NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 23, 2025

NPR News: 02-22-2025 10PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The House is returning next week with plans to take up a budget resolution to implement President Trump's agenda. NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports Trump has endorsed the plan, but there's still a long process ahead. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise plans to bring up the House budget resolution to the floor next week. In order to appease members concerned about the national debt, House GOP leaders made

earlier adjustments to their resolution that would direct up to $2 trillion in spending cuts. President Trump has said he doesn't want to touch Medicaid, but analysts say reaching the levels to offset those cuts without touching Medicaid or Medicare or Social Security is nearly impossible. The Senate has already passed its own budget resolution that tackles the Trump legislative agenda in a different way than the House. Eventually, the two chambers have to agree on the same path in order to advance legislation.

The tax cuts that passed in the first Trump administration expire at the end of the year and are a priority for the president. Barbara Sprint and Peer News, Washington. The Defense Department says it's planning to fire more than 5,000 probationary workers next week. And PR's Tom Bowman reports on Friday, President Trump announced that he fired four-star general Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It's been talked for weeks that General Brown would be fired, and a lot of this comes down to a sense the general was chosen for the post because of the color of his skin, not his ability. Now, he's the second African American after Colin Powell to hold the top military job,

but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in his book, War on Warriors, that Brown should be fired because he was pushing diversity programs, and also wondered whether Brown got the top job because of the color of his skin or his skill. That's NPR's Tom Bowman reporting. Pope Francis remains hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a respiratory crisis. NPR's Ruth Sherlock is at St. Peter's Square, where the mood there is somber. Here at St. Peter's Square, just after the news breaks that Pope Francis is in a critical condition

in hospital, I find a group of young teenagers standing in a circle praying in a quiet murmur. They're praying for the Pope's health, they say, but also for his salvation, for a direct ascent to heaven should he pass away. The group's leader, Don Marco, tells me if he had to summarise Francis' papacy it would be in one word, mercy. He says this Pope tried to break down the trappings of the Vatican, the idea of the Vatican as a wealthy, powerful empire, and bring it back to simpler Christian roots. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized for more than a week. This

is NPR News. Germany will hold its national election on Sunday. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will likely be a new chancellor and a new governing coalition. Immigration has emerged as one of the biggest issues among voters in recent months. The first and only museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci in the United States is scheduled to open in the fall. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports it will be located in southern Colorado. The Colorado Economic Development Commission greenlit plans to open the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America in Pueblo, Colorado this week. According to a statement, the new museum will feature life-size machine replicas based on the famous Renaissance artist's

sketches, science-related exhibitions and interactive displays. There will also be a café. Pueblo is a city of just over 110,000 people. The local economy long focused on steel, but Pueblo has been working to reinvent itself. In a report for KOAA News 5, Craig Elliott Chisney, Vice President of the Museum's Board, defended the choice of location.

A lot of people say why Pueblo and we say why not Pueblo. Leonardo da Vinci lived and worked in Florence, Italy, where the main da Vinci Museum is located and his art can be found in major capitals like Paris and London. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. The Associated Press has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for banning it from major presidential events. The move comes after the news agency refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. AP says the ban violates the First Amendment.

I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.