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 veterans have tried to visit what's supposed to be the closed memorial. also right now, over at the white house, president obama extends an invitation to congressional leaders. we're expecting to hear more about that at today's white house briefing that's scheduled to start within moments. hello. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we start with president obama. he's getting more involved in the shutdown right now. it's day two, 37 hours in. and the president has asked the leaders of both parties in the house and the senate to come over to the white house later today for a sitdown on the shutdown. dana bash is up on capitol hill. over at the white house, senior white house correspondent jim accost ta is standing by jim, the president says he won't negotiate on some of these critical issues. so this potentially could be a pretty short meeting.

>> potentially it could. wanted to see what happens at 5:30 this afternoon when john boehner, the minority leader nancy pelosi, the minority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell and harry reid are all scheduled to come over to the white house to sit down with the president about the shutdown and the debt ceiling. remember, that is coming up in a little more than two weeks. according to white house officials, the president is going to hold his ground when it comes to a continuing resolution. the president still insisting it be a clean temporary spending bill without these add-ones dealing with obama care. keep in mind, this is a very disciplined white house when it comes to its message on the standoff, on the shutdown. the white house saying earlier this morning that the president would veto any of these piecemeal spending bills coming out of the congress. obviously they probably wouldn't get out of the senate. but at least saying to the house the president would reit toe that. and the president is also

meeting, wolf, keep in mind, with ceos from various big financial institutions around the world, around the united states. they're coming to the white house. they'll be here, they're here right now, as a matter of fact. they'll be coming out of the white house shortly and perhaps we'll get a read on what the president had to say. the president was expected to talk about the shutdown, the effects on the country and this prospect that the nation could go into default. other things that have happened at the white house today, the white house announced earlier this morning that the president has had to shorten his trip to asia that's coming up next week. he's got a couple of summits in asia in bali and brunei. he's going to attend those but he was scheduled to go on to malaysia and the philippines after that. those visits were canceled or postponed as a result of the shutdown. so the white house very much sticking to its position at this point. the president sticking to that position that the shutdown can only be cleared up, can only end if the house does it his way and passes a clean spending bill to get the government back open again, wolf. >> we're hoping to speak with

one of those ceos with whom the president is speaking with right now. we'll get a readout what happened inside the meeting with the president. i taking it boehner, mcconnell, the republican leadership in the house and senate have all accepted the president's invitation to come over 5:30 p.m. eastern for this potentially significant meeting with the president. what's the latest, dana. >> they've accepted the invitation. what they're going to achieve is still very, very questionable. one thing that did occur, harry reid released a letter, this letter he said he sent to john boehner today. the idea that the two of them are sending letters and even speaking, they did speak, is news which that should tell you everything you need to know, that the fact that they're communicating is a new phenomenon. but in it, harry reid talks about the fact that he was very much against the iraq war. but he didn't, as it went on. but he didn't hold up the entire government to make a point that

the iraq war should end and he gave the analogy to republicans and how they feel about obama care. listen to what harry reid said about his conversation this morning with john baner. >> i just finished a telephonic conversation with speaker boehner. my message to him was very simple. we have to stop playing these foolish games that keep coming to us from the other side of the capitol. this is not about him or me. about scoring points for one side or the other or name causing. like the villain of villains. it's about doing the right i think it for the american people. they expect us to act like adults. >> now, in this letter, he proposes that the speaker allow a bill to open the government to fund all aspects of the government. at least temporarily. and then senator reid said he promises he will give the speaker his wish to sit down and have a conference committee to negotiate all aspects of the fiscal issues from tax reform to you name it.

unclear if -- we haven't heard anything back from the speaker on this, but this is not much different from what we have heard when it comes to overtures from the democrats. >> see what happens at that meeting at 5:30 p.m. eastern over at the white house. lots at stake. guy, thanks very much. the fallout from the government shutdown is becoming very clear. the national park service has closed all parks, including national memorials. war veterans were allowed at the world war ii memorial here in washington. as rene marsh shows us, families are dealing with the shock and consequences of their new furloughed status. >> we all are essential. >> day two of the government shutdown. >> fire all congress. >> outrage across the country already reaching a fever pitch. >> we want to work. >> everyone is angry. i mean angry. >> i came here to work today, and i'm not allowed to. i'm not essential. none of us are.

