Up First from NPR - GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Congress has a midnight deadline to fund the federal government. Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump instructed Republicans to kill a bipartisan plan. Then the House rejected Trump's preferred alternative. Russia's army has lost thousands of soldiers trying to capture a strategic Ukrainian town, and in Syria, the rebel group that toppled former dictator Bashar al-Assad is now is now tasked with building a new government that includes everyone in a divided country.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Carrie Kahn, Ryland Barton, HJ Mai and Olivia Hampton. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Our executive producer is Kelley Dickens.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Congress has the deadline of tonight to fund the federal government. Elon Musk and President-elect Trump instructed Republicans to kill a bipartisan plan. Then the House rejected Trump's preferred alternative. What now? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Russia's army has lost thousands of soldiers trying to capture a single Ukrainian town. Ukraine's army has defended against superior numbers and swarms of drones. We will listen as one of those drones is shot down. Also a rebel group toppled Syria's government with surprising ease.

Now it's their job to build a new government that includes everyone in a divided country. How could they do it? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. 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. This is Eric Glass. On This American Life, we like stories that surprise you.

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Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. Federal agencies run out of money at midnight tonight. It is not clear how Congress will do one of the most basic parts of its job, which is to fund the daily operations of the federal government. It's been a busy week, but that didn't get done. So let's review. Lawmakers were on track for a bipartisan bill to manage the next few months while a new administration takes charge. It added disaster assistance, farm subsidies, and some money for healthcare programs. Then

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, demanded that Congress kill the deal. President-elect Trump followed the lead of his close advisor, telling Republicans to turn against their plan. House Speaker Mike Johnson came up with a Plan B, and that failed last night. Just taking a breath. NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh has been covering all of this and is up early once again. Hi there, Deirdre. Good morning, Steve. Why did Plan B fail? It failed because a significant block of the speaker's own Republican colleagues joined

most Democrats and tanked it, even after President-elect Trump endorsed the deal, this Republican deal, and threatened primary challengers for any Republican lawmaker who voted no. Most House conservatives who voted against this criticized the decision at Trump's insistence to add a two-year increase to the country's borrowing authority without any spending cuts. Texas Republican Chip Roy was one of them, and he chastised his Republican colleagues on the House floor. To take this bill yesterday and congratulate yourself because it's shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine. Republicans were essentially daring Democrats to vote no on this latest plan and argued

they were the ones who wanted to shut down. But Democrats opposed adding the debt limit and said provisions in the original bipartisan deal, things like lowering drug costs, funding children's cancer research, preventing China from getting access to US technologies were dumped out because Elon Musk was advising Trump and was looking out for his own interests. And Democrats took a swipe at the president-elect suggesting someone else was also was actually calling the shots and they call it Musk, President Musk. I'm just thinking about pure numbers in the House of Representatives. They needed a two-thirds

vote. So they needed Democrats to support this, right? They did. And so then they did this thing where they didn't even negotiate with Democrats. So you knew it was going to fail. Then it didn't even get a majority because a lot of Republicans turned against it. So what's plan C? There isn't one. You know, we have hours to go before the midnight deadline and a shutdown is much more likely. Late last night, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he's regrouping, coming up

with a new solution, but he didn't say what that was. It's hard to see what he can do to keep his own party together. And Democrats continue to say the only way out of this to avoid a shutdown is move something that can get bipartisan support. So what does this mean if Republicans feel they need to obey President-elect Trump and or Elon Musk in saying no to things, but then they won't even say yes to things necessarily? What does this mean for next year? I mean, this is a good preview

of Trump's unpredictable governing style. I covered the last time Trump was in the White House and Republicans had control of the House and the Senate, and Trump frequently blew up deals cut by Republicans then. I talked to Nebraska Republican colleague Don Bacon. He said he was troubled that Musk was putting out false information about the original deal. He backed this new plan, but said Trump added a new demand late in the process. What we took away from the president is the debt ceiling is his number one priority. We've

been hopeful to know that two, three, four weeks ago. This whole episode weakened Speaker Mike Johnson as he faces another vote in January to stay speaker. And this all just shows how hard it's going to be for Republicans to move their agenda through when they're so divided on this. And Piers Dierdre-Walsh covered the last Trump administration and we'll be covering Congress in this one. Thanks so much. Thanks Steve. We have a closer look this morning at the battle for one Ukrainian city.

The city is called Pokrovsk. It's not very large, but it's a transportation hub and a coal mining center. An independent estimate finds Russia's army has sacrificed more than 3,000 soldiers killed and wounded trying to capture it, so far without success. And P.R.'s Brian Mann made it into Pokrovsk yesterday and joins us. Hey there, Brian. Good morning, Steve. Why does this city matter? Well, you mentioned Pokrovsk is important for its coal and its rail and road connections.

They're vital to Ukraine's army, but held Russia back from cutting into the heartland of Ukraine. If Pokrovsk falls, cities like Dnieper, home to nearly a million people will be far more vulnerable. So everyone I met yesterday said this battle is crucial and the fighting is grim. Okay. So what did you see when you visited that embattled city? Well, this was a city of 60,000 people. Yesterday I saw empty gray streets, houses and shops and hotels just shattered by Russian bombs. I met Ukrainian soldiers, deeply weary, worn thin by this fighting. One man who would only give his first name, Vitaly,

had just come back from the front lines in an American-made Bradley fighting vehicle that had been heavily damaged by a landmine. The situation's pretty bad, Vitaly told me. The Russian drones are the worst. He actually used a curse word to describe the hovering machines that rain bombs from the sky. I asked if he thinks Ukraine can hold out in Pokrovsk and he said, if it doesn't work,

we at least have to try. Most military analysts, Steve, say the reality is Russia's army is simply much larger. They have more men, more artillery, more shells. I appreciate this description. Somebody was pointing out to me the other day that this war is like World War I trench warfare, except with drones overhead all the time and other things that make it more horrifying. Now, you suggested a moment ago that a lot of civilians seem to have left this city that's mostly empty, but are all civilians out of harm's way? They're not.

