Transcript

4.1.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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April first, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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hearings start, g O P pushback on courts. Seeing a
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rare check on Trump, his allies strained to limit judge's options.
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Our next headline, anxiety prompts curves on spending. All income
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levels are cutting back, Sanding's rate rises as tars add
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to uncertainty. Next, it may be time for a towering
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Ala star to bow out. Next cut's cripple U s
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aid in wake of me and Mark quake. Our next headline,
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Trump targets funding to Harvard. And the final headline from
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today's front page idf orders RAFA evacuation, fifteen first responders
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bodies found. Now let's turn to our first item entitled
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hearings start, d B pushback on courts. Seeing a rare
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check on Trump, his allies strained to limit judge's options.
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By Justin Juvenal Theodoric Meyer, Marianna Sotomayor, and Clara An Smors.
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Republicans will make their case for reigning in federal judges
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on Capitol Hill this week, amid an escalating clash between
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President Donald Trump and the courts that have blocked, at
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least temporarily, many of his key priorities. Both the House
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and Senate will hold hearings on the federal judiciary, and
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House lawmakers are expected to vote on a bill to
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bar courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. The odds of the
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bill becoming law are long, but the flurry of action
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shows how much the courts have become a threat to
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Trump's agenda and highlights questions about the judicial system that
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for years have frustrated whichever party occupies the White House.
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Trump charged into a second term, issuing more executive orders
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one hundred seven to day than any president in four decades.
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The push and his administration's aggressive efforts on a variety
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of other fronts has been met with an even larger
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wave of about one hundred and fifty lawsuits. Judges have
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put more than forty holes on Trump's agenda, according to
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a Washington Post analysis of data from digital legal journal
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Just Security, and the nonprofit Fixed the Court. Temporary restraining
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orders and preliminary injunctions have paused bids to fire thousands
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of probationary workers, block trillions in federal grants, loans, and
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foreign aid, purge transgender troops from the military and men
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federal agencies. Five different judges have blocked Trump's move to
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end the birthright citizenship. While litigation on the issue continues
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with Congress compliant and Democrats in disarray, the judiciary has
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emerged as a primary check on Trump's plans to assert
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sweeping presidential power. Amanda Frost, a law professor at the
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University of Virginia School of Law, said Trump largely has
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himself to blame for his early losses in court because
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many of his actions contradict legal norms and presidents he's
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blatantly violating the law in many respects, not pushing the
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envelope or engaging in reasonable debate about what the law says.
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Frost said. Still, many of the adverse rulings could be
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overturned on appeal, and Trump has a friendly six to
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three conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The president has
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won a handful of notable victories too, including on firing
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heads of independent agencies. Republican frustration has mounted with each
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adverse ruin. Vice President J. D. Vance and Elon Musk
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have suggested officials to fy court orders. Government attorneys have
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tried to remove judges from cases, and Trump has called
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for impeaching judges. The anger reached a crescendo earlier this
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month after US District Court Judge James E. Boseburg temporarily
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blocked Trump officials from using the Alien Enemies Act to
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deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without hearings. Trump called for
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Boseberg's removal from the bench, prompting a rare review from
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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Hardland. Trump supporters in
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Congress crafted legislation to impeach Bosburg and other judges who
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had ruled against the president. House GOP leadership worked to
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tamp down that push, however, saying it is a political
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non starter given opposition among some Republicans and the two
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third Senate majority required to remove a judge. Republicans hold
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fifty three of one hundred Senate seats. Congress has also
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never impeached a federal judge based on a ruling he
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or she has issued, according to the Federal Judicial Center,
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and most up lawmakers do not want to establish that precedent.
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The punishment is designed to address judicial misconduct. Impeachment is
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an extraordinary measure. We're looking at all the alternatives, Speaker
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Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana told reporters last week. He
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suggested that Congress has the authority to eliminate district courts,
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but later clarified that the House would not do so.
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Democrats had derided Trump's impeachment calls. I share the Chief
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Justice's feelings that discrediting the judiciary is a perilous thing
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in a constitutional democracy, said Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois, the
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top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Another avenue has Republicans
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plan to explore is limiting funding for federal courts through
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the yearly appropriation's process. It's unclear if Representative Dave Joyce,
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Republican from Ohio, a moderate who shares a relevant subcommittee,
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would allow steep cuts. The idea would face at least
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some GOP opposition in the Senate. I'm not going to
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support defunding an independent and equal branch of government. And
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I'm not going to support impeaching a federal judge unless
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she can prove to me that he or she has
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committed a crime or misdemeanor, said Senator John D. Lee Kennedy,
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Republican from Louisiana, a Judiciary Committee member, he said he
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instead favored legislation to curtail nationwide injunctions, an idea that
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has more attraction with Republican lawmakers. Such rulings pause of
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policy or regulation while a lawsuit is pending is the
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judge believes the action may be unconstitutional and implementing it
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would cause immediate harm. On Tuesday, two House Judiciary subcommittees
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will hold a joint hearing to examine the constitutional limits
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of the judicial power, with a focus on recent temporary
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restraining orders tros and injunctions that have infringed on the
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rightful power of the President of the United States, unusually, said.
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Scheduled witnesses include former House Speaker Nu Gingrich, Republican from Georgia,
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a fellow from the Conservative Heritage Foundation, and a victim
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of the Venezuelan criminal organization Frende Aragua. Senate Judiciary Committee
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Chairman Check Grassley, Republican from Iowa will lead a hearing
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on nationwide injunctions on Wednesday. Grassley and Senators Mike Lee,
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Republican from Utah and Josh Holly, Republican from Missouri each
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have introduced their own bills on injunctions. The House is
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expected on Wednesday to pass a bill by Representative darryl Isa,
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Republicans from California that would limit injuctions to the parties
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bringing a lawsuit. The politics of turning such legislation into
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law remained daunting. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House,
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and any legislation would have to win the support of
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at least seven Democrats to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. Democrats,
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who are shut out of power in Washington, are unlikely
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to go along with efforts to reign in judges because
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courts are one of the few existing cudgels against Trump's agenda.
