♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on "the newshour" tonight... president biden's top economic adviser discusses rising prices, interest rates, and a possible recession. geoff: law enforcement tactics again face scrutiny in t wake of the police killing of tyre nichols in memphis. amna: and... a north carolina republican explains why he now supports medicaid expansion after opposing it for years. >> it's something that we ought to do and it makes perfect sense from a budgeting standpoint at this time. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. we're learning more this week about the strength of the u.s. economy and whether high inflation and rising interest rates are pushing it into a recession. amna: tomorrow, the federal reserve is expected to raise interest rates by another quarter of a point. on friday, the next labor report will show whether job growth is slowing even further. and the showdown over the debt ceiling, and the threat of a

default this summer, is hardly over. all of that may add to the sense that the economy is on the knife's edge. but a recession not a given. in fact, yesterday the international monetary fund revised its forecast and said it does not anticipate a global recession. brian deese is one of the president's key advisers on all of this. he's the director of the national economic council. he joins us now. welcome back. let's begin with the debt ceiling debate. tomorrow, president biden will meet with us become mccarthy. the white house has made clear the president will release his budget in early march. we heard president call for the speaker to do the same. in your conversations, do you have any sense of what mr. mccarthy is asking for? where do republicans want to see spending cuts? brian: this is precisely the reason the president has put emphasis on the need for speaker carthy and house republicans to

release a budget, release those details, and show they have a pathway to pass a budget with 218 votes in the house. that is important to having a serious conversation about priorities. the recent data we've seen on the economy has been quite promising. solid economic growth. one of the strongest labor markets in recent history, the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years and inflation is coming down. it has fallen the last seven months, consumers have seen at the gas pump, price increases are slowing at the grocery store and we have seen it in other parts of the economy. we know what we need to do, keep focusing on reducing prices for consumers, investing in the united states, the old and more industrial capacity and manufacturing capacity across the united states. we have all of these goals within our waste and -- our reach and the last thing we need is a self inflicted wound. amna: the white house has made

clear that raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation. why the meeting? what does president biden hope to get from that face-toace meeting with speaker mccarthy? brian: honoring the full faith of the united states, the obligations we have already made, should not be a negotiable item. it has not been for prior presidents of both political parties. the leaders in the senate and house of both parties today have made clear that this should not be a question. we should not put the full faith and credit of the united states at question. but we can have a serious conversation about economic and fiscal priorities and do that as part of the normal budget process and that's what the president is going to focus on. he will release his budget, it will be a detailed blueprint of how he would recommend investing in the country, continuing to make progress on our economic recovery, and bringing down the deficit at the same time.

he has a set of proposals, he's happy to look at the proposals when house republicans put out there detailed plan. we should have that conversation as part of the normal budget process. we should not use the threat of default in a way we have never done as a country as a way, as a bargaining chip or hostagetaking for particular proposals. nobody should be doing that. amna: let me ask you about where the economy is right now. unemployment is at a 50 year low. inflation remains a concern and consumer spending has slowed somewhat. that leads some economists to be worried. the tional association of business economics surveyed economist and more than half of them said they believe there is more than a 50-50 chance the u.s. ents a recession this year. do you agree? brian: let's step back. about six month ago the president came out and said what we need to see is a transition to more steady and stable growth where we have resilience in the

labor market and we bring inflation down. a lot of people were projecting that was impossible and we might see the economy slow down and slide into recession. six most later, we have seen the labor market has remained resilient, and the unemployment rate continues at a historic low. inflation has come down for the last six months. we are making progress on that front. we can continue to make ogress because we have seen it over the last six months, the last three months as well. we've got to keep that progress going, but that is where priorities matter. the president's focus now is implement some of the historic legislion passed last year that will bring further price declines for americans on health care, escription drugs, clean energy -- these are in the pipeline and can help people and their pocketbooks in the months ahead. amna: if i may, i apologize, consumer spending is a huge part of the economy, 70%. that slowdown worries a lot of people and a lot of things

fueling the resilience were things like people getting out after covid lockdowns and spending a lot of money. and federal pandemic funds. those are gone and the costs of borrowing are up and people have less savings now than before. on consumer spending in particular, where do you see evidence that will go back up? brian: look at what happened in the fourth quarter this past year. we just got the data on it. we saw solid economic growth, 2.9%, driven by solid consumer spending as well. we are seeing some slowing and you would expect that in some areas. if you look at household balance sheets, many of the members of basic economic security are better thabefore the pandemic. credit card to liquid sees, personal bankruptcies, home mortgage delinquencies are lower than bore the pandemic. that reflects the fact that this has been a historically equitable recovery.

