Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20141107

Sponges out of a Kitchen Store loaded them in homemade syringes that we made, put them in a model and they expanded and worked. Woodruff and its friday, mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the weeks news. Those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the u. S. Economy created another 214,000 jobs last month. That makes nine straight months that employers have added more than 200,000 positions, the longest stretch since 1995. And, the october Unemployment Rate fell, to 5. 8 , the lowest in six years. President obama welcomed the news today at a cabinet meeting. All this is a testament to the hard work and resilience of the American People. They have been steady and strong digging themselves out of the worst economic crisis since the great depression. And what we need now is to make sure we build on this momentum. Woodruff the president also acknowledged that Many Americans still arent feeling the recovery, a factor that played heavily in tuesdays election wins by republicans. Well return to the economy, as paul solman reports on parttime workers, later in the program. Reports swirled today that the president will name the u. S. Attorney in brooklyn, new york, to be the next attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Several news organizations said lynch is the choice to replace eric holder, whos stepping down after six years in the post. The white house said the president has not yet made a decision. The u. S. Secretary of veterans affairs, robert mcdonald, is ready to announce a sweeping shakeup. In a cbs news 60 minutes interview, airing sunday, mcdonald says he will dismiss or demote up to 1,000 staffers, and order the largest reorganization in v. A. History. Its a response to this years scandal over inadequate treatment and long wait times in the v. A. Medical system. The president has authorized 1,500 more noncombat troops to go to iraq, doubling the number already there. The pentagon said today some of the teams will move into Anbar Province to help train iraquis fighting Islamic State militants there. A spokesman denied the election outcome influenced the announcement. Instead, he said the overall u. S. Commander, general martin dempsey, and the regional commander recommended the move. There was no political angle to the timing here. It was really driven by a request from the government of iraq and general austins assessment about this being the right thing to do. And i would add that was an assessment supported by not only dempsey but the secretary who formally made this recommendation to the president that this was not only the right thing to do, but it was the right time to do it based on where we are in the campaign. Woodruff the president is also asking congress to authorize 5. 6 billion to fund the effort. The last person to come in contact with ebola patients in the u. S. Came off monitoring today. Theyd been around a liberian man who died of ebola in dallas or one of two nurses there who contracted ebola and were later cured. An american doctor who caught ebola in west africa remains hospitalized in new york, but is improving. The japanese airbag maker takata now faces accusations that it hid a deadly defect, going back a decade. The New York Times reported former employees at takata secretly conducted tests on 50 ruptured air bags in 2004 but were ordered to delete the data. Four deaths and 30 injuries have been linked to the defective air bags, and automakers have now recalled 14 million vehicles. Woodruff japanese authorities have approved restarting a Nuclear Power plant, under new safety rules, for the First Time Since 2011. Nearly all of japans 48 working reactors were taken off line after an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant. With todays announcement, two reactors at a plant in southern japan are expected to go back online early next year. Ukraine charged today that russia has sent major new military forces across the border to help prorussian rebels. That came amid continued fighting around the separatist strongholds of luhansk and donetsk. Ukraines National Security spokesman spoke in kiev. translated supplies of military equipment and enemy fighters from the Russian Federation to the antiterrorist Operation Zone are continuing. In particular, yesterday from the movement of military equipment consisting of 32 tanks, 16 d30 howitzer artillery systems, and 30 kamaz trucks carrying ammunition and fighters was reported. Woodruff russia has routinely denied allegations that it is helping the rebels, or that it has any forces inside ukraine. An art installation lit up the city of berlin tonight, as germany marks 25 years since the fall of the berlin wall. Heliumfilled light balloons stretched nine miles, and traced the exact path the wall took, dividing east from west during the cold war. The balloons carry messages and theyll be released into the air on sunday, the actual anniversary. Back in this country, the u. S. Senate race in virginia was finally decided today. Republican ed gillespie conceded to democratic incumbent mark warner, who led by just over 16,000 votes, out of more than two million cast. That gives republicans at least 52 seats in the new senate, to 44 for the democrats, with two independents. Races in alaska and louisiana are yet to be decided, and could give the g. O. P. Two more seats. On wall street, stocks failed to get much a boost out of the jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 19 points to close near 17,574. The nasdaq fell about six points to close at 4,632. And the sandp added just a fraction, to finish near 2,032. For the week, the dow gained 1 . The sandp was up more than. 5 . The nasdaq was virtually unchanged. Still to come on the newshour the Supreme Court takes