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  • AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

  • On the "NewsHour" tonight: President  Biden prepares to speak to Congress  

  • and the American people in his  annual State of the Union address.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: A cyberattack on the  nation's biggest medical payment  

  • processing company cripples much of  the United States' health care system.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: And the U.K. government  proposes new legislation to punish those  

  • responsible for the rising tensions  triggered by the war in Gaza.

  • JONATHAN HALL K.C., Independent Reviewer  of Terrorism Legislation: I haven't seen  

  • such open hostility towards categories  of individuals as I have since the 7th  

  • of October, that willingness, almostbrazenness, to go out on the streets.

  • (BREAK)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

  • Tonight, President Biden will  address Congress and millions  

  • of Americans in his third State of the  Union and the last of his current term.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: It's a high-stakes moment  for the president as he continues his  

  • 2024 reelection campaign. And the  speech will give him the chance to  

  • reach voters and convince them to give  him a second term in the White House.

  • Joining us to explain what we  can expect are the "NewsHour"'s  

  • Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez.

  • So, Lisa -- or, ratherLaura, we will start with you.

  • What new proposals and announcements can  we expect from the president tonight?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks, Geoff.

  • President Biden is expected to  announce that the U.S. military  

  • is going to establish an emergency port  on the coast of Gaza. And we don't know  

  • exactly the location of where that port  will be, but we do know that that port  

  • will enable the delivery of truckloads  via ship, truckloads of crucial aid.

  • That includes food, water, medicine,  

  • temporary shelters. And this announcement  comes after the third airdrop in recent  

  • days of aid. And it means that also no U.S.  military will be required to deploy to Gaza.

  • In addition to that, Geoff, there are also  a number of key domestic proposals that the  

  • president will be announcing, including raising  the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, offering  

  • first-time homebuyers a $5,000 tax credit, capping  out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for all  

  • Americans, not just those on Medicare, and urging  Congress to pass the bipartisan border deal.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, how are people in  the White House and in the Biden campaign really  

  • viewing this speech as a chance for the president  to reconnect with the key parts of his coalition,  

  • the winning coalition that delivered  him the White House back in 2020?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: People inside  the White House tell me, Geoff,  

  • that they really view this speech as  what they call the starting gun of 2024.

  • And it's a chance for the president to  lay out his vision to the biggest audience  

  • that he is likely to have this entire  year. This is a type of audience that  

  • he won't typically get if he's just giving  a campaign speech. And then a source close  

  • to the president told me that, when the  president prepares for speeches like this,  

  • he spends a lot of time by himself trying  to think about what he wants to say.

  • He takes input, but he is also -- he tends to shut  everything out. And we saw him really take a lot  

  • of time this weekend at Camp David in preparation  for this speech. And we have an excerpt of what  

  • he is preparing to say that the White House  provided to U.S. based on his prepared remarks.

  • He's expected to say: "My lifetime has taught  me to embrace freedom and democracy. Now,  

  • some other people my age see a different  story, an American story of resentment,  

  • revenge and retribution. That's not me."

  • That defense of democracy, Geoff, at home  and abroad is going to be one of the three  

  • main themes of the president's speechHe's going to remind people about January  

  • 6. He's going to remind people about  the COVID pandemic that he inherited.  

  • And he's also -- the other two pillars  are a defense of individual freedoms,  

  • like abortion, IVF access, and then  finally building upon his economic vision.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: All right, so, Lisa, over to you.

  • If this speech is the starting  gun of 2024, to use that phrase,  

  • how are Republicans planning to respond?

  • LISA DESJARDINS: That is something  we have rare bipartisan agreement on,  

  • that this is essentially the opening  of the 2024 presidential season.

  • Republicans' response will come from one of  their most junior members of the U.S. Senate,  

  • 42-year-old Katie Britt of Alabama. Nowspeaking to her office, they believe that  

  • one thing that Britt brings to the table  tonight is the fact she's a working mom.

  • They told me that her theme will  be the idea that Republicans,  

  • that their party is the party of families  and children. They will push that forward.  

  • And another thing that Katie Britt  plans to do, she says she sees her  

  • speech as the closing prosecution of the  case that Joe Biden failed as president.

  • It seems to me she's not going to talk so  much about Donald Trump, but instead her job,  

  • which is a classic job for the response, will  be to take on Joe Biden's policy, specifically  

  • kitchen table issues they want to talk aboutinflation, prices, those kinds of things.

  • But immigration certainly will come up  as well. This will be a big test for her,  

  • but her office says that she's a meticulous  prepper and that they're not fazed,  

  • even though they know it's an awkward format.

  • One other thing we're watching for from  Republicans tonight, though, Geoff, is,  

  • will there be outbursts in the chamber? House  Speaker Mike Johnson has asked his Republicans  

  • not to have outbursts. However, as we well knowhe does not govern their individual decisions.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: Well, the president is the primary  focus tonight, but we should also say that members  

  • of Congress each get one ticket to give out  to a guest who can join inside the chamber.

  • I know you have reached out to nearly  every House office. What do these  

  • guests tell us about the members  of Congress and their priorities?

  • LISA DESJARDINS: That's right. In this time where national politics just  seems so stratified, we now see kind of  

  • decentralized politics, and local politics  matter more than ever. These members have  

  • a lot at stake tonight in the messages  that they convey to their constituents.

  • So I saw some trends overall, a lot of  guests having to do with health care, on  

  • the Republican side, some having to do with crime  and veterans issues. But we found three guests  

  • that we thought were interesting, that we wanted  to highlight their stories who are here tonight.

  • One is an IVF doctor, another someone who has  received some rare disease treatment. But,  

  • first, as I -- as you listen to these members who  are here tonight from all of the United States,  

  • I want to bring the voice of a woman who  was there on the -- at the Selma march,  

  • Bloody Sunday. She was 9 years old.

  • That anniversary is tonight, Geoff, as you knowAnd she came here to talk about voting rights.

  • SHEYANN WEBB-CHRISTBURG, Civil Rights Activist: It  was when I was 9 years old, when I participated as  

  • the youngest little girl on that Bloody Sunday  march, the most traumatic experience of my life.

  • And one of the things that's very critical as we  embark upon a new election is that we continue to  

  • really push and fight, not only to vote, but to  get others engaged, to become registered voters.

  • DR. PIETRO BORTOLETTO, Reproductive Endocrinologist and Director of Reproductive Surgery, Boston IVF: So earlier this week, I was actually performing IVF.

  • I help retrieve eggs from women who are  trying to use the technology to be able  

  • to build their family. I also retrieve eggs from  women who are about to undergo cancer treatment.  

  • People use IVF for different reasons. And I'm  here tonight to be able to advocate for them.

  • JENNELLE STEPHENSON, Gene Therapy Patient: I'm  visiting here today because I was fortunate to  

  • be a recipient of gene therapy for sickle  cell anemia. And it's been post six years  

  • since my transplant. And I haven't  experienced any pain or any crises  

  • related to it. And so I really just  want to bring attention to the topic.

  • LISA DESJARDINS: Now, another point  of attention that you will see in the  

  • chamber tonight, Democratic women  have decided to wear white. They  

  • say that's a representation of women's  rights, especially reproductive rights.

  • Of course, that was the color of the suffragettes  as well. One other thing happening tonight, Geoff,  

  • I want to relay. TikTok has barraged  these members with phone calls today.  

  • Many of them shut down their phones  after this appeared on the TikTok app,  

  • making anyone who wants to use that app had  to call Congress or restart their phone.

  • And this is something that has gotten a lot of  attention. But, tonight, as a result, there was a  

  • backlash from Congress in committee, passed a bill  that would effectively ban TikTok. I just raised  

  • that because, as much as this speech -- President  Biden has so many goals that Laura's been talking  

  • about, many of these members are thinking  about something else that might not come up.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, in fact, we havereport on that later in the broadcast.

  • That is Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez.

  • Our thanks to you both. And we  will see you later this evening.

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Well, as Lisa and Laura reported, the  stakes are high, not just for President Biden,  

  • but for Republicans, too, in  this pivotal election year.

  • When John Thune of South Dakota first  won his Senate seat 20 years ago,  

  • he made history by defeating a party's Senate  leader for the first time in over 50 years.  

  • Today, he is a candidate to replace Mitch  McConnell as the Senate's top Republican.

  • I spoke with Senator Thune moments ago.

  • Senator Thune, welcome back to  the "NewsHour." How are you?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): ThanksAmna. Good. Nice to be with you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you so much for joining us.

  • It's fair to say now your party  essentially has a presumptive  

  • nominee in former President Trump after  Super Tuesday. You have endorsed him,  

  • as have many others in leadership. I should  point out you were among those criticizing  

  • him after his second impeachment, when you  said what he did -- quote -- "to undermine  

  • faith in our election system and disrupt the  peaceful transfer of power is inexcusable."

  • So why support him today if what  he did then was inexcusable?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, look, I said whatsaid then and I'm not going to relitigate it,  

  • but I think what we have in front  of us now is a very clear choice.

  • And the voters, Republican  voters around the country,  

  • have made clear that they want President --  former President Trump to be the Republican  

  • nominee. And I have said I would  support the Republican nominee,  

  • and I think now we have a clear choiceIt's either going to be Trump or Biden.

  • And my view is, we need to put an  end to the Biden-Schumer agenda,  

  • which consists of higher prices, broken bordersless energy independence, and a weakened America  

  • on the global stage. Those are things that  a lot of us believe that we can change,  

  • if we can unite behind our nominee and get  a majority in the United States Senate.

  • And those are the types of things we're going to  

  • be working on because we think the stakes  are really high for the American people.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: It seems there are a number  of voters who still have questions,  

  • though. The primaries revealed specifically among  Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire,  

  • and South Carolina anywhere between 61 and  76 percent of Nikki Haley supporters said  

  • that they'd be so dissatisfied with Mr. Trump  that they would not vote for him in November.

  • So how does he win them over?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think it's really  important for the former president,  

  • now that the -- a lot of those primaries are  out of the way -- there are still some coming,  

  • but he clearly is winning very decisively.

  • He's got to reach out and build a coalition  of support that is broad enough, wide enough,  

  • strong enough, and deep enough to win a national  

  • election. He's got tremendous supportas you know, loyalty among base voters,  

  • but general elections are decided  in the middle of the electorate.

  • And so I think it's really important that  you reach out to Nikki Haley supporters,  

  • to suburban voters, independent voters, people  who a lot of times are -- can swing back and  

  • forth in elections. He's going to have to have  them in order to win the election in November.

  • And a lot of us believe that he's got to  perform that way at the top of the ballot,  

  • and it will help our downballot races  in the Senate and the House. And we're  

  • trying to get a majority of  the United States Senate.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about the race  to replace Senator Mitch McConnell as leader  

  • when he steps down later this yearYou have thrown your hat in the ring.

  • On the issue of Ukraine aid  specifically, do you think,  

  • as leader, you would be able to convince  House Republicans to back aid to Ukraine  

  • in a way that Mitch McConnell has not yet so farespecially if Mr. Trump continues to oppose it?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think that the  challenge, of course, right now,  

  • with the situation deteriorating there, is to  try and feel a sense of urgency about this.

  • I'm hoping the House can execute on getting  something passed, ideally the Senate bill,  

  • but if not something that they could send  to the Senate that we could then act on. I'm  

  • hoping that there is enough of a consensus  and a majority of Republicans in the House  

  • who believe that we need to defend America's  interests, we need to stand with our allies,  

  • that this does represent a national  security threat for our country.

  • America cannot retreat from the world stageAmerican leadership is desperately needed now  

  • more than I think any time in recent historyand we need to make sure that Ukraine has  

  • the weaponry and the resources that it  needs to defeat the Russians, because,  

  • if we're not sending them American weaponsand they succeed in Ukraine, and they go  

  • into a -- roll into a NATO country, then we're  going to be sending American sons and daughters.

  • And I would much rather send weaponry, ammunitionthat sort of thing, and let the Ukrainian people,  

  • who have been really good about  carrying the fight to the Russians,  

  • win that battle. And I hope that we can get  the political support to make that happen.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Senator, as you know, abortion  access remains a top issue for millions of  

  • voters. We do expect President  Biden to speak to that tonight.

  • And I guess, when you ask Democrats, what is  their stance on abortion, they say protect a  

  • woman's right to choose. What would you say  is the Republican stance on abortion access?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, I think that the  Republican position is to let the people decide.

  • And what the court said is, this is not going to  be decided by people in Black robes in Washington,  

  • D.C. This needs to go back to the states and  their voters. And I think that's exactly what's  

  • happening. States around the country are  making decisions, putting policies in place  

  • that reflect the will and the sentiment  of the voters in those individual states.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: On a related issue, we saw  the Alabama ruling on IVF show just how  

  • far and wide-reaching the implications  of the overturning of Roe v. Wade can go.

  • Your Republican colleague blocked  a bill that would actually protect  

  • IVF access nationwide. So I just wanted to ask  on your stance. Do you support IVF treatment?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: Absolutely.

  • IVF has been an amazing, I guess you would saysolution for a lot of couples and families that  

  • haven't been able to have kids. Andthink it's been made clear. Of course,  

  • the Alabama court took a position, but  the Alabama legislature has since ruled  

  • or proposed legislation on that, which the  governor has since signed in support of IVF.

  • And I don't think that you will find very many  people in this country who don't realize what  

  • an effective method it is of enabling  people who otherwise couldn't be able  

  • to have a family. So we're pro-familywe're pro-life and IVF represents that.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: I need to ask you more  broadly about this moment in time  

  • where we are now eight months before the election.

  • You have two elderly, unpopular candidates  with very different visions for America. One,  

  • however, does face 91 criminal chargesHe tried to stop the peaceful transfer  

  • of power and already lost to Mr. Biden in  2020. So, in an election that hinges on  

  • a few states and very narrow marginsare you worried that voters concerned  

  • about all of those things will either stay  home or vote for a third-party candidate?

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think, in the  end -- and I know there's always  

  • a lot of conversations about  third-party candidates. And,  

  • clearly, in some cases, if people don't  like the options, they could stay home.

  • But I do really think that you will seebig turnout this year because I think people  

  • see it a very clear choice. And you pointed  out these are contrasting visions and these  

  • are very different views about how to lead  this country and the direction we ought to  

  • head in. I'm one who believes that we need to  pivot, we need to go in a different direction,  

  • and that we need new leadership both in the White  House and in Congress, or at least in the Senate.

  • And so my view is that, as people  think about this election, yes,  

  • I want them to vote. I want the electorate  to be energized and engaged. And I ultimately  

  • believe they will be, because I think, as  I said before, the stakes are really high.  

  • And I think people understand what's  at risk here if we don't get it right.

  • And I'm hopeful, again, that we will see  people turn out in big numbers and that  

  • they will vote for Republicans for Senate and  hopefully President Trump for the White House.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: That is Senate Republican Whip  John Thune of South Dakota joining us tonight.

  • Senator, thank you. Always great to see you.

  • SEN. JOHN THUNE: Thanks, Amna. Nice to see you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: And we will have more  live coverage of the State of the  

  • Union online and later tonight beginning  at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on PBS.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines:  

  • President Biden moved closer to clinching the  Democratic presidential nomination overnight.  

  • He won the Hawaii caucuses with 66 percent of  the vote, but the choice of uncommitted received  

  • 29 percent. The president still needs a little  over 400 delegates to wrap up the nomination.

  • A move to bar access to TikTok headed to the House  floor today after a strong show of support in  

  • committee. The vote was 50-0 to make the Chinese  firm ByteDance sell off the video sharing app  

  • or see it banned. The bill also allows for  denying access to a foreign-owned app that  

  • is deemed a danger to national security. TikTok  denies that it poses any danger to U.S. users.

  • In the Middle East, cease-fire talks in  Cairo are now on hold with little chance  

  • of a deal before the Muslim holy month of  Ramadan starts. Hamas blamed Israel today  

  • for refusing to accept a permanent cease-fire and  withdrawal from Gaza. But Israeli Prime Minister  

  • Benjamin Netanyahu told a military graduation  ceremony today that the offensive will not stop.

  • BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister  (through translator): Today, I want to tell  

  • you in clear words the IDF will continue  to operate against all Hamas battalions  

  • all over the Gaza Strip. And this includes  Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas. Whoever  

  • tells us not to operate in Rafah tells us  to lose the war, and that will not happen.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, Jordan,  

  • the U.S. and other countries airdropped  more humanitarian supplies into Northern  

  • Gaza. But relief workers said it's still  only a fraction of what's actually needed.

  • Sweden officially became the 32nd  member of NATO today. The Swedes  

  • and Finland moved to join the alliance  after Russia invaded Ukraine. Today,  

  • the Swedish prime minister handed over  final documents to Secretary of State  

  • Antony Blinken in Washington. The papers were  officially deposited into a special vault.

  • Here at home, a jury in Michigan heard opening  statements in the involuntary manslaughter trial  

  • of James Crumbley. His teenage son killed  four high school classmates in 2021. Today,  

  • the father listened as prosecutors  noted he bought the handgun used  

  • in the shootings. The defense argued he  had no way of knowing his son's intent.

  • MARC KEAST, Assistant Prosecuting AttorneyOakland County, Michigan: James Crumbley  

  • bought that gun that his son used to kill asgift for his son four days before the attack.  

  • James Crumbley failed to secure that gun in  a way to prevent his son from accessing it.

  • MARIELL LEHMAN, Attorney For James CrumbleyThe prosecution alleges that James Crumbley  

  • had knowledge that his son could and would  hurt other people and that he failed to  

  • protect those people, that he failed  to take steps to protect others. And,  

  • ladies and gentlemen, that simply is not true.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: The shooter's  mother, Jennifer Crumbley,  

  • was found guilty of the same charges last month.

  • Xcel Energy acknowledged today that its equipment  apparently ignited a giant wildfire in the Texas  

  • Panhandle. But the utility also disputed  any claim of negligence. Authorities are  

  • still investigating the cause of the blaze  that's become the largest in state history.  

  • It burned nearly 1,700 square miles in hundreds  of buildings, but is now nearly half-contained.

  • And, on Wall Street, stocks rallied as Federal  Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Central  

  • Bank is not far from cutting interest ratesThe Dow Jones industrial average gained 130  

  • points to close at 38791. The Nasdaq  rose 241 points. The S&P 500 added 52.

