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The Mother Jones Podcast

The Painful Reality of Surviving Trump’s Shutdown

The Mother Jones Podcast

Mother Jones

Politics, News, Scoops, Elections, Investigations, Journalism

4.51.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Surviving the shutdown: Today, Mother Jones listeners who are employed by the federal government share their wrenching stories of trying to make ends meet as the longest government shutdown in US history grinds on into its fifth week. Scared he’ll miss his daughter’s health insurance payments, Jason Muzzey, a USDA contractor in Kansas City, Missouri, has been forced to apply for shifts at a local McDonalds and start a GoFundMe page. Cara Dodge normally works on educational exhibits for NASA in the Bay Area, a job she adores, but is now counting the days until she must find other work to supplement her family’s slashed income. Also on the show, you’ll visit a Washington DC food kitchen that is dishing out free hot meals to federal workers who suddenly need to watch every penny they spend. Host Jamilah King is joined by Angie Drobnic Holan, the editor of Politifact, to help you separate fact from fiction as the shutdown continues. Is there even a glimmer of bipartisan hope to solve the crisis on the horizon?

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jamila King in New York.

0:04.0

On today's show,

0:08.0

Shut Down Survival.

0:12.0

It's starting to get a little nerve-racking now.

0:16.0

I really feel like we're in complete uncharted territory.

0:21.0

Supporting a family while fighting to make ends meet.

0:25.0

If this continues on the way that it does,

0:27.2

I'm just gonna have to leave this job

0:29.5

and find something else.

0:30.9

How federal workers are banding together in the face of the longest shutdown in history

0:36.6

to simply get a hot meal.

0:38.6

Tears are flowing, you know, it's pretty incredible to witness and and we hope members of

0:43.8

Congress will come down we asked you to tell us your stories about the shutdown

0:47.8

scramble this war is ruining people's lives right now and, we're sorting fact from the stinking pile

0:55.4

of shutdown falsehoods with the editor of PolitiFact.

0:59.2

That's all in this shutdown special.

1:01.3

Stick around.

1:07.0

First, let's take you on a trip.

1:14.0

This is not your average disaster relief kitchen. Because this disaster is not a natural disaster.

1:18.0

My name is Nate Mook. I'm the Executive Director of World Central Kitchen.

1:22.0

So we're here in Washington, D.C. in our emergency... I'm the Executive Director of World Central Kitchen.

1:23.0

So we're here in Washington, D.C. in our Emergency Relief Kitchen, our Chef for Feds Operation.

...

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