GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: a turning point for Syria.

President Trump meets with that nation's new leader, a man who previously led a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Congressional Republicans push ahead on the president's spending and tax cuts, despite opposition from Democrats and some within their own party.

And, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before Congress, we speak with people with autism and their families about how his comments are influencing the way Americans think about the condition.

C.L.

KIEFFER NAIL, Autistic and Diagnosed With ADHD: For someone to try and put a cap on our limitations and tell us what we are capable of doing, it's insulting.

It's dehumanizing.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Day two of President Trump's tour of the Middle East brought with it the prospect of a new future for Syria.

Today, in Saudi Arabia, a landmark meeting, an American president and a one-time insurgent leader the U.S. once hunted.

President Trump was all smiles as he greeted Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has traded his fatigues for tailored suits, and, with it, another step for Syria to cement its resurgence and acceptance on the world stage.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria's new government, as you know.

I am also ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start.

It gives them a chance for greatness.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. first sanctioned Syria in 1979, designating it a state sponsor of terrorism.

In 2011, it began imposing a series of additional sanctions after the former Assad regime launched a brutal crackdown of the popular uprising.

The sanctions targeted not only the Assad government, but insurgent groups in Syria that fought Assad, including a group known as HTS, which al-Sharaa ran for years.

Al-Sharaa himself was listed as a terrorist by the U.S. and 20 years ago today was arrested and imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq.

MATTHEW LEVITT, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: The Israelis have some real security concerns when it comes to the new regime in Syria.

This is a regime that grew out of a group that was affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamic State.

GEOFF BENNETT: Matthew Levitt directs the Counterterrorism Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

MATTHEW LEVITT: They're concerned that Syria could become a base for Hamas or other Palestinian terrorist groups again.

They're concerned that HTS, which dominates this new interim government, doesn't have control over all of Syria's territory.

GEOFF BENNETT: But Mr. Trump today pushed for Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreement which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

DONALD TRUMP: We will continue that progress by adding more countries to the Abraham Accords.

We have the four, and we're going to have -- they're going to be -- I think they're going to be filling up very rapidly.

GEOFF BENNETT: But relations between Syria and Israel have historically been fraught and violent, with Israel continuing to bomb what it calls terrorist targets, weapons depots, air bases and military installations across Syria.

Removing foreign fighters is another one of the Trump administration's demands, one of many challenges now facing Syria's new leader as the West scrutinizes his resolve.

MATTHEW LEVITT: The way to do this is not to summarily terminate all these sanctions, but to make sure that they are suspended in ways that are real and clear so people feel comfortable doing business with and through Syria.

GEOFF BENNETT: Levitt says U.S. sanctions need to be adjusted to give the new Syrian regime a chance to prove that it's not a threat to the U.S. or Israel.

MATTHEW LEVITT: This is a government led by someone who came out of al-Qaida.

And it's very difficult to get past that.

And yet, because he has demonstrated, he and his government, some good actions on things that have mattered to us, there's reason to go out on a limb and try and work with this government.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, in Syria tonight, celebration, a sense of joy and hope for the future, emotions long buried by years of despair.

And for more insight, we're joined now by Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force.

It's a U.S.-based nonprofit that supports democracy in Syria.

Thanks for being here.

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA, Executive Director, Syrian Emergency Task Force: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we should say that you have met recently with al-Sharaa and you have also been advocating for the lifting of sanctions following the fall of Assad.

We see that picture there, you meeting him alongside a U.S. delegation.

President Trump said he made this decision after talking with the Saudi crown prince and with Turkey's president.

What was the convincing argument?

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: Well there are so many.

I mean, what if we don't lift the sanctions on Syria?

What if we leave the sanctions on Syria?

Mind you, these are sanctions that was placed on Syria specifically on the Assad regime because he was killing his people, and it was in support of the people that were rising up against this tyrant.

But when the Assad regime was gone, the sanctions remained.

Now, if these were sanctions were on the Assad regime, not on the Syrian people, they should go right away, no preconditions.

And the fact that they remain, it begs the question, were they always sanctions against the Syrian people and not this tyrant?

The other thing is, if somebody had come to the U.S. and said, look, we will beat and defeat Iran, ISIS, Russia and the Assad regime in Syria in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, the answer would have been absolutely yes.

Well, that's exactly what happened there.

If we don't lift the sanctions, Syria would become a failed state.

Financially, it had weeks to go.

And that means ISIS, Iran, Russia, Hezbollah is back.

So we should ask ourselves what happens if we don't lift the sanctions.

That would be a disaster for the region and the world.

GEOFF BENNETT: I want to revisit some of these photos we saw today of President Trump and MBS and al-Sharaa.

It's remarkable.

There's the photo right there.

It's remarkable when you consider that, until six months ago, al-Sharaa had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

Fast-forward to the current moment.

President Trump told reporters, said, he's a young attractive guy, he's a tough guy with a strong past, but he said that he thought that he had the opportunity to really stabilize Syria.

Is that a well-informed and realistic view of his leadership potential and his resolve?

