NPR News: 07-23-2026 1AM EDT

Giles Snyder· Host0:01

Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump was in Marietta, Georgia Wednesday speaking at a campaign event after attending the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base of four service members who were killed in action last weekend.

Donald Trump· Soundbite0:17

Standing there watching this, uh, sight, which is, ugh, it's very, very tough to, very tough to watch, to be honest with you. Very tough. I think it's the toughest thing I do, of anything I do. I do all this stuff, but I think it's the toughest thing I do.

Giles Snyder· Host0:29

Trump's speech in Georgia was his first since his prime time address to the nation last week in which he questioned the security of US elections. Funding for election security, long sought by President Trump, is included in that $95 billion budget blueprint that House Republicans passed Wednesday. Most of the money would go toward funding the Iran war, and there's funding for farmers as well. The vote is the first step in the reconciliation process that Republicans have turned to to secure the funding without Democratic support. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington is empty and fenced off from the public, but as NPR's Rachel Treesman reports, people are still watching closely as the saga unfolds.

Rachel Treesman1:13

The reflecting pool renovations were supposed to take two weeks, but they're now in their fourth month. It was drained after the Fourth of July to address algae blooms and peeling paint. Several DC-based photographers and bloggers are still going to the pool nearly every day to share photos of what it