Transcript

6.26.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Thursday,
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June the twenty six of twenty twenty five. Your reader
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is Alis Stainer, with reminder that RADIOI is a service
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for those blinder with difficulties holding and reading printed material.
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And I will start off with the front page of
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today's Post. At the very top left, taking up more
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than half of the front page, is a picture of
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protesters fleeing police in downtown Nawrobi during anti government demonstrations
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across Kenya that rights and medical groups said left at
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least eight dad Wednesday. Demonstrators were marking the first anniversary
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of deadly protest and the officers responded Wednesday with bullets, batons,
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whips and tear gas. According to medics, this is a
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street you see youngsters, one with a flag waving, others
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with all ball caps on, and you see them running
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down the street that's littered with I can't tell it
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looks like water, but it doesn't look like rain either.
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And the headline is at least eight killed as anti
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government protest sweep Kenya. That is not an article I'll
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be reading to the right of that. Trump embraces NATO
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over bowlers to surge spending summit Taylor made to please
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President Nations don't mention Ukraine praise attacks on Iran by
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Michael Birnbaum, Natalie Allison and Ellen Francis out of the Hague.
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Below that administration papas to test budget to law officials
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by Jeffrey Stein, Hannah Nattinson, Carolyn y Johnson and Dan Diamond.
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To it's left, and below the picture of the Kenyons
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protesting is in first big federal relocation, HUD will move
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to Virginia. It will go to Alexandria as part of
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a plan to right size agencies. D C footprint Katie Shepherd,
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Laura Bazuela, Rachel Siegel, Tao Arma. I'll correct that, Leda
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and Meghan. Maybe I'll correct it when I read the
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article itself. And below the relocation of HUD back remade,
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vaccine panel will review kids shot schedule, Balina's son, Lauren
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Webber and Rachel Reuben out of Atlanta. And then in
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the middle of the page towards the right is a
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picture of therapist at Hampshire Memorial Hospital in Romney, West
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Virginia assisting a patient this month. Like every rural hospital
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in the State Hampshire memorial relies deeply on Medicaid gop
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Bull may sever lifeline for Red States Medicaid cuts imperil
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program that helps rural hospitals stay afloat by Yasmine Abu
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Talar He to Bromney, West Virginia and to the right
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and below the article on the Administration Budget Law. Mamdani's
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rise hands party a strategy and promises strife. This is
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but to loose Olurun Nepa going to start with. Trump
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embraces NATO's security alliance after years of attack. He says
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it's not a ripoff. Trump said of NATO after it's
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thirty two nations agreed to more than double their defense
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spending targets, which has been a sore spot for the
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US president. And there's a picture of Donald Trump at
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a podium flanked by Pete hag Seth and Secretary of
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State Marco Rubio. They are behind him and on either
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side with a big poster that says NATO and Odhana
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big posters. And he is speaking to the media after
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the NATO summit on Wednesday in the Hague. Michael Bernbaum,
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Natalie Allison, and Ellen Francis out of the Hague. President
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Donald Trump issued a full throated endorsement of NATO and
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its defense mission after a summit of Alliance leader's Wednesday,
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in his most forceful backing of a group he once
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threatened to abandon. Trump told reporters these people really love
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their countries. It's not a rip off, and we're here
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to help them. The message came as NATO's thirty two
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nations agreed to more than double their defense spending, targets,
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long a source bart with Trump, but now a selling
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point for his involvement and Transatlantic security. It was an
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about face when the president's first term, when he regularly
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shared his reluctance to defend Europe, and even from the
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first month's officiear, when he leaned heavily into rebooting relations
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with Russian President Vladimir Putin and unsettled Europeans with threats
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towards Ukraine. Trump's turnaround Wednesday was the payoff of a
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major effort of the NATO members to flatter him. Trump
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stayed overnight in a royal palace, received fawning messages from
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NATO's Secretary General, and watched as one leader after another
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took the floor in a closed door meeting to praise
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him for his leadership and his recent attack on Iran.
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At a summit Taylor made to please the US President,
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Trump celebrated dual triumphs on Iran and the Alliance's agreement
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to boost military outlays to levels that many other members
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found outlandish. Eight years ago, AH watched the heads of
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these countries get up, and the love and the passion
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that they showed for their country was unbelievable. I've never
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seen anything like it. It was great. And I left
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here differently. I left here saying that these people really
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love their countries. It's not a ripoff. And where here
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they helped them protect their country, Trump told reporters after
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the meetings, with the US brokered cease fire deal between
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Israel and Iran holding into a second day, Trump celebrated
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foreign policy wins that were not guaranteed just days ago
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when he launched massive air strikes on Iran's nuclear enrichment program.
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In a series of social media posts and appearances that
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gave an unusual real tim window into his thinking and
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his interactions with fellow presidents and prime ministers, Trump made
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the case that his mix of risk taking and threat
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making could pay off. But under questioning from reporters, Trump
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acknowledged the existence of an initial US intelligence report that
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assessed Durand's nuclear program was probably set back by months,
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but not eliminated, contradicting Trump's assertions that the facilities were obliterated.
