Stalemate In The Strait Of Hormuz, DHS Shutdown Ends, Trump's Surgeon General Nominee

[00:00] Good morning, Steve. Well, good morning, Michelle. So before we start, Public Media Giving Days. Ah. It's a national celebration. Did you know? I kind of didn't. I've heard of them. May 1st and 2nd. Okay. As a quick reminder, NPR is public media. Up First is public media dedicated to informing everybody, including you, and we're supported by the public. Yes. Listeners like Dan in DC, who says, Up First has become part of my daily routine, and my day would not be complete without it. [00:30] My day wouldn't be complete either. Up First is here for you, Dan, so thanks for being here for us. You can be like Dan and support public media by making a gift today at donate.npr.org. And thank you so much for standing with us. [00:45] Germany's chancellor says Iran is humiliating the United States. The two sides are deadlocked over the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices have hit their highest since the start of the war. How is President Trump responding to the pressure? I'm Steve Inskeep with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. [01:03] The longest government agency shutdown in U.S. history has ended. After weeks of negotiations over immigration enforcement, [01:13] Department of Homeland Security. We got the job done. Sometimes it's slow, but we got it done. What did it take to get the job done? And President Trump's last two choices for Surgeon General both failed to get confirmed. His new choice is Nicole Sapphire, a Fox News contributor and breast cancer doctor. Does she have a better chance of getting confirmed? Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

[01:35] you [01:39] This message comes from Angie. Tackling a home project, Angie can connect you with pros who do such a good job, you might ask them to be your kid's godfather. Don't do that. Just trust them to get the job done. Find a pro for your projects at Angie.com. That's A-N-G-I dot com. [01:58] This message is from AT&T with your summer essential, the iPhone 17 Pro. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. Right now at AT&T, ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible trade-in. Requires eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply subject to change. Visit att.com slash iPhone for details. [02:24] Support for NPR comes from IBM. On Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell explores how organizations are using technology to solve complex challenges. I spoke with Sergi Ghosh, Heineken's chief AI officer. If you can connect all the different applications, all the platforms, remove fragmentation, scale very quick, that's what we call the best connected drawer. That's where IBM is really partnering with us. [02:54] podcasts. [02:56] President Trump's administration is continuing with its expansive definition of the legal boundaries of the war in Iran. The administration faces a deadline today to obtain congressional approval for military action that it told lawmakers about 60 days ago.

[03:09] It is not seeking that approval. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted the deadline set by law does not apply because a ceasefire stops the clock. [03:18] Iran and the U.S. are still facing off through dueling blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. And that leads us to our next story. How is the United States trying to bring the conflict to an end? NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is following all this, and he's with us now. Good morning, Franco. Good morning, Michelle. So the Iranians have offered a proposal that would involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz and deal with negotiations over nuclear restrictions later. So what's the latest on that? Yeah, President Trump reviewed the proposal with his national security team. [03:48] that a nuclear deal must be part of all this. And he was asked yesterday about the apparent standstill, but insisted that the Iranians want to make a deal while also acknowledging difficulty determining who's actually in charge. [04:01] They want to make a deal badly. We have a problem because nobody knows for sure who the leaders are. It's a little bit of a problem. The leaders have been wiped out. [04:12] along with their [04:13] military. You know, Franco, it seems like neither side wants the bombing to resume, but both continue to make these demands that the other side will not accept. Yeah, it's really testing the U.S. strategy. And as Steve mentioned, instead of resuming a bombing campaign, the U.S. has launched its own blockade of Iranian ports. Alexander Gray served as chief of staff at the National Security Council in the first Trump administration. He says the blockade gives the U.S. maximum leverage.

[04:40] This is a game of leverage. This is a game of who has the ability to call the other side to account and who's going to blink first. And I think the Iranians are going to blink because they're losing 400 plus million dollars a day to the U.S. Navy's blockade. You know, one thing, though, is Trump administration has been at this for a while, you know, expecting if they just put enough military pressure, economic pressure that Iran will capitulate. But so far, it just hasn't. [05:10] said that Trump was being, quote unquote, "humiliated by Iran." How is Trump responding to this? Yeah, I mean, Trump's threatening to pull US troops stationed in Germany. And it's not just Germany. He's also threatened to pull troops from other European countries. Konstantin Stetsomöller, who studies transatlantic security at the Brookings Institution, told me that much of Europe feels Trump kind of mishandled these negotiations and now worry that they're going to have the burden of fixing the problems. But she also says they need to be careful. [05:39] Both sides depend on each other, are increasingly irritated with each other because they understand that dependence, and because it's not possible to cut loose for either side. And the greatest risk of that, besides the erosion of trust, is a sort of toxic interdependence, kind of like a marriage where one side can't leave the other. Now, the U.S., of course, needs Europe where it has military bases, and Europe needs the U.S. for help defending Ukraine against Russia.

