NPR News: 04-30-2026 3AM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder.
What are the financial implications of the Iran war according to the Pentagon?
The Pentagon says the Iran war has cost $25 billion so far. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports on Defense Secretary Pete Hegs' testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
Hegseth was defending the administration's proposed $1.45 trillion defense budget with a focus on rebuilding U.S. military industry. But it's the first time he's appeared under oath since the Iran war started. And Democrat Adam Smith asked why President Trump ordered the attack after claiming to have destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons program last year.
Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated. Underground, they're buried, and we're watching them 24-7.
How did Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defend the proposed defense budget?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated?
They had not given up their nuclear ambitions. Higgs has said the biggest adversaries are Democrats and some Republicans who are criticizing the war. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
The Congressional Black Caucus is pledging to fight back after the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday's ruling that strikes down a majority black congressional district in Louisiana. The CBC's chair, New York Congresswoman Yvette Clark, is calling the ruling an outright power grab that could lead to more redistricting efforts across the country that could aid Republican efforts to retain control of the House. Jerome Powell planning to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month. Powell said Wednesday that he will stay on for an undetermined period of time, citing what he said were unprecedented legal attacks by the Trump administration. NPR's Scott Horsley.
That is unusual. Fed chairs usually walk away from the central bank when their term is done. Powell is a staunch defender of the Fed's ability to operate independently of political pressure, and that has really been challenged during the Trump administration. The president's threatened to fire Powell. He's tried to fire another Fed governor. The Justice Department even launched a criminal investigation of Powell and his colleagues.
U.S. Customs says that it expects the first of its tariff-free funds to hit on May 11th. NPR's Alina Selyuk reports that so far, only a portion of refunds are getting refunded.
Companies that paid President Trump's tariffs before they got struck down by the Supreme Court began to request refunds on April 20th. That's when U.S. Customs launched a special online process to file claims, and importers have submitted claims for tens of millions of shipments. Roughly a third of those claims did not meet the technical requirements from U.S. Customs. Importers can fix errors and refile. The claims that did go through and made it past another layer of disqualifications cover roughly a fifth of the shipments that the government says are due for refunds. That's as of Sunday or about a week into the process. Court records suggest that refunds are already on the way for about 3% of the shipments.
Alina Selouk, NPR News, Washington.
And you're listening to NPR News. Washington state's governor is ordering one of the country's largest immigration detention centers to allow state health inspectors in. From member station KUOW, Sarah Mises-Tann has more.
Washington state health officials say the facility about an hour south of Seattle has been refusing entry to inspectors for the past three years. That's despite over 3,000 complaints from detainees reporting conditions such as dirty water, contaminated food, unsanitary living conditions, and accounts of sexual assault. Here's Governor Bob Ferguson.
Washington state has a right to ensure the health and wellness of people detained within our borders, period, full stop.
The center has on average held around 1,300 detainees on any given day. The company that owns the facility did not respond to a request for comment. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Mises-Tam in Tacoma.
In Louisiana, a grand jury has indicted the sheriff of Orleans Parish and her chief financial officer on charges linked to last year's escape of 10 inmates.
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