up a new challenge to the Affordable Care act; president obama meets with congressional leaders to plot next steps; why some parttime workers are counted as fulltimers by the government; detroit gets the green light for its grand bargain to emerge from bankruptcy; a New Invention that can save soldiers lives on the battlefield; and mark shields and david brooks on the weeks news. Woodruff the Supreme Court today announced it would take up a controversial case that could have major implications for the health care law. And after the court had decided not to take up samesex marriage, the hotbutton issue could very well land before the nine justices after all because of a decision yesterday in a lower court. Here to make sense of it for us is marcia coyle of the national law journal. Welcome back. Thanks. Woodruff what prompted the justices to take up this challenge to the healthcare law, another one . Usually, the court waits for disagreement in the lower federal Appellate Courts before it takes a case. Thats one of the criteria for review. Technically there is no division right now, but the court will also step in if the issues of National Importance or if its an issue that could likely recur and, certainly, there are other cases pending that are challenging this particular provision in the Affordable Care act. Woodruff so what do you think prompted this . I mean, the assumption is that the four more conservative justices who were not on board with the 2012 ruling that upheld most of the Affordable Care act were behind this. Whats the thinking . Well, we really dont know the votes, who voted how to take review of this particular case. We do know that you only need four votes, and the speculation is that, at least among whoever did vote, there were the four dissenters and perhaps they wanted another shot at the Affordable Care act. Woodruff what could this what this is all about is the authorization for tax subsidies for low and middleincome folks. Right. Woodruff and it has to do with the state exchanges, and the question is whether the Obama Administration truly have the authorization to set up the federal exchanges, to allow these subsidies under the federal exchange. The first challenge to the Affordable Care act was a constitutional challenge, if you remember, to the individual requirement that you have Health Insurance or pay a tax penalty. That is very different type of challenge. This is going to involve interpretation of the language in a particular provision of the act, which says that subsidies can be paid to certain individuals if they buy their Health Insurance on and this is on exchanges, the exact language exchanges established by the state. But the Internal Revenue service issued a regulation saying the subsidies are available not only on statecreated but also federalcreated exchanges. Only 16 states have created their own Insurance Market places. The federal government has filled the gap with 34 other exchanges. So roughly 5 million americans have been able to purchase insurance on those exchanges because of these tax subsidies. Woodruff cheiral, this is one thats going to be watched closely. The other question that is before that may be before the court is samesex marriage. The court had said were not going near what Appellate Courts have been ruling around the country, but then yesterday you have a threejudge panel in the sixth circuit in cincinnati. Right. Woodruff so whats the significance of this . What happened here is this sixth circuit ruling which affected four states michigan, ohio, kentucky and tennessee actually creates a disagreement among the lower federal Appellate Courts on the constitutionality of samesex marriage. We now have one circuit saying its constitutional for the states to define marriage, and four federal circuits saying its unconstitutional to say that marriage is only for one man and one woman. So we have that split, which does make it more likely that this Supreme Court will step in to resolve the division and have uniform law. To me, judy, the real question here is timing. Now, there are lawyers involved in those cases that were just decided yesterday who lost who said they were going immediately to the Supreme Court. Theres a tight time frame here. The Court Accepts cases for the current term until about mid january, and then anything else is going to be pushed over to the new term. They probably can do it, these lawyers. Theyre very skilled. Well just have to wait and see if they can meet the time schedule and if the court is really ready right now to resolve the disagreement. Woodruff well know soon whether theyll take it up. I believe so. Woodruff masha coyle, thank you. My pleasure, judy. Woodruff the white house has just confirmed president obama will announce that Loretta Lynch is his pick to be the next u. S. Attorney general. If confirmed, she will be the first africanamerican woman to hold that post. She is now a u. S. Attorney in new york. Weve reported a few minutes ago that this has been reported by different news organizations. Now were learning the white house has confirmed it. I mean time, for the first woodruff for the First Time Since tuesdays elections, president obama met with more than a dozen congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle at the white house today. But despite the pleasantries, whether both sides can get anything done on thorny issues like immigration remains to be seen. If more executive actions are taken, that would make it difficult for us to always work together. We think we should start with a fresh start. Weve got a lot of bills in this house, a lot of bills in the senate on economics, on jobs creation, and thats really where our focus should be. They are saying give us a chance to pass a bill. Well, we could take up the senate bill next week and that