PBS News Hour - Full Show - September 29, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Monday on the News Hour, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announce a new proposal to end the war in Gaza and issue an ultimatum to Hamas. Investigators comb through the aftermath of an attack on a Mormon church in Michigan. Plus, Democratic leadership negotiates with Trump as the clock ticks toward a government shutdown. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. Jeff Bennett is away. On the news hour tonight, President Trump, standing with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, announces a new proposal to end the war in Gaza and issues an ultimatum to Hamas if they don't sign on. Israel would have my fallback in to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas. But I hope that we're going to have to have. a deal for peace. Investigators combed through the aftermath of a shooting and arson attack on a Mormon church in Michigan and search for the suspect's motive. And Democratic leadership negotiates with President Trump as a government shutdown looms. News Hour. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan today to end the war in Gaza. But Hamas has yet to agree, and there are questions about its implementation.

Nick Schifrin begins our coverage. Today at the White House, a presidential pronouncement of the end of an era. This is eternity. This is for forever. It has been 724 days since Hamas's October 7 terrorist attacks. 724 days of war in Gaza. And if Hamas accepts this deal, the guns would fall silent within 72 hours. They shouldn't have to be a shot fired. It may be for eternity.

I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims. It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas' military capabilities, and its political rule and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel. In a 20-point plan released by the White House, the deal would release all 50 Israeli hostages currently in Gaza, both dead and alive.

Israeli soldiers would withdraw in phases, marked in a White House map, but remain in what the plan calls a security buffer zone. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will retain security responsibility, and including a security perimeter for the foreseeable future. But the plan declares, quote, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. There are many Palestinians who wish to live in peace.

Many, many of many. I've seen so many of them. And they have support. And I challenge the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny because that's what we're giving them. Hamas would not. not be allowed to govern Gaza, and fighters who announced violence would receive amnesty. Foreign troops would provide security and train Palestinian police. And until the Palestinian Authority, quote, has completed its reform program, Gaza would

be run by a transitional body called the Board of Peace, chaired by President Trump, and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The PA could have no role whatsoever in Gaza without undergoing a radical and genuine transformation. And that means ending pay to slay, changing poisonous textbooks that teach hatred to Jews to Palestinian children, stopping incitement in the media, ending lawfare against Israel at the ICC, the ICJ, recognizing the Jewish state and many, many other reforms. Regional officials tell PBS NewsHour tonight that Qatar and Turkey are pressuring Hamas to accept the deal.

But if they don't, Israel will proceed. with its current plans to take over Gaza City. I have a feeling that we're going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, Baby, you'd have our full backing to do what you would have to do. This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way. But it will be done. So far in Gaza, it has been the hard way. There's destruction as far as the eye can see.

And the sky today is scanning. today is scattered with cautions. Israeli messages urging Gazans to evacuate. Satellite images show Israel is raising what's left of Gaza City. That's Sheikh Rodwan neighborhood, once a densely populated area, now flattened. Today, from Gazans, we heard desperate skepticism. They negotiate, and we are living under the fire, under oppression and injustice. Every day, Gaza is being annihilated and the unjust world watches us. Until when? We're dying, for God's sake, as you can see this destruction.

Who will rebuild this destruction? Who will? Who will do this to Gaza? That is an understatement. The end of the war will require seemingly insurmountable rebuilding, assuming the two sides can finally end this war. Tonight, two regional officials confirm that Qatar and Egypt have formally presented the plan to Hamas. There has been no response yet. But Amna, Hamas would have to release all of the hostages before a full Israeli withdrawal.

That is not something that Hamas has been willing to accept so far. Nick, I know you've been also reporting on the fact that during the meeting at the White House, the president facilitated a phone call. Tell us about that and why it matters. Yeah, an extraordinary phone call between the prime ministers of Israel and Qatar, some three weeks after Israel bombed Qatar's capital, Doha, aiming for but missing Hamas's political leaders. And today in the Oval Office, President Trump calling Doha's prime minister with Bibi Netanyahu in the room. And Netanyahu said he, quote, regrets that Akhtari was killed in the attack and, quote, has no plan to violate your sovereignty again.

