NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-16-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Seng. Two weeks before a possible government shutdown, House Republicans are unveiling legislation to fund the government through November 21st and add security resources for government officials. It's unclear they have the votes to pass it. The Stop Gap bill extends current funding levels for federal agencies for seven weeks and adds $58 million to boost security for the federal judiciary and for executive branch officials following a request from the White House. Republican leaders in the House added another $30 million to increase resources that lawmakers can use for their own security. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters today the bill allows more time to come to agreement on year-long spending bills.

Democrats have pressed Republicans for bipartisan talks on a short-term bill and are demanding that any spending extension should address health care subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year. Some Democrats are also demanding that a bill roll back the changes to the Medicaid program that were part of the GOP tax bill that was signed into law in July. The man suspected a fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk will be formally charged. today at a court hearing in Utah. NPR's Tovia Smith says 22-year-old Tyler Robinson is expected to face multiple counts, including aggravated murder, which carries a potential death sentence under state law. Authorities say they have, quote, mountains of evidence, including DNA at the scene of the shooting, and they say Robinson wrote a note ahead of the attack sharing his intention, as FBI director Cash Patel told Fox News. She claimed that he had an opportunity to take out

Charlie Kirk and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for. Patel did not say who may have received that note or whether they may have tried to intervene. Robinson will make his first appearance in court virtually from his jail cell where he's been held without bail. Tovia Smith and PR News, St. George, Utah. At an anti-hate summit in Pittsburgh today, Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro urged elected officials to condemn all violence regardless of party of In America, that this work doesn't just fall to others. It falls to each and every one of us. The governor was the target of political violence earlier this year when his residence was set on fire while his family was home.

The Federal Reserve's policymakers are meeting for the next two days. Investors are watching to see if the Fed reduces interest rates by as much as President Trump wants. The Central Bank will announce its decision tomorrow afternoon. From Washington, this is NPR News. The federal appeals court is blocking the administration from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook. NPR Scott Horsley has more on that. The appeals court voted two to one to block President Trump's effort to fire Lisa Cook, at least temporarily. Cook and her attorneys argue that her ouster would be a violation of the Federal Reserve Act, which is designed to insulate the Central Reserve.

Bank from political meddling by the White House. Trump tried to fire Cook over an unproven allegation from a Trump ally that she made false statements on a mortgage application. Cook has denied any wrongdoing. For months now, the President's been lobbying the Fed to make deep cuts in interest rates. The central bank is expected to order its first rate cut of the year on Wednesday. White House economist Stephen Myron will participate in that vote. Myron was confirmed to a seat on the Fed Board by a closely divided Senate Monday night.

Scott Horsley and Pair News, Washington. For years, Mississippi has had one of the highest rates of vaccination in the country, but now that rate is slipping. NPR's Katie Riddle explains. The vaccination rates in Mississippi are still relatively high, but thousands of families have filed for religious exemptions. Pediatrician Anita Henderson says this is an issue she deals with nearly every day. And I can say as a general pediatrician, I am now getting more and more and more moms who are questioning vaccines, refusing vaccines, and we really have become a victim of our own success. Henderson said she fears parents will have to start seeing the impact of preventable diseases

before they agree to vaccinate their children. Katie Riddle, NPR News, Mississippi. It's NPR News.