i am geoff bennett. on the news hour tonight,

chances of government shutdown faster as partisan politics and influence from president electron camper -- president elect trump hamper budget negotiations in congress. patrick mchenry weighs in on capitol hill as he departs washington. >> we are in a situation where basic governance, like turning the light switch on in the morning, is complicated. >> the spread of bird flu raises safety concerns among dairy farmers and their workforce. >> major funding for the pbs news hour provided by. the carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through

philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> house republicans are pushing a new proposal tonight to avoid government shutdown in an effort to meet president elect donald trump's last-minute spending demands after mr. trump rejected

the original bill earlier this week with billionaire elon musk leading the charge against it online. lisa, good to see you. what did the republicans change in the last-minute revision? >> it has been another whirlwind day on capitol hill, pivotal both for government function and speaker mike johnson. let me go over that bill speaker johnson and house republicans unveiled just over an hour or so ago. here is what is in it. it would extend government funding another three months. it would add about $100 billion in funding for disasters including recent hurricanes. it would extend the debt ceiling for two additional years. the debt ceiling is likely to hit in the spring of next year in the donald trump administration. it would extend the farm bill one year. that extension was something

specifically president elect donald trump and a president elect jd vance asked for and it wasn't on the negotiating table until president elect trump brought it out. today president elect trump posted on social media that he does indeed support the new version of the bill writing "all republicans and even democrats should do what is best for our country. as details were emerging in the last couple hours, and members of the press were all trying to get our hands around what was happening. some members that were skeptical about the continuing resolution funding deal said they were waiting eagerly and is still deciding as they were hearing the first details about the bill itself and also speaker johnson. listen. >> how he handles it will define who he is. if he is a serious leader. if he will survive this leadership vote frankly.

>> that is congressman rich mccormick. that was just an hour or so ago that i talked to him. in the past few minutes our producer spoke to rich mccormick again after he heard speaker johnson make his plea about the bill. mccormick says he is a hard know on speaker johnson's bill. he is furious about it and seems to have a problem with the speaker johnson as well. i the report -- republicans have concerns about it. they don't like the debt ceiling extension donald trump campaign for personally in this. >> what does that count look like over all? the house is voting this evening. is it expected to pass? >> speaker johnson is using a special technique to call the vote quickly. he will have to go around the rules. he needs two thirds of the entire house. he will clearly need republicans

-- democrats, rather. he does have problems with some republicans. democrats are hard nos. they say it is a matter of johnson and republicans breaking their word and billionaires trying to control congress. we heard from the chairwoman of the appropriations committee. they want to stick with the original deal they negotiated with speaker johnson. here is what she said. >> i support the current bill we have. i support what we did. we worked very hard. i worked very hard as the other appropriators did in creating the agreement. we lost some and they lost some but we put together a good agreement people can support. we were there to support it but for president musk. >> where are we, then? by my understanding i do not see

how the bill has two thirds. i am not sure it has majority to pass the house. with one day until a government shutdown it means either johnson would have to fall back to another vehicle that democrats agree with or indeed we are getting closer and closer to a likely weekend or possibly holiday government shutdown. >> what would it mean for speaker johnson's leadership, lisa? >> it's not good. but we have to wait to see how he handles it. what this means to americans is very significant creative disaster funding can pass, millions of americans around the country are still recovering. i spoke to the mayor of asheville earlier today and she says people in asheville north carolina are still homeless, waiting for sba loans and the sba is still out of money, waiting for money right now. she says congress needs to act immediately.

>> collateral damage all over again in a fight that has nothing to do with us. it has been tearing us down. you have seen the devastation. i know you know what the right thing is to do. i need you to come across the aisle, to compromise and work with fellow congresspeople to' pass a bill right before the christmas holiday that will help western north carolina be able to manage itself through the storm and be as whole as possible several months from now. >> this chaos has a real impact, lisa, and you have spoken to somebody with a unique perspective. >> earlier this week i spoke to patrick mchenry a congressman from north carolina. he has been here 20 years and is retiring. he knows all about this kind of chaos. he stepped in as acting speaker when kevin mccarthy was ousted.

