Transcript of Stalemate In The Strait Of Hormuz, DHS Shutdown Ends, Trump's Surgeon General Nominee New

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Germany's chancellor says Iran is humiliating the United States. The two sides are deadlocked over the Strait of Hormuz.

Gas prices have hit their highest since the start of the war. How is President Trump responding to the pressure?

I'm Steve Inskeep with Michele Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The longest government agency shutdown in U.S. history has ended. After weeks of negotiations over immigration enforcement, the House finally passed a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

We got the job done. Sometimes it's slow, but we got it done.

What did it take to get the job done?

And President Trump's last two choices for Surgeon General both failed to get confirmed. His new choice is Nicole Saffire, a Fox News contributor and breast cancer doctor. Does she have a better chance of getting confirmed? Stay with us, we'll give you news you need. To start your day. President Trump's administration is continuing with its expansive definition of the legal boundaries of the war in Iran.

The administration faces a deadline today to obtain congressional approval for military action that it told lawmakers about 60 days ago. It is not seeking that approval. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted the deadline set by law does not apply, because a ceasefire stops the clock. Iran and the U.S. are still facing off through dueling blockades in the Strait of Hormuz, and that leads us to our next story: How is the United States trying to bring the conflict to an end?

NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is following all this, and he's with us now. Good morning, Franco.

Good morning, Michelle.

So the Iranians have offered a proposal that would involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz and deal with negotiations over nuclear restrictions. Later. So what's the latest on that?

Yeah, President Trump reviewed the proposal with his national security team, but, you know, he's been really adamant that a nuclear deal must be part of all this. And he was asked yesterday about the apparent standstill but insisted that the Iranians want to make a deal while also acknowledging difficulty determining who's actually in charge.

They want to make a deal badly. We have a problem because nobody knows for sure who the leaders are. It's a little bit of a problem, you know. The leaders have been wiped out along with their military.

You know, Fred, it seems like neither side wants the bombing to resume, but both continue to make these demands that the other side will not accept.

Yeah, it's really testing the U.S. strategy. And as Steve mentioned, instead of resuming a bombing campaign, the U.S. has launched its own blockade of Iranian ports. Alexander Gray served as chief of staff at the National Security Council in the first Trump administration. He says the blockade gives the U.S. maximum leverage. This is a game of leverage. This is a game of who has the ability to call the other side to account and who's going to blink first. And I think the Iranians are going to blink because they're losing $400+ million a day to the US Navy's blockade. You know, one thing though is Trump administration has been at this for a while, you know, expecting if they just put enough military pressure, economic pressure, that Iran will capitulate. But so far it just hasn't.

And The president is also now in a war of words with the German chancellor, who in leaked comments said that Trump was being, quote unquote, "humiliated by Iran." How is Trump responding to this?

Yeah, I mean, Trump's threatening to pull US troops stationed in Germany. And it's not just Germany. He's also threatened to pull troops from other European countries. Constance Stetson-Muller, who studies transatlantic security at the Brookings Institution, told me that much of Europe feels Trump kind of mishandled these negotiations and now worry that they're going to have the burden of fixing the problems. But she also says they need to be careful.

Both sides depend on each other, are increasingly irritated with each other because they understand that dependence, and because it's not possible to cut loose for either side. And the greatest risk of that, besides the erosion of trust, is a sort of toxic interdependence, kind of like a marriage where one side can't leave the other.

Now, the U.S., of course, needs Europe, where it has military bases, and Europe needs the U.S. for help defending Ukraine against Russia.

So this war seems to be taking up a lot of the president's time. What What does it mean for Trump's other agenda priorities?

Yeah, the White House says Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time and is quick to point out the administration is continuing its affordability agenda. Trump signed an executive order yesterday on retirement savings, but at the same time, gas prices hit a new high since the start of the war, and Americans say they aren't seeing much relief. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, just 27% approve of how the president is handling the U.S. economy.

That is White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Franco, thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

Some other news now: The longest agency shutdown in U.S. history is over.

President Trump signed legislation Thursday to fund almost all of the Department of Homeland Security except for some immigration enforcement. The House passed it yesterday. That was weeks after the Senate did.

House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated an end to the stalemate: "The House Republicans are leaving in a great mood, and I don't think you could find a single person who is upset with the results. We got the job done. Sometimes it's slow, but we got it done." NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales joins us now.

Claudia, good morning.

Good morning, Steve.

What about this took 70 days?

Well, you're seeing a politically contentious, high-stakes proposal meet head-on with a Congress that's struggling to legislate, especially during an election year. We first saw a breakdown in bipartisan funding talks for DHS in mid- February, and then another breakdown for Republicans who could not agree on a way out of a shutdown. The Senate passed a plan 5 weeks ago to fund the agency except for some immigration enforcement divisions, as we mentioned.

Right.

But that could not get through the House. So the White House redirected government funds to pay DHS workers despite questions over the legality of that decision. And now the agency was about to run out of that new money, so the House had to act.

Oh, well, they had to act, OK, so they were forced to on some level. But really, how did the speaker manage to get a majority here?

