this is "cnn newsroom." i'm suzanne malveaux. >> i'm michael holmes. breaking news right now, president obama has invited congressional leaders to the white house on this the second day of the government shutdown. >> so could this actually be a huge step towards breaking the impasse? we got word a couple minutes ago

via a tweet from the white house press secretary saying potus invites senator reid, nancy pelosi, mcconnell press and speaker boehner to the white house later today to discuss the need to reopen the government. raise the debt ceiling. want to bring in dana bash on capitol hill, brianna at the white house. brianna, first of all, we know the pressure's on here. the president has made very clear he's not negotiating actually the obama care and attaching it to the budget. so what is he going to offer? >> well, at this, point, we don't expect he will offer anything. that's what white house officials i've spoken to are saying. this isn't going to be a negotiation. we are told that when congressional leaders come here at 5:30 p.m. and meet with president obama, his message will be what it has been, which is that he says he will not negotiate on obama care. he wants congress to pass a

clean funding bill as you've heard it called. so a funding bill without any conditions attached, without any obama care delay or defunding and that he wants them to increase the debt ceiling, as well without any conditions. what we've been watching in washington is this kind of endless loop of the house putting a bill out there, the obama administration putting a vote toe threat on it, the senate dismantling it sending it back to the house. i think the white house after four sort ofs go of that, president obama is having this meeting. as far as we know at least right now, this isn't going to be on camera. so we may not see it. i think this is president obama bringing congressional leaders in and telling them to move forward, that they can't mess with his signature health care reform program. it's more of what we've heard him say, just saying it again. >> brianna, is this more about the image here, the perception, the theatrics if you want to be cynical about all this, if he's not willing to move the line here? what is this about?

>> i think part of it is is president obama, it's sort of incumbent on him as president to remain involved in this. but at the same time, you do know obviously that the real action going on here is on capitol hill as dana will tell you. but i think there's this need for president obama to continue to kind of come out each day to do something each day. we saw lim yesterday in the rose gard garden. >> let's bringing in dana bash from d.c. when you look at how this is going to happen and we were both talking about this earlier, when you saw speaker boehner's spokesman say we're pleased the president finally recognizes that his refusal to negotiate is indefensible, it's unclear why we would be having this meeting if it's not meant to start serious talk. it's kind of like, is that a good way to start this off? >> well, listen, the republican line since last week when president obama met with the iranian president was look, he's

going to meet with the iranian president and won't meet with us. so they're getting their wish. let's be clear in, some ways president obama is sort of calling their bluff. however, if brianna is right and i'm sure she is, based on conversations she's had and i've had with democrats that they are insisting they are holding firm, they are not going to negotiate, they will not do anything beyond just passing a, one bill that funds the government, you've got to wonder where this is going to go. one possibility is to sort of wrap these discussions about the government shutdown or funding the government with the very soon, what is very soon, which is the debt ceiling which is, of course, we've talked about this so many times. so much more catastrophic potentially to not just the u.s. economy but the global economy if the u.s. defaults on its loans. so that date is october 17th. we're not that far away. we're what, 15 days away from there. it's possible that the president might start to say okay, look, guys, the shutdown is not going

anywhere. we're at an impasse. let's start talking about the debt ceilinging and what we can work on vis-a-vis that and maybe they can wrap it all together. who knows or it just might be optics. i know it's cynical. but it might be the president can say i sat down with leaders. >> all right, dana bash, brianna keeller is, thank you. it is hard to imagine what are they going to get done here? they've both dug in pretty hard. and the senate democrats including the president say he's not going to deal with this piecemeal refunding the government. that's not going to happen. >> at least i suppose as dana was saying, at least it looks like they're meeting. that's what everyone's been calling for. better than not meeting. who knows? a lot of americans watching all of this, frustrated by the shutdown. especially those losing money over it. >> i'm frustrated because if they don't get this budget fixed, then my husband doesn't

get paid come the 15th of the month. we may not be able to pay bills. >> our government who we trust can't even do their jobs. >> i think we need to have the shutdown so we can say look, we've all got to do hard work here and this kind of hopefully will force congress and the president to really do some hard work instead of just putting little band-aids on the problem. >> they don't understand how the greatest nation on the planet can have a congress conducting in such a manner. it's a shame. >> some of the almost 800,000 federal workers who were sent home without pay, well, they helped protest. they are prosting across the country from the washington to seattle. they are so so frustrated. >> we all are essential. furlough congress. >> we want to work. >> so the message, we want to work, we're all essential, the so-called nonessential employees furloughed come from more than a