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Among some Republicans, that reality appears to be setting in.
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Senator to Ted Cruz, Republican from Texas, a Judiciary Committee member,
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said on his podcast there's almost no chance Democrats vote
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to restrict nationwideing junctions. Defeating such rulings, he said, will
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have to come from the courts. The most likely and
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swiftest remedy will be the appellate process, the Courts of
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Appeal and the US Supreme Court Crew said in an interview.
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Complaints about nationwide injunctions generally come from whichever party holds
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a presidency. Not too long ago, Democrats were calling for limits,
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and Trump and his allies were celebrating judges who blocked
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parts of President Joe Biden's agenda. In twenty twenty three,
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Senator Maizie Herono, Democrat from Hawaii, introduced a bill that
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would have made the U. S District Court in d C.
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The only federal court in the nation that could impose
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nationwide injunctions. There are exceptions to the partisan trand Republican
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Senators Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, Tom Cotton Arkansas, and Tom
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Tillis North Carolina introduced an anti injunction bill last year.
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Nationwide injunctions were sparse before the nineteen sixties, but their
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use has spiked in recent years amid of polarized Congress
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an increasingly divided political environment. Both the left and the
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right are finding they can get preferred outcomes through the courts,
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as opposed to through Congress much more now than in
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the past, said Gay Broth, executive director of Fixed the Court.
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In the past, Congress took a more robust view of
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its power and responsibilities to pass legislation. Federal judges issued
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six injunctions against the policies of President George W. Bush,
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twelve against President Barack Obama's initiatives, and sixty four against
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Trump's agenda in his first term. According to data compiled
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by the Harvard Law Review, Biden had fourteen injunctions issued
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against his priorities. Federal courts have latitude to apply injunctions
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to the parties involved in a lawsuit or broad them
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to the entire nation if a judge feels damaged will
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be widespread. The injunctions are usually temporary and men to
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preserve the status club, giving courts time to consider additional
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action or rule on the merits of a lawsuit. Supporters
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say nationwide injunctions offer the swiftest remedy to potentially illegal
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government action, preventing federal courts from becoming clogged with multiple
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lawsuits on the same issue, and are the only practical
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way to address some regulations, like immigration policy that have
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nation lights sweep. But an increasing course of Critics say
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these types of rulings give the nearly seven hundred federal
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district court judges too much power. Nicholas Bagley, a professor
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at the University of Michigan Law School, said partisans in
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both parties have perfected the art of seeking out friendly
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courts to file their challenges. It increases the benefits of
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form shopping. Badly said of nationwide injunctions, That's why we
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saw all these cases during the Biden administration being brought
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in a single courthouse district in Texas, because you know
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you're going to get a judge who is pretty partisan
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and be more willing to enter a nationwide injunction against
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whatever program you disliked. The Harvard Law Review data reveals
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a starkly partisan picture of nationwide injunctions. Nearly ninety percent
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of blocks issued against presidential policies and regulations were from
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judges nominated by a president from the opposing party. Elizabeth P. Fully,
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a professor at the Florida International University College of Law,
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said the divide a roads trusts in the courts. This
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creates a public perception that judges aren't just politicians and
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robes Fully wrote in an email, and this in turn
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undermines public confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law.
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Trump has tried to stoke that perception in a barrage
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of posts on truth Social, saying the judges restraining him
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are politically biased. The attacks are reminiscent of his playbook
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during his criminal prosecutions. Unlawful nationwide injunctions by radical left
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judges could very well lead to the destruction of our country,
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Trump wrote on Truth's Social last month. But a post
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analysis of every court action against Trump shows judges appointed
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by both Democrats and Republican presidents had regularly ruled against him.
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Although judges appointed by Democrats have handled about seventy percent
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of the cases so far, at least five preliminary injunctions
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and eight temporary restraining orders have been issued by judges
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appointed by Republicans, compared with at least twenty five temporary
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restraining orders and twenty preliminary injunctions from those appointed by Democrats.
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These figures include rulings where only part of the plaintiff's
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proposed orders were issued. Judges appointed by Trump in his
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first term have heard a relatively small number of challenges,
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but they have overwhelmingly ruled in his favor. Congress is
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not the only entity that could limit nationwide injunctions. Fowley
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said a majority of the Supreme Court could amend the
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scope of such rulings under a law known as the
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Rules Enabling Act. Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and
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Elena Kagan have expressed concerns about nationwide injunctions. Recently, Acting
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Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris asked the High Court to
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curtail nationwide injunctions in her recent appeal of rulings that
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have blocked Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship, one of
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his most controversial and legally questionable initiatives. Universal injunctions have
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reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration.
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Harris wrote in a court filing that sharp rise in
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universal injunctions stops the executive branch from performing its co
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institutional function before any courts fully examine the merits of
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the action. Next is an article entitled Anxiety prompts curves
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on spending. All income levels are cutting back savings. Rate
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rises as tariffs add to uncertainty. By Alba Putarai, Americans
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are tapping the brakes on spending, pulling back on dining out, hotels, days,
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and other expenses ahead of new tariffs and continued economic
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uncertainty that continues to upend financial markets. Consumers are increasingly
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anxious about the economy and their curving spending habits. Accordingly,
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data released Friday shows consumers spending inched up by zero
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point one percent in February after adjusting for inflation, following
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a zero point six percent drop the month before, according
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to government figures. Meanwhile, the personal savings rate, or how
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much of their incomes people set aside, rose to four
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point six percent. Investors, grappling with the consumer spending slowdown
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and mixed messages on tariffs, have pulled back, erasing the
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short lived rally that followed President Donald Trump's November election win.
