NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-17-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

NPR News: 06-17-2025 11PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The House of Representatives has approved a White House request to claw back two years of previously approved funding for public media. The rescissions package now moves on to the Senate. This move poses a serious threat to local stations and public media as we know it. Please take a stand for public media today at GoACPR.org. Thank you. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has updated its estimate on the cost of the

tax and spending bill passed by the U.S. House. As NPR's Elena Moore reports, the CBO now says the proposal would add roughly $2.8 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. That's a higher number than what the CBO originally projected the bill would cost. The new estimate factors in expected economic growth from the bill, but it also includes costs from increased interest rates. The CBO's projection deals with the House bill passed narrowly last month, and the Senate may make changes that could increase the estimate again.

But the estimate also undermines GOP promises that their tax cut plan would grow the economy. Republicans have tried to discredit the nonpartisan CBO, but the latest figures could create further issues for some Republican fiscal hawks who have criticized the bills. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. The State Department has set up a task force to help Americans caught up in the Israel-Iran War. But so far, NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports that there is no word on any planned evacuation routes.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the Middle East task force is working around the clock. We continue to monitor the complex and rapidly evolving situation on the ground as we continue to assess and address the needs of U.S. citizens. She stopped short of announcing any plans for evacuating Americans from Israel, where the main international airport is closed. There are hundreds of thousands of Americans there, but the State Department won't say how many are reaching out for help.

The State Department has issued travel warnings throughout the region and has authorized the departure of family members and non-essential employees at the embassy in Israel. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. Just over half of registered voters say that global warming should be a priority for Congress and for the president. That's according to a new survey from Yale and George Mason universities. As NPR's Michael Copley reports, the findings come as the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress seek to eliminate federal climate programs.

The share of registered voters who say climate change should be a high or very high priority for Congress and the President is the same as it was in 2008. But below the surface, the data show a widening political divide, with more Democrats and fewer Republicans saying climate change should be a priority in Washington. Still, at least half of voters in both parties say carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, should be regulated as pollution and support more federal funding for renewable energy research. Majorities in both parties also want stronger pollution enforcement in low-income communities and communities of color.

Michael Copley, NPR News. Wall Street stocks close lower with the Dow falling 299 points. This is NPR. The Health Ministry in Gaza says Israeli forces fired into a crowd waiting for food aid, killing at least 51 Palestinians and wounding over 200 others. The Israeli military says the soldiers were responding to a crowd approaching an aid truck in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis and that the incident is under investigation. Chase is hiking the annual fee for a popular credit card to nearly $800.

The increase applies to a premium card often used by people to collect travel points and rewards. NPR's Alina Seljuk has details. The card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve, highly sought after particularly for travel rewards. Its annual fee is currently $550, going up to a whopping $795 in October. The company had long offset its steep fee with a reimbursement for travel expenses of $300, and that amount is not increasing, though Chase is promoting various new rewards, including deals with Apple TV, ride share company Lyft and food delivery service DoorDash. The news exploded online

where scores of chase users are posting alarmed comments and reconsidering their loyalty to the card. Alina Seluk, NPR News. Tiktok's China-based owner ByteDance will be granted additional time to divest from the video sharing app. White House press Secretary Caroline Levitz as President Trump does not want the company to go dark and says he is expected to sign an executive order extending the deadline for 90 days. Trump initially signed an executive order that gave ByteDance 75 days to sell off TikTok, citing national security's concerns.

This is NPR News.