dozen federal agencies including the epa, pentagon, nasa, department of education and the national institutes of health. >> as you know and we've been discussing, the next big battle is whether or not or not to raise the debt ceiling. this is a much bigger deal in many ways. the government hits that ceiling october 17th, the date the treasury runs out of money to pay the nation's bills, bills that have already been racked up unless lawmakers authorize additional credit which is the tradition. >> congressional republicans have said they want to tie obama care whether or not it is the debt ceiling is raised according to the cnn poll, more americans say it is more important to raise the debt ceiling than to delay obama care. 53% say that republicans in congress would be more to blame if the u.s. defaults on its loans. 31% blame the president. >> the government shutdown and looming debt limit crisis, they're making investors nervous. a couple days ago they were saying they were muted because they factored in some of the

stuff and didn't think it would go on this long. right now, the dow is down 74 points, half a percentage point. it was down by more than that a couple hours ago, over.8 of 1%. now also affecting stocks, the payroll company, adp, came out with its monthly jobs report. that showed 166,000 private sector jobs were added in september. >> that was actually slightly below expectations. despite all of this, some companies hit new 52-week highs. that was including priceline, amazon, netflix as well as yahoo!. as we've mentioned the government is not going to be able to pay all its bills october 17th unless congress raises the debt ceilinging >> that threat combined with the shutdown is causing a lot of economic pain. christine romans joins us now from new york. let's start with the shutdown. when you talk about the cost of it, how bad could it be? obviously it depends on how long it goes on. how bad could it get?

>> absolutely. it depends on how long it goes on. it's counterproductive no matter what. when you have people who are federal employees not getting paychecks, that's going to hurt. and you're talking about 800,000 people furloughed here. when you loo can at the economic numbers, it looks like a two-week shutdown by one forecast about 0.3 percentage points after of gdp. that means you're not seeing as much growth as you like. last four weeks, you knock about 1.4 percentage points off gdp. that's cutting economic growth in half. that's just a shutdown, counterproductive, very counterproductive. >> christine, the cost to the country here, however, if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, what are we looking at in terms of numbers, employment and long-term? >> this is so critical. there's so much misinformation about the debt ceiling. there are folks who really truly believe that if you don't run the debt ceiling, you're somehow forcing fiscal as you tirt in washington. america has always paid its bills on time.

that's why united states treasuries, u.s. bonds are the cornerstone of the global financial system. because the u.s. does not go back on its word. if you say we are not going to raise the debt ceiling, you are saying you endorse america going back on its word. when the u.s. october 17th is going to be $30 billion in the bank according to the treasury. november 1st, $25 billion has to go out to pay social security checks. there's a medicare payment after that, interest payments after that. who is going to decide who gets paid? are you going to pay chinese bankers, lenders first and social security second? are you going to pay social security but not your lenders and interest rates spike? the stock market collapses. suddenly it becomes even more complicate the and difficult for investors to grow jobs. it's such a dangerous situation. i file as though the politics, the politics of have sort of taken the truth out of it almost. it is incredibly dangerous to say that the u.s., the gold

standard in the world, its economy, we're not going to pay our bills. because our congress can't figure out how to pass a budget. >> the international ramifications of that as you say, the dollar the cornerstone. everyone looks to the u.s. as the world's largest impact. we've seen it on european stocks today, as well. we've seen the uncertainty doing that, didn't we? that's happened the last day or two. that could be enormously damaging to the world economy. >> and when you talk to the people who are really moving a lot of money, the big insiders, people who are bond managers or who are running companies, they think that there's no way the u.s. government is not going to pay the interest on its loans. we would just never, never do that, which means you're going to have to cut other things. some of the biggest things are medicare, medicaid and social security. those are some of the biggest things sitting out there. for people on the right who may dislike this administration and its priorities and goals, i mean, so you're going to imbu the president and the treasury