One of the hardest things I saw yesterday was people still in the streets. Across a frightening place, there are Russian drones everywhere. They pummel the city with grenades and larger bombs. But officials say they think roughly 11,000 Ukrainians are still hunkered down under the threat of this violence without gasps or heat or running water. I met one elderly man who called himself Sergei, who had turned up yesterday at one of the evacuation points. I didn't want to go because this is my hometown, Serhe told me.

I was born here, but now I have to leave. Well how have Ukrainian forces been able to hold out against superior Russian numbers? Well, they're getting creative, in part by also using attack drones. I was taken last night to a secret Ukrainian drone command center where the military let me watch in real time as their drones hunted and killed Russian soldiers. I was speaking to one Ukrainian technician named Yuri at the chilling moment when a Ukrainian drone stopped a Russian attack. Yeah, there is no Russian anymore. I think it doesn't feel very well.

So what we just saw was actively a bomb drop from that device and struck near that Russian. Yeah, it's all the time here. They have constant assaults. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens. They reach our position. And when there is just overwhelming force, we have to move back.

So what I saw yesterday was Ukrainians being as ruthless as they can trying to hold Pivovarsk. They're making Russians pay a terrible price. But Ukrainian soldiers also acknowledge they're facing assaults by larger units that never seem to end. We've seen Russia slowly advance. And if they do finally take this city, it'll be Russia's biggest, most significant victory in months. And Piers, Brian Mann, who's been on the front lines near Pokrovsk, Ukraine. Thanks. Thank you, Steve. The rebels who deposed Syria's government now face the challenge of replacing it. Yes, they've set up an interim government since Syria's military collapse and President

Bashar al-Assad fled. Many people celebrated al-Assad's defeat and then waited to see what the rebel group known as HTS would do differently. Their challenge is to govern a devastated country with many ethnic and religious groups. NPR's Hadil al-Shalchi is in Damascus. Hi there. Good morning. What is the rebel's vision for Syria?

So the leader of HTS, which is short for Ha'at Tahrir Al-Sham, is Ahmed Al-Shar'a, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Muhammad Al-Julani. And at least publicly, he's been making all the right noises. This week, he said that all rebel factions that helped overthrow Bashar al-Assad

will be disbanded and absorbed into the Ministry of Defense, and that everyone will be subject to the rule of law. He said it's time to move on from war to civilian life. He's even stopped wearing his fatigues. But Syria is a very diverse country so HTS needs to find a way to reunite it and so many cities have been destroyed in the war so rebuilding the infrastructure is going to be something they'll need to tackle. And then HTS has roots in Al-Qaeda. It has told Syrians it won't turn the country into another Afghanistan.

But a lot of Syrians are worried, will they end up imposing a very stringent form of Islamic rule that will upend their lives? Okay, they're saying they're not going to do that stringent rule, but how do their public comments stack up with what they're doing so far? Sure. So HTS has been using former SED regime bureaucrats to get things up and running. They have to, these rebels just don't have the expertise

needed to run a country. So students did go back to school this week. ATMs are working again. And even the first domestic flight took off from Damascus International Airport. And then I went to a protest last night, probably the first mass gathering in more than a decade. The site was unimaginable just a couple of weeks ago, people chanting for a secular state

against an Islamist state, even some anti-HTS slogans. There were some HTS forces guarding the area also, but they were pretty much left the protesters alone. I met Sana Mustafa at the protest and she was exiled for 11 years for being a Syrian activist This was her first time back and she said yes, she feels fear and is cautious, but there was a lot of fight in her voice There's a lot of courage and strength within me as long as I am with my people That if we were able to topple like the 53 years old dictatorship, then I'm definitely not worried about those guys So they inherit now this country that is very isolated in the world, all kinds of international sanctions and everything else.

Do you get the impression that the new rulers are wanting to engage with the world and that the world is ready to engage with them? Right. So we already know that countries like Qatar and Turkey have opened up their embassies. And then even though the French embassy is still closed, it raised its flag there over the past week. The French foreign ministry said it was a show of solidarity with the Syrian people in this time of quote transition.

And senior US diplomats are now in Damascus, the first official diplomatic delegation to enter the capital since it severed ties in 2012. They're meeting with HTS. I want to make it clear that they're pushing for an inclusive and democratic Syria. Now, they are designated a terrorist organization and they are desperate for the U.S. to drop that so that it can get aid, desperate aid to rebuild the country. Also with the delegation is the U.S.'s top hostage negotiator and he's going to be pressing for any more information about the missing American journalist Austin Tice.

We've got a couple seconds left, so I just want to ask you, you're walking around Damascus. Are things still relatively calm day by day? You know, it's not so bad. The traffic is pretty bad. But I saw yesterday a couple of traffic controllers. There's just a few of them, but they're really trying very hard. But I went to the main market in the old city and it was buzzing with people. You could see that people were just very happy, you know, taking selfies and telling me also that this was their first time in Masuk.

So yeah, it's pretty cool. It's good if you can get back to worrying about traffic. NPR's Adil El-Shelchi, thanks so much. You're welcome, Steve. And that's Up First for this Friday, December 20th. I'm Steve Innskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. We here at Up First give you the three big stories of the day.

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