Transcript

9.17.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Thursday,
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Speaker 1: September 17th, 2026. As a reminder, Radio Eye is a
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Speaker 1: reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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Speaker 1: other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Speaker 1: Your reader for today is Roger Hampirian. Today's front page
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Speaker 1: headlines from the Washington Post are as follows. U.S. Measles
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Speaker 1: Crisis Bewailed at Hill Hearing. Next, Pump prices are poised
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Speaker 1: for a big leap, analysts say. Next, Republicans on trail
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Speaker 1: ignore Trump's advice. Next, Fed raises interest rates. Next, Trump,
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Speaker 1: Kennedy Center could be ripped down. And finally, arch harm
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Speaker 1: to historic sites is conceded. The first article from the
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Speaker 1: front page of today's edition is titled, Senator Cassidy says
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Speaker 1: measles surge will be administration's terrible legacy. Under questioning by
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Speaker 1: Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, Trump's Surgeon General pick
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Speaker 1: Nicole Sapphire called a combined vaccine our greatest tool for
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Speaker 1: combating measles infections. By Rachel Rubin. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican
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Speaker 1: of Louisiana, on Wednesday said the nation's worst measles outbreak
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Speaker 1: in the United States in 35 years is going to
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Speaker 1: be a terrible legacy for this administration, citing recent deaths
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Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. Misinformation and misguided policies are leaving children and
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Speaker 1: adults unprotected against disease that we know how to prevent. Cassidy,
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Speaker 1: a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,
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Speaker 1: and Pensions Committee, said at the outset of a hearing
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Speaker 1: for three administration nominees, The United States this year has
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Speaker 1: reported the most measles cases since 1991, surpassing last year's
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Speaker 1: total with months left to go. Pennsylvania state health officials
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Speaker 1: said Tuesday that the state has recorded a total of
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Speaker 1: four measles-associated deaths for the year. Last month, President Donald
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Speaker 1: Trump launched his most significant attempt yet to overhaul childhood vaccinations,
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Speaker 1: issuing an executive order calling for cutting the number of
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Speaker 1: recommended childhood shots and breaking up the combined measles, mumps,
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Speaker 1: and rubella MMR vaccine into three separate doses. It deeply
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Speaker 1: concerns me to see politicians giving medical advice which has
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Speaker 1: zero scientific backing. Scaring mothers into delaying or even altogether
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Speaker 1: skipping their child's vaccine is wrong, and it makes America sicker,
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Speaker 1: not healthier, said Cassidy, who lost his primary bid for
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Speaker 1: re-election this year. Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman
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Speaker 1: Emily Hilliard said in a statement, that any notion that
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Speaker 1: the Trump administration is discouraging measles vaccination is absolutely fake news.
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Speaker 1: She added that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has
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Speaker 1: repeatedly stated that MMR vaccination is the most effective way
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Speaker 1: to prevent measles infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
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Speaker 1: Hilliard said, has mounted an aggressive measles response and offered
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Speaker 1: further assistance to Pennsylvania. Trump's executive order, she added, ensures
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Speaker 1: that federal vaccine policy is grounded in rigorous scientific review
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Speaker 1: and gives parents accurate information to make informed decisions with
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Speaker 1: their health care providers. The recent deaths in Pennsylvania have
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Speaker 1: launched a bitter political feud between Governor Josh Shapiro, a
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Speaker 1: Democrat who is widely expected to run for president, and Kennedy,
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Speaker 1: the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group. Democrats and public
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Speaker 1: health experts contend that Kennedy has a history of downplaying
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Speaker 1: measles outbreaks and that his rhetoric over the years has
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Speaker 1: undermined immunizations. Kennedy has accused Shapiro of using the moment
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Speaker 1: for political gain. During Wednesday's hearing, Senators quizzed Nicole Sapphire,
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Speaker 1: Trump's pick for Surgeon General, and two other high-profile nominees
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Speaker 1: on a range of topics, including state abortion bans, fentanyl
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Speaker 1: test strips, and the authorization of the first fruit-flavored vapes
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Speaker 1: for adults. In the spring, Trump selected Sapphire, a former
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Speaker 1: news contributor and radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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Speaker 1: in New York, to be the nation's top doctor, marking
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Speaker 1: his third attempt to fill the role. Cassidy said the
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Speaker 1: Americans will look to Sapphire for clear medical guidance. He
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Speaker 1: repeatedly quizzed her on her stance on several vaccines, asking
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Speaker 1: her not to equivocate. He asked her what she would
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Speaker 1: tell a mom who asks if the MMR vaccine causes autism. Well, humbly,
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Speaker 1: I don't know what causes autism, but I have not
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Speaker 1: seen reputable evidence that would suggest that vaccines cause autism,
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Speaker 1: she said. After Cassidy accused her of leaving wiggle room
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Speaker 1: in her response, she said, I do not believe childhood
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Speaker 1: vaccines cause autism. Last month, Trump said that the combined
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Speaker 1: MMR vaccine could be quite lethal. without citing scientific evidence.
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Speaker 1: Under Trump's plan, vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella would
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Speaker 1: remain recommended for all children. He has called for breaking
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Speaker 1: up the immunization into three separate shots, which are not
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Speaker 1: currently available in the United States. His directives on childhood
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Speaker 1: immunizations are not currently in effect, since they involve a
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Speaker 1: lengthy administrative process. Sapphire said she could not speak to
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Speaker 1: the President's remarks adding that as a physician, she does
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Speaker 1: not believe the vaccine to be lethal and that it
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Speaker 1: is our greatest tool for combating measles infections. Two other
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Speaker 1: nominees also appeared before the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday.
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Speaker 1: Chris Klomp, who is vying for the health department's number
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Speaker 1: two slot, however, the decision on whether to advance the
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Speaker 1: nomination of Klomp, who came into the administration as the
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Speaker 1: top Medicare official and has been serving as Kennedy's chief
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Speaker 1: counselor since February, will go through the Senate Finance Committee.
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Speaker 1: Senators also questioned Timothy Westlake, Trump's pick to head the
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Speaker 1: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which leads policy
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Speaker 1: efforts on mental health and addiction. He is a board-certified
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Speaker 1: emergency physician. Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, asked
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Speaker 1: about fentanyl test strips, saying she has heard from constituents
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Speaker 1: that the products help prevent fatal overdoses and by testing
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Speaker 1: whether a drug has been mixed or cut with the
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Speaker 1: powerful synthetic opioid. Westlake said that he does not believe
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Speaker 1: there is concrete evidence the strips reduce drug overdoses. Cassidy
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Speaker 1: questioned Klomp on a CDC national tally of measles deaths,
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Speaker 1: which has excluded two that state health officials reported in
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Speaker 1: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The move, which former officials have described
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Speaker 1: as highly unusual, came from Erica Schwartz, the agency's new director.
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Speaker 1: the Washington Post previously reported. Cassidy said he's spoken with Schwartz,
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Speaker 1: who said the agency is working on a definition for
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Speaker 1: deaths due to measles. If people are dying from measles,
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Speaker 1: the American people should know that, Cassidy said. And there's
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Speaker 1: at least the perception, whether it's true or not, that
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Speaker 1: the CDC not putting on that website is trying to
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Speaker 1: dance around the sensitivities of the secretary as opposed to
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Speaker 1: being straightforward with the American people. Plum said he's discussed
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Speaker 1: the issue directly with Swartz, not as a matter of policy,
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Speaker 1: but as a matter of process and operations, adding that
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Speaker 1: she's meeting with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
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Speaker 1: to develop a standard for declaring a measles-related death. The
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Speaker 1: government should promote measles vaccination as a response to the outbreak,
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Speaker 1: he added. Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado, said, asked
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Speaker 1: each nominee how they intend to preserve the integrity and
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Speaker 1: independence of scientists and health experts working at their agencies.
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Speaker 1: Former CDC Director Susan Monteres was fired last year, and
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Speaker 1: three other high-ranking officials at the agency resigned a year
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Speaker 1: ago to protest what they called Kennedy's politicization of science.
