captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions .>> brown: as families of victims of the newtown shooting looked on, congress moved one step closer to a vote on a comprehensive guns bill. good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we get the latest from capitol hill as senators kick off an extended period of debate over gun legislation. >> brown: then, medicare and social security face changes in the president's new budget. we debate the potential impact. >> woodruff: education correspondent john merrow reports on a rise in high school graduation rates, but the

numbers raise questions and educators search for new ways to inspire kids to succeed. >> for kids to believe school is going to lead them somewhere you have to have really strong pathways to adult success, so some could lead the college, some could lead to really solid job training opportunities that lead to a job. >> brown: we look at a clinical trial designed to stud premature baes, t that allegedly failed to disclose risks of death and blindness. >> woodruff: ray suarez talks to the author of a new book that tracks the history of political power as it becomes harder to use and even harder to keep. >> we've seen a lot of democracies are choking in checks and balances. therefore too many constraints that don't let governments govern. >> brown: and we close with the story of an army chaplain who received the medal of honor today, more than 60 years after he died a prisoner in the korean war. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been proded by:

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and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ank you. >> woodruff: the full u.s. senate officially took up gun control today. supporters swept aside a procedural hurdle and began what is likely to be a long struggle to craft a final bill. >> the hard work starts now. >> woodruff: senate majority leader harry reid, speaking moments after senators rejected efforts to prevent debate on new gun legislation. it required least 60 votes, and the final margin easily exceeded that. >> on this vote, the yeas are 68, the nays are 31. >> woodruff: 16 republicans joined all but two democrats in the majority. reid had acknowledged powerful feelings on both sides. still, he said: >> but whichever side you are on, we ought to be able to agree

to engage in a thoughtful debate about these measures. let's engage in it. >> woodruff: the measures will include a compromise on federal background checks for would-be gun buyers. pnsylnia republican pat toomey and west virginia democrat joe manchin worked out language yesterday to expand the checks to firearms sales at gun shows and online. there could also be proposals on banning assault weapons and restricting high capacity magazines, among other measures. but a majority of republicans today, including senator john cornyn of texas, said it's pointless to debate "symbolic gestures." >> i'm not going to vote to proceed to a bill thatas not yet been written, no matter how well intentioned it may be. rather than put on a show and pat ourselves on the back and call it a day, let's do something good to make sure

we've done everything in our human capacity to prevent another sandy hook. >> woodruff: and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said the proposals that democrats are pushing would violate second amendment rights. >> i believe the government should focus on keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals and those with mental issues that could cause them to be a threat to our society. this bill is a clear overreach that will predominantly punish and harass our neighbors, our friends and our family. >> woodruff: vermont democrat patrick leahy fired back that such arguments were overblown. >> senators should understand what is in this bill the small minority of republicans are seeking to prevent the senate from even considering. the bill has three parts. none of them threaten second amendment rights. none of them call for gun

confiscation or a gun... government registry. >> woodruff: in the end, gun control advocates acknowledged that today's senate outcome does not guarantee ultimate success. at the white house, spokesman jay carney called it a "first stage." >> this is an important milestone, but it is a early milestone. and there is no question that challenges will continue to be placed in the way of making progress on passing commonsense legislation that would reduce gun violence, but we are obviously very pleased with today's vote. >> woodruff: carney also said that, after the vote, president obama telephoned families of several children killed in the newtown school shootings. some of them had been lobbying senators all week to take up the gun control legislation. now, debate begins in earnest. but any final vote could take weeks.

>> brown: still to come on the newshour: taking on social security and medicare; a rise in high school graduation rates; questions about a clinical trial involving infants; the challenge of keeping political power; and the story of a heroic wartime priest. first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: a bipartisan group of senators wrapped up work today on the major elements of an immigration reform bill. that came after they agreed on a new farm worker program and visas for high-tech workers. the broader bill aims to improve border security and put 11 million people on a path to citizenship. it could be introduced on tuesday, once senate staffers complete drafts of the legislation. a wide swath of severe weather has moved eastward, already blamed for killing at least two people. the system stretched all the way from texas to michigan and brought everything from tornadoes to ice and snow. at least one large funnel cloud ripped through eastern mississippi today. authorities reported one death and numerous injuries and damage. last night, multiple twisters struck in eastern missouri, damaging dozens of homes and a church. today, governor jay nixon toured

the scene. >> homes were destroyed. lives were changed forever. when you're in situations like this and in a few short minutes the indiscriminate nature of mother nature puts tornados and high winds through your area and your homes will never be the same. many people homeless, obviously shelters had a number of folks stayed away last night. friends and neighbors have been injured. it's very traumatic and it's important everybody stay calm. >> sreenivasan: in minnesota and south dakota, thousands of homes and businesses had no power today after heavy snow and ice pulled power lis down lines. minnesota governor mark dayton called out the national guard to help clean up. that word came today in a defense intelligence agency assessment made public at a house hearing. later president obama weighed in on the rising tensions with he met with u.n. secretary- general ban ki-moon at the white house and urged the north to dial back on its war talk.

