We are in a very consequential moment in american history. The more voices we can have in this sphere, the more beneficial it will be in the long run. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. These are people who are trying to change the world. Startups have this energy that energizes me. I am thriving by helping others every day. People who know know bdo. The Walton Family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during Climate Change so people and nature can thrive together. 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. Geoff welcome to the newshour. The federal government is edging closer this evening to a saturday night shutdown with still no sign of a way out. Amna House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy called today for trying again on a stopgap azure with spending cuts and tougher border security. The house is working on passing 73 of all the appropriation bills for the job we are supposed to be by thursday. We are bringing up on friday ability to fund the government but at the same time secure our borders so yes, we are doing our job. Amna hard right republicans already refused a shortterm measure and it is unclear if they will back mccarthys play. Geoff Chuck Schumer pushed a bipartisan continuing resolution today to Fund Operations into november. We cannot have members trying lastminute delay tactics. In respect shutdown. The and risk a shutdown. It is a sensible and bipartisan bill. Amna Mitch Mcconnell also supported the resolution. He said closing the government will achieve nothing. Geoff seven candidates hold their second debate tonight. They will meet at the reagan president ial library in simi valley, california. Former President Trump will not be there. Instead, he will be speaking to striking auto workers and others just outside detroit at a nonunion auto supplier. A federal judge in washington today rejected former President Trumps request that she recuse herself from his election subversion case. Mr. Trump had accused judge Tanya Chutkan of making biased statements against him. He is accused of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 president ial election results. Senator bob menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty today to federal corruption charges. The new jersey democrat said nothing as he left a courthouse in new york after the arraignment. Hes accused of taking bribes of cash and gold to aid egyptian interests and local businessmen. More than half of all Senate Democrats are now calling for menendez to step down. An american soldier who fled to north korea in july is now back in u. S. Custody. Army private travis king was taken to china today and transferred to american officials. In washington, a state Department Spokesman said sweden helped arrange kings release, but he played down any talk of a thaw in relations with north korea. I would not see this as a sign of some breakthrough. I think it is a oneoff. We did not give them anything, we made no concessions as part of securing his return. Geoff king was flown to a u. S. Military base in south korea and was headed back to the u. S. Mainland. He had been convicted of assault before bolting across the border between the koreas. Now, he faces military punishment for going awol. The mass exodus of Ethnic Armenians out of nagornokarabakh is still accelerating tonight, after azerbaijan recaptured the region. Armenian officials estimate more than 50,000 people have fled into armenia since the weekend. Many endured hourslong traffic jams on the road out. In northern iraq, authorities are investigating whether indoor fireworks caused an inferno that killed some 100 people at a wedding hall last night. Mourners gathered today at funerals for several of the victims. The search for bodies continued with a number of people still missing. My brother and my wife are dead, but two of my daughters are missing. We searched all of mosul, but nothing. We were all sitting here, and my wife went to the bathroom. She and my brother werent burned at all, they suffocated. Just suffocated in the bathroom. Geoff state media reported an arrest warrant has been issued for the owners. The socalled superbugs kill more than one Million People worldwide each year. The new Initiative Came as the president met with science and Technology Advisors in san francisco. Data suggests the problem of drugresistant bacteria worsened during the pandemic. Automakers hyundai and kia are recalling more than 3 million vehicles in the u. S. They say a brake fluid leak could touch off fires in the engine compartments. The affected models are cars and ners are advised to park19. Outdoors until repairs are complete. And on wall street, stocks struggled to find direction as investors worried about Rising Oil Prices and interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 68 points to close at 33,550. The nasdaq rose 29 points. The s p 500 was virtually unchanged. Still to come on the newshour, former white house aide Cassidy Hutchinson speaks out about her time in the Trump AdministrationJudy Woodruff talks with a political theorist calling for Sweeping Changes to how the government operates and the war in ukraine reshapes russian influence in slovakia ahead of its elections. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna as the nation moves closer to a Government Shutdown there , is still no clear path for funding the government either ahead of or following the deadline this weekend. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has more. Lisa whenever a deal is ultimately struck to avoid a shutdown or reopen the government, its highly likely that moderate republicans will feature prominently. New york congressman mike lawler is one of them. He represents parts of the hudson valley, where he grew up and where he worked in government and politics for years before flipping a seat for republicans and entering congress this year. Thank you for joining us. This is a baffling situation for many americans. I wonder, how do you think House Republicans i know you can be blunt about this look to americans right now . Rep. Lawler some of my colleagues have created a situation that has undermined our ability to govern. And people are frustrated including many of my colleagues and myself. But we are working through it. As responsible people do. And try to get us to a place where we can pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and open while we negotiate through the appropriations process. Mike rawlings and i have not disagreed about the need to cut spending. This administration increased spending by 5 trillion in two years in spending, totally unsustainable. We have to raining spending. We all agree on rein in spending. We all agree on that. We have to do single subject Appropriations Bills and get back to the regular practice of budgeting which hasnt been done in nearly 30 years. There is not disagreement there. The challenge is when you are trying to make these changes in the process, when you are trying to get people to recognize the need to go line by line, agency by agency, department by department, it takes time. Its not realistic to think that we are going to pass all 12 Appropriations Bills by september 30, both the house and senate go to conference, come to an agreement, repast them, and have it repass them and have it go. Keep the government funded while we work through that process. Lisa there are a dozen House Republicans. I spoke to some this morning who said they would not support a cr. The votes are not there for that kind of solution. You and four moderates could force through that kind of a bill joining the democrats if you want to. This morning, pete aguilar said you all are just letting this continue. It is incredibly frustrating that socalled moderates time and time again have an inability to stand up to their leadership. We lack the will of socalled moderates. I know you heard this from all sides. At what point do you seriously consider having to get on board any sort of vehicle to end a possible shutdown . Its fresh coming from anybody in the democratic leadership who allowed nancy pelosi to rule with an iron fist and never stood up to either leadership or the left wing of their party. I will continue to speak out both within the conference and publicly about the need to come to an agreement on a continuing resolution and as i have said repeatedly, if my colleagues within the republican majority are unwilling or refuse to compromise within the conference , then they will leave folks like me with no choice but to advance forward a bipartisan cr through the house. Any final cr obviously is going to be bipartisan given the fact that the democrats control the senate and the white house is controlled by President Biden. A refusal on the part of House Republicans to pass acr at least as an initial offering weakens our hand and the hand of the speaker when it comes to negotiation. The reality is if a shutdown occurs, President Biden will make it as painful as possible to exert as much political pressure on House Republicans. To me, this is not the way to negotiate. Its not the way to rein in spending. It is not the way to deal with the crisis at the border and we need to be able to pass things through the house and so i have said repeatedly that i will do everything i can to avoid a shutdown and minimize any potential damage to my constituents. And i have no problem crossing the aisle to do that. As the democrats sit here and say these moderates are not doing anything, you know, they are actively campaigning in my district, spending millions of dollars attacking me and others about the shutdown before it even begins. That speaks volumes to where their head is at. They frankly would like nothing more than to have a shutdown. Lisa the Congressional ResearchService Estimates there are 6000 federal employees in your district. I know that you will probably hear from them. How frustrating is this for you at this point . Rep. Lawler at the end of the day, you have to be smart strategically when you are dealing with negotiations. We are a divided government. There is a difference of opinion between House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the white house when it comes to spending. When it comes to border security. And the American People elected us to serve as a check and balance, but if you cannot pass things through the house, it makes is very difficult to negotiate. So the frustration lies with the fact that a handful of my colleagues would rather grind the place to a halt then govern than govern and that advance our priorities. But when you have some folks like matt gaetz who refuse to work as a team, it certainly makes it very difficult. Lisa we will stay in close touch in the coming days. Thank you. Rep. Lawler thank you. Geoff the federal trade commision and 17 states have brought a sweeping lawsuit against amazon, accusing it of violating antitrust laws. Its the federal governments latest suit aimed at curbing the power of big