would be good, but we have been waiting a long time for that, and i hope that we do have a bill. Woodruff joining us now are newshours chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner and our political director domenico montanaro. So theyre talking about i want congratulations but, margaret, i want to come to you first about the news today, the white house announcement of these 1500 additional noncombat troops theyre saying to go to iraq. Why did they make this announcement today when they had other sort of related business to talk to these leaders about . Judy you saw the pentagon spokesman say it was unrelated to the election. Ill leave it to mark and david to decide. It couldnt have been helpful to democrats running in tuesdays election. But its been running a while. Weve had 1500 joint advisers in these Operational Centers working with strategists and commanders of the iraqi forces and the peshmergas and came to the recognition if theyre going to roll back the i. S. I. S. Advance instead of just stalling them, they will have to get out there more closely to this sunni heartland which is in the big area tha that i. S. Really contr, western iraq and eastern syria. They also came to believe that the iraqi troops were a little more capable and it was time to move to the next stage. That said, i think theyre putting u. S. Troops in a more difficult and potentially dangerous position. Woodruff theyre saying noncombat. Right, and theyre saying noncombat, but whats new here is there will be a whole new geographic reach. They will go to expedition gnash sites, quote, unquote, where they will be training and advising fighters on the ground. Woodruff this is new not at all. Erbil and baghdad are pretty safe. All they needed was air strikes. These will be much more exposed areas, they havent chosen by. Fallujah, i. S. Controls, the pentagon made a point of saying, yes, we understand, half of the u. S. Forces wont be advisors, they will be force protection units, and the same with all the other new sites theyll establish to do training. So at least maybe as much as half of them may not be combat troops but will have to be ready for combat. Woodruff on the question of authorization, the administration saying we have legal authorization to do this, but in the meantime theyre having this conversation with congress about additional authorization in iraq and syria. Whats the connection . The connection is they say they dont need congressional authorization for this except they want that extra pot of money before the end of the year. Were in a current budget year. But it points up a need for what the president has come to believe is an updated authorization for all these operations. They have been operating under the 2001 authorization directed after 9 11 against bin laden and al quaida and 2002 and 2003 against iraq, george w. Bush authorization. Legal scholars says it doesnt fit the fight against Islamic State which split after al quaida. That was the purpose of this meeting originally, and i think what you will see, senator menendez, big differences between republicans andderms on the limits they want to put around it and will have big hearings next week about it. Woodruff domestic front, domenico, some of the reports says there wasnt much agreement. There wasnt much agreementt all. Were talking about immigration largely again. As margaret brings up on foreign policy, a lot of the discussion went on a lot longer than was that it originally intend to go because they were talking about the Islamic State group and what was learned later on and ebola. But on immigration, the one domestic issue where the two sides had a little flareup in the meeting disputed on both sides now, republicans are saying behind the scenes that during the meeting president obama cut off Vice President biden because Vice President biden said how much time do yall need to john boehner, on what could be done on immigration. President obama feels like hes run out of patience and time because two years republicans havent acted on immigration. Democrats said that never happened, very much like the foreign readouts. You get very different readouts from washington than the kremlin, right in and were getting that a lot of times from these congressional talks from democrats and republicans. Woodruff we can all assume reporters will be continuing to nose around on that. Anything else, domenico . Because there were the other subjects. They were going to talk about trade, the administration has talked about Early Childhood education. Infrastructure, Early Childhood education and trade was three of the things the president wanted to talk about but got derailed and the democrats call them steal talking points, things the president has brought up three years and hasnt done much on anyway and was lumping this into a discussion. One republican aide on immigration sand well never do comprehensive Immigration Reform, that its dead, obama care killed that. They said if the president does anything on executive action, not even stepbystep immigration will happen. So the election happens, we think maybe they will come together, not much has changed. Woodruff in three days, looks like its gone away, whatever it was. Domenico montanaro, Margaret Warner, we thank you. Woodruff the latest jobs report provides fresh evidence of improved hiring throughout 2014. But even so, its a different kind of labor market, one that has not seen strong wage growth and has forced many into part time work. Our economics correspondent, paul solman, has been looking into those trends. Part of his reporting making sense of financial news. Reporter pittsburghs Dan Stillwell, one of 147 million americans counted as employed last month. I work around 50 hours a week. Reporter alex stipula is another. I work about 40 hours a