earlier this week he told me he thought speaker johnson had no problems. today i talked to him and he indicated things may have changed. i talked to him about congress and the republican party. my first question was now. why can't congress do basic things? >> frankly, we are in a situation where basic governance , that is like turning a light switch on in the morning, is complicated. it speaks to the dysfunction within our agencies of government between branches and a lack of muscle memory on making these normal things happen. really complicated. i do not see it quickly changing until we have systemic reform for how we fund the government. >> do you think congress is broken or not? >> i think that congress is fundamentally a great place to get the people's business done. i think we are at a low ebb of

functionality and on the edge of really active legislating with the next congress. i think that the reform we need is to once again allow members of the house to be here in d.c. with their families. the best relationships i have from across the aisle are because of my kids and because of my wife. those normal interactions we have. >> the house republican dysfunction we have seen this week is not new asthma can knows too well. -- as mchenry knows too well. last fall a small group of republican rebels reacting to spending and debt deals that then speaker kevin mccarthy negotiated sparked near fights on the floor and ousted him. mchenry was named acting speaker in the moment he took the gavel was iconic. >> 12 a of rule one the chair

declares a house recess subject to the call of the chair. >> that has been played a lot. what were you thinking? how significant does that feel now looking back? >> it is like looking at someone else. those minutes were like an out of body experience for me. first, my friend, eight republic -- my friend was just deposed from the speakership. eight republic and sided with the democrats. i understand why democrats vote the way they do. mundane the name itself is republicans really built a wellspring of anger that was -- but the eight selfish republicans really built a wellspring of anger. >> seems like you still feel it. >> i do. i am trying to put words to the moment. but it was anger with the situation, what these selfish h

republicans did to us -- eight republicans did for a speaker that had only been successful, opening-day, grueling votes, negotiation of the debt ceiling, debt reductions, the success of passing the government funding bill. >> those were hard lifts. >> huge lifts for speaker mccarthy and for him to be successful and then be punished for success was not fitting. i did not have any other way to put words to it. i did not want to be in that position. i did not want the house in this position. i thought, this is the dumbest moment in the house i have experienced and there have been pretty dumb moments. >> president trump and some of its allies are putting a lot of pressure on senators to confirm his nominees and there is a lot of that on the senate side, that you need to go along with what president trump wants. there has been a shift from congressional to executive power over the course of several presidencies. >> it is congress' will to

weaken congress' power and they can do so in a shortsighted way. in the case of the next president he comes in with wide popularity at a significantly different position than eight years ago. i think there is a misunderstanding of president trump. he will listen to people that tell him hard things. he will. there are people that don't understand him. i tried to be sycophants for him. -- that tried to be sycophants for him. he does not like that. but to stand up for the rightful powers of congress should be a bipartisan issue and it should be the case no matter who the president is. >> what you republicans stand for right now? >> a strong economy and traditional american ways of life. is there a tinge of population that -- populism that is part of this too? yes.

>> you are chairman of a powerful committee. next session 17 standing committees, house republicans are leading them and they will all be led by men. does it matter no women will chair committees luck -- next congress? >> you need a diverse set of inputs. that is what founding fathers intended for the house. for us to have no women chairs of committees is a huge mistake and unfortunate thing. because we have powerful, smart, capable, tenacious republican women that are capable of leaving big committees and doing major things. >> what's going on here? >> and unfortunate set of circumstances. i am leaving congress. >> so you can tell me. put it out there. is there still sexism in the republican party that needs to be dealt with? >> we have a process through the

steering committee. the steering committee produced these results. that is before republican members that made the decisions to answer for. >> you entered congress at 29. how changed you feel as a person? >> i love this institution. i leave it with no remorse, no regret, just gratitude. enormous gratitude. to be hitched to this great thing, the united states and what it means, not just to us at home, but around the globe, to be hitched to that, even for a moment, to serve our government, to serve our country, it has been a great gift. >> the bowties have here too. >> dated. -- as they did. i got to be quirky and weird and had a great run and enjoyed everything about it. >> congressman patrick mchenry, thank you for talking with me. >> thank you for listening.

>> today's other headlines begin in russia were president vladimir putin held his annual year end press conference during the marathon session more than four hours this year vladimir putin reaffirmed her commitment to continuing the war in ukraine and hedged on the question of a potential arms race with the u.s.. stephanie sy reports. >> an annual glimpse into the mind of russia's strong man, complete with cold war era missile threats and denials that any of his policies have failed including in syria. it is despite the recent ouster of syrian president bashar al-assad who putin backed during the civil war and was forced to flee to russia. putin says he has yet to meet with bashar assad. with moscow's influence in the region sharply curtailed and the future of its two military bases in syria unknown, putin dismissed any notion of defeat to an nbc reporter.