>> we both agree that now's the time for north korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking and try to lower temperatures. no one wants to see a conflict on the korean peninsula. >> sreenivasan: the president said the u.s. will work diplomatically to reduce the tension and secretary john kerry heads to east asia planning talks with leaders of south korea, china, and japan. kerry and other g8 foreign ministers met in london today, but they failed to agree on arming the rebels in syria. they criticized the syrian government's use of heavy weapons in residential areas, but they went no further. britain and france have pushed for sending weapons to the rebels. the u.s. has resisted. today, germany's foreign minister voiced concerns, as well. >>. >> ( translated ): i'm reluctant when it comes to the topic of direct arms deliveries to syria

because to date i have seen no way to prevent these weapons getting into the wrong haendz, mainly those of radicals. my concern is that weapons that are delivered in syria will then get into the hands of jihadists and terrorists. >> sreenivasan: more than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting in syria that began with a popular uprising two years ago. major japanese automakers are recalling more than three million vehicles around the world for problems with air bags. nearly half are in new york. toyota, honda and nissan announced the recall today. the potential problem is with passenger-side air bags, faulty inflators could burst and send plastic pieces flying. faulty inflators could burst and send plastic pieces flying. the air bags were made by japan's takata corporation. in u.s. economic news, the number of foreclosed homes fell in march to the lowest level in more than five years. the listing firm realty-trac also reported a 21% decline in the last 12 months. and on wall street today, the dow nes industrial average gained nearly 63 points to close at 14,865. the nasdaq rose almost three points to close at 3,300. those are some of the day's major stories.

now, back to jeff. >> brown: a day after the president sent his budget to congress, several key proposals were hot topics among lawmakers in both parties. >> this is two million plus! >> brown: liberal and progressive leaders rallied outside the capitol this afternoon, sounding off against the president's decision to curb some entitlement program spending in his budget proposal. >> we've stood with you. it's time for you to stand with the seniors of this country. it's time for you to stand on their side and say that we're not going to tolerate a benefits cut. >> brown: two changes in particular have irked many on the political left. one is the president's willingness to adopt a new measure of inflation for the government known as the "chained consumer price index." it would reduce future benefits to social security recipients, military veterans and civilian federal employees. the president himself expressed reservations yesterday, but he said he made the offer to bring republicans to the negotiating table. >> and i don't believe that all

these ideas are optimal, but i'm willing to accept them as part of a compromise if, and only if, they contain protections for the most vulnerable americans. >> brown: that did not stop democrats like congressman mark pocan of wisconsin from pressing the acting budget director, jeff zients, today at a house hearing. >> and i called my mother. i woke her up this morning to ask her exactly what she makes on social security per month. she's 84, grew up in a lower middle-class family. they have a modest home, but she gets $1,101 a month at 84. and i went through some of her bills with her and where she is at in her savings. it's just not a lot. and to try to address social security in that way to me seems to be breaking our promise to seniors. >> the president, as part of a balanced, comprehensive deficit reduction package included c.p.i. the other condition, however, is to protect the most vulnerable, including people like your mother, older social security beneficiaries. >> brown: the budget also

contains $400 billion in savings from medicare and other federal health pgrams. those would be achieved through lower payments to health care providers and drug companies and by requiring wealthier medicare recipients to pay higher premiums. in his remarks yesterday, the president also sought to allay concerns about the potential effects of those reforms. >> we'll reduce our government's medicare bills by finding new ways to reduce the cost of health care not by shifting the costs to seniors or the poor or families with disabilities. they are reforms that keep the promise we've made to our seniors: basic security that rock solid and dependable, and there for you when you need it. >> brown: back at today's hearing, the chair of the house budget committee, republican paul ryan, said the plan represents a good first step but does not go far enough. >> the president does deserve credit for challenging his party on entitlements.

