AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Recession fears and trade wars continue to rattle the markets.

We speak with Ontario's premier, who's hitting back with his own tariffs on electricity to America.

The United States government faces a deadline to pay billions of dollars in outstanding bills for foreign aid work, as it slashes 80 percent of USAID programs.

JANTI SOERIPTO, President and CEO, Save the Children: The disorderly manner in which this has happened, I think, has been wasteful, cruel, particularly to vulnerable children, but also really chaotic.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Republican leadership tries to rally the votes for a bill that would avoid a government shutdown.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The U.S. markets plunged again today, as investors worried about the economy and whether a recession could be on the horizon.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 900 points, or more than 2 percent.

The Nasdaq had its worst session since 2022.

It was also the worst session of the year so far for the S&P 500.

The trade war that President Trump initiated last week with the country's top trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China, is a factor in the market's overall volatility.

Some 1.5 million Americans will soon see their electric bills rise by approximately $70 a month as a result of that trade war.

Ontario's Premier Doug Ford announced earlier today he is slapping a 25 percent surcharge on the electricity his province exports to New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

Here now to explain why he's taking that step is Premier Doug Ford.

Welcome to the "News Hour," sir.

Thanks for joining us.

DOUG FORD, Premier of Ontario, Canada: Well thank you so much, Amna, for having me on.

And I just always start off with every interview, I love Americans.

I spent 20 years of my life there.

I know Canadians love Americans.

And I know Americans love Canadians.

This is so unnecessary what President Trump is doing, not just to Canada, but his own country.

AMNA NAWAZ: Premier, if I may, why take this step now then?

What's the response you're hoping to get from the Trump administration?

DOUG FORD: Well, President Trump has said many times he's going to put a tariff on.

Then he pulls it off.

Then he puts it back on.

Once I touch the stove once and get burned, I'm not going to get burnt again.

And I apologize to the American people.

I have talked to three governors.

They understand the situation we're in.

We have to negotiate through strengths, not weakness.

And I'd prefer to create an Am-Can fortress, an American-Canadian fortress, and be the strongest, most resilient, and richest safest two countries in the world.

He should be keeping an eye on China.

He shouldn't be worried about Canada.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have said too that if the U.S. escalates you won't -- quote -- "hesitate to shut the electricity off completely."

What do you view as escalation?

DOUG FORD: Well, that's the last thing I want to do.

I love our American neighbors.

I want to send them more electricity.

I want to send them more critical minerals.

I want to send them more energy in total.

That's the last thing.

But when President Trump is attacking our families, our businesses, taking food off people's tables, putting them in the unemployment line, as long as you can imagine, but this is happening on both sides of the border.

It's not just going to happen on one side of the border.

I do not understand his rationale.

And we just want to sit down and have a fair USMCA deal that he created, and he said it was the greatest deal ever.

So I don't know why it's not the greatest deal ever now.

But we want to sit down and negotiate with him.

AMNA NAWAZ: He did end up pausing many of the tariffs he wanted to impose on Canada.

If he moves forward with those, would you view that as escalation?

Would you then shut off electricity exports completely?

DOUG FORD: Well, I'd add another 25 percent onto the tariff charge right now.

So it'd be a total of 50 percent.

But that's the last thing I want to do.

If we take the 4.3 million barrels of crude oil we ship down daily that helps your economy move forward, if you put that to the side, the U.S. has a $56 billion surplus on Canada, and I'm fine with that.

That's not a problem, but let's sit down and negotiate like two business-minded people.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned that surplus.

I mean, it's fair to say that Canada is more dependent on U.S. exports than America is on Canadian goods.

Is it also fair to say that Canadians are suffering as a result of these tariffs?

Are they with you on escalating the terms here?

DOUG FORD: Absolutely.

I have never seen patriotism run so wild across our country ever.

It's united Canada.

President Trump has underestimated the resilience and the strength of the Canadian population.

And we're your number one customer right across the board on everything.

And why you want to hurt your number one customer?

We buy more goods, more autos, more agriculture, more everything off the United States than anyone.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump has said, I'm sure, as you have heard, that this is about reducing the amount of fentanyl that's crossing the northern border.

His White House economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, yesterday just alleged that Canadian authorities aren't going after some secret fentanyl labs in Canada.

He said Canada's got a big drug problem.

What's your response to that?

DOUG FORD: Wow.

I call the pot calling the kettle black on that one, but I agree.

Do we tighten up the borders on both sides?

Absolutely.

And we listened to President Trump.

I was a big advocate about tightening up the borders on both sides.

We put over 10,000 personnel along our borders.

We have we have bought fixed-winged aircraft, helicopters, drones, boots on the ground, boats in the water.

You name it, we have it.

And we have seen a drastic decrease.

I will speak for Ontario alone.

