Fed Keeps Interest Rates, Texas Redistricting, US Middle East Envoy In Israel

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🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady this week despite demands for lower rates from President Trump, Republicans in Texas released a proposal for a new state congressional map, and the US special envoy to the Middle East is traveling to Israel at a moment when the UN warns Gaza is on the verge of all out famine.

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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rafael Nam, Ben Swasey, Hannah Bloch, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I stepped outside this, where it's extremely hot in Washington,
0:02.8	and I shut my door, and there were just all kinds of insects
0:06.9	on the doors.
0:07.6	Like, thank goodness I got that closed before they ventured in.
0:11.5	They do seek cooler environments, that's for sure.
0:15.1	Oh, do they really?
0:16.4	Yeah.
0:16.7	I didn't know that.
0:17.4	Yeah.
0:18.2	When flies get into my house, they always go to the bathroom.
0:21.3	The bathroom's the coolest room in my house.
0:23.3	Do they flush?
0:28.2	Two members of a Federal Reserve Committee pushed for lower interest rates.
0:32.5	I've tried to lay out very clearly in economic terms of why we could do this.
0:36.5	The majority stuck with Chairman Jerome Powell and held rates steady.
0:40.0	So what happens next?
0:41.1	I'mi Martinez with Steve Inskeep, and this is up first from NPR News.
0:47.0	Texas Republicans obeyed the president's call to propose a new election map.
0:51.5	The gerrymander is openly designed to skew the results to give Republicans
0:54.9	extra seats in Congress, what will Texas approve in the end, and how will Democrats respond.
0:59.8	Also, another day passes with people hungry in Gaza. Zero trucks made it to the UN warehouses,
1:05.3	where it needs to be distributed. The markets are skyrocketing. It's still empty.
	...

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