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: I was in Syria about a couple of weeks ago or a week-and-a-half ago, and with this delegation that included the Syrian Jewish community, coming back for the first time in 34 years wanting to rebuild the oldest synagogue in the world destroyed by Assad.

Now we can rebuild that because the sanctions are gone, American young lady named Maryam Kamalmaz that was seeking more information her dad and other Americans that were disappeared under Assad, seeking also a conversation with the Syrian government, and myself.

And during that meeting, which was supposed to be 50 minutes, it went on for 3.5 hours.

In that meeting, we discussed so many things and it wasn't just my opinion, but the opinion of everybody else in that delegation in the picture that you saw, that this is the right man.

Number one, this is a changed man.

This is somebody who wants to see Syria be at peace with all of its neighbors and to never go into war for the next thousand years.

And this is a person who has promised working diligently towards elections, which would make Syria the first democratic election maybe in the Arab world, which is amazing on its own.

We knew after that 3.5-hour meeting that if President Sharaa was to meet with President Trump, that they were just going to hit it off.

There were so many mutual interests in terms of what both presidents wanted to see happen in the Middle East.

And, number two, they're both strong, transformational leaders in their own sort of ways and that they would get along.

I think that's exactly what we have seen happen.

And I think that was a historic decision and the right one in terms of lifting sanctions on Syria.

GEOFF BENNETT: And yet, as you well know, there is concern, there is criticism in some quarters, as you heard in the piece, this idea that you can't lose sight of the fact that this is a government led by someone who came out of al-Qaida.

To your point, he severed ties with al-Qaida back in 2016.

Our Nick Schifrin reports that Israel had no advance notice of the lifting of these sanctions and that they are not happy.

Israel has deep suspicion of this administration.

Is any of that concern warranted?

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: No, the concern was warranted when Bibi Netanyahu's government was arbitrarily bombing Syria after it had just come out of a horrific war, while the Israeli government, before ever meeting the new Syrian government, calling them all blank terrorists, keep the designations, keep the sanctions.

The concern should have come from the efforts here in the United States to shield President Trump from what opportunity lies in Syria.

What is in the best interests of Israel as a state is different what is in the best interests of an Israeli politician, that war ongoing keeps them in office and maybe out of the courtroom.

But what President Trump has done is something that is a service to the United States' interests and, frankly, interests of everyone in the region, including Israel.

As we were meeting with President Sharaa, he was telling us about the reports of these massive Iranian-backed militias numbers that were alongside regime troops on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border, that that was a real problem.

When we came back here just last week, I met with the National Security Council before President Trump went to Saudi Arabia.

And I mentioned that this was a real concern.

And the National Security Council official that I was meeting with said, I have seen the intelligence reports.

It is.

That's the concern for Israel's long-term security, having Hezbollah and IRGC in Iran and ISIS on its borders.

And, finally, I have to say, right now, and this goes underreported, the new Syrian government, led by President Sharaa, worked directly with the U.S. military on counter-ISIS operations and counter-al-Qaida operations.

It is just ironic that we're saying this is not a changed man, this is really ISIS with another hat on, when he's ISIS' worst enemy in Syria and vice versa.

GEOFF BENNETT: As we wrap up this conversation, I don't want to lose sight of what this means for ordinary Syrians.

Syria has been starved of international investment due to these sanctions.

Now that they are being lifted, what might this mean?

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: Oh, it is just sort of untold potential.

The Syrian people are the most resilient people I have ever seen.

They are so smart.

They're so willing to work.

They don't want handouts.

And they want to see their country become a democracy.

I think what we see in Syria is now opportunity for Syria to be a ray of hope for the entire region.

And I think a stable, prosperous, democratic Syria, I think makes the whole world a better place.

And the Syrians, you can feel their happiness.

And we have to say there's a thank you to President Trump for giving Syria this chance, a chance to be a democracy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mouaz Moustafa, a pleasure to speak with you.

Thanks for being here.

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: The day's other headlines bring us to Capitol Hill, where Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed ongoing aviation problems on the previous administration and years of neglect.

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. Transportation Secretary: The infrastructure didn't rot in the last 100 days.

We didn't have 3,000 controller shortages in the last 100 days.

There was four years that came before.

GEOFF BENNETT: Newark Airport in particular has been plagued by weeks of delays due to equipment outages and air traffic controller shortages.

United Airlines has already opted to cut flights to the airport, which is one of its hubs, and further cuts could be coming.

The FAA today met with major airlines behind closed doors to discuss reducing flights at Newark.

In the lead-up to the meeting, the FAA said the airport is clearly unable to handle the current level of scheduled operations.

A Georgetown University scholar from India was released from a detention center in Texas today.

Dr. Badar Khan Suri told reporters he was extremely thankful to be free.

The postdoctoral fellow was arrested in March amid the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign students.

Earlier, his supporters had gathered outside the courthouse in Virginia where a judge ruled the government had not provided any evidence why he should be held.

The Trump administration had revoked his visa, accusing him of supporting Hamas.

Khan Suri is married to a Palestinian-American.

His lawyers say he was targeted because her father worked with the Hamas-backed government in Gaza before the October 7 attacks.

Khan Suri has not been charged with a crime.

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has fired the top two officials leading the National Intelligence Council.

That's the group that analyzes security threats to the U.S. and provides assessments to the president and other top policymakers.

The firings of Michael Collins and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, came after the group wrote an assessment that contradicted the Trump administration's rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Gabbard has vowed to go after what she has described as efforts to politicize the intelligence community.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $12 billion budget deficit today.

He says the shortfall is due in part to broader economic uncertainty, including President Trump's tariff rollout.

To make up ground, Newsom has proposed freezing health care benefits for undocumented immigrants living in the state.

Under the plan, adults without legal status would not be eligible for the state's version of Medicaid starting next year.

Those already on the plan would have to pay $100 per month starting in the year 2027.

The changes would not affect children.

Newsom says the shift will save more than $5 billion over the next few years.

The number of overdose deaths in the U.S. dropped last year by the largest amount ever recorded.

According to CDC data out today, 80,000 people died from an overdose in 2024.

That's down 27 percent from the year before.

Experts say increased availability of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, plus expanded addiction treatment services, may have contributed to the decline, though they also point out that the annual overdose deaths are still higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turning overseas now, a wave of Israeli airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight and into today.

Health officials there say the attacks killed at least 70 people, including nearly two dozen children.

In Northern Gaza, victims were carried off in ambulances.

A local hospital said it received almost 50 bodies by midday.

One of them was an 8-month-old baby.

Israel had warned it would target Hamas infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.

Witnesses say civilians bore the brunt of the attacks.

HATEM SALEH, Jabalia, Gaza, Resident (through translator): Why did they hit them, and, suddenly, without any previous warning?

A child who is a few months old, what is the fault of this child to die in the strikes?

An elderly woman who lives on oxygen, a disabled man, what is their fault?

GEOFF BENNETT: The strikes came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned there is, in his words, no way Israel ends the war in Gaza without Hamas being defeated.

He said Israeli forces are days away from a promised escalation in fighting to complete the mission.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend tomorrow's highly anticipated cease-fire talks with Ukraine, even though he himself proposed the idea.

In a late announcement, the Kremlin said their delegation heading to Istanbul includes a presidential aide, plus senior military and intelligence officials, but not Putin himself.

Shortly afterwards, a U.S. official said President Trump will not fly to Turkey for the talks either.

He had until tonight kept the door open.

The U.S. said special envoy Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will join Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who touched down in Turkey this evening.

The last known direct talks between Ukraine and Russia were back in 2022, just one month into the war.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed after an uneasy day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 90 points on the day.

The Nasdaq added more than 130 points, building on its recent gains.

The S&P 500 just barely ended in positive territory.

And more than 1,000 baristas at dozens of Starbucks stores are striking over a change in the company's dress code.

As of this week, workers in the U.S. and Canada must wear a solid black shirt underneath their signature green aprons and khaki black or blue denim pants.

Previously, employees could pair a range of dark colors and patterned shirts.

It's the latest move by Starbucks to revitalize its brand amid declining sales.

Striking workers say this is not the answer.

WOMAN: Writing messages on cups and implementing drab uniforms will not restore Starbucks' slumping sales or increase customers.

GEOFF BENNETT: For its part, Starbucks said today, the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 company-run stores.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the EPA rolls back rules against so-called forever chemicals in drinking water; the head of the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere discusses how tariffs are shrinking imports; and a new novel about moral compromise takes inspiration from a filmmaker who worked under the Nazi regime.

Today, House Republicans pushed the largest parts of the Trump legislative agenda a major step closer to the House floor.

It includes trillions in tax cuts, along with changes to Medicaid that would affect millions of people.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is with us.

Lisa, I know you have been tracking this for days.

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: So let's start with the taxes, the tax cuts.

What does this big, beautiful bill do?

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, first of all, this is a first draft.

It's important to know that.

But it's a very important first draft because it sets the direction for this.

We will be talking about it for weeks to come.

But I want to look at this tax portion, which may be the largest in U.S. history if it's passed as it is, and talk about who's affected in terms of the groups in it by tax cuts.

So, first of all, let's talk about the biggest groups that are affected, most Americans.

This bill would extend the 2017 tax cuts permanently, meaning current rates would stay the same, they would not go up.

In addition, there would be a temporary, new, larger deduction that would be in place for four years.

Now, families, they also would benefit.

The child tax cut will go up.

Again, that is just for four years, and there will be a new $1,000 credit, something we haven't seen before, for babies born in the next four years that parents could invest.

For workers, Trump's pledges, no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime pay, that is in this bill right now, but, again, only for four years.

What about his pledge on Social Security?

That's not in here.

He is not -- they are not blocking taxes on Social Security.

Instead, there's a new deduction for seniors up to $4,000.

Now, at the same time, Republicans are also ending an array of green and climate-related tax incentives that were put in place under Biden.

They want those to go.

GEOFF BENNETT: And a good chunk of the money to pay for the tax cuts comes from Medicaid.

So what are Republicans proposing there?

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

This is going to be one of the most controversial areas.

To Republicans, this proposal is actually a step in a more moderate direction.

To Democrats, it's still very extreme.

