NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-19-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. The Senate today failed to advance bills passed by the House to fund the federal government as a shutdown looms. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Democrats are dragging out a process they know won't succeed. They're trying to use what they think is leverage to get a bunch of stuff done that's never going to happen. I mean, can you imagine anything in that bill that they sent that we voted down today passing in the Republican House of Representatives? Absolutely not. It's just not serious. They're not being serious. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says if a shutdown happens, it would be the Republicans' fault. Now that it's clear that neither bill will get the 60 votes that the Senate needs, it's time to negotiate.

The theater must end. The government's fiscal year ends on September 30th. The crackdown on critics of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk has ignited a debate. debate about free speech. President Trump today complained that news networks overwhelmingly report bad news about him, saying, that's illegal. When you have networks that give somebody 97% bad publicity or 94% bad publicity, I think that's dishonesty. He also praised the FCC chair for pressuring ABC to indefinitely suspend comedian Jimmy Kimmel for his comments about Kirk. ABC already paid Trump $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit, and CBS News paid $16 million for a 60-minute's interview with presidential candidate Harris. Democrats and some Republicans are pushing back, and Pierce Tamara Keith has more. One really interesting thing here is there has been some dissent from conservatives. Ted Cruz, the Republican senator, said that the FCC commissioner's threats were dangerous as hell and like something right out of Goodfellas, the mob movie.

You know, when the FCC chairman says we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way, it's not hard to tell what he wants to happen. And Pierce Tamara Keith. A federal vaccine advisory committee is recommending changes on how people get COVID vaccines. And Pierce Ping Juan explains. The CDC's vaccine advisory committee recommends that anyone six months and up can get a COVID booster shot this fall after a consult with a health care provider. But they also ask the CDC to add information about possible risks and uncertainties,

to information sheets about the shots. Many of the risks presented were speculative or unfounded, but Ratzoff-Levy, a member who chairs the COVID-19 working group, said they should still be shared. Do we know all the answers? No. Did we hear satisfactory explanations from the companies and the FDA? Absolutely no. It signals a new approach from this committee, one in which rare, sometimes unsubstantiated risks,

can sway them to make it harder for the public to get vaccines. NPR's Ping Wong reporting. This is NPR. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court order that blocked President Trump's executive order limiting gender identity on passports to only male and female. This says the case winds its way through the courts. In 2022, the Biden administration allowed people to identify as male, female, or X. But Trump ordered the people can only identify. by their sex at birth.

A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the Trump order in June. In Sudan, a paramilitary group at war with the army is on the verge of gaining control of a major city, which has been under siege for 18 months. A group say the takeover of Elfeshir

in the western region of Darfur could have catastrophic consequences for hundreds of thousands taking shelter there. And peers Emmanuel Akenwatu has more. The rapid support forces have made major advances through Elfashir, according to satellite images analyzed by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab. Elfashir, the historic capital of Darfur, is the last contested area in the region

where the RSF and Allied Arab militias have been accused by the US, UN and others of committing a genocide against African ethnic groups. Last month, the RSF established a parallel government to rival the military-led government recognized by most countries. Analysts say the RSF want to gain control of Alfacian. before the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Emmanuel Akimoto, NPR News, Lagos. And I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News in Washington.