Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.
before Congress today for the first time since the Iran War began. The hearing focused on the Trump administration's one-and-a-half trillion-dollar military budget proposal for 2027 Democrats, like Pennsylvania Democrat Chrissy Hula-hand, used the opportunity to grill Heggseth on the Iran War's costs, President Trump's shifting justifications for the war,
and the huge drawdown of critical munitions.
How many more months, just order of magnitude, do you think that you're going to need to be able to conclude operations successfully? And how many more billions of dollars do you think you're going to ask this body for? As you know, as the President has stated, you would never tell your adversary. Lawmakers from both parties also have raised concerns about Heggseth's firing of top generals
“and other military leaders. The House of Representatives has voted to reauthorize a key”
U.S. spy tool ahead of a Thursday night deadline, 42 Democrats joined Republicans to pass the legislation, but the measure still has to clear the Senate where Republican leadership has signaled the bill will be rewritten, and PR's Eric McDaniel has this report. The tool is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA. U.S. intelligence agencies use it to scoop up the communications of more than 300,000
foreign nationals located outside of the U.S. each year. The government says the intelligence collected under FISA 702 underpins a huge share of the President's daily intelligence briefings. But reformers in both parties have long been concerned about the government reviewing Americans' private information gathered as part of the surveillance, and unsuccessfully pushed for law enforcement to need a warrant before agents could do targeted reviews of the
communications of U.S. citizens in the database. The measure now heads to the Senate, which must act by Thursday night, to avoid a potential legal morass of the law expires. Eric McDaniel
impurities the Capitol. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that could avoid a second
majority black congressional district in Louisiana, Mel Bridges with member station WWNO reports on the local reaction. U.S. Congressman Cleo Fields, who represents the district at the heart of the case, called the decision "a grave setback to voting rights and to the promise of equal political representation for all Americans." Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrell, however, says she agrees with the court's decision that the redraw map relied to heavily
“on race. I think this takes us back where we always have been and should be, and that is with”
legislatures following traditional redistricting principles all within the boundaries of the federal and state constitution. State leaders may not have enough time to redraw the maps before early voting opens on Saturday. The ACLU said they'll take legal action if the state tries. For NPR News, I'm Mel Bridges in New Orleans. The federal reserve is keeping interest rates on hold. There were some divisions amidst the uncertainty created by the war in Iran,
but with one fed board member voting to cut rates while three others voted to keep the rates
on hold. This is NPR. Elon Musk took the stand for the second day in the landmark trial that
pits the world's richest man against Sam Altman, a fellow open AI co-founder that Musk accuses of betraying promises to keep the company as a non-profit dedicated to humanity's benefit, the trial centers on the 2015 birth of the chat GPT Maker as a non-profit startup,
“primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion.”
Most states require gubernatorial candidates to be at least 30 years old, but Vermont has no age requirement, NPR's Avapu catch introduces us to a 14-year-old running for governor. Dean Roy is the first candidate for governor under 18 to make onto Vermont's general election ballot. To do so, he created a third party, the freedom and unity party, and collected 500 signatures from registered voters in the state. I want to see a lot more people getting involved
in politics, especially younger people. I want to show that it is a lot easier to get involved in politics than it has been in the past. At 14 years old Roy says he knows he's not likely to win, but he hopes he can use this campaign to build a base for a life in politics. Avapu catch and PR news. If you can't visit the original Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, you might find one that at least rings a bell nearby for a 1950 bond drive the Treasury Department
commissioned replicas for each U.S. state and several territories. The replicas have become a fascination for bell hunters. They weigh the same as the original and even have faux cracks, but different metallurgical makeup. It's NPR. Every day NPR reports stories that keep you informed without fear or favor. That's the promise of a free press in a democracy. It's in the first amendment. I'm Tom Bowman and I cover the Pentagon for NPR. Stand up for independent news coverage
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