we sold them to the first buyers and those were the western nations and that these criticisms are unfair. >> it is true that these companies have done a great job making a great vaccine and scaling up within their capacities, the problem is we can't be held hostage to two companies and what they can do and one feels they can make with other companies. the companies and the biden administration are doing a lot, but what is needed and what is needed is not easy, it is hard. it means forcing the companies to do something they don't want to do. it means threatening legal action. it means's finding willing partners. but you know something, the stability of the world depends on it.

william: dr. thomas friedman, always good to see you. thank you. judy: we now take a different look at just how critical these vaccines can be. indonesia has recorded more than 4 million cases in the virus has killed more than 140,000 people there. nick schifrin explores how the u.s. and its allies are trying to achieve vaccine inroads in china's backyard. >> in indonesia's newly doug covid cemeteries the grievers , are barely old enough to wear a mask. row after row, column upon column, from the air, all symmetrical, as if pre-planned. but on the ground, these graves were dug so quickly, the names are written in pen. the flowers and the heart are fresh. at the pandemic's peak this summer, grave diggers in head to toe ppe buried more than two hundred bodies here, a day. across the country, the daily

death tl was 3000. at first, the medical savior was china. indonesia was the first country to approve sinovac outside of china. china sent indonesia its first sinovac shipment in december 2020. in january, president joko widodo received the vaccine on live television. it is a pattern repeated worldwide. china exported nearly one billion sinovac doses to more than 100 countries. it has created sinovac plants in 15 countries. indonesia has bought 120 5 million doses. but then, health care workers started getting sick, and dying. >> the cases made us feel overwhelmed. we feel like we want to scream. it's very exhausting. it is still a marathon. >> dr vera irawany is an icu doctor in jakarta. e has seen firsthand the strain health care system. between january and june, more than 350 healthcare workers caught covid. dozens died. the

majority of them, had received sinovac. >> many patients came to us with critical conditions even though they had been vaccinated. we were surprised because even though these people were vaccinated the result is that bad. >> a university of hong kong study published last july found the pfizer vaccine produced ten times the level of antibodies as sinovac. another study shows the efficacy rate is only 50 percent. >> i'm happy to announce that the sinovac/coronavac vaccine has been given who emergency use listing. >> but even though china never released efficacy data in april , the world health organization approved emergency use for sinovac in its vaccine distribution program, covax. >> i would say that at this point, putting forward donating or contributing sinovac to covax is no longer supported by the scientific evidence. >> chris beyrer is an epidemiologist at johns opkins university. he says the pfizer and moderna mrna vaccines are w

technology, while sinovac uses traditional technology that uses an inactive sars-cov-2 virus. scientists say the chinese company over-inactivated the virus, decreasing its efficacy. >> it's a very old school technology. and it turns out that it just doesn't generate the same level of immune responses. but particularly as the coronavirus has changed and evolved over time with these new variants of concern. >> in april, china's top dease control official admitted chinese vaccines don't have high protection rates. but earlier this month chinese , officials claimed the vaccine was effective against delta in preventing severe cases and death. >> the current vaccines remain effective against all variants of the virus. >> one epidemiologist at griffith university in australia advised to indonesian government. >> indonesia has 270 million

population. even the commitment from china is not even fit with half of our total population. but still that's a very, very signicant and very important step for for indonesia to start with their vaccination program. >> indeed, initially sinovac was indonesia's only choice. and indonesia's first trials showed the vaccine was 95% effective in preventing serious illness and death, although dropped from april to june, to 79%. >> can you imagine if we don't, we need to wait and then we don't have any protection. it will be very worse for indonesia. >> dr nadia tarmizi is the spokesperson for indonesia's vaccine program. >> we think if we don't have any protection with the vaccine, for example, if we need to wait until mrna vaccine available in our country, it's more we will have been facing a problem worse than the condition. at least there is still protection. >> the united states will

