Michelle Martin (2:17)

NPR Stephen Fowler is here to help explain how food benefits for low income Americans are now being pulled into a political pressure campaign during the government shutdown. Stephen, good morning.

Stephen Fowler (2:27)

Good morning.

Michelle Martin (2:28)

So who gets SNAP benefits and why are they going away this weekend?

Stephen Fowler (2:32)

Well, Michelle, one in eight Americans receive SNAP benefits. Many of them are children, senior citizens and low income working families. The U.S. department of Agriculture says the well has run dry. But because of the government shutdown, SNAP benefits are mandated by law. But the funds come from annual appropriations. Since Congress didn't pass a spending plan for the fiscal year that started October 1st, there are no appropriations to cover the roughly $8 billion a month that it takes to handle SNAP benefits now under the hood. When Congress does pass a budget, federal agencies are given treasury accounts where money is available for a certain period of time to be spent. The the account where SNAP benefits would come from this fiscal year doesn't exist yet and has no money to be put inside of it. But there's a little under $6 billion in contingency fund accounts that some budget experts tell NPR should be used to fund benefits. The Trump administration disagrees.

Michelle Martin (3:26)

How come?

Stephen Fowler (3:27)

Well, there's this memo released Friday by the USDA that argues it's actually illegal to use these contingency funds to pay for benefits. Right now the, the administration claims that the emergency money is only able to be used as a supplement when there's regularly appropriated funds, which because of the shutdown, there are not. Those budget experts I spoke with also point to the funding bills that created the contingency funds intended for use as necessary to, quote, carry out program operations.

Michelle Martin (3:54)

So this would seem like this is a matter of interpretation, but you know, Stephen, this month we've seen the White House find money to pay active duty military members and to tout tariff transfers to extend coverage of wic. That's nutrition assistance that serves low income women, infants and children. Why is this different?

Stephen Fowler (4:11)

Well, you know, the USDA's initial plan for the shutdown mentioned the contingency funds as an option and indicated that Congress intended for snap's operations to continue in a shutdown. That plan has been removed from their website. As for wic, if you look at federal budget documents, you can see the $300 million that has been transferred to that program from a child nutrition account funded by a of last year's tariff revenues. The USDA says further transfers to cover SNAP would jeopardize other nutrition programs like school meals. I also looked into the federal government's budget data and found that just like snap, there aren't actually treasury accounts that exist that allow the military to get paid this fiscal year. But the Trump administration chose to make those payments and say that unused research funds were close enough in purpose to make it work.

Michelle Martin (4:58)

You know, it would seem that there have been a lot of choices made during the shutdown that are aimed at putting pressure on Democrats to reopen the government. Is this one of them?

Stephen Fowler (5:07)

Well, the USDA website blames Democrats for the shutdown and for no more SNAP funds. Same with the memo outlining why the administration won't use those contingency funds this month. The White House has tried to fire workers and slash spending to what it calls, quote, Democrat programs that targets policies Democrats tend to support in areas Democrats tend to live shut down or not, though, Michelle, that's been the Trump administration's goal this whole year, punishing Democrats and restructuring the government.

Michelle Martin (5:33)

Okay. That is npr. Stephen Fowler. Stephen, thank you.

Stephen Fowler (5:36)

Thank you.

Michelle Martin (5:44)

Just a few hours ago, President Trump addressed US Troops while visiting Japan.

Steve Inskeep (5:49)

And on behalf of all Americans, I just want to say, and I came.

Ada Peralta (5:52)

Over to say it loud and clear. Thank you very much.

Steve Inskeep (5:54)

Thank you. Thank you. The president was also notably friendly toward the country that has hosted American troops since 1945. It is part of Trump's brand to disparage longtime allies from Canada to Germany and beyond. But he sounded different in Tokyo, where the two countries announced friendly gestures on everything from rare earth minerals to their stance on China to cherry trees.

