0:00

Get the angeles special at McDonald's

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now. Let's break it down. My

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favorite barbecue sauce. American cheese, crispy

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bacon, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed

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bun, of course. And don't forget the fries

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0:50

For a For a couple days now, I've been asking

0:52

you to give me a call. couple days now, I've been asking you to give me a call. Hi

0:54

Hi, Mary. Mary, it is a long-time

0:56

listener. I think I've heard every

0:59

episode It is a long-time listener. I think I've heard every episode of what of what next over the

1:01

years. next over the years. My question was simple.

1:03

I wanted to understand what

1:05

Donald Trump and Elon Musk

1:07

are doing to this country,

1:10

up close. Hey, I'm an

1:12

environmental planner in South Carolina.

1:22

Meg from Washington DC. I

1:24

own a peckered company and

1:26

I figured out how many of

1:29

our clients were USAID workers. My

1:31

name is Zane. I live in

1:33

North Carolina. I work in carbon

1:35

chapter research and we get federal

1:38

grants to do research. So it's

1:40

just a lot of uncertainty and

1:42

I think you know that's the

1:44

whole point. When I hear about

1:46

federal workers being fired.

1:49

or tariffs or contracts

1:51

being cut short, I always think

1:53

there's some person on the

1:55

other end of this decision.

1:58

How are they doing? Not great.

2:00

It turns out. My wife has worked for

2:02

the Department of Agriculture just short

2:04

20 years. She spends every day

2:06

worrying about her job. You know,

2:08

everybody just wakes up every day,

2:10

you know, in fear that they're

2:12

going to lose their job. I

2:14

would say that we are under

2:16

a lot of stress right now

2:18

and particularly with the uncertainty around

2:20

what's being funded, who's getting, who's

2:22

getting, you're probably in 100 calls

2:24

like this, but... I just want

2:27

to know that there are really

2:29

good hardworking people out there who

2:31

this is affecting. Our whole show today

2:33

is going to be about making

2:36

Washington funding cuts a

2:38

little more visible because

2:40

it isn't just government

2:42

workers being impacted. And I

2:45

think the hardest part for

2:47

me is just seemed like a

2:49

game, you know, our finding out.

2:51

Take Hannah Smith brew baker. She's

2:53

a farmer. She's a farmer.

2:55

She lives in Pennsylvania.

2:57

She spoke to our producer

2:59

Ethan. Hannah also

3:01

runs an agricultural nonprofit

3:04

that works with other farmers

3:06

all over the Northeast.

3:09

She discovered essential funding

3:11

for her organization was

3:13

getting cut when Doge tweeted

3:16

about it. Our finding out

3:18

over X through a Valentine's

3:20

Day rhyme is just what is going

3:23

on? What is going on? The

3:25

post went like this.

3:27

Roses are red, violets

3:29

are blue. Today, Dojan

3:32

10 agencies made

3:34

586 wasteful contracts

3:36

bid adieu. This

3:38

is not a good rhyme. Was

3:41

that really the first that

3:43

you all had heard of

3:45

it? Yes. Yes. Even now,

3:48

things are confusing for

3:50

Hannah. that first she thought

3:52

her programs would be suspended, but she

3:54

could keep working. And then we got word

3:56

that USDA employees aren't actually able

3:59

to help. bus with these programs.

4:01

So now we're in a situation

4:03

where we're about 35 days in

4:06

of not being paid for our

4:08

last reimbursement that we put through.

4:10

And just last week, we notified

4:13

60 employees that we're gonna need

4:15

to furlough them on April

4:17

1st, and that's 60 employees

4:19

who aren't out in the

4:21

field helping farmers. The US

4:23

government is not just turning

4:26

itself inside out with funding

4:28

cuts, of course. Ask Jeffrey

4:30

Akoro. I reached him in

4:32

Kibera, Kenya. Kibera is one

4:34

of the largest informal settlements

4:36

or slums in Africa.

4:39

Jeffrey, overseas a non-profit

4:41

that gets HIV and TB

4:43

treatment to thousands of people.

4:45

Like a lot of overseas health

4:47

operations, he gets a little

4:50

help from USAID. Or he used

4:52

to. A few weeks back, his

4:54

grant manager said, that funding's

4:56

off. Did it surprise you? When you

4:59

got that notification? Yes,

5:01

it did. We knew that of

5:03

course there would be changes, but

5:05

not cutting HIV hates drugs,

5:07

you know? I mean, yeah, that

5:10

was quite surprising, really.

5:12

Jeffrey's lucky. His

5:14

organization is not entirely

5:16

dependent on the US. He

5:19

kept his doors open, but

5:21

others could not, which means

5:23

Jeffrey's clinics are getting

5:25

crowded. and patients want

5:28

as much medication

5:30

as they can get. It's

5:32

been reported that

5:34

of course Kenya has

5:37

only a stockpile for

5:39

about four and a

5:41

half months of HIV

5:44

treatment before the entire

5:46

country runs out. And

5:48

so the fear is real.

5:55

today on the show. You have

5:57

been hearing about funding cuts all

5:59

over the government. permanent. Temporary pauses

6:01

but also plans to make

6:03

some of those pauses permanent.

6:05

We're going to bring you

6:07

one person's story of what

6:09

a federal funding pause can

6:11

look like and we're going

6:13

to ask whether what's happening

6:15

now is really just the

6:17

start. I'm Mary Harris. You're

6:19

listening to what next. Stick

6:21

around. Get

16:38

the angeles special at McDonald's now.

16:40

Let's break it down. My favorite

16:42

barbecue sauce. American cheese, crispy bacon,

16:44

pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun, of

16:47

course. And don't forget the fries in a

16:49

drink. Sound good. Bada, bah, bah, bah. I

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participate in restaurants for a limited time. I

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can say to my new Samsung

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Galaxy S-25 Ultra, I find a

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account results may vary based on input

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check responses for accuracy. Get

26:31

the angeles special at McDonald's now.

26:33

Let's break it down. My favorite

26:35

barbecue sauce. American cheese, crispy bacon,

26:37

pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun, of

26:39

course. And don't forget the fries in a

26:42

drink. Sound good. Bada, bah, bah, bah. I

26:44

participate in restaurants for a limited time. cast.