so and i'm doing the walk of shame. >> more than 800,000 federal employees likely taking that same walk or drive. >> this in my hand is the notice of furlough that all employees were given this morning. >> natasha roger is now a furloughed census bureau employee, supporting a 5-year-old daughtering >> what do you tell your daughter i guess at this point? >> she's too young to understand what's going on. i try not to -- you don't understand that finances is going to be a little difficult for mom and dad. >> also in jeopardy, hundreds of patients including children with cancer who will have to wait until after the shutdown to start clinical trials with the national institutes of health. our nation's capitol looking pl more like a ghost town. >> here at the pentagon, a lot of empty hallways. defense secretary chuck hagel says he's got the authority to bring back thousands of furloughed civilian workers who support the troops doing

everything from purchasing the weapons to helping them with housing. and key house republicans agree. now the question, will the white house sign off? >> a question these world war ii veterans aren't waiting to be answered despite the government shutdown, these veterans didn't let their patriotism get shutout. ♪ moving past the barricades to their marching song, these vets, some in wheelchairs, kept their plans of visiting the world war ii memorial on tuesday. meanwhile, thousands of preschoolers are at home instead of in classrooms. >> i'm in a classroom at the head start center in brooksville, florida, where 135 children from low income families are provided with education, nutrition and even health care their families got in notification today because of the government shutdown, this facility is going to be closed as of friday.

>> doors are potentially closing at service academy stadium, the army, navy, air force and coast guard suspending their football games this weekend if the government is still shutdown. an extended shutdown could jeopardize two notre dame football games and affect the team's chances of making it to a bowl game. >> and rene marsh is joining me now. these clinical trials, lots of these young kids have cancer, they were going to go in for clinical trials at nih. i know you're heading up there. this sounds crazy to me that life and death situations like this are being put on hold. >> yeah, you know, the case of the national institutes of health 75% of their staff furloughed. so what does that mean? it means hundreds of patients that come and apply for these clinical trials every week, they have to put them on hold. they're not able to take in any new patients. as you mentioned, that includes children with cancer. however they say in cases of

medical emergencies, some exceptions will be made. but again, with 75% of their staff furloughed, they can only do but oech. we do know on capitol hill house republicans do plan on introducing a bill that would fund nih. but of course, once it passes the house, it has to move on to the senate. >> by definition, if a child has cancer, that's a medical emergency and they've got to deal with that right away. rene, thanks very much. it's only october 2nd. even if the shutdown is resolved today, we're still -- we still need to look forward to mid-october when the government hits what's called the debt ceiling. on that note, a new poll indicates most americans believe it would be a bad thing for the country if the ceiling is not raised. 56% think it would be a bad thing. 38% think it would be a good thing. we asked if the debt ceilinging is not raised, who would be responsible.

53. ers wos blame republicans, 31% point the finger at president obama. 10 percent say both would be responsible. the centerpiece of obama air care is up and running after an initial rocky debut. heavy online traffic caused some -- overwhelmed the signup website. how are the health exchange web sites performing on this be? day two. get ready. we'll tell you. fps [ horns honk ] ...you want a truck that helps keep the outside out. [ horns honk ] chevy silverado delivers a quiet cabin that's second to nobody in its class. and by nobody, i mean ram and ford. put silverado to the test at the silverado vs. all event. [ male announcer ] just announced, trade up to the all-new silverado all star with $3,250 total value. see your local chevy dealer today.

you're history. selsun blue itchy dry scalp. gets to the root of dandruff and hydrates the scalp. selsun blue itchy dry scalp. . so president obama will not, repeat not be traveling to malaysia and the philippines next week after all because of the government shutdown, the white house announced today the president informed the leaders of both countries he won't be coming for now. he's got to reschedule a personal visit there. secretary of state john kerry will go in his place. president says he will attend a separate summit in indonesia. he's still committed to visiting malaysia and the philippines at eight later date. the president will hold a meeting with the congressional leadership. let's bring in senior political analyst ron brownstein. what's taking so long? why hasn't the president invited

these republican and democratic house and senate leaders over before to shake things up and say i'm the president. we've got to fix this, you're not leaning the room till we resolve this. >> i think the white house believes correctly this is a critical moment to try to break this cycle of confrontation and crisis. look, if you go back through american history at any given moment, the two parties disagreed about dozens of issues. and the idea that you would defund the government to try to leverage a resolution of one of those issues is, you know, a very kind of confrontational motion. i think they feel if they in effect give anything on this, you're basically inviting the behavior again. oh while the president i think has an obligation to try to sig that will he's willing to open to broader negotiations on the budget and other issues not necessarily in the context of this standoff. >> if he's not willing to make any concessions whether to keep the government, make sure the government reopens or to raise