Michelle Martin (6:20)

White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is traveling with the president and she's with us now to tell us more about the ship. Good morning, Deepra, I guess. Good afternoon. Where you are.

Deepa Shivaram (6:26)

Well, yep. Good evening.

Michelle Martin (6:28)

Good evening. Okay, so how did Trump talk about Japan?

Deepa Shivaram (6:32)

Yeah, it was really interesting. I mean, he even just in the days leading up to this Asia trip, was telling reporters that he was really looking forward to meeting the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. She was recently elected. She's the country's first female prime minister. And she and Trump kind of share a little bit of common ground because both the president and prime minister were close with the former Japanese prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. So Trump was really kind of building this meeting up. They spoke over the phone, even just on the way Trump traveling to Asia. So they had spoken before, but this was the first day that they had met. And today when he was addressing the troops in Japan, he actually brought the prime minister up on stage to make her own remarks. So, yeah, the two of them really were getting along. And that sort of was reciprocated in many ways, one of them being that the White House announced earlier today that the prime minister nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Michelle Martin (7:23)

So what else was discussed in that meeting?

Deepa Shivaram (7:25)

Yeah, they covered a lot of different topics. Japan and the US Signed an agreement on where earth's minerals, and they also discussed the Russia, Ukraine war. They also signed an agreement that essentially says the US And Japan are in a, quote, golden age of their alliance. Like I said, the leaders seem to be getting along really well, and that translates to the country's relationship. Both the prime minister and the president were actually both late coming into the meeting, and they apologized to reporters because they were watching the third game of the World Series together. And Trump said in his remarks, you know, anything that Japan needed, the US Would be there for.

Steve Inskeep (7:58)

Anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there. We are an ally at the strongest level.

Deepa Shivaram (8:04)

And you know, Michelle, just to put this into context, especially when it comes to trade, there is a framework for a US Japan trade deal that was agreed to earlier this year, and that's a 15% tariff on Japan's exports. And it also includes Japan investing $550 billion in the U.S. it is possible that some of that could be renegotiated. But in the meantime, on top of that, Japan has also recently purchased more military equipment from the US is considering buying Ford F150 trucks from the US as well. And they announced today in the meeting that in honor of America's 250th birthday next year, Japan's gifting the US 250 new cherry trees to D.C. which of course has the famous cherry blossom trees around the Tidal Basin that are from Japan.

Michelle Martin (8:48)

So the president heads to Korea next. What's on deck for that Stop?

Deepa Shivaram (8:52)

Right. So that's tomorrow's trip. He's heading to Korea. The big event there is going to be his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday on a lot of up and downs in the trade negotiations that are still being worked out. But even before that, Trump is going to meet with Korea's President Lee. And the trade deal with South Korea isn't finalized. There's negotiations still going on. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said that a deal is not likely to come out of the meeting this week and there's just ongoing discussions with that.

Michelle Martin (9:19)

That is NPR's Deepa Shivaram traveling with the president in Tokyo. Deepa, thank you.

Deepa Shivaram (9:23)

Thank you.

Michelle Martin (9:31)

Jamaica is bracing for a Category 5 hurricane that is expected to make landfall this morning.

Steve Inskeep (9:36)

Hurricane Melissa is the strongest hurricane ever to hit the island and its winds are starting to build there.

Michelle Martin (9:42)

NPR's Ada Peralta is following the story from Mexico City. Good morning to you, Ader.

Ada Peralta (9:46)

Hey, good morning, Michelle.

Michelle Martin (9:47)

So where are we expecting this hurricane to come on shore?

Ada Peralta (9:51)

Look, last night Hurricane Melissa essentially paused For a few hours. It wasn't moving very much. But now it has made a northeasterly turn and in the next few hours it will pummel Jamaica's southeastern coast. This is a monster storm and that's not an overstatement. The National Hurricane center says it has wind gusts of 175 mph, making it one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. And it will become the strongest storm in recorded history to make landfall in Jamaica. For Jamaica, this only compares to Hurricane Gilbert, which made landfall as a category four in 1988 in Jamaica.