purchase half a billion doses. >> but sinovac's lower efficacy created a diplomatic opening. in june, the us donated 500 million doses to covax, including 3 million to indonesia. last month, dr. irawany received a moderna booster. others have received pfizer. >> we hope to get the best. if we talk about evidence, data, then the mrna vaccines are what is the best for now and are proven to be effective. >> but vaccine diplomacy remains a competition. last month on her first trip to southeast asia, vice president kamala harris planned to announce the u.s. would donate one million vaccines to vietnam. but during a 3-hour flight delay, china stepped in and announced it would donate two million of its own vaccines. and today, most of indonesia still only has access to sinovac. >> whatever vaccine that is available, it will give you protection. so, of course, sinovac will be still available.

>> the vaccine competition continued this week. yesterday chinese president xi , jinping promised to export another one billion vaccine doses this year. >> the donations come with no political strings attached. >> today, president biden announced the u.s. would donate an additional 500 million vaccines across the world. but global health experts say it is not enough. for indonesia, only 16 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. >> until now, we've had a lot of wealthy countries, of course, pre purchasing vaccines and hoarding vaccines so that covax, even if it had the money, didn't have the ability to purchase the high efficacy vaccines. >> and so the gravediggers continue their work. indonesia's cases are down from their peak, but in areas outside the main cities, scientists warn the worst wave is imminent. for the pbs newshour i'm nick schifrin. ♪

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west, we'll return to the full show after the latest headlines. (turn) late today the food and drug , administration approved booster shots of the pfizer vaccine for people 65 and older and americans at risk of serious illness. the booster dose can be given six months after completion of the first two shots. the u.s. federal reserve signal that may raise a benchmark interest rate in 2022 rather than in 2023 in order to control accelerating inflation. chairman jerome powell blamed continuing trip -- supply chain problems from the pandemic. >> those seem to be going to be with us at least for a few more months and perhaps into next year. so that suggests that inflation is going to be higher this year and i guess the inflation rates for next year and 2023 were also marked up, but just by a couple of tenths. stephanie: powell warned

congress that if it fails to raise the debt ceiling and defaults on the national debt, the economy could suffer severe damage. the fight over the debt ceiling remains at a stalemate tonight. a democratic l2 raised it passed to the house last night, but republican opposition in the evenly divided senate could event action. party leaders argued over who is responsible for the debt and a potential national default. >> if they choose to vote in favor of the default by a cynical political blame game it , will ultimately be the american people who will pay price and the american people will know who did this, the republican senate. >> my advice to this democratic government, the president, the house and the senate, don't play russian roulette with our economy. step up and raise the debt ceiling to cover all that you've been engaged in all year long.

stephanie: meanwhile, president biden met with top democrats to bridge divides between moderates and progressives that threaten a giant spending package totaling $3.5 trillion. senate talks on police reform hit a wall today. democrats said they have ended bipartisan negotiations to make officers liable for abuses and collect data on use. president biden and french president emmanuel macron will meet next month to further smooth tensions between the two governments that came after australia canceled a submarine deal with france in favor of buying american. mccrone agreed to send the french ambassador back to washington less than a week after he was recalled. the biden administration is allowing a large number of haitian migrants to be released into the u.s. rather than face immediate expulsion. the associated press reports many have been told to report to immigration offices within 60 days. white house press secretary jen psaki suggested today there

aren't enough available planes for quick deportations. >> there are a range of flights that are going to different parts of the world depending and those are in process. so if we're not, if there isn't a flight ready yet those individuals may be placed in alternatives to detention. stephanie: by some estimates, the camp at del rio, texas, held more than 14,000 people at one point. a federal judge dismissed all lawsuits in a massive sexual abuse case agains ohio state unersity. the judge said while the plaintiffs had viable claims that the former university dr. richard strauss abused hundreds of male students in the school failed to act, ohio's 20 year statute of limitations had expired. plaintiffs said they will appeal. still to come. a bumpy road ahead for the biden agenda in congress. how residents in louisiana are still struggling with critical

