♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, on trial. former minneapolis area police officer kim haber takes the stand in her own defense in the trial over the killing of daunte wright. then high-stakes. the biden agenda faces an uncertain future as his policy priorities suffer major setbacks in the senate. plus, the pandemic in africa. the omicron and delta variants of covid-19 plagued the continent amid vaccine hesitancy and resistance to safety protocols. >> the cities across africa, business seems to go on as usual in the way it did before the pandemic. people have given up on masks

and, in many pates -- places, there's no social distancing. judy: a it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart consider this busy week of news, all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshourhas been provided by -- ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪

♪ >> johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation kf.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this was made possible by the corporation for public broadcating and from contributions to their pbs station from viewers like you. think you. judy: a jury in minneapolis has gone home over the weekend after

a white former police officer recounted the fatal shooting of a black man, daunte wright. chempark are tested today at her manslaughter trial. john yang has our report. john: today, former brooklyn center minnesota police officer kim potter told jurors of the moment eight months ago when she shot and killed daunte wright during a traffic stop. reaching for her taser, but pulling her gun, seeing the look on another officers face. >> and i can see sergeant johnson and the driver over the gearshift because i can see johnson's hand and then i can see his face. he had a look of fear on his face. it's nothing i'd seen before. >> what did you do? >> we were struggling. we were trying to keep him from driving away. it just went chaotic.

and then i remember yelling taser, taser, taser. and nothing happened. and then he told me i shot him. john: during cross-examination, prosecutor ellen eldridge underscored her 26 years of police experience and training, cluding how not to confuse her taser and her gun. she pressed her on whether she felt threatened by right. >> never said i'm going to kill you. >> nope. >> never said i'm going to shoot you. >> no. john: the prosecutor also asked if potter did everything -- anything to help wright after she had been shot. >> you didn't run down the street trying to save his life, did you? >> no. >> you were focused on what you

had done because you had just killed someone. >> i'm sorry it happened. john: the incident began as a traffic stop that right tried to flee after a struggle with officers after trying to arrest him for an outstanding weapons warrant. >> i just shot him. yes! i grabbed the wrong gun. john: the defense argued that mistake or not, deadly force was justified to stop right. if convicted, she would face years in prison. closing arguments are set for monday. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. we will return after these headlines. coping vaccine maser pfizer forecasts the pandemic will last until 2024 now that the omicron variant has emerged. the company also said it is working for a three dose vaccine for children two to 16,

acknowledging the two dose regimen is not as effective as hoped. and also, the cdc endorsed letting students stay in class if they are exposed to covid test negative. officials touted the policy over home quarantines. >> the test is an encouraging public health practice to keep our children in school, and cdc is updating our materials to help schools and parents know how to best implement this promising and now proven practice. vanessa: late today, the court circuit of approvals reinforced a mask mandate ordered by the occupational safety and health administration. the fifth circuit court blocked the mandate in november and now the case will likely go to the u.s. supreme court. also, officials in western kentucky have confirmed two more deaths as a result of last friday's tornadoes. governor andy beshear announced the total has reached 77, the most from any storm in the state's history. one person is still missing.

and russia published demands that nato get out of central and easter europe and deny measure -- membership to ukraine. u.s. and its allies rejected those demands before. moscow raised them again as it deploys thousands of troops to its border with ukraine. and back in this country, the u.s. senate headed toward the holidays with president biden's huge domestic spending bill in limbo. democratic majority leader chuck schumer cited the president's statement made last night, acknowledging they lack the votes to act by christmas. >> the president requested more time to continue his negotiations. and so we will keep working with him, hand in hand, to bring this bill over the finish line and deliver on these much-needed provisions. vanessa: the president today talked of voting rights bills in a commencement address at south carolina state university. those measures are also stalled in the senate, but mr. biden said the battle is not over.

afloat a man who attacked u.s. capitol police on january 6 was sentenced today to more than five years in prison. that is the toughest penalty yet for any of the writers. and a trump ally roger stone refused to answer congressional questions on the assault. he invoked his right against self-incrimination. also today, schools around the country were on edge after shooting and bomb threats on the social media at, tiktok. law enforcement agencies said most of the threats were not considered credible but the police department announced seven students were arrested this week and more arrests could come after investigating multiple school related threats. schools in at least half a dozen states called in extra police, and some canceled classes altogether. still to come on the newshour, and exhaustive fact-check of the 2020 election dispels myths of widespread ver fraud.

the economics behind why many toys are out of stock this holiday season. and singer-songwriter brandi carlisle reflects on her rise to stardom. plus, much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington, and walter cronkite school and museum from arizona state university. judy: it has been a week of setbacks for the biden agenda and for democrats in control of congress. a key piece of immigration reform hit a wall in the senate and voting rights bills have stalled. frustrated democrats today intensified talks of changing the 60 vote filibuster. we've been talking with key figures involved. lisa, you and i talked on the program last evening about immigration, where it stood, but shortly after that, we learned

that the democratic hopes for immigration reform left a big wall. tell us about it. lisa: first a quick reminder that democrats have 50 votes in the senate, which usually requires 60 votes to get past a filibuster, which can block any piece of legislation to do that. to get past that, they are trying to use a budget reconciliation process to pass many pieces of the biden agenda. one of them is what you just mentioned, immigration reform. but last night, we learned that their plan is not going to pass muster for this budgetary process. let's remind people exactly what that plan was. democrats wanted parole, a status that could not lead to a path to citizenship but would give legalized status to some six or 7 million people this country right now who are undocumented. and last night, we did play voices from interviews that our

producer has done with some daca recipients and tbs recipients. the voices are important and they have been listening to the words, especially the senate parliamentarian. it is the senate parliamentarian who decided whether or not those proposals were going to fit ts budgetary reconciliation muster. do they have enough of a budgetary effect? here's what elizabeth mcdonough wrote according to email provided to me by some sources. she said these are substantial policy changes with lasting effects, just like those we previously considered from democrats, and those effects outweigh the budgetary impact. essentially saying this is more of a policy change, not a budgetary change. as you can imagine, democrats very distressed, including members of the hispanic caucus. three of those members wrote this today in response, saying democrats have to do everything they can to get to a path of

citizenship for undocumented immigrants even if that means disregarding the senate parliamentarian. so that leads to this question. can democrats overrule the parliamentarian? yesterday, they can. but politically, there is not the sense that they would do that. there is not 50 votes to do that. this led us to talk to those daca recipients and others today for their reaction to this new and i want to go to one of those folks we talked to, who told us what his reaction was today. >> as someone who has daca and has been consistently been played with political football on my future to stay in this country and with the impending fear of court's ruling over daca program, i think i wanted some permanency. and the fact that there's no relief gives me a lot of stress and exciting.

lisa: stress for him but relief for conservatives who were worried that a status for undocumented immigrants could make things at the border worse. judy: so lisa, another big issue hanging in the balance, voting rights, lack of progress on this seems to be intensifying, discussion around how to get around the senate rule of the filibuster. tell us where things stand on that. lisa: we'll talk about this more in the future, judy, but quickly, i want to go over proposals pets are considering to get around the -- democrats are considering to get around the filibuster. they are forcing senators to actually talk during a filibuster, limiting them to the current rule, which is just two speeches each. democrats say maybe we need to do that. the other option they are considering is switching the filibuster from 60 votes to end a filibuster to 41 in order to keep it going. these talks are very real,

including with senator joe manchin. judy: and we know you are going to continue to follow that even as congress is getting ready to go home for the holida lisa desjardins, we love the christmas tree. thank you. lisa: thank you. ♪ judy: we are just a week away from christmas. and for some parents, finding the specific toy the child once has been a real challenge this season. that is due in part to the supply chain problems around the globe and how it lands back here. special correspondent and washington post columnist catherine ramp l has the story. >> in years past, hot toys have run low or run out. remember tickle me alma and the frenzy over furby? but this year, the out of stock signs popped up earlier. not just for the trendy toys,

