DHS Shutdown, Ukraine Peace Talks, Olympics Stars Stumble
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Officials from the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine prepare for new peace talks in Geneva as Moscow presses territorial demands and Kyiv insists on security guarantees.
And at the Winter Olympics in Italy, American speed skater Jordan Stolz is making history while other superstar athletes struggle with the intense pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, Kate Bartlett, Tina Kraya, Eric Whitney, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adam Bearne.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Simon-Laslo Janssen.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:57) DHS Shutdown
(05:38) Ukraine Peace Talks
(09:26) Olympics Stars Stumble
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Another day, another missed deadline. Funding ran out for the Department of Homeland Security, and Congress went home. |
| 0:08.3 | The lapse points to a consistent failure by lawmakers to do their job on time. What's going wrong? |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Foddle, and this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:21.1 | Diplomats from the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine meet in Geneva Tuesday for a new round of peace talks. |
| 0:27.3 | Here's how Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the problem. |
| 0:30.5 | We don't know the Russians are serious about ending the war. |
| 0:34.1 | Many analysts think Russia is not serious, so where is the negotiation going? Also, why did some |
| 0:39.5 | of the world's best athletes stumble at the Olympics? Speed skater Jordan Stoles won gold, but |
| 0:45.0 | other team USA stars didn't get the results they were hoping for. Stay with us. We've got the news |
| 0:50.0 | you need to start your day. |
| 1:01.7 | The third partial shutdown of the U.S. government in three months is having less obvious effects than the others. |
| 1:03.1 | Funding ran out for the Department of Homeland Security, though key employees like airport |
| 1:07.4 | security remain on the job. |
| 1:09.9 | Rather than immediate chaos, the funding lapse points to a larger issue, |
| 1:15.3 | the consistent failure by Congress to do its job on time. |
| 1:19.9 | The missed deadline does make it harder for the government to think ahead, |
| 1:23.4 | and it's become routine. |
| 1:25.1 | NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass was listening to lawmakers as they |
| 1:28.9 | didn't work things out over the past several days. Sam, good morning. Hey, Steve. Why does this keep |
| 1:33.4 | happening? Yeah, so this latest effort seems to be following, I guess, a familiar cycle. A crisis |
| 1:39.2 | captures national attention, in this case the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens by immigration agents in |
| 1:45.5 | Minneapolis, or recently health subsidies expiring and spiking premiums. A number of Democrats and |
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