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U.S. Passengers Evacuating Cruise Ship Hit by Hantavirus; Rising FIFA World Cup Ticket Prices Too Steep For Many Fans; Trump Weighs In On Iran's Response To U.S. Proposal; President Trump Calls Latest Iran Proposal "Totally Unacceptable"; Trucking Industry Faces High Diesel Prices Amid War With Iran; Congress Aims To Make Healthy Eating Easier In Daycares. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 10, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST, "EVA LONGORIA SEARCHING FOR FRANCE": It is half workshop, half wonderland. A place where butter is kneaded like dough, shaped like clay, and gleams like treasure. Each golden nugget is stamped and sealed before being sent to the world's best chefs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the stamp that we made specifically for Virginie.

LONGORIA: Oh, this has your name on it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me show you.

LONGORIA: Oh, these are all the stamps. This is amazing. Here's Alain Ducasse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LONGORIA: Orient Express. Well, I definitely want my own stamp now. You know what I find so beautiful about what you do here is each step is so special. I've never seen anything like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Me either. I didn't know, but I like it.

All right. Back-to-back final episodes airs tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN and the next day on the CNN app.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we continue to follow breaking news. At this hour many of the 17 American passengers on board that cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak have now disembarked. In the last hour we actually have been watching small boats transport some of the Americans wearing masks and protective gear to shore right there at the Canary Islands.

And earlier, we learned that a French passenger started showing symptoms of the virus on that person's flight home to France. That flight took off earlier today after the vessel anchored near the Canary Islands, the cruise ship that is, anchoring off the Canary Islands. On board, 117 passengers and crew.

All right. Since the outbreak began, three passengers have died. Multiple others were sickened and evacuated after contracting the virus which typically spreads by rodents. The American passengers being met on shore by the team from the CDC as well, then eventually being put on those planes and they'll be making their way to Nebraska.

Let's get to our correspondents with all the details now. Melissa Bell is in the Canary Islands. Rafael Romo is outside the CDC in Atlanta.

Melissa, you first. Let's talk about it. Now it's nightfall but many of those American passengers disembarked. They're on their way to those charter flights or perhaps the charter flights have already taken off? You tell us.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We caught the very end of the operations here today. As you can see, night is falling. You can probably just about make up -- make out the MV Hondius there behind me over my shoulder. But they had said, and we've just been speaking to Dr. Tedros, the director of the World Health Organization, that they would wrap up operations at nightfall, only to pick up again tomorrow.

He was just telling us, Fredricka, that he's very pleased with how today has gone. He'll be even more pleased when tomorrow is over and all of the passengers have been successfully disembarked. The plan is then for the ship itself to leave the port here at Granadilla in Tenerife to go to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, with still 30 crew members on board that will take it up to Rotterdam, where it will get its full disinfection.

But, yes, what we did get a chance to see were the very last passengers of the day disembarked. Those 17 Americans taken in a couple of small boats to shore through that tent on to the busses. And I suspect even now on that charter flight plane because, of course, the airport is not very far away and they left a fair while ago. And what we'd heard from authorities in order to reassure locals is that the plane would be ready, motor running, door open, when the passengers arrived so that it could take off immediately.

So I suspect they're probably taking off even as we speak. They then head to Omaha, Nebraska. And what a sense of relief. They, like all the passengers that have gotten off today, had been on that ship for more than five weeks, Fredricka, with ever since the 2nd of May and the identification of that and the strain of the hantavirus and all that we know about it. Once that became known, that uncertainty, the fact that there was no port that would take them in, and a great deal of fear amongst them about whether the quarantines they were suddenly having to observe on the ship would be enough to protect them from this very dangerous virus.

And you're right to point out a huge piece of news tonight that one of those French citizens, all of them asymptomatic as they arrived here from Cape Verde, all of them asymptomatic as they got on their flights. One of those French citizens falling ill on the flight. So special procedures now being put in place by the French to protect the five French people who made their way back today, including one showing symptoms, who will be receiving particular monitoring as a result -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

Let's go to the CDC where we find Rafael Romo there in Atlanta.

[16:05:03]

So walk us through what may potentially happen now once these Americans are, you know, en route to the states, and then what?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, initially, it appeared that U.S. health officials were considering a quarantine for all 17 Americans who were on the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak. But that doesn't appear to be the case anymore.