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Speaker 1: Klomp responded that the country needs to make a distinction
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Speaker 1: between science and policy and facts and data, emphasizing the
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Speaker 1: need for transparency. Sapphire said that as a physician, her
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Speaker 1: professional integrity is everything, and she will do nothing to
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Speaker 1: jeopardize that professional integrity. Westlake said that following the science
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Speaker 1: means to follow the evidence wherever it leads. The nominations
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Speaker 1: come as Trump officials have swapped some of Kennedy's hand-picked
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Speaker 1: deputies this year for people with more traditional experience. The
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Speaker 1: changes have frustrated some supporters of the Make America Healthy
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Speaker 1: Again movement, championed by Kennedy. which was built on the
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Speaker 1: notion of ushering in new health department leaders who challenged
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Speaker 1: the medical establishment. The move to elevate Sapphire put an
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Speaker 1: end to the nomination of Casey Means, who was influential
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Speaker 1: within the Maha movement as her nomination stalled in the Senate.
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Speaker 1: Trump earlier withdrew the nomination of Jeanette Neshawat, his first
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Speaker 1: pick to serve in the role. The position of Surgeon
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Speaker 1: General has a powerful bully pulpit, helping fight HIV, smoking, obesity,
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Speaker 1: and addictions. but has a more limited role in policymaking.
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Speaker 1: Before being nominated, Sapphire had criticized some actions that HHS
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Speaker 1: had taken under Kennedy's leadership. Last year, the CDC revised
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Speaker 1: its website to contradict the long-settled scientific conclusion that vaccines
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Speaker 1: do not cause autism. On a November episode of her podcast,
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Speaker 1: Sapphire said that the website sounded like someone without a
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Speaker 1: science background wrote it. In March, a federal judge halted
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Speaker 1: Kennedy's vaccine overhaul. Sapphire wrote on X that the system
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Speaker 1: needed reform but not chaos. It does not appear that
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Speaker 1: every previous tweet of hers is available. Dr. Nicole Sapphire
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Speaker 1: is an accomplished physician who has practiced radiology at Memorial
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Speaker 1: Sloan Kettering and has been an outspoken voice on breast
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Speaker 1: cancer prevention, intrusive COVID-19 mandates, the politicization of science, and
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Speaker 1: the federal government's role in America's chronic disease epidemic, White
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Speaker 1: House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. She has
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Speaker 1: been a powerful asset for President Trump and works tirelessly
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Speaker 1: to deliver on every facet of his MAHA agenda. She
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Speaker 1: will be divesting her holdings in an array of companies,
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Speaker 1: some of which affect Americans' health and which Kennedy has
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Speaker 1: accused of helping fuel chronic diseases. This includes, but is
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Speaker 1: not limited to, the soda and food industries, as well
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Speaker 1: as pharmaceutical companies, according to financial disclosure and ethics forms.
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Speaker 1: Her ethics agreement notes the positions she will step away
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Speaker 1: from or take unpaid leaves of absences. This includes resigning
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Speaker 1: upon confirmation by the Senate her position from DropRx, her
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Speaker 1: company that sells dietary and herbal supplements, and EmpowerMD, which
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Speaker 1: owns DropRx. Medical experts have raised questions about the supplement industry,
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Speaker 1: given it is not strongly regulated. The next article from
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Speaker 1: the front page of today's edition is titled Gas prices
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Speaker 1: are about to take a big jump, analysts say, with
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Speaker 1: the worst still to come. The forecast of economic impacts
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Speaker 1: beyond November's midterms contrasts with the Trump administration's optimistic messaging.
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Speaker 1: By Evan Halper, Rachel Chasson, and Joyce Soyun Lee. The
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Speaker 1: effects of the U.S.-led war on Iran are about to
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Speaker 1: intensify in the form of huge jumps in the prices
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Speaker 1: of gasoline and diesel, analysts predict. And despite the Trump
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Speaker 1: administration's assurances, a new and potentially even more economically damaging
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Speaker 1: phase of the war may be about to begin. Damage
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Speaker 1: inflicted on Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline last week, along with
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Speaker 1: continuing strikes on oil infrastructure and contested control over a
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Speaker 1: key waterway, threatened to elevate what had been a shipping
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Speaker 1: crisis into a broader disruption of oil. The 745-mile pipeline
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Speaker 1: is Saudi Arabia's principal overland alternative to the Strait of Hormuz,
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Speaker 1: linking eastern oil fields to Red Sea export terminals. U.S.
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Speaker 1: Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that the pipeline would
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Speaker 1: be operational again in a matter of days, and the
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Speaker 1: White House has touted renewed tanker traffic through the Strait
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Speaker 1: of Hormuz. But analysts who reviewed images of the pipeline
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Speaker 1: damage anticipate a significantly longer disruption. likely resulting in high
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Speaker 1: prices for consumers well beyond the midterm elections. And maritime
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Speaker 1: tracking organizations say that far less oil is getting through
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Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz than the Trump administration claims. Andrew Lipow,
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Speaker 1: a consultant who advises clients on protecting and repairing oil infrastructure,
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Speaker 1: said photos of the pipeline show a significant amount of
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Speaker 1: damage and that repairs are likely to take a month
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Speaker 1: or two. They will need to replace piping, valves, all
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Speaker 1: the electrical stuff, he said. It's not like you can
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Speaker 1: just go to Costco and pick that stuff up off
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Speaker 1: the shelf. Satellite imagery reviewed by the Washington Post revealed
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Speaker 1: damage to at least two pumping stations along the pipeline.
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Speaker 1: Drone attacks on one beginning Thursday were widely reported, and
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Speaker 1: high-resolution imagery collected by Vantor on Sunday showed extensive and
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Speaker 1: significant damage. At least one other pumping station, about 130
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Speaker 1: miles east of the first, was also damaged around that time,
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Speaker 1: according to a review of imagery by the Post. A
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Speaker 1: plume of dark smoke, so large it could be seen
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Speaker 1: from space, rose from the western side of the station
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Speaker 1: in a September 10th planet satellite image. Because of the
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Speaker 1: shortage of crude oil and the damage the wars in
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Speaker 1: the Middle East and Ukraine have inflicted on refineries that
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Speaker 1: turn it into diesel and gasoline, Market analysts are warning
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Speaker 1: that fresh price shocks are about to hit motorists. Tom Clausa,
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Speaker 1: chief energy advisor for Gulf Oil, predicted on X that
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Speaker 1: Wednesday would see staggering increases at the pump for both
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Speaker 1: gasoline and diesel. Fuel margins have yet to catch up
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Speaker 1: with previous wholesale hikes, he wrote. Watch for huge increases
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Speaker 1: in Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain states in particular. Buckle up,
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Speaker 1: Patrick DeHaan said. head of petroleum analysis at the price-tracking
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Speaker 1: platform GasBuddy, wrote Wednesday morning. Gas and diesel look set
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Speaker 1: for a spike over the next 48 hours, hardest in
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Speaker 1: parts of the nation's interior. The national average price for
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Speaker 1: regular gasoline stood at $ 4. 44 on Thursday, according to AAA,
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Speaker 1: with a range of $ 6. 09 in California to $ 3. 92 in Indiana.
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Speaker 1: That's still below the all-time national record of $ 5. 02 in
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Speaker 1: June 2022, but diesel, which has a big influence on
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Speaker 1: trucking and retail prices, has continued to hit records, with
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Speaker 1: the national average at $ 6. 40 on Thursday. In California, diesel
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Speaker 1: is averaging $ 8. 35. Gas prices are also shooting up particularly
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Speaker 1: fast in the political battleground states of the Midwest. where
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Speaker 1: rising crude prices have been compounded by a power outage
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Speaker 1: at the ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery near Chicago, which typically produces
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Speaker 1: 11 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day and
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Speaker 1: is a crucial supplier for the region. By early afternoon Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: according to DeHaan's tracking of real-time data, the price for
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Speaker 1: a gallon of regular had jumped by 30 cents from
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Speaker 1: the day before in Lawrence County, Ohio and Edwardsburg, Michigan.
