captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc aw >>: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: a innal farewell. is adopted home of texas, president george h.w. bush iseaid to rest beside his w and daughter. then, tensns rising. u.s. markets swing wildly after ome arrest of a major chinese telecom executive,plicating already-contentious trade talks with beijing. plus, "the future of work." trucking reaches a crossroads betweethe current demand for drivers due to online retail, and the looming possibility of automated shipping.'r >> ystill going to need an operator, like a train needs a conductor.y we've alregged 23 million miles. i an, there are autonomous trucks on the road right now. >> nawaz: l that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation ford public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >>fawaz: the 41st president the united states has reached s final resting place tonight, culminating a life story of 94 years. george herbert walker bush was buried today, after a journey by train from a final feral. ♪ some 1,200 mourners gathered atl the bush fs houston church, st. martin's episcopal, after three days of memorialts evn washington. mr. bush's former secretary of state, james baker, reected on

ade man he knew for decades as both friend and . >> i've always been proud that george bush used to de our relationship as one of big brother and little brother. he used to say that one of the things he liked best about me was that i would always tell him what i thought, even when i knew he didn't want to hear it. but he had a very effective way of letting me know when the discussion was over. he would look at me and he'd say, "baker, if you're so smar why am i president and you're not?" ( laughter ) >> nawaz: mr. bush's grandson, texas land commissioner georgeal p. bush, rd not a statesman, but a grandfather. >> today i standefore you as the oldest grandson of the man i simply knew as gampy. george herbert walker bush was the most gracious, most decent, most humble man that iill ever know. >> nawaz: one of the president's favorite cntry groups, the oak ridge boys, performed an

a capella version of "amazing grace." ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ that saved a wretch like me ♪ >> nawaz: and, after more than an hour, the service ended with "battle hymn of the republic"... ♪ ♪ >> nawaz: ...before the flag- draped casket was carried from the church. the 41st president, companied by family and friends, then treled 70 miles by train, past crowds of well-wishers, to college station, s, and his final resting place on the grounds of his presideial library. mr. bush was buried during a private service, alongside his late wife, barbara, and daughter asrobin, who died of leuke child. in the day's other news,wa street took a wild ride

after the arrest of a chine tech executive sparked doubts about a possible trade deal with china. then came a rally on reports that the federal reserve might hold off on raising interest rites. the dow jones indu average lost 79 points, after being down 770 earlier. it closed at 24,947.na the sdaq rose 29 points, and the s&p 500 slipped four. we'll take a closer look at the tensions with china, after the news summary. the trump administration today called for rolli back obama-era mandates that make new, coal-burning plants emit less carbon. the obama rules require plants to install new technology or burn natural gas, which gives off less carbon. the trump proposal could ease the way for building more coal- bu'sing plants. he latest in a series of steps to relax emissions rules.l in aus, an appeals court cterturned a former catholic archbishop's conn for ecncealing child sexual abuse. the court ruled prors failed to prove that philip wilson covered up crimes by a

pedophile priest in the 1970s. he had been the highest-rankingh ic cleric to be found guilty in the long-running, international scandal. abusvictims said their fight is not over. >> those people have stood up to the might and the money of the catholic church, and they've been deeply hude by this sion. if the catholic church thinks that people like me and lots and lots of other survivors of child abuse are going to be set back by this, then we've got news for them, because i'm not going anywhere. >> nawaz: wilson is 68 years old. he had already served four months of a year-long sentence in home detention. sat least one u.s. marine dead, and five missing after two military planes crashed off japan early today. the marine corps says the fighter jet and the refueling tanker collided some 200 miles from hiroshima, during night- time training. one crew member survived. search and rescue operations continue for the missing. backn this country, a new round of rain and snow hit

southern california. near los angeles, a southwest airlines plane skidded off a runway, amid heavy rain. no one was injured. the storm also triggered flooding and mudslides in the los angeles area, snarlinges traffic nortof the city. snow forced the closure of interstate 5, where cars and ucks sat in stand-still traffic. the u.s. senate today confirmed white house budget official kathy kraninger to run the consum financial protection bureau. the vote was 50 to 49, after a six-month battle. democrats criticized kraninger's lack of experience in financial g groups, but bank applauded the outcome. the trump administration has worked to scale back the c.f.p.b.'s enforcement efforts. and, congress has passed a two-week spending bill, to prevent a partial government shutdown tonight. president trump already promised to sign the bill, but he also warned, he may force a shutdown if a longer-term spending paerage fails to fund a bord wall. still to come on the newshour:

ftsing tensions with china the arrest of a cell phone executive. why today's arguments before the supreme court could be critical to the russia investigation. delegations from both sides of yemen's civil war convene for peace talks in sweden. and, much more. >> nawaz: over the weekend, it emed a fragile truce might bring an end to the months-long trade war between the u.s. and china. but a high profilerrest in canada is now roiling financial markets further, and it could complicate the efforts to ease trade tensions. it's been six days since this woman, meng wanzhou, was arrested in vancouver, canada. she is chief financial officer of the chinese electronics giant huawei, and the daughter of its founder."g the torontbe and mail" reports she is suspected of violating american trade

