--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 19th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the debate over the future of FEMA, how Trump's freeze on foreign aid hurts efforts to fight fentanyl trafficking from Mexico, and how everyone survived that upside-down plane crash in Toronto. But first, to the Social Security Administration, where the acting commissioner resigned over the weekend after members of Elon Musk's government efficiency team requested access to the agency's internal data.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: That includes things like employment information, financial data, and medical records.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Jacob Bogage, The Washington Post's congressional economic correspondent, told us who has been tapped to step in and temporarily lead the agency.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Leland Dudek, who managed Social Security's anti-fraud office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: By all accounts, Leland Dudek was very qualified to do what he did in anti-fraud protection in Social Security. But I've talked to folks in and around Social Security leadership about him, and their first question was, who are you talking to me about? Who is this guy?
--:-- Shamita Basu: No one really knows.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Post reports that Dudek had posted positive remarks on social media about Musk's efforts to cut costs at federal agencies before he was tapped for this role, which is, again, a temporary one.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Trump's pick to lead the agency long-term, Frank Bisignano, still has to go through a Senate confirmation process.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Social Security Administration is responsible for managing pension payments to more than 70 million Americans.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Musk says he's uncovered widespread waste and fraud at the agency, though neither he nor the White House have yet shared evidence to support those claims.
--:-- Shamita Basu: During a press conference from the Oval Office last week, Musk said his team found examples of people receiving Social Security benefits when they shouldn't have been.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've got people in there that are 150 years old.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, do you know anyone who's 150? I don't.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Okay.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bogesh told us Musk is most likely misreading the agency's data because of a quirk in how birth dates are coded in its very old programming language.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in the absence of a birth date, it defaults to the year 1875, which is 150 years ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So if you had someone who maybe immigrated to this country and their birth date was in dispute or there wasn't accurate record-keeping because maybe there was a home birth, maybe those records weren't accurate or weren't immediately available when they were assigned a social security number,
--:-- Shamita Basu: Their default age, in some cases, is 150.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. already has a policy, which has been in place for a decade, that blocks Social Security payments for anyone in the system recorded as being 115 years or older.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Social Security Inspector General released an audit last year that found from 2015 to 2022 the agency paid almost trillion in benefits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Of those less than 1 of payments which is just shy of billion were classified as improper
--:-- Shamita Basu: They typically involved Social Security recipients getting too much money.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As another round of brutal winter weather hits a large portion of the country, millions of people are preparing for potential disasters, especially in Kentucky, where a winter storm arrived last night on the heels of deadly flooding over the weekend that caused the deaths of at least 14 people.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That flooding prompted the Trump administration to authorize a disaster declaration for the state, which unlocked resources and funding from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Trump floated the idea of eliminating FEMA altogether during a trip last month to areas in North Carolina damaged by Hurricane Helene.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump stopped short of closing down FEMA altogether, but signed an executive order creating a council to review its operations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump has said disaster aid should be managed by states instead.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who is a Democrat, says shuttering FEMA would be a very bad idea.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His state has seen 12 federal disaster declarations since 2019 for tornadoes, flooding and storms.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's Beshear talking with CBS News on Monday.
--:-- [Audio clip of Andy Beshear]
--:-- Shamita Basu: I've been outspoken on the need for FEMA.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've been through the worst tornadoes in our lifetime in 2021 that killed 81 Kentuckians.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've been through the worst flooding of our lifetime, worse than what you're seeing right now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In 2022, we have suffered loss and we have suffered damage at a scale that I'm not sure a single generation of Kentuckians have ever seen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And FEMA's been there.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Does FEMA need to be fixed in many ways? Yes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: FEMA was created in 1979 by Jimmy Carter and became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The agency essentially works with states before and during disasters.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Local officials can apply for disaster declarations, which a president has to approve.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That then unlocks federal funds for things like emergency response, debris removal and restoring infrastructure.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It also earmarks money for people who need help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
--:-- Shamita Basu: FEMA has been somewhat of a maligned agency.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It famously bungled relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And recently, similar criticisms have popped up over its response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit North Carolina and Florida last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That prompted some residents in North Carolina to say they would be fine if President Trump did away with FEMA.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I mean, honestly, it didn't.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's not helped a lot of us around here.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So even if he got rid of FEMA, it wouldn't hurt or help us in any way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Emily Russell, whose home was badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, speaking to the Associated Press.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She said she was quick to file for help from FEMA.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I thought we were going to be lucky and get help from them because I filed it right away.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We had an inspector out here within the first two or three weeks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But she said the process stalled leaving parts of her claim pending or outright rejected.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Government and FEMA there been no help
--:-- Shamita Basu: One expert told the AP it important not to mistake the function of FEMA which is intended to meet immediate needs with insurance companies which cover longer-term rebuilding costs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Politico reports it's a tumultuous time for FEMA, as it struggles with an increasing amount of major disasters, and as climate change makes floods, storms, and fires worse.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And a politically complicated time for leaders in red states, which are experiencing some of the costliest disasters.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to Politico, while some Republican lawmakers have expressed they're open to overhauling FEMA, many are against the idea of eliminating it entirely, saying states alone will struggle to shoulder all of the logistical and financial burdens for disaster recovery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Congressman Mark Pless, a Republican representing Western North Carolina, told Politico,
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think FEMA failed me, but if they failed, I want to know why they failed, and I want to know what we can do to make a difference.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now to the impact of the 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign aid ordered by the Trump administration last month.