unfortunately, the budget does not include the structural reforms that we need to protect and strengthen critical health and retirement-security programs. the policy changes in this budget wont save these programs. they'll make them a little less expensive, but they still go bankrupt. >> brown: house speaker john boehner, meanwhile, rejected the president's demands for close to $1 trillion in new revenues. >> the president calls this his "compromise" budget, but his bottom line is this: "my way or the highway." if that's the case, then i'm not very optimistic. >> brown: still, treasury secretary jack lew said today the administration is optimistic a budget deal can be reached this year. and we look at this more closely now with: jared bernstein-- he served as chief economist and adviser to vice president biden from 2009 to 2011 and is now a senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities; max ritchman is president of the national committee to preserve social security and medicare, an advocacy group; and joseph antos

is an economist at the american enterprise institute, whose research includes medicare and health care system reform. welcome to all of you. >> thank you. >> brown: jared, first of all, start with social security and this chained c.p.i. explain that to us. >> want to jump right in, huh? >>. >> brown: yes. how is it different than the way things are done? >> the punch line is that the chain c.p.i. grows a it will more slowly than the c.p.i. that's currently used. now social security benefits are adjusted for price increases. they're adjusted with the consumer price index but for reasons that have to do with most economists and myself included do a slightly better more realistic way of estimating how people actually respond to price changes. this chain measure does a better job of capturing inflation and it grows more slowly. that said, there are critics -- by the way, that means that your real social security benefit goes up less because it's adjusted by a different inflationary measure. let me be clear though --. >> brown: and there's the rub. >> there's rub number one.

rub number two-- which i think is also an important rub-- is that the prices that elderly people face are different than the prices than the that the rest of us face. they face more medical costs, that they pay more out-of-pocket for medical costs so while the chain c.p.i. is more accurate measure of inflation overall, it's probably not more accurate for elderly people. >> pelley: all right, max ritchman, you hate this idea, right? >>hat's an understand. >> brown: okay. (laughs) explain. >> well, rub number three is that the current formula that's being used, the consumer price index under current law, that is inadequate. it does not take into account enough of the goods and services jared's talked about that seniors rely on. so not enough weight is given on health care costs, out-of-pocket costs. medicare is a great program. it doesn't cover dental care, vision care hearing aids. and out-of-pocket cost which is go up contrary to what the

president said, a lot of out-of-pocket costs are going up under his proposal so the current formula is bad. doesn't keep up with inflation. >> brown: so seniors don't get enough cost of living increase now, you're saying. >> so we're now going to tell seniors that inadequate cola you've been getting, you got zero for two out of the last four years, that was too generous. we've devised a better way-- not myself, but in washington-- and your cola will be even smaller. so we're going t go for a flawed inadequate adjustment for inflation to an even worse formula. >> can you make a case for why this is a good move? >> let's be clear that if inflation is zero-- which it has been for the last couple years-- seniors are not going see a reduction in their social security payments >> let's not panic about that. >> i hope not! >> it's illegal. the fact is, however, that social security medicare and medicaid are the key drivers of

our overall fiscal problems. max is right. this represents a cut in payments. it's a slow cut in payments. it's not a gigantic reduction at once. >> a few tenths per year. >> exactly. what it basically says is if we went back into a normal economy and we had, say, 2% inflation instead of getting, say, $200 raise on a $10,000 social security payment you'd get $150. the loss of $50 means something, but the increase also means something. >> brown: but the question is, does it make sense as a way to deal -- one of the ways to deal with this large problem that we have? >> i think only way it makes sense-- and here the president agrees strongly with what i'm about to say. i think the only way it makes sense as an adjustment to social security is if you make sure that you offset some of the problems that max and joe just mentioned. and what the president is

proposing, this part maybe hasn't been reported quite enough is something called a benefit enhancement or a bumpup starting after about ten years of being on social security. so you take that hit that we just talked about in terms of the smaller increases for about a decade there's a bumpup which will ultimately after ten years amount to 5% of the average benefit, which is about $750. so the president's proposing, yes, we think we should do this for a variety of reasons-- not least of which is to bring republicans to the table for other reasons-- but we're going to try to offset the benefit losses with a bumpup. >> to give some protection. >> it's benefit enhancement to protect the folks we worry about. >> i wonder if i could just comment on that because this is being sold, pedaled, as a more -- this chained c.p.i. as a more accurate measure of inflation e.it's not more accurate for seniors but it's being presented as more accurate. if it's accurate why do you need a bump?

