Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240622

Discusses Race Relations in america. We still have a long way to go. There is still racism in our country that needs to be addressed accurately and i think the Confederate Flag has been something thats a lingering element of this. Woodruff those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the latest deadline in the Iran Nuclear Talks approached today, amid signs of discord. Irans state tv said negotiations are deadlocked because the u. S. Wont respect iranian rights, especially on lifting sanctions. Meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry talked of real progress, even as he warned the vienna talks are not openended. We are not going to sit at the negotiating table forever. We also recognize that we shouldnt get up and leave simply because the clock strikes midnight. And i emphasize, given that the work here is incredibly technical and the stakes are very, very high, we will not rush and we will not be rushed. Ifill tomorrows deadline falls on day 14 of the current talks. Woodruff chinese stocks made a six percent comeback today after yesterdays crash. It gave up most of the gains by days end. In the end the Dow Jones Industrial average added 33 points to the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 33 points to close near 17,550. The nasdaq rose 12 points, and the s p 500 added four. Ifill the International Monetary fund has downgraded its forecast for global growth, to 3. 3 this year. Thats the lowest since 2009. The i. M. F. Today blamed economic weakness in the u. S. Earlier this year, brought on by Winter Weather and disruptions at west coast ports. Woodruff greece sent a new package of financial reforms to european creditors today, just ahead of a deadline. The package is designed to win promises of a new bailout, at a lastditch summit of european leaders on sunday. German chancellor Angela Merkel summed up the situation today, on a trip to bosnia. translated with regard to sunday evening, it is completely impossible for me to speculate. It will be a decisive meeting, an important one. We must not forget that the greek people are suffering at the moment. The banks are closed and as politicians we all have the duty to make decisions. Woodruff the greeks especially want debt restructuring, and the german finance minister conceded today that some restructuring may be necessary. Ifill the wave of refugees fleeing the civil war in syria now tops four million. United nations officials reported the new number today. Its the largest flow of refugees in nearly 25 years. In addition, another 7. 5 Million People have been forced from their homes, but are still inside syria. Woodruff in bosnia thousands turned out today to honor newly identified victims of the srebrenica massacre. Some 8,000 muslim men and boys were slaughtered by Bosnian Serbs in 1995. Crowds of mourners gathered today as a large truck arrived with 136 coffins. Theyre to be buried on saturday, the 20th anniversary of europes worst mass killing since world war two. Ifill the man tapped to be the top American Military officer today branded russia the greatest threat to u. S. Security. Marine commandant Joseph Dunford testified at a Senate Hearing on his nomination to chair the joint chiefs. In russia we have a nuclear power. We have one that not only has the capability to violate the sovereignty of our allies and to do things that are inconsistent with our national interests, but theyre in the process of doing so. So if you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, id have to point to russia and if you look at their behavior its nothing short of alarming. Ifill dunford also said he believes it would be believes it would be reasonable to supply lethal arms to ukraine, to battle russian backed rebels. Woodruff and, a Planning Commission in washington approved a revised design today for an eisenhower memorial on the national mall. It includes columns and a steel mesh tapestry showing the kansas plains where the future allied commander and president grew up. The eisenhower family has objected to the design, and congress has so far balked at paying for the project. Still to come on the newshour new details on a major data breach after government Computer Systems were hacked. The u. S. Army cuts close to 60,000 troops and civilians from its ranks. South carolina lawmakers vote to take down the Confederate Flag. Holding cities accountable to reduce segregated housing. When college pays off economically and when it doesnt. President jimmy carter on a living a full life at 90. And, Congress Seeks Common Ground to update no child left behind. Ifill more than 21 million americans had personal information stolen from government files in a data breach that was six times as large as originally disclosed. The information was hacked from the office of Personnel Management or o. P. M. , which said today it is highly likely that anyone who went through background checks to apply for a government position since 2000 was affected. Joining us to fill in the blanks is Josh Lederman of the associated press, who has been covering the story. In terms of scope, we know this is huge, but how is it different from the earlier hacks weve heard about josh . What were finding out now, gwen, is not only were many more americans affected than we previously knew, but just what kinds of data. Were talking about very personal data most people would be very uncomfortable knowing its out there health histories, criminal histories, educational and residency backgrounds, as well as interviews they conducted with members of o. P. M. And others conducted background checks to get