there are risks on the horizon and certainly we take nothing for granted, what if you look at what happened in the fourth quarter of this year, i think there is reason for cautious optimism and cerinly for staying the course, that we need to keep doing what we know is important -- lowering costs for families balance sheets and encourage company to invest more in america, create the kind of jobs that give people opportunities. amna: when it comes to that optism, the numbers show that americans don't quite share it with you. when you look at the latest poll, people asked about the economy and the president's handling, 36% approve, 61% disapprove, essentially the same as a year ago. why do you think that is? brian: it has been a difficult set of years and consumers are still facing challenges coming out of the pandemic and certainly inflation has been a frustration for folks. i think the good news for americans watching at home is we are making real progress in

inflation coming down. gas prices are down about $1.50 since the summer, food inflation is coming down, and prices of everyday goods and items that seemed out of whack because of some of the pandemic supply chain issues, they are coming back. ultimately, the ultimate outcome of the president's economic strategy will be across time, are we building a stronger, more resilient economy for the future? i think the answer is yes. we will keep our head down and focus on those things we know matter to american families, first and foremost is continuing to reduce the costs families face. amna: brian deese, always great to talk to you, thank you for your time. ♪ the toll reached 100 people -- in the day's other headlines, the toll reached 100 people

killed and 225 wounded in monday's suicide bombing in pakistan. rescue crews in peshawar kept searching for bodies and survivors in the wreckage of a crowded mosque. families with missing relatives waited outside hospitals, guarded by police. the investigation is focused on how the bomber got through heavy security to enter the mosque inside a police compound. in central florida today, police are searching for the gunmen who wounded 11 people, 2 of them critically. it happened monday on a residential street in lakeland as the shooters fired from their car. investigators said it was a targeted attack. authorities have now offered a $5,000 reward for information. the george santos story has taken a new turn. the embattled new york congressman already admitted to fabricating most of his resume, and he's facing multiple investigations. today, he told fellow republicans that he's stepping down from his 2 house committee assignments -- for now. house speaker kevin mccarthy endorsed the move. rep. mccarthy: i met with george

santos yesterday and i think it was an appropriate decision until he can clear everything that he's off the committees right now. the voters have elected him. he'll have a voice here in congress. until he answers all those questions then he'll at that time he'll be able to be seated on committees. amna: santos insisted again today that he is not considering resigning from congress. there's word the fbi searched president biden's former washington office for classified the associated press and cbs news report that was after the president's lawyers had found classified records at the site. it's not clear if the fbi found anything else. a crippling winter ice storm advanced eastward across the south and central u.s. today. airlines cancelled more than 1,700 flights and thousands of people lost power. texas was especially hard hit as freezing rain and sleet covered roads and caused numerous wrecks. at least one person was killed.

meanwhile, another major storm is pounding new zealand with heavy rain. the northland region declared a state of emergency today as roads and fields took on water. auckland braced for more flooding after getting inundated last friday. an entire summer's worth of rain fell in a single day. pope francis kicked off a six-day visit to congo and south of thousands ofliing well-wishers lined his route. in his first speech, he urged an end to carving up congo's huge mineral wealth. pope francis: it is tragic that places like this in more generally the african continent are still being exploited. hands off the democratic republic of the congo. hands off africa. stop choking africa -- it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered. amna: the pope is so expected to

