captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: biden agenda battle. progressives are forced to sacrifice some of their top priorities, as democrats scramble to reach a deal on the president's spending bill. then, bomb cyclone. a turbulent weather system threatens millions of americans, as the storm makes its way across the country, spawning floods, tornadoes, and hurricane-force winds. and, "rethinking college." how jobs requiring a four-year degree are fueling income inequality, while disproportionately affecting people of color, and rural americans of all races. >> when you put a bachelor's degree screen on a job, you exclude almost 70% of african americans, almost 80% of

latino workers, and almost 70% of rural workers, of all races. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway.

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>> woodruff: congressional democrats spent this tuesday in a rush, trying to work out the contours of a major proposal backed by president biden, that would steer federal dollars toward climate initiatives, expand the u.s. social safety net, and change some aspects of the american tax system. but, whether progressive and moderate democrats fall in line behind a single proposal remains up in the air tonight. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: on capitol hill, house democratic leadership insists a historic deal remains within reach, despite distance between the party's moderates and progressives. >> we have people who have different perspectives. all of those perspectives are being heard and respected, and at the end of the day, i think we will land in a manner that brings everyone along. >> desjardins: but as negotiations wear on, a number of key issues still remain open. those include four weeks of paid

family leave; medicare expansion; an expansion of medicaid in states without it; antaxes, including energy taxes. on the house floor, members of the progressive caucus made their pitches for a more sweeping piece of legislation. >> we cannot tell those families who finally received the child tax credit that the clock has struck midnight and they can no longer receive it. >> altogether, the build back better agenda will make sure that millions of people in this cuntry, and in my home state of texas, gain affordable healthcare coverage. >> desjardins: on the senate side, democratic leadership remained upbeat about reaching a deal soon. majority leader chuck schumer. >> democrats will keep working until we're able to reach an agreement and pass this transformational legislation. >> desjardins: senate democrats need all 50 votes in their caucus, because republicans remain in lockstep opposition to the reconciliation plan. minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> this is a 50/50 senate, a three-seat majority in the house.

the american people are not asking for any of this. >> desjardins: at the white house, press secretary jen psaki was optimistic, despe democrats' slim margins. >> i think wt we're talking about here is the realities of governing, negotiating, having 50 members of the senate-- not 60 members of the senate who are democrats-- and the fact that we are still on track to get a historic package through congress, without precedent in history. >> desjardins: one of the most difficult of those 50 senate democratic votes to secure has been joe manchin of west virginia. he torpedoed some of the proposals in the earlier $3.5 trillion plan, calling for a much narrower package. today, at the economic club of new york, manchin acknowledged he felt pressure as the democrat's swing vote. >> this position, i guess, i wouldn't wish it on anybody. >> desjardins: but when asked about both the reconciliation and infrastructure bills passing in the next few months, he was hopeful. >> i sure do think there's a high probability that's going to happen.

>> desjardins: what exactly happens-- and how long it takes-- are still unknown. >> woodruff: and lisa is here with me now to report on where things stand. here we go again, lisa. it was a week ago the democrats said they thought they would have a framework within days. they have made progress, but you're also talking about it getting more complicated. how so? >> reporter: that's right. i think thnumber of marbles on the board increased. we thought there were just a few open issues, now many. everything from a methane tax, family leave, vouchers, medicaid, prescription drugs, housing money, universal pre-k, salt, the state and local taxes, all of the things are in open discussion of how big or small they go. so i think democrats have opened up more areas. still i think they're making closer progress. >> i think they will come up with a deal but it's gotten more difficult. one thing they did come out with tonight, though, judy, they have made a decision on taxes,

corporate taxes. they have a official proposal. democrats say they have agreed and kyrsten sinema is on board with a 15% minimum corporate tax, one piece of a larger tax proposal that shows you how much is ahead and questions about whether or not that infrastructure bill will be attached to this or not. speaker pelosi and the progressive pramila jayapal seem to have different opinions about that issue tonight. >> woodruff: very interesting and could be significant. so the democrats talked about either a framework or a vote on build back better this week. what does it look like. >> reporter: this has been a strange time. some of the timing estimates almost seemed like fantasyland to many of us who have been covering congress and the people who have been watching. i do not see how a vote is possible in the senate this week. a framework perhaps but they have a long way to go. to give a picture of how unusual the negotiations are, usually there's one or two meetings of key figures, today meetings were

happening everywhere ad hoc. i saw kyrsten sinema in the president's chair of the senate, running the senate, and in order to speak to her, elizabeth warren came with ron wyden to talk to her in the chair of the is that this. senator manchin, senator sanders talked to him going down the escalator. things are happening in an impromptu, unpredictable way. the energy is high to get there, but at the same time getting tired and they want to have to keep the momemtum going if they want something in the next few days. >> woodruff: whatever happened to blind closed doors and smoke-filled rooms? >> reporter: it's out of earshot. i need them closer to my earshot. so just as bad for me. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, following it all, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, f.d.a. advisers

recommended that the agency approve pfizer's covid-19 vaccine for five- to 11-year- olds. they said the benefits outweigh a rare side effect of heart inflammation, mostly in boys. and, deborah birx, who was former president trump's covid coordinator, now says that he was distracted by the election, and that pandemic response efforts suffered as a result. she has told a congressional panel that this led to more than 130,000 avoidable deaths. the pentagon is warning that the islamic state in afghanistan could be able to strike at the u.s. within six to 12 months. undersecretary of defense collin kahl gave that assessment at a u.s. senate hearing today. he said that it is unclear if afghanistan's taliban rulers can ta on isis. in sudan today, the new military ruler defended monday's coup, claiming his actions helped prevent a civil war. general abdel-fattah burhan

said officials in the deposed government could face trial for fomenting discontent and trying to incite rebellion in the army. >> ( translated ): this issue reached a deadlock, and the armed forces had a clear choice. so we took the decision to return, back to the popular revolution, its luster and laurel, and the possibility of achieving their hopes. we want to continue achieving the demands of the people, and achieving the state of freedom, peace, and justice. >> woodruff: later, the associated press reported that the ousted prime minister has been allowed to go home, under heavy security. meanwhile, protesters returned to the streets of khartoum today to demonstrate against the takeover. several people were killed yesterday in clashes with security forces. state media in iran say that a cyber attack closed gas stations across the country today. fuel pumps were turned off as frustrated drivers waited in long lines for stations to re-open.

the disruption affected those trying to use smart cards to buy cheaper, subsidized fuel. there was no word on who might have carried out the hack. the head of the united nations sounded an urgent call today for world leaders to act on global warming. secretary-general antonio guterres spoke days before leaders gather for a climate summit in scotland. he said they must be bold, if they really are serious about curbing greenhouse gas emissions. >> the clock is ticking. the emissions gap is the result of a leadership gap. but leaders can still make this a turning point to the future, instead of a tipping point to climate catastrophe. >> woodruff: the u.n.'s environment program reports that existing commitments from the world's biggest emitters still fall short of what is needed. much of the nation is dealing tonight with powerful storms that have brought extreme winds

and rain and triggered floods and mudslides. john yang has our report. >> yang: an early nor'easter brought heavy rains and intense winds to the northeast today-- the governors of new york and new jersey declaring emergencies. >> look at this strong tornado. >> yang: in the midwest, residents in missouri and illinois were only beginning to assess damage from a string of tornadoes that touched down sunday. all, as the west coast also tries to recover from two storms that converged this past weekend, bringing record-setting rains to an area suffering a historic drought. one was a "bomb cyclone"-- a storm that intensifies quickly as the atmospheric pressure drops. the other was an "atmospheric river"-- a long plume of moisture pulled in from the pacific ocean. with them came high winds, sounding an eerie whistle from san francisco's golden gate bridge; heavy rains, which downed trees and knocked out power to 380,000 customers... >> they hit our master bedroom

in the corner and dropped over the house, on our cars. >> yang: ...and flash flooding, that blocked cars on highways and streets, and lead to rock- and mudslides. >> we've lived here 20 years, never seen it this high. >> my whole garage is up to my kneecaps. everything is floating around. >> yang: electricity to most of those california customers has been restored, and in the short term, the rains may have helped douse some of the state's wildfires. but, it's unclear how much they'll help with the long-term drought. scientists say more frequent and severe weather like this is a symptom of a warming planet, and likely to continue. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: president biden has rejected a second attempt by former president trump to invoke executive privilege in a probe of the u.s. capitol assault. a select committee of the u.s. house of representatives sought documents on the january 6 attack. the president already blocked

mr. trump's initial attempt to invoke executive privilege. and on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 15 points to close at 35,756-- another record. the nasdaq rose nine points. the s&p 500 added eight, also closing at a new high. still to come on the newshour: what's at stake for families, as democrats weigh dropping family leave from the president's spending bill. congress takes social media giants to task over how their platforms impact the mental health and privacy of children and teens. one afghan woman's emotional journey, from escaping the liban, to resettling in rural america. and, much more.

>> woodruff: as we reported, democrats are trying to whittle down the price tag of their social spending bill, and among the ideas that could be cut is a national paid family leave program. president biden originally proposed 12 weeks. as we reported, democrats have tentatively agreed to cut that to four weeks, and even further cuts are still under consideration. as this hangs in the balance, we checked in with people across the country about how this issue has impacted their lives. >> hi, i'm raena boston. i am from tampa, florida, and i work in human resources for a professional services firm. >> my name is kris garcia. i live in denver, colorado, and i am a mechanical assembler, and i am also a ramp agent for a major airline company. >> my name is nya marshall. i am a restaurateur from the great city of detroit, michigan. >> my name is christina hayes. i'm from inkster, michigan. at my previous job, i was

working in a call center for a cable company, and i did not have access to paid leave at that time. so, i had to work and struggle because i'm a lupus warrior. >> between both jobs, i maybe have three weeks total, but not necessarily concurrently. >> i am two weeks postpartum, so i have a two-week-old, and i am on my second week of paid leave. we have, i believe, a total of 14 weeks paid total. we can go up to six months unpaid after that point. and it's been a huge difference between my previous postpartum experiences. i have two other children. >> i am a small business. i own a restaurant in the city of detroit called ivy kitchen and cocktails. we do not offer paid leave, currently. we simply can't afford it. restaurant margins are already small, and since the pandemic, they've even gotten more narrow, if you will. >> in 2009, actually had to take my dad off of life support while

i was at work. so, at the time, i worked as an assistant manager for an auto parts company, and i had been requesting some time off for several months to try and go down and be with my father. unfortunately, i kept getting denied. >> treatment for lupus includes, like, regular doctor visits, chemo treatments, steroid treatments. so, due to not having paid leave, i was not going to my doctor appointments and getting my check-ups that i needed. and it came down to the point where my health made the decision for me, and i ended up passing out at work and had to be taken out on a stretcher. >> i didn't even get to see them really bury my father, because i left, to come back to work. so, all in all, i ended up out of work for almost a week, about a week and a half. and financially, it took me almost 6.5 months to recover. >> going into this leave,

knowing that i had 14 weeks paid, not only did it reduce the stress, but i also felt valued, as a person who just happens to be a part of a partnership that gives birth, that my time and my contributions are valuable. >> my restaurant is a labor of love for my community. you know what i mean? i'm not getting rich off of it at all. and so, if i were forced to do something like that, and i would really strongly have to evaluate the total cost of implementing that program. and might even actually close my doors. i'm not sure. >> woodruff: those personal stories are a good illustration of what this debate over paid family leave is all about. let's widen out now to look at the larger situation in the u.s. jody heymann studies this as part of her work at the world policy analysis center at u.c.l.a.

jody heymann, welcome to the "newshour". first of all, give us a sense of how much of the developed world already does offer some sort of paid leave for ca employees. >> nearly the entire world. not just high income but low and middle income countries offered paid leave. so 181 countries out of 192 offer paid sick leave, even more, 185 offer paid materty leave. about half as many paid leave for dads. it's overwhelmingly what countries do. >> woodruff: there's still a lot we don't know about what congress is discussing and certainly not what they're going to end up with, but the reporting is that what was in the original proposal, twelve weeks of paid family leave, they're looking at cutting that possibly to four weeks. how much difference would that make? >> going down to four weeks would be a huge loss. i think we just have to think about the circumstances. first, someone getting sick. if someone has cancer, they're

not going to be treated and well four weeks later. if someone has a heart attack, being able to return to physical labor that fast, not lkely. and importantly, we know we can afford it, again, over 130 countries actually offer twelve weeks or more. so how can they afford it? because it saves money to do it, among other things. it makes people healthier. but we wouldn't have had the kind of shutdowns with covid if we'd had better paid sick leave. >> woodruff: again we don't know how much government subsidy could end up being involved, but as we heard from small business owners like nia marshall, they're concerned if they have to do this, it could cost them, they might not be able to keep their business open. >> i think it's incredibly important to speak to small businesses on this. here's what i would like to say to our colleagues who own or run small businesses -- again,

nearlyll the world covers small business without exemption for size. why? because government helps. so the restaurateur we heard from, she shouldn't have to pay the paid leave, that's what the social insurance system is for and that's how most to have the world does it. they do it in ways that government support for the insurance system means it's not coming out to have the pockets -- out of the pockets of small business. importantly, small business can save money because their workers will be healthier because there will be less spread of infectious disease, less chronic illness, their healthcare costs can come down. >> woodruff: jody heymann, one of the arguments from some republican members of congress is they might be willing to go along with parental leave to take kiir of a child but not so much for family leave or care giving for another family member. what about making that distinction?

