Politics and views in the United States.

President Trump and leaders in the Middle East sign a peace agreement. NY healthcare workers are concerned about the fallout from the government shutdown and Indiana's chief justice warns of threats in courtrooms.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Together we've achieved what everybody said was impossible.

At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.

After months of negotiations, President Donald Trump is declaring an end to the conflict in Gaza.

More than two years since Israel and Gaza went to war, detained Palestinians and the living hostages held by Hamas are being returned home, while aid is set to flood into the Strip.

At a summit of Middle Eastern nations, Trump and the leaders of Turkey, Egypt and Qatar signed an agreement intended to guarantee peace.

He says he's also optimistic about ending conflict between Israel and Iran.

Former diplomats say they're worried powerful extremists on both sides may still try to sabotage the Gaza deal and the next steps may prove more difficult.

The government shutdown is in its third week with little sign of movement from either side.

The House is in recess until October 19th and Speaker Mike Johnson says he won't call members back into session without stopgap funding.

Polls show Democratic demands for extending Affordable Care Act subsidies and reversing mega-bill Medicaid cuts are extremely popular.

Johnson acknowledges health major reforms but says Obamacare has failed the American people.

It was promised to be a great success to make health care more affordable.

It's done exactly the opposite and it has been pointed out by everyone that since Obamacare was created in 2010, premiums, the cost of health care, have risen exponentially.

Premiums have actually risen more slowly since the ACA became law.

A KFF analysis shows insurance on the exchange would cost the average American 75 percent more in 2026 partially due to the pandemic era subsidies expiring.

New York's Department of Health expects costs for the 140,000 people who use the exchange to rise by nearly 40 percent without the tax credits, while a separate state plan providing care for almost 2 million consumers would also expire.

Amy Lee Pashok with Stony Brook University Hospital says, "It'll be like a bomb going off."

We think the public at large doesn't recognize what's happening.

They're in some sort of dystopia.

Our expectation is in December, January, February, our hospitals are gonna be overrun with people who can no longer afford the care they need in the outpatient setting.

She hopes the state uses disproportionate share of hospital payments to cover some of the gap for public hospitals with a high number of low-income patients.

New polls show two-thirds of Americans blame both parties for the ongoing government shutdown, with Republicans bearing a little more blame than Democrats.

Clifford Young with Ipsos Public Affairs says shutdowns only increase fears and confusion.

We're in a moment right now of heightened uncertainty, lots of trepidation about what's going to happen, especially with tariffs, looking at inflation, the pocketbooks.

This all sort of goes into this overall worry.

A new Goldman Sachs report finds U.S. consumers are shouldering more than half of the costs from Trump's tariffs.

That burden is expected to grow as the administration imposes new import taxes.

The chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court says they're seeing more threats towards judges.

Justice Loretta Rush says safety concerns are at the highest she's seen during her time on the bench.

Court security threats to the judiciary, in my time as a judge, are at all-time high.

And I have judges that hear cases and sentence people with no security in the courtroom.

It's just dangerous.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacific Network and Public News Service.

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