--:-- [Up First theme music fades out]
--:-- Leila Fadel: After staying out of Washington for more than a month, the House of Representatives will soon return to work. Speaker Mike Johnson will aim to steer through a bill to reopen the government, which passed the Senate last night.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Democrats highlighted the issue of health insurance subsidies, but did not succeed in extending them. No guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The people I work for need more than that. How does a party manage its disagreements?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And here's a surprise. The United States may be downplaying the latest global conference on climate, but around the world, 90% of new power projects run on renewable energy sources. Stay with us.
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--:-- Leila Fadel: Congress is one step closer to ending the longest government shutdown in American history. The Senate approved a funding bill by a 60 to 40 vote.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Speaker Mike Johnson called the House of Representatives back to Washington after more than a month off. The House would have to pass the measure and President Trump would need to sign it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The federal government could open within days, although a debate over health insurance subsidies remains unresolved. NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass is here.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Hi, Steve. So, what exactly did the Senate pass?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, some of this is very similar to what the Senate has been voting on for weeks now. A temporary funding measure to fund the government for just a few weeks, in this case, through January 30th.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: But this time, lawmakers also included three bipartisan annual appropriations bills that cover specific agencies like the Department of Agriculture and the FDA.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, instead of a short-term extension, those areas will be funded now through next September.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Okay, this is useful to know. This means the government could shut down again at the end of January, but not the whole federal government.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Yeah, it would be just a partial government shutdown. And SNAP benefits, for example, they would not be in danger of running out this time.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: The package also includes a measure to undo the firings of federal workers during the shutdown and ensures federal workers get back pay.
--:-- [Senator Susan Collins speaking in the background]
--:-- Senator Susan Collins: This is a great victory for the American people. And it shows that the Senate can work, that we can produce the results that are needed.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Now, I should note a key element that you will not find in the text of this measure and that an extension of expiring health care subsidies which has been the crux of Democrats' shutdown fight.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Senate Republicans have promised is a vote on that in the future.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Oh, Republicans did promise the Democrats a vote, but they could have given them that vote a month ago. They were promising that vote a month ago.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It doesn't sound like Democrats got anything near what they wanted.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Yeah, Democrats really wanted something a lot more concrete.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, in the end, all but seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them, they voted against this deal.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he'll hold a vote by mid-December on separate legislation to address the subsidies.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But what exactly Democrats put forward is an open question. They need something that can win enough Republican votes.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: And while some Republicans do talk about wanting to prevent premiums from skyrocketing, they also want reforms. And a few weeks is not a lot of time for an overhaul.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, even if a health care bill were to pass the Senate in that vote in December, what are the odds it gets a vote in the House and gets signed by the president?
--:-- Sam Greenglass: You know, this is exactly what many Democrats like Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin are worried about.
--:-- [Senator Tammy Baldwin speaking in the background]
--:-- Senator Tammy Baldwin: A handshake deal with my Republican colleagues to reopen the government and no guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough. The people I work for need more than that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters yesterday he could not guarantee a vote, and it's also unclear what Trump is willing to support.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Okay, so we don't know what's going to happen with people who rely on Obamacare subsidies, Affordable Care Act subsidies, the extra subsidies, we should add.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But people who rely on food assistance, who are traveling for Thanksgiving, who are thinking about the FAA and air traffic controllers, do they have relief?
--:-- Sam Greenglass: House members have been told to report to Washington for a vote Wednesday.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: After being out for weeks, Johnson may have his work cut out for him to get this shutdown-ending deal to the president, but he says it will get done.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: The dispute over health care, though, does remain unresolved, along with this contentious political debate about how the shutdown played out with the midterm elections just around the corner.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And, Pierre Sam Greenglass, thanks so much.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Thanks, Steve.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: OK, so the government reopens only after seven Senate Democrats signed on. Right.
--:-- Sam Greenglass: Right. But as we just heard, other Democrats are not happy that they are reopening the government without that core demand on health insurance subsidies.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, where does the party go from here?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: I'm Domenico Montanaro, NPR's senior political editor and correspondent. What's a way to think about this result?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, you know, Democrats are certainly right now getting a lot of backlash from the left. And, you know, for some understandable reasons, I mean, they feel like they continue to get rolled, that the party promises one thing, and then in the end, caves or doesn't quite keep up the fight.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: So, you understand a lot of the irritability from the left about this toward Democrats. But it might not be as bad for Democrats in the long run here into the 2026 midterm elections.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I mean, you know, they have the opportunity, Democrats, to look like the adults in the room who care, you know, if people go hungry.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And they also raise the issue of health care subsidies, which many weren't talking about before this shutdown fight.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And if they get this promised vote in December on health care subsidies, then it's certainly going to draw a dividing line and Republicans are really going to own that issue.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And there were divides between people in the party before these off-year elections. Democrats still swept across the country.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And the reason why, because of that issue of affordability, that's still likely to be the top issue next year, too.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: This is interesting. So, if Democrats did well in last week's elections and at least raised their issue, even if they didn't win the issue in this shutdown fight, is there any particular danger for the Democrats who voted to reopen the government?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You know, I think we're going to see potentially more primaries in the next year. I think the left has certainly gotten more activist and more engaged in this fight.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But remember, most Democratic members of Congress were against this move. I think they're going to try to sell that to their constituents.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I think what we're seeing is also indicative of a changing Democratic Party, one that moved from really a pragmatism to a pugilism in the age of Trump, really wanting fighters.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: It was a party that was far more willing to compromise than it is now, polling showing that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There was an NBC poll, for example, in 2017 that found that six in 10 Democrats are more likely favoring compromising with Trump.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: During his second term here, that's flipped. Two-thirds of Democrats earlier this year in that same poll said they thought members of the party should stand on principle.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Instead, that was back in March, right around the time when there was almost a shutdown before Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pulled the plug and worked with Republicans to keep it open.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Is Senator Schumer in any trouble?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I think he's in a really tough position, frankly. I mean, he held the line for 40 days saying don't reopen the government unless Republicans negotiate on these health care subsidies.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But eight senators defied his public comments. So either he was unable to keep everyone on the same page or he tacitly allowed folks to vote this way.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And there's some question about that because none of the people who came out in favor of this deal are up for reelection next year.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Two of them are retiring. It was really a group that could weather the political blowback on this.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And look, he's 74. He's not where the party is heading right now.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: It would not be surprising, as I've heard other Democrats and Democratic strategists say, to see him not leading the party in 2027, regardless of the outcome of next year's midterms.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Who has the advantage heading into those midterms?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: You know, I still think it's hard not to see it being Democrats.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You know, affordability was the main issue of the past election. It's very likely to be again next year.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And if that's the case and the cost of living is still pinching people's pockets, then with Trump and Republicans in charge, it's still going to be an edge for Democrats.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Plus, Democrats have the issues on their side between affordability and health care.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: If Republicans do block the extension of subsidies, then they're going to own higher health care costs.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: As we know, congressional elections and control of the House are determined in swing districts with swing voters.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Right now, the Democratic Party has the edge on the critical issues that matter most to people, and winning cures a lot of ills.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Also, people keep voting against whoever is in, so Democrats have the advantage there.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Thanks so much.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You're welcome.
--:-- [Up First theme music starts playing]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Some other news now. Delegates from almost 200 countries are gathering in Brazil this week to discuss plans to fight climate change. The U.S. is not one of them.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: Hi there, Lauren. Hi. I guess we should just acknowledge at the beginning, this at least means the U.S. has a zero carbon footprint when it comes to these talks. They're not traveling.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Maybe technically you're right this time, yeah. Okay. Some of the other people do, but they're trying to fight climate change.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: How are they doing?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, not great, actually. No major country is meeting its goal of cutting emissions from fossil fuels.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: And, you know, last year, those emissions were higher than ever globally.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Countries actually agreed to cut emissions 10 years ago now. That's when the Paris Agreement was signed.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: And the whole focus of that agreement and of these negotiations going on right now is to limit warming to this critical threshold, which is no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: How far behind are we then?
--:-- Lauren Sommer: There's a really long way to go because right now the world is on track for five degrees Fahrenheit of warming.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that amount of climate change comes with some big impacts.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: You know, heat waves get much more intense, storms get more intense, and that's hurricanes, but it's also just storms that produce more extreme rain.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then, you know, ecosystems like coral reefs have very little chance of surviving that kind of temperature change.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: So to avoid that and get on track, the United Nations found that emissions need to be cut in half by countries in the next 10 years.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Obviously, the Trump administration doesn't think this way.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: I am recalling that in President Trump's first term, people were saying it might not end up mattering that much because the energy economy was moving in a certain way, moving toward clean fuels, and it would be hard for the United States really to change that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Do people still think the administration won't have that much of an impact?
--:-- Lauren Sommer: You know, energy experts say it likely will have some impact because Trump has cut investment in renewable energy projects and is getting rid of the tax credit for solar projects.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So that could mean that less clean energy is being built.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: And, you know, on Trump's first day in office, he pulled the U.S. out of the International Climate Agreement, the Paris Agreement.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That process actually takes one year. So the U.S. will be officially out in January.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: But, you know, as countries try to figure out a path forward right now, it's without the U.S.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Are other countries less likely to commit resources to this task if the United States is not doing so?
--:-- Lauren Sommer: Yeah, I think there's a lot of concern because the science shows emissions need to fall really fast and there's just not time to waste.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There will be some U.S. presence at this summit, though.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: There's a delegation of state and local leaders going, and they're going to talk about how they're still investing in clean energy and are cutting emissions.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is one of them.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: I don't care what the federal policy is. Our commitments are going to continue to keep America accountable and invested in where we are globally.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But, you know, you mentioned the economics, and that's really important here.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: Renewable energy is cheaper now on average than new natural gas and coal power plants.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Last year, more than 90 percent of new power projects installed worldwide were renewable, not, you know, fossil fuels.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: So there is this sense that globally electricity is going to get cleaner, no matter what the Trump administration does.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Lauren Sommer from NPR's Climate Desk, thanks for coming by.
--:-- Lauren Sommer: Yeah, thank you.
--:-- [Up First theme music continues to play]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's Up First for this Tuesday, November 11th, Veterans Day.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Leila Fadel.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Steve Inskeep. Up First gets you caught up and Morning Edition takes you deeper.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We're live every morning on your local NPR station with more context behind the headlines.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Download the NPR app and listen anytime.
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--:-- Steve Inskeep: So many options to get the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Today's Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Megan Pratt, Neela Banerjee, Muhammad El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Lindsay Tati.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Join us again tomorrow.
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--:-- Leila Fadel: And that's a wrap for today's show.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Thanks for listening.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Join us again tomorrow.
--:-- [Up First theme music fades out]
