JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Despite calls for unity, the two parties are staking out different positions on COVID relief, as Republicans battle openly over one of their own.

Then: attack and consequences.

We examine the ongoing aftermath of arrests and accountability in the wake of the Capitol insurrection.

And getting the vaccine.

A disconnect between supply and demand leads to confusion for the inoculation rollout in Virginia.

DR. DANNY AVULA, Virginia Vaccine Coordinator: While every bit helps, we are in a situation where we have far more capacity to vaccinate individuals than we do supply.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. House of Representatives has spent hours in impassioned debate today, not on policy, but a politician.

The issue has widened an already serious partisan divide and opened new fault lines within Republican ranks.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.

LISA DESJARDINS: Inside the House of Representatives... WOMAN: The indecent behavior of this member is a threat to Congress and our government.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... a reckoning over one of its own.

WOMAN: The gentlewoman from Georgia.

LISA DESJARDINS: Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and inflammatory statements she has made in the past, and today said she regrets.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): These were words of the past, and these things do not represent me.

LISA DESJARDINS: She's talking about comments like these, supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory: REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: So, that was proof right there that there's possible satanic worship.

LISA DESJARDINS: And the idea that mass school shootings and their victims are frauds.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: He has nothing to say guys because he's paid to do this.

He's a coward.

LISA DESJARDINS: But, today, a different Marjorie Taylor Greene.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: When I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it.

School shootings are absolutely real.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats said she can't be trusted, that her past quotes and violent threats toward other lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, show she is dangerous to Congress itself.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): I think giving congresswoman Greene a megaphone on a standing committee would be a cancer on this entire Congress.

None of us get to decide who the voters send to Congress, but, as members of this body, it is our job to set the standard for the conduct of those who serve here, especially when they cross the line into violence.

LISA DESJARDINS: Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has rejected the idea of banning Greene from committees, but, today, House Democrats moved forward on an unprecedented vote to do just that.

In turn, Pelosi said the Republican Party refuses to confront extremism.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I remain profoundly concerned about House Republicans' leadership acceptance of extreme conspiracy theorists.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Republicans charge that Democrats are the dangerous ones, misusing power to punish a lawmaker for her words.

REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): The action the majority is proposing to take today is not only premature, but, in fact, unprecedented in the history of the House.

Madam Speaker, what the majority is really proposing to do today is establish a new standard for punishing members for conduct before they ever became a member.

LISA DESJARDINS: This after Republicans fractured over their own leadership, with Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney surviving an attempt last night to oust her as the number three Republican in the House, after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.

In a secret ballot, a large majority of Republicans, 145, supported her.

But 61 did not.

Helping lead the charge against her, Montana freshman Matt Rosendale, who said the issue wasn't Cheney's vote, but that she promoted it while in leadership.

REP. MATT ROSENDALE (R-MT): Quite frankly, she ignored all of us at a critical time for the conference for her own personal political gain.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The number one thing that happened in the conference was unity.

LISA DESJARDINS: After last night's meeting, Cheney and party leaders vowed to move on.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (D-WY): It was a very resounding acknowledgement that we need to go forward together.

LISA DESJARDINS: But this was about more than Greene or Cheney.

It was about who is leading the country, and Republicans in particular.

SAM ROSENFELD, Colgate University: This is not normal.

LISA DESJARDINS: Sam Rosenfeld, a political science professor at Colgate University and author of the book "Polarizers," says it is a polarized time, and that Republicans have benefited from fringe beliefs and misinformation.

SAM ROSENFELD: They're not just capitalizing on it, but they're a kind of part of it.

But I just don't think there's any other example, other than Marjorie Taylor Greene that I know of, of someone who just produces the poison itself.

LISA DESJARDINS: So, where does this leave the Republican Party?

Utah Congressman John Curtis: REP. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): And we have not learned how to separate what we loved about the policies of President Trump and what we don't like about the behavior.

And I think that's just going to take us a little time to work through as a party.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now Republicans face the challenge of how to move forward without Mr. Trump in the White House, but with voters fiercely loyal to him.

SAM ROSENFELD: Intraparty and intra-conservative fights are just very frequently carried out and always have been in terms of accusations of insufficient purity, insufficient fighting spirit, et cetera.

Compromise is a dirty word.

You're really seeing the fruits of that problem.

LISA DESJARDINS: One month into the new Congress, and these may be the seeds for what happens over the next two years.

Both Greene and the Democratic Party are fund-raising over her comments and what it means for Republicans.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And Lisa joins me now.

So, Lisa, you are reporting mainly on the House, but it's been busy, as you know, today in the Senate as well.

They are debating a budget.

They're looking at how to proceed on COVID relief.

And I understand you have received a lot of questions from viewers on all of this.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

The process is called budget reconciliation.

We asked on Twitter if there were questions.

There were plenty of questions.

And we want to explain the process of looking at questions, first this one from Marcy.

She wrote: "Why can't the reconciliation process be subject to the filibuster?"

Now, this is the biggest important part of why we are in budget reconciliation at all, is because it only requires a majority vote.

So, let me explain this, showing you a few things.

First, the budget reconciliation process, again, requires just a majority vote, cannot be filibustered.

Why is that?

Well, it was created in the '70s to try and promote fiscal responsibility, to promote budgets and responsible budgets.

And it requires that only material, only resolutions that would affect the budget, either revenue or expenses, spending, those are the only things that are applicable for the budget reconciliation process.

Because of this, it generally can only be used once a year, because there is usually one budget a year.

However, this time, there is an exception.

Congress can pass a budget reconciliation package in these first hundred days of the Biden presidency and still do another later in the year.

Basically, this is a way around the filibuster.

It wasn't intended for that initially, but that is how it has been used.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Lisa Desjardins, nobody explains it better than you do.

Thank you.

Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is one of 10 Republicans to meet this week with President Biden about the administration's COVID relief bill.

Senator Cassidy is also one of only a handful of medical doctors serving in Congress.

And he joins us now.

Senator, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

I see there is another letter that your group of senators has sent to the White House since you met with President Biden.

Are there areas of common ground you see?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): There are areas of common ground.

They asked for $160 billion for vaccinations, research, you name it.

We gave it to them.

Equaled their amount for mental health, opioid, equaled their amount for nutritional -- nutrition, if you will.

But there are some areas that there are big differences.

Education, an area I focused on, we asked them to justify why they wanted $130 billion.

They used lot of documents from last year, from eight months ago, before we knew we had a vaccine, before we knew that most Americans would be immune before the fall.

So, in my mind, their justification rang hollow for that sum of money.

Indeed, sometimes, they asked more than the people they were quoting recommended, in one case $15 billion more.

I will just say, in some cases, it appears they picked a number and tried to fill it up, as opposed to figure out the need to establish a number.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, my understanding on the money for schools, Senator Cassidy, is that they are saying this money is needed for expanded testing, for reducing class size, for hiring more janitors, for improving ventilation, for things like that.

Are you saying that is not justification for spending $160 billion?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: All those were from last year, like in May.

By the time the fall opens up, if we vaccinate 1 to 1.5 million people a day, we are going to have most of the American people vaccinated.

Now, it's going to take at least until fall for the money to work its way through the system.

And those ventilation systems won't be done until next winter.

So, there is a really disconnect between, one, the need, and, two, the timeliness.

I will go back to what Fauci is saying, what the CDC is saying, and what we see with parochial and private schools.

Scientific evidence, medical science says they can safely reopen now.

It is being done in private and parochial.

It's not being done where teachers unions dominate the scene.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about another area, Senator.

And that is, the president is saying in the last day or so that he's open to the idea of lowering the income bracket for people to receive direct payments.

Does that make this more appealing to you?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Well, it certainly makes sense.

We're the ones that raised it.

Under their original plan, folks making $290,000 a year were going to get a check.

Now, we can certainly make a case that the American people need support, but someone making $290,000 a year is probably not among them.

So, the president has seen the wisdom of some of what we have done.

In fact, I think the president would be far more willing to compromise.

I think it is -- I think it is, frankly, his staff which is less willing to.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, to the argument -- I mean, there are even conservative economists, Republican economists, Senator, who are saying it's better right now, given the need, given what this pandemic has done, to go big.

You have the Republican governor of the state of West Virginia, Jim Justice, saying better to go big, the harm is in doing too little.

What do you say to that?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Jim Justice is not an economist.

He's a good governor, not an economist.

CBO is saying that GDP growth is going to be 3.7 percent in 2021.

Wall Street Journal polled some economists.

I think they said 4.2 percent.

That's pretty good growth.

Larry Summers, a previous Democratic secretary of Treasury, has an editorial in Washington Post today in which he says there is a danger of overheating, unleashing inflation.

That would be incredibly damaging to average families, to middle-income and lower-income families, incredibly damaging.

Now, if you start off with 4.2 percent growth for next year, do you need it to get the 6 percent?

And do you unleash inflation?

There is a balance here.

And no offense against Governor Justice, but I got a liberal economist who has the concerns that I have.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, we're going to watch that debate play out.

Two other important things I do want to ask you about, and one is what is going on next week with the impeachment trial of President Trump.

As you know, five people died after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Some of the people involved who are being charged are saying they were inspired by President Trump.

Should he be held accountable for what happened?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: We will see the evidence that is presented next week.

I'm a juror.

Just like I said in the first impeachment trial, I go into the trial with an open mind.

People want you to commit beforehand.

That's not really what a juror is supposed to do.

It's not what I shall do.

I shall listen to the evidence.

I will make the point the House did not take the trouble to amass the evidence.

Under previous impeachment hearings, there have been hearings and reams of documents produced, witnesses deposed.

That has not happened here.

And so that puts us at a disadvantage in this proceeding.