needs after i do. bob woodward and robert costa unpack their new booon the chaos around last year's election. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w ata studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: president biden's call to the president of france today attempted to ease tension over a deal with austrialia and the u.k. nick schifrin is back with the european union's top diplomat. nick: president biden says he is launching a new era of american diplomacy in coordination with the u.s.'s closest allies. but there are real disagreements between the u.s. and europe as they confront major challenges, including afghanistan and stalled nuclear talks with iran. to discuss that, i'm joined by

the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the european commission. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. residents biden and president macron say the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies. the two will meet at the end of october. president biden acknowledged the importance of france and strong defense. he expressed solidarity with france. does this call and statement repair the damage? >> yes, i think this statement has paved the way in order to overcome these difficulties. i had a meeting with the secretary of state and i he to say that this statement was what i had to say to him, so it was quite easy after this statement to reach agreements. nick: i want to zoom out beyond the sub deal.

president biden says he is prioritizing allies, but european diplomats have told me the administration didot listen to them on afghanistan, covid vaccines, on a travel ban, on trump era tariffs that are still there. the french foreign minister says biden's method is similar to donald trump, but without the tweets. do you agree? [laughter] >> this is a sharp sentence. the representatives and i can agree on that from the point of view of what does that represent, a lack of communication. but we have to try to overcome the situation. because we cannot afford to be divided because this is going to be used by people who are not exactly our friends. and also the recognition that the europeans have to have a

strong military capacity in order to share and more important part of the burden that represents the defense of the western world. nick: on that question of stronger european military capacity, you have talked about an independent force of 5000 european troops. do you foresee a day when you could actually deploy those troops over u.s. objections? >> why not? the u.s.ave decided to withdraw. president biden said at the united nations that it is for the first time in 20 years that the u.s. is not at war anywhere in the world. we europeans, we have to share a rt of our responsibility and for doing that, we have to have the capacity of deploying troops like you, americans are able to do. thanks to you, your troops, your

military it was possible to secure the airport at couple -- kabul. there will be problems in the neighborhood where you should not intervene and we should be able to do that on our own. nick: do you acknowledge that u.s. and nato officials would be can earned by that statement is made? >> i don't understand why a stronger europe can represent a concern for nato. the stronger europe will become of the stronger nato will be because we are part of nato, nothing about changing one thing by the other. as the president said today, the military capacity of the europeans is a complement to nato, a complement, not an alternative. we have to be able to add by our own in situations and places where we cannot expect the u.s. to intervene or nato to intervene. we have to share our part of the responsibility and we have to be able to act alone if needed.

nick: on iran, it has been about four months since europe and iran have met with any substantive dialogue. it has been about two months since the president was elected. do you acknowledge that it is iran that is unwilling to engage in serious dialogue today? >> to be honest, we have to recognize that only 25 days since the new minister of foreign affairs is in office. i had the opportunity to meet with him yesterday in person, long discussion. he assured me that they will go back to the negotiation tables in vienna, in austria. as the coordinator of the nuclear deal with iran, i will do my best to renew the deal and the u.s. to go back to the deal and the iranians to fulfill

fully their nuclear obligations. nick: the iranians have said they would resume the negotiations in the past and they have not made that step yet. do you believe there needs to be more leverage or pressure to make sure their resume these negotiations? >> it is not a matter of pressure, it is a matter of convincing them that they need an agreement. the iran economy and society is in a very bad state. they have been paying a high price for the closing of their capacity to support oil -- export oil. they need an agreement in order to restart the economy working. the only way of having this agreement is by going back to the negotiation table. nick: thank you very much. >> thank to you. thank you. ♪ judy: congress is again mired in

a logjam. it must act soon just to keep the federal government functioning. democratic leaders are navigating internal divides as they try to pass two bills that would together dole out trillions of dollars toward infrastructure, child care and combating climate change. lisa desjardins is here to walk us through what's happening. it's a lot to follow. help us understand. congress is tangled up over these two different issues, each of which could shut down the government. lisa: we are talking about government spending and the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling is not like a credit card limit. if we hit the debt ceiling, it would mean freezing most of america's bank accounts. would not be able to spend in the future. let's look at what were talking about. these are the deadlines. government spending, september

