NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-05-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

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Lai from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. California Republicans are now suing Hours after voters approved a measure to redraw the congressional map that could help Democrats flip as many as five House seats in the state. Marisa Lagos, with member station KQED, has more on the outcome of yesterday's vote. Voters in this solidly Democratic state overwhelmingly approved the initiative, known as Proposition 50. Its passage is a huge win for California Governor Gavin Newsom and House Democrats, who crafted the measure in August after President Donald Trump demanded Texas redraw its maps to, give the GOP five more safe house seats. Speaking Tuesday night, Newsom said Prop 50 was about holding Trump accountable.

And so I want to thank everybody that stood up not just for our democracy, but stood up for those that have feel bullied and intimidated. Republicans called the measure anti-democratic and warned it will result in large swaths of the state losing their voice in Congress. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco. President Trump is attributing yesterday's Republican losses in the first major contests of his second term to the government shutdown. If you read the pulses, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans. And that was a big factor. And they say that I wasn't on the ballot was the biggest factor.

At a White House breakfast with Senate Republicans, today Trump urged Senate Republicans to end the filibuster, which requires 60 yes votes and reopen the government. Well, millions of government contractors are caught in the ongoing shutdown and are not guaranteed to receive back pay when it's over. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports industry leaders warn that small companies are already running out of money. About 4 million people work for companies that contract with the federal government. Stephanie Sanik Castro of the Professional Services Council says not all are furloughed, but many are feeling the strain. Currently, none of the government contractors will receive back pay due to the shutdown. Federal law was passed to compensate federal employees.

There is no similar legislation providing back pay compensation to federal contractors. Castro says the hardest hit sectors are civilian agencies like health and human services, where projects are stalled and small firms are burning through savings. Economists say losses from the shutdown in 2019 topped $3 billion. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington. The Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold lower court rulings that President Trump overstepped his authority earlier this year when he bypassed Congress and imposed tariffs on other countries. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told apparently skeptical justices, yes, Trump has the power to do so.

The power to impose tariffs is a core application of the power to regulate foreign commerce. The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision sometime next year. This is NPR News. A federal judge is ordering the White House to immediately begin providing American Sign Language Interpretation at its press briefings when President Trump or Press Secretary Caroline Levitt are speaking. NPR's Kristen Wright reports on the preliminary injunction. The judge writes, the exclusion of deaf Americans from White House press briefings is likely a violation of federal disability rights law and creates harm as the briefings engage Americans on important issues. like the economy and health care. The National Association of the Deaf,

alongside two deaf men, filed the lawsuit in May. In a statement to NPR, NAD says it's pleased with the judge's decision and that ASL is essential to full and equal access to information. The White House stopped using the interpreters at briefings and other public events when President Trump began his second term. It has until Friday to tell the court how it will comply. The White House did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment on the temporary injunction.

Kristen Wright, NPR News. It is now Sir David Beckham. The retired British soccer star was knighted by King Charles I.30 yesterday at Windsor Castle as his family, including businesswoman and global style icon Victoria Beckham, looked on. West End acting legend, Lane Page, was honored with Damehood and Nobel Prize winning author Sir Kazuo Ishiguro was appointed a companion of honor for services to literature. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow is up 281 points, more than half a percent. The SMP has climbed 52 points, and the NASDAQ has gained 258 points. It's NPR News.