While the government shutdown drags on and the dispute between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets more acrimonious by the day, veteran CBS News Radio correspondent Steven Portnoy sees little reason to be optimistic about a deal to reopen the government being struck soon.
“The bottom line is things are as bad in Washington as they've ever been in my almost 16, 17 years here as a reporter,” Portnoy told WCCO Radio’s Cory Hepola on Friday. “I just don't know how this shutdown’s going to end as we keep hearing the real stories of genuine people all over the country who are affected by this.”
He added that all over the country, and in both D.C. and the Twin Cities, federal workers are getting called back to work, with one important caveat: they’re not being paid.
“So it is a real mess, frankly,” Portnoy said.
Listen to his full interview, including the latest details on the back and forth between Trump and Pelosi, the State of the Union speech, and the cancellation of the speaker’s planned trip to Afghanistan.