a security clearance. Ifill Social Security numbers, biometric finger prints as well as user names and passwords the applicants used to get the applications. Ifill how was this discovered . By a system that the government put in place to try and detect breaches just like this one. Unfortunately, that system was not the most modern system and it did not detect it until it was quite a bit too late. As the government looked into it, they realized the initial brief they detected was much broader and affected many more people than initial thought. Ifill at the time i remember there being speculation about who actually was behind the breech, who the hackers were. Any case who that might have been . No indication from the government. Many members of congress and others said this was china. Even federal agencies have said, without putting their own names on it, were pretty sure this is china. However, the white house, the office of personal management today, declining to name who was responsible, only to say the two breaches were by the same person and theyre working behind the scenes to do whats to be done in response to the breaches. You said the government put in a system to detect the breaches. Does this system figure out how to prevent them from happening again . The problem is were in a bit of race with the hackers, so as soon as the government comes up with a new system to detect intrusions, hackers find smarter, more complex way around it. The government says theyre putting in the latest system to detect and prevent the intrusions but the government is also only acknowledging its a matter of time before the mackers get better at their game. Ifill seems like every week somebody is being hacked. Are these similar one after the other . There are basic differences in between them, but the thing thats constant is the fact that there is this threat that government and private security officials, Cyber Security Officials Say some going to grow as we head into the future. Ifill we know a lot of republicans, especially leaders, have called for administrator katherine arc lettas resignation. Is her job in danger as a result of the disclosure . I believe. Shes not stepping down she plans to do the work shes doing and her office is doing everything theyve need to do but in the last few hours weve seen prominent members, House Speaker john boehner, senator john mccain, a few minutes ago, coming out and sthaigre not at all confident in the leadership of the office of Personnel Management and thinks there needs to be a change. Ifill thats how it begins. Josh lederman, associated press. Thank you very much. Thank you, gwen. Woodruff now to the big cuts announced today by the u. S. Army. Its the latest in a series of downsizing moves as the army winds down from two wars, and faces up to budget cuts. Army Brigadier General randy george formally announced today a reduction of 40,000 soldiers. The decision to make these reductions was not easy and will affect almost every army installation. Woodruff the armys active duty troop levels peaked during the iraq and afghanistan wars. As recently as 2012, the service had 570,000 soldiers. The number has since fallen to 490,000, and by 2017, the new cuts will bring the force down to 450,000. In addition, 17,000 civilian positions are being eliminated. General ray odierno, the army chief of staff, says he can accept this new level. But another 30,000 troops may be cut if additional budget reductions go forward this fall. At a Senate Hearing today Arizona Republican john mccain warned the budget process known as sequestration is driving the army to ruin. Unless we change course eliminate sequestration, and return to strategydriven defense budgets, i fear our military will confront depleted readiness, chronic modernization problems, and deteriorating morale. Woodruff the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, earlier this week blamed congress for not allowing changes that would have reduced the need for cuts. The marine commandant, general Joseph Dunford, nominated to replace him, today had his own dire prediction. And quite honestly the readiness of the join force and modernization of the joint force will suffer what i would describe, and without exaggeration, as catastrophic, catastrophic consequences. Woodruff a number of congressional delegations are expected to oppose the cuts announced today. But more liberal lawmakers have long favored paring the military in favor of domestic priorities. We take a closer look at these cuts with nancy youssef, Senior National security correspondent for the daily beast. Nancy, good to have you with us again. Why is the army making these cuts . Well, the reason they give is budgetary pressures because i know the budget proposed by congress, the u. S. Army must come down from 490 to 475. The army took an additionum step further going with the president s budget saying they will cut it to 450 the following year. So their argument is its budge taimplet frankly, one of the other arguments theyre making is by presenting these numbers now and what it would look like, theyre trying to raise awareness in the communities in which the bails are sitting that these are the kinds of cuts that could be coming their way. Part of it is budgetary and part of it is raising awareness of the threat to the u. S. Army if sequestration and other budget pressures keep sitting on top of the army, if you will. Woodruff youre saying these may not all materialize . The 475 will materialize because thats both in the congressional and president s proposed budget. The 450 proposed the following year is not set in stone. That is a much more speculative figure, in