“Once that first paycheck [doesn’t come], we’re no longer talking about the theoretical; we’re talking about tangible missing of paying electric bills, paying mortgage or rent — at which point, the narrative shifts.” The government shutdown, already tied for the longest in history, will become a lot more real now that a payday has arrived, without the pay. Vox: Today, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will miss their first paycheck.

+ Now on Craigslist, Facebook: Household items from furloughed workers trying to make ends meet. Plus, “in Boston this week, a pop-up food pantry opened for men and women of the Coast Guard, the only branch of the armed services working without pay.”

+ “Trump has urged the Army Corps to determine how fast contracts could be signed and whether construction could begin within 45 days, according to one of the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the preparations.” WaPo: Trump administration lays groundwork to declare national emergency to build wall. (If Trump wants the money for the wall, maybe he should make Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony pay-per-view…)

+ The New Yorker: Can Donald Trump Invoke Emergency Powers to Get His Wall?

+ Here’s the latest on the shutdown from CNN. And from yesterday, my take on why it makes total sense that the wall is the hill on which Donald Trump is making his ultimate political stand.