plea for rebels to make peace. secretary of state antony blinken has concluded his middle east visit was no apparent progress toward quieting israeli/palestinian violence. he met today with palestinian leaders a day after speaking with israeli leaders. blinken urged both sides to step back but neither side made any pledges. china reacted angrily today to reports of the united states might block tech giant huawei from any remaining access to american suppliers. the company is already barred from buying advanced u.s. processor chips but the biden administration reportedlcould go further. in beijing, the foreign ministry condemned any such proposals. mao ning: china expresses serious concern about the relevant reports. we firmly oppose the u.s. generalizing the notion of national security and abusing state power to suppress chinese companies. it is a blatant technological hegemony. amna: u.s. officials have called

huawei a security risk that might help chinese spying. labor strikes and protests roiled europe today, including more than a million people demonstrating in france. throngs of protesters poured into the streets of paris, angered by plans to raise the retirement age by 2 years. there were similar mass marches earlier this month. elsewhere, more than ten thousand health care workers marched in brussels, demanding better pay and working conditions. back in this country, actor alec baldwin was formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in a movie set shooting in new mexico. prosecutors alleged that baldwin skipped gun safety training, ignored industry protocols and failed to make sure there no bullets in the gun before he fired. the movie's cinematographer was fatally wounded. and, on wall street -- stocks finished a strong january on hopes that interest rate hikes will soon end. major indices were up 1 to 1 and a half percent, or more.

the dow jones industrial average gained 369 points to close at 34,086. the nasdaq rose 190 points. the s&p 500 added nearly 59. still to come on "the newshour"... house republicans prepare to kick off investigations into the white house... the president announces a date for ending covid emergency measures... jake blount puts a new twist on black american folk music... plus much more. >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: five days after former police officers were charged with murder in the death of tyre nichols, the brutal circumstances that led to his death have renewed conversations around the country about policing, the use of force and related issues. we're going to spend time on that again tonight, starting

with new attention around elite police units. geoff: five of the officers charged in the death of tyre nichols were membe of one of those specialized police forces known as the scorpion unit. it was created a little over a year ago to address rising crime. over the weekend, the memphis police department announced the scorpion team had been disbanded -- all of this raising questions about the effectiveness of these special police units. radley balko is the author of "rise of the warrior cop: the militarization of america's police forces," and the criminal justice newsletter "the watch." welcome to the newshour. radley: thank you for having me on. geoff: welcome we spoke with ben crump, attorney for the nichols family yesterday, and he said of now disbanded scorpion unit , if you watch how nonchalantly they acted while tyree nichols was in distress and fighting for

his life, crump said it appear to him to be business as usual. what does that suggest about how these units are trained and operate? radley: i don't know what it tells us about how they're trained, but what it does tell us is that these units are designed to suppress crime basically at any cost. i agree with mr. crump. i mean, if you watch that video, horrifying as it is, i mean, there's an almost sort of casualness to the way they go about beating tyree nichols -- tyre nichols. one of them stops and tasers, they have one officer finding his glasses. you know, it's one thing for police officers to get caught up in the moment to have some of the rush of adrenaline and maybe make bad decisions. so it's extended a long period of time. and so i think what that tells

us that while these are supposed to be elite clearly -- elite police units, the best of the best, the end up actually concentrating some of the worst aspects of policing -- abuse, excessive force, and juskind of militaristic attitudes teams us versus them mentality to the , crowd and approach to the job. geoff: you wrote a piece this past week encoded a former swat officer who said to you, the guys who really want to be on the swat team are the guys you should not be putting onhe swat team. radley: yes, when you create one of these so-called elite police units and you called them the scorpions or some other intimidating names, you are creating fear among the people those units are going to be serving and the neighborhoods where the units are going be serving, and you are attracting police officers want to be

feared. if you are a community-oriented police officer who wants to help people in your neighborhood, you are not going to be enticed or excited to join a group called sport -- called scorpion. geoff: it strikes me that memphis is among the police departments that revise their policies after george floyd. none of that mattered when tyre nichols was pulled over january 7. it speaks to the question of, can a culture like the one that existed in this unit, can that be reformed? radley: i don't think it can be reformed when it comes to the units, because the entire point of these units -- they are formed when crime goes up and politician or police officials feel they have to do something to show they are taking crime seriously. there is this kind of knee-jerk instinct to says what we need to do is supervise police less,