National Institutes of Health director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who's currently also serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this institution behind me, told CNN earlier today that those passengers returning to the United States will be given several options, including returning home. According to the acting CDC director, those options include staying in Nebraska, where the National Quarantine Unit, which is a federally funded facility, is located.

Another option, according to Bhattacharya, is allowing the passengers to, quote, "safely drive home without exposing other people on the way." Those people would be monitored, he said, by their state and local public health agencies.

One point that the acting CDC director seemed eager to emphasize, Fred, is that even though the memory of COVID is fresh in people's memories, it would be wrong, he said, to assume we're dealing with similar risks as he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning.

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DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: This is not the COVID, Jake, and we don't want to treat it like COVID. We don't want to cause a public panic over this. We want to treat it with a hantavirus protocols that we -- again, we're successful in containing outbreaks in the past. And so we followed those protocols.

The key message I want to send to your audience is that this is not COVID. This is not going to have -- lead to the kind of outbreak.

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ROMO: And Fred, we're hearing similar assessments by global health officials who have emphasized that the public health risk remains low from hantavirus saying human-to-human transmission is generally considered rare and that the virus does not spread in the same way as flu or COVID-19. The Trump administration, you may remember, faced scrutiny last year after making deep cuts to staffing at the CDC, including layoffs of disease detectives and outbreak forecasters, as part of a larger effort to cut government spending.

But the CDC acting director said that if the threat from hantavirus were higher than the health officials here at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention would have reacted differently, adding that he thinks this has been a, quote, "absolutely professional response" to this by the CDC -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

All right. Here with me now is a primary care physician and public health specialist, Dr. Saju Mathew.

Dr. Mathew, great to see you. So, you know, people are hearing about this even though they're hearing from, you know, the acting CDC director. This is nothing like COVID. But then when they hear that now there are some 17 Americans who are going to be on their way back to the United States, yes, there are those protocols that Rafael, you know, expressed. There might be some patients that come to your office who are going to say, wait a minute, I have a fever. Is this hantavirus?

I mean, how are you going to handle now I guess an onslaught of a lot of questions coming from your patients?

DR. SAJU MATHEW, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: Yes, I've gotten quite a few of them also on social media. I think the first thing, Fred, is to realize, and I do agree with Dr. Bhattacharya in that this is not COVID-19. It is not a virus where if somebody coughs in the room, people around them can get infected. Also there is a narrow window of infection. So you have to have symptoms in order to transmit the virus. Unlike COVID-19, where people who never had symptoms could spread the infection.

And then lastly, we know that the virus in of itself doesn't mutate as frequently as COVID-19 with a lot of variants. Having said that, when you listen to information like what's just presented on TV, people are going to panic. This is what I'm telling my patients. You have to understand that the primary mode of transmission is from rodents to humans, not necessarily from humans to humans.

So, for instance, cleaning your attic, going into a cave, you've got to make sure that you wear an N-95 gloves and be careful about that exposure because it's really the droppings and urine that transmit the infection from disturbing it. It just kind of gets into the air, aerosolizes. The person inhales the particles and that's how you get infected.

WHITFIELD: However, the version of this hantavirus involving this cruise ship is a strain where there is a person-to-person transmission. Correct? And while there is concern that the incubation period in your body may be six to eight weeks, once there are symptoms when you are symptomatic, that's when you can transfer to another person, right?

[16:10:10]

So I mean, those are alarming, you know, facets about this strain of virus.

MATHEW: Oh, 100 percent. We should not underestimate this virus. The mortality rate is 30 percent to 40 percent. So if 100 people are infected, 40 to 50 people will die. That is how dangerous this is. I think that what you just said, the particular strain from South America is the strain that can transmit the infection from human to human.

But, Fred, the most important thing to distinguish from COVID is prolonged contact. So this would not just be casual contact. So, for instance, that flight attendant on KLM, she just had a cold. She tested negative. She took care of a passenger who had the infection. So ultimately, those are the facts that we need to look at. But I would still be very careful with the passengers that got off the plane, the U.S. passengers, and not just leave it up to them. There needs to be specific --

WHITFIELD: And people travel. Because -- just because they're all being taken to Nebraska, they may not be staying there. They might very well be people who then get on another flight, or whether they're going to drive, if they're able to drive, you know, to another location. And I imagine there are going to be people who are going to express concern or they have inquiries that their doctors and their various, you know, areas about what they need to look out for.

