president obama came out firing at congress today, telling republicans to put a clean bill on the floor and vote already. but will that fly? we're talking to two house members with very different views. also right now, we're keeping a close eye on tropical storm karen to hit the gulf coast this weekend. we'll be tracking the path as it barrels through the gulf. right now on wall street, the dow is in negative territory. down by triple digits, below 15,000. the federal shutdown means no monthly jobs report released tomorrow. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. today there's the white house briefing room, jay carney, white house press secretary, expected to walk in fairly soon and brief reporters what's going on, answer some tough questions at the same time. this, as we are now in way deep

into day three of the government shutdown. another day in limbo for almost 800,000 federal workers who were furloughed and another day of uncertainty for the american people. as of right now, the toll for this man made economic disaster stands at an estimated $900 million in lost federal wages and other economic activity, that according to an independent study by the consulting firm ihs global. 9 $900 million, equal to the yearly budget of the small business administration. yesterday the president invited congressional leaders, democrats and republicans to the white house. a quick talk, more than an hour, but with no apparent results. afterwards the house approved three individual funding bills, one funding the national park service, a second funding the district of columbia, and a third funding the national institutes of health. >> we are trying to find the

things that we can agree on in common where there's a majority vote in both houses. certainly pediatric medical research, medical research for clinical trials, is something given the circumstances that i think we ought to get done, harry reid ought to take up today. >> a message from the man stream republican colleagues. if you hope to end the republican shutdown, get rid of the tea party direction. work with us. help us reopen the government, we can start negotiations today. >> harry reid making it clear they're not going to consider seriously the piecemeal legislation approved in the house of representatives. while members of the house and senate debate, the president was in nearby maryland talking about health care and the shutdown. >> if the speaker of the house, john boehner, simply let the bill get on the floor for an up

or down vote, every congressman could vote their conscience, the shutdown would end today. the only thing that is keeping the government shut down, the only thing preventing people from going back to work and basic research starting back up and farmers and small business owners getting their loans, the only thing that's preventing all of that from happening in the next five minutes is that speaker john boehner won't even let the bill get a yes or no vote because he doesn't want to anger the extremists in his party. >> once again, standing by for the white house briefing. jay carney, press secretary expected to start answering reporters' questions momentarily, important questions on the government shutdown, where we go from here, live coverage, that's coming up. both sides have dug in. speaking to cnn's "new day"

congressman steve king gave his take on all how all of this will end. >> there will be a snowball effect from each side that will roll here and at some point, one mass will get greater than the other, one size of the snowball will get greater than the other and one side or the other is going to have to move. >> let's go to our chief congressional correspondent dana bash, following all of the latest developments on capitol hill. so what are the latest developments? the housekeeps passing these piecemeal funding measures, the senate rejects that. where do we go from here? >> reporter: you know, it's unclear. the house speaker is continuing to have meetings with his colleagues. i passed his office and some some republican members going in to talk strategy. and the barbs are flying and getting a lot more personal, wolf. harry reid just spoke on the senate floor, he spoke eight press conference, really giving it to john boehner, sort of in the way you heard the president but in more biting terms, saying the two of them agreed that

they -- that the house would bring up a bill to fund the government with no strings attached at the levels that they are right now and he feels that john boehner has given up on his word. so those are the kinds of things going back and forth. again, senate democrats are saying, we're not negotiating on the shutdown, we're not negotiating on the debt ceiling, which as we've talked about so many times would be more catastrophic for the economy if the u.s. defaulted on its loans. that's where we stand now as republicans are going to continue to pass these piecemeal bills, maybe even through the weekend. >> through the weekend. and so they'll pass the house, they won't go anywhere in the senate. and the recriminations go back and forth. you'll be sitting down with senate majority leader harry reid in a little while, right, dana? >> reporter: that's right. i'm going to be sitting down with him in his suite back there and talk about all of these things, talk about maybe some -- an interesting exchange that he

and i had that got a little bit of play why they're not passing piecemeal bills if they could help some people, for example, the national institutes of health, which is dealing with clinical trials, why not do that? we'll certainly talk about that, and much, much more what he's willing to give on. one thing i should say is that republicans in the house do seem to be moving away from obama care and moving towards the other fiscal issues, the other economic issues, that they were talking about two years ago and they've been talking about for years, bigger issues, entitlement reform, tax reform. i'm told john boehner brought that up, tried to with the president in the prit mevate meg last nigh. question is whether any give on those issues to allow some republicans to save face, particularly on raising the debt ceiling which is difficult to do politically. >> air 3:00 p.m. eastern, more air in t"the situation room" 5:0 p.m. eastern as well. stand by to hear what the

majority leader has to say, dana. the shutdown taking a major financial toll on everyday americans and in some cases people's lives are actually at risk. new clinical trials at national institutes of health, they are now on hold and that means every week 200 patients, 30 of them children, won't get the treatment they need. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen talked to the family of a little girl who is now fighting for her life. >> reporter: mckenna smith spends most of her time in this wheelchair because of a rare genetic disease, doctors say she probably won't see her 20th birthday. >> sometimes i doesn't feel like i want to get up because my back is aching so bad. >> reporter: the pain she feels is caused by tumors that wrap their way around her nerves and compress her organs. there's no cure but there is hope. on monday, mckenna and her dad, justin, arrived here at national

institutes of health in bethesda maryland so mckenna could start taking an experimental drug. with the government shutdown, the family was told there's a chance mckenna might not get the medicine. >> i hope it doesn't affect me or anybody else who needs the drug. >> reporter: her father waited and worried, tweeting wednesday morning, government shutdown needs to end. now hurting sick people. have the house come here to apologize to my young daughter and others. >> i'm very angry. finally here and our government can't get the act together. >> reporter: they thought they'd have to go home to florida without getting the medicine. late wednesday a turnaround. the treatment could go forward. mckenna's fortunate. about 200 new patients including 30 children aren't so lucky. they won't get to join nih studies just yet. patients are being put on hold until government's back in business. mckenna's dad says this just isn't right and has a message

for leaders in washington. >> get your act together. this is not a game, you're -- you can't play politics over children's and other patients' lives. >> heartbreaking story that is. let's hope for the best. let's go to the white house right now. jay carney speaking to reporters. >> the president received an update on tropical storm karen which is currently located in the southeastern gulf of mexico. the president was briefed on efforts under way to prepare ahead of any impact from the storm as well as the extensive resources fema already has on hand along the gulf coast. fema, through its regional offices, has been in touch with state and local officials in the gulf states and stands ready to assist our state and local partners as necessary. based on applicable legal requirements and consistent with its contingency plan, fema has begun to recall currently furloughed employees necessary to serve functions of the agency

that protect life and property as they prepare for potential landfall for tropical storm karen or of tropical storm karen. this morning, fema reactivated the hurricane liaison team embedded with the national hurricane center in miami. the president directed his team to ensure that federal resources and personnel needed to support state and local preparation efforts are available and on the job. the president directed his team to keep him appraised as to weather conditions change. he urged residents in potentially affected areas to follow instructs of local response and law enforcement officials. julie? >> thank you. there's been a lot of focus over the last day or two on the debt ceiling both in the presidential remarks, the treasury phone call today. is that a sign that the white house now sees this government shut down lasting to a point where it runs into the debt

ceiling and that becomes one big fiscal fight? >> it's a sign that we are very concerned about the possibility that republicans in the house will employ the same unfortunate tactics when it comes to their fundamental responsibility to raise the debt ceiling and make sure the united states doesn't default, as they have employed in shutting down the government. and as the president said today, there are many negative consequences of shutting down the government and he talked about them. our businesses suffer, hundreds of thousands of workers live with uncertainty, as to whether or not or when the next paycheck will come and that is bad by

comparison, economic shutdown, the result would be catastrophic. we've seen from republicans in the house where one faction of one party of one house in one branch of government is driving the train. there seems to be a willingness to engage in a strategy that threatens default and perhaps ultimately causes default. that's why it's important for people to understand the consequences and because we don't have a lot of time. >> coming out of the meeting last night, is the white house viewing this as the most likely scenario the government shutdown last until october 17th when secretary lou says the debt ceiling -- >> we don't have a way to predict behavior among republicans in the house that's any more sophisticated than what

we're reading and seeing in your reports and reports of your colleagues. there is the possibility, and we hope that it is a possibility that could come true that speaker boehner puts a clean bill to fun the government on the floor today. we know with great certainty that that bill would pass with republicans and democrats voting yes and the government could reopen and that problem could be solved. >> i don't have a way how this will play out except every day the republican as how the government to stay shutdown they're causing harm to, you know, real americans out there and real businesses that are suffering because of that decision. again a decision that as the president said we have had shutdowns in the past in our country and they have always

been about disputes over spending. and what is unique about this one, of course, this is about an ideological crusade, the sabotage of the health care law that reduces the deficit. so -- and that the republican party noose pr has no prospect -- they have no prospect of succeeding in. the president will not allow the full faith in credit of the united states to be held hostage by this -- by these partisan ideological demands. >> do you also have any update for us on the president's travel to ash ha? if not, can you give us a sense of when you might have word on that? >> i don't have an update. we are evaluating the president's trip in light of the shutdown. you know sort of regularly and daily, and as we have new assessments to provide to you and information to provide to you, we'll do that right away.

