NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-06-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is expected to issue an executive action calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. The White House says no such executive order will be signed today. Here's NPR's Kori Turner. A draft of the executive action obtained by NPR calls on Secretary McMahon to act to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law to begin unwinding the Education Department. NPR reported the action's existence a month ago, but it was held until after McMahon's

Senate confirmation. On Monday, after that vote, McMahon said in a message to department staff that helping her close the department was, quote, an opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service. The department's primary role in K-12 education is enforcing civil rights laws and sending money to help schools educate low-income students and children with disabilities.

Kori Turner, NPR News. President Trump has announced on social media he will exempt more imported goods from Mexico from his 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods until April 2, which is the day Trump has said he wants to start reciprocal tariffs on goods from a wider range of countries. Meanwhile, some Canadians are choosing not to travel to the U.S. after Trump's recent verbal attacks on their country. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports many residents bristle at the new U.S. tariffs against Canada

and Trump's wish to make Canada the 51st U.S. state. Some tourism industry leaders say they're already seeing cancellations by Canadian travelers who are choosing to skip the U.S. in response to Trump's recent comments. One of them is Vancouver attorney Lena Yousefi, who recently called off a family trip to Hawaii. Obviously out of loyalty to Canada and our values and just holding our grounds, unfortunately we had to cancel. Canada sends the most foreign tourists of any country to the U.S. and the U.S. Travel Association estimates that even a 10% drop in Canadian tourism would cost the U.S. Travel Association estimates that even a 10% drop in Canadian tourism

would cost the U.S. more than $2 billion and 14,000 jobs. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. The U.S. House has voted to censure Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas over his protest during President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress two days ago. Speaker Mike Johnson read the vote tally this morning. On this vote, the yeas are 224. The nays are 198, with two answering present. The resolution is adopted.

Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Ten Democrats voted with Republicans to approve Green's formal reprimand. On Tuesday, Speaker Johnson ordered Green removed from the House chamber after he repeatedly disrupted Trump and refused to sit down. U.S. stocks trading lower this hour with the Dow down more than 400 points. It's NPR. Pharmaceutical companies are selling their blockbuster obesity drugs directly to patients

online at a discount. But as NPR's Sydney Lepkin explains, the catch is they cannot use health insurance. Eli Lilly started selling cheaper vials of its obesity medicine ZEP-bound online last summer. Now, roughly 100,000 people get them every month, says CEO David Ricks. It's not a panacea. We think actually a better way would be to have the normal healthcare system. Doctors and patients connect and then use the insurance. They've already paid the premium to reimburse them for a chronic disease like obesity. That's not working perfectly right now.

Here we'll do what we can. Many insurance plans don't cover the drug. And with a sticker price over $1,000 a month, people can't afford it without insurance. The trouble is, many people can't afford the discounted vials either. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News. The Labor Department's reporting a decline in last week's unemployment claims. Applications fell by 21,000 to 221,000, falling short of analysts' expectations. But overall, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits for the week of February 22nd rose by 42,000 to 1.9 million, and that's from the previous week. Tomorrow, the government's due to release the big jobs report revealing a comprehensive view of the labor sector's performance for the month of February.

The Dow is down 454 points, the S&P has fallen 100 points, and the Nasdaq down 400 as well, or more than 2%. It's NPR News.