Texas Storm Toll, Trump's Foreign Policy, Supreme Court Allows Federal Layoffs

0:02Residents of Central Texas are still dealing with the aftermath of last week's catastrophic flooding. Yes, it's hard, but we're strong. We'll rebuild again. Does the area's flood warning system need improvement? I'm Michelle Martin with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.

0:20President Trump met twice with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. The president says discussion focused mainly on Gaza. Gaza is a tragic, it's a tragedy. It's a tragedy. And he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved. Can they hash out a ceasefire agreement that Israel and Hamas will both accept? And the Supreme Court will, for now, allow the Trump administration to move ahead with plans for mass layoffs of federal workers. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.

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2:15With award-winning service, low costs, and transparent advice, you can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more. In Texas, at least 109 people have been killed by floods that started on the 4th of July. More than 160 people are known to be missing. Many of the dead are children. Most of our summer camp where questions are now being raised about what emergency plans were in place. Houston Public Media's Dominic Anthony Walsh spent the last few days in Kerr County. That's along the Guadalupe River. Dominic, it's been five days since the flooding. What's it look like there?

2:52It's grim. State officials have not yet said that they're shifting from search and rescue to recovery, but they confirmed yesterday that the last time first responders found someone alive was Friday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said yesterday that 161 people are missing. The effort to clean up homes began as early as Saturday. I spoke with Kyle McCormick as he was clearing mud and ruined possessions out of his father-in-law's home in Kirk County. I asked if this hits harder given the small population of the county. I mean, yes, it's hard, but we're strong. I mean, we've rebuilt after floods before.

3:30Now, granted, it wasn't like this, but we'll rebuild again. I mean, it's no other way to put it. These are small towns, but they're filling up with first responders and out-of-town volunteers. Helicopters are flying overhead and swiftwater rescue boats are zooming along the Guadalupe River. Now, officials have asked that those volunteers sign up with official groups like the Red Cross instead of self-deploying. And they're asking people to keep drones out of restricted air spaces. A couple days ago, Kerrville City officials say a private drone struck a helicopter, forcing it to make an emergency landing.

4:06They say the help is appreciated but needs to be coordinated. Yeah. Now, Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited one of the hard-hit areas, the community of Hunt, yesterday evening. What did he have to say? He says first responders will continue working until every missing person is accounted for. He also says investigations into the preparation and response will probably begin later this week as state lawmakers prepare for a special session to address the disaster. That said, he refused to assign responsibility for what residents described as a lack of warning. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame.

4:46The championship teams are the ones that say, don't worry about it, man. We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score again, that we're going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to pull at fingers. They talk about solutions. Kerr County does not have an outdoor warning system that sounds during flash flooding, but it does have a text-based warning system. My colleagues in the Texas newsroom have reported on issues with the timing and reach of those local alerts sent out to residents to warn of the flooding. All of those issues are likely to come up as investigations kick off.

5:21So when it comes to the state government, more details are coming out about state inspections at Camp Mystic shortly before the flooding. What happened there? Right. This is the all-girls summer camp where more than two dozen people died, mostly children. The Associated Press obtained documents, which we have not reviewed, showing inspectors with the Department of State Health Services here in Texas signed off on the camp's emergency plans just two days before the flooding. The department and Camp Mystic have not responded to our requests for comment. All right, that's Dominic Anthony Walsh from Houston Public Media.

5:54Dominic, thank you. Thank you, A.

6:05President Trump seems to be spending a lot of time on international affairs this week. He's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House twice in two days. He's also talking about a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but other promised deals remain elusive as well. Here to discuss the foreign policy dilemmas facing the president this week is NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. So let's first start with Gaza. What's come out of Netanyahu's trip so far? Well, Netanyahu came prepared to charm. At dinner with President Trump on Monday night, he presented him with the letter he sent to the Nobel Committee nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, something Trump has made no secret of coveting.

6:45Netanyahu was back at the White House yesterday afternoon for more talks, which Trump said would focus on Gaza. Gaza is a tragic, it's a tragedy. It's a tragedy. And he wants to get it solved and I want to get it solved. And I think the other side wants to get it solved. During a cabinet meeting yesterday, Middle East Envoy Steve Whitcoff said he is hopeful that by the end of the week there will be an agreement with 10 live hostages released as well as nine deceased. Witkoff says he thinks this will lead to a lasting peace in Gaza. It's still unclear if Hamas and Israel will agree to the final terms.

7:23And as a reminder, President Trump during the campaign pledged that he would end the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine in 24 hours. But he has since admitted that it's proving more complicated and challenging. So on Ukraine, President Trump seems to have turned on Russian President Vladimir Putin. What's happening with that relationship? Yet Trump has been trying to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine since taking office, with little to show for it. He cast his relationship with Putin as leverage in ending the conflict. And then there was that Oval Office clash with Ukrainian President Zelensky back in February.

