[00:00] Hannah Whitmore: Developing story, we are tracking the latest developments on today's national demonstrations.
[00:06] Hannah Whitmore: From Neural Newscast, I'm Hannah Whitmore.
[00:09] Peter Rowan: And I'm Peter Rowan.
[00:11] Hannah Whitmore: Millions of people across the United States and several international cities are participating in no King's protests against the Trump administration today.
[00:21] Hannah Whitmore: organizers scheduled more than 3,000 events, with major rallies reported in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the Twin Cities.
[00:30] Hannah Whitmore: In St. Paul, Minnesota, tens of thousands of people filled the streets surrounding the state capital.
[00:36] Hannah Whitmore: Bruce Springsteen appeared at the flagship event performing a song regarding the impact of ice operations, titled Streets of Minneapolis.
[00:45] Peter Rowan: The scale of these demonstrations extends to New York City, where several marches converged in Times Square.
[00:52] Peter Rowan: State Attorney General Letitia James and City Public Advocate Jumani Williams were present, alongside public figures including Robert De Niro and Al Sharpton.
[01:04] Peter Rowan: Outside the United States, Americans living abroad joined local citizens in Paris, Berlin, and Athens to echo the domestic demonstrations.
[01:14] Peter Rowan: The White House and Republican leadership have dismissed these events, characterizing them as trumped-arrangement therapy sessions and hate America rallies.
[01:24] Hannah Whitmore: There have also been counter-protests in support of the president.
[01:28] Hannah Whitmore: In cities like West Palm Beach and Dallas, groups including the Oath and Proud Boys held their own demonstrations.
[01:35] Hannah Whitmore: While final attendance numbers for the No King's events are still being calculated by organizers,
[01:40] Hannah Whitmore: the initial reports indicate that hundreds of thousands of people have turned out across the various hubs we've mentioned.
[01:47] Peter Rowan: Hannah, the scale of these demonstrations extends to New York City, where several marches converged in Times Square.
[01:54] Peter Rowan: State Attorney General Letitia James and city public advocate Jumani Williams were present,
[02:00] Peter Rowan: alongside public figures including Robert De Niro and Al Sharpton.
[02:05] Peter Rowan: Outside the United States, Americans living abroad joined local citizens in Paris, Berlin, and Athens to echo the domestic demonstrations.
[02:15] Peter Rowan: The White House and Republican leadership have dismissed these events, characterizing them as Trump-derangement therapy sessions and hate America rallies.
[02:26] Hannah Whitmore: This impasse has left many federal employees in limbo for six weeks, particularly those
[02:31] Hannah Whitmore: in airport security.
[02:33] Hannah Whitmore: There is a development regarding compensation, though.
[02:36] Hannah Whitmore: President Trump signed an order to reroute existing funds to pay TSA workers without waiting
[02:41] Hannah Whitmore: for a congressional deal.
[02:43] Hannah Whitmore: The Department of Homeland Security says these employees should start seeing paychecks
[02:47] Hannah Whitmore: as early as Monday, March 30th.
[02:49] Hannah Whitmore: This move could potentially shorten airport security lines that have been growing throughout the crisis.
[02:54] Peter Rowan: Despite that executive action, the underlying funding issue for the rest of the department is nowhere near a resolution.
[03:02] Peter Rowan: A bipartisan Senate deal that was reached overnight failed to gain traction in the House.
[03:07] Peter Rowan: That proposal would have funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
[03:15] Peter Rowan: as those agencies are currently operating on cash reserves from previous legislation.
[03:20] Peter Rowan: House Republicans, including Michelle Fishback of Minnesota, rejected that approach,
[03:26] Peter Rowan: arguing they cannot support any measure that could be seen as defunding immigration enforcement.
[03:32] Hannah Whitmore: The timing for any further negotiation is tight.
[03:36] Hannah Whitmore: Both the House and Senate are moving forward with a scheduled two-week recess for Easter and Passover.
[03:42] Hannah Whitmore: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not signaled any intention to cancel the break,
[03:47] Hannah Whitmore: and Democrats like Representative Jim McGovern are urging the House to simply pass the Senate's compromise version to end the shutdown.
[03:55] Hannah Whitmore: For now, it appears the department will remain partially closed until at least mid-April.
[04:00] Peter Rowan: It leaves the administration in a precarious position, facing both large-scale public dissent and a fractured legislature.
[04:09] Peter Rowan: We will continue to monitor the protest totals and any movement on the DHS funding front as the recess begins.
[04:17] Hannah Whitmore: I'm Hannah Whitmore.
[04:19] Peter Rowan: And I'm Peter Rowan. Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[04:26] Peter Rowan: View our AI Transparency Policy at NeuralNewscast.com