week, just about. Reporter economist Justin Wolfers says the employment picture for workers across the country was brighter than reported in october, for at least two reasons. The labor market looks pretty good. Now, the headlines dont look quite so sunny. They say 214,000 jobs were created this month, which is less than created in the last few months. But once you dig into the details, you start to see the difference. Reporter what details . The first is the government actually runs two surveys, the Employer Survey gets all the attention. It probably should. Its a better survey. But the Household Survey actually said it was a monstrously good month in october. It said 650,000 jobs are created. It surely wasnt that good. So we should discount it but we shouldnt throw it away altogether. Reporter and the second point . This was the first estimate of what happened in october and the government statisticians are going to go back and try to figure out what really happened when they get more information. Septembers pretty good number, turned out to be even better. I think that theres every reason to think that octobers sort of a number might actually turn out to be revised and be pretty strong. Reporter but even todays numbers meant a 9th straight month of 200,000 new jobs. And growth was broadbased; gains in food and drink jobs; retail; health care; business services. Unemployment rate . The lowest since 2008. Yet the good news doesnt match the american mood. In election day exit polls, two thirds of us said the economy was getting worse. One possible culprit wages, which grew a paltry three cents an hour in october, less than the rate of inflation. But another reason could be that a fifth of the workforce remains employed parttime. Look, says wolfers. If youre on for an hour, youre counted as having a job. Reporter whats more, the official Unemployment Rate excludes seven million part timers who say they want a full time job but just cant find one. And it turns out that the government actually understates the number of parttimers. The way we think about do you work full time . Is do you usually work more than 35 hours a week . If you work 20 hours in one job and 15 at another, that adds up to 35, lets call you full time but well call both of those jobs parttime. Reporter take alex stipula. I work three jobs. I work as a prep cook at a restaurant. I work at pt crystal engraving glass and crystal, and i also work at club cafe, checking i. D. s and kind of like a bouncer, and i make 10 an hour at all three of them. I dont get any benefits. Reporter stipula is one of 1. 2 million americans working only parttime jobs, almost none of them with benefits. And yet theyre all classified as fulltime because they work 35 hours a week or more in total. I work seven days a week. Reporter Dan Stillwell works at Grocery Store g. F. S. Marketplace. I work 28 hours a week, making 8. 70 an hour, and my second job is with ikea i work there about 19 hours a week, making nine and a quarter an hour. Reporter even nobelwinning economist paul krugman was surprised to learn that part timers like stillwell, who works almost 50 hours a week, are officially fulltime workers. Ok, i did not know that. That makes sense actually in part of the broader context, which is that unemployment doesnt look that high, but the labor, the situation of workers doesnt feel anything like full employment. Reporter in fact, many young people in our own newsroom managed multiple gigs before landing one Fulltime Position at the newshour, like multimedia editor ellen rolfes. I worked at one point three different jobs that totaled about sixty five hours a week. Even though i was working more than 35 hours i didnt think of myself as a fulltime worker because i think of fulltime work as a job that has benefits, sick days, paid vacations, health care, hopefully and i didnt get any of those at any of my jobs. Reporter nor does Dan Stillwell. Id like to have one job with benefits, work 40 hours and pay my bills and be able to save up for retirement, i wont be able to stop working until i die, you know . Reporter in the end, todays positive news may do little to reassure the more than a million americans in parttime jobs, working 35 or more hours a week. Im paul solman for the pbs newshour. Woodruff nearly 16 months after detroit filed for bankruptcy, a federal judge approved an unprecedented and complex plan today that would bring the city out of bankruptcy and is designed to give it a fresh start. The plan allows detroit to shed 7 billion of debt, reinvest more than a billion dollars into neglected public service, cut pensions of general city retirees and cut payments to bondholders. Hari sreenivasan has more on this story. Sreenivasan one crucial component of the plan that came together in the past few months is a socalled grand bargain. It allows the city to accept more than 800 million from non profit foundations, the state and others over two decades that deal protects the city from selling a noted Art Collection at the Detroit Institute of arts and reduces the size of pension cuts. The Ford Foundation has donated the most money to the grand bargain; 125 million in all, its president , Darren Walker joins me now. Thanks for being with us. My first question is what are nonprofit foundations doing in what seems like a bankruptcy bailout . Well, were not in the business of solving bankruptcies, but we do solve big problems and work with leaders at the city level and the community level, public and private sectors, to help solve community problems, and this is one example of a group of foundations coming together at the behest of the judge to help solve this challenge. Sreenivasan is this a template for other cities that might be in financial straits . This is not a template for other cities, but there are many lessons