Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington on day one of the first full government shutdown in more than a decade with no clear path in Congress to end it. Closed signs were seen around the capital as the shutdown took effect with essential federal employees now working without pay.An estimated 750,000 federal employees are being temporarily furled as the White House threatens mass layoffs starting as early as tomorrow. Here's Vice President JD Vance during a surprise appearance at toda ...

Democratic lawmakers projected unity Monday in their willingness to withhold the votes needed to keep the government open in an effort to extend healthcare subsidies https://t.co/ElM22ZpAYc ...

I really am focused on the two senators, Leader Thun and Leader Schumer. The reality is of all the operators in DC right now, they're the only ones that actually have the physical requirement to be bipartisan. Leader Thun's going to need anywhere between 10 and 20 Democratic votes to keep his chamber open and the government open.And I think that means those two are the most important people in the room. I look forward to them getting together at some point. Does Schumer have the Democrats behind him or does ...