captiong sponsored by macnl/lehrer productions >> woodruff: gooevening. i'm judy wdruff. after monthsf wrangling, the united states sena has passed the hlth care overhaul bill. >> bro: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour night, the vote sets e stage for tough netiations with the house. >> woodruff: we amine the politics itook to get to this democraticin, what still lies ahead, and what the changemean for americanand their health care system. >> brown: al tonight: after copeagen, ray suarez

los at the debate over global warming's pact on public heal. >> this for uss more than annvironmental issue, it's more than a debate about targets or about h much it is goingo cost. it ia debate about basically sang people's ves. >> woodrf: then, an update on yemen,here air strikes hit al qaeda militants today,ncluding a radicacleric linked to the fort hood shootings. >> bwn: and another look at one of john merrow's repor chroniclinplans to reform blic schools in washington, d. night, the debate over how t improvteaching standards. >> it'a terrible thing to say but halff this st year ought -- ha the staff here ought not b they just n't fit into what we are ing here. >> wdruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs nshour." major funding for the pbs nehour is provided by: >> wt the world needs now is energy the ener to get the economy humminagain. the energy ttackle challenge

likelimate change. whatf that energy came froan energy company everyday, chevron invests $62 million in peopl in ideas-- seeking, tching, building. fueling growth aund the world to move us all ahead. this is e power of human ergy. chevron. intel. supporng math and science education for tomorrow's innovators.

>> bnsf raway. toyota monsan. and by the alfd p. sloan foundation. supporting scien, technology, and improved economic performance and fincial literacyn the 21st century. and with the ooing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was madpossible by the cporation for public brocasting. and by contribions to your pbs station from viewers le you. thank you. >> woodruff:hristmas eve morng brought a landmark moment in e u.s. senate today: democrats pued through their health care reform lislation. newshour health corresndent betty ann wser begins our coverage. >> reporter:enators began gaering before sunrise to make history. it was their fir session on

christmas eve sinc1963. >> the senate ll resume consideratn of h.r. 3590. >> reporter:ice-president joe biden made aare appearance in his formal role as sene president. and senators also honored e memory othe late edward kennedy, aong-time champion of healthare reform who died in august. >> with nator ted kennedy's booming voe in our ears, with his paion in our hearts, we say, as said, "the work goes on, the cae endures." reporter: and then came the ng-awaited vote on the bill extend coverage 30 million people. >> mr. akaka. >> aye >> mr. akaka, aye. reporter: the outcome produced no surprises, fling along party nes, 60 to 39. >>r. alexander. >> no. >> mr.lexander, no. >>eporter: clearly exhausted from weeks of marathon negotiatio, majority leader

harry re mistakenly voted no before realizing his mista and changing h vote. >> mr. reid nevada. >> no. ( lahter ) ( applause ) >> mr. reid nevada. aye. >> the yays are 60, the naysre 39. r. 3590 as amended-- the patient prottion and affordable ce act-- is passed. ( applause ) through 24 days of grueling debate, republicans had do everything thecould to stop the bill, and th warned it's not over. minority leademitch mcconnell: >> i guarantee y that people who voted fothis bill are ing to get an eaul when they finay get home for the first time sincehanksgiving.

>> reporter: but democrac leaders were tumphant as they oke to reporters afterward. >> this is victory because we've affirmed thathe ability to live a healthy lifen our great country is aight and not merely arivilege for the select few. i look forward to working wi my friends in the house so w can send a bill the president as soon as possible. >> this is probay the most important vote that every sitting member of e senate will cast in their tene here. and i'm just proud thave been a rt of it, and i thank my colleaguesor staying with this. reporter: and president oba had his own wordof praise at the whithouse. >> having passed rorm bills in bothhe house and the senate, weow have to take up the last and most important sp and reach an agreeme on a final refo bill that i can sign into law. and i look forward to workg withembers of congress in both chambers over the cong weeks to do extly that. >> reporter: while tay's vote is seen as big victory for the esident's top domestic

priority, tting a bill to his desk still presents chlenges. the senate versi now has to be meed with a more liberal bill passed bthe house in november. for exampl the house bill includes a gernment-run insurance opti; the senate bill does no and the housmeasure prohibits e federal funding of insuran covege that covers abortions. the o bills also differ over funding the health car overhaul. the house would adan income surtax on e wealthy. the sena would tax high-cost insurance pls. the president said yesteay he pports taxing the so-called "cadillac" pns. and heold "the nshour's" jim lehrer he plans to be heavy volved in reconciling the tw bis into a final version. >> we hopeo have a whole bunch of folksver here in the west wing, and i'll be rolling my sleeves and spendi some time before t full congress even gets into ssion, because the amican people need it now.

