Up First from NPR
Democrat In-Fighting; Conservative Media on Trump; Mahmoud Khalil's Wife Speaks
Sat, 15 Mar 2025
The partisan, Republican stopgap budget was narrowly passed by the Senate with the help of a few Democrats. Some Congressional Democrats view that vote as a betrayal. Plus, we look at how the conservative news media, often favorable of President Trump, is covering the economic consequences of his policies. Plus, we hear from Noor Abdalla, wife of Palestinian student and activist Mahmoud Khalil, who is now facing deportation over his role in campus protests.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What led to the Democratic infighting over the budget vote?
No government shutdown, for now.
One key Democratic vote from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer helped the Republican bill advance.
And some of his fellow Democrats view that as wrong.
I'm Aisha Roscoe.
I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News.
The Republican spending bill narrowly passed the Senate last night with help from a few Democratic lawmakers.
That move led to infighting in a party already in turmoil. We'll have more on that.
Plus, conservative media usually puts a positive spin on President Trump's policies. But how are they covering the economic fallout?
And we'll hear from the wife of a Palestinian graduate student and activist who faces deportation.
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Chapter 2: Why did Chuck Schumer vote for the Republican spending bill?
And our congressional correspondent, Barbara Sprunt, joins us. Barbara, thanks for being with us.
Hey, thanks for having me.
This was an abrupt shift from the minority leader, Chuck Schumer. What happened?
That's right. Schumer had said Republicans didn't get input from Democrats when drafting this bill, and so they wouldn't get the Democratic votes they'd need to advance it. Instead, he wanted to pass a one-month funding bill to give them more time to negotiate a deal. But on Thursday, he made a U-turn, and he said he was going to vote to advance the bill.
Schumer and the nine other Democrats who ultimately voted alongside him argued the bill was bad, yes, but a government shutdown would be worse. They said it would enable President Trump and his top advisor, Elon Musk, to further gut federal agencies. And their support enabled Republicans to ultimately pass the bill largely along party lines.
Barbara, would it be fair to say that Senator Schumer's colleagues just didn't see this coming?
It would be fair. I was at a conference in Virginia with House Democrats when Schumer made this announcement. I saw jaws drop. I saw heads shake. Members were really upset. They said they felt betrayed because they had voted on the same bill earlier this week and all but one voted against it. It was a tough vote for a lot of members, particularly those in vulnerable districts.
But the caucus banded together to present a united front and make a strong show of opposition against They said that the bill was essentially a blank check for Trump because it doesn't rein in the administration's efforts to cut spending that was previously approved by Congress. Here's New York Congressman Joe Morelli reacting to Schumer's comments.
I think they're going to rue the day they make this decision. I think this just gives, you know, license to Republicans continue to dismantle the government. They now have the acquiescence of Senate Democrats.
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Chapter 3: How is conservative media reacting to Trump's economic policies?
A what? The Atlanta Federal Reserve. 2.4% contraction? Correct.
And that's somebody who goes out of her way to frame things in the best possible way for Trump most of the time. She just got an appointment from Trump to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
And how have other pro-Trump outlets covered this moment?
I think you look at the four Ds, defend, deflect, deny, disregard. You've seen that in a bunch of right-wing pro-Trump outlets. Take Newsmax's Rob Finnerty. He recently debated Ontario Premier Doug Ford about Canada's reaction to Trump's tariff moves.
How is that fair? I think that Donald Trump just wants to get the best deal for the American consumer, even if that means some pain in the short term.
There are other right wing and pro-Trump sites that simply are focusing the blame on former President Joe Biden for whatever is going wrong now or might in the future.
Well, what do you think the impact of this coverage will be?
Well, I think these things are both a leading and a lagging indicator. They tell you where these outlets think their audiences are. And in the case of Fox, where they hope to get the president to, because they know few people are watching Fox and the media more closely than he does.
That's NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, thanks so much for joining us. The Israeli government denies that its campaign against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. South Africa is arguing in the International Court of Justice that it does. The case is yet to be decided.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Democratic rift for future policy?
And I'm Scott Simon.
Martin Patience produced today's episode with help from Ryan Bank and Phil Harrell.
Our editors are Dee Parvez, Shannon Rhodes, Ed McNulty, Kelsey Snell, and Harizu Razvani.
Andrew Craig is our director with support from technical director Andy Huther.
And the engineers who help us out, David Greenberg, Zach Coleman, and Arthur Halliday-Lorentz.
Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor, and Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer. Jim Cain is our deputy managing editor.
Tomorrow on the Sunday Story with Ayesha, what's it like to report on a war in a place that is also your home? We'll hear from NPR producer Anas Baba, who has been covering the war in Gaza and covering events that Israel has banned foreign journalists from seeing firsthand.
And for more news, interviews, sports, and music, you can tune in to Week in Edition on your radio. Go to stations.npr.org to find your local NPR station.
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