7:59But now it's Putin he's unhappy with. This was Trump yesterday. We get a lot of thrown at us by Putin for you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless. So more strong language there from the president and really a culmination of growing frustration with Putin over continued attacks on Ukraine. Yeah, but so last week, the Trump administration paused arm shipments to Ukraine. So, I mean, where does that stand? The Pentagon had put a pause on already promised shipments of crucial air defense missiles to Ukraine. Trump has now reversed that decision, saying Ukraine needs to be able to defend itself as Russia continues its bombardment.

8:39And during that cabinet meeting yesterday, a reporter asked Trump who had ordered the pause, and Trump said he didn't know. William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, says resuming the arms shipments is the right decision. My view is that President Trump is figuring out that Putin is the problem, that Putin is the obstacle to one of President Trump's signature foreign policy initiatives. that is stopping this war. Taylor says Putin has been stringing the president along, trying to play for more time so that he can continue just grinding forward on the battlefield. One more thing, Tam, since we talked about foreign policy.

9:20What about tariffs? Yeah, Trump now says that August 1st is the deadline and tariffs will go into effect. No extensions. He is continuing to send letters to countries he hasn't been able to strike deals with telling them what tariffs on their exports to the U.S. will be. Trump now says those letters are the deals. All right. We'll see. That's NPR's Tamara Key. Thanks a lot. You're welcome.

9:52The Trump administration can move ahead with its plans to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers. That's after the U.S. Supreme Court put on hold, for now, a lower court ruling which blocked a February executive order announcing large-scale cuts at government agencies. Those layoffs will be allowed to move forward while legal challenges play out in the lower courts. Joining us now to talk about all this is Andrea Hsu, NPR's Labor and Workplace Correspondent. Andrea, how sweeping is this order? This is a really big deal. It affects close to 20 agencies, including very large ones like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Department, and many others.

10:32And in some cases, like at Health and Human Services, some 10 ,000 employees had already been issued layoff notices. And the reason most of them are still on the payroll is because of that lower court order that's now gone, for now anyway. We don't know how soon people might be formally separated. My colleague Michelle Kellerman has heard the State Department will be moving forward with cutting hundreds of Foreign Service officers, and that could start as early as today. So are we likely to see this across the entire federal government? Actually, not necessarily. You know, earlier this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it would not carry out the large-scale layoffs that it had announced a couple months ago because it's already on pace to reduce its staff by some 30 ,000 employees through other means, like normal attrition and early retirements and the Trump administration's deferred resignation or buyout program and the hiring freeze.

11:25You know, earlier, the VA had said it planned to cut about 80 ,000 people. And a lot of people chose to leave because they feared being fired. So it's not clear how a reduction of 30 ,000 people is now deemed adequate. Could it be tied to Elon Musk's departure from Washington? Maybe. But there was a lot of pushback from veterans groups over this proposal, from employee unions. We just don't have a clear picture of how these decisions are being made. Okay. What was the reaction or what has been the reaction to the court's decision? Yeah, well, the labor unions that sued to block Trump's reorganization called the decision a serious blow to our democracy and warned that this order from the Supreme Court would put the government services that Americans rely on in jeopardy.

12:08They had argued that Trump's executive order was unconstitutional, saying he could not carry out such a radical transformation of government without authorization from Congress. And the lower court agreed with the unions on that point. But yesterday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who sided with the Supreme Court majority yesterday, she pointed out that Trump's executive order explicitly tells agencies to comply with the law when carrying out their layoffs. And she noted it's not yet clear what the agencies are doing, that the courts haven't yet assessed whether the agency's reorganization plans are legal.

12:44Now, what has the White House said about the order? Well, A, they're calling the ruling another definitive victory for President Trump. In a statement, the spokesperson Harrison Fields wrote this. He said, It clearly rebukes the continued assault on the president's constitutionally authorized executive powers by leftist judges who are trying to prevent the president from achieving government efficiency across the federal government. That's a quote. Now, remember, this is not the end of the case. It goes back to the lower court. But bottom line, this is a big win for the president. The Supreme Court has once again issued an order without any public arguments allowing Trump to forge ahead with his agenda.

13:23All right. That's NPR's Andrea Hsu. Thanks a lot. You're welcome.

13:30And that's Up First for Wednesday, July 9th. I'm Emi Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. You can listen to this podcast sponsor-free while financially supporting public media with Up First Plus. Learn more at plus.npr.org. That's P-L-U-S dot N-P-R dot org. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Alfredo Carvajal, Dana Farrington, Krishnadev Kalamor, Jenea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Buc, Ian Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zoe Vangenhoven, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.

14:10Thank you.

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