GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente employees walk off the job to protest staffing shortages, low wages and burnout in the largest health care strike in U.S. history.
GEOFF BENNETT: The Republican Party faces no clear choice for a new leader after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted.
AMNA NAWAZ: And the U.S. warns that Guatemala's government is interfering with the peaceful transfer of power following democratic elections.
We speak with the country's president-elect.
BERNARDO AREVALO, Guatemalan President-Elect (through translator): Even though the corrupt functionaries in the general attorney's office are going to continue attempting any way to derail the process and deny the people the electoral result, it's not going to work.
(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
The largest health care strike in U.S. history is under way, after the nonprofit health care giant Kaiser Permanente and its unionized workers failed to reach a new contract agreement.
GEOFF BENNETT: More than 75,000 health care workers walked off the job today at Kaiser facilities in five states and Washington, D.C. JACQUELYN DULEY, Radiologic Technologist: So what's happening is, Kaiser has not been bargaining with us in good faith.
And so it's pushing us to come out here and strike.
We don't want to.
We want to just be inside taking care of our patients.
But, unfortunately, Kaiser's not bargaining in good faith.
GEOFF BENNETT: The strike is set to last three days as contract negotiations continue focusing on wage increases and solutions to staffing shortages.
Caroline Lucas is the executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
And she joins us now to talk more about this.
Thank you for being with us.
Health care workers taking to the picket lines, they're fighting for better pay, better benefits.
That's certainly true in California, which has a high cost of living.
It's also where most of the 75,000 striking Kaiser Permanente workers have walked off the job.
What specifically are you asking for?
CAROLINE LUCAS, Executive Director, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions: Hi.
I think that you have captured it.
We are really looking for Kaiser executives to listen to the voices of front-line health care workers as they raise to the forefront the short-staffing crisis that is impacting patient care within Kaiser Permanente.
GEOFF BENNETT: Kaiser Permanente staff, they say that they're exhausted.
They say that the staffing levels at the Kaiser facilities are unsafe.
Patient wait times, they say, are dangerous.
Paint a picture for us of what an average day at a Kaiser office or hospital looks like right now.
CAROLINE LUCAS: Such a good question.
I was just talking to folks in Colorado, and the receptionist in the audiology department was saying that people are often on hold for 60 minutes just to reach him.
And then, once they do get through to him, he's offering them appointments two to three months out.
And that same story is true across California in Portland, in Washington, D.C., area, where patients are waiting for a long time just to speak to someone to be told your next appointment isn't for months and months out.
GEOFF BENNETT: On this matter of staffing shortages, the health care industry nationwide is facing labor shortages.
And here's what a Kaiser executive had to say about that.
MICHELLE GASKILL-HAMES, Executive, Kaiser Permanente: I think, coming out of the pandemic, health care workers have been completely burned out.
The trauma that was felt caring for so many COVID patients and patients that died was just difficult.
And so people have left the industry as a whole.
GEOFF BENNETT: So, practically, what more could Kaiser Permanente be doing in terms of recruiting and hiring staff that it's not already doing?
CAROLINE LUCAS: Kaiser Permanente has a huge advantage, in that it has front-line health care workers who want to step up and work on long-term solutions to the staffing crisis, comprehensive solutions.
Those look like infrastructure investment in the work force, growing our own in terms of education and training, developing a pipeline for new health care workers to join Kaiser Permanente, and developing a robust wage and benefit package that not just attracts new people into the Kaiser Permanente, but retains existing staff.
GEOFF BENNETT: As we mentioned, this is a multiday, multistate strike.
What do you see as the impact on patients who need immediate care?
How will those folks get the health care that they might need right now?
CAROLINE LUCAS: I think that's a question a lot of people ask.
And what we would say is, front-line health care workers have been seeing patient care suffer now.
Before they went out on strike, there were long waits in the emergency department, and patients were using long waits to access care prior.
And all of the wait times, all the delayed care compounds in a situation that creates a real patient care crisis.
So we know Kaiser Permanente received 10 days notice from us, which is both a legal obligation and an ethical obligation to provide notice to strike.
That's an opportunity for Kaiser to fix the staffing crisis by negotiating good solutions.
Having failed to do that, Kaiser executives will be spending lots of money on outside, expensive companies to come in and staff facilities that could be staffed by Kaiser Permanente employees.
GEOFF BENNETT: So, specifically, what does Kaiser need to do to meet the union's demands?
CAROLINE LUCAS: Kaiser needs to listen to the voices of front-line health care workers as they come up with long term staffing solutions.
Some of those solutions look like incentives to attract new staff into the health care field.
It looks like providing training so that the right staff have the right skill set to deliver care.
It looks like incentivizing off-shifts, night shift, weekend shifts that are really hard to staff right now, partly because differentials haven't changed in 30 years.
And most concerning, we have just heard from Kaiser Permanente an issue that rose up in the last 24 hours, that Kaiser Permanente is interested in outsourcing the jobs of health care workers that, a year ago, they were calling heroes.
GEOFF BENNETT: And we should explain for the unfamiliar, what are differentials?
CAROLINE LUCAS: Oh, thank you.
Absolutely.
So, shifts like night shift weekend shifts are harder to staff, they're harder to attract people to, and they're added costs for workers of taking those shifts.
And so they're an incentive to work an off-shift.