Steve Whitkoff, the ambassador tonight, called that an apology. It certainly was a rare mea culpa from Netanyahu Amna on the very day that he agreed to the president's peace plan, despite the fact that he has been saying that he would handle Hamas once and for all on the battlefield. field. Amna? Nick Schifrin reporting tonight on our lead story from the White House. Nick, thank you. Thank you. For more on all of this, we turn now to two news hour regulars. That is David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Hussein Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C. Welcome to you both gentlemen. David, kick us off here. Tell us why Netanyahu would agree to this particular plan and why right now when it could jeopardize,

his own governing coalition back in Israel. Well, I mean, from... Look, I think Netanyahu had to balance a lot of different things. First, you know, Israel is more isolated than it has been. He knows there will not be a better deal than he would get one with them with Donald Trump. I think he doesn't want to miss that moment. He doesn't want to put more strain on U.S. Israel relations, as President Trump has made clear he does want to end the war.

and also he's aware that the sequencing of this 20-point U.S. initiative avoids a certain political tripwires for him. They do not force him to bring the Palestinian Authority from Ramal and the West Bank to Gaza. The issue of negotiations over two states is finessed and with wording that I think he could live with. He knows that his rivals will try to use anything against him within the coalition. And this could bring down his government. Until now, he has avoided that to do anything that would threaten his coalition. But elections are due in a year from now at the latest. And he may feel that if faced between Trump and his own coalition, he's going to choose Trump. And I think he also feels that there were certain contentious points within the 20 points

that were kind of resolved in his benefit. So I think if you take that all together, you see a prime minister who is not just sounding like yes, but at this point, hoping that Hamas will torpedo the deal for him. Well, let me, David, if I may, let me bring in Hussein on that point then. You make the segue for me. Hussein, what now with Hamas, the plan sits with them? Trump has said, if they don't accept it, Israel,

has his permission to quote unquote finish the job, are they incentivized to join on the plan? Whatever that means. Yeah. I mean, I have no idea what finish the job means. Nobody knows, at least of all the Israeli military, which will be handed the job, which they don't want, because they don't have a mission that can be described in any coherent, intelligible sense. The earlier drafts of this document that I have had described to me in detail by you know, people who know about it and, you know, diplomats who are very familiar with earlier drafts was a lot more reasonable towards Hamas and towards the Palestinians. Essentially, Netanyahu has gotten rid of, as convinced Trump, to water this agreement down,

as David said, finesse issues like the Palestinian right to a state, which is something Israel has never recognized ever. down to the point of meaninglessness, it is basically an instrument of unconditional surrender, with one exception, which is the release of prisoners. It's specific about that. Everything else is pretty well laid open to the voluntary action of Israel to go according to its own judgment. And I think it's going to, therefore, be very difficult for Hamas to agree to this. They might have agreed to an earlier version because they have their eyes set on the West Bank rather than Gaza and political power among Palestinians rather than this endless war with Israel they've gotten into.

So I think they might well have agreed to the earlier versions, but Netanyahu took out everything that might have been appealing to them. And I agree he's relying on them to torpedo this. And I think it would be kind of dumb for them to do it because they say yes. Hossein, am I hearing you say you don't think that Hamas would sign on to this? Is that correct? I would be surprised if they do, though they're under tremendous pressure. I mean, Netanyahu faces the triple pressure of the military, the public, and Trump. Hamas faces pressure from everyone, absolutely everyone, not least of which the Palestinian people.

but I think they may say no. Let me turn back to David then on this point that Hussein raised, David, which is that a reformed Palestinian authority is part of this plan. The language leaves the door open for an eventual Palestinian state. Those are both things Netanyahu has opposed. Is this written in a way that gives the Israeli government room to maneuver around that, just to keep saying, well, the PA hasn't met the reforms as they're laid out? Sure.

But I would say this, and let's, you know, to be fair about it, is that they're front-loading here are very important things that the world has wanted, the Arab world is wanted, the Muslim world that wanted, which is end the war, you know, surge aid into Gaza, begin reconstruction of Gaza. That is all there. And, you know, as Hussein and I, who know each other for all these decades, knows that if the enemy is the perfect could be the enemy of the good. And when we say nothing has agreed till everything is agreed, in the Middle East, often nothing is agreed. I think what the president's trying to do here is to say,

let's just end the war now, let's release the hostages and Palestinian prisoners, let's surge the aid, let's begin reconstruction, create a mechanism, close the door on Gaza annexation for Israel, no force displacement by anyone. And Gaza for the Gaza is essentially, the whole Riviera concept of Trump, of immigration is clearly, you know, explicitly said this is not what they're trying to do. So I do think that there are a lot of elements here that people would like and that we should get going on. I agree with that.

