Shutdown Day 3, No Jobs Report, Trump Pressures Universities

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Up First from NPR

Episode: Shutdown Day 3, No Jobs Report, Trump Pressures Universities

Date: October 3, 2025
Hosts: Layla Fadel, Steve Inskeep
Key Guests: Claudia Grisales, Scott Horsley, Alyssa Nadworny

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Overview

This episode covers three major stories shaping the national conversation:

1. The ongoing third day of the federal government shutdown with no resolution in sight,
2. The delay of the crucial monthly jobs report, leaving the economy in a state of uncertainty,
3. The Trump administration's pressure on universities to align with White House policy priorities in exchange for grant funding.

The hosts and NPR correspondents analyze the perceived lack of urgency among lawmakers, new tactics from the executive branch, and the broad implications for Americans and core institutions.

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1. Government Shutdown Continues: Stalemate and Strategic Votes

Discussion Points

• Senate votes (00:02, 02:26): The Republican-led Senate and Democrats are locked in a standoff, holding a fourth round of votes on dueling funding bills. Both are expected to fail.
• Political tactics: Republicans are pressuring Democrats by repeatedly pushing doomed bills and circulating memes to sway public opinion. Democrats demand action on expiring ACA subsidies.
• GOP strategy (03:12): Claudia Grisales explains, “Leader Thune says this is a tactic to pressure Democrats to fold, let Republicans overcome a filibuster holding up government funding…So far, only three have defected to vote with Republicans.”
• ACA subsidies as a sticking point (03:55): “20 million people could see their insurance premiums spike, in some cases double if these expire,” notes Layla Fadel, highlighting Democrats’ refusal to move without guarantees.
• Lack of urgency: Most lawmakers see little immediate fallout because many government services remain open and paychecks haven’t stopped. However, the pressure is poised to escalate the longer the shutdown stretches.

Notable Quotes

• Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD): “If they don’t pass a short term CR, there is no way of getting anything done in time to do the things that they want to with regard to ACA subsidies.” (04:24)
• Claudia Grisales (NPR): “What’s partly fueling the stalemate is a lot of government agencies are still running. Federal paychecks haven’t been missed yet. So the American public hasn’t noticed much.” (05:31)

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2. No Jobs Report: Economists, Policymakers Left in the Dark

Discussion Points

• Jobs data blackout (06:12): Three days into the shutdown, the Labor Department can’t release the monthly jobs report, a crucial indicator for the economy.
• Ripple effects: Businesses and policymakers are “flying blind” (00:58) due to lack of economic data; inflation reports could soon be delayed too.
• Underlying slowdown: Job growth had already slowed before the shutdown due to policy changes, such as stricter immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
• Consequences: The suspension leaves the economy like “driving on a fog road and we’ve just lost our headlights and our GPS.” (08:16)

Notable Quotes

• Alison Srivastav (economist, Indeed): “It’s going to be very odd to not be refreshing, refreshing, refreshing…I guess I’ll just slowly sip my coffee. I’m not sure. Take the dog for an extra long walk.” (07:18)
• Betsey Stevenson (Univ. of Michigan economist): “We can’t sustain job growth that’s that quick and get rid of a lot of our foreign born workers.” (08:04)
• Scott Horsley (NPR): “By the way, the September inflation report is particularly important because it’s one of three monthly inflation yardsticks that are used to calculate the annual cost of living increase that Social Security recipients will receive next year.” (09:21)

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3. Trump Administration Pressures Universities: Loyalty for Grants

Discussion Points

• White House “compact” (09:53): Universities are being asked to sign an agreement supporting Trump’s priorities—including holding tuition flat, data-sharing on international students, and accepting the administration’s definition of gender.
• Policy leverage: Offer of “priority access” to research grants for signatories, shifting from threats of punishment to promises of rewards.
• Higher ed response: Mixed, from cautious optimism (University of Texas) to critical pushback (American Association of University Professors urging schools not to sign).
• Wider campaign: Part of a broader administration effort, including canceled research grants and ongoing negotiations with Harvard.
• Harvard negotiations: A potential $500M settlement is on the table to end funding freezes and lawsuits, with funding redirected to workforce training.