sanctions on iran, and that the ition.s seeking her extr today, china's foreign ministry demanded answers from canada. >> ( translated ): china has made clear its solemn positionse rately to canada and the united states, requesting them to immediately clarify the reasons for detention, immediately release the detainee, and guarantee ige legitimates and interests of the person concerned. >> nawaz: canada confirms the arrest and the u.s. extradition request, and canadian prime minister jusn trudeau today said canadian law enforcement notified his office a few days before the arrest. >> there was no engagement or involvement in the political level in ts decision, because we respect the independence of our judicial processes. further to that, i have not had any direct or indirect conversations with, with any of my international counterparts on this. >> nawaz: u.s. concerns about huawei go back to president obama. the company is the largest

global supplier of phone andet inteechnology, and the second-largest smartphone manufacturer. u.s. officials say hua close ties to the chinese government raise security enncerns. last spring, thegon banned all sales of huawei phones at stores on military bases the arrest also came the very same dayhat president trump and chinese president xi jinping agreed to a truce in their trade war. toy, the chinese sent conflicting signals about the potential fallout. the english-language "global times," closely tied to the ruling communist party, warned, "china should be fully prepared for an escalion in the trade war," and it cited the arrest of meng. at the same time, the chinese ministry of commerce indicated beijing does not want to disrup progresse trade front. to help make sense of those colicting signals, james mulvenon. te works at s.o.s. ational, a defense contracting company which focuses on cyber-security and telligence. he has written extensively about

china's military and technology sector. >> there was a period in 2008 and 2009 where she was a board sector of a hoping congress company called sky com tech, completely owned by waway that they used to divert technology insanctions against iran. >> nawaz: are you talking about the division of u.s. tech. what kind ofc tehnology? >> specifically diverted etmputer i equipment from hepackard that would have required an export license to be able to to be traonsferred iran at the time which with us under sanctions. >> nawaz: so we knowu.he. barred waway from participating in next generation 5g mobile

network, they have been pressuring other companies to do the sambae. they've nd sale of phones on. military bai national security gets brought up. what is the national security risk associated with it. t re's a lot of discussion about whether whyway is a front to have chicenese intelligor military. that's not the most importantar ment. they're the largest privately owned company in china and if they were able to t a foothold in a u.s. telecommunicationsr market tgh legitimate market means and subsequently the minister state securitor military said we want in, we want to be able to exploit and intercept those networks, given the current political atmosphere if china, there's no way the company could say no and given that situation, it's too dangerous from anational security perspective to allow them to be involved in those networks. >> the time s f thirest was somewhat extraordinary, happened on the very same day the talks were kicking off. what do we know about why that happened? >> for the time being, uess i

hear otherwise about specific timing, i think they had to take advantage of the fact that sheed happo be in a country that was friendly to the united states, had an extradition treaty. obviously canada is a member of the five eyes intelligence sharing group. we have been pressurings canadit to use whyway equipment in their modernization. but subsequent to that, administration officials were saying this might ve them leverage in the trade negotiations. so even after the fact, they may be trying to take advantage of >> d know what kind of we. impact it could have on trade alks? >> in the sense shecomes a bargaining championship to get eersessions from the ch side. but at the same time this legal case against whyway en in place since 2011 because of its connection to the zet case. so the justice department has been wanting to osecute them for a long time. the timing is the key issue. >> at the same time, the of this particular executive so

very senior. she's been called a member of corporate loyalty in china. that sends an extraordinary message. >> it does, particularly the fact she's the oldest daughter of the founder of whyway is considered one of the most important figures in the chise system. whyway is clearly the most important national champion company the chinese government is extremely proud of their achievements. but at the same time she was the cfo and board scretary involved in this particular transfer. so if they have evidence she was thene who was lndering the money, setting up the front companies, facilitating these illegal diversions, she might just have been the right person for themo indict. >> we don't know what they know but how concerned would u.s. officials be about retaliation, american executives on the ground. >> if you are an executive of a company on the u.s. side or someone else that has been

competing with whyway, i would have my go bag ready. i wouldn't plan trips to china. if it was there now, i would carry my passport with mef i was walking around the city. >> nawazcoa lot ofncern about i.p., did any of this have anything to do with those concernss >> i think ts to do with the illegal diversions violating the sanctions regime aginst iran. that's not to say whyway has been a oy scout on the intellectual theft side. a long case cisco waged thainst because of poaching of cisco engineers and the complete copying of the entire cisatco opg system which they settled. but too similarities. the mother boar were thsame. they produced the cisco manuals with the same misspellings. so it was pretty obvious. while whyway had a history of

