Well, if you wanted to see the spot where the very first president of the United States was inaugurated,

you have to travel a couple hundred miles north of Washington, D.C.

George Washington actually took his first oath of office as president in lower Manhattan on Wall Street

in a spot that is now commemorated for that historic moment.

For what turned out to be a brief shining moment, New York City was the first capital of the United States of America for a little over a year.

George Washington lived then, not in the big White House, but in a New York City rental like so many

millions of us have since that time. New York City in those days was in every important sense,

the center of the United States of America. And for a brief shining moment today, New York City

was, in a sense, the center of our political world once again.

Two guys from Brooklyn and a guy from Queens walking in a room to discuss the immediate future

of the government of the United States of America. It's all up to them. If those three New Yorkers reach an agreement, the government

continues its normal operations. If they don't, the government shuts down. They didn't reach

an agreement today. And so we are now 26 hours away from Donald Trump's next shutdown of the

American government. The last time the government shut down was the last time Donald Trump was president.

One of the guys from Brooklyn reminded the guy from Queens

that there were no government shutdowns when Joe Biden and the Democrats were in charge.

When I was leader, we negotiated four times with Republicans, and we never had a shutdown.

And so it's up to the Republicans whether they want to shut down or not.

The two guys from Brooklyn tried to explain to the guy from Queens that he was hurting people

who cannot afford dramatic

increases in their health insurance costs. But trying to explain that to the guy from Queens

isn't easy because he doesn't know those people who struggle with the cost of health care.

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