But I present myself with an open mind.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, finally, Senator, what does it say about the Republican Party that it appears the majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives are not going to impose penalty on Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom you know has made statements espousing conspiracy theories, that they will not punish her, apparently, by taking her committees away?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: She is a distraction.

Anyone that says laser beams from outer space caused wildfires in California, and the laser beams are controlled by the Rothschild family, is not a serious person.

We have got incredibly serious issues in our country.

We need the conservative movement coming full force to try and get those solutions which are best for our present and best for our future, so that family sitting around the table doesn't read about their job being eliminated by an executive order and feel like there's somebody not rooting for them.

I'm rooting for them.

I'm not going to be distracted by someone who's not part of the conservative movement.

She's part of the conspiracy cabal, and that cabal should not be part of the Republican Party.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, thank you, as always, for joining us.

We appreciate it.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the days other news: The pandemic is still throwing large numbers of Americans out of work.

The U.S. Labor Department reported another 779,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week.

It was the smallest number in two months, but still far higher than normal.

All told, 17.8 million people were receiving benefits as of mid-January.

The mayor of Chicago demanded today that teachers agree to COVID safety protocols and return to classrooms.

At a morning news conference, Lori Lightfoot accused the teachers union of dragging its feet on reopening schools.

LORI LIGHTFOOT, Mayor of Chicago, Illinois: We waited for hours last night, hours, and still did not receive a proposal from the Chicago Teachers Union leadership.

And, as of this morning we are still waiting, but to be clear, not patiently, not anymore.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Lightfoot says the schools have spent $100 million on safety measures.

The union says the safest option is still online learning.

Democratic impeachment managers asked former President Trump today to testify at his Senate trial next week.

They want him to go on the record, under oath, after he denied inciting last month's violent invasion of the Capitol.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump called the trial unconstitutional.

They said that he will not testify.

President Biden has begun his promised shift away from the Trump foreign policy with a broadside at Moscow.

He said today that the U.S. will take a forceful new approach toward Russian misdeeds.

The president spoke in his first visit to the State Department since taking office.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions, interfering with our election, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mr. Biden also announced that he's ending support for Saudi Arabia's military offensive in Yemen and halting a partial pullout of U.S. troops from Germany.

And he said the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. will rise to 125,000 a year.

That's up from 15,000 under Mr. Trump.

Three more of President Biden's Cabinet nominees are headed to the full Senate for their confirmation.

The Foreign Relations Committee endorsed Linda Thomas-Greenfield for ambassador to the United Nations.

The Banking Committee approved Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge to be secretary of housing and urban development and Cecilia Rouse to chair the Council of Economic Advisers.

A second major voting systems firm, Smartmatic, is suing over claims that it helped steal the election for President Biden.

The suit seeks $2.7 billion from FOX News, three of its on-air hosts, and two former Trump lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani.

It alleges that they knowingly spread false information.

Earlier, Dominion Voting Systems also sued Giuliani and Powell.

A consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, has agreed to pay almost $600 million for boosting U.S. opioid sales as overdoses surged.

Court documents showed McKinsey worked closely with Purdue Pharma to market more OxyContin.

McKinsey says that it has reached agreements with every state except Nevada.

And on Wall Street, some strong corporate earnings reports pushed the market higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 332 points to close at 31055.

The Nasdaq rose 167 points, and the S&P 500 added 41.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": we examine the ongoing aftermath of arrests and accountability in the wake of the Capitol insurrection; a disconnect between supply and demand leads to frustration over the pace of vaccinations in Virginia; a new report outlines a potential future for the war in Afghanistan; and much more.

One month ago this Saturday, a mob of Americans stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to deny Joe Biden's victory in the November election.

The Department of Justice has arrested and charged rioters, and the Biden administration has launched a review of what it calls domestic violent extremism.

Nick Schifrin provides an update on the criminal consequences so far and the threat that remains persistent.

And then Yamiche Alcindor has a conversation on the country's seemingly cavernous political divide.

Let's begin with Nick's report.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They broke through barricades, assaulted police, shattered windows, and, once inside, destroyed and stole property.

Over the past month, the Justice Department charged more than 180 rioters.

MICHAEL SHERWIN, Acting U.S. Attorney For District of Columbia: The scope and scale of this investigation and these cases are really unprecedented.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Sherwin is acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

MICHAEL SHERWIN: This is not going to be solved overnight.

It's not going to be solved within the coming weeks.

It's not going to be solved within the coming months.

NICK SCHIFRIN: With each new charge, there's a clearer picture of the diverse groups who attacked the Capitol, longtime conspiracy theorists, like self-proclaimed QAnon Shaman, who goes by Jake Angeli, as seen in "New Yorker" video.

LARRY RENDALL BROCK JR., Suspect: I understand it's an I.O.

war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Military veterans and law enforcement, including retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock Jr., who used a military term referring to information operations.

Trump supporters who say they were swept into the crowd, a 22-year-old care worker, Riley June Williams, seen here before she allegedly stole a laptop from Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.

MAN: Proud Boys.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And law enforcement says, playing a key role, right-wing extremists.

Video shows members of the militia the Oath Keepers, and four January 6 indictments are for members of the Proud Boys, recently designated a terrorist group by Canada.

They face charges including conspiracy, disorderly conduct, and obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

MICHAEL GERMAN, Former FBI Special Agent: Many of these groups were very explicit about their violent intentions.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Since the '90s, retired FBI Special Agent Michael German has tracked white supremacists and right-wing militias.

MICHAEL GERMAN: There is tremendous amount of public evidence that can be used even today to target the most violent actors.

I am concerned that the FBI in particular and the Department of Justice are focusing on January 6 as if it a sui generis event, and not recognizing that many of these people had been engaging in violence around the country for months or years.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Charlottesville in 2017, a neo-Nazi plowed his car into an anti-white supremacy protest, killing one woman.

Most recently, at the Million MAGA March in Washington, D.C., in November, Proud Boys members brawled with counterprotesters.

One man was stabbed.

And another D.C. rally in December resulted in more clashes, multiple stabbings, and a couple dozen arrested.

JANE HOLL LUTE, Former U.S.

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary: All the signs were there that some of the supporters of Donald Trump were serious, they were dangerous.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jane Holl Lute was deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama.

She says, even a decade ago, federal reports voicing concern about right-wing extremism were disparaged, and their authors punished.

Lute says that accelerated under President Trump.

JANE HOLL LUTE: People were reluctant to put out reports of the factors that we knew were coalescing to cause us to great concern on January 6.

But no formal statement was issued.

And the feeling that we hear is that it was not issued because, when such things were stated publicly, that individuals paid with their careers.

MICHAEL GERMAN: This was repeated activity that was not being addressed by law enforcement, which conditioned these groups to believe that this was OK, this was something they could do, which attracts more violent people who just want to commit violence.

And here's a place they can do it and actually get a pat on the back, rather than handcuffs.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What consequences have rioters paid?

Many lost jobs.

Most face charges of entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct.

Far fewer have been charged with more serious crimes.

No one has yet to be charged for the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who lied in honor at the Capitol this week.

JANE HOLL LUTE: There is a definition of domestic terrorism, but, perhaps surprisingly to many of us, it doesn't carry any criminal penalties.

And so if you're charging individuals who are intent on violence, law enforcement is having to use, as you say, other statutes and other provisions.

But you know the old saying, the wheels of justice grind slowly.

But they grind.

And that's what's happening here.

NICK SCHIFRIN: German says the FBI doesn't need to wait for Congress to act.

MICHAEL GERMAN: There's no new legislation that's required.

The FBI has ample authority in its domestic terrorism portfolio.

It's just a matter of focusing their attention and making sure that they have the direction to actually investigate these crimes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: After the attack, social media tried to stop the spread of the kind of misinformation that incited the rioters.

Twitter suspended tens of thousands of accounts.

The right-wing-friendly social media Parler was taken down.

And multiple social media platforms suspended former President Donald Trump.

As the FBI continues its investigation, the nation's capital is slowly returning to normal.

But 5,000 National Guard troops will remain in D.C. through mid-March, and, last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a nationwide domestic terrorism bulletin, warning that extremists could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.

Is there still an ongoing threat moving forward?

MICHAEL GERMAN: It's the same as the threat that existed on January 5, 2021, or 10 years before that or 10 years before that.

These groups are persistently violent against communities that don't have the kind of public platform that members of Congress have, right?

So it's important, now that their attention is focused on it, that we actually understand how this impacts all segments of our society, not just the powerful.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And so, today, the concern is not if, but when extremists will plan for another violent event, and if law enforcement can prevent it.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Now we take a deeper look at where we, as a country, go in the aftermath of the Capitol attack, And we look at where Americans go who are still distrustful of the 2020 election, despite it being free and fair.

For that, I'm joined by Anne Applebaum.

She's a staff writer at "The Atlantic."

Thanks so much for being here, Anne.

What more do we know about the people who stormed the Capitol?

And how does that group fit into the larger group of people who supported President Trump?

ANNE APPLEBAUM, "The Atlantic": So, to be clear, all of the people who supported President Trump didn't support the storming of the Capitol, and certainly not all Republicans did, and not all conservatives did.

But I think what we are talking about is a more defined group, the people who were there and the people who still say they support him, which, according to one poll that was done soon afterwards, is about 20 percent of the country.

Even if it is 10 percent, even if that is an exaggeration, it's a very large number of people.

And what is important about this group is, these are people who no longer accept the rules of American democracy.

When they were attacking Congress, they weren't Republicans attacking Democrats.

They were attacking the institution of Congress itself.

They were trying to prevent it from -- Congress from certifying the winner of the presidential election.

So that means they are now a group of people who are de facto outside of politics.

They're an anti-systemic group.

You can call them seditionists.

You can call them insurgents.

But they are no longer part of the American political system.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: You call them seditionists, and you say they are no longer part of the American system.

I wonder what role you think social media and the many ways that we communicate plays in this, as well as, how do we combat and how do we as a country combat disinformation using all of those different mediums?

ANNE APPLEBAUM: Social media accelerates and exaggerates trends that already exist.

And, of course, one of the functions that it now has is that it now enables you or me or anyone or this group of people to live in a completely separate world from everyone else.

So, you can live in a world where all the news you get and all the information that you see and all the things that your friends are sharing with you all confirm and repeat things that are according to your point of view.

And that means you can now live, in effect, in an alternate reality.

And we now have a percentage of the country who do live in an alternate reality, in which Trump won the election, and the election was stolen by Joe Biden.

And we now have, as a country, a problem.

What are we going to do about that group of people?

Thinking about this, I actually came to a conclusion that is a little bit counterintuitive or surprising for a lot of Americans.

One of the best tactics is to change the subject.

Having all of us shout at one another about our existential differences all the time isn't going to solve the problem.

But if we can find ways of working constructively together on something else, whether it is, locally, I don't know, building a road or bridge, or whether it's, nationally, setting up a real volunteer corps that will help distribute the vaccine, if you are talking about that kind of issue, then are you not talking about the existential issues that provoke violence.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: There are some, of course, that are going to hear you talking about changing the subject and are going to find that a bit hard to think about.

You say that these seditionists, that January 6 was their 1776.

So how do we as Americans coexist, especially when you think of 74 million people supporting President Trump?

ANNE APPLEBAUM: So, the instinct of the many millions who voted for Joe Biden is to say, why don't they try and adjust to us?

Why don't - - why don't their news stations send reporters to interview yoga instructors in Brooklyn and ask them why they voted for Joe Biden?

Why don't they send people to interview Black women in Atlanta and ask them, why did they vote for Joe Biden?

So, why don't they try to understand us?

But if they don't try to understand us, they nevertheless, as I say, remain our problem.

And so, therefore, we will have to find a way to reach out to them, a way to include them in some kind of conversation, even if only with the aim of avoiding further violence.

You know, the feeling that they are excluded, that the state has been taken over by people who are alien to them, whose values are alien, that there is nothing they can do, that there is no path left to them except violence is the instinct that caused the insurrection at the Capitol on January the 6th.

So, finding some path for people like that to feel part of a national conversation of any kind about anything is really important.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: A conversation that will surely keep going.

Thank you so much, Anne Applebaum of "The Atlantic."

ANNE APPLEBAUM: Thank you very much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: States received a badly needed boost in shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government this week.

But the supply still is not meeting the demand.

Amna Nawaz takes a closer look at one state that had problems with its vaccine rollout early on, the progress it has made and the daunting challenges still ahead.

AMNA NAWAZ: They came from all over the commonwealth.

After weeks of waiting, and securing a slot, on this Saturday, at Shenandoah University, hundreds of Virginians were getting vaccinated.

GRACE SHIHADEH, Virginia: It's exciting to be able to get it here because we have been trying everywhere else.

AMNA NAWAZ: The statewide rollout was slow to ramp up, the process clouded with confusion, causing some, like Chris Page and her husband to drive an hour-and-a-half to get that first shot.

CHRIS PAGE, Virginia: Fairfax was out of vaccines, so I was sort of desperate.

AMNA NAWAZ: She's just recovered from her last round of cancer treatment, and hasn't seen her grandkids in months.

CHRIS PAGE: And we know we can't see them until we get the vaccine.

So, I was getting it while the getting was good.

AMNA NAWAZ: Virginia was once one of the worst in the nation at distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.

In recent weeks, it's moved up the ranks, in part thanks to mass vaccination efforts like this, a partnership between the local health district, Valley Health hospital system, and the university.

While practice unfolded, a steady stream of arrivals filed along the track, met by a volunteer force over 200-strong.

Valley Health's Dr. Jeffrey Feit: DR. JEFFREY FEIT, Valley Health: I think this is the setup.

I think we can -- I think it's about civic partnerships.

I think it's about health systems, working with universities, other local institutions, governments.

We need to work together to get it done.

AMNA NAWAZ: The clinic's been running since January 13.

They have vaccinated anywhere from 800 to 2,500 people a day.

Their biggest challenge?

Not enough vaccine.

DR. TRACY FITZSIMMONS, President, Shenandoah University: We could be doing 3,000 to 5,000 does every day here, if they would just send us the doses.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tracy Fitzsimmons is the president Shenandoah University.

DR. TRACY FITZSIMMONS: It's a challenging experience.

I do think that the government officials are doing the best they can to get it out as fast as they can.

But, here, we have just been waiting.

Some days we sit idle, instead of putting thousands of shots and arms every day.

AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Danny Avula was tapped to take over Virginia's vaccine rollout, after a bumpy first few weeks.