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Speaker 1: It was up 28 cents in Des Moines and 26
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Speaker 1: cents in Belmont County, Ohio. The disruption to the global
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Speaker 1: energy market has come largely as a result of retaliation
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Speaker 1: by Iran and its proxies to U.S. strikes and economic
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Speaker 1: warfare against Iran. President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury
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Speaker 1: on February 28 when U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader
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Speaker 1: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei In recent weeks, Trump has looked to
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Speaker 1: use a naval blockade and economic sanctions to punish Iran.
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Speaker 1: Instead of capitulating, Iran and its proxies are growing more aggressive.
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Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia blamed the pipeline damage on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
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Speaker 1: Iran-backed Houthi rebels have also been escalating their attacks on
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Speaker 1: Saudi oil infrastructure and have gained territory that gives Iran
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Speaker 1: control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait. On Wednesday, fighting between
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Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia and the Houthis escalated even further, with the
16:50
Speaker 1: Houthis saying they had downed an F-15 plane, and Saudi
16:53
Speaker 1: Arabia accusing the Houthis of firing a drone near the
16:56
Speaker 1: holy site of Mecca, which the Houthis denied. Taking all
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Speaker 1: that into account, market analysts' forecasts are darkening. We noted
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Speaker 1: that diesel prices could rise to $ 6. 65 a gallon by
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Speaker 1: Election Day, based on trends five days ago. Well, trends
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Speaker 1: have worsened. Diesel surpassed $ 6. 26 per gallon already, Liz Thomas,
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Speaker 1: chief market strategist for the banking and investment firm SoFi,
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Speaker 1: posted on X. Already, American motorists have paid an additional
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Speaker 1: estimated $ 107 billion in extra gasoline and diesel costs as
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Speaker 1: a result of the war that began with U.S. and
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Speaker 1: Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28th. The deteriorating outlook
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Speaker 1: comes as the war nears its seven-month mark, with no
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Speaker 1: end in sight. and recent diplomatic efforts faltering. Trump has
17:47
Speaker 1: tried to downplay the risk, saying over the weekend that
17:50
Speaker 1: everything will work out just fine, when asked about developments
17:53
Speaker 1: in Yemen that appeared to choke off Saudi Arabia's remaining
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Speaker 1: outlet for oil exports. Prices in the U.S. are rising
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Speaker 1: so fast that industry officials are bracing for potential intervention
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Speaker 1: from the White House or Congress, which has few tools
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Speaker 1: left to confront the spiraling costs. One of the remaining
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Speaker 1: options would be an export ban on diesel, which could
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Speaker 1: create chaos in global markets and not necessarily lower prices
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Speaker 1: in the U.S. as domestic refineries are already running at capacity.
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Speaker 1: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, told
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Speaker 1: reporters Tuesday that he is open to considering it. We'll
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Speaker 1: be looking at any proposal that is a viable solution,
18:36
Speaker 1: but I do think if we have the supply in
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Speaker 1: this country and we're exporting it right now, that might
18:41
Speaker 1: be one way of getting at it, he said in
18:43
Speaker 1: response to a question, according to a report in Bloomberg News.
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Speaker 1: If that would take pressure off prices, you know I'm
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Speaker 1: open to exploring it. Some economists immediately warned such a
18:55
Speaker 1: move would only worsen the energy crunch in the U.S.
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Speaker 1: and abroad. The diesel problem is a refining capacity and
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Speaker 1: crude quality problem layered on a war. Tracy Suchart, senior
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Speaker 1: economist at the commodities trading platform Ninja Trader, posted on X.
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Speaker 1: An export ban addresses neither and makes both worse. The
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Speaker 1: East-West pipeline has also exposed the limits of Washington's effort
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Speaker 1: to protect Gulf energy flows. Amid uncertainty around when the
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Speaker 1: pipeline will open again, industry officials are bracing for even
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Speaker 1: more attacks. Analysts note that there are several more vulnerable
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Speaker 1: pumping stations along the pipeline route that could create even
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Speaker 1: more chaos if damaged. Visual analysis by The Post showed
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Speaker 1: that a third oil facility, an Aramco bulk plant in Abha,
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Speaker 1: a city in the southwest of the country, also appeared
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Speaker 1: to have suffered damage last week. Video taken at a
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Speaker 1: distance from the plant showed the plant on fire, and
19:53
Speaker 1: planet satellite imagery from September 8th showed a smoke pillar
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Speaker 1: measuring at least 20 miles in length. Aftermath imagery taken
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Speaker 1: the following day showed at least six storage tanks appeared
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Speaker 1: to have been impacted. And while the pipeline has been
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Speaker 1: the headliner, said Brett Erickson, geopolitical expert who sits on
20:12
Speaker 1: the board of Seton Hall's School of Diplomacy and International Relations,
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Speaker 1: Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been hammering other Saudi oil infrastructure.
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Speaker 1: On Wednesday, in the most recent example, the Houthis said
20:25
Speaker 1: that they attacked Saudi Arabia's Aramco facility in Yanbu with
20:29
Speaker 1: dozens of ballistic missiles and drones, causing large fires and destruction.
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Speaker 1: What has become clear is the inability of Saudi Arabia
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Speaker 1: to protect its infrastructure, Erickson said, adding that satellite imagery
20:41
Speaker 1: shows that during the pipeline attack on Friday, it was
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Speaker 1: not just one pumping station that was hit, but three.
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Speaker 1: It is intentional that the Houthis and Iraqi militias have
20:51
Speaker 1: not struck the pipeline more, he said, because the real
20:54
Speaker 1: death now will be getting it repaired to 95 percent,
20:58
Speaker 1: then striking again. That is really where they become dangerous.
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Speaker 1: Fire data from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System
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Speaker 1: also detected a flare on Wednesday over the Aramco Refinery
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Speaker 1: in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, where the East-West
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Speaker 1: Pipeline runs to, this week, but the Post was unable
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Speaker 1: to verify what the cause of the flare was. Bob McNally,
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Speaker 1: who founded the research firm Rapidan Energy Group and was
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Speaker 1: an energy advisor in the George W. Bush administration, predicted
21:29
Speaker 1: that Iran is going to keep trying to raise the
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Speaker 1: price of crude oil to pressure Trump to capitulate. He
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Speaker 1: said the U.S. has made progress helping ships navigate through
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Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz despite constant threats of Iranian attacks,
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Speaker 1: but that success has been offset by the potentially more
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Speaker 1: enduring damage caused by the attacks on oil infrastructure. The
21:51
Speaker 1: East-West pipeline was a key factor in keeping fuel prices
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Speaker 1: from soaring even higher than they did in the past
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Speaker 1: several months. It was part of what McNally described as
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Speaker 1: a three-legged stool that helped mitigate the economic damage from
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Speaker 1: the halting of most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Speaker 1: The other two legs of that stool were China cutting
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Speaker 1: back its imports of oil, substantially easing the global shortage,
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Speaker 1: and the U.S. and other countries tapping hundreds of millions
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Speaker 1: of barrels of emergency reserves. Now the reserves are mostly
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Speaker 1: tapped out. China's appetite for imported oil has come roaring
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Speaker 1: back and the pipeline has been knocked out of commission.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz
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Speaker 1: is far from restored to the level it was at
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Speaker 1: before the war. The next article from the front page
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Speaker 1: of today's edition is titled, GOP Candidates Are Largely Ignoring
22:42
Speaker 1: Trump's Midterm Advice, Post Analysis Shows. A review of over
22:47
Speaker 1: a million social media messages reveals that Republicans haven't heeded
22:51
Speaker 1: the president's call to act like he's on the ballot
22:54
Speaker 1: and promise $ 5, 000 payouts. by Clara Entz Morse, Gregory S. Schneider,
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Speaker 1: and Theodoric Meyer. President Donald Trump handed Republicans what he
23:06
Speaker 1: said was a surefire formula for winning the midterm elections
23:09
Speaker 1: this fall. Act as if Trump is on the ballot
23:13
Speaker 1: and promise $ 5, 000 payouts to every citizen. A week after
23:17
Speaker 1: the Republican midterm convention where Trump delivered his advice, most
23:22
Speaker 1: GOP congressional candidates are ignoring it a Washington Post analysis
23:26
Speaker 1: of more than a million social media posts by politicians found.