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On Monday, the S and P five hundred and NASAC
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Composite index closed out the worst first quarter since spring
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twenty twenty two. The White House in recent days has
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doubled down on its tariff plans, with Trump pushing from
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across the board in portax of as high as twenty
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percent on all products starting Wednesday. E Commomas say that
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would quickly raise prices across the economy, making food, cars, electronics, clothing,
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and other everyday purchases considerably more expensive. Concerns about rising
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costs have led many to put spending plans on hold
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until they figure out exactly how new tariffs will affect them.
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Released by the University of Michigan meanwhile, showed that Americans
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use on the economy fell for a third straight month
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to the lowest level since twenty twenty two, as households
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and businesses prepare for a wave of higher prices once
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new tariffs going to effect this week. Consumers are increasingly
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apprehensive about spending, said Lydia Bussoor, a senior economist at
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e Y Parthenon. We are seeing clear signs that people
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are being more careful. They're reluctant to spend on non
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essential expenses, They're worried about inflation, and have preemptive anxiety
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around teriffs. Strongingly, economists say Americans of all income levels,
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including the wealthiest, are rethinking their spending in what could
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be a pivotal warning. The drop off in consumer spending
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is expected to drag down economic growth in the first
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three months of the year, with many economists now forecasting
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contraction after years of consistent growth. The highest earning ten
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percent of Americans with annual household incomes of two hundred
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fifty thousand dollars or more have been driving much of
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the economy's post pandemic boom, accounting for forty nine point
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seven percent of all US spending, according to calculations by
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Moody's Analytics for The Wall Street Journal. But a recent
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slide in stock prices, combined with a burgeoning trade war,
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is causing even those well heeled shoppers to think twice
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before booking vacations and snapping up designer watches. The forces
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driving americans recent wealth gains are under considerable risk of
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slowing or reversing. Mark Sandy, chief economists at Moody's Analytics,
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wrote in a February report. Johnny Franco, a plastic surgeon
18:51
in Austin, said clients are increasingly opting for a simpler
18:55
procedures and local anesthesia, which can be thousands of dollars
18:59
to cheaper than going under during surgery. There's only so
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much money to go around for our patients, he said.
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A lot of them are breaking up their surgeries. May
19:09
be a breast lift instead of a full mommy makeover
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or fillers instead of liposection. They are able to save
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a decent amount of money while still feeling like they're
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making progress. It's important to note economists say that consumers
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haven't stopped spending altogether. Americans who want jobs largely had them,
19:30
and they're getting wage increases. But years of inflation, combined
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with a slowing labor market and new tariffs have many
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anxious about what's it had. Two thirds of consumers now
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expect the unemployment rate, currently four point one percent, to
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rise in the coming year, the highest reading since two
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thousand and nine. According to the Michigan Survey. At Well
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Paid Maids, a cleaning company with branches in d C,
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New York, and Chicago, sail have slowed considerably this year.
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The drop has been most pronounced in the Washington area,
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where federal job cuts and funding freezes have left many
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government workers or contractors and those around them concerned about
20:13
their finances. More than ten percent of recurring customers in
20:17
the DC area have canceled altogether in the past two months,
20:22
either because they've lost their jobs or they're worried they
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soon might. The real challenge is the Vibes founder Aaron
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Seiden said, people really do buy and spend based on
20:34
economic vibe, and right now there's just an amalgam of
20:38
red arrows trending downward in people's minds, and that really
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doesn't make them want to reach for their wallets. Americans
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spent less on a range of items in February compared
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with January, including cars, electronics, sporting goods, and dining out.
20:54
Census data shows many of those items could soon become
20:58
even more expensive as the Trump administration places sweeping terrace
21:03
on vehicles and other imported goods. In Indianapolis, Rika Ocampo
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and her partner have shelved plans to buy a second car.
21:13
With higher grocery and housing costs, their budget is already
21:17
stretched thin. Since January, they spent six thousand dollars on
21:21
vet bills for a dog with cancer and several hundred
21:25
more on diapers, clothing, and food for their two year
21:28
old daughter. Things used to be so cheap here in Indianapolis,
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said Ocampo, thirty two, a technical recruiter, but now we're
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thinking hard about every cost. We only buy things on sale,
21:41
and it's like, do we really need Amazon Prime? What
21:45
else can we cancel? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns of
21:50
Washington Post. Major retailers, including Target, foot Locker and Macy's
21:56
have all recently noted signs of shopper hesitation, and US
22:00
air Lines this month warned that demand is slowing, with
22:04
Delta air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines revising down
22:09
their forecasts for the first three months of the year.
22:13
People are cautious and they're pulling back a little on travel,
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Delta CEO Edward Hermann Bastian said in a presentation. Travelers,
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he said, are kind of waiting to see what's going
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to transpire, whether its trade in tariff challenges or macroeconomic
22:29
policy changes. A Dinna Green, who lives in Sonoma County, California,
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lost her job working on employee benefits at the end
22:38
of January. Since then, she sent out hundreds of applications
22:44
and secured a few interviews, but says she's still being
22:47
prudent about spending. Big ticket purchases are on hold and
22:52
she's limiting take out to one thirty dollars order a week.
22:56
Early in the pandemic, Green had bought a series of
22:59
vacation packages, pre paying for accommodations and destinations such as
23:04
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. But the thought of
23:07
scheduling one of those trips now and paying for airfare
23:11
feels ludicrous. I keep getting called about my next booking,
23:16
and it's just like, dude, I can't go on a
23:18
vacation anytime soon, said Green, who's forty five. I haven't
23:23
dialed back my spending completely, but I'm definitely being more careful.
