Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

NPR News Now

NPR News: 12-31-2025 1AM EST

31 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.098 - 16.951 Unknown

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org.

0

16.971 - 28.758 Shea Stephens

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stephens. The Trump administration has frozen child care funding to Minnesota amid fraud allegations. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters has the story.

0

29.078 - 45.462 Clay Masters

The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jim O'Neill, made the announcement on the social media platform X. He writes the step is in response to allegations of blatant fraud in Minnesota, and his agency has, quote, "...turned off the money spigot and are finding the fraud."

0

45.442 - 58.415 Clay Masters

The announcement follows a viral video from a right-wing YouTuber that featured Minnesota daycare facilities that have been part of a state-administered child care program using federal money. Some of the centers recently had operations or payments suspended.

0

58.895 - 74.47 Clay Masters

In a statement, Democratic Governor Tim Walz tells NPR he has been combating fraud for years, and this is a, quote, transparent attempt to politicize the issue to hurt Minnesotans and defund government programs that help people. For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in St. Paul.

74.618 - 82.775 Shea Stephens

A federal judge has halted efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. NPR's Stevens Basaha has the story.

83.316 - 99.581 Stephen Basaja

CFPB gets its funding from the Federal Reserve. The Trump administration argues that since the Fed has been operating at a loss, there is not the money to keep the financial watchdog running. But Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected that argument. She already has a preliminary injunction preventing the White House from shutting down the CFPB.

99.982 - 110.152 Stephen Basaja

And she wrote in a ruling that this is an unabashed attempt to just do that in a different way. Other legal battles have prevented several mass layoffs there. But President Trump has been clear he wants the CFPB gone.

Chapter 2: What child care funding issues are being reported in Minnesota?

110.672 - 120.302 Stephen Basaja

Acting Director Russell Vogt has stopped most of the consumer-oriented bureau's work. And Judge Berman Jackson wrote that the CFPB is hanging by a thread. Stephen Basaja, NPR News.

0

120.282 - 141.057 Shea Stephens

A recent U.S. attack on a Venezuelan port facility was carried out by the CIA and not the Pentagon. That's according to an administration official not authorized to speak on the matter. The drone strike was among 30 U.S. attacks carried out since September. Taiwan remains on high alert following China's second day of large-scale military drills around the island.

0

141.738 - 144.062 Shea Stephens

NPR's Sewoon Gong reports from Seoul.

0

144.177 - 169.071 Seun Gong

Taiwan's defense ministry said more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nearly two dozen vessels have been detected around the island since the drills began Monday. There were also live fire exercises and rocket launches. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-de expressed his quote strongest condemnation and vowed to defend the sovereignty of the island. China's foreign minister Wang Yi criticized the U.S.

0

169.211 - 189.472 Seun Gong

arms sales and said China must strongly counter them. He also criticized Japan, whose leader has signaled possible military intervention over Taiwan. President Trump said to reporters Monday that he is not worried about the drills and saying he doesn't believe China would invade Taiwan. Seun Gong, NPR News, Seoul.

189.492 - 212.123 Shea Stephens

U.S. futures are flat and after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. U.S. immigration officials say they will stop trying to prosecute a wrongfully deported Maryland man if a court order banning his removal remains in place. Kilmar Obrego-Garcia was initially accused of being a gang member and sent to El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S.

212.143 - 233.702 Shea Stephens

under court order, then detained and charged with another crime. A newly unsealed court filing shows that Justice Department officials made prosecuting Abrego Garcia a top priority once he challenged his deportation. Former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell has died. Colorado Public Radio's Alejandra Alonso Galva has this remembrance.

234.138 - 250.516 Alejandra Alonso Galva

Former Senator Nighthorse Campbell started out representing the state as a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party several years into his term. During his nearly two decades in Congress and both the House and Senate, Nighthorse Campbell helped create national parks and championed Native American issues.

251.097 - 263.428 Alejandra Alonso Galva

He was also a chief of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, a celebrated jewelry designer, and a member of the first U.S. Olympic judo team. In 2012, Night Horse Campbell ushered the Christmas tree for the U.S. Capitol.

Chapter 3: How is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau being affected by recent legal decisions?

311.242 - 318.01 Unknown

If you can ask it, we have probably answered it. Planet Money, listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

0
Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.