Up First from NPR
Government Shutdown Averted, German Christmas Market Attack, Netflix And The NFL
Sat, 21 Dec 2024
Congress approved a short-term spending deal to keep government running until mid-March. A man drove a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least five. Netflix again plans to stream major sporting events live, after a rocky first attempt last month.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
The federal government will stay open at least until mid-March.
Congress ratifies a bipartisan short-term spending plan to avert a government shutdown this weekend.
I'm Scott Simon.
And I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. Republicans defy the demands of President-elect Donald Trump and vote in favor of the deal.
He wanted any spending package to also raise the debt ceiling, but the debt ceiling is going to stay where it is for now.
We'll have more on that story, plus a car plows into a busy Christmas market in Germany, killing at least five people and leaving more than 200 injured.
And Netflix tries once more to stream major sports events, this time with two NFL games on Christmas Day.
Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.
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Lawmakers voted late last night to approve the short-term spending package just as the federal government was about to shut down.
But not until after Trump interfered with his own demands and threats.
NPR political correspondent Susan Davis joins us. Sue, thanks for being with us. You're welcome. Just after midnight, renegotiated legislation was approved. What's in it?
Well, it's a slimmed down version of the original bipartisan deal that was derailed earlier in the week after Trump and one of his newest top lieutenants, billionaire businessman Elon Musk, came out in opposition to it after it had been negotiated. It still keeps the government on autopilot until mid-March. So don't worry, they get to do this all over again in the spring.
It still includes about $100 billion for states still recovering from natural disasters like North Carolina and Hawaii. And it still extends farm programs for about a year. Speaker Mike Johnson removed some previously agreed upon measures to cover things like pediatric cancer research funding, although I should note the Senate has
ultimately passed that last night as a standalone measure and a measure to try to control prescription drug costs because it was seen as too big of a giveaway to Democrats. One other thing, it's just shorter. Musk and others helped drive opposition to the bill, in part because it was initially 1,500 pages long. Conservatives really don't like behemoth legislation like that.
The new bill was just about 120 pages.
And this was something of a political aim for Donald Trump, who isn't, of course, not going to be president for another month. What did the president-elect get out of this legislation?
You know, I think Trump and his allies are going to point to things like the removal of a provision that would have given members of Congress their first pay raise in about 17 years. They didn't like the way that looked, especially at Christmastime for the party. But, Scott, I think a lot of this episode this week potentially exposed – More of Trump's political weaknesses.
He tried to strong arm into the bill an unconditional increase in the debt ceiling. That's the nation's borrowing limit because he wanted to do it on President Biden's watch to alleviate the political pressure on his administration to do it when that vote happens likely sometime next summer. Not only is it not in the deal, but a failed second attempt to passage was rejected by 38 House Republicans.
That's a pretty big number. willing to directly defy Trump. And they did it even after he explicitly threatened to primary anyone who opposed his plans in the 2026 midterms, saying simply they don't seem to be afraid of that threat.
Let me ask you about the status of Elon Musk following all this. Richest man in the world. Also now one of the most powerful men in politics.
Absolutely. You know, Musk was really a central figure in killing this original deal. He used his social media platform X to drive public opposition to it. He was cheering on Republican lawmakers who were coming out in opposition to it. He and Vivek Ramaswamy are about to head up a new non-governmental entity that was created by Trump. It's called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk says they want to find about $2 trillion in spending cuts to the federal budget. That's a pretty big sum of money. And it's clear he intends to be a player here in these budgetary fights. And the next Congress is going to have a lot of them. Remember, Scott, the Trump tax cuts expire at the end of 2025. Republicans need to pass a budget first in order to extend them.
They still need to pass all 12 spending bills from the last fiscal year and 12 more for this fiscal year. And the other lesson this week is that Republicans can't do any of it without Democrats. They need their votes in the House to pass anything spending related because there's always going to be a group of hardline conservatives who are going to oppose it.
And Senate Democrats still have the filibuster. So they're still going to have a seat at the table in any spending talks in the next Congress as well.
And House Speaker Mike Johnson, up for reelection or replacement on January 3rd? Yeah. Are his prospects good?