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He blasted the media for questioning the impact of the
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strikes and said that the assessment was highly uncertain because
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it was early and because it had not directly examined
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the site. He didn't offer clear evidence for his own
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assertion that the facilities were fully destroyed. The report said
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what it said, said Trump, suggesting that the intelligence officials
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who created the document had no idea what the damage
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was and that they shouldn't have issued a report until
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they did. They didn't see it, the president continued. All
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they can do is take a guess. The gathering in
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this Dutch coastal city was a measure of how much
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Trump has changed world affairs after his re election. During
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Trump's first term, many European allies hoped to endure four
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years of tense relations with him before we assuming life
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of the friendlier leader in Washington. Now, most have accepted
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that Trump reflects a changed United States and that they
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too need to change to accommodate him. A declaration agreed
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to by NATO's thirty two leaders after the summit made
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little mention of Ukraine and did not reference a war there.
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One measure of how much sway Trump has over the alliance.
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During Trump's first term, many Europeans assumed it was a
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parenthesis and believed the traditional transatlanticism was backed forever when
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Biden was elected, said Camille Grand, who was a NATO
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Assistant General Secretary General during Trump's first term. Now that
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Trump is back in the White House, Europeans are coming
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to grip with the fact that there are permanent changes
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in the United States approach to European security, Grand said.
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NATO Secretary General Mark rut captured the moment as he
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praised what he said was Trump's boldness in attacking Iranian
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nuclear sites inn bantering Tehran and Israel into a cease fire.
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Trump compared the two countries to schoolboys fighting on a playground.
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Daddy has to sometimes do strong language, Ruth told Trump
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ahead of a meeting Wednesday. After interrupting Secretary of State
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Marco Rubio So said that he wanted to alert the
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Trump administration that this president. When it comes to it. Yes,
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he is a man of peace, but if necessary, he
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is willing to use strength. Critics cautions that Trump's winds
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were more complicated than they appeared. Some NATO countries remained
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unconvinced of the need to increase their defense spending in
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the major way, and diplomats agreed on language that offers
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ample room to delay and downplay their budget expansions. Even
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if even Trump's post of a fawning text message re
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root on his social media account may have had mixed effects,
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as some diplomats cringed at the publication of what was
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intended as a private communication and noted that their own
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leaders may need to be more careful about what words
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they used privately with Trump in the future. The diplomats,
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like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak
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frankly about internal assessments. Still, Trump said he was satisfied
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with the moment, a lightning round trip that put him
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on the ground in the Netherlands for less than twenty
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four hours. The Trump summit reveal deemed it. In a
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Wednesday interview with Politico, the US leader reveled in the moment,
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I actually had bractfast today with a king and queen
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who were beautiful, beautiful people, central casting, Trump told reporters Wednesday,
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referring to Dutch King Wilhelm Alexander and Queen Maximum. The
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pair put up the President in one of their palaces
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in the Hague for the night. Throughout the NATO summit Wednesday,
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there were glimpses of the length some European officials were
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going to flatter Trump even more than usual. I think
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we should choose the Matteau make NATO great again, Lithuanian
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President Guitanis Nusida said, explaining that Lithuania would be increasing
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its defend spending to four percent this year and then
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would exceed fa percent next year, as Trump called for.
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I would like to extend my attitude to President Donald Trump,
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because without his engagement, I would imagine we would discuss
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the level of two point five percent with no clear
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positive outcome. New said that continued, probably these discussions would
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lead to nothing. Inside the main session, Trump led off
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with positive words about defense spending and vowed that Russia
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would never attack NATO so long as he was president.
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According to three European officials familiar with the discussions, Other leaders,
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in turn, praised Trump's effort to boost European defense spending.
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Some endorsed his Iran strikes. Many embraced the flattery that
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they have learned as a highly effective way that Trump's heart.
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The European officials said, Trump stayed for the duration of
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the speech, making hearing out the other leaders. Not always
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a guarantee with you as presidents who sometimes come to
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make their speech but then depart to hold other meetings
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while other leaders talk. Despite the NATO meetings, which were
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focused on European defense, increasing spending, and dealing with threats
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Russia chief among them, Trump spent much of the day
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defending his Iran strikes. Trump hot clips on the Truth
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social of allies, talking about what a success the strikes were.
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The White House distributed photograph of a type statement from
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the Israel Atomic Energy Commission saying Ferdow's infrastructure was destroyed
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and inoperable. The President acknowledged that unknowns remained about the
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extent of damage to Iran's nuclear facilities. Well, they said
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it was actually the report said it could have been varied.
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They don't know, Trump told reporters, I mean they did
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a report. I could have secondary defense Pete Hegseeth talked
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to it because his department did the report. They really
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don't know. Then Trump doubled down on his earlier claims
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that the damage was irrepairable. I believe it was total obliteration.
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I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything
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out because we acted fast, Trump continued at NATO. This
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spending pledge has met pushback from allies, straining to reach
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even two percent. Some Southern European countries, including Spain, have
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also fought the effort to boost spending, saying that their
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security needs different from neighbors that are closer to Russia.
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Russia's neighbors in Eastern Europe have already launched drastic military
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build ups, less because of Trump and more because of
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urgent security concerns about the Kriminin. Some leaders objected to
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portrayals of the summit as a grand effort to make
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Trump happy. It is a European necessity that we must
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do this for ourselves and to be more independent. French
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President Emmanuel Macronto reporters at the summit, adding to put
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things back in the heart of the discussion. We are
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all doing this because there is the Russian threat he
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acknowledged broader ten with Washington, saying he and other leaders
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had raised grievances with Trump's trade tariffs on the sidelines
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of the summit. We cannot, among allies, say we must
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spend more and at the heart of NATO wage commercial war.
