0:01

He's serving

0:03

Ukraine first in American life. Vocal critics

0:05

in his own party didn't want him

0:07

to do it, but today's speaker Mike

0:09

Johnson is letting the House vote on

0:12

aid to Ukraine. Will it cost

0:14

him his gavel? I'm Aisha Roscoe. And

0:16

I'm Scott Simon and this is Up First from

0:18

NPR News. We

0:21

expect votes on assistance to U.S.

0:23

allies this afternoon over the objections

0:26

of Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene.

0:29

There's already teed up a measure to oust

0:31

the speaker. What to watch? But also... More

0:34

voting. VW workers in Chattanooga have

0:36

been deciding over the last three

0:38

days whether to join the UAW.

0:41

They've said no twice over the

0:43

last decade. We have the latest

0:45

results. And important news for parents

0:47

of sleepless children. So please stay with us.

0:50

We have the news you need to start

0:52

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shopify.com/ up first. It's

2:05

been another topsy turvy week in

2:07

the Republican led house of representatives

2:09

and it's not over yet. The

2:12

house is voting today on aid

2:14

for Ukraine as part of a

2:16

larger package to support us allies

2:18

and it could cost speaker Mike

2:20

Johnson. We have to do the right thing and I'm

2:22

going to allow an opportunity for every single member of

2:24

the house to vote their conscience and

2:27

their will on this. And I think that's the way this

2:29

institution is supposed to work. And I'm willing

2:31

to take personal risk for that because we have

2:33

to do the right thing in history. Real judges,

2:35

the personal risk Mr. Johnson's referring to there as his

2:37

job. That's enough of his fellow

2:39

Republicans have signed onto an effort that

2:41

could remove him from the speaker ship

2:44

and peer congressional correspondent, Claudia Grisales joins us.

2:46

Claudia. Thanks so much for being with us.

2:49

Good to be with you, Scott. Mr. Johnson was

2:51

once opposed to giving more

2:53

aid to Ukraine. What changed?

2:56

A lot. Yes. Johnson was opposed

2:58

without assurances of new U S

3:00

border policy changes being attached to

3:02

this legislation. It was that reason

3:04

he refused to take up a

3:06

Senate bipartisan bill because it did

3:08

not have those changes. But

3:10

we've since learned that Johnson changed

3:12

his position after intelligence

3:14

briefings and extensive prayer. Here

3:17

he is earlier this week talking about the

3:19

risks. If Ukraine is defeated by Russian president,

3:22

Vladimir Putin. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue

3:24

to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he

3:26

might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have

3:28

a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies. He

3:31

also quoted president John Quincy Adams saying,

3:33

quote, duty is ours. Results are God's.

3:35

So now Johnson is facing threats from

3:38

members of his own party to resign

3:40

or asking him to

3:42

resign or be threats that he could be forced

3:44

down. Where's that threat stand now? Well,

3:47

Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene started the

3:49

initial steps for so-called motion to vacate

3:51

and she could take additional steps to

3:53

force a vote because of this Ukraine

3:55

aide getting on the floor. This has

3:57

been a red line for her. Also,

4:00

she's had two more Republicans join her

4:02

to co-sponsor that effort, Thomas Massey of

4:04

Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona. This

4:06

could be the vote she needs to

4:08

force him out of office. But

4:11

again, she has not forced this vote

4:13

yet, and it is possible Democrats step

4:15

in to save Johnson. And

4:17

Democrats played an enormous

4:19

role in moving this package of foreign aid bills

4:21

to the floor in the first place, didn't they?

4:24

Yes, exactly. And this

4:26

aid also includes aid to Israel

4:28

and allies in the Indo-Pacific, and

4:30

they would not be getting votes

4:32

today if Democrats had not stepped

4:34

in. Here's Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries

4:36

talking to reporters yesterday. House

4:39

Democrats have once again cleared

4:41

the way for legislation that

4:43

is important to the American people

4:46

to be processed and

4:49

considered on the House floor. And

4:51

what he's referring to is some rare moves

4:54

we saw this week with Democrats helping get

4:56

a procedural rule passed to allow votes on

4:58

this bill today. And Jeffries

5:00

defended Johnson's role as well, saying

5:02

that he played a bipartisan role

5:05

to get this done. Have Democrats

5:07

signaled that they might step in to

5:09

save Speaker Johnson? Publicly

5:11

no, but they have signaled they might.

5:13

This is very different from what we

5:15

saw when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was

5:17

ousted. Democrats railed against McCarthy, and that

5:19

is not the case here. In fact,

5:21

Jeffries earlier this year said it was

5:24

possible Democrats would protect Johnson if he

5:26

put foreign aid on the floor. And

5:28

he was asked about this again yesterday and said the

5:30

caucus would have to have a discussion, but

5:33

he did note this aid needed to pass in

5:35

totality first. And the Senate's

5:37

still up there, aren't they? Exactly.

