Hey, everyone, it's Mary, and I have a favor to ask of you.

We are working on an episode about how regular folks are feeling the impact of federal government cuts in their neck of the woods.

So we want to hear from you.

Do you have neighbors who are suddenly out of work?

Things you can no longer do or say because federal funding of one

kind or another is suddenly drying up. Let us know. The way to do it is to give us a ring.

Our number is 646-582-00-9-1. That's 646-582-0-0-91. Okay, on with the show. Donald Trump, showman that he is,

wants you to know that tonight is going to be huge.

Tonight is the night he gives the annual presidential address to Congress.

Sometimes it's known as the State of the Union.

He'll walk into the House Chamber after being announced by the sergeant at arms.

And Slate's Jim Newell, who covers Congress, he'll be watching.

What kind of Congress is President Trump walking into?

Is it a United Congress, a functional Congress, a Congress that's set up for success?

Well, I think you know the answer to that.

It is divided on several different fracture lines.

These fracture lines, they might be hard to see tonight,

with the whole GOP grinning and clapping.

But Jim says the fractures are real, and they were obvious last week.

That's when the House took a shot at passing a framework for the president's priorities,

which include a $4.5 trillion tax cut, along with funding for the border and more money for defense.

Yeah, so the Republicans are trying to do the very first step of moving President Trump's agenda.

...