Jose and I'll just note, I'll give you the last word here. We've got about a minute left. Please go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, I think Hamas would be wise to do this, not just from a moral and humanitarian point of view, but politically, it would be the smart play to say yes, or even yes, but, which is what Netanyahu, I think, was planning to say to the original drafts. However, Hamas is not thinking about this in any other terms other than strategically and politically, which is exactly the way Netanyahu is thinking about it. And, you know, I think there are things like the Palestinian statehood are not optional for the Gulf countries and others, and especially not for the Palestinians. And Israel must be compelled at some point

to recognize that Palestinians have the right to a state. They've never acknowledged that and they must acknowledge that. And until they do, there's going to be a big problem. Gentlemen, we will have to leave it there. We hope to have you both on to continue this very important conversation. Hussain Ibish, David Mekhovsky. Thank you so much. Thank you both. Thank you, David. Thank you. Thank you. south of Flint. Eight others were injured, some during the aftermath when the shooter set the church on fire. More than a hundred federal officials are involved in

the investigation, but no motive has yet been confirmed. Dima Zane has our report on the latest. Police scoured the charred ruins of what used to be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blank Township. One day after a gunman opened fire during Sunday service and set the entire building a blaze. I saw what you trained for, what you planned for, and the reality hit yesterday morning and a bright sunny day when people went to worship. The county sheriff praised law enforcement's swift response and brave churchgoers who risked their lives to protect children from gunfire. There are noble heroes who do not wear a uniform that went to that church yesterday.

You're going to hear those stories as we lay out this case with law enforcement, but I will tell you just those heroes from that church did their job. This morning, a silver pickup truck remained on the scene. Officials say 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, a former Marine, used it to ram through the building before getting out and shooting at hundreds of people. He then ignited a gasoline fire, which destroyed the entire complex after burning for hours. Police say they fatally shot the suspect shortly after. The FBI is still determining a motive, but called it an act of targeted violence.

Others say the gunman was angry about the Mormon Church. One candidate for city council in the nearby city of Burton told the Detroit Free Press he met the suspect less than a week ago while campaigning. In a tirade, the shooter called the religion the Antichrist. We have lots of questions. How could this happen? Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called for patience while the United States. investigation plays out. But this juncture, speculation is unhelpful, and it can be

downright dangerous. So I just ask that people lower the temperature of rhetoric. It's the latest in a number of shootings targeting religious institutions in America. Just last month, two children were killed during back-to-school mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. 19 others were injured. And it wasn't even the only. mass shooting of the weekend. In Southport, North Carolina, three people were killed when a man fired

toward a waterfront bar from his boat. The Coast Guard arrested the suspect, also a Marine veteran. Back in Michigan, the physical damage in Grand Blank is paired with emotional scars. It feels like our world is turned upside down. But, you know, honestly, this is where our faith plays a huge part in everything like that, to be able to say, look, we're not exactly sure. why things happen that way, but we have our faith that we can rely on. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Dima Zane. Also today, YouTube has agreed to pay more than $24 million to settle a lawsuit over President Trump's suspension from the platform in 2021.

The deal was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Trump sued YouTube, along with two other social media companies, after they suspended his accounts following the January 6th riots. YouTube, which is owned by Google's alphabet, is the last one to settle after Facebook's meta and X agreed to do so earlier this year. According to court documents, much of the YouTube settlement funds will go towards building Trump's White House ballroom. The Pentagon confirmed plans today to send 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to

Portland. In a statement provided to the news hour, spokesman Sean Parnell said the goal is to, quote, deter rampant lawlessness within Portland and to enable folks. law enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties. The planned deployment has sparked protests with small groups squaring off with border patrol officers already in the city. The state of Oregon and Portland itself are suing the Trump administration, arguing that the deployment is an unconstitutional abuse of power. In the meantime, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says his administration has learned of plans to deploy 100,000. troops to his state. Speaking to reporters today, Prisker said the deployment is aimed at protecting

ICE personnel and facilities. This comes after tense confrontations over the weekend between federal agents and protesters outside an ice processing facility in a Chicago suburb. Pritzker said today that, quote, none of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer. The Trump administration is opening up 13 million acres of federal lands for possible coal mining. Interior Secretary Doug Bergam announced the action at a press conference earlier today. Everybody likes to say, drill baby drill. I know that President Trump's got another initiative for us, and that's mine baby, mine. Officials are also providing $625 million to revamp coal-fired power plants. Environmental groups denounced the plans, which come after President Trump issued executive orders in

April, aimed at reversing a long-running decline in the coal industry. Coal once generated, at around half of America's electricity. Last year, it was around 15%. During Trump's first term, roughly 100 coal plants shut down. Video game maker, electronic arts, is being acquired and taken private in what could be the largest private equity buyout in history.

