NPR News: 03-27-2026 7PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump has signed an order to temporarily pay TSA agents who've worked without pay during the government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, House Republicans have rejected a bill that passed the Senate to fund most of DHS through September. The revolt extends the funding in pass that's 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 say they won't fund those departments without changes to immigration enforcement. House Speaker Mike Johnson says the House will instead vote tonight on a resolution to fund DHS at current levels until May, as NPR's Barbara Sprunt explains. First, it has to pass the House. They're going to try to tee up a vote for that later this evening. If it does pass, then of course it has to pass the Senate. The senators have already left for a two-week recess. But the calendar aside, there is a political reality here as well for Senate Democrats.

1:00They refuse to vote for anything that funds ICE. That was their whole premise to begin with with the shutdown. So I think it's very unlikely that they would suddenly change course. NPR's Barbara Sprunt reporting. Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth has intervened to stop the promotions of six military officers. NPR's Quill Lawrence supports they were all black or female and on track to become one-star generals. Since he took office, Pete Hagseth has fired many prominent black and female officers. Now U.S. officials familiar with the matter, but not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that Hagseth made the highly unusual move of interfering in the regular promotion process to block three female and three black officers from becoming generals. A different U.S. official confirmed that Hagseth has been weeding out senior officers who are deemed ideologically incompatible. Before his appointment by the Trump administration, Hagseth wrote books disparaging the U.S. military as woke, and suggesting that diversity in the ranks has weakened the force.

2:01Quill Lawrence and PR News. Another House Republican isn't running for re-election. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum reports on what Missouri Congressman Sam Graves as departure could mean for the midterm elections. Graves announced he will not run again to represent his Northern Missouri-based district. The 26-year congressional veteran is the chairman of the Powerful House Transportation Committee and a powerful political figure in Missouri politics. And I've rastled with it a little bit, and I think it's time for some new leadership. Northwest Missouri State University political science professor Jessica Gracie says Graves' departure could signal Republicans aren't confident about November's elections. Maybe you don't want to be in the minority in the House when you've been in the majority for so long. For his part, Graves says the November elections had no bearing on his decision, adding he thinks the GOP can hang on to its slim majority. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum and St. Louis. This is NPR News. California lawmakers have voted to audit the state's joint intelligence centers

3:05after claims of illegal data sharing and invasive surveillance. The ACLU and others say police use the centers to help immigration and customs enforcement and to bypass local limits on facial recognition. The UN says more than 370,000 children have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon as Israel targets the Ron Backed Hezbollah militants. Israeli troops invaded after militants fired rockets into Israel, as NPR's Lorne Freyr reports. Israel has intensified its airstrikes and moved thousands more troops across the border into southern Lebanon, displacing about a fifth of this country's population in less than a month, according to Lebanon's government. The UN Children's Fund UNICEF says that includes an average of 19,000 children per day. It calls the speed and scale of this staggering. Among those sleeping in a Beirut soccer stadium are mysoon faquille and her four children who fled the south. With only the clothes on their backs, she says, after an Israeli airstrike hit next door to them.

4:09The UN says the, quote, mental and emotional exhaustion weighing on the children of Lebanon is devastating. Lorne Freyr and P.R. News Beirut. The price of a playstation is going up by another $100. The second time in less than a year that Sony has upped the price tag on its popular gaming console. First tariffs and now the Iran War have created a massive bottleneck of energy and manufacturing supplies. The cost will be about 30 percent more than it was this time last year. This is NPR News from Washington. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.