NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-20-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump met with House Republicans on Capitol Hill today for more than an hour. NPR's Deepa Shivram reports the meeting was about the wide-ranging spending and tax cut bill that encompasses much of Trump's agenda. Trump called it a quote, meeting of love, and pushed back on reporters who asked if Trump was losing patience with Republican lawmakers who have been divided about the bill. Trump said they are ahead of schedule, but Republicans have been divided over the legislation in recent weeks. The bill includes major pieces of Trump's agenda like funding border security and several tax cuts, but some moderate lawmakers have concerns over things like protecting Medicaid, while some fiscal conservatives are concerned with how much the bill would add to the deficit. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants to pass the bill by Memorial Day.

Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. President Trump at the White House today outlined his so-called Golden Dome missile defense program. The weapons system would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and could take years to complete. Though Trump said the defense shield would be operational by the end of his term, the system would for the first time put US weapons in space, allowing for the destruction of an incoming missile during flight.

Trump said it will cost upwards of $175 billion to complete. Trump also said Canada has expressed an interest in being part of the program. Home Depot says it does not expect to broadly raise prices as a result of tariffs. That's in contrast to a growing number of companies, where they cannot afford to absorb tariff costs. Still, Home Depot did acknowledge some product lines may simply go away if import costs make them not worth it. And Pierce Alina Seljuk has more. Home Depot executives on their latest earnings call say they do not expect to raise prices across the board. Instead, some items may face individual price increases or some product options may have

to change or disappear if the tariff costs become too much. This comes only days after Walmart said that its margins were too narrow to absorb President Trump's sweeping tariffs and the chain will have to start raising prices as soon as this month. A growing list of brands and companies have said this, including Best Buy, Mattel and Procter & Gamble. Home Depot says more than half of its products already come from the US and its suppliers have diversified so much that by mid next year,

no more than 10 percent of products will come from any one foreign country. Alina Seluk, NPR News. The world's richest man and a key supporter of President Trump has announced days pulling back when it comes to funding political campaigns. Elon Musk announcing his decision during a Bloomberg forum in Qatar. The decision appears to be something of a reflection following his tumultuous experience at the helm of the Trump administration's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Musk says going forward he's committed to being CEO of Tesla. Stocks mostly closed lower today on Wall Street. The Dow was down 114 points. The Nasdaq fell 72 points.

The S&P 500 dropped 23 points today. You're listening to NPR. NPR is announcing the grand prize winner of the NPR College Podcast Challenge. It's Jo Strohgatz from Salt Institute of Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. NPR's Janet Oujong-Lee reports on her winning podcast. When you listen to Strohgatz's podcast, Just Friends, you hear a young 20-something pondering big life questions. Sometimes I wonder, would I be happy? Would I be fulfilled if I just had friendships for the rest of my life? So the recent college grad set out to find someone older and wiser, who was single and

truly happy. That's when she met Steve Small, the main character of her podcast. I have to say that my friendships are a hundred times more important to me. My friendships are the closest thing I have to a marriage. In Just Friends, Strogatz weaves Small's interview with original music. In retelling his story, she says it's helped her focus on herself and her friendships. Janet Wujongli, NPR News, Portland, Maine. When you think of the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

speed may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but this Friday in Indianapolis, the six Wienermobiles will start their engines and go for the gold. It's the first time all the vehicles have been in the same place at the same time, and definitely the first time they've raced. Each will represent a regional hot dog favorite. Highlights of the Weenie 500

will air Sunday during the pregame warm-up for this weekend's scheduled running of the Indianapolis 500. Critical futures prices ended the session. Little changed. Oil down 13 cents a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.