The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to consider President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees in the new year. A new report on femicide from UN Women finds a woman or girl was killed every 10 minutes last year. And, The COP29 climate conference ended with an agreement to provide financing to developing nations to help cope with the effects of climate change.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Calmur, Jim Kane, Rachel Waldholz, Lisa Thomson and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Lilly Quiroz. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What are Trump's latest cabinet picks?
that Hegseth settled with the accuser to prevent her from filing any lawsuit. He already has some significant support, senior Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, and the new number two GOP leader, John Barrasso, has endorsed him. Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, she's a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is another nominee facing some scrutiny.
Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Lankford, who sits on the Intelligence Committee, said on CNN yesterday, there are lots of questions for Gabbard. He pointed to a trip she took back in 2017 when she was serving in Congress to Syria, where she met with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. All these nominees are expected to go through some background checks in some form.
And Barrasso said they're going to start hearings on January 3rd, and he expects some votes on nominees on inauguration day.
Now, as we mentioned, Republicans will control the Senate with 53 seats. And for cabinet nominees to be approved, they just need a simple majority, that's 51 votes. Does this make it likely that most of the president's picks will get through?
I expect most will. I mean, even if three Republicans break and vote against a nominee, Vice President J.D. Vance, who will also be serving as president of the Senate, can break a tie. If four Republicans oppose a nominee, they will fail. There are a group of senators we're keeping an eye on who have raised questions about nominees and want to see more information.
People like Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, incoming Utah Senator John Curtis, who replaces Mitt Romney, and Mitch McConnell, who stepped down from leadership but is still in the Senate. All of these senators are saying the same thing. The president gets to nominate who he wants, but it's the Senate's job to advise and consent. Some nominees will have bipartisan support.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is up for secretary of state, is well known. And some Democrats I talked to say they could see voting for him. That's NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Thank you, Deirdre. Thanks, Layla.
A woman or girl was killed every 10 minutes in 2023. That's according to a new report released today by the United Nations.
The report looks at femicide or gender-related killings, and it finds that the vast majority of killings were perpetrated by a partner or close relative.
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Chapter 4: How does the COP29 deal affect climate financing?
$300 billion till 2035 is a joke. And it's not something we should take lightly. I do not think it's something we should clap our hands and force us to take it.
And it's not just the amount of money. You know, it's not due until 2035. And what developing countries had said they need is more grant funding, not loans, so they don't add to their already high debt burdens. They didn't get any commitment around that.
So, Michael, I can hear how upset some countries are or were. Why did they agree to the deal?
You know, they don't really have a lot of options. You know, they can't afford to protect themselves. And so they're kind of stuck taking what's offered. And rich countries say they can't afford to put the bill on their own. They say that they're working with private investors and groups like the World Bank to get more money flowing into developing countries.
So the work now is to try to actually do that. Simon Steele is the UN climate chief, and he said the deal that was agreed to in Azerbaijan is a step in the right direction.
This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing. helping all countries to share in its huge benefits. More jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy.
The big question now is whether wealthy countries make good on their promise. They were slow to deliver money on their last commitment. So poor countries are in a position of relying on unreliable neighbors.
And just before I let you go, I mean, this conference was held a few weeks after President-elect Trump was chosen here in the U.S. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, the key international agreement underlying these talks. What does this mean for these talks going forward?
It is really uncertain, right? Trump is expected to pull the U.S. out of Paris again, which could really diminish the U.S. role in these kinds of talks. But I think it's really important to remember that other countries are working on this issue, and so are states and cities in the U.S., as well as companies.
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