NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-30-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held. The first federal shutdown in seven years looks to be likely at midnight tonight, says President Trump. Services could be delayed. Most federal workers would not get paid. Trump says some could be fired. Republicans want a stopgap bill to keep government funded for another few weeks to negotiate spending. Democrats refuse to back that and want to force Republicans to negotiate now on federal health care subsidies due to expire this year. Today, Trump announced a deal with Pfizer. He says with lower prices on its prescription drugs for Medicaid programs in the U.S. So that they're more in line with the prices paid by other developed countries.

Today, Pfizer is committing to offer all of their prescription medications to Medicaid. It will be at the most favorite nation's prices. It's going to have a huge impact on bringing Medicaid costs down. The president says a new federal website will sell prescription drugs to consumers with Pfizer drugs. 50% lower on average. But details were scarce on how this all would work. Paid leave ends today for some of the federal workers who accepted the administration's fork-in-the-road buyout offer. NPR's Andrea Shue has this report. Between January and April, roughly 150,000 federal employees agreed to resign from their jobs in exchange for pay

and benefits through at least September. A number of them told NPR they did not want to quit their jobs, but did so out of fear that they would be laid off or forced to relocate if they stayed. While some of them have found new jobs right away, others are struggling to even land interviews. In the Washington, D.C. area, the market is flooded with former federal employees, and the situation could soon get worse if there's a government shutdown. The White House says a funding lapse could be an opportunity to further slash roles that don't align with the president's priorities. Andrea Shue, NPR News. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in agreement on a ceasefire proposal to end the war in Gaza. But as NPR's Emily Fang reports,

far-right politicians in Netanyahu's own coalition are not happy. A person briefed by an Israeli official has told NPR Netanyahu will not bring Trump's plan for a vote in his cabinet. This is to prevent two far-right ministers from quitting their posts and Netanyahu's political coalition, and thus toppling the current government. These two ministers, Betzalo Smotrich and Itemar Ben-Givir, are in opposition to the 20-point peace plan because it encourages some two million Palestinians to remain in the Gaza Strip following any ceasefire and the return of hostages. The two opposing ministers had been pushing to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, annexed the territory, and let Israeli settlers move back in.

Emily Fang and Pierr News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News. A second person shot in an attack on a Dallas immigration field office last Wednesday has died. According to a family statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens, Miguel Ange Garcia-ernandez of Mexico was one of three ICE detainees shot. He was 32 and had lived in the U.S. for decades without legal status. The gunmen died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities say. YouTube has agreed to pay $24 million to settle a lawsuit Trump brought in 2021.

NPR's Bobby Allen reports several social media sites had banned Trump after the January 6th insurrection. The settlement documents say most of the money Google is paying will go toward the construction of a Mara Lago-style ballroom in the White House. YouTube's payout follows similar settlements over Trump's suspensions from Instagram, Facebook, and X. formally Twitter. Free speech experts question the suits, since First Amendment cases tend to involve government censoring speech, not private companies. The White House and Google declined to comment. It comes days after YouTube reinstated accounts suspended over spreading COVID and election misinformation, including podcaster Dan Bongino, who is now the FBI's deputy director. Bobby Allen and PR News. Attorney General Pamela Bondi says the Trump administration's

federal intervention in Memphis is underway. And quote, she says, says we are just getting started, Bondi said nine people have so far been arrested. And on Wall Street, stocks are trading broadly lower at this hour. The Dow is down 127 points. I'm Amy Held in Washington, and you're listening to NPR News.