>> this is al jazeera america. i'm tony harris in new york with a look at today's top stories. mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of louisiana and mississippi as tropical storm karen approaches. a state of emergency extends from louisiana to florida. homeowners are boarding up windows, stocking up on food supplies. tropical storm karen is expected to hit as a tropical storm or a weak hurricane. john boehner faced the camera saying republicans don't want the shutdown and added president obama is not willing to compromise. president obama said republicans are using it the spending bill to advance their own agenda. at least four people were

killed and 40 more seriously hurt when protests turned violent in egypt. security forces fired tear gas at tahrir square to prevent protesters from marching on the iconic square. those are your headlines. if you would like the headlines of any of our stories that we're following here on al jazeera you're welcome to go to our website at www.aljazeera.com. there it is. that's the news for now. more news next hour. inside story m is next. >> at the heart of the political stalemate in washington are the lives of people out out of work and making the best of it.

plus, the unique take on the capitol shutdown four days on. [♪ singing ] >> you're watching insid "inside story" from washington. >> hello, outside of the halls of congress and the washington beltway the lives of so many americans have been up turned due to the government shou shut. more importantly, people, not just hundreds of thousands of people on furloughs are angry, halted and angry waiting for something. they may be waiting for a long

time. we'll talk to two. former members of congress that is and congress that was when compromise was key to getting things done. but first the ripple affects and the shutdown of lives of those living, working and visiting the nation's capitol this week. we set out to find the inside story of the government shutdown. we heard the same story over and over. >> as a federal employee being furloughed i'm being held hostage. i agree with president obama when he said that this is an ideological crusade. it's not fair to make federal employees like me and people who do really essential work have to suffer financially and personally for congressmen not doing their jobs. >> farrah, who until tuesday worked at the justice department, is one of hundreds of thousands of federal employees who found themselves suddenly out of work. >> i'm going to be hurting.

>> at age 29 the maryland native never thought her u.s. government job would lead to this. >> i have my student loans repayments every month i pay almost $600 on top of rent, bills, so not good. like, this is not going to help me make my payments for sure. >> reporter: since being sent home after congress failed to pass a budget, she has been glued to c-span wondering what the future holds. >> if this goes on for a month, this is unacceptable. i won't be able to make my loan pavements. i don't would be to be living like that. this is not why i chose this job or chose to be part of this federal system, to be in this constant bind. >> reporter: like her americans of all political stripes have been showing discontent with gridlock in d.c. [ protesting: stop the

blackmail ] >> reporter: it's many washingtonians struggle to make sense of the politics while others just make due. there is a rippling affect from the sofas to the streets. >> we've actually had a big job offer. >> reporter: a dc general manager of national petty cat. he told us fewer tourists in the city is one hurdle his company is facing. the ordinary, barricades around the biggest attractions because they're closed for the shutdown. >> if you get to the heart of dc, if you want to see the washington monument, the jefferson, you're missing out on a lot of stuff. >> reporter: 20 million tourists visit every year. by some estimates the shutdown remains a loss of $220 million every day. >> 60% to 70% of our business is tourism. when the main tourist attractions aren't open it's hard for us to have our normal

business operating. >> reporter: 800,000 federal employees are temporarily out of work. some like allen zilberman make the best of it. >> i decided to take my bike and bike around like for the exercise and it's a beautiful day. just bike around different neighborhoods in the city and see what places have a discount and take advantage and go from spot to spot and gallivant around town. >> reporter: small businesses are helping out. >> my day around the city is astro donuts and fry chicken where i've been told there is a free donut if you present your federal i.d. >> reporter: downtown businessmen eliott has seen less foot traffic in and out of his donut shop but the new flow of furloughed customers makes a hit on his bottom line a little soft. >> the special has brought in people, but we're giving away products so it kind of evens stuff out almost. people are down about not getting paychecks, and don't expect it, and we try to help

morale, help where we can. >> reporter: it's a different story for dc food trucks just blocks away from the white house. >> we're cutting hours for employees. just today i have two when i have three. >> reporter: many wonder when they artheir number one customel be back. even the subways are hurting hu. farrah took a fairly empty subway to get to capitol hill. >> after sitting in the senate and the house for a few years i realized as a federal employee being furloughed i'm being held hostage. i agree with president obama when he said this is an ideological crusade. it's just not fair to make federal employees like me and people who do really essential