there's something wrong with the formula if the cola is supposed to keep up with inflation you wouldn't need that. but i also wanted -- you didn't go here but i want to make this observation. we shouldn't even be here talking about. this i'm glad to be here talking on your show. >> brown: actually, that's what i want to talk about. that's the larger question. should social security be part of this. >> it did not. it didn't create the deficit, hadn't added a dime to the deficit, the debt or the annual deficit, has a surplus of $2.7 trillion, is sound-- jared knows this-- for the next 20 years. not according to jared, max, anyone here is able to pay full benefits for the next 20 years. then there's a shortfall that needs to be addressed. we don't need to solve that today or in the next two months. we have time to do that. it shouldn't be part of a debate an i was gratified today to see senator max baucus at a hearing say this shouldn't be -- this

change should not be part of the discussion on debt negotiation it is. i was gratifyed to hear leader pelosi wonder why it's part of this budget proposal. so i think we're making some progress. >> brown: all right, should it be part of the debate? >> we can't wait 20 years and then decide we've got an emergency. this has, of course, been the tendency of policymakers to put off the pain unl later. theact is,e sould be making reasonable reforms to encourage people to save more for their retirement and 20 years is just about the right amount of time for people to get ready for reality. the fact is that this is a budget here. this is not a reform of social security. there's no question about that. what we need to do is we need to provide incentives for people to stay on the job longer who f they are able-bodied and able minded and we're living longer and healthier. >> i think just to be clear here it'squite obvious that the

president put the chained c.p.i. in his budget because he wants to bring republicans to the table on this key issue of revenues. new tax revenues. >> brown: that's right. but he's implicitly or even explicitly making a case for one you don't want, that it should be part of the discussion. >> no, i think he is and i think that he's doing so in such a way with this benefit enhancement, this bump upthat tries tooff set it. he himself in his commentary said "this isn't exactly the way i'd like to go." but we have to move forward and we have to be concerned and maybe max and i depart a bit on this point. while i take your point on social security, when it comes to achieving a sustainable budget picture in the long run, that has to involve slowing the growth of health costs. and there the president also has significant cuts in the budget about $400 billion from medicare and medicaid, largely from medicare, largely on the delivery side. a point that we haven't made yet-- and this gets to some things max has said-- the typical beneficiary of medicare

and social security has an income of about $25,000. so when we start fooling around with these kinds ofdjustmts and cuts let's be mindful of not hurting these economically vulnerable folks. >> brown: medicare, joe antos? you scoffed when he said this was a significant reform. >> it's not a significant reform. it's a replay of last year's budget with minor tweaks. last year's budget proposal from the president did not substantially reform the medicare program. the fact is that the $400 million of cuts are offset by $250 billion worth of additional spending that the president assumes will take place in the medicare program. so we're not talking about -- >> so here we have a disagreement. here's a fact: if you look back at the congressional budget office projection of medicare costs over the next ten years and you look back a couple years ago you look at today, that projection is down by $500 billion. that means some of the changes that we and the health care industry have implemented-- including things the president

has brought to the table-- have actually already slowed the growth of health care costs. so i disagree with joe. >> brown: go ahead. >> i do think that the affordable care act has resulted considerle svings. some of the savings have not even been implemented yet. so let's give that a chance to work. but keep in mind here that we're talking about social security and medicare, we're talking about retirement security. as jared said about half of seniors right now receive about $22,000 a year in income so we're asking them to get less and to pay more. pay more for premiums, deductibles, co-payments, out-of-pocket costs. >> brown: brief last word. >> so the key here is th we have to haveeal reform. real reform means that people change the way they behave. in the case of medicare the beneficiaries change the way they behave and the health sector changes the way it behaves. there is literally nothing in the president's budget that hatz

that kind of -- >> i know you said last word but that's factually incorrect. you said in the your introduction. bundled payments. >> that's not in the the president's budget. >> it is! >> brown: all right. okay. very big subject, short amount of time and i promise you we'll ntie. jared bernstein,joe antos and max ritchman, thank you all. >> thank you. >> brown: online, we invite you to weigh in with your thoughts on the president's proposals on social security and medicare. you can leave a comment at our "rundown" blog or on our facebook page. >> woodruff: now to our series on dropouts and what educators are trying to get more high- school students to graduate. we've spent much time chronicling the problem and looking at different approaches that make a difference. there's been better news to report of late, but with graduation season coming soon, there are also questions about what's behind the numbers. the newshour's special

correspondent for education, john merrow, has the story for our american graduate project. >> reporter: it's graduation day for the high school class of 2012 at college career tech academy in pharr, texas. graduation rates have been rising here. in fact, according to a u.s. department of education report, they've been going up all across the country. the latest data show the high school graduation rate has risen to 78.2%. that's a five percentage point jump in just four years after flat-lining for almost 40. >> the nation's improvement over the last four or five years has actually been driven by the kids who have the highest dropout rates. so, the rates are up the most among latino, hispanic students. they've actually had a ten-point gain over that five-year period.