whose popularity is hard to predict. but some of the classics, too. >> i called the owner. are you serious he telling me we aren't going to have a wooden railway set for christmas? i was a little bit in denial. and he was like yes, i am telling you that train set is done for the year. reporter: sharon gish has managed omaha's toy store for 14 holiday seasons. on the game wall, no arcade basketball, no pinball machines. >> right now they are out of stock. not sure if we'll get more. reporter: the problem is a surging consumer demand plus supply chain issues. higher prices for raw materials backed up ports and trucking shortages have made it more difficult for toy companies to stay stocked. take the distribution center. on our recent visit, workers were busy filling orders. >> we definitely are starting to run out of stock on a few items. normally you wouldn't see gaps like this start to come up for another week or two.

reporter: mark and karen parson are the company's founders. >> our goal would be at peak by black friday. 90% would be the goal. this year, we are about 65%. reporter: filling orders for their hottest items, like the silicon push pop toy dubbed the tubal has been -- dimple, has been the challenge. >> we could not fulfill. it wasn't that we weren't placing the orders. we just uldn't get them here. reporter: they are doing all they can to get stock in. are there still orders that you placed a long time ago that you are waiting to arrive? >> currently, i think we have 50 plus on the water that we just can't get our hands on. reporter: 50 containers of product that are somewhere between here and on the water. reporter: and what does that mean in terms of the product you are waiting on? >> i said hundreds of thousands. what did you say? >>. millions [laughter]

>> that kind of hurts. reporter: customers have been warned to shop early. >> i am shopping early. just because of what i heard about all the ships sitting out in california, waiting to unload and what have you. reporter: casey daley said stocks were low at the stores she visited. >> the shelves are really empty. this is cute. reporter: staff here are confident they can find that perfect toy for every child. but if your heart is set on a spin again, you may be disappoint. has it been hard to keep these in stocks? >> yes, it has been. we either have a mountain of them or none of them. yes. >> people have cash in their wallets. they didn't spend it on others experiences last year. reporter: a toy industry analyst. >> they're spending more and may have the supply chain issues on top of it. so the big winners this year for the holiday season are going to be the toys that are actually on the shelf. reporter: of course, many haven't been. >> there are a lot of sellouts

right now. first and foremost, trading cards. magic nixies is another one. i haven't seen those on the shelf for a month now. if you see it, buy it. reporter: the chris mystery still won't be there, assuming kids are flexible -- christmas tree still won't be bare, assuming kids are flexible. >> if you want a barbie doll, you will be able to find a barbie doll. if they ask for a specific one, you might have a harder time. reporter: big retailers found creative and costly ways to never, get the problems says a university of michigan professor. >> walmart and target and costco, they have charted their own ships to bring stuff into the country. so for them, the distribution problem will be less of a headache. reporter: meanwhile, smaller companies are struggling to navigate these rough seas. >> i think all i want for christmas is ocean bookings. if you cease and took, asking for extra container space. reporter: he started up sky

castle toys. kids use the special glowing stickers and tiktok videos. the company launched last year. >> of course, 2028 was like hold my career. you thought -- hold my beer. you thought the pandemic was bet? we typically pay $3000 for a container. the most recent containers we shipped were $35,000. . you were looking at a six time increase. it's been nuts. reporter: raw material cost has been nuts. >> cost of 31%. -- up 31%. reporter: reluctantly, he has had to raise his own prices. >> we were going to come out at $25 and ultimately ended at $35. reporter: others are trying to limit how much they pass on to customers. pay buddy, paypal makes holiday decorating kits, including for easter eggs. >> i am the chief financial egg-spert. reporter: the company co-founder

loves to crack those egg puns. >> my kids think they are egg- scrutiating. reporter: jokes aside, it's been a hard year. >> you can have a container and they will sayorry, give it to someone else. we made our packaging 30% smaller. that's not sething you do lightly in this business. your package on a shelf with 100 other toys, that your billboard. that's how you tell your story and set yourself apart. reporter: a few months ago, mcgill canceled entire shipments of his christmas product due to longer transit times. >> and we shifted to our easter products. we knew we had to have it here in time for easter. and we left half of our christmas items in china. they're actually in storage right now. reporter: these products are only made, there are manufactured and ready to be sold.