>> reporter: mr. oma has said hopes to have aealth care ll on his desk before deliveng his state of the unioaddress early next year. >> we have beecoughing the battles on capitol hill fo "the wall reet journal" and has more about the pitfalls ahead. and a half tali, thanks fo joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: they've bn at this f years, months on this pticular piece of leslation, how big a deal is this. >> i actually think it's hauj deal. for a century liberals hav en fighting for something like this ner before has even one chamberf congress me close to considering this and nowou have both chbers passing it. you knowas recently as a few monthsgo after all the tea rty demonstrations in august people thought it was dead. st a few days ago they thght senator nelson might lee the talks and they might collapse. so i think getting this through, whatever u think out it substantively as a legislative accomplishme really can be minimized. >>oodruff: let's talk

about some of these thgs that we heard inetty ann bowser's piece that have to be resolved before you g it cometely finished. first of a, the public opti. in the house language, there is a public option, a government-run insurce plan. the senate has something different, 5state exchans. hodid that get worked through? >> i tnk that the liberals are gointo have to give up a lot of whathey want and whathey care about in this legislation. you know, passed the senate with no room r error. it got exactly 60 votes. 60otes is what it needed. they can't afforto lose a sinkeldam at or independen withomething like 9 public option i think t liberal democrats e going to have to accept e fact that if they wt this bill they have to ve up on that. >> woodruff: what are the political rces again the public optio i mean and how ithat at play. as you say tre is a delica balance in the nate. no room for give? i think there is almost no rm for give on the publ option. harry reidried almost everything. obviously the insurance companies don't want the public options. they see that unfair compition by the government with what they do.

but just from an ideaological pspective a lot of conrvatives and the more sen trust democra don't like ts idea. and people like n nelson, joe lieberman arrefusing to give their voteo health reform if there isublic option in . and is hard to see anyway out that for the liberals. >> woodruff: let's talk out another area of difference. and that ihow you pay for is. e house taxes a so-called cadillac plan, hh, expensivhealth insurance plans. the senate imposes a taxn the wethy. how expect to see that resolved. i have it backwards. the use taxes wealthy americans, t senate would tax the so-cald high-end cadillac plans. how does that t resolved. >>ell, cost, unlike certain otr areas, you can lit the difference and they may end up tryingo mix aren't match but clear the momentum now is with the senate plan, i thinkof taxing the higend insurance plan that is somethinthe white house said it prefers. there certain sentiment that paying for this shoul come from withinhe alth-care system. it just applying a

broad-based tax the wealthy doesn't ma as much sense trying to get those llars from the health-care system itself. my sense is at is where it hato go. justn general because the senate passed itwith no om to spare, i think that the chances are that the house ll is going to have to become mo like the senateill. the senate bill can make a fechanges but ultimately if they make tooany changes to it they will lo a senator. they can't afford to le enone. i think that is the dynamic we will see inhe next few week >> woodruff: amo others, the labor unionsre going to be screaming,re creaming, th don't want th change. they don't wanthose plans taxe they don't want a tax. ey feel their members have worked for years, bargained other ghts to get these fairly expensive heah insurance plans and thidea ofow having them taxed is something thats very objectionable to them. and you know they haveade some changes in it in the senate. they agreeto tax higher and higherost plans to excludmore and more of em. t union members have but ultimately there is engh suort for this that my sense is that some vsion of that will ultimely pass. >> woodruff: o other area of difference course is aborti. you have different languag

in the house from the senate. how do y see that being worked thrgh? >> well, when it comes rht down tit the language certainlisn't that diffent. ben nelson, nservative senator from nebraska but a mocrat insisted on fairly tough restrictns. in both bills women that want abortion covera will ha to write a separate check to get that corage. in the house bill ey have toet a dmeetly different poli which is something the senate senate esn't have. but ultimately the fferences are small and i thinthat they will have to try to find a way to ultimately thiis going to come dn to hard,olitical calculations. whatever they can do and still get 60 votes if in t senate and 218 votes in e house that is what they going to d woodruff: the role of the catholic church in this. they have been very outspoken in a unusu way. the catholicishops made it clear there is only some languagehey will accept anit may be they win on this one. is is one area where the house language prevails because if they insi on it, a lot of the house democratic members are simply not going to ange. >> woodruff: all rht

tnaftali bendad, from "the wall strt journal." than very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now let look more closely at somof the major areas of agreeme, and what these anges will mean for individuals, employers and insurers among others. susan ntzer is back to help us with that. she's the editor othe journal "heah affairs," and an analyst for the newshour. susan, thanks r being with us again on this day tt it passed the senat so setting ade these diffences that i just lked about with naftali, we know that some g things could changen american heal care. t's start with just ode workinamerican who has health coverage, s i work and i have coverage thugh my employer. hoare thing goesing to change fore and my family. >> well,udy, immediately that is to sayn 2010 presuming that this is signed into law xt year, whh looks like will be the ca, there are some changes that go in effect that shore upnd stabilize the heal insurance market which even wilhelp people who do now have covege. for exame, some things

