NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

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This week on Up First, NPR's Morning News podcast, as we learn more about the Trump administration's deadly strikes against alleged drugboats, senators from both parties have questions. Will they get answers? We'll keep you updated. And we're following the latest efforts by the president to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Listen to Up First for what you need to know to start your day. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump convened his cabinet today and said his first year back in office has been a success. He says the economy is doing well, even as the recent general elections amplified affordability concerns among voters who decided to back Democrats over Republicans in key races. They just say the word. It doesn't mean anything to anybody. Let me just say it. Affordability. I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no affordability. Nobody could afford anything.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the inflation rate during the Biden administration peaked at 9.1% in June of 2022. The worst since the late 1970s, early 80s. By the time Joe Biden left office in January and Trump took over, the rate was down to 3%. An NPR investigation finds companies are charging veterans millions for help with VA disability claims. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports that's even after the VA has warned that it's probably illegal. Filing a new claim for disability with the Department of Veterans Affairs can be complicated, and some veterans turn to for-profit companies to help. But it's illegal to charge veterans to file an initial claim.

The loophole is that Congress removed the criminal penalties for breaking that law 20 years ago. Since then, an entire industry has grown, sometimes charging vets tens of thousands of dollars from their newly awarded benefits. An NPR investigation spoke with dozens of veterans who have used claims companies. While some vets said the service was worth it, many described charges for work they had to do themselves and being hounded by companies to pay up. Two competing bills in Congress aimed to fix the loophole, but neither is expected to pass soon. Quill Lawrence NPR News.

The nation's public health agency has lost a quarter to a third of its staff this year. The Trump administration is downsizing government agencies. NPR's Ping Wong reports that the cuts have left gaps in function at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Programs aimed at preventing cavities, car crashes, drownings, and shootings have halted. Workers who respond to nuclear emergencies or to virus outbreaks that can cause birth defects are gone. Dr. Dmitri Daskalakis, a former CDC official who resigned in August, says the agency is in critical condition. I keep calling CDC like a zombie because it's a zombie. CDC employees who remain are appalled by statements on measles, vaccines, and autism, which don't reflect the agency's scientific conclusions but have shown up on the website anyway.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services says the changes are part of sustained reforms focused on returning CDC to its core mission. Ping Huang, NPR News U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow is up 120 points. From Washington, this is NPR News. The federal government is providing temporary funding to several dozen tribal radio stations swept up in President Trump's defunding of public media. We have more from NPR's Frank Langford. KSUT is an NPR member station in southwest Colorado. Among the communities it serves are Native American tribes.

KSUT lost about 20 percent of its annual budget after Congress voted to kill federal funding for NPR and PBS. But to help tribal stations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has restored one year of funding. Tammy Graham is executive director of KSUT. This has been the most unreal roller coaster ride that I've been on in my career. Graham says the money provides a little breathing space for the station to begin to build a $6 million endowment to replace federal money. Many other tribal stations face a grimmer future. The vast majority rely on government money from anywhere from 40 percent to all of their budgets. Frank Langford NPR News, Ignacio, Colorado.

Residents across New England, as well as parts of the mid and northwest, are under severe winter advisories. The National Weather Service is issued. Forecasters are projecting heavy snow through the night in the east and continued ice in the Appalachians. The new system comes on top of the wintry mess that led to large numbers of flight delays and cancellations, as well as road collisions across the Midwestern U.S. over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 107 points. The SMP is now up 9 and the NASDAQ is up 115 points. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.