african americans are up about 6.5 points. and the white rate's only up a couple of points. >> reporter: bob balfanz is a leading expert on high school dropouts. >> we're actually, for the first time in 40 years, seeing real progress at improving the nation's graduation rate. >> reporter: the gains are remarkable, but can the numbers be trusted? in the past, some school systems, including this one in orlando, florida, have played fast and loose with the numbers, labeling dropouts as transfers and advising low-performing students like joel martinez to leave school to get a g.e.d. >> in school, we heard a lot the g.e.d. is a lot quicker. you have less problems. you don't have to worry about high school credits. you don't have to worry about this, you don't have to worry about that. you go, take your test, get your g.e.d., and you're done. >> reporter: according to a 2005 report by the education trust, at least one state, new mexico, calculated graduation rates based only on the number of

seniors who graduated. they excluding 9th, 10th and 11th graders who dropped out. balfanz says some schools and states are still finding ways to inflate their numbers. >> we find in some states a number of 11th and 12th graders suddenly going to home schooling. and then you push deeper and you find that half those kids are overage for grade. >> reporter: balfanz says that because some states-- indiana, for example-- try to keep kids in school by taking away their drivers licenses if they drop- out, but then they offer home- schooling as a way out. >> you get to keep your driver's license if you can just say "i'm going to be... my parents agree i'll be home-schooled," as opposed to "i'm dropping out of school because i'm not succeeding." >> reporter: russell rumberger of u.c.-santa barbara says many california school districts have created alternative school systems for low performing students, a kind of parallel universe. >> if a school wants to raise their performance levels, either test scores or grad rates, and

they have students who are low achieving who will drag them down, then one... one alternative they have is to transfer them into an alternative system that either is run by them, their own, the district itself, or outside the districts. >> reporter: some schools offer students who are failing or have dropped out an opportunity to make up missing credits by taking courses online. >> it may be legitimate in terms of how it actually... technically, how it works, but it's questionable of... of its quality. >> reporter: these so-called credit recovery courses allow students to proceed at their own pace. >> somebody that worked in my office with her son where he i think made up a semester grade in about six days and abo 1 urs of work. >> reporter: are these improved graduation rates, have they been influenced by the growth of credit recovery? >> well, i prob... i would suspect they are, but i don't... it's hard to quantify how much so. ( cheers and applause )

>> reporter: while some graduation numbers in some schools may still be questionable, both rumberger and balfanz say the recent improvement is real. they say, in 2005, political pressure forced all states to count graduates the same way, how many enter 9 gra and how many graduate. >> about 2005, mark warner made it the year of the high school. and the... and the nation's governors actually signed a compact to say we are all going to measure graduation rates the same way. because before that, everybody measured it differently so we couldn't really know where we're at. >> reporter: the country began paying serious attention to graduation rates in 2006. a national study called dropouts the silent epidemic. "time" magazine made the issue a cover story, and states took action. over the past years, the newshour has looked at several reforms that have helped push graduation rates up. one of the most important was closing dropout factories, large

high schools with huge dropout rates. >> the pattern these students would take in these schools was very routine, very predictable and very efficient, like a factory. so, the basic story is they would come into high school many multiple years behind grade level. many of them would fail their courses. the school system would say, "well, try again under the same circumstances." they might do a short time in an alternative and then drop out. and to us, that seemed very routine, very factory-like. >> reporter: the number of such schools has dropped from about 2,000 back in 2002 to just over 1,400 today. >> people recognized, from our research and others, that it was this subset of high schools, that 10% of high schools more or less, 10%, 12% were producing half the dropouts, which made it seem like a targeted, solvable problem. >> reporter: another reason for the rise in graduation rates: some districts have adopted proven strategies like smaller schools, where everyone knows your name. >> we give students

opportunities who haven'tad the chance for the arts. >> reporter: in 2010, tanya john was the principal of the high school for violin and dance, one of about 100 theme-based small schools in new york city. graduation rates tend to be higher at small schools. half way across the country in texas, a district is keeping bored kids in high school by letting them attend college at the same time. >> what we're looking at doing is doing education in a different way, where the colleges come together with us and start working with these young people while they are still in high school. >> reporter: before superintendent daniel king began the college program, many students dropped out to get jobs. now, they see a clear path to a better future. jonathan sanchez is a senior. >> i'm taking business computer systems. i'm taking medical billing-- like, i want to be certified in it. i'm taking an osha course. there's, like, so much going on, like, it feels like my brain is being occupied the whole time. >> for many kids to really believe schooling is