you will. Woodruff so where would both the uniform and civilian cuts come from . What kind of people are we talking about . The biggest bases that will be affected are fort hood, richardson. Woodruff fort hood is in texas. Thats correct. Richardson. Alaska, hawaii, those are infantry and brigade teams so about 10,000 cuts will come from those bases alone and in addition to fort bening, and another 17,000 civilians which will go across the force. Headquarter brigades, 25 of those will be cut. The army talked about cutting military police and other support personnel. Woodruff and fort bening being in georgia. Yes. Woodruff how does this affect the militarys ability to protect u. S. Interests in were heard what general dunnford just said, nominated to be the next chairman of the chiefs. How does this affect the ability for them to do their job . The army says if it goes below 450,000, it puts the u. S. At significant risk. They dont spell out how different the risk is if its at 490 versus 450 versus 420. Thats the challenge they say. The numbers put forth are the lowest since 1940. On 9 11 the u. S. Had 480,000 troops. So these proposed numbers put it well below those figures. Woodruff youre saying theyre not spelling out exactly what it could mean. Youre asking these questions i assume. Thats right, because they have to answer what is the threat level if theres 450,000 troops versus 475,000 troops, and thats a hard thing to answer, isnt it, because theyre trying to prepare for several contingencies from russia, north korea china, the islamic state. So how do you put in quantitative terms a very subjective list of threats if you will . Reporter are. Woodruff are they saying they will answer the question or they dont think it can be answered . They will say in very general terms because they say the u. S. Faces these kinds of threats that when you have a lower force structure, that puts the u. S. At risk because there are fewer people who are prepared should the United States face an eminent threat. Realistically, they will probably depend more on the National Guard and reserve to come up the sort of army that sits now is prepared for imminent threats, and should there be a longterm threat, the plan, from what we can tell, is to depend on more guard and reserve units to come come in from 90 days or 120 days of threats. Woodruff as you referenced and we heard from senator john mccain, so much of whats coming in the feature depends on sequestration, the across the board cuts that happen if the white house and congress cant agree on the budget. Where does that stand . Were weight to see of the sequestration that would happen after the cuts. Now the proposed to put the army in strength of 450,000. Should sequestration go through after 2017, 2018, the proposal is to cut and additional 30,000 troops, which would be 420 remarkably low compared to previous in strength levels. Woodruff and senator mccain talked about depleting morale and readiness and so on. Thats true. You have an entire u. S. Army thats on pins and needles. Will i be cut from my job or moved to a different unit. This comes from budgetary cuts and this is something the army has struggled with for several years. Woodruff this announcement puts everyone on notice. Thats right. Woodruff nancy youssef, thank you. Thank you. Ifill now, after decades of debate that ended in an emotional late night session in South Carolinas state capital, the confederate battle flag controversy is reaching its end, in columbia, if not in the rest of the nation. Correspondent William Brangham has our report. Brangham it was a moment that many, on both sides of the issue, thought would never come the governor of South Carolina signing a bill to remove the confederate battle flag from the State Capitol grounds. We are a state that believes in tradition. Were a state that believes in history. Were a state that believes in respect. So we will bring it down with dignity, and we will make sure that it is put in its rightful place. Brangham governor nicki haleys action means the flag will be lowered tomorrow and taken to a museum for display. All this follows 13 hours of debate in the state house that went into the early hours of this morning. Lawmakers from both sides gave impassioned pleas, many of them like representative Jenny Anderson horn, in favor of bringing down the flag. I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful, such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on friday. Brangham others, including representative eric bedingfield, objected to its removal. I understand there are differing views on what a symbol represents. It grieves me too that some people see that in a hurtful and dishonorable fashion. Brangham ultimately, the measure passed overwhelmingly just as it had in the state senate. The polls will close, the clerk will tabulate. By a vote of 94 to 20, senate bill 897 receives third reading. Brangham that flag was first raised over South Carolinas capitol dome in 1961, marking the 100th anniversary of the start of the civil war. It stayed as a protest against the burgeoning civil rights movement. In 2000, state lawmakers moved it to its current spot on the capitol grounds, and the debate simmered on. Then, came the massacre at the Charleston Church last month. Nine people, including state senator clementa pinckney, were gunned down. The accused shooter, dylann roof, had regularly posed with Confederate Flags, and police say he told them he hoped to trigger a race war. Within days, Governor Haley called for taking the flag off the state house grounds, and longstanding opposition crumbled. The events in South Carolina echoed today in