here. This is a complicated 20 billion bankruptcy with thousands of creditors and many contested issues, but our focus which was on saving the Detroit Institute of arts and ameliorating the situation for the workers of the city, particularly those retirees under the pension fund, that was what we were able to help accomplish. But this does pt mean that other cities are going to look to foundations to solve their bankruptcy issues. This is not a template for that. Sreenivasan you mentioned the Detroit Institute of arts. One of the concerns is why doesnt the d. I. A. Sell some of this artwork to help detroit get back on its feed, especially when bond holders, investors and pensioners are taking haircuts or tightening their belts . Every Great American city has a great Cultural Institution and the d. I. A. Is one of americas greatest treasures. Its unthinkable to imagine a future for detroit without the d. I. A. Sreenivasan to what would this money allow the city to do . The judge had some tough criticism of what the city is not doing well right now. In certain parts, he says the problems run deep, have for years, and some of it is inhumane and intolerable. Do the foundations agree that a lot more needs to be done . Absolutely, a lot more needs to be done but its important to keep our eye on the prize. Detroit is now back in the starting blocks. It is positioned well for a great future. Theres uptick in employment, Small Business development, many of the indicators of economic and Community Well being are improving. The question now is what does the future hold for detroit . And we believe the future is very bright. Sreenivasan while this is nearing closing a chapter, it kind of opens another section for detroits life in the next ten or 20 years. And what are the foundations looking for as these indicators that you started tick off that the city is on the right path . Youre not writing an unconditional check for ten to 20 years, are you . Absolutely not. We were clear our resources would be used to secure the pensions and the museums collection, but we are investing in its future. In the civic grid, democracy needs to work in detroit, and in order for that to happen, we need to invest in civic organizations, in cultural organizations, in health and well being and, of course, in education. All of the foundations who are engaged in the grand bargain are deeply committed to investing in those areas. Eth going to be essential for the future of the city. Sreenivasan while were talking mostly about detroits financial struggles, there are underlying challenges about race and class. What do you think Something Like this grand bargain, like the solution does to begin addressing the deeper problems the city might have . Well, detroit sits at the narrative of the American City and, as in Many American cities, there are challenges around racial issues, and we cant put under the rug the fact that detroit had been challenged for decades around racial issues. The city and the region must come together to solve their problems collectively, but in order to do that, the city must have great leadership. Were all encouraged and looking forward to a new mayor, a new city council who are engaged and eager to take up the helm. So were excited at the Ford Foundation to support this effort. Sreenivasan ten years from now, best case scenario, it goes as you envision. What are we here talking about, about detroit . What we talked about is a vibrant city with a growing population, an inclusive economy, schools that deliver quality education, a Transportation System founded by the new m. 1 line, and a recognition that in order for detroit to be sustainable we have to invest in its institutions and in its people. Sreenivasan and how do you instill a sense of cultural i should say perhaps inject energy into the culture that already exists in detroit because some people say, well, this is a great plan, it was cooked up by a lot of nondetroiters . The Ford Foundation has been in detroit since 1936. The bottom line for detroits future is the local people do have to control its narrative and its future but this doesnt mean pitting inresidents against new residents. Any vibrant great city always has new people coming but also invests in incumbent residents. So the understanding of the tension is reasonable between the many new residents who are moving to detroit and longtime leaders who have felt the results of this investment and who are a little beleaguered by it. Sreenivasan Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, thanks so much for your time. Happy to be her. Woodruff tonight, the newshour begins a new series on invention and innovation called breakthroughs. Over the coming months, well explore the economic and social change invention generates both here and abroad, highlighting the passion of the inventors and the people who benefit from their creations. The newshours cat wise has our first report, which looks at a new device to stop uncontrolled bleeding on the battlefield and that may one day save the lives of civilians. A warning some of the images may be disturbing to some viewers. The fight for terrain is up forward, the fight to save lives is back here. Reporter throughout the history of war, from battles long ago to the recent conflicts in iraq and afghanistan, medics on the frontlines have had one main goal keep the injured alive until they can be safely evacuated to a treatment center. While those killed in action since the beginning of the iraq war are almost 90 fewer than during the vietnam war, due in part to better medic training and faster evacuations, one of the Biggest Challenges medics still face is uncontrolled bleeding. It is the leading cause of preventable battlefield deaths. And while tourniquets can be applied to certain extremity wounds, some