23:31
Speaker 1: Republican candidates are sticking to their own messages, not Trump's,
23:35
Speaker 1: as they navigate an increasingly difficult political landscape marked by
23:39
Speaker 1: high consumer prices, a protracted war in Iran, and a
23:43
Speaker 1: president whose own approval rating has stayed stubbornly low, the
23:46
Speaker 1: analysis shows. Trump had proposed the unprecedented midterm convention, as
23:52
Speaker 1: a way to rally the party's supporters who have been
23:55
Speaker 1: unenthusiastic about voting, according to polls. The post analysis suggests
24:00
Speaker 1: Republican candidates, for the most part, have not attempted to
24:03
Speaker 1: harness whatever direction came out of the two-day convention in Dallas.
24:08
Speaker 1: At the start of the year, Republican politicians mentioned Trump
24:12
Speaker 1: or the MAGA movement in about one in six of
24:14
Speaker 1: their online posts or podcasts. Republican National Convention, RNC speakers,
24:21
Speaker 1: A group of about 40 pro-Trump politicians who addressed the
24:24
Speaker 1: midterm convention mentioned him much more often over that same
24:28
Speaker 1: period in about a fifth of their posts, the Post
24:31
Speaker 1: analysis found. Those figures have dropped by nearly half as
24:36
Speaker 1: the year has played out. Some Republican candidates have removed
24:39
Speaker 1: mentions of Trump from their websites, while candidates in many
24:43
Speaker 1: competitive races declined to attend the convention. and the candidates
24:47
Speaker 1: still talking substantially about Trump after the convention are Democrats,
24:51
Speaker 1: who are mentioning him in about 20% of their posts
24:54
Speaker 1: so far this week. Trump's marquee proposal, a pledge to
24:59
Speaker 1: send $ 5, 000 payments to American citizens if Republicans keep their
25:03
Speaker 1: majorities in Congress, attracted widespread attention during and after he
25:08
Speaker 1: announced it in his September 10th speech from the convention floor.
25:12
Speaker 1: But Democrats were more likely than Republicans to discuss the
25:16
Speaker 1: plan with most attacking it as an unfulfillable, corrupt promise.
25:21
Speaker 1: If you believe Trump will give you $ 5, 000 if Republicans
25:24
Speaker 1: keep control of Congress, I have a bridge to sell you,
25:28
Speaker 1: Representative Jesus Choi Garcia, Democrat of Illinois, posted on X.
25:33
Speaker 1: Representative Shelley Pingree, Democrat of Maine, posted that the proposal
25:37
Speaker 1: was flagrantly illegal and pathetically desperate. Of the Republicans who
25:42
Speaker 1: did comment, many were also critical. Representative Eric Burleson, Republican
25:48
Speaker 1: of Missouri, told a home state radio station that the
25:51
Speaker 1: payment idea is by definition socialism, but the promise has
25:55
Speaker 1: almost disappeared from politicians' social media feeds since then. House
26:00
Speaker 1: Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, who spoke at the convention,
26:05
Speaker 1: has been noncommittal in his public comments and has not
26:08
Speaker 1: touted the measure on his ex-accounts. Johnson told reporters on
26:12
Speaker 1: Tuesday that lawmakers need more time to process the president's $ 5, 000 plan.
26:18
Speaker 1: It takes a long time to build consensus around these things,
26:22
Speaker 1: and that's a big idea that's going to take a
26:24
Speaker 1: lot of process, Johnson said, adding that the work has
26:27
Speaker 1: begun and that he spoke with Trump about it Monday night.
26:31
Speaker 1: Trump's proposal came as a surprise to Senate Republicans. Senate
26:35
Speaker 1: Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said Monday
26:39
Speaker 1: that he did not get a heads-up about it before
26:41
Speaker 1: Trump's speech. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said he
26:46
Speaker 1: did not see how the idea could be branded a
26:48
Speaker 1: dividend by Trump when the federal government is running enormous deficits.
26:53
Speaker 1: You give a dividend if you have money and profit,
26:56
Speaker 1: Paul told reporters. There is no profit. There's a $ 2
26:59
Speaker 1: trillion loss occurring each year. I don't know how you
27:03
Speaker 1: give money that you don't have. Senator John Kennedy, Republican
27:07
Speaker 1: of Louisiana, a member of the Budget Committee, said he
27:10
Speaker 1: was withholding judgment until he learns how the White House
27:13
Speaker 1: plans to pay for it. I don't support going and
27:17
Speaker 1: borrowing $ 1. 2 trillion to be able to write the checks,
27:20
Speaker 1: Kennedy said, adding that he believes the White House will
27:23
Speaker 1: find a way to pay for the programs. The idea
27:26
Speaker 1: might be tough to talk about on the campaign trail
27:29
Speaker 1: because it goes against basic conservative philosophy and would make
27:33
Speaker 1: inflation worse, said Chris Saxman, a longtime GOP operative in
27:37
Speaker 1: Virginia and former Republican state delegate. We're $ 40 trillion in debt.
27:43
Speaker 1: That is not how you pay for the ongoing inflation problem,
27:46
Speaker 1: he said, casting doubt on the chances of passing it.
27:50
Speaker 1: On the other hand, he said, Trump simply floating the
27:53
Speaker 1: idea will put it in people's minds and could attract
27:56
Speaker 1: enough economically struggling voters to tip close races. Regardless of
28:01
Speaker 1: the efficacy of the policy, the politics is pretty strong,
28:05
Speaker 1: Saxman said. Some Republicans have embraced the concept. Senator Bernie Moreno,
28:11
Speaker 1: Republican of Ohio, immediately pledged to draft legislation to implement
28:16
Speaker 1: Trump's idea. He told reporters Monday that he planned to
28:20
Speaker 1: introduce the bill the minute the election's over. Moreno said
28:23
Speaker 1: he wants to call the $ 5, 000 checks the Trump Dividend
28:27
Speaker 1: of Success, or TDS, an acronym that Trump and other
28:31
Speaker 1: Republicans often use to refer to Trump derangement syndrome, or
28:35
Speaker 1: the idea that Trump's critics are motivated by irrational animosity
28:38
Speaker 1: toward him. He claimed that his bill would cost taxpayers
28:42
Speaker 1: nothing and said it could potentially reduce the deficit though
28:46
Speaker 1: he declined to specify how. He was also cagey about
28:50
Speaker 1: the timing, insisting he would not have the votes to
28:53
Speaker 1: pass it by Election Day because Congress is too busy
28:56
Speaker 1: until then. The Democrats freaking out about this is kind
29:00
Speaker 1: of hilarious because these are the same people that say, well,
29:04
Speaker 1: vote for Democrats, we'll give you free health care, Moreno said.
29:08
Speaker 1: Vote for Democrats, we'll forgive your student loans. Vote for Democrats,
29:13
Speaker 1: you're getting COVID stimulus checks. Two of the three COVID-era
29:17
Speaker 1: stimulus checks were approved during Trump's first term in office.
29:21
Speaker 1: The next article from the front page of today's edition
29:24
Speaker 1: is titled, Fed Raises Interest Rates by Quarter Point to
29:28
Speaker 1: Tackle Inflation. President Trump Called on the Fed to Lower
29:32
Speaker 1: Interest Rates on Wednesday by Steve Thompson. The Federal Reserve
29:37
Speaker 1: raised interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday, its
29:41
Speaker 1: first increase in more than three years as persistently high
29:44
Speaker 1: oil prices from the Iran conflict sent inflation rippling through
29:48
Speaker 1: the economy. Even as President Donald Trump continued on Wednesday
29:52
Speaker 1: to call on the Fed to lower rates, Fed officials
29:56
Speaker 1: unanimously chose to increase its benchmark rate hiking the cost
30:00
Speaker 1: of borrowing among banks, which will increase what millions of
30:03
Speaker 1: households and businesses pay to borrow, including credit cards and
30:07
Speaker 1: other loans. Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace,
30:12
Speaker 1: Fed policymakers said in a statement. While uncertainty remains elevated,
30:17
Speaker 1: owing in part to geopolitical developments, domestic spending has been resilient.