>> i think it's important we talk about all three elements -- the parental leave, which you already mentioned, the paid sick leave, i want to high light again we just came out of this pandemic, you know, trillions of dollars because of the spread. we are one of the few countries -- all of the countries that didn't have national sick leave, they did worse in the pandemic. so there's a lot of savings in pandemic years but also in regular years with influenza, lower rates of chronic conditions. what about the third kind of leave for a family member who's sick? what thing we can think about is can that leave be shared across multiple family members, so for each family member it's shorter but the total amount of leave is there. >> woodruff: no question. in many cases, we're looking at individuals at the lower end of the income scale, the ones who most need this kind of support. jody heymann, who's with the world policy analysis center at

u.c.l.a., thank you very much. >> thank you so much, judy. >> woodruff: a senate committee is widening its investigation into the impact that social media platforms have on children, teens and young adults, with more apps facing congressional scrutiny. william brangham has our coverage, beginning with this report. and a warning: this story contains sensitive subject matter, including discussion of suicide. >> i don't think parents are going to stand by while our kids and democracy become collateral damage to a profit game. >> brangham: on catol hill, executives from youtube, snapchat, and tiktok were grilled by lawmakers on what these wildly-popular platforms are doing to protect

children online, and exactly what kinds of material kids are able to access. >> kids as young as nine have died doing viral challenges on tiktok. >> brangham: today marks the first time representatives from tiktok and snapchat have appeared before congress. among the many issues lawmakers asked about? how to prevent dealers selling counterfeit pills and illegal substances to young people. >> if a kid had just walked into, say, a pharmacy, they wouldn't be able to buy that, or get that. but in this case, they can get on your platform and just find a way to buy it. >> senator, it's not just happening on our platform. it's happening on others. so therefore, we need to work collectively-- >> i think there's other ways to do this, too-- as creating liability when this happens, so maybe that will make you work even faster, so we don't lose another kid. >> brangham: for much of the hearing, lawmakers pushed the executives to further limit certain features available to kids, such as autoplay of

videos, targeted ad content, and the like and dislike buttons. these can keep children online longer, and potentially expose them to bullying. executives stressed they have systems in place to flag harmful content and illegal activity, and that efforts to combat misinformation have been expanded. the executives also pledged to share more data and research on how their platforms impact teens and young adults. but, they often fell short of pledging their full support for a number of bills already introduced. and, lawmakers continued their calls for more transparency. >> what's your response to the "wall street journal" article that describes in detail how tiktok's algorithm serves up sex and drug videos to minors? >> we disagree with that being an authentic experience that an actual user would have. >> brangham: one point of contention was how these platforms can ensure that children only see content that's appropriate for their age. >> the content that appears on snapchat is appropriate for the age group of 13 and above... >> i beg to differ. i had my staff create a snapchat

account for a 13-year-old-- for a 15-year-old child. they were immediately bombarded with content that i can most politely describe as wildly inappropriate for a child, including recommendations for, among other things, an invite to play an online, sexualized video game, and articles about porn stars. >> any online sexual video game should be age-gated to 18 and above, so i'm unclear why that content would've shown up. >> we heavily invest in making >> we heavily invest in making sure that all of our users, but particularly kids on the platform, have a safe experience. >> i'm quoting from searches that we've done:“ songs to slit your wrists by," "vertical slit wrist," "how to

do the self-harm and suicide videos violate youtube's content guidelines? >> senator, i would certainly welcome following up with you on the video you might be referencing. >> brangham: legislators also wanted to know what data was being collected about children by these platforms. >> tiktok actually collects less in many categories than many of our peers. >> which of your competitors or other companies that you're aware of collect more information? >> facebook and instagram, for example. >> being different from facebook is not a defense. that bar is in the gutter. >> brangham: while the companies tried to separate themselves from each other, lawmakers from both sides agreed more action is needed to ensure kids are safe online. for more on how these platforms are affecting kids' mental health, we turn to jean twenge. she is a professor of psychology, and the author of "i-gen: why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious,

more tolerant, less happy-- and completely unprepared for adulthood." jean twenge, great to have you back on the "newshour". so as we heard today, a lot of concern on capitol hill expressed about the potential for these platforms to be causing harm to young people. what do we know about the actual research as to whether or not these things do cause harm? >> yeah, so, generally speaking, the more time a kid or a teen spends in front of a screen, the more likely they are to be depressed, anxious to harm themselves. there's gradations to this. watching videos is strong -- isn't as strongly linked to depression as, say, being on social media, but especially when kids and teens spend a lot of time online, it leaves less time for sleep, it leaves less time for interacting with people face-to-face, leaves less time

