NPR News: 09-17-2025 2PM EDT
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Why did the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and what does it mean for the U.S. job market?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Sangh. The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate this afternoon by a quarter percentage point. This move, which was widely expected, is designed to shore up the sagging job market in the US and it comes as President Trump has been leaning on the central bank to cut interest rates more aggressively. Safety concerns among lawmakers have grown in the days following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. House Republicans are proposing increasing security funding. By thirty million dollars in the wake of increasing political violence spent NPR's Barbara Sprint has more.
The $30 million is included in a stopgap bill to fund the government that GOP leaders hope to approve later this week to avoid a government shutdown.
How are lawmakers responding to political violence with new security funding for Congress?
There are existing programs for security for members, including one that piloted in July that increases member security funds from $150 a month to $5,000 a month, but that is expiring at the end of September. The U.S. Capitol Police told NPR its agents are on track. contract to work through roughly fourteen thousand threat assessment cases by the end of the year, a significant uptick from years past. Barbara Sprint and Peer News, the Capital.
And the number of threats this year nearly a fifty percent jump from the number of threats last year, they've been rising since twenty sixteen when fewer than a thousand were assessed. Health officials in Gaza say the death toll has surpassed sixty five thousand in the war. They say in the last twenty four hours nearly a hundred Palestinians were killed. By Israeli military strikes, Israel's troops are pressing forward with a ground operation into Gaza, more from NPR's Kerry Khan.
What is the current humanitarian situation in Gaza amid intensified Israeli ground operations?
Aircraft over Gaza City is constant, says NPRz Anis Baba, who is still in Gaza's largest urban area. He says while thousands of heated Israeli military orders, many remain in the city center.
No tanks have entered yet, but the sound of constant airstrike, drone buzz, helicopters gun fires, and fighter jets overhead. Many families are still here, some refusing to leave their homes, uh other with with nowhere else to go.
Israel's military estimates only a third of the city's nearly one million residents have left. Images show the only road out clogged. The army says it has opened a second temporary road for people to travel south. But many don't have money or transportation to flee. Carry Con NPR News Tel Aviv.
Which major tech deals were announced during President Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom?
As President Trump makes his second state visit to the United Kingdom, a number of business deals have been announced by US and British officials.
The biggest of the deals so far is with Microsoft, which says it's investing thirty billion dollars in Britain's AI sector. Google has also announced six point eight billion for a new data center in this country. Executives from those two companies, plus OpenAI and Chipmaker NVIDIA, have joined President Trump for part of this state visit.
The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Menares, testified on Capitol Hill today. Monara said she was forced out of her job only weeks after she started because of growing political interference in the agency's science space work, including vaccine recommendations. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
How is NPR handling a $5 million budget cut and what could it mean for public radio?
An HHS spokesperson accused Menaras of spreading false information and maliciously working to undermine President Trump's agenda. NPR plans to trim five million dollars to balance its upcoming budget. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports that the news organization is still trying to determine how the loss of federal funding will affect the public radio system.
People with knowledge of the company's internal deliberations say NPR does not plan layoffs or major programming shifts right now. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Congress's funding cut to public media has triggered a surge in donations, but they are not thought to be sustainable. NPR is offering eight million dollars in programming fee relief to stations that have been hardest hit, but many say they need more help.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Why did the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and what does it mean for the U.S. job market?
0:01–0:49
2
How are lawmakers responding to political violence with new security funding for Congress?
0:49–1:43
3
What is the current humanitarian situation in Gaza amid intensified Israeli ground operations?
1:43–2:26
4
Which major tech deals were announced during President Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom?
2:26–3:23
5
How is NPR handling a $5 million budget cut and what could it mean for public radio?
3:23–4:38