5:40

They reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or

5:42

FISA, ahead of the critical deadline, and they're

5:44

hoping to work through the weekend to take

5:46

up these foreign aid bills assuming the House

5:48

passes them. And here's Claudia

5:51

Grisales. Claudia, thanks so much for being with us.

5:53

Thank you. Now

6:02

that union vote in Tennessee and

6:05

a historic win for the United

6:07

Auto Workers, Volkswagen workers at a

6:09

plant in Chattanooga have voted overwhelmingly

6:12

to join the union. It's part of a

6:14

larger push that the UAW was making across

6:16

the South. Stephen Besahov, the

6:18

Gulf States newsroom, spent the night at

6:20

an election results watch party with workers.

6:22

He joins us now from Chattanooga. Stephen,

6:24

thanks for being with us. Yeah, thanks

6:27

for having me. Must have

6:29

been a happy mood at the party. Yeah, it

6:31

really leaned into the party side of

6:33

election watch party. From

6:35

the very beginning, there was a lot of

6:37

excitement in the air, along with some tension

6:39

and anxiety how it was going to go.

6:42

That quickly broke when the ballot counting started

6:44

coming in Friday night, because union, they grabbed

6:46

onto a quick lead and held onto it

6:48

by a wide margin the whole time. Robert

6:51

Crum has been at Volkswagen for 12

6:53

years, and he voted for the union

6:55

in two previous elections that both failed.

6:57

How does it feel to finally be

7:00

a union member? Sense

7:03

of security, a sense of relief.

7:05

Yeah, it feels really,

7:07

really good. More of a

7:09

surreal moment. By the end of the night, about 73%

7:11

of the votes were in favor of the union. What

7:16

has Volkswagen's reaction been? That

7:18

was one of the big questions

7:20

last night. Would Volkswagen fight this

7:22

union election, this win? This is

7:24

the only Volkswagen plant in the

7:26

world without some form of worker

7:28

representation, so working with unions is

7:30

the norm. But at the same

7:32

time, they pushed back at past

7:34

attempts to unionize this facility. This

7:37

time around, workers say Volkswagen has been

7:39

pretty neutral, and shortly after the count

7:41

ended, workers were all opening up their

7:43

phones to read this email from Volkswagen,

7:45

noting that, yes, workers had voted unionized

7:47

and thanking workers for their vote, so

7:49

still seemingly pretty neutral. But

7:52

the real test is going to be seeing how negotiations

7:54

go for the first contract. And

7:56

what's next for the UAW beyond this plant

7:58

there in Chattanooga? Well, UAW's goal

8:01

is recruiting non-unized workers mostly in the

8:03

South, and this one really builds a

8:05

ton of momentum for that, and importantly,

8:07

it's proof that it's possible to even

8:10

do this in the South. Here's UAW

8:12

president Sean Fain at the watch party.

8:15

They said southern workers aren't ready for it.

8:19

They said non-union auto workers didn't have it

8:22

in them. But

8:26

you all said, watch this. Next

8:30

month there's going to be another union

8:32

vote at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama,

8:34

and there's lots of similarities to this

8:36

plant. Both are large with several thousand

8:39

workers, and workers that talk to Mercedes

8:41

are also pretty fired up. UAW

8:43

said well more than a majority of workers

8:46

at Mercedes saw union cards and used similar

8:48

language of describing this Volkswagen plant where, again,

8:50

they won. How are state

8:52

and local leaders reacting? We haven't

8:54

heard much yet, but earlier this week we

8:57

had six southern governors kind of send out

8:59

this joint statement speaking out against the union

9:01

and really sending out this warning

9:04

message saying that they fear unionizing could

9:06

cost the South jobs. Call

9:08

State Newsroom Senior Reporter Steven Besajos. Steven, thanks

9:10

so much for being with us. Thank you,

9:12

Scott. Finally

9:20

today, new guidelines for companies

9:22

that make melatonin. They call

9:24

for child deterrent packaging and other

9:26

safety measures. Melatonin is a

9:28

hormone that is widely used as a

9:31

sleep aid, including by children. And in

9:33

recent years, nearly 11,000 kids

9:36

have visited the emergency room after taking

9:38

it. Here to tell

9:40

us more is NPR's Maria Godoy. Hi, Maria.