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Aaron Gregg and Jeff Stein contributed to this report. Next
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is an item entitled it may be time for a
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towering LA Star to bow out. Some say wildfires make
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it too risky to have so many palm trees around.
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By Dan Grattoni, It's a towering Los Angeles institution, like
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the Empire State Building in New York or the Space
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Needle in Seattle. The palm tree is more Hollywood than
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the Hollywood Sign. We are with more staying power than
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any actor etched into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seeing
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those green leaves waving hello while weaving through traffic on
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the one oh five, let you know you've arrived in La.
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But after many of these tall, majestic trees helped fuel
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the historic wildfires that ravage southern California earlier this year,
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burning more than sixteen thousand structures and killing at least
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twenty nine people. Some are suggesting that the icon provides
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too little shade and is too big of a fire
24:35
risk for a region where temperatures have risen faster than
24:38
in most of the rest of the world. I'm not
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of the mind that we need to eradicate palms from
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our cities entirely, said Brian Vehart, a master arborous for
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Tree People, one of the main tree planting organizations in
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Los Angeles. But when we're talking about the functional value
24:56
that trees give us, he added, it just doesn't make
24:59
sense to plant these species and mass. No palm species
25:04
is native to Los Angeles. In fact, before urban development,
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much of the Los Angeles Basin was scrubland and grassland,
25:13
free of big trees. Palm trees got their first big
25:16
break in LA in the eighteenth century, when Spanish missionaries
25:21
brought with them date palms, not so much to eat
25:24
the fruit, but to use the fronds in religious services,
25:27
especially on palm Sunday. Later, settlers trekking West picked up
25:32
the seeds of another desert species, the California fan palm,
25:37
and planted them in LA in the late eighteen hundreds.
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Land developers used palms to entice Americans west and sell
25:45
southern California as a land of sunshine. They were promoting
25:49
this to snowbound Easterners as hey, look at this gray climate,
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said Donald Hodele, a palm expert and retired horticulturists with
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the University of California. This is a place you want
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to be. The Great Depression cemented the palm tree as
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an LA emblem. The city of Los Angeles put hordes
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of its unemployed citizens back to work, planting thousands of palms,
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including the soaring Mescan fan palm, from Baja California and Mexico,
26:19
as part of a beautification campaign ahead of the nineteen
26:22
thirty two Olympics. Today, the city maintains about one hundred
26:27
thousand palm trees that lime streets and populate parks, according
26:32
to the city's Department of Public Works. But as California
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faces rising temperatures and fiercer wildfires, many residents say the
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trees aren't right for its hotter future. For palm tree critics,
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their tall trunks act as a fuel ladder, allowing flames
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to climb high into the air. Their skirts of brown
26:54
dried fronds that accumulate high up under the green leaves
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as the trees age, can super charge fires and acts
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like a catcher's net for incoming embers, said Nick Jensen,
27:05
conservation program director at the California Native Plant Society. Once
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a tall palm tree is on fire, it's hard for
27:13
firefighters to put it out. Those lofty, fleming fronds can
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in turn cast embers far and wide, sparking more fires
27:23
and making containment of conflagrations difficult. The fire risk of
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palm trees can be reduced when those skirts of dead
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fronds are trimmed, but once they get tall, Jensen said,
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they're hard to maintain. Jensen encourages homeowners and businesses to
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instead plant native trees such as the California live oak,
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which resists wildfires better and provides more food and habitat
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for wildlife. The oaks, he said, are like the supermarket
27:53
of natural habitats. And then there's the issue of all
27:57
that sunshine. One of the main reason's urban planners plant
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trees is to provide pedestrians a respite from the sun,
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But with their towering stature and sparse canopies. Many palm
28:09
species in La cast little shade. You don't have to
28:13
be a botanist to really make that determination, they are said.
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Unequal levels of shade pose a problem in the Alay area.
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The city's wealthier neighborhoods tend to be shielded from the
28:24
sun by streets lined with big, leafy trees, while poor
28:28
ones have a dearth of shade giving trees but plenty
28:32
of heat absorbing pavement. In twenty nineteen, Mayre Air Parsetti
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launched a campaign to plant ninety thousand trees, the vast
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majority of which weren't palms, to beat the heat. Today,
28:46
the city occasionally deploys palms to preserve the historical charm
28:49
of certain areas, such as near Los Angeles inter National
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Airport and Dodger Stadium. We don't have unlimited space or water,
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We don't have unlimited resources for maintenance of plants, said
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Rachel Mellrich, City forest Officer for Los Angeles. Let's focus
29:07
on those that are going to be the biggest and
29:09
heaviest hitters when it comes to habitat and cooling. Private developers, too,
29:14
have moved away from planting palms. According to Esther Markleys,
29:19
a landscape architect and University of Southern California professor. The
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county Fire department tells residents to remove many palm tree
29:27
species if they are too close to buildings. There are
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definitely fewer palm trees being planted today than there were
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even twenty or thirty years ago, Marbley said, adding that
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officials should cut down the trees and areas most prone
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to fires. She likened palms to desert on a dinner menu,
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only plant them in moderation. Still, they are the arborist
29:51
whose group tree people does not plant palms, cautioned against
29:55
blaming any tree too much for the recent wildfires, which
29:59
were fueled largely by strong winds and densely packed buildings.
