pill to treat covid? can an experimental pfizer treatment cut hospitalizations and deaths by nearly 90%? aaron rodgers speaks out. why he says he didn't get vaccinated. emotional day at the ahmaud arbery murder trial. his mother gasps at graphic videos of her son being chased down by three white men who say they assumed he had committed a crime. guns in america: our "60 minutes" report on a new missouri law called "the second amendment preservation act." and steve hartman's "on the road," with a high-flying, age- defying pole vaulter. >> this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us. we're going to begin with late- breaking details on what has been a busy day of negotiations here in washington. at stake, president biden's ambitious legislative agenda unveiled before his inauguration as his build back better spending plan. house democrats were expected to vote on the nearly $2 trillion social spending package today, along with a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed in the senate months ago. but there's been no vote on either bill. bottom line, the sausage making here in washington has ground to a halt. tonight, it is evident that the democrats have turned the president's signature legislation into a pretty unappetizing process. so let's head over to capitol hill, where cbs' kris van cleave has all the up-to-the-minute details. good evening, kris. >> reporter: norah, it has been a day, one that started with democrats thinking this was going to be the moment they were going to finally advance the president's agenda, passing infrastructure and passing that signature social spending bill "build back better." by 10:00 a.m., that was all in doubt. president biden has spent the day working the phones, but, still, his signature plan is stuck in washington mud. tonight, building back may come later. mounting frustration among democrats as once again the president's nearly $2 trillion social spending bill stalls. the bill would fund efforts to combat climate change, child and elder care, as well as lower drug prices, prompting a plea from mr. biden to save it and the $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan. >> i'm asking every house member, member of the house of representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now. send the infrastructure bill to my desk. send the build back better bill to the senate. let's-- let's build an incredible economic progress, build on what we have already done, because this will be such a boost when it occurs. >> reporter: what does it say about president biden's agenda? >> it's a failed policy. >> reporter: republican leader kevin mccarthy pointed to tuesday's election results as a warning. >> voters from virginia to texas to seattle to minneapolis to new jersey, sent a mandate to their elected officials-- stop catering to the progressive left. >> reporter: moderate democrats may be listening. a handful of threatening to vote no without a report from the congressional budget office on the projected cost of the plan, stopping everything for hours. >> at a certain point, do you worry that it starts to look like the democrats can't get out of their own way? >> welcome to our world. >> reporter: speaker nancy pelosi is now calling an audible, moving forward with the infrastructure bill as soon as tonight, but progressives are threatening to vote that down in what would be a stunning defeat for the biden administration at the hands of fellow democrats. >> this has been a bit of a curveball, this latest development. and it's-- it's unsettling and disruptive, and, you know, i hope we can get back on that original track. >> reporter: progressives have been saying for months they would only vote for infrastructure if the two bills were voted on together. now, all of this wrangling over cost estimates, it's for a bill that's going to go to the senate and be changed so those cost estimates will likely change, too. norah. >> o'donnell: kris van cleave, thank you. the ahmaud arbery murder trial got off to an emotional start today as his mother saw graphic video of her son being chased down and killed by three white men. cbs' omar villafranca is at the courthouse in brunswick, georgia, with more on today's opening statements. >> reporter: wanda cooper jones sobbed in the courtroom today. >> look how far mr. arbery is. >> reporter: for the first time, she watched the video that showed her son, ahmaud arbery, being chased, shot, and killed. ( gunshot ) the now-infamous video was part of the prosecution's opening statements in the murder trial of travis and gregory mcmichael, and william "roddie" bryan. prosecutors say the mcmichaels assumed the worst when they spotted arbery walking out of an open construction site while jogging in the neighborhood. >> all three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions, and they made decisions in their driveways, based on those assumptionstook . and who just came into frame? >> that would be myself. >> reporter: jurors also saw graphic body camera video from the day arbery was killed, recorded by a glynn county police officer. >> it's their duty and responsibility to each other to protect each other. >> reporter: defense attorneys explained their side, describing the mcmichaels as watching out for fellow residents after a series of break-ins and burglaries in the neighborhood, and calling arbery the aggressor during the final confrontation. >> it's tragic that ahmaud arbery lost his life, but at that point, travis mcmichael is acting in