But I got a report the other day from our provincial police, which is equal to your state police, that they busted hundreds of kilos of cocaine, opioids, fentanyl, and the illegals and endless illegal guns just over the last couple of weeks.

So it's a shared border.

I have had the DEA come up to meet with me.

We have sat down with U.S. Border Patrol, Canadian Border Patrol, federal police, state police, provincial police.

We need to work together and stop the flow of drugs.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have talked about how much you love America, the time you have spent here.

You're also now sitting in front of a very clear sign behind you saying "Canada's Not For Sale" in response, of course, to President Trump's threats to annex Canada and make it the 51st state.

The fact that relations between the two countries are where they are right now, what does that say to you?

DOUG FORD: Well, it's such a sad situation.

We have probably a million Americans living in Canada, a million Canadians living in the U.S. Americans are marrying Canadians.

Canadians are marrying Americans.

We're part of the family for over 200 years.

I will tell you, he really let down a lot of Canadians, President Trump.

Disappointment is an understatement.

We thought we were to have a great trading relationship, as we have for decades and decades.

And we just stand shoulder to shoulder when there's a crisis.

No matter what crisis it is, we're there for American family members.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Ontario's Premier Doug Ford joining us tonight.

Premier Ford, thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

DOUG FORD: Thank you so much.

I greatly appreciate it.

And God bless America and God bless Canada.

Thank you.

Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration's review of foreign assistance has officially concluded and that the administration would cut 83 percent of USAID's programs and fold the rest into the State Department.

This comes as the administration appears to be ignoring a court deadline requiring it to pay $2 billion in debts to aid groups for work already done.

Nick Schifrin has been following all this, and he joins us now.

So, Nick, tell us more about what Secretary Rubio announced today.

And what's the status of that court deadline?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Secretary Rubio announced the cuts on a post on X,saying -- quote -- "The 5,200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve and in some cases even harmed the court interests of the United States."

The State Department did not respond to messages requesting the list of The 1,000 programs it did save or anything else that I sent them today.

As for that court deadline, as you said, the court ordered the administration to pay $2 billion in debts to aid groups for work that has already been done by 6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

And two attorneys who are familiar with the legislation told me there has been a -- quote -- "trickle of payments," but nowhere near an acceptable amount.

And one of those attorneys goes on to argue -- quote -- "The government is intentionally dragging its feet.

The whole process is overtaken by political actors using these invoices for work already done as a cudgel to destroy the aid industry."

The attorneys also argue the administration is ignoring court orders from a month ago not to issue new terminations based on President Trump's initial inauguration night executive order or Secretary Rubio's secondary subsequent memo.

The government instead argued that, on February 26, no, our new terminations are not based on that executive order or Secretary Rubio's memo, but based on a -- quote -- "individual review" by Secretary Rubio of all 13,000 contracts that state and USAID have.

So let me just put those numbers up.

The government says Rubio personally reviewed 13,000 contracts.Assuming that's from inauguration night to February 26, that's 38 days, which means Rubio reviewed 342 contracts a day.

A lawyer familiar with the litigation told us -- quote -- "That is totally implausible and, honestly, insulting."

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, Nick, 83 percent of USAID's programs being cut.

Just what's the impact of those kinds of cuts?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Let's split the impact up between security and strategic impact and the humanitarian impact, which we will get to in a minute.

For the security and the strategic, I spoke to Kaush Arha, who's the president of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Forum and who, as USAID's former strategic adviser on strategic engagement, he helped coordinate U.S. policy toward China during the first Trump administration.

KAUSH ARHA, President, Free and Open Indo-Pacific Forum: There is enough fat in federal government that needs to be trimmed.

And I applaud President Trump's efforts of trimming the fat and federal government.

But at the same time, you have very important services that our agencies provide overseas, in particularly with the competition with China.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Arha argues that, in Southeast Asia, USAID helped countries reform their economies to be more cooperative or conducive to American investment, rather than Chinese investment.

And in the Pacific islands, USAID assisted with development, education and social programs in exchange for being the first partner on security.

KAUSH ARHA: Providing those basic services for those states in which China is coming in and saying they will provide those services or they will provide policing services, really the main delivery point on that is AID.

And because USAID had a tremendous sort of goodwill, based on its humanitarian assistance program, whether it was for health or whether it was education or whether it's food security, it had a leg up on China to be the person as the one who they turned to in reforming their economic programs, so that they are more conducive to America.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Arha argues that USAID helped the U.S. win the Cold War, Amna, and whatever comes next will have to be there in order for the U.S. to win whatever comes next with China.

AMNA NAWAZ: Nick, you mentioned the humanitarian impact as well.

What are people telling you about that?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Devastating.

And to understand just how devastating, we spoke to Janti Soeripto, the president and CEO of Save the children U.S. And I started by asking her, what has been the impact on children around the world?