secretary with deciding which bills to pay? that's not why they're fighting about budgets. they don't like the president's spending and priorities. now you're going to hand them all the authority because congress doesn't have a budget. >> hopefully, this is the kind of thing the president will be pushing for at 5:30, pleating with leaders saying look, this is the bigger problem down the road here. let's get the politics out of this. because i mean, this is talking about the world's economy essentially. >> it is. >> it is just day two of the government shutdown and obama karen rollment, as well. yesterday, a lot of folks who wanted to sign up for the health care exchange, well, they were greeted with an error message there. we're going to check on how it's going today. if it's getting any better, the "cnn newsroom." ome. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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allegra-d d-congests, d-pressurizes so you can breathe. a fast, non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. allegra-d. d-fense against allergy congestion. all right. day two of open enrollment on obama care. >> so many people tried to sign up on day one actually, the website couldn't handle it. people repeatedly received error messages. federal officials are promising that there's going to be some improvements here and they're working on all this. dr. sanjay gupta is in lexington, kentucky with more

how this is being sorted out, the glitches, the health care law's impact on those already insured. watch. >> suzanne and michael, glitch did seem to be the operative word yesterday. you heard about that a lot. we were in south carolina, hundreds of people coming up to us asking lots of questions. and we couldn't find an example of one person who had been successfully able to actually sign onto the site. supposedly things are better today. we're hearing kentucky now, lexington, kentucky, 2900 people were able to sign up yesterday. those numbers may be improving today. an interesting sort of collision here. we heard about 3 million people signed up -- 3 million people tried to sign up around the country. we couldn't get an exact number how many people were successful in part because one of the people at the department of health and human services giving us this information has been furloughed. as part of the government shutdown. a little bit of irony there. makes it harder to get that information. a lot of people asking about premiums, how much is this going to cost, one of the most common

questions. some of those numbers are going to come out still in the weeks and months ahead. what we're hearing for people who are joining the health care exchange, the marketplace for the first time, people who have not had health care insurance before and are also getting subsidies, the average cost about $100 a month or even less than that. 60% of people paying around that much money. but again, those numbers are a little bit of a moving target. keep an eye on them in the weeks and months to come. another common question, how is this going to affect people who already have insurance? you've heard many times, suzanne and michael, if you have insurance don't worry about it, this doesn't affect you. that may not be entirely true. for example, here in kentucky, u.p.s. has one of their largest distribution facilities. u.p.s. is actually telling spouses of their employees, spouses who can get their health care insurance elsewhere to start doing so. because u.p.s. is no longer going to provide that coverage for them. so you're starting to see some impact, especially on big

companies in terms of how they insure their employees. again, a lot of moving parts. this is some of the most -- this is some of the biggest health reform in this country in nearly 50 years. so not unsuspected to have some twists and tumbles along the way as we get more information, suzanne and michael, we'll bring it to you. back to you for now. >> it will take a little time to sort it out. it's just the beginning >> sanjay is there. it will be okay. >> we're looking at live pictures here. this is world war ii veterans gathering at the memorial site. you see tourists as well as protesters. we'll go live to washington to talk with veterans who are outraged, outraged about the government shutdown. (music plays throughout) hey guten morgen guess who? mr. mojito? ok it's got to be really fast, i've got one second hey no way wei hey, ca va? nudeq nuqdaq duch doch bolz stop calling me oh my god, no!

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world war ii veterans coming in on honor flights, and barricades around something that i'll bet 24/7, 365, i could walk into that anytime. and so the show of putting barriers around because of a shutdown and spending all the money to do it and then have

every other department talk about shutdowns causes me to be a little cynical. >> that is republican senator chuck grassley feeling cynical about some of the ripple effects of the government shutdown. others are feeling, well, let's call it outraged especially those world war ii honor veterans who moved through barriers to visit what was a closed national memorial, closed because of the shutdown. they are emerging as heroes in this d.c. drama. more veterans gathering right now at a rally there. jake tapper is at the world war ii memorial where things are pretty charged. it was great in many ways seeing them move on in there to what is really an open memorial. what is happening at the moment? >> well, about 200 veterans from world war ii and korea came to visit the memorial today. no barricades were up. they came from missouri and they came from illinois. veterans almost entirely from world war ii, some korean veterans here through the

program honor flights that flight veterans to the memorial. there have been many politicians here, as well as well as some protesters against the democrats and also a bigger group of protesters just recently against the republicans, but generally speaking, this has been about the veterans and allowing them to come and pay tribute to those men and women they left behind in europe and korea. >> yeah, it's extraordinary the things that have been shut down. what is the level of anger there or frustration or whatever it is among the people there generally about the shutdown and the impacts of it? >> well, among the veterans, and i spoke to a few dozen of them,ing there were mainly focused on coming to the memorial. they had all heard about the shutdown for the most part, and some of them had their poils about which side was to blame. it was a fairly bipartisan crowd, but generally speaking they were here to pay tribute and honor. there were some individuals who were angry about the shutdown,