So let's look specifically at this Medicaid, the health care program for the poor.

Here's what's in the bill that was passed a short time ago.

For individuals, there would be new Medicaid work requirements for able-bodied adults up to age 64.

Some people on Medicaid now, those just above the poverty line, would have to pay a co-pay in order to get health care.

Now, for states, some very big changes.

Republicans want to change a funding mechanism that states rely on.

They would also penalize states who choose to pay for undocumented Americans to be -- immigrants to be in Medicaid.

Finally, the bill does aim to cut down on fraud with the more rigorous kind of set of eligibility checks.

Now, this passed after a 26-hour committee hearing over it.

You won't be surprised that the two parties see this very differently.

REP. JENNIFER MCCLELLAN (D-VA): This bill is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration and DOGE to shrink the federal government and federal spending, particularly in the health and human services space.

And these are impacting people's lives.

REP. LAUREL LEE (R-FL): But Republican reforms to Medicaid do not take away from the vulnerable.

They strengthen and preserve Medicaid, directing benefits to those who need them, instead of directing them to those who do not.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, some Republicans openly dispute that and they say, like Josh Hawley, senator of Missouri, that he thinks there are real cuts here.

Other Republicans say this doesn't go far enough on Medicaid.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, we have had some of those Republicans on this program, Chip Roy and Nicole Malliotakis.

So you have looked at the actual numbers.

Few people know this as well as you do.

So what's the real deal here?

LISA DESJARDINS: There's a lot of funny math going on in the past couple of days.

So let's focus on what the Congressional Budget Office is actually saying, who this will be affecting.

Let's look at the numbers.

First of all, they say overall, on Medicaid, if this is enacted, there will be 10 million fewer people on Medicaid.

Overall, they say 7.6 million Americans -- sorry, 8.6 million Americans fewer would be insured.

But Republicans point out overall the health care portion is bringing in $700 billion.

I also want to point out in a separate part of this bill, Republicans want to cut SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps, extensively.

So we will be talking about that more as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do Republicans have the votes to pass this as one big, beautiful bill, as President Trump likes to call it?

LISA DESJARDINS: Not right now.

They have a couple of challenges.

One are moderates from New York and California who want bigger exemptions when it comes to the state and local taxes, or sometimes called SALT.

One of those is Mike Lawler, who spoke to us earlier today.

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): We had been asking repeatedly for meetings, for conversations, for numbers, for information, and unfortunately were not given it and basically presented with a take it or leave it.

And that's just not the way to negotiate.

LISA DESJARDINS: He's a no right now.

Others, however, say they're worried about all the red ink and they don't like what folks like Lawler are saying.

Here's another one, Representative Burlison of Missouri.

REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): Yes, the problem, it's all funny math.

And I said this repeatedly that I will take a look and see if they're using funny math.

The fact that we're not implementing a lot of these changes until the next presidency is a big red flag, right?

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, all this, we will see next week when they want to try and pass this bill.

This is sort of normal back and forth, but next week we will know if there's a real problem or not.

GEOFF BENNETT: More to come.

Lisa Desjardins, our thanks to you, as always.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: The EPA has announced a rollback of Biden-era regulations on so-called forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, in drinking water systems across the country.

Our John Yang has more.

JOHN YANG: Geoff, the EPA has estimated that more than 158 million Americans are exposed to these chemicals through their drinking water.

Last year, the Biden administration set very low limits for six common PFAS contaminants in drinking water.

Now the EPA says it's rescinding and reconsidering the standards for four of them.

For the other two, the agency is giving water utilities two more years, until 2031, to meet the new limits.

Amudalat Ajasa covers environmental health for The Washington Post.

What are PFAS and how widespread are they?

AMUDALAT AJASA, The Washington Post: Yes, PFAS are a class of thousands of carbon-flying compounds used to repel grease, water, and oil, and they're the strongest bond in chemistry.

And they're really persistent.

I mean, they have the nickname forever chemicals for a reason.

JOHN YANG: And it's not just in drinking water.

Where else can it be found?

AMUDALAT AJASA: Scientists estimate that PFAS are in the blood of almost every American.

And they're found in remote regions around the world, even as far as Antarctica.

JOHN YANG: And is it in soil because it lasts so long?

AMUDALAT AJASA: It's in the environment.

It's in the air.

It's in the soil.

It's in the water.

But people are primarily exposed to PFAS in drinking water.

JOHN YANG: What does research say about the effect on human health of these things?

AMUDALAT AJASA: Yes, the effect of human health is pretty toxic.

PFAS, even at the smallest detectable level, are toxic to humans.

They're linked to a variety of cancers, including rare and reoccurring cancers, weakened immune systems, low birth rates, developmental delays, infertility, and much, much more.

JOHN YANG: And what does the EPA explain why they're doing this?

How do they explain it?

AMUDALAT AJASA: They were met with challenges from the water utilities and chemical manufacturers who said that the costs were too steep and that the time was too tight for them to comply with the standards.

They were given until 2029 to do so.

The EPA estimated that it would take them $1.5 billion each year to do so.

The water utilities were saying it's going to take more than that.