give them more freedom, more leeway, we need to tell them to be more aggressi and we need to look the other way when they bend or break the rules. we have seen this story play out over and over again. in my new york times piece, i go over the history of these units -- l.a., chicago, baltimore, newark, indianapolis. cities across the country, when they have instituted these units, they've inevitably run into problems, and sometimes best of scandals, particularly places like l.a. and chicago, and most recently baltimore with their gun crimes task force. geoff: what is a better approach? according to fbi data, memphis was the most violent metropolitan area in the u.s. in 2020, and the following year they had a record number of murders. what are they to do? radley: we don't know exactly what stops crime. we don't know what causes crime

for the most part. one thing that does seem intuitive is you have to have trust from the communities you serve. if you look at where some of those violent cities in america, these are also cities where there have been long histories of police misconduct, and documented reports from doj and other agencies and other organizations outlining histories of police abuse, misconduct and racism. places like cleveland, st. louis, chicago, baltimore. mean, if you're in memphis, i don't think you're going to wa to, you know, one of these, anything that might succeed with scorpion units patrolling your neighborhood because trust has been broken. geoff: thank you for joining us. amna: let's focus now on how the trauma of police killings ripples across communities. in september of 2016, terence crutcher, a 40-year-old tulsa resident and father of four, was shot and killed by officer betty shelby. crutcher was waiting for help

with his broken down vehicle. shelby was responding to the call. crutcher was unarmed. eight months later, officer shelby was found not guilty of first-degree manslaughter and the case has been expunged from her record. crutcher's twin sister, tiffany crutcher, created foundation in his name, focused on criminal justice and policing reform. she joins me now. welcome back. i have to ask you just first off, we have spoken before about how each new report, each new police killing, each new video reminds you of your pain and loss. i want to start by asking, since the release of this horrible video of tyre nichols, how are you doing? tiffany: thank you for having me again. i have to be honest, it has been a struggle the last few days. even prior to the video being released, listening to tyre's

mother, i remember being in her shoes. back in 2016. i did not watch the video. i haven't even watched the video of my brothers killing. but to say the least, and to hear some of the murmurings of him calling out for his mom, it has reached traumatized not only my family but the community in tulsa, oklahoma. amna: as you know, tyre's family wanted to release the video because they wanted people to bear witness in the hope it will lead to some kind of change. each time this happens it seems to reignite the conversation around police reform, which i know you do work around. do you think this leads to change? tiffany: i will be honest, i feel that black folks in america, we are in a state of emergency and we are afraid.

afraid for our lives and we have seen video after video after video, starting with rodney king, that's what i remember when i was a little girl. we saw videos of philando castile, the video of my brother and so many more. alton sterling, walter scott in south carolina. and george floyd. and we have yet to see any change in this country, we have t to see congress act. i just think it is unhealthy and that communities of color across this country are dealing with vicarious trauma and we need more than just videos being released, but i am thankful for the fact that these videos put a spotlight on the crime, criminality and the murders of black and brown people across this country. but at the same time, it is unhealthy and again, it tears

the scab off of unhealed wounds. amna: the attorney ben crump was working with the nichols family and even he said he was glad to see a swift response in terms of arresting and charging the officers. when you look at that, why do you think things have moved so swiftly in this case when they haven't in the past, and what is justice, if there is such a thing, look like for tyre nichols's family? tiffany: let's be honest, justice would be tyre being alive. the only justice is for the people we pay to service to stop killing us. that's the only justice we will see and the only way that is going to happen is if we have swift action and if we change the laws that allow police officers in this country to commit legal murder. there are laws that are shielding and protecting police officers, where all they can say

is i fear for my life. to see the swift action, i am hopeful it happened in the case of betty shelby, for the first time in the history of tulsa, a police officer was indicted, but i can't help but thinking about the thousands of other victims who never get swift justice. the names we will never now, and quite frankly, i believe that all of the officers that were involved need to be held accountable, and whoever is over the training of these officers, whoever implemented this special unit, needs to be held accountable too, because this is in first incident. we know there has been more. i want everyone held accountable. the only justice there is is tyre nichols being alive. amna: senyour brother's death, you've become part of this community no one chooses to join. you have a very close connection with folks like gwen carr, the

mother of eric garner, and the sister of oath and john -- bothan john, who have lost people to police violence. have you been in touch with them over the last few days and what is that community like for you? tiffany: i am thankful have a community of individuals who simply understand and can relate to what i am feeling. i connected with the mother of beyond a tailor and trayvon martin and -- breonna taylor and trayvon martin and eric garner. we were all struggling and we were trying to figure out, will it ever stop? the common thread is we can't give up, and dr. bernice king made me feel a little better, she said we will feel all sorts of things, but we have to make

sure those feeling are fueled, or is the fuel to keep acting, to keep organizing, to keep rally crying. that's what we all decided we would do. but right now we are struggling and no one should feel this pain. no one should have to be part of this community, this sisterhood, this brotherhood. but i am comforted to know that someone understands what we are ing through. amna: tiffany crutcher, founder and executive director of the terence crutcher foundation, thank you for joining us. tiffany: thank you for having me. ♪ geoff: as part of the new congress, tomorrow, house republicans will start scrutinizing nearly every policy step taken by the biden white house and congressional

democrats over the past two years. lisa desjardins joins us with more to expect tomorrow and down the road. house republicans have mentioned a number of topics they say are ripe for investigation. help us understand where the intent to start and where this heads. lisa: when you think about the investigations house republicans are launching, i think about them in three big baskets. let's look at the committees that will be key. first, a new select committee on china. important to note, this has wide bipartisan backing, it is focused on china and the communist party there, the economy and also human rights. different are the other two committees you see here, the house oversight committee. these committees are looking at the biden administration -- look at the list. these are the different things already announced by the house oversight committee, the classified documents, the biden family influence, including hunter biden, and also joe biden's brothers, whether they

have connections outside this country. the pandemic, border, rug prices and overall afghanistan and the withdrawal there. expect a lot of news to come out of the committee, certainly a lot of hearings. then there is the house judiciary committee. that is led by jim jordan, the republican from ohio. they will also look at classified documents but especially the role of agencies, including the department of justice and border security, that will be one of their first hearings next week. this is a special subcommittee, the weaponization subcommittee. i think that will focus a lot on the department of justice and fbi, investigating the investigators. not only that, the world -- there will be a look at how government agencies take on individual americans, republicans say. all of this is the beginning. we don't know what shape these will take, but the theme is for those big committees going at

the biden administration and family. geoff: those are the topics, tell us more about the approach these committees might take. lisa: those two chairman are different chairman in their approaches. let's talk about james, and house oversight. -- james comer and house oversight. he is more affable, he has gotten along with his democratic chairman in the past and he says he will take this slow, i spoke with him at length. he does not want to start out of the gate throwing punches at the biden administration. in the past he's criticized the trump administration. different in style, jim jordan. they get along. but he is a former wrestler, he likes to throw punches and he believes pugilistic style can uncover truth and is some thing he loves to do. his committee is somewhere we will see more contention and already he is telling the biden administration, signaling he is ready to issue subpoenas pretty

quickly. here is a press release they put out in the last couple of weeks, signaling right tre that he will take them on, giving them notice about documents requests. both of these committees different in style are going after the same thing. republicans say there was not enough of a check on the biden administration democrats are nervous and they say the judiciary committee in particular is something they want to watch. some democrats said they are nervous about even sitting on the committee. geoff: meantime, news today about two members of unger's that might not have committee seats at all. lisa: as was reported, george santos said he will not serve on committees, that is at least temporary, and is connected to the other member we are talking about, democrat ilhan omar. mccarthy has said he would like to remove her from the house foreign affairs committee but he needs nearly all of his conference to agree and he does not have enough votes to remove

