Hegseth Defends Iran War, Powell Stays On As Fed Chair, SCOTUS Voting Rights Case

The Pentagon estimates the war with Iran has already cost 25 billion dollars as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the cost of the war in a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. 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