washington, in Senate Chaplain barry blacks morning prayer. And lord, we praise you for the courage of the South Carolina legislature. Brangham and in the house, where republicans offered an amendment to a funding bill that wouldve allowed the flag to be flown at cemeteries operated by the National Park service. That move triggered a fierce debate, with a wave of democrats blasting the idea lawmakers like new york congressman hakeem jeffries. What exactly is the tradition of the confederate battle flag that were supporting . Is it slavery, rape, kidnap, treason, genocide or all of the above . Brangham but republican of iowa steve king stood to argue that this is an issue of free speech. We can accept our history, we can be proud of our history we can unify our country, we can grieve for those who were murdered and we can preserve our First Amendment rights. Brangham ultimately, house leaders pulled the bill from the floor, with House Speaker john boehner urging calm. I actually think its time for some adults here in the congress to actually sit down and have a conversation about how to address this issue. I do not want this to become some political football, it should not. Brangham and democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi offered legislation to remove all state flags containing any portion of the confederate battle flag from the house side of the capitol. Republicans blocked a vote on that measure, and sent it off to committee. Ifill the Obama Administration this week announced plans to step up enforcement of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, that the Supreme Court upheld at the end of its term. The new rules require cities and towns to document patterns of racial bias in their neighborhoods, and publically report the results every three to five years. The communities would then set and track goals to reduce segregation. In extreme cases, the department of housing and urban development could withhold federal funding. Secretary of housing and urban Development Julian castro made the announcement yesterday in chicago and he joins me now. Woodruff now, will college explain to me, mr. Secretary what is the connection between this and the Supreme Court ruling . The Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act was also a significant development. The relationship is america has always prided itself on being the undisputed land of opportunity, and one of our challenges is how do we ensure that that remains true in this 21st century. With housing, we know where you live matters, and we want to make sure no ones destiny is determined by their zip code, so that people have their housing opportunity. The disparate impact case was about ensuring that you didnt absolutely have to show intention, you could just show a disparate impact to bring a claim under the Fair Housing Act. What we had yesterday was something called affirmatively fair housing, a rule that basically guides cities as they think about how to ensure there is good, fair housing opportunities throughout their community. This is a collaborative tool that will help communities plan better and connect housing opportunity to things like where a librarys located where skills are located wheres the nearest bus stop or train stop so folks can access jobs and education. How do you measure that . How do you decide which cities are whether segregation patterns are caused by discrimination or are there cities in urban areas where its just caused by choice . Well, one of the things we do is not just work with cities that have had deep patterns of racial seg segregation, but work with all cities at get Community Block grant money for instance. Were looking for cities to make best efforts to ensure that everybody in their community has a fair shot. Ifill give me an idea of a city or a fix under these rules youre talking about. Yesterday we were in chicago and i stood with mayor emanuel to make the announcement about the affirmative fair housing rule, and what they did there at a place called park boulevard is not just create a Housing Community thats going to ensure that more folks have good, decent housing but connect that to a place for folks to recreate, a recreation center, connect it to transit options so folks can get the jobs. Well know when cities are making progress when they put all those components together, when they put housing together with better educational opportunities, better transit option to people can get to jobs, better infrastructure investment. Ifill flip side of this, social engineering critics say. They say this is another example of executive overreach the Obama Administration trying to engineer outcome. Its without merit. The fact is were collaborating with communities. Were not dictating to communities what they have to do. So youre going to withhold federal funding. Isnt that a stick with the carrot . Enforcement is a last resort. The fact is enforcement has always been one tool, always a last resort every single year, we have enforcement situations. Were approaching this rule of fair housing in the spirit of collaboration, and the fact is the vast majority of communities out there know they have challenges with respect to trying to create for opportunity for people of modest means, and they want to do the right thing, and hud stands ready to help them. Ifill some housing advocates say this is like slow motion changes. You pointed out the mechanisms have been in place before and youre asking for cities, municipalities or communities to account for their own behavior every three to five years. Thats not immediate. Its correct to say that this is not going to be an overnight change. However