the debt ceiling, he's got to the give the republicans at least something symbolic to back down. don't you think? >> you know, i think they view it very much the opposite. i think the senate democrats view this the sam way. if you give anything that the republicans are talking about extending the debt ceiling or government funding only for rel tubally short periods. if you give anything, you doing this again either next - month or next year. now, separate from that, i mean clearly there is a desire in the country to see the two parties find some long-term fiscal solution, the kind of grand bargain we talked about in the past seems remote right now. it would seem appropriate for the president to argue for reopening conversations on that front. but in the context of negotiating while the government is shutdown or you have the prospect of a default, giving anything might increase the odds we're doing this again in a matter of weeks ar months. >> can't they come up with a formula, creative diplomacy, no negotiations, no concessions on part of the president. you have to reopen the

government, raise the debt ceiling, there's no concessions i'm making but separately you come up with some language, some agreements, if you will, they will take up some of these measures maybe to delay some aspects of the tax part of obama care or the keystone pipeline? stuff like that that the republicans want, you come up with a separate venue whereby both sides say they didn't budge. >> it would seem that would be one potential way out particularly on the budget, to restart negotiations which the white house certainly i think would not object to. that would seem to me a logical way, to kind of think about the end of the cuban missile crisis where the missiles came out of turkey at the end. it was not part of the direct negotiation but precipitated by it. you could imagine something like that. this is a critical moment within -- we have been through these confrontations before. all indications we'll be through them again partly because more republicans are in safe districts are more insulated against backlash.

so i think the white house and senate democrats correctly believe unless they break the cycle, they are going to be doing this again. >> ron brownstein, thanks very much. we're standing by to see what happens at that 5:30 meeting today. i'm an optimist. i'm hoping they work something out, creative diplomacy as i said. so it's day two of the government shutdown. obama care enrollment. what's going on on that front? yesterday lots of people who wanted to sign up for the health care exchange were greeted with an error message. we'll check to see how it's doing today. antix helped me do . i told my doctor i think i'm... i'm ready. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. i knew that i could smoke for the first 7 days. i knew that i wasn't putting nicotine back into my body to try to quit. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix.

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americans who had initially had some trouble signing up for the health insurance under the affordable care act will be trying again today. they already are. computer problems prevented thousands of people from logging onto the health exchange web sites when they first rolled out yesterday. dr. sanjay gupta is traveling around the country on the cnn express learning how federal and state run health exchanges.

sanjay is joining us today from lexington, kentucky. sanjay, have the initial computer problems been ironed out? are people better able to log on today? >> it seems so, wolf. en and i will point out here in kentucky, as compared to where we were in south carolina yesterday, they had a better start to things, as well. just on day one. and south carolina, we talked to hundreds of people and could not find somebody who said they had successfully been able to sign on yesterday. here in kentucky, they had about 2900 people sign on yesterday. i just talked to the governor a few minutes ago. the governor of the state. he said the problems have, quote unquote, been fixed. it was due to high volume as a lot of people suspected. but they've been filmed here in kentucky. it seems like the problem at least in this state is better. it's worth pointing out again something you've been saying. it's day two. open enrollment is six months long. so the people who have been having trouble still have a lot

of shots of getting on within the next few months. >> how does this program, the affordable care act affect people who already have health insurance through their employers? >> well, for the most part, i think what you say is that people who already have health care insurance, no the a lot is going to change for them. there's probably going to be premium increases for most people who already have their insurance. that was already expected. that was something we've been seeing over the last several years. on one hand, you do have increased what you call insurance regulation. so your insurance plans they must now spend close to 85 cents to 90 cents out of every dollar on health care. and also, the caps, these annual caps in terms of what insurance can pay for a lifetime caps, those go away. so there's some benefits for everybody who has insurance. on the other hand, there have been large companies including some like delta, like home depot like u.s. that have made changes