for running around outside and exercising, and, so, perhaps, as a result, what we've seen is a huge increase in teen depression right at the time of these platforms became very popular. >> reporter: so do you feel that that -- is this causal or is this a correlation? i mean, do you feel confident that it's these platforms themselves or simply, as you're describing, sort of opportunity cause, that if you've got a screen in front of your face you're not doing all these other things that we know are healthier for kids. >> yeah, so this is complex. there are many, many issues at stake here. one is that time spent, that especially when it gets excessive to four, five, six, seven, eight hours a day, it crowds out time for things that are more beneficial. then there's the question of content, which was discussed a lot today, that there's a lot of negative content that kids get

exposed to on these platforms. and as to whether it's causal, that's been a really hard question to answer. there have been some studies that have, say, had college students cut back on their social media use, and they found, after three weeks, the ones who cut back on their social media use were more mentally healthy than those who continued their usual high level of use. so that really points in the direction of at least some of that causation is going from using these platforms especially many hours a day toward depression and other mental health issues. >> reporter: so how does this body of research translate? if i'm a parent debating what to do with my child and devices and social media, what is the current state of best advice for parents? >> parents are in a tough position. this is one reason we need more policy and regulation in this area because you have the fear that if your kid doesn't use

social media then they will be left out, and if they do use social media, then there's these mental health issues, negative content, and so on. so i think there's two important things, first, put off how your kid gets social media for as long as you can. ten is too young. actually, the law, you need to be 13. even 13 is pretty young to start with social media. try to put it off to 15, 16 or even later. then the second aspect is just to make sure that they're using social media and video platforms in moderation, that it's not taking over their life, crowding out time that could be spend on other things. if they want to spend an hour or two a day outside school on these platforms, not a big deal, it's not really linked to depression. it's when the use gets to four, five, six hours and beyond that it's much more concerning for mental health and other issues. >> reporter: really is a

remarkable social experiment we're conducting now. jean twenge of san diego state university, always good to see you. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: thousands of afghan refugees are now in the united states , following their evacuation as the taliban took over afghanistan. those refugees are mostly scattered among eight military bases around the united states. but, some 6,500 have been released for resettlement here. nick schifrin has one of their stories. >> schifrin: on the morning of august 15, when the afghan government still led the country, muqaddesa yourish was where she always was on sunday, a work day-- in her office, as the commissioner of afghanistan's civil service. >> i was in office when my mom called me and she wanted me to

be home. i told her, listen, i have to be in office because i have to wrap up a couple of things, so i might be home around 6:00. and then she told me, it's over. >> schifrin: for 20 years, yourish had worked to create a modern, inclusive afghanistan. she'd been a public servant, a former deputy minister of commerce, an n.g.o. leader, a voice of her generation. but that day, it all unraveled. the taliban seized the presidential palace, the city, and the country. muqaddesa and her family moved from house to house to avoid taliban fighters now on patrol. did you feel like your life was in danger if certain members of the taliban found you? >> once they took over, reports started coming in, from, trying to identify former government officials. we left our entire house because we didn't have the time to pack. i would have just taken a final

look at our house, and at my room, my books. i just didn't have the chance. you know, i only have a couple of minutes to pack my entire life in a suitcase, and i just-- >> schifrin: like so many, she rushed for the airport. she was one of the lucky ones. she got through the chaos at the gate, and onto a flight destined to the u.s. >> when we got very close to the airplane on the-- on the ramp, i think that's when it hit me, that the, you know, i was-- i was leaving, and i was flying out and leaving my soul back in the country. so, everybody that i knew who was boarding the plane with us were crying. every single person.

it's the first time i'm talking about this, and it's not easy. it's not easy to try to leave home, everything. and nobody does it, unless and until they fear for the safety of themselves and their family. >> schifrin: 6,800 miles away, in rural wisconsin, lies sparta, a town of 10,000, where american flags fly on main street, and nearby fort mccoy has stood sentry for more than a century. it became yourish's temporary home. a spartan sanctuary, disconnected from the life she had to leave behind. recently, fort mccoy invited a pool camera to film afghan refugees' life on base. there are more than 12,000 refugees here, half children.