work have to suffer financially and personally for congressmen not doing their jobs. >> reporter: first week out of work and on furlough, farrah, like many others, are wondering if this is the new normal when you work for the government. >> joining us now are bart gordon. he was chairman of the house committee on science, space, and technology from 2007 to 2011. and jim walsh, a former republican congressman from syracuse, new york, served from 1989 to 2009. he chaired four sub committees. in your time in congress was it ever at bitter and as partisan and divided as it appears to be now? >> well, a little rough in '94 and '95, in that era, but

not like it is now. >> when i came in '89 the democrats had held the majority for close to 40 years. so republicans had never tasted a majority. so when we did win the majority in '94 it was a very contentious race, and things changed in policies and the way we ran the place. there was real tension. >> but it wasn't as ugly. >> well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. >> but you say it wasn't as ugly. do you really think it's not just fond memories. that was clearly a deficient time even though you went through another shutdown in that era. >> one of the difference is, the hostility that jim brought our are the republicans and the shock to the democrats when they

lost the majority. what has happened over the last 30 years the redistricting has been very hyper partisan. so that in this last election only 17 republicans were elected in a district where obama carried it, and only nine democrats were elected in a district that mitt romney carried. so really the primaries become the real election for you. which means that the extremes of both parties are choosing their nominees. what you're finding now is that particularly i think many of the republicans, you know, were folks to be extreme. and those who had been there for a while were more moderate or afraid of their primary if they don't go along. you're seeing what ted cruz is doing in the senate. he's basically running the senate. he's putting fear in the republicans about primaries. >> how is it that such a small minority. there are 30 members of the tea

party and another 50 or so who are influenced that way. how can such small minority have such extraordinary power? >> well, i'm not convinced that they have extraordinary power. it's much easier to stop something in legislature than to start something. but to go back for a second. moderates, and i was considered a moderate. bart was a moderate. we got shot at by both sides. the democrats would attack me from the left and conservatives would attack me from the right, and when you're being fired at from both sides it makes life very difficult. most of the moderates over time, the blue dog democrats, at republicans have been defeated or decided to go their separate ways. you know, there is a self selection process there, too, for moderates to reduce the ranks. you know, back to your initial question, any organization where

you have people who are highly motivated and willing to stick it out through thick and thin can have an influence. >> well, but i think you have to keep in mind that speak be boeh, who probably has the hardest job in america right now wants to pass legislation with republicans. he only has a 20-vote margin. if you've got 30 or 40, they can clearly hold him hostage, and that's what's going on now. they, as you say, they're punching above their weight because they are the tipping point. >> we'll have more from our guests in just a moment. you're watching "inside story." tomorrow night, fault lines investigates wage practices in the restaurant industry. >> the employers have the upper hand out here. they can steal from you and face very little if any consequences. >> basically this industry is saying, "we don't have to pay these workers at all. they should work for us but we don't have to pay them. >> two thirds of low-wage workers experience wage theft every week.

>> you're telling me that these people are allowed to treat people like this and you can't do anything? >> obama administration officials said they need to enrol 2.7 u.s. redents between the ages of 18 and 35 in exchange plans to balance risks and hold down costs. will they enrol come 1 october - should they pay the face. >> joining me now is jen mishory, deputy director of young invincibles, she's in washington d.c. and yevgeniy feyman, a research assistant at the manhattan institute. thank you for being with us. i want to start with you yevgeniy feyman. the young people are crucial to the success of obamacare. >> absolutely. they'll balance out the risk pool, they'll keep premiums that need the insurance, and the administration is reaching out

to them. >> jen, the young invincibles are in the 18-34 group. >> welcome back to "inside story." we're continuing our discussion of congress and political stalemate. still with us are bart gordon, former democratic congressman from tennessee, and jim walsh, a former republican congress many from new york. what has changed in the culture here that has caused a lack of respect, and certainly a lack of understanding of each other's positions. >> members don't know each other like they used to.