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It is an aberration, Macrow said. The pushback underscored that
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announcing a pledge to keep Trump happy at the summit
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is probably easier than winning approval or finding the funds
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in European capitals that are facing sluggish growth and tough
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decisions on spending cuts. NATOL nations have until twenty thirty
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five to meet the spending level, a timeline that is
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flexible enough to give wide wiggle room to boastpone for
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some countries who do not want to do it. Some
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may differ until they know the identity of Trump's successor,
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and allies have applied some expansive math to boost their efforts.
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One point five percentage points of the increase can be
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for defense related spending such as infrastructure, while NATO will
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also count military aid re crying towards the calculations, the
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course spending increase will be to three point five percent.
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The tweak definition of defense spending aligns with assessments that
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nations should better prepare for modern warfare such as cyber
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attacks and enhance roads that may be used in the
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military crisis, but has also faced criticism of being too
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broad and fudging the numbers. Basically, I consider it creative accounting,
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but it's okay to add the one point five percent
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that gives five percent to please President Trump, said former
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NATO chief Anders Foe for us Mussen, he said the
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tenure of deadline to achieve the new target was much
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too long, but that it seems to be the only
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way to achieve consensus. Spain, driven in part by public
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opinion and national politics, agreed to Wednesday's declaration, but opposes
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the military spendings freed, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
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has described as disproportionate. Spanish officials have argued that the
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country can enhance military capabilities as required by NATO without
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spending that much, and that this would weigh on public coffers.
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Sanchez didn't raise the issue again in the leader's meeting
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with Trump, according to one participant at the meeting, but
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he came in for heavy criticism from the President afterwards,
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who said that Spain's terrible what they've done. Trump failed
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to make Spain pay more on trade tariffs in retaliation.
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They want a little bit of a free ride, but
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they will have to pay it back to US on
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trade because I'm not going to let that happen, Trump said.
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Trump administration is preparing to challenge budget law. US official
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say internal dissent among federal employees is coming to the
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surface as President Donald Trump's budget chief aims to rebalance
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spending authority. And there's a picture of White House Budget
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Chief Russell Vaught speaking with the proporters on May twenty second.
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He has on a dark blue suit with a light
19:29
blue shirt and a green and blue striped tie, and
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he's speaking in front of microphones. But Jeff Stein, Hannah Naddison,
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Carolyn Y Johnson, and Dan Domond the Trump administration is
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preparing to test a nineteen seventy four budget law by
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refusing to spend congressionally mandated funds. Senior federal official say,
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an escalation that could change the balance of power between
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Congress and the White House. Both in both internal communications
20:02
and interviews, more than two dozen current and former employees
20:07
across multiple agencies said the administration appears to be ready
20:12
to push the boundaries of law meant to prevent the
20:15
president from unilaterally overturning spending decisions made by congress. Key
20:22
White House aides have long argued that the law is
20:25
an unconstitutional limit on presidential power and suggested that they
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will seek court rulings to overturn it, which could allow
20:34
the White House to determine which spending to carry out.
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The non partisan Government Accountability Office has issued two rulings
20:43
that funds have been illegally withheld already, and Congressional Democrats
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have said that a far wider scope of funding freezes
20:52
has broken the budget law, although the White House denies
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that any funds have been impounded so far, officials had
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a half dozen agencies expressed alarm to The Washington Post
21:05
over how the disbursement of funds has slowed, stopped, or
21:09
been delayed, often, they say, with little clear legal justification.
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The scale of counseled or withheld funds remains Opayic deadlines
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in the coming weeks will clarify how much the administration
21:25
wants to test the law, enacted in nineteen seventy four
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after President Richard M. Nixon's Watergate scandal, Weis's House officials
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are planning to defer roughly two hundred separate accounts across
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the federal government. According to two people familiar with the matter, who,
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like many others interviewed for this story, spoke on the
21:48
condition of animity for fear of retribution. These delays, which
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would affect billions of dollars at a wide range of
21:57
US agencies, probably would be illegal if they prevented or
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they prevent the funds from being spent before this physical
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year ends on September thirtieth, the people said. Interviews with
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federal workers show that a wide spectrum of government spending
22:16
has already been stalled. Major scientific research grants have been
22:21
terminated with their public notice. In recent weeks, at one
22:26
federal agency staff were told via a directive that took
22:30
effect on a Sunday that almost all contracts over two
22:35
hundred and fifty thousand dollars no longer could be signed.
22:39
At the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate,
22:44
the Trump administration is trying to cut costs by rejecting
22:48
many agencies requests for facilities repairs paid for by those agencies.
