India and Pakistan Agree Ceasefire, Food Stamps Data, Nuclear Reactor Watchdog

0:02India and Pakistan agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire. The announcement followed U.S.-led talks to end the confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump praised both Pakistan and India for using common sense and great intelligence in reaching the truce. We have the latest. Plus, NPR learns the Department of Agriculture is demanding states hand over the data of those receiving food stamps. Critics fear the information could be used to carry out deportations. And the Trump administration tightens its control over the independent agency that regulates America's nuclear reactors.

0:49Experts worry the move could put safety at risk. So stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.

1:00This message comes from NPR sponsor FX, presenting The Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawke. Introducing you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist slash rare bookstore owner slash unofficial truth seeker who is always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent expose puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa, meaning only one thing. He must be on to something big. FX's The Lowdown. All new Tuesdays on FX. Stream on Hulu.

1:57at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more. Support for NPR and the following message come from GoodRx. Prescriptions keep getting pricier and more of a hassle to fill. It's like the Wild West getting prescription medication these days. Good thing GoodRx wrangles it for you. From telehealth to wellness tips to easy discounts of up to 80%, GoodRx is riding with you at every step. GoodRx is not insurance, but if you have insurance or Medicare, GoodRx may beat your copay. Save time and money on prescriptions at goodrx.com slash upfirst. The ceasefire between India and Pakistan follows two weeks of border attacks between the countries.

2:38It was some of the most intense fighting between the nations in decades. NPR's Dia Hadid has been following these events from Mumbai and joins us now. Dia, thanks for being with us. You're welcome, Scott. Hello. What's happened? Wow. President Trump had announced on his social media network that the two countries had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire. And then India's Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, made a short announcement. And he said Pakistan's Director of Military Operations had called his Indian counterpart and they agreed to this. It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land.

3:20and in the air and sea with effect from 1700 hours Indian Standard Time today. Now, this seems pretty remarkable because you and your team just hours ago reported that Pakistan had announced a new military operation against India. That's right. Things felt very different a few hours ago. India had struck air bases in Pakistan, including one right near the capital, Islamabad. And Pakistan began a military operation called iron wall and soldiers were filming themselves firing projectiles into India. We want to hear what brought this together so quickly, but also if you could remind us how this conflict began.

4:02Yeah, this began on April 22, so not so long ago. That's when gunmen opened fire on tourists in a meadow in Indian-held Kashmir and they killed 26 people. India said the group that claimed responsibility was a proxy linked to Pakistan's army. Pakistan denied any connection but said it would defend itself and then overnight Wednesday India began military strikes and the two countries had been exchanging fire every night since and about 70 people have been killed on both sides and most of the casualties were in Kashmir. That's the territory divided between India and Pakistan. It's claimed by both and has been fought over repeatedly by both.

4:43How did the ceasefire come about? You know, it's so interesting, Scott, because for days, analysts were saying that the Americans were not being serious. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, they said, was just making phone calls. And then Vice President J.D. Vance went on Fox on Thursday saying they wanted a de-escalation, but... But we're not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it. But, you know, then I spoke to Abdullah Khan. He's with the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

5:15And he told me America was waiting. And ultimately, when they felt that the situation is escalating and Americans intervened directly as well as through their Arab allies, and then eventually they convinced both the parties to de-escalate for a ceasefire. Do you have a sense of why they agreed to a ceasefire? Yeah. Khan tells me that Pakistan was waiting for a moment that it could sell to its people that, you know, they had showed India that would allow them to save face and step down. And India's trying to attract manufacturing from companies that are leaving China because of Trump's tariffs.

5:54It's not a time for war. NPR's Dia Hadid in Mumbai. Dia, thanks so much for being with us. You're welcome, Scott.

6:10Millions of Americans rely on food assistance every month. Now the Department of Agriculture is demanding access to their personal data. The White House says the information is required to identify fraud and overpayments. But the move comes as the Trump administration amasses data for immigration enforcement. We're joined now by Jude Jaffe-Block from NPR's Power and Influence team. Thanks for being with us, Jude. Oh, thank you. What kind of data is the USDA asking for? Yeah, so there are more than 40 million people who get food assistance every month. And the program is known as SNAP. And the data is with the states.

6:49That's how it's always been. But last week, the department told all states, as well as the companies that process payments, they have to hand over data like names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers of all SNAP participants going back five years to January 2020, which is a lot of people and a lot of sensitive data. And our reporting found out that even before this directive came out, the agency's Office of Inspector General was trying to get even more expansive data on SNAP recipients from the country's biggest states, including at least in one state, citizenship status. How could this data foster the administration's efforts to deport people who were in the country illegally?

7:31We still don't know how the data could be used. Last week's letter said it was to ensure program integrity and verify the eligibility of benefit recipients. But several news outlets have now reported that the Doge team has been combining various federal databases in an effort to build up a tool to track and arrest immigrants. And where this data fits in, you know, it could be another piece of the puzzle as it includes recent addresses. Even though immigrants who are in the country without legal status don't qualify for SNAP benefits, there are people in SNAP's data sets that could be subject to deportation now or in the future or share a household with someone in that situation.

