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The Headlines
Trump’s Shutdown Agenda, and a Wave of Mysterious Drones in Scandinavia
00:10:19
Plus, what Jane Goodall learned among the chimps.
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- [00:00]
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- [00:38]
Traci Mumford
From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Traci Mumford. Today's Thursday, October 2nd. Here's what we're covering. Mr. Vice President, in every previous shutdown, workers have been furloughed, not laid off. So why does the president want to fire some workers and not just furlough them? Why is this shutdown any different?
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Trump Administration Official
Well, first of all, we haven't made any final decisions about what we're going to do with certain workers. What we're saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on at the White House.
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Traci Mumford
The Trump administration is forging ahead with plans to conduct mass layoffs and slash already approved projects, saying that could be necessary to save money as the government shutdown enters day two. Those kinds of cuts have not been required in past shutdowns, but the Trump administration is looking at how to leverage this moment to cut programs and staff it considers to not aligned with the president's agenda.
- [01:34]
Trump Administration Official
And I think that the Democrats, if they're so worried about the effect this is having on the American people, and they should be what they should do is reopen the government, not complain about how we respond to the fact that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have shut down the government in the first place.
- [01:49]
Traci Mumford
Vice President J.D. vance denied the administration was targeting any federal agencies based on politics. But the initial plans of what to slash include $18 billion for transportation projects in New York, home to Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the two Democratic leaders in Congress. And the administration also said it was terminating about $8 billion in what the White House budget director called green new scam funding to fuel the left's climate agenda, a move that affected projects in 16 states, most of which are led by Democrats. The two parties have been deadlocked over a temporary funding measure that would reopen the government. The Democrats are holding out for a deal that would extend subsidies that help millions of Americans pay for their health insurance at the moment. Despite the shutdown, many crucial government operations are continuing without interruption, though depending on how long it lasts, some services like child care and grocery vouchers for low income families could be affected. Yesterday, several federal agencies started using their websites to blame Democrats or the, quote, radical left for any disruptions. Some furloughed government employees have even been instructed to set their out of office message to a version of I am out of the office for the foreseeable future because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill. The messaging is a remarkable breach for federal agencies and their typically nonpartisan workforce. Using government platforms to attack Democrats could violate the Hatch act, which is designed to ensure the federal workforce operates free of political influence, influence or coercion. Now two more updates on the Trump administration Yesterday, the Department of Education sent letters to nine universities urging them to pledge support for President Trump's political agenda in order to help ensure access to federal funds. The letter came with a 10 page compact demanding that the schools cap the enrollment of international students, commit to strict definitions of gender and freeze tuition for five years. In exchange, they'd get priority on federal research money. The letters went out to schools including mit, the University of Texas and Vanderbilt. The effort is part of the Trump administration's months long pressure campaign on elite universities, which many conservatives have criticized as too liberal. The White House has pressured schools to pay millions of dollars to close civil rights investigations and frozen billions in funding. A top Education Department official said this compact could ultimately be extended to universities nationwide. And the Supreme Court said yesterday that Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position for now. As part of Trump's effort to reshape the Fed, a traditionally independent body, the president tried to fire Cook, alleging that she'd committed mortgage fraud. Trump is the first president to try and remove a governor in the fed's more than 100 year history. Several former Fed chairs, along with past treasury secretaries from both Democratic and Republican administrations, urged the Supreme Court to let Cook keep her job while her case was being reviewed to avoid causing instability at the Fed. In an unsigned decision yesterday, the Supreme Court said it would hear full arguments about whether Trump can fire Cook in January. It will be one of three cases the court will hear testing the limits of presidential power this term, which begins Monday. In the Middle East, Hamas is holding talks with mediators to discuss the ceasefire plan that President Trump put forward this week to end the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he supports it. My colleague Liam Stack and other Reporters working with the Times have been talking with Palestinians in Gaza as they wait to see what Hamas will say.
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Liam Stack
I think every person we spoke with said they wanted Hamas to accept the deal, but there was quite a bit of skepticism from people that Hamas would do it. One woman, a single mother who is seeking shelter in the south with her young daughter, told us that she felt like no one cared about them, that they were just dying and nobody was paying attention and Hamas needed to be thinking about them more. And we spoke to one man, Mahmoud Abu Matar. He said at this point in the war, he is just disgusted by the negotiators. At one point he said something to the effect of I'm here and, you know, trying to get a bag of flour or get fresh water, nearly getting killed every day. And the negotiators who say they're speaking on my behalf, they're far away in a hotel room, in an air conditioned conference room, not going through what I'm going through.
- [07:01]
Traci Mumford
Over the last 10 days, there's been a wave of mysterious drone sightings across Scandinavia, hovering over military bases, flying over airports and putting people on edge. Authorities have implied that Russia is behind it, and analysts say it could be part of a Kremlin strategy to probe European countries military readiness and to unsettle the public. That part seems to be working. Police hotlines in Denmark, Sweden and Norway have lit up with people calling in false alarms. That turned out to be everything from just small planes to even stars. And Danish news outlets have reported a surge in people buying emergency rations, radios, rice and canned foods. Analysts say Denmark is a logical place for Russia to target with this kind of campaign. It's one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters. It's a founding member of NATO, and its defenses are weak. The country announced it was boosting military spending in recent months, though many Danes feel officials haven't done enough. Yesterday, leaders from the European Union met in Copenhagen under increased security to discuss defense strategy. Some European officials have pushed for building what they're calling a drone wall, a system of overlapping radar stations and air defense units spread across the continent.
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Liam Stack
And finally, in July 1960, Jane Goodall.
- [08:35]
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- [08:38]
Traci Mumford
The scientist and conservationist Jane Goodall, who changed how the world thought about chimpanzees and humans, died yesterday at 91. Born in London in 1934, Goodall's research career began when she took an assignment to observe chimps in the wild in a remote area of Tanzania.
- [08:57]
Trump Administration Official
When I arrived at the Gombe Stream Reserve, I felt that at long last, my childhood ambition would was being realized there.
- [09:05]
Traci Mumford
Goodall spent so much time among the animals, they got used to her presence and she began noticing the chimps behaving in surprising ways. She saw one deliberately break off a stalk of grass and use it to fish around for insects in a termite mound. She saw other chimps using tools, too. Her observations stunned the scientific community. Making tools had been considered a hallmark of humans. Louis Leakey, the paleoanthropologist, said, quote, now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans. Goodall shared her research and her wild adventures in the rainforest, complete with crocodiles and giant deadly centipedes, on tv, in documentaries and in books. That turned Goodall into a household name. Eventually, she moved to spend less time observing and more time trying to protect chimps and their disappearing habitats. The Jane Goodall Institute, which she established in the 70s, evolved into one of the world's largest nonprofit research and conservation organizations. And she kept working with the organization until her death. A colleague of Goodall's told the Times, quote, she kept her own curiosity and energy and enthusiasm that we all have as children and sometimes lose. I never saw her lose that. Those are the headlines today on the Daily A look at the Democrats strategy to make the shutdown fight all about health care costs. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday news quiz.