but they are already in a warehouse in china. is that right? >> yes, ma'am. reporter: would you ever consider moving some of the production to the united states or somewhere else closer by? with that make a difference? >> we actually set out to do that from the very beginning. unfortunately, in order for us to do that, our product would be three times more extensive. we knew that wasn't an option. reporter: most toys are made in china. but even a few toys already manufactured in the u.s. have had disruptions. like these name puzzles carved at the distribution center. >> three different times this year, we have completely run out of wood. the mills have been shut down because of worker shortages. once they did get fired back up, they didn't have truck drivers to get it from portland all the way to omaha. reporter: fortunately for us, he was eventually able to replenish those wood supplies. for the pbs news hour -- news or, i'm catherine repel. ♪

judy: as the omicron variant sends a fourth wave of patients to hospitals across southern africa, leaders there and across the continent are pointing fingers at wealthy nations. special correspondent michael ballack a reports from uganda. michael: it's approaching high season as the summer begins in the southern hemisphere. but some in cape town are abandoned. the hotels and restaurants are empty as south africa hospitals begin to fill up, patients affected with both omicron and delta coronavirus variants. joe is the minister of health for south africa. >> the number of cases in the fourth wave have exceeded the peaks of the feds, the second, and the first waves.

michael: the omicron variant was first detected in south africa last month, and africa accounts for nearly half of the omicron cases reported across the globe. the director says covid-19 infections are surging on the continent and research is underway to see if omicron is fueling that search. latest figures from the world health organization show the african continent has reported close to 200,000 new cases in just the last week. >> if you now look at it a different way, where are a lot of the cases coming from? 79% of the cases are coming from southern africa. reporter: the discovery -- michael: the discovery of omicron, with many countries closing their borders to south africans and foreign tourists staying away. this packed a wave of outreach and cries of betrayal across africa. ugandan health care activist

says the decision to call out south africa was rushed. >> when you think back, you say, is this because it's an african country that is announced? they have been following india, other countries, u.k. we didn't hear that rushed decision to travel bans. michael: the tourists in the street was set to rebound this holiday season after two years of the pandemic. and those who rely on tourists to make a living or worried about what is yet to come. this person sells african fabric to tourists who come to tourists who come to the world famous beaches. >> i can't survive without tourism. here in cape town, it is a tourism industry. michael: survival, whether economic or health-related, that's the concern for millions of people across the continent. africa's attempts to fight the coronavirus have been undermined by the lack of vaccines, but

also the slow uptick of their available doses due to hesitancy among the population. there are also distributional challenges like the lack of cold storage facilities and poor road infrastructure, which has made it difficult to access communities in remote areas. where wealthy nations were buying up the lions share of vaccines, african nations waited months for the first vaccines to begin to trickle in. a mistrust of vaccines continues to haunt the continent, even in countries like ghana that have enough vaccines to go around. >> i don't want to take the vaccine because i am scared i may suffer some side effects. i have not been infected by covid-19 so i don't see the need to take the jab. >> [indiscernible] michael: in east africa, uganda

has announced its first cases of omicron. health minister says the government is ramping up efforts to get vaccines into communities. >> the more covid-19 circulates among the communities, the more opportunities the virus has to change or mutate. it is therefore extremely important that we all work to reduce the circulation of covid-19 virus to interrupt mutations. michael: uganda has so far received more than 20 million doses of the covid-19 vaccines from the u.s., u.k., europe, and china. more than 7 million of those doses have been administered to a population of about 47 million people. cities across africa, business seems to go on as usual in the way it did before the pandemic.