as of now, we are where we were, which is that the back end stops have been canceled, but if and when more information becomes available, we'll make it available to you. >> how can the president even be contemplating still going on that trip when things are so uncertain here. >> if speaker of the house allows a vote and allows the majority to speak, the government will reopen right away, and obviously that would affect the way we determine the presidential travel. so it is absolutely the, you know, an important aspect of the presidency that he or any of his successors be able to travel to help find markets for our american goods and find investment here in the united states from our foreign

competitors and partners. so that's what this trip is about and it would be certainly a welcome thing if the speaker were to allow a vote in the house so that a majority of the house, democrats and republicans, could reopen the government. >> there have been reports, just today, that speaker boehner said he won't let the nation default. i'm wondering if that's something he expressed in the meeting last night, if the white house has any comment or takes any insight from these reports? >> well, we provided a readout of the meeting and i've noted in the past that republican leaders have long said that they wouldn't allow a default but they allowed the flirtation with default to occur for the first time in 2011 and consequences were serious for our economy and the middle clas class. in the story you cite, the

speaker said something privately to republican members one of his spokemen was on the record reiterating the same list of demands associated with raising the debt ceiling we've seen in the past. obviously we support the idea that the debt ceiling should be raised without drama or delay. and that government ought to be reopened. at current spending levels. spending levels nobody who understands this stuff would suggest reflect the demands of the president or of democrats. and then we can get about the business of continuing to discuss and debate and negotiate a broader budget deal. and the president has been willing to do that all year long. he has put on the table a budget proposal that proves that willingness and he's had conversations all year long with republican lawmakers who have expressed an interest in finding common ground here in washington on these very important matters.

but that has to happen absent the threat of continued shutdown and absent the threat of default. >> jay carney, white house press secretary, repeating what the president has said, other administration officials have said. they're willing to negotiate a lot of the issues but not within the context of raising the nation's debt ceiling, not within the context right now of getting this federal government back working. we're going to get reaction to what we heard from jay carney from the president. house members, they are reacting seriously to what the president is saying. up next, florida democrat, debbie wasserman schultz, she's the chair of the dnc, i'll ask her the president is doing enough to get the government up and running. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd. ♪ [ male announcer ] the parking lot helps by letting us know who's coming. the carts keep everyone on the right track. the power tools introduce themselves.

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it's happening because of a reckless republican shutdown in washington. >> joinings now, florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, she's also the chair of the democratic national commit q. thanks very much for coming. >> appreciate it. >> a lot of people wonder, why not accept these piecemeal house bills that are passed in the house, they go to the senate, die in the senate? why not fund, for example, children who need clinical trials, clinical work, at nih, they have cancer, why not at least allow this to go forward? >> well, wolf, as you know, i'm a cancer survivor. >> that's why i asked you the question. >> it's hard to care more for cancer survivors. the reason we're doing this in piecemeal, in 15 minutes we have vote on the floor. the republicans can call up the clean cr, we have votes, we know 20 or so of their members are willing to vote for a clean cr,

reopen the government for cancer patients and stop allowing their poo tea party extremist members to hold cancer patients hostage. >> cancer survivor yourself. how difficult was it for you to vote against funding of nih so children could get cancer treatment? >> because i care about cancer survivors, because the affordable care act is critical for cancer survivors. as of january 1st, insurance companies can't drop us or deny us coverage because of preexisting condition. i had a small business owner who posted she was able to get insurance coverage. before she paid $1240 a month when she signed up for obama care on tuesday, her insurance premiums, per month, were cut in half. so if the republicans really care about cancers, patients and cancer survivors, they'll reopen the government, allow trialed to continue, work with us on implementing the affordable care act to make sure peace of mind

