NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2024 9PM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. After objections from President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, a bipartisan short-term spending bill was rejected by Republicans, and now a reworked bill has gone down in flames.

Dub Plan B the failure of the revised measure tonight means the clock is ticking toward a government shutdown at midnight Friday. Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro speaking on the House floor explains why she thinks the bill, initially supported by both parties, got pulled by GOP lawmakers. They got scared because President Musk told them, President Musk said, don't do it, don't do it, shut the government down. Obviously, Elon Musk isn't president, nor does he hold any elected office. However, with the failure of the revised stopgap spending plan, it is not clear what happens next. House Speaker Mike Johnson appears prepared to try again before the deadline. CBP, one of the apps used by the U which he

falsely claims is used to smuggle migrants into the US. This has put people in Mexico hoping to get an asylum appointment on edge. Barbara Mendoza, Ricardo Bravo and their six-year-old son and one-month-old daughter come from Venezuela. They say they've been trying to get a slot since June. Now Bravo says they are considering crossing the border and surrendering to authorities despite its dangers. Time is running to get a CBP-1 appointment before Trump's inauguration next month.

Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Amazon delivery workers across the country are staging the largest strike in the company's history organized by the Teamsters unit. Reporter Harrison Malkin says some New York workers came face to face with those crossing the picket lines today. Amazon driver Brian Hurley says they're encouraging other workers to join the union because it's create material gains for them. It looked like the union went away in their eyes.

The conditions go right back to as it was before. David Garcone, another delivery worker who joined the roughly 200 outside this Mass Pef Queens warehouse, says the job will be harder for strikebreakers. Regular pay, no overtime pay. All these scams right here, they're going to have to help each other if they want to finish early today. Teamsters say they don't plan on leaving the picket line anytime soon. For NPR News, I'm Harrison Malkin in Queens.

Stocks have stabilized a bit after yesterday's sell-off, prompted by concerns about the future of Fed interest rate cuts. The Dow was up 15 points, the Nasdaq fell 19 points. This is NPR. A mass rape trial in the south of France that shocked and riveted the country for months came to an end today. NPR's owner Beardsley reports the victim has become a national hero for insisting the trial be open to the public and the media. Hundreds of supporters in front of the Avignon Court chanted, thank you Giselle. They say Giselle Pelico has changed France by forcing society to reckon with sexual violence. For

nearly a decade, Pelico's husband drugged her and recruited other men on the internet to rape her while she was unconscious. Now the husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and the dozens of others have been sentenced on a range of charges. Activist Valentin Rioufaux says Pelico has empowered women by going public with her pain. She has the strength, a big strength. Speaking after the trial ended, Pelico said she would never regret opening the trial

and forcing a national debate that could change society. Eleanor Beardsley in Pure News Avenue. The Biden administration is sticking by a pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 percent over the next 10 years. In seeking to ensure his legacy in terms of slowing global warming, Biden says his new goal would supersede a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by the start of the next decade and keep the U.S. on path to reach zero emissions by 2050. The U.S. will submit the new target to the U.N. under terms of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, which President-elect Donald Trump is expected to withdraw from again after he takes office.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.