22:55
In some instances, officials say it's unclear whether the budget
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law had been violated already or is merely on track
23:03
to be breached, but the rejections have provoked internal alarm
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at their legality. Either way, the administration still could disperse
23:13
money from many stalled programs before the end of the
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physical year. Rachel Cauley, a spokeswoman for the Office of
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Management and debuve IT Budget, said in a statement that
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while they have not happened thus far, impoundments remain an
23:30
option at the president's disposal. The obillionaire Elon Musk's US
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Doze Service drew significant attention for its speedy cuts. Russell Vought,
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President Donald Trump's budget director, is expected to be key
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to the coming fight over spending. Vought has spearheaded the
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administration's campaign to assert sweeping executive power over spending, arguing
23:58
that the Impoundment Control Act, the law at issue now,
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is unconstitutional. The Trump administration has justified its cost cutting
24:09
measures by pointing out that the United States is thirty
24:13
six trillion dollars in debt. Although the type of funding
24:17
that officials have targeted represents a small fraction of the
24:21
overall budget, we are seeing multiple major violations of the
24:28
budget law, said Jean William Hobland, who served as gopaid
24:34
to the Senate Budget Committee and is now at the
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White Washington based Bipartisan Policy Center. Hogland added, I think
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this is on its way to becoming a really big issue.
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This is going to blow up more than the administration
24:50
can imagine. Health officials say funding has been vagorized. The
24:57
frozen spending is most visible in the research community, where
25:02
science and health funding has grown to a halt with
25:05
little public explanation. In one example, the US Doeze Service
25:11
has failed to post dozens of planned funding opportunities since
25:16
it took control of a key federal grant's website in April.
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According to two people familiar with the process, agencies were
25:25
previously able to post notices of funding opportunities infos directly
25:33
to grants dot gov, but those now requires them to
25:37
submit through a centralized bilbox it controls. The new process
25:43
has created a bottleneck for agencies such as the National
25:46
Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA that seeks to awoard grants.
25:52
The Department of Health and Human Services for instances waiting
25:55
for the federal government to post at least thirty planned
25:58
funding opportunities that encompassed tens of millions of dollars in
26:02
congressionally appropriated funds for health and eldercare initiatives, including eight
26:09
million for Holocaust survivors apart and six million for Alzheimer's
26:13
caregiver assistance, risking their expiration within the physical year. The
26:20
back larc has alarmed career officials, who warned that it
26:24
could amount to illegal impairment of funds. Major funding agencies,
26:30
including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation,
26:35
have been mired in dysfunction that has slowed the routine
26:38
work of awarding new grants and sending billions in funding
26:43
appropriated by Congress to researchers and projects across the country.
26:49
In a federal lawsuit filed last month in Rhode Island,
26:52
twenty states sued HHS sinking and injunction to prevent the
26:58
unconstitutional dismantling of this vital department. The agencies alleged that
27:05
a reduction in force that laid off ten thousand employees
27:08
in April was terminating the people necessary for a JHS
27:14
to meet its own mandates and paralyzing it by means
27:18
of a confusing reorganization. The suit called the job cuts
27:23
an unlawful effort to undercut the will of Congress, who
27:27
ordered the agencies and programs to run. Since Trump's inauguration,
27:33
the National Science Foundation is awarded half as many grants
27:37
as it did in the same period in twenty twenty four.
27:41
According to a Post analysis of the n SF database,
27:46
the agency has terminated the seventeen hundred grants in the
27:49
past few weeks and slowed new funding to a triple
27:53
According to public records, internal data obtained by the Post
27:57
and an employee familiar with the situation who spoke on
28:01
the condition of an ablimity for fear of retaliation, so
28:06
far this year, the agency has received only six point
28:09
five billion of the congressionally appropriated nine billion that is
28:14
supposed to spend on research. According to the employee and
28:19
the records, no money at all has gone into a
28:22
facilities spending account that is supposed to contain two hundred
28:27
and thirty million for physical twenty twenty five, the employee said,
28:31
and the records showed because of the halt and funding,
28:35
new research in areas including environmental science and neuroscience is
28:40
not getting underway. The employee said. The agency is also
28:46
mostly not giving out awards this year, the employee said.
28:50
The office of the Director will not release money into
28:54
accounts to do anything. The employee said, Essentially, money has
28:59
been belaborized and in IH. The agency will end the
29:04
physical year on September thirtieth, but unspent funds unless it
29:08
awards of awarding starts awarding new grants much faster. According
29:14
to Jeremy Berg, a former director of the National Institute
29:18
of General Medical Sciences who has been closely tracking spending,
29:23
Berg recently shared his analysis with h director Jay Batchara,
29:30
urging him to do your job to make sure that
29:35
these appropriated funds are committed through proved processes by the
29:40
end of the physical year in September. Bachara replied, contrary
29:47
to the association assertion you make in the letter, my
29:51
job is to make sure that the NIH spends the
29:54
money that the American people have entrusted us with on
29:57
projects that advance their health and longevity of the American people.
30:03
He said he was preventing funds from being spent on
30:06
ideological boom goggles and dangerous research. Agency officials. Warren of
30:14
illegal fund cancelations at the Army Corps of Engineers, a
30:20
different kind of freeze has emerged. In June, employees were
30:24
told that effective immediately, they could no longer award most
30:29
non commercial contracts above two hundred and fifty thousand, thanks
30:33
to an April executive order entitled Ensuring Commercial Cost Effective
30:39
Solutions in Federal Contracts. The result staff say is halted surveys,
30:45
delayed sentiment analysis, and stalled construction. It feels like temporary impoundment,
30:53
one core employee said, and in parentheses, and impoundment is
30:58
the unilateral case isolation of government funds. In March, that
31:05
same employee escalated concerns internally, asking whether repeated contract holds
31:10
MIKE count as impoundment. In a subsequent meeting, government attorneys
31:15
told the employee that it was ultimately up to the
31:18
courts to determine whether the situation constituted a violation. That
31:24
civil servants, following guidance, would not be reliable. If uncomfortable,
31:30
they advised, the employee could have asked to have that
31:34
task reassigned. The spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers
31:39
said that it was following guidance related to an executive
31:42
order on procurement and that it is committed to continuing
31:47
to deliver its mission for the American people in accordance
31:51
with the administration's policies and priorities. Meanwhile, the GSA is
31:57
also refusing or interminably slow watering requests from agencies to
32:01
repair their facilities. Three employees they're said only a request
32:06
for work projects and directly service one of three goals
32:11
Trump's return to Office plans one, Safety Slash Emergency two
32:17
or National Security three are being allowed to go forward.