copying, we can't doubt they are one of the most innovative telecommunication also equipment companies in the world and this is a serious blow them in terms of gettingnto the western markets. >> nawaz: james mulvenon,ve thank yo much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: e highest court today heard a case concerning the fifth amendment's ban on prosecuting someone for thsame crime twice. the justices were asked to k decades-old precedent that allows for prosecution of the same crime if it's in state and fedel courts. to explain what happened in the supreme court today, i'm ined by newshour regular marcia coyle. she is chief washington correspondent for the "national law journal." good to see you again. >> ged to see you. the case before the supreme court, what is it about. >> the terrence is an alabama man first convicted in stafote courthe crime of a felon

in possession of a firearm. ter that, he was tried and convicted in federal court of the same crime. he appealed saying that the double successive prosecution violated the double jeopar clause of the fifth amendment, inich as you just explained prohibits trysomeone twice for the same offense. he lost his appeals because of that 170-year-old exception to the doublae jeopardy e known as the separate sovereign exception. that is if two sovereign states and the united states, they are lowed to do the double prosecution, or two states, which are alo seprate sovereigns, they could do it as well. he brought the case to thsue eme court that the justices heard today, an his lawyer basically is saying, look, this exception is a cout-created exception, it's inconsistent with the original understaing of the double jeopardy clause, it's not in the text of theit

clause, and s consistent with the purpose of the clause, which is to promote fairness and finality. >> so these double prosecutions, right, either state and sta or state and federal, do we have any idea about how often these happen or watt kind of case they usually occur in? >> theust can't attorney argued today and said, first of all, the department has a polict imits its own successive. prosecutio unless there's a very substantial federal consider,wo the governmentt step in, and he said rouyely 100 cases a . and the kinds of cases if which you are most visible to us are in civil rights cases, for example. mple that he gave was federal murder charges stemming from the charleston church massacre and the pittsburgh synagogue massacre. he warned that if the exception were eliminated, they would probably have to drop those charges.

and, also, native american tribes are supporting this exception because they like to have the federal backup when it comes, in particular, to prosecution of domncestic vio crimes against women on their reservations. >> so based on what we heard from the justices today, based on the makeup of the court right now, do we havy idea which way this will go? >> to be honest, i don't ever predict, but i did see a solid majority herto get rid of the exception to the clause mainly because the justices were focused very heavily on the practical consequences here. for example, the civil rights conseqnce, the native american tribes consequence, but also the government pointing out there could be races to the court house deral and state prosecutors to see who could file first if twas no exception, that it could deter prosecution among law enforcement and criminadefends might try to manipulate separate

sovereigns to see re they might get the best trial outcome. so they were very focsed on that and concerned and, also, even though the defendant focused a lot on the original understanding, justice kagan pointed out some justices on the bench believe thheat's tlpha and omega of every constitutional question, but others do not.t she is n an originalist, and she said youg 're go have to give me something more beforeg i'm will overturn a 170-year-old precedent. interestingly enough, judge kavanaugh said to the defendant, yes, stare decisis, standing by precedent is p that original understanding, and you're going to have to show this president is not only wrong but egrly wrong, and that's a high bar. >> nawaz: one of the reasons people are paying very close attention to this case is because they believe it could have an impact on the russia

probe held by special counsel mueller, the idea it is is a federal prosecution, if peopl are convicted and are pardoned by the president, that bieps the state clean, there could not be a stonte prosecutionop of that. >> that's what they're worried about and why people are watching closely. legal experts disagree on how th might affect successive prosecutions and also the impact of a presidential pardon on anybody that mueller may prosecutor and get convictions on. so we'll have to wait and see on that, how it plays out, well as the supreme court decision. >> nawaz: wait and see indeed. marcia coyle, always good to see you. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure. >> nawaz: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: how an increase in greenhouse gas emissions could cause major climate change events to occur much sooner. the trucking industry at a

crossroads-- automation oms, amid a current labor shortage. and, four newly-elected members of congress talk about their arrival in washington. for the first time in 2.5 years, there are peace talks over the irr in yemen, the site of a proxy fight betwee and saudi arabia, backed by the united states. as nick schifrin reports, the talks come as the conflict grinds on, the immense suffering continues, and the debate over u.s. support for the war heats up on capitol hill. >> reporter: on a grassyquiet estate, in a renovated castle outside stockholm, yemen's warring parties sat around a table today to try and decide their country's fate. on one side, yemen's sunni, internationally-recognized government. across the table, shia houthi rebels, who hold the capital. in the middle, the u.n. envoyo tryingke peace. >> the country's institutions are at risk, the fragmentation of the country is an enormous

concern, and we must act now beere we lose control of th future of yemen. >> reporter: the country is cracking after a four-year war that's killed tens of thousands. it began as a civil war in 2014. but now, a sau-led coalition fights on the ground, and launches air-strikes witthe help of u.s. advisors. and the u.n. says houthi rebels receive aid and rocket par from iran. both sides hold thousands of prisoners, and that was today's main confidence-building measure: a swap announced by u.n. envoy martin griffiths. a >> it wiow thousands of families to be reunited, and it is a product of very effective active work from both delegations. >> reporter: most recently, the two sides have foughe hardest for rt city of hodeida. the saudi-led coalition surrounded the city and the coalition's spokesman rejected a cease-fire. >> ( translated ): our operation in hodeidah will continue. the pace of our operation,ho ver, will change

accordingly, depending on the situation. >> reporter: the u.n. hopeto place hodeidah under international control. the port accepts the vast majority of yemen's hurian aid. >> what the u.n. is trying to t,, on the humanitarian fr that's hodeida, is specifically a humanitarian issue-- is to preserve the pipeline which is keeping people in yemen alive. >> reporter: there's not much keeping them alive. pday, the world food program said half of yemenopulation, 15 million people, are now organizations such as the international rescue committee are trying to save an entire generaon from famine. amanda catanzano is the i.r.c.'s senior director monitoring the sweden talks. >> the question we need to ask erselves is, while these welcome, do they correspond with the urgency of theituation inside the country? are they going to matter, and are they going to alleviate any humanitarian suffering? time is not something that yemenis ve on their side. >> reporter: on the streets of the capital sanaa, yemenis are deparate for progress. >> ( translated ): many people have fled, people are starting to eat from the trash, the

situation has become utterly dire. so i hope the voice of reason and sense of humanity willpr ail. >> reporter: while the u.s. supports the talks and is epushing to end the war, administration is resisting punishing saudi arabia or targeting the saudi defense minister, crown prince mohammad bin salman. but oppostistiono the war in yemen and to m.b.s., as he's known, is now crescendo-ing in the senate. >> how do you deal with an authoritarian despot tt doesn't share american values but is important to american interests? >> reporter: today, louisiana republican john kennedy and other senators are considering how to influence saudi policy, pushed to action by the murder, and dismemberment, of journalist jamal khashogg the c.i.a. assesses m.b.s. likely ordered his death. >> i believe prince mohammad did know what was going on. somebody gave the order-- and either he gave it, or twatched it being given-- mr. khashoggi like a fish. >> reporter: one senate bill would end support to the saudi-.

led coalit another bill would end all arms sales to saudi arabia, and sanction saudi officials. a separate resolution woul declared m.b.s. "complicit" in khashoggi's murder, and pushes saudi arabia to end the war in yemen. >> this conflict is being seen asorally bankrupt. it's being seen perhaps as strategically bankrupt and not advancing u.s. interests in the region, and it's also becoming deeply politically unpopular. which really begs the question: what's the constituency forpp continuing to t this conflict? >> reporter: secretary of state mike pompeo and the administration oppose congressional action. that will prevent any measure from becoming law. but, catanzano says the senate still holds power. >> the congress can't fundamentally alter the strategic partnership between the u.s. and saudi arabia. however, they can chan things at the margins. they control the purse strings, slthey have an ability to ow down or stop arms sales and other forms of support.

while the white house remains in the drivers seat, to a large extent, congress can become a very annoying backseatriver. >> reporter: the road ahead will remain violent, but the u.s. and much of the world hope thatac today's petalks can one day i'ovide an off-ramp. for the pbs newshom nick schifrin. >> nawaz: representatives from nearly 200 nations are in poland this week at a u.n. climate conference, trying to hammer out specific rules for cutting their countries' greenhouse gas emissions. they already faced the daunting task of meeting goals they agreed to back in 2015, as par of the paris climate accord. but as william brangham reports, that mission got even tougher yesterday, with a new reportem that globasions of carbon dioxide are in fact rising, reaching the highest levels on record. >> brangham: that's right, amna. a new report by the global

carbon project says worldwide, emissions grew by 1.6% last year, and are expected to rise another 2.7% this year. carbon diode is the main gas that's driving climate change, and the dangerous riseobal temperature. the paris accord hoped to limitt arming to just 2 degrees celsius, or 3.6 degrees farenheit, but this recent report seems to put that goalin easingly out of reach. much of the increase in emissions is being driven by i growchina and india. china is now the world's largest carbon emitter, followed by the u.s. this report is just the latest in a series of very recent, stark warnings about climate change. s u.retary general antonio guterres put it this way, "we are in deep trouble. eit is hard to overstate urgency of our situation." i'm joined now by david victor, a professor of international relations at u.c.-san diego, and author of "global warming gridlock," about why we've failed to addresthis issue

thus far. david victor, thank you very much for being on the ewshour". we have seen from 2014 to, i believe, 2016 that global emissions flattenedut. so this rise came as something of a surprise. can you help us understand a t what is driving this? >> well, the main driver is economic growth. countries are beginning to p together systems that will help control emissions, that's what the pariagreement vowed to talk about in poland this week and next, but that took long time to come into being.nw in the mle economic growth rnd technology we're using fo energy systems continued forward, so i think people reacted to a couple of years of flat emissions and surprised when the processes continue as we've seen in the most recent reports. >> no leader wants to say i want to put a stop on economic growty especin a country like india or china.

