>> good morning. you are watching aljazeera america, and these are stories we're following. a showdown over funding the government and the president's health care law. it's pitting republican against republican and all comes to a head today with a congressional vote. from floods and hurricanes, now a super typhoon, the strongest storm this year is now churning in the pacific. >> the pope makes a concession about the catholic church, calling it small-minded and obsessed with issues like homosexuality and conception. >> how would you like to get paid $18,000 to stay in bed all day? nasa is hiring.

>> the house is expected to vote on a budget bill later today, but as the threat of a government shutdown looms, democrats have a warning for house republicans, a bill that defunds the health care allow will be dead on arrival in the senate. randall pinkton is live in washington, and randall, good morning. we have heard some key senate republicans are not behind speaker boehner's decision to defund the health care allow right now. why is that is this. >> well, stephanie, because they don't they it's going to work. most republicans, most republicans do not want a government shutdown. it would not be a good thing if their party got blamed for it and most republicans don't want obamacare. here's the difference. in the house, in order to prevent the government from shutting down, speaker bain are

is tying a defunding of the affordable care act to a continuing resolution to keep the money flowing. then he will send it to the is that the, where republicans there know that they do not have a majority of the votes, that democrats will block that and toss it back to the house and then republicans, if they don't go along with the senate, will force the government into running out of money and will have some problems at the end of the month. >> so if congress can't come to a compromise and pass legislation before this deadline, 10 days, september 30, what kind of contingency plan is in place to deal with a shutdown? >> well, all three branches of government, the workers there are subject to furloughs. each agency within those branches will make their own decision about how to deal with a suspension of funding. i'm sure they ever all set out memos. we have obtained a copy of one that came from the department of state yesterday from undersecretary of state patrick

kennedy. he says the uncertainty of the isn't circumstances puts our workforce in a difficult position and should a lapse of funding occur serve a hardship on many employees and the people we serve every day. bottom line, be ready if the furlough stops. i>> randall pinkston reporting from washington. i know you'll continue to follow this. thank you. >> the house voted to slash the food stamp program by nearly $40 billion over 10 years on thursday. the bill passed without a single democratic vote, and president obama has promised to veto the measure. it's the second part of the farm about him that the house voted on back in july. even with these potential cuts, the food stamp program will cost $700 billion over that time. right now, one in seven people

is on food stamps. >> the death toll from mexico's back-to-back hurricanes has gone up to 97. dozens are still missing. the resort area of acapulco is suffering from flooding and landslides. they are bracing for more storms. we have more from mexico city. >> this is the result of days of torrential rains, dozens of bridges and roads laid to waste, thousands of homes destroyed, 10s of thousands of people made homeless. people wait anxiously for emergency rations. many having without food or water for days and are debt pretty for help. >> we just want medicine and support, something to eat. >> more than 1 million people have been affected by two tropical storms that slammed into mexico last weekend. rescue teams are finding more bodies as they reach isolated

areas. survivors say the mud slides came out of nowhere. >> i was walking down the street near a store when i heard a loud noise, and i just stood there. i saw how the dirt and dust began to billow up. it was like black smoke and it turned like a windmill. when i saw it was coming down to the field, i started running. >> the government is appealing to mexicans to help out. food banks have been set up across the country. >> we are at a collection center in the heart of mexico city and more than 30 tons of food and other goods have been collected, things donated by individuals and companies and volunteers are going through sorting these things so they can go out and airlift to the areas where they are really needed. >> some say the government was unprepared and has not done enough to help they will. it's the most vulnerable that are paying the price. >> the cue is kilometers long. there are no tents.

there are elderly people, pregnant women, sick children. >> with more storms bearing down, the government's work here is far from over. david mercer, aljazeera, mexico city. >> in asia, the most powerful storm on the planet is churning toward the south china sea on track to pass between the philippines and taiwan friday and then head for hong kong. the massive storm is 680 miles wide and packing 127 miles an hour winds. it's caused flooding and torrential rain in northern japan. we are joined live now from hong kong by craig leeson. is hong kong prepared for this? >> in the philippines, they are beginning preparations, stock paying food, moving people out of villages that are quite exposed in the northern part of

the island. in taiwan, they are issuing travel alerts and in china, they're issuing maritime alerts. the problem we have is that today is the mid autumn festival, a traditional holiday where people go away from the long weekend, from hong kong to china and visit relatives in taiwan. this is expected to hit hong kong on sunday, disrupting travel plans. >> i have lived in hong kong. there are tall buildings there, it's a relatively small island. are the buildings there built to withstand that type of storm? >> they certainly are. they're even designed to sway and i've been in the top of one of these buildings when it is moving. it's an unnerving experience particularly in a big storm like this one. this is a beast of a typhoon, a

super typhoon is equal to a category five atlantic hurting. it's been packing winds up to 160 miles per hour, they're now at 120 miles per hour and slowing down and moving towards the mainland of china and the island of the philippines. in hong kong, they haven't begun preparations yet. we are seeing the unsettled weather they're seeing in the philippines, but there is a chance that the storm could move from its track, and certainly people are happying that happens. whatever happens, it will hit the southern part of china causing more flooding, more landslides, hopefully not the deaths we've seen from other typhoons this year. >> it's being called a super typhoon. what does that mean? how much damage could that do and what does that mean in relation to the other typhoons we've seen this summer there?