people have given up on masks and in many places, there's virtually no social distancing. a clear sign that africa's prospects for full recovery anytime soon are looking grammar by the day. just over 10% of people in africa have received one dose of a vaccine compared with more than 60% in north america and europe. africa believes its bearing the brunt of panicked policies from the wealthy western countries, which hoarded the vaccines and -- says they are making southern africa a covid pariah. >> the problem is it's now embarrassing for the governments to go back on what they've done. so politically, i've my freight, not data or science, it's difficult for them to reverse those travel bans. so we are expecting it will take some time but we are not letting them rest. we are working very hard.

our team is speaking to the governments every day. michael: ambassadors to washington from 16 african countries are calling on the white house to lift travel restrictions, claiming they stigmatize africa and devastate the tourism industry, pushing the hope of canonic recovery from the covid-19 pandemic even further out of reach for much of the african continent. for the pbs newshour, i'm michael ballack a. ♪ judy: more than a year after president biden won the presidential election, former president trump and his allies insist without evidence that widespread voter fraud led to a stolen election. a new exhaustive piece of reportin from the associated press shows that simply is not true. ap reporters went looking for cases of voter fraud in six

states that trump has challenged and they found fewer than 475 potential instances out of more than 25 million votes cast, a number that would not have come close to changing the outcome. i spoke yesterday to christina cassidy. she's one of the reporters for the ap. christina cassidy, thank you so much for joining us. this was a deep and wide-ranging effort that you and your colleagues made come over you or 10 other reporters. you talked to one of 340 election officials across these estates. what were you trying to find out? christina: heading into the november 3 election, we were certainlaware about various statements being made about voter fraud. we were also aware that academic studies have shown it is exceptionally rare. but once november 3 happened and we saw everything that happened since, we decided at ap that we

wanted to go to the source. we wanted to look for the voter fraud and we wanted to identify what voter fraud had occurred, what potential voter fraud had occurred in the november 3 election. and so we embarked on this reporting effort that involved reporters in six states. the six states that were disputed by president trump and his allies. and we went to the local election officials and we asked them to identify for us any potential instances of voter fraud, and that they had flagged during their postelection certification and canvassing work. judy: and what did you find? christina: well, in the end, we thought it was just shy of 475 potential cases of voter fraud in those six states, which would not have made a difference in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. judy: and this was out of

millions of votes cast if you add up all the votes in those states. christina, just give us a couple of examples of the fraud that you did find, those individual cases. christina: sure, i mean they ran the gamut. you had individuals, like a gentleman from wisconsin, who was a felon, and he did not understand or did not know. he said that he thought he was eligible to vote. so he voted and it turns out wisconsin is not one of those states that have loosened laws for felon voting. so there was that instance. we had a woman in maricopa county who has been charged. authorities say that she submitted a ballot on per half -- we have of her mother who had died about a month before the election.

and you know, there were other instances of people who had submitted mail ballots. either they mailed them or dropped them off. and those ballots showed up after they had voted in person, whether in early voting or on election day. judy: and we know that former president trump, the people who support him, continue to push this notion of massive voter fraud despite all evidence to the contrary. and you spoke to the former president. what did he say? christina: well, the president definitely spoke about his concerns about the pandemic related changes and that there was such an increase in mail ballots and his belief that those are less secure. but speaking with election officials, they std by their protocols and their procedures in place. and there are numerous procedures protocols in place,

gargoyles -- guardrails to ensure that every ballot is counted for, mail ballots are sent out. they are logged. every male ballot that is returned is locked. they go through various security checks and a number of states. they conduct signature verification, so when those ballots come in, they are looking at the signatures. and every time a voter has had contact with their election office, whether signing a petition requesting a ballot application, submitting a ballot, those signatures are on file and are kept on file. so when those ballots come in, they are reviewed. they look at those signatures. and if there is a discrepancy, they flag it. they contact the voters. they say hey, there is an issue here. you need to come in and prove that this is your ballot. and if that person doesn't come