so if emissions keep on this trajectorydoesn't that put the goal of paris accord's keepingun warminer 2 degrees just puts that in real jeopardy? >> yeah, puts those goals in real jeopardy and it's easy to be pessimistic about the overall process. we have been talking about the climate issue for a long time and not really taking much action. i think the underlying all that there are scenarios of good news. more countries are learning how to grow economically, jobs, wealth to people, with lower emissions. states and cities are taking the lead. those processes are unolding slowly, but it's not like nothing is happening here. meanwhile, the overall glo picture certainly is a grim one. >> you wrote a piece in nature that accompani this most recent report and you were arguing that the recent stark warnings hve somewhat even underplayed the fact that global warming is, in fact, accelerating? >> yeah, a team of us were

concerned that thewarning that we passed the 1.5 degrees approve pre-industrial levels around 2040 and that seemed like a long time off and still a problem. we took a look at the data which owed an acceleration in warning and suggested the warning of 2040 or so may happen in 2030, maybe earlier. so we've written that article, in part, to show that th problem is even more serious than people thought and, also, to underscore that there's actually a lot of thhat can be done as we starts to worry about rapid warming. many pollutants cause global warming that are extremel potent and we have a lot of technological opportunities for controlling themow and if double down on those to nothing, we could slow down e rate of warming quiteapeciably. >> even with the political will to do these things, these are hard policies to enact. we saw ingn france tro enact a gasoline tax which in essence

is a carbon tax and we had riots in the streets. so even when i political will is there, it's not an easy thing t> do. his is one of the hardest problems the world has confronted co alectively. itproblem where the technology is needed to get tose ially zero emissions are not yet available, the ones that exist are expensive but some of the costs are coming down, so you have high costs that are visible today for benefits that still seem sort of abstract to people and mostly in the future and aostly for the wor a whole, so it's not surprising a problem ructured like that is a really hard problem to tackle. >> how do wencrease the sense of urgency? 2 degrees celsius is somewhat abstract.se give us a swhat does 2 degrees of warming likely mean for the planet? >> i thinkone of the difficulties here is the scientific literature makes it clear there isn't a single threshold, there isn't some mark beyond which everything comes

include. what happens is as the planet wa os the probabiliextreme events goes up, the probability of the extreme wildfires we've seen in california, the extreme storms goes up. i think what's interesting ino the scientificunity is we're paying much more attention to developing ne-grain projections for what a warmer world means for the risk of wildfire, coastal inundation and the the risks to farmers and less noticed than the u.n. report but one that came out as the same time is a big assessment of those in the s of impacts. you start to see more people grappling with what does this mean for me. as that happens, the politicalization around the climate problem will getst stronger butl doesn't mean it's an easy problem to solve. >> david victor, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: the idea oa future with self-driving cars sparks o th fascination and concern.

just yesterday, wanounced the start of a self-driving, car-sharing service in phoenix.n yes, the cars will still have a backup driver in case of problems. but the stakes are high for the u.s. trucking industry, too, and that's the focus of tonight's report in our series, "the future of work." on the one hand, the industry has long faced a driver shortage. on the other, self-driving trucks could threaten the jobs of truckers, many of whom are older men without college degrees. economics correspondent paul solman explores whether driverless trucks could become ngs of the road, as part of our weekly look at economics, "making sense."on >> reporter:ime trucker finn murphy, inadvertently showing me how tough a job aca trucker's be. >> so what i need to do is turn around before i get on a low reidge or some other night that i don't want to get involved in. >> reporter: despite such subtleties, though, says murphy, the future of work on the road

is just around the corner: the neiverless truck. >> i think it's im, yeah. i think it's going to happen within the next three years or so, where you have a level-four autonomous vehicle, which means it doesn't need a human operator. >> reporter: finn ngrphy is a loaul human operator, has been since he dropped out of college in the early '80s. he's now at the top of the trucking hierarchy: a driver and mover of pricey cargo like art. >> so, movers, we're called bed buggers. >> reporter: bed buggers >> yep, bed buggers. and our trucks are called roach coaches, because it has people's stuff in it. and then, the flatbed haulers, they're called skateboardersr: >> reporteed buggers like murphy driving roach coaches,ig which haulend merchandise, can gross $200,000 a year. n-ateboarders, on the other hand, and other ecialists in this increasingly deregulated, de-unionize industry, are paid $30,000- $50,000. >> companies are struggling to find qualified commercial truckers who deliver 70% of all goods in ts country.

