NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-05-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump delivered his address to a joint session of Congress last night. He insists he'll continue to radically reshape the U.S. government. That includes exacting even more tariffs on foreign nations. April 2nd, reciprocal tariffs kick in. And whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. Trump hit Canada, Mexico and China yesterday with new tariffs, saying they're not doing enough to stop illegal drugs from reaching the U.S.

Canada says that is false and immediately imposed tariffs on U.S. goods. So did China. The Democratic response in Spanish to Trump's speech was delivered by New York Congressman Adriana Espaillat. He denounced Trump's recent executive order making English the national language and he condemned Trump's efforts to create fear among immigrants in the U.S. The Democratic response in English was given by Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin. NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports.

Throughout her speech, which she made from Wyandotte, Michigan, a place both she and President Trump won in November, Slotkin talked about concerns over the slash and burn remake of the federal government with what she called no oversight. You want to cut waste? I'll help you do it. But change doesn't need to be chaotic or make us less safe. She said Trump's actions will hurt families financially, saying tariffs will cause consumer prices to rise and that programs like Medicare are on the chopping block in order to pay for much of Trump's

legislative agenda. Barbara Sprint and Peer News, Washington. Democrats were vocal in responding to the president's speech. Texas Congressman Al Green stood up with his cane and heckled Trump saying he didn't have a mandate to cut Medicaid. House Speaker Mike Johnson told Green to stop. He didn't, so the Speaker responded. The Speaker has now called for Congressman Green to be censured. The government's cost-cutting Doge entity continues to delete hundreds of items on its website. A reminder, Doge is not a government department.

NPR's Bobbi Allen reports this comes after many examples of errors. Elon Musk has been promoting a wall of receipts page on his Department of Government Efficiency or Doge website. But as questions have been raised about numerous cancelled federal contracts, more and more receipts have been disappearing. In fact, items totaling about $4 billion in supposed savings have been erased. Some of them were old contracts with money already spent or items that have been double or triple counted.

NPR found that DOJ's documented savings have been grossly overstated, including an item boasting of an $8 billion savings when it should have been $8 million. The Doge site claims its cost-cutting work has saved taxpayers more than $100 billion, but only about $2 billion of that can be confirmed with federal contract data. NPR's Bobbi Allen. It's NPR. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says last week's fiery disagreement with President Trump at the White House was quote, regrettable. Trump suspended U.S. military aid to Ukraine this week.

Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to sign a deal on its critical minerals and security with Washington. Last night in his address to Congress, Trump said the same thing. Trump says he has received a letter from Zelensky that he appreciates. Officials in Big Bear Lake, California have been closely watching three eggs in an eagle's nest. The group, friends of Big Bear Valley, now says two eagles have broken out of their shells. Tens of thousands of excited fans have been following developments around the clock on a live eagle cam. For Member Station KVCR, Madison Aumont reports on the eagle family nesting in the mountains east of Los Angeles. The new parents, two eagles known as Jackie and Shadow,

have become internet celebrities. Early in the morning, some 75,000 people watched as the chicks, only about three inches tall, hatched. Sandy Steers, who runs the camera, says from now on, Jackie and Shadow will be busy. They will be protecting the eaglets and keeping them warm and covered and away from the elements and they will be bringing food continuously. Listen closely and you can hear Jackie pick tiny pieces off a fish from nearby Big Bear

Lake to feed the chicks. Steers says a third egg could still hatch. She says to stay tuned because soon the chicks will learn to fly. For NPR News, I'm Madison Aument. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, stock futures are sharply higher. This is NPR.