>> a super typhoon has winds more than 150 miles an hour. we saw one in august hit south of hong kong that killed 150 people in the philippines, chain in a and taiwan. those storms pack a big powerful punch and people are concerned about this storm, because it's the biggest on the planet this year. >> best of luck to folks there. thanks, craig. >> a storm the size and strength of the typhoon has not been seen here in the u.s. in 21 years. the last comparable would be hurricane andrew, a category five which hit the florida coast in 1992. that caused $25 billion in damage and killed 44 people. >> for more, let's bring in our meteorologist. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> great, thanks. >> we're going to continue to have to monitor the system. it's going to be i don't want to

say it but potentially a very deadly system, 680 miles wide, the distance from new york city into washington, d.c., a massive storm on the move. it will continue to push west northwest. look how fast it's moving. this is high was not. there's several islands in between the philippine. this storm is massive. it's going to bring flooding downpours. we are going to even see mud slides out of the system as it makes its way towards hong kong. it is expected to make landfall in hong kong saturday night into sunday morning. flooding downpours, really not a time for people to be out close to the water. preparations need to be underway and folks need to brace for this life threatening storm. it is the largest of the season. typically this season sees 20-25 during the season. this is the largest so far,

680 miles wide. on the home front,er we are looking at damaging winds from detroit back into indianapolis, also. i'll tell you about that just a bit later. >> thank you. >> the death toll from the flooding in colorado is now at seven and could go up more. 140 people are still unaccounted for. flood damage spanned 17 counties and nearly 2,000 square miles. this some roads could be closed for weeks if not months. so many victims don't have flood insurance. people that said so far, more than 10,000 people have signed up for help. >> 13 people were injured when someone opened fire in a chicago park. the most seriously injured, a 3-year-old boy. authorities say the child is in critical condition, shot in the cheek and was at the park with his mother. the incident took place around 10:15 p.m. thursday night, local time in the city's south side at

cornell square park. ten ambulances respond the to the scene. the incident may have been gang related. >> i think it was like an a.k., it was a lot of shots, like boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. >> i was across the park on the other side and i heard shots. i came over here, there was a lot of people down. >> one adult victim has been released from the hospital, another in stable condition. this comes three weeks after an outburst of violence over labor day weekend in chicago. >> the company that did a background check on the washington navy yard shooter also vetted nsa leaker edward snowden. it is under criminal investigation over whether it misled washington on just how thorough it's backgrounds checks are. the company said it had not handled navy yard shooter aaron alexis' case but a spokesperson later confirmed it had in 2007.

alexis had a history of psychiatric problems and of committing violent acting. despite this, he had a security clearance that allowed him to enter the navy yard where he shot 12 people to death object monday. >> it is time to act, that is secretary of state john kerry's message on syria's chemical weapons and he is setting a deadline. >> the pope makes headlines in his first interview, criticizing the catholic church for obsessing over issues like homosexuality. what it could mean for the future of the church.

>> at least 38 people were killed after attacks on military targets in southern yemen.

according to yemenis police, simultaneous attacks were launched. two car bombs exploded and there was an attack in another town. >> secretary of state john kerry said this is not the time for the united nations to argue over air i can't, pushing to finalize a deal to eliminate syria's chemical weapons. he said there is conclusive evidence that assad's government is behind last month's chemical weapons attack in syria. >> we need everyone's help in order to see that the security council lives up to its founding values and passes a binding resolution that codifies the strongest possible mechanism to achieve the goal and to achieve it rapidly. we need to make the geneva agreement meaningful, in order to eliminate syria's c.w. program and to do it with transparency and with the

accountability, the full accountability that is demanded here. it is important that we accomplish the goal in new york and accomplish it as rapidly at possible. >> the u.n. said its chemical weapons inspection team will be back in syria next week. >> blunt words from pope francis, saying the catholic church needs to stop "obsessing about abortion, gays and birth control." he set a new tone, hoping his followers will seek a new balance. we went to a catholic church in new york where a special ministry welcomes gays. >> a catholic church in new york, this church has had a lesbian gay bisexual transgender ministry for years. >> we say all are welcome, we print it over the door, all are

welcome. is it just a catch phrase that we put on the door or something that we make real in how we receive people? >> father steven said it goes beyond the issues the pope nailed, something much more fundamental for catholics. >> the conversation is not about same-sex marriage. it is not about well, contain commit myself to a person of the same sex or not, even if it's not done in the context of church. it's really just i want to find a place where i'm welcome to pray. >> the lgbt minute industry here is evidence that pope francis, with his words, is acknowledging the reality that gay and lesbians are part of the catholic community. >> the pope said:

>> he hopes to broaden the church's message. >> since becoming pope, he has been seen at progressive. >> when you have a leader like this, you think wow, there's really something going on that is interesting and maybe more people will be interested in what catholics do and believe. >> nothing signals a change in church policy, but it's clearly a change in tone.

