NPR News: 12-31-2025 7AM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Critics say the U.S. strike on a facility in Venezuela is pulling the country deeper into a dangerous conflict. President Trump confirmed new details this week about the operation targeting a dock where drugs were allegedly being loaded onto boats. It's the first known U.S. military action inside Venezuela, marking an escalation in Trump's campaign against the Maduro government. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports Trump had been warning for weeks that he was prepared to launch land strikes.
He first mentioned this port strike a week ago on a radio show. While he hasn't been clear about how the strikes were conducted, a U.S. official confirmed to NPR's Tom Bowman that the CIA struck the dock. Now, until now, the U.S. has focused on strikes on boats it claims are trafficking drugs and some oil tankers. But both of those operations have been taking place in international waters. So this is a really big deal to strike on land. It's an escalation.
That's NPR's Franco Ordonez reporting. A federal judge has halted efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. NPR's Stephen Basaja reports the White House claims the agency has been operating in the red for years.
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. 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. 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.
Enhanced subsidies for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will expire after today. NPR's Sam Greenglass reports that means premiums will soon skyrocket for millions of Americans.
Congress left town for a holiday recess without acting to renew the pandemic-era subsidies. Some people who get their plans on the marketplace are seeing premiums double or triple — Open enrollment in many states ends January 15th. The Congressional Budget Office estimates more than 2 million people will drop their coverage because they cannot afford the premiums. In January, the House is expected to vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies after four swing district Republicans joined with Democrats to force a vote. A three-year renewal, though, already failed in the Senate, but some lawmakers hope a successful House House vote will recharge bipartisan negotiations. Sam Greenglass, NPR News.
On Wall Street, Dow futures are trading lower at this hour. This is NPR News in Washington. Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, the first Native American to chair the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, has died. He was 92. Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, helped lead the effort to build the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. He served three terms in the House starting in 1987, then two terms in the Senate. At the time, he was the only Native American serving in either chamber of Congress. He made Native causes the focus of his legislative work. A Democratic candidate in Iowa became the first Black woman elected to the state Senate last night. Iowa Public Radio's Isabella Liu reports the candidate won in a special election.
Democrat Renee Hardman beat her Republican opponent by more than 40 percentage points. Hardman's win also means Republicans are one seat short of a supermajority and will need Democratic support to approve the governor's appointees.
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