NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-03-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

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As NPR's daily economics podcast, the indicator has been asking businesses how tariffs are affecting their bottom line. I paid 800,000 today. You paid $800,000 in tariffs today. Yes. Wow. And what that means for your bottom line. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money.

Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Billionaire Elon Musk took to social media to blast Republicans' signature legislation that would extend President Trump's 2017 tax cuts and cut hundreds of billions in spending on programs like Medicaid. As NPR's Barbara Spahn explains, Musk's criticism comes as the House-backed bill is working its way through the Senate. Musk calls the bill, quote, a disgusting abomination, adding he believes it will, quote, massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit.

The Tesla CEO recently ended his stint with the team known as the Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to find savings in government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Senate Republicans will forge ahead despite Musk's grievances. We obviously respect everything that Elon did with Doge. On this particular issue, we have a difference of opinion. The bill has caused rifts among Republicans in both chambers. Thune is pushing to get the bill to President Trump's desk by July 4th.

Barbara Sprint and PR News, The Capitol. As President Trump touts his own executive orders to lower drug prices, Medicare drug price negotiations begun during the Biden administration are continuing behind the scenes. NPR's Sydney Lupkin reports this summer and fall the government will negotiate the prices of 15 drugs, including Ozempic. Two drug makers, Amgen and Novo Nordisk, which sells Ozempic, confirmed to NPR that they had received opening price offers from the government, kicking off negotiations that could last through October.

Medicare drug price negotiation is still relatively new. Until the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare Part D, which covers more than 50 million seniors, didn't have the authority to negotiate drug prices. The program reached lower prices for its first 10 drugs last year. This is the second round of bargaining. Lower prices negotiated this time would take effect in January 2027. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News. In Manhattan courtroom today was closing arguments in the sex crimes retrial of Harvey Weinstein. The Emirates reports jurors were presented with two sharply

differing accounts of the former Phil Mogul's alleged crimes. In his summation, Weinstein's lead attorney, Arthur Idala, said the three women who testified against his client believed they could trade sex for success in the entertainment business. When that didn't work out, they became angry and redefined consensual sexual encounters as assault, as a way of getting fame and money. Weinstein is the one who's getting abused here, Idala said, not the women. Weinstein has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sex. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg responded that the women appeared voluntarily and have no

reason to lie. Her summation continues tomorrow. For NPR News, I'm Ilya Meretz in New York. On Wall Street, stocks closed higher, moving back toward their record levels as investors wait progress and trade talks. The Dow was up 214 points. The Nasdaq rose 156 points today. You're listening to NPR.

With hurricane season now officially underway, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is scrapping a hurricane response plan its recently appointed leader had said was nearly complete and reverting to last year's plan. The announcement from David Richardson causing some confusion at the agency however since some key programs at FEMA have been cut and workers let go. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to the end of November, with as many as 13 to 19 named storms predicted, six of 10 of which are forecast to possibly be hurricanes.

Singer Rick Astley's 1987 hit, Never Gonna Give You Up, has surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. NPR's Chloe Veldman reports the British pop star owes much of the song's success to the fact it became an internet joke in the 21st century. Rick Astley's earwormy tune zoomed to the top of the charts in the US and more than 20 other countries in 1987. Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run. Some two decades after its release, the song took on new life thanks to the Rick rolling

trend. The online prank involves clicking on a hyperlink that takes you not to the web page you're hoping it leads to, but instead to the never gonna give you up music video. A few other 1980s songs by British artists have reached one billion streams on Spotify. Among the nearly one thousand who have reached the benchmark are Soft Cells, Tainted Love and Every Breath You Take by the police. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. Crude oil futures prices gained ground today oil up 89 cents a barrel to 63.41 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

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