  • And 29-year-old sailor Cole Brauer  has become the first American woman  

  • to complete a solo race around the  world. She stood on her 40-foot-long  

  • sailboat gliding into a Spanish port  early today after setting sail from  

  • the same spot 130 days ago. Once on landthe champagne flowed as she celebrated.

  • Congratulations to her.

  • Still to come on the "NewsHour":  

  • the Biden administration's efforts to restore  America's global influence after Trump left  

  • office; and the challenges that tribal  communities face accessing the Internet.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: A cyberattack on a little-known health  care company last month has caused major trouble  

  • and serious financial consequences for hospitalsdoctors and patients around the country.

  • Stephanie Sy looks at the impact and  the efforts to solve these problems.

  • STEPHANIE SY: Amna, the American Hospital  Association has described the hack  

  • as -- quote -- "the most serious cyberattack  in history on the health care system."

  • It began about two weeks ago, when  hackers shut down a payment processing  

  • system run by a company called Change owned by  UnitedHealthcare. Change essentially functions  

  • as a middleman between insurers, providershospitals, and pharmacies. Hospitals and other  

  • medical practices have not been able to process  bills and get payments they need to operate.

  • Doctors and patients have been unable  to get insurance approvals for some  

  • procedures. And until a few days  ago, pharmacies were also impacted.

  • Here's what one doctor in Texas posted on TikTok.

  • WOMAN: This morning, I spent probably several  hours calling several pharmacies because my  

  • patients hadn't received their prescriptions  that I prescribed last week. So I -- it's not  

  • usual that I have to call the pharmaciesLike, usually, I only call the pharmacies  

  • if there are, like, shortages or controlled  substances or something else is going on.

  • STEPHANIE SY: She suspects the delays  were because of the health care hack.

  • This week, the Department of Health and  Human Services announced steps to help,  

  • including providing some advanced payments  for providers. But problems remain.

  • Dan Diamond has been covering this for  The Washington Post and joins me now.

  • Dan, welcome to the "NewsHour."

  • You heard me describe some of the  problems. Give us a sense of the  

  • scope and the magnitude of the disruptions  and who has borne the brunt of the impact.

  • DAN DIAMOND, The Washington Post: StephanieChange Healthcare was the middleman for tens  

  • of millions of insurance claims every  day. So that means virtually everyone  

  • in health care is being touched  by this directly because they're  

  • waiting to get paid or they work with  performers and players that are waiting.

  • Right now, there are real pains for physiciansPhysicians don't necessarily have the cash flow  

  • for now two weeks of not getting paid. So we  have talked -- here at The Washington Post,  

  • we have talked to doctors who have  had to take out emergency loans,  

  • that have gone on heroic measures  to just keep their practices open.

  • Hospitals also have been able to scramble  and try to figure out how to keep their  

  • operations paid for, pharmacists that  you mentioned earlier. I talked to a  

  • therapist who hasn't been paid. It really is  touching every corner of health care right now.

  • STEPHANIE SY: Is critical  patient care being impacted?

  • DAN DIAMOND: Right now, no.

  • There are efforts to make sure that patients are  being protected. There are procedures that are  

  • still taking place. It's a back end issuebut the back end issues are so severe that,  

  • inevitably, if this continues, there will be  problems facing the front end. There will be  

  • doctors who can't keep their lights on. There  will be staff who might have to be furloughed.

  • So, eventually, there will be a crisis point. And  that's what health officials are trying to stave  

  • off by talking about or starting to advance  emergency loans to keep these providers open.

  • STEPHANIE SY: So, we're now already at least  two weeks in to since the hack was reported.  

  • And there have been reports that UnitedHealthcare  may have paid a $22 million ransom to the cyber  

  • gang purportedly behind the attack. Why isn't the  system back up and running if that is the case?

  • DAN DIAMOND: First, I think ransomware groups,  

  • hackers, are not necessarily  the most reliable partners here.

  • And even though there may have been a payment  from UnitedHealth -- they have not confirmed  

  • that -- it's not necessarily going to resolve  the issue when you're dealing with one of these  

  • groups. There still are systems that need to  be checked. There's data that was encrypted  

  • and was taken and may not be back in the hands  of United, assuming they made this payment.

  • So it's very risky when dealing with  ransomware to begin with. And the scope  

  • of this hack was so extensive, it's  hard to just flip the switch back on,  

  • even if the hackers have returned what was taken.

  • STEPHANIE SY: What made Change Healthcare  vulnerable to this? And more broadly,  

  • Dan, what is it exposed about the  weaknesses in our health care system?

  • DAN DIAMOND: Change was vulnerable  in part because they're a big target.

  • Even before United bought them, and United is  a major health care company, one of the largest  

  • companies in the United States, Change was already  this major processor of claims. And they take data  

  • from hospitals, from doctors, and then check  that data, pass it on to the insurance company.

  • They're in the middle of all of these  transactions. They have sensitive medical  

  • data that is very alluring to hackers. So  I'm not exactly sure. I don't think we know  

  • the ways that hackers found their way into  Change, but health care companies are under  

  • attack in this way all the time. This just  happens to be a particularly large hack.

  • And it also has pointed to how much we rely  on just a handful of health care companies  

  • as consolidation increases across the industryChange is this major middleman. They're owned by  

  • UnitedHealth, which has its fingers all over  health care right now. And that is something  

  • that government officials that I have talked  to this week have been thinking about as well.

  • There's an antitrust probe into United through the  

  • Justice Department preceded thisBut there is a real question about,  

  • what are the risks if so much of health  care is concentrated in just a few hands?

  • STEPHANIE SY: We talked a little bit about  the Department of Health and Human Services'  

  • response. How do physicians and hospitals  feel about how the government has reacted?

  • DAN DIAMOND: They're not feeling great, Stephanie.

  • No one is happy with the response so  far. Hospitals have gotten more help.  

  • They have deeper pockets, that  they're able to weather the pain  

  • better than some other organizationsBut even hospitals say they need more  

  • than the loans that are being offered  potentially by the federal government.

  • Physicians are not eligible for those loans right  now from the federal government. UnitedHealth has  

  • made available emergency loans for doctorsbut what they have told us, they're getting  

  • offered pennies on the dollar. They might  be down hundreds of thousands of dollars,  

  • millions of dollars at this point in claims  that haven't been paid, and they're being  

  • offered thousands of dollars, maybe $10,000  to patch that hole, which they can't do.

  • So there is bipartisan outrage in Congress. I  was at the White House earlier today talking  

  • with officials, who say this is really  something that they're looking to the  

  • private sector right now to try and solve  before the federal government steps in more.

  • STEPHANIE SY: Dan Diamond  with The Washington Post.

  • Dan, thanks so much for your reporting.

  • DAN DIAMOND: Thank you, Stephanie.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: In Britain, the government  there is planning new legislation to punish  

  • extremists responsible for rising  tensions over the war in Gaza.

  • As special correspondent Malcolm Brabant tells  us, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is concerned  

  • that both Jewish and Muslim communities are being  targeted and that social cohesion is under threat.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Support for the  Palestinian cause in the city of  

  • Brighton is particularly vocal, and  protesters wore black to mourn for  

  • Gaza and show disdain for Rishi Sunak's  urgent speech to the nation last Friday.

  • RISHI SUNAK, British Prime Minister: In  recent weeks and months, we have seen a  

  • shocking increase in extremist disruption and  criminality. What started as protests on our  

  • streets has descended into intimidationthreats and planned acts of violence.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: The Brighton  demonstration was peaceful,  

  • but organizer Russell Craddock didn't  like the scrutiny of our camera.

  • RUSSELL CRADDOCK, Palestinian Solidarity  Campaign: Who are you filming for?

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: American television.

  • RUSSELL CRADDOCK: Oh. I'm not  giving you permission to film.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: I have permission to  film because this is an open space.

  • RUSSELL CRADDOCK: Does someone  want to stand in front of him?

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Freedom to film in public  places is a longstanding British tradition,  

  • but national values, including  tolerance, are under strain.

  • RISHI SUNAK: Jewish children fearful to wear their  school uniform, lest it reveal their identity,  

  • Muslim women abused in the street  for the actions of a terrorist group  

  • they have no connection with. Now  our democracy itself is a target.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Across the square, Jewish  residents stood guard around a memorial to  

  • victims of the Hamas terrorist attack  on Southern Israel on October the 7th.

  • ADAM MA'ANIT, Jewish Community Leader: The day  after the October 7 massacres, on October 8,  

  • they had a demonstration in the center of the  city, and they had a speaker who praised the  

  • October 7 massacre and said that it was a day  of celebration. That's who these people are.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Adam Ma'anit's  18-year-old cousin, Maayan,  

  • was murdered on October the 7. Her father  was kidnapped and remains a hostage.

  • ADAM MA'ANIT: You speak to any Jew in the countrymany of them will be experiencing heightened sense  

  • of insecurity and fear from weekly protestspeople shouting at them when they exit their  

  • synagogues, people harassing them on social  media. I mean, social media is a sewer right now.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: On the other side  of town, former dancer Lee Whitaker  

  • carried a bundle to represent children  killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

  • LEE WHITAKER, Pro-Palestinian ProtesterYou can see what extremists we are. And  

  • that is just Rishi Sunak. He's  making trouble. It's actually  

  • our protests are protests of love. The  big thousands of us marching in London,  

  • I have never seen any trouble. There's  such a wonderful feeling of camaraderie.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: In London, the mayor, Sadiq Khan,  

  • is concerned that anti-Muslim  bigotry is also on the rise.

  • SADIQ KHAN, Mayor of London: What we're  witnessing is a concerted and growing  

  • attempt by some to degrade and humiliate  minorities for political and electoral gain.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: But an angry and  chaotic debate in Parliament about  

  • Gaza last month raised fears about intimidation.

  • House Speaker Lindsay Hoyle:

  • SIR LINDSAY HOYLE, Parliament  Speaker, United Kingdom: I am very,  

  • very concerned about the security of all members.

  • PROTESTER: From the river to the sea!

  • PROTESTER: Palestine will be free!

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: This chant is at the center  of government concerns. While some right-wing  

  • Israeli factions use "From the river to the  sea" to taunt Palestinians about expulsion,  

  • Jewish groups regard the pro-Palestinian  version as a threat to wipe Israel off the map.

  • It was projected onto Parliament's clock  tower as members were arguing about the war.

  • RISHI SUNAK: M.P.s do not feel safe in their  homes. There is no context in which it can  

  • be acceptable to beam antisemitic tropes onto  Big Ben in the middle of a vote on Israel-Gaza.

  • JONATHAN HALL K.C., Independent Reviewer  of Terrorism Legislation: No, I don't think  

  • it was just politicking. He was effectively  drawing attention to what he and I think also  

  • the official opposition regard as something  of real significance, and if not urgency.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Jonathan Hall  monitors extremism as part of  

  • his role reviewing Britain's terrorism laws.

  • JONATHAN HALL K.C.: I haven't seen such open  hostility towards categories of individuals  

  • as I have since the 7th of OctoberThat willingness, almost a brazenness  

  • to go out on the streets and to be really  vile and horrible and invite hatred and  

  • in some circumstances violence against people by  category is something that we haven't really seen.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: In Brighton, demonstration  organizer Russell Craddock gave his verdict  

  • on Rishi Sunak's plans to crack down on extremism.

  • RUSSELL CRADDOCK: We won't be intimidated by  Sunak. We won't be intimidated by the Met. We  

  • won't be intimidated by so-called  claims of violent antisemitism.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: But this was Russell Craddock  the day after the Hamas terrorist attack.

  • RUSSELL CRADDOCK: So, amazingly, incrediblymost of the Hamas fighters paraglided their way.

  • (CHEERING)

  • JONATHAN HALL K.C.: Someone who glorifiesterrorist organization and is reckless, so  

  • takes the risk that someone will be encouraged to  support that organization, does commit an offense.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: The Kaddishtraditional Jewish prayer of mourning,  

  • next to a memorial that has  frequently been vandalized.

  • Across town, white flags for the  Palestinian dead, and that chant,  

  • which local police say can warrant  arrest in aggravating circumstances.

  • PROTESTER: From the river to the sea! PROTESTERS: Palestine will be free!

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: We approached  the man with the megaphone.

  • From American TV. Can I ask you a question please?

  • PROTESTER: Go ahead. MALCOLM BRABANT: Can you just explain to me...

  • (CROSSTALK) PROTESTER: Don't -- don't..

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: No, I'm allowed to  do this because this is a public...