GEOFF BENNETT: Caroline Lucas, the executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, thanks so much for your time and for your insights.
We appreciate it.
CAROLINE LUCAS: Thank you for your time.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: Former President Trump appealed the New York judges ruling that he committed fraud by inflating the value of his assets for banks and insurers.
That came as Mr. Trump returned to a Manhattan courtroom for day three of the civil trial in the case.
Attorney General Letitia James filed the lawsuit and was also on hand.
President Biden hinted today he may try to bypass Congress to get more money for Ukraine.
Last week, House Republicans forced the removal of Ukraine aid from a bill averting a government shutdown.
At the White House today, the president said - - quote -- "There is another means by which we may be able to find funding."
He gave no specifics, but said he plans a major speech on the issue.
At the Vatican today, Pope Francis kicked off a meeting on the future of the Roman Catholic Church with his reform agenda on the line.
The three-week synod will cover issues ranging from women's roles to LGBTQ+ Catholics to climate change.
The pope opened with a mass in St. Peter's Square and a call to put aside liberal/conservative divisions and remake the church.
POPE FRANCIS, Leader of Catholic Church (through translator): We are not here to make a political rally.
We're here to walk together with the gaze of Jesus, who welcomes those who are weary and oppressed.
Come, you who feel far away.
Come, you who have closed the doors to hope.
The church has open doors to all, to all, to all.
AMNA NAWAZ: The synod will not make any binding decisions, but it's already making history.
For the first time, non-clergy and women will be allowed to vote.
Police in India have arrested the editor of a news outlet that criticizes the Hindu nationalist government.
Investigators accuse NewsClick of receiving funding from China.
New Delhi police raided the offices and homes of staffers on Tuesday.
Today, hundreds of protesters accused the government of silencing criticism.
This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to three scientists whose research lit up the world of nanotechnology.
Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov, all based in the U.S., discovered tiny bright particles known as quantum dots.
Their work led to widespread use in LED lights, TV screens, and even medical imaging.
Bawendi spoke today in Boston.
MOUNGI BAWENDI, Nobel Prize Winner: It's this new field that has reached out and touched many other parts of science.
And I find that incredibly rewarding to learn about all these areas where we could be providing something to those fields.
AMNA NAWAZ: In medicine, quantum dot technology can illuminate blood vessels and tumors or track drugs as they flow through the human body.
Mourners in San Francisco paid final respects today to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, as she lay in state at city hall.
Feinstein was the city's first female mayor and ultimately served three decades in Washington.
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi was among those who viewed the casket today.
The all-day procession lasted into the evening, with the funeral scheduled for tomorrow.
And, on Wall Street, stocks rebounded as oil prices dropped $5 a barrel, easing pressure on inflation.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 127 points to close at 33129.
The Nasdaq rose 176 points, nearly 1.4 percent.
The S&P 500 added 34 points.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the deadline for resuming student loan payments kicks in; Guatemala's president-elect discusses efforts to keep him from taking office; how a lack of sleep is taking a toll on teens' mental health; plus much more.
GEOFF BENNETT: Two candidates are entering the Republican race to be the next speaker of the House.
And the first votes could be cast one week from today.
But it's unclear how long it will take to find a successor to Kevin McCarthy.
AMNA NAWAZ: The ousted former speaker didn't assume the role until four days into the legislative session earlier this year and only after 15 rounds of voting by representatives.
Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is here to update us, as history once again unfolds on Capitol Hill.
Busy days for you, Lisa.
Thanks for being here.
LISA DESJARDINS: Hi.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, it's only been a day since Speaker McCarthy was ousted.
LISA DESJARDINS: Right.
AMNA NAWAZ: There's a new speaker race under way.
LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: How is that shaping up?
You might wonder, why would anyone want to be speaker after what happened yesterday?
But this job does not come open often.
Only five people have served in this role this century.
And, indeed, we have three names that are really at the top of the list tonight.
First two have announced, Steve Scalise, the current number two Republican in the House, and Jim Jordan, well-known as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
The other name, you may be less familiar with.
That's Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.
He does head a very large Republican Study Committee, but he's only been in Congress for three terms.
He is pitching himself as someone outside of leadership.
Now, here's what he said last night about why he's considering joining the race.
REP. KEVIN HERN (R-OK): Well, certainly I didn't volunteer to do this.
It's not something I came in Washington, D.C., to do.
But when you have people asking you about taking a different direction than what we have done historically in this Congress, and then we're doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, where leadership just keeps ascending through the ranks, and people have asked me about looking at an alternate choice.
LISA DESJARDINS: Jordan and Scalise alone is sort of a battle royal, some of the most respected and really deepest relationships in the House Republican Conference between those two.
But this isn't just about those people, Amna.
This is also about the rules, because there will -- there are some moderates who say, we can't go through this again.
We have to change the rules.
There are some who say no.
What these men who are running want to say about that will matter, and we will find that out next Tuesday, when they will speak to their conference.
The soonest we could have a new speaker nominated is next Wednesday, votes on the floor.
This will have a major impact on things, including Ukraine, Jordan and Scalise so far not saying they would support more money for Ukraine.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the meantime, Lisa, there's no full-time speaker of the House.
There's an acting speaker.
How does that impact the actual work of the House?
LISA DESJARDINS: Let's talk about that.
The acting speaker, president -- speaker pro tem, is Patrick McHenry of North Carolina.