JANTI SOERIPTO, President and CEO, Save the Children: The impact has been devastating on millions of children around the world.

And now -- and we're talking about impact today, not in some theoretical tomorrow.

We're talking about literacy programs, education programs for young children being shuttered.

I was in the DRC last year.

I saw this amazing program funded by USAID that helped children who could not identify single litter in the alphabet,and,within eight weeks, they were able to read each other a story, explain the story to each other.

These are 8-to-10-year-olds.

That program is terminated.

More than 20,000 kids do not have access to that level of education anymore.

And that is just a small example of the more than 100 programs that have been terminated for Save the Children alone.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And for those in the United States government today who argue that it just shouldn't be in the U.S. interest to go into the DRC or any random country and educate children, what would be your response?

JANTI SOERIPTO: It is a phenomenal return on investment.

It is less than 1 percent of the federal budget.

We firmly believe that development and humanitarian assistance across the world ultimately helps countries be safer and more stable and more prosperous.

And that, in turn, also is better for the United States and for all other countries that are a development partner.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What has been the impact of how the United States government has gone about these changes?

JANTI SOERIPTO: We have been expecting and we were well up for a proper strategic review of how aid gets distributed globally.

It happens not just in the United States.

It happens with other countries.

So that is perfectly fine.

The disorderly manner in which this has happened, I think, has been wasteful, cruel, particularly to vulnerable children, but also really chaotic.

We have food lying in warehouses, food and medicine lying in warehouses already at the location, but we're still not able to distribute it.

That's perishable goods across the movement.

We have to explain to communities that we're withdrawing potentially from stabilization centers where we treat severely malnourished children, children who will die if we withhold that treatment for a couple of days.

How do you explain to a mom that her child, which is clinging to life just for this very cheap, efficient, effective treatment, that we're going to just rip it out without any form of transition or handover?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Publicly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his staff said that there were waivers in place for lifesaving food and aid.

They have also identified publicly quite a few programs that they said that they had saved.

What was your ability to apply for those waivers?

What was the communication back from the United States government?

And how has that impacted this story?

JANTI SOERIPTO: This has been quite a manmade crisis.

So we received stop-work orders to stop everything.

Then we did receive exemptions for lifesaving activities.

It's been left to organizations themselves to interpret what exactly that lifesaving meant.

In most of those cases, Save the Children has been able to continue that lifesaving work, even though we have not been paid for any of the work we did in December or January or for that work that we're continuing.

It's, in fact, very hard to find people to actually give you an answer.

And some of those people who are there are also telling us that they don't know what kind of answers to give.

We have received exemptions.

Then we received terminations for those exemptions.

Then we asked, what does that mean?

Then we received rescissions of those terminations.

So, in the end, all that said and done, the lifesaving activities for which we sought exemptions, we ultimately have received still those exemptions for, but we have not been paid in order to do them.

So we're pre-financing the U.S. government.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A lot of your colleagues in similar locations or similar positions have not been willing to give us interviews.

Why are you willing to talk publicly?

JANTI SOERIPTO: Save the Children has been phenomenal -- has been incredibly grateful for the support it has received from the American public for -- since 1932 and from the United States government, and we hope that that will certainly come back in some form or another.

At the same time, we have also found that there seems to be a lot of unawareness from people based in D.C. of what the real-life implications are of these choices.

And I can't believe that it is intentional that children would die because we do such a disorderly withdrawal.

So we wanted to make sure that those real consequences are made very clear.

And Save the Children is also there to give a voice to those communities.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And that was president and CEO of Save the Children U.S., Janti Soeripto.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines at the Supreme Court, which is taking up a challenge to Colorado's ban on conversion therapies for LGBTQ+ children.

At issue is whether the Colorado law violates the free speech protections of counselors engaged in the controversial practice.

The justices have already heard arguments in a Tennessee case that examined the legality of state bans on treating transgender minors.

Also today, the court turned down a Republican attempt to block five Democratic-led states from suing oil companies for allegedly hiding the impact of fossil fuels on climate change.

In the North Sea, a cargo ship collided with an oil tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military.

The tanker was anchored off the northeastern coast of England near the Port of Grimsby when it was struck this morning.

The collision triggered multiple explosions, with fuel pouring into the North Sea.

A major rescue operation ensued.

The container ship's owner says one crew member is still missing.

According to local officials, all 36 others across both vessels are safe and accounted for, with one hospitalized.

An investigation into what caused the crash is now under way.

Ukrainian officials tell the Associated Press that a delegation will propose a limited cease-fire with Russia in talks with top U.S. diplomats tomorrow.

That would cover the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, plus the release of prisoners.

They also say that Ukraine's delegation is ready to sign a deal that would allow the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia this evening, where the negotiations will take place.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also there.