Well, Johnson finally reached that deal with the more conservative members of his conference who were holding out to fund all of DHS. Republicans had been working on a special partisan legislative vehicle known as reconciliation. That bill would include money for immigration enforcement for the rest of President Trump's term. And Johnson sided with those conservative members, initially calling the Senate-passed DHS bill a joke, but he reversed course as reconciliation dragged on. Now he says that that process is moving. Republicans could also approve that additional funding.

Claudia, it's really interesting when the House is so narrowly divided, the minority party, which sometimes is powerless, can have some leverage, can have some power. What role did Democrats play?

Yeah, exactly. Because Republicans have such tight margins in both chambers, they still need votes from Democrats. And as you may recall, DHS was on track to be part of this massive bipartisan spending bill at the start of the year.

Yeah.

But the January deaths of two US citizens at the hands of officers for DHS changed all of that. So Democrats pulled their support. They began pushing for a new deal to revamp the way these agents do their jobs, like banning face masks. But Republicans refused, and that triggered this shutdown that began February 14th.

What What does this mean for the immigration enforcement that was not part of this agreement?

Well, those divisions are in a great position thanks to a massive tax and spending plan known as the One Big Beautiful Bill that passed last year. It directed $75 billion towards ICE, and this ongoing reconciliation process could get approved by June.

Okay, what else is the House managing to pass?

Right, they approved a 45-day extension of a key U.S. intelligence tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It would have expired at the end of the day yesterday, and that was also controversial among House conservatives and others who are worried about privacy protections. But Johnson was able to persuade his holdouts just before this recess began. A reminder, the desire to get out of town is often what can push these deals over the finish line for Congress.

NPR's Claudia Grisales always meets her deadlines. Claudia, thanks so much.

Thank you. President Trump has nominated a new surgeon general. That's the official responsible for public health advisories in the U.S. Dr.

Nicole Saffir works at one of the nation's top cancer centers, and she is expected to be more acceptable to Republican lawmakers who had stalled the confirmation process for Trump's previous pick.

NPR's Pien Huang is here to tell us more about her. Good morning, Pien.

Good morning, Michelle.

So tell us about her. Who is Dr. Nicole Sapphire?

Yeah, so she is a medical doctor, a radiologist who focuses on breast cancer. She's director of breast imaging at a branch of Memorial Sloan Kettering in New Jersey. She's also a wellness influencer. She sells herbal supplements to promote focus and calm on Amazon, and she's a frequent Fox News medical contributor with a podcast called Wellness Unmasked. In his nomination post on Truth Social, Trump described her as a a star physician and an incredible communicator.

Which, I mean, being a communicator is pretty key for this role, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Surgeon General is tasked with promoting health-based, science-based measures that keep people healthy. Sapphire talked about the job back in February on her podcast, and she said that the Surgeon General's main role is public health messaging.

They need the respect of not only the people, the American people that they are communicating to, but they also need the respect of the administration for which they are working together with to get that research and put out the messaging.

Sapphire also said that they need the respect of the medical establishment, and at the time, in her opinion, that's where the previous nominee, Dr. Casey Means, was falling short.

Well, say more about that. Why did Dr. Means' nomination get pulled ultimately?

Yeah, so the surgeon general position has been a whole saga for Trump. Sapphire is Trump's third pick, and he withdrew his first nominee after scrutiny over how she represented her medical credentials. Next, he chose Dr. Casey Means, who doesn't have an active medical license. At a confirmation hearing in February, she faced pushback from senators, including some Republicans, about her views on vaccines. She said that she believes vaccines save lives, but stopped short of encouraging parents to vaccinate their kids against measles and flu. Now, yesterday, Trump called out Republican Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, saying that Cassidy stood in the way of Means getting confirmed. And in response, the Senate HELP Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Cassidy chairs, said on X that it was clear Means didn't have the votes.

Cassidy's a doctor, so, you know, he had thoughts. So where is Dr. Sapphire on these issues?

Well, she's kind of an originator of the Make America Healthy Again movement before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took it on. It was actually the title of a book she published back in 2020. And David Mansdorfer, who served as a health official in Trump's first term, says Sapphire appeals to Republicans.

I think she's extremely strong on some of the core base issues, the pro-life issue. She's great on chronic disease and prevention. She speaks a lot to the maha influence, especially to the suburban moms.

Now, Sapphire's views on vaccines are a little murky. She's not against all vaccines, doesn't think they cause autism, but she's also said that she supports what she calls medical freedom and individuals choosing if and when to get vaccines. One thing that is clear is that she'll get lots of questions on that and on other topics in a confirmation hearing.

That's NPR's Ping Huang. Ping, thank you. You're welcome. And that's Up First for Friday, May 1st. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm the person who closed the file.

It's the best month.

Exactly. Yes. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Kelsey Snell, Chris Houston, Mohammed Elbardisi, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziad Batch and Nia Dumas, and our director is Christopher Thomas, who's standing there with arms folded waiting for me to finish. We get engineering support from Misha Hines, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Good morning, Zach. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us tomorrow.