that insurance companies n are able to do, rescission that is to say thecan canceloverage on you if they havdiscovered that you have not necessari told them about a preexisting condition or whatever. they can now rescind you coverage. that would be outlawed as next year. in addion to that, certain benefits that people now have preventive benets, wellness oriend things that people now haveo make a ntribution towards, for all new health iurance pocies that woulbe issued starting in 201 those cost-sharing arrangements as th are caed would be -- would go away and in fact these people would not have toay for this woodruff: that is in the short term. >> tt is in the short term. in the longer run, many, ny more change was take place in 2013 an2014 dependinon whether the house or the senate veion prevails. in effec sweeping health insurance regulatory changes take place, no only wil reissions already have

been taken care, preisting conditiorestrictions will away so that no insurer will be able to not cover u for a preexisting condition. they have got to actlly insurance you if you hav diabetes. theyave to sell you a pocy that covers your diabetes. d a whole array of those changes take place invving regulation of insurance at th a federal and state level thatill really shore up iurance coverage for people. >> woodruff: let's talk about -- so i'm somee who doesn't have coveragright now. eitherecause i can't get it through my employer oi just don't, i don't have access to it. >> ain, short term and ng-term changes. sht term, for example, $10 billion unr the senate bi would be put into community healthentres so people who now go to those cents, largely lower come people. will probably be able much more easily access car throh those entities. inddition to that, small, certain small businesses

will g tax credits so that to the degree are you working for a small business that doenot now provide coverage, possibly yr all business will start to fer you coverage, again those are short term cnges in 2010. then again wn we get to 2013 or 14, a large array changes. dramatic eansion of the medicaid program so that thing el -- single adult largely, those who dnot haveependent children who now don't have medicai coverage will be able to access it. d all a total of 15 million mo people are able to go into medicd. then for other better f people they will be ab to y coverage through new insurance exchange either at thfederal level or at the statlevel. and this wilgive people a choice of array of oducts with a federal help depending on your income, tax credits to help suppor the purcha of the verage. >> woodruff: qckly, some people still will not, eve der this legislation, will still not be able to g health covere. >> that's right.

>> woodruff: and w are they? >>hey will be people witht will be able to claim th they need to be exemptrom a new individual ndate on coverage that will go in effect starting in 2013 or 12014, ople who can't afford it fo affordability grounds. pele who are in the country illegally will n be able toccess -- will not haveny provision of verage. they will beble to get care in many instances through the commity health coverage -- pending whether it ithe senate or house rsion there could be as many as 1to 23 million pele without coverage at thend of the line. >> let mtick off a couple other grps i want to ask u about. what about health-care providers, doctors, nurses obviously this a b subject of discuion. buwhat essentially will change for theroviders? for providers, i think in the longer run, we'rgoing to seemerging a number of very new and different arrangements under which people will be given tir health care. and that will mean that many doctors, nurses, nurse

practitioners and others ll be practicing men's in different ys. they'll be delivering re through things that we cal medical mes and accountable care organizations. arrangements lake that. the nearer term, hospitals have aeed to give up me of the payment ineouss that they would normallyxpect to help pay for corage. physicians, some pmary care physicians under medicare in certain regions of t country that don't have a lotf doctors, are actually gng to be paid mo. sot's going to be a kind of mix bag for providers. some will benefit. for ma, life will change. >> woodruff: and there wil be change, psumably for nursesfor physical therapists and other people who rk in the health-care field. >> yes, and lots of effo to support education and training for people, partularly people who are in the business of proving primary care but who areot phicians, like nurse practitioners,cholarships, programs to shore the national health rvice corps which gives people loans to go toedical

scol or other education and then practicin commities that don't have muchccess to medicine. >> woodruff: you mention somef the effect on spitals. what about on the pharmaceutical indtry. >> acrs-the-board many players in -an array of heal businesses are going have to pay higher fees. surance companies will be payingigher fees to contrite toward the cost of finanng it. mecal device manufacturers. pharmaceutical companyare fiting having some of those fees exacted on th. they also thoughnder various dierent provisions are actually going to t paidess for the drugs they now makeparticularly those at go to medicaid patients. so they will ht. ey have also agreed for people omedicare who fall into theoughnut hole, the pharmaceutical compas have agreedo sell those people brand prescription drugs at 50% discounto help make drugs affordable f people who are so-called part d