He met with Saudi Arabia's crown prince this evening, but is not expected to join personally in tomorrow's talks with the U.S.

In Syria, the interim government has reached a breakthrough deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.

The group is backed by the U.S. and controls the country's Northeast.

Today's agreement brings most of Syria under government's control.

It also includes a cease-fire and the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army.

Also today, the government announced that a military operation against loyalists of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad has ended.

Last week, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, which led to some of Syria's worst fighting since the end of the civil war.

Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is promising a quick transition as he is set to succeed just in Trudeau in the coming days.

He's then expected to trigger an election in the days or weeks ahead.

Carney won his party's leadership vote in a landslide this weekend.

The former Goldman Sachs executive and Central Bank governor has already taken a tough line against President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

Carney said he will keep Canada's retaliatory tariffs in place until -- quote -- "Americans show us respect."

MARK CARNEY, Incoming Canadian Prime Minister: We didn't ask for this fight.

We didn't ask for this fight.

The Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.

(CHEERING) MARK CARNEY: So the Americans, they should make no mistake.

In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carney went on to call these -- quote -- "dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust."

Trump has postponed his planned 25 percent tariffs on many goods from both Canada and Mexico until next month.

In Rome, doctors say that Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger, but they aim to keep the 88-year-old pontiff in the hospital for several more days due to, they say, the -- quote -- "complexity of the clinical picture and the important infectious picture presented on admission."

Pope Francis entered Gemelli Hospital more than three weeks ago, where he's been treated for double pneumonia.

Doctors say Pope Francis has been receiving supplemental oxygen, but has been able to follow a weeklong spiritual retreat at the Vatican via videoconference.

In Washington, D.C., workers began removing Black Lives Matter Plaza today.

The giant yellow letters were installed in June of 2020 after days of protests there over police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the renaming of the intersection as an act of defiance during President Trump's first term.

Last week, she announced the removal of the plaza amid pressure from Republicans in Congress.

The work is expected to take about six weeks.

The yellow letters will be replaced by an unspecified set of city-sponsored murals.

Elon Musk is blaming a massive cyberattack for a series of outages that affected his social media platform, X, today.

According to tracking Web site DownDetector.com, tens of thousands of users reported outages at multiple times during the day starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Writing on social media, Musk said -- quote - - "We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources.

Either a large coordinated group and or a country is involved."

Experts say it's not possible to verify Musk's claims of cyberattack without seeing technical data from the company.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the State Department cracks down on foreign students who have protested the war in Gaza; and Tamara Keith and Amy Walter break down the latest political headlines.

The Republicans stopgap fending proposal that would avert a government shutdown in the coming days is up against a key hurdle this evening.

Following this all is our own congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, who joins me now.

Lisa, good to see you.

LISA DESJARDINS: Good to see you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Here we go again.

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, four days now until another potential government shutdown, what are House Republicans proposing, and do they have the votes?

LISA DESJARDINS: Reminder, Republicans do control all three branches of government.

They don't have 60 votes in the Senate yet.

But Republicans over the weekend in the House did propose an extension of government funding.

It would extend funding for six months.

And it is not a so-called clean bill.

It is a bill that has some very interesting specifics to it.

So I want to look at those.

Number one, at the top, this would cut $13 billion in non-defense.

Relative to all of government spending, that's not a lot.

But it's a statement from Republicans that that's where they want to cut.

It would increase $6 billion for defense spending.

It would also increase $500 million for the Women, Infants, and Children's program.

That helps mothers, especially with babies.

Now, in this bill, there is also something missing.

There is no fix for a Medicare doctor rate cut.

We haven't talked about this a lot.

This was expected to be solved in this bill.

But, on January 1, Medicare doctors saw their reimbursement rate cut by almost 3 percent.

This is something that was supposed to be taken care of before now, supposed to be in this bill, and it is not.

This is a real problem for those doctors.

In addition, one more item in this that is divisive, this would increase spending that ICE can use for deportations, detentions, and that's something Republicans like and Democrats do not.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what are the hurdles here ahead for Republicans?

How are Democrats looking at this?

And would either cause a shutdown?

LISA DESJARDINS: It's -- there's so much heavy and important policy here.

So many lives will be affected by this kind of thing.

But the truth is that it comes down to vote counts.

And House Republicans right now still can only lose one Republican vote and get this bill through with just Republican support.

So let's look at some of the votes that we're watching here.

These two members of the House Republican Conference, Thomas Massie and Tony Gonzales, have said they will never vote for this kind of continuing resolution.

So that's two votes.

They can only lose one.

There's another person I'd like to bring up that we don't talk about a lot here.

This is Greg Murphy of North Carolina.

He's the only practicing surgeon in the House.

He has a real problem with the lack of a fix for those Medicare doctors.

So that's three potential votes out.

Now, some moderate Democrats could switch and help out Republicans here.

Let's look at two of those on that list, Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.

So, all this, bottom line is, yet again, we're days away from a shutdown and it really is not clear if this train is going to break in time, probably, but not certain yet.

AMNA NAWAZ: So the big question, what happens next?

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, I want to take people through this process because in the next day it's going to move fast and it's going to be important.

So what's going to happen to avoid a shutdown?

What's needed to happen?

Number one, the first step is the House Rules Committee meeting right now will have to push -- and you can maybe show a picture of the House Rules Committee.

There they are.

They are meeting tonight to get this momentum going, get this on the floor tomorrow for a vote.

Let's go through the process after this.

Tomorrow, if the House votes on that rule, that's the procedural thing that opens the door.

Democrats will not help Republicans.

This might be the biggest issue here.

Republicans need to vote almost unanimously to get that rule vote together tomorrow.

Then the full House will vote on this.

They really need help from Democrats.

That's the second hurdle.

Then the third hurdle here, the full Senate will have to vote and they will need Democratic help there.

So, three important votes coming up.

I still think this could do it, but we're going to see some interesting politics here and clusters of members voting against their party on each one, but we have to watch this closely.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're going to be doing exactly that for us.

Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: This weekend, a former student at Columbia University in New York was arrested by immigration authorities despite having a green card.

Mahmoud Khalil, who helped organize on-campus protests against Israel's attacks on Gaza as part of its war with Hamas, was seized, according to President Trump, for allegedly espousing pro-Hamas views.

William Brangham has our report.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, this arrest is part of the Trump administration's crackdown on antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, which were convulsed by protests last year during the height of the Hamas-Israel war.

But officials have offered no evidence that Mr. Khalil broke any laws while at Columbia.

And, today, crowds gathered in New York City to protest his arrest.

For more on this, we are joined again by Abed Ayoub.

He's the national director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Abed, so good to have you back on the program.

We should say that a judge has ordered that Mr. Khalil cannot be deported until further court proceedings play out.

And a hearing about his arrest is scheduled for later this week.

But when you first heard about this seizure by immigration officials, what was your reaction?

ABED AYOUB, National Executive Director, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee: Thank you for having me on.

Look, the initial reaction was one of concern, deep concern, and disappointment, and concern not just only for Mahmoud, but concern for this country, that we are now going down a path where speech and expression is being criminalized this way.

And this should be alarming for all Americans, not only those that are standing up for Palestine and Palestinian rights.

This is an alarming happening right now in this country.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And the president today on TRUTH Social wrote that ICE apprehended Mr. Khalil because he is -- quote -- "a radical foreign pro-Hamas student" and that he's just one of many at Columbia and at other colleges, the president alleged, who have engaged in -- quote -- "pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity."

Now, as I said, the administration has not provided any details alleging that he has said or done any of those things.

We simply at this point do not know.

But what we do know is that he organized protests on Columbia.

He negotiated with Columbia University officials about those protests.

And some of those protests were quite intense.

That said, does any of the actions alleged here give the government the authority to deport someone and change their immigration status?

ABED AYOUB: Absolutely not.

The statements coming from the government are very heavy on accusations, but very light on evidence.

Nothing has been shown or proven to be true so far, and nothing will be shown or proven to be true.

The only thing Mr. Mahmoud has done that they don't like is the fact that he was part of these protests, organizing these protests and these rallies against the state of Israel and its actions.

And that seems to be a taboo topic that you can't talk about.

And, if you do, this is the situation you end up in.

All he did was exercise his First Amendment rights, his right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and that was enough to trigger the actions and to trigger what we're seeing now.

And, again, this should be concerning to all Americans that, in this country, I have the right to protest my own president, my own government, but I don't have the right to protest a foreign government or a foreign leadership.

That should raise many questions and red flags for all Americans.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The ACLU, among many other groups, have echoed this same criticism you're making.

The ACLU wrote today: "The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S.

The government's actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate."

I'm just curious what you imagine will be the downstream consequences.

The president said today in his post on TRUTH Social that this was just the first of many arrests to come.

What do you foresee happening?

ABED AYOUB: Support for Mahmoud, by the way, is coming not just from the ACLU, but we have seen it across all political ideologies, from Ann Coulter coming out to say this shouldn't happen to the ACLU and to others in between.

What's going to happen now is, this is going to infringe and chill freedom of speech on campus.

You're going to have a lot of students that don't want to partake in activities or may be sitting out the next protest or the next rally, and it will have that chilling effect.

For Mahmoud directly, he's going to have to fight this in court and in front of the judge, and the right decision was made today by the judge in New York.

But he's got a long battle ahead of him.