30:04
Trees are not the reason why these wildfires got out
30:07
of hand, he said. Stephanie Pinzetto, a professor at the
30:11
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, pointed out
30:16
that nature is already doing the dirty work of reducing
30:19
the number of palm trees in Los Angeles. In recent years,
30:23
an invasive weevil and fiddle hungle disease have killed many
30:27
of the region's palms without actively planting more palm trees
30:32
may fade from the ally skyline like a sunset over
30:35
the Pacific. Pinchetto added that while palm trees shouldn't be
30:39
planted willy nilly, they still ought to have a home
30:43
in LA. People would regret getting rid of all the
30:46
palm trees. I think that there would be a kind
30:49
of nostalgia. Palms get a bum wrap, added Hotel, the
30:53
palm expert. Their fruit and fiber provide food and messing
30:57
material for birds and other wildlife as long as dead
31:00
leaves are removed. He added, they don't pose a particular
31:04
fire risk. There's no other plant material that can capture
31:08
that so sought after tropical motif as palms do, and
31:12
that's why they're always going to be planted in southern California.
31:18
Our next item is entitled Cut's Cripple Usaid in Wake
31:22
of Me and Mark Quake by Rebecca Tan. Hours after
31:26
a seven point seven magnitude earthquake devastated me and mar
31:30
on Friday, sending Dadrinus tremors across Southeast Asia, the American
31:35
officials charged with responding to the disaster received their termination
31:40
letters from Washington. Most of the personnel who would have
31:43
made up a US response team, including security and sanitation experts,
31:48
were already on indefinite leave. Many of the US programs
31:52
that would have provided life saving materials, including fuel for
31:56
ambulances and medical kiss were shut at weeks ago. U
32:00
S plains and helicopters in nearby Thailand, which have been
32:04
used before for disaster relief, never made it off the ground.
32:09
America's response to the catastrophic earthquake has been crippled by
32:13
the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to the U S Agency
32:17
for International Development. According to eight current and former U
32:21
S ai D employees who worked on Me and Mar,
32:24
as well as former State Department officials and leaders of
32:27
international aid agencies, three days after the disaster, American teams
32:33
have yet to be deployed to the quake zone, a
32:36
marked contrast with other similar catastrophes, when U S personnel
32:40
were on the ground within hours. The Trump administration has
32:44
promised two million dollars in aid, saying the United States
32:48
stands with the people of Me and Mar as they
32:50
work to recover from the devastation, but distributing this relief
32:55
will be more difficult than ever U S aid officials said,
32:59
because the U S has severed valuable ties with local
33:02
organizations and fired staff who could have restored relationships. The
33:07
US commitment so far has also been dwarfed by the
33:11
thirteen point seven million dollars pledged by China, which borders
33:15
Me and Mar and is one of the few remaining
33:17
allies of his military junta. The situation unfolding Me and Maar,
33:22
which has been battered by years of civil war and
33:25
was the biggest recipient of USAID in Southeast Asia last year,
33:30
is the clearest demonstration to date of how Elon Musk's
33:34
us DOGE service has upended the global aid system, allowing
33:38
Beijing and other rival powers to take the lead in
33:41
providing relief. This is what the world looks like when
33:46
the US is not in a leadership role, said Chris Milligan,
33:49
who served as USAID's top civilian official until he retired
33:53
in twenty twenty one, and was USAID's top official in
33:57
Me and Maar under President Barack Obama. Other countries have
34:02
mobilized and we have not, and that's because we have
34:05
shut down parts of the U s government that have
34:08
the capability to respond. As the Trump administration moved Friday
34:13
to formally dismantle the agency. Secretary of State Marcorubio said
34:17
in a statement that USAID strayed from its original mission
34:21
long ago. Thanks to President Trump, This misguided and fiscally
34:26
irresponsible era is now over. The powerfle quake in Nanmar
34:31
has killed more than two thousand people, according to the
34:34
country's military junta, and the toll is still rising. As
34:38
many as twenty million people in the country needed humanitarian
34:42
assistance before the quake. Millions more have now been displaced
34:47
and will need food, clean water, and protection from the
34:50
scorching heat. In the heart head city of Mandalay, quakes
34:55
arrives are sleeping in the streets. We are suffering a lot,
34:59
said Tanai, sixty four, who said she has spent the
35:02
past three nights outdoors. Typically for disaster of this scale,
35:07
the US would have assembled a Disaster Assistants Response Team
35:11
or DART within hours and deployed it as quickly as
35:15
possible to coordinate with international aid agencies and local partners.
35:20
USAID official set When a seven point eight magnitude quake
35:24
hit Turkey in Syria two years ago, the US had
35:28
a DART on the ground within a day, swiftly followed
35:32
by two urban search and rescue teams by late Monday,
35:36
three days after the worst trembler to hit Myanmar in
35:39
nearly forty years. The US has sent no one. A
35:44
delegation of three USAID employees is scheduled to arrive in
35:48
the coming days, but at this time we do not
35:52
intend to deploy a dart, an official of the US
35:55
Embassy and ME and Mar told The Washington Post, speaking
35:58
on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized
36:01
to talk to the media, the crucial SEMy to our
36:05
window after a quake, when rescuers are most likely to
36:08
find survivors in the rubble, has already passed. Current and
36:12
former USAID employees said, we had the assets, we could
36:17
have saved laws, and we missed it. Milligan said Mean
36:22
Mars junta has plunged the country into isolation since it
36:26
violently seized power in a twenty twenty one coups, sparking
36:29
a civil war against ethnic and pro democracy militias. The
36:34
junta has been accused of war crimes and has lost
36:37
control over parts of the country. After the military's top
36:41
general issued a rare and desperate appeal for international health
36:45
in the wake of the quake, Chinese rescue teams equipped
36:49
with heavy machinery were the first on the scene in
36:51
the most affected areas in Central mianmar According to the
36:55
United Nations, Russia has also deployed a relief team, alongside
37:00
responders from India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea, but
37:07
no country can come close to matching the disaster relief
37:10
capabilities of the United States, which have now been paralyzed.
37:15
USAID officials said the few foreign aid workers and local
37:19
journalists have bade it to the worst hit areas say
37:23
rescue efforts have been slow moving, the stench of death
37:27
has become overwhelming, they say, and few communities have received
37:31
any help in searching for their loved ones in the rubble.
