NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-12-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

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Here on The Indicator from Planet Money, we fanned out across the country to ask how you are feeling about the 2025 economy. Anxious. Uncertain. Unfair. Turbulent. Crazy. We don't just recite the headlines, we show you how the economy is affecting your life

in 10 minutes or less. Each weekday, listen to The Indicator from Planet Money Money wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A scuffle today in Los Angeles during a news conference by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Senator Alex Padilla of California, was forcibly removed when he tried to ask Noem a question. Reporter Steve Futterman is more. Padilla was pushed out of the room by security personnel taken to the ground and handcuffed. His office posted video of it online.

He spoke afterwards. If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers. On Fox News, Noem said the action was appropriate. This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, did not identify himself and was removed from the room. Noem called Padilla's action political theater. She says the two did speak later after the incident. Padilla says he was never detained or arrested. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.

A historic moment for public media. For the first time in the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the U.S. House has voted to strip it of all federal funding for the next two years. NPR's David Falkenflick reports the bill's Republican sponsors won on the slimmest of margins. President Trump had requested that Congress claw back $8.3 billion in foreign aid and $1.1 billion for public broadcasting, money that had already been approved by both Republican-led chambers of Congress and by the president. Conservative activists have been pushing for such a move for decades, saying NPR and PBS

have a liberal bias. The networks reject that, saying they seek fairness in reflecting and covering the American experience. Local public television and radio stations would be hit hardest. Two GOP lawmakers from the suburbs of New York City cast the deciding votes. Both had been critics of Trump's separate plans on property tax deductions. One, who flipped his vote at the end, was seen talking to House leaders on the floor. The U.S. Senate must pass the bill by July 18th for it to take effect. David Falkenfleck, NPR News.

Congressional scorekeepers have released a forecast of the winners and losers from the House passed budget bill, NPR's Scott Horsley reports. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tried to estimate the combined effects of the bill's more than $3 trillion in tax cuts and about a trillion dollars in reduced government spending on things like Medicaid and food stamps. According to the CBO forecast, the top 10 percent of earners in the country, those making around $700,000 a year or more, would see the biggest gains, with average annual savings of about $12,000 or 2.3 percent.

Middle-income families would see a smaller gain of $500 to $1,000, or less than 1 percent, and people at the bottom of the income ladder would be worse off, with an average annual loss of $1,600, or 3.9 percent. The bill is now pending in the Senate. Scott Horsley, Impair News, Washington. Stocks close higher on Wall Street today. The Dow is up 101 points. You're listening to NPR. Even as President Trump continues to say the US remains committed to a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear program, Iran appears to be upping the ante. Iran announcing today it has built and will activate a third nuclear enrichment facility.

It moves heightened tensions with the UN immediately after its nuclear watchdog censored Iran for failing to comply with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. There have been threats that either Israel or the US could launch airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiators fail to reach a deal. Brazil's Supreme Court has voted to hold social networks accountable for illegal content on their platforms, the court reaching a majority vote on today, but still will define when and how digital platforms are to respond. Julia Canaro reports from Rio.

The Supreme Court's vote will change regulations for big tax liability in Brazil and expand their responsibility for criminal content on social media, like hate speech or fake news. A 2014 law already made them responsible for illegal posts on their platforms, but only if there was a court ruling and if they disregarded it. Now, companies will be held accountable for criminal content regardless of a judicial decision.

Justice Flavio Gino used Mehta's artificial intelligence tool to build his argument in court. He said even Mehta's AI concluded, quote, freedom of speech could be limited if considered a threat to public order or social stability. For NPR News, I'm Julia Carneiro in Rio. Critical futures prices fell slightly today as traders took some profits from a recent run-up, oiled down 11 cents a barrel to 67.97 a barrel. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. Hey everybody, it's Ian from How to Do Everything. On our show, we attempt to answer your how-to I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.