MATHEW: Yes. I mean, I would think that the passengers, I mean, you know, God bless them, they had such a nightmare being on the ship that I think that they would be careful, you know, if they have symptoms, they need to be tested, they need to report it. And we need to take care of those people that have symptoms, but ultimately, yes, we need to be very careful about how this is transmitted.

And I think things change, you know, facts change from day to day. You just reported about how that one French passenger has symptoms. It may not be hantavirus. It could be a cold, but he must be monitored.

WHITFIELD: What are you going to be looking out for in the next few weeks as eyes continue to be trained, interest continue to be trained on this outbreak, on this cruise ship?

MATHEW: Well, first of all, I think that I would be curious as a public health official to know when they actually look at the strain of this virus, how much has it changed? We have studies to show that in the last 30 years, the genome has remained stable. But how many more infections will develop? Remember, 11 passengers got off the ship prior to them knowing that they had the infection.

So there's a lot of moving parts. And I still think that it needs to be very well coordinated to make sure that we decrease the number of people that are sick.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Saju Mathew, thank you so much. All the best. You're going to have a very busy week because I'm sure a lot of your patients are going to have many more questions.

MATHEW: Many more questions.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right. Straight ahead in this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, rising gas and diesel prices putting new pressure on businesses. And that could soon mean higher costs for consumers. We'll take a closer look at how fuel spikes could ripple through the economy.

And up next, sports fans also facing soaring prices to get in on the action. We'll break down the sticker shock for the FIFA World Cup matches.

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WHITFIELD: All right, next month, 11 U.S. cities will host the FIFA World Cup. But ticket prices to see the matches in person may give you sticker shock. We checked SeatGeek and to see Spain play Cape Verde in Atlanta, the cheapest ticket, $444, including fees.

CNN's Leigh Waldman joins us from New York.

Leigh, I mean, last hour, we talked about how much, you know, just getting to the pitch saying New Jersey is going to be costing. But what about all the hotels that people have to stay in?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it seems like people used all their money to try and not only get to the stadiums and to buy their tickets, they can't even afford to book the hotels at this point. The American Hotel and Lodging Association is saying that 80 percent of the hotel owners and groups that they've surveyed in these host cities are reporting 80 percent lower bookings for these games than they were initially anticipating.

They said that these FIFA room blocks that were initially set aside for these games created this artificial demand really early on. And unfortunately, that demand is not being met by consumers here. We had a conversation with the CEO and president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. She said there's a number of factors at play. Take a listen.

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ROSANNA MAIETTA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERICAN HOTEL AND LODGING ASSOCIATION: We're one month away from games, so it is a little softer than we anticipate. A lot of reasons for that that we are tracking, right? Both the cost of jet fuel prices, the cost of gas here at home. But also some misperceptions around the ease of travel to the U.S. if you're an international travel traveler.

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WALDMAN: And so let's take a look at some of those host cities, some of the data that they've supplied us. Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, they're not meeting the initial demand that was set aside by those FIFA hotel room bookings initially. New York City, interestingly enough, more than 60 percent of New York City hotel operators point to international travel barriers and geopolitical concerns influencing their soft bookings.

[16:20:06]

If we look at Atlanta, they're kind of an even split at this point. Halfway meeting that demand, some hotels, meeting at other hotels, saying they're not meeting it just yet. But on the flip side of it, we spoke with the folks over at Airbnb and they said they're actually exceeding their demand. Take a listen.

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DAVE STEPHENSON, CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, AIRBNB: When people host people, they can earn as much as $3,000 during the games. And so what we've actually done is incent them with even more. We have a $750 host incentive for a new host to kind of come on to Airbnb and host for the very first time. And we actually have over 100,000 new hosts that have been added since October to Airbnb.

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WALDMAN: So with these hotels and with these Airbnbs, what they're hoping for is as these games progress and we're seeing who's actually facing off for a number of these different games, they're hoping those last-minute bookings will come in. That will incentivize people to buy their tickets. Most people are traveling domestically. They're hoping for those international travelers to book their tickets as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow, what an expensive venture. But I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun. You've got to like that, too. All right. Leigh Waldman, thank you so much.

All right. This breaking news, President Trump weighing in on Iran's response to the U.S. proposal to end the war. What he said, next.

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WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news. President Trump has responded to the latest peace proposal by Iran to end the war.

Let's get right to CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook at the White House.

What's being said?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a bit -- been a bit of a waiting game here at the White House today. As we knew from Iran's state media, that there was a response sent through Pakistani mediators. And we just now have confirmation from President Donald Trump that he has received it. He has read it, and he is not happy with it.

I want to pull up this post that came just moments ago. He said, in full, this is a relatively short post for him. He said, "I have just read the response from Iran's so-called representatives." He has that in quotation marks. "I don't like it. Totally unacceptable. Thank you for your attention to this matter. "And then he signed it, as he usually does, "President Donald J. Trump."

Now that post came after another one that he had today where he did not specifically address the proposal, but he did end that post by saying that they will be laughing no longer. And then, of course, we were waiting to hear specifics on this. It now does appear that the United States does not believe that it is in a place to have these serious negotiations to bring the war to an end, and it did take longer than United States officials had predicted to get this response from Iran.

In fact, on Friday, Trump and other administration officials said they thought they would hear from them that day. That, of course, did not happen. Even then, Trump was pressed on the timing of this specifically, and if he thought that Iran was slow rolling it, he said, essentially, we'll see.

Now, Fred, we have reached out to the White House for more specifics here, what exactly is in this response and what does the administration think that it's missing. We'll keep you updated if we hear back.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook, at the White House. Thank you so much.

All right. With us now is CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He's also the author of the book, "The New Cold Wars." And he covers the White House and national security for "The New York Times."

All right. Good to see you. So we've got the response from the president saying totally unacceptable, but we still don't have details about what was Iran's response to the proposal.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's right, Fred, but we do have some hints in Iranian state media. Now, they did not publish the full text of it. But the essence of it appears to be this, if you believe the Iranian state media, which in this case is probably, you know, approximately right.

And that is that they wanted a full listing of all sanctions, especially on oil shipments around the world and a removal of the blockade just for the reopening of the strait, with an understanding from the U.S. that Iran in the future will have control of that strait, which is, of course, exactly opposite what we've heard from Secretary of State Rubio and even from the Energy secretary earlier today.

And that's without even getting to the nuclear issues. Right? So basically, what they want at this point is lifting of the sanctions before they enter what they say would be 30 days of negotiations on the nuclear issues. On the timing issue you were just discussing, I mean, if you've covered Iranian nuclear negotiations in the past, as you and I both have, what was the administration expecting?

You're not going to negotiate something this complex in a few days or even in 30 days, and the Iranians are going to try to drag it out over the next couple of years so that it basically runs to the end of the administration.

WHITFIELD: Right. Because the last agreement that was brokered between the U.S. and Iran and many others, it did take years. So --

SANGER: It took two years.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it took two years.

SANGER: Yes. And 160-page detailed agreement including on the inspection regime, which is usually the hardest part.

[16:30:07]

So I know the president thinks he's going to do this like a memorandum of understanding in the real world, but seems unlikely to me given the history.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh. The president of the United States has said Iran doesn't have the cards, but this is demonstrating that it's -- Iran does have cards because it is able to prolong this.

SANGER: Oh, yes, what happened -- yeah. That's right. I mean, once they discovered that they had this super power of closing off the strait and dangling the world economy as a result, which they had not attempted before during the 47 years of the Islamic republic, but felt that they were in an existential situation, a survival of the state situation.

Now they've discovered, gee, that really works.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh. So, David, Iran's foreign minister was actually in China last week. President Trump is on his way to China this week. That's the plan. China has a very deep economic connection with Iran.

How much of their discussions will be about Iran? Will China, you know, be playing like, you know, it's broker -- trying to broker a deal for Iran? Will the U.S. be approaching discussions thinking that they, U.S. and China will be seeing eye to eye and can have some kind of cooperation on leveraging Iran? I mean, what do you see happening in this planned week of visits?

SANGER: Well, it's really fascinating question. And you see, I'm in a sort of unusual, background here because I'm actually on my way out to China now to be there ahead of the president's visit, along with a team of "Times" reporters. And I know there'll be a team of CNN reporters. And we'll all be focused on this very same question.

So I think for the Chinese, it cuts both ways. Obviously, they get 30 percent of their oil and gas through the strait, not just from Iran, but from the Gulf States. So they have a deep interest in getting it open. They also have a deep interest in seeing the United States continue to tie itself up in the Middle East, have this many forces in the Middle East, expand this amount of our missile capability in the Middle East and thus not have it available if there's a Taiwan crisis.

