NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-06-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. Israel's Defense Minister is telling the military to prepare to implement President Trump's plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. Empires Jerome Sokolowski has more. Defense Minister Israel Katz says the military should prepare exit options by land, sea and air so that anyone who wishes to can leave for quote any country willing to accept them. He says Spain, Norway, Ireland and other countries that have criticized Israel's actions during its war against Hamas should take them in. Quote their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse to do so, Katz said in a statement.

Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Alvarez responded on Spanish national radio. Spain makes its own decisions. No third party should tell it what to do. Alvarez added that Gaza must be part of a future Palestinian state. Jerome Sokolowski, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The Trump administration has put most of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, workforce around the world on administrative leave. And it's frozen its budget. Trump adviser Elon Musk says the agency is full of corruption and waste.

And Piers Gabriella Emanuel says Ukraine is a big recipient of USAID after Russia invaded the country. Ukraine is among the top recipients of USAID. It goes to things like rebuilding infrastructure after it's attacked by Russia. Or seeds and fertilizer to build up the agriculture sector to get more exports. The Trump administration has issued some narrow waivers, but most things have stopped. For example, NPR's Ukraine Bureau has confirmed disruptions in the delivery of HIV AIDS medications. Impiars Gabriella Emanuel, total foreign assistance in 2023 was $66 billion. And since President Trump took office last month, a flurry of executive orders and actions

have upended federal spending directed by Congress. And Pierce Deidre Walsh has more. Recent moves by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency unit to shutter programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development raise questions about whether Congress is ceding its power of the purse. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he's a fierce advocate of the legislative branch's constitutional duty, but said Wednesday the president also has authority to review programs. The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive

branch agencies are operating. Most congressional Republicans have defended Musk and the president's actions so far, but an upcoming debate on legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown next month could challenge the party's willingness to allow the executive to effectively take over the process. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, The Capital. This is NPR News. The IRS says workers who are involved in the current tax season won't be able to take the

resignation offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline. A letter sent to IRS employees yesterday says employees in the taxpayer services, IT, and the taxpayer service are exempt until May 15. Taxpayers have until April 15th to file their taxes unless they are granted an extension. The deadline for other federal employees to accept the resignation offer is today. This morning's commute will be tricky in a large part of the country. MPHIR's John Stempin says separate winter storms are already disrupting plans. It's a complex weather system according to the National

Weather Service. There's ice, snow system, according to the National Weather Service. There's ice, snow, sleet, and freezing rain, depending on where you live. There's a layer of ice from freezing rain and sleet in the Allegheny Mountains in the Blue Ridge. In fact, freezing rain also reaches from central Ohio back to Chicago. Schools closed early in Detroit. Pennsylvania and New York are seeing snow. The storm will eventually turn from freezing rain and snow to just rain in Boston, New York, and Washington,

DC. On the West Coast, conditions were poor in Seattle where snow caused traffic tie-ups yesterday. San Francisco has severe flooding and there could be mud slides in Southern California. John Stempen, NPR News, Washington. US futures contracts are trading in mixed territory at this hour. Dow futures are trading flat. NASDAQ futures are down about one-tenth of a percent. S&P 500 futures are up a fraction. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.