There he is right there.
He has said he's not interested in being speaker permanently.
Now, what's interesting here is that there are some things he cannot do, because he was appointed and not elected as speaker pro tem.
There is generally a theory, and it hasn't been tested.
We have never done this before.
But most people believe that no bills can move on the House floor until there is an elected speaker.
But there's general confusion.
I want to play a conversation last night I had with two members of Congress you will see, Ralph Norman and, behind him, Derrick Van Orden, as they themselves couldn't figure out what the speaker can do.
REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): McHenry can keep the process going, from my understanding.
LISA DESJARDINS: The committees.
REP. RALPH NORMAN: The committees can do their work.
(CROSSTALK) REP. RALPH NORMAN: The reports can come out.
(CROSSTALK) LISA DESJARDINS: But you can't do anything with it on the floor again and get it passed out?
REP. RALPH NORMAN: Well, he's an acting speaker.
No, he's been designated by McCarthy to be the acting speaker.
REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): The answer is no.
We can't do any business on the -- that's just wrong, man.
We can't do any business on the floor until a speaker is voted in.
LISA DESJARDINS: I think that speaks for itself.
There's a lot of confusion, but right now the House is essentially paralyzed.
AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, what about former Speaker McCarthy himself?
We know it's a long-gained ambition of his to hold the speakership.
What about his future?
LISA DESJARDINS: Right.
He told us last night that he has not decided whether he will resign from Congress, as we saw happen with John Boehner, who left the speakership before him.
He's making that decision now, and he also may endorse someone, he said, for speaker.
But when asked about what happened yesterday, when asked about the substance of the claims that Matt Gaetz and others are making against him, saying that he was someone they couldn't trust, someone who betrayed Republicans, Speaker McCarthy, former Speaker McCarthy, I should say, of course, said, no, there was no substance.
Here's how he put it.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): You know it was personal.
It had nothing to do about spending.
It had nothing to do about -- everything he accused somebody of, he was doing.
It all was about getting attention from you.
I mean, we're getting e-mail fund-raisers from him as he's doing it.
Join in quickly.
That's not governing.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's just one example of how emotional it was yesterday.
And those feelings are still very president for Republicans.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, when you step back for a second, Mr. McCarthy is now one of the shortest-serving speakers in history.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, you have Mitch McConnell, one of the longest-serving Republican leaders in history.
Why is there such a difference between Republicans in the two chambers right now?
LISA DESJARDINS: Yes, I want to credit one of our great colleagues, Stephanie Kotuby, for raising this idea as well.
And it's a good point.
The Senate is designed, as George Washington put it, to be cooling, a factor, versus the House, which moves more hot.
But there's something different about modern politics.
We're seeing gerrymandering, making districts more partisan.
We're seeing more people rewarded for going to the ends and extremes, especially in the Republican Party.
I think that's what's happening here.
And the House is also a place where there is more support of former President Donald Trump, more vocal support, deeper support.
As we know, and I talked about it last night, he's campaigned on disrupting institutions.
I don't think it's a coincidence that we have seen the institution of the House disrupted more than it ever has been before.
AMNA NAWAZ: Disruption is an understatement, I think.
LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: Unprecedented times.
Lisa Desjardins, covering it all, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
GEOFF BENNETT: With the future of the House Republican Conference in limbo, we turn to Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York.
Thank you for being with us.
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Thank you.
It's great to be with you.
GEOFF BENNETT: You opposed the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
Why?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I think Kevin was doing a good job.
We were pushing forward our priorities, energy independence, Border Security Act.
Both of those bills have been passed and put on Chuck Schumer's desk.
We were also making sure that we avoided a debt default, that we were able to avoid a shutdown.
We saved trillions of dollars for the American taxpayer during that default deal that occurred earlier this year.
People have to recognize that we are one-third of the federal government.
We still have to work with the Senate and the White House to get things done.
But where he could control things in making the chamber run smoother, giving us enough time to read legislation, so the days of having to pass bills to know what are in them were over, we felt like we were getting real good government reforms under Speaker McCarthy.
And I felt that it was unfair to have him removed simply because he put a bill the other day that prevented a shutdown on the floor and it happened to pass with bipartisan support.
GEOFF BENNETT: Looking forward, at least two Republicans now say they are vying for the speakership.
That's Congressman Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan.
In your view, could either of them win the 218 votes needed to become House speaker?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Yes, I think it's possible that either one may very well be the next speaker.
I think both are very well-liked within the conference.
They're both very effective communicators.
And so I think it's a chance it could be one of those two, or there could be a dark horse that comes and can also get elected.
The key is to see who will unite us, who will bring us together, so we can move forward.
We need to recognize that we need to stick together if we are going to get border security, if we are going to be able to cut excessive wasteful spending.
We had a plan in place on how we were going to move forward, with just 40 days left to fund the government, of how we were going to work this to get the things that we wanted, that the American people want in this appropriations process.
And, unfortunately, we lost significant amount of leverage yesterday when Matt Gaetz chose to side with the Democrats to overthrow our speaker which 97 percent of our conference supports.
GEOFF BENNETT: How will any future Republican speaker have an easier time than Kevin McCarthy did in leading, in trying to manage this fractious House caucus, when you have a handful of Republicans who say they're not focused and not really interested in the kind of compromise that you're talking about?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Yes, there are those certainly who are here to govern.