Silver Lake partners, Affinity Partners, and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, are teaming up to buy the maker of Madden NFL and The Sims, among other titles. They'll pay EA stockholders $210 per share. The companies value the all-cash deal at about $55 billion when counting in debt. Affinity Partners is run by President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The southeastern U.S. could be spared from the worst of tropical storm Imelda this week,

thanks to another Atlantic system that may draw it out to sea. Imelda has already forced evacuations and closed some offices and schools in the Bahamas. It's also Lashed Cuba, where at least one person has died. It's expected to strengthen into a hurricane, joining major hurricane Umberto, which is farther out in the Atlantic. And Umberto could actually be a saving grace with its size and force acting to pull Imelda away from the U.S. Still, officials are warning residents not to take the potential impact of Imelda lightly. The storm will likely linger and hazardous conditions on the coast may continue throughout the end of the week. So if you're visiting the beaches, please stay out of the water this week.

And folks in the East, just be aware that flash flooding may happen in your community. Although the U.S. should be largely spared, the same cannot be said for Bermuda. Both storms are heading toward the island territory. Mberto is said to wrap around and pass north of the area tomorrow and Wednesday. Emelda is on track to hit Bermuda head on as a strong hurricane around midweek. European leaders today celebrated the results of this weekend's elections in Moldova, which handed the pro-Western governing party a clear majority in Parliament. French, German, and Polish officials congratulated Moldova for a peaceful election,

despite what they called Russia's, quote, vote-buying schemes and disinformation. Located between Ukraine and EU member Romania, Moldova is seen as a geopolitical battleground between Russia and Europe. It applied to join the EU in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Moldovan president Maya Sundu says the vote's outcome shows continued support for that effort. We want to keep this country part of the free world. And no matter how difficult it is, and no matter how big the pressure from Moscow is and will be, we will continue because we believe in freedom and democracy.

And that's the choice of the Moldovan people. Russia denies interference and incentives. Instead, alleges that hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who reside in Russia were unable to vote due to limited polling stations. For his part, Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, praised Moldova's result, saying it shows that Moscow failed to, quote, destabilize the country. Wall Street posted modest gains today as some big tech stocks regain their footing after recent losses. The Dow Jones Industrial average added nearly 70 points on the day. The NASDAQ rose more than 100 points. the S&P 500 also ended higher. Still to come, on the news hour, why health care has become a

sticking point in the negotiations to avoid a government shutdown. Amy Walter and Tamara Keith break down the latest political headlines and how the art world has been responding to a second Trump administration. This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubinstein studio at WETA in Washington. in the west from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. A federal government shutdown in less than a day and a half appears unavoidable. After a meeting between President Trump and congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle failed to produce a deal this afternoon. It's up to the Republicans, whether they want to shut down or not. We've made to

the president some proposals. Our Republican leaders will have to talk to them about them. but ultimately he's the decision maker. I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing. I hope they change their mind, but we're going to see. White House correspondent Liz Landers and congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardin, join us now with more on the impasse.

So Liz, just start us off with that meeting. Tell us what happened at the White House. Yeah, Amna, no breakthrough here in terms of avoiding a government shutdown that could come tomorrow Tuesday at midnight. And if you are listening to the vice president there, that soundbite that you just played, he's foreshadowing that we could be headed into this shutdown. It was notable that Vice President Vance came out, led the Republican congressional leadership in

addressing the media there today, placing the blame again on Democrats. And he discussed some of the policy differences that still stand between the administration and Democrats. Listen to what he said earlier. The principle at stake here is very simple. We have disagreements about tax policy, but you don't shut that government down. disagreements about health care policy, but you don't shut the government down. You don't use your policy disagreements as leverage. And the vice president really speaking on behalf of the administration today. We saw President Trump was very focused on that foreign leader visit with

Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. We heard a little bit from the president earlier today on this shutdown again, criticizing Democrats more and saying that their ideas to keep the government open aren't good. Amna? Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, I know you've been speaking with lawmakers since that meeting. Your reporting shows both sides are digging in. Why? Well, you know, this is unusual for the Republican Party because so often they've been the one sort of getting into the shutdown. They know that the party, which has demands in going into a shutdown, is usually one that loses with the public. They know that because that's often been them.

So they think this is an opportunity to make the Democrats look like they aren't serious about governing. But Democrats, on the other hand, do have important policy priorities here. At the top of their list is one where they think they have an advantage and which is pressing health care. We're deadly serious about addressing the Republican-caused health care crisis because it's a deadly serious issue for the American people. Largest cuts in Medicaid in American history. Hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health clinics closing right now. Now, also something that is critical about this right now is that it's a political test. When you look at the five leaders who met today at the White House, of those five leaders,

only two of them have ever been in this position before President Trump and Chuck Schumer. So it's a test also of leadership. I think I lost IFB. Liz, I'm not sure if you can still hear us. Let's see if Liz Landers is still with us. I wanted to ask you about the politics. Lisa just mentioned there, this is a stark difference for President Trump from the shutdown negotiations of his first term. How is the president in the White House looking at this time around?