aljazeera, new york. >> join meg now is rachel gold, the national religion writer for the associated press for more than a decade. there's a lot of focus on his language and how he said the church was obsessing over these hot button issues. the basic message here is love thigh neighbor. can anyone argue with that? >> not at all. i think what you here is that even for some of the church leaders who have been talking about about abortion and other social issues will say they have been saying those things and will continue to do so. what the pope is saying is he wants an emphasis on the welcoming, don't talk first about the hot button issues that are so device i have. lets make it clear that everybody is welcome in the catholic church. >> contraception, gay rights, even getting involved with obamacare, and federal funding of contraception, do you think

this is a rebuke of sorts from the pope on these leaders? >> some people do. some people look at this and say that the pope is sending a message to u.s. bishops or any who have been making those prominent issues to change course. you've got to instead focus a little bit more on showing compassion for people, talk less about abortion, homosexuality and contraception. >> are there early signs that leaders will change course based on this interview. >> the bishops and cardinals pledge ebeatens to the pope. he sets the tone tort whole church and in some ways, they don't have a choice. the question becomes is how enthusiastically they embrace this idea. >> as you've written, this did not change church doctrine. will catholics going to mass this weekend see a difference from the pulpit in their sermons

from their priests. >> i guess it denied on the parish and what their priest things and how they approach mass. one thing we talk about and have seen is something called the francis effect where a lot of people are coming back to the church for confession or attending services and say that they feel welcomed for the first time in a long time. >> that is something. pope francis is only six months into his papacy. does this tone foretell of a potential ream change in doctrine, real reform especially when it comes to women, which he discussed the role of women in the catholic church and that's been a big question. >> i think probably not in terms of doctrine. in this interview himself, the pope has said i'm a son of the church, a true son of the church, just repeating what's in the cat custom.

>> thanks for coming in. >> coming up next in sports, even the retirement of donavan mcnabb's jersey could spoil andy reed said much anticipated return to philadelphia. we share reaction, next.ç]

>> ever feel like you can just lay in your bed forever? nasa is looking for volunteers to spend 70 straight days at rest and they will pay you $18,000. to anyone willing to participate, the study will test the effects of micro gravity on humans, simulating conditions for sending astronauts to mars. coach potatoes need not apply. subjects need to be healthy. >> i'm sure michael, our sports guy would be eligible. he joins us now. two emotional homecomings last night in philadelphia. >> two beloved figures in philadelphia and the much anticipated return, and andy red spent 14 years in philadelphia.

even today, the most successful coaches can wear out their welcome. that's why he left to take the job in kansas city. last night, he was back in philly. oh lot of people were wondering the reception he would receive. cheers, boos, eagle fans gave him what he deserved, a hearty standing ovation. after an impressive game one performance, they were plagued by the same problem, turnovers. michael vick threw two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown. the chiefs forced four turnovers and sacked vick five times. this kansas city offense in the first three games looked very impressive with smith at quarterback. andy reid returns victorious for the win. we were in philadelphia last

night. >> the kansas city chiefs improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2010 and have more victories than last season. andy reid got the victory. his former quarterback donavan mcnabb had his just retired. reed got a gatorade bath at the end of it. >> 14 years, that's a long time especially for a changeupy old guy. i can tell you, i enjoyed every minute here. i'm enjoying my time in kansas city. coming back, i really didn't think much about it until the game was over. it was great to see the guys, the players, they're here. >> philadelphia should have channeled their inner donavan mcnabb, because the former eagles quarterback has his

jersey retired during an emotional half time ceremony. >> i'm here to let you know i truly love and respect everything that you've given me for 10 years. [ cheering ] ♪ >> the eagles have dropped two straight games and it doesn't get easier. next week, they'll head into denver to take on the undefeated broncos while the chiefs will face the new york giants, hoping to go 4-0. in philadelphia, aljazeera. >> now to baseball where a little more than two months ago, the dodgers were considered to be one of the most disappointing teams in the majors until they won 41 of the next 59 games including last night in come from behind fashion. the dodgers becoming the first team to clench a postseason berth. l.a. becoming just the third

team to be in last place on july 1 or later and still win the division. to celebrate, they hit the pool in center field in the stadium in phoenix. that's a pretty bold move in enemy territory. >> boston, the red sox with a chance to clinch their first postseason berth since 2009. they scored in the second inning as boston posts a 3-1 win, guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs and reducing their magic number for clinching the al east to just one. they finished dead last, last year. >> when they celebrate with the champagne, it's the cheap stuff. >> i'm struck by the fact that there's a pool in the phoenix stadium. >> it's hot in the desert. >> that will do it for this edition of aljazeera news. remember, news at the top of every hour and you can get it on

line at aljazeera.com. thanks for watching. >> the housing market is as strong as ever, a big help to the u.s. economy. plus the nation's pension problems are not limited to detroit. we'll talk to one of chicago's finist in that city which has one of the worst funded pensions in the country. and health insurance is open for business in just 12 days. which plan will help you? we'll help you decide. i'm david shuster in for ali velshi, and this is "real money." ♪ this is "real money," and you are the most important part