going to lead somewhere, you've got to have really strong pathways to adult success. and that's different possibilities depending on where you're at. >> reporter: multiple pathways? >> different. so, some could lead to college, some could lead to really solid job training opportunities that lead to a job, some to community college and then a technical job. >> reporter: graduation rates are also up at shelbyville high school in indiana. shelbyville was the focus of that "time" magazine article on dropouts. the story was a wakeup call. school administrators now keep careful track of every student and intervene at the first sign of trouble. >> they had a big data room where they had the kids coded by green, yellow, red, and figure out what their needs are. and they've driven their graduation rates up to 90% now. >> by 2020, america will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. ( applause ) that is a goal we can meet. >> reporter: to reach that goal, experts say the high school graduation rate has to jump significantly. that may not happen soon.

that's because 45 states have adopted new, more challenging academic standards called the common core. they go into effect next school year. >> the common core is going to make the 9th grade harder. and all the evidence says that the kids are up to the... up to the task if we combine making the 9th grade harder with additional supports and school redesign. >> reporter: that's a big if. given current budget constraints, many schools may not be able to provide that support. and if they don't, the rising graduation rates of recent years are likely to decline. >> brown: john's report was part of the "american graduate" project, a public media initiative funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. >> brown: next tonight, the changing nature of power and wielding it. ray suarez has our book

conversation. >> suarez: in the 21st century, is the power that comes with running things-- governments, armies, religions-- all that it used to be? in "the end of power," moises naim of the carnegie endowment for international peace argues that power as we've understood it for a long time is both harder to use and to keep. he joins me now. governments are bigger than they've ever been, armies more powerful and about to project power more than they've ever been. banks also big enough to take down whole continents much less countries. how could power be harder to use? >> in each of those examples you have situations where -- that shows that size no longer matters as much. think about the taliban and the army they areacing the coalition army of some of the most modern sophisticated military ever assembled. well, they're not winning but

they're denying victory to this very large coalition. think about the large companies that you mentioned, especially the financial sector. of course they now concentrate a lot of asset bus many of them are on their attack. many of them have been -- some of the c.e.o.s have been fired. all of them are on their regulatory attack that is going to constrain even more what they can do. so for eachne of the exples and the governments think about the big governments that of course they're larger but they're also more constrained. they have a long list of actors, they are like gullivers, just tied down by the lilliputians. >> so is it really that power is not as easy to keep and to use or that it distributed in more places and most people have it? >> of course. and it's both. the end result is it's easier to acquire but as you said in the introduction, much harder to use and more fleeting.

>> suarez: we have seen the institution of a new pope being elected and we have seen this institution that hundreds of thousands of people have a vital interest in. is the pope a less power. person than he'd been in the 19th century? >> think about the process of selecting this new pope and think about the coalitions that were forming, how different issues, different regions, different factors played into the selection of this new pope and think about how in places like africa, like latin america the vatican is losing market share soto speak. there are more and more contenders and rivals and new types of religions and pent continuealists and all kind of protestant churches. brazil, in 1990, the census said that 90% of brazilians called themselves catholics. now 65%. in many countries in latin

america now c.a.t. kha thol schism is not the main religion. >> suarez: you've mentioned that power is more tentednd be t book you describe the ways that there are more checks and balances at play than even people we perceive as being very powerful find it more difficult to use that power. that has created a more stable and in some ways safer world? >> well, there's a lot to welcome. a lot to celebrate in this trend where autocrats and monopolies and people who concentrate a lot of power have a harder time retaining, they're less secure in the power so there's a lot of good things happening there but there is also down side. especially in government in surrounded by constraints what political scientists called vitocracies meaning that they are full of small centers of power, each one has a little bit of power to stop and block and veto the fish tichs of order but

no one has enough power to push through an agenda, a policy and decision look at the sqeser in the united states and how difficult it has become to just make fundamental decisions about how to tax and spend. look around the world and the kinds of coalitions, very strange, political coalitions need to be assembled that are fractured that are hard to get together and have a hard time making decisions without diluting them, without postponing them and without really giving them the content that is needed to make a dent on the progress they're trying to address. >> suarez: sure as you say the power of no is quite poe innocent the 21st century but can we flip that and maybe think of it as a more decratic ial? the idea that the average person in the world is experiencing new power by being able to refuse to listen to the people that they used to listen to or be

