NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-16-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

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Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it, and it all comes really fast. But on All Songs Considered, NPR's music recommendation podcast, we'll handpick what we think is the greatest music happening right now and give you your next great listen. So kick back, settle in, get those eardrums wide open, and get your dose of new music from All Songs Considered, only from NPR. dose of new music from all songs considered, only from NPR. Lyle from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. House Republican leaders suffered a setback on their efforts to advance President Trump's big, beautiful bill, as he calls it. NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports on the GOP divisions over the tax package. House Speaker Mike Johnson is

still aiming for a full House vote next week on the tax, border, and energy bill that includes the bulk of President Trump's domestic agenda. But GOP divisions over spending cuts, changes to Medicaid, and tax cuts threaten that time frame. The bill has now failed to advance out of the Budget Committee after four fiscal hawks opposed it. South Carolina Republican Ralph Norman was one of them. Sadly, I'm a hard no until we get this ironed out, and I think we can. We've made progress. Moderates representing districts with high state and local taxes

are insisting on relief for their constituents, while some other conservatives are demanding bigger spending cuts. GOP leaders vow to work through the weekend to find agreement on a final plan. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, The Capital. China blasted new American export controls on semiconductor chips, saying they were, quote, abuse. The controls affect one of China's most important AI chips. And as NPR's Emily Fang notes, comes just days after temporary trade truce

between the two countries. The export controls prohibit the export of several kinds of AI computing chips from the Chinese company Huawei. The US says it can control these chips because they use a bit of American technology and how they were made and designed. And the US publicized the new controls the same week President Trump announced that UAE and the US would jointly build a huge AI data center in the Middle East. China's foreign ministry said the measures on Huawei were quote, protectionism and unilateral

bullying. Huawei has been hit hard by US export controls before over its 5G telecom networks and has since pivoted to technologies like semiconductor chips and is even exploring building its own chip factories. Emily Fang and Pure News. Emily Fang A walkout has shut down the New Jersey Transit rail system. Hundreds of unionized locomotive engineers across the state are on strike for higher

salaries. They argue they should be making at least close to what other engineers in the Northeast are making. New Jersey Transit and CEO Chris Colery pushed back. I don't quite agree with the notion that somebody who lives in New Jersey and works in New Jersey should be entitled to make a wage that is as if they live and work in New York. So be it. This morning, commuters who were unaware engineers had gone on strike after midnight scrambled

to find other ways to get to their destinations. The disruptions were expected to affect as many as 300,000 people across the New York metropolitan area. The Dow is up 217 points from Washington. This is NPR News. British and European Union leaders are holding last-minute talks today to try to ease disagreements over the agenda for what's supposed to be a historic summit Monday in London. It will be the first UK-EU summit since Brexit.

NPR's Lauren Frere has more from London. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in Albania for talks with European leaders. On the sidelines, he's holding separate meetings with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and with French President Emmanuel Macron. At issue is how much future freedom of movement young Europeans might have to live, work or study in Britain, and how much access to British waters European fishermen might have, as Britain renews cooperation with the EU. Since Brexit five years ago, the Ukraine war and Trump's presidency have brought the two sides closer together.

Britain has ruled out reversing Brexit, but it is expected to announce pacts on security and defence at Monday's summit. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. Well, Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, are trying to determine when or even whether they should reimpose United Nations sanctions against Iran, otherwise known as the snapback mechanism if there's no progress, in ratifying the 2015 nuclear pact. They have until October 18th to trigger the snapback mechanism before the resolution expires. A federal judge is allowing Iowa to continue

to restrict instruction or gender on gender identity and sexual orientation in K through six schools. The limit does not, however, extend to elective programs. It's NPR. A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more. On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes. Because no one story can capture all that's happening

in this big, crazy world of ours on any given morning. Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR.