Trump In China, Hegseth Requests Wartime Budget, FDA Commissioner Resigns

[00:02] President Trump arrives in Beijing for a summit with China's Xi Jinping. Our co-host Steve Inskeep is there with NPR's Jennifer Pack. They visit the Great Hall where the leaders will meet and talk about what's at stake for the world's two largest economies. I'm Leila Faudil, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. [00:18] A Pentagon official told lawmakers the war in Iran has cost $29 billion so far. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is asking Congress for $1.5 trillion for next year's budget. This is admittedly a historic budget. [00:35] It is a fiscally responsible budget, and it is a warfighting. [00:40] budget. Some Republicans are joining Democrats in pushing back. And FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty McCary is out after 13 months on the job. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day. [00:52] you [00:56] 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. [01:22] Support for NPR comes from IBM. On Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell explores how organizations are using technology to solve complex challenges in partnership with IBM. I spoke with Alon Cohen, who heads research and development at UFC. Insights Engine is not here to feel technical. We are bringing it to a place where you feel like you could even have an opinion because you understand enough of what's going on.

[01:50] Listen to Smart Talks with IBM wherever you get your podcasts. [01:55] This message comes from BetterHelp. As a dad, BetterHelp president Fernando Madera relates to needing flexibility when it comes to scheduling therapy. [02:04] I have kids under 18, so time is very limited. That's why at BetterHelp or therapists try to have sessions sometimes at night, depending on the therapist or during the weekend. So I think that's what we need to tell the parents. You're not alone. We can help you out. [02:20] If a flexible schedule would help you, visit betterhelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month of online therapy. [02:30] Air Force One lands in Beijing soon. President Trump is there to talk with China's President Xi Jinping. Their summit will be brief. Expectations are low, but much is at stake in the trade war. And the president is bringing along many of the biggest corporate chief executives in the United States. Our colleague Steve Inskeep is in Beijing for the summit. Hey there. Hi there, Michelle. I'm in the center of this gigantic city. And I'm with NPR's Jennifer Pack, who's based in China. [03:00] shortly. Jennifer, Layla mentioned CEOs. Who's the president bringing here? Well, he's bringing a bunch of CEOs from Boeing, Cargill, even NVIDIA. Basically, companies that want to sell more to China because many of their sales were stalled because President Trump launched a trade war last year. Trump had launched tariffs on Chinese exports, and he had imposed export controls on American high tech. China struck back, so they reached a kind of pause last year, but it's really fragile.

[03:30] needing to stabilize the relationship. Trump wants a deal. China understands that about him and might find that easier to deal with. Well, I want people to know that you and I are just a few miles from this enormous building where Trump will be welcomed on Thursday. And we went to see it. The easiest way to do that was by renting bikes, which you can do on any street in Beijing. And as we bike through traffic, we discussed what is at stake at the summit. Here's what it sounded like. [04:00] of the people and that, am I right, is where [04:03] President Trump will be officially welcomed. [04:06] Absolutely. On Thursday. You've been in that building. What's it like in there? It's huge. Yeah, it's like... [04:11] full of red plush carpet, chandeliers, marble walls. [04:15] It's just massive. [04:17] There's a policy argument about a summit [04:20] But there's also [04:21] the symbolism of it. [04:23] Yes, it's about face and the importance [04:26] of this relationship. That's a massive thing for Chinese officials, that they need to be seen as a peer to be respected. A bit of traffic here. And I suppose we should note, we are still approaching the Great Hall of the People, that the Trump administration's point of view is that it has been not getting that kind of respect. [04:47] He now comes here [04:49] wanting the Chinese to increase or in some cases resume purchases of American products. That's one of the things we think. [04:57] the United States wants out of this. [04:59] Absolutely. And China also wants to buy from the U.S. You know, one of the Chinese officials' argument is if you want to rebalance the trade deficit,

[05:09] then let us, China, buy more top-notch semiconductors to run our AI. Let us buy our jet engines that we need. Which is exactly what we should note the Biden administration as well as the Trump administration has not been willing to do in recent years. The United States [05:26] trying to [05:28] maintain its lead. [05:29] in artificial intelligence, [05:32] Absolutely, but guess what? [05:33] China's leverages. [05:34] What? [05:35] crucial key minerals [05:37] that America needs [05:39] Rare Earths. [05:40] Well, that's the reason why a lot of analysts [05:43] say that china is coming into this summit much stronger than they did almost 10 years ago when they last had trumped [05:51] coming to China. [05:52] Jennifer, I know we were just passing one building, but it feels like we took several minutes to do so. [05:57] It's a big one. It's a big one. [06:01] And NPR's Jennifer Pack is pretty confident on that yellow bike in Beijing traffic. Thanks so much. Thank you. [06:06] Music. [06:13] The Pentagon estimates the cost of the war with Iran is about $29 billion. Top defense officials answered questions from Congress on Tuesday. That price tag was one of few specifics in the day of testimony. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Krizales was watching, and she's with us now. Good morning, Claudia. Good morning, Michelle. So two weeks ago, Pentagon leaders told lawmakers that the cost of the war was $25 billion. Now it's $29 billion. Are we any closer to a final estimate?