So the EPA is saying that they are keeping the deadlines for two of the more toxic and harmful chemicals that we know about, while rescinding and reconsidering four others.

JOHN YANG: And what do the environmental groups say about what the EPA is doing?

AMUDALAT AJASA: Yes, the environmental groups are pretty concerned.

The EPA is allowing -- is keeping the maximum containment for PFOA and PFOS, which are really toxic and known, but they have also been phased out in the U.S., right?

So these environmentalists are concerned that by rescinding and reconsidering the four others, some of which are substitutes for those other harmful ones, that the health effects could be amplified.

And on top of that, environmentalists are worried that the Safe Drinking Water Act has an anti-backsliding provision, which bars the agency from weakening the bill, so -- weakening the rules.

So this proposal, they say, could be in violation of that.

JOHN YANG: And this is just one of the many differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration on this.

And, in addition, they're -- along with President Trump's goal of shrinking the federal government, they're going to be cutting budgets.

They're going to be cutting staff at the EPA.

What do people say are their concerns about the long-term impacts of that?

AMUDALAT AJASA: People are concerned about the health of Americans.

By cutting these agencies, by cutting the scientists who study this work, the health of Americans, they feel like, are in jeopardy.

JOHN YANG: Amudalat Ajasa of The Washington Post, thank you very much.

AMUDALAT AJASA: Thank you so much for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the day testifying on Capitol Hill, where he faced a grilling, as lawmakers pressed him on the Trump administration's overhaul of federal health agencies and billions in cuts to the multiple agencies he oversees.

House Democrats, in particular, raised concerns about whether Kennedy was violating the law in cutting funding appropriated by Congress for medical research this year.

Kennedy said he's streamlining some funds.

REP. ROSA DELAURO (D-CT): Excuse me, but that's B.S.

You are not rescaling NIH research.

You are proposing to cut it by $20 billion.

I want my questions answered on, are you freezing and withholding funding that Congress appropriated in 2025 for lifesaving NIH research?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary: We are not withholding any funding for lifesaving research.

REP. ROSA DELAURO: Do you commit to following the law... ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Of course.

REP. ROSA DELAURO: ... and fully obligating funding that Congress appropriated?

We appropriated.

It is the law of the land for NIH research, and to obligate those funds by September 30 of this year.

Or are you planning to break the law by impounding congressionally appropriated funds?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: If you appropriate me the funds, I'm going to suspend them.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kennedy's approach to the measles outbreak also came under scrutiny.

He defended the CDC's response, but was pressed by Democrats about his stance on vaccines.

REP. MARK POCAN (D-WI): If you had a child today, would you vaccinate that child for measles?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: For measles -- probably for measles.

What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant.

I have directed Jay Bhattacharya.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: I don't want to -- so that everybody can make that decision.

But I don't want to seem I'm being evasive.

But I don't think people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kennedy has also been vocal about autism, pledging to create a national database to find, as he says, the causes of autism.

His agenda has won praise from some, including those whose loved ones have severe complications.

But his rhetoric, others say, fails to accurately portray the variety of people on the spectrum and the contributions they make.

Our Ali Rogin has our look at how leaders in the autism community are advocating for themselves.

But let's start with the perspectives of viewers with autism and their caregivers on how they see this moment.

Here's some of what they told us.

KODI CLIFFORD, On the Autism Spectrum: My name is Kodi Clifford.

I'm on the autism spectrum.

As somebody who's late-diagnosed, it's a new prospect for me to be thinking about is how other people see me, how other people are talking about autism issues in the media.

I'm going to try not to get too emotional about it because it is, I think, overall really hurtful.

DORIS SMITH, Mother: My name is Doris Smith.

I have a son, a 30-year-old son named Jacob, who has been diagnosed with autistic behavior.

We see the scratching, the biting, the inability to sleep.

I have got holes in my walls that -- I'm tired of doing drywall.

SHAMIRA CHANEY, Mother: My name is Shamira Chaney, and I have three beautiful, beautiful, awesome sons who are all on the autism spectrum.

I do believe that all of my boys will be contributing members of society.

You know, there were some comments made about, oh, they won't be able to play baseball.

My son Eli runs track, a gold medalist, may I add, in track.

He is a basketball player.

I think he just recently told me "I'm signing him up for soccer and baseball this summer."

So, like, he's thriving.

MICHAEL WILLSON, Neurodivergent: My name is Michael Willson, and I am neurodivergent.

First of all, vaccines do not cause neurodivergence.

We need to end that myth once and for all.

But let's just pretend for a second that they did.

The fact that people would rather have a child dive from a preventable disease than to have a neurodivergent child, it's just really heartbreaking to me.

C.L.

KIEFFER NAIL, Autistic and Diagnosed With ADHD: My name is C.L.

Kieffer Nail, and I am autistic and I have also been diagnosed with ADHD.

For someone to try and put a cap on our limitations and tell us what we are capable of doing, it's insulting.

It's dehumanizing.

All of the language we have heard in the last couple of weeks from RFK Jr., it has echoes of Nazi Germany and wanting to make a list of us.

It's frightening.

So many of us are terrified, both for ourselves, for our family members.

DORIS SMITH: He has certain places he likes to go.

He's Mr. GPS.

So we have to go to those places in a certain way.

God forbid if there's an accident or something is blocked off.

Then we get a rise in behavior.

And that rise in behavior can be everything from having a tantrum to throwing things, to scratching, to repeating things over and over again, to even biting in some cases.

Both of our cars have damage on the inside.

KODI CLIFFORD: There are so many ways that we could be supporting people with autism, rather than focusing our energy on like, do you see that over there?

You don't want your kid to be like that.

How do we research and find out how to never have that happen again?

That just seems really counterproductive to me.

SHAMIRA CHANEY: My daughter, Raelyn (ph), she's not on the autism spectrum, but she is just so good with her brothers.

I overheard a conversation that she was having with her friends.

And they were like, so, OK, so all your brothers have autism.

And she's like, yes.

And the friends are asking like, oh, so what exactly is it?

And she's like, they just do things differently.

They do things their own way.

And she spoke about it in such a positive light.

And so I'm like, if an 11-year-old girl can do it, come on, what -- the politicians, this administration, like, I need you all to get it together.

DORIS SMITH: I am very excited at this initiative by Mr. Kennedy.

This has been a long time coming.

We have got a whole generation, now going into a second generation that has been lost.

And if this were any other concern, there would be programs.

Somebody would be looking into it.

But we're made to accept that these things happen.

It's genetics.

It's the environment.

It's this.

It's that.

Well, show us.

KODI CLIFFORD: There's research that needs to be done into the differences between autistic people and neurotypical people, especially in the way of health care, because I have noticed, in my own journey, no one's doing research on that kind of stuff.

And I think they need to be.

Instead, they're doing research into what causes autism.

MICHAEL WILLSON: I want neurotypical people to know that neurodivergent people have beautiful, productive and fulfilling lives.

C.L.

KIEFFER NAIL: Our brains are wired differently.

We think differently.

We look at the world differently.

Our senses are different.

I mean, that's the difference.

And for them to think that we are a problem that needs to be solved, it -- no.

This is my life.

And to be looked at this way by society, it's insane.

ALI ROGIN: For a look at how members of the autism community see this moment, I'm joined by Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization run by and for autistic individuals.

Zoe, thank you so much for being here.

ZOE GROSS, Director of Advocacy, Autistic Self Advocacy Network: Thank you for having me.

ALI ROGIN: When you hear those voices, do they represent part of the range of responses that you and your colleagues are hearing from members of the autistic community?

ZOE GROSS: Absolutely.

I think people have been really upset by the comments that they have been hearing, things about autistic people not being able to do certain things, talk like autism destroys families.

No one wants their disability to be stigmatized.

No one wants to be blamed for things going wrong in their family or in society.

It's very distressing to hear that kind of thing.

And there's a lot of mistrust of the data collection effort that's going to be going forward.

ALI ROGIN: Yes.

And let's take a step back, though, and talk about just what is autism spectrum disorder.

This is a wide spectrum we're talking about.

ZOE GROSS: Sure.

So autism is a disability that we're born with and it affects us our whole lives.

It affects how we think, how we move, how we learn, how we see the world, how we process sensory information.

It affects the way we -- our brains organize information.

It affects our communication.

We may not speak or we may speak using scripts or a device.

It affects the way we socialize with other people and it affects that we may need help day-to-day with things like dressing, bathing, or daily routines.

ALI ROGIN: And HHS Secretary Kennedy said recently -- and I'm quoting from him now -- "Most cases now are severe; 25 percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained and have other stereotypical features."

Does that match what your organization tracks on this level?

And, also, does it represent the perception and the experience of some parts of the autism community?

And I'm wondering if you can speak to that as well.

ZOE GROSS: So, what he's referring to is that the CDC did a study which showed that, of all autistic people, 25 percent either are nonspeaking, are minimally speaking, or have a measured I.Q.

that's under 50.

Now, it's very difficult to measure the I.Q.

of many autistic people reliably.

So take all this with a grain of salt.

But it's that group of three different populations that he's grouping together.

And when he says no one in that group is toilet-trained, there's no studies to back that up.

And to make other generalizations about that group I think would be unwise.

All we know about them is those three things.

And what he's trying to do is to inspire panic and fear and make people very worried about the possibility of autism in their family or just about autism in society.

And that doesn't help autistic people.

ALI ROGIN: We are in a moment where there's a lot of talk about what the government can and should do when it comes to autism.

So where do you come down on this?

What should the federal government be doing?

Where are there more resources needed and where can government play a role, in your view?

ZOE GROSS: So one of the biggest ways that the government could help autistic people today is by expanding Medicaid home and community-based services.

This is a waiver service through Medicaid.

States are not required to provide it.

So, when there are cuts to Medicaid, this is the first thing to go.

But these are the services that help people live their daily lives, help people live in the community, do things they need like transportation, help with daily routines, shopping, cooking, other stuff that means that they can live in their own home, instead of in an institution.

Without these services, either people are forced to go into an institution or someone is forced to leave their job to care for them unpaid, which can really strain many families financially.

