America: The Most Dangerous Wealthy Nation for Kids

Coming up on today’s show:

• Yesterday, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein released the transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Glen Simpson. His firm, Fusion GPS, commissioned the Steele dossier, which contained sordid details about President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. Byron Tau, a congressional reporter for The Wall Street Journal, discusses what was revealed in the testimony. 

• As Congress scrambles to find a fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, on Tuesday, a federal district judge in San Francisco issued an injunction against the Trump Administration’s plan to roll back the protections for the 800,000 DACA recipients who came to the country illegally when they were children. Leon Fresco, former head of the Office of Immigration Litigation under the Obama Administration, explains what the ruling means. 

• Tens of millions of registered voters didn’t vote in the last presidential election. Maybe you were one of them. But if you don’t vote for a couple years, does that mean you should lose your registration status? The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today on a case from Ohio that seeks to answer that question. M.L. Schultze, digital editor for WKSU in Northeastern Ohio, explains the case.

• More than a dozen people have been killed after heavy rains caused mudslides to wipe away homes and close roads in Southern California. Rescue workers are scrambling to find people trapped by the debris. KCLU News Director and Field Reporter Lance Orozco joins us on the ground for the latest on the situation, and how the recent wildfires may have played a role.

• Six months ago, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback announced he was leaving office to take a post in the Trump Administration. Brownback still hasn’t been confirmed, and the Lt.Governor Jeff Colyer has been functioning as an interim governor. Now, a growing number of state lawmakers say Brownback needs to resign. State Senator Barbara Bollier, whorepresents Kansas’ 7th District, explains. 

• At the end of 2017, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). But it’s already clear that the funding is not enough. Republican Congressman Greg Walden is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees CHIP. He explains why Congress has so far been unable to reauthorize funding.

• A new study out this week finds that a child born in the United States has a 70 percent greater chance of dying before adulthood as compared to 19 other wealthy, democratic countries. Ashish Thakrar is the lead author on that study. He’s an internal medicine resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and he discusses who the most vulnerable groups are and why, and what needs to happen to fix the trend.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich