AMNA NAWAZ: The day's other headlines begin with some highly anticipated good news.

Two American astronauts who've been stuck in space since last year are finally back on planet Earth.

The SpaceX capsule carrying Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, splashed down safely off the Florida coast moments ago.

MAN: And undocking confirmed.

AMNA NAWAZ: Williams and Wilmore's journey back to Earth, which they waited 286 days to make, began early today when they successfully undocked from the International Space Station.

Their mission was only supposed to last a week when they arrived last June, but their Boeing spacecraft was sent back without them when it suffered numerous malfunctions.

After more than nine months of space walks and zero gravity, the pair arrived home now that a relief crew had arrived.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brushed off calls within his party to step aside, saying he remains the -- quote -- "best leader for the Senate."

He's faced a wave of backlash from Democrats for supporting the Republican spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.

A number of House Democrats and activists called for a more public confrontation with the Republican majority.

Today, in his first interview since he postponed book tour events over security concerns and calls for protests, the minority leader defended his decision.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I knew when I took this vote there'd be a lot of protest, but I felt I had to do it for the future, not only of the Democratic Party, but the country, because here's -- as bad that C.R.

bill was, and it was bad.

A shutdown is 10 times worse.

AMNA NAWAZ: Schumer also appeared today on "The View," and will join us on the "News Hour" tomorrow to discuss his new book and other topics.

The board of the U.S. Institute of Peace has shrunk to just three members after a dramatic standoff yesterday between the independent nonprofit and the Trump administration.

Employees at the institute say they called the police after staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, physically entered the Washington headquarters after several unsuccessful attempts.

The agency's now-fired president called it an illegal takeover of an institution that's not part of the executive branch.

GEORGE MOOSE, Former President and CEO, U.S.

Indeed of Peace: This is not a government building.

This building is a private building owned by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

We have our own separate board.

We have our own bypass authority to go directly to Congress in order to get our money.

Somehow, all of those arguments have not prevailed.

AMNA NAWAZ: The group, which helps prevent violent conflicts abroad, was created by Congress more than 40 years ago.

It was one of several organizations named in an executive order last month directing them to reduce operations.

Turning overseas, Hungary has passed a law that bans pro-LGBTQ pride events and lets authorities use facial recognition technology to identify participants.

As the measure passed in Parliament by an overwhelming margin, opposition lawmakers lit rainbow-colored smoke bombs in protest.

The law says gatherings cannot violate the country's child protection laws, which prohibit showing homosexuality to minors under 18.

The Budapest pride celebration marks its 30th anniversary this summer.

In a statement, organizers said the new legislation was fascism, not child protection.

And on Wall Street, stocks fell ahead of the Federal Reserve's announcement on interest rates tomorrow.

The Dow Jones slipped by more than 250 points.

The Nasdaq fell sharply, losing almost 2 percentage points.

The S&P 500 also dropped by more than 1 percent.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Governor Kathy Hochul discusses New York's plan to recruit laid-off federal workers and other ways the state is pushing back against the Trump administration; reflections from those who lived and worked through the COVID-19 pandemic five years after the first lockdowns; and an award-winning book takes a deeper look at human smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border.