Trump In The Middle East, Hamas Hostage Release, Mulling Medicaid Cuts
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President Trump is heading to the Middle East. It'll be the first state visit of his second term. Will he focus on peace in Gaza or other matters like the luxury jumbo jet the Qatari royal family is offering him? I'm Michelle Martin with Leila Fanel and this is Up First from NPR News.

As President Trump makes his way to the Middle East, Hamas says it will release the last living American hostage held in Gaza, 21-year-old soldier Idan Alexander. Israel's government says they'll provide for Alexander's safe passage, but that his release does not guarantee a ceasefire deal. And Republicans are looking to cut $1.5 trillion from the budget to pay for Trump's domestic agenda. What could that mean for Medicaid? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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President Trump leaves this morning for a four-day trip to the Middle East, the first big state visit of his administration. The trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates comes as the administration tries to broker a ceasefire in Gaza. But Trump is expected to focus less on the quest for peace and more on making business deals, deals that apparently include the Qataris' offer of a new plane for the president.

NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez will be traveling with the president and he joins us now. Good morning. Good morning, Laila. Okay, so what is Trump looking to get out of this trip? Well, I mean, the White House says this trip is about strengthening ties in the region and highlighting cooperation where, as the press secretary puts it, extremism has been replaced by commerce and cultural exchanges.

And Layla, there's expected to be a lot of commerce and culture exchange this trip because it's kind of the best they have to offer each other right now. I spoke with Stephen Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations, who told me that the Gulf leaders know what Trump wants. The Saudis, the Emiratis and the Qataris are going to fall all over themselves over who can outdo themselves to welcome the president.

And then they will outdo themselves over the number of deals that they can announce as the president is there or as he's departing. Now, Trump also plans to visit Al Udeid air base outside of Doha in Qatar, where he'll speak with U.S. troops stationed there. So, Franco, I heard Cook there say a lot about

These countries knowing what Trump wants, but what about what Gulf leaders want? I mean, Saudi Arabia has been calling for an independent Palestinian state. Will the war in Gaza be part of this discussion?

Well, I mean, I'm sure it'll be part of the conversation and, you know, talks about updates on ceasefire efforts, but it's more likely to be behind closed doors because, again, there's just been such little progress as of late. Now, the Qataris, for example, have been involved in those talks, hosting negotiations in Doha between Hamas and Israel. And one reason Cook says that Gulf leaders shower Trump with such lavishness and big business deals is it insulates them.

them. It insulates them from any extra pressure that the U.S. may want to impose on them to either take action on Gaza, for example, if they're reluctant to do so. I will say that it's worth noting that the president did confirm on social media last night that a deal has been struck with Hamas to release the last American hostage who's been held since October of 2023. Right. And we will have more on that hostage release in a moment. But this trip feels...

A little bit like a replay of the first one Trump took during his last administration, right? Yeah, it does feel a little bit like deja vu. I mean, on that last trip, the Saudis really rolled out the red carpet for Trump and announced billions of dollars in investments. On this trip, Trump will boast new investments, including a promise by the Saudis to invest $600 billion in the U.S. and pledges from UAE to spend $1.4 trillion.

And just this weekend, the White House acknowledged, as you noted, that they're in discussions with the Qataris about possibly accepting a luxury plane that could serve as a temporary Air Force One until the new one is finished.

ABC was the first to report this. And if it happens, it would be one of the first or the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government. And it's raising a lot of legal and ethical concerns. And Trump and the White House are really pushing back on those concerns, charging that this would be a transparent and in full compliance with any laws. That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thank you, Franco. Thank you, Leila. Thank you.

Hamas today is expected to release a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. Adan Alexander is an Israeli soldier who Hamas captured when it attacked Israel in October of 2023. His release is the result of secret talks between the U.S. and Hamas. President Trump says it is a step taken in good faith to put an end to the war. Israel says it will keep fighting the war during any negotiations. NPR's Daniel Estrin joins us now from downtown Tel Aviv with the latest. Hi, Daniel. Hey, Leila. Hi.

Okay, so I hear a lot of noise around you. Where are you and what are you seeing?

I'm in what's known as Hostage Square in downtown Tel Aviv. Israelis are beginning to gather here in front of a large television screen. They're holding signs with the faces of other Israeli hostages still in Gaza, and they are hoping to see imminently the release of Idan Alexander being released from Gaza. Then he is expected to be taken to an Israeli hospital where other released hostages have been admitted in the past. So, Daniel, tell us more about Idan Alexander.

He's 21 years old. He grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel to serve in the Israeli military. He was captured by Hamas in the October 7th attack while he was guarding his army base. And today, his mother is flying in from the United States with President Trump's envoy, Adam Boehler, to hopefully greet her son upon his release. Dana, what do you know about these secret talks with the U.S. that led to Alexander's release?