beforehand oftentimes when you were traveling less members would bring their spouse to washington. kids would grow up together. >> you would move? >> you would socialize and you wouldn't talk ugly to somebody that you had dinner with, with their spouse the night before. you might disagree, but you would try to work things out. that has been part of it. there is less travel together. it has been accusatory type of congress where many members don't even know each other. over half of the republicans have been here less than four years. so they don't even know-- >> two or less. >> two or less, wow. >> 45% of the congress has two years of experience, now three because we're in the middle of the cycle, or less. >> and that reflects the radicalization, the harder positions. >> i wouldn't say radicalization. that's a pretty strong word. but what it does reflect is it's

a stressful job, and some people aren't willing to put up with that for a long period of time. whereas people used to come and stay for longer. today they're leaving. we see more and more of that. there is more turnover now than there has been in a long, long time. >> you don't have personal relationships, it's harder to sit down and work through problems and find common in differences. thing that new folks don't understand is regular order. >> what is that? >> just like that. >> exactly. >> regular order is when you work a bill through the normal process. >> through committee. >> you have committees, sub committees, the full committeer. i just left in 2011. but as chairman of the science technology committee i passed 151 bills and resolutions, all from bipartisan. 100% because we went through the regular order. everybody had a chance to have their issues heard.

and they would have a vote. really, i think republicans enjoyed coming to the committee because there is a place to get something done. now it's this so-called ping-pong where leadership throws things back and forth, and you don't have the regular order of the committee process to get the steam out, to vet things. that would make a big difference to go back to regular order. >> the narrative that we're hearing certainly from the president is that the speaker does have the votes. if he were to permit a straight-up, straight-down, ye yet-no vote, clean bill, then that resolution would pass. >> with all due respect to the president. he was in the senate less than a full term. he was in the illinois senate for a brief time. he was in the u.s. senate for a brief time. now he's chief executive. so when he says speaker boehner has the votes. he never counted votes.

i think that it is--we have majorities, when i was here in the republican party, of five votes. >> tight. >> very tight. and there was real discipline. one of the things that is missing are the tools that leadership has to help people stay in line. and one of the things that congress has give up is earmarks, discretionary funds. and so when, for example, this is really right now, it's about obamacare but it's really about spending. congress has single-handedly handed over its discretionary spending power over to the president. every were president i've ever seen wanted that power. no more earmarks. that means the leadership or appropriation committee members can't provide discretionary funds to support members districts. many come to help their communities. some have grand schemes to

change the world, but most come to help springfield, mass, or tennessee, or yakima, washington. when the leadership comes to you and say we need your vote on this $175 billion. they say what is in it for me, for my community, and there is nothing there. that was a tool that the leadership had to help build majorities to get votes passed. >> taking away those earmarks was a way to get control over spending. >> but it didn't save a nickel. the discretionary gets a spending level and the sub committee gets one, two, and anything that is earmarked is within those limits. >> now it's just a question of who is going to be spending it. >> when i would go and i had to produce a bill, a spending bill every year for ten years and every one of them was passed with bipartisan support i could

help members with their districts in those bills. instead of saying i'll vote for this, $175 billion, what do i get for it. now they can go home and say this new library was supported by the taxpayer because it was a priority for our community. >> with what about organizations like citizens united. >> awful, awful, just awful. entirely too much time is spent fundraising. but it goes back to the partisan redistricting. folks are afraid that a money bomb will be dropped on them in the primary. >> that some conservative or more conservative organizations-- >> or a liberal organizations. >> you take both concerns about an extreme primary, and you put again a money bomb in there, and it makes it even worse. and in the time that goes into fundraising. >> it used to be that you could raise--in my first i had ten

congressional races. my first five or six the ma them amount was $5 million or $10 million. but now money can come out of nowhere and go completely on the attack. >> it's the fear factor. a cloud of fear over almost everyone now. that makes it difficult to compromise and come to an agreement. >> in the short amount of time that we have left, let me ask each of you, how do you think this ends? how do we get out of it, and how long does this go on for a? >> i've been in public life for 41 years and i always have my rose-colored glasses on. there is an opportunity. people know what the aspects of the deal are. it's controlling entitlement spending which is out of control in this country right now. the democrats want additional revenue. somewhere between entitlement