37:35
The US has helicopters, planes, and other transport vehicles stationed
37:40
in an air base in eastern Thailand that have been
37:43
used in the past for disaster relief, including the airlift
37:46
heavy machinery like forklifts and excavators, set a former USAID
37:51
official who worked on the u S response to the
37:54
twenty fifteen Nepal quake when Utapao Royal thaigh Nuvy Airfield
37:59
served as a base of operations, it would have been
38:02
really easy for the US to mobilize that equipment, but
38:06
we haven't, said the official, who, like some others in
38:10
this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
38:14
feared government retaliation. The U s State Department did not
38:18
immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, the
38:23
US cut thirty nine of forty development projects in me
38:27
and Maar, many of which would have pivoted to supporting
38:30
relief and recovery efforts after the quake, said five agency
38:34
employees and contractors who worked on me and Mar. One
38:39
of the terminated programs involved helping ethnic minority groups and
38:43
pro democracy organizations respond to attacks from the junta, including
38:48
by providing medical kits and gasoline for ambulances which would
38:53
have been diverted to earthquake respond USAID employees said another
38:58
terminated program involved helping grassroots organizations provide basic services such
39:04
as clean water, food, and health care. The abrupt cancelation
39:09
of the programs meant the US has lost its network
39:13
of trusted local groups that would have relied on to
39:16
disperse AID quickly and without interference from the junta, which
39:20
has had a history of blocking relief to areas that
39:23
are contested or under rebel control. The US now has
39:28
a very limited ability to get money out the door
39:31
in a reliable way, said a USAID contractor. Already, watchdog
39:37
groups say the military has been routing rescue teams towards
39:40
the capital Nakoda, which serves as its command center, while
39:45
largely abandoning rebel held communities. Fourteen of the fifteen officials
39:50
who made up USAID Mission Burma and who would have
39:53
guided relief funding were placed on indefinite leave in February.
39:58
Authorities have scrambled to bring back several of them since
40:01
the quake, two employees said. Before the disaster, a small
40:06
group of officials at USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs in
40:10
the Thai capital of Bangkok had been given exemptions to
40:14
continue their work. On Friday, hours after sheltering from strong
40:19
tremors that rippled across the city, the officials recounted rushing
40:23
to an ad hoc situation room set up at the
40:26
residence of the US Ambassador to Thailand. They were coordinating
40:30
an AID plan with Washington late into the night. They said.
40:34
When they received their final termination letters, which went out
40:37
to USAID employees worldwide, it was beyond cruel said a
40:43
USAID official in Bangkok. You have extraordinarily talented people who
40:49
have been put on the sidelines, said another USAID employee
40:52
working under me and my response, the cost of Doje's
40:56
thoughtless approach to efficiency is being exposed right now, right here.
41:03
The gutting of USAID has also slashed u S support
41:06
for the international aid agencies now left to lead the
41:09
humanitarian response, which experts say is among the most complex
41:14
they have had to execute in recent years. The U
41:18
S has always been the biggest donor, said Michael Dunford,
41:21
Mian Maar's country director for the UN World Food Program.
41:26
Dunford was in a meeting with team members in Naipiada
41:29
to discuss how to scale back the country's bare bones
41:32
operations in response to the u S cuts when the
41:35
building started to shake, he said. The u N Special
41:39
Rapperteur on the situation of human rights in Mianmar Tom
41:42
Andrews felt the termers while he was on the Thai
41:45
Yanmar border assessing clinics for refugees that had lost American
41:50
funding a decade ago. When major floods hit Myanmar, displacing
41:55
hundreds of thousands of people, the United States was the
41:59
single largest provider of relief. An image went viral at
42:03
the time of Derrick Mitchell, the US ambassador to Millanmar,
42:07
distributing seeds to farmers. We used to be the first
42:11
or one of the first to respond, Mitchell said, Now
42:15
we're simply not present. Zaza and Mandalay Yang Yang Aung
42:20
in Dangkok and Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this report.
42:26
Our next article is entitled Trump target's funding to Harvard
42:31
by Susans fer Luca and Danielle Douglas Gabriel. The Trump
42:35
administration will scrutinize billions of dollars in federal funding to
42:39
Harvard University, according to an announcement Monday by multiple federal agencies,
42:44
another escalation in the administration's aggressive efforts to force change
42:49
at prominent universities that had been divided by protests over
42:53
the Israel Gaza War. The Joint Task Force to Combat
42:57
Anti Semitism, recently formed by the administration to address complaints
43:01
of discrimination on college campuses, will review them more than
43:05
two hundred fifty five million dollars in contracts between the
43:08
federal government, Harvard and its affiliates, and it will look
43:13
at more than eight point seven billion dollars in multi
43:16
year grant commitments to Harvard and its affiliates to ensure
43:19
the school is in compliance with federal regulations. The announcements
43:23
from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and
43:27
the US General Service Administration said Harvard affiliates include local
43:32
hospitals whose physicians teach at Harvard Medical School. Their reviews
43:37
followed dramatic cuts at Columbia University. This month. The Trump
43:41
administration said it was cutting off four hundred million dollars
43:45
in federal grants because it said the school was not
43:48
doing enough to protect Jewish students. Colleges across the country
43:53
struggled last spring to balance student's right to free speech
43:57
during intense protests over the Israel Gaza War with the
44:00
need to ensure student's sake in campus, with some Jewish
44:04
students saying pro Palestinian protests were times hostile, anti Semitic,
44:09
and frightening. This academic year has been much quieter at
44:13
those schools. Columbia officials recently agreed to make changes and
44:18
are in negotiations with the federal government in hopes of
44:21
restoring funding. A spokeswoman for the Education of Pardon said
44:26
funding to Harvard and its affiliates is being reviewed, not canceled.