understood to have to listen to. >> there's no doubt that the trends have empowered individuals, have given individuals more choice, more opportunity, more options. there's no doubt about that but there is another side to it in which no one decides. in which everyone is empowered, everyone has a little bit of power but there is no one who organizes the game, there's no one that provides directions and makes the collective decisions that we need to live in society. >> suarez: so are we on our way? if that is not a very good recipe for running a world, are we on our try a more collaborative planet? will stakeholders decide that, yes, there is some power in no but maybe there's a little bit more power in working together >> i hope so, i hope so. i think a lot of policies a choking in checks and balances. there are too many constraints that don't let governments

govern. i'm not sure we need to let governments become more autocratic and give blind checks to government and they need to be constrained and accountability is a very important facet of democracy but they need to have some power to run things and that is where we need to move towards and that scrutinizing and understanding what are the checks and balances that are now in place that are counterproduct sieve a very importa exercise. >> brown: i want to continue our conversation on line but moises naim thank you for joining us. >> thank you, ray. >> woodruff: now, the questions surrounding a research trial with newborn babies that allegedly did not provide adequate disclosure to parents. the trial involved 1,300 infants at 23 hospitals who were born extremely prematurely between 2004 and 2009. doctors were trying to better determine the right amount of

supplemental oxygen they need to give preemies. if the oxygen level is too low, babies can die. but if the rate is too high, it can lead to eye disease and blindness. in the trial, half of the babies were assigned to a lower dose, half to a higher amount. but last month, the federal office of human research protections concluded there was not appropriate informed consent. in a letter to the centers, it said hospitals failed to: the non-profit watchdog group publ citizen brought that letter to light this week. we get more now with david brown of the "washington post." david brown, welcome to the program. explain in short hand what was this study designed to do? >> well, it was designed to answer a question that has been unanswered and that people have been trying to answer since the 1950s when it was discovered

that oxygen at high oncentration giveno premature infants can cause serious eye damage and lead to blindness. the problem was that when oxygen was limited to many of these premature infants their brain didn't get enough oxygen to develop, many seemed to develop retardation, some of them died. so there has been a real problem for literally half a century to determine what the right amount of oxygen is to sort of balance these two bad outcomes-- on the one hand death and brain damage and on the other hand blindness. >> woodruff: and what was the outcome of this study? >> well, this study showed that as previous studies had hinted if you limit the oxygen that premature infants are getting--

this is all supplementary oxygen this is more oxygen than you get from breathing air-- but if you keep it at the lower end of what was the standard of care then you reduce the chances of them becoming blind but you slightly increase the chance of them dying. >> woodruff: and along the way to that outcome, though, there are now questions being raised about whether parents were adequately notified about the risks. what is known about what parents were told? >> well, parents were hold that the current standard of care is to keep the amount of oxygen as measured by saturation of hemoglobe bin in a range between 85% and 90%. and that this was standard of care and that all the babies were going to get oxygen that kept their blood at that -- in that range.

what wasn't adequately described is that there was going to be an attempt to essentially -- well, to definitely create two groups, one half of the babies would be randomly assigned to get oxygen at the low end of the normal range and the others were randomly assigned to get oxygen at the high end. and the idea was to see if one of these two subranges was better than the other. and the fact that at one of them there might be a higher risk of blindness and at the other end a higher risk of death that really wasn't laid out in detail. >> woodruff: now there's a dispute. the university of alabama at birmingham which was the lead hospital out of, i guess, 23 medical institutions that were engaged in this study, they are saying that throughout this trial they -- that physicians conformed to what's called the

standard of care but public citizens, the criticism is, that they did not provide -- they did not stay within the band of so-called standard of care. how is that going to be resolved? >> well, they did stay within the band of standard of care as measured by these two -- this range of hemoglobin saturation, namely 5% to 95%. babies who are not in a trial like this, the physician conferring with the parents usually decides some place where in that range the doctor and the parents think might be best. and actually it's somewhat hard to keep infants from -- at one percentage of saturation. they tend to bounce around. but the -- even though that is the standard band of care there

is not enough knowledge to know what is the sweet spot in that -- in that range of 85% to 95% and this trial was trying to find that sweet spot. the people who ran it say everyone was in the standard of care and there was actually some evidence that the lower end was not only protected against blindness but might actually increase these t survival of these kids. it just didn't go into thehole ck story. how it will be resolved is -- remains to be seen. >> woodruff: well, that's what i wanted to ask you. attempts now being made to reach out to the parents of these 1,300 infants. of course, some of them did die. some of them ended up with blindness or other vision issues. what's being done right now to reach out to those families >> well, it should be noted that

babies were going to die and babies were going to go blind whether this trial was run or not because that is just t hazards of extreme prematurity and oxygen therapy. at the moment, this office, o.h.r.p., is negotiating with the university of alabama at birmingham as to what they're going to do. they're basically going to be told do a better job next time with informed consent but whether this is going to involve a formal apology to the parents hasn't been decided. the people who've run the trial don't think they did anything wrong. they think that they had adequate explanation of the trial and truly informed consent. but the o.h.r.p. offers says they didn't and it's now a matter of negotiation what they tell the parents. >> woodruff: this is the office of human research protections that falls under the department of health and human services.