with regard to health care overall. u.p.s. has a big distribution center here in kentucky and they have made this decision to basically say if spouses have insurance that they can get elsewhere, this he should go ahead and do that. let me point out something. kentucky is a divided state. a democratic governor. you have two very high profile senators, senator paul, senator mcconnell, the senators of this state. they don't agree on this. i sat down with the governor and asked him about that just a short time ago. >> i'd say to them what i think every kentuckian would say to them and what every american would say to their congressmen or senators is quit acting like a bunch of 9-year-olds in the cafeteria with a food fight going on. act like adults. >> pretty strong words there, wolf. i don't know if you've had a chance to interview governor beshear before. he's been pounding the pavement about getting people signed up for the affordable care act and he had more strong words than

that even for senators paul and mcconnell. >> the two senators from his state of kentucky. sanjay, thanks very much. we learn something from you reporting every single time you're here. thank you. tomorrow, by the way, sanjay will head to baltimore, maryland, and go inside an affordable care act call center and hear the questions americans are asking about insurance coverage and cost. tomorrow here in the "newsroom." deciding which agencies are essential, republicans offer an alternative, proposing to fund one agency at a time. but is that really the best plan of attack. >> i'll ask the florida republican congressman mario diaz-balart about that and the president' invitation on this, come over to the white house. let's talk. pepcid® presents: the burns family bbq. guys, you took tums® a couple hours ago. why keep taking it if you know your heartburn keeps coming back? that's how it works. you take some tums®. if heartburn comes back, you take some more. that doesn't make any sense. it makes plenty of sense if you don't think about it! really, honey, why can't you just deal with it like everybody else?

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it's day two of the government shutdown. now there's a little glimmer, a tiny glimmer of hope.

maybe they can work things out. president obama has invited congressional leaders over to the white house later today, 5:30 p.m. eastern for a major meeting. republicans john boehner and mitch mcconnell, democrats harry reid, nancy pelosi, they've all accepted his invitation. senator reid also says he spoke to the speaker, john boehner on the phone, sent him a litter about republican tactics in this showdown standoff. let's not forget though, day two of the shutdown means the economy of the united states has taken an estimated $400 million hit hit already. that's the cost in lost wages for all the furloughed federal workers and a lot of other related economic losses. that doesn't take into account lost productivity, lost investment. a billion dollar week manmade disaster. this is not a natural disaster like a hurricane. this is a manmade disaster could cost the u.s. economy a billion dollars a week at a minimum if it goes on. joining us now is the florida

republican congressman mario diaz-balart. thanks very much for coming in, congress man. >> my pleasure, wolf. what do you think? do you think the meeting the president scheduled with the speaker, the minority leader in the senate, is there a possibility that have they get into i an room and they just talk and talk and talk and don't leave until they've worked this out? is that possible? >> what i'm hoping comes out of this meeting is a path forward, wolf. what we've had to this point is people talking at each other, not to each other. and you know, you just don't solve problems that way. i'm hoping this is not just a photo op, not to say you're doing something. i'm hoping what comes out of this meeting is, what's the process, what do we have to do to start talking to start negotiating? all of us are to blame. the entire federal government is to blame here. i think the republicans in the house, we have to take our portion of the blame. and the president has to take his portion of the blame and the

senate has to take its portion of the blame. what's important is are we willing to now lower the rhetoric, stop accusing people if you will did this, you did that, lower the rhetoric and let's start talking, let's start negotiating if we can move that, if we can start that process and then we can get out of this thing and we can get out of this thing relatively soon. >> i got a lot of tweets. i asked my followers on twitter to offer suggested questions. many want to know, will you accept your paycheck as 800,000 other federal workers are being denied theirs? >> will you accept what? i'm sorry. >> your paycheck. >> accept my paycheck. >> will you accept your paycheck while almost 8 had un,000 other federal workers are being denied their paychecks? >> a couple things. i know you said that obviously, i hope, i hope that when this is over and i hope it's over soon and all it takes is for everybody to talk to each other. that's what i hope will happen. i'm hoping also we will be able to make whole those folks who

through no fault of their own, they're getting hurt. there's a bit of a constitutional issue, by the way, as you know when you're dealing with the paychecks of members of congress. so the important thing here is this. will we and can we solve this. yes. i think it's not time to, again, draw lines in the sand. no red lines in the sand. it's time to just lower the rhetoric, not come up with gimmicks or with ways to point fingers. it's time to now talk, not at each other, with each other if we do that, wolf, we will get out of this. it will have a very minimal impact on the economy, on the country, on services. in order to do that, i this i we have to start focusing on the real issues, on the big issues, the big issue, wolf, is -- >> do you think they should lump together reopening of the government and raising the debt ceiling because that has to be raised by october 17th, as you know? if they don't, the economic