[06:43] does not paint a full picture. Pentagon officials admitted that it doesn't include repairs to U.S. facilities that have been hit by Iran. We heard Senate Democrat Jack Reed press Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst on this exact question. So you do not consider installations that have been damaged in the conflict, correct? We just don't have a good estimate at this time. So I talked to Mark Kansian. [07:13] the costs of the war. CSIS estimates that these repairs alone could add at least another $4 billion to the final price tag. And getting that full picture is key because the Pentagon expects to ask for supplemental funding on top of all of this to pay for the war. Right. And this hearing was supposed to focus on the administration's request for $1.5 trillion for next year's budget. What did we learn about that? Right. And it's a big increase from last year's defense budget of [07:43] such ask in history. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues that it's part of a plan to reverse years of underinvestment in the military. We're submitting a $1.5 trillion budget that'll remake the department and ensure that every warfighter in the future has exactly what they need. But lawmakers in both parties say they need to know how all that money is going to be spent before they can sign off. Take a listen to House Democratic Appropriator Betty McCollum raising this. [08:09] I'm deeply concerned that the department can't seem to manage $1 trillion that Congress provided last year. So, gentlemen, we need information. Did we learn anything new about when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen? No, not really. Hexth couldn't give an estimate when that could happen. He said the U.S. controls the Strait and U.S. military pressure is a key point of leverage against Iran, but many Democrats question that claim.

[08:39] He argued there's essentially no military mechanism to reopen the strait. And he said the administration's strategy to use economic pressure is high risk. When there's plenty of evidence from military history to show that countries that are being attacked or invaded or occupied are actually willing to put up with a whole lot of economic misery in order to preserve national pride. OK, well, what about Republicans? Did any Republicans push back against Hegseth and other officials? [09:05] Yes, they took officials to task quite a few times. We saw Maine Senator Susan Collins [09:10] raised concerns that there seemingly is a shifting plan to reopen the strait. And South Carolina's Lindsey Graham questioned Pakistan's role as a mediator in talks with Iran. And we also saw Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski raise concerns about the ceasefire that does not look like a ceasefire. And it's clear we're more than two months into this war and we're seeing increasing GOP frustration about a lack of information from the White House. [09:40] political headwinds for Republicans is to get ready to face voters this fall who are unhappy with the war and seeing daily reminders of it at the gas pump and elsewhere in the economy. [09:50] That is NPR's Claudia Grisales. Claudia, thank you. Thank you. [09:59] The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration is gone. Yeah, Dr. Marty McCary resigned Tuesday after 13 tumultuous months on the job. NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sidney Lovkin is here to talk about the change. Good morning, Sidney. Good morning. So why is this happening?

[10:20] He did not agree with. That's according to a federal health official familiar with management of the agency, but who wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The pressure has been building for a while. He had survived a series of controversies. McCary was definitely disrupting the agency, which is really in line with what the rest of the Trump administration has been trying to do to the federal government. And he made a lot of people mad. At times, McCary angered the Make America Healthy Again movement for not pushing the Maha agenda fast enough or hard enough. [10:50] he upset people wanting a more predictable approach to regulation at the FDA. Can you give us some examples? Oh, sure. For example, people who support the Baha movement were upset when the agency approved updated COVID-19 vaccines last year. He also disappointed people who oppose abortion by approving a second generic version of mifepristone. Drug makers and patient groups who won a consistent and predictable FDA were unhappy with the agency's reversals on experimental drugs and vaccines. [11:20] changes without convening the typical FDA advisory committees of outside experts. These committees have a lot of rules around them to make sure they're not biased and they're typically convened before big agency decisions. It's a way to build public trust. And McCary didn't do that before changing the safety warnings on hormone replacement therapies. At the time, he called the committees bureaucratic, conflicted, and expensive. So even though medical groups had long wanted those safety labels changed,

[11:50] What are people saying now that McCary is out? [11:52] In a post on Truth Social, President Trump thanked McCary for doing a great job. But Dr. Ben Rome, a physician and health policy researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says he's glad to see McCary go. I think the last year has been an unmitigated disaster for the FDA. So there has been a lot of changes to regulatory processes that have totally undermined the FDA's independent abilities and have introduced political interference into the process. [12:22] in addition to the mass firings that took place just after McCary was confirmed last year. Rome says he hopes the next person will right the ship, but he's worried. So speaking of that, who is the next person that we think will lead the FDA? That would be Kyle Diamantis. Trump announced that he'll be the acting commissioner. Diamantis had been the deputy commissioner for food, overseeing nutrition and human food safety. He's a lawyer, not a medical doctor. But the administration has struggled to get some of its health picks confirmed by the Senate, [12:52] a while before there's a permanent commissioner. That is NPRS Pharmaceuticals correspondent, Sydney Luckin. Sydney, thank you. You bet. [13:03] And that's Up First for Wednesday, May 13th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Faldin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Jason Breslow, Chris Husted, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and John Stolnes. It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha

[13:22] director is Carly Strange and our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. Join us again tomorrow. [13:29] you [13:30] you [13:42] Thank you. [13:43] 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. [14:13] podcasts. [14:15] This message comes from Takeoff by IXL, the K-5 core math curriculum that continuously differentiates learning. Everything teachers need to personalize instruction is on Takeoff's digital platform. [14:27] Learn more at takeoffbyixl.com.