tech the ftc and the states allege amazon has illegally built and maintained a monopoly that harms its customers and competitors. Amazon does this in part, the ftc says, by essentially punishing and strongarming thirdparty sellers if they offer lower prices elsewhere or dont use amazons addon services. More than 160 million americans have a prime membership, and the companys net revenue last year was half a trillion dollars. To explain more about the case, were joined by john newman, Deputy Director of the ftcs bureau of competition. Who is leading this case. Welcome to the newshour john thank you so much, geoff. Its great to be here. Geoff so, as we said the ftc alleges that amazon illegally wields monopoly power by maintaining higher prices, harming customers weakening competition. How exactly does it do that in your view . John well, in the view of the commission and not just the commission. But 17 state attorneys general joined with us in this case, amazon is engaged in a set of tactics. Its not just one thing, and its not just two things. Its really a set of tactics, and they all work together. Now they have different facets. They have slightly different aspects. They have somewhat different effects on different people. But the upshot is all the same all to prevent any rivals from threatening amazons power by competing on the merits by offering lower prices by Offering Better Service all the things that we Want Companies to do and a Free Enterprise system. Amazon has taken great pains and engaged in an interconnected set of tactics to stamp out and what that does is keep amazon really, really big and powerful and prevent anyone else from gaining the scale that would be needed to actually meaningfully compete against amazon. Geoff amazon calls this lawsuit, quote, wrong on the facts and the law in a amazon calls this lawsuit, quote, wrong on the facts and the law. In a statement, it further says if the ftc gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from higher prices. Slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for Small Business is the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do. How does the ftc characterized amazon as a monopoly when, according to government data, the Company Accounts for less than a third of total ecommerce sales in the u. S. Over the last four quarters and has the thinnest operating margins of its big tech peers . John well, what you have to do to really understand the way the amazon competes and the way that hymns on stamps out competition. Look at who amazon competes closest against. So in some vague sense, it may be true that everybody competes with everybody. But thats really not what you want to understand. If you wanted to understand how these markets work, and how these markets work is the amazon competes closest against other online superstars. Big online superstores offer a variety of products, not just one thing, not just a few things, but a variety of products that consumers want. And in that market, amazon is a big dominant monopoly. They have, our complaint alleges, as high as 82 of that market, and that makes amazon extremely important, crucial , critical for sellers because so many people are shopping on amazons online superstore. Sellers need to reach those people, and they end up needing to use amazons marketplace. And so we also alleged the amazon is a monopolist over sellers in a different market called the online Marketplace Services market. So in our view, its wrong on the facts and the law to set amazon up as competing against literally everybody else in the world. Thats just not how the law works. Its not how the economics work either. Geoff so what is the proper remedy then . Does the ftc want to see amazon broken up into Smaller Companies . John so geoff, this complaint, which the Commission Voted out unanimously and is joined by 17 states, is really about describing the facts that could give a court reason to find liability. This complaint takes great pains. It does so in great detail. It describes amazons conduct and thats really the purpose of a complaint is to really set forth facts that can give rise to liability, and so the court could find that the law is violated. And the complaint doesnt ask for relief, and its in keeping with the great traditions of antitrust law that relief for a violation does include stopping the illegal conduct. It also includes restoring the lost competition and we look out and we see and a lot of sellers see, and a lot of americans see a Competitive Landscape that has been really badly distorted. In favor of one dominant player. So if weve done our job at the end of all this, and this will be a lengthy proceeding. There will be a trial at the end of it. But at the end of all of this, a judge should if weve done our job correctly order relief that will restore the lost competition. Geoff the ftc has lost several high profile battles against big businesses, including microsofts purchase of division, and met of act ivision and metas takeover of a vr startup. What are the stakes as you see them not just for the marketplace, but also for the ftc . John you know, i think the stakes are very high. But its not so much because of the ftcs win loss record, although all stuck our rap record up against any past administrations, the stakes are high here because this case affects so many people. You know, im just im a student advantage trust history, as are most of us here at the federal trade commission, and i can say that the very, very seldom in t