Amna, back in 2018, President Trump oversaw was the president during the largest, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history from 2018 that spanned into 2019. And at that time, he took responsibility for the shutdown. He said in a meeting with Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi at the time that he, he said, He was accepting responsibility for shutting down the government because of border security. This time we are hearing a very different tune from the president. He has repeatedly blamed Democrats over and over. And a former White House official that I spoke with a few days ago who worked in the first Trump administration noted that it seems like they, the current White House, has learned their lesson on messaging from the first time around from the first Trump administration. And on the earlier today, or yesterday, rather, President Trump hinted that some of these shutdowns could impact federal workers in terms of a reduction in force.

We had talked about that last week, the administration outlining that they may permanently be able to fire people using these, this mechanism, the reduction in force mechanism. We got new guidance today from the administration that seems to confirm that even more. It says, quote, the OMB has determined that agencies are authorized to direct employees to perform work necessary to administer the RIF process during the lapse in appropriations. And Omna, the vice president was asked about federal workers potentially getting fired just a few moments ago here outside of the White House. He did not directly answer that question, saying we have to keep essential services functioning as well as possible. Lisa, meanwhile, we know, obviously, the politics is one piece of it. The impact matters to so many more. Remind us what is at stake here.

Yeah, let's look at the workers, first of all. We have roughly 2 million federal workers that could be impacted. We don't yet know what the agency per agency plan is. We know there are about 1.3 million active duty military. They will be furloughed, be working. And what that means is no pay during the shutdown, but you would get back pay. Contractors, there are probably more than a million federal contractors. They would not be paid and also not be paid back.

It's key. Some big things like Social Security will keep going. We are going to be talking a lot more about this in days ahead, Omna. All right, Lisa Desjardin on Capitol Hill, Liz Landers, at the White House for us tonight. Thank you both. This podcast is supported in part by the New England Innovation Academy in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where today's students become tomorrow's innovators by discovering their passions and purpose while preparing for what's next, reimagining education with a future-focused curriculum. entrepreneurial mindset, and real-world application, currently enrolling grades 6 through 12, day and boarding students.

Learn more at NEIacademy.org. Well, as we heard, millions of Americans who rely on health plans under the Affordable Care Act could see their premiums increase if Congress doesn't extend key tax credits, and some could lose their insurance altogether. William Brangham has more on that part of the story. Omna, these enhanced tax credits were expanded during the pandemic, to make health insurance more affordable for people who buy ACA or Obamacare plans. More than 20 million people enrolled in marketplace plans in 2024, which is a record high,

and most of them receive these credits. The credits were set to expire at the end of 2022, but were then extended as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. So for more on what this means for health care in America, and what it costs, I'm joined by Cynthia Cox. She's vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF. Cynthia Cox, thank you so much for being here. We still don't know what's going to happen with these negotiations.

But let's say that these tax credits are not extended. And open enrollment begins very, very soon. What is likely to happen? What will happen if these enhanced premium tax credits are not extended by Congress is that millions of people are going to log on to health care. or their state's marketplace, and they're going to see that their premiums for next year are doubling. On average, we're expecting people to pay about twice as much as they're currently paying for health insurance if they want to keep the same plan. They might be able to get a lower

cost plan or pay a little bit less than what they otherwise would have to pay, but that might mean getting a deductible that's several thousand dollars. And do we have a sense of how many people could see those staggeringly high increases in their premiums and sort of what slice of the population that might be? So what we're looking at are people who buy their own health insurance coverage. This is not really going to affect people like me or you or many other people who get their insurance through work. This is really, you know, small business owners, farmers and ranchers, other people who work

at small companies that don't offer health insurance. And so for them, they're buying their own insurance and getting a tax credit to help with the costs. What we're expecting is that, you know, about 22 million people are getting one of these enhanced tax credits right now, and their premium costs would double, on average, or more, maybe. And so this could mean that they have to, say, you know, make a change to their employment and get a different job that does offer health insurance if they can't afford to continue paying for their own insurance, or they might become uninsured if they just aren't able to afford to continue that coverage. And we know once people become uninsured, it's not like then they stop getting sick

or stop having accidents, that the downstream ripple effects could be enormous if millions of people suddenly lose their insurance. That's right. And so, you know, this is already having an effect on insurance markets. You know, some insurers are charging even higher premiums for next year because they think that healthier people are going to drop out of the insurance market. And hospitals are also concerned. So they're thinking, well, if more people show up to the emergency room who are uninsured, the hospital still has to pay for their care and stabilize them. So they're concerned that there might have an increase in the number of people who aren't able to pay for their hospitalization. That might mean that some hospitals, particularly

in rural areas where they're already struggling, might have to close. Republicans have argued that these tax credits are too costly, that some people are earning too much money and ought not to receive them, and that this was enacted during the pandemic as a pandemic measure, and the pandemic is over. And I wonder, just from a public policy perspective, what do you make of those arguments? So it is true that the tax credits are expensive. It would cost about $35 billion per year with taxpayer money to extend these enhanced tax credits. Now, that's really because health insurance is really expensive in the United States. So making it possible for lower income and middle income people to afford to pay for health insurance

means that they'll need financial help to do so. And so that's really the trade-off here is are people going to be able to afford their insurance, in which case they would need financial help to do so, or is the cost just too much to the federal government? So most of the people getting these enhanced tax credits are actually very low-income people who live in southern red states. Texas, Florida, and Georgia account for most of the growth that we're seeing in the marketplaces right now.

But there's also higher-income people who qualify. That might be, say, a small business owner who otherwise might have to pay 10, 15, or even 20% of their income for health insurance just because health insurance is so expensive. But these enhanced tax credits cap how much they have to pay at about 8.5% of their income. Is there any legislative fix that could address some of these issues with the ACA, assuming these tax credits go away? There are a few different critiques of the Affordable Care Act. I think one is that health insurance, private health insurance, is expensive.

Now, the health insurance is being sold through the Obamacare Market. is no more expensive than the health insurance that employers buy and provide to their employees. It's just that the employer is paying for a large share of that cost and the employee is paying less. And so when people go on to buy their own health insurance, they often will get sticker shock to see, wow, this is how much health insurance costs. Well, yeah, that's how much it costs. And that's because health care is just really expensive in the United States. And so if you want to make health insurance less expensive, then the ways to do that or either to subsidize it with taxpayer,

dollars or to address the underlying reasons why health care is so expensive, but that might mean paying hospitals less, paying doctors less, and that's maybe not as politically popular as, you know, subsidizing health insurance. All right. That is Cynthia Cox, Vice President at KFF. Cynthia, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. For more on the looming government shut down and President Trump's expanding use of executive power, I'm joined now by our Politics Monday duo. That is Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR. Great to see you both. Let's pick up where some of the reporting and conversations left off there.

Amy, you know we have covered near shutdown battles before. We saw back earlier this spring, though, Chuck Schumer decided to vote with Republicans to keep the government open, caught a lot of flack for that. What is different for Democrats this time around? Are they approaching this differently? They're absolutely approaching this differently. And they are looking back to that moment, especially. the base of the Democratic Party so fired up, so insistent on party leaders going and facing off against Donald Trump. They feel like the party itself, as you see, those low approval

ratings for the Democrats, a lot of that comes from Democratic members of the party who say, our leaders are feckless, they're not fighting hard enough. So that's a big piece of this. The second piece is they found an issue on which to center this argument. And that's an issue that Democrats have been successful in fighting on the issue of health care. And so that as I was talking to a Democrat today, the point that they were making to me is, even if this, whatever the outcome of this shutdown is, the issue of health care is going to be an important one in 2026. So sort of setting a marker today for a fight that Democrats would like to have going into the midterms.

Tim, what about from the White House perspective on this and Republicans, as Lisa was reporting earlier, they seem to think Democrats will get blamed for a shutdown, but the last shutdown was on Trump's watch in his first administration. How are they looking at it? Yeah, the White House is approaching this with a high level of confidence

that they're going to be able to blame Democrats for the very reasons that Amy talked about because their message is going to be very simply Democratic members of Congress are bowing to their, base who just wants fight, fight, fight, fight, and that is going to be the White House message. It already is. It's going to continue to be. And this is a different shutdown than in 2018 and 2019. Back then, it was President Trump who wanted something. He wanted money for his wall.

And he was trying to leverage a potential government shutdown and ultimately the longest one in U.S. history to try to get that policy gain. With this shutdown, Democrats are the ones trying to leverage their votes to get a policy change. And so that is a big difference. You know, some of the words that we're hearing Republicans say, this is a hostage taking, this is a hijacking. These are words that have come out of Democrats' mouths again and again and again over many years of government shutdowns

that we've covered in the past. And I guess, fair to say, barring anything major happening over the next 24 hours, chance of a shutdown, you'd say, fairly high. It sure feels very, very high. Yeah, I mean, the vice president, was predicting a shutdown. Democrats are acting. Like there's a shutdown coming.

