NPR News: 05-13-2026 7AM EDT

Korva Coleman· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. The Trump administration's defense budget request is getting a lot of congressional pushback. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports lawmakers want to know details and more about the cost of the war in Iran.

Claudia Grisales0:14

Pentagon officials estimate the Iran war has cost twenty-nine billion dollars so far, but that does not include repairs to US facilities attacked by Iran that could add billions more to that price tag. The Pentagon plans to ask for supplemental funding on top of a one point five trillion dollar budget proposal for the next fiscal year that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues will remake the military.

Pete Hegseth· Soundbite0:38

This is admittedly a historic budget. It is a fiscally responsible budget, and it is a war-fighting budget.

Claudia Grisales0:46

But amid an unpopular war, many lawmakers are expressing bipartisan frustration over the administration's shifting plans concerning Iran and a lack of information tied to their historic spending plans. Claudia Grisales, NPR News.

Korva Coleman· Host1:00

Republican-led states in the South are moving quickly to redraw their congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections. This comes after the US Supreme Court gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act. Alabama will hold a special election in August for new districts that were previously ruled illegal. NPR's Stephen Fowler says voting rights and civil rights groups are challenging this.

Stephen Fowler1:22

It reiterates conflicting realities here. Republicans are making these changes for political aims, fewer Democrats, more Republicans.