I include myself in that group.
And then there are those who are here who want to play charades.
And, unfortunately, those individuals are not serious about the give-and-take and compromise that is needed for a Republican House that is outnumbered 2-1 by the Democrats in the Senate and the White House.
So we have to find a way to move forward.
This is going to be the real test.
If it was truly personal with Kevin McCarthy, which is what many people say, then perhaps we could still find a path forward with another speaker.
But if these group -- this group is going to continue to hold the rest of the conference and the Congress hostage as we try to do the work of the American people, I think it's going to be very difficult.
GEOFF BENNETT: In order to become House speaker over the course of those historic 15 ballots, Kevin McCarthy made multiple concessions to the right-wingers that effectively drained his power, including this agreement that any one member could call a vote to unseat him.
Will those rules change with the next speaker?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I'm talking with many of my colleagues.
They want to see the rules change.
They believe that it should be at least half of the conference has to be dissatisfied for a motion to vacate.
Kevin McCarthy, as I said, worked very diligently to empower the membership to make sure that we were seeing the good government reforms on the floor that we wanted, because we were tired of the way that Nancy Pelosi ran the chamber.
And it was to, sadly, his own detriment, because he did agree to that motion of vacate by one individual.
And when this one individual sided with just a handful of Republicans and all the Democrats, including the socialist Squad, against our own conference, that was an unfortunate circumstance, something that should have never happened, particularly at this pressing time, when we have so much work to do to pass the remaining appropriation bills.
Remember, the House has passed four out of the 12 funding bills.
The Senate has done zero.
And so this all needs to be resolved within the next 40 days.
That's a lot of work, considering we have lost now the next two weeks.
This week, we were sent home.
And, next week, we're going to be electing a speaker.
And who knows -- until we elect a speaker, we can't bring any bills to the floor.
GEOFF BENNETT: Is there any semblance of a plan to avoid a government shutdown right now?
And what's the future of Ukraine funding?
At least one of the men vying for the speakership, Jim Jordan, says that that's now a thing of the past.
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I think it probably is going to be a harder path for the Senate to push down any type of Ukraine funding.
I think, originally, there was no side deal, like Matt Gaetz said.
The speaker reaffirmed that to us yesterday.
But he had said to the conference that, look, we really want to secure our border.
That's the House's number one ask.
The Senate's number one ask is not anything for America.
It's actually the fund Ukraine.
So the question is, maybe, down the line, the negotiation would be, undo the president - - undo President Biden's executive orders that created this migrant crisis that's hurting cities like mine.
And maybe there would be a trade in that type of negotiation setting.
GEOFF BENNETT: Lastly, Congresswoman, what message does this infighting among House Republicans send to the country in this election year about whether House Republicans can govern and whether they themselves are governable?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Well, this is the challenge with any slim majority, right?
If any three or four or five people decide that they want to create chaos, they can do so.
So, only two things can happen here.
I think we need to get a larger majority, so it's a governing majority, and no small group can take us as hostages.
Or we have to see maybe some bipartisanship.
But I doubt that, considering that the Democrats joined the far right here to do this to us.
So, I feel that Matt Gaetz is certainly not representative of the conference.
In fact, I believe that most people in the conference would like to see him out of the conference.
He certainly is not representative, I think, of the Republican values, the fact that he would cut this deal with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the others to overthrow our speaker.
I think that they need to look at what the Republicans are fighting for, right?
The things that we're fighting for, we want a secure border, we want to make sure we stop this inflationary spending, which we have.
There's been no more massive spending bills since we have taken power of the House.
We want energy independence.
We want parents bill of rights.
We have pushed all this stuff over to the Senate.
Schumer chooses not to do it.
GEOFF BENNETT: Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, thanks for your time this evening.
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you.
AMNA NAWAZ: In Manhattan, former President Donald Trump weighed in on the speaker battle today, but he did not endorse a McCarthy successor.
DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: A lot of people have been calling me about speaker.
All I can say is, we will do whatever is best for the country and for the Republican Party.
AMNA NAWAZ: He was speaking to reporters at the courthouse where the civil trial accusing him of fraud is under way.
That trial has become a vehicle for the former president and front-runner for the GOP nomination to amplify violent rhetoric against his perceived enemies, from judges to legal clerks and the attorney general.
White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has been following the developments and joins me here.
Laura, good to see you.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Good to be here.
AMNA NAWAZ: So the judge in this New York case is Arthur Engoron.
He imposed a gag order on Mr. Trump yesterday.
Why?
What led to that?
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, Judge Engoron imposed this gag order very quickly on Trump, saying that he can't make comments about court staff.
And this came hours after former President Trump attacked that judge's principal law clerk on social media, on TRUTH Social.
Trump baselessly accused the law clerk of having a relationship with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and also said that: This law clerk is running the case against me.
This should be dismissed immediately.
And this is clearly a pattern from the former president, where he is directly attacking any officials that are involved in these cases against him.
AMNA NAWAZ: You have reported on this other pattern before.
We were seeing former President Trump directing some of his most derogatory attacks against officials of color.
Are we seeing that same pattern again?
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: We are, Amna.
He did it just this week again when he was in New York City directly attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James when he was there for the civil fraud trial.
And here's what he had to say about James.
DONALD TRUMP: We have a racist attorney general who is a horror show.
This is a disgrace.