areas of the body, like the armpit and pelvis, which are not covered by body armor, are difficult to compress. For those wounds, military medics have had to rely on a very simple tool. For centuries everybodys used gauze to stop bleeding, you know, back to the earliest times you pack material into a wound, and attempt to put pressure on it. Reporter John Steinbaugh is a former special forces medic who served for more than twenty years in the army. He was on the frontlines in iraq when calls for better equipment started going up the chain of command. Back in 2006, 2007 at the height of the war, medics were getting fed up with standard gauze. We started seeing wounds that were much worse than what we were seeing at the beginning of the war. Medics were having more difficulties stopping the bleeding. The way the medics describe the device they wanted was a fixa flat. So if you think of your tire, you inject the fixaflat in your tire, it finds the escaping air, it plugs it, done. Reporter so steinbaugh and a team of experts from the military and private sector got to work. Early ideas like inserting foam or gel into the wounds didnt sufficiently stop the bleeding, but soon they stumbled on something that did work. We literally went to williams sonoma, brought compressed sponges out of a Kitchen Store, loaded them in homemade syringes that we made, put them in a model and they expanded and worked. Reporter steinbaugh retired from the military and joined revmedx, the private medical Device Company taking the lead on the products development. There, steinbaugh and his colleagues spent three years refining the device with the help of a 5 million grant from the u. S. Army. Earlier this year, following f. D. A. Approval, the Company Launched the product now called the xstat. Steinbaugh gave us a demo recently in the company lab. So on the battlefield, at the point of injury, the medic will come up to a casualty, he will assess the casualty, he will pull out the device, lock the handle, he will inject the syringe into the wound, close to the artery, and then he will depress the plunger and rapidly apply the xstat to the wound. Because the sponges are compressed, once they make contact with blood they expand fifteen times their size, they fill the cavity and put pressure on the walls of the cavity to stop the bleeding without having to apply pressure. Reporter while the xstat has yet to be used on an injured human this is a photo of a soldier practicing with the device on a dummy steinbaugh says the companys extensive testing on animals and cadavers shows bleeding stops after about 20 seconds, compared to three to five minutes with traditional gauze. The company, which has 12 employees, is now ramping up production of the xstat for the military at their headquarters outside portland, oregon. Roughly 100 are made here a week. Each of the mini sponges in a syringe are coated with a blood clotting chemical, and they are embedded with special markers that show up in xrays in case one is accidentally left in a wound during surgery. The major issue is getting the patient alive to a surgeon, thats really the goal. Reporter dr. Martin schreiber is chief of trauma at the Oregon Health Science University and a colonel in the u. S. Army reserves. Hes led trauma care for the military in iraq and afghanistan and hes been closely following the development of the xstat. The key with this product though is it has to be placed into a fixed size wound. If you have a penetrating injury to say, the area under the clavicle, which creates a very fixed wound, this could be very effective. Reporter schreiber says hes seen a number of medical innovations start in the military that eventually make their way into civilian trauma care. I have to say, i have never experienced anything worse in my life then war, ive never seen anything as bad as war, but there is some good that comes out of war and that is the medical technologies that are advanced. Reporter in fact, John Steinbaugh and his colleagues are now working on a smaller xstat that could be rolled out for civilian first responders, such as e. M. T. s and police, as early as next year. Ever since the first day we started working on this theres been an immediate interest for other types of products, smaller shrapnel wounds, or small caliber pistol wounds, and even in the civilian community, like law enforcement, prison knife wounds, and stabbings. Reporter theyve also developed xgauze traditional gauze embedded with xstat sponges; an everyday belt which turns into a tourniquet that was inspired in part by the boston bombings; and the companys Sponge Technology may even one day help women in low resource settings who are experiencing postpartum hemorrhaging. Revmedx is shipping out the first batch of xstats to the army this month. The device currently costs about 200. The Company Anticipates their military orders will keep them at maximum production for the foreseeable future. Woodruff online, we hear more from John Steinbaugh, who answers the question if you could invent something new, what would it be . The inventor said would make special goggles that could check vital signs. Watch that video, on our rundown. Woodruff the midterm elections came and went this week, as republicans rode the wave to control congress. To break it all down, we turn to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. Gentlemen, youve had three whole days to digest the results of this election. What was the main message, david . Well, i think it was the breadth of the republican victory. We assumed it would be seven or eight seats in the senate, but more impressive, they won the senate, the house, kept the house but just in the states. I didnt expect the governorships in all these states. They control twothirds of the governorships. They have never had, at