That theres something in the polio vaccine that is un islamic. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Collette. Celebrating 100 years of travel, together. Babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. 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 from President Trump today, a summons to battle opioid addiction. He called for new action, but not necessarily for new money. William brangham begins our coverage. As you all know from personal experience, families currently dealing with the worst drug crisis in American History and world history. Brangham President Trump, flanked by survivors, First Responders and family members impacted by opioids, declared a Public Health emergency. This is National Health emergency. What we have seen in our lifetimes nobody has seen what is going on now. As americans we cannot allow this to continue, its time to liberate our communities from this scourge. We can be the generation that ends the Opioid Epidemic. Brangham the president spoke of the severity of the crisis, which claimed the lives of at least 64,000 people last year, which has stretched the ability of First Responders and filled Treatment Centers to capacity nationwide. But the president also told a more personal story about his own brother fred, who died after his struggle with alcoholism. He really helped me. He had a very tough life because of alcohol but it was tough thing he was going through, but i learned a lot because of fred. Brangham the president today announced several initiatives one prescription opioid drug, will be removed from the market. Regulations will be changed to expand access to treatment facilities. Theyll allow grants from the Labor Department and money for h. I. V. aids care to be used to fight the epidemic. And it will allow officials to tap the Public HealthEmergency Fund, even though that fund has less than 60,000 in it. No new money has been allotted by todays action. Many say the president s declaration of a Public Health emergency is important, but note that it falls short of a more sweeping state of National Emergency which would give the government far more flexibility to respond to the epidemic. The president s own commission on this crisis, chaired by new Jersey Governor Chris Christie had urged that more comprehensive declaration earlier this year. Christie today was still very supportive of the president s action. What he did today was historic and an extraordinary set of steps to begin dealing with this problem. Nancy pelosi said without more robust funding Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that without more robust funding, todays action is simply not enough. Declaring an emergency means he can have access to some funds but the funds in that account are like 57 to 58,000, so show me the money. Brangham todays declaration lasts for just 90 days, but can be renewed indefinitely by the president. For the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff rhode island has been especially hard hit by this epidemic and has one of the highest overdose fatality rates in the country. Gina raimondo is the governor and a democrat. And she joins me now from providence. Governor, welcome to the program. Thank you. What does it mean to you that the president has declared this a Public Health emergency . Well, good afternoon, judy. Good to talk to you. This is a Public Health emergency. The Public Health emergency here in rhode island. Since ive been governor i have done two executive orders on the matter and it is certainly probably the biggest Public Health crisis we face in america. We cant do enough, people are dying every day because of Overdose Deaths. Im sick and tired of going to funerals in my state of my friends kids, family members of people who i know, every day almost i hear a story of this. And we have to do more. What is your understanding of what can happen now as a result of this being declared a Public Health emergency that couldnt be done before . You know, this has just come out so its little too soon to say. What i will say though is to me it seems like too little too late. This has been an emergency for am so time. What we really need is resources, judy. We know what works. We have to do prevention and we have to get folks into treatment. And so what the president should be doing if he really did care about these lives is sending finances and funding to us on a local level so that we can get folks into treatment. We know what works. Like here in rhode island, for example, weve been using our Medicaid Expansion dollars to provide medical assisted treatment to folks in prison so they dont overdose and die when they come out. It works. Its saving lives. But if the president were serious about treating this like a crisis that it is, he would have acted sooner and at this point he would be providing some budget behind this priority. Because thats what we need. Woodruff at the white house officials are telling reporters that this is going to put them in a position to urge the congress to put more fun into this so called Public HealthEmergency Fund which they would point out has not been funded by the congress for years. And that would be a good step. That would be a good step. Although again i would say were past dabbee steps on this. I mean in a small state of rhode island hundreds of people die every year because of overdose. And these are people in every zip code, of every sowsio economic status in every neighborhood, young people, kids in their 20s are dying and it could be prevented. So i would say we need more fun for prevention, more more money for Mental Health. We dnt have nearly enough Mental Health facilities. And more money for medical assisted treementd. And i dont think we can wait. Its time for action. People deserve action. In the past two weeks ive gone to three funerals related to this. Enough is enough. Were doing everything we can and the president needs to do everything he knows how to do to save lives. The president i think went out of his way today to say that this is something that matters deeply to him personally. He spoke about his own brother who died, having been diagnosed with alcoholism. The president sounds like hes very determined to keep the focus on this. Well, talk is one thing am but lets see action. You know, as i said, people are still unable to get access to Mental Health services either because they cant afford it, they dont have insurance or theres not enough capacity in the system. He mentioned today for example going after cheap fentanyl coming in from china, take action, it is killing our kids every day, coming in from china and mexico. Lets see some real enforcement. And again im just imploring him, put politics aside, imploring the congress, put politics aside, do the right thing, give the states not just flexibility, give us the finances that this country has to we can save lives. Woodruff and time matters here . Time absolutely matters. Every day we wait, people lose their lives, that is about the size of it. So lets get to work. Woodruff Governor Gina Raimondo of the state of r0ed island, thank you very much. Woodruff in the days other news, the house of representatives narrowly passed a republican budget, paving the way for tax cuts of up to 1. 5 trillion. 