they take classes, eat food-- now certified halal-- and live in barracks usually reserved for service members. >> the spaces are certainly shared. we-- you don't get to have your private room, you know, so you have to put up with the fact that you will be sharing your space with other families. it certainly took all of us a while, including the officials and the administration here at the fort mccoy, to, you know, and we certainly feel grateful for the generosity and the warmness and the hospitality that we have received here. the bigger question for all of us here is, how do we-- what will the future hold for-- for every one of us? and to try to think of just equipping yourself with the-- with the right tools to start a new life over, when you already

had one. >> schifrin: the old way of life is being attacked. some taliban fighters have beaten women for protesting. the taliban detain afghans they accuse of being criminals-- sometimes, parade them in the streets. and, in the central square of the western city of herat last month, hanged a man from a crane. >> every day, it brings a new-- something new, a new atrocity that the taliban have committed. making sure that women disappeared from the public spaces, and then to look back and know that you were actively part of creating that progress. >> schifrin: and now, a second catastrophe: economic meltdown. banks don't have cash. families are selling furniture, so they can buy food. the taliban government can't pay people's salaries. and the u.s. and its allies are refusing to release billions of dollars in reserves. >> i would like to call on the world to tell them that the people of afghanistan don't

deserve being punished like this, and that, if anything, in the past 20 years, the people of afghanistan have shown the resilience that the world might not have known. >> schifrin: resilience from two decades of progress-- (♪ piano ♪) in 16-year-old maram atayee's piano virtuosity. millions of afghan girls who embraced education as soon as the taliban were overthrown in 2001. a thriving media scene, including youtube shows. and independent tv channels, watched by millions. this weekend, after our interview, yourish and her family resettled in washington, d.c. >> we feel very lucky to have muqaddesa yourish. >> schifrin: and she received an award from former secretary of state hilary clinton for being a change-maker. >> join me in my desperate hope for the country, because to do anything, you first need to believe in something, and i still believe in my country.

>> schifrin: yourish insists that she and other afghans who had to flee are no victims. and, on that final day in kabul, she realized she needed to either g busy living, or get busy dying. >> dying is not always physical. if i would have been back home right now, i just would have been a silent observer. to me, that is gradual death in itself. when the taliban took over, i think i had two choices: to stay and die, or try to leave and keep my voice. be here, on this show, and try to continue, you know, to do my work, and advocate for an afghanistan that i think the people of afghanistan deserve to live in. and i decided on-- i chose to stay alive and i chose my voice. one clarity that i have is that anything that i will do, will be in the hope that that will take

me back home someday. >> schifrin: for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: it has long been a given that a four-year college degree is a prerequisite for moving up the economic ladder. but, for others, that requirement is having unintended consequences. paul solman has the story, for our series on "rethinking college." >> reporter: so i type in "c-o-n-s-t, space, port." in durham, north carolina, software engineer tony byrd is so sure of his skills, he was game to try to teach me how to code. space 3000? >> semicolon. >> reporter: semicolon. >> and the spaces and the format is very particular. >> i love understanding systems. >> reporter: white hat hacker oscar anaya, who grew up dirt- poor in a texas border town, is

pretty confident himself. >> because i've always been good at computer hacking. >> reporter: in cumberland, maryland, the heart of appalachian coal country? >> my high school mascot was a coal miner. >> reporter: cyber-security engineer john hartman isn't bashful, either. >> there was no better candidate for-- than me for that job. >> reporter: but hartman didn't have a college degree. neither did anaya or byrd. and that, that alone, kept them out of good jobs, for years. byrd, quarterback of his high school football team, let his chance for an athletic scholarship slip away. >> i just kept procrastinating and pushing it off, and didn't put in the application form like i should have. >> reporter: instead, he wound up working as a barista for seven years. his current colleague, mariana perez, also now a software engineer, toiled as a manicurist for nine years, as she struggled to pay for community college. >> i had to stop, work, make sure i had the money and then continue, because i didn't want

to have loans. >> reporter: in john hartman's second year of community college... >> my car just broke down. i had an '88 ford bronco. the transmission went out on me twice. i can't afford to go to college now. i need to go get a job. >> reporter: ...at a local factory, building cabinets. followed by stints as a freight train conductor, then shift work at a paper mill. >> one of the most dangerous industries that there is. there was a lot of dangerous chemicals, moving machinery, that anybody could get swept into and hurt. >> reporter: oscar anaya also dropped out of community college for high-risk work, on an oil rig. >> in the sun with chemicals and helicopters and things like that. i was breathing in a lot of small fine particles of granite. so, it complely destroyed my nostrils and my sinuses. so i had to leave that job. and i was like, you know what? i'm good with computers. i should try doing something with computers. so i applied and i applied and i applied, and no one was picking me up. >> reporter: why was no one picking you up? >> something's happening that is just not letting me through. and the only criteria that i