It's really hard to say, but they're not looking great. For no other reason, he has almost no room for error. And it's unclear if Donald Trump's going to continue to back him for the job. He's going to have to preside over one of the narrowest majorities in history, and he can only lose one, two, maybe three votes and hold on to that gavel. So the new Congress could open on a fairly chaotic note.
Remember, the House can't do a single thing until they elect a speaker. And we saw this happen just last fall when Republicans kicked out Speaker McCarthy. The House didn't operate for 21 days until Mike Johnson ultimately won that race. He and the House of Representatives could be facing a similar fate in just a few weeks.
And para-political correspondent Susan Davis, thanks so much. You're welcome.
Authorities in Germany say a man intentionally drove a BMW into an outdoor Christmas market yesterday in the city of Magdeburg.
They have identified the man as a Saudi doctor who has lived in the country for about two decades. His motive remains unclear. Reporter Rebecca Collard joins us. Thank you for being with us. Hi. And begin, please, by telling us some of the details of yesterday's incident.
Yeah, so yesterday's attack took place about 7 p.m. local time. And you can see in this security camera footage that's being run on German media that the incident looks really terrifying. You can imagine for those that were inside this crowded market when this happened, just how scary this must have been. You can see this car barreling into the market through the crowd.
And police say that the car traveled some 400 meters into the market before it was stopped. The official death toll was increased this morning and so was the number of people that are in serious condition. The police have also raided the home of the suspect but really haven't provided more details about him, Scott.
You know, what we know is that he's a 50-year-old man of Saudi origin, a doctor, that he's been living in Germany since 2006. And we also know that he was living just south of where this attack took place. Police have also said that this man, they think, acted alone.
But despite that, a number of Christmas markets and events have been canceled and security has been increased in a lot of locations across Germany.
And nothing determined yet about any possible motive, I guess.
Yeah, you know, there's nothing official about the motive, even though the suspect is in police custody. I will say, you know, yesterday as this news broke and police said this man was of Saudi origin, immediately there were comparisons to the Christmas market attack here in Berlin in 2016. I think that is still, you know, very much etched in the minds of Berliners.
You know, then a man drove a truck through a crowded Christmas market, killing 13 people. And that attack, of course, was claimed by the Islamic State. Now, police have not released the suspect's name in this attack, which is normal here. But despite that, there's been an awful lot of speculation online and in the news media as to his identity, but also as to the motive of this attack.
German media are saying that the suspect has actually been sharing anti-Islamic opinions online. and even expressing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, which is a party that wants to curb immigration. And some of the AFD, Alternative for Germany Party members, have even been accused of racism and Islamophobia in the past.
And then interestingly, Scott, after visiting the site today, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters that the suspect in this attack, this man of Saudi origin, was clearly Islamophobic. But the minister did not elaborate on his political affiliations. I do think that all of this speculation reflects a very intense political moment in Germany right now.
Elections are scheduled for February and much of the debate here has really focused on both immigration and security.
And I gather Chancellor Scholz visited the market earlier today. What did he have to say?
Yeah, I think a lot of the things that you would expect a chancellor to say in this position. So he talked about solidarity with the victims, solidarity with the city, solidarity with Germans as a whole. And he said, of course, it's important that Germans not be divided by hate, but instead be united. You know, the chancellor said he also had received messages of support from around the world.
And he said that an investigation is being carried out and that it is important to understand how this attack happened and also its motivation. And, you know, Scott, just for a bit of context, Scholz lost a vote of confidence last week. And as I said, Germans are going to the polls in February.
And the future of Chancellor Scholz, his partners in this now broken political coalition is very uncertain. Schultz arrived at the market with the Minister of Interior and then the Minister of Justice, as well as the state premier, who said that there will be a memorial service held this evening.
Reporter Rebecca Collard in Berlin, thanks so much.
Netflix has streamed live events before, but they are stepping up their game this Christmas Day.
Netflix will try to bring two live NFL games to viewers around the world.
And a Beyonce halftime show to boot. Can Netflix handle that traffic? John Oran is here to tell us more. He covers sports and business for Puck News. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you for having me, Aisha.