30 is whenhat runs out. the debt ceiling, likely would be hit in early to mid october. there is a government funding extension that has bipartisan support. the debt ceiling, republicans and the senate have vowed to vote no. you generally need 60 people. without republicans, very hard to pass things ike this. democrats put the government funding and the debt ceiling together and they passed to that out of the house. that now works its way toward the u.s. senate, where republicans plan to block both of them at o time, likely on friday, so these two fiscal crises, fiscal nightmares are tied together, and we have to watch very closely for what the offramp is. democrats may have to separate the bill. government shut down, less likely. the debt ceiling, i have to be

honest, this is as close as i have seen them toyed with this dangerous lever. we have to watch this day by day. judy: you have this other big stakes tangle among democrats, this is over the trillion dollar infrastructure bill and the much bigger health care, child care, and climate bill. lisa: let's go through and try to unpack all of this to make it simple and understandable. this is the democratic divide. this coming monday, the house is planning or has the deadline to vote on that infrastructure bill already passed by the senate, generally popular. moderates, that is their priority. it is going to affect most every part of this country. progressives, their priority is the larger bill, the build back better biden agenda. we sometimes call it reconciliation, they plan to pass it using 50 votes in the senate.

progressives have said we will not support the infrastructure bill in the house until the reconciliation bill moves through the senate. that is playing quite a gamble with both of these bills, especially because the truth is that the reconciliatio bill is not fully formed in eithe chamber and it is not clear where it stands rit now at three point $5 trillion in concept can make it through the senate. that is a bumpy road. so does the infrastructure bill. judy: we also learned that the negotiations that have been going on for months over police reform have fallen apart. lisa: this was incredibly significant news. i'm surprised it's not a bigger headline. democrats told me and others that they felt the two sides were too far apart, tim and senator tim scott, and they said it is not over the big issues anymore. democrats give up on their centerpiece issues of police immunity, he said it was over

things they thought were basic, even jt basic systemic reforms. they felt that senator scott was to the right of president trump and he did not think he could look victims' families in the eye and say they could prevent another loved one's death. democrats are going up on their own for the moment. tim scott says he wants to keep working, but the talks have fallen apart. judy: a lot of concern across the country about that issue. thank you very much. and earlier today, we spoke to a key figure in congress' efforts are in reconciliation and infrastructure, the democratic congresswoman from washington state and chair of the congressional progressive caucus. congresswoman, thank you very much for being with us. you have laid down what has been described as an ultimatum, that unless the senate passes this

$3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, you and other members of the progressive caucus will not support the infrastructure legislation, which we know there is suppo for in both parties. why not? >> thank you so much for having me on. the key is we are willing and able and ready to vote for both bills that deliver the entirety of the president's agenda to his desk. that is the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill. the agreement was made in the senate and just today 11 senators put out a statement saying that the only reason they voted for the bipartisan bill out of the senate was because they had a commitment that the reconciliation bill and the infrastructure bill would continue to be tied together and that we would not pass the bipartisan bill until the reconciliation bill was passed. we are sticking to that agreement. that is something we have set for the last three months. a majority of our members feel

strongly that we can't allow one piece to go forward, the roads and bridges, which is important, but a much smaller package, and not allow childcare to go forward, paid leave, not allow people to have affordable housing, not to take on climate change, those are the things that are in the build back at her act that are the president's agenda that we ran on. we are ready, willing, andble to vote for both bills, but first we need to pass the reconciliation bill and then we will vote for the infrastructure bill. judy: as you know, moderate members of your party are calling this -- one of them used the term political grandstanding -- they say that you are at least within shouting distance of getting that bipartisan infrastructure bill, but you are jeopardizing that because of the demands you are making about the larger bill. >> i would say respectfully to my colleagues there was an agreement made and because people wanted to grandstand, they put an artificial date of