He says a lack of centralized system put the state behind.

Had that kind of system been in place weeks ago, would it have gone much smoother and faster in Virginia?

DR. DANNY AVULA, Virginia Vaccine Coordinator: If we had the opportunity to do this over again, and we were able to anticipate just how complex the inventory management piece of this would be and the need for more streamlined, centralized, consistent registration, I think we would have started with that model.

We would have really started with a large mass vaccination campaign.

AMNA NAWAZ: But he says the state's now delivering vaccine faster than the federal government can resupply it.

A pledged 16 percent increase from the administration this week means going from 105,000 doses a week to 122,000.

DR. DANNY AVULA: We know that we are going to get a certain amount.

In fact, up until this week, we didn't know that until the week of, which made planning extremely difficult.

And while every bit helps, we are in a situation where we have far more capacity to vaccinate individuals than we do supply.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also limited, the data showing who exactly is getting vaccinated.

The state's partial race and ethnicity information shows the vaccine has overwhelmingly gone to white residents.

Emory University's Dr. Carlos del Rio says failing to focus on delivering vaccine to those hardest-hit, Black, Latino, and Native communities, will create more problems in the long run.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, Professor of Global Health, Emory University: If we just focus on a number of shots, and we don't track equity, we're going to create more inequity by vaccination.

We need to put a laser focus on equity.

And, as we're doing that, if it means having less shot, but doing it in the right places, I think it's worth it, again, if you can decrease hospitalizations and mortality among the most impacted community.

AMNA NAWAZ: But the current limited supply means all those who qualify are still competing for limited slots.

SHEILA RICHARDSON, Virginia: I'm 73 years old.

AMNA NAWAZ: Sheila Richardson lives in an independent senior living facility.

SHEILA RICHARDSON: While I can access the computer and the phone and keep calling, I again advocate for my fellow residents.

They don't have this type of access.

So, while I may -- luckily get the vaccine, what about the folks that I'm living around?

HELEN ROSS, Virginia: My name is Helen Ross.

I'm 74 years old.

AMNA NAWAZ: Helen and her 76-year-old husband, Chris (ph), live in northern Virginia.

HELEN ROSS: We tried to sign Chris up, and it was a hellish procedure, as no doubt you have heard many times before.

It just was difficult.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Dr. Avula says it will stay that way unless they can rapidly scale up.

A timeline for herd immunity by summer, he says, is unlikely.

DR. DANNY AVULA: We are planning six sites that will be staffed by the National Guard, and that would provide the additional capacity to get us probably to about 60,000 doses a day, which is, I think, what we will need to still meet that goal of getting Virginia vaccinated by the summer.

Now, all of this is really supply-dependent.

And if we don't see that bump in supply until the early summer, then it's going to look deeper into the fall before we can meet that goal.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, Fitzsimmons says this mass inoculation event can be stood up again, as long as they have doses to distribute.

DR. TRACY FITZSIMMONS: After today, we are out of first doses.

We will be doing second dose clinics, but we don't yet have any more first doses.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you know when you're getting your next round of doses?

DR. TRACY FITZSIMMONS: We have no idea when we're getting our next dose.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meaning the race to vaccinate Virginia will be a marathon, not a sprint.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz in Winchester, Virginia.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And a footnote: The clinic at Virginia's Shenandoah university got good news today.

They will be getting a new shipment of vaccines and are preparing to reopen their doors next week.

One of the Biden administration's primary foreign policy challenges is how to end the U.S.' longest war.

Nick Schifrin is back with a look at a new bipartisan report that urges the administration to remain committed to Afghanistan and peace talks.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A thousand miles from peace talks, Kabul is haunted by despair and death, by a campaign of assassinations, by violence aimed at stealing Afghanistan's future, like this attack on Kabul University that killed dozens of students, including Ali.

His father shows a reporter his son's diplomas.

MOOSA, Father (through translator): I cannot see any benefits brought by the foreign troops.

Every day, there are suicide attacks, explosions, kidnappings, and robberies.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The country's on edge.

Last December, residents in Eastern Afghanistan ran after a roadside bomb explosion.

The violence is unrelenting.

The U.S. military says attacks are up over last year.

Shraduffin Azmi is a psychologist.

SHRADUFFIN AZMI, Psychologist (through translator): Many of our loved ones, the youth, women, men and children, are terrified.

They feel they might die at any time.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Last February, there was some cautious hope.

The Taliban and U.S. agreed to fully withdraw American troops by May the 1st if the Taliban prevented al-Qaida from harboring in Afghanistan and discussed a cease-fire with the Afghan government.

But, today, those talks are stalled, and, instead, Taliban leaders are on a diplomatic blitz, including a visit to Tehran.

The Biden administration acknowledges the Taliban haven't attacked U.S. troops, but says the Taliban have not broken with al-Qaida.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby: JOHN KIRBY, Pentagon Press Secretary: As long as they are not meeting their commitments, it's going to be difficult for anybody at that negotiating table to meet their commitments.