  • PROTESTER: No, you're not  allowed to take photo of me.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Yes, I am.  I'm -- it's a public space.

  • PROTESTER: We're here to support people  that have been massacred and murdered,  

  • children and babies, and you're here  sticking (INAUDIBLE) in people's faces.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: No. PROTESTER: Don't you think that's disgraceful?

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: No, I don't. I'm  just merely asking a question.

  • (CROSSTALK)

  • PROTESTER: No, you're not.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Yes, I am. PROTESTER: You came and picked on this man.

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: Because he was actually chanting.

  • PROTESTERS: Palestine! Free, free, Palestine! PROTESTER: From the river to the sea!

  • MALCOLM BRABANT: The police  ushered us away because, here,  

  • asking questions risks a breach of the peace.

  • For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: The foreign policy focus of President  Biden's State of the Union address tonight will  

  • be on Israel and Ukraine. And he will present  himself as a steady steward of American interests  

  • around the world, drawing a contrast between  his approach and former President Trump's.

  • A new book examines how President  Biden's foreign policies break,  

  • but sometimes embrace his predecessors.

  • Here's Nick Schifrin with more.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: When Joe Biden became presidenthe proudly declared, "America is back."

  • He and his administration believed  that former President Donald Trump  

  • and his administration had mistreated  allies, become an unreliable partner,  

  • and pursued misplaced priorities. But did the  Biden administration really abandon Trump's  

  • foreign policy? How did the collapse of Kabul  humble Biden's most senior aides? And how has  

  • the administration's strategy shifted, as it faces  two unexpected wars in Europe and the Middle East?

  • That is the story told in the  new book, "The Internationalists:  

  • The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy  After Trump." The author is Alexander Ward,  

  • a national security reporter at Politico.

  • Alex, thanks very much. Pleasure to have you here.

  • Let's start in Afghanistan.

  • You write: "For an administration that  felt America had to be humble about the  

  • limits of their power, the preparation  for Afghanistan was coated in hubris."

  • How?

  • ALEXANDER WARD, Author, "The InternationalistsThe Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy  

  • After Trump": Well, part of it was that they  expected, basically, that they could end the  

  • war with minimal chaos. They expected chaos, to be  clear, but not for it to be as chaotic as it was.

  • Part of it was that the intelligence they had  at the time of the decision to leave was that  

  • it would take 18 to 24 months for the Taliban  to take over. And they didn't actually really  

  • question that intelligence or that timelineeven though there was even open-source material  

  • showing that the Taliban was ready for  a pretty quick sweep across the country.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: And, of coursethere were internal people in  

  • the State Department sayingthat intelligence was wrong.

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Precisely.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: A senior official told you that:  "Had we known we only had a few months after  

  • the president's decision in April to withdraw, we  would have done things differently, probably so."

  • Do we have any idea what they would  have done differently had they known?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Really fast-track  the rebuild of the SIV program,  

  • the Special Immigrant Visa program, which was to  bring Afghan allies of Americans back to the U.S.

  • One of the reasons they hadn't scaled  that up so quickly, well, part of it was,  

  • it was decimated in the Trump years, but the  other was they thought they had 18 to 24 months,  

  • so that was something that they could  work on sort of in the longer term.

  • Another might have been the Pentagon  decided speed was safety. They went  

  • faster than even the White House and some of  the State Department expected. So I think,  

  • in the rethink of how this could have happenedone would have been a greater coordination  

  • between all the agencies, and especially  on how quickly the military would leave,  

  • because that will -- that shrunk some of  the options available to the administration.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: You have this extraordinary  anecdote about that lack of coordination,  

  • or at least part of the  debate between state and DOD.

  • You write about a meeting in whichState Department official told four-stars,  

  • including the chairman of the  Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley,  

  • sitting across the table that -- quote --  "The State Department had a higher risk  

  • threshold than the soldiers at the tableand Milley nearly jumped out of his chair."

  • How did that tension between  state and DOD play out?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: The State Department  was preparing to stay in Kabul. They  

  • were preparing for a longer mission therebut it was the Pentagon that was saying,  

  • it's time to go, right? The weakest part  of a military is one that is retreating.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: While they're retreating.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: That's what  they were worried about, yes.

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Preciselyyes, while they're retreating.

  • So, in that case, there was just  a mismatch in what the goals were.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Despite the chaos, you write  that, afterward, there was never any serious  

  • reckoning inside the administration about  Afghanistan. No one offered to resign,  

  • in large part because the president did  not believe anyone had made a mistake.

  • That is an extraordinary thing. Why not?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Because, at the end of the day,  

  • it was the right strategic decision to  leave. That's how the administration sees it.

  • Now, with all that's going on in the  world today, they would argue, look,  

  • isn't it great that we're out ofwar we couldn't win after 20 years,  

  • that the military had no real solution  for, that we spent a lot of money,  

  • time and treasure to execute? And so  it makes sense that we would leave.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: How much of the  disaster in Afghanistan informed  

  • their decision-making ahead of  the Ukraine full-scale invasion?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Quite a bit. They wanted a lot more coordination between the  agencies. They wanted to let allies know what they  

  • were doing. So, when the Ukraine intelligence  was coming to the fore, the U.S. said, look,  

  • tell our allies what we're up to, what we  know, tell the Ukrainians what we know,  

  • get every agency coordinated, build a Tiger Teamright, work on every single possible scenario.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: The other focus, of coursefor the administration today is Israel.

  • And you write about the early days of  the Biden administration dealing with  

  • the crisis in Israel and Gaza. And you chronicle  Joe Biden's decades-long support for Israel and,  

  • as you put it, strategy of honey  in public, vinegar on the phone.

  • How's that played out, not only what  you write about in 2021-'22, but today?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Well, if you talk to  the Biden administration, in 2021,  

  • it worked quite well, because that conflictwhile deadly and brutal, ended after 11 days.

  • And for October 7, the attack of  October 7, which, of course, was brutal,  

  • and 1,200 people died in one day, then you, of  course, have a far right government in Israel,  

  • and you have a public reeling after what they sawAnd so it's a much bigger, different context than  

  • it was in 2021. The administration still uses that  playbook, the honey in public, vinegar in private.