is there for all cancer patients. >> there was an exception made for military men and women, they get their paychecks, separate legislation piecemeal, piece of legislation, the house and senate passed, the president signed into law so that men and women in the military would get paychecks on time. that's important. it's very important. you already made one exception. why not make another exception for veterans so they get their benefits, for children with cancer, the district of columbia, all of these piecemeal pieces accept that and continue to fight over obama care? >> we shouldn't be fighting over obama care and we're not going to allow the republicans to hold the economy hostage, shut the government down, over whether or not we're going to implement affordable health care for all american what happens the republicans are trying to do is cherry pick the most painful things, politically for them, they want to cast a shroud over what they've done and the impact that it has on americans when they've closed down the government and we're not going to allow them to have that

release. >> there anything you as lead of the chair of the democratic national committee, anything you could give the speaker, john boehner, so he would allow this clean bill to come up for an up or down vote? is there any concession, anything you're willing to negotiate? >> we -- i said on the appropriations committee, like we always do, we should negotiate over the number of spending. we don't like 988 billion, we think it's much too low, it hurts people, but we'll agree because we're not engaging in my way or the highway politics to their number so we can make sure the government reopens. we won't allow them to use obama care as a ransom for making sure that we can get the government reopened. that is on them. >> you heard the president today say that, as difficult as this government shutdown is, if they don't raise the nation's debt ceiling, it's going to be a disaster for the overall u.s.

economy. >> he's right. >> social security checks are going out now on time but may not go out on time if there's no increase in the debt ceiling. here's the question. you represent south florida, you've got a lot of seniors in your district. anything you're willing to give the republicans on this issue to make sure that social security checks go out on time? >> right now we have seniors all across the country who are able to -- who would normally be able to apply for new social security benefits and can't because the republicans shut the government down. we need to pass a clean, continuing spending resolution, open the government, make sure before two weeks, because that's safer, that we pay our nation's bills, raise the debt ceiling and like we've done for more than 200 year, if there's problems as the affordable care act is implemented, work together. of course there are going to be kinks. greg walden, congressman the chair of the national republican congressional campaign committee, what he said the other day, this week, to donors at a luncheon was what this is

about is the tea party, they said they had to shut the government down because a lot of their members would lose tea party candidates in a primary. that's what this is about for them. >> a lot of members are going to forgo their own paychecks because 800,000 federal workers aren't getting their paychecks. what about you? >> i'm continuing to accept my paycheck because i think everybody in the entire government if you work for the federal government, we should reopen the government and everybody should be paid. where all democrats are for opening the government, republicans refuse to open it, make sure we're coming to work and doing everything we can to let all of the federal employees 800,000 get paychecks. >> once they come back to work, retroactively you'll vote to approve. >> i hope my republican colleagues vote to do the same. >> debbie wasserman schultz. i want to point out, later today on cross fire a special

"crossfire "you'll be in cross fire with rance priebus. debbie wasserman schultz versus rance priebus. >> looking forward to. >> i suspect you'll be from the left, rance from the right. >> thank you. the republican strategy going forward. working piece by piece to try to fund the government. can that hold up under the pressure of moderate republicans and the president? i'll get a different perspective. the republican congressman, a key supporter of the current strategy part of the tea party group of legislators standing by to join us.

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three of government shutdown. that means almost 800,000 federal employees across the country, they are at home, they are not working, not getting paid. national parks like the tall grass prairie national, like the dwight eisenhower presidential library, they are closed. both are part of kansas' first district. joining us discuss what's going on republican congressman tim

huelskamp who represents the first district in kansas. congressman, thanks very much for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> you know there's an easy way to get all of government back operating, just allow up and down vote on a clean bill as they call it, without any strings attached that would pass the house, it would pass the senate, the president would sign it, everything would be back to business as usual within a few hours. why isn't that a good idea? >> i'm not certain that bill would pass and it's certainly not going to be put to a vote with what the house i doing, we need to take care of veterans. we'll pass that later today. we passed a bill to open up parks and historical monuments. we need to take care of the kids that need help through nih and send those over to the senate, the senate so far and the president have said they're not going to negotiate. in america, most places, whether families or businesses, you've got to come to the table and negotiate and that's what we've been trying to do. >> there's an easy way to get