Notable Quotes

• Caroline Leavitt (White House Press Secretary): “It’s really a sign of encouragement for them to work alongside the administration…ensuring free speech…preventing some of the anti-Semitic and illegal behavior that we saw ravaging our college campuses last year.” (10:24)
• Steve Inskeep (Host): “Some of these things would be popular with people, like freezing tuition…I suppose it also sets a precedent that the administration gets to set these standards for universities to get research grants and so forth.” (12:09)
• Alyssa Nadworny (NPR): “Over the last eight months, the administration has canceled billions of dollars in federal research grants at many universities over a number of issues…” (12:36)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:02: Senate votes, partisan memes, shutdown update
• 03:04: Claudia Grisales on Senate strategy
• 04:06: Affordable Care Act subsidies as a core barrier
• 05:31: Shutdown impact and lack of urgency
• 06:12: Jobs report canceled—Scott Horsley segment begins
• 07:18: Alison Srivastav on jobs report delay
• 08:04: Betsey Stevenson on immigration and job growth
• 09:33: Scott Horsley on impact of missing inflation stats for Social Security
• 09:53: Trump administration pressures universities—Alyssa Nadworny segment begins
• 10:24: Press secretary on the university “compact”
• 12:36: Alyssa Nadworny on policy context and Harvard settlement (potential $500M)
• 14:10: Episode closes

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Memorable Moments

• The surrealism of economists “taking the dog for an extra long walk” with no jobs data (07:18).
• Harsh political memes and threats of targeted layoffs as the shutdown’s tone (02:31).
• The controversial offer of federal research dollars for universities’ loyalty: “Their sins are forgiven” upon making a $500M workforce development investment—Trump on Harvard (13:36).

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Tone and Analysis

The episode balances wry humor (e.g., economists with more time for coffee and dog walks), sharp political commentary, and a sense of growing unease about dysfunction at the heart of government and its real-world ripple effects. The language remains newsy, conversational, and fact-driven, capturing both behind-the-scenes maneuvering and the practical consequences for listeners.

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Transcript

[A]

The Senate votes for a fourth time on dueling bills to end the shutdown. Both are likely to fail. Republicans are sharing memes of Democrats in sombreros.

[B]

Do officials feel any urgency to reopen the government? Do you feel any urgency to say that, to do this show, take two, three.

[A]

I don't know what's happening, guys, but we're gonna have a tough day.

[B]

It's all good.

[A]

The Senate votes for a fourth time on dueling bills to end the shutdown. Both are likely to fail. And Republicans are sharing memes of Democrats in sombreros.

[B]

Do officials feel any urgency to reopen the government?

[A]

I'm Layla Falden with Steve Inskeep, and this is up first from NPR News. The people who compile the monthly jobs report were told not to finish the job.

[C]

I hope they can resolve this quickly and we can get back to our normal data releases.

[A]

Businesses and policymakers are flying blind. Which other economic indicators are affected?

[B]

Also, what is the White House demanding from a handful of prominent universities? The administration asked them to sign a document supporting the president's priorities. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

[D]

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[D]

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[A]

Three days into a government shutdown, neither side is showing signs of giving ground.

[B]

The Trump administration has said it will take the opportunity to increase the pain on their fellow Americans by firing federal workers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is not warning them off.

[E]

Anytime you're in this situation, you have to manage a shutdown. Decisions have to be made about what to prioritize, where you're going to spend money. I expect there are going to be some decisions coming out about that surprise me at all.

[B]

The Republican led Senate will vote for the fourth time today on partisan stopgap bills that are expected to fail.

[A]

NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales has been reporting on all this and joins us now. Hi, Claudia.

[F]

Good morning, Layla.

[A]

Good morning. So why go through the motion of voting on these dueling bills when they don't have the votes? Right.

[F]

Leader Thune says this is a tactic to pressure Democrats to fold, let Republicans overcome a filibuster holding up government funding. They need Democrats to reach this required 60 vote threshold today, but we're not expecting them to help. So far, only three have defected to vote with Republicans. And as we know, the GOP only controls 53 Senate seats. So they need at least seven Democrats, probably more, as one Republican, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, is expected to vote no. The rest of the Democratic caucus has said they will not help unless Republicans address expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care act or ACA program.

[A]

And this is also a big issue for Americans. 20 million people could see their insurance premiums spike, in some cases double if these expire. Are Senate Republicans willing to talk at this point?

[F]

Not really. Not right now. A bipartisan group was in talks this week. I followed up with one member, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. He said Republicans were simply trying to convince Democrats first vote on this stopgap known as a continuing resolution or criminal.

[E]

If they don't pass a short term cr, there is no way of getting anything done in time to do the things that they want to with regard to ACA subsidies.

[F]

So he says these subsidies have to go through a separate bill that stuck behind this showdown. But for Democrats, there's a chance this is a bait and switch. So most are not budging for now.

