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- [00:05]
Shemitah Basu
Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 19th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News today. On today's show, the debate over the future of fema. How Trump's freeze on foreign aid hurts efforts to fight fentanyl trafficking from Mexico, and how everyone survived that upside down plane crash in Toronto. But first to the Social Security Administration, where the acting commissioner resigned over the weekend after members of Elon Musk's government efficiency team requested access to the agency's internal data. That includes things like employment information, financial data and medical records. Jacob Bogage, the Washington Post's congressional economic correspondent, told us who has been tapped to step in and temporarily lead the agency. Leland Dudik, who managed Social Security's anti fraud office.
- [01:02]
Jacob Bogage
By all accounts, Leland Dudyk was very qualified to do what he did in anti fraud protection and Social Security. But I've talked to folks in and around Social Security leadership about him and their first question was, who are you talking to me about? Who is this guy? No one really knows.
- [01:22]
Shemitah Basu
The Post reports that Dudyk had posted positive remarks on social media about Musk's efforts to cut costs at federal agencies before he was tapped for this role, which is again a temporary one. President Trump's pick to lead the agency long term, Frank Bisignano still has to go through a Senate confirmation process. The Social Security Administration is responsible for managing pension payments to more than 70 million Americans. Musk says he's uncovered widespread waste and fraud at the agency, though neither he nor the White House have yet shared evidence to support those claims. During a press conference from the Oval Office last week, Musk said his team found examples of people receiving Social Security benefits when they shouldn't have been.
- [02:04]
Andy Beshear
Got people in there that are 150 years old now. Do you know anyone who's 150? I don't. Okay. They should be on the Guinness Book of World Records.
- [02:14]
Shemitah Basu
Bogus told us Musk is most likely misreading the agency's data because of a quirk in how birth dates are coded in its very old programming language.
- [02:23]
Jacob Bogage
And in the absence of a birth date, it defaults to the year 1875, which is 150 years ago.
- [02:32]
Shemitah Basu
That was the year of an international standards setting conference.
- [02:36]
Jacob Bogage
So if you had someone who maybe immigrated to this country and their birth date was in dispute, or there wasn't accurate record keeping because maybe there was a home birth, maybe those records weren't accurate or weren't immediately available when they were assigned a Social Security number.
- [02:53]
Shemitah Basu
The US Already has a policy, which has been in place for a decade, that blocks Social Security payments for anyone in the system recorded as being 115 years or older. The Social Security inspector general released an audit last year that found from 2015 to 2022, the agency paid almost $8.6 trillion in benefits. Of those, less than 1% of payments, which is just shy of $72 billion, were classified as improper. They typically involved Social Security recipients getting as another round of brutal winter weather hits a large portion of the country, millions of people are preparing for potential disasters, especially in Kentucky, where a winter storm arrived last night on the heels of deadly flooding over the weekend that caused the deaths of at least 14 people. That flooding prompted the Trump administration to authorize a disaster declaration for the state, which unlocked resources and funding from fema, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. President Trump floated the idea of eliminating FEMA altogether during a trip last month to areas in North Carolina damaged by Hurricane Helene. I think, frankly, FEMA's not good. I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away. Trump stopped short of closing down FEMA altogether, but signed an executive order creating a council to review its operations. Trump has said disaster aid should be managed by states instead. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, who is a Democrat, says shuttering FEMA would be a very bad idea. His state has seen 12 federal disaster declarations since 2019 for tornadoes, flooding and storms. Here's Bashir talking with CBS News on Monday.
- [04:44]
Andy Beshear
I've been outspoken on the need for fema. We've been through the worst tornadoes in our lifetime in 2021 that killed 81 Kentuckians. We've been through the worst flooding of our lifetime, worse than what you're seeing right now in 2022. We have suffered loss and we have suffered damage at a scale that I'm not sure a single generation of Kentuckians have ever seen, and FEMA's been there. Does FEMA need to be fixed? In many ways, yes.
- [05:10]
Shemitah Basu
FEMA was created in 1979 by Jimmy Carter and became part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. The agency essentially works with states before and during disasters. Local officials can apply for disaster declarations, which a president has to approve. That then unlocks federal funds for things like emergency response, debris removal and restoring infrastructure. It also earmarks money for people who need help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. FEMA has been somewhat of a maligned agency. It famously bungled relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and recently, similar criticisms have popped up over its response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit North Carolina and Florida last year. That prompted some residents in North Carolina to say they would be fine if President Trump did away with fema.
- [06:00]
Emily Russell
I mean, honestly, it didn't. It's not helped a lot of us around here. So even if he got rid of fema, wouldn't hurt or help us in any way.
- [06:09]
Shemitah Basu
That's Emily Russell, whose home was badly damaged by Hurricane Helene. Speaking to the Associated Press, she said she was quick to file for help from fema.