In fact, it wouldn't be the wise course.

It is under discussion with our partners and allies to make the best decisions going forward.

NANCY LINDBORG, Former President, U.S. Institute of Peace: This is a new opportunity and a new approach to more fully align our messages and our practices and our policies.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Nancy Lindborg is the former president and CEO of the United States Institute of Peace.

I spoke to her, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joe Dunford about their new bipartisan report that recommended abandoning the May 1 exit deadline, withdrawing only as conditions improve, and renewing diplomacy with the region and the Taliban.

NANCY LINDBORG: As a part of our regional diplomacy, being very clear of our commitment to the peace process as envisioned with the conditions, and our long-term commitment to both the state of Afghanistan, but also, very importantly, to the people of Afghanistan.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The report also calls to reinforce U.S. conditions on all parties, including the fragile and factionalized Afghan government.

FMR.

SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R-NH): It's important to support the Afghan government, but also that we were going to have conditionality in terms of their importance of them rooting out corruption and the things that they need to do to govern properly for Afghanistan, as well as conditionality for the Taliban in terms of its -- their behavior in reducing violence.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Dunford was Joint Chiefs chairman until 2019.

From 2013 to 2014, he commanded all troops in Afghanistan.

The report finds that the Taliban have not met its obligations under last year's peace agreement.

And you write that the U.S. military presence is undergirding those peace negotiations, helping the Afghan government.

Does that mean that the U.S. service members currently in Afghanistan need to stay there past the May 1 deadline?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman: Nick, what it means is, specifically, that we believe that the U.S. should take a conditions-based a approach.

And so we don't associate the departure of U.S. forces with any date.

We specifically associate the departure of U.S. forces to the conditions that were outlined in the agreement in February 2020 being met.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Taliban, as you know, have threatened the U.S. to once again start attacking U.S. troops if, in fact, the U.S. stays past the May 1 deadline.

Is it worth the risk of the deaths of U.S. service members in order to keep them in Afghanistan?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: We have not had the time to implement that agreement fully.

All of the parties, to include the Taliban, would be well-served if the agreement was implemented as it was written in February of 2020.

So, in my view, it's not about the life of U.S. service members and their association with the peace agreement.

It's about U.S. national interests in the region and about the resources that are necessary to preserve our interests, until the conditions in the region change.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And what is the risk to U.S. national security and to Afghanistan if the U.S. withdraws too quickly?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: We made it very clear in our report, Nick, that there's a high probability of a civil war in Afghanistan in the event of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal.

And we also talk about the Taliban's relationship with al-Qaida, the opportunity that al-Qaida would have to reconstitute, whether there would be precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces, the potential of mass migration, terrorist attacks associated with that Al-Qaida presence in the region.

And then, clearly, the cost to the Afghan people as well is addressed in the report.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Trump administration recently reduced the number of troops in Afghanistan down to 2,500.

Do you believe that number is sufficient right now for the changes that you're calling for?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: We know that, in the course of our deliberations back in the fall, it was identified that about 4,500 U.S. forces were optimal under the conditions we found ourselves in, in the fall.

There's clearly issues associated with risk to the mission and risk to the force at various levels of troop levels.

But I think the folks that are actually engaged right now in implementing policy are better able to judge the specific level of forces that are necessary.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you believe that there is political support and willingness from the U.S., from the West, from NATO to commit to the government of Afghanistan and the country that you're suggesting?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: Yes, Nick, what I would say is that we have interests in South Asia.

And pursuing those interests is going to require long-term diplomatic action, some security action, some economic action.

But the form of that support is going to change over time as the conditions change.

And we're not suggesting a long-term presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

In fact, we assert that the administration should commit to the agreement in February 2020, and that U.S. forces would eventually leave Afghanistan when the conditions are being met.

NICK SCHIFRIN: There has been great concern about the impact of the Trump administration, especially some of the hires and announcements inside the Pentagon in the last few weeks before inauguration.

Are you concerned today about any lasting impact of what some believe was a bit of chaos over the last few months?

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: You know, Nick, I'm very confident that, in the weeks and the months ahead, we will have proper civilian-military relations within the department, and, more importantly and necessarily, a proper focus on taking care of the mission, while we take care of the people inside the Department of Defense.

And, again, knowing the people both in uniform and not in uniform, I know that those are the two things that they will be focused on in the months ahead, and not relitigating what might have happened in the past, but looking forward and saying, what is it that needs to be done in order to secure the interests of our country?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Chairman Dunford, thank you very much.

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD: Hey, thanks so much, Nick.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As the toll from the pandemic in this country topped 450,000 deaths this week, the numbers are almost too vast to comprehend.

Many wonder how best to mourn and remember those who have been lost.

As Jeffrey Brown reports, communities, individuals and the federal government are finding artistic and poignant ways to honor and keep loved ones close to their hearts.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred Pool of Reflection and remember all whom we lost.

