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Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College, all things Hillsdale at Hillsdale.

I encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there. And of course, I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of them at

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Good morning, Gloria and even Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt inside the Beltway, where it's

rush hour. Lots of federal employees are heading back over the bridges

or back to maryland and they haven't been paid again i'm joined by the majority leader of the

united states senate senator john thun of south dakota to get the latest on when we're going to

get these people paid i know senator thun you were at the white house today why don't you recap for the

audience the intransigence of

Chuck Schumer? Right. Well, I'll tell you, as you know, I've been very clear. I've been

willing to sit down with Democrats. They want to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability

of Obamacare. And I've said I'm willing to give them a vote, but it's under one condition.

They've got to end the Schumer's shutdown and open up the government. I mean, we can't negotiate under hostage conditions, and that's where we are right now. As you know, we have a bill to fund the government, pass the House, sitting on the desk at the Senate, the president's ready to sign it. The government could open up today. We just need a handful of Democrats to join us because, as you know,

it takes a supermajority, 60 votes in the Senate, to pass anything consequential.

And Democrats continue to resist.

They just voted for the 11th time to keep the government shut down.

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