could think of is education. and i honestly started falling into a very nihilistic way of seeing the world, that, where i was like, you know what? this is just how it's going to be. i'm probably never going to make as much as my friends are making, because i just didn't finish college. >> reporter: you mean you had good reason to believe you were being rejected because you don't have a college degree. that then made you feel inadequa, because you didn't have a college degree? >> it contributed to my downward spiral emotionally, yes. >> reporter: anaya is far from alone, says economist byron augeeste. >> over the last 40 years, we've come to a place where the vast majority of middle class jobs require a bachelor's degree to be considered. >> reporter: sometimes to the point of absurdi. >> even though two-thirds of administrative assistants don't have bachelor's degrees, three-quarters of the new job postings for administrative assistants say you have to have a bachelor's degree to be considered for that job. so, two-thirds of the people who currently do that job can't apply for three-quarters of the new jobs in the field.

>> reporter: but why? >> sometimes a company will require a college degree just because they can. >> reporter: hiring expert nick corcodilos, who runs the "ask the headhunter" website, says the degree hurdle emerged as help-wanted ads moved online, and the number of applicants per job exploded. >> sometimes a company will get 10,000 applicants for one job. how do they winnow them out? one of the easiest ways is just to require a college degree. >> reporter: well, this is obviously discriminatory against people who don't have a college degree, right? >> well, but you can't accuse a company of discriminating because they ask for a college degree, can you? you can't process people through a database. you can process their keywords through a database, and a college degree is nothing more than a keyword. >> reporter: buthe net effect is discriminatory. overall, more than 60% of american workers don't have a four-year degree. but, says byron auguste: >> when you put a bachelor's degree screen on a job, you exclude almost 70% of african americans. you exclude almost 80% of latino workers. and by the way, you exclude almost 70% of rural workers, of

all races. >> reporter: and that, says auguste, has been fueling inequality since 1980: pushing wages for those with just a high school diploma down 13%, adjusted for inflation, while wages for those with a four-year degree have risen by 13%. for men, the difference in lifetime earnings is now around a million dollars. >> to say that college can be a bridge to opportunity? well, that's great. but to make college a drawbridge that pulls up, and if you can't cross it, then you have no path to opportunity... >> reporter: and you wind up in the low-wage moat. >> so i did a little bit of valet parking ... >> i finally got on with ups, as a package handler for the-- just for, like, the christmas season. >> i went into retail. i sold computers. >> i'm tired of being at the mercy of all these other jobs. i want a career. >> this simplistic bachelor's degree screen, it's really outlived its usefulness. so, employers are leaving so much talent on the table. >> reporter: not all employers,

however. ibm, for instance, has earn- while-you-learn apprenticeship programs, which have trained the four people you've now met. no experience required. though, oscar anaya, now on ibm's top hacker team, already had plenty of skills. i've been hacking computers since i was 12 years old. >> reporter: because that was the only way he could get a computer. >> we were extremely poor. so, what, what could i afford? >> reporter: an old one, for $20 bucks. locked. so, he h to hack his way in. and fittingly, during his apprenticeship interview... >> he was asking me things about how to break into things. >> reporter: like electronic ankle bracelets. >> i told them that a lot of the attacks could be done with a $3 screwdriver and a couple of cables, which is something that your security system would not imagine. and that's how i got accepted into the ibm apprenticeship. >> reporter: as did tony byrd, after seven years behind the starbucks counter in the ibm lobby. when did it occur to you that you could actually work at ibm?

>> so, that's when my friend dave comes in. >> reporter: software engineer dave green, who was a regular customer. >> it happened one day when he asked me, how do i go upstairs and do what you're doing? i'm like, well, you just got to learn how to talk to computers. and he asked me, can you teach me how to do that? i said, what are you doing during lunch? >> reporter: green tutored; byrd learned the basics of coding. on his second try, he passed the apprenticeship test. and immediately tripled his pay. are you sorry you didn't go to llege? >> no, not now. >> reporter: and so, a final question, for philosopher and longtime professor martha nussbaum. do you think every young person in america should go to college? >> yes. well, everyone who wants to. going to college has three purposes. one is to prepare you for a job. a second is to prepare you for a life full of richness and meaning. and the third is to prepare you to be a good citizen. >> reporter: as she argues in her book, "not for profit," without good citizens, democracy

dies. but, she adds... >> the first thing is, everyone should have the opportunity to do it without a crushing burden of cost. >> reporter: that's why ibm's former software apprentices could hardly believe their ears when ibm's kelli jordan told them: >> we've been partnering with the american council on education, and they've actually determined that the software development apprenticeship program is worth up to 45 college credits, which is the equivalent of three semesters of college. >> wow! >> reporter: putting tony byrd close to an associate's degree. >> wow. >> this is awesome. >> that's pretty impressive. great news. >> i know. thank you. this is great! >> reporter: and mariana perez close to a bachelor's. though, she no longer needs one to get a high-paying job. for the pbs newshour, i'm paul solman.