[A]

Now, Vice President Vance was publicly insisting there's no rush to renew the subsidies since they don't take effect until next year. Is is there plenty of this?

[F]

Well, Democrats would argue no, these subsidies don't expire until the end of the year. But they say with open enrollment coming up next month, they say that needs to be handled now. So you could say Democrats are fighting as well for a popular issue. Perhaps there's a political calculation here, too. NPR has reported that 24 million people are enrolled. They include influential voters, active voters like small business owners, farmers and ranchers.

[A]

So lawmakers went into this shutdown feeling it was inevitable at this point. Do they show any urgency about ending it?

[F]

Well, we didn't see much this week. We just saw a lot of posturing. For example, President Trump threatened mass layoffs, cutting, quote, Democratic agencies and met with the head of Management and Budget, Russell vote on the next steps there. But when I asked Republicans about these cuts, like you heard Thune there at the top, they say it's the administration's prerogative. What's partly fueling the stalemate is a lot of government agencies are still running. Federal paychecks haven't been missed yet. So the American public hasn't noticed much. But as this stretches on, the pressure will only build on Congress and the president.

[A]

NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thank you, Claudia.

[F]

Thank you.

[B]

For economists who follow the job market, the first Friday of each month is like Christmas morning.

[A]

That's when the Labor Department usually delivers its closely watched report on jobs and unemployment. This morning brings nothing but a lump of coal. However, the jobs report has been postponed, not by the Grinch, but by the government shutdown.

[B]

NPR's Scott Horsley joins us now. Scott, good morning.

[E]

Good morning, Steve.

[B]

Okay, so I was just, I was thinking about this Friday coming up because you join us month after month after month and now you have nothing to tell us. What's it mean not to have the jobs report?

[E]

Yeah, well, it means that labor economists can sleep in a little bit, especially those on the West Coast. They typically have to be at their computers at 5:30am Pacific Time to digest this potentially market moving information about how many jobs were added or subtracted in each industry and what happened to the workforce and whether the unemployment rate moved up or down. The monthly jobs report is one of the government's most closely watched economic releases. And the fact that it's not coming out on schedule this morning leaves people like Alison Srivastav, who's an economist with indeed feeling a little bit unsettled.

[A]

It's going to be very odd to.

[C]

Not be refreshing, refreshing, refreshing.

[A]

I guess I'll just slowly sip my coffee. I'm not sure. Take the dog for an extra long walk.

[E]

So good news for the dog, but not so good for businesses and policymakers who are left guessing about which way the economy's going.

[B]

I've just been sl sipping my coffee while listening to you. Where do forecasters think the economy is going?

[E]

Well, job growth has definitely slowed down in recent months. Forecasters thought today's report would show that employers added somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 jobs in September. That would be an improvement from the anemic job gains of the month before, but a big slowdown from September of last year. Now, University of Michigan economist Betsey Stevenson says some Slowdown in hiring is to be expected given the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

[C]

I think everybody agrees that it's not the kind of job growth we had a year ago. We can't sustain job growth that's that quick and get rid of a lot of our foreign born workers.

[E]

A key question for policymakers, though, including the ones at the Federal Reserve, is are we adding enough jobs to keep pace with the growth of the labor force and keep the unemployment rate from creeping higher? And it's just hard to know that without solid numbers from the government, you know, this is not a great time to be missing a report like this. It's as though we're driving on a fog road and we've just lost our headlights and our gps.

[B]

Well, I wonder if some other headlights are about to go out. Are there other reports likely to be affected here?

[E]

Yeah, if this drags on, we could see the inflation report delayed as well. That's due out in a couple of weeks. And ordinarily government price checkers would be gathering the information for that report right now. Even before the government shutdown, the Labor Department had been forced to scale back the number of price checks it conducts for the inflation report each month because of staffing cuts made by the Trump administration. So adding this shutdown on top of that, that doesn't help. Stevenson says she hopes lawmakers hurry up and work out their differences so that government number crunchers can get back to work.

[C]

I hope they can resolve this quickly and we can get back to our normal data releases.

[E]

By the way, the September inflation report is particularly important because it's one of three monthly inflation yardsticks that are used to calculate the annual cost of living increase that Social Security recipients will receive next year.

[B]

Scott, I heard some sounds in the background. Was that your dog wanting to go out for a walk?

[E]

He's ready and he's looking for an extra long walk today.

[B]

Okay, go for it, Go for it. You've got extra time. NPR Scott Horsley, thanks so much.

