Today, it’s another edition of the Midday News Wrap.
Later in the program Tom will talk about the first three days of the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis with Luke Broadwater, Statehouse and politics reporter for the Baltimore Sun.
He’ll also talk with Phil Ewing, NPR's National Security Editor, about the latest developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible connections between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign during the 2016 election.
But we begin today with the impasse over President Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall on the southern border. That promise has led to a partial government shutdown. Today is payday in much of the federal government. 800,000 federal workers will not receive their checks today, and the effects of the shutdown, now in its third week, are beginning to be felt in a variety of ways that were not as evident in the first days of the shutdown, which coincided largely with the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Lisa Mascaro is the Chief Congressional Correspondent for the Associated Press. She joins Tom on the line from Washington, DC.