Sreenivasan and, as millions of women share their stories of sexual abuse, we hear one actress story of harassment at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. All that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Babbel. A language app that teaches language. Language. Collette. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org 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. Sreenivasan confusion reigns in washington tonight over an effort to save the subsidies in obamacare. Two senators, republican Lamar Alexander and democrat patty murray, had announced an agreement. Then, the president entered the fray. Lisa desjardins has the story. Reporter from President Trump and the white house, multiple statements in 24 hours left heads spinning on exactly where he stands on a Bipartisan Health care fix. First, positive words yesterday afternoon. And theyre coming up, and theyre fairly close to a short term solution. Reporter then, last night at the conservative heritage foundation, a seeming rebuke. While i commend the bipartisan work done by senators alexander and murrayand i do commend it i continue to believe Congress Must find a solution to the obamacare mess instead of providing bailouts to insurance companies. Reporter he echoed the same concern this morning on twitter. Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer responded on the senate floor, saying the president is going back on his word and appears confused. The president ought to know what he is talking about. On this one, he has no idea what its about. Reporter finally, this afternoon, White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president is opposed to the deal as it stands now. The bill is a step in the right direction, but it is not a full approach, and we want something to go a little bit further. Reporter the job of untangling it all fell to republican senator Lamar Alexander, trying to craft this deal to stabilize health care markets. He spoke with mr. Trump this morning. You know, some people think the president doesnt know what hes doing around here. I dont think that. I give him full credit for engineering this bipartisan agreement. He told me that he wanted to encourage me, but that he would review it, as i would expect a president to do. Reporter soon after that, the president stressed his main concern. If something can happen, thats fine, but i wont do anything to enrich the insurance companies. Reporter so would the compromise enrich insurers . Lets look. The billions in continued subsidies here are to cover copays and deductibles for lowerincome americans. But heres how that works. Insurance companies are meant to be a kind of middleman. Insurers pay the doctor for those poorer individuals costs, and the government sends insurers the subsidies as a kind of repayment. Without the subsidies, insurers legally still must cover these costs for poor americans. So, to make up the money, theyve made it clear they would raise premiums. And some already are. Republican Senate Sources say the president is worried that insurers could take advantage of that money flow, but senator alexander insists the bill has provisions to police it. So, where do the bills chances stand . The president wants some changes. Schumer says all or most democrats will vote yes. And alexander, not one to overstate things, says this. I would predict before end of the year that this agreement will become law. Reporter for the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Sreenivasan as the confusion played out in washington, 19 state attorneys general filed suit to continue the Health Care Subsidies under obamacare. The president announced last week that hell cut off the payments to insurance companies. In the days other news, attorney general Jeff Sessions insisted he never lied to the Senate Judiciary committee about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador during the president ial campaign. At a hearing today, he bridled at democratic senator al frankens accusation that hed moved the goalposts on the nature of his discussions. The goalpost has been moved. First it was, i did not have communications with russians. Which was not true. Then it was, i never met with any russians to discuss any political campaign. Which may or may not be true. Now its, i did not discuss interference in the campaign. Let me say without hesitation, i conducted no improper discussions with the russians at any time regarding the campaign or any other item facing this country. Sreenivasan sessions has recused himself from the justice departments investigation into russias election meddling. President trump had new criticism today for former f. B. I. Director james comey over the Hillary Clinton email probe. He complained again that comey decided to clear clinton before she was even interviewed. Thats based on newly released draft statements by comey from may 2016. F. B. I. Officials say it was already clear that no charges were warranted. On another issue, the president faced fallout over the death of Army Sergeant ladavid johnson, in niger this month. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson says she was with mrs. Johnson when the president called. The florida democrat told the Washington Post that mr. Trump said, he knew what he was signing up for, but i guess it hurts anyway. The sergeants mother confirmed it, but the president denied it, and White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders went after wilson. This was a president who loves our country very much, who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in uniform and wanted to call and offer condolences to the family, and i think to try to create something from that, that the congresswoman is doing, is frankly, appalling and disgusting. Sreenivasan the post also reported on another incident today. It quoted the father of a soldier killed in afghanistan as saying the president offered 25,000 from his personal account, but never followed through. Well get more detail on all of this after the news summary. The death toll in northern californias wildfires rose to 42 today. Officials in Sonoma County found the remains of the latest victim, as they searched hundreds of burned homes. Meanwhile, fire crews made new gains overnight with the help of cooler weather and low winds. A twotime olympic medalist says the former team doctor for u. S. Womens gymnastics sexually abused her for years. Mckayla maroney is the highest profile athlete to come forward in the scandal. In a statement today, she said dr. Larry nassar began molesting her when she was just 13. Hes awaiting sentencing on a child pornography charge, but has denied any sexual abuse. More questions tonight about drug pricing. A new study finds the costs of injectable cancer drugs, approved since 1996, rose an average of 25 over eight years. Thats far higher than the rate of inflation. The study was based at Emory University and published in the journal of clinical oncology. And on wall street, Health Insurers and i. B. M. Fueled a surge in stocks today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 160 points, more than half a percent, to close above 23,000 for the first time. The nasdaq rose just a fraction, and the s p 500 was up two points. Still to come on the newshour chinese president xi jinping cements his power in a grand political display. An arizona congressman on the future of the Democratic Party. The long, slow process of removing bombs in former isis strongholds. And much more. Sreenivasan Army CorporalDillion Baldridge was killed in afghanistan in june. He and two fellow soldiers were gunned down by an Afghan Police officer suspected of an insider attack. Baldridges father was disturbed by the details his sons death and expressed that to President Trump in a phone call. Mr. Trump then apparently took an unusual step for a commander in chief he offered money. Dan lamothe helped break that story for the Washington Post and joins me now. Thanks for joining us. So what how did this phone call go . Yes, so several weeks after the soldiers death, the president made a call to north carolina, where the father lives. They had a conversation that the father describes mostly as respectful. The father expressed some frustration with the way that the death gratuitiy, basically a benefit that the family received, was going to his exwife, and the president s response caught him by surprise. He said, well, im going to make sure we write you a 25,000 check, you know, basically for your troubles. Sreenivasan and did that check ever arrive . The white house said they sent it late today. Yes, so we reached out this morning and received no response for several hours. As of today, the father had not received a check, so the assumption here would be that the check had not been sent until we reached out to the white house this morning to verify this fathers report. Sreenivasan and you discovered this conversation in kind of the the story has a larger context pup reached out to several different family, gold star families for what happened after their Family Member died. Yes. I mean, weve got this larger conversation this week. Its a very sensitive, very politically charged conversation. And at the center of it are grieving families, we thought it was important to reach out to those grieving families. Some of them, understandably dnot want to speak to us, but quite a few did. And we found half of the ones we reached reached 14 thrirch families who had lost loved ones since trump became president half of them had received calls from the president , half of them had not. Mat jort of the ones who had not were upset when they heard his comments earlier this week that he had called all of them. Sreenivasan there were even some families or one family that had not received anything, no phone call or even a letter. Right. And you wonder whats going on there. Because that is something that is typically generated. There are form lettere letteret that the president then signs. There was a time at the height of the iraq war when we had hundreds of american carb ultimates per month. Were now looking at something on the order of several dozen this year, so its a much smaller amount. So for this to slip through the cracks at this point is very much a surprise. Sreenivasan how different is this from when you say logistically, when you think about the number of casualties that were happening in the middle or the height of the iraq war, the afghanistan conflict, how different is this time period than what perhaps president bush and president obama were dealing with . Its smaller. During the afghan war we were talking 400, 500 american fatalities per combat. At the height of the iraq war, we were talking several hundred per month. At this point, we do have casualties, each one is sad, but its a much smaller number. And for the white house to have not kept up was a surprise. Sreenivasan