32:22
The three people said. Restrictions have been in place for
32:26
at least a few weeks. The employees said the new
32:30
rules are being enforced by the Office of Management and Budget.
32:33
One of the employees said, what the new OMB policy
32:37
means in practice, one of the employees said, is that
32:40
basic jobs are stalled with unclear legal justification. The employees said,
32:49
if an agency has funding in their budget to renovate
32:52
an office because it's old, or buy new furniture or something,
32:56
OMB is telling GSA not to accept money, this is
33:01
likely a violation of the law if those funds were
33:05
appropriated by Congress. A spokesperson for GSA did not immediately
33:11
respond to her request for comment. Targeting the enfosal for
33:18
government officials who believe the administration is illegally withholding or
33:22
counseling funds. The main recourse is to report violations to
33:26
the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The GOAO and arm of
33:32
Congress has already opened more than three dozen inquiries into
33:36
potential White House violations of federal budget law, but that
33:42
avenue is also under threat. On Monday, Pace Republicans unveiled
33:47
a new spending proposal for next year that would cut
33:50
the goao's budget and bar it from suing the federal
33:54
government over canceled appropriations, effectively removing one of the few
33:59
independent capable of enforcing budget law if it's enacted. The
34:05
Trump administration has asked Congress for approval to council roughly
34:09
nine billion dollars in spending, including funding for foreign aid
34:14
and public broadcasting. The host is signed off, but if
34:19
the request doesn't pass, the Senate officials have signaled they
34:22
may use a novel legal tactic to let the funds
34:25
expire at the end of the physical year. Still, scholars
34:30
on both the right end left said the administration could
34:32
persuade the Supreme Court to side with it, further expanding
34:37
presidential authority over federal spending. I've spent a fair amount
34:43
of time talking with government employees and it's just utter chaofs.
34:48
I'm not willing to predict a result. I can see
34:51
it going either way, said Richard Pierce, and administrative law
34:56
professor at George Washington University. And he's is how the
35:02
courts will rule. To some experts, however, other stakes are clear.
35:08
The administration appears to be preparing to run the clock out,
35:12
said Hoglan of the Bipartisan Policy Center. To me, it's
35:17
clearly a violation of Article I, Section nine of the Constitution.
35:22
It's fundamental to the way the government is supposed to operate.
35:27
Going on to New York, Mandani's stunning rise gives democrats
35:34
a playbook and creates some perils. The swift ascendants of
35:40
a thirty three year old Democratic Socialist in the race
35:43
for New York Maya has sparked a fierce debate over
35:47
the future of the party. And there's a picture of
35:51
young Tzarn Mandani reacting to supporters during an election night
35:55
event early Wednesday in New York. He's in front of
35:59
a brick wall. There is a banner of which I
36:02
think the last word I see is dream. But I
36:06
can't say, and his hand is raised with a finger
36:10
pointing upward. There is another hand black that is raised
36:15
towards him, and another fist raised towards him. And he's
36:21
speaking in front of a podium that has a speech
36:30
monitor on it. But to lose ol Rooney pop, the
36:35
stunning ascendants of the thirty three year old Democratic Socialist
36:39
in the race for New York maya, has sent shock
36:43
graves through a party still reeling from President Donald Trump's election,
36:48
a sparking fresh classes between moderates and liberals about Democrats'
36:53
best path back to national reverence. Zoran Bundani, a state
36:59
assembly who appears poised to claim the Democratic nomination in
37:03
the mayoral contest, has instantly emerged as a national figure
37:08
for a struggling party, though his wise has further inflamed
37:14
a brewing internal battle over the party's future. Mamdani's apparent
37:20
triumph of a better known and better funded contender, former
37:25
New York Governor Andrew M. Pomo, signified a major victory
37:30
for liberal activists and for some, the latest warning sign
37:34
that the party's establishment old guard is particularly weak in
37:38
the eyes of everyday voters. But others are taking a
37:42
different warning from Tuesday's results. Rushing to publicly reject the
37:48
socialist label, Mndami has embraced. Those moderates are cautioning that
37:53
a party that increasingly seems confined to coastal big cities
37:57
should not be so quick to adopted and rhetoric that
38:01
can easily be painted as extreme or foreign. In much
38:05
of the country, Democrats often turned two for both campaign
38:10
cash and co cultural accues. He has offered up his
38:16
unabashedly left leaning political brand as a model for the
38:21
National Party, Mandami said during his victory speech, a party
38:28
where we fight for working people with no apology. A
38:33
life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few.
38:37
It should be one that city government guarantees for each
38:41
and every New Yorker. Ah. Now the sign behind him
38:46
is a picture of afford to live and afford to dream.