in, the ballot is discarded and is not counted. judy: so let me just ask you, is there any possibility, based on what you found, that this election could have been counted erroneously, that the results could have turned out differently than they did? christina: not based on voter fraud, no. judy: all right, christina cassidy, an exhausted piece of reporting from the associated press. thank you very much. christina: thank you. ♪ judy: and now we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart, david brooks and jonathan capehart, colonists for the washington post. hello, gentlemen -- colonists for the washington post. hello, gentlemen. ap 11 reporters, they spent months working on -- working on

this. 300 some odd election officials, not even close to a chance that there would have been a change in the election result. >> right, and i love how she emphasized 470 five potential cases of voter fraud out of millions of votes cast. and what that says is this is more evidence that the big lie is indeed a big lie. there was no massive voter fraud in the 2020 election. even the person who is in charge of election security in the trump administratio said the 2020 election was the safest in american history. and so whether this makes a difference, i don't know. in the short-term. but i do know in the long-term and for history sake, it is good to have yet another -- more evidence that there was no voter fraud. judy: and there's been one look after another after litigation.

the evidence is just not there. >> i don't think it would make much difference. if you fact-check people, they dig in and believe the wrong belief more strongly. that's the fundamental problem here. how does knowledge get created in society? we think about the u.s. constitution, which is a set of laws. we have a formal system that creates knowledge. experts, the academy, all sorts of institutions who obey by a certain set of rules that any hypothesis can be tested. we will check each other out to make sure whether they are right and wrong. we will slowly build up knowledge. that reporting is part of the constitution. lots of americans, millions of americans have simply opted out of it. they simply trust constitutional knowledge and not part of building up the regime. but the hope that some

intellectual or some shift so people would say those people are reliable. judy: and for historical purposes, as you were saying. in connection with this to a degree, the house select committee looking into the january 6 attack on the capital, all of that not believing the election results, jonathan. this week, we had an interesting development. mark meadows, who is going to cooperate, then said i'm not going to cooperate, voted to say he finds him in contempt of congress. but in the process, he did turn over documents. we learned these text messages that show members of congress, fox news acres were urging president trump to do something to stop it. >> it seems as though mark meadows was trying to have it both ways, trying to cooperate but then once his book earned the ire of the former president, tried to backtrack. but by the time he backtracked, he had handed over thousands of documents.

and that's how we know about these text messages. that's how we know about the urgent pleas for help from members of congress, from fox news personalities and so on. these are all things that had been reported at the time. we knew. as now that we are learning anything new. but what i caution everybody against is because we knew this already, to remember that to actually have a text message with a timestamp and a name attached to it in a legal proceeding is vital. it is paramount. and it goes from being a story that has an unnamed source to note, this is a text message to mark meadows from fill-in the blank member of congress. we need help and it was sent at this time. i think that this thousand piece jigsaw puzzle of the ocean at

the january 6 select committee has been working on after the last two weeks, it seems we are at 980 of those pieces put in place. they know a whole lot more than we know. but what we found out last week, this week in particular, has en stunning and fascinating. judy: we do know some more. we don't know the whole story but how much difference is this going to make? david: mark meadows was excited for content because he was a member of congress. they all know him. they are unlikely that that happens. but it shows how seriously they're taking this. we learned for sure the white house knew what was going on every second on january 6. amino meadows, like chief of staff's tend to be, he is at an excess of it all. and he is playing an interesting role here, just as a character analysis. everyone at that time was called to stand for democracy or not. and my prints, to his credit,

stood up for democracy -- mike pence, to his credit, stood up for democracy. mark meadows was halfway. i support people who were outside. but in the rooms with trump, he was doing whatever the president told him to do. and so he is not leading the insurrection but not stopping it. history is filled with people who took that route. judy: and we will see where it goes from here. whether the justice department decides to proceed to charge him. so now, i have to ask you about where congress is as we get ready for the christmas holiday, jonathan. and lisa desjardins reporting on it earlier. emigrants are about to go into next week with no build back better. big disappointed for the -- disappointment for them. so they not have promised it would get done in 2021? jonathan: sure answer, yes, they shouldn't have promised. but as they talked about around this table for months, the

