NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-15-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

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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, on Corva Coleman. The impasse in Congress continues as the federal

government shutdown is more than two weeks old. NPR Sam Greenglass reports last night the Senate voted down a Republican short-term spending bill for the eighth time. Republicans want to pass a stopgap funding bill, but Democrats say Republicans need to negotiate over health insurance subsidies that are expiring soon. Top Republicans say there's nothing to negotiate, even as a handful of their members are having informal conversations with Democrats about potential paths forward. But that hasn't resulted in much, and both parties are gearing up for an extended shutdown. The White House says it's moved around funds to make sure troops get paid this week, and food assistance for women and children continues. And President Trump says he plans to fire more federal workers in mass

while the shutdown continues, saying Democrat programs will be specifically targeted. Sam Greenglass, NPR News, Washington. Meanwhile, a federal judge in California will hold a hearing today on the layoffs. Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers have sued the Trump administration to block the layoffs. The Gaza ceasefire is coming under strain. Israel says one of the eight bodies handed over by Hamas this week is not that of a hostage. Israel has also closed the Rafa rather crossing into Gaza today. That will limit relief aid getting to Palestinians. The Trump administration says it has revoked the visas of six foreign citizens. And P.R. Giles Snyder says it's over social media comments about last month's

killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The State Department announced the revocations as President Trump was posthumously awarding Kirk the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The visas were revoked from people from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, and South Africa. And the State Department says it's continuing efforts to identify visa holders who it says celebrated Kirk's assassination. And Pierre's Giles Snyder reporting. Los Angeles County has declared a state of emergency in response to the ongoing federal immigration raids. County supervisors say this is the first time they've taken this action against immigration operations. From member station, LAist, Destiny Torres has more.

L.A. County is home to some 950,000 immigrants without legal status. Supervisors say immigration raids have destabilized neighborhoods and created a climate of fear. Local state of emergencies are typically designated after natural disasters, like flooding, earthquakes and fires, as well as crises like homelessness. The declaration allows the county to seek financial aid from the state, expedite contracting, and possibly consider an eviction moratorium. Some business advocates were concerned about the move, saying a moratorium could destabilize housing if passed as a result. The declaration remains in place until the board moves to end it. For NPR News, I'm Destiny Torres in Los Angeles.

This is NPR. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced its new leader. It is Dallin Oaks, who will serve as the church's new prophet and president. The LDS is also known as the Mormon Church. Oakes will succeed prophet Russell Nelson. He died last month. The Federal Reserve has another interest rate decision to make in a couple of weeks, and as NPR Scott Horsley tells us, it may have to do so with,

limited information. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a gathering of business economists today that the economic outlook doesn't appear to have changed much since he and his colleagues voted to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point last month. The job market's a little softer, inflation's a little higher. Powell notes some key economic reports are being delayed, however, by the government shutdown. We'll start to miss that data, and particularly the October data, if this goes on for a while, they won't be collecting it, and it could become more challenging. This is the week when government number crunchers would ordinarily be tally the number of new jobs added as well as the number of people who are unemployed. Scott Horsley,

MPR News, Washington. The federal government was supposed to announce today what next year's cost of living adjustment will be for people who receive social security benefits. That announcement was delayed because of the government shutdown. The announcement has now been moved to the end of next week on Friday, October 24th. This comes as a report from the social Security and Medicare trustees earlier this summer warned of a coming shortfall in the next decade. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News from Washington.