--:-- Amy Held: On the plus side, you get sponsor-free listening to over 25 NPR podcasts. On the minus side, you get fewer chances to tap fast-forward on your podcast player. On the plus side, you get to support something you care about. On the minus side, you like challenges and think this makes it too easy. So why don't you join us on the plus side of things with NPR Plus. Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org.
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--:-- Amy Held: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held. The first federal shutdown in seven years looks to be likely at midnight tonight, says President Trump. Services could be delayed. Most federal workers would not get paid. Trump says some could be fired. Republicans want a stopgap bill to keep government funded for another few weeks to negotiate spending. Democrats refuse to back that and want to force Republicans to negotiate now on federal health care subsidies due to expire this year.
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--:-- Amy Held: Today, Trump announced a deal with Pfizer, he says, would lower prices on its prescription drugs for Medicaid programs in the U.S. so that they're more in line with the prices paid by other developed countries. Today, Pfizer is committing to offer all of their prescription medications to Medicaid. And it will be at the most favored nation's prices. It's going to have a huge impact on bringing Medicaid costs down. The president says a new federal website will sell prescription drugs to consumers with Pfizer drugs 50 percent lower on average. But details were scarce on how this all would work.
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--:-- Amy Held: Paid leave ends today for some of the federal workers who accepted the administration's buyout offer. NPR's Andrea Hsu has this report. Between January and April, roughly 150,000 federal employees agreed to resign from their jobs in exchange for pay and benefits through at least September. A number of them told NPR they did not want to quit their jobs, but did so out of fear that they would be laid off or forced to relocate if they stayed.
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--:-- Andrea Hsu: While some of them have found new jobs right away, others are struggling to even land interviews. In the Washington, D.C. area, the market is flooded with former federal employees, and the situation could soon get worse if there's a government shutdown. The White House says a funding lapse could be an opportunity to further slash roles that don't align with the president's priorities.
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--:-- Amy Held: Andrea Hsu, NPR News.
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--:-- Amy Held: Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in agreement on a ceasefire proposal to end the war in Gaza. But as NPR's Emily Fang reports, far politicians in Netanyahu's own coalition are not happy.
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--:-- Emily Fang: A person briefed by an Israeli official has told NPR Netanyahu will not bring Trump's plan for a vote in his cabinet. This is to prevent two far ministers from quitting their posts and Netanyahu's political coalition and thus toppling the current government. These two ministers, Betzalo Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gavir, are in opposition to the 20-point peace plan because it encourages some 2 million Palestinians to remain in the Gaza Strip following any ceasefire and the return of hostages.
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--:-- Emily Fang: The two opposing ministers had been pushing to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, annex the territory, and let Israeli settlers move back in.
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--:-- Amy Held: Emily Fang, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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--:-- Amy Held: This is NPR News. A second person shot in an attack on a Dallas immigration field office last Wednesday has died, according to a family statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens. Miguel Ángel García Hernández of Mexico was one of three ICE detainees shot. He was 32 and had lived in the U.S. for decades without legal status. The gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities say.
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--:-- Amy Held: YouTube has agreed to pay $24 million to settle a lawsuit Trump brought in 2021. NPR's Bobby Allen reports several social media sites had banned Trump after the January 6th insurrection. The settlement documents say most of the money Google is paying will go toward the construction of a Mar ballroom in the White House. YouTube's payout follows similar settlements over Trump suspensions from Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter.
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--:-- Bobby Allen: Free speech experts question the suits, since First Amendment cases tend to involve government censoring speech, not private companies. The White House and Google decline to comment. It comes days after YouTube reinstated accounts suspended over spreading COVID and election misinformation, including podcaster Dan Bongino, who is now the FBI's deputy director.
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--:-- Amy Held: Bobby Allen, NPR News.
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--:-- Amy Held: Attorney General Pamela Bondi says the Trump administration's federal intervention in Memphis is underway. And quote, she says, we are just getting started. Bondi said nine people have so far been arrested. And on Wall Street, stocks are trading broadly lower at this hour. The Dow is down 127 points. I am Amy Held in Washington, and you're listening to NPR News.
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--:-- Amy Held: The Trump administration has moved fast to change U.S. policy, but much of the country is still trying to catch up. Business likes a stable environment, so uncertainty does cause a little bit of pain. On the Sunday story from Up First, a road trip across the country to hear how Trump's policies are impacting everyday Americans. Listen now to the Sunday story on the Up First podcast from NPR.