angry at president obama and the democrats, angry at the house republicans, depending on their point of view. and, of course, there are many politicians from both major parties here. but generally speaking the anger was on the sidelines and whenever people started yelling, others said let the veterans have their moment. don't ruin this for them. and people generally respected that. >> jake tapper there in d.c. thanks, jake. we'll see more from you you at 4:00 p.m. >> notice they said vets did their jobs and they want the government, specifically congress to do theirs, as well. it is impacting real people. one woman has been squeezed since those forced cuts, called the sequester and now taking a second hit with the shutdown, plus, what furlough means for some federal workers. that's next on "cnn newsroom." life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

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paying ourselves to do what we love? you're looking at live pictures. this is deeply divided capitol hill of congress. it is day two of the government

shutdown, and the question, the big question, will lawmakers reach a budget agreement to get the federal government running again in full force? this impasse, as you can imagine, has outraged many of us who can't seem to figure out, why can't they get this together? this is funding the government. this is the u.s. government partially shutdown. >> how could this happen and it could get worse. we're talking a debt ceiling. right now, you're talking countless people across the country affected directly or indirectly. let's talk about the 00,000 almost federal employees sent home without pay indefinitely at the moment. elizabeth lidle is a member of afge local 704, among those furloughed yesterday. she, would for the environmental protection agency in chicago. >> we also have trish gilbert. she's executive vice president of the national air traffic controllers association, and she is now working without pay so elizabeth, i want to start off with you. we read about your background and how tough things have been for you because you had to be

pur furloughed once before because of the forced expense cuts for the government. i understand you might not be able to get a root canal because you can't afford it. you've got to make some really tough tough choices. >> that's correct. >> tell us about what you're going through. >> it's tough. i mean, i look at it this way. i have to pay my bills. no matter what. and yet, i see congressmen who are fussing and fighting over simple little things because they want their five minutes of fame, and it's time to pay their creditors. but who's at fault? i don't know. who's paying the price? we are. i have to take and make cuts everywhere just to make ends meet. >> a lot of people around the country are paycheck to

paycheck. and it really does hit them. trish, tell us about air traffic controllers. they've received letters about furloughs and paychecks after this week. but they've had to show up. they're essential personnel. how are they being impacted? how might air travelers be impacted if this goes on? >> air traffic controllers are excepted employees meaning they are essential and must come to work. whether they'll receive a paycheck remains to be seen because as you know, there's no funding bill in place right now. so it's basically come to work, do what you need to do to keep the system safe and you will be paid at a later time. in addition to that, the rest of their team, their staff support our engineers, plans and programs, quality assurance, all the people that keep all of the day-to-day stuff together, the strategic planning, the changes to the air space so we can make it more efficient and safer moving forth are all furloughed. we're in a hiring freeze right now for air traffic controllers.

we were set to the start the process to start hiring again this week. we're not going to be able to do that. so the hiring freeze from the sequester cuts roll right into the shutdown and we don't have anybody in the pipeline to replace the 3,000 air traffic controllers eligible to retire right now out of 12,000. that is a lot of numbers. >> are there safety issues? >> every day that this continues, it starts to tear away at the margins of safety we have in place. it's not just the air traffic controllers that make the air space safe. it's everybody with them as a team. so day after day, those margins go away. they get slimmer and slimmer. >> elizabeth, i know we're running out of time here, but i want to end on you, because this has really impacted your family. if this goes on much longer beyond day to day but week to week, what will that mean for you? >> i don't know. i really don't know. i'm going to apply for unemployment but that's not even going to meet half of what i

make per paycheck. my husband doesn't work. and to be honest with you, it's going to be very, very tough. >> yeah. personal impacts, yeah, trish gilbert, elizabeth lytle, thanks so much. >> it is tough going. >> listen to the stories. >> drill down to the individuals and how they are being impacted by decisions being taken by a few people in washington. >> she's got a sick husband, dental problems and she has to figure out, what is she going to do. the longer this lasts the harder this gets for her. the dow down 77 points or so. it is about hovering around 15,000. investors still nervous about the government shutdown and a looming debt crisis, as well. >> important to note too in europe, all the major bosses in europe were down down today, too. so this is already having the international effect. in other news today, we just confirmed one of the world's most successful authors and of