>> reporter: the american trucking association predicts a major shortage of drivers. >>nyeporter: along with the hazards-- something like a quarter of all work-related fatalities are truckers-- and endless hours away from home, paltry pay explains what'sme beco chronic trucker shortage. but we're still talking some twi million tr jobs in america, to be outcompeted by automation? >> they've got their eyes on the prize: get rid of drivers. >> reporter: but canrogrammers teach trucks to hook ue trailer as a human can learn to do? just about any human. >> connect the hoses? check the oil? to mention: n navigate rain, wind, sleet or snow, and pedestrians? that's why finn murphy's boss, will joyce, thinks humans are still in the driver's seat.

>> even if a truck had the capabilities for braking and guidance-- which is fantastic; the more the better for safety-g but you're sting to need an operator, like a train needs a conductor. >> reporter: but murphy remains adamant. >> i think they're in denial because it's already here. you knowe already logged 23 million miles.ar there e autonomous trucks on the road right now. >> reporter: there's volvo's "vera"; the trk by start-up embark with no one in sight; google; waymo; daimler, the "inspiration."em all seo validate the trucker's lament, written andy sung bono-crooner merle hazard: no one even asleep at the wheel. c >> ♪p chip chips and software call the shots now ♪ the roads will be for driving bots now ♪ old school highway cowboys

lost the fight. ♪ >> reporter: and yet, such visions may be a bit premature. from bristol, connecticut, we flew to portland, oregon, home of daimler trucks north america, one of the world's leading atproducers of semis, now work onutomating them. three years ago in nevada, daimler showed off its "inspiration," the world's first road-licensed self-driving truck. steve nadig, daimler's heador engineer f mechatronics, showed us the newest "freightliner" model.ll it hashe latest sensors and doodads, but can it operater without a dret? >> absolutely not. not at this point. >> reporter: all rig, when is that point going to be? >> at this point, i cannot tell you. incan tell you what we're to do, and daimler trucks are going to take it step by step, safety by safety, use case by use case, toake sure that we're putting the safest truck on the road possible. >> reporter: what we're likely to see, nadig says, at least in the short and medium term, is

more automated features to make trucks safer and more fuel ficient-- automated transmission, of course; automated braking; auto-pilot for staying in the lane. but, look, in this wind tunnel, they're also still working on old-school stuff likein aerodynamic stto save fuel. and many of the new-fangled features are already available on cars. for 80,000-pound, 53-foot-long-w elers, there's still a long way to go. in the next three years, says steve nadig, the most we're likely to see is platooning, where, to decrease wind-drag while increasing safety, multiple trucks can be electronically linked together. and when might you o i actually pull up alongside an autonomous truck? five years?l ght, ten years? >> maybe, maybe not.th i stilk, in ten years, when we look at it, we still have a driver in the seat.

>> reporter: but as an engineer, i just assume that you believe that, ultimately, systems will be safer than people. >> to be honest with you, if we can put this on pbs, i have a lot of beer discussions over that. can... if a human being can ever be safer than a vehicle than a a vehicle be safe human being? and we've had a lot of intellectual discussions on both sides of it. >> reporter: where are you before you have too much beer? >> i would tell you, at this point in my career, i haven't seen the evidence to take the driver out of the seat. >> reporter: and that seems to be the engineering consensus: autonomous trucks in ten, 20,. maybe 30 years t but evenn, likely driving only the long stretches of open highway, where conditions are the easiest and demand for drivers is greatest. before handing off to human drivers for the "last mile" into cities, with their turns and ..twists, traffic lights a us. so, whew, right? truckers caneep on trucking?

>> the biggest threat to the truck drivers is not job loss in the near term. >> reporter: sociologist steve viscelli wrote the book on trucking-- a book, anyway-- after driving a rig for six months himself.th biggest threat to truckers? >> it's the loss of job quality, in particular as automated features come online. it's going to allow the industry to use less-skilled drivers, which willxtend a long-term trend in trucking wages where drivers are earning less, working longer hours, staying out on the road for long periods of time. riand automation could feet into that. >> reporter: that doesn't leave finn murphy-- our long haul driver and student of history-- with a lot of hope. >> i mean, we've had this problem in civilization for millennia. the issue is, what does society decide if they... if they have a role in lping these folks out? and if the average age is 55, these guys are going to be

computer programmers? they didn't finish high school. i doubt it. oh, look at these three pedestrians. ladies. are you really doing this? >> reporter: yes, that's kind of amazing. they're actually in the road. yeah. not even walking single file. >> now, how is a machine gthng to vie? that's the question. ( laughs ) >> reporter: from bristol, connecticut, to portland, oregon, this is economics correspondent paul solman for the pbs newshour. >> nawaz: the 2018 midterm elections saw nearly 100 new republicans and democrs ected to the house of representatives. judy woodruff sat down recentlyf wir members of that incoming class. >> woodruff: the congressional freshman class of 2019 is one of th.largest since world war it is the most racially diverse class in history, with a record number of firsts. its ranks include doctors

soldiers, teachers, and professional athletes. starting in january, they'll have a chance to weigh in on an array of issues, from immigration to health care, to possibly investigating the president. i'm joined now by four new h members of tse of representatives. democrat elissa slotkin is a former c.i.a. analyst who worked in both thgeorge w. bush and the obama administrations. she'll represent michigan's 8th district, made up of the detroit suburbs and the state capitol lansing. democrat lauren underwood is a registered nurse and first-time candidate, who will represent the chicago suburbs in illinois' 14th district. both women defeated republican cumbents on election day and our two republicans. mark green, a doctor and army veteran who serv tours in iraq and afghanistan. he will represent the tennessee seat vated by incoming u.s. senator marsha blackburn. the district includes the areaville suburbs and th around fort campbell army base.