So they -- they want to resolve the gulf part, but they want to keep us jammed up and looking like the disrupter so that they can look like the sort of even keeled trading company.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Sanger, well leave it there. Safe travels to you.

SANGER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Up next, its a struggle to stay in business during this period of skyrocketing gas prices. We'll speak with a trucking company owner about the pressure of soaring fuel costs, the fight to stay afloat, and why he says those rising prices will hit consumers as well.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Rising oil prices have led to some of the highest gas prices in years. They're currently at about $4.52 a gallon, up more than 40 cents from a month ago. And diesel prices soaring as well. The national average is around $5.65 a gallon, just 16 cents shy of record highs. And that's creating major pressure for the trucking industry, especially for small operators.

For many long haul drivers, diesel is the biggest day to day expense, and many small fleet owners say these rising costs are becoming harder and harder to absorb and stay on the road.

Joining me right now is Jamie Hagen, president of the trucking company Hell Bent Xpress.

Jamie, good to see you.

JAMIE HAGEN, PRESIDENT, HELL BENT XPRESS: How's it going?

WHITFIELD: Well, it's going pretty good. Thank you so much. Thank you. Very thoughtful of you.

And I know you are dealing with all kinds of stuff right now. That makes it very difficult for your big rigs behind you to stay on the road. I understand you spoke with my colleague Sara Sidner back in April when diesel was around $5.49 a gallon. At the time, you said your operating costs had skyrocketed and that you were losing roughly $16,000 a month. Well, now prices are even higher. So how are you managing?

HAGEN: Well, we're struggling, but we're trying, right? Like were trying to pass some of this on to the shippers that we use with a fuel surcharge. But with it continuously rising, it's sort of hard to even keep up with it.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

HAGEN: I know were, we continuously run in the Midwest here. The -- they've had a few refineries go down and they've saw some huge spikes in diesel fuel expenses. So that's the other thing. It's rising pretty quickly, and in the area that we run particularly.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So you've tried to add on some fuel surcharges. What other kind of modifications have you had to make on a day to day in order to, you know, keep your, you know, rigs on the road still be able to haul everything that you need to haul and, you know, stay in business?

[16:40:04]

HAGEN: Well, we've always been a fuel efficient fleet and now we're trying even harder, you know, doing everything we can, all those small modifications, even slowing down, which is the cheapest way to save fuel, slowing down, just trying to maximize the effort. The best you can. Keep that operating expense per mile down.

We base everything off the per mile in this industry, like in the rest of the world, its by the hour. But for us, it's by the mile. So we're just always trying to reduce that number, trying to, you know, keep the profit margins somewhere near profit versus, you know, the red. So, yeah.

WHITFIELD: And then I understand before the diesel prices actually surged that you actually said that you had already considered shutting down last year. I mean, what was going on that made you feel like you might have to do that? And then now with the gas prices where they are, is that nudging you closer in that direction?

HAGEN: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's -- we -- we found ourselves in a pretty bad situation last year when, when rates just kept going further and further down, there was just way over supply. You hear that there's a truck driver shortage, but that isn't the truth. There's actually an oversupply of truck drivers right now.

The COVID era brought a lot of people into the industry, and theyre all, you know, still here hanging on. And it's just -- there's this over demand.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. HAGEN: So that's what kind of brought rates down. It left us high and

dry on where we needed to be for profit. And it took a lot to recover. Rates have been going up because the demand has picked up.

You know, prior to the fuel going up, things were really starting to look pretty good in the industry. You know, you could tell that the economy was coming back. And now it's -- it seems that things have, you know, now started slowing down again, obviously.

I mean, with inflation, with the fuel prices and stuff coming through, it's only going to make things worse, right? Like peoples budgets are going to be more and more constrained. So it's -- it's going to becoming a huge --

WHITFIELD: Oh yeah. And I remember so many stories. We talk about the surge of, you know, the interest of drivers. So many more people were doing that, especially after you mentioned COVID and, and, and a lot more female drivers, you know, driving these big rigs as well.

So I wonder, you know, what your response is when you hear from the energy secretary, Chris Wright, who said today that he would support suspending the federal gas tax to help lower prices at the pump. Would that bring any real meaningful relief for you and truckers like you?