30:23
Speaker 1: Productivity growth and capital investments have been strong, and the
30:27
Speaker 1: unemployment rate has held steady. while inflation remains high, the
30:30
Speaker 1: Fed said. After the Fed meeting, Trump took to social
30:35
Speaker 1: media to call for lower interest rates. Rates in the
30:38
Speaker 1: United States should be 1% or less because we are
30:41
Speaker 1: the best credit in the world, by far. Our country
30:44
Speaker 1: is booming with new investment, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
30:49
Speaker 1: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 700 points after
30:52
Speaker 1: the news, with some easing later. closing the day about 1.2% lower,
30:58
Speaker 1: even though investors had been expecting the hike. All the
31:02
Speaker 1: major indexes trended down. The 10-year Treasury yield is still
31:06
Speaker 1: hovering at a relative high of around 5%, as it
31:09
Speaker 1: has been throughout this week. The goal of such a
31:12
Speaker 1: rate increase is to make consumers and companies more cautious
31:16
Speaker 1: about spending, which reduces demand for products and slows the
31:20
Speaker 1: rise in prices. But the Fed doesn't take such increases lightly.
31:24
Speaker 1: because they also tend to cool the job market and
31:27
Speaker 1: dampen economic growth. Inflation has remained higher than 3% through
31:32
Speaker 1: most of this year, well above the Fed's target rate
31:35
Speaker 1: of 2%, and recent spikes in oil prices alongside surging
31:40
Speaker 1: demand tied to the build-out of artificial intelligence data centers
31:44
Speaker 1: have threatened to send prices rising faster. Wednesday's decision came
31:49
Speaker 1: after Fed policymakers held rates steady for five straight meetings
31:52
Speaker 1: this year, as they waited to get a clearer understanding
31:56
Speaker 1: of inflation throughout the economy. Most Fed officials penciled in
32:00
Speaker 1: at least one more expected rate hike by the end
32:02
Speaker 1: of this year. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, a Fed governor
32:07
Speaker 1: from 2006 to 2011, returned to the central bank in
32:11
Speaker 1: May after a year in which Trump pressured the Fed
32:13
Speaker 1: in ways without modern precedent. Trump repeatedly criticized Warsh's predecessor,
32:19
Speaker 1: Jerome H. Powell, for refusing to bring rates down. He
32:23
Speaker 1: tried to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and he endorsed
32:27
Speaker 1: a Justice Department criminal investigation of Powell. Trump, in January,
32:31
Speaker 1: chose Warsh to fill the chairman's seat occupied by Powell,
32:35
Speaker 1: who has stayed on at the Fed as a governor.
32:37
Speaker 1: The Justice Department probe was closed. Warsh deflected a question
32:42
Speaker 1: during a news conference about Trump's call for rate cuts,
32:45
Speaker 1: saying he had nothing for you on that. Warsh, 56th.
32:50
Speaker 1: In the news conference following the rate hike, Warsh offered
32:52
Speaker 1: an optimistic view of the economy. Consider the geopolitical landscape
33:19
Speaker 1: of shocks and uncertainty, and you begin to appreciate the
33:22
Speaker 1: resilience of the U.S. economy. Given that resilience and the
33:26
Speaker 1: potential for even greater performance, an attitude of optimism is
33:30
Speaker 1: exactly what I heard inside the FOMC these last two days,
33:34
Speaker 1: Warsh said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee, the
33:38
Speaker 1: panel that controls interest rates. The view of investors who
33:42
Speaker 1: expected a rate hike was bolstered this month when the
33:45
Speaker 1: Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 162,000
33:50
Speaker 1: jobs in August, more than expected. A healthier jobs outlook
33:54
Speaker 1: typically lessens anxiety among Fed policymakers about a rate hike
33:59
Speaker 1: worsening job prospects for the labor market. In response to
34:03
Speaker 1: the August jobs report, Trump renewed his demand for the
34:07
Speaker 1: Fed to lower interest rates. but few economists on the
34:11
Speaker 1: left or the right took the president's suggestion of lowering
34:14
Speaker 1: rates seriously. Nobody thinks they're going to cut rates at
34:18
Speaker 1: this point, and it's not going to happen. Stephen Moore,
34:21
Speaker 1: a conservative economist who has advised Trump, said in an
34:25
Speaker 1: interview before Wednesday's Fed meeting, Kevin Warsh is not going
34:29
Speaker 1: to be bullied by Trump, but on the other hand,
34:32
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to hurt the economy either, so it's
34:35
Speaker 1: a tough balancing act for him right now. The next
34:39
Speaker 1: article from the front page of today's edition is titled,
34:42
Speaker 1: Trump Says Kennedy Center Could Be Ripped Down Without His Intervention.
34:47
Speaker 1: The center remained closed Wednesday as management cited imminent life
34:51
Speaker 1: safety risks and a federal judge ordered officials to respond
34:54
Speaker 1: to a challenge to the shutdown. By Jonathan Edwards and
34:58
Speaker 1: Jade Tran. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration
35:04
Speaker 1: deserves to have its name recognized at the John F.
35:07
Speaker 1: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in exchange for rescuing
35:10
Speaker 1: the financially troubled institution, warning that without his intervention, the
35:15
Speaker 1: venue will eventually close and be ripped down. For us
35:19
Speaker 1: as an administration to want to do that, I think
35:22
Speaker 1: the Trump administration should be recognized. Trump told reporters while
35:26
Speaker 1: visiting North Carolina to campaign for the Republican Senate nominee
35:31
Speaker 1: The president said the center would require years of financial support,
35:35
Speaker 1: even after a roughly $ 250 million renovation. Frankly, if we
35:40
Speaker 1: don't do that, it's going to close, he said. It'll
35:43
Speaker 1: end up being ripped down. Trump's remarks sharpened his position
35:47
Speaker 1: that saving the Kennedy Center hinges on putting his name
35:50
Speaker 1: on the building a day after he threatened to block
35:53
Speaker 1: its renovation unless the courts allow the institution to do
35:56
Speaker 1: just that. On Wednesday, the center remained closed as a
36:00
Speaker 1: federal judge ordered officials to respond to an emergency motion
36:04
Speaker 1: challenging the shutdown. Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, a
36:10
Speaker 1: Kennedy Center trustee who has repeatedly challenged Trump's transformation of
36:14
Speaker 1: the institution in court, filed an emergency motion Wednesday arguing
36:19
Speaker 1: that center officials appeared to be violating U.S. District Judge
36:23
Speaker 1: Christopher Cooper's order by closing the building without his approval.
36:28
Speaker 1: It seems defendants may be violating the clear and unambiguous
36:31
Speaker 1: order of the court, lawyers Nathaniel Zielinski and Norm Eisen wrote.
