NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-20-2026 1AM EDT

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

NPR News: 08-20-2026 1AM EDTSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The federal government has hit a new high water mark. The national debt now tops $40 trillion. And NPR Scott Horsley says the interest payments alone are massive. One of the biggest expenses now is interest payments on the debt itself. We're spending more than a trillion dollars just on interest payments this year, more than we spend on defense, more than we spend on Medicare. And the government has to cover that interest tab before it can do. do anything else. Those interest costs have jumped by about 15% from a year ago. That's partly because

there's more debt to finance, but it's also because the people who lend the government money are demanding higher interest rates. Also Wednesday, global bond market steadied after the Trump administration stepped in to stem an upward rise and yields. It sent the 30-year treasury yield to its highest level since 2007 earlier this week. The Treasury Department said it will more than double the amount of government bonds that it will buy back. Five years after the American pullout from Kabul, thousands of Afghan allies remain stuck in immigration limbo. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports many served alongside U.S. forces. Afghans who supported U.S. troops in the 20-year war against the Taliban were often promised U.S. visas. More than a thousand of them have been stuck at a U.S.

base in Qatar since the Trump administration clamped down on immigration. That base is now vulnerable to missiles fired in the U.S. war with Iran. At least 150 people there are direct family members of American troops, including the brother of U.S. Marine veteran Sean Jamshidi. Those individuals actually served with us, that we gave them like a promise and that we don't keep it, then other people around the world will not trust us. A State Department spokesman told NPR it is negotiating

to send the Afghans from the base to an undisclosed third country. Quill-Lorance NPR News. President Trump has announced his nominee to lead to, the Food and Drug Administration. She's someone who has worked in the Trump White House, as MPR. Sidney Lubkin reports. The president posted on Truth Social that he'd chosen Dr. Heidi Overton to be the next FDA commissioner. Overton would fill a vacancy left by Dr. Marty McCarrie, who resigned in May after serving 13 months in the role. Overton has not worked at the FDA before, but she has worked in Trump's White House, most recently as deputy assistant to the president for

domestic policy. Overton trained as a surgeon. She also worked at the conservative America First Policy Institute. While there, she wrote opinion pieces opposing gender affirming care and medication abortion. Earlier this month, the president signed a controversial executive order aimed at overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule. During that press conference, Overton praised what she called the historic action. To get the top FDA job, the Senate will have to confirm her. Sydney Leapkin, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. The Kennedy Center says it wants to put President Trump's name back up on the performing arts facility in Washington, D.C., but not before September 8th. MPR's Anastasia Seyokas has more.

The Kennedy Center Board has proposed putting up a new sign that would eventually read, quote, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump, endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund. The last line would be added only if the fund reaches $100 million in donations. Additionally, the board is seeking to rename the center's physical grounds as President Donald J. Trump Plaza. In the same filing, the center argued that the much-discussed tarp that has been covering the complex's front entrance for months is necessary because of construction. Lawyers for Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, asked Judge Christopher Cooper to make a ruling speedily, arguing they believe that the board will try to mount new signage as soon as possible after September 8th.

Anastasi Azea Silkus and PR News. A new judge will be on the bench for Thursday's hearing in Texas in the Carmelo Anthony case. Anthony is a Texas teenager convicted of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old athlete at a high school track meet. The judge who presided over Anthony's trial was ordered removed Wednesday. Anthony's legal team seeking a retrial, arguing that the trial judge enforced overly strict courtroom rules and gave an interview after the trial was over. Stocks are advancing in Asia, tracking Wall Street higher after the Treasury Department moved to ease pressure from the bomb market. The S&P posted its first gain in four days.

I'm Gile Snyder. NPR News.