HAGEN: Oh, everything's going to help. I mean, you know this. You know, taxes on the top of all that are expensive. You know, they're not a small fee. You know, we're not talking about a couple of cents here. We're talking about, I believe, somewhere around 50, 60 cents in that range for federal tax.

So I mean, it's -- it would all help for sure. I mean, I would -- I would love to see that.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. We want to see you continue to be on the road and all your fellow truckers as well. And hopefully, there'll be some kind of relief for you and your colleagues.

Jamie Hagen, thank you so much. All the best to you.

HAGEN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, a new house bill takes aim at what some lawmakers call a necessary child care regulations. How some daycare centers could soon have a different way of potentially serving fresh fruit to kids.

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[16:48:25]

WHITFIELD: All right. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Congress is trying to assist many child care programs around the U.S. Currently, some federal regulations make it difficult for daycare centers to actually allow workers to say, for instance, peel a banana for toddlers because of food preparation guidelines.

CNN's Camila DeChalus joins us now with more on all this.

Camila, so the bill cleared the House last week. Now attention turns to the Senate. What could potentially happen?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Well, that's right, Fred. In some states, daycare workers can face more hurdles serving fresh fruit like bananas and oranges than handing out prepackaged snacks like a bag of potato chips. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers are really trying to change that. As you mentioned, just last week, the house passed the bill that was sponsored by Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

And the purpose of this bill is to really ease some of these regulations by creating a separate category of low risk foods like peeled fruits and vegetables. So child care providers are not penalized for serving them.

And a lot of people don't know that this is happening in real time, that in certain states, especially at daycare facilities that receive federal money, peeling a banana or an orange can really legally be considered food preparation, which can trigger additional health and kitchen requirements for daycare centers. And sometimes it requires them to have an extra sink or upgrade their kitchen facilities.

Now, this is something that I've spoken to for a number of days. I've spoken to a number of daycare providers in Washington state and across the country, and they really say that they support this measure because in some ways, these regulations, as they currently stand, stand, they make it harder for daycare facilities to provide healthier food options for children.

[16:50:05]

And some childcare experts I also spoke to say that the goal here is not to weaken food safety standards, but to really better distinguish between high risk food preparation and simple, low risk items like fresh fruit. But critics that I spoke to kind of argue that the issue at hand is a little bit more complicated. They say that these regulations exist to help protect children, and really, they kind of question the impact that this legislation will have. But something that's really important to note is that this measure is now going to head to the senate, and its not really clear when theyre going to take up voting on this on the Senate side. But one of the things that I talked to, one daycare provider said is that this is just the tip of the iceberg that they want to see more lawmakers do more to address some of the issues that daycare facilities face on a day to day basis.

WHITFIELD: All right. Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

All right. Tonight, Fareed Zakaria looks at the power of the presidency. It's been supersized under President Trump. But long before he entered the oval office, it had been growing, growing and growing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": As Donald Trump pushes the boundaries of presidential authority in his second term, it's important to remember that executive power has actually been expanding for decades, well beyond the founders intentions. In my latest special, I go back to examine how presidents on both sides of the aisle laid the groundwork for today's modern imperial presidency.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The imperial president, the autocratic leader.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Some Republicans call him the imperial president, that he's using executive powers to go beyond his true authority.

ZAKARIA (voice-over): The imperial president they were talking about -- Barack Obama and in a way, the Republicans had a point.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We can't wait for an increasingly dysfunctional congress to do its job where they won't act. I will.

There we go.

ZAKARIA (voice-over): President Obama was transforming the country, often with the stroke of a pen and without Congress.

OBAMA: Thank you.

ZAKARIA (voice-over): It was a shocking turnaround for the former constitutional law professor who, on the campaign trail --

CROWD: Obama!

ZAKARIA (voice-over): -- had blasted George W. Bush's aggressive use of executive power.

OBAMA: We've paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power. The Constitution is treated like a nuisance.

ZAKARIA: I hope you'll join me for this special report on presidential power.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: "The Imperial Presidency", Fareed Zakaria, a special tonight, at 8:00, and tomorrow on the CNN app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. And now, saving the best for last. To all you amazing mothers tuning in, happy Mother's Day. We salute you and especially all our amazing mothers on this team, the moms and grandmothers who make it possible and meaningful for all of us. Thank you infinity.

Here's a look at the magic that mothers in our lives forever bring.