her. this is for paste -- past statements she's made about israel that were considered anti-semitic, she has apologized. he doesot have the votes to remove her right now and we will watch that carefully. geoff: lastly, there has been renewed focus on police reform following the killing of tyre nichols. what are the prospects of that in congress? lisa: there is huge interest, behind-the-scenes conversations. this is the timeline, state of the union, we expect nichols's mother at that speech next week. i am told by republicans and democrats that is the timeline. if there can be movement on the issue, it is up to that speech and they are hoping to get some sign of advance by then. can they get there? we don't know. geoff: lisa, thank you for that great reporting. ♪

amna: since the start of the pandemic, both former president trump and president biden have repeatedly renewed a special declaration of a national public health emergency, but the government's approach toward covid has dramatically changed. yesterday the president said he would allow the emergency declaration to end in may. william: this is the government essentially saying covid-19 as not as grave a threat as it once was and certain policies can be phased out. house republicans have been pressuring the administration to make this exact move. but covid is still killing 500 americans every day on average and is -- has cumulatively killed well over a million of us. joining me is lawrence coston, who tracks all of this closely. great to have you back on the program.

i mentioned the gop pressure on the administration. house republicans just introduced this bill called the pandemic is over act, which would basically do what the administration says they are going to do. you think the administration wanted to do this or is this bowing to political pressure? lawrence: i think it is a little of both. certainly all emergencies have to come to an end and we have been at this covid emergency for three years, with president trump declaring it in january of 2020. but there has been enormous pressure. it is from congress, from republican governors, from the public that seems to be fatigued and over covid, and even the food and drug administration is planning on cycling to seasonal covid shots the way we do flu shots.

all of this is a strong political signal that we need to move on, but we need to have a soft landing and i think that is why the administration has put this back until may 11. william: practically speaking, when the government says the public health emergency is over, what does that mean and what follows? lawrence: first we have to be clear that the crisis is still here, particularly for the vulnerable. you mentioned more than 500 deaths a day. that is twice the average of the flu season a severe flu season. we have covid exploding in china, we have variantand subvariants on the horizon. for the young and healthy, it may be over, but for the vulnerable it is not. what this will mean is it will unravel a whole social safety net.

people will find it harder to get health insurance, particularly medicaid, children's health insurance program, veterans administration benefits, and even private insurance. it will start to cost money for tests, therapeutics and ultimately vaccines as we transition into the private market. that means the uninsured, the underinsured, the poor will really lack accs the way they've been accustomed to doing it now. the cdc will have a lot more trouble getting data from the states and wing surveillance. there's is also implications even for title 42, which is the program that expels asylum-seekers coming to the united states. william: what is the implication for title 42? i know this has been another one of those political hot potatoes that has been fought over. if you declare the emergency is

over, does that change title 42 in any real way? lawrence: it actually does. title 42 itself is not the pendant on a declaration, a formal declaration of a public health emergency. if you look at the cdc's original order, the order says it stays in place until cdc decides to take it down or until a formal declaration of emergency is over. on may 11, like it or not, titl 42 is gone unless there is some reason cdc would issue a fresh order and cdc will not do that because my understanding is cdc has never been in favor of this. it's really not justified by public health, it is more a border control policy, and an inhumane one at that. william: you wrote on twitter that this is the equivalent of waving the white flag of surrender.

do you really think that is the case? given that you are describing congress has done this and the american public has decided we are done with this, so what are we surrendering to? william: i worry that when the next variant or subvariant comes, we have more immune escape capability, perhaps pathogenic or deadly. when cdc ss put on a mask or get your booster shot, that people's eyes may roll. i think it is fine for the young and healthy, but i really worry about the poor, the uninsured, those with deep underlying health conditions and vulnerabilities. i think they are at grave risk and that is what worries me the most. i do understand and i agree with president biden that all