36:36
Speaker 1: Hours later, Cooper ordered center officials to explain the closure
36:40
Speaker 1: by 10 a.m. Thursday. He said he would hold a
36:43
Speaker 1: hearing if necessary. The rapidly escalating dispute has left the
36:48
Speaker 1: Kennedy Center caught between competing explanations for why it is
36:51
Speaker 1: closed and what happens next. Its Trump-led board voted Tuesday
36:56
Speaker 1: to immediately shutter the main building for roughly two years,
37:00
Speaker 1: saying urgent repairs were necessary to protect public safety. Center
37:05
Speaker 1: management said Wednesday that the current shutdown was instead a separate,
37:09
Speaker 1: temporary response to imminent life safety risks. Trump, meanwhile, has
37:13
Speaker 1: said the renovation at the heart of the closure plan
37:16
Speaker 1: may not proceed at all if courts prevent the center
37:19
Speaker 1: from recognizing him. The center remained closed to the public
37:23
Speaker 1: Wednesday after trustees voted Tuesday afternoon to shutter its main
37:26
Speaker 1: building forthwith. At about 4.30 p.m. Tuesday, a message played
37:32
Speaker 1: over the center's speakers announcing the closure and security guards
37:36
Speaker 1: escorted visitors out through the Hall of Nations. By about
37:39
Speaker 1: 6 p.m., all of the doors were locked. On Wednesday,
37:43
Speaker 1: fencing went up around the main building and security guards
37:46
Speaker 1: continued to turn away visitors. but center management drew a
37:50
Speaker 1: distinction Wednesday between the closure already underway and the roughly
37:54
Speaker 1: two-year shutdown approved by trustees. Executive Director Matt Flocka told
38:00
Speaker 1: employees in an email Wednesday afternoon that he was closing
38:03
Speaker 1: the building to non-essential staff effective immediately for at least
38:07
Speaker 1: a week because of imminent life safety risks. Flocka said
38:11
Speaker 1: the temporary shutdown was separate from the board's decision Tuesday.
38:16
Speaker 1: It is a distinct decision by management to address imminent
38:19
Speaker 1: life safety risks pending the court's ruling on that vote,
38:22
Speaker 1: he wrote. The email did not explain why the center
38:25
Speaker 1: had already closed to the public about 24 hours earlier
38:29
Speaker 1: and remained inaccessible throughout Wednesday. Among those shut out Wednesday
38:34
Speaker 1: was Janet Miller, 49, a longtime Kennedy Center patron and
38:38
Speaker 1: donor who often walks through the building during breaks from
38:41
Speaker 1: her nearby job. finding a quiet spot near the reach
38:45
Speaker 1: or looking out from the grand foyer toward Virginia and Georgetown.
38:50
Speaker 1: This one really hits personally, Miller said as she sat
38:53
Speaker 1: nearby at Taza Cafe. This is very violating. The public
38:58
Speaker 1: closure came hours after Cooper addressed the issue in court
39:01
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. Although the proceeding was largely intended to deal
39:05
Speaker 1: with scheduling in Beatty's lawsuit, the judge confronted a rapidly
39:09
Speaker 1: changing situation. center management had recommended an immediate shutdown after
39:14
Speaker 1: a section of ceiling plaster fell about sixty feet into
39:17
Speaker 1: the grand foyer during a september fourth storm and trustees
39:22
Speaker 1: were preparing to vote on a proposal later tuesday the
39:26
Speaker 1: proposed closure carried particular significance because cooper had already blocked
39:30
Speaker 1: an earlier version of it. In May, Cooper overturned a
39:34
Speaker 1: March board resolution to close the building, finding that trustees
39:38
Speaker 1: had acted on insufficient information and failed to adequately consider
39:43
Speaker 1: the consequences, but he did not prohibit the center from
39:46
Speaker 1: ever closing. Instead, while his order remains in place, he
39:51
Speaker 1: left trustees free to reconsider the issue after conducting a
39:54
Speaker 1: more thorough review. Trustees returned to the question in August
39:59
Speaker 1: and approved a roughly two-year shutdown. On Tuesday, they went further,
40:03
Speaker 1: voting to make the closure immediate. Center officials say new
40:07
Speaker 1: evidence made the acceleration necessary. During the September 4th storm,
40:12
Speaker 1: according to the center, A roughly four-by-five-foot section of plaster
40:16
Speaker 1: broke loose from the grand foyer ceiling. No one was injured.
40:20
Speaker 1: Inspectors subsequently found at least seven other areas with visible
40:24
Speaker 1: water-related deterioration. Management has cited those findings, along with water
40:30
Speaker 1: intrusion into electrical areas, deteriorating parking garage steel, and aging
40:35
Speaker 1: mechanical and theatrical systems, in arguing that the building cannot
40:39
Speaker 1: safely remain occupied during construction. Center spokeswoman Roma Daravi said
40:44
Speaker 1: Tuesday that the board had demonstrated a clear prioritization of
40:48
Speaker 1: safety above all else. Beatty's lawyers have challenged that characterization.
40:54
Speaker 1: In a filing Monday, they said Delta Consulting Group, which
40:58
Speaker 1: reviewed the center's renovation plans, had expressly disclaimed concluding that
41:02
Speaker 1: the building was unsafe for continued occupancy. They have accused
41:07
Speaker 1: center leaders of using longstanding maintenance problems to justify a
41:10
Speaker 1: closure the Trump-led board already wanted. But Cooper made clear
41:15
Speaker 1: Tuesday that the center could not implement the board's proposed
41:18
Speaker 1: two-year closure without first asking him to modify his existing order.
41:23
Speaker 1: Justice Department lawyer William Jankowski told Cooper that the government
41:27
Speaker 1: planned to file such a request by the end of
41:29
Speaker 1: the week. It had not done so by Wednesday evening.
41:33
Speaker 1: Tuesday's court hearing also produced a decisive ruling in a
41:37
Speaker 1: separate part of Beatty's case. Cooper barred trustees from carrying
41:41
Speaker 1: out their August 13th plan to add inscription reading Restored
41:45
Speaker 1: and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump to the facade
41:49
Speaker 1: and rename the grounds President Donald J. Trump Plaza. Simply put,
41:55
Speaker 1: defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or
41:59
Speaker 1: anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing, Cooper
42:03
Speaker 1: wrote reiterating his May conclusion that Congress reserved the National
42:07
Speaker 1: Memorial for honoring President John F. Kennedy. News of Cooper's
42:12
Speaker 1: ruling kicked off the board meeting minutes later. Beatty said
42:15
Speaker 1: in an MSNOW interview Tuesday night that Trump went into
42:19
Speaker 1: a tantrum and that the meeting devolved into personal attacks.
42:23
Speaker 1: Trump called Beatty dumb and an obstructionist, according to the Congresswoman,
42:28
Speaker 1: and at one point told her, I think you're incompetent.
42:31
Speaker 1: Beatty said she responded, I know you're incompetent. He was
42:35
Speaker 1: hollering and screaming, Beatty said. He was saying things like,
42:39
Speaker 1: You're holding up everything. You're an obstructionist. And I said,
42:43
Speaker 1: You're holding up the country. On Wednesday afternoon, the White
42:47
Speaker 1: House insulted Beatty and other Democrats, accusing them of allowing
42:51
Speaker 1: the Kennedy Center to deteriorate. President Trump stepped up to
42:55
Speaker 1: save it, and Trump deranged Democrats like Joyce Beatty oppose
42:59
Speaker 1: anything that celebrates the greatness of our country because they
43:02
Speaker 1: put America last. spokesman Davis Engel said in a statement.
43:07
Speaker 1: Hours after the meeting, Trump tied the renovation directly to
43:10
Speaker 1: that legal fight. He said the building would close immediately,
43:14
Speaker 1: but that construction cannot begin until such time as the D.C.