But, right now, we have to focus on this policy, and the administration needs to understand that this is an issue that the president's base cares about, and they are going to -- if they keep pushing this way, they're going to overplay their hand and they're going to upset many in their base as well.

So this is not going to play out politically the way the president and administration thinks.

A lot of people are on the side of First Amendment rights, freedom of speech and freedom of expression in this country.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lastly, what would you want colleges and universities to do in response to this?

I mean, as you're aware, the Trump administration as part of this same crackdown on antisemitism recently revoked $400 million in grants to Columbia University, warned other schools that they could suffer a similar fate.

The Department of Education warned 60 colleges and universities today that, if they don't crack down on antisemitism, that they could face repercussions.

I mean, that is enormous pressure on these institutions, but what do you want them to do in this moment?

ABED AYOUB: The institutions need to do everything they can to protect their students, but at the same time foster an environment where you can debate ideas, exchange ideas and have conversations.

And that's what's happening here.

And if there's some dissent and if there's a group of students that may not agree with another group, that doesn't mean you bring in ICE and the federal government to get involved.

At the end of the day, the funds and the finances should not be a determining factor in ensuring that each student has the fundamental right for freedom of speech and expression their college campus.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Abed Ayoub, you thank you so much for being here.

ABED AYOUB: Thank you.

I appreciate it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Returning now to the government funding deadline and the potential political fallout, I'm joined by Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Great to see you both.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Good to see you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's start on Capitol Hill.

Tam, once again, lawmakers are up against a deadline to fund the government by the end of this week.

House Republicans, as Lisa reported, have rolled out their plan.

President Trump has backed it online.

He said no dissent, calling for Republicans to show unity here.

They can only lose, Republicans can lose one vote.

If all Democrats vote against it, do you see this passing?

Can Republicans get it done?

TAMARA KEITH: President Trump is asking for, saying please even, asking that there be no dissent.

I think there could be a wee bit of dissent, but President Trump is in a pretty strong position with members of his own party, especially in the House.

They are making a case to House members that this is their best chance to get all of the other things that they want, and also that the Trump White House would be able to use this legislation to be able to make cuts to the government, move money around, do the DOGE plan.

That's actually, incidentally, the argument that Democrats have against it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Which brings me to you, Amy.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have heard the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, basically urging members to vote against it.

There are 13 House Democrats who are in Trump districts.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: That's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: How are they looking at this, and how would Americans view a possible shutdown?

AMY WALTER: That's right.

So, going back to Tam's point, I mean, what Democrats have put forward as their reticence for voting for this is Elon Musk, the DOGE cuts, the rollbacks of these programs, and, of course, we have firings of federal officials.

If they don't vote for this bill, however, the government shuts down, which would mean federal workers would be furloughed, which would mean programs that they're trying to save would be put on hold.

It would have a very problematic, let's say, impact on the very people and programs that they're arguing that they're trying to protect.

So this -- I think for most Americans, they look at this, they hear procedure, they hear -- they see finger-pointing and blaming.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to them, but I think for the big picture here, we're in act one of a very, very long play, because, beyond the government spending, we now have to also get into the next piece that really this is a setup for, which is the Republicans' tax and immigration bill.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

Well, in many ways, Tam, when you step back, this is sort of the first test for President Trump, other than getting his nominees across the finish line, which Senate Republicans mostly fell in line with, and we should note it looks as if they will do the same tonight as the vote for his nominee, for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, that's going on right now.

But this is the first time he needs lawmakers to get through part of his agenda.

Everything else has been through executive action, executive authority.

How do you look at that?

TAMARA KEITH: Right.

So, actually, there was another bill that the House needed to pass to take a first step on the reconciliation.

We're getting into the weeds.

But there was a bill.

And there was some question if Republicans were going to support it, and they fell in line.

And I think that we have seen again and again that Republicans are falling in line with President Trump.

And so betting against that right now is not the best bet.

AMY WALTER: And, I mean, there is only a one-seat margin, as we know, but there's also the opportunity for deals to be cut in the next bill that Republicans need to pass, which is, as I said, this reconciliation, this tax and immigration bill, in which you can see, whether it's the president or leaders on the Republican side, going to recalculate members and saying, hey, I know you're worried about the spending.

We want more cuts in spending.

We will get that in this other bill.

I know you're worried that maybe we're cutting this thing.

Don't worry.

We will get it in the other bill.

But that starts to add up.

And so this is a big test, not just for Trump, of course, but for the speaker, who this would be pretty impressive to be able to get a one-vote House to put this through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, as we speak, we know it was a bad day for the markets, right, which is something we know President Trump and his administration track very closely.

We're hearing more concerns of a possible recession and all the tariff talks, inflation ticking up.

There was an interview this weekend, Tam, in which President Trump was asked if he was expecting a recession this year.

Here's what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I hate to predict things like that.