And you ought to go after this attorney general, because she's turning off everybody from coming in.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Again, Amna, that's a pattern from the former president.
Specifically, when he talks about Black jurists, Black judges, Black prosecutors, he uses words like racists, animals, rabid, thugs.
AMNA NAWAZ: So these are just a few recent examples.
I know you have been tracking some of the rhetoric we have seen from former President Trump.
You have been tracking many more before that, though.
Tell us about that.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Violent rhetoric, again, is a feature, not a bug, of Trump's campaigning style.
It goes back to 2016, Amna, when he used to use a lot of violent rhetoric during his campaign.
But, recently, there has been, over the course of the last two weeks, an increase.
And so if we break it down, on September 22, Trump suggests that General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be executed.
September 29, he mocks the assault on Paul Pelosi.
That was a violent political attack, September 29, as well in that same speech, calls for shoplifters to be shot on sight.
You will remember he said in 2020, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.
And then, on October 3, he said -- which was just yesterday, Amna, when speaking to right-wing media, he said, migrants are -- quote -- "poisoning the blood of our country."
Now, I checked with a historian, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, and she said that language that he's using, talking about migrants, Amna, echoes language used in Nazi propaganda by Adolf Hitler when Adolf Hitler actually said that Jewish people and migrants were -- quote -- "causing a blood poisoning" -- end quote -- of Germany.
AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, this is language we have seen before.
It's often dismissed or categorized as brash and erratic.
And, over time, some, I think, become numb to it, because it's what we have come to expect from former President Trump.
When you talk to people who track this rhetoric and its impact, what do they tell you about why it matters?
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: All the experts I have talked to, Amna, in extremism and far right extremism, as well as the historians, say that this rhetoric directly leads to violence.
January 6 was, of course, the most -- was the largest event that we saw in terms of the former president's language inciting people to go to the Capitol and storm it.
But they also point to other incidents, death threats against the Black judge overseeing the January 6 federal case.
Those death threats led to arrests, as well as the attack on the FBI Ohio office just last year shortly after Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort was raided.
So, essentially, at the end of the day, all extremism experts that I talk to, Amna, say that this not only normalizes violent rhetoric, but it also encourages violence.
AMNA NAWAZ: White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez joining us tonight.
Laura, thank you.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.
GEOFF BENNETT: More than 28 million people must now begin paying their student loans back.
The resumption began this month, and it's expected to be challenging in many ways, as the Department of Education tries to answer borrowers' questions about how the monthly payments will look.
John Yang has more.
JOHN YANG: Geoff, President Biden has taken many paths to try to fulfill his campaign promises to cancel student debt.
One avenue was shut off in June when the Supreme Court struck down his plan to cancel as much as $20,000 in debt for some borrowers.
So, the president has been using existing targeted programs to cancel some debt.
Today, he announced another $9 billion in forgiveness for 125,000 borrowers.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: With the latest debt cancellation, in total, my administration has canceled $127 billion in student debts for nearly 3.6 million Americans.
This kind of relief is life-changing for individuals and their families.
But it's good for our economy as a whole as well.
JOHN YANG: Separately, the Education Department is making another attempt at mass relief, like the plan the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.
Washington Post reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel covers the economics of higher education, including federal loan programs.
Danielle, what the president announced today, who benefits from that?
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL, The Washington Post: So, what the president announced is really a progress report on a bunch of initiatives that were aimed at fixing problems in existing programs designed to help defrauded students, to help public servants, and also to help people who are permanently disabled receive the kind of loan forgiveness that they are entitled to, but really haven't gotten for - - because of mismanagement of these programs because of overly complex rules that have made it really difficult for borrowers to be successful.
So we're thinking here teachers, social workers, folks who are in fields where they are not necessarily making high income, but certainly have had to take on a lot of student debt, for licensing and for other needs like that, are the ones who are really able to benefit from these initiatives.
JOHN YANG: The president said today that he's canceled student debt for more than 3.5 million borrowers.
But that is a very small sliver of the 43 million who owe the federal government student loan money.
Is there anything more or what more can the president do by himself without asking Congress?
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL: Certainly, Congress doesn't think so.
And that's kind of been the issue here.
Very many activists would like to see the president find some kind of unilateral route to canceling far more student loans than the 3.6 million people.
But as we saw with what the Supreme Court did in June, those paths will likely be challenged and could end up being unsuccessful.
I think this new path that the administration is taking, one of going through federal rulemaking process, is probably, at least from what I'm being told by higher education experts, a more sound path to receiving kind of sweeping debt cancellation.
But it's not exactly clear yet whether it'll be a match for match from what -- the plan that we saw that was struck down by the court had offered, which was up to $20,000 of student debt relief for millions of borrowers.
It's not clear if that's exactly what this new path will deliver, but it does at least show that he is not willing to give up on this policy.
JOHN YANG: This is, as we said, the same week that loan repayments resume after an interim during the pandemic, during COVID issues.
What is -- is the administration doing anything or the big things the administration is doing to help people as they get back into paying their loans?
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL: I mean, certainly, rolling out this most recent income-driven repayment plan, dubbed SAVE, is a pretty big step in trying to make it easier for borrowers to afford their payment.
This is by far the most generous repayment plan on the market in terms of protecting more of an individual's income in the calculation of their monthly payments.
It certainly also offers a shorter pathway to forgiveness for people who are low-balance borrowers, low-income borrowers.