consequences of that would be horrendous on the u.s. global economy, maybe the global economy, some economists predicting it could drive this economy back into recession. should they make a deal on everything right now? >> first place, i hope we solve this before we get to the deadline of the debt ceiling. could there be a deal on everything? absolutely. but what is lacking right now is communications. the house, again, i'm not going to get into blaming. i think we're way beyond that. the house has established a process. we have a conference committee ready to meet. it requires the president, by the way, has been clear he will not negotiate with the house, which i think is, you know, is frankly not productive. the president of the united states must lead and he must negotiate. the house needs to lower the rhetoric. the senate needs to lower the rhetoric. if we do that and focus on the real issues, not on the peripheral issues that are good sound bites on the real issues, how do we move forward, we can get there. i hope we do it before the debt

ceiling. could it be part of an overall deal? absolutely it could. but i just hope we do this the sooner the better for the sake of the country. also, by the way, just the visual of the world seeing ta we're closed down is not something that i think is positive. >> it's a horrible situation. very quickly because we're out of time, if they reopen the government, you will vote to make sure that all those 800,000 workers retro actively get the pay they lost? >> i absolutely would. you know, it's -- they didn't make this decision. they want to be working. and i don't think that they should solely be the ones that suffer the consequences for this shutdown. i would vote for that. >> would you vote for a clean continuing resolution just to end this once and for all without any attachments to obama care, without any other attachments, just get everybody back 0 work right away. >> wolf, i think it's a very valid questions. these negotiations should not be done out in the press with all due respect. these negotiations have to be

done with. ex-of congress and the president speaking. i'm not drawing any red lines what i will or will not support. the important thing is start the conversations in the house. we're ready to do that. i'm hopeful that we're seeing that the president and the senate is willing to do the same thing. >> representative mario diaz-balart, thanks very much for coming in. >> always a pleasure. >> are hundreds ofs to yous of workers now furloughed and the shutdown a reality, let me show you how some of the numbers are adding up. they're pretty remarkable. while those workers are off the job, the average pay collect this had week by a member of congress is $3,346. congress's reputation isn't doing very well right now. the approval rating hovering only around 10%. that's lower by the way, than richard nixon's rating when he left office. even brussells sprouts and root canals get a higher rating thank congress for now. there's a big birthday this weeking that pretty much won't get celebrated.

nasa turns 5. there won't be anyone to eat the cake since almost all of its employees have been furloughed. the agency has a launch of a mars probe scheduled for next month. finally, the treasury department is about to run out of money. there's only enough to pay the nation's bills for another 15 days. then it's broke. that debt ceiling needs to be raises. many of you are telling us exactly what you think about the shutdown in your messages to washington are not pretty. some of them coming up next.

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the president has just wrapped up a meeting with major ceos of bill business, wall street leaders. jay carney briefing reporters right now. >> and i hope you took note of what was said. furthermore, the president will meet with the four leaders of congress at 5:30 p.m. today in the oval office with the vice president. the secretary of the treasury, jack lieu, will in that meeting brief leaders on what were the impacts of the threat of default in 2011 and the economic imperative for congress to act to raise the debt ceiling without the threat of default and without delay and drama shortly. with that, i'll take your questions. >> any coverage on that? >> it's a meeting with the leaders.

>> no photo op? >> i don't have anything for you on that. >> thanks, jay. the media today, is that something we should be looking at as a negotiation on the government shutdown or is this more about the president gathering these leaders in the oval office to just tell them what we've heard from him publicly for the past few days? >> i think i can answer your question this way. a negotiation in the washington sense traditionally implies give and take, tradeoffs, demands, you know, if you give me this, i'll take that. i'll give you that. the president's approach from the beginning in this is that he's asking for nothing. nothing from republicans. he is attaching zero demands to the general proposition that congress should simply open the government. keep it open. he's asking for nothing.