44:31
Tarp has been sharply critical of universities for what he
44:34
has characterized as a failure to respond to antisemitism, and
44:39
soon after taking office in January, he signed an executive
44:43
order designed to counter it. The Tarp administration has made
44:47
clear that its actions on this issue would be wide ranging.
44:51
Federal agencies warned ten universities they would be visited by
44:55
the Anti Semitism Task Force, and an additional sixty schools
44:59
for warned the potential enforcement action if they did not
45:03
comply with federal civil rights law to protect Jewish students.
45:07
Higher education leaders have been bracing for hits on an
45:11
array of fronts from the administration, which signal during the
45:14
campaign that elite universities would be targets for failing to
45:18
stop disruptive protests, give voice to conservative views, and other
45:22
perceived problems. Track promised to give this anti American insanity
45:28
out of institutions that he said were indoctrinating students. Now,
45:33
the Trump administration has shown that federal funding will be
45:35
used to enforce change Harvard's failure to protect students on
45:40
campus from anti Semitic discrimination, all by promoting divisive ideologies
45:45
over free inquiry, has put its reputation in serious jeopardy.
45:50
Education Secretary linnemic Man said in a written statement, Harvard
45:54
can write these wrongs and restore itself to a campus
45:58
dedicated to academic excellence and truth seeking where all students
46:01
feel safe on his campus. In a message to the
46:05
campus community Monday, Harvard President Aled M. Garber said if
46:10
this funding is stopped, it will halt life saving research
46:14
and in peril important scientific research and innovation. He said
46:18
that anti Semitism is an urgent problem that he has
46:21
experienced directly while serving as president, and he detailed some
46:25
of the steps Harvard has taken to combat it over
46:28
the past fifteen months. The university will engage with the
46:32
federal task Force and will take measures that will move
46:35
Harvard forward, he said, while protecting its community and academic freedom.
46:42
Protests at Harvard over the Israel Gaza War were not
46:45
as disruptive as some of those at Columbia, but Harvard
46:49
has come under scrutiny from Republican lawmakers and others over
46:53
the past year and a half for its response to
46:55
demonstrations that scrutiny has had high profile impact toppling powerful presidencies.
47:03
Last year, Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in the wake
47:06
of a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, the second Ivy
47:10
League president to do so. Months later, Columbia president Minochaffique resigned,
47:16
saying the turmoil on campus had taken a considerable toll
47:20
on her family. Harvard has announced efforts to address complaints
47:24
of anti Semitism and Islamophobia that have emerged during the
47:27
Israel Gaza War. The university convened a presidential task force
47:32
in January twenty twenty four, and has since implemented changes
47:36
in response to the group's preliminary findings, including standardizing its
47:40
procedures for disciplinary cases, pursuing disciplinary action, and updating campus
47:46
use policies. The school now uses the International Holocaust Remembrance
47:51
the Lion's definition of anti Semitism, and communicated to campus
47:55
that Jewish and Israeli identities are included in his anti
47:59
bullying and a discrimination policies. Still, the school's task force
48:04
has faced criticism from students and faculty for missing deadlines
48:08
to issue final recommendations, and some faculty and others have
48:13
objected to rules they found overly restrictive of free speech rights.
48:17
Last fall, some professors chalk messages on campus sidewalks to
48:22
object to a rule requiring prior approval for such expressions.
48:26
During the review process, the federal government will work with
48:30
relevant contracting agencies to assess whether stop work orders should
48:34
be issued for any identified contracts, according to the announcement,
48:39
and Harvard has been ordered to provide a comprehensive list
48:42
of all contracts with the federal government not included in
48:46
the initial review. While Harvard's recent actions to curb institutionalized
48:51
anti semitism, though long overdue, are welcome, there is much
48:56
more that the university must do to retain the privilege
48:59
of receiving federal taxpayer's hard earned dollars, said Josh Gruenbaum,
49:04
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner and a member of the task force.
49:09
This administration has proven that we will take swift action
49:12
to hold institutions accountable if they allow antisemitism to fester.
49:17
We will not hesitate to act if Harvard fails to
49:20
do so. Some higher education experts say the Trump administration's
49:25
efforts to combat anti semitism are politically motivated. This new
49:30
review is just one more component of the administration's relentless
49:34
assault on American higher education. Ethan Riss, An, Associate Professor
49:38
of Higher Education Leadership at the University of Nevado at RENO,
49:43
the idea of canceling federal grants and contracts, almost all
49:47
of which involves scientific research, in order to root out
49:50
anti Semitism at Harvard is particularly absurd. Ted Mitchell, president
49:55
of the American Council and Education, said the administration is
49:59
sticking to a place a book of making accusations without
50:02
evidence and threatening without following procedures laid out in federal law.