There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big.

We're bringing wealth back to America.

That's a big thing.

And there are always periods of -- it takes a little time.

It takes a little time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, he didn't exactly say no.

He said there'd be a period of transition.

There could be some pain.

What's the messaging from the White House on this?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, last night on Air Force One, I was part of the pool.

I was the radio pool.

And I got a chance to ask the president about that.

And, essentially, I said, hey, in that interview with Maria Bartiromo, you hesitated about the economy.

Do you expect a recession?

And he said -- quote - - "Of course I hesitated.

Who knows?"

And then we saw today that the markets were not thrilled with his economic analysis.

The argument that the White House and the president's supporters are making and supporters in Congress and others is that, yes, this tariff agenda may shake the markets a bit, but that restructuring the U.S. economy to put more manufacturing back in the U.S. is not something that would be easy.

I don't know if the president is going to continue to have an appetite for this kind of pain.

One other thing I will note is that he had several things on his schedule today that were closed press.

But, typically, in this administration, they have been opening it up.

They didn't open it up today.

They ultimately did put out a statement saying that the president's -- essentially saying the economy is going to be OK. AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

TAMARA KEITH: But I'm pretty sure he didn't want to answer questions about the stock market tanking.

AMNA NAWAZ: In that uncertainty, Amy, will his supporters, who largely voted for him because of the economy, are they going to stick with him?

AMY WALTER: Right.

And that's the real question here.

Right now, obviously, the markets are shaky.

And as we have talked about before, we have seen some consumer indications, some indications from consumers that they are also a little bit anxious about what's to come.

So those things are already starting to pick up.

In terms of support from his base, there is a core, I think, of Trump supporters who will give him that space and that time.

But I remember, not so long ago, this other president who said something about inflation being transitory, but it was going to be OK and to give a little time because it's going to work out in the end.

Voters didn't really give him all that much... AMNA NAWAZ: You're referencing President Biden.

AMY WALTER: I was concerned.

President Biden.

Sorry.

Sorry.

AMY WALTER: But President Biden learned very much and Democrats learned very much the hard way that voters don't give you that much time.

They may give you a little bit of time, but when it starts to impact their own lives -- and, in this case, right, the market itself isn't necessarily real life.

It's not Main Street.

But there are a lot of people who are seeing their own investments lose some ground, as well as the fact that prices for things could go up and they're not going back down.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will be tracking those very closely, for sure.

Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, always great to see you both.

Thank you.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we will be back shortly.

But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.

It's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like this one on the air.

For those of you staying with us, an encore from an artist capturing parts of his own history and ours.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown spoke earlier this year with Vincent Valdez, who currently has his first national touring exhibition.

The story is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: The paintings are often large in scale, almost cinematic in effect, the imagery confrontational, packing a punch, 120 works, now at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston by artist Vincent Valdez.

This is art as provocation?

VINCENT VALDEZ, Artist: It's art as truth.

It's the truth the way that I see it.

It's the truth that - - based off of my recollections and observations, my hard examinations about life in the world beyond these studio doors.

JEFFREY BROWN: The exhibition, titled Just a Dream presents 25 years of work, series of paintings, or what Valdez sees as chapters, that look at both personal and collective histories.

It is his first major survey, a chance for the 48 year old artist to take stock.

VINCENT VALDEZ: I was able to get a glimpse of the story that I have been telling, and that story, my subject has been life in contemporary America in both its tragedy and its triumph.

JEFFREY BROWN: You can see that in all the works over the decades.

VINCENT VALDEZ: Absolutely, not only my own personal reflection on contemporary American society, but my own active participation in contemporary America.

JEFFREY BROWN: These days, Valdez splits his time between Houston and Los Angeles, where we met in December at his studio filled with large-scale panels of paintings in progress.

On this day, he was at work on something smaller, a portrait of one set of grandparents, and on a series of drawings based on Kurt Vonnegut's classic anti-war novel "Slaughterhouse-Five."

JEFFREY BROWN: With murals, you get the enormous scale.

You get that kind of storytelling.

JEFFREY BROWN: Clearly, those -- that impacted you.

VINCENT VALDEZ: Tremendously.

And it struck me like a thunderbolt, where it has to tell a story and it has to utilize storytelling as a means of communicating to the world around me, with the world.

And to go one step further, it has to be an opportunity for other human beings to see themselves reflected in these images.

JEFFREY BROWN: And so, in his exhibition, a series titled The New Americans, large portraits of community workers and others making a difference, another called Since 1977, with just the tops of the heads of U.S. presidents since the time of his birth, and a painted 1953 ice cream truck, a project Valdez did with musician Ry Cooder to honor the largely Mexican-American neighborhood torn down to make room for the building of L.A.'s Dodger Stadium.