- [06:17]
Emily Russell
I thought we were going to be lucky and get help from them because I filed it right away. We had an inspector out here within the first two or three weeks.
- [06:24]
Shemitah Basu
But she said the process stalled, leaving parts of her claim pending or outright rejected.
- [06:29]
Emily Russell
Government and FEMA wise there's been no.
- [06:31]
Shemitah Basu
Help, one expert told the ap. It's important not to mistake the function of fema, which is intended to meet immediate needs with insurance companies, which cover longer term rebuilding costs, Politico reports. It's a tumultuous time for FEMA as it struggles with an increasing amount of major disasters and as climate change makes floods, storms and fires worse, and a politically complicated time for leaders in red states which are experiencing some of the costliest disasters, according to Politico. While some Republican lawmakers have expressed they're open to overhauling fema, many are against the idea of eliminating it entirely, saying states alone will struggle to shoulder all of the logistical and financial burdens for disaster recovery. Congressman Mark Pless, a Republican representing western North Carolina, told Politico, I think FEMA failed me, but if they failed, I want to know why they failed and I want to know what we can do to make a difference. Now to the impact of the 90 day freeze on US foreign aid ordered by the Trump administration last month. USAID has borne the brunt of it so far, but today we're going to look at how the freeze has affected a different group, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, or inlaid. This group, which falls under the State Department, oversees efforts around the world to combat the spread of dangerous narcotics. The Trump administration has said stopping the flow of fentanyl across the southern border is one of its top priorities. The president cited it as a key concern when threatening tariffs against Mexico. But Reuters reports that counternarcotics programs in Mexico are now suffering because of the US Foreign aid freeze. We spoke with Reuters Mexico correspondent Laura Gottastener, who told us the INL is designed to help Mexican authorities go after pretty much every piece of the fentanyl supply chain.
- [08:34]
Laura Gottastener
Another part of this program is you know training Mexican authorities to identify and then dismantle illicit fentanyl labs where the precursors are synthesized into the finished product. INL works hand in hand supporting Mexican authorities here in the country, including donating equipment, even donating canines that can do drug detection.
- [08:54]
Shemitah Basu
Sniffing those drug sniffing dogs helped Mexican authorities seize millions of fentanyl pills in 2023 alone, according to the bureau's reporting. Reuters asked the White House for its comment about how the freeze on foreign aid could impede those efforts.
- [09:10]
Laura Gottastener
We didn't hear back, so we don't know whether the White House is aware that counterfentanyl programs here in Mexico have been impacted by this order. And that's why we're really trying to get to the bottom of why these types of programs would have been halted.
- [09:26]
Shemitah Basu
Recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has talked about the possibility of issuing waivers that would unlock some of the frozen foreign aid impacted by Trump's order, but it's unclear if anti fentanyl programs in Mexico would resume. Some US Officials and security analysts that Reuters spoke to are concerned the freeze could impact U.S. mexico relations and make it more difficult for our countries to work together on combating the drug crisis.
- [09:51]
Laura Gottastener
Some people that we spoke to signaled that pausing programs such as this anti narcotics program that promote this bilateral relationship might mean that the Trump administration is moving more towards a unilateral and possibly a unilateral military approach towards Mexico.
- [10:12]
Shemitah Basu
Close to half a million Americans have died of synthetic opioid overdoses over the past decade. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. President Trump last night signed an executive order aimed at making in vitro fertilization treatment more affordable and accessible, CBS reports. Insurance companies are not currently required to cover ivf and it can get very expensive into the tens of thousands of doll. Trump promised on the campaign trail IVF would either be covered by the government or insurance companies would be mandated to cover all costs. His order directs policy advisors to come up with ideas on how to reduce costs and ease regulations within the next 90 days. In international news, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement with mediators to expedite the release of hostages agreed to in phase one of the ceasefire deals. Now, on Saturday, Hamas plans to release six living hostages. They were previously planning to release three and release the bodies of four others. And that would conclude the release of living hostages. In return, Israel says it'll release more than 100 detained Palestinians, it will allow heavy machinery into Gaza to help clear rubble, and it will allow hundreds of mobile homes to enter Gaza Axios reports that this agreement could indicate both sides are feeling nervous that the deal could crumble before phase two of negotiations begin. Those talks were supposed to start three weeks ago and after Monday's plane crash in Toronto, where all 80 people on board survived after the aircraft flipped upside down while landing. Aviation safety experts who spoke to the Washington Post are attributing the high survival rate to a number of factors. They say the crashworthiness of this aircraft helped minimize the number of injuries. That's a term that means critical safety elements of the plane worked as they should have, like seatbelts staying secure and seats staying attached to the floor of the plane when it flipped. They also credited the four person crew for their preparedness in getting people out of the upside down craft quickly. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Since early 2020, car theft has surged by about 30%, especially in Washington, D.C. bloomberg Businessweek found many of these stolen vehicles are being smuggled to Western Africa. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.