coveragen medicare and fall into this doughnu hole. >> that that point at whh you breach iand you don't get verage but then dow again. >> and finally very ickly, the insunce industry. >> the insurancendustry sees an array of cnges. a whole new layer, pbably of feder regulation as well as alof these new state regutions. they also will see dependi on the version othe bill, requirements that ey have to pay out 80% or to 85% of all the premium dollarthey collect, those have to be id out in benefits, not in returns to sharelders, not in ceo saries. if not, if they don' achieve that threshold, ey haveo give rebates to their poliholders. so they will bsubject to a very lge array of changes. >> woouff: okay a lot for us to digestver the holiday seon. indeed. >> woodruff: susan dentz, thanks very mu. >> great to be wh you, ju, thanks. >> bro: and still to come on

the newshour: obal warming's impact on alth; al qaeda in yemen; and teacher standards in washinon, d.c. but first, for t other news of the day, here's ha sreenivasan inur newsroom. hari. >> sreenivasan: huge snow and ice storm spread acrs more of the midwest day on one of the most heavily traveled days o the year. the slow-moving system left me people hangingn this christmas eve. they faced a duge of rain, sleet, and forecast of uto two feetf snow in some parts of thcountry by christmas day. the nation weather service sued blizzd warnings from texas up to minnesota. state police warned of danrous conditions, and urged driverto rry water and flashlights. >> if you're on a ad and you see red lights, treat like a school zone-- puthe cell phone down, put your coffee downboth hands on the wheelfocus. >> sreenivasan: in kansas,inds gusted to nely 40 miles an ho and visibility was nely zero. one interstate was cpletely covered by ice but it wasn't justoads that were frozen-- inebraska,

icles clung onto power lines and weighed down trees which dropped branches isome unlily places. >> all of a dden, i heard this big bang and this is what happene >> sreenivasan: there werelso air delays all across e midwest, but se people made thbest of it. >> i never spent theight in the aiort, so i think i'll enjoy it. >> sreenivasannearly 100 flightin minneapolis were cancelled and dozens of flhts were deled. officials the were preparing for the worst. we'rlooking at total acculations now through friday, 15 to 20 inch rang there. >>reenivasanand farther south,eavy rain overnit knocked out por at houston's hobby aiort. electric ticket machines shut downand travelers had to wait in long lines to che in nually. the storm, whi tore through the southwest earlier this wk, is expted to lurch toward an already slushy east coasby week's end. pope benedict xvi had scare this eveni as he celebrated christmas eve mass

a woman jumped surity barriers int. peter's basilica and knocked the pontiff do. e procession halted, and guards began running tthe pope's aid. but was unhurt and continued th the celebration. vatican ofcials said the woman was apparently mentally unstab. in the middle east, thousands of pilgrims ghered in bethlehem under tight serity as singers, ck bands and dancers peormed. bombttacks across iraq took the lis of at least 27 people, as major shiite religious obseance nears its end. in hilh, south of baghdad, twin explosions kied 13 and woded 74 others. mostere shiite pilgrims on their way to the city of karbala. pilgrimsnd a funeral processionere also targets of multiple bombs in baghdad neighbhoods. the u.s. senate vod today to rae the federal debt ceiling to $12 trillion. the housalready approved the increasef $290 billion over the current limit. it letthe treasury department issue engh bonds to finance government operation tl mid-

february. the senate vote was rgely down party nes. there waencouraging economic news on this last businessay before chrtmas. jobls benefits fell more than expect last week, and orders for durable goods rose i november it was enough toring good cheer toall street. the dojones industrial average gained me than 53 points to close at 1520. the nasdaq rose 16 pois to ose at 2,285. fothe week, the dow gained nearly 2%; the nasdaq s up 3%. ose are some of the day's ma stories. i'll be back at the end the program with a preview of wh you'll find night on the newshour's w site. but fonow, back to judy. >> woodrf: now, we move on to the aftermh of last week's mmit in copenhagen on climat change yesterday,n his white house interview with jim lrer, president obama acknowledg at he didn't believe the summit had been a compte success. >> pple are justified in beindisappointed about the outcome in cop eall -- copenhagen

what i said was essentially that rather th seeing a complete collae in copenhagen in ich nothing at all gotone and would have been a ge backwards step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn't too much bacsliding from ere we were. it didn't move us the way we need to. >> woodruff: tonightray suarez, who covered th copenhagenummit for the newshour, ports on one of the implications of deferring desions on global warming-- the possible effect global public health. >> suarez: there may stille me debate over what's causin climate change, but am all the back and forth in copenhen over economi and development, there was no debe about the facthat something's up, and th it's changing lives. the rld health organization used the clite conference to press thpoint that a warmer planet will be a sickeone, and a less pluted planet saves lives.

