NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

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SHAY STEPHENS, MPR NEWS ANCHOR, AMNA TV, AMNA TV, AMNA TV, AMNA TV, AMNA TV, AMNA temporary ceasefire agreement. President Trump says time is running out to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump told a business conference in Miami that he'll push to end the conflict and insulted Ukraine's leader. A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move faster. He's not going to have a country left. Got to move, got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction. In the meantime, we're successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something I'll admit that only Trump is going to be able to do in the Trump administration.

We're going to be able to do it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his nation will reject any peace deal that's negotiated without its participation. He also says Trump is trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military He also says Trump is trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military to identify $50 billion that could be cut next year. And PRS Rylan Barton says the order comes as the department is bracing for layoffs.

The cuts would shift funding to Trump's priorities, which include securing the country's borders, building a so-called iron dome for America missile defense system, system and ending quote, radical and wasteful government DEI programs. That's according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Robert Solisis. The cuts amount to about 8% of the Defense Department's $850 billion budget. The move could rankle congressional Republicans, who have been pushing for increases in defense spending in recent weeks. Earlier this week, the Defense Department was told to submit lists of probationary employees to Elon Musk's Doge service.

It's part of the wave of firings that's already affected thousands of federal workers. Rylan Barton, NPR News. Some groups receiving foreign aid are seeking a contempt of court ruling against the State Department and the Trump administration officials who are now running the U.S. Department of International Development. NPR's Frank Langford has more. The groups want the judge to enforce an order he made last week telling the Trump administration to reopen the flow of money to thousands of programs around the globe. The groups say the sudden cutoff of funding has caused layoffs and devastated their organizations.

They added that USAID's refusal to reopen the taps was a, quote, brazen act of defiance. However, USAID argues that it has the right to cancel most of its foreign aid contracts. It says it's reviewing them, looking for waste and fraud, and to ensure they're aligned with Trump's goals. The agency says it has already terminated nearly 500 contracts, including some that focused on DEI as well as quote, democracy promotion. Frank Lankford, NPR News. You're listening to NPR.

A federal court has rejected an emergency request to allow the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship for some children of immigrants. The decision upholds a ruling by a lower court in Seattle. The matter could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ninety-seven migrants refusing voluntary repatriation in their home countries are being temporarily housed at a camp in Panama's remote Darien province. They were among almost 300 deportees sent to Panama under an agreement with the Trump administration.

The rest are being housed at a hotel under guard until Panama locates a third country to take them in. The security ministry says one deportee escaped Wednesday but is back in custody. Inflation watchdogs at the Federal Reserve will be keeping a close eye on President Trump's new tariff moves. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, minutes from the most recent Fed meeting show the tariffs could put more upward pressure on prices. Fed policymakers expect inflation will continue to cool towards their 2 percent target, but

the path could be bumpy, and President Trump's plans to impose higher taxes on imports could make it harder to bring prices under control. Business contacts in a number of Fed districts say they'll try to pass the cost of any tariffs on to consumers, and a couple of Fed policymakers warned it may be hard to distinguish one-time price hikes caused by tariffs from more persistent inflationary pressures. The minutes are from the January meeting, where the central bank held interest rates steady. Fed policymakers generally want to see more progress on inflation before they order any

additional interest rate cuts. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. U.S. futures are lower in after-hours trading. This is NPR News.