military and political thrillers has died. tom clancy, he exploeted onto the literary scene in the '80s "the hunt for red october." >> the book was big, but the movie a major hollywood hit. 17 tom clancy novels made it the to "the new york times" best seller list. no word yet how he died. he was just 66 years old. >> united nations chemical weapons inspectors are now in syria. that team arrived in damascus. now starting to plan how they're going to hit almost 50 places where they believe the syrian government is keeping its stockpile of chemical weapons. more than half a dozen of those places in what's called combat zones, hot areas. >> team went in only after the u.n. security council voted unanimously to force syria to give up all chemical weapons as soon as possible. and president obama, he is canceling half of his asia trip to attend the economic summits in indonesia, brunei. he's not going to go to malaysia

or the philippines but will send john kerry to those two places. the president was under pressure to cancel the whole trip because of the government shutdown but is now set to leave still saturday evening >> a couple of important things to go to, too. he's not going to be going to internationally speaking. coming up, we'll take a closer look at obama care and separate fact from fikds. stay with us here in the news room". she loves a lot of the same things you do. it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow.

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now, of course, one criticism of obama care is that it is causing health care costs to grow. that's what the republicans say. >> but president obama says the opposite has actually happened. tom foreman joins us from washington, a fact check desk. so tom, what's the truth? >> well, here is the claim recited over and over again by top democrats.

health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in the 50 years since president obama signed the affordable care act. listen to what he said in maryland just a few days back. >> health care costs overall are rising much more slowly than they did before we signed the law. so far so good. so what's all the fuss about in. >> well, the numbers a that is a fact. what he said is true. but in a broader sense, many democrats are trying to take it a step further and suggest the cost of health care overall is going down. and that is not the case. listen carefully to the details about what the president said. health care costs are still rising about 4% a year, but they've been raise rising at a considerably slower rate than they were. so the basic claim is correct, but you have to listen to the details and here's the bigger question. is this a result of obama care or could something else be

involved? that's the real question about this claim. back in the spring, the kaiser family foundation did a study to try to answer that question and they concluded the recorded slow growth rate in health care costs in recent years stems largely from economic factors beyond the health system. with the committee explaining 77% of the slowdown. so three-quarts of this throwdown in the rising cost of health care they say is not because of obama care but because the economy is so bad, people are cutting back on health care spending wherever they can. beyond that, the other quarter is also not all about obama care but in some cases about other changes in the health care system. suzanne? >> all right. tom, thanks, appreciate that. of course, the government has a big problem on its hands. congress can't seem to pass a budget. many are blaming the shutdown on house republicans but some are pushing a new message pass the budget with no strings attached.

>> we'll talking with new york republican congress mann michael grimm after a quick break. you're watching "cnn newsroom." don't go away. we'll be right back. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mmmhmmm...everybody knows that. well, did you know that old macdonald was a really bad speller? your word is...cow. cow. cow. c...o...w... ...e...i...e...i...o. [buzzer] dangnabbit. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

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conversation between the two of us, but it was a cordial conversation. senator durbin? >> thanks, senator reid. an hour ago i was down at the world war ii memorial. it honor flight came in today from illinois. it was a lot of fun. meeting these world war ii vets, all men who had serve the our nation and risked their lives to keep america free. for some of them, it's the last trip they'll ever make and you can tell it, but they wanted to be here. i'm glad they were. what did they want to talk about? about the government shutdown. over and over again, they said to me, when are you going to get this government up and running again? i think about that. men who risked their lives decades ago who can't understand what's going on today in washington. well, it is hard to explain. it's hard to explain how we've shut down the government in a

manufactured political crisis. the impact, well, each day we come up with new examples. the examples i brought to the floor and others have too from the national institutes of of health are heart breaking. 200 people turned down for clinical trials at the national institutes of health including 30 children, most of them cancer victims. and so when i raise that issue and others did, senator cruz decided to put the nih on his bucket list of agencies he was willing to save. well, you shouldn't stop there. he ought to the ultimately open up the government because there are so many agencies critically important to our country that are closed down today for no earth a reason. this morning, director clapper spoke about the intelligence agencies and here's what he said before the judiciary committee. each day goes by, the impact and jeopardy to the safety and security of this country will increase. >> you're listening to senator durbin. before him senate majority leader harry reid talking about a conversation he had with house

