NPR News: 03-18-2026 2PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. He did start today to the Senate confirmation hearing for Senator Mark Wayne Mullin, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security. NPR's Claudique de Salis reports the Oklahoma Republican-faced bipartisan outrage from committee members for his past controversial remarks. Senate Homeland Security and Government Hall Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul confronted Mullin for calling him a quote-freaking snake and accused Mullin of celebrating a 2017 physical attack on Paul. To know that you supported the felonious, violent attack on me from behind. I did not say I supported it. I said I understood it. There's a difference. By following you, by following you, that means you really didn't approve of it. Just completely understand it. Mullin argued that you can have their differences, but said he'd bring a new piece of mind to DHS. Democrats also took Mullin to task force comments, claiming two U.S. citizens were made good and Alex Prety for their deaths at the hands of immigration agents.

1:00Mullin said he should have retracted those statements. Claudique de Salis in NPR News, the Capitol. We've just learned that the Federal Reserve is leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged. The Central Bank is trying to navigate a challenging economy, the job market, softening and stubborn inflation could be made worse by wartime spike in energy prices. While Makers are questioning the nation's top intelligence chiefs about the information the Trump administration had, before it went to war with Iran nearly three weeks ago, Senator John Ossock questioned the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, about the administration's latest assessment that Iran posed an imminent threat months after a U.S. strike on Iranian targets. That opening statement as submitted to the Committee in advance of this hearing stated that as a result of last summer's airstrikes, quote, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated, end quote, correct? That's right. Meanwhile, President Trump is temporarily lifting the Jones Act as his administration attempts to lower gas prices, which have increased during the U.S.'s war with Iran.

2:01NPR's Deepak Shivram reports a law limits domestic shipping routes to just U.S. vessels. Trump announced a 60-day pause on the Jones Act. That means domestic shipping routes can now be utilized by ships built and operated outside the U.S. The decision comes as gas prices have shot up in the aftermath of the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran. High prices remain a top of mind concern for voters in the midterm elections later this year, which are expected to be close in determining control of Congress. Deepak Shivram and PR News, the White House. Israel has killed another member of Iran's leadership intelligence minister Ismail Khatib. He is among at least nine of Iran's most powerful figures Israeli forces say they have assassinated since the start of the war more than two weeks ago. Iran's Supreme Leader was killed on the first day of U.S. Israel strikes on Iran. At last, check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 422 points. You're listening to NPR News.

3:02The governor of New Mexico has signed the state's annual budget last week, which included $630,000 for the creation of a medical psilocybin treatment equity fund. New Mexico is a first state in the country to allocate funds that'll ensure residents can receive treatment no matter their income. Member station KUNM's Jeanette Didios has details. psilocybin is a type of psychedelic and psychoactive compounds that temporarily alters a person's senses. How we perceive our environment, how we're perceiving time, our emotional state. Since Denali Wilson, director of strategic support at the Healing Advocacy Fund, she says psilocybin can be used for post-traumatic stress, treatment-resistant depression, substance use disorder, and end-of-life care needs. Wilson says the New Mexico legislature laid the groundwork for the equity fund by establishing the New Mexico Medical psilocybin Act in 2025, which created the state-regulated therapy program. The state's medical psilocybin program will launch at the end of this year.

4:04For NPR News, I'm Jeanette Didios in Albuquerque. NASA astronauts have been conducting a spacewalk outside the International Space Station today. The spacewalk was previously scheduled in January, but those plans were scrubbed when a member of SpaceX crew 11 mission experienced a medical issue and the entire team was evacuated back to Earth. The Dow is down more than 400 points or more than 3-quarters of a percent, the S&P is down half a percent, NASDAQ also down half a percent or 114 points. You're listening to NPR News. This message comes from Rosetta Stone. Spring travel coming up, Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. Ready to start learning a new language this spring? Visit RosettaStone.com slash NPR today.