>> you and those that pay your salaries would like to present everything happening in syria as a failure and defeat for russia. i ensure you that is not true. we maintain relations with all the groups that control the situation there and all countries in the region. the overwhelming majority tell us they would be interested in keeping military bases in syria. i don't know. we have to think about it. >> the russian president vowed to continue the war in ukraine agreeing to come to them negotiation -- to the negotiating table only if ukraine submits to concessions. >> we are ready to negotiate but the other side needs to be ready for negotiation and compromise is. >> russia captured over 26,000 square miles of ukrainian territory since the launch of its full-scale offensive nearly three years ago. ukraine struggled to keep up with russia's onslaught of manpower. today ukraine launched a 60 u.s.-made atacms and four

british missiles into a russian region, almost all of which russia said were shot down. vladimir putin alluded to turning up the heat in an arms race in the u.s. arguing a new missile cannot be intercepted by western air defenses despite analyst claims to the contrary. he suggested a missile dual may be in order. >> how about they propose to us to conduct a technological experience -- experiment. a high-tech dual in the 21st century. name a spot, let's say, kyiv,. we will hit it and see what happens. we are ready for such an experiment. >> with president trump ready to take office in less than a month and promising to make a deal to end the war vladimir putin denied he would be in a weaker position when and if they do meet and said they had not

spoken in four years. for the pbs news hour i am stephanie sy . >> the man accused of killing united health care ceo brian thompson returned to new york today facing additional federal murder charges just after suspect luigi mangione waived extradition in a court in pennsylvania where he was arrested while on the run earlier this month. luigi mangione was flown back to new york city this afternoon where he had already been indicted on state charges. he was taken to a federal court to face charges including two counts of stalking, one count of murder, and a firearms offense. the manhattan district attorney said the state and federal cases could proceed simultaneously. >> we allege the defendant in the case shot mr. thompson twice in midtown manhattan. it was targeted. it was premeditated and meant to sew terror. speaking generally we had state and federal prosecutors pursuing

parallel matters. >> one of luigi mangione's federal charges of murder by firearm includes the possibility of the death penalty. prosecutors have not said whether they would seek that punishment. in madison, wisconsin new details about the shooting this week at abundant life christian school. the 15 year old suspect is accused of shooting and killing two people before shooting herself. she brought two hand guns to school that day. the individual was in contact with a man in california who authorities say was plotting a separate shooting at a government building. earlier this week a california judge issued a restraining order requiring him to turn in his weapons. the identities of the victims are 14 year old rubi patricia vergara who attended abundant life since kindergarten and 42-year-old erin michelle west , a teacher at the school. two other students are in critical condition. amazon workers at seven

facilities across the nation walked off the job this morning aiming to pressure the retailer into contract negotiations during this busy holiday rush. the starts are taking place at seven amazon warehouses in illinois, new york, and georgia. >> worker power, worker power! workers were out before the sun came up forming picket lines by the dozens demanding higher pay, better benefits, and improved working conditions. they acknowledged this could be worse for that customer. >> we want everybody have a great christmas but amazon forced us into this. whatever packages are late, just remember this is because amazon is refusing to come to the bargaining table. >> amazon says the strikes won't affect its operations during the holiday period. nearly 200 tons of food, water and other aid arrived by navy ship today to the devastated

island of mayotte five days after a tropical cycle tour through the french territory coinciding with a visit from french president emmanuel macron . at least a 31 people are confirmed dead and 200 critically injured. authorities fear the death toll is actually much higher. reactions to emmanuel macron's visit were mixed with some demanding more help. >> mayotte does not necessarily need your presence. mayotte needs support. what you spent coming here, it would be better if you used it to help the population. >> frantic scenes in the pacific island nation of vanu-atu. people rushed to safety after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the capital tuesday. at least 10 people have been confirmed dead so far. the number is expected to rise as the cruise from australia, new zealand, and france searched

the rubble. nearly 1000 people have been displaced. on wall street today stops ended mostly unchanged after yesterday's selloff. the dow jones industrial average barely managed to end in positive territory out in 15 points. the nasdaq slipped by nearly 20 points. the s&p 500 was little changed on the day. a follow-up to a story we brought you last week. the oldest known complete stone tablets of the 10 commandments sold at auction for more than 5 million dollars. the auction house sotheby's expected more like one million or $2 million. the marble slab is inscribed with the commandments in paleo hebrew script and is believed to be about 1500 years old. the buyer, who remains anonymous, plans to donate it to an israeli institution. still to come on the news hour, george's district attorney is disqualified from the trump election interference case. at the legal tactics president

elect trump is using against media outlets. and, how researchers are trying to get people to rethink addiction as a brain disorder. >> they georgia appeals court disqualified the top prosecutor overseeing an election interference case against president-elect donald trump and its allies, a decision that could upend the case. fulton county did fani williams -- district attorney fani williams was disqualified because she had a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to help run the investigation overturning a lower court ruling from earlier this year that said fani willis could continue in the role. what was the appeals court argument in removing fani willis

>> >> from the case? > their argument was a bit of a surprise. the presiding judge, scott mcafee, a republic -- a republican judge appointed by governor brian kemp. this appeals court comes in while agreeing that it was really just about an appearance of impropriety, they said this case was so rare and unusual that disqualification was mandated. they have been criticized a fair amount for the ruling. it was a two-one decision. but that is the ruling and she is off the case. >> the underlying case, though, has not been dismissed. could potentially be prosecuted by somebody else? >> potentially. fani willis' office is appealing to the georgia supreme court overthrows this so she can get back in the driver's seat.

it's unclear if that will happen. if you lose says there is a republican led -- if she loses it there is a republican led council of prosecutors in georgia and they will decide whether to drop the case, continue the case and then assigned a new prosecutor. it is unclear if that will happen or not. hanging over all this is this department of justice office of legal counsel policy that says no sitting president can be prosecuted. the department of justice is usually thought of as covering just federal cases, not state and local. but the belief among many legal experts is state and local prosecutors would have to honor this as well. the other cases against mark meadows, rudy giuliani, other people involved in the case could go forward. but, there is nobody who really believes a judge in georgia would allow a case to go against donald trump when he was is -- when he is back in the white house. >> looking at all of the cases

that existed, using the past tense, what remains? >> none of them. the two federal cases against donald trump, jack smith wound those down and the other was dismissed. this case in georgia is really in limbo. the only one that really has some legal maneuvers going on is the stormy daniels case. 34 felony convictions against donald trump in new york city. the judge just throughout donald trump's attempt to say, the supreme court just granted me immunity. i ought to be able to throw this case out. he said not so fast. he has postponed sentencing, perhaps, not until donald trump is out of the white house. william brangha -- >> william brangham, thank you as always. >> thank you, jeff. >> now we shift the focus to donald trump following through on threats of legal action against the news media.

earlier this week, abc news agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by mr. trump and the president announced more was to come. >> i feel i have to do this. i should not really be the one to do it. it should have been the justice department or somebody else, but i have to do it. it costs a lot of money to do it. but we have to straighten out the press. the press is very corrupt. >> his legal team filed a lawsuit against iowa pollster anne seltzer and the des moines register for a poll released before the election showing kamala harris when and by three points. mr. trump won that state by 13. his lawsuit called this election interfering fiction. let's start with the iowa

lawsuit. it's not about defamation but an accusation of consumer fraud under iowa law. let -- help us understand this fairly novel approach. typically we would think of somebody slandered with fame. he is targeting unfair and deceptive business practices. he is suggesting that anne s elzer's poles were fraudulently conducted to harm his campaign. it's a different use. typically we think of consumer protection laws about products you would buy in the store, the supermarket. now we are talking about information and news. regardless of his theory here, the first amendment will certainly come into play as a constitutional overlay that would lend protection to the des

moines register, one of the defendants. >> the des moines register responded to a lawsuit in a statement. "we stand by our reporting on the matter and believe the lawsuit is without merit." ann selzer spoke about the acquisition -- accusation before the lawsuit was filed with iowa pbs. >> the idea i intentionally set up this response when i have never done that. i have had plenty of opportunities. it is not my ethic. to suggest without a single shred of evidence that i was in cahoots with somebody, being paid by somebody, it is hard to pay too much attention to that except that they are accusing me of a crime. >> in your view, is winning in court the real goal of this suit or is something else at play here? >> it is absolutely not to win in court. it is to have that news media

engaged in self-censorship, to pull back their stories. so instead of playing the watchdog role we typically think of the state plane when it comes to government i think mr. trump is trying to turn the press into a lapdog that won't bark at him when he takes office again in 2025. the goal is to chill the press and try to scare them off from criticizing him. that is the larger purpose. it is what we would sometimes think of as a strategic lawsuit against public participation or a slap suit. the whole purpose is to chill the press. for participating in criticizing him. >> does the abc news settlement and bold and more types of lawsuits or is it potentially a way to protect press freedom because the thinking is, had it gone all the way to the supreme court, the conservative majority on the court might have overturned the long existing

protections established under the new york times versus sullivan case from 1964? >> certainly justice thomas has an appetite as does justice gorsuch for overruling the actual malice standard so you would not want to tee up a case to give them a case to overturn the actual malice standard. the disney settlement is that. you have a news division at abc and also this overlord, walt disney, and entertainment company. there is real tension when a news organization is controlled by a company with other interests in the entertainment industry. this friction is very important. a number of officials at abc news certainly did not want that settlement happen but at the same time they are dictated and controlled by disney. >> donald trump is still a private citizen but in a couple months he will be president and have control of the department of justice. how should news organizations prepare? >> i think they are preparing

now. i am a member of several different organizations where media attorneys are members of that and they are thinking about these issues. one other thing we need to think about is the sec, the federal communications commission, brandon farro taking the chair position there. donald trump has threatened to revoke the license sets of stations that he believes engage in fake news, we have frontal attacks in terms of lawsuits but i would also watch out for the sec in its actions in the future in broadcast journalism. >> clay calvert senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, we appreciate your time this evening. >> thank you for having me. in france today a panel of judges found dozens of men

guilty of raping a woman whose husband drugged her unconscious over the course of a decade. ali rogan has more. the following conversation is graphic. >> gisèle pélicot waived her right to a private trial in solidarity with other victims of sexual assault who she says go unrecognized. >> by opening the doors to this trial, i wished for society to join in the debates that were held. i never regretted the decision. >> for three months she has had to sit through videos of her abuse in court taken by her then husband while dozens of men he recruited online assaulted her. a majority of the men said they didn't know it was rape but they were all found guilty in one way or another. the scale and brutality of pélicot's abuse sparked a nationwide conversation about consent. catherine porter has been

covering the 12 for the new york times. what does the verdict mean for the country and for madame pélicot. >> for madame pélicot it was the verdict she was looking for. but more than the verdict she wanted to spark a large conversation in france about the prevalence of -- rape and how the country treats rape victims. she is forcing the country to look rape in the face by watching these videos of her comatose body being penetrated by strangers has started a national conversation about relationships between men and women, about consent, about rape culture, conversations that were much more common in north america after m#metoo

are now taking place. >> you have been at the court in heav -- at court since the beginning. what has it been like? >> her ex-husband dominique pélicot was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison. the other men were convicted mostly of rape but given sentences that were more lenient, most of them between 6-9 years in prison and six of them walk free today because they have already spent enough time in prison during the trial or before the trial then they had no more prison time. that infuriated feminists who have been following the case. they said to me they felt like the message was you can get away with rape. >> why has this particular case resonated so deeply, not just in france, but around the world? >> it is an extraordinary case

for so many reasons. it was a mass rape trial. 51 men. almost all charged of rape. all but one for raping the same woman, people's next-door neighbors ranging in age from 26 to 72. and then there is madame pélicot 's courageous decision to pass a massive spotlight on her own intimate horror. she not only insisted the crowd of the -- the trial be made public to launch this conversation but insisted the videos her husband had taken, more than 20,000 of them that were found by police, beard -- be aired in court so people could see them. as her lawyer said, she wanted france and the world to look rape in the eye. >> what was the response to her

testimony? >> madame pélicot took the stand early and frequently throughout the trial, three times. she was poised, calm. she embodied the notion. she came in each day with her head held high. she never cracke emotionally. she answered questions calmly and directly. every time one of the lawyers would say, you can see how he might have thought. she said, well, the instant he came into the room and he saw my body and heard my snores he should have known to ask madame pélicot. he should have turned around and left and called the police. not one of these 50 men called the police. >> a stunning trial with the verdict coming today. catherine porter has been covering it since the beginning.

thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> california governor gavin newsom declared a state of emergency yesterday in response to bird flu that is spreading among that state's dairy cows. the virus already caused the deaths of more than 120 million birds across the country since 2022. stephanie sy reports from colorado on efforts to keep the dairy work for safe given concerns the more the virus spreads, the greater possibility it mutates to infect humans. >> in this stretch of rural colorado, a lifeline for many agricultural workers. >> it is very hard. >> she is a community health worker with project protect, part of a statewide nonprofit.

her regular visits and food deliveries to farmworkers in need and now includes a bag full of face shields and masks, equipment which protects them from bird flu. since the spring, avian influenza has been spreading in dairy cattle and infected about 60 farmworkers nationwide. despite the risks, this worker said he has gotten little information from his employer. >> the owner, we never see him. they aren't interested in us. >> speaking to us anonymously because he's undocumented he told us earlier this year he was ill and had conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye, a symptom possible from this strain of bird flu. >> in reality, many people get sick but never know.

they never had information about whether the symptoms are or how they feel. >> she is part of a network established during covid to spread critical information to colorado's mentally -- many hispanic farmworkers. lately it has shifted to address bird flu. >> did workers get enough information when bird flu started circulating in this area over the summer? >> not really. they know they have the sickness because of the symptoms. the cows. now they know they have this sickness, but only because we provided information. >> in addition to groups like project protect, a federally

funded health and safety center at colorado state university has been using social media to provide information to workers. while the virus known as h5n1 has killed more than a hundred million of poultry birds and tens of thousands of marine mammals in cal's it has been less -- cows it has been less deadly with most recovering after experiencing a drop in milk reduction. at least one person has been hospitalized with bird flu. the recent strain of the virus circulating in cows has been mild in humans and the risk to the public remains slow. colorado state vetera -- veterinarian are watching the changes in the pathogen closely. >> we have seen this a virus move from species to species before. we have seen spillover of the virus from wild birds, poultry,

typically wild mammals in the past. what is concerning his memo to metal transition of the virus. >> pasteurization has been shown to kill the virus in milk and dairy products. workers coming into contact with raw milk are at risk. >> we know that the more opportunities we give the virus to be exposed to people, the more opportunities it has to adapt, potentially, and gained an ability to spread from person to person, what we want to prevent. >> since july colorado has mandated weekly bird flu testing of both milk samples from its licensed dairies. >> each week we have seen fewer and fewer positives, fantastic news. but we really don't know what the long-term impact of the virus looks like. we know that yes, dairy cows seem to build some level of immune response. but we don't know if an infected herd could become reinfected and dairy herds constantly bring in new replacement animals. >> over the summer over 50% of

dairy herds in colorado tested positive for avian influenza. while there has not been a positive case since august, there is concern about terry farmworkers, many of whom are undocking -- dairy farm workers. many of whom are undocumented immigrants. >> there's very little support. >> in a mexican restaurant one long dairy worker that wanted to remain anonymous because of his immigration status. have companies given the right protection to farmworkers to keep them safe? >> there were not any measures taken. the only measure to avoid infection was when they washed the tires of the trailer trucks that arrived to drop off the feed. as far as personnel, i never saw them wearing protective gear to avoid infection. >> he described a friend that got sick and said the lack of paid sick leave makes workers hesitant to report illnesses. >> from the moment a worker gets sick and stops working he does

not get anything. >> there are also issues with access to clinics and the cost of care. immigration status also plays a role in workers not getting tested. >> they don't say anything because they are afraid. all the time. >> zach bryan with the call about -- riley with the colorado livestock association says the industry has been a crucial partner with state officials protecting animal and worker health. >> there have been multiple free resources provided by the state and employers to make sure that you are protected. you would be hard-pressed to find somebody not doing that. >> we spoke to some farmworkers who said without the help of nonprofit organizations, they may not have had the information or the ppe at their disposal. >> i venture to guess that is a very limited case, a very

limited number of those. any one of our producers would gladly tell you they are offering a whole treasure trove of things to their employees. >> despite efforts to reach out to several different cattle organizations including riley's we could not find a colorado dairy farmer to speak with us, some citing concerns around the potential spread of bird food. in november research from colorado and michigan confirmed what many people suspected. antibody tests showed more farmworkers had signs of previous bird flu infections. >> that's not uncommon when it comes to infectious diseases. not everyone gets tested. it does tell us we still have work to do to protect humans from exposure. >> this dairy worker agreed more support is needed. >> most people who work on dairy farms lacked somebody who can

tell us what guarantees we have. we are really lacking information. >> while there have not been recent cases of bird flu in colorado dairy hordes the virus continues to spread widely in california cows. earlier this month federal agricultural regulators announced mandatory milk testing for the first time, and acknowledgment we are still a long way from getting a handle on the spread of this disease. from the pbs news hour i am stephanie sy . >> we have been reporting on promising treatments for two of the deadliest drugs in america, opioids and alcohol. william brangham is back with a conversation with one of the nation's leading researchers studying america's addictions and how to better address them.

>> my next guest is a researcher that helped establish addiction is indeed a brain disorder, that taking certain drugs over time can change how our brains actually work. the head of the national institute on drug abuse, part of the nih, one of the world's biggest funders of research into drug abuse and addiction. it is so good to have you on the program. we have been reporting on a few medications that show effectiveness for treating opioids and alcohol abuse disorder. i wonder, from your research on the topic, what role do you see medications playing in heaping -- helping people address addiction? >> medication for substance abuse disorder has been crucial and life-saving. it is reducing the number of people that are dying. for opioid addiction we have

very effective medications. the problems are, number one, only a small percentage of people that would benefit her -- benefit from them, 20 5%, are prescribed medications. at six months, 50% of them stopped taking the medication. and we only have three types. so we need a wider variety of medication and we need alternatives so people who do not respond to one medication could have options. more importantly, combinations of medications that could make it easier for patients to stay in treatment, because it is crucial for somebody to have the long lasting effects. >> why do y we have so few medications? we have a million blood pressure drugs, hypertension drugs.

but so few for such a huge public health crisis. >> it's not for a lack of understanding and scientific development. it is due to the level -- the lack of interest that the pharmaceutical industry has overall typically on these medications. why has there been little interest? number one, stigma. addiction is a stigmatized disorder. people find uncomfortable with people who are addicted. as a physician you are paid less if you take care of somebody with addictions and if you take care of somebody with depression. we incentivize the willingness of a provider to participate in the process. these are two extremes, big areas that have made it very difficult for the industry to say i will go after that. and the third element is it is

very difficult to get these medications. what is required for a medication to be approved by the fda for addiction is abstinence. that's an incredibly difficult goal. it is saying, i am not approving the medication unless you show the pain or depression is completely gone. but for these diseases we approve medications if they reduce magnitude. >> there is a strong sentiment in the recovery community that drugs are to the right use for drug addictions. they believe this got us into the problem. let's not get out of the problem with them. they say abstinence is the other up -- only approach. >> that is an attitude that has made it harder for people to get treatments to save their lives.

we can be very categorical in the field of addiction, either this or that. my perspective is a lot of these groups, they have done a lot of good, but they are intolerant of the use of medications. they are curtailing the ability to have somebody that can actually benefit from the medication, treatment, and supports these groups offer. the way we think of addiction is very different from the way we think of other disorders. because, we hold that person responsible for their actions and we tend to be much more demanding of what they should do to achieve recovery. >> you have done initial investigations into wildly popular drugs to treat obesity and diabetes, glp-1 drugs also showing promise in treating people's drug and alcohol use.

how promising do you think those really are? >> the data looks like they could potentially be quite transformative. whether you are looking at the data from the experiments in laboratory animals, for example, in rats, we have been funding research that has shown consistently over different types of drugs, they prevent the animals from escalating into compulsive drug taking. they prevent them from relapsing. we are seeing anecdote reports from people saying i don't have the same desire of drinking, smoking, or taking cocaine. it looks promising. they are now undergoing randomized clinical trials to determine the level of efficacy. and to bring them to the next level, ultimately get data to result in approval by the fda.

that work is ongoing. the preliminary findings, overall, look very promising. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> an update to our lead story. house lawmakers are now voting on the stopgap spending measure to avoid a partial government shutdown tomorrow night. it is clear the vote won't reach the two thirds majority needed to pass as more than 30 republicans going to democrats in voting no. president z left donald trump urged republicans to support this measure after his opposition to a prior deal because that measure to fall

apart. more on line including a remembrance of a special santa clause known as santa blair who brought christmas cheer to oklahoma city and beyond. that is the news hour for tonight. i'm just minutes. for all of us here, thank you for spending -- i'm geoff bennett. thank you for spending your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour provided by. >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

and, friends of the news hour. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and, friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> i felt that this is not