he is making no demands. he is attaching no partisan strings. to his request that congress fulfill its responsibility to insewer that the united states does not default on its obligations for the first time in our long history. so in that sense, no, the president is not going to sit down and start asking for puts and takes. he's not going to engage in that kind of negotiation because he does not want to hold or have held the openness of the government, the functioning of the government or the world and american economy hostage to a series of demands. you know, what the president is asking the congress to do, what the president is asking republicans in the house to do

is quite literally the least they could do. he is asking them to extend funding at the levels set in the previous fiscal year to keep the government open. that's the least they could do. and the speaker of the house should hold a vote on that proposition. and see what happens. if he's convinced that a majority that all of his republicans in his conference will vote no to opening the government, to a clean cr in washington speak to just a bill that opens the government and funds it at the levels it has been funded for the previous year, then we'll see what we do then. but my guess is, and the estimation of numerous observers and members of congress of the republican party is that if john

boehner, the speaker of the house who has this power alone put on the floor of the house a bill to fund the government to open it up without partisan strings attached, it would pass overwhelmingly. i think you know that's true. i think every member of congress knows it's true. and it reflects the simple fact that unfortunately, the speaker won't do that because he is responding to the demands of one faction of one party in one house of one branch of government. and everyone is paying the price of that decision. >> so that position of the president is pretty well-known at this point. so if he's not budging off of that what's the purpose of having the congressional leaders here? >> look, the president's said and he is true to his word that he would be having conversations with the leaders of the congress about the essential need to keep

the government open or now in this case, to reopen the government and to insure that we do not default. and he will have that conversation. and you know, look, we all realize, has put then ares, they've gotten themselves in a box here in the house and it's put them in a difficult position and they're under a lot of pressure, a lot of it applied by republicans, and there's a simple way out. do the democratic thing. pass a bill. see if it can win a majority. put a bill on the floor, see if the majority votes yes. be surprised and delighted by the fact that a number of your own republicans would vote yes. by some estimates, quite a number of them. take that as a win. and move on. and then we can insure that the government doesn't, rather that the economy doesn't default, the united states doesn't default. we raise the debt ceilinging in an orderly fashion without drama

and delay. and they can go about debating and discussing our budget priorities. how do we fund the government in the way that assures that our economy continues to grow, that the -- the jobs that have been created thus far in this recovery 7.5 million private sector jobs are added to as quickly as possible with more private sector jobs. and you know, put to votes, you know, different propositions about how we should do that. have negotiations, discussions, put it to a vote. but do not -- i mean it is profoundly undemocratic for you know one faction of one party to say i didn't get what i wanted through the normal legislative process. i didn't get what i wanted through the supreme court. i didn't get what i wanted when the american people nationally voted. and so i will therefore hold the

government hostage and the economy hostage in order to achieve my aims. i don't think that's good for our democracy and it's certainly not good for our economy. i think you heard lloyd blankfein, he's the head of the financial services forum. you know, say you cannot use u.s. obligations to repay its debt as a cudgel. and there's a consensus. this is again quoing had imbased on reports i've seen, i was not out at the stakeout, but there's a con sense we shouldn't do anything to hurt the recovery. that's a consensus among ceos who might not otherwise all agree politically with the president because this isn't about -- shouldn't be about partisan politics. we keep the government open, we pay our bills. >> move onto the asia trip. >> come on, i was just getting started. >> you'll have the opportunity,

i'm sure. the cancellation of the two stops was presented as sort of a logistical decision. i'm wondering if there's any concern about the optics of having the president be abroad during a shutdown and when the final an decision on the indonesia and brunei needs to be made by. >> you're right that it was a logistical decision related to the shutdown. it was because of where assets were and people were and the fact they had not been deployed to those two countries which were scheduled to be at the back end of the trip. therefore, because of the shutdown it made it logistic little necessary to cancel those two stops. we had assets and personnel in the first two countries and as of now, we are continuing to intend -- intend to have the president make those -- you know, make ta trip because it is important. >> make that trip whether or not the government is shutdown on saturday? >> again, i'm not going to spin ahead to saturday and we'll

obviously evaluate this as each day goes by. you know, if the speaker were to do what i just talked about, the government would be up and running by dinnertime. so -- so there remains the opportunity here for that hypothetical to be moot. and we hope that it is because you know, it's an important responsibility of a president to travel and conduct foreign policy to conduct discussions about economic growth and investment in the united states in our economy that creates jobs. you know, the two summits that are taking place in indonesia and brunei offer opportunities both economic opportunities and security opportunities to the united states. and that's why a trip like had for any president is useful and important to the american economy and the american people. so i can't give you an predictin

what things will look like saturday except to say that i hope, you know, the majority has an opportunity to speak in the house of representatives. >> the white house press secretary jay carney repeating so much of what we have heard from the administration over the past few days. it's up to the house of representatives. the republican leadership to simply allow an up or down