emergencies do eventually come to an end, but i wish we would be able to have a safe landing in the sense that we really protect the health care insurance and social safety net for the most vulnerable among us. they are still at grave risk. william: larry gostin of georgetown university, always great to see you. lawrence: thank you, william, appreciate it. ♪ geoff: since the affordable care act was implemented more than a decade ago, 39 states have expanded medicaid, the public insurance program that provides health coverage to low income americans. north carolina is not one of those states. one of the obstacles had been filled berger p --hil berger, a republican and president pro tem of the state senate. but he changed his min last

year and now that the legislature has reconvened for the year, etiquette expansion is a top priority. he joins us now. thank you for being here. we looked up a press release from a decade ago, you said this would settle --saddle our citizens -- saddle our citizens with new cost. why did you change your mind? sen. berger: the big objection had to do with the impact on the state budget or at least the potential impact on the state budget. it was a new program, the federal government said they would be payin 90% of the cost. traditional medicaid, the government pays about 60% of the cost. that difference between 66% and 90% could bust our budget in significant ways. there was a concern about whether or not the federal government would keep its word.

since then, we have seen the federal government be controlled by democrats and republicans, we have sn almost every iteration you can have of control by one party or the other or joint control and they haven't changed that 90/10 split and in my view it is something we ought to do and it makes perfect sense from a budgeting standpoint at this time. geoff: there was also an initial concerned as i understand it that expanding medicaid would have discouraged people from looking for work, is that right? sen. berger: well, we are looking at the potential of 600,000 people and generally the numbers we were seeing was that the bulk of those folks would be able-bodied individuals who were not employed and not really looking for work. the reality is that with the way the federal program is designed,

more often than not, what you have is a situation where folks who would be eligible for medicaid in the expansion population are people who are working full time. cert of -- sort of the person that seems to be helped the most would be a single female with one or two children who works a full-time job. she is not eligible for traditional medicaid, not eligible for subsidies of an exchange policy. so she just falls through a gap and it does not have the funds to purchase private insurance. i actually think at this time, a substantial number of the people that will be covered in the expansion population are people who are actually working. you've still got a good number of folks who will be able-bodied , not working, not willing to work who will be covered, but i

think on balance, given the choices we have, it turns out to be the best policy decision for us to make at this time. geoff: there are few incentives these days for elected officials like yourself to change your mind on major issues like this. might there be any consequences? what is your level of concern? sen. berger: you know, i think the public by and large is supportive of the expansion of medicaid. i think the opposition is clearly there, there's probably more pronounced in what would be described as a very red district, but even there, in the senate last year, we had 44 votes in favor of expansion in the bill we passed, only to vote supposed -- two votes opposed.

quite frankly, i don't remember expansion being an issue in either a primary or at this point in the general election in the way it would have been 10 years ago, or that people would have thought it would be now. geoff: north carolina state senate leader phil berger, thank you for your time. sen. berger: thank you. ♪ amna: when folklorists went to the american south last century to record and preserve traditional string band music, they probably didn't imagine that someday a 27-year-old like jake blount would come along to not only update the tradition, but to help ensure its future, too. blount is gaining recognition for his work and is up for artist of the year at the international folk music awards,

being held tomorrow night. special correspondent tom casciato met up with him for our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ tom: jake blount is musician on a mission. upon first listen on this night at brooklyn's jalopy theatre, you might think it was simply to keep up the tradition of what's known as old time or string band music. jake: i try to cultivate a really close relationship with the body of source recordings that we have that comes from these bygone musicians who are a generation or two or three ahead of me. tom: he's studied those sources, extraordinary artists born over a century ago like bessie jones, vera hall, and lead belly. but jake blount isn't content to simply research and copy the past. in fact, he's pulled the sound right into the present, and put his own spin on it. jake: ♪ didn't it rain, children