And, yeah, it doesn't, it just doesn't seem like there's a way for these cars to swerve. Yeah. All right. Well, let me ask you about what we've seen over the last few days because you've seen some really extraordinary actions by the president. I want to get some perspective on publicly pressured his Department of Justice to prosecute his enemies. And then his hand-picked U.S. Attorney's secured indictment against James Comey.

He announced he was sending troops to Portland, Oregon and to Memphis, Tennessee, the Secretary of Defense federalizes National Guard troops to do that. As you both seen, constitutional law experts, historians, a lot of folks are saying this is very dangerous precedent that's being set here. Amy, is any of that resonating with the American public? Well, you know, I went back and I looked at Donald Trump's approval rating on average over the course of his first term, which was 43% approved, 53% disapprove. Today, he's at 43% approved, 54% disapproved.

In other words, opinions about Donald Trump have been pretty settled for a long time. You could argue they were settled way before his first term ended, and they haven't really budged that much. He's consolidated support among Republicans, which means he has a little bit of a higher floor than he used to, because Republicans are completely united around him. There's not much he can do to lose them, if anything. But his ceiling is also low because there is still an ingrained significant percent of the public, whether we want to say it's 54 percent or 51 percent, that say they don't like and they don't approve of how he handles his job as president. And that over the course of his entire presidency, a lot happened.

We had COVID, we had the protests, we had all these different things. It kind of still stays there. So to say, is it breaking through or not, it is, but is it just? changing people's minds about him, no. Tam, what's your take? You know, the president has right now control over Congress. And he has a very compliant Congress. Republicans in Congress barely even at this point, like say they disapprove of anything

that he's doing. And if they happen to stick their head up like Rand Paul has on occasion, the president just smacks him right back down. So that's what he has right now. And at the same time, he has this. relatively low approval rating that he's had forever. He's behaving like he rules all and that he is extremely popular. And he can do that because he has that compliant Congress. But as an indication of the president and the White House is concerned about this, you can look at the efforts

in Texas and other states, Missouri, just over the weekend, to gerrymander, to try to get more Republicans in Congress or at least to not have Republicans lose the House in the Senate, because if they do, then there could be consequences for the president. Before we go, can I get you both to weigh in very quickly on what we saw with Eric Adams and the New York mayoral race ending his reelection bid? Does Adams leaving Amy help the independent here, Andrew Cuomo, to beat the Democrats, or on Mom Dani, which the White House hopes it does. What's your take? Yeah. Adams wasn't taking that much of the vote in the first place, but it certainly consolidates the non-momom don't.

wing of the sort of Democratic Party. At this point, though, while the gap could be closing, Mamdani, I think, has a benefit of enthusiasm on his side, even though many of his voters are not traditionally the kinds of voters that turn out election after election. And President Trump, I think this is one of those heads-up. I win, tails you lose. It's one of those situations, because if Mom-Dani wins,

then President Trump has the foil. he's been after. And if he loses, then he can say he somehow got what he wanted. Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, always great to start the week with you. Thank you. Welcome. You're welcome. At a surprise New York Film Festival performance last night, rock legend Bruce Springsteen publicly expressed concern for the political climate in the country, saying, quote, we're living through particularly dangerous times. But as the Trump administration increasingly targets free speech and the arts, musicians and artists of all kinds are facing a difficult decision, whether to speak out or keep their heads down. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey

Brown looks at some of what is and isn't happening for our series Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy as part of our canvas coverage. I'm wanting to represent the time that we're living in and not look away. Patrick Martinez is a multimedia artist born, trained, and making art in Los Angeles, who started telling the story of the America he lives in well before Donald Trump's 2016 election. A lot of my work deals with police brutality, police murder. I think that my upbringing informs my choices. When I choose to paint the landscape, I take objects and materials that are from areas that are, you know, discounted. When I produce work, a lot of that messaging tends to put me in a light that people will label me an activist, but I'm more just kind of paying attention.

These days, Martinez's work is exhibited in major museums, including the Whitney in New York and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. But when President Trump ordered ice raids in his community and the National Guard to Los Angeles, Martinez responded, photographing his neon works, printing them on corrugated plastic, and handing them out at protests. It's self-preservation to be making this work, right? But it also shows you what I thought about what was happening in these times. And me sharing it helps people cope with everything that they're kind of going through right now. And if they don't have the words to kind of come up with, they can use my work as a placeholder. But while some individual artists are addressing the moment, the larger art and museum worlds have mostly avoided directly confronting the Trump administration.