and, denver riggleman. he is an air force veteran who now owns a craft distillery.l he wpresent central virginia in the 5th district, which includes the city of charlottesville. and congratulations again to all of you, and welcome to the newshour. >> thanks for having us. >> woodruff: great to have you here. so three of you had never run for public office before. so, while it's still fn your minds, what is it that yore taking away from this election, from this campaign, that is ing to stay with you for a long time? elissa slotkin, what about you? first time for youfirst to run for office. >> i think for me, the n people who were first-time volunteers, who had never done anything on a political campaign their lives, who were just feeling like they deserved better in washington and that the vitriol and the tone and tenor coming out of washington did not reflect how they wanted to live at home, how they wanted to get along with theirhe neighbors, howwanted their communities to be for their kids. >> woodruff: and denver

riggleman, what abou i mean, this is the first time you ran for office. you're a businessman. >> i was talking to some of the folks earlier. our district looks like a dragon riding a scooter. it's 21 counties, it's jersey, parts of delaware. and i think what youind out is, you think you know your home state, you think you know, like, for the commonwealth of virginia, and you find tt people have such divergent views s everything, and what they're really looking formebody to listen, and to provide some solutions and allow those solutions or sort of get out ofu way, because we feel like nobody listens to us. >> woodruff: well, some of this next question you're already answered, but i mean, we have tt ma point. in this election, voters took control of the house away froms, republicave it to democrats, and gave democrats something like 40 more seats than youurlready had. underwood, what do you think the voters were saying? >> i think the voters are saying 's time to change policy change process, change and then make sure at the congress is truly responsive to the needs of the american people. i come from a community where

ople had no idea what was happening here in washington. they couldn't recognize any of the policies coming cause they weren't responsive to our needs. they couldn't recognize some of the words, like what elissa was saying, the words and the tone of the conversation. and so folks were really truly trying to vote for cnge. >> woodruff: mark green, what do t'you think? >>very interesting, you know. we did lose control of the house, but we gained seats in the senate. so it's very intereso see the dichotomy there. so in my district, i mean, i won my seat by 35 points. so it is pretty clear, theue conservative vthat i have are what the people in my district want me to come up and fight for. so i think, what i really think, everyone wants, these guys, us people, to just work together better. >> woodruff: is that kind of what you were hearing, elissa slotkin? >> absolutely. i mean, i won in a district that was a gerrymandered republican district, so the only way for me to win was to appeal to a brp d gr people across the political spectrum.

and so, they were real responding to a message of "we got it. we got to work together and be practical and get some done." >> woodruff: denver riggleman, how did you hear what the voters were saying? >> what i saw, especially in the south side, in the more rural counties, they actually feel like they've been forgotten. and every time i got there, it's like, "we've never seen a congressman here, we've never had anybody come here," and when you start talking to these individuals anyou look at what we had in our lives and what we've been able to fight for and serve and to help othersyou start to get this, a bit of a sad feeling, that maybe the system is failing some people. >> woodruff: well, you won't be surprised to know that every freshman classas come in that 've had a chance to talk to, believes they can make a difference. but, lauren underwood, what is it about this moment that makes you think you can do things differently from the way they've reen done before? >> well, health as the number one issue in this election. without fail. affordability for premium prices argtoo high, prescription d prices are too high. and we saw what thena

congressrepublicans attempted to do in 2017, which was to take away health care coverage from people with pre-existing conditions. i feel like the amican people spoke, and said it was unacceptable. we want real progres >> woodruff: mark green, were you getting a different message from the voters in tennessee, where, as you said, you got a 35 pint lead? >> yeah, i'm an e.sician and i run a healthcare company in about 11 states. we had about 1,000 providerswo ing for us. if you want to fix health care, we've got to reverse the incentives. that's the real problem. and i think free market will do that. you look at lasik eye surgery, it was like $2,000 when it came out, and while technology has improved incredibly, the price of-- i saw an ad the other day for $200 an eye. t so we've gget market forces and people choosing, fiking choices, and then we'll, and we'lhealthcare. >> we may have different opinions about how to get there. what we can't do is just fort