>> 2.2 million people dievery ye from diarrheal disease, which is highly sensite to clime. 1.1 difrom disease-- that's hily sensitive to climate. 3.5 milln die from under-nutrion-- that's entily dependent on ricultural production. all of those deaths occur in those parts the world that e going to be most affected clime change. sohis, for us, is more than an environmental issue, it's re than debate about targets or abouhow much its going to cost: s about basically saving peoples ves. >> suarez: diarrheal disease malnutrition-- tse are poor people's disses. the w.h.o. insistshe health effectof climate change are not just a poor person's problem. >> americans will benefia lot if you embark on a cpaign to reduce carbon emissions. they will reduce cardiascular diseasesn a very important way.

they will probably creata ple or places with a less sedentary lifestyle. and thus, people will be ls ese, which is one of the maj problems we are ving at the moment >> suarez: but most clate scieists say we're still in the early stages of glob climate change, anfor now, the mo severe effects of rising sea levels--r too little rain followedy too much-- is among the developing wor's major concerns. for example, a storm in bangladesh can dri millions of gallons of seawater land, fouling water supplies a threatening farmnd. ( translated ): its n just the cyclon we're facing a daster every day from wat problems. >> suarez: kirsti ebi has wrten reports on climate change a health for the tergovernmental panel on imate change. climate change, the i.p.c. >> there was aecent workshop

in bangladesh. as aart of that, there were fid trips out to rural area where they we having saltwater intrusion, which is affectin e rice crops. anvoluntarily, a farmer, an illirate farmer, said "climate change h a taste. it tass like salt." >>uarez: sudden, violent downpours willlso be an ineasing problem in wealthy countries with aging infrastructure. >>any of our communities combine stormwater witsewage, simply because its too eensive to separate these syems. >> srez: dr. jonathan patz is the director of obal environmental healtht the university of wisconsiin mason, and also a lead author for the intergoverental panel on cmate change. >> every year, we get thes combined sewage overflowvents already, just with the typof rainfall intensity we t today. weave over a trillion gallons that orflow into surface water, so over a trilln gallons of sewage-ntaminated

water overflowing fromimple rainstormsvery year in the united stas. >> suarez: o example of this is new orlea. hurricane katrina contamated and shut down the municipal water system lg after the orm had passed. but places like haiti, ntaminated water brings typhd and even death. but as temratures rise and imate zones shift, wont some ples benefit as others suffer? sure, says jonathan patz-- t former sovt union will have a longer growing sean, but he says lers will outnumber wiers. >> a mority of agricultural areas will suffe and the verse effects will outweigh the benefial effects. >> suare in developing nations, the increasin temperatures could affecthe ability to beconomically productive. ashe world's poorest people try to work themsees out of poverty, the clites they live in are making it harder toork rd.

dr. tord kjellstrom studs the effects of climate on work. and as the only way to protect your body from oveeat and heatstroke, which may ev kill you, is to tually slow down work. it means you are ls efficient the work you do. and you t less income. if you are an agricultural rker who is cutting sugar ca in nicaragua, r instance, you will produce less gar per day ift's very hot and you get paid less. >> suarez: rising heatevels, according to kjellstrom,s an added taon the poor, who must work longer hours inhe hot mont to maintain meager incomes. new seasal patterns will force anges in daily life in the wealthy industrializ countrs. declining air ality and extreme heat wilforce people, escially the elderly, to remainndoors. and more co2 will mean me

allergy suerers. >> ragweed ia major producer of aller problems. >> suarez: dr. rhard weber is an allerst at national jewish health in deer. >> and for theast several years, there havbeen reports coming out that thincrease in co2 means thathe ragweed plants grow moreigorously. they have mo above-ground bio- mass, which innglish means ey're bigger. they start polliting sooner, so they flower earli and they produce more pollen, so ere's an increase in the amot of pollenhat's being released into the air. >> suare it doesn't end there. dr. weber id explosive growth in grass pollens after hvy rains will flood the wld's emergency ros with asthma patients. higher seas and higher hidity wi bring more illness from mold spores. while scieists point to thinning ice shes and

endangered habitats, t w.h.o's maria neira has two basi messages she hopes will co from the conferee and spur a change in global behavr. >> our message is if climate change continues, e health of the people will be affted. particarly, the health of the pele living in very poor countries but also the pple living in developed countrs. the send message is to nvince everybody that they need to do somethingbout reducing carn emissions. it is common sse thing. >> suarez: the questn is, now that the copenhageconference hapushed deadlines further into the futur will that message resonateith world leaders and ange behavior fast enough to prevt what may be destating health effects of global warming? >> brown: noto yemen, a growg focus of the fight

against internatiol terrorism. the government there lnched air rikes against al-qaeda hideouts today, reportly kiing 30 militantspossibly including e group's top two region leaders, and a figure linked to the fort hood,exas, shootings. the fort hood connecon involved thiman, anwar al- awlaki, american muslim imam. it's believehe died in an air strike in the shabwa region, part of an escalatg campaign against alaeda forces there. thfbi has said awlaki was contacted by u. army psychiatri nidal hassan a year ago. last month, hassan allegly shot and kille13 comrades at fo hood, texas. yemen also cimed other key kills in today's a raid. the yeme embassy in washington issued a statement, sang: "prelimina reports suggest that the strike targeted scos of yemeni and reign al-qaeda operatives.