But at the same time, I am hearing from borrowers that they are having trouble getting through to their servicers.
They are having long wait times.
Some of them are having issues with the -- applying for the plan.
But to the administration's credit, they have offered effectively a 12-month grace period, whereby, if borrowers are having a hard time with their payments, it won't be reported to the credit bureaus, and they won't, like, end up in collection.
So those are important steps to make sure that you don't have a huge spike in delinquencies.
Still, you really want to see what the next couple of months are going to produce in terms of how people are feeling about the restart of their payments, how they're managing that bill back into their budget.
For some people, this is the $300, $400, $500, sometimes even $1,000 dollar bill that is being added back at a time where we're still dealing with inflation, when we're still dealing with high housing costs and the like.
So, I'm really curious to see how this plays out in the next few months.
JOHN YANG: What advice would you give a borrower who's having trouble, who's financially strapped and having trouble to make their payments?
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL: I really do believe that this new income-driven repayment plan is a great option for a lot of people, particularly people who are struggling, because it really would help you to manage your payments.
Because, depending on how much money you're making, especially if you're unemployed at this moment, you could qualify for zero monthly payments, but still receive credit towards having the balance of your loans forgiven.
And that's a big difference than, say, going on forbearance, which is also a viable option for a lot of people, postponing your payments until you can afford them.
But at least, with the income-driven repayment plan, you're working towards something even as you're having a difficult time financially.
JOHN YANG: What else should people keep in mind, borrowers keep in mind, as the repayments resume?
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL: This 12-month grace period is a great option for people to make sure that they don't end up in delinquency.
But I really encourage people not to look at this as an extension of the payment pause.
Interest is still accruing on your loans.
And, certainly, your balance is going to grow during this time.
If borrowers can afford it, then they definitely should be making payments.
If they can't afford it, they should be talking to their servicer and the Education Department to figure out which repayment plan is best for them.
We are at a point now where we have so many options available to borrowers, far more than when I got out of college.
So I think it's a really great time for people to look at what's available, look at what fits their lifestyle, and really figure out how best to tackle this debt.
JOHN YANG: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of The Washington Post, thank you very much.
DANIELLE DOUGLAS-GABRIEL: Thank you.
AMNA NAWAZ: Guatemala is Central America's most populous country and critical to U.S. efforts to control regional migration.
In August, the country elected an outsider, an anti-corruption activist who vows to take on entrenched elites that have weakened the judiciary and persecuted Guatemalan journalists and activists.
Nick Schifrin speaks to the president-elect in his first English-language interview since the election and reports on the promise of his presidency.
NICK SCHIFRIN: When the pact of the corrupt came for Guatemala's democracy, they missed the crusader.
Bernardo Arevalo told Guatemalans, yes, they could fight corruption.
And, in August's election, Arevalo and his party came out of nowhere to overcome a political establishment that had tried to silence them.
BERNARDO AREVALO, Guatemalan President-Elect (through translator): What the people shout about is, enough with so much corruption.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Arevalo won in a landslide by appealing to young, urban, and indigenous voters.
He wants to tackle corruption and build state institutions to reduce the root causes that have pushed more Guatemalans to migrate than from any other Latin American country.
But the entrenched elites have resisted the people's will.
The attorney general's office has raided electoral offices and seized election materials to try and destroy Arevalo's party and prevent his presidency.
The U.S. called those actions an effort to undermine the peaceful transfer of power and is imposing visa restrictions on corrupt actors.
Arevalo is a former university professor and an outsider.
But his father is former President Juan Jose Arevalo, who gave birth in the 1950s to Guatemala's first Democratic spring after a century of dictatorship.
Bernardo Arevalo's party is called Seed Movement that hopes to grow a new spring for democracy.
President-elect Arevalo, thank you very much.
Welcome to the "NewsHour."
You received a resounding mandate in this election, but you have faced a relentless campaign against your party, including another raid on electoral authorities this past Friday.
So are you confident that you will in fact be sworn in as president in January, as scheduled?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Yes, I'm very confident.
Legally, there is no question.
Politically, we enjoy a very high level of support from every quarter in society.
We know that, even though the corrupt functionaries in the general office are going to continue attempting any way to derail the process and deny the people the electoral result, it is not going to work.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Has there been any evidence behind their accusations?
BERNARDO AREVALO: None whatsoever.
We have been denied the right of defense, because they basically have not granted us access to the case.
They don't have any solid evidence, and they are just spreading innuendo around our case.
NICK SCHIFRIN: You have called it a coup d'etat.
Is that what you think is happening?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, a coup d'etat is the moment at which a state institution alters constitutional order.
And that is what is exactly happening.
Their hope is that, eventually, there will be some sort of reversal or alteration of the electoral result, so that those who have been elected to take office will not be able to do so.
And that is a coup d'etat.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. officials who I speak to hope that their visa restrictions have sent a message to entrenched interests in the private sector especially.
Do you think that is the case?
BERNARDO AREVALO: We have been working with the private sector in order to begin to identify common efforts for development in the future.
We know that many in the private sector are willing and really interested in collaborating with our government in this new vision for development that we are bringing forward.
But there might be other specific actors in the private sector that might still be acting in an undemocratic way.
And that is something that we don't rule out.
NICK SCHIFRIN: You have received death threats.
Some in the U.S. government I talk to are concerned about your security.