20 republican conservatives joined democrats opposing the budget. They complained the tax cuts could balloon deficit spending and eliminate state and local tax deductions. House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledged the complaints, and promised the conservatives will be heard. The ways and Means Committee will be putting out a specific plan very shortly and they are going to work with all of our members to look at and consider and address their concerns. I believe the ways and Means Committee will be working with these members in particular to find a solution. Woodruff on a separate note, ryan played down the biting criticism of President Trump by republican senator jeff flake this week. He told reporters i dont think the American People care about that. The Trump Administration imposed new economic sanctions today on north koreas military and government leaders. It cited human rights abuses. And, a state Department Report showed satellite images of brutal prison camps in the north, and spoke of systematic killings and forced labor. In indonesia, at least 47 people died in a massive explosion at a fireworks factory near jakarta. The blast and inferno of flames collapsed the roof, as thick smoke billowed out. Most of the victims were female workers, apparently locked inside. Kenya held a rerun of its president ial election today, but only part of the country voted. The rest was in turmoil as opposition supporters battled police and boycotted the polls. John ray of independent Television News reports from kenya. Reporter the day kenya went to vote, some places looked like they were going to war. At least three reported dead, and many more injured. A protester takes a beating from the police. No surprise if democracy is another casualty. Security forces fire tear gas into crowds of demonstrators, who hurl stones in return. In this opposition area there is no question of voting today. Instead, all day, there have been these skirmishes between protesters and police. Kenyas election will settle nothing. Instead, it will only increase tensions. The opposition claims the election is rigged. Why is nobody here voting . Theres no democracy. No democracy. Reporter do you think the election is being stolen . Already it has been stolen. Reporter in the absence of a challenger, president Uhuru Kenyatta would seem guaranteed victory, though tarnished by a low turnout. All were asking is that kenyans turn out, we are requesting them humbly that they should turn out in large numbers to cast their vote. Reporter and in the capital, government loyalists did as they were asked by their president , though here they queued not in their many thousands, but by the few dozen. With just one contender, we know who will win the election, but not when the chaos will end. Woodruff thats john ray of independent Television News. Spains catalonia region moved closer to the brink of seceding today. The regional president declared he will not call new elections, as the Central Government in madrid wanted. The Political Developments came as thousands of proindependence protesters marched in the catalan capital of barcelona. Back in this country, theres word a computer server involved in a lawsuit over Election Security in georgia, has been wiped clean. The Associated Press reports it happened in july, just after the suit was filed. The main defendant is the republican secretary of state. His Office Denies any role in the erasure. Msnbc today suspended political journalist mark halperin, over allegations of sexual harassment. Five women say halperin propositioned and fondled them in the early 2000s, when he was political director at abc news. They say they did not report the actions for fear of retribution or embarrassment. Halperin has apologized for what he called inappropriate behavior. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 71 points to close at 23,400. The nasdaq fell seven, and the s p 500 added three. Still to come on the newshour whats next now that the Opioid Epidemic has been declared a Public Health emergency. A pattern of neglect from hospice caretakers parents forced to pick up and move to give their kids a better future, and much more. Woodruff we return now to our lead story President Trumps declaration of a Public Health emergency over the Opioid Epidemic. William brangham is back with that with a look at what it could mean. Brangham and for that, were joined by two people whove studied this epidemic for a long time dr. Bertha madras sits on President Trumps opioid commission. Shes a professor of psychobiology at harvard medical school. And dr. Andrew kolodny hes codirector of Opioid Policy Research at brandeis universitys Heller School and is executive director of physicians for responsible opioid prescribing, a group dedicated to reducing the over prescription of painkillers. Welcome to you both to the newshour. Thank you, delighted to be here. Andrew kolodny i would like to start with you, i wonder if you could give me your reaction to the president s initiative today . Im disappointed. We heard from the president last august that he considered the Opioid Crisis to be an emergency. Back in august i would have expected the president to announce what he was going to do about the problem and to begin taking action. If you call a problem an emergency, you expect to see immediate action to address it. And then months went by and today we heard again that he considers this an emergency. Hes giving it an official des ig nation as a Public Health emergency but were still not really receiving a detailed plan about the actions that will be taken. And im especially disappointed that the president isnt announcing that he is seeking an appropriation from congress. I believe we need billions of dollars invested in building out a treatment system that doesnt exist yet if were going to see Overdose Deaths start to km down. What do you make of this, this is a criticism a lot of people have said, that it is obviously hugely symbolic for the president to talk about it as personally and moving leigh as he did today. But that absent money behind it, it may not be enough. Well, i, my lovely colleague dr. Kolodny and i disagee on the take on this. First of all, this Opioid Crisis has fest erred for almost a decade. The upsurge was in 2010. And i have seem to expect the pesident to solve the prob within a few weeks or months of declaring a National Emergency is unrealistic. Especially since the report of the commission is coming up next week. That report is going to have far greater detail in terms of areas that need funding, areas that need dramically dramatic reform and areas that need prevention. My take on the president s speech today is that it was one of the finest presentations on the overview of what drugs to people, what are the consequences are, and it presents a National Philosophy on drugs that we vnlt heard in recent times. Dr. Kolodny lets say that next week the president does come forward with the billions of dollars you would like to see put towards this epidemic. What are we to do with that money . What are the big challenges that need funding and need attention . If we want to see Overdose Deaths begin to come down, well what will have to happen is we need to be in a place where someone who is opioid addictedded, when they wake up in the morning and if you are opioid addicted, when you wake up in the morning you will need to use opioids pretty quickly or you will be feeling really sick. That individual needs to be able to access affective outpatient treatment more easily than they can access pain pills, heroin or fentanyl. If that person is tbg to be feeling secretary soon and they have 20 in their pocket, they will go out and use heroin. We need that person to be able to walk into a treatment center, and get treated that same day regardless of their ability to pay for it. Wouldnt you agree that that is really the central issue here. That people who want treatment oftentimes dont have access to it. Treatment on demand. And andrew, if you could waited until the report comes out, there is clearly a recognition of the need for people who are motivated, the biggest problem that i see in dealing with people who have an opioid use disorder is that a large proportion of them do not come forward. And im more concerned that these ar