nasser al-wah-hey-shee, th regial al-qaeda leader and his deputy, saeeal-shihri, ongside anwar al-awlaki were prumed to be at the site." saeed al-shihrwas held at the s detention center at guantanamo bay for nearly x years; he was nt to saudi arab in 2007. just lt week, yemen carried out another strike on qaida. acrding to some reports, planes fir american missiles kill at least 34 suspected mitants and an unspecified numb of civilians. after that raid, a u.s. ste department sposman would not comment directly. instead, he reiterated u. pport for yemen: >> we cooperate with the government of men and other govements around the world in fighng al qaeda and others, yoknow, practicing terrorism. >> reporr: in fact, the u.s. has giveat least $70 million inilitary aid to yemen this year, a sharp increa from the past. the country, long redoubt of

al qaeda, has come a focal poinof u.s. counter-terror strategy it's also been the site of pt attacks on.s. targets. the american embassy there w hit last fall by a crdinated assault including r bombs. and in october000, the deroyer u.s.s. "cole" was bomb in the port of aden by al qaida operatives. 17 american sailors re killed in that attack. for more on this we turno christopher boucek from th middle east program of t carnegie endowmentor international ace, and a frequent visitor to men; and glenn carle, a 23-ye veteran of the c.i.a., including service as deputy national intelligence ofcer for tranational threats, where he traed terror networks like al qae. he rired in 2007. welcome to both of you. we aretill waiting for more information abo the resu its of these attack what is known abt the presumed targets, thes leaders, how imptant are they? >> if this proves to b correct this wl be a huge victory for the ruggle against al qaeda in men. 9 people who a talked

about as being targetsis the commander al qaeda in the peninsula. thresurgent ala ganization. the merger that was -- between saudi anal qaeda affiliates as ll as his deputy comnder who had returned from guantanamo >> what uld you add about the significance of these two in particular? >> i think it is aery signicant development. certainly in the straightforward sense any timeou have an operational success d you get a senior memberf al qaeda or affiliated group, that ia good thing. i think weay find that this is a more lasti imct than the many similar sounding successes, would attribute the increase i terrorist attacks over t last two years or thre years in yemen tol wahashi. i think his elimine -- elination will have a positi impact. >> i i -- i mejsedhere was

attack last week and this. is the a reason they are happening now. >> i think the governor of thyemsen under incredible pressure to takection against al qaeda. >> from. >> from the unitedtates and western alliesnd reg all ally, the saudis in paicular are exasperated wi the situation in yemen. as the situation in men deteriores it is having an efct on the region. >> what out anwar al -alwaqi, what is his portance in e context of yemen. >> i don't know that he has particular importae in the context of yemen, rely. i think the phenomenon of who becomes inired to actually quit a hadist terrorist act is clely strongly linked to charismatiindividuals. tradionally or normally this hpens in direct human contact. it might be e captain of the soccer team at was the case in thailand and elsewhere, the casablaa also, the tacks there. wi the internet one can ve virtual charismatic

individualinspiring people act and that is what we sawith ft. hood, i think. so it is a positive thing to have one-less one less charmatic individual prey ing upon souls, and for ymen in particular. >> do you have more to a on that. >> i think he emblematic of a new generation enish language preachers, so peoe who don't have the access to aric but in englis and think is especially telling that for the last couple of eks there has been sgestion that al -aqwi was not very invold in ski add terrist but in places where other people we killed would suggest otherwise. >> now how b a threat is al qaeda in yemen and what degreare they independent orndigenous acrs and to what degree are they somehow tied tohe people in afghantan and pakistan >> well, its -- the simple paradigm has beeto view

ala as cohert and have its netwks that follow clear comman from ala central and someplacin waziristan. i think in thiinstance there are with a and yemen, there are legitimateinks and assoations but one shouldn't think oft as a direct subsidiartaking orders andnly acting upon the orders. so associationgrowing concern for the west, iraq as poll for jihadists winds down and theressure in wazistan, afghanistan and pakistan incases, the increasing concern but not necessarildirectly being a branch. >> how dyou see their strength tre, their threat to yemen? >> i think it is a huge threat. i think as the government in yemen has ss and less ability to exercise its control roughout the complete territory of e country, y see that there