43:17
Speaker 1: Circuit Court rules on the board's approved name. If the
43:21
Speaker 1: center ultimately loses the naming dispute, including at the Supreme Court,
43:25
Speaker 1: Trump said, the reconstruction and the renovation of the Kennedy
43:29
Speaker 1: Center will not take place. That leaves the Kennedy Center
43:33
Speaker 1: in an unusual position. Its main building is closed because
43:36
Speaker 1: management says an immediate shutdown is necessary for safety, while
43:41
Speaker 1: Trump says the two-year renovation at the heart of the
43:43
Speaker 1: closure plan may never proceed if the center loses the
43:46
Speaker 1: fight over his name. The next article from the front
43:50
Speaker 1: page of today's edition is titled, Trump's Arch Will Harm
43:53
Speaker 1: Historic Sites But Must Proceed, Federal Officials Say. While acknowledging
43:59
Speaker 1: the project's adverse effects on dozens of sites, the administration
44:03
Speaker 1: is asking local preservationists to sign on to an agreement
44:06
Speaker 1: by Monday. By Dan Diamond. Federal officials acknowledge that President
44:12
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's planned Triumphal Arch will unavoidably harm historic sites
44:17
Speaker 1: if built as planned, but they say the project must
44:20
Speaker 1: move forward according to a National Park Service document and
44:23
Speaker 1: emails obtained by the Washington Post. Trump's 250-foot-tall proposed arch
44:29
Speaker 1: would be built in Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked
44:32
Speaker 1: inside Washington's boundaries near Arlington National Cemetery. Historic preservationists, veterans groups,
44:40
Speaker 1: and others have called on the administration to shrink the
44:42
Speaker 1: monument's planned size or build it elsewhere, warning that the
44:46
Speaker 1: towering structure would overshadow the cemetery, interrupt the solemn corridor
44:50
Speaker 1: that was intended between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial,
44:54
Speaker 1: and create other disruptions. National Park Service officials agree that
44:59
Speaker 1: the arch would adversely affect the cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial,
45:02
Speaker 1: and several dozen other historic sites. The adverse effects cannot
45:07
Speaker 1: be fully avoided, Park Service officials wrote in a document
45:10
Speaker 1: circulated Tuesday and obtained by the Washington Post. But, they said,
45:15
Speaker 1: the project cannot be constructed somewhere else because the proposed
45:19
Speaker 1: location and memorial circle is central to the undertaking, according
45:23
Speaker 1: to the NPS document. The document is a proposed agreement
45:27
Speaker 1: that the administration wants local historic preservation officers to sign
45:31
Speaker 1: onto as part of a federally required process to offer
45:35
Speaker 1: feedback on the project. The NPS proposal says that since
45:39
Speaker 1: the harms cannot be avoided, federal officials would pursue efforts
45:43
Speaker 1: that they contend would mitigate the Arch's impact, such as
45:46
Speaker 1: creating new signs and webpages to explain the project to
45:49
Speaker 1: the public. Officials also said they would manage construction to
45:54
Speaker 1: reduce interference with burials at the cemetery and document the
45:57
Speaker 1: current landscape before construction begins. NPS recognizes that Memorial Circle
46:03
Speaker 1: is located within a highly sensitive historic and commemorative landscape
46:08
Speaker 1: and that the undertaking's location contributes to adverse effects to
46:11
Speaker 1: historic properties whose significance is associated with setting, design, feeling, association,
46:18
Speaker 1: spatial organization, circulation, and contributing views and vistas, the proposed
46:23
Speaker 1: agreement says. Tammy Stidham, a senior NPS official, asked the preservationists,
46:29
Speaker 1: local historic preservation officers, and other groups to review and
46:33
Speaker 1: sign the agreement by 12 p.m. on Monday, according to
46:36
Speaker 1: an email obtained by the Post. Their assent would help
46:40
Speaker 1: conclude the administration's required consultations under the National Historic Preservation Act.
46:45
Speaker 1: particularly a provision known as Section 106, and expedite the
46:50
Speaker 1: process of securing final approval for the ARCH. Stidham said
46:54
Speaker 1: last week that the administration hopes to submit the project
46:57
Speaker 1: for approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, a review
47:01
Speaker 1: panel that oversees federal construction projects, as soon as November.
47:06
Speaker 1: Stidham and the Interior Department, which oversees NPS, did not
47:10
Speaker 1: respond to questions about the proposed agreement. An Interior Department
47:14
Speaker 1: spokesperson defended the administration's approach to the arts in soliciting
47:19
Speaker 1: public comment. Throughout the consultation process, Interior has received over 100,000
47:25
Speaker 1: public comments, has accepted dozens of organizations as consulting parties,
47:30
Speaker 1: and has extended comment periods to allow for more robust discussion,
47:34
Speaker 1: the spokesperson wrote in an email. To infer this process
47:38
Speaker 1: is unlawful shows a lack of understanding of the facts
47:41
Speaker 1: on the ground. as well as how the Section 106
47:43
Speaker 1: process works. Trump has said that the Arch should be
47:47
Speaker 1: the tallest in the world and be specifically 250 feet
47:51
Speaker 1: high to mark the nation's 250th anniversary, which was celebrated
47:55
Speaker 1: this year. The President and his deputies have also asserted
47:59
Speaker 1: that the Arch must be built in Memorial Circle because
48:02
Speaker 1: lawmakers a century ago authorized a somewhat similar project that
48:06
Speaker 1: was never built there. The triumphal arch and memorial circle
48:11
Speaker 1: is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks
48:13
Speaker 1: not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world, White
48:17
Speaker 1: House spokesman Davis Engel said in a statement. It will
48:20
Speaker 1: enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans,
48:25
Speaker 1: the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike, serving
48:29
Speaker 1: as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by
48:33
Speaker 1: so many American heroes throughout our 250-year history, so we
48:37
Speaker 1: can enjoy our freedoms today. Local historic preservationists have said
48:43
Speaker 1: that the administration's timeline to wind down public input and
48:46
Speaker 1: begin building the arch is overly aggressive. They also criticized
48:51
Speaker 1: the proposed agreement, saying it falls short under federal requirements
48:55
Speaker 1: that the administration must avoid or minimize the harms of
48:58
Speaker 1: a project rather than just mitigate those harms. This is
49:03
Speaker 1: not consistent with NPS practice, NPS regulations, or the intent
49:08
Speaker 1: of the national historic preservation act rebecca miller executive director
49:12
Speaker 1: of the d c preservation league wrote tuesday to stidham
49:16
Speaker 1: other federal officials and colleagues at preservation organizations Miller also
49:21
Speaker 1: called for the administration to continue its efforts to consult
49:24
Speaker 1: with local preservationists about alternative approaches to building the arch.
49:29
Speaker 1: The email was shared with the Post. NPS officials previously
49:34
Speaker 1: said that they have explored changes to the arch proposal.
49:38
Speaker 1: We looked at a smaller arch height, We considered a
49:41
Speaker 1: relocation of the project altogether, Stidham said at a meeting
49:44
Speaker 1: with preservationists last week, according to audio posted online by NPS.
49:50
Speaker 1: It was determined that the options would either create a
49:53
Speaker 1: greater impact on historic properties or would not meet the
49:56
Speaker 1: undertaking's location-dependent purpose need. Federal officials also say they would
50:02
Speaker 1: create several webpages, including one devoted to triumphal arches, to
50:06
Speaker 1: help explain the significance of Trump's project. The webpage would
50:11
Speaker 1: address the origins and use of triumphal arches in different
50:14
Speaker 1: historical and cultural contexts, their association with military victory, civic identity,
50:20
Speaker 1: national celebration, and public memory, and how the proposed arch
50:24
Speaker 1: relates to or differs from those traditions, according to the
50:28
Speaker 1: NPS document obtained by the Post. Historic preservationists say the
50:34
Speaker 1: proposed mitigations are insufficient and that officials should slow their process.
50:39
Speaker 1: The administration is being very transparent in their overt hostility
50:43
Speaker 1: to public input and the regulatory process, and the result
50:47
Speaker 1: will be to permanently disfigure one of the nation's most
50:50
Speaker 1: revered and richly symbolic cultural landscapes, Charles Birnbaum, founder of
50:55
Speaker 1: the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a local advocacy and education organization,
51:00
Speaker 1: said in a statement. If the local preservation officers refuse
51:04
Speaker 1: to sign the agreement, It could trigger a process overseen
51:08
Speaker 1: by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency
51:12
Speaker 1: led by Trump officials, to address disputes under federal preservation law.
51:17
Speaker 1: The administration does not need the preservationists' consent to move forward.
51:22
Speaker 1: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation declined to comment Wednesday.
51:27
Speaker 1: The next article from today's edition is titled, Senate Control
51:31
Speaker 1: May Hinge on Whether This Democrat Can Win Back Voters
51:34
Speaker 1: Drawn to Trump. Sherrod Brown is seeking to return to
51:38
Speaker 1: the chamber two years after losing his seat when many
51:41
Speaker 1: blue collar voters embraced Donald Trump. By Theodoric Meyer and
51:45
Speaker 1: Karen Tumulty. Former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown spent 50 years
51:51
Speaker 1: forging a bond with Ohio's working class voters, starting in
51:54
Speaker 1: the 1970s as a young state lawmaker who often dropped
51:58
Speaker 1: by the union halls in the small industrial city he
52:01
Speaker 1: represented to talk with voters. Brown won re-election to the
52:05
Speaker 1: Senate during President Donald Trump's first term, even as Ohio
52:09
Speaker 1: started turning redder. But he lost his seat in 2024
52:13
Speaker 1: with Trump on the ballot, as many blue-collar voters embraced
52:16
Speaker 1: Trump and abandoned Brown and his party. Now Brown, 73,
52:21
Speaker 1: is trying to return to Washington in a race that
52:24
Speaker 1: is testing whether he can win back some of the
52:26
Speaker 1: working-class voters he lost in places like Mansfield, and that
52:30
Speaker 1: could determine whether Democrats retake control of the chambers. Senator
52:35
Speaker 1: John Husted, Republican of Ohio, whom Brown is challenging, is
52:39
Speaker 1: also trying to win over those voters, criticizing Brown as
52:42
Speaker 1: an ineffective fighter for the working class whose decades in
52:46
Speaker 1: office did little to help them. A handful of labor
52:49
Speaker 1: unions that supported Brown in the past have endorsed Husted
52:53
Speaker 1: this year, but most union leaders who have endorsed are
52:56
Speaker 1: sticking with Brown, and there are tentative signs that he
52:59
Speaker 1: could run stronger with union members than he did in 2024.
53:04
Speaker 1: The Trump shirts that many union members sported at work
53:07
Speaker 1: two years ago have largely disappeared, local labor leaders say.
53:11
Speaker 1: Workers who voted Republican in part because of frustration with
53:15
Speaker 1: the rising cost of living in 2024 remain upset. And
53:19
Speaker 1: some union workers who voted for Bernie Moreno, the Republican
53:23
Speaker 1: who defeated Brown, have told labor leaders that they plan
53:26
Speaker 1: to back Brown this year. Most public polling in recent
53:30
Speaker 1: months has found Brown leading-husted. A Fox News poll conducted
53:34
Speaker 1: last month found Brown leading Husted 64% to 33% with
53:38
Speaker 1: voters in union households, a much bigger advantage than Brown's
53:42
Speaker 1: margin with those voters in 2024, according to AP VoteCast
53:47
Speaker 1: and Network Exit Polling. Union households made up about 20%
53:52
Speaker 1: of the electorate in Ohio two years ago, according to
53:54
Speaker 1: AP VoteCast. The mood of the electorate has shifted dramatically
53:59
Speaker 1: in Ohio, said Tim Berge, the president of the Ohio AFL-CIO.
54:04
Speaker 1: Ohio is crucial to Democrats' drive to retake the Senate
54:07
Speaker 1: in November's midterm elections. Democrats need to pick up four
54:11
Speaker 1: seats to recapture the Senate majority, including at least two
54:15
Speaker 1: in states such as Ohio that Trump carried by double-digit
54:18
Speaker 1: margins two years ago. Brown lost re-election by less than
54:22
Speaker 1: four percentage points in 2024. running more than seven points
54:26
Speaker 1: ahead of Kamala Harris in Ohio. He won union households,
54:30
Speaker 1: but by a narrower margin than he did in 2018,
54:34
Speaker 1: according to AP VoteCast and exit polls. Union members are
54:38
Speaker 1: a subset of a larger group of working-class voters who
54:41
Speaker 1: have shifted toward the Republican Party in the Trump era.
54:44
Speaker 1: Brown also lost with voters without bachelor's degrees, another proxy
54:49
Speaker 1: for the working class, in 2024 after winning them six
54:51
Speaker 1: years earlier. Brown says he has also sensed a shift
54:56
Speaker 1: this year among union voters. In an interview this month,
55:00
Speaker 1: he said union leaders seem to be talking with their
55:02
Speaker 1: members about the race more than they did in 2024.
55:07
Speaker 1: Ohioans did not vote for war with Iran or skyrocketing
55:10
Speaker 1: gas prices, he said. They're a much more receptive audience,
55:14
Speaker 1: Brown said. People are upset for a very good reason
55:18
Speaker 1: at what's happened, and they look at somebody like me,
55:21
Speaker 1: and they know I've been making these fights. It's not
55:24
Speaker 1: like I'm a late convert to fighting for workers. Ron Adkins,
55:28
Speaker 1: the president of Lorain County AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, said
55:33
Speaker 1: he expected a significant number of his members who supported
55:36
Speaker 1: Moreno in 2024 to vote for Brown, driven by economic frustrations.
55:41
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a lot of buyer's remorse, Adkins said, so
55:45
Speaker 1: I think Sherrod's going to win this. A doctor's son.
55:49
Speaker 1: Brown is not a son of the working class. He
55:52
Speaker 1: grew up in Mansfield, where his father was a doctor
55:55
Speaker 1: and his mother was active in the local Democratic Party.
55:58
Speaker 1: But he has spoken often about going to school with
56:01
Speaker 1: the children of workers at Mansfield's industrial powerhouses, Westinghouse and
56:06
Speaker 1: General Motors, Mansfield Tire and Rubber Company, and Tappan Stove.
56:11
Speaker 1: Brown left for Yale but returned to Mansfield after graduating
56:15
Speaker 1: and ran for state representative in 1974, winning his seat
56:17
Speaker 1: days before his 22nd birthday. By the time he won,
56:23
Speaker 1: he has said, the jobs that sustained his classmates' parents
56:26
Speaker 1: had been disappearing for years. He spent hours at the
56:30
Speaker 1: United Steelworkers Union Hall in Mansfield, listening to workers talk
56:34
Speaker 1: about their dreams, as he put it in a Senate
56:36
Speaker 1: floor speech in 2018. Kenneth Cooper, the international president of
56:42
Speaker 1: the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who grew up in
56:45
Speaker 1: the same town, said he thought Brown's experience watching really
56:49
Speaker 1: good people suffering in Mansfield shaped Brown's fierce advocacy for unions.
56:54
Speaker 1: I really believe that a lot of Sherrod's values came
56:57
Speaker 1: from seeing that happen in that town, Cooper said. Brown
57:02
Speaker 1: won a House seat in 1992 and became an outspoken
57:05
Speaker 1: critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, writing a
57:09
Speaker 1: book titled Myths of Free Trade, Why American Trade Policy
57:13
Speaker 1: Has Failed. In the Senate, he helped pass legislation to
57:16
Speaker 1: shore up union pension plans and to allow retirees who
57:20
Speaker 1: receive state or local pensions to get their full Social
57:23
Speaker 1: Security benefits. He supported Trump's tariffs on imported steel during
57:27
Speaker 1: his first term, though he has criticized the more sweeping
57:31
Speaker 1: tariffs that Trump imposed in his second term as nonsensical.
57:35
Speaker 1: Brown's record earned the loyalty of Ohio labor leaders, but
57:39
Speaker 1: it could not overcome the flight of blue-collar votes, including
57:42
Speaker 1: many in unions, away from Democrats as they voted for Trump.
57:46
Speaker 1: He even lost Mansfield in 2024 after carrying the city
57:50
Speaker 1: during his previous Senate campaigns. Due to time constraints, we'll
57:55
Speaker 1: need to end this article at this time. This concludes
57:58
Speaker 1: the reading of the Washington Post for today, Thursday, September 17, 2026.
58:04
Speaker 1: Your reader for today has been Roger Hamperian. If you
58:08
Speaker 1: have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
58:13
Speaker 1: feel free to call us at 859-422-6390. Thank you for listening,
58:19
Speaker 1: and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio Eye.