9:42

Hi, Aisha. So these guidelines

9:45

are coming from the dietary

9:47

supplement industry itself. Why

9:49

are they acting now? Yeah, so

9:51

the guidelines come from the Council for

9:54

Responsible Nutrition, and that's the leading industry

9:56

trade group for dietary supplement makers. Steve

9:58

Mister is a group of CEO and

10:00

he told me they've had a task

10:03

force working on this for about a

10:05

year and there are really two issues

10:07

here. One is that the number of

10:09

really young kids accidentally taking melatonin has

10:12

skyrocketed in recent years. Mr. says this

10:14

is coincided with an increased sales. This

10:16

is an issue that needs to be dealt with.

10:19

There's more melatonin out there and more kids seem to

10:21

be getting into it. And then the other

10:23

issue is that more and more kids

10:25

are taking melatonin on purpose as a

10:27

sleep aid. A recent study found nearly

10:29

one in five school age kids and

10:31

adolescents are now using it on a

10:33

regular basis. The guidelines address both of

10:35

these issues. And when we

10:38

say child deterrent packaging and other safety

10:40

measures like what does that actually mean?

10:42

And so first of all, they call

10:44

for packaging that's harder for young kids

10:47

to open. And it's specifically for melatonin

10:49

that's sold in flavored form. So gummies

10:51

and tubals that might be appealing to

10:53

kids, especially little ones who might think

10:55

it's candy or even vitamins. And the

10:57

guidelines also call for labels that clearly

10:59

warn that melatonin can make you drowsy

11:01

and should only be used with adult

11:03

supervision and kept out of the reach

11:05

of children. And it's only

11:08

meant for occasional use, which is a

11:10

point a lot of pediatricians have been

11:12

making. So what

11:14

is the concern about using

11:16

melatonin regularly in kids? Well,

11:18

so for one thing, there's just

11:20

not a lot of research on

11:22

melatonin use in children, especially not

11:24

long term, and especially with the

11:26

youngest kids. So there really is

11:28

no guidelines for dosing like when

11:30

to give it or how much

11:32

it's possible for kids to take

11:34

too much, which can lead to

11:37

severe headaches, stomach pains, dizziness and

11:39

extreme drowsiness. There's also concerns about

11:41

how much melatonin is in a

11:43

given supplement. Some studies have found

11:45

that some supplements contained much more

11:47

melatonin than what was listed on

11:49

the label, although the industry disputes those

11:51

findings. Well, given these concerns,

11:53

what should parents do if they can't

11:56

get their kids to sleep? Should they

11:58

not use melatonin at all? So

12:01

every pediatrician I've talked to recommends

12:03

focusing on sleep, hygiene first, so

12:05

turning off screens at least an

12:07

hour before bedtime, using blackout shades

12:09

and noise canceling machines or earplugs,

12:12

that kind of thing. Dr. Nia

12:14

Heard-Garras with Northwestern University in Lurie

12:16

Children's Hospital, Chicago says parents

12:18

should definitely talk to their

12:20

kids' pediatricians before giving them melatonin,

12:23

especially if they're considering using it in

12:25

the youngest kids like preschoolers because again

12:27

it's easy to give them too much.

12:29

And even in older kids she said

12:31

melatonin use should be just very occasional.

12:34

you tell me that you're using it three times

12:36

a week and I'm like, hmm, that's more than

12:38

I want you to be using it. What's going

12:40

on? If it's once a year, you know, once

12:42

every like four or five months, maybe that's less

12:44

of a red flag. And if you

12:47

are going to use it, look for the lowest dose

12:49

possible, don't give it for more than three days at

12:51

a time and look for a product that

12:53

is tested by a third party like

12:55

NSF or US Pharmacopeia so that you've

12:57

got some guarantee of what's in it. In

13:00

Pierre as Maria Dadeuil, thanks so much

13:02

Maria, my pleasure. And

13:08

that's up first for Saturday, April 20th, 2024. I'm

13:12

Scott Sein. And I'm Ayesha Roscoe.

13:14

Michael Radcliffe produced today's podcast with

13:16

help from Danny Henson and Gabe

13:18

O'Connor. It was directed by Andrew

13:20

Craig. And Ed McNulty

13:23

edited along with Dana

13:25

Farrington, Don Clyde, Jane

13:27

Greenhall and Hadil Alshauchi.

13:30

Our technical director is Hannah Glovna

13:32

with engineering support from Carly Strange,

13:34

New Shohaines and Jobe

13:36

Tenseko. Evie Stone is

13:39

our senior supervising editor. Sarah

13:41

Oliver is our executive producer.

13:43

Jim Kane is our deputy

13:45

managing editor. Tomorrow and up first,

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off the mark. NPR's look at hundreds

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of historical markers across the nation and

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what they tell us about ourselves. And

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there's more news and perspectives just like

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