we really are in it for the long haul and these communities will now be required to put together a plan on how theyre making efforts on fair housing every five years when they submit whats known as their consolidated plan. Were confident that, over the long haul, thats going to mean more families have good housing opportunities, both because these opportunities invest in older distressed neighborhoods, and theyre smarter about how they use their housing vouchers to help families who want to move to areas of higher opportunity to be able to do that. Ifill if a community does this, to demonstrate this, they have to show they have made an investment in an Underserved Community by doing what . By giving tax breaks to developers . How . It might be one of several things. It might be demonstrating with respect to housing vouchers that theyre ensuring families who have a voucher can move to different parts of the community, that Affordable Housing is being developed in different parts of the community. It may be showing that their Community Development block grant or money will reinvest, revitalize older, distressed parts of the community, that theyre conscious about access to Transportation Options or libraries. So its not any one thing its a number of decisions that demonstrate that these cities understand how to expand opportunity for people who are low income, folks of modest means. Ifill how much federal money hangs in the balance when it comes to enforcement . That depends on the community. Different communities receive different amounts of hud assistance. But again, this is a lastresort option. There are instances and were not afraid to enforce when we need to, but we want to do every single thing we can to collaborate with communities, work with them and follow the lead of local leaders who want to put better policies in place to ensure that the people who are low income in this 21st 21st century can make it if theyre willing to work hard. Ifill housing secretary julian castro. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff now, will college pay off . The question may be on the minds of recent High School Graduates and their parents. Economics correspondent paul solman takes a look. Its part of our weekly segment, making sense, which airs every thursday on the newshour. Graduation day for the class of 2015 at philadelphia academy. A Charter School in northeast philly. cheers and applause since mystery here only goes back 12 years, this may be a true superlative but this is also a fairly typical senior class in america these days with about three out of every four grads attending college in the fall. The National Average is 66 . Dollar value university. Community college philadelphia since everyone knows college is crucial for career success, these kids will prosper right . After all, it was in the 18th 18th century that Benjamin Franklin who founded the university of pennsylvania here in philadelphia said an investment in education gives the best returns. You can do enormously well going to college in the u. S. The right kids going to the right college. And you can do poorly as well. Peter, a professor at whartons business school, is the author of will college pay off. He says from a strictly economic point of view, the answer isnt always yes. The average American Family now pays seven times as much as the average european family to send their kid to college. Seven times is a lot. About a quarter of colleges in the u. S. The degrees from that college earn a lower rate of return, that is youre never going to bake makeback the money you spent going back to college in the first place. He answers his own question, will college pay off, with a very big it depends. First, what college and how much does it cost . Im going to university, the main campus. Did james smith, class salute attorney, consider a school like penn where tuition and fees approach 50,000 a year . I would love to attend an ivy college but that situation wasnt good for us. Where instate tuition is 17000. But says cay pele. Youre likely to get much better finances as elite schools. If youre making a low income you cant pay much of anything in tuition costs. Cheap than state school. Yes. An ivy leagues offer sweet deals. One thing new about financial aide is the meritbased scholarships which many people didnt experience. These are basically schools giving you a discount if they really want you to come. Reporter to boost their s. A. T. Savage. Yes, thats why they do it. Reporter to move up in college rankings. By contrast, students attending catch strapped state schools have to rely on loans. David is one of triplets. We have to pay back. Its worth it. Reporter or is it . Especially since federally unsubsidized loans accumulate interest from day one and odds are that a fouryear degree will take longer than four years to finish. The Completion Rates at a school like ours here have 98 in four years. Ours, if you think it may take your kid six years to graduate, the rate of return goes way down. Reporter so price tag and Completion Rate are factors in whether college will pay off. Since the job you get with the college degree, and certainly you have this message by now. The college dpradz, half the unemployment of High School Grads, thats true, but it doesnt mean the College Grads get jobs that require college skills. You can make more than a High School Grad and still not be able to pay for your education. Reporter what about the science technology, engineering, math . The job market for science majors has never been particularly good, for math majors, never been all that great either. The jobs that paid pretty well were the engineering