least not in the last century, this many state legislators, this many legislators in tall states. They control unprecedented levels of state legislators. They have a team across the country of rising politicians who will rise. So with twothirds control of the states and governorships and congress, the dominant party in the country. A lot of people see the republican is so extreme, its a dinosaur, but they are the dominant party in the country. Woodruff what was your main takeaway, 72 hours later . No question about it, it was a repudiation of democratic governance. Like david, i was particularly struck and impressed by the republican victories in blue states, in states that barack obama carried twice, and deep blue states like massachusetts, illinois and maryland, in particular, but the reelection of controversial governors like scott walker in wisconsin and rick scott in florida. Beyond that, there are 256 democrats in the house of representatives the day barack obama took oath of office in 2009. There will be about 185, six years in. So the senate goes from 60 democrats to 45. I mean, those are numbers that are just a hemorrhage in dimensions of proportions and a real rejection of democrats. The president , i thought, was rather cavalier in his press conference saying the republicans had a good night. The republicans have had a good six years at the polls with the exception of the president s election and reelection. I just think, for democrats, its a terrible, terrible defeat and one that leaves them i hope engaged in serious introspection because they went through a campaign where they had no economic message. Woodruff Something Else the president says is yes he hears what the people who voted said but he also noticed the twothirds who didnt vote. David, is this a diminished result . Does it mean less because you had a lower turnout, i guess the lowest in decades . I dont think so. First of all, you win, you get the power, have control of the office. Second thing, not turning out is a vote. The president failed to mobilize, the democrats failed to mobilize their people and the republicans succeeded mobilizing their people and thats because there was so much disappointment even on the democrat side with the Obama Administration. I dont think it invalidates what happens. Even in colorado, the republicans did quite well. If they had a president ial year turn out, would it look different . Obviously. The core problem with the democrats is theyre intellectually exhausted. They have a diagnosis of a big problem of inecal inequality. Theyre on the heels of a financial crisis caused in part by wall street. This should be a progressive moment in this country and they dont have even the twinkle of a big agenda, and the instrument they rely on, government, is mistrusted, so its not a progressive era, but this should be a big left winger ray if they had a set of ideas. Woodruff so, mark, you didnt hear from as many voters to understand what the American People want. You only get to complain in democracy if you vote. Im not talking about the suppressed people. Im talking about people who just dont disturb themselves. We have to give people a reason. Its great to have the mechanics and slice and dice the electrics and say this voter likes foreign movies and is a vegan and goes to church every other sunday, but you get a message for them. I quite frankly dont see what the republicans the republicans who won dont come with any cohesive message themselves. All 14 of the ones who are running and the ones who won, in the senate, all want to repeal the Affordable Care act, every one of them is against any legal status of citizenship under immigration, so domenicos observation earlier that there would be nothing on Immigration Reform is just born out. These are not people who are going to cooperate with the president and want to work closely with the white house. Quite the opposite. They will take the party i think Mitch Mcconnell and john boehner right now realize as david point out that the Republican Party has to show some governing capability, but these are people who didnt come here to establish a record of collegiality. I think i disagree a little on the big issues mark mentioned obviously, i agree with mark on the big issues of immigration, whether they repeal health care, theres no cooperation. But i think boehner and mcconnell have done a good job of indicating a willingness to cooperate at least on some things. There are some things for which the bipartisan report, keystone pipeline, patent reform, trade policy, the medical devices tax, there is a half dozen medium to small things done and it is possible to get something pass bid we havent had in the last four years, and thats endangered even if the Ted Cruz Party takes over or if the president pushes this immigration thing in which he grants a lot of people effective amnesty, millions of people, if he redefines their status. That would be regarded by republicans as extremely confrontational and end any hope of compromise. But slightly willing to compromise on the few things. Woodruff why is that any more confrontational than the republicans saying were going to try to kill healthcare reform . If they lead with healthcare repeal, i think that would be. And if the president leads with Immigration Reform, that would be as well. Start with the small stuff. Repealing taxes is not controversial. And good luck with medical device taxes. You have to come up with 29 billion to make up for it. Every republican i heard this year is against any tax increases. The second thing, judy, and i think its important to point out that Mitch Mcconnell is against gridlock and dysfunction. There are 458 times during Barack Obamas six years in office that there has been a filibuster or a threat of a filibuster to stop the senate from