These parties have their agenda implemented by other parties. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by collette. Celebrating 100 years of travel, together. Babbel. Bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff two influential u. S. Senators have reached across the political divide to try to stabilize the Health Insurance market under obamacare. Nd the twoyear plan would fund federal subsidies for Insurance Companies to cover lowincometo clients. President trump cut off those payments last week. Tennessee republican Lamar Alexander and Washington State democrat patty murray said their compromise gives states more flexibility. We concluded that the best course would be to take thise limited bipartisan first step, that would avoid the chaos that could occur during 2018 and 2019 if premiums continue to skyrocket and millions of americans find themselves without a way to purchase Health Insurance. When republicans and democrats in Congress Take the time to Work Together under regular order rather thande retreating to partisan corners, we can truly get things done to help the people that we serve. Woodruff our Lisa Desjardins joins us with more on whats in this deal and its prospects. First, whats in it . All right, lets go through it. Its a twoyear deal to try to stabilize the healthcare market. First it would fund the cost sharing subsidies for two years the president announced last week he was not going to fund unless congress acted. S it would also allow anyone in the individual market to buy a catastrophic plan, judy thatsa limited to people under 30 years of age. Finally, it would streamline the waiver process for states so states. Had an exception or particular need could get waivers more quickly from the Affordable Care act. President trump who said he was going to end the csrs and wanted congress to act sails he supports this shortterm. He wants repeal and replace long term. Woodruff catastrophicg plans, what does that mean . When you talk about waivers, what does that mean and how would this change it . Catastrophic plans are only available to people under 30 years old. They keep all the essential benefits that every other plan has but if a person under this plan gets sick they would be on the hook to pay more. They pay a hiring percentage of their healthcare costs. Theyre gambling they wont get sick when they buy the plans but get a much lower premium. Everyone could buy the plans under this deal. When youre talking about the waivers, the examples they give in Congress Congress is ioware wants a waiver, seiko pays for opioids would have to be higher because they have a problem with opioids or a few emergencies and have counties that dont have insurers and is a fast track process for the waivers to go through. Woodruff why do sponsors think this changes or helps the market . They think it will individuals who have soaring premiums more options especially the catastrophic plans and more importantly will fund the subsidies that are reallys driving the Insurance Market quite wild. Woodruff so the 64,000 question, what are the prospects . What does it look like . The 1 trillion question. Unclear. I think the best hope for this is they will get democratic and republican votes and, in the senate now, theres a lot of positive feedback from both sides. However, we have to watch in the house where already one conservative mark walker is coming out against this waitingt to hear from the speaker of the house himself, but this probably has the best chance than anything. Its worth to note senators spent five weeks on this. Doesnt sound much. In the last deal, they had five hearings on this, only one hearing in the rest of the year. Theyre saying this show is how the senate can do things if given time. A woodruff it was so interesting when murray and alexander came together somege weeks ago, it was said no chance. Its been resurrected. These two senators have worked quietly behind the scenes, the exact opposite of what weve seen with the drama previously on healthcare where there were big moments and people come to the microphones, these two senators have plowed ahead and seems they have beeney thinking about the dangers of individuals to what was happening. Woodruff working largely quietly behind the scenes. Imagine. Woodruff Lisa Desjardins,wo we thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff and in the days other news, woodruff and in the days w other news, a federal judge in hawaii struck down the trump administrations latest travel ban. That temporarily blocks enforcement of the order nationwide, but the Justice Department said it will appeal. The ban extended to six mostly muslim nations, plus north korea and venezuela. Pennsylvania congressman tom marino withdrew today from consideration to be president trumps drug czar. That followed an investigationti by the Washington Post and cbs news. They found that marino was key in passing a 2016 law, that limits the Drug Enforcement administrations ability to rein in opioid distribution. A new verbal battle has broken out between the president and republican senator john mccain. It began last night in philadelphia when the arizona senator, and former vietnam p. O. W. , appeared to criticize mr. Trump and his followers. He cited a list of failings to fear the world we have organized and led for threequarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of International Leadership and our duty to remain the last, best hope of earth, for the sake of some halfbaked, spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. Woodruff the president answered by saying at some point, i fight back, and it wont be pretty. In turn, mccain said i have faced tougher adversaries. In afghanistan, taliban bombing and shootings left at least 74 people dead today. The worst was paktia