Is the U.S. helping with your security, and are you concerned about your own security?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, we have received threats, death threats, that have been informed to us officially.
These have resulted in the state providing enhanced security apparatus that we are working now, with the collaboration of the United States too.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Assuming you become president, assuming members of your party are able to sit in Congress, they will not be a majority.
The other parties have not indicated that they will work with you.
The judiciary apparently is against you.
Even that attorney general we spoke about will stay in power.
How will you move forward with your agenda, despite those challenges?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, political alignments that were there before the electoral results are already beginning to change, because previous political alignments were sustained by the possibility of having access to corrupt funds.
And this is disappearing because we have control over the budget.
And we are not going to allow corrupt actors to have control over the budget.
And, on the other hand, we cannot rely on a government solution that is based exclusively in our relationship between Congress and executive.
We have to find ways in which we build coalitions of social actors that support an agenda for development.
And this is the one that is brought forward to the attention of the political parties in Congress.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And yet, as you know, across decades of Guatemalan history, when leaders have tried to fight corruption, corruption has fought back, from when your father was president, there have been repeated backlashes, all the way to more recent U.N. efforts that included high-profile prosecutions and detentions.
Why do you think your reform agenda will not share the same fate?
BERNARDO AREVALO: The future is not a repetition of history.
And we see time and again that societies that have had these type of problematic paths and secular problems actually find their way out of them.
And we believe that this is the moment for Guatemalan society and that it is our duty as a government to try to foster these change of relations in order to break the vicious circle that has chained our country into poverty and corruption.
NICK SCHIFRIN: One of the efforts, of course, that the U.S. hopes to partner with you on is migration.
How do you propose to work with the U.S. to stem migration flows?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, I think that, first of all, we have to understand that we are dealing with a regional problem.
We have to understand the problem of migration both in terms of the reasons why people continue to escape from their countries, and this is because of poverty or violence, or a combination of both, and then have mechanisms to address these structural reasons.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Your surprise election, if you don't mind my calling it that, your background has led some here in Washington to believe you are, at least hope you are, a transformative figure.
Do you think you are?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, that's clearly what I -- we intend to do, not only me, but my running mate, Dr. Herrera, and our party.
We came into politics because we want to transform the life of Guatemalans for the better.
So, yes, we believe and we are going to be a transformative force in Guatemala.
NICK SCHIFRIN: What do you think your victory, your movement means when it comes to those who are so worried about antidemocratic forces gaining momentum across the region?
BERNARDO AREVALO: Well, I think that we have to understand that what the people in the region want is transformation, change in their livelihoods.
They need political systems that respond and addresses their needs, and that we need democratic institutions to be able to address those needs, and that it is our task to try to find ways into which we can make our governments in all the Latin American region responsive to the needs of the population, so that they are going to maintain their allegiance to our democratic institutions.
I think that, in Guatemala, we have an opportunity to build such a vision.
And this is going to be beneficial to all the countries in the region as well.
NICK SCHIFRIN: President-elect Arevalo, thank you very much BERNARDO AREVALO: You're welcome.
GEOFF BENNETT: Doctors recommend that teenagers get eight to 10 hours of sleep every night, but many are sleeping far less than that, and nearly one in four also suffers from insomnia.
William Brangham reports from California on why it's so hard for so many teens to sleep, and how it's taking a toll on their mental health.
It's part of our ongoing series Early Warnings: America's Youth Mental Health Crisis.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It'll be another long night for 15 year-old Keiko Rakin, as she prepares for another day of high school in Alhambra, California.
KEIKO RAKIN, High School Student: I have homework to due every night.
I usually have two tests a week.
I'm in sports and, that's every day after school for two hours.
I'm in five clubs.
And... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Five clubs?
KEIKO RAKIN: Five, and I have leadership positions in all of them.
And I can get overwhelmed.
You know, I can cry.
I have a hard time breathing.
And it's just me thinking, I have so much to do and I just don't have the time to do it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The academic pressure, the college pressure, the sense that she's not doing enough, it's turned Keiko into a night owl.
Most nights, this high-school sophomore says she goes to bed around 1:00 a.m. and only sleeps five or six hours.
Does that feel like enough sleep for you?
KEIKO RAKIN: No, because it's really hard for me to get up.
And the whole day, I'm constantly yawning.
And I feel like I can fall asleep in class.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Keiko is not alone.
According to the CDC, more than 70 percent of American teenagers aren't getting enough sleep.
LISA DAMOUR, Author, "The Emotional Lives of Teenagers": There's no question in my mind that teenagers' sleep is less than it's ever been and probably worse than it's ever been.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lisa Damour is a clinical psychologist in Shaker Heights, Ohio and the author of "The Emotional Lives of Teenagers."
While there are multiple factors causing 40 percent of high-school students to report having persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, Damour says sleep is a major culprit.
LISA DAMOUR: When teenagers are not getting enough sleep, they are grumpier.
They have a harder time focusing.
They have a harder time remembering things.
They're more likely to have accidents.
They like themselves less.
They like other people less.
The bottom line on this is that if we could bottle what sleep does for teenagers and truly for all of us, this would be the most valuable drug on the market.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So just imagine devising this experiment.
Researchers make their subjects wake up hours before their normal wakeup time.
Then you force them to perform complex mental tasks for five days straight.
That's basically describing the average teenager's school week.