monday, september 27 on the table to vote for both of these bills. we have not gotten the entirety of the package determined, so we need a little bit more time. there is nothing significant about monday. why wouldn't we just continue the work to get these bills both done, make sure the reconciliation bill is agreed to, then we will all happily vote for both? if you remember, the bipartisan infrastructure bill was supposed to be done three months befe it was done. it kept taking longer and longer. why is it that we allow that to go forward, but when it comes to the reconciliation bill about 70% of the priorities, meaning that women can go back to work and get childcare and paid leave and health care for everybody and community college come all these critically important things, that suddenly there is an arbitrary date. let us finish our work. let's finish our work and get

both bills to the president's agenda. this is the democratic agenda. judy: you are headed to the white house this afternoon along with other members ofongress to talk to the president about all this. he's going to try to reach some kind of a compromise. are you prepared to give ground, to agree to a smaller number in the bigger reconciliation bill? >> $3.5 trillion was the smaller number. our original request was for $6 trillion. $3.5 trillion was the agreement the senators made. i like to think about this as a zero dollar bill because all of it is going to be paid for by taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals, something that makes the package even more popular across the country, when you tell people that the richest people in this country are going to pay their fair share. the number is not arbitrary.

it comes from being able to provide all of these things. if sebody wants to propose that is too much, tell me what you are going to cut out. unless i see that, i have no way to make a determination. judy: do you think it is possible you could see bh bills go down because of this pdisagreement? >> no, i really think we are all part of the same team there are a lot of my members who don't like the bipartisan bill. they actually think that there are some provisions that would hurt some of our goals around climate justice and climate change. and yet, they are willing to be big adults in the room and say i know i'm not going to love everything, but i need to get the reconciliation bill so i can address all these other priorities and make transformational changes. we need conservative democrats to do the same thing.

we are working on the reconciliation bill. they will have to come to the table and recognize it as the democratic agenda, the president's agenda we are pushing for. judy: one separate issue, we learned today that negotiations between the two houses, between the two parties to come up with an agreement on a police reform bill have fallen apart. what can democrats do now on their own, if anything? >> it is just heartbreaking to know that. i know that senator booker and karen bass and others worked so hard on this agreement to get it to be bipartisan, to try to get 60 votes, but let me just say that this is another example of how the filibuster is preventing movement on this critically important issue of police accountability, of fairness, and justice in policing , and the problem is in the senate.

i understand there are some good republican senators try to work on a deal, but getng 10 additional votes from a senate that has not been good on civil right, voting rights is a pipe dream. i think we have to reform the filibuster for issues around -- i think we need to reform it period, but we should at least have carveouts for things like voting rights, police reform, and so many other important civil rights and constitutional rights issues. judy: filibuster certainly enough for another conversation. we are going to leave it there. congresswoman, thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ judy: hurricane ida left a devastating wake, power outages, extreme heat, and a housing crisis continue to take a toll.

robbie chavez has this report. >> for brittany it feels like hurricane ida hit southeast louisiana three weeks ago and never left. >> we are still without everything. we have seen no to come and help. >> we are feeling a bit forgotten? >> we are forgotten. it is a fact, not a feeling. >> she lives in a public housing complex in houma, about 60 miles from new orleans. the hurricane tore through with the winds of about 150 miles per hour. there were open -- over one million power outages across the region. lights are back on now for many, but brittany, her partner, and their three-year-old son are among the thousandss still in the dark. >> it is like a third world country, but we know how to survive and that is what you're doing.