50:07
The Trump administration said it is reviewing Harvard for compliance
50:11
with civil rights regulations, but it is side stepping the
50:14
process for civil rights investigations, he said. And the final
50:18
article on today's front page is entitled Idea of Orders
50:22
Rafa Evacuation fifteen first responders bodies found by Miriam Berger,
50:28
Haja Harb and Hibba Fharuk Mafus from Jaffa, Israel. Israel
50:34
on Monday ordered the evacuation of most of Raffa in
50:38
the southern Gaza Strip, warning that the military is returning
50:42
to combat in great force in the area, a day
50:45
after the bodies of more than a dozen emergency personnel
50:49
missing for a week after responding to a strike, were
50:52
recovered from a mass grave in the city. Over the
50:56
past week, the Israeli military has pushed back into Rafa,
51:00
launching air and artillery strikes, sending troops into several neighborhoods,
51:05
and forcing Palestinians who had recently returned under a seasfire
51:09
to flee once again. According to residents who escaped them
51:13
bombardments and gunfire. The evacuation order Monday was the largest
51:18
since Israel resumed military operations in Gaza nearly three weeks ago,
51:23
covering sUAS of Brava that, while mostly destroyed, hosted many
51:28
families who returned during the two months ceasefire that began
51:31
in January. In a statement, israel Defense Forces spokesman avich
51:37
atterre directed Palestinians toward Malassi in western Gaza and Israeli
51:42
designated humanitarian zone that many Rafa residents had left just
51:47
weeks ago. Israel has long seen the control of Ratha,
51:52
with CITs on the border with Egypt, as crucial to
51:55
stemming the flow of weapons and goods to Hamas the
51:58
militant group that ruled Gaza before the war, but his
52:01
Raeli leaders have also warned of plans to expand operations
52:05
across the territory, including a much larger ground campaign that
52:09
could culminate in the long term occupation of Gaza. The
52:14
Washington Post spoke to eight residents who recently fled Rafa
52:18
and described heroine scenes as intensive. Strikes began in the
52:22
city late on March twenty second, days after Israel broke
52:26
a two month ceasefire with Hamas and unleashed strikes that
52:30
killed more than four hundred people in a single night.
52:33
On March eighteenth, they bombed the house right in front
52:36
of us, said son of Abah, forty two, who was
52:40
staying in the rubble of her home in the Saudi
52:42
neighborhood of Rafa before fleeing on March twenty third. Three
52:47
people on our street were killed. The shooting did not
52:50
stop amid the chaos of the first night. The Palestine
52:55
Red Crescent Society dispatched two ambulances to the scene of
52:58
a strike in Ratha Hushishen area shortly before four a m.
53:02
On March twenty third. According to p RCS spokeswoman Nebelle Farsak.
53:09
The dispatchers soon lost contact with one of the ambulances,
53:12
she said, and paramedics in the other vehicle were sent
53:15
to search for the missing colleagues. Not long afterward, they
53:19
relayed what they saw. The ambulance was found near vehicles
53:23
belonging to the United Nations and Gaza's Civil Defense. The
53:27
paramedics had been shot and were wounded, Farsac said, and
53:31
PRCS dispatched two more ambulances to retreat the injured. The
53:36
organization also lost contact with those ambulances, but not before
53:40
one of the medics briefly called the dispatch center and
53:44
his ready forces could be heard speaking in the background.
53:47
Farsak said. For days the paramedics were missing, along with
53:52
the team from Gaza's Civil Defense and a staffer with
53:55
a U N. But on Sunday, the PRCS, the Civil
54:00
Defense Force, and the Yuan all said they had recovered
54:04
their colleague's bodies in a mass grave and rafa, including
54:08
eight paramedics, six several defense workers and one un staff member.
54:14
In a statement, PRCS called the incident a massacre. They
54:19
were killed in their uniforms, driving their clearly marked vehicles,
54:24
wearing their gloves on their way to save lives. Jonathan Guddall,
54:29
head of the UN Office for the co Ordination of
54:31
Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, wrote on
54:35
x He described the efforts to find the teams, including
54:39
on the first day of Id al Fitur, a Muslim
54:42
holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
54:46
This should never have happened, Whittell wrote. In a statement,
54:50
The IDs said its forces open fired vehicles after they
54:54
advanced suspiciously toward the troops, eliminating a number of Hamas
54:59
and Islamic terrorists. The IDF said an initial investigation found
55:04
that some of the vehicles had been ambulances and fire trucks.
55:08
It did not provide evidence of the claim that militants
55:11
were in the convoy, and did not respond when asked
55:14
why the first responders were buried in a mass grave.
55:18
The IDF also said that the vehicles were moving without
55:21
prior coordination. Thal Adre, the military spokesman, published an evacuation
55:27
order for the area on his ex account several hours
55:30
after the incident. Firesox said the area was not a
55:34
red zone when the ambulances were dispatched, as it is
55:37
the organization's policy to generally not send first responders to
55:41
closed military areas where coordination is needed. We demand answers
55:46
and justice. UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Tom Fletcher said Monday.
55:52
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than fifty
55:56
thousand people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which which
56:00
does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says the
56:04
majority of the dead are women and children. It launched
56:07
the war in response to the Hamas led attacks on
56:10
October seventh, twenty twenty three, a rampage that killed about
56:14
one thousand, two hundred people. Hamas and allied militants also
56:19
took two hundred fifty one hostages into Gaza, some of
56:23
whom are still in captivity. The IDAs said Saturday that
56:27
its troops located and recovered findings associated with the body
56:31
of Manachem Gard, who was killed on October seventh, twenty
56:35
twenty three. The Ideas said the remains were found in
56:39
an outpost area in Rafa belonging to Islamic Chihad, a
56:43
Hamas ally. Residents said that as they fled Rafa last week,
56:48
they were being fired on by the Israeli military or
56:52
seeing the bodies of people who were shot along the
56:54
evacuation routes. It was like a video game, said Mustapha
56:58
Jabbar thirty six, who said he saw more than ten
57:02
bodies on the ground as he fled the Saudi neighborhood
57:05
with his extended family on March twenty third. Hermal Karnab
57:10
twenty nine said the gunfire was random as he evacuated
57:14
him from Rotha's tell as Upon neighborhood the same day,
57:17
adding that it did not appear that his ready troops
57:20
were clashing with militants. We will not be able to
57:23
complete this item at this time due to constraints of time.
57:28
This concludes the reading of the Washington Post for to
57:31
Day Tuesday, April first, twenty twenty five. Your reader for
57:35
to Day husband Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
57:39
or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
57:43
us at eight five nine four two two six thirty
57:46
nine zero. Thank you for listening, and now please stay
57:49
tuned for continued programming on Radio I