jobs but its not the same engineering field every year thats hot. Reporter take the hottest, highest paying job for the last few years, petroleum engineering. The field had been dead but with the fracking boom, lots of students poured into the major. Now. Kids are coming out oil prices are down, exploration is down and that market is just about to collapse. So one of the things about these technical fields is if you hit them right its lyle you will do terrifically well. But if you hit them wrong, you could be waiting tables and many of these jobs that pay well initially in engineering in particular and in i. T. Especially dont seem to last very long. In those fields, the employers can come back to campus every couple of years and get new engineering graduates and new i. T. People who have the latest courses and skills and makes those jobs a little more disposable. Reporter finally most employers care much less about your degree than your work experience. Employers dont seem all that interested in what you learned from the classroom. The number one thing they want out of kids who just graduated from college is work experience. Reporter with a 4. 0 gpa, tommy has a good shot of getting into penn and as one of nine kids, his sister angel was graduating this day he might even score major financial aid. What will he major in . Something to make enough money. Reporter but as his friend reminded us. I am joseph lynn certified technician. Reporter college isnt just about career path nor the only path to economic success. College wasnt for me so i thought 12month program being an active working with my hands, im doing good. Making good money. It worked out good. Reporter this is economic correspondent paul solman reporting for the pbs newshour from philadelphia. Woodruff we turn now to former president jimmy carter out this week with his 29th book, a full Life Reflections at 90. President carter, welcome back to the newshour. Its good to be back, judy. Thank you very much for letting me come. Woodruff well it has been an extraordinary life. There is so much in this book, starting with growing up in rural south georgia. Theres a lot in there about Race Relations. The reason i want to ask about that to begin with is its very much in the news right now, the u. S. Congress having a vote on it today, the state of South Carolina deciding to move the Confederate Flag, that was what congress was discussing today. You had the Police Shootings around the country, the murders in charleston. Why do you think this country still wrestle so much with race . I think we kind of breathed a sigh of relief back in the 60s after we had 100 years of Racial Discrimination were separate but equal, and the Supreme Court and congress agreed to have that, all the churches, and thats the johnson jeers of Voting Rights act and Martin Luther king jr. , an drew young and others who were successful the United States breathed a sigh of relief and said, well, weve resolved the race issue, and detected American Society where whites were in supreme position to blacks. And the confrontations and the tragedy in charleston reminded us we still have a long way to go. Theres still innate racism in our country that still needs to be addressed accurately and i think the Confederate Flag has been for some people a lingering element of this. Georgia did away with it 14 years ago, and the government that did it was soundly defeated when he was up for reelection because of the flag. Woodruff its a complicated subject. You talked about how you had africanamerican playmates when you were growing up yet your father believed in separation of regulations. When inaugurated as governor of georgia you talk about the time of education is over and then invited George Wallace to speak in georgia. What do you think about how politicians handle the subject of race. I think politicians go with the tide. But i was immersed in a black culture from the time i was born, 4 years old and on and until i left at 16. The first dramatic demonstration of racial equality seven years before rosa parks or Martin Luther king being active. Harry truman said all military discrimination would be done away with in the military and Civil Service of the United States government. So that was a good indication to me about the real advantages of doing away with racial segregation. Woodruff i want to ask something before we get to the book and that is the emerging 2016 president ial campaign, the context of the democratic nomination. Bernie sanders getting big crowds, talking about economic inequality. Secretary clinton, of course is out as well. He says he would do more on this. He says he wants to cut taxes on the wealthy she hasnt gone that far. Who do you think speaks better on the subject . I think inherently Bernie Sanders and. AndElizabeth Warren. Wall street, doing away with the domination the rich people have in their political system. So since Elizabeth Warren decided not to run, i think Bernie Sanders inherited her mantle. At the same time i know the decision about the Supreme Court on Citizens United to let money dominate americas political system has given id say Hillary Clinton a big advantage that would be, i think, overwhelming toward the end of her campaign. Woodruff but youre saying you think at this point Bernie Sanders speaks more i think he speaks more for an active role of the democratic party. Woodruff and has more to say about economic inequality . So far he does. I think hes been bolder in his promulgation of his own ideas than has Hillary Clinton, but i think shell come along later. Woodruff there is so much in the book about your early life and i know youve written about