NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-02-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

NPR News: 10-02-2025 1AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. The partial government shutdown will continue at least until Friday. Republicans are calling for passage of a temporary measure that would continue current spending through November 21st.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans have nothing more to negotiate. In a scenario like this, if the Congress's hands are tied by the minority party who will not do the right thing, then the power shifts to the executive. That's not Mike Johnson doing that. That's Chuck Schumer doing that. Democrats are insisting that any agreement include an extension of health care tax credits that expire at the end of the year. Republican leaders say those demands would likely lead to an increase in taxpayer-funded health care for undocumented immigrants.

An NPR analysis of federal data buys that the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, has failed to deliver on its promises. Details from NPR Stephen Fowler. Agencies ordered by Doge to drastically slashed her workforce over the last eight months are now hiring back hundreds of workers, despite Doge's promise that cut contracts and terminating leases which shrink the federal budget, treasury data shows spending has increased by hundreds of billions of dollars. When it first launched this year, Doge's savings and efficiency tracker was full of errors, overstatements, and unverifiable claims. That remains

true today. The White House declined to answer NPR's questions about these shortcomings, but said President Trump was, quote, given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse and he is delivering on that commitment. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. Governor Lisa Cook can keep her job at the central bank, at least for now. As NPR Scott Horsley reports, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in Cook's case in January. President Trump has been trying to fire Lisa Cook, pointing to allegations from a Trump ally that Cook made false statements on a mortgage application. Cook denies any wrongdoing. Her supporters say allowing Trump to oust a Fed governor would compromise the central bank's ability to set interest rates free from political interference.

Two lower courts have sided with Cook and blocked the president from removing her. The Supreme Court opted not to overturn those decisions, at least until he hears oral arguments early next year. Trump's been waging a high-pressure campaign to get the Fed to cut interest rates more aggressively. A group of former Fed officials and Treasury secretaries say the central bank works best when it's insulated from that kind of political pressure. Scott Horsley-NPR News, Washington. The Trump administration is eliminating billions of dollars in funding for infrastructure projects in New York City. The move comes after President Trump threatened to punish New York if voters their elect Democratic mayoral candidate Zora Mamdani.

The head of the White House Office of Management and Budget says that the administration is trying to ensure that federal money is not used for diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. The death toll from the earthquake in the Central Philippines, has risen to at least 72, with nearly 300 others injured. The quake struck an area near Cebu Province Tuesday,

trapping an undetermined number of people beneath rubble in hard-hit bogow and outlying rural areas. Crews are using backhose and snipper dogs to locate survivors. The U.S. government is working on a new advice on alcohol drinking. Existing guidelines recommend no more than two drinks per day for men and only one drink for women. But as NPR's Will Stone reports, there are questions about whether the updated advice will downplay the harms of alcohol. Federal health officials were going to consider two different reports on alcohol.

One of them from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, found moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of dying, including from cardiovascular disease. The other study essentially came to the opposite conclusion that even low levels of drinking increase your risk of dying for many causes, including cancer and stroke. Scientists who worked on that report were told recently it would not be considered as part of the new guidelines. Mike Marshall is with the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance. To be focused on making America healthy again, without addressing alcohol is inexplicable. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not comment on why the report was being excluded. Will Stone and PR News. Scientists have uncovered new types of organic molecules and icy geysers on Saturn's moon and celadus.

The discovery bolsters the like. that the ocean world may contain conditions that could support life. You're listening to NPR News.