all of those things passed, let it come up for a vote. if there are 20 republicans and all democrats vote in favor, it will pass. by our count, it's getting close to 20, if not more. why do you think it wouldn't pass if if came up for up or down vote? >> i don't see the vote there's in conference for days in a row, not a single republican stood up and asked for that vote. maybe privately they would like that. we have open conferences and debates and there's a solid group of republicans and moderates and conservatives alike and say, you know what? we expect the senate to negotiate. yes, it might beie easier to le president obama have his way on everything but at the end of the day there are crucial differences. we're asking negotiate, sit down at the table and work out differences. >> congressman -- >> have a conference committee. >> there are some republicans congressmen who want that. peter king of new york, you know, him, charlie dent of

pennsylvania, you know him. they say let it come up for a vote. it's already gone too far too many people are suffering right now. let it come up for a vote and see what happens. >> i think there's a lot of suffering going on because of this, because senator reid says he's not going to negotiate. potentially we could have a short-term bill that would open things up but the issue remains, is the president willing to negotiate on anything about obama care? he gave a big exemption to big businesses we think that should apply to all americans. i've been on line for 61 hours signing up for obama care. we can't find a single kansan that signed up for exchanges. we should be able to sit down and negotiate those rather than the president saying it's his way or the highway, north reid says his way or the highway. there's absolutely no compromise, no negotiating coming from the senate and that's a poor way to run the senate and a poor way to run the country. >> just like you have the majority in the house, they have the majority in the senate, so

there's a strong disagreement. the president was very outspoken, as difficult as the current stand-off as far as the government is concerned right now it could get a whole lot worse in two weeks. listen to what the president said earlier today. >> as reckless as a government shutdown is, as many people as being -- as are being hurt by a government shutdown, an economic shutdown that results from default would be dramatically worse. in a government shutdown social security checks still go out on time. in an economic shutdown, if we don't raise the debt ceiling they don't go out on time. >> are you willing to vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling? >> i have done that in the past. but i'm not going to sit by and let the president of the united states threaten to use our senior citizens as pawns. he's using memorials as pawns

and children and cancer research as pawns. at the end of the day, it's a simple way, we'll send bills over but the house democrats voted no on keeping parks open. they voted no on funding cancer research. they're going to vote no on taking care of veterans. the president should quit engaging in political games trying to create pain, trying to scare seniors and actually negotiate. mr. president, you're not a dictator, come to the table, sit down with house republicans, senate democrats, we will negotiate a compromise. >> what will it take for you to vote in favor -- within two weeks in favor of raising the debt ceiling? >> i think we need to look at what is the plan long term for the fiscal condition of this country. simply doing as the president says, which would mean borrowing trillions of more dollars with no plan to pay it back, with no way to balance the budget, he proposed a budge the for five years to the u.s. house and the u.s. senate, it was rejected by everybody, he's done that again.

but at the end of the day we need to put this country on a bath of balance in ten years we could do that if the president joined us at the table. >> in order to raise the debt ceiling you're willing to drop any reference to obama care, is that right? >> i am not. that needs to be discussed. obama care will cost this country, will increase deficits by $870 billion over the next ten years. you can't do that. you can't balance the budget. the president, please, work with us to try to balance this budget and make sure we meet the obligations for our medicare and social security recipients. we can do that, it's possible, but we have to come to the table and negotiate. i'm ready to do that. speaker boehner's ready to do that. we're waiting on harry reid and the president of the united states. >> i'll check the numbers you threw out there. where did you get that number? >> that's from the congressional budget office in terms of their latest estimates of the cost of obama care. it doesn't save money. it's not working at all. it's going to cost us billions of dollars and -- of additional

borrowing in the next ten years. >> you're saying that's a net drain on the u.s. economy, that nearly trillion dollars, that is what you're saying? >> no, i said it was billions of dollars in additional costs and deficits because of obama care. the a massive increase in taxes. i understand what the president did on that. but it's a massive increase in spending and there's not enough money -- it cost us, you know, millions of americans are losing health insurance premiums, health insurance to employers. it's going to blow a hole in our deficit. we have to discuss obama care. the president doesn't think obama care has anything to do with the budget but it has everything to do with the budget and liberties of many americans. it needs to be on the table to be discussed. >> he's willing to discuss it but not in the context of the government shutdown and raising the nation's debt ceiling. plenty of other opportunities down the road. obviously from your perspective, that's not good enough. >> i have not seen a single offer from the president. our final offer to the senate,

you gave an exemption for obama care to big businesses, why don't you give it to the rest of americans as well? while you're at it, mr. president, there shouldn't be a gold plated health care system just for the house, the senate, for you and your appo t appoint appointees. we should live under the same system we put on all merge americans. >> tim huelskamp, thank you for coming. president obama says the government shutdown will end as soon as the house speaker john boehner allows the house to vote on a clean bill to keep the government funded with no strings attached. will the speaker do that? a better question, can he do that? what's going on? life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