38:51
That's the banner behind him. Mamdani prevailed about focusing incessantly
38:57
on the affordability challenges faced by the new residents, pledging
39:01
to ease the cost of living by providing free childcare,
39:06
freezing rent, and making city buses free. In a city
39:10
home to the world's largest population of billionaires, he has
39:14
pledged to fund his ideas by raising taxes on the wealthy,
39:18
seeking to become the first Muslim mayor of a city
39:21
with the world's largest Jewish population outside of Israel, he
39:26
is not shied away from criticizing the Israeli government for
39:30
its handling of the war in Gaza. In the wake
39:34
of is better than expected showing Tuesday, Republicans and pro
39:38
Israel groups have resurfaced the clips of Mandami embracing pro
39:42
Palestinian positions that his critics have branded as antisemitic. Vendami
39:49
has brushed aside those attacks during his campaign, pledging to
39:52
be a mayor for all New Yorkers, but he is
39:55
likely to face even more scrutiny of his foreign policy
39:58
views ahead of them election. Already under pressure from Republicans
40:03
to make their stance on Mandannie Clea, some Democratic officials
40:08
have begun publicly distancing themselves from him. Representative Laura Gillen,
40:14
a New York Democrat who defeated a Republican incumbent in November,
40:18
sharply criticized Mundamie on Minsday, accusing him of a deeply
40:23
disturbing pattern of unacceptable anti Semitic comments. Socialist Zoron Mundami
40:31
is too extreme to leave New York City, she said
40:34
in a statement. He is the absolute wrong choice for
40:38
New York. Still, Mundani's campaign messages and the buzzies draped
40:44
the camera way he often delivers them, will no doubt
40:48
be studied by other Democrats seeking to capture some of
40:51
the energy that propelled his upstart primea campaign from obscurity
40:56
to victory. While Mundami's opponents have criticized him for his
41:01
relative lack of experience and the implausibility of some of
41:05
his policies, he has framed his campaign as a fight
41:08
on behalf of working New Yorker is too often left
41:11
behind in the city known for displays of extravagant wealth.
41:17
As his campaign built momentum in the final weeks ahead
41:20
of the primary, Ndanie wrecked up endorsements from other liberal politicians,
41:26
including Representative Alexandria or Ocassio Cortez, Democrat from New York,
41:33
and Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. In what quickly
41:38
became a kind of proxy for a broader struggle between
41:41
the establishment and insurgent wings of the Democratic Party. Pomo
41:46
notched endorsements from former President Bill Clinton, Representative James Z. Claburn,
41:52
Democrat of South Carolina, and for New York Mayor Mike Lumberg.
41:58
As the vote totals came in choosed showing Pomo underperforming
42:02
amid a clear surge in support for Mangami across the
42:05
city's racially and generationally diverse by boroughs. Party strategists, we're
42:12
trying to determine how to interpret results and prime Democrats
42:17
for national success. Something that many of us who have
42:22
been part of the establishment know is that the establishment
42:26
has been clinging suicidally to a version of power that
42:30
no longer exists and that they no longer have, said
42:36
I'm at Singa Baga, a Democratic strategist, adding, instead of
42:41
trying to eat the left for lunch, the establishment needs
42:45
to understand how to work with the real people who
42:48
have real problems. Others warned against reading too much into
42:53
the New York results, giving the cities relatively low turnative
42:57
ranked choice voting system, unique line up of candidates, and
43:02
other peculiarities. There is more that Democrats can't draw from
43:08
than what they can, said Molly Murphy, a Democratic poster
43:13
who worked on the presidential campaign last year. City politics
43:18
are always going to be different than federal or state,
43:21
and Cuomo is one of a one figure with very
43:25
specific and unique vulnerabilities that we should not project onto
43:29
any other type of moderate or establishment candidate. Still, Mundani
43:36
did an excellent job of being authentic, sincere and finding
43:40
ways to find voters where they were, Murphy said, adding
43:44
that those lessons can have finded Democrats across the theological spectrum.
43:51
Democrats will certainly be looking beyond New York for more
43:54
evidence of what messages resonate with voters. Races for governor
43:59
in New Jersey and Virginia, for example, feature more mainstream
44:02
Democratic candidates. Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and Representative Mike Cheryl
44:11
or Mikey Cheryl, competing in their home states of Virginia
44:15
and New Jersey, respectively, each have national security backgrounds and
44:20
him stewed the rhetoric of the party's left wing. Spanburger
44:26
once Lambast had left meaning lawmakers after merely losing her
44:30
re election in twenty twenty, suggesting that total of socialism
44:34
and defunding the police had hampered the Democrats' fortunes in house.
44:39
Matt Bennett, co founder of the Moderate Democratic Group third
44:43
Way took to Exxon Wansty to brand politicians such as
44:47
van Berger and Cheryl as the party's future, advising Democrats
44:52
in swing state districts to distance themselves from socialism and
44:57
Mandami's policies. In In his victory speech, Madam Danny promised
45:03
to be a leader who would listen to those who
45:05
disagree with him and serve those who did not vote
45:08
for him, and to russell deeply with those disagreements. But
45:14
even as he spoke, Veer's debates were taking place among
45:18
Democrats trying to extrapolate broader messages from the Knight's stunning results.
