NPR News: 04-23-2026 5AM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly.
What budget resolution did the Senate advance and what are its implications?
Over the objections of Democrats, the Senate has voted to advance a $70 billion budget resolution that funds U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the Border Patrol. The vote early this morning was 50 to 48 and done through the budget reconciliation process requiring a simple majority for passage. That measure now heads to the House. Republicans are seeking to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Democrats in Congress have sought changes to how federal officers carry out immigration enforcement before agreeing to fully fund DHS. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on Capitol Hill yesterday. where he was pressed by lawmakers about the rise in confirmed cases of measles across the U.S.
As NPR's Selina Simmons-Duffin reports, Kennedy deflected blame for the country experiencing its highest number of measles cases in three decades.
Secretary Kennedy has a history of anti-vaccine activism. He has emphasized vaccination as a personal choice rather than encouraging more people to get the measles vaccine as the disease spreads across the country. Here is Democratic Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware in one committee hearing.
Do you take any responsibility in your role for the situation that we are in with this measles epidemic? As I said, the measles epidemic began before I came into office. I'm going to take that as a no.
Kennedy said he's done a great job containing the spread of measles and stressed that it's a global problem. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina thanked Kennedy for his help containing the outbreak in his state. Selina Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
Amid the ongoing U.S. ceasefire with Iran and American naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon says the Secretary of the Navy is leaving. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports on the departure of John Phelan.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Phelan was departing the administration effective immediately. There was no explanation for the abrupt end to Phelan's tenure just one year into the job. The Iran war involves some of the Navy's most significant operations in decades, though the Navy secretary's job is more focused on training and equipping the force. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has taken an unusually active role in the recent firings of many general officers, including the Army's top general, over the wishes of the Army secretary. Phelan had been a major donor to President Trump, but had no military experience before he was appointed. Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao will now be acting secretary.
Cao is a Navy combat veteran with decades of service. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
Fast-moving wildfires in South Georgia have destroyed more than 50 homes, and authorities say they threaten hundreds more amid dry conditions. Fires are also burning in areas of northern Florida. This is NPR News from Washington. Shareholders in Warner Brothers Discovery are scheduled to vote today on the company's proposed sale to Paramount. It's valued at more than $110 billion and includes an assumption of debt. If approved by shareholders, the deal would still be subject to review by federal regulators. The Trump administration says its effort to expand access to obesity drugs to Medicare beneficiaries has hit a snag. NPR's Sidney Lupkin has more.
Through a test program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, wanted health plans to voluntarily add obesity drug coverage for 2027. But 80 percent of insurers had to sign on by April 20th, says Juliet Kubansky, a Medicare expert at the nonpartisan research group KFF.
How is Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressing the measles epidemic?
Even at the discounted prices that CMS had negotiated with the manufacturers, it's It just wasn't low enough, it seems, for the insurers to think that it was in their interest to participate in this model.
A separate temporary program that would allow Medicare beneficiaries to get obesity drugs for $50 will still go into effect in July, but Kubansky says it will now have to last longer and could cost taxpayers billions.
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