Hegseth Defends Iran War, Powell Stays On As Fed Chair, SCOTUS Voting Rights Case
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says he will remain on the central bank’s board after his term ends next month to shield the agency from political pressure.
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Voting Rights Act only prohibits congressional maps intentionally drawn to discriminate based on race, a decision that could make it much harder to challenge aggressive Republican-led redistricting efforts.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Rafael Nam, Ben Swasey, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Ally Schweitzer.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
(0:00) Introduction
(02:18) Hegseth Defends Iran War
(06:07) Powell Stays On As Fed Chair
(09:55) SCOTUS Voting Rights Case
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | One of us feels that it's kind of cold in here. |
| 0:04.3 | Is it within our power to do anything about that? |
| 0:08.5 | What if we just like light little fire? |
| 0:11.0 | Yeah, I think so. |
| 0:12.0 | A campfire? |
| 0:13.0 | Trash fire. |
| 0:14.0 | That's even better. |
| 0:16.0 | Give it a little pungent smell. |
| 0:18.0 | Put an edge on the program today. |
| 0:20.0 | Defense Secretary Pete Higgseth testified about the smell. Put an edge on the program today. |
| 0:28.0 | Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified about the first $25 billion spent on the war with Iran. |
| 0:30.5 | What would you pay to ensure Iran doesn't get a nuclear bomb? |
| 0:32.0 | What would you pay? |
| 0:35.9 | How much higher does the price go as the economic damage keeps climate? |
| 0:39.8 | I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steven Ski. And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:46.6 | Jerome Powell says he will stay on the board of the Federal Reserve for now, even after his stint as chairman ends. |
| 0:48.1 | I am confident that the Fed will continue to make its decision based on analysis, but we've |
| 0:53.9 | had to fight for it. |
| 0:54.8 | By staying on, Powell denies President Trump the chance to name a replacement. |
| 0:58.4 | Also, the Supreme Court changes the rules, making it harder to create black majority voting districts. |
| 1:03.7 | The ruling allows Louisiana to redraw its congressional districts. |
| 1:07.5 | How many other states might follow? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.