we are surviving. we are not living life happy, we are surviving. >> last week, the housing authority responsible for the complex put a message on facebook that said residents could not return. that note is all they have heard from the authority. representatives did not return our requests for comment. in the aftermath of hurricane ida, an emerging housing crisis grows. hundreds are living on porches, intense, or even in their cars, dozens remain in shelters. >> these people literally have nowhere to go. >> hannah adams is a staff attorney helping low income tenants. >> a lot of people are faced with this difficult choice. are they going to sleep in eir cars come asleep in a two-bedroom house with 16 relatives, or are they going to drive 8-10 hours away to a place where they can find an apartment and/or a hotel room, but where

they're going to lose their job? >> you have been living here? joseph is living and attend where his family's trailers were badly damaged. he is not going anywhere no matter the living conditions. >> we are from louisiana. we are going to get through it. take care of one another, not just family. that is the only way south louisiana is going to get through this. >> louisiana's governor's pleading for help. unmet housing needs could top $2.5 billion. so far, the federal emergency management agency has approved more than $220 million in housing assistance. local leaders say it is not just the money, they are simply in sperate need of housing units. one parish president pressed

fema for more temporary housing on a call last week. about a quarter of the house and his parish are completely destroyed. >> it was going to be 45-60 days before we got the stuff in place and i can't bridge the gap that long. we have an employee who works every day for us and goes to sleep at a bridge house because he lost everything. i can't ask him to do that for another 30-60 days. >> in the meantime, nonprofits are filling the gap. sbp is helping residents salvage what is left of homes. >> i have noted in my life. my grandmother rocked us in that rocker and now we have to throw it away. >> building back will be nearly impossible with no insurance, a

fixed income, and an 80-year-old mother with alzheimer's. >> i've heard people say they lost everything, but i never knew what it felt like to lose everything. >> it is neighbors that knee worry about most in a region where the recovery has all but stalled. >> we are fine, but to people that aren't blast in the ways that we are blessed, they are not eating every day. you never know what you've got until it is gone and it is just sad. >> i'm robbie chaz in southeast louisiana. ♪ judy: the first draft of history is being written about the final

chaotic days of donald trump's presidency and the earliest days of joe biden's. in a new book by washington post journalist bob woodward and robert costa, they reveal the alarm and the lengths that then president trump's top advisers went to to prevent him from acting on his worst impulses. the title of the book is "peril" and they join us now. welcome back to pbs. >> good to see you. judy: before we talk about details, this is your third book looking at donald trump. how is he different, was he different at the end of his term then he was at the beginning? >> he is always shocking and different, but always the same. in a way, the reporting on trump is a quest. who is he, what does he really care about, what ac doing, what

is his political appeal to so many people in the country? if you zoom in on the reality now, it is the idea that he -- when nixon left and resigned, he did not go around and campaign. trump is campaigning. judy: he is campaigning. robert costa, so much important reporting, including about how trump's advisors at different points, at many points were trying to keep him from carrying out acts that would have either violated the constitution or been purely illegal. there is one example i want to ask you about. it's 2020. the attorney general bill barr was being asked by the president to ok in order that would take all 10 million american citizens who were the children of undocumented immigrants -- because he id, let's just say

they won't be -- and i won't get into all the details -- but there were people around the president to agreed with him, the attorney general said no. help us understand why someone to long and some didn't. >> the answer is complicated because these characters in peril and during this moment in american history are complicated. our reporting shows that attorney general bill barr was a political ally. he went to the president saying heeeds to reform his behavior, he uses some words we can't say on pbs about trying to corral the president for the political center. he was enabling president trump, but on issues he was trying to pull him away from the more far right element of the republican party, but whether it was him or others, we keep seeing no one was able to contain president trump. that is what chairman millie

decided to take some kind of behind-the-scenes actions to make sure catastrophe did not happen. judy: we already done some reporting about general milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs, who got in touch with his chinese counterpart to say we are not planning to come after china, but there are other pieces in the booabout general milley that suggest he was genuinely worried. >> he was. trump has said tt what general milley does -- did was treasonous. he is trying to protect the country in moments of crisis four days before the election. he gets intelligence that the chinese think we are going to attack them. this is one ofhe harry us to moments for somebody in the military, that the adversary might think we are going to