is greater a eater spaces f ala, affiliated or aligned organizations t take route. this is at we see in yeme there are mo and more spaces as long as the central government iyemen is repreoccupied fhting the centl war. >> fill in the pictureit a for us. the yemeni government this just one concern for the vernment, now right. >>he yemeni government is facing a lot of challenges. they are fitting a civ war inhe north against shi'a revivasts, a secretary sessionist movement the uth, al qaeda, plus the country is rning out of money they a running out ofil, water, rampant inflation, unemployment. all of these thing there a fear will overwhelm yemen the future. might have thought that would be thr, four, five years down the road but this yar is -- wais rapidly celerating the collapse t is destroying the economy and that is what wildoom yemen. >> last nighwe did a segment on somalia as a

pontial failed state and that sounds like what we a talking about he too. this one is on the borr of saudi arab. >> right. >> i think to pick up onne of theoints about the safe haveand failed state issue , waziristan, northwest frontier provinces in pakistan and yemen athe second o are the two imary areas of concern, many places in the world t fear of a failedtate, theris less there than our fear was lead us to lieve. t in these two cases itly is sething of real concern for policymakersnd counterterrorism officials, absolutely. >> you saithe u.s. was pushing for mo action and as we said in our setup, t u.s. is give morningoney now. ishere a debate here in the u. about doing even more? >>h, i think so. and i thini would hate to undereimate yemen's ability tobsorb foreign assistance but the foreign assistance yem gets is

grossly disproportiona to the military asstance going into the country. counterterrorism tining, training for theorder guards and theoast guard. i think a big policyia, however s thatveryone knows what we want to avoi in yem, state failure, ate collapse. no one can tell you wh that looks like yemen and no one can tell yowhat it will be that will lead to state failur so am couldingp with the prescripted policy msures is difficu. >> in the meanti do we expect more raids by the government with the lp of the u.s. and the potential for retaliation, issume. >> the answer is yes, it appears to me thathe strikes in yemen by counterterrorismfficials by yemeni and with american-saudi supports part of coherent strategy, really, to increase th pressure on thsafe haven of waziristan d now in the ungoverned parts of yemen . >> is there the exctation of retaliation is possle?

>> oh, i think definitely. i think one of the tngs abt today is i think there is tal that this may have been a mting to plan out retaliation r last week's attack. and i'm surehere will be a response from ala. it will a propaganda vio or an attack or something. it is ming for sure. >>ll right, christopher boucek and glenn carle, thank u very much. >> woodruff: now, e next chapter in our series about reforming the publ school system iwashington, d.c. the newshour'special corrpondent for education, jo merrow, has been reporting on this story for e past three year tonight, we goack to the beginning of a n school year-- the fallf 2008-- when chancell michelle rhee pushed a propal that attracted national attenon, on the questi of teacher pay and perfmance.

>> the hardest job i er had d the hardest job in my mind that existis being a teacher in thelassroom every single day. >> in gust, three days before sool is opened in washington, d.c.chancellor michelle li dressed th city's 4,000 teaers and principa. >> we are going to chae thface of public education in this country. >> reporter: ihad been only 14 months since t rookieuperintendent acpted the job of turning around o of the worst blic school districts in the cotry. >> good moing. >>eporter: and in her whirlwind rst year she closed3 schools, replaced 58 princals and assistant principals, firenearly 17% ofer central office, and begaa process known as restructuring in 27 schos that hadailed to make sufficient academic progress. chelle's next target? teachers. >>f we have ineffective teachers in the assroom, thgoal is to not have th

inhe classroom any longer. >> reporter:ust 12% of washington's 8th grars are proficient in ading. lastear principal nelson rton of coolidge high school tolus how unhappy he was withis teachers. >> it's a rrible thing to y. but half of thstaff here ght not be. they just don't fit in to what we are doing here. and i dare s, many of them won't fit into any progr where ey are trying to raise student achievement . >> reporter: ri granted burton's wish and more. as part ofhe restructuring effort she forceall teachers acoolidge to reapply for their jobs out of 53 burton rehired just7. but what is goodor coolge isn't necessarily good for everyonelse. because wh teachers leave onschool, they don't automatilly leave the system. ri is aking her success on her abity to change that. so far she h been able to push through her refor because of the backing of

washington's powerful mayo fenty without controls t school stem. >> reporter:as he ever said nto you? >> no, no. >> reporter: never. >> nope. >> reporte but the mayor can't help her now to chae how teachers are hired, firednd paid, ri needs suort from the achers themselves. >> i think the is an atmosphere of mistst. >>eporter: george parker, a former math teacr is president the washington teachers union. >> there is belief that few of the fear that the chce of solution to improve in ecation is firing people. >> reporr: now for the first me since taking office, ri'slans may be in jeopardy. although she and t union have bn negotiating since december, th have knot en able to reach agreement on a conact. she is offering the teacrs a carrot, the ance to earn six figure salarys itheir student does well. but there is also a big stick.

