A showdown between House Republicans and their leader, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is heading toward a government shutdown.

Carl Hulse, chief Washington correspondent for The Times, explains the causes and consequences of the looming crisis.

Guest: Carl Hulse, is chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How a small minority of right-wing Republicans succeeded in sowing mass dysfunction, spoiling for a shutdown, an impeachment and a House coup.
• As a government shutdown looms, Speaker McCarthy is toiling to turn the fight over federal spending into a battle over border security.
• President Biden’s shutdown strategy is simple: Avoid one, if possible. But if not, make sure Americans know where to place the blame.

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Although one major strike, against Hollywood studios, was finally resolved this past week, another, against U.S. vehicle makers, is expanding. The plight of the autoworkers has now become a major point of contention in the presidential race.

Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, explains why the strike could be an essential test along the road to the White House.

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A day after President Biden appeared on a picket line with United Automobile Workers, former President Donald J. Trump spoke at an auto parts factory.
• The U.A.W. strike could either accelerate a wave of worker actions or stifle labor’s recent momentum.

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After 148 days on strike, writers of movies and television are returning to work on Wednesday

 with an agreement in hand that amounts to a major win for organized labor in Hollywood.

John Koblin, a media reporter for The Times, explains why the studios acquiesced to writers’ demands and what the deal means for the future of American entertainment.

Guest: John Koblin, a media reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• After Hollywood’s bitter monthslong labor dispute, the Writers Guild of America got most of what it wanted.
• Now the focus turns to actors: The studios and the actors’ union haven’t spoken for more than two months, and a deal is needed before the entertainment industry can fully return.

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In one of the most serious political corruption cases in recent history, federal prosecutors have accused a senior U.S. senator of trading the power of his position for cash, gifts and gold.

Tracey Tully, who covers New Jersey for The Times, tells the story behind the charges against the senator, Robert Menendez, and his wife, Nadine, and describes the role played by Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman at the center of the allegations.

Guest: Tracey Tully covers New Jersey for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, charged with taking bribes in exchange for exerting political influence, predicted that he would be exonerated.
• Inside the Menendez investigation: Federal prosecutors have accused the senator and his wife, Nadine, of accepting bribes in exchange for official actions by Mr. Menendez.

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California is poised to become the first state to outlaw discrimination based on a person’s caste. The system of social stratification, which dates back thousands of years, has been outlawed in India and Nepal for decades.

Amy Qin, a correspondent who covers Asian American communities for The Times, explains why so many believe a prejudice that originated on the other side of the globe now requires legal protection in the U.S.  — and why so many are equally convinced that it would be a bad idea.

Guest: Amy Qin, a national correspondent covering Asian American communities for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The bill, recently passed by the California State Legislature, has led to intense debate among South Asian immigrants.
• Meena Kotwal, a Dalit journalist, started a news outlet focused on marginalized groups in India, hoping that telling their stories would help improve their lives.

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“The weird thing about growing up kidnapped,” Shane McCrae, the 47-year-old American poet, told me in his melodious, reedy voice one rainy afternoon in May, “is if it happens early enough, there’s a way in which you kind of don’t know.”

There was no reason for McCrae to have known. What unfolded in McCrae’s childhood — between a day in June 1979 when his white grandmother took him from his Black father and disappeared, and another day, 13 years later, when McCrae opened a phone book in Salem, Ore., found a name he hoped was his father’s and placed a call — is both an unambiguous story of abduction and a convoluted story of complicity. It loops through the American landscape, from Oregon to Texas to California to Oregon again, and, even now, wends through the vaster emotional country of a child and his parents. And because so much of what happened to McCrae happened in homes where he was beaten and lied to and threatened, where he was made to understand that Black people were inferior to whites, where he was taught to hail Hitler, where he was told that his dark skin meant he tanned easily but, no, not that he was Black, it’s a story that’s been hard for McCrae to piece together.

McCrae’s new book, the memoir “Pulling the Chariot of the Sun,” is his attempt to construct, at a remove of four decades, an understanding of what happened and what it has come to mean. The memoir takes the reader through McCrae’s childhood, from his earliest memories after being taken from his father to when, at 16, he found him again.

his story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

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Warning: This episode contains descriptions of rape, sexual abuse and death.

As an epidemic of fentanyl use continues in America, causing tens of thousands of deaths each year, lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are holding one group increasingly responsible: drug users themselves.

Eli Saslow, a writer for The Times, tells the story of a man whose friendship ended in tragedy and a set of laws that say he is the one to blame.

Guest: Eli Saslow, a writer at large for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Two friends bought $30 worth of fentanyl before making it into rehab. One overdosed. The other was charged in his death.
• Harsh fentanyl laws ignite a fierce debate. Critics say, the approach could undermine public health goals and advances in addiction treatment.

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Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence.

The relationship between two democratic allies fell to its lowest point in history this week, after Canada accused India of assassinating a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June.

Mujib Mashal, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief, explains this stunning accusation — and what India’s reaction to it tells us about the era of its leader, Narendra Modi.

Guest: Mujib Mashal, The New York Times’s bureau chief for South Asia.

Background reading: 

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said agents of India had assassinated a Sikh community leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot in British Columbia in June.
• Mr. Nijar was a prominent advocate of the creation of an independent Sikh nation that would include parts of India’s Punjab State.
• The charge, which the Indian government has strongly rejected, may fuel a rift between Canada’s Sikhs and Hindus.

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New research and polling show that more and more Americans now doubt a previously unquestioned fact of U.S. life — that going to college is worth it.

Paul Tough, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains why so many high-school students and their parents are souring on higher education and what it will mean for the country’s future.

Guest: Paul Tough, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who has written several books on inequality in education.

Background reading: 

• Americans are losing faith in the value of college. Whose fault is that?
• In December, Colby-Sawyer in New Hampshire reduced its tuition to $17,500 a year, from about $46,000. The cut was a recognition that few pay the list price.

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As Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, it’s increasingly turning to a secret drone program that is hitting targets deep inside Russian territory. At least three different Ukrainian-made drones have been used in attacks inside Russia, including on Moscow, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Christiaan Triebert, a journalist on The Times’s Visual Investigations team, explains the origins of that program. We also speak to Serhiy Prytula, a former Ukrainian television host who is now a key force behind it.

Guest: Christiaan Triebert, a journalist on The New York Times’s Visual Investigations team.

Background reading: 

• Officials in Ukraine rarely discuss attacks on targets inside Russia, including Moscow. But video evidence shows an increasing effort to launch long-range strikes inside the country.
• Moscow said Ukraine used drones to strike Novorossiysk, a Black Sea naval and shipping hub, and a port in occupied Crimea.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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