[E]

Good to be with you, Steve.

[B]

The Trump administration is continuing efforts to exert control over higher education.

[A]

This week, the White House sent a letter to several universities urging them to sign a formal agreement, what it's calling a compact, pledging to support many of President Trump's policy priorities. It follows earlier attempts, through canceling billions of dollars in research grants, to force changes at top universities.

[B]

NPR's Alyssa Nadworny is covering this story. Alyssa, good morning.

[C]

Good morning.

[B]

Okay, so what is in this letter or compact as they're calling it.

[C]

Well, it was first reported in the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the White House. Here's Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, speaking about it to reporters. This letter went out to multiple universities, as you know, and it's really a sign of encouragement for them to work alongside the administration to do what's right for their students in terms of ensuring free speech, in terms of preventing some of the anti Semitic and illegal behavior that we saw ravaging our college campuses last year. So some of the demands include holding tuition flat for five years, providing data on international students to the government, requiring schools to accept the government's definition of gender and apply it to campus bathrooms, locker rooms, and women's school sports teams. So it's a wide range of some more controversial, some more partisan, and some bipartisan ideas of what to do in higher ed.

[B]

Mainstream ideas. Yeah, understand, except some of them are more partisan. Right, Go on, go on.

[C]

And in return, schools are going to get a priority access to these federal grants. So the nine colleges that they picked include private schools like Massachusetts Institute of Technology or mit, and then also state schools like the University of Texas. And in response, there's been kind of a range from colleges. The chairman of the UT System Board of Regents said in a statement that the system was honored that its flagship campus, UT Austin, was chosen and said, quote, we welcome the new opportunity to working with the Trump administration on it. Other schools said they were reviewing it. Vanderbilt University said it was looking forward to providing meaningful feedback the administration. But, you know, critics see this as a threat to free speech, to academic independence. The American association of University Professors is urging colleges not to sign the compact.

[B]

Yes, some of these things would be popular with people, like freezing tuition. I understand that, but some of them are telling colleges what to say. And I suppose it also sets a precedent that the administration gets to set these standards for universities to get research grants and so forth. How does this alignment with other attempts to crack down on higher education?

[C]

You know, while this follows a similar playbook. But the biggest difference is, instead of threats, if you agree to these demands, it would provide a reward.

[B]

Got it.

[C]

So over the last eight months, the administration has canceled billions of dollars in federal research grants at many universities over a number of issues, including transgender policies, diversity, equity, inclusion programs, anti Semitism on campus. They've also spent months going back and forth with Harvard University, the wealthiest college in America, with the administration opening investigations, withholding fundings over similar demands. As recently as this week, the Department of Health and Human Services began a process that would essentially block Harvard from doing business with the government.

[B]

Isn't Harvard getting closer to a settlement with the administration?

[C]

Well, earlier this week, Trump told reporters that a deal was very close to being finalized. The two sides have been negotiating all summer. A settlement would restore research funding and close open federal investigations. It would nullify ongoing lawsuits between the two sides. Trump said the deal would likely include Harvard paying $500 million to fund workforce training. Here he is talking about it and.

[B]

You know, it's a big investment in.

[A]

Trade school done by very smart people.

[B]

And then their sins are forgiven.

[C]

And in recent months, Steve, you know, Trump is really focused on trade schools and the importance of workforce training. We saw this in the deal they made with Brown University over the summer where the school agreed to pay $50 million and instead of paying the federal government, they agreed to give that money to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island. And you know, I've reached out to Harvard about upcoming deal and officials there have not confirmed any settlement.

[B]

Okay. Well, we'll keep watching that. NPR's Alyssa and Edwin, thanks so much.

[C]

You bet.

[B]

And that's up first for this Friday, October 3rd. I'm Steve Inskeep.

[A]

And I'm Layla Falden. Reporting on the national security beat is one of the toughest jobs out there.

[E]

Spy agencies don't tell you what they're doing. By definition, they want to keep it secret.

[A]

This weekend on the Sunday Story, Aisha talks to ALL THINGS Considered host Mary Louise Kelly about her new podcast, Sources and Methods, where she is working to bring listeners inside the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community to understand America's shifting role in the world. Listen this weekend to the Sunday story right here in the up first podcast.

[B]

Today's up first was edited by Kelsey Snell, Raphael Nam, Steve Drummond, Mohamed El Bardisi and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Buch, Neha Demas and Lindsay Toddi. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Thank you for your support. And our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is the hard working Jay Shaler.

[D]

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