NPR News: 03-27-2026 5PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump has signed an executive order to pay TSA agents who have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, House Republicans have rejected a Senate past bill to fund most of DHS through September. The revolt extends the funding in pass that is in its 42nd day and created long lines at many airports. Republicans are angry that the Senate bill would not fund ICE and border patrol. Democrats, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they don't support funding those departments without changes to immigration enforcement. Immigration enforcement should focus on violent felons who are in this country illegally, not target law-abiding immigrant families or brutalize, and in some cases kill American citizens. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the Senate bill the most reckless thing we've ever seen. The dammit that was done last night is a joke.

1:00I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill. Johnson says the House will instead vote today on a resolution to fund DHS at current levels until May. Congress is about to be out on spring break until mid-April. Iran is cementing its hold over the strait of hormones, demanding vessels give detailed information, and in some cases pay for passage. Meanwhile, President Trump hosted farmers at the White House today, as U.S. agriculture is squeezed by the war with Iran and other Trump administration policies, and Pierre Zadaniel Kurtzleben has more. Trump spoke flanked by three tractors, one of them painted gold. He announced he was loosening a regulation with the aim of making machinery cheaper. The administration has also announced it will increase the amount of biofuels blended into gas and diesel. Trump also urged Congress to take action. I'm also asking Congress to quickly pass the new farm bill, and today I'm promising to request additional farm relief for our great patriots in the next funding bill. Trump's tariffs made some farm supplies more expensive and also caused retaliation from

2:03China. Now war with Iran has pushed up both fuel and fertilizer prices. Danielle Kurtzleben and Pierre news the White House. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a softer tone about the Iran war as he met with top diplomats from G7 countries in France. Rubio said the U.S. is not asking for anybody to join the war, despite President Trump's complaints that NATO countries were not stepping up to help. Rubio says the U.S. will seek international cooperation on a plan to keep the straight of Hormuz open after hostilities end. U.S. stocks deepened their drops today, as Wall Street finished off a fifth straight losing week. It's longest such streak in nearly four years. The S&P 500 fell more than one and a half percent ending its worst week since the war with Iran began. The Dow dropped nearly one in three quarters percent down ten percent from its record set last month. The Nasdaq composite sank more than two percent. This is NPR News. Authorities have arrested a New Jersey man for allegedly plotting to fire bomb a pro-Palestinian

3:05activist home and Pierre's Ryan Lucas reports. Court papers identified the defendant as Alexander Heifler. He's facing one count of unlawful possession of firearms and one count of unlawful making of firearms. Court papers say Heifler discussed with an undercover law enforcement officer his desire to build fire bombs. The two later put together eight Molotov cocktails, which Heifler allegedly said would be thrown into a certain individual's home. Court papers don't name the individual, but a law enforcement official confirms to NPR that target of the alleged plot was pro-Palestinian activist Nardine Kiswani. In a post on X, Kiswani says the FBI has informed her that they had taken action to disrupt a plot against her life. She also says she won't stop speaking up for the Palestinian people. Ryan Lucas and Pierre News, Washington. Minnesota will be the flagship of the No Kings protests tomorrow when Bruce Springsteen performs streets of Minneapolis in a state where emotions are still raw over President Trump's immigration crackdown and the killing of two protesters by federal agents there.

4:07More than 3,000 events are planned in communities across the country, rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries. Residents of a Missouri town can finally breathe easier, according to St. Louis Public Radio. Crews have removed a wrecked tractor trailer full of tofu that had been stinking up a stretch of highway and central Missouri for several weeks. The truck's load became increasingly pungent as temperatures rose. One person wrote online that it smelled like catfish bait. We're listening to NPR News from Washington.