already, dan lamothe of the the Washington Post. Thank you so much for joining us. Sreenivasan president xi jinping opened chinas twiceperdecade communist Party Congress today with a lengthy list of his achievements during his first fiveyear term, and his vision of where he hopes to take his nation. But beyond the words, xi is asserting power like no chinese leader in decades. William brangham reports. Reporter the applause, the music it was a reception befitting the commanding role that xi jinping has taken since being named party leader, five years ago. He opened todays proceedings by hailing reforms hes put in place, and proclaiming a new era for china. translated the chinese nation has realized a great leap from declining in modern history to twisting its fate fundamentally and continuously moving to prosperity. Reporter over 3. 5 hours, xi laid out his vision to shape the nation of 1. 4 billion people into what he called a great modern socialist country over the next three decades. translated achieving the great rejuvenation of the chinese nation will be no walk in the park, and it will take more than drum beating and gong clanging to get there. The whole party must be prepared to make more arduous, strenuous efforts. Reporter susan shirk is chair of the 21st Century China Center at the university of california san diego. Xi jinping has a vision of chinas role in the world that is much more ambitious than anything we have seen before. Talking about china kind of moving toward the center of the world and having a lot more influence than it did before. Reporter in his address, xi largely ignored the question of political reforms in china, and he didnt mention President Trump or north Koreas Nuclear weapons program. But in a rare move, he did acknowledge that with Global Demand weakening there were challenges facing chinas exportdriven economy. translated while chinas overall Productive Forces have significantly improved and in many areas our Production Capacity leads the world, the more prominent problem is that our development is unbalanced and inadequate. Reporter xi was one of the first foreign leaders to meet with President Trump. The relationship developed by president xi and myself, i think is outstanding. Reporter that was decidedly warmer than mr. Trumps past criticism of china and its economic and trade policies but other u. S. Officials are more critical of beijings actions. China, while rising alongside india, has done so less responsibly. Reporter secretary of state Rex Tillerson today criticized chinas aggressive displays of economic and military power, particularly its expansion on manmade islands in the south china sea. We will not shrink from chinas challenges to the rules based order, and where china subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and disadvantages the u. S. And our friends. I think there are things to worry about in Chinese Foreign policy that are mostly related to these maritime sovereignty issues and to a kind of bullying in asia, but the global ambition could turn out to be positive. Reporter susan shirk says china has filled a vacuum left by the United States withdrawal from global agreements like the Transpacific Partnership and the paris climate accords. Perhaps the most important thing to watch for in the next few days is who xi establishes as his likely successor. That is why there is a lot of speculation now that he may be trying to, much like putin, to stay on beyond his normal term. Or to rule behind the scenes even after he retires. Reporter President Trump will be traveling to beijing to meet xi next month. For the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff and now to our series of conversations on the future of the Democratic Party. I sat down with democratic congressman Ruben Gallego at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism. He has represented phoenix in Congress Since 2015, and is a marine corps veteran who served in the iraq war. I began by asking him whats at stake in the fight over healthcare. Well, whats at stake is the rising premiums on millions of americans, and according to the c. B. O. , one million americans not having Health Insurance next year in 2018. The lamar swrldpatty murray compromise seems good on paper. Its going to pay out the subsidies for the Insurance Market for the next two years. It does give some flexibility to states about what is covered and how the money is used. Im waiting to see what what those details are. Woodruff so lets talk about your party, the democrats. Its been almost a year since the democrats took a serious drubbing in the 2016 elections. What shape is the Democratic Party in now . Well, certainly, i think were in better shape. And largely because we have a lot more grassroots activism that has taken the party and really molded us i think into a stronger party. Our fundraising now is largely based on smalldollar donors. You see, you know, people from all walks of life coming out of the shadows to run for office. Were winning special elections, and in parts that we shouldnt be wing like oklahoma, different, you know, new hampshire, and districts that were trump districts. Woodruff you said when it came time for a vote for minority leader in the house last november, that it was time for the party to learn from its mistakes in last years election. You said it needed new leadership. You supported congressman ryan of ohio over nancy pelosi to be the House Minority lea