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Shea Stevens
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. The Republican led Senate is weighing amendments to a more than $9 billion package of spending cuts, funds that have already been approved by Congress. The measure would cut nearly $8 billion in foreign aid to fight famine and disease. As NPR Svatmatanis reports, the Trump administration.
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Fatma Tanis
Says the rescission package goes after egregious examples of government waste and abuse, which it says it discovered after a thorough review of foreign assistance programs. But several officials at USAID and the State Department told NPR that the administration had not actually conducted a thorough review or made any effort to weed out fraud, waste and abuse. They said at best, administration officials searched for keywords in the descriptions of thousands of programs. If it had the word gender or family planning or climate, they determined it was wasteful. In a statement to npr, the State Department maintained that each program was reviewed individually to ensure foreign aid works to make America safer, stronger, more prosperous. Fatma Tanis, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
President Trump says it is highly unlikely that he'll fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump has been critical of the central bank's position on interest rates, saying should be lowered immediately.
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Donald Trump
We should be saving a trillion dollars a year in interest. You know, when he talks about cost, we should be saving, think of it, a trillion dollars a year. Add that with the tariffs and everything else. But he just doesn't want he's a, he's a knucklehead.
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Shea Stevens
Powell has repeatedly said the Fed is waiting for signs of economic stability and getting inflation down to 2%. He was initially appointed by Trump in 2018 and reappointed by President Biden. A jury in Delaware is hearing arguments in an $8 billion class action lawsuit against Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and other company leaders. As NPR's John Ruich reports, the case stems from massive settlements over Meta's alleged sale of user data.
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John Ruich
The case has its roots in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In 2018, it came to light that information about tens of millions of Facebook users may have been improperly leaked to that company. Facebook denied wrongdoing but settled, agreeing to a record breaking $5 billion penalty imposed by the federal and a $725 million settlement with users. Now, shareholders in Meta, the parent company of Facebook, are suing Zuckerberg, former chief operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and others. They want them to reimburse the listed company for the settlement money and other costs, which they estimate at more than $8 billion. Zuckerberg and Sandberg are expected to testify in the trial, which is slated to last about a week. John Ruich, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
Walmart has announced plans to cut about 1500 support jobs. And as part of a restructuring, as first reported by Bloomberg, the retail giant is also cutting some coach and coordinator roles at its training facility. According to its website, Walmart has roughly 1.6 million employees in the U.S. and about 2.1 million workers worldwide. This is NPR. The army veteran detained in an immigration raid at a California farm says he plans to sue the Trump administration. George Reites of Ventura City says he was heading to work when ICE agents dragged him from his car and tear gassed and pepper sprayed him. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Tennessee says he will not make any immediate decision on releasing Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's the Maryland man accused of human trafficking after being mistakenly deported to El Salvador and then returned to the US under court order. The United States is investigating what it calls Brazil's unfair trading practices. The probe comes after President Trump threatened the South American nation with 50% tariffs if it continues a criminal probe of the former Leader. More from NPR's Carrie Khan.
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Carrie Khan
The U.S. trade Representative, also known as USTR, says it will focus on Brazil's digital trade and electronic payment services, known as PICs, as well as violations of US intellectual property and illegal deforestation. The USTR says it will determine if, quote, unfair trade practices hurt American companies and workers. Trump, however, cited the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is charged with attempting a coup for the the tariffs. He's also upset about recent rulings by Brazil's Supreme Court shuttering some social media platforms. President Trump's media company is suing a Brazilian justice in Florida federal court for banning what it calls offensive accounts. Carrie Khan, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro.
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Shea Stevens
US Futures are lower in after hours trading on Wall street on Asia Pacific markets. Shares are mixed. This is NPR News.
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