PBS News Hour - Politics

A bipartisan congressional committee tasked with drafting a border security bill for President Trump to sign by February 15 met for the first time Wednesday. Among its members is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the committee’s “great desire to reach a conclusion,” components of effective border security and why she's optimistic about bipartisan compromise.

A Washington Post investigation found that a golf course owned by the Trump Organization employed about a dozen undocumented immigrants for years, firing them only recently and with no notice. After the news broke, Eric Trump announced the company would begin using E-Verify to confirm employees' legal status. David Fahrenthold, who co-wrote the Washington Post story, joins Yamiche Alcindor.

Lawmakers have three weeks to come up with a long-term deal on border security, or potentially be faced with a second government shutdown or the president's declaring a national emergency. Judy Woodruff talks to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, about why she’s “very optimistic” that Congress can come up with a plan the president will sign and mechanisms for preventing future government shutdowns.

Forty years ago, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment, guaranteeing protection from discrimination on the basis of sex -- but it has never been ratified as a constitutional amendment. Now a campaign to ratify the ERA is gathering momentum, in part because of fallout from the #MeToo movement of the past two years. Amna Nawaz talks to Kate Kelly of Equality Now.

The past month saw a political climate of extreme division in Washington, D.C., over the partial government shutdown. But some leaders at the state and local levels are striving for improved bipartisanship and compromise. On Monday, Judy Woodruff sat down with three governors trying to work across party lines: Larry Hogan, R-Md., Chris Sununu, R-N.H. and Tom Wolf, D-Pa.

Thousands of federal employees went to work Monday for the first time since before Christmas. The 35-day partial government shutdown ended Friday after President Trump signed an agreement to fund closed government agencies for three weeks, while Congress continues to negotiate over border security. But will that be enough? Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor join Amna Nawaz with the latest.

Lawmakers have three weeks to devise a border security plan that will satisfy President Trump, who threatens to declare a national emergency or shut down the government again if they fail. A bipartisan group of 17 legislators will work to draft legislation. One of them, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., joins Amna Nawaz to discuss evidence-based solutions, the asylum process and humanitarian aid.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter from the Cook Political Report join Amna Nawaz to discuss the resolution of the partial government shutdown, what the latest polls show about support for President Trump, new entrants to the 2020 presidential race and Democratic congressional ambitions.

During the last school year, more than 4 million students participated in at least one lockdown, most often in response to a perceived gun or violent threat, a Washington Post report found. And these perceived threats, psychologists say are causing students trauma. Reporter John Woodrow Cox joins Hari Sreenivasan for more.

President Trump’s long-term advisor Roger Stone was indicted Friday for allegedly coordinating with WikiLeaks to find damaging information about 2016 presidential competitor Hillary Clinton. New York University professor Ryan Goodman says it’s a move that could also implicate Trump himself, if federal investigators find that he encouraged the cover-up. Goodman joins Hari Sreenivasan.