acting. During Dwight Eisenhowers eight years, there were two. During ronald reagan, 75 in eight years. This is in six years. So its going to be a 180 if, in fact, this does happen, and the senate is tough because all it takes is one person to stop it. You can talk about its not being a ted cruz caucus or a mike lee caucus, but i really think its going to be a problem for the republicans and i think thats where the action is to watch that dynamic. Woodruff so youre saying you dont take Mitch Mcconnell at his word when he says im looking for ways im first going to look for areas of agreement with the president , is what he said. I think he understands its important, if the republicans are going to be a governing party and seen responsible in 2016 for national leadership, they have to demonstrate now that theyre in charge they can pass something besides a motion to adjourn or a mothers day resolution. I think he understands that. I think the trade authority is a natural one because it divides democrats, and it unites republicans. And with the president who wants that trade authority. I think the medical device tax. But once you get into issues like immigration, and what we do with the environment, we have candidates who want to abolish the e. P. A. Who just got elected. You have a senator from iowa who wants to not raise the minimumwage but apolish the minimum wage. We can get some small things and some things can be economic. I think you can get some proposals to maybe even Early Childhood, that may be a stretch. There may be some things, infrastructure, there certainly has been bipartisan support for that, lowering the tax rate, something to get people happier about the economy. Woodruff i want to come back to the president. Both of you referred to not a message, and yet when we heard from the president , he was saying, again, you know, he said, i hear you, and he also i mean, hes insisting, mark, on Immigration Reform, which is what were talking about. If he doesnt get it, then hes going to act. Do you think the president got a message from this election, i guess is my question . Im not sure. I will say this, judy, if you were a republican who lost in 1982 in Ronald Reagans midterm you had the consolation for having voted for Something Big even though you lost, and the same thing if youre a firstterm democrat with bill clinton or even a firstterm democrat in barack obama. You voted for Affordable Care, for stimulus, for doddfrank, youve riley taken tough stands. Youre in 2012 and lost because to have the climate this administration created because to have the veterans administration, because of ebola, because of the secret service, because of a sense of ineptitude of governing, not because of tough heroic stands of votes you cast. And i think there is a certain resentment and i dont think the president got past this. On president obama, the immigration thing is important. I support the idea of giving these ople this new status. If by executive action, redefining the status of millions of people without a law, without going through the normal process, that strikes me as an extreme abuse of executive power whether you support on policy or not. That action is so confrontational because its not only policy a lot of republicans object to but members of congress object to. Woodruff so glad youre here, david brooks, mark shields. Thank you. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day. The u. S. Economy added more than 200,000 jobs in october, for the ninth straight month. Unemployment fell to 5. 8 the Supreme Court agreed to hear another major challenge to the health care law. It involves Health Insurance subsidies for low and middle income people. And the president authorized 1,500 more troops to go to iraq, doubling the number already there. Theyll train iraqi forces to fight Islamic State militants. On the newshour online right now our longterm care column this week looks at how to find help for your aging parents, when they want to continue living at home but need help with chores, bathing and medication. Find tips and a list of resources, on our health page. All that and more is on our web site, pbs. Org. Newshour. And a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. Gwen ifill is preparing for Washington Week which airs later this evening. Heres a preview ifill the 4 billion election what does this republican takeover in governors mansions and the house and the senate mean for healthcare, tax reform, for immigration . We examine the message voters were sending and the response theyre getting with the nations best political reporters later tonight on Washington Week. Judy . Woodruff on pbs newshour weekend saturday, have u. S. Policies contributed to Gang Violence in el salvador and did that Gang Violence lead to last summers flood of Illegal Immigrants . John carlos frey reports. Carlos ponce a prominent salvadorian crime analyst and former director of research for the National Police force says the country was unprepared for this wave of gang members who cut their teeth on the streets of los angeles. To make matters worse, he says when the deportations started, u. S. Authorities were provided no information about who was head their way. So the u. S. Was deporting criminals without their criminal records . Yeah. We didnt know who was coming into the country . We didnt know who was coming into the country. They were free to do as they pleased. Woodruff and well be back, right here, on monday. On the heels of a major rebuke on election day, president obama heads to asia to talk trade and try to ease tensions with china. Thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff, have a great weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by Carnegie Corporation of new york. 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