♪ string band music whetr it's spirituals, whatever, is still alive and breathing and growing. it is not restricted to old times. i think it's perfectly allowable to admit that people who are young and alive today have things to contribute to that. tom: he proved that point on his first full-length release, 2020's spider tales, where he covered lead belly's classic tale of jealousy and suspicion, where did you sleep last night. >> ♪ my girl, don't lie to me tell me where did you sleep last night ♪ tom: blount's version changes the girl to a boy, giving the song what the guardian called an arresting new power on an album it called an instant classic. jake: ♪ my boy, my boy, don't lie to me ♪ tom: his most recent album is called the new faith. it contains a song called the downward road. this 1934 version is sung by a

group of incarcerated black men in south carolina. it's a spiritual about the damnation awaiting unbelieving souls. ♪ but jake blount has repurposed it. the road still heads downward. and it's still crowded with imperiled souls, perhaps for eternity. but the doom that awaits is a new kind of help -- environmental catastrophe. -- new kind of hell, environmental catastrophe. jake: hello brooklyn. if you're anxious about climate change saywoo! >> woo! jake: when we started this trip a third of pakistan was under water and 50 million people were out of their homes. and we started this tour off to the joyous news that apparently mankind has wiped out an average of 70% of animal populations over the past 50 years. tom: one really feels listening

to the new faith the precariousness that your generation must feel about the future. jake: i am terrified. and everyone i know is terrified. i don't know what we're supposed to do. i know i'm gonna be old and infirm, and the world's going to be collapsing arnd me. i felt like i needed to approach somehow. tom: his approach is to put a futuristic spin on the songs of his black musical ancestors. the new faith imagines how black refugees would be forced to recreate their lost music from memory once the world is ravaged by climate change. jake: designing the sounds, designing the concept meant thinking about people who've ard all of the music that we've heard up until today, inclusive of rap, of disco, of of all othese different genres that have come out of the black community. and then had to make those things again because they don't have access to our technology. tom: didn't it rain, is a spiritual about noah's flood. was once sung by pioneering electric guitarist sister

rosetta tharpe in early rock 'n roll fashion. >> ♪ didn't it rain, children ♪ tom: for the coming deluge, blount takes a swinging approach, but the electric guitar becomes ominous. and he not only reworks records of the past, he imagines records that were never even made.he ser went from collecting folklore to making commercial releases, many black musicians were erased, or nearly so. jake: industry folks went down to the south and started recording people, they made two kinds of records. they made hillbilly records, which were string band music, and they made race records, which was whatever black people did. and they wanted that to be blues, jazz, eventually gospel. and you have black musicians like cuje bertram who was a black banjo and fiddle player.

cuje never got recorded until he was like a 70-something year old man. and there are a set of recordings that a folklorist made in his living room with his grandchildren running around banging on things and yelling. ♪ i do love it. but the end result is that people were written out of the sound. what i'm doing is re-imagining a version of string band music where black pele were not erased. tom: and where jake blount's not afraid to mix old time fiddle with hip hop verses, from his friend, the rapper known as demeanor, about sea levels reaching new heights. >> ♪hey heard about the water rising, made a claim to take advantage, how to enterprise it ♪ tom: you might say that's the sound of the future of tradition. for the pbs newshour i'm tom casciato in brooklyn, new york. >> ♪ crowded, crowded my crowded

♪ ♪ ♪ geoff: tonight on pbs, a new series recounts the birth of hip hop and its emergence as a global cultural phenomenon, now 50 years old. >> rap rhythmically rhyming a spoken word, breaking, graffiti art, and djinf were four distinct communities and cool herc brought them together. sometime later, it was called hip hop. >> hip hop was a movement created by, populated by and

spoke to working-class kids. >> these were the kids who had an attitude about themselves. hip hop is coming from with in us, we were never not hip hop, we were always this from the time we were born. we were always this. ♪ >> that was a shock to a nerdy, geeky kid. hip hop empowered me -- i can use this to not be afraid to tell the world who i am. ♪ >> hip hop is creativity, the activity that comes out of the black neighborhood when every thing has been stripped away. geoff: "fight the power: how hip hop changed the world" airs tonight at 9:00/8:00entral. check your local listings. amna: remember you can watch

much morenline at pbs.org/newshour, including a conversation about whether people can change their luck. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night, when we'll speak with senator and former astronaut mark kelly about the 20th anniversary of the columbia space shuttle disaster. and that's "the newshour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well planned. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and

security. at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, wich is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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