>> woodruff: as california faces what is predicted to be one of its worst droughts in recorded history, water managers are seeing record increases in water theft, leaving communities angry and police playing a continuous game of whack-a-mole with water bandits constantly on the move. byrhonda lyons of the nonprofit news site, cal matters, has the story of how water, meant for residential use, is flowing to illegal marijuana farms. >> reporter: in california's desert, a san bernardino county water manager-- who didn't want to be identified-- doubles as an amateur detective. >> these are all cannabis farms. here's a great big one. this is one of the guys that i kicked off the water station. he was taking a lot of loads of water. >> reporter: bandits are stealing millions of gallons of water. driving water trucks, tankers and pick-ups, they're tapping into lakes and rivers, fire hydrants, filling stations.

they're siphoning off water from homes, farms and wells. so who's on the receiving end of all this stolen water? local officials say it's often illegal pot farms, which is an estimated $8 billion industry in california. >> there's one over there. there's some out there. >> reporter: the desert is now strewn with makeshift pot farms. california allows them, with proper permits and local approval. but, the penalty for growing even thousands of marijuana plants is only a misdemeanor and a $500 fine. 80% of california's roughly 30,000 pot farms are illegal, according to the state water board. >> where these grows are, they do not have running water hooked up there. so they either have to drill wells, or they have to truck in water from other areas. and that's where the incentive to steal water comes from. >> reporter: from siskyou county on the oregon border, to san bernardino county on its

arizona border, some california communities are seeing their municipal water being stolen. in helendale, the local water district hired a private security guard to investigate who was stealing water. kelly gregg's discovery was alarming. >> so, what we found was a multitude of locations the illegal grows were pulling water from. some of those locations are on abandoned properties, private properties, and the like. >> reporter: in addition to outright theft, there's also a black market where residents sell their water to middlemen. in helendale, a court ruling restricts how much water residents can pump for their own use. but when black market buyers show up with their tanks and their cash, land-owners cut deals, says kimberly cox, manager of helendale's water supply. >> wells in many cases are now abandoned, or the people that are living in those houses with the wells will sell their water to these haulers.

>> reporter: the state can fine bandits up to $1,000 a day, but that's a pittance for players in a multi-billion dollar illegal pot industry. tim smith, president of helendale's water services, is frustrated. >> there's no teeth in any of the laws. we're at the mercy of whatever. >> reporter: local police have started raiding more illegal pot farms to try to reduce demand. but for people like jo hansen, who's been a victim of water theft, the influx of new water users has complicated the mundane task of hauling water to her home. >> i don't know who breaks my water lines and does all this chaotic crap they do, but i mean, they steal constantly up here. >> reporter: the san bernandino water manager says she's frustrated by the lack of authority to deal with water theft. >> is there a mechanism to cut off the water these farms without having the response be

very negative and forceful? no one, no one's tried this. we're not enforcement officers, we don't carry guns. >> reporter: in the meantime, governor gavin newsom has asked californians to cut their water usage by 15%. the state water board recently moved to temporarily stop thousands of central valley farmers from diverting water from a major watershed. >> there is a reluctance to ask our customers to cut back, when there are-- when there is this kind of customer seems to be taking the water without regard for the drought. >> reporter: as climate change continues to wreak havoc, causing fires and droughts, california's demand for water shows no signs of easing, whether for use in homes, fields or illegal pot farms. for the pbs newshour, i'm byrhonda lyons in richmo, california.

>> woodruff: and yes, all this while we worry about climate change. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. the rules of business are 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 know, know b.d.o. >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm

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♪ hello and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> we have 90% of the bill agreed to and written. we just have some of the last decisions to be made. >> but the devil is in the details. with president biden's climate agenda on the line, will the united states finally prove it's serious about saving the planet. i'll speak to the governor who literally bro wrote the book on clean energy, jay inslee fm washington state. plus -- >> my four grandparents all died in the holocaust in one place or another. >> award-winning playwright tom stoppard draws on his family's bleak past and speaks to our troubling present in "leopoldstadt." then -- >> we are on the verge of collapse as a healthcare system today. >> hsr