reform which could save hundreds of billions of dollars, trillions of dollars in ten years and some small amount of revenue, we could knock this thing down and the markets would react incredibly. >> what jim means you have to switch from the emphasis on the affordable healthcare act, so-called obamacare, and move it back to what the original concerns were, and that is the deficit. if you combine the current cr, congressional continuing resolution with the debt limit then come forth with a budget deficit deal that will deal with sequestration and that would allow the republicans to get additional deficit reduction, and something that the president wants also. the difficulty is going to be where are those cuts, and will there be additional revenue. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. we're going to take a break. when we come back we're going to poke some fun at the lawmakers

with a piano playing observer of washington. [[voiceover]] there's more to america. more stories. more voices. more points of view. >>from our headquarters in new york ... [[voiceover]] now there's a news channel with more of what americans want to know. >>i'm ali velshi, and this is real money. >>this is america tonight. >>our news coverage, reporting, and documentaries explore, inspire, and reveal more of america's stories. >>i'm here to investigate genetically modified salmon. that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko news stories?

it drives discussions stories? across america. share your story on tv and online. >> as we wrap up a difficult week of gridlock, fur lows, and frustration we thought we would step back and laugh a little. mark russell is a piano-playingg satirist who has been watching washington for years ♪ do you see ♪ sequester hell ♪ they're all laid off ♪ the meat will start to smell ♪ don't believe that the

♪ grid would blow ♪ and we'll all be ♪ amish in a month or so ♪ i'm finding it hard ♪ the antics of ♪ senator cruz who held ♪ the floor plus his bladder ♪ for what for ♪ the congressional record ♪ that's news >> how long have you been here for. >> i think president calvin cool ladies and gentlemen. coolidge blaccool i think since president calvin coolidge. the last one gingrich. he was fairly sane. you miss him now. he and clinton were intellectual equals, and going back further ronald reagan and tip o'neill. and then singing, and they got along pretty well.

you don't see this with obama and boehner. you just don't see it. it's just not there. if you plan to come to washington you might want to call ahead to see if it's open. what's going on now really is a tale of two shutdowns. like a tale of two cities. a tale of two shutdowns, and for the republicans, it's the best of times because they can blame the worst of times on the democrats. by the way, did you see harry reid kick the crutches out from under a world war ii veteran with cancer, stuff like that. they shutdown the zoo. >> the panda camp. >> the pandas, yes, but i think bigger. i think lions because they furloughed the guy who feeds the animals. i can think of a few congressmen on both sides of the aisle i would like to feed to the lions. here is a nice reid-boehner

sandwich. as we slouch to the next crisis, the debt ceiling crisis, if we don't raise the debt ceiling we're going to be out of money. we'll have to sell off pieces off of the government, maybe sell the capitol building. i'm sure donald trump would love to convert it into condos. i was thinking years from now. it's a very sentimental song, years from now people will ask the question: ♪ were you there ♪ when the government was ♪ shutdown? ♪ when the draw bridge on ♪ the beltway was ♪ shutdown ♪ 800,000 ♪ out of work ♪ were you there ♪ when the government ♪ was shutdown. ♪ oh they had the ♪ shutdown to obamacare ♪ they said the shoutdown ♪ was the answer to our prayers

♪ said answer to our prayers ♪ to our head ♪ they held the gun ♪ that the best insurance is none ♪ go to moscow ♪ now there is room to blame ♪ on both sides of the aisle ♪ yes, th it's measured by the e ♪ there is no one to salute. wher♪ where is clinton ♪ where is newt ♪ compromise ♪ is long out of style >> mark russell, satirist since the eisenhower administration. that's it for now. thank you for watching.

evil morales. president of bolivia. why is he so critical of the united states? and why does he want the united nations moved from new york? plus, is he still offering asylum to edward snowden. joins us on talk to al jazeera. >> president morales, it is great to meet you, and have this opportunity to speak to you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much for this opportunity to speak with you about different aspects that have to do with the life from the country, the region, and the continent. >> our pleasure.