Up First from NPR
Deadline For Federal Workers, Reaction To Trump's Gaza Plan, Future Of US Foreign Aid
Thu, 06 Feb 2025
Federal workers must decide today whether to accept an offer to resign. After calling for the US to take over Gaza, President Trump has also promised an announcement about the West Bank, and humanitarian programs around the world are being shut down as most USAID workers have been put on leave. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp, Nishant Dahiya, Rebecca Davis, Janaya Williams and Ally Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts of Up First and what is today's episode about?
good morning to you you said good morning a martinez didn't say good morning he's too good for me oh morning no no i say hello because you don't want to presume it is a good morning for you or me do you say hola if you're speaking in spanish hola hello you don't say buenos dias um buenos dias i've had a turn on that one because it's like how dare you tell me to have a good day
You don't want to presume to instruct other people to be happy.
Then I'm responsible if they don't have a good day. Oh. And I've got to wait until the end of the day to hear if it was a good day. No, I don't want that kind of pressure, Steve. Okay. Next time I see you, I'm just going to say, Diaz. Diaz.
Federal workers face a deadline today to take an offer to resign. I don't know anybody who's considering taking it who wasn't already planning on retiring.
So says an employee at the Labor Department. What's the administration's next move?
I'm Ian Martinez, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. When President Trump made a surprise declaration about Gaza, he also promised an announcement about the West Bank. What are people thinking there? Our correspondent is in the West Bank to find out.
Also, how is the U.S. competing for influence in the world as the administration tries to shut down a foreign aid agency? The administration told workers for USAID they should all return from abroad.
We just lost the battle. It's not because we were fighting and we lost. We took our troops and we went home.
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Chapter 2: What is the deadline for federal workers and what does it mean?
Thank you.
Let's get a picture of what the United States is no longer doing as the administration tries to shut down a foreign aid agency.
Yeah, the Trump administration has put most of the agency's global workforce on administrative leave and frozen the majority of its budget. Elon Musk claimed without evidence that the U.S. Agency for International Development is corrupt or criminal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he wants to make sure the work aligns with the national interest. Until recent days, the U.S.
was the largest donor of foreign aid in the world.
And Piers, Gabrielle Emanuel covers global health and has some facts to put all this in context. Good morning.
Hi.
Okay, so when we say the U.S. has been the largest donor of foreign aid, how much are we talking about?
If you look at 2023, total foreign assistance was $66 billion. It reached a lot of people, but it represented less than 1% of the U.S. budget.
Okay, so we certainly spend more on other things, but it's $66 billion, which is a lot for foreign aid. What did that mean for certain places like, say, Ukraine, where the United States has paid so much attention?
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