Well, Hamas is saying that these talks took place in recent days. And we spoke with a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He's not authorized to speak publicly about this. He says that the U.S. did make promises in exchange for Alexander's release. He hinted that that could be the release of some Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

and ensuring some aid get into Gaza after a 10-week Israeli blockade. Now, Hamas and President Trump also are publicly saying they hope this leads to talks toward ending the war in Gaza. And the Hamas official told us, we gave the Americans what they asked for. They need to get the other side, meaning Israel, to give things to. So what do we know about what Israel is saying? Because they would be key to any ceasefire.

Well, Israel, its government claims it is not expected to give anything in return for this hostage release. And it says it will keep fighting the war, even during any ceasefire talks. Today, hospital officials in Gaza said 16 people, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli strike.

And Leila, in Israel, many people today are angry, actually, that Trump is the one achieving results here, while their own leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not. There are still 20 more living hostages in Gaza, at least. There remains a dozen more. Lots of discussion in Israel today about Trump sidestepping Israel's leadership, whether that's with the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, Trump's truce with the Houthis in Yemen, which doesn't guarantee the Houthis stop attack Israel.

And now this U.S. deal with Hamas while Israel is fighting Hamas. NPR's Daniel Estrin reporting from Tel Aviv. Thank you. You're welcome.

House Republicans have a goal, get President Trump's massive domestic agenda to the Senate by Memorial Day. GOP leaders have been mired in internal divisions over how to actually turn that agenda into law, but they hope to finalize their plans this week. NPR's Elena Moore has been covering these talks and joins us now with the latest. Hi, Elena. Hey, Layla. Okay, so Republicans have been drafting portions of the bill based on a framework they passed

last month. Get us up to speed on where things stand. Yeah, well, GOP members have to come up with $1.5 trillion in proposed savings or cuts to offset the cost of things like making Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent.

That's about a quarter of annual federal spending. And some conservative Republicans say one way of getting there is restructuring some programs like Medicaid, the federal insurance program available for low-income Americans and folks with disabilities. And the committee that oversees Medicaid is scheduled to mark up their portion of the bill on Tuesday. They've been asked to find $880 billion in cuts.

But moderate Republicans who face competitive reelection races next year are very much against, you know, massive changes to the program. And given the GOP's razor-thin majority in the House right now, the party needs those votes to get this massive spending bill passed. So this whole week, Layla, is just about finding a compromise.

OK, Elena, then what might a compromise look like? Well, I mean, some of the general ideas do have virtually full party support. Here's how House Speaker Mike Johnson defended changes to Medicaid last week. Our true and honest intention is to ensure that every Medicaid beneficiary who is in that traditional community of folks

You're talking about young pregnant mothers and the elderly and disabled. Those folks are covered and no one loses their coverage. And most GOP lawmakers agree that there should be work requirements for those on Medicaid expansion, which extends benefits to lower income childless adults without disabilities. In that same vein, the party has talked a lot about removing what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. Is that enough, though, to meet their goals for cutting spending? Well, it's unclear. Talks are ongoing this week.

On Medicaid specifically, Johnson already made some concessions that make it harder to get to their cost-cutting goals. Moderates seem to be gaining ground on their efforts to stop massive changes to the program. And that could shore up their votes, but that could also risk losing key support from more conservative members who say sweeping cuts are necessary. So even as Republicans get down to the wire here, so much is still being negotiated. So that's one big policy issue in the bill.

Are there additional elements that are still up in the air? Yeah, several. A handful of moderate members say their support for the spending bill is tied to whether it will include a higher cap for state and local property tax deductions, known as SALT. Some lawmakers are also on the fence about potential changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called SNAP. Not to mention, one very big thing, the future and scope of these tax cuts could depend on

just on how much they can claw back in savings. That's NPR's Elena Moore. Thank you, Elena. Thanks.

The U.S. and China have agreed to temporarily reduce the tariffs they imposed on each other. Both countries say they'll limit tariffs for 90 days to give themselves time to negotiate. China plans to drop tariffs on U.S. imports from 125 percent to 10 percent, and those 145 percent tariffs the U.S. imposed on Chinese imports will fall to 30 percent. The high tariffs-led trade between the two countries to fall sharply last month. Follow that story and many more on NPR.org.

And that's Up First for Monday, May 12th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Michelle Martin. Just a reminder that public radio relies on your financial support to sustain Up First, the NPR network, and the work of reporters at stations around the country and the world. You can make a contribution at donate.npr.org slash upfirst. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rylan Bartner, Krishnadov Kalamer, Keri Kahn, Kelsey Snell, Ali Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ana Perez.

Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenberg, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Up First sponsor-free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get Up First Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

On the Indicator from Planet Money podcast, we're here to help you make sense of the economic news from Trump's tariffs. It's called in game theory a trigger strategy, or sometimes called grim trigger, which sort of has a cowboy-esque ring to it. To what exactly a sovereign wealth fund is. For insight every weekday, listen to NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money.

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