8:09For example, if U.S. citizen children are eligible for food assistance, their parents can sign them up regardless of the parent's immigration status. You know, we didn't hear back from Doge and the White House on this, though. And Jude, isn't access to sensitive personal information one of the big legal hurdles that this administration keeps running into? Yeah, there are more than a dozen federal lawsuits at this point that allege DOGE staffers have been illegally granted permission to view databases with personal and financial information that the government maintains. You know, multiple federal judges have expressed concern about what information DOGE has accessed and why.

8:45You know, we spoke with John Davison. He's an attorney at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. He had this to say about the latest demand for SNAP data. It is absolutely alarming from a privacy perspective. It's reckless. It is an unprecedented extension of the administration's campaign to consolidate personal data. His position is that this data request likely violates the Privacy Act, though the USDA told us the request will comply with privacy laws and will follow responsible data handling requirements. Where do things go from here, Jude? Does the federal government access to this data right now?

9:24The states are still trying to figure out how to respond to these requests, and it could wind up like a lot of things these days in the courts. As for what to expect next, we know Republicans in Congress are teeing up a proposal to make deep cuts to SNAP, the food assistance program. And we've seen this play out where federal data is used by DOGE to make exaggerated allegations of waste and fraud to justify slashing government programs. NPR's Jude Jaffe-Block, who reported this story with NPR's Stephen Fowler. And you can read a fuller version of their story on NPR.org. Jude, thanks so much. Thank you.

10:07NPR has learned that the Trump administration is tightening its control over the nation's nuclear regulator. The White House will now sign off on new rules regarding safety. It's a radical departure for a watchdog that's historically been considered among the most independent in government. We're joined now by NPR science correspondent Jeff Brumfield. Jeff, Thanks for being with us. Good to be with you, Scott. This agency, of course, known as the NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, what's changing? So the NRC was set up back in 1974 by Congress as an independent agency, and it's operated under the purview of five commissioners, a mix of Democrats and Republicans.

10:48And their job is to enforce the rules of the nation's nuclear reactors. But now the White House is getting involved. Two U.S. officials tell NPR that any new rules for nuclear safety must now go through the White House Office of Management and Budget for review before they can be finalized. And the White House also reserves the right to change those nuclear safety rules if they see fit. This is a big departure. I spoke to a former chair of the NRC, Alison McFarlane. She was appointed by President Obama, and here's what she had to say. It's absolutely essential that the nuclear regulator be independent.

11:26And what does that mean? It means independent of political and industry influence. She felt this kind of review should be off limits. Sounds like even more changes might be coming, too, I gather. You've seen a draft of an executive order that President Trump may sign regarding the NRC. What does that say? Yeah, that's right. This executive order is entitled, quote, Ordering Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It calls for a reduction in force at the NRC, a, quote, wholesale revision of nuclear safety regulations, speeding up review of licenses for new kinds of reactors. And lastly, it instructs the agency to look into relaxing some of the radiation standards for workers and the public.

12:11Of course, this is a draft. We don't know what will be in the final version or even if Trump will sign a final version. But he is expected to sign some orders related to nuclear power relatively soon. Jeff, why does the administration seem so eager to get involved with nuclear safety? You know, Scott, it's less about safety and more about independence. The administration really doesn't like independent agencies. It views them as bureaucracy run amok. Here's Russ Vogt, Trump's head of the Office of Management and Budget, speaking about it to Tucker Carlson. There are no independent agencies. Congress may have viewed them as such, but as an administration, the whole notion of an independent agency should be thrown out.

12:54And the White House echoed that sentiment in a statement for this story. They said, quote, the president of the United States is head of the executive branch and then went on to say that it was he who was in charge of agencies like the NRC. Now, I should say the NRC has a reputation for being high bound and extremely strict. And in fact, Congress passed legislation last year to try to reform its regulatory process. But even critics of the agency said they really doubted the White House getting involved would help. For one thing, it'll just add another layer of bureaucracy when trying to deal with new regulations.

13:28Certainly a lot of people would be concerned about whether these changes could somehow help make a nuclear emergency more likely. Yeah, well, McFarlane, the former NRC chair, told me she did think this would impact safety. If you aren't independent of political and industry influence, then you are at risk of an accident, frankly. But at the same time, the NRC is maintaining very high existing standards at nuclear plants, and the industry has a decent safety track record. I really think this is more about what safety might look like five or ten years down the road. And there's Jeff Brumfield. Thanks so much.

14:07Thank you.

14:12And that's up first for Saturday, May 10th, 2025. I'm Aisha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon. Michael Radcliffe produced today's episode with help from Elena Tork, Gabriel Donatov, and Danica Pineda. Martin Patience is our editor. He had help from Ed McNulty, D. Parvez, and Miguel Macias. Andrew Craig is our director, and he's so helpful, with support from technical director Andy Huther, who's also very helpful, and engineers David Greenberg and author Holiday Laurent. Our senior supervising editor is Shannon Rhodes. E.V. Stone is our executive producer. And Louise Clemens is our deputy managing editor.

14:52Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, Sean Combs was once at the forefront of hip-hop music and fashion, but is now on trial for sex trafficking. Tune in to hear how the music mogul, who helped launch the career of many stars, faces the prospect of years behind bars if convicted. And for more news, interviews, sports, and music, you can tune in to Weekend Edition on your radio, Saturday and Sunday. Go to stations.npr.org to find your local NPR station.

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