45:26
The establishment is cooked. CMO is a canary in the
45:29
coal mine, said David Hog, the twenty five year old
45:33
former vice president of the Democratic National Committee who flashed
45:38
with its leadership after pledging to target long serving Democrats
45:42
in safe conditional districts. If the party doesn't fundamentally change,
45:47
they will be voted out. For many Democrats, Como's defeat
45:51
was yet another son that Democrats need to chart a
45:54
swift path away from old establishment politicians who have struggled
45:59
to rend innate with modern day voters. The sixty seven
46:03
year old former governor was attempting a political comeback after
46:07
resigning in disgrace amid sexual harassment claims. Tuesday's primary came
46:14
almost one year after President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance
46:19
against Trump sent the party into a spasm of handwringing
46:23
over his decision to back an Occadeneerian president's re election
46:28
during a time when voters seemed hungry for change. Trump's
46:32
victory in November and his first fablence in office have
46:36
served to further distabilize the minority party. While Mandami then
46:44
Mandani's performance appeared decisive in his cityware Democrats far at
46:49
number of Republicans. His path to the mayorship is not
46:52
a fetant complaint under the city's ranked choice voting system.
46:58
A winner of the primary will not be certified before
47:01
next week. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who won the Democrat
47:06
primary four years ago, opted to run as an independent
47:09
in Novembo and has embraced a more moderate tone while
47:12
posing up to the Trump administration. Cuomo, who conceded to
47:17
Pete Tuesday, has previously left opened the prospect of running
47:21
in the general election as an independent. Republicans have already
47:25
begun hammering Madani as an extremist whose policies were bank
47:30
of the city and whose ideologies represent a kind of
47:34
socialism that is foreign to the United States. The GOP
47:38
successfully ran a similar paybook against Vice President Kamala Harris
47:43
after Biden dropped of the President of race last year.
47:50
Representative Elise Stephanik, where Republican of New York, began fundraising
47:55
Tuesday based on Mamdani's performance. The idea that a self
48:01
of our socialist and Hamas terrorist sympathizerli like Zaran Mundami
48:07
can become the next mayor of New York City truly
48:09
makes me sick, she said in the fundraising pitch sent
48:13
by email. While Mundanmi has often noted against anti Semitism
48:18
in New York, his past positions of Israel, including declining
48:23
to condemn pro Palestinian rectorach rhetorics such as globalize the Infatada,
48:31
which some Jews see as a rallying cry for violence
48:34
against them, will no doubt become fader for Republicans and
48:38
raise uncomfortable questions for Democrats. The war in Gaza, which
48:43
has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, has become a
48:46
point of contention between Liberal voters and Democratic starwarts accustomed
48:51
to voicing strong support for Israel, But for some in
48:55
the party, Mandani's ability to stand up for his beliefs
48:58
and run a successful care campaign that connected with everyday
49:02
voters was proved that Democrats can compete with retreating from positions. Look,
49:09
we know of the prospect of a Muslim Democratic socialist
49:13
becoming the next mayor of New York City is going
49:15
to put the fear of God in establishment Democrats as
49:19
well as Maga Republicans. Sin Baga said Tuesday, What we
49:24
have to remember is that the people of New York
49:27
City tonight have spoken. They have spoken out against the
49:31
lily livered, lack of courage approach of Democrats in fighting authoritarianism.
49:38
In an article about our neighboring state, in West Virginia,
49:44
Medicaid is a lifeline. GOP cuts could devastate the state.
49:51
GOP states are particularly reliant on a program that President
49:55
Donald Trump and other Republicans have targeted for deep spending.
49:59
For duttion by Yasmin Abutala at Romney, West Virginia Hampshire
50:07
Memorial Hospitals, nestled deep in the Appalachian mountains, passed more
50:11
than twenty miles of minding mountain roads dotted with lush
50:15
trees and ridges. It is the only hospital for a
50:19
county that spans six hundred and forty five square miles,
50:23
and for many of its twenty four thousand residents, is
50:27
the sole option for healthcare, ranging from routine ailments to
50:32
life threatening emergencies. Like every rural hospital in West Virginia,
50:37
Hampshire Memorial relies deeply on Medicaid, the government health insurance
50:42
program for the poor that covers about one third of
50:45
residents in this deep red state. But its ability to
50:50
continue treating Hampshire County among the poorer and sika counties
50:54
in the country, has been thrown into by President Donald
50:58
Trump's sprawling tax and spending package that he has said
51:03
he wants on his desk of July fourth. The proposal,
51:08
which passed the host last month, proposes could to find
51:12
trillions of dollars in tax cuts from Trump's first term
51:15
that primarily benefit the wealthy, along with hundreds of billions
51:19
of dollars of news spending on immigration, enforcement and national defense.
51:25
It proposes paying for those items largely by slashing Medicaid,
51:30
which if passed would mark the biggest cut in the
51:33
program's nearly sixty year history. During negotiations and the host
51:39
Trump warned Republicans in a closed door meeting, don't up
51:45
around with Medicaid. But Trump and his aides have been
51:48
uneven and often contradictory in their premises, sometimes arguing that
51:53
Medicaid benefits are safe while waste, fraud, and abuse were not,
52:00
But the House version of the bill does not make
52:02
such distinctions while calling for nearly eight hundred billion dollars
52:07
in cuts to the program. Hospital groups hope the Senate
52:12
would rein in some of the House's Medicaid cuts, lobbying
52:15
senators such as West Virginia Republicans Shelley Moore, Capito, and
52:20
Jim Justice, as well as Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine,
52:25
Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, and Josh Holly, Republican of Missouri,
52:31
all of whom have raised concerns about the challenges rural
52:34
hospitals and their states already faced. But the proposal released
52:39
by Senate Republicans last week lays out even deeper cuts
52:43
to the program, spurring panic and frustration among rural hospitals
52:48
that say they are barely making adds meet as it is.
