Texas Flooding Update, Tariff Limbo, Health Groups Sue RFK, Jr.

Four days after deadly floods in central Texas, the death toll keeps rising.

Had we had sirens along this area, it's possible that that would have saved some of these lives.

Could something have been done differently to prevent this tragedy?

I'm Michelle Martin, that's Lee LaFadel, and this is a first from NPR News.

U.S.

importers are facing several more weeks of tariff limbo and unsteady markets.

We have no idea what tariffs will be in August.

We have no idea what they'll be next year.

How can investors and business owners keep up when President Trump keeps changing the rules?

And several major medical groups are suing Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.

Their lawsuit says his actions on vaccine policy are dangerous and illegal.

Stay with us.

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The Texas Hill Country is reeling from the devastation caused by deadly floods.

The number of fatalities continues to increase four days after the overflowing Guadalupe River ravaged parts of the area, and residents are starting to ask whether this could have been prevented.

NPR Sergio Martinez-Beltran is in Kerrville, Texas, and joins us now.

Hi, Sergio.

Hi, Layla.

So let's start with the latest.

What do we know now about fatalities?

It's gone up.

Yeah, yeah.

The latest news is very unfortunate.

State authorities have said that at least 100 people have died as a result of the floods, but the vast majority of those fatalities are in one county, here, Kerr County.

The sheriff's office says 84 people were killed.

This figure includes 56 adults and 28 children.

Others remain missing.

So truly devastating news here.

It's just so many children.

Were most of them at that Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, that sits along the river?

Yeah, presumably.

You know, local authorities did not provide a breakdown in their last update, which happened in the form of a social media post yesterday, and different from the press conferences they had been holding twice a day.

But Camp Mystic, which is the all-girls Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River that you mentioned, has said that 27 campers and counselors were killed in the floods.

I went up to the camp, Layla, Layla, and parts of it were swept away, and the areas around it were completely destroyed.

And you know, even people who survived the floods, like Paul Scherer, have mentioned how painful it is to see so many kids die.

These kids that were there were like seven,

eight, nine, and ten-year-olds.

They had a big life ahead of them, and it's pitiful that this happened to them.

Scherer is 74 and was living in a small apartment by the Guadalupe River.

He had to evacuate in the early hours of Friday when the water was already about four feet tall in the parking lot.

He lost his home, but he says he's lucky and that he's praying for the families of the girls who died.

And Sergio, I mean, one of the big questions is about whether people were warned in time with enough notice to get out of the way of these flash floods.

What are people telling you on the ground?

Yeah, you know, almost all of the residents I've talked to in Kerry County say they did not get an alarm.

Some got text messages, messages, but they say it happened as the river was already on their steps.

One of them told me he'd like the state to have an alarm system along the river.

And this is something, you know, I've also heard from other folks.

They want flood sirens or something like that.

And politicians lately seem to be listening.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told Fox News yesterday, the state needs to step up and pay for an alarm system along the Guadalupe River.

Had we had sirens along this area, up and down, the same type of sirens that they have in Israel when there's an attack coming, that would have blown very loudly.

It's possible that that would have saved some of these lives.

Now, it's been four days of search and rescue.

Is anything changing at this point?

At this point, search and rescue operations continue.

The governor has said it's a 24-7 operation.

Yesterday, I was by the riverbank and law enforcement agents were searching the area.

And as the water volumes recede, you can clearly see the destruction in the area.

So cleaning crews are now out in the streets too, removing debris from the river and the roads.

That's NPR's Sergio Martinez-Beltron in Kerrville, Texas.

Thank you for your reporting.

You're welcome.

Investors got an unwelcome reminder this week that President Trump still likes tariffs.

Stocks tumbled Monday after the president threatened to impose stiff new import taxes on more than a dozen countries, including Japan and South Korea.

Trump pushed back the effective date of those tariffs, however, until August 1st.

And if recent history is a guide, he could change course before that.

In the meantime, though, U.S.

importers are facing several more weeks of tariff limbo.

NPR Scott Horsley joins us now to discuss all this.

Hi, Scott.

Good morning, Lily.

So, Scott, it feels like tariffs, no tariffs, tariffs, no tariffs.

A little bit like Groundhog's Day here.

What's going on?

Yeah.

Well, Trump posted letters on social media yesterday threatening to slap 25% tariffs on everything the U.S.

imports from Japan and South Korea, along with even higher rates on goods from other smaller trading partners.

Those tariff rates are similar to the ones Trump called for back in April, using a formula based on the U.S.

trade deficit with each country.

Of course, back in April, he backed down after a sharp sell-off in the stock market.

At the time, the president said he was suspending the highest tariffs for 90 days to allow time to make new trade deals.

Now that 90-day window closes tomorrow, and so far, not a lot of new deals have been struck.

So once again, Trump is pushing back the effective date for another three and a half weeks.

So who knows what the real tariff rate will ultimately be?

For now, the waiting game continues.

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So what does that mean for trading partners or for U.S.

businesses and consumers?

For trading partners, they might be wondering just how serious Trump is since he keeps moving the goalpost.

The two countries that have struck trade deals, the U.K.

and Vietnam, did not get any real tariff relief from the United States.

For businesses that depend on imports or consumers who say want to buy a Japanese car or a Korean appliance, this just means more uncertainty.

Should they race to buy now before the tariffs go up?

Should they wait to see if tariffs will be lower down the road?

It's hard to make a decision when the rules keep changing.

And Scott Linsecum, who is a trade expert at the Libertarian Cato Institute, says that's where we are right now.

We have no idea what tariffs will be in August.

We have no idea what they'll be next year.

And that is a brutal investment environment for either importers or individuals looking to invest in the United States.

A report from the Institute for Supply Management last week said this tariff limbo is really weighing on the U.S.

factory sector, which, by the way, is supposed to be the beneficiary of the President's trade war.

As one factory manager quoted in the report put it, customers do not want to make commitments in the wake of massive tariff uncertainty.

Okay.

And meanwhile, the government continues to collect tens of billions of dollars in tariff revenue.

How's that going?

So far this year, the government has collected close to $100 billion in tariffs.

More than two-thirds of that has come in just since April when Trump announced his worldwide import taxes.

Lensicum says foreign companies might absorb some of that tariff expense, but most of the tax is going to fall on families and businesses here in the United States.

Barring a really radical departure from the traditional economics, it means that somebody in America is paying all of those new taxes.

Trevor Burrus: And even though the higher tariffs have been pushed back until at least August 1st, the average tax on imports today is five or six times what it was before Trump returned to the White House and launched this new trade war.

NPR's Scott Horsley, thank you, Scott.

You're welcome.

Some of the country's leading medical groups representing doctors and others in public health are suing Secretary Robert F.

Kennedy Jr.

The lawsuit is focused on some of his recent actions on vaccine policy.

It alleges that Kennedy's decisions on COVID vaccines have endangered the public and violated federal law.

NPR Health Correspondent Will Stone joins me now to explain.

Hi, Will.

Hi there.

Okay, so tell us more about the specifics here.

Who's bringing this lawsuit and why do they think Kennedy has acted illegally?

Yeah, there are six medical groups who are filing suit, including the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association.

There's also the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr.

Susan Kresley leads that organization.

And here's what she told reporters on Monday.

Over the past several months, experts have been sidelined, evidence has been undermined, and our nation's vaccine infrastructure is now threatened.

So this is a 42-page complaint.

It catalogs many of Kennedy's actions and statements on vaccines since he became head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

It argues he's demonstrated a, quote, clear pattern of hostility toward the established scientific process and installed people with anti-vaccine views in positions of authority.

All of that is the context for what the lawsuit actually centers on, which is Kennedy's specific decision related to the COVID vaccine schedule.

In late May, people may remember, Kennedy announced the federal government was removing the CDC recommendations that pregnant women and healthy children should get the shots.

And that's really what this lawsuit is focused on.

Okay, so what is the argument that that was illegal?

Yeah, I mean, the groups say this was arbitrary and capricious and violated how these decisions should be made under federal law.

Yes, Kennedy is the head of HHS and does oversee the CDC, but there are still procedures in place that Congress has outlined.

For example, changes to the CDC vaccine schedule are supposed to involve a federal panel of experts that give advice on vaccines.

The lawsuit says Kennedy bypassed the normal process.

He did not consult with this expert group, that he did not explain why he was going against the evidence that supports vaccinating children and pregnant women.

It also points out Kennedy later went on to replace this panel of experts entirely with his own choices.

So those are just some of the points these medical groups are making to back up their complaint.

And one of the plaintiffs is actually a pregnant physician who is remaining anonymous, but says she fears she won't be able to get a COVID shot as a result of Kennedy's directive.

And what's the reaction been like to this lawsuit?

Does it have a chance?

Well, obviously, Kennedy's efforts to overhaul vaccine policy have been front and center during his tenure, you know, very controversial and concerning to many in public health.

This lawsuit touches on all of that, but James Hodge, who's a health law professor at ASU, told me it's not enough to just talk about undermining trust in vaccines.

It comes down to some technical questions about administrative law and whether he disregarded the process.

You've got to actually prove that the secretary went outside the boundaries of the law and instituted policy without following proper procedure.

They make a plausible case that that's Kurt Here Will.

And to that degree, I think a court will at least entertain some of that.

Now, in response to the lawsuit, an HHS spokesperson sent a brief statement to NPR saying the secretary stands by his CDC reforms.

The lawyer representing these medical societies said they hope to get a hearing scheduled in the next few weeks.

Ultimately, their goal is to restore the original recommendations for children and pregnant women to get the COVID shots.

NPR's Will Stone.

Thank you, Will.

Thank you.

And that's the first for Tuesday, July 8th.

I'm Layla Falden.

And I'm Michelle Martin.

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