Congress Budget Vote, Trump Speaks At DOJ, Federal Workers Reinstated

0:02The Senate Democratic leader now backs a Republican bill to fund the government. A shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services. We hear his case for a bill he hates. I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Favl, and this is Up First from NPR News. Past presidents kept some distance from the Justice Department to avoid the appearance of political interference. Today, President Trump delivers a speech there on what he says is law and order. What are his orders to federal agents and prosecutors? Two federal judges say the Trump administration may have broken the law when they dismissed thousands of federal employees.

0:41But will they permanently get their jobs back? You have a huge loss of institutional knowledge. It's just decimated the government. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:22Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Federal agencies run out of money at the end of today. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a spending bill earlier this week that would keep the government open. It funds the government through the end of September with money mostly unchanged, except it raises defense spending and cuts money for the District of Columbia, among other things. It's written in a way that may give President Trump more leeway to make cuts of his own. Republicans need the votes from Democrats to get the bill through the Senate, leaving Democrats with the choice to support this bill they hate or allow a government shutdown.

2:56NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh joins us now. Good morning. Good morning. Okay, so many Democrats had said they wouldn't vote yes on the spending bill to push back on these legally questionable government cuts. Is that still the case? Are they going to make good on that threat? Is there going to be a shutdown? It does not look like we are heading towards a shutdown. Democrats are not happy with this bill at all. It was written without their input. But enough are expected to join with Republicans to pass it later today. Since the House passed this bill largely along party lines on Tuesday, Senate Democrats have been debating and agonizing about what to do.

3:31Do they help Republicans avoid a shutdown or block the bill and trigger one? They say both options are terrible. Last night, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued a shutdown would be worse. A shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now. Okay, so you say it looks like there won't be a shutdown. So do you expect most or all Democrats to follow suit and back the bill now? No, most will vote against it, but we expect enough will join Republicans to get it through. Schumer declined to say how many, but his support does give undecided Democrats the cover to vote yes.

4:15Republicans control the White House, the House, and the Senate, But they have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, and you need 60 to get around a filibuster. They are going to need about eight Democrats to join them later today because one of their own, Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, is planning to vote no. Okay, so just walk us through why the Democrats have been and still are so divided on what to do here. Right. It has been intense discussions. The Democratic base is really angry about how President Trump and Elon Musk have been slashing the federal government. They want Democrats on Capitol Hill to use this one moment where they actually have some leverage in the minority to fight back.

4:53But since Schumer said last night he will vote for this bill, we're already seeing some major blowback from other Democrats. All three top House Democratic leaders put out a statement last night saying they remain strongly opposed to the bill. And New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not mince her words talking to NPR's Barbara Sprint last night. I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal. And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board, the entire party. She also said moderates in the House Democrats who won in Trump districts voted no on this.

5:28And she said today House Democrats are still going to urge Democrats to block this bill. OK, so what are Republicans saying about when we should expect this vote? You know, it's Congress, so they always wait until the last minute. So we expect the vote on this bill later this afternoon. That obviously gives Congress just hours before the deadline. Republicans were gearing up for a message war. If Democrats block the bill to label this a Schumer shutdown. That's NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Thank you, Deirdre. Thank you.

6:28Ryan Lucas joins us now with more. Good morning, Ryan. Good morning. Okay, so how unusual is it for a president to deliver a speech at the Justice Department? It's a pretty rare thing. Biden never did it. Trump didn't do it in his first term. In fact, I could only find four occasions that it has happened since 2000. Twice President Obama did it. The first time was a speech about changes his administration was making to surveillance programs. The other time was at a farewell ceremony for his first attorney general. The other two instances were early in President George W. Bush's administration, one of them being a ceremony in 2001 to rename the department's headquarters after Robert F.

7:04Kennedy. So it is rare for a president to do this. Historically, presidents keep their distance from the Justice Department. There's been a norm for decades now, respected by both Republican and Democratic administrations, that the department should be independent and free from political interference. But President Trump has made clear that he has a very different idea about the relationship between the president and the Justice Department. Yeah. So what do we expect to hear from the president in his speech? Well, we heard a bit of it at the top. The White House says Trump is going to talk about restoring law and order, about removing violent criminals from communities and ending what the White House says is the weaponization of justice against Americans for their political leanings.

7:42And that last idea there is a central theme for Trump, his allies on the Hill, and for his new Justice Department leadership. Trump, of course, argues that he was unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors during the Biden administration. He has promised vengeance. The new Justice Department leadership talks a lot about ending the purported weaponization and politicization of the Justice Department in recent years. But at the same time, they have taken punitive action against nonpolitical career prosecutors and officials who worked on investigations or issues that Trump doesn't like. Yeah, I mean, there's been quite the purge.