52:53
We are very concerned about this latest development. This would
52:57
be devastating for the health care in our community, and
53:00
we hope elected officials listen to their constituents that put
53:04
them in office, said he A Seagull, vice president of
53:08
operations at Hampshire Memorial Hospital. In an ideal world, we
53:13
would love to be all things to all people, but
53:15
critical access hospitals are historically very lean, seagal Sin. Critical
53:22
access hospitals, which cannot exceed twenty five in patient beds
53:28
are rural health facilities that receive higher government payments because
53:33
of the communities they serve. We look at what we
53:36
can afford to offer in the community, and that's physically
53:39
responsible for us to offer. And if we have these
53:43
major cuts to Medicaid, we would most certainly have to
53:46
look at our services. We would have to pare down.
53:50
Seagle Sin. At least five hospitals in West Virginia are
53:54
at risk of immediate closure if the changes to Medicaid
53:58
go into effect read stupid, president of West Virginia Rural
54:02
Health Association, and in parenthesis, Hampshire Memorial is not among those. Five.
54:11
The state already struggles with the access to maternity care, emergency,
54:15
medical transport, and mental health, and has few hospitals that
54:19
are able to perform complicated surgeries or treat high risk patients.
54:24
Suffman said his group has been in constant contact with
54:28
CAPEDO Justice and the state's two HOST members, Representative Carol
54:33
Miller and Riley Moore, both Republicans who voted for Trump's
54:37
budget build. The Host and Senate builds both proposed new
54:42
Medicaid work and reporting requirements for able bodied adults between
54:46
nineteen and sixty four years of age that the non
54:49
partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates were reduced federal Medicaid spending
54:55
as seven hundred and ninety three billion dollars over ten
54:58
years and results in seven point eight million fewre in release.
55:04
The Senate version of the bill could prompt even steeper
55:07
cuts to the program, their reigning in a financing maneuver
55:12
that hospital groups say would slash payments to their facilities,
55:16
especially rural hospitals. Hospitals cannot legally turn anyone away from
55:21
the emergency room, including those who are uninsured. That means
55:25
the hospital eats the cost of treating someone without insurance
55:29
rather than receiving reenforsement from Medicaid, Medicare or a private insurer.
55:36
Hospitals say that the Medicaid changes will resolved in more
55:39
uninsured people showing up to the emergency room when they
55:43
are sicker because they will avoid receiving healthcare as long
55:47
as possible, creating an enormous financial strain. The big risk
55:54
is hospitals in West Virginia and healthcare providers in general
55:58
are going to lose revenue because they're going to have
56:01
a rise in uncompensated chaos. In a lot of air communities,
56:06
the hospital is the economic driver. So if we don't
56:09
have a hospital to provide care, other businesses aren't going
56:14
to want to locate in those or too locate in
56:18
those communities. Such been said computer last week's since you
56:23
speaking with hospitals who obviously were concerned about the reduction
56:27
in what is referred to as the provided tax, in
56:30
which states charge extra taxes to medical providers and in
56:35
return give them higher Medicaid payments that in turn brings
56:39
in more federal matching funds for Medicaid, which are pegs
56:43
to state payments. Some conservatives have debted the tax, have
56:48
dubbed the tax a form of money laundering. Justice said
56:53
the cut to the provided tax came out of nowhere,
56:57
adding that it would hurt a rural hospital and hurt
57:00
them in a big way, and I don't want to
57:02
see that at all. On a Tuesday morning this month,
57:07
more than a dozen people sat in the waiting room
57:09
of Hampshire Memorial's Rural Health Clinic. Their patients can see
57:13
a primary care position and other specialty providers. For most
57:17
residents of Hampshire County, coming by healthcare like this isn't easy.
57:23
There's one primary care position per three hundred and eighty
57:28
three thousand, eight hundred and eighty people. One primary care
57:32
position per three thousand, eight hundred and eighty people in
57:35
the county nearly doubled the ideal ratio, no urgent care
57:39
facility and often few options outside of Hampshire's Memorial's eighth
57:45
bed emergency department, which treats ten thousand to eleven thousand
57:50
patients a year. Siegel said administrators at Hampshire Memorial have
57:55
not yet evaluated rich services it could and could not
57:58
continue offering. The Medicaid cuts go into effect as they
58:02
are still holding I hope they can educate our legislators.
58:07
Sheriff Kaiser, vice president of medical affairs at Hampshire Memorial Hospital,
58:12
said radiology services sag as, cet scans and mr Eyes
58:16
among the hospital's biggest expenses and would need to be
58:20
evaluated and sadly. I ended the reading for Today's Washington
58:25
Post on Thursday, the twenty sixth of June of twenty
58:29
twenty five. Please continued listening to programming on radio. I
58:35
stay hydrated and inside in the shade, in cool. Bye.