  • But with that context, with  that different context,  

  • it's harder to have as much suasion over  the Israelis as the U.S. had in 2021.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: You quote an administration  official in 2021 saying that the team was  

  • not putting a -- quote -- "effing second  of effort into a two-state solution."

  • Did that have an impact in today's war?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: It's -- potentiallyright We don't really know.

  • But one of the things critics were sayingfrom -- really from the Trump administration  

  • through the Biden administration, was that you  can focus on the Abraham Accords and you can  

  • focus on normalization deals all you want, but the  Israeli-Palestinian issue is still there, and it's  

  • still festering. And so if you leave that wound  to fester, it'll eventually cause you problems.

  • And so, and with the Biden administration, they  really felt that a bank shot was better, that you  

  • could maybe get to the Palestinian-Israeli  conflict through the normalization deals.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: And that's one example, I  think, of something that you rightly point  

  • out. How has the Biden administration  not abandoned Trump foreign policy?

  • ALEXANDER WARD: We cannot deny that there  are many elements of Trumpism in Bidenism,  

  • one of which would be the competition with Chinakeeping export controls on them, keeping the  

  • tariff war going, one of which would also be the  Abraham Accords, right? That's a continuation of  

  • Trump era policy, and this general railing against  free trade and globalization, a sense that we have  

  • to protect a lot of our industries here at home  in order to make life better for the middle class.

  • You don't get the Biden administration  foreign policy without Trump's win. It  

  • is born from the trauma of Trump's victoryJake Sullivan, the national security adviser,  

  • is right there next to Hillary Clinton when she's  conceding to Trump. And what he's thinking is,  

  • hey, I was born in the traditional  Democratic foreign policy thinking.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Minnesota. ALEXANDER WARD: A Minnesota boy. How did I lose

  • populist politics to a New York  billionaire real estate magnate?

  • And so he spends four years trying to figure  out how to do this. And that thinking,  

  • this foreign policy for the middle  class epithet, has become the  

  • underlying intellectual framework for what  we have seen in this administration so far.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Alex Ward.

  • The book is "The Internationalists: The Fight  to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump."

  • Thank you very much.

  • ALEXANDER WARD: Thanks for having me.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: And we will be back shortly for  

  • a look at the barriers to Internet  access in some tribal communities.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: But, first, take a moment to  hear from your local PBS station. It's a  

  • chance to offer your support, which helps  to keep programs like this on the air.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: For those of you staying with us,  

  • growth in the global art market  is spawning some new investors.

  • Economics correspondent Paul Solman takes  a look at the prudence of investing in  

  • art in this encore report for our  arts and culture series, Canvas.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: The grand opening of ARTEX,  a European art stock market, which plans  

  • to start trading soon, selling shares in art  like this Francis Bacon, one work at a time.

  • YASSIR BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI, ARTEX: We  are the equivalent of Nasdaq. We love  

  • the New York Stock Exchange  or the London Stock Exchange.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Co-Founder and  CEO Yassir Benjelloun-Touimi.

  • YASSIR BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI: Instead of  buying a corporate share in a company,  

  • you buy a share into a masterpiece.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: One of 550,000  shares in a triptych by the  

  • late English painter Francis Bacon  of his lover George Dyer. An IPO,  

  • a public offering, with shares priced at  $100 each. And what do I get for that?

  • YASSIR BENJELLOUN-TOUIMI: You  get the appreciation in exact  

  • way. You get the appreciation if  you're buying an ounce of gold.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Now ARTEX is the latest firm to sell

  • shares in individual works  of art, but not the first.

  • KELLY CROW, The Wall Street Journal: In the past,  

  • collectors and dealers have often  bought things in small consortiums.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Wall Street Journal  art market correspondent Kelly Crow.

  • KELLY CROW: The British Railway Pension did  sort of pioneer this idea that you could  

  • pool your money and buy better things  and hold it for a time and resell it.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: So somebody can buy a share ofthis is a Warhol or a reproduction of a Warhol,  

  • that you own. But nowadays, New York's  masterworks already sells art shares to  

  • the public, as you would stocks. Chief  Investment Officer Allen Sukholitsky.

  • ALLEN SUKHOLITSKY, MasterworksMasterworks is a firm that makes  

  • art and investable asset classThe first firm that's ever done it,  

  • we started in 2017, so we've been  doing it now for several years.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: During which the firm's value  has climbed to more than $1 million it says.  

  • Employees beating the bushes for marketable  high value artwork and customers to whom to  

  • hawk shares in a masterwork like  an Andy Warhol or a Yayoi Kusama.

  • ALLEN SUKHOLITSKY: She's actually about 100  years old, which is always interesting. It  

  • tells you that artists have definitely  cracked the code on living forever.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: The usual minimum investment,  

  • $15,000, for shares of an artwork whose  price is derived from an auction database  

  • tracking 7000 artists post-World War IIMasterworks says it only buys blue chips.

  • Artists like Warhol and Kusama, whose values have  

  • outperformed the stock and bond markets  for the past 20 years, Ed Ruscha, KAWS,  

  • supposedly Masterwork backed securities

  • KELLY CROW: The art market is just  super unregulated. It's kind of like  

  • a wild West. And if you want to buy $100  share just for kicks in the same way that  

  • you would go to a baseball game just to have  fun and see how something does roll the dice,  

  • have some fun. I just I would be a little  nervous. You know, taking out a second mortgage.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Even for a painting is highly  

  • valued in the current market  as the Francis Bacon triptych?

  • KELLY CROW: These George Dyer Triptychs  that sold in 2017 for mid $50 million  

  • are important because that lover eventually  committed suicide on the eve of a major show  

  • of Bacon's. We really love the soap opera of an  artist's life and how that feeds into the work.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Contemporary art consultant Alex Glauber, who helped his  client by this work by Alex de Court.  

  • Glauber has sold to Masterworks, so  an art stock market is a good thing.

  • ALEX GLAUBER: Certainly brings more  money and attention to the art market,  

  • but I don't know if it's necessarily healthy  for art and the appreciation of art long term.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Why not?

  • ALEX GLAUBER: Why? Because if the  conversation is more about the  

  • money than the art that really devalues  and undermines the very purpose of art.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: But the argument is, I will  start out with it as an investment. Then  

  • I will get interested in it and I will learn  more about it. I will become an art appreciator.

  • ALEX GLAUBER: But if what you're trying to  learn about is why this is a savvy investment,  

  • why this artist is poised  for an uptick in their value,  

  • that's very much at odds with what perhaps put  that artist in that position in the first place.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: In other words, we're talking  speculation, as in some 1000 Picasso's and  

  • innumerable other brand name works stored in  warehouses around the world. Or more recently,  

  • speculation in digital NFTs, non-fungible tokensthat boomed and then swooned. Since I interviewed  

  • investor Lin Dai barely a year ago. OK, so what's  happened to the NFT market since last we talked?

  • LIN DAI, NFT Entrepreneur: Yeah. You know,  

  • there's a lot of have changed. We  saw this speculative bubble pop.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Which had seen  Lin Dai's Bored Ape NFT double  

  • in value to $400,000 before falling  back down to around $100,000 today,  

  • by his estimate. You have second thoughtsMisgivings about having bought your Bored Ape?

  • LIN DAI: No, absolutely not. I think certainly the  Bored Ape probably will hold its value over time.

  • PAUL SOLMAN: Unlike, say Jozef Israels' Pancake  Day, which fetched more than a million pounds in  

  • 1895. A billion or more dollars todaydepending on how you convert prices.  

  • Israels' largest painting at auction in recent  years brought $35,000. Just one of countless  

  • examples that illustrate what philosopher Barbara  Herrnstein Smith calls the contingencies of value.

  • BARBARA HERRNSTEIN SMITH, Philosopher: Value is  not fixed, inherent objective and part of objects,  

  • but the product of numerous interactions between  people and things in their universe. It's  

  • contingent in the sense that what effects those  interactions changes. The question is always going  

  • to be will it continue to be valued over timeNot will it continue to have value over time?

  • PAUL SOLMAN: And thus for the investment  value of art, we've learned to prize from  

  • Leonardo and Rembrandt to Israels, Van  Gogh and Picasso, Bacon, Warhol, Kusama,  

  • a Bored Ape. Time will tell if we fickle mortalswill continue valuing them as we do today.

  • For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul  Solman, mostly in New York.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: For many tribal  communities in America,  

  • Internet access isn't always as easy as  logging on to a computer. The FCC reports,  

  • almost 28 percent of tribal land residents  lack high-speed broadband, compared to  

  • 1.5 percent of urban residents. The Biden  administration is offering funds to change that.

  • But as student reporter Maria Staubs from  Arizona State University's Cronkite School  

  • of Journalism tells us, better  connectivity may not be enough.

  • MARIA STAUBS: This construction project  on the Tohono O'odham Nation is bringing  

  • the 21st century to a rural part of Arizona.

  • TONYA JOAQUIN, Vaya Chin  Resident: Here on the reservation,  

  • our connection with the Internet is  kind of sparse, so it's here or there.

  • MARIA STAUBS: The Tohono O'odham  Utility Authority is laying down  

  • a fiber optic network to provide  high-speed Internet to members of  

  • the nation. It's thanks to a $10 million  grant from the Department of Agriculture.

  • TONYA JOAQUIN: We are moving  more towards the technology era,  

  • and we don't want to get left behind.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Vaya Chin resident Tonya  Joaquin says the high-speed Internet  

  • will improve her family's  education and health care.

  • TONYA JOAQUIN: We live about, whattwo hours, 2.5 hours away from town.  

  • My son will have telemed. So, he sees  a doctor out at the Phoenix Children's  

  • Hospital. We don't have to drive thereWe have a home visit on the Internet.

  • KRISTAN JOHNSON, Tohono O'odham  Utility Authority: We're able to  

  • educate and teach our tribal  membership of all ages.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Kristan Johnson manages  operations for the tribe's main Internet  

  • service provider. She says broadband will  provide opportunities for economic development.

  • KRISTAN JOHNSON: Whether they're basket weavers,  

  • they are dressmakers, they  harvest, or whatever they do,  

  • they're able to put that on the Internet and be  able to sell it and be -- help themselves out.

  • MARIA STAUBS: While members of the  nation have welcomed the investment  

  • in broadband infrastructure, there  are fundamental barriers that  

  • prevent its full implementation in Native  American communities, high on the list,  

  • access to a computer or a smartphone at home  and an understanding of how to use them.

  • BRIAN FICKETT, General Manager, Tohono  O'odham Utility Authority: We have elders  

  • that they don't even know what Internet is.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Brian Fickett is the  general manager of the agency that  

  • provides Internet and cell service to the tribe.

  • BRIAN FICKETT: These folks will be able to connect  at home, just like they would off the reservation.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Here at the Tohono O'odham Community  College, a computer literacy training program  

  • provides 10 members from each district  with education on how to use the Internet.

  • MAN: Your subject line right here.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Lessons can be as simple as sending  

  • an e-mail. Anselmo Ramon is one  of the leaders of the program.

  • ANSELMO RAMON, Tohono O'odham Community  College: We train them from the very  

  • basics of the components, move them  up to the features on the keyboard,  

  • move them up to turning it, like, on and off.

  • MARIA STAUBS: There are students of all ages  here. Some are familiar with the technology.

  • JUANITA HOMER, Student: It's been over  five years since I used a computer. So,  

  • this is really helping me to learn more.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Others are starting fresh.

  • FRANCINE JOSE, Student: It's really new to me.  

  • Everything's new to me. I have  never been on the computers.

  • MARIA STAUBS: Funding for the computer  training course lasts only two years,  

  • so Anselmo Ramon has devised a plan to  grow computer literacy throughout his  

  • tribal nation. It relies on students  passing on their newfound knowledge.

  • ANSELMO RAMON: So, in train the trainerwe want to train 10 people. In turn,  

  • we want those people to train another  family member or a friend or a co-worker.

  • MARIA STAUBS: It's a practical solution  because tribal members understand, before  

  • they can run with high-speed Internetthey have to first learn how to walk.

  • For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Maria Staubs with  Cronkite News on the Tohono O'odham tribal lands.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: And don't forget to join  us later tonight for our live coverage  

  • of President Biden's State of the Union address.

  • We will have full coverage of the  president's speech, as well as analysis  

  • from our correspondents and our expert panel. That  starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on PBS.

  • And that is the "NewsHourfor tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz.

  • GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

  • We hope we will see you later this evening.

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz.

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