--:-- Shamita Basu: USAID has borne the brunt of it so far, but today we're going to look at how the freeze has affected a different group, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. or INL.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This group, which falls under the State Department, oversees efforts around the world to combat the spread of dangerous narcotics.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Trump administration has said stopping the flow of fentanyl across the southern border is one of its top priorities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The president cited it as a key concern when threatening tariffs against Mexico.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Reuters reports that counter-narcotics programs in Mexico are now suffering because of the U.S. foreign aid freeze.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We spoke with Reuters Mexico correspondent Laura Gottesdiener, who told us the INL is designed to help Mexican authorities go after pretty much every piece of the fentanyl supply chain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another part of this program is, you know, training Mexican authorities to identify and then dismantle illicit fentanyl labs where the precursors are synthesized into the finished product.
--:-- Shamita Basu: INL works hand-in-hand supporting Mexican authorities here in the country, including donating equipment, even donating canines that can do drug detection sniffing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Those drug-sniffing dogs helped Mexican authorities seize millions of fentanyl pills in 2023 alone, according to the Bureau's reporting.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Reuters asked the White House for its comment about how the freeze on foreign aid could impede those efforts.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We didn't hear back, so we don't know whether the White House is aware that counterfentanyl programs here in Mexico have been impacted by this order.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that's why we're really trying to get to the bottom of why these types of programs would have been halted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has talked about the possibility of issuing waivers that would unlock some of the frozen foreign aid impacted by Trump's order.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But it's unclear if anti-fentanyl programs in Mexico would resume.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some U.S. officials and security analysts that Reuters spoke to are concerned the freeze could impact U relations and make it more difficult for our countries to work together on combating the drug crisis
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some people that we spoke to signaled that pausing programs such as this anti program that promote this bilateral relationship might mean that the Trump administration is moving more towards a unilateral and possibly a unilateral military approach towards Mexico.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Close to half a million Americans have died of synthetic opioid overdoses over the past decade.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Trump last night signed an executive order aimed at making in vitro fertilization treatment more affordable and accessible.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CBS reports insurance companies are not currently required to cover IVF, and it can get very expensive into the tens of thousands of dollars.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump promised on the campaign trail IVF would either be covered by the government or insurance companies would be mandated to cover all costs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His order directs policy advisors to come up with ideas on how to reduce costs and ease regulations within the next 90 days.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In international news, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement with mediators to expedite the release of hostages agreed to in phase one of the ceasefire deal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, on Saturday, Hamas plans to free six living hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They were previously planning to release three, which would conclude the release of living hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On Thursday, they'll release the bodies of four other hostages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In return, Israel says it will free more than 100 detained Palestinians.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It will allow heavy machinery into Gaza to help clear rubble, and it will allow hundreds of mobile homes to enter Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Axios reports that this agreement could indicate both sides are feeling nervous, that the deal could crumble before phase two of negotiations begin.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Those talks were supposed to start three weeks ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And after Monday's plane crash in Toronto, where all 80 people on board survived after the aircraft flipped upside down while landing,
--:-- Shamita Basu: Aviation safety experts who spoke to the Washington Post are attributing the high survival rate to a number of factors.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They say the crash-worthiness of this aircraft helped minimize the number of injuries.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's a term that means critical safety elements of the plane worked as they should have, like seatbelts staying secure and seats staying attached to the floor of the plane when it flipped.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They also credited the four-person crew for their preparedness in getting people out of the upside-down craft quickly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Since early 2020, car theft has surged by about 30 percent, especially in Washington, D.C.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bloomberg Businessweek found many of these stolen vehicles are being smuggled to Western Africa.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thank you.