it before but i was struck about how you wrote about your father. You talked about craving attention from him. In fact you include a painting that you drew of your father. But you said he was sparing with his praise, and theres part of the poem that you wrote. You talked about the pain you mostly hide and said you felt a hunger for his outstretched hand, a mans embrace to take me in, the need for just a word of praise. Yes. Woodruff how do you think that affected you . Well, i was totally dominated and i revered my father. I admired everything he did. He was a great sports person. He loved me. I was the only boy before my brother billy came along. He expected the highest possible achieve mecht on my part in the field or when i had my own business or when i was carrying out his instructions or his advice. And when i was erring, he was punitive, and i would resent it for a short period of time, but i would get over it and eventually, i look back on those times as a time of my hungering for his word of approval. So then i realized toward the end, when i had my three boys that i treated my boys the same way woodruff sparing in praise for them . Sparing in praise, thats true. And then i said my daddy is still a part of me which is true. Woodruff you also note you write about your ancestors your grandfather, i guess who died in a gun fight. And my great grandfather, too. Woodruff your grandfather was 45 on your fathers side when he died. Your father was just 58 or 59 when he died of cancer. You have, so far, outlived them. How much do you think about that . Well, i think about it with regret, obviously, because all my family have died with cancer. Both my sisters died with pancreatic cancer, my brother died with pancreatic cancer daddy died of pancreatic cancer my mother died of breast cancer. They all smoked cigarettes. I never smoked cigarettes. I think this may be a triggering device to some genetic measure, i dont know the background. But the Health Service of america adopted me as a target. We were the only family in the world for years that was known to have pancreatic cancer in those numbers. Woodruff living as long as you have is a gift. It and im grate. I think a lot is luck and a lot is the fact that rosa and i live a very carefully orchestrated life of proper diet and a lot of exercise. But some of my family members have also had proper diet and exercise. So i say luck. Woodruff and what do you want to do with the rest of your long life . Im going to stay active as long as i can politically and with the Carter Center primarily. If im able mentally and physically, will continue to be quite active. This has been the most traveled year that ive had in a number of years just happen to have a lot of things come up. But the Carter Center has programs in 80 countries in the world, so we have a lot of things going on. Woodruff its not a quiet life. Its a challenging and exciting and unpredictable, adventurous, enjoyable life. Woodruff youre already working on your next book. Thats the way i make a living. Woodruff president jimmy carter, thank you for coming. Thank you, judy. Ive always enjoyed being with you. Ifill no child left behind, the countrys most sweeping education law, has long been blamed for a rise in standardized testing, and for unfairly labeling schools as failing. This week the senate took up the first bipartisan effort to replace the law since it expired eight years ago. It would remove much of the federal footprint from education. Hari sreenivasan has the details. Sreenivasan instead of federal rules for grading and punishing schools, the Senate Legislation would let states design their own accountability systems. But serious disagreements remain. The white house is calling for rules that tell states when to intervene in lowperforming schools. And some republicans want federal funds for lowincome students to follow them to the school of their choice. Here to look at what this could mean for schools are rick hess director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise institute. And bob wise, former governor of West Virginia and president of the alliance for excellent education. Rick, i want to start with you first. All schools were supposed to be at this place where kids were learning at grade level by last year. We didnt get there. How does this piece of legislation think it can fix that . Understandturns out when you passed a law in 2001 that says 100 of children will be proficient in reading and math by 2014, the fact that congress would like it to be so doesnt make it. So i think thats the big lesson. No child left behind did two things around accountability. One, it created enormous contribution because for the first time we had real data on every child in every state on how they did on reading and math through their school years. What no child left behind got wrong was in their desire to make a difference, congress wrote this convoluted, problematic, overreaching accountability system which tried to tell states how to decide which schools were doing well or not and how to intervene in those schools. Turns out, congress sacksly horribly con congress is horribly configured to do this and you create a lot of compliance and test mania and very little that contributed in helping kids get better. What i think you see in the proposals now that just passed the house and is debated in the senate is an effort to keep the part of no child left behind that worked well, the transparency and regular assessment, but to get the federal government out of that micromanagement business. Sreenivasan so, bob wise, you have been a governor before. Will replacing federal guidelines with state