8:14Just recap some of the punitive actions we've seen. Well, for one, the new department leadership has fired prosecutors who worked on the special counsel investigations into Trump, saying that those folks couldn't be trusted to implement the president's agenda. They have fired prosecutors who worked on the January 6th Capitol riot cases. They've demoted senior career prosecutors who worked cases involving Trump allies. The Justice Department frames this as ending weaponization, but critics say that these actions appear to be retaliation against folks who worked cases the president didn't like. Now, at the same time, the department has cut breaks for Trump allies.

8:47Critics point to the Justice Department's decision to dismiss corruption charges against the New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams has pledged to cooperate with Trump's immigration enforcement. More than a half dozen veteran Justice Department prosecutors resigned in protest. That includes the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who said there was no good faith basis to drop the Adams case. So with all of the things that have happened in the past few weeks, what sort of reception do expect Trump to receive today? It's a good question. You know, it's no secret, as we've said, that Trump has been extremely critical of the Justice Department over the years.

9:22So it's going to be interesting to see what he has to say, how he says it, as he lays out his vision for the department in the very building that he has been so critical of. And PR's Ryan Lucas. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you.

9:41Two federal judges ordered government agencies to reinstate thousands of workers who were recently fired by the Trump administration. The judges say the mass firings were conducted in a way that appears to be illegal. All of the employees were on probationary status, meaning they were in their first year or two on the job for the most part. One ruling covers the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Treasury. A lot of federal departments. The other case was brought by Democratic state attorneys general and covered even more agencies, but is just temporary.

10:14We're joined now by NPR's Chris Arnold, who has been watching all of this. Hi, Chris. Hey, Layla. Okay, so two rulings. Let's start with this case out of San Francisco. What did the judge say yesterday? The judge said a lot, actually. This is a dramatic hearing. This is District Judge William Alsup. And one thing he said is that these workers were lied to about why they were fired. He said, quote, it's a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that that is a lie. And the idea there is that firing workers for bad performance made it easier to fire them.

10:49But it wasn't true. Many workers got glowing reviews from supervisors. They'd been doing a good job. We've spoken with some of these workers. The judge called the mass firing a sham to get around statutory requirements. And he said that the administration exceeded its authority by having one office in the government direct so many other agencies to just summarily fire all these workers. OK, so some strong language there from the judge. What was the government's argument that these were legitimate firings? Right. The government argued that agencies made their own decisions. The firings were proper.

11:22But the judge, again, said, quote, you know, I tend to doubt that you're telling me the truth at that point. The White House is unamused by all of this. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said in a statement, quote, a single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the executive branch. The administration is now appealed. But now it's not a single judge. Last night, this ruling came down in the second case. The judge sided with Democratic state attorneys general. They put a 14-day stay in place on these mass firings. The government there had argued that the states didn't have standing and hadn't been harmed by the firings.

12:01Interestingly, though, we should say both judges said, look, we understand the government has a right to do a reduction in force, but it has to follow the law. You know, Chris, this has been so chaotic for federal workers, and it's been an ongoing fight that's really impacting their lives. What are you hearing from them when you speak to them? I mean, one thing I've been struck by is that these are not all new hires. I mean, these are probationary workers, but a lot of them have been working in an agency for 10 years, say, and they're probationary because they just got a new job that they just got promoted.

12:35I talked to an employment attorney, Michelle Berkovich, about this. She's working on another effort to reinstate workers. I've looked at data from about 10 ,000 terminated employees, And what's very clear is that you have everyone from the director or deputy director to the student intern. So you have a huge loss in institutional knowledge. It's just decimated the government. And the plaintiff's attorneys in the case say the firings have made Swiss cheese of some of these agencies. OK, so now the judges ordered these workers to be reinstated. Is that going to happen right away? Well, the judge in the SF San Francisco case said immediately Berkovich is saying, don't count on this.

13:14The government's been dragging its feet with some of these orders. She's telling workers, look, if you're looking for another job or trying some kind of appeal, just keep doing that. NPR's Chris Arnold. Thank you, Chris. Thanks, Layla.

13:30For your next listen, this weekend on the Sunday story, Enes Bhabha is NPR's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. Since the start of the war, he has sent dispatches from hospitals, displacement camps, and bomb sites with little more than a cell phone. Wherever you put your eye to the horizon, it's the same. Destruction everywhere. Anas tells the Sunday story what it's like to live through this war as he covers it for NPR. That's this Sunday right here in the Up First podcast.

14:04And that's a first for Friday, March 14th. I'm Leila Falded. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Up First comes your way on Saturdays. Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news, which you will find wherever you get your podcasts. And today's episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Anna Yukonanov, Ben Swayze, Alice Wolfley, and Mohamed Zedvardisi. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us again on Monday.

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