tenured teacrs have to give up job security f a year. then if theistudents do well, they get the money and they get their tenurback. t if not, they could lose their jobs. the way it works nown washingt and just about everywhere else is that teachersarn money based on how lo they've been in the system. right now a ten-ye veteran with masters degree earns just over $64,00 under ri's t-tiered proposal, tehers could stick with that apoach putting thatame teacher at $82,000 next year. t if teachers choose what is known as a pay for perfornce model and their students performell, that ten-year veran could earn as much as $12000 in salarynd bonuses. but some fear th exchanging job security r high pay could open teachers tunfair firgs. ris already being sued by over 70 teachers claing

wrongful termination. >> clearly we are willg to move intflexibility that is needed in order to improve student achievemt. at we are not willing to do is move into unnecessary flexility that is more geared towds union busting than it student hievement. >> and so what i want you do right n is to help give me some guance. >> reporr: when the teachersot together in augustgeorge parker seized 9 opportunity to gauge his membs' support for ri's proposal. >> how many of you would like a contract that y can vote on with the two-tied system rse your hand . >> i think that it would be -with the vote i took i think it was probably twto-one in opposition of what they have seen us far. the younger achers are much more in fav than the veteran teache who have acquired senioritynd acquir tenure and are less trusting. >> my actionas that was a

really dumb move >> why? >> when u have a situation like that, what thospeople need is leadership. they need their union president to comout and say eith this is the worst thing that we've ever hear and we all havto rally against it, or ts is the right thing to do, and her are the reasons y. >> well, first of all the chancellor has the authority to me a decision and she only reports to e mayor. i report to 000 members. and timately they get to vote on the agement. so it kes sense for me to say what do you think and what do you want. >> what was the result. >> it was --. >> reporter: parker in the hot seat. teher unions everywhere are watcng to see what happens. even some his own member incling the union vice president have attacd him publicly. >> it a tough position. i get calls internally fro teachers who strongly support the concept of the two-tear system. i get calls teachers who

are strongly opposed. >> do you ha any empathy for george parker, he's got a lot of -- >> oh, gosh, i absutely feel forim. cause he's in a very difficult situation. he's got a lotf pressure on him. >> reporter: nonetheless, she is keeping up e prsure from her side. >> the botm line is that the uniois going to have to decide whether they are going to accept my fin offer and we're going to t roll thiout in a tentative agreement or not. >> we will movforward with the negotiation process d at the pnt that if the chancellor feels like this is the e for me, then she will state that d we'll decide wt to do following that. >> she has already said that. said take it or leave it. >> sheaid that to you. >> so is is it. >> we'll see. >> there'still negotiating. e union expects to vote is fall. but says that whether her plan passes or not, ell's find new ways toemov

ineffeive teachers. >> woodruff: that was in 28. since then, contract negotiatns are at a stalemate. in fact, bh sides had hoped to reach a de by the start of this schl year. but as othis week, there are new signs of progress. in ourinal installment torrow, john looks at how rhee is faring her third year amid anger over her style and rent yoffs. >> bwn: again, the major delopments of the day: the nate passed a health care reform bill-- 60 to -- down rty lines. laakers will now try to work out differences beeen the senate msure and a house versio and huge snow and ice storm spad across more othe midwest on one of the most heavily traveled ds of the year. the newshours always online. hari sreenivan, in our newsro, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: onur web site tonight,ou can compare the house and nate health care reform bil that democrats will try to reconcile after the hoday break. that'sn our "rx for reform" page. also, check out our educatn site, "nshour extra."

there are daily clsroom activities, in-dep lesson plans, and opportuniti for students to y their hand at writing and reportg. and finally, some go news from elkhart, iiana, the heart of unemployment coury. paul solman went there elier th year to report about manufacturing towns hardit in this recession. he's posted a foow-up blog th shows things are looking up people are buying recreaonal vehicles again, and factories are ring. all that and moris on our web te, newshour.pbs.org. woodruff: and again to our honor ll of american service personnel killed in the aq and afanistan conflicts. add them as their deaths ar made official anphotographs come available. he, in silence, are ten more.

anthat's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >>rown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll seyou online, and again here tomorrow evening th mark shields d david brooks, among others. have a happy christmas eve thank u and good night.

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