guidelines fix the problem especially for the parents who are seriously complaining about testing and the culture that its created . So what we have, i think, is a legislative goldilocks right now. Rick is absolutely right. I agree with him at the no child left behind was too prescriptive, too hot. But the same token the house version, particularly, removes any kind of meaningful accountability and, so, what you need is you need the ability to report on students that are having low outcomes, measure them over a period of time and then for the federal government to say to states look youve got to do something were not telling you what, thats what they tried to do in no child left behind, were not telling you what, but we are saying you do need to act and there is a federal role in helping support that. So thats where i think we have to get it right in terms of where the senate bill is. Sreenivasan if the federal government says you can created your own definition of success and error, do we go to an era where we have 50 sets of measurements from 50 states. Weve actually had 50 sets of measurements because each state gets to choose the standards and tests. So you have data comparable for every child in a state but not necessarily across states. That doesnt change under the laws being debated. What you really go back to, i described this as the long way home you go back to what bill clinton proposed in 1994 which is he said look lets have every state test every child once in Elementary School in reading math, once in middle school, once in high school and make sure the data is out there so that parents and policymakers and educators and voters can make informed decisions. What were going to wind up with under, say, a house bill, is what clinton imposed 94 on steroids. Test every grade level 38 in reading math, then in high school, and science and reading in middle and high school. It makes sure that folks cant hide problems. Youre going to break out data for all these different subgroups by economic status and ethnicity, and what youre going to have, whats going to be different from no child left behind is the federal government will not be in the business of deciding which schools need to be intervened in and how youre supposed to intervene in them. Sreenivasan one of the points of contention between house and senate bills is the dollar should follow lowincome kids if they choose to leave a low performing school and go to aa betterperforming school, which i guess is the goal. What is the significance of this and whats the impact . The impact could be great, 14 to 15 billion dollars in title one that go to concentrations of lowincome children. I think its significant to note the senate rejected the approach. Even when offered by the republican chairmannan the house either where they didnt take it up or rejected it as well. Rick talked about yes, theres more flexibility, with regards of what version passes. But i dont want to see the bill clinton 1994 approach he puts on steroids run amok. If you have 1200 high schools graduating where more than onethird of the kids drop out its fair to say why are we having the high drop out rates were not telling you how to fix it but what are you going to do to fix it and what are the tools you need to fix it . Thats the key the debate taking place on the senate side. Sreenivasan is this legislation reflecting this uprising against the common core rick . No, i think its more accurate to say the common core got caught up in the frustration of no child left behind. I think youve got parents who feel like their children are being overtested. Its not so much the federally mandated tests under no child left behind. Its more all of the urgency put behind getting kids to make sure theyre proficient on the tests which led School Districts to do lots of formative assessment to make sure kids are ready for the test, lots of test preparation. The idea is by keeping the transparency but by loosening the terror of being on the federal government black hat list, that whats going to happen is School Districts will be able to be more measured about the tests. I think the debates on testing around evaluation of teachers and standards and common core you will actually see a lessening of some of the temperature, because people are going to feel that the stakes have been reduced to a more moderate range. Sreenivasan bob wise, a quick last word . Rick, i think has summed up well a lot of the situation. Lets also remember the states, whether they adopted the common core or their own college and career ready standards every state has moved to a college and careerready standard. We want to make sure the federal government is supporting the state initiative. Sreenivasan bob wise and rick hess thanks so much for joining us. Woodruff in a late night proposal, the government in athens offered to impose higher sales taxes on various goods and services and to reduce state spending on pensions. The package addresses longstanding demands by the countrys creditors. Its designed to win a new european bailout with nearly 60 billion. Ifill on the newshour online, biologists at m. I. T. Have created a genetically modified version of a common gut bacteria that has the potential to fight diseases like colon cancer and crohns. Read about the new study, and how it could change the way we treat stomach illnesses, on our home page, thats at pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. On friday, well look at a critically acclaimed new documentary on Amy Winehouse the rockstar who died tragically young. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. 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