speaker boehner. he sent him a letter, said he had a conversation with him within the hour or so talking about the need for a conference and for some negotiations. and all those leaders are going to be meeting with the president in several hours, about 5:30 or so at the white house to talk about what are the next steps, what possibly could be done. i want to bring in congressman michael grimm. he's from new york. give us a sense what you think needs to happen in that meeting. what do you want speaker boehner to tell the president? >> well, i mean, there's no question what needs to happen. we need to get this government open and running again. there's just too many people hurting so much. you've got to understand, these federal employees that don't make a lot of money are the once impacted the most. i understand about monuments. i'm a veteran. believe me, i want my veterans to see their monuments. but i'm more concerned about those that can't put food on the table, can't pay rent or mortgage, gs-4s or 5s, not

wealthy people. there's an extreme sense of urgency. i've had conversation with the speaker today. there's a group of us that have formed a coalition to get this government open again. that's exactly what we want to do. >> congressman, i'm curious about your thoughts about your colleagues. it's been said for days now that you know, obama care was something that is being voted on one way or another 40 times. it's been the law for three years. are you disappointed this was attached to the bill to fund the government and led to this? are you disappointed in that? was that good tactics? >> i think there's -- there's no question, i'm disappointed that the government is shutdown down right now. i don't think any of us should want to be here. this is not what we were elected to do. we were elected to govern. now we're in a difficult situation. however, my last meeting with the speaker and i guess now it is made public, there will be a meeting at the white house.

this is something i called for a while ago that the president needs to step in, we need to sit down and talk. it sounds like harry reid is willing to have a conversation. i do think this is much bigger than obama care. i think the conversation is going to include the debt ceiling. i think it's going to include funding issues we've been discussing for a while now. so this is not going to come down to obama care. i think it's going to come down to a much broader picture. i think if we can do it quickly, get the government turned back on, we can alleviate this problem from happening again in the near future. >> are you disappointed with your republican colleagues that there was a rider attached to the bill 0 fund the government? are you disappointed in that or not? did you think it was a good idea? it was never going to work. >> well, you know, again, i don't -- i don't get to make those ultimate decisions. i'm not going to second-guess leadership at had point. i never wanted the government to shutdown. my last vote in the house was a "no" vote prior to yesterday before the shutdown, i voted no because i felt we should have

attached a clean cr. when i say clean, just a conference. we do have to have a discussion. there are a lot of problems we need told discuss. >> congressman grimm, we've spoken to a lot of people. i spoke to one woman who has to make serious choices about her husband's health care, her own dental issues. she's not receiving a paycheck. are you willing to give up your own during this shutdown? >> i'm sorry. i did not get that last part. could you say that again? >> are you willing to give up your own paycheck either to charity or om sort of symbolic gesture to empathize with the people suffering because of this? >> you know, i said from the beginning, i don't think members of congress should get paid just like those on furlough. i support that 100% not taking a paycheck. you know, these people that are allegedly nonessential, they are essential. and i think what's going on here is making us look like we're the

ones not essential and that it's congress that should take the hit, not the american people, especially those that work every day to keep us safe and they perform a myriad of functions. i started in the fbi pulling tell la types. i wasn't out there on the front lines as a special agent tils years late per. those people now working counter terrorism and doing analysis and many other things to support the agents on the street, believe me, any are essential. it's a shame they're a big part of keeping us safe and they're the ones taking the brunt of this. i'm willing to do whatever takes to get the government funded as soon as possible. i this il we have today broken some ground. i do see more of a light at the end of the tunnel. i just hope it's immediate. i think that the leaders going to the white house at 5:30 is a big step in the right direction regardless of whether it's just turning the government on to you and having a conference or whether it's a bigger package. whichever it is, i just want the government back on so we can start to govern and hopefully get the american people to have a little more confidence in us

because they should not have confidence in us right now. they should be be disgusted. i understand why they feel like that. >> 90% according to the last poll are not impressed. we've got to leave it there. michael grimm, appreciate your time. hopefully sanity will prevail. >> he talks about normal people suffering. this impacts people in clinical trials. this is something you wouldn't necessarily think about, but we are talking about kids who have cancer delayed, not able to participate in this because the government is shutdown. more on that after this break. ♪ [ male announcer ] you know that family? the one whose eye for design is apparent in every detail? ♪ whose refined taste is best characterized by the company they keep? ♪ well...say hello to the newest member of the family. the cadillac srx. awarded best interior design of any luxury brand. take advantage of this exceptional offer on the 2013 cadillac srx with premium care maintenance included.