province, in the east, where two car bombs killed dozens, including the provincial police chief, and wounded more than 100 others. Taliban militants also staged attacks in the south and west of the country. In syria, militia forces, backed by the u. S. , say they havehe retaken the Islamic State groups de facto capital. The city of raqqa had been under isis control since 2014. The battle to recapture it began in june. Today, kurdishled fighters celebrated as they moved into the city center. The u. S. Military said 90 of raqqa has been taken, with pockets of militants remaining. Theres word that u. S. Air strikes in yemen killed dozens of Islamic State fighters onig monday. The strikes were apparently carried out by drones. The pentagon says the targets were Training Camps for recruits. In northern iraq, Kurdish Forces withdrew from more territory today, as iraqi governmentgo troops advanced. It came on the heels of the kurds vote for independence. Federal forces and allied militia had already forced the kurds to leave the area in and around kirkuk and its oil fields. Iraqs Prime Minister said that paves the way for talks. translated i call for dialogue on the basis of partnership in one country and under the constitution. The referendum is finished and has become a thing from theha past. We hoped that they would cancel it, but we have finished it on the ground. Woodruff meanwhile, the president of iraqi kurdistan, masoud barzani, insisted the referendum will not be in vain. Another 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya Muslims fled buddhist myanmar into bangladesh over the weekend. Drone video showed snaking lines of refugees, making the trek to already crowded camps. Many told of villages torched by mobs and soldiers. Others said they were starved out of their homes. Back in this country, a new fire broke out in the san franciscois bay area, just as crews had made major progress against otherin fires in northern california. Thick smoke billowed from the new site early today, as it burned through forests in the santa cruz mountains. Weary fire crews said theyre c calling in more help. So, the idea is to hit it pretty hard with aircraft and hit it with Ground Resources at the same time. Weve had north winds, a lot of drying, and everythings really, really dry. So its its challenging. Woodruff in southern california, yet another fire spread on mount wilson, about 25 miles from downtown los angeles. It threatened a historic observatory and communications towers. President trumps overall wealth has taken a hit, as his new York Real Estate loses some of its luster. Forbes ranks him 248 this year on its list of the 400 wealthiest americans down nearly 100 points from last year. His estimated worth is 3. 1 billion. Microsoft cofounder bill gates again tops the list. Hes worth nearly 90 billion. And on wall street, the dowan jones industrial average traded above 23,000 for the first time. In the end, it gained 40 points to close at 22,997. The nasdaq fell a fraction, and the s p 500 added one point. Still to come on the newshour president trumps claims that past president s did not call tht families of fallen soldiers. Puerto ricos water crisis aftea Hurricane Maria. The far right makes gains inin european elections. And, much more. Woodruff now, new questions surrounding the deaths of four green berets in niger, and the role of the president as consoler in chief. John yang has the story. Reporter sending Young Americans into harms way can be the most serious decision aca president makes. Consoling the families of the fallen has become the latest controversy to engulf president trump. To bolster his claim that he does more than his predecessors, mr. Trump today invoked the dead son of his chief of staff, retired marine general john kelly. To the best of my knowledge, i think ive called every family of somebody thats died. s now, as far as other representatives, i dont know. I mean, you could ask general kelly did he get a call from obama . Reporter kellys 29yearold son robert, a marine lieutenant, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a landmine in afghanistan an episode kelly rarely talks about publicly. Kelly and his wife did attend a 2011 memorial Day Breakfast president obama hosted for gold star families. Mr. Trump ignited the furor wheh he was asked about his public silence on four green berets killed two weeks ago in niger. If you look at president obama and other president s, mosm of them didnt make calls a lot of them didnt make calls. I like to call when itsit appropriate, when i think im able to do it. Reporter reporters pressedre him to back up the claim. I dont know. Thats what i was told. All i can do all i can do is ask my generals. Reporter the response from former obama officials was swifc and forceful. Former attorney general ericer holder tweeted this photo and insisted stop the damn lying. I went to Dover Air Force base with 44 and saw him comfort families, a reference to one of mr. Obamas latenight trips to pay his respects to troops killed in afghanistan. Mr. Obama and president george w. Bush often visited woundedvi warriors at walter reed and bethesda hospitals, a practice mr. Trump has continued. In february, the president and his daughter ivanka went to dover for the return of the remains of a navy seal killed i yemen the First Casualty of his administration. So far this year, the pentagon says 16 americans have been killed in action. Another 17 sailors died in accidents. In the first year of the obama presidency, 344 were killed in action. During last years campaign,as mr. Trump publicly feuded with the kahns, the parents of a Muslim American solider killed in iraq, after they criticized him at the democratic convention. Today, the kahns said president trumps selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency. The current controversy comes as questions are being raised about how and why the four soldiers died in niger. Senator jack reed is the top democrat on the armed servicescr committee. I think the administration has to be much more clear about our role in niger and our role in other areas in africa and other parts of the globe. They have connect it to a strategy. Reporter the pentagon is investigating the deaths. Th reportedly among the questions did commanders adequately assess the risk, and was there readysk access to medical support . President trump was scheduled to make telephone calls to the families of the four dead green berets today. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff its been almost a month since Hurricane Maria destroyed much of puerto rico, and killed at least 48 people. The island and its residents are still coming to grips with the scale of the devastation. William brangham brings us thell latest. Brangham Many Puerto Ricans are still in the dark, without electrical power. Hundreds of thousands still havl no access to running water, and the rebuilding of the countless damaged homes, roads and facilities is just beginning. The Associated Press reported yesterday that almost half the Sewage Treatment plants on the island are still out of service, increasing the risk of contamination and disease. Am im joined now by david begnaud, a correspondent from cbs news whos been reporting there since the storm hit, and is just back from his latest trip to the island. David, welcome to the newshour. I wonder, we saw many ofme your reports and others of people still three weeks out from the storm who are still drinking from streams and creeks. You heard i mentioned this a. P. Report about fears of contamination. How are people getting water now . The governor of puerto rico g said this morning hes aware of those reports and theyre looking into it. G whats concerning, william, is three weeks after the storm andn at least a week after the allegations first surfacedt people might be trying to drink from toxic wells at whats known as superfund sites, the governor of puerto rico is still saying were looking into it and telling people to stay out of rivers where sewer may be spilling in and today telling them to stay away from the coastal areas. Theyre still debt pratt to get water. No one seems to be able to figure out howo to get enough water to every Single Person on the island that needs it. As long as people need water, its still emergency phase. Nearly four weeks later, no one seems to be able to movee from the emergency to the recovery. E brangham so we see people drinking out of pvc pipes theyve rigged and poked into the side of a creek. E people are just drinking that water straight without boiling it, is that right . Absolutely. Look, theyve got the p. V. C. Pipes tapped into the mountains so its coming out of the stream that way. I saw a woman walk up to a Potable Water tank that the military had brought in and she had a clorox bottle. I said, maam, youre putting drinkable water in a clorox bottle . She said, its allro ive got. That was a good scenario. The other scenarios are people drinking from streams and creeks and rivers who have no water filters, who have nothing,er theyre just taking the water. Listen, the government got a million water purifying tablets within the last week. It took almost three weeks to get those. Se now theres a large push to bring in water filters. I have to tell you, most of the water filters im seeing brought in are coming from the private sector and people who are flielg them over and plirnl hand delivering them. De brangham i know you have been doing a lot of reporting on the u. S. S. Comfort, the u. S. Naval hospital off the shore of puerto rico, but i understand it hasnt been fully utilized. Can you tell us the reporting there . The two men running the ship told us nearly 87 of the ship is empty. Sounds alarming, right . Hundred beds, 87 are empty. They said we stand ready for whatever the government wants tg do. We are waiting to be told by the government. I said to the governor, exactly whats happening . He said im not satisfied with the protocol from the beginning. He said initially they were prioritizing only the most critical go to the comfort. Then he said there was a layered process complicating things. The governor said i started to take out the the lawyers and said take people on the ship who may not be critically ill but need food medical care and cant get it at the hospital where the lights are flicker and the ac is not running. Within a matter of hours, i gott a tweet from a third Year Medical Student who said its a nightmare reaching the comfort. He said we have a pediatric patient who needs to get off the island either to the mainland or the comfort and he said i went through google to get a number. Within about 30 minutes of the tweet going out and that medical students story being posted, the governors spokesperson responded with numbers that should be able to help. The bottom line here, william,i is that asking relentlessl questions and the good work of journalism is whats making aa difference there. Its no one person. Theres no heroic work thats being done by any journalist other than people going back to the same officials and asking the same questions relentlesslye seeking the right answer that will make a difference. D brangham one of the other pieces of reporting that you did that was very early in the story was the backlog of supplies trapped in container ships on in the ports in puerto rico. I understand some of those supplies are now moving. Can you tell us, are they getting to where they need to be throughout the island . The 3,000 shipping containers sitting in the port of san juana have been moved. Supplies are intend for Groc