reason why democrats have been pushing like crazy to -- first bipartisan infrastructure, then build back better -- done by the end of calendar year 2021 is because everyone assumes that by 2022, nothing is going to get done because of the midterm elections. congress is always making these deadlines for itself, artificial deadlines. and then when they blow past em, everyone is disappointed or people say that it's a failure. i think democrats, as long as the reconciliation authorization is still there. and from what i understand, it hangs in there through the fiscal year -- judy: the legislative framework. jonathan: the legislative framework. that if this bleeds over into january or february, not ideal. but if they actually get it done, then that will be a victory. judy: can they do it? david: i still sort of bet on them but i am beginning to have some doubts. we are going to get new inflation numbers in the middle of january or so, that if it gets higher than it is now, that

will make it a lot harder because you mentioned is concerned about -- joe manchin is concerned about inflation. i think they were right to try to be fdr, tried to do something big. there are a lot of problems in this country. joe manchin has been utterly consistent. he just said what he meant and it's been clear people take him seriously, these are constraints. how do we deal with? we are not can get the new deal, how do we deal with plan b? they decided to keep every little aspect of the build that shrink it down and make it temporary. i think it would have been smaller -- smart just to pick a few things and say we're going to have a child and child tax credits early, community college. that's what the country needs right now. i think manchin and the pulpit would have a much easier time. they are deciding they want to keep all the can situations -- constituencies happy. judy: is that what has gone wrong here, you think?

jonathan: yeah, i'm hard-pressed to disagree with david here. congresswoman susan dell bening, who is one of the moderates, that had been her argument from the very beginning. let's do a few things and let's do them well. and any number of things to choose from. and who knows? maybe come 2022, if it bleeds over into 2022, that that's the root that they go in. but they have to get something done. judy: david raised child tax credits. those expire. the current tax credits expire at the end of december. a lot of people are going to be left without the assistance that they desperately need. jonathan: right, and i'm glad you brought that up, but sorry, i forgot about that. if there is a forcing mechanism to get something done before the end of this calendar year, that could be it. but that means you'r dependinge on the senate to actual do

something. and as we have seen, they don't do stuff when you want them to. david: even if it does pass, it still only gets extended by another year. it's set to expire. they do that to make the bget seem reasonable. there are some is once it is in there, voters will demand you keep it forever. i'm not so sure i love the child tax credit. voters are saying we don't want that much spending. it could just go away, which would be a tragedy because it really is a very effective program. judy: but what about the role of joe manchin? david brought up he has some legitimate concerns. but he's also integral to what is going on with voting rights. emigrants said this is a priority. but he is saying no, kyrsten sinema too. what about the role he plays? jonathan: so senator manchin is ugly festering when it comes to build back better. he's been consistent but he's been believably frustrating.

when it comes to voting rights, he's been a little less frustrating because at least on that, he has been trying to shepherd the bill through. i think three times they had a bite at the apple trying to get a vote to even just bring the bill to the floor for a debate. and it's gone down. but that's because joe manchin, here's the bill. here's the proposal. the problem, though, is the filibuster. correct me if i'm wrong, david, i thought there were signals this week from manchin that he might be amenable to some rule changes. the problem then becomes not joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, senator from arizona, who came out earlier this week and said once again no, i'm not interested in changing the f >> senator from arizona came out earlier this week and said no i'm not interested in changing the filibuster. if you don't do that in any form, voting rights is not going

anywhere. >> what is it safe that doesn't happen? >> worst case scenario, they take over elections from public service. who knows what happens in 2024. that's the nightmare samaria. i think there are a lot of signals encounter signals that come out of the senator's mouth. if you have to be a filibuster you have to be on the floor talking. that would make it harder. it would not ruin the reform but it would make it a filibuster. i'd like to see him endorse that one. >> we never have a filibuster here. that's for sure. thank you both. capehart, thank you both. >> thank you. >> when the grant money grammy

nominees were announced it was brandi carlile with five nominations including record and song of the year. heady stuff. now almost expected for this star of country music. not so long ago, things were different. jeffrey brown met carlisle for our arts and culture serious. >> [ music playing ] >> brandi carlile calls her new record "in these silent days", a pandemic album. a time to stop and reflect on her climb to stardom and where it began. paces like the cities paragon restaurant and bar. >> i came here this time of day and i knew it wouldn't be too busy. i got a pa system and guitar player. if you give me maybe 6:00 p.m.