Robin Pogrebin is a culture reporter for the New York Times. You see a kind of much more of a cowed capitulating stance on the part of the art world, I think a sense of resignation. It may be just something they have to hunker down and weather for the next four years under Trump. You've seen a few isolated examples. Amy Sherald is a prominent artist who, upon hearing that one of her paintings was possibly going to be pulled by the Smithsonian board from a upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery, decided to cancel the entire exhibition. That was a very bold move. It's an example of an artist who can kind of afford to take that risk.

a very solid success. The Smithsonian, for the record, says it was adding a video to accompany a painting, not taking the painting out of the exhibit. The America that I love, the America that I've sung to you. Among prominent musicians who've spoken or sung their protest, Bruce Springsteen, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration. whose roar of words with Donald Trump dates back to his first term and was reignited this year by the rock star while on tour in Europe. The back and forth got so heated, the president threatened to investigate Springsteen and Beyonce for appearances they made on the 2024 campaign trail for his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.

And Cheryl Crowe, whose song The New Normal, she said, is a response to a political moment she describes as, so unbelievably bizarre. Singer-songwriter Ani DeFranco, long known for her activism, is still at it, with new urgency, she says. But she also wonders why the music world has been mostly quiet. Why aren't there more? Why isn't protest music the top of the pops? Like it was in other eras of American political turmoil and change and evolution?

I don't know if I have what it is to get up now from it's there. I think one thing that we are all suffering from is fatigue, you know, crisis fatigue and doom fatigue. Tell me now what happened? Manuel Oliver was thrust into the worlds of art and theater after the killing of his 17-year-old son Joaquin in the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida on Valentine's Day, 2018. In order to scream out the urgency of fixing what happened to Joaquin, I found art as an excellent way of sending that message. And that could be painting sculptures and in this case, theater. What happened on Joaquin's side? In 2019, Oliver produced the first version of his one-man play, Gwok.

In it, he tells the story of Joaquin's vibrant but short life. his horrific murder, and Oliver's fight to honor his son through advocacy for gun reform. He is the one that is motivating us, and I'll prove it to you. The play is always evolving, and so when ICE deportations of undocumented migrants escalated, Oliver felt the need to respond. One such addition, a tweet by his son written shortly before he was killed, that Oliver believes is especially relevant today. In the post, Joaquin calls out President Trump's first-term policy of separating undocumented migrant families.

We thought that it was very important that if we're talking about Joaquin, we should add Joaquin's own words. And so people will understand this as an issue that Joaquin will be really mad about. Another change reflects the moment for Manuel Oliver himself, as a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Venezuela. I'm one of those guys that had been targeted as criminals and bad ombres. So on the play, I had a line.

I won't be deported for doing this. I correct myself now, which I didn't before. Like, wait a minute, I am an American citizen, but I still can be deported. And that's a new reality. He didn't even get in office there. He was like, yeah, we're taking Canada. And I was like, I kind of agree with that. Sam Jay, a former writer for Saturday Night Live,

with their own HBO and Netflix specials, has long used comedy to make sense of current events. I think, mainly my place is to be honest, to tell my truth from my perspective. I tend not to lean right or left in anything that I say or do. and I kind of like to live in the gray. Jay's new stand-up show is titled We the People, tackling subjects such as race and social media in America

to try to figure out why the country is so divided. I felt like the conversation was kind of stuck as far as like where we are as Americans, where we're going as this democracy. And how does comedy do that in ways that other art forms don't? I think because comedy is, is like kind of mainvaning art in a little bit of a way. It's like a direct conversation.

We hit some new lows over the weekend. Late night comedy, of course, has become the stuff of 24-hour news, with the short-lived suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert. Do you think that will impact other comedians? I mean, I don't think there's a way it won't, you know. Does it lean towards people getting more active? and going like, hey, something scary is going on,

or do people, you know, duck and hide? What about for you? I'm going to just keep doing my shows and saying what I believe in and getting on stage for as long as I'm allowed to do that. One prominent player in all this still. A dictator from the Middle East. Ah, relax God.

South Park, which has garnered attention and eyeballs, with its skewering of President Trump since it began its 27th season this summer. What's next for the arts world as a whole? The New York Times Robin Pogrebin. This is a new day we're living in where even those who would seem to be empowered and independent of Trump

just don't want to poke that bear. What I'm wondering is whether or not this will have some really lasting effects that will have to be built back from, whether they'll feel more cautious going forward. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jeffrey Brown. This is on us. And when I say us, I mean...

Another terrific report from Jeff Brown there. Remember, there's a lot more online, including a look at Las Vegas' declining tourism and what that means for other U.S. cities. That is on our YouTube page. And that is the News Hour for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. On behalf of the entire NewsHour team, thank you for joining us.