JEFFREY BROWN: On the National Mall, on the eve of the inauguration, 400 lights representing the 400,000 Americans who've died in the pandemic, a somber, official act of mourning, even as many across the country create their own memorials in their own ways.

In Detroit last summer, a distanced drive-through of more than 900 large photos of COVID victims organized by the city.

In Washington state, a livestreamed performance by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings."

Efforts to make sense of the lives lost in the United States, the greatest number of deaths of any country in the world.

Some target specific communities hit with terrible losses.

SYLVIA OROZCO, Mexic-Arte Museum: About half of the people who have passed away in Austin, Texas, are Latinos.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sylvia Orozco heads Austin's Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas.

SYLVIA OROZCO: We could not stay at home.

And because people weren't staying at home, because they were riding the busses, because they were working day to day, they were contaminated with COVID.

JEFFREY BROWN: The museum, with funding from local community groups, commissioned a large-scale mural on its downtown wall to commemorate Austin's Latinos who had died, and chose Mexican-American artist Christin Apodaca to help design and paint it.

What was the goal in making this?

CHRISTIN APODACA, Artist: I was hoping that people would feel seen and feel heard.

And I feel like my goal was just to have a space for them to have remembrance for families and friends and loved ones that are lost.

I think having a public space was something that was necessary, something that is accessible to anybody.

JEFFREY BROWN: As museum director Orozco showed us over Skype, the design draws heavily on symbolism from the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.

Visitors can also view an animation of the mural using a smartphone app.

So, in a sense, the mural comes to life.

SYLVIA OROZCO: The mural comes to life.

The flowers and the little skulls are transformed into monarch butterflies.

And the monarch butterflies then travel.

And they travel each year from the United States back to Michoacan.

They are the souls of the dead.

And they come back and they are received by their family members.

JEFFREY BROWN: In the nation's capital, several installations have sought to capture the massive scale of the death toll, 20,000 American flags on the National Mall in September, the same number of empty black chairs on the White House Ellipse in October.

That month, Maryland artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg went even bigger, 220,000 flags planted in the D.C. Armory Parade Ground, a first effort to represent every American who had died to that point.

In a sense, you're capturing both the individual and the scale?

SUZANNE BRENNAN FIRSTENBERG, Artist: Absolutely.

I have been a hospice volunteer for 25 years.

And I know that every single one of those lives lost was precious to someone, mattered, was important.

So I had to make some kind of statement that said, each life has to be valued.

JEFFREY BROWN: The installation was up for two months.

Flags were added as the death toll rose, with visitors able to personalize their own.

For Firstenberg, this was an expression of pain, but also protest at the mishandling of the pandemic by national leaders.

SUZANNE BRENNAN FIRSTENBERG: America is the greatest country on earth.

That's how I was raised.

And to watch us become the greatest because of COVID deaths was unacceptable.

I was outraged.

JEFFREY BROWN: In New Jersey, it was a deeply personal loss that first inspired 16-year-old Hannah Ernst.

HANNAH ERNST, Artist: When I realized my grandpa, who is everything to me, was just another number, I knew I had to do something to try to fix that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Ernst's grandfather, Cal Schoenfeld, died of the virus in may at age 83.

HANNAH ERNST: He is a Brooklyn boy through and through.

So, he was a New Yorker.

He was the first person to go up to anybody and ask where they're from, learn stories.

He told stories.

JEFFREY BROWN: Her response, a simple drawing, a digital silhouette of her grandfather surrounded by a yellow heart, the symbol of COVID-19.

Her mother posted it on social media and unlocked a wider yearning.

HANNAH ERNST: And then, from there, it just snowballed into something extremely huge.

And, eventually, I was getting requests internationally.

JEFFREY BROWN: Requests for drawings of their lost ones.

Hannah created Facebook and Instagram pages called Faces of COVID Victims, where she began to post portraits in the same style.

To date, the high school sophomore has drawn more than 800 tributes to those who have died from the virus.

What do you think your grandfather would think of this project?

HANNAH ERNST: He would be ecstatic just seeing the effect I'm having on so many families, and just being able to add some sort of positivity and hope that their loved one won't be erased and forgotten as just another person who's contributing to the unfortunate death toll that we now have.

I think he would just be so ecstatic and just proud.

And that's one of the things that really helps me do what I do.

JEFFREY BROWN: A silhouette, a wall, flags in a field, lights on the National Mall, these and so much more solace in a time of mourning.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we have more online, where you can watch the musical tribute to victims of COVID-19 from Washington state's Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

You can find that on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.

And two news updates before we go.

Johnson & Johnson has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its one-shot coronavirus vaccine for use.

For the record, Johnson & Johnson is a funder of the "NewsHour."

And the U.S. House of Representatives tonight passed a measure removing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignment over past comments that were racist and that pushed far right conspiracy theories.

Eleven Republicans joined all the Democrats in the vote.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.