Michelle Martin (10:28)

Do we know anything about the damage so far, even with the storm still off the coast?

Ada Peralta (10:34)

Yeah, the strongest winds are not yet on shore, and it has been a long wait because this hurricane has been meandering just off the coast since last week. Last night, as the winds were picking up, our producer in Kingston spoke to Aximo Smith, who was watching waves from a pier. And he said what worried him immediately is that they had waited so long for the storm that that they had already begun digging into their emergency supplies. Our emergency supplies are almost finished, some actually finished already, so hope for the best. Look, this is a serious storm, as serious as it gets. The whole island, which has a population of around 3 million, will be pummeled. And forecasters say we should expect catastrophic damage. Winds of that speed will cause total structural failure and they're going to cause severe damage to the infrastructure. Not only that, but the coastal areas will get a huge storm surge of up to 13ft. And we should note that three people have already died during the preparation stage of the storm. All three were killed by accidents involving the trimming of trees.

Michelle Martin (11:40)

What has the government said about recovery?

Ada Peralta (11:42)

I mean, the government says that it is ready. They say that crews will be immediately clearing roads and trying to get the power back on. And they say they're ready to begin distributing aid as soon as this storm passes. But last night, government officials said they were worried because few Jamaicans had actually sought shelter. The winds were already picking up, and officials said that out of the 881 shelters, only 133 of them had people in them. So a lot of them were completely empty. Government officials were out last night trying to convince people to evacuate before the winds got too strong. Local government Minister Desmond Mackenzie warned that many parishes were about to get hit very hard. And I want to urge persons in.

Steve Inskeep (12:26)

These parishes to get to higher ground.

Michelle Martin (12:31)

As quickly as possible.

Ada Peralta (12:33)

So he's saying get to higher ground away from the coast. And as this storm approaches, it makes you wonder how many of these people in lower elevations. It makes you wonder how they will fare, that is.

Michelle Martin (12:45)

And Perez Adaparalto, he's reporting from Mexico City. Ader, thank you.

Ada Peralta (12:48)

Thank you, Michelle.

Michelle Martin (12:56)

If you're just waking up on the east coast, you barely missed the ending of one of the greatest World Series games we've ever seen. Or read about since I was already asleep.

Steve Inskeep (13:05)

There you go. Exactly. Game three. The LA Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays. And the Dodgers won in the 18th inning. Yes, the 18th inning double time game. It ran more than six hours. It ties for the longest World Series game ever.

Michelle Martin (13:20)

And that other game also the Dodgers back in 2018. That game ended with a walk off home run in the 18th and history repeated itself when slugger Freddie Freeman hit this bomb. Here is the call on Fox Sports.

Stephen Fowler (13:35)

Freeman sends a fly ball to center field. Varsho's going back before the clock strikes midnight.

Steve Inskeep (13:41)

Barney Freeman has ended it. Okay, so the Dodgers are up two games to one. And now after a mere 15 hours of rest, the two teams will meet again for game four of the World Series at 8:00 Eastern tonight.

Michelle Martin (13:58)

And that's up first for Tuesday, October 28th. I'm Michelle Martin.

Steve Inskeep (14:02)

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Up first gets you caught up and Morning Edition takes you deeper. We're live every morning on your local NPR station with reporting, interviews and the context behind the headlines. And if you want to listen in the afternoon, you can do that too, because you can download the NPR app and listen anytime. You can also listen to All Things Considered on the radio. But anyway, you can find all of NPR's most popular shows, including Up first and Morning Edition, all mixed together on the app. So many options to get the news you need to start your day.

Michelle Martin (14:33)

Today's episode of up first was edited by Dana Farrington, Padmarama Tara Neel, Mohamed El Bardisi and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Baj, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Damien Herring Nathan and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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