so just quickly, david brown, who or what is to determine now whether there was liability in all this? >> well, of course, that's a big question that the office of human research protections doesn't want to the address. in fact, i asked them about that today. if there is an apology and that can be interpreted by a lawyer as some statement of culpability and liability there probably will be lawsuits. but it's clear that blindness and death were going to happen regardless of the study and it may be difficult to pinpoint which babies actually had a bad outcome because of the study. >> woodruff: david brown, reporter for the "washington post." thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: finally tonight, an

award that's coming 60 years after the fact. president obama bestowed the medal of honor on a catholic priest who died in a korean war p.o.w. camp. father emil kapaun never fired a bullet in the conflict or even carried a weapon. instead, he took care of wounded soldiers-- often at the expense of his own safety and health-- on the battlefield and ler at a chinese p.w. camp where he would steal food to give to other prisoners. those who came home from the camp never stopped praising his actions, and that finally paid off. after a military investigation and some legislation, their hopes of a medal for father kapaun became a reality this afternoon. president obama presented the award to kapaun's nephew in a ceremony in the east room of the white house. >> father kapaun has been called a shepherd in combat boots. his fellow soldiers who felt his grace and his mercy called him a saint, a blessing from god.

today, we bestow another title on him: recipient of our nation's highest military declaration, the medal of honor. in the chaos, dodging bullets and explosions, father kapaun raced between foxholes, out past the frontlines and into no-man's land, dragging the wounded to safety. when his commanders ordered an evacuation, he chose to stay, gathering t injured, tending to their wounds. when the enemy broke through and the combat was hand to hand, he carried on, comforting the injured and the dying, offering some measure of peace as they left this earth. when enemy forces bore down, it seemed like the end that these wounded americans-- more than a dozen of them-- would be gunned down. but father kapaun spotted a wounded chinese officer. he pleaded with this chinese

officer and convinced him to call out to his fellow chinese. the shooting stopped and they negotiated a safe surrender, saving those american lives. then, as father kapaun was being led away, he saw another american, wounded and unable to walk, laying in a ditch defenseless. an enemy soldier was standing over him, rifle aimed at his head ready to shoot. father kapaun marched over and pushed the enemy soldier aside. and then, as the soldier watched stunned, father kapaun carried that wounded american away. this is the valor we honor today, an american soldier who didn't fire a gun but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all: a love for his brothers so pure that he was willing to die so that they might live.

in the camps that winter, deep in the valley, men could freeze to death in their sleep. father kapaun offered them his own cloth. their bodiewere ravaged by dysentery; he pounded metal into pots and boiled clean water. they lived in filth; he washed their clothes and he cleansed their wounds. the guards ridiculed his devotion to his savior and the almighty. they took his clothes and make him stand in the freezing cold. and yet, he never lost his faith. if anything, it only grew stronger. father kapaun's life i think is a testimony the human spirit, the power of faith, and reminds us of the good that we can do each and every day regardless of the most difficult of circumstances. >> brown: president obama,

awarding the medal of honor to father emil kapaun more than 60 years after his death as a prisoner in the korean war. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. the full u.s. senate officially took ugun control after supporters swept aside efforts by some republicans to block debate. a spring storm system unleashed tornadoes in several states, killing at least one person in mississippi. and president obama urged north korea to end its "belligerent approach." meanwhile, a new intelligence report found that it's likely the north can mount nuclear warheads on missiles. >> brown: are the personal choices we make contributing to economic inequality in the u.s.? hari sreenivasan has more on our oine coverage. > sreenivasan: economic historian jerry muller argues that your financial fate could be determined by your mate and your family. read his argument on "making sense." plus, singles who prefer to date within their own religion are

capitalizing on niche online communities to find love. and on our health page, new data on global obesity rates offer a glimmer of hope. find a comparison between the u.s. and other nations. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. jeff? >> brown: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks, among others thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 yeas. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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