on sunday night, we'll do it for free for a month and if you see you have an uptick on sunday nights you can start paying me or feeding us. >> local seattle spots were the norm for years. along with bussing for tips at the market. the hard working life of a hard-working musician trying to make it. >> i was interested in printing and hanging posters and stopping people and handing them a pamphlet in telling them about my show. >> i was taking a walk and saw someone hammering their poster. >> you saw phil. that was me. >> [ music playing ] pe >> her stunning performance at the grammys. a valid to those

who feel marginalized, brought her national attention. now she tells her own coming-of- age story in a recent title called broken horses. growing up in washington state. moving from place to fate place. fathers battle of alcoholism and her mother's aspirations to be a country singer. carlisle writes about being with few role models that did not accept her. but it she was addicted to performing. >> it was easy because it's an adrenal rush. it's something i experience so young. i always wanted to do it. i wanted to feel understood and seen. >> did you feel misunderstood and unseen?

>> no, not for the most part but i think i chose those moments to reveal myself. >> they traveled for years in an old man now permanently parked outside easy street records. another seattle landmark, she took us to browse through her heroes. somebody can be close friends. like elton john. >> i fell in love with him when i was 11 years old. he was just such a magical beast to me. i felt a kinship to him. >> what school i imagine is you are right across from him. >> when you put it that way, it's utterly surreal.

these record store bins that you come to as a young music fan, you dream about seeing yourself there. i thought it would be cds but what did i know? no what she did know for certain is that she would make what she knew for certain, she would make it. it took longer than she hope. 15 years in her career she received a granny grammy nomination. she only sees gender and sexual identity as barriers to success. >> i was in a state of euphoria. her dreams are coming through and this is happening in my life. it was bigger and better for my male counterpart. >> it's true more in country and

american music. >> tenure tucker became a friend. she coproduced a come back album with tucker. decades after tucker fell from favor. her band counterparts were celebrated. >> they are two lanes for women and men. forget lgbtq plus people, there is not a lame. i knew i wanted to get involved in that and is challenging. it made me feel like a kid in church, i don't belong here. that's why i'm going to stay. it's defiance. >> what is your impression? >> is changing in its tributaries. on the edges. americana, folk, roots,

bluegrass. still a giant metallic steel door shut to country. but someone will get that thing open and when they do we will all go running in. >> today carlisle and her wife, catherine, are mothers to two daughters. she's part of a country supergroup called the high women formed in 2019. she speaks up as she sees necessary. including the recent grammy nominations. she expressed gratitude and wondered out loud why her song was shifted to a pop performance rather than americana or country where she sees herself. >> where people are disenfranchised. the thing that makes that

poignant is there's so many rural people in the country. they live not downtown seattle that are systemically rejected by the correlating culture. country music, roots music has a culture. there are country . they need to see acceptance and affirmation in those places. >> for now, brandi carlile awaits the grammy awards ceremony and is taking her album on tour. it highlights in the spring of next year. for pbs news hour, i'm jeffrey brown in seattle. and that is tu >> such terrific music.

that is the news hour tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and stay safe and have a good weekend. wshour- ♪ consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. >> major funding has been provided by consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bsf f railway. financial services firm, raymond james. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years promoting a better world at hewlett.org. supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skollfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

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>> this season of tell me more is full of takeaways.

>> tonight on kqed newsroom , 2020 reps up and we looked back at stories that had us talking this year. special guest, amy low tells us how she's building the world's largest telescope and launching in outer space. plus a town that you might not know about were celebrities dying. and something beautiful. coming to you from kqed headquarters in san francisco, this friday,