Before the pandemic hit, the average public high school start time across the nation was 8:00 a.m. Last year, California became the first state in the nation to mandate that classes begin no earlier than 8:30.
Well, that's a welcome change for many, it hasn't changed much for Gabby Wong.
She's a junior at Mark Keppel High in California's San Gabriel Valley.
GABBY WONG, High School Student: Sleeping is just so -- it's a victorious feeling, almost, because it's like, I finally get to have enough sleep.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As co-captain of the school's debate team... GABBY WONG: You can have an adequate amount of speech time, and so that the judges see that you're up here.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: ... one of her many extracurriculars, her school day starts at 7:30 a.m. GABBY WONG: You know, I get nightmares so frequently, like, anxiety-riddled nightmares.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's the beginning of a grueling schedule that often keeps her up past midnight, something she admits has taken a toll.
GABBY WONG: I have suffered with mental health issues since I was 11.
But every night before I go to sleep, I just stare at the ceiling and I think, what have I not done?
What assignment have I not finished?
What extracurricular activities are coming up?
And you're thinking, I am not having an easy time with this.
Why am I the only one struggling with this?
But everybody is struggling with it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Gabby told us her sleep is often fluctuating.
She sleeps between three and seven hours a night during the week, but up to 12 hours a night on the weekend.
GABBY WONG: I still wake up feeling tired every day, no matter what.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Are your parents on you about this?
GABBY WONG: Yes.
My parents have cut -- my Wi-Fi is off by 12:00 a.m., because they're so concerned about me not sleeping.
But the thing is, that concern develops, and then it ends up with me being anxious about not finishing certain things by 12:00.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Every student we spoke with said this wasn't a result of parental pressure.
They said these intense schedules and expectations were just part of being a teenager today.
Another major impediment to teenage sleep, technology.
Roughly nine out of 10 teens say they have access to smartphones or laptop computers.
And nearly half say they are online almost constantly.
LISA DAMOUR: There are plenty of teenagers who are losing sleep because they have their technology in their rooms, because they are on their phones late at night, because social media is so hard to pull away from.
So there's definitely reason to think that using smartphones, and especially at night, has something to do with sleep loss in teenagers.
ADRIANA GALVAN, UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent: The brain parts that are lit up, so to speak, are showing us variations among adolescents who get better or worse sleep.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At UCLA's Center for the Developing Adolescent, neuroscientist Adriana Galvan and developmental psychologist Andrew Fuligni are studying the links between sleep and teenage mental health.
ADRIANA GALVAN: It's a chicken-or-egg problem.
Is it that the mental health concerns or issues cause poor sleep, or is it the other way around?
And they're related.
It almost doesn't really matter.
But we know that people who suffer from, for example, anxiety or depression, which are the most common mental health challenges that adolescents may undergo, are associated with poorer sleep.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Fuligni and Galvan have found that students who perform well in school academically often sleep less, and are more likely to face mental health issues compared to their well-rested peers.
But, even more alarmingly, other research has found that students who sleep less than six hours a night are three times as likely to consider or attempt suicide compared to students who sleep eight hours.
This all comes at a time when teenagers experience a natural shift in their circadian rhythm that begins to push them to stay up later.
ANDREW FULIGNI, UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent: It's not their fault.
It's not their choice.
ADRIANA GALVAN: Yes.
ANDREW FULIGNI: It's what the biology is telling them to do.
So they have to go to bed later.
And then we're actually many times asking them to go to school earlier and actually loading on the academic demands in the evening.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So what should parents do who are trying to help their teens get more sleep?
Experts say their behavior is just as important.
ANDREW FULIGNI: It's not necessarily you're going to be on them all the time and harassing them to go to bed, but have an agreed-upon pattern, and that -- and times that you're going to go to sleep.
That's reasonable for teenagers.
ADRIANA GALVAN: We're in a society where Americans do not prioritize sleep.
It's not just the adolescents who are doing this.
All of us stay up late to get a little bit more work done or to go work out or get up early to go workout.
All of that is passed on to what our kids see and model their behavior after.
GABBY WONG: You have any ideas for, like, what the middle event should be, like in between those two?
GEOFF BENNETT: Gabby told us she's committed to trying to get more sleep going forward.
She also co-founded a mental health nonprofit that aims to reach even younger students in the San Gabriel Valley.
GABBY WONG: We would talk about how depressed we were, and a lot of adults would think you're only in like, what, fourth grade, fifth grade?
But that was how we were feeling.
And nobody validated that, because they didn't expect it.
And so seeing that, I don't want someone in the shadows to be going through that without anybody, frankly, to step in and look at that and say, I see you.
What you're feeling is valid.
Just because you're young, it doesn't mean you can't feel that way.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Keiko Rakin, she also hopes her school will create an anonymous tip line for students to talk to other students about their mental health challenges.
KEIKO RAKIN: Teenagers, as a whole, we have those points where we go into these dark places, that we can't eat, we can't sleep, we can't focus.
And I have been there a couple of times, but I think that just talking to someone, if it's alone -- like, you're alone that night, and you just really need someone, that just having that connection, whether it's done in person or not, could really help.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It would be much-needed help that hopefully leads to some much-needed sleep.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in Alhambra, California.
GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.
Join us again here tomorrow, when we will speak with the head of the U.S. Army about how the branch is rethinking recruitment.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.
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