NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-18-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

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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 Jack Spear. President Trump's National Security Council met today, but at this point it remains unclear when or if the U.S.

might join Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Even as the U.S. appears to be moving closer to a decision on that front, Iran's supreme leader is rejecting U.S. calls for surrender in the face of continued Israeli airstrikes against Tehran. The Ayatollah Ali Hallamani warning any US involvement by the military would cause irreparable damage to them. European diplomats say they're prepared to hold talks with Iran on Friday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hengsteth meanwhile appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee today. NPR's Quir Lawrence reports the hearing comes as President Trump has publicly speculated about U.S. strikes against Iran. The hearing was unusually partisan, with senators openly disparaging each other. Republicans supported the secretary, while Democrats brought up scandals like Hagseth posting military plans on Signal. Hagseth didn't directly answer questions about possible U.S. strikes on Iran. He also hedged on whether he would defy court orders on domestic use of the military. Democrat Alyssa Slotkin asked if troops are authorized to fire on protesters. What is that based on? What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given? It is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor.

Slotkin was referring to the first Trump administration where the president reportedly suggested shooting demonstrators in the legs. Hexeth said the orders for troops deployed to Los Angeles are public. Quill Lawrence, NPR News. The Supreme Court today upheld laws in roughly half the states that banned gender-affirming medical care for minors. More from NPR's Nina Totenberg. Reaction to the court's decision was swift.

Jennifer Levi, an advocate for LGBTQ rights, called the decision devastating. There's no sugarcoating this opinion. It means that in the more than half the states where the care is banned, families won't be able to get the care that their children need. John Bursch of the Conservative Alliance

Defending Freedom sees more such victories in the future. I think there would be a rational basis to also prohibit it for adults. That he said would be up to the states to decide for themselves too. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. The Federal Reserve says it will hold interest rates steady. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley. On average, members of the Fed's rate-setting committee still expect to cut borrowing costs by about half a percentage point this year, but they're taking their time in case the president's tariffs start to push prices higher.

There's been little sign of that so far, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suspects it's just a matter of time before the import taxes work their way through the supply chain. There's the manufacturer, the exporter, the importer, the retailer, and the consumer, and each one of those is going to be trying not to be the one to pay for the tariff, but together they will all pay it all. Fed policymakers are now projecting higher inflation and slower economic growth than they were in March before Trump ordered tariffs on nearly everything the U.S. imports. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

A major storm is churning in the waters off the coast of Mexico. It has now become a hurricane. Officials at the National Hurricane Center say Eric has strengthened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles an hour. Eric is expected to intensify over the eastern Pacific before making landfall in southern Mexico. It's expected the storm could start making landfall in Southern Mexico. It's expected the storm could start battering

the Mexican coast tomorrow. Wildfire smoke may increase the risk of colds, flu and COVID, that's according to a new study. MPR's Alejandro Burundu walks through exactly what that might mean. When wildfire smoke comes to town, people go inside. It makes sense. Smoke is dangerous and uncomfortable to breathe in

and public health messaging tells people to go inside. It makes sense. Smoke is dangerous and uncomfortable to breathe in, and public health messaging tells people to go inside. Giuliana Polano from Georgetown University is the study's lead author. Behavior may change due to like a weather condition. But that behavior change can have an unintended consequence. When people spend a lot of time together inside, they spread more diseases like colds and flus. Polano says going inside during a wildfire smoke time is still the right move. It's just important to think about how to protect yourself from the smoke and the potential diseases. The study found that the risk of disease dropped a lot if even just a few people inside used face masks. Alejandro Borruna, NPR News.

Amazon says it's gearing up its robo taxi operation as it prepares for a major challenge from self-driving cab leader Waymo. Amazon's saying today it plans to make as many as 10,000 robo taxis in a large plant near Silicon Valley. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also prepared to aggressively push to position his company. You're listening to NPR. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. position his company. You're listening to NPR.