There are darker stories of the so-called Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 targeting Mexican-Americans, and a group of paintings titled The Strangest Fruit, portraying young men, including friends of Valdez, dangling in the air, his intent, he says, to restore a history, documented, but little known, of the lynchings of Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

But these men bear markers, such as clothing, of contemporary life.

VINCENT VALDEZ: The message that a series like this conveys to the viewer, it engages the viewer in becoming more curious about, what does the past have to do with the present?

Well, it is exactly this.

The past is still very present in 21st century America.

JEFFREY BROWN: Perhaps his most provocative work, at 38-feet-long, a gathering of Klansmen.

Again, we see signs that the time is now.

And, again, Valdez has grounded the image in his own experience.

VINCENT VALDEZ: I was confronted by the Ku Klux Klan when I was 16 years old in front of the Alamo in downtown San Antonio, Texas, you know, one of them leaning over to me while carrying an American flag, peering at me through those socket holes in the hood and saying, "You don't belong here."

You're forced to walk around front to back in order to see a single image at one moment.

JEFFREY BROWN: Valdez wants us to feel the paintings' size and presence.

He took us to see two newer works now on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, part of a large exhibition featuring many artists titled Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968.

His contribution, a kind of diptych.

Michael Jordan mid-flight on one side, on the other, former National Security Council official Colonel Oliver North testifying about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal involving secret weapons transactions, two strangely parallel images from the same time, 1987-'88, that present both larger American history and Valdez's own.

VINCENT VALDEZ: These historic moments unfolding on my mom's television screen as a child.

I remember trying to consider what it meant to be not only an American, but as a young Chicano, a Mexican American in South Side San Antonio, what my role, where I fit in within this context of American history.

How does a scene like this unfolds here affect me in my daily life, in my community?

And so it was a very dizzying effect for me.

JEFFREY BROWN: Which you are recreating for us.

VINCENT VALDEZ: Sure, exactly.

JEFFREY BROWN: Also deeply personal, he says, a desire to share with others the active making art and the commitment it requires.

VINCENT VALDEZ: In some ways, I have created this life force inside the studio that really entirely commands and dictates my life.

But in this way, I try to share this kind of absolute love and devotion that I have for painting and drawing, in an age where there are short attention spans, where maybe there is -- where it becomes a rarer occurrence to understand what patience and discipline really is.

JEFFREY BROWN: The exhibition Just a Dream by Vincent Valdez is at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston through March 23, when it travels to MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.

For the "PBS News Hour," I am Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: Robert Trujillo grew up in Santa Monica, California, where his passion for music set the stage for an extraordinary career.

Today, he's known as the bassist for Metallica, one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll.

Tonight, he shares his Brief But Spectacular take on manifesting a dream.

ROBERT TRUJILLO, Musician: All of us young musicians in junior high and high school aspired to be rich and famous.

And we looked up to our superheroes, which were Ozzy Osbourne.

I remember Rush was a huge influence of mine, Van Halen.

Led Zeppelin, everybody wanted to be Led Zeppelin.

So I wrote it in my yearbook.

It was kind of a joke, but here I am.

Not rich.

I don't know how famous I am, but I'm having a good time.

And I think that's what's important.

When I grew up, I had a lot of friends that were hockey players.

Believe it or not, they weren't just skaters and surfers growing up in Southern California.

You think that's what it's all about.

And I used to go ice skating over at the Culver ice rink.

And that's where I kind of discovered music.

And you're there skating and you're trying to find a date.

That's what's going on.

You're in junior high.

And I'm hearing "Eruption" for the first time, that guitar solo, Eddie Van Halen.

And I was like, wow, what is this?

I pretty much knew I wanted to play music the moment I heard it.

I played in backyard parties.

And we played covers.

Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne were the main ingredient to what we did and what we covered.

I ended up being an Ozzy's band.

And that happened because Ozzy sang on a song for a band I was in called the Infectious Grooves.

I have been able to work with all my heroes whether it's Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, Ozzy Osbourne, but then, of course, Metallica.

The work ethic in Metallica is something that really did impress me from day one.

These guys are getting together in the morning, probably around 11:00, which for most rock musicians is way too early, and not leaving the studio until 11:00 at night.

Songs are cultivated.

The bass has its place.

The rhythm section is important.

It's one of the things I love about being in Metallica is, the groove and the pulse seems to be a vital ingredient in this recipe.

One of the things that I feel blessed with is having a family that's really creative-based, passionate about music.

Maybe it drives the neighbors a little nuts because there's music coming out of every window.

My son, he's a composer.

He actually is playing in Suicidal Tendencies right now.

He tours with them.

I had the great fortune of being able to get up on stage with him with Suicidal Tendencies recently.

And that, as a dad, is pretty special.

It's very rewarding.

My name is Robert Trujillo, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on playing.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.