On today’s show: The federal government ordered a widespread funding freeze. The Wall Street Journal details the chaos that ensued. Public trust in America’s health institutions hasn’t recovered from pandemic controversies. The Washington Post’s Rachel Roubein explains how that could impact Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing. What is DeepSeek, and why did it send tremors through financial markets this week? Bloomberg AI reporter Shirin Ghaffary explains. Plus, the Trump administration is offering about 2 million federal employees the chance to resign, why the ‘Mona Lisa’ is moving, and a look at what the Year of the Snake could bring as the Lunar New Year begins. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Wednesday, January 29th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's confirmation hearing for health secretary gets underway. What to know about a new AI from China that's rattled American tech companies and financial markets. And the Mona Lisa is moving.
But first, President Trump's order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending caused widespread confusion on Tuesday. The administration says it's vetting all spending and has promised to cut off money to programs, grants, loans, and anything else that doesn't align with the administration's agenda, in particular what they call woke ideology.
Trump's order, however, was quickly blocked by a judge, putting it on hold at least temporarily until February 3rd. Twenty-two state attorneys general are also suing the administration over the order, saying Trump can't halt approved spending without an act of Congress.
It wasn't immediately clear what Trump intended to happen when he ordered the freeze of federal grants and loans, but within hours, thousands of government programs seemed at risk of being cut. These are programs that have to do with everything from access to meals for low-income families to child care and health care. For hours, all 50 states said they couldn't access Medicaid's funding portal.
The White House later clarified many of those programs are not at risk and never should have been impacted. Here's White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
Social security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause.
Despite the temporary halt on Trump's order, there were reports of nonprofits still having trouble accessing funds through federal websites. Yolanda Fields, who runs a group called Breakthrough, which provides education and housing services, told the Chicago CBS affiliate she doesn't know what would happen if they lost the $2 million in funding that they received from the federal government.
We aren't talking about frivolous spending. We're talking about essential services that people need to live.
And in Knoxville, Tennessee, Caitlin McGuire with the Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless says the uncertainty of it all is what has people on edge.
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