NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-31-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: August 31, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Congress returns from its August recess this week. A major task awaiting lawmakers is avoiding a government shutdown. The fiscal year ends September 30th, and Congress has not approved legislation needed to keep the government in business. NPR's Claudia Grisales has more. When lawmakers get back, they'll have less than a month to approve regular appropriations bills. That's a process that can take months,

and they're already very much behind. many say it's a fantasy they'll get there. For example, many House Republicans just want to approve another stopgap measure that will keep funding level static. Then underlying all of this, we have seen this Republican-led Congress seed their power of the purse to the president again and again. NPR's Cloddy Gorsales. The Trump administration says public housing agencies must share the immigration status of their tenants. NPR's Jennifer Lutton reports they have 30 days to comply or risk losing federal funding. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner issued the directive in a tweet. He said it was the beginning of the end for illegals in taxpayer-funded housing. Undocumented immigrants do not get housing subsidies, but they are allowed to live with family members who do. The first Trump administration tried to change that, and the current one has been reviewing a similar proposal.

Conservatives argue it's not fair to let mixed status families live in public housing given the years-long wait list for it. Now, housing authorities face a deadline to share information on all tenants, including their immigration status. One immigrant advocate says it seems designed to scare families into self-evicting. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. In China, world leaders are arriving for a summit seen as a countermeasure to U.S. influence. Jan Kemminson Brumby has more. The red carpet has been rolled out for foreign leaders in China's northern city of Tianzeng. Founded in 2001, the Shanghai Corporation Organization Summit has shifted from focusing on security to also including economic cooperation.

It offers a view of what a non-U.S. dominated international order might look like. In a meeting ahead of the summit start, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told China's president Xi Jinping that India was committed to progressing relations between the two states. The comments come just days after the U.S. hit India with 50% tariffs for buying Russian oil. For NPR News, I'm Jan Kamenzhen, Brumby in Taipei. A flotilla of ships has left Barcelona, carrying food, water, and medicine for the Gaza Strip. Organizers are attempting to break the Israeli blockade, which has prevented deliveries. The flotilla includes delegations from 44 countries on about 20,000.

boats. You're listening to NPR News in Washington. The Israeli military says it's recovered the bodies of two Israelis who had been killed in the Hamas attack on Israel in October 23. Officials believe there are still 48 hostages in Gaza with 20 who may still be alive. Hollywood's summer box office numbers will end up roughly even with last year. NPR's Bob Modello says for film studios, that counts as both a relief and a letdown. $3.6 billion is what the film industry expects this summer's movies to have taken in by the end of the holiday weekend. Nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but given ever-increasing ticket prices, not really something to cheer.

We have a blue dog to catch. Lilo and Stitch, Superman, Jurassic World Rebirth, and eight other films this summer, qualified as blockbusters, meaning they've each taken in more than $100 million. The largest dinosaurs on the planet. But there's less strength with smaller movies as audiences wait to stream films without superheroes, aliens, or dinosaurs. Back before the pandemic, the summer of 2019 had the same number of blockbusters, but that summer's lesser films were stronger. So the industry took in about a half a billion dollars more overall.

Bob Mandello, NPR News. This Labor Day weekend, activists are planning protests across the country in all 50 states. The theme is workers over billionaires. Liz Schuller, the president of the AFL, CLA, CIO says President Trump is reversing progress on union jobs. Some federal workers no longer have collective bargaining rights, and Trump has placed immigrant workers and their families in a state of fear. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.

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