NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

NPR News: 12-19-2025 4PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. The Trump administration expanded a drug pricing deal to include nine additional pharmaceutical makers. These companies agreed to sell new and existing drugs to the U.S. government at the same price as other developed countries. NPR Zuki Noguchi reports. The White House has been pressuring drug makers to equalize U.S. pricing with other countries. The administration says these agreements will lower Medicaid drug prices. Consumers who pay out-of-pocket will also be able to get lower prices for some of the company's most popular drugs through a government website called Trump RX. Under the agreements, Amgen, Merck, G.S.K and others will also invest $150 billion in U.S. manufacturing operations.

In exchange, the companies will be exempt from some of the administration's stiff tariffs for three years. Yuki Noguchi and PR News. President Trump is set to speak in Rocky Mount North Carolina. tonight. He's working to overcome voters' gloomy views of the U.S. economy. From the North Carolina newsroom, Adam Wagner has more. Rocky Mount is the largest city in North Carolina's newly redrawn First Congressional District. There will be a five-way Republican primary there, with the party seeking to defeat two-term Democrat Don Davis.

Even as the state's Republican-controlled legislature redrew the district to give the GOP an advantage, Jonathan Sutton owns a barbershop near the venue where Trump will speak. Sutton, a Democrat, says he's noticed a decidedly negative sentiment among friends and clients. Just dealing with people, people kind of just saying don't know what's going on, not sure of their future. An NPR PBS Marist poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. For NPR News, I'm Adam Wagner in Rocky Mount North Carolina. There's relief in Ukraine after the EU approved loaning the country more than $100 billion over the next two years. And peers, Joanna Kikis has more.

EU leaders failed to agree on using these immobilized Russian assets as collateral for a loan to Ukraine, fearing legal retribution from the Kremlin. Though the loan backed by the EU budget could be more costly, European leaders celebrated it as a win. So did Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who says it shows Russia that Kiev has strong support from its allies. The loan will cover two-thirds of Ukraine's financial and military needs over the next two years. Without the loan, Zelensky had warned that Ukraine would have to drastically cut its domestic drone production, leaving the country more vulnerable to Russian attacks.

Joanna Kikisis and PR News, Kyiv. Wall Street higher just before the close, the Dow up 183 points, the NASDAQ up 301, the S&P 500, up 59. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration is appealing a judge's ruling that restored more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard. Kirk Carrapeza from Member Station, WGBH reports the university already received much of the funding it was owed for work on federal grants and contracts. The administration is challenging Boston federal judge Allison Burroughs's September decision that found the government had tried to strongarm Harvard into adopting certain admissions and hiring reforms, using concerns about anti-Semitism as a smokescreen. The administration had also threatened to end Harvard's tax-exempt status and its ability to enroll international students. A Harvard spokesperson says the university

is confident the appeals court will affirm Burroughs's ruling, which reinstated, quote, critical research funding that advances science and life-saving medical breakthroughs that strengthen national security and the country's global competitiveness. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carrapeza in Boston. The Justice Department has released some of the files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This in the deadline set by the law, President Trump signed last month. Existing home sales rose slightly last month from October as fewer homes hit the market. The National Association of Realtors says home sales rose a half percent in November for a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.13 million homes. Housing inventory, though, which had been rising for most of the year, dropped 5.9 percent in November from the month before.

and the median price of a home was higher at $409,000, $200, with a hike of 1.2% year over year. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.