about our responsibility to get in a room and just work on it.el like, you hat we could have a real conversation to get something done. democrats and nepublicans have r agreed on everything. that's our system, that's healthy. so we've got to actually get in . room and get something done. that's our manda >> woodruff: denver riggleman, you're entering a congress wher o parties have not worked together. do you think the parties should work together, and hyou make that happen, when it hasn't happened before? >> well, i mean, i had a pretty interesting, two nights ago, i was talking about i crashed the democratic party on the 15th floor. and i went and talked to them. there wasn't a sort of partisan divide. they actually started talking about issues, and solutions to those issues.sa i know wthere might be a different time coming. i almost feel like it is. >> woodruff: how much do youth k you should be working with the other party, anduch do you stick to your principles,ta the fundam that you believe in? >> well, i think that on many-- and i will say, most issues, there is an opportunity for

common ground. it's, how far do we want to take it? and so, i think of an issue like paid family leave, which wehe d president trump campaign on. he dispatched his daughterk ivanka to go w it, and she couldn't get it done. but we have an opportunity in a democratic majority where we know that this is a priority,d , can we work together? yes. >> another good example of that is infrastructure. i think that we really have some commonality there. there's an opportunity to get some things done, and it's unique, you know. we've got a republicanenate and we've got a democrat house, so obviously we're going to have to work together. and it kind of conjures up for me, you know, the reagan-o'neils era, when two fought like cats and dogs. >> woodruff: president reagan and tip o'neill, the democratict speaker of house. >> and then they would go drink some scotch together as irishmen ar the evening, you know. we also need to relating and having a relationship with the other side.

>> woodruff: i mean, some members have been essentially punished by their rty leadership for working with the other side. say this is the important thing about us being such a large freshman class, because it's, it's hard for one person to come in anchange the system. 90 new people coming in at the same time? with the strength of numbers, but the strength of fortitude to say "no, i was sent here tork to get something done, and that requires me to work across the aisle." that is a lot stronger of a position to be in when your leadership or someone else comes to you and says "hey, toe the party line." you've got 90 people standing behind you, hopefull s who have bet with a different mandate. and that's the difference and cultural change. >> you know, one of the big problems, and i think politics is, everybody wants to be the person who fixes it,ad of just helping somebody else fix it sometimes. and i think that important. our pride gets in the way sometimes. and i think it's time to throw that to the curb and serve the people. >> woodruf but i'm curious still to know, are you prepared to stand up?be use there are powerful forces in each party, sure to keep the party in line and

voting with your fellow democrats, republicans. >> i think we're going to be pretty independent, because i ren't think, in our lives, we've gotten to where wey kowtowing, you know, to leadership. obviously, we' respectful of it, because we're chain of command or the things that we've done in our lives. you know, and i think at some point, all of us are going to be able to say no if weto. >> the point is, we are here to represent the people who sent us here. my district is a trump district. i represent them. we don't need to be blindly loyal. >> woodruff: so that m you're prepared to vote with president trump on some issues. >> i'm prepared to vote in the bef interests of the people the 14th district.

>> i mean,e talked about infrastructure. if, you know, he said the right things on frastructure, if we put real money behind that, we need once in a generation investment in our infrastructure in michigan. if that's something that he's suggesting and he's pushing i'm on board becau so that's keep the focus on what we need. and you can vote the way you want. >> woodruff: and what on the republicans, are you prepared to stand up to the president?oi >> i think i'm to. at this point, i can't imagine an issue right now where i would be different. , t if there was one, i me would support the people in my district. i work for them. report to them. >> yeah, well, in my districtin it's uniquhat there is president trump supporters. but i think, again, with the size of my district, there's so many different ideas and policies i have to approach that i have to go policy first based on my district. you know president trump's policies, yeah, i agree with a lot of them, but if it's a policy that i disagree with, i'm not afraid to say i disagree with it, and i'm uncomfortable

wearing another person's sports rsey. so it really comes to me about policy over personalithiand ever i've done in my life. a >> woodrufot of talk about washington d.c. being a swamp. we've heard that from the presidenwh some others. does it look like to you here so far? >> if i were to say i didn't see some of the swamp still there, i'd be lying. and i think that's why some of us ran, because we do see that. so for me, i'm here to, maybe, we stop, you know, some of the shenanigans that all of us fall dhind closed doors. and maybe, you knog some of those vampires into the sunlight, you know, and see what we can do there. >> so yeah, i think there's certainly a perception when you get into washington, a little bit of a bubble. and the conversations going on in my district are not the se as the conversations going on in washington. and i think everyone has good intentions. but i also think it wouldn't kill some people to come out of washington sometimes, come and

be on the ground, he what we're talking about, instead of to think and it's all about what's happening here in this town. woodruff: thank you very much, elissa slotkin, lauren underwood, and congratulations to you, and to you, mark green and nver riggleman. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> nawaz: on the newshour online right now, a new study reveals clues about the extent to which the u.s. health care system relies on immigrts to function. we break down the data on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for night. i'm amna nawaz. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening, when mark ields and david brooks reflect on the political legacy of president george h.w. bush.of for als at the pbs newshour, thank you, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned.

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