Congressional Funding Deal, Israel and Lebanon, Lloyd Austin Fallout

Congressional leaders agreed on the numbers for overall federal spending.

House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to a deal, but with the same numbers as his predecessor, who was deposed. Can lawmakers agree on the details?

I'm Steve Inskeep with Michelle Martin and this is up first from NPR News.

And everybody has to call out sick sometimes. So why didn't Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tell the White House in a timely manner that he'd been hospitalized? He's now facing tough questions from lawmakers. Stay with us, we've got the news.

OK, so tell me if this sounds like you. You love NPR's podcasts, you wish they weren't interrupted by sponsor breaks like this one? And you want to support NPR's mission of creating a more informed public. If this does sound like you, then it's time to sign up for perks across more than 20 podcasts with the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr..org on the Ted Radio Hour. MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle her latest research into the intimate relationships people are having with chatbots.

Technologies that say, I care about you, I love you, I'm here for you, take care of me.

The pros and cons of artificial intimacy. That's on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR.

Congressional leaders have agreed to a deal on how much money their federal government should spend this fiscal year. Clearing the way for lawmakers to pass funding legislation before the January 19th deadline, hopefully, in time to avoid a shutdown.

Yeah, one of my kids asked just yesterday what a government shutdown would mean. And I explained that some people in the federal government would stop working, while others might have to work without pay. And that these people do everything from regulate workplace safety to food safety to defending the country. If Congress should approve all the details in time, they will keep working.

NPR's Eric McDaniel covers Congress. And he's here with us now to tell us more about all this. Good morning, Eric.

Good morning.

All right, tell us what's in the funding agreement.

Well, a lot of money, mostly $886 billion for the military and $773 billion for, well, everything else. But so far, this is basically a handshake deal. Right now, all they have to do is actually pass the spending bills, which is not going to be an easy feat. But yesterday, Michelle, when I started thinking about what to say during this conversation, there wasn't a plan, there was no plan.

And what are you hearing about? Reaction?

Well, as you might imagine, some Republicans in the House are really mad. This is the anti-compromise set of folks in the party, folks like the House Freedom Caucus and their allies. They wanted to leverage the looming government funding deadline on January 19th to extract big spending cuts and policy concessions. On everything from abortion access to building a wall on the U.S southern border, this was always a pretty big, long shot that they'd be able to achieve that.

Yeah, a shutdown in the middle of an election year. I'm not sure who would really, who would really enjoy that. But look, the last time we talked Eric, they were talking about working on aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine. Where does that stand?

So this is a separate process. For the most part. There was some talk in Republican circles about trying to tie immigration reform to government funding, but for the most part, this is separate. They're calling it a big national security bill, so that's Ukraine, Israel, maybe some money for Taiwan and U.S.

That is Npr. Congressional reporter Eric McDaniel Eric, thank you so much.

Thank you.

We have a glimpse now of the low-level war along Israel's northern border.

This is a part of Israel, far from the fighting in Gaza, but very close to an ally of Hamas. Israel's army has been exchanging fire for months with Hezbollah, which is across the border. In Lebanon. Recent violence in Lebanon, the killing of a Hamas leader has added to concerns that the fighting could grow more intense.

NPR's Lauren Frayer is in Israel, near that northern border, and joins us now. Hey there Lauren. Hi Steve. Where are you exactly?

I'm on the side of a road that's swarming with Israeli soldiers at the base of a hill, where the other side of the hill is Lebanon. About two miles as the crow flies, the Israeli military has closed roads beyond where I'm standing. It says it struck a bunch of targets on the other side of this border overnight, including what it calls a Hezbollah military compound. Over the past day, I've been hearing lots of warplanes, booms of outgoing weaponry, air raid sirens on this side of the border. In the town of Kiryat Shmona, near here, residential neighborhoods have been hit by rockets, presumably fired by Hezbollah.

What are you hearing from people who are on the ground still?

I mean, really, one of the only civilians I could find here was a man named David Itkin. He stayed behind while the rest of his family evacuated. He's staying to work overtime as an essential worker in a factory, and I asked him about the atmosphere in his hometown here.

It's like a ghost town now, not a lot of people, not a lot of traffic, politicians and society, everybody's saying that Nasrallah is making speeches.

He's referring there to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. You mentioned last week there was an airstrike in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. It killed a top Hamas leader. Israel has not claimed responsibility for that attack, but Nasrallah nevertheless says he will respond to it. Quote on the battlefield.

Let's just note that u.

He is expected certainly to do that, he's got a lot on his plate. He's been meeting with regional leaders in Gulf countries and elsewhere, drumming up support for the rebuilding of Gaza after the war there ends. When he lands here in Israel, he's expected to push Israeli leaders to curtail their widespread bombing of Gaza. And there are actually signs that that may already be happening.

And Paris? Lauren Frayer, Thanks for your reporting.

Thanks so much, Steve.

U.

What's unusual here is not that Austin is in the hospital that happens, but that Austin kept his hospitalization. Quiet from the White House and members of Congress for days.

NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is with us now to tell us more about this strange situation. Good morning Tom.

Good morning Michelle.

You know, it is strange. I'm sorry. I know that most people, you know, don't feel a need to tell all their personal business when they go into the hospital. But he is a member of the Cabinet and we know he's still in the hospital. Do we know how he's doing?

Well, we really don't know his condition, the initial medical procedure or the resulting complications he was in the intensive care unit. MICHELLE So, clearly it was serious, but I'm told by a source, not life-threatening. The Pentagon put out a statement yesterday afternoon saying the secretary is, quote, recovering well and in good spirits. And he resumed his duties Friday night. But no word on a release date.

Can you walk us through this whole story about who knew what when I'm talking about officials in Washington here?

Well, the Pentagon put out a brief release Friday afternoon, the 5th, saying On New Year's Night, January 1st. Austin was admitted to the hospital, we were later told. His deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was informed the next day that she was the acting secretary now. Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico and was told a couple of days later, on Thursday that Austin was in fact in the hospital. She offered to head home but was told, Listen, Austin would resume duties on Friday. Also on Thursday, the White House was finally informed Austin was in the hospital. And some members of Congress were only told. Get this a half hour before the press release was issued on Friday afternoon.

Okay, the public, but what about his boss, the president?

Well, right, you would think that. Biden's principal military advisor in this time of war in the Middle East? And possible continued military action by U.S forces against militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Would have picked up the phone and told officials. At least the president, because there have been ongoing meetings about all these issues. Did anyone notice he was not around now? Biden spoke with Austin over the weekend and we're told he has confidence in the secretary. But members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, still want answers.

So Tom, I'm going to mention there, you've covered the Pentagon for a long time. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Absolutely no, never anything like this. But Austin, who's 70 years old, he's always been very quiet, not very talkative, rarely seen in public or the press room. And he was in the same way when he was a four-star general when he was in charge of operations in the Middle East. He's not a force, or clearly a power broker like his predecessors, Donald Rumsfeld or Robert Gates, or Leon Panetta.

That is NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman. Tom, thank you.

You're welcome.

And that's up first for Monday, January 8th. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's Up First was edited by Krishnadev Calimer, Jim Cain, Ali Schweitzer, Kelsey Snell, Michael Sullivan and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ben Abrams and Ziad Butch, and we get engineering support from Phil Edfors. Our technical director is Zach Colman.

And one final note, it can be hard to keep up with all of former President Donald Trump's legal problems. He is facing 91 charges across four criminal cases. That is why NPR has launched a podcast to help you make sense of them all.