self-defense. >> reporter: after the long day in court, arbery's family addressed the media. >> today, i decided it was time to see the video. it's very heartbreaking. but i... i've got past that part. >> reporter: an emotional first day here, and the jury will hear from more witnesses when the trial continues on monday. norah. >> o'donnell: omar villafranca, thanks so much. america's economy is showing signs of healing from the pandemic. u.s. companies added 531,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6%. but as more americans re-enter the workforce, many are finding that their resumes are falling through the cracks of online hiring systems. cbs' manuel bojorquez has more on this. >> reporter: joey holz's search for part-time work in fort myers, florida, turned into a full-time experiment. he wanted to see what would happen if he submitted 60 online applications for entry-level work over one month. and how many calls back did you get? >> four of those turned into phone calls where i actually spoke to a person. and one of those turned into an interview. >> reporter: his post about the experience has gone viral, with people sharing similar stories. >> by ocess, you are removing the ability to find the people that are actually going to be right for the job. >> reporter: harvard business professor joseph fuller agrees. while the pandemic has upended the job market, he says algorithms used by some companies seeking applicants may filter out the very workers they need. >> it's very, very easy to end up on the wayside of a candidate who is just missing one attribute and triggered one attribute filter. >> reporter: nationwide there's more than one job opening for every american who wants to work. but a survey by job search website indeed shows 77% of applicants have had employers stop communication during the interview process, and 28% have stopped communication themselves. one ongoing challenge for employers: a low participation rate in the job market means people are dropping out or looking outside traditional channels. >> it's very rare that i find an owner of any business that tells me that they are fully staffed. >> reporter: jay johnson is seeing it firsthand at his cape coral restaurant bubba's roadhouse and saloon, where he has six unfilled positions. >> for every 10 applications we get, we might hire two. and of the two, maybe one will show up for the first day. >> o'donnell: and manny joins us now. number one, the food looks delicious at that restaurant. number two, what can be done to bridge the gap between these employers and job seekers? >> reporter: well, norah, for one, jay johnson says he's offering a higher hourly rate, trying to attract better candidates, though it's still a challenge. for job seekers, experts suggest working back-channels outside of the online process, trying to get in touch with someone who already works at that company and make a connection that way. norah. >> o'donnell: manuel bojorquez, thank you very much. well, there's big news tonight on several covid fronts. pfizer said today its experimental pill to treat the virus cut rates of hospitalizations and deaths by nearly 90% in high-risk adults. studies have shown that women who are vaccinated during their pregnancies pass the antibodies to their ba enand breast milk. but there is also new research showing women vaccinated post- partum do not pass the antibodies through breast milk, reinforcing the recommendation for pregnant women, get vaccinated. it helps with your child. presidents past and present gathered at the washington national cathedral today for a final absolute for former final absolute for fd secretary of state, colin powell. cbs' nancy cordes shows us the emotional farewell to a great american patriot and statesman. >> present arms! >> reporter: a great lion with a big heart-- that is how colin powell's son described him today as washington luminaries past and present came to pay their respects. >> i've heard it asked, "are we still making his kind?" i believe the answer to that question is up to us. i hope we recommit ourselves to being a nation where we are still making his kind. >> reporter: born in the bronx to jamaican immigrants, powell rose to become the first black secretary of state and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, a top adviser to four presidents from both parties. >> his effectiveness was magnified by his lack of interest in racking up partisan debating points or in proving how macho he could be as a negotiator. >> reporter: longtime friend richard armitage reflected on some of the military hero's lighter moments, like the time the swedish foreign minister came to visit. >> she opened up a full cd set of abba, and presented it to him. colin immediately went down on one knee and sang the entire "mama mia." >> reporter: powell is survived by his wife the nearly 60 years, alma, along with three children and a grateful nation. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: for a few hours today, this funeral brought together the right and the left, something powell himself tried to do so often in public life. colin powell was 84 years old. norah. >> o'donnell: yeah, i think about his legacy. there are now over 40 schools in the united states named after colin powell. nancy cordes, thank you. and colin powell died of complications from covid. he had been fighting a rare blood cancer and parkinson's disease. so now, cbs' jonathan vigliotti has the story of a man who knows all about the struggles of trying to survive the pandemic when you have a weakened immunity. >> reporter: for mark harrison, an i.c.u. pediatrician, the utah mountains are his safe space. he spends 12 hours a week training near his salt lake city home for triathlons. it's one of the rare times he can go without a mask. >> i had a bone marrow transplant. i got lethal dose of chemotherapy to wipe out my own marrow. >> reporter: diagnosed with the incurable blood cancer, multiple myeloma, he went into remission after a clinical trial 19 months ago, and then covid hit. if you were to get covid, god forbid, what would that mean for ou? >> well, it could kill me. >> reporter: harrison is triple vaccinated. there are seven million immunocompromised people in the united states, but for people with multiple myeloma, the immune system could have a very low response to the vaccine, with limited protection. >> i haven't eaten in a restaurant for two years. >> reporter: colin powell's death from multiple myeloma and covid really hit home for harrison. >> it didn't make me more fearful. it made me more excited about doing what i can with however much time i have left. >> reporter: harrison says vaccines and masks are his best defense to stay alive and wishes they were less controversial. >> i'd ask for people to keep their eyes open and their minds open, and wonder about their neighbors and family members like me, do they want to be the person who-- inadvertently, of course-- would hurt that person they love? and i'm sure that answer is no. >> reporter: jonathan vigliotti, cbs news, salt lake city, utah. >> o'donnell: and an update now. a powerful storm is expected to blow through georgia and the carolinas this weekend, possibly causing historic flooding. up to five inches of rain is expected to fall. wind gusts could top 40 miles per hour. it will be worst along the coast. savannah could be swamped on saturday by one of the highest tides ever recorded. all right, we want to turn now to missouri, a state plagued by gun violence, where a controversial new gun law passed this spring. the "second amendment preservation act" was supposed to block state and local police from enforcing federal gun laws. and in our report airing sunday night on "60 minutes," several missouri law enforcement officers and the mayor of kansas tell us the law is preventing preventing local police from fighting crime. kansas city mayor quinton lucas told us this could not be happening at a worse time for missouri, where the murder rate in the state is nearly twice the national average. before the law passed, it was routine for local police to work with their federal partners. why does local law enforcement want the help of the federal government when it comes to dealing with gun violence? >> the volume of crime, the volume of incidents. on a night in kansas city, you can have multiple people shot, in the same way if you have a severe storm hit a city, we bring in federal resources to help us with that crisis. this is the problem with gun violence right now in some of america's major cities, particularly in the midwest, particularly in missouri. >> o'donnell: well, you can see our full report sunday night on "60 minutes." and still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," quarterback aaron rodgers unvaccinated, sidelined by covid, now lashing out at what he calls the woke mob and cancel culture. lture. i've never woken up like this before. crafted with clinically studied plant-based ingredients that work naturally with your body. for restorative sleep like never before. this is wealth. ♪ ♪ this is worth. that takes wealth. but this is worth. and that - that's actually worth more than you think. don't open that. wealth is important, and we can help you build it. but it's what you do with it, that makes life worth living. principal. for all it's worth. to see my ancestors' photos was just breathtaking. wow, look at all those! what'd you find? 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five decades after an unremarkable high school career. so, you weren't even that good to begin with. >> right. >> reporter: and at 66 you said "i want to relive this mediocrity." >> try this again. >> reporter: why? >> it's fun. it's like going to high school again with nothing to study. ( laughter ) >> reporter: nothing to study but the physics of gravitational potential energy and pain management. >> that's a jump right there! >> reporter: but don says it's well worth the aches. >> it's a rush, exhilaration when you clear a bar. >> run, don, run! >> reporter: at a meet last year, don cleared nine feet, one inch. no octogenarian had ever done such a thing. and then, just moments later, set another record-- oldest man to be a human centrifuge. and don says he's not done setting records. in fact, he told me he plans to keep fit and keep at this until he's six feet under, which by my calculation, is still about 15 feet away. steve hartman, "on the road," in princeton, texas. >> o'donnell: got to love don. good texas guy. we'll be right back. alright, here we go, miller in motion. wha — wait, wait, is that a... baby on the field?? it looks like it, craig. and the defensive linemen are playing peek-a-boo. i've never seen anything like that before. harris now appears to be burping the baby. that's a great moment right there. the ref going to the rule book here. what, wait a minute! harris is off to the races! we don't need any more trick plays. touchdown!! but we could all use more ways to save. are you kidding me?? 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