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another casualty of the government shutdown, the monthly jobs report. the labor department announced today that due to a lapse of funding it won't be releasing

loiment numbers for september on friday morning. let's take a closer look now how wall street is reacting. stocks fall, the dow down 94 points now. investors are deeply worried that washington remains paralyzed as the u.s. rapidly approaches the deadline within two weeks from today, raising the nation's debt ceiling. president obama today singled out what he cawed extremists in the republican party as the sole cause of the partial government shutdown. >> the problem we've got is that there's one faction of one party in one half of one branch of government that so far has refused to allow that yes or no vote unless they get some massive partisan concessions in exchange for doing what they're supposed to be doing anyway. >> a cnn contributor and washington correspondent for the "new yorker" magazine. why doesn't the speaker simply

allow an up or down vote on the floor of the house of representatives on what's called the clean bill, without references to obama care, anything else, just see what happens? >> well, what folks -- what republicans in the house, both staff and members, are saying, and maybe this is spin because they want to put more pressure on obama, but what they're saying is boehner can't do it because he's three times this year he has put legislation on the floor of the house and legislation passed with the democratic votes and minority of republicans which is no-no when speaker. >> why that is no-no. in the old days it was never no-no. you let majority rule, you get democrats, a bunnen of republicans and that's the will of the house of representatives. >> it's a great question. bipartisan legislation would pass in congress if that rule didn't exist. >> why does everything have to be partisan, passed strictly by republicans? why can't there be bipartisan?

moderate democrats. >> there is immigration reform, probably a bipartisan -- >> what would happen to boehner as speaker, let's say he would allow the legislation to come up for a vote and it narrowly passed with all of the democrats, almost all of -- say almost all, and 20 or 25 republicans supporting it, 200 republicans not supporting it, let's say. what would happen to boehner as speaker? >> if he did it now he would be challenged as speakers. a dozen republicans did not vote for him as speaker. there was a coup attempt against him. back in the '90s he was part of the plot to overthrow newt gingrich. he knows how precarious a speakership can be. >> he has to make a decision, what's good for the country or what's good for him politically. >> i think that's a strong way of putting it but you're right about that. he may have to force the conservative members of the house to feel more pain and for

public opinion to turn against them before they can go with the plan to put it on the floor. now, the other option is, could the president throw him a lifeline in could the president and harry reid, is there some concession they could give him that would allow him to go to his conference and say, we've fought the good fight and we got this. i haven't seen anyone, you know, creative people in the town, i haven't seen anyone explain what that would be. their position is, no negotiations because negotiating over this thing just encourages them for the next time we have to go through this. >> they've got to go through it within two weeks on the debt ceiling. >> though the nuclear stand-off over the cuban missile crisis resolved, how resolved? back channel negotiations. >> where is the back channel. >> obama has to say he didn't negotiate. >> thanks very much for joining us. coming up, the president of the united states versus the speaker of the house. why can't they reach a deal? i'll ask a key aide to the president, one of his top economic advisers, live from the white house. when our little girl was born,

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at fault and only one remedy, calling for an immediate vote in the house of representatives with no strings attached. let's bring in gene sperling, director of the national economic council to the president. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> is there any hope, any daylight that you see as a result of the president's meeting yesterday with the congressional leadership, democrats and republicans? >> well, i think the hope that you're seeing is i think it becomes more and more apparent that there are many republicans, certainly outside of washington, but i think more inside washington, who do want to pult an end to this period. and that's why the president believes and i think most people believe if the speaker of the house were simply to offer a vote that you would have a bipartisan majority voting in favor of opening the government. remember, what majority leader

reid has offered is reasonable. for six weeksering we're willing to continue the government spending at current levels, the levels the republicans want, not the democrats want, for six weeks. so this really is a very reasonable proposal. and the president strongly believes, i strongly believe, most people do, if the speaker just let a vote take place, that the government would open, and that would be good for a lot of people, and for our economy. and then i think, you know, even more important is to at long last take away the idea that anyone is going to threaten the default of the united states. >> i want to get -- >> as a budget tactic. >> i want to get to that in a moment. in the meantime, until he comes around and decides he's going to low the simple vote to come up, if he does, why not allow the funding for critically important agencies like the national institutes of health or here in washington, d.c., why not allow

funding for those agencies to go forward as the president allowed military paychecks to the men and women serving in the military to go forward? >> we want those critical functions to going forward. the way to do that is to open up the government. yes, we care about nih, but how about the center for disease control? they're, you know, 66% of people are not working there. 98% on the national science foundation. so yes, the way to protect these critical functions that the united states does in terms of research and investment and education and caring for our people is to allow a clean vote on the house of representatives. and we don't need any substitute slingshot alternatives. there's a very clean and simple alternative that can open the government. >> if that doesn't happen, gene, the president will veto those piecemeal pieces of legislation? i know he issued that threat yesterday, but is that still his

position? >> i highly doubt that will ever reach his desk because i think the overwhelming strong majority of people understand that there's really only one solution right now. and that is to open the government, at least for six weeks, so people can go back to work, so we can take away the harm that's happening to lots of innocent people, and we can have time to work out a more sensible budget for the rest of the year. >> any talks going on, back channel talks with the speaker to try to work this out? >> well, as you know, the president of the united states melt f met for a while just last night with the leadership, including the speaker of the house. so i think the positions are quite clear. i think what you're starting to hear more and more, wolf, is people who are starting to focus, not just on the shutdown but on the threat of default and what that would do to our economy and the potential body blow that would inflict on middle-class families who have just seen their pensions and their housing values coming

back. and would probably not believe that anyone would possibly threaten a default that would put that type of recovery for our economy but for their own personal situation at risk. and i think there's nothing more important now than to create certainty that there is not going to be a threat of default, and once we extend the debt limit and take away the threat of default, we'll have a stronger economy and you'll also create room for the president and the republicans to start talking again about sensible budget issues or even how to improve and reform the affordable care act. all of those things can take place. but not while we have the threat of default or the threat of shut down being held over the country's head. >> gene sperling, director of the national economic council at the white house. let's hope it gets resolves and resolved quickly bault a lot of people are suffering. if it doesn't get resolved, millions of people will suffer, indeed the whole u.s. economy could suffer.

appreciate it. the president may have one option to avoid a bruising battle over the debt ceiling. it would be highly unusual, sort of controversial. i'm going to tell you what i think it is after the break. life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time. with honest reviews on over 720 local services. keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns.

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♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. the budget battle that's brought the federal government to a screeching halt is about to be followed by an even more

intense about the debt ceiling. october 17th is the deadline for congress to raise the debt limit so the government can pay all its bills. president obama could once again find himself in a faceoff with house republicans, but some are suggesting he could avoid that and raise the debt limit by himself. brian todd has been looking into this question for us. brian, there are some people who have suggested there's a constitution -- here's the constitution. there's a constitutional option he has that could avoid a battle over raising the dent ceiling. >> some people believe he has an option. if he invokes the option, he would be breaking the debt limit law the congress has set, setting a limit on the debt the u.s. can have and the bills it can pay. the one way he can avoid the shutdown is to invoke the part that says the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned. some interpret that as it gives him the ability on his own to

pay the nation's bills. he's got to pay the bills. whatever congress says, he can circumvent that, invoke that section of the constitution, and he's legally okay. some people believe the constitution doesn't go that far and doesn't really give him the authority. senator max baucus of the finance committee, chairman of the finance committee says that's an option that should be seriously considered. jay carney just said they don't want to do that. i think the political price would be very, very heavy for the president if he did that. some house republicans would move to impeach him. there would be a huge political fight if he circumvented these negotiations and went to that amendment, but some are raising that as a possibility, that the constitution gives him maybe an opening to do that. >> he has said himself he doesn't want to do that, but he has said on several occasions using the 14th amendment, i'll read the exact language, the validity of the public debt of the united states state incured

for bounties and suppressing insurrection of rebellion shall not be questioned. >> that was raised after the civil war. >> brian, thanks very much. more coming up later in "the situation room." that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. "newsroom" continues right now with brooke baldwin. wolf blitzer, thank you. i'll take it from here. great to be with you here. i'm brooke baldwin. count with me, day three of cnn's live coverage of the first government shutdown in 17 years. the dow is sinking, the coast preparing for a hurricane. both sides pulling out posterboards of all things. and one of those men you see there, senate majority leader harry reid, republicans' new public enemy number one has a message for house spe j