attack them, which could invite a pearl harbor strike first move on the other side. in the panic -- and i mean it was a crisis -- to talk to the chinese counterpart and say, no, we don't mean that, we are not going to attack you. he says some things that have been interpreted -- like when he said if we are going to attack you, i will call you. what he means in context, if you look at page 129 in the book, what he is saying to the neral in china is, look, we will be talking, there are tensions, but this is not a time when we are going to attack you. interesting and may be important to history, the general said, i

believe you, i accept you at your word. judy: when it comes to attorney general bill barr, lindsey graham, a number of people advised president, it looked like they were unquestioning going along with him. in your reporting, they are telling you, i had fferent ideas. how do you know when to believe them? >> it is not about believing them, it is about charting what they do, what they say. actions matter in politics and policy. you see with senator graham, it is not about us believing him, because we see him twist and turn in our story. at one time saying president trump is going way outside of the bounds on the election, at other times he is saying this man must run in 2024. judy: you referred a moment to go to president trump, do you think you will run again? >> yes. our reporting shows and he has

been beating people and saying, i'm not going to announce yet, but telling his supporters, you will be happy with what i do. but nothing is certain here. >> that quote from brad parscale, he said, the former campaign manager for trump, he said if he runs again, others leave he will, he will run because of vengeance. that will be the motivating factor. the people around president trump are people like steve bannon who told the president, we need to kill the biden presidency in the crib. judy: part of the book is about president biden. bob woodward, you got interesting reporting about his relationship with his closest advisors and what they are trying to keep him from doing. they don't like him doing unscripted events. there are points where republicans and others are looking at this white house and

saying, they are keeping the president back, they are keeping him from what he wants to do. how did you end up reading that? >> they may be trying, but i think biden is going to do what he wants. we show him in private meetings regularly being question man, be very tough on people. where did that come from? are you sure? give me the data. he is somebody that is a tough boss. at the same time in afghanistan, which is so important, tony blinken and austin, the secretary of defense, in march formally made proposals to president biden, slow down the pullout, do it in increments. this is the criticism, saying biden should have done that. judy: president biden, so much on his plate right now. based on your reporting, does he

understand the congress, the u.s. senate that he served in, that it has changed? >> he has adapted. you see this man of the senate because he was there for 36 years, he has adapted to a changing democratic party. one of his closest allies is senator bernie sanders, his primary foe in 2020, now working in tandem with him on infrastructure. it is now the centrists who are causing him the mos headaches at times. judy: the book is "pero." thank you both and congratulations. ♪ judy: and that is the newshour for tonight, but before we go, i

have a special shout out for a member of our team who is moving on. he is our senior broadcast producer, who has grown up at the newshour. [applause] he has been one of the people in my ear every night we are on the air. thank you for 18 years of extraordinary contributions and we wish you the best at your next home. we are going to miss y. i'm judy woodruff and for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the landscape has changed and not for the last time. the rules of businessre being reinvented with a more flexible workforce by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for

whatever happens next. >> people who knowknow bdo. >> consumer cellular's goal has been to help people communicate and connect. we offer no contract plans and our service team can help find one that fits you. ♪ >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >>

lidia: buon giorno. i'm lidia bastianich, and teaching you about italian od has always been my passion. i want to taste it. assaggiare. it's all about cooking together... hello. ...as i re-create childhood memories... good to the last drop. ...restaurant classics, and new family favorites. isn't that everybody's favorite part? whatever you're baking, lick the spoon. tutti a tavola a mangiare. venite! announcer: funding provided by... announcer: at cento fine foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic italian foods by offering ov 100 specialty italian products for the american kitchen. cento -- trust your family with our family. announcer: grana padano -- authentic, italian, rich in tradition yet contemporary.