[06:09] What does it mean for Trump's other agenda priorities? Yeah, the White House says Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time and is quick to point out the administration is continuing its affordability agenda. Trump signed an executive order yesterday on retirement savings. But at the same time, gas prices hit a new high since the start of the war. And Americans say they aren't seeing much relief. According to a new Reuters Ipsos poll, just 27 percent approve of how the president is handling the U.S. economy. [06:39] Franco Ordonez. Franco, thank you. [06:40] Thank you, Michelle. [06:41] Music [06:48] Some other news now. The longest agency shutdown in U.S. history is over. President Trump signed legislation Thursday to fund almost all of the Department of Homeland Security, except for some immigration enforcement. The House passed it yesterday. That was weeks after the Senate did. House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated an end to the stalemate. The House Republicans are leaving in a great mood. I don't think you could find a single person who is upset with the results. We got the job done. Sometimes it's slow, but we got it done. [07:18] joins us now. Claudia, good morning. Good morning, Steve. What about this took 70 days? Well, you're seeing a politically contentious high stakes proposal meet head on with the Congress that's struggling to legislate, especially during an election year. We first saw a breakdown in bipartisan funding talks for DHS in mid-February, and then another breakdown for Republicans who

[07:48] to fund the agency, except for some immigration enforcement divisions, as we mentioned, but that could not get through the House. So the White House redirected government funds to pay DHS workers despite questions over the legality of that decision. And now the agency was about to run out of that new money. So the House had to act. Oh, well, they had to act. Okay. So they were forced to on some level, but really how did the Speaker manage to get a majority here? [08:18] the more conservative members of his conference who were holding out to fund all of DHS. Republicans had been working on a special partisan legislative vehicle known as reconciliation. That bill would include money for immigration enforcement for the rest of President Trump's term. And Johnson sided with those conservative members initially calling the Senate-passed DHS bill a joke, [08:48] that that process is moving, Republicans could also approve that additional funding. Claudia, it's really interesting when the House is so narrowly divided, the minority party, which sometimes is powerless, can have some leverage, can have some power. What role do Democrats play? Yeah, exactly. Because Republicans have such tight margins in both chambers, they still need votes from Democrats. And as you may recall, DHS was on track to be part of this

[09:18] deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of officers for DHS changed all of that. So Democrats pulled their support. They began pushing for a new deal to revamp the way these agents do their jobs, like banning face masks. But Republicans refused, and that triggered this shutdown that began February 14th. What does this mean for the immigration enforcement that was not part of this agreement? Well, [09:43] Those divisions are in a great position, thanks to a massive tax and spending plan known as the One Big Beautiful Bill that passed last year directed $75 billion towards ICE. And this ongoing reconciliation process could get approved by June. Okay. What else is the House managing to pass? Right. They approved a 45-day extension of a key U.S. intelligence tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It would have expired at the end of the day yesterday. [10:13] And that was also controversial among House conservatives and others who were worried about privacy protections. But Johnson was able to persuade his holdouts just before this recess began. A reminder, the desire to get out of town is often what can push these deals over the finish line for Congress. NPR's Claudia Grisales always meets her deadlines. Claudia, thanks so much. Thank you. [10:43] President Trump has nominated a new surgeon general. That's the official responsible for public health advisories in the U.S. Dr. Nicole Sapphire works at one of the nation's top cancer centers, and she is expected to be...

[10:54] more acceptable to Republican lawmakers who had stalled the confirmation process for Trump's previous pick. And Paris Ping Huang is here to tell us more about her. Good morning, Ping. Good morning, Michelle. So tell us about her. Who is Dr. Nicole Sapphire? Yeah, so she is a medical doctor, a radiologist who focuses on breast cancer. She's director of breast imaging at a branch of Memorial Sloan Kettering in New Jersey. She's also a wellness influencer. She sells herbal supplements to promote focus and calm on Amazon. And she's a frequent [11:24] contributor with a podcast called Wellness Unmasked. In his nomination post on Truth Social, Trump described her as a star physician and an incredible communicator. Which, I mean, being a communicator is pretty key for this role, right? [11:36] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Surgeon General is tasked with promoting health-based, science-based measures that keep people healthy. Sapphire talked about the job back in February on her podcast, and she said that the Surgeon General's main role is public health messaging. Yeah. [11:50] They need the respect of not only the people, the American people that they are communicating to, but they also need the respect of the administration for which they are working together with to get that research and put out the messaging. Sapphire also said that they need the respect of the medical establishment. And at the time, in her opinion, that's where the previous nominee, Dr. Casey Means, was falling short. We'll say more about that. Why did Dr. Means' nomination get pulled ultimately? Yeah, so the Surgeon General position has been a whole saga for Trump. [12:20] is Trump's third pick, and he withdrew his first nominee after scrutiny over how she represented her medical credentials. Next, he chose Dr. Casey Means, who doesn't have an active medical license. And at a confirmation hearing in February, she faced pushback from senators, including some Republicans, about her views on vaccines. She said that she believes vaccines save lives, but stopped short of encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against measles and flu. Now, yesterday, Trump called out Republican Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, saying

[12:50] means getting confirmed. And in response, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, which Cassidy chairs, said on X that it was clear Means didn't have the votes. Cassidy's a doctor. So, you know, he had thoughts. So where is Dr. Sapphire on these issues? Well, she's kind of an originator of the Make America Healthy Again movement before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took it on. It's actually the title of a book she published back in 2020. And David Manstorfer, who served as a health official in Trump's first term, says [13:20] I think she's extremely strong on some of the core base issues, the pro-life issue. She's great on chronic disease and prevention. She speaks a lot to the Maha influence, especially to the suburban moms. Now, Sapphire's views on vaccines are a little murky. She's not against all vaccines, doesn't think they cause autism. But she's also said that she supports what she calls medical freedom and individuals choosing if and when to get vaccines. [13:50] in a confirmation hearing. That's NPS Ping Huang. Ping, thank you. You're welcome. [13:58] And that's Up First for Friday, May 1st. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm the person who closed the file. [14:05] It's the best month. Exactly. Yes. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Kelsey Snell, Chris Houston, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziyad Bach and Nia Dumas. And our director... [14:19] is Christopher Thomas, who's standing there with arms folded, waiting for me to finish. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Good morning, Zach. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us tomorrow.

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