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government shutdown is affecting some of the country's sickest people. we are talking about 200 patients who begin clinical trials each week at the national institute of health in bethesda, maryland. now they're being told they have to wait till the government reopens. 30 of those patients are children, ten have cancer. elizabeth cohen is here to talk about this. it's heart breaking. >> it is. can you imagine you have a sick child, none of the regular treatments are working and your doctor says go to maryland, they have experiments it will trial that might work for you. you get up and go told sorry, we can't take new patients right now because of the shutdown. it's horrible. >> these are people just trying something, anything because they are sick. they're very sick. and they're willing to go out on a live here.

>> these are usually people who have tried all sorts of things, some of them have tried everything. they're doing this experimental trial because they have nothing left. that's right. so this makes it -- there's no other place to go usually for their experiment. i mean, it's the nih or nothing. >> so what happens? i mean what happens to those folks, especially those kids? are you talking about as more and more time days go on, weeks go on, they no longer qualify for the trials or they end up getting sicker? >> right now, they will still get care. i want to be clear about that. they just can't join this clinical trial at this moment. now, if this hopefully only goes on for another day or two, it probably won't be such a huge deal. they will eventually get to the enter that trial. but if this goes on and on, this be a huge problem for some of these folks if they can't get that experimental treatment, that could mean the difference between life and death if this goes on for a while. or as you said, it may turn out they don't qualify anymore.

they might have qualified september 30th. but if this goes on on and on, by october, their disease may have progressed to the point they don't qualify. >> is there any way they could make an exception for nih, for somebody? they're already suggesting maybe there are certain parts of the government they would be able to fund temporarily. >> if congress gets themselves together and passes piecemeal things and funds this particular program, hopefully that means they could continue their care. >> this is life or death into it is life or death for some of people. it is. i think we forget that. you know, i think it's easy to think of the government as just kind of being nuts and bolts, but the government does some -- nih does some of the most incredible research out there. i've actually visit this had facility. some of the hi vi drugs out there are out there because of the work done at the nih. >> it's cutting edge. >> it's cutting edge stuff and hopefully it will be allowed to continue. >> elizabeth cohen, we've got to get it resolved. >> can't go on.

if you've been furloughed, there are a few perks you might be able to take advantage of. they're trying to make it a little bit easier for you i guess. one a free game of ping-pong. people are helping those directly impacted by the shutdown getting a little bit of relief. up next. hey guten morgen guess who? mr. mojito? ok it's got to be really fast, i've got one second hey no way wei hey, ca va? nudeq nuqdaq duch doch bolz stop calling me oh my god, no! how are they looking? we did it baby woohh oi ma yerp yerp moshi moshi, meow what?! ♪ waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available.

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almost 00,000 federal workers are out of a job highway the government is closed. >> and one military worker says

it is affecting his ability to "put food on the table for his family." >> regardless of what the army tells me, i still have to put food on the table. i've still got to pay my bills. >> i lose money, first of all because of the shutdown. and i don't think it's fair. >> i don't get paid. i go home. on the good side, i get to spend more time with my daughter. on the flipside, i might not get paid. >> all right. it's pretty tough going for a lot of folks. there are some people trying to lighten the load, make it a little bit better, more comfortable for thoeks who are not working and furloughed. >> some bars in fact, bars and businesses in d.c. offering some freebies cut rate services to try to make people feel a bit better. one capitol hill ball offering $3 shut it down whiskey shots opening its doors to 2:00 a.m. and selling what it calls screw the shutdown drinks. i suppose if you're not going to work, you can stay up knocking

down shots. >> popular burger chain zburgers offering freiburgers. hyundai is deferring car payments for federal workers. that's a pretty good deal. >> the synagogue sixth and i is inviting government employees to come in for a game of political ping-pong. the paddles featuring the faces of key u.s. lawmakers. they should do that with hockey or something. >> i would say punching bag with the names of their lawmakers. that's what i would do. >> that will work. thanks for watching. cnn newsroom many" with wolf blitzer right now. right now, it's day two. the federal government shutdown. members of congress are at work. the same can't be said for almost 800,000 federal employees being forced to stay home. right now at the world war ii memorial here in washington, representatives from the national park service have opened the barricades. so visiting veterans can pass through. this is the second straight day