OK, so as I mentioned before, Netflix has hosted live events before. There was last month's boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, as well as a live reunion last year for the reality show Love is Blind. How have these live events gone in the past?
Well, there have been a couple of hiccups, particularly with the boxing match. When people did get in, sometimes there were too many people that were watching so that everything got buffered. The video wasn't as clear as people are expecting when they watch live events.
So one of the main things I'm going to be watching for Christmas is to see whether people have problems coming in to watch the NFL games. And particularly, as you mentioned, when Beyonce ends up being the halftime show, we know from the Super Bowl, the halftime show gets the highest ratings by far for the game because there's a crush of people that want to come in to see that.
But really, this is a short-term problem. Amazon has proved that it can get tens of millions of streams and still provide a quality broadcast with no buffering. I have no doubt that Netflix will get there. I do have some doubt whether they'll be able to get there next week or not.
What's in it for the NFL? There is that risk of technical issues, even if that's just short term. They're also competing against Christmas Day NBA games. So what is the upside for the NFL?
Oh, there's huge upside for the NFL. All of the sports leagues have been praying and trying to cajole Netflix into coming in and being a serious bidder for these rights. Because if Netflix comes in to be a serious bidder for these rights, it's like buying a house. If you get more than one bidder, the prices are going to go up.
And what you have now is that you have NFL packages that all of the broadcast networks have, that Amazon has. If they get one more bidder involved that could say like, oh, you know what? I want to take Monday Night Football off of ESPN. And that bidder has deep pockets like Netflix. Sports rights are going to continue to soar.
Are the viewers, the fans of these sports, are they making the jump to streaming? Like, right now it seems like they need a cable package, Amazon Prime Video. They might need Peacock. Are they going to have to add Netflix to the list? I mean, this could be a lot just for the fan to keep up.
You know, you mentioned the NFL. Imagine being a New York Yankees fan and you need to get Roku. You need to get Apple TV Plus. You need to get Amazon Prime. You need to get a cable subscription to watch it on Yes Network. All the leagues know that fans are getting disenfranchised by having these games going across so many different outlets like that.
Right now, there's still a little bit of a testing mode. So yeah, you're going to have to get a Netflix subscription if you want to watch every single NFL game, in addition to cable, in addition to Amazon, in addition to there was an exclusive game on Peacock as well. There's this exclusive game on ESPN+. That is going to change eventually, I would assume.
Netflix has secured the streaming rights for the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women's World Cups. What does that tell you about the company's kind of longer-term strategy when it comes to sports?
There are going to be a lot of headlines about this deal saying, here comes Netflix. But really, this is still kind of dabbling in sports to me. Netflix had the opportunity to get a significant NBA package, and it declined to do that because that wasn't going to be a couple of hundred million dollars like the Women's World Cup, right? That was going to be an investment in the billions of dollars.
And they're not quite ready to make that sort of statement yet. But you certainly see where the trend line is going. And when the next batch of rights are up by the end of this decade, which is when Major League Baseball rights are up, the NFL is going to potentially be up in 2029, 2030. This is a step toward then to where we'll be looking to see if Netflix gets really serious or not.
That's John Oran. He covers sports and business for Puck News. Thank you so much for joining us.
That was fun. Thank you for having me.
And that's up first for Saturday, December 21st, 2024. I'm Scott Simon.
And I'm Aisha Roscoe.
Our producer is Martin Patience, who had help from Andrew Craig, Elena Tworek, and Gabe O'Connor.
Our director is Danny Hensel.
Our editors are Kelsey Snell, Nick Spicer, Shannon Rhodes, Will Jarvis, and Matthew Sherman.
Andy Huther is our technical director with engineering support from Zach Coleman, David Greenberg, and Arthur Halliday-Lorent.
Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer. And also along with us this week, Julia Redpath.
Luis Clemens is our deputy managing editor.
Tomorrow on the Sunday story from Up First.
The story of a young black man convicted for killing a white businessman and how he remained in prison even as witnesses recanted their testimony.
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It'll be a holiday treat.
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