So these are lifesaving services.

And right now they're on the chopping block.

One thing the government could do is protect these services.

ALI ROGIN: What do you want people to know about living with autism?

How has it affected your life?

ZOE GROSS: Yes, so what I want people to know is that autistic people may need different supports than non-autistic people.

It's very important that we have those supports, those accommodations.

That can mean the difference between whether or not we can live in the community, whether or not we can go to school with our peers, whether or not we can work a job in the community, as opposed to in a sheltered workshop.

Making those accommodations for us is the difference between including and excluding us.

So, if you see someone, for example, wearing headphones in a crowded area or someone at a job with a job coach, or if someone asks for accommodations in housing or at work, I want you to think about that as the way that autistic people are included in society.

ALI ROGIN: Zoe Gross at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, thank you so much for joining us.

ZOE GROSS: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Trade tensions between the U.S. and China may be cooling slightly thanks to a 90-day tariff war truce, but the economic fallout is still rippling through one of the country's busiest ports.

At the Port of Los Angeles, incoming cargo is down some 25 percent.

And this matters because the port plays a major role in the global supply chain, and a slowdown affects everything from store shelves and prices to American jobs.

We're joined now by Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

Thanks for being here.

GENE SEROKA, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles: Good evening.

Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: So tell me more about how the U.S. tariffs on imports, especially from China, have affected the overall cargo volume at your port.

GENE SEROKA: Geoff, at the Port of Los Angeles, for the month of May, we were expecting 80 ships to arrive with cargo from Asia, and we had 17 canceled.

The cargo volume will be down precipitously for four weeks, beginning last and continuing on.

And what that means for us is fewer job opportunities for our dockworkers, truckers, and warehouse folks in and around the port complex.

It's also going to put a strain on seasonal products on store shelves across the nation, as the cargo that moves through our port reaches each one of our country's 435 congressional districts.

GEOFF BENNETT: The 90-day trade war truce, I mean, how will that affect things at the port and how soon do you expect to see the impact?

GENE SEROKA: Well, it was welcome news out of Geneva over the weekend, more probably than some would have anticipated, but, Geoff, 90 days is not a long runway in our business.

Typically, that's about the amount of time it takes for a buyer here in the U.S. to put an order into a factory in Asia, have the product made, and then get it ready to be shipped out.

Some will try to pick up cargo that's already been manufactured and get it here to the United States through the Port of Los Angeles.

And others are simply doing the financial analysis and wagering whether this 30 percent tariff that was introduced is going to be the right price for them.

GEOFF BENNETT: With all of this volatility, do you see long-term changes in global trade patterns that could permanently reshape West Coast ports like the Port of Los Angeles?

GENE SEROKA: We do.

And the volatility really hits the commercial sector of our business directly.

Almost every meeting I have is an importer, exporter, or service provider telling me that they really need a better line of sight so they can make decisions.

After the tariffs were introduced at that 145 percent level on all China goods, many executives simply hit the pause button, slamming on the brakes on cargo from China, reevaluating other Asia locations with higher tariffs, slowing down on hiring, and capital investment.

But, going back to 2018, when the first tariffs went in on China, we saw a move to Southeast Asia for manufacturing.

In fact, at that time, 60 percent of our portfolio's business in the Port of Los Angeles was with China, both imports and exports.

Today, it's 45 percent and dropping.

GEOFF BENNETT: Are you in direct dialogue with any members of the administration about this, and what would you like policymakers to do to mitigate the impact of this trade war?

GENE SEROKA: I am on an advisory committee with the U.S. trade representative and their staff.

And I have been so impressed by their knowledge, work ethic and ability to listen.

But, realistically, what we saw here are a couple pieces.

This whipsaw effect of information that's coming out, the changes in policy that have happened so rapidly are difficult to keep up with even for the most seasoned veteran in this industry.

Think small and medium-sized companies who don't always have access trying to keep up with this and make the best decisions they can for their organizations.

Second, for every four containers that move through the Port of Los Angeles, we create a job that's very important across a wide variety of segments in our economy.

And in Southern California, it represents one in nine jobs.

About a million people go to work every day based on what we do at the port.

And the last piece is, I think that it's a real opportunity through this revised trade policy and different look at what we're doing with partner countries to really step up our entrance on exports to other trading nations.

Only 1 percent of manufactured goods in L.A. County get exported today.

And, as Americans, we only consume about one-third of all the harvested agricultural products in the nation.

If we can open up more markets, some good will come out of this for the export community.

GEOFF BENNETT: That's interesting.

You most answered my last question.

I was going to ask you, how do you intend to have your port stay resilient in the face of potential changes or further escalation in the trade war?

GENE SEROKA: We have done a really good job of chasing the cargo, partnering with shipping companies, because the speed component is so important to us.

We're growing even with the migration of manufacturing to Southeast Asia.

As we look towards more manufacturing in the U.S. and hopefully a focus on that agriculture market, we can flip the script right here and add more capacity for our outbound export customers.

We're ready.

GEOFF BENNETT: Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, an interesting conversation.

Thanks for being with us, sir.

GENE SEROKA: Thank you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: The role of the artist in times of crisis, a powerful new work of fiction rooted in real events explores that question resonating with the challenges of our own time.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has the story for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: The 1925 filmed "The Joyless Street" starring Greta Garbo, 1929's "Pandora's Box" with Louise Brooks, two landmark films directed by G.W.

Pabst, considered one of the world's great filmmakers of the silent era, an innovator in visual storytelling.

The Austria native first made his mark in Europe left for Hollywood as the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, but found little success there, and then as World War II was beginning returned home, where he made films for and under the Nazi regime.

DANIEL KEHLMANN, Author, "The Director": It's like the normal, regular story of the refugee fleeing the Nazis, fleeing prosecution turned on its head.

And I thought, this is an amazing story.

I have to look into that and I have to turn that into a novel.

JEFFREY BROWN: The result by German-Austrian novelist Daniel Kehlmann, "The Director," a fictionalized account based on the life of an actual artist and his choices in the worst of times.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: It's a novel about complicity.

It's -- because if you if you survive at all in a dictatorship, then you have to become complicit.

And in the case of Pabst, because the Nazis wanted him to make films, and he did that, he feels like, I have a lot of artistic freedom here.

I can do this.

I can make good films.

And that's, of course, when the pact with the devil becomes very real.

JEFFREY BROWN: Kehlmann, now 50 and living in New York, burst on the world literary scene 20 years ago with his novel "Measuring the World," which also featured historical characters in the 18th and 19th centuries.

He's written six other novels, including 2020's "Tyll," a reimagining of actual events in the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century.

It was a finalist for the international Booker Prize.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Novel writing is the art of the possible.

It's what could have happened.

And you have a certain license in a novel to do what journalists, for example, or historians cannot do.

JEFFREY BROWN: Right.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: They cannot just say, this happened, because you need very, very reliable sources.

And, as a novelist, this is exactly what you're allowed to do.

You can follow the hunch.

JEFFREY BROWN: You have got the framing of the facts here.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Yes.

Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: But then you can play.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Yes, exactly.

JEFFREY BROWN: In "The Director," he shows us the everyday changes, the flags, children in uniform, the rules of who doesn't belong that can swiftly transform a society, even as most people adjust and life goes on.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: People could tell themselves that this is still OK. What we're doing here is still morally acceptable.

And then, when you go down that road, it's always -- there's always the next step, which still feels acceptable, and another step which still feels acceptable.

And that's what happens to my main character, and I thought also what happens while you're reading it.

JEFFREY BROWN: Part of this story you knew from growing up, from your own father.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Yes.

And there are many people in the boo, characters, I have to say, whom my parents knew especially.

JEFFREY BROWN: There is a very personal aspect to this novel.

Kehlmann's father was from a Jewish family in Vienna, entirely assimilated, or so they thought, until he was expelled from school, arrested and put in a concentration camp for three months before the end of the war.

Later, in fact, he became a film director.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: It's quite unusual in my generation of writers to still have had a parent who was a victim and a witness to the Nazi era.

And I felt at some point I had to write about that.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, at some point, you did decide, well, it's time to take it on, to kind of incorporate that into your own work?

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Yes.

And I also felt, but I need a really unusual story, because it was so unique and so unusual and so crazy, somebody who was not a Nazi and came back into this world, like, I'm coming in there as a storyteller, out of his own choice.

And when I found that story, I felt like this is also unlocking for me my own family history.

JEFFREY BROWN: I mean, the idea that you were one of the few writers of your generation that have this direct connection, did you feel a responsibility to look at that?

DANIEL KEHLMANN: Not when I was younger.

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: When I was younger, I had this very strong feeling that there is no responsibility in what artists do.

But then also, with getting older and also with seeing what happens in the world, I felt more and more of that responsibility.

JEFFREY BROWN: Kehlmann was writing his book about the past amid moves to the right in recent years in parts of Europe and the U.S. And it comes out amid enormous fears about the rule of law and threats to democratic norms.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: I mean, until like a month ago, I would have said about -- I would have said it's all about warning where we might be going.

But now I don't feel like that anymore.

I feel like the United States is moving into the direction of becoming an authoritarian state with a speed that I would never have anticipated.

We Europeans, we have seen it several times over the last two generations.

It's kind of intergenerational trauma.

It's in our bones.

It's in our DNA.

We know a system can change in weeks, sometimes in days.

JEFFREY BROWN: Has it changed the way you think about your own work, your own role?

DANIEL KEHLMANN: It means, for example, that I'm trying to write books like that one, like "The Director," books that are talking about what I know as an European and as somebody who has my family background and who has studied the history of the Third Reich, and, again, not the great crimes about which we all know, but everyday life and everyday compromise and how compromise permeated everyday life and how it was everywhere.

JEFFREY BROWN: G.W.

Pabst continued to work after the war, but his reputation was never the same.

He died in 1967.

The novel is "The Director."

Daniel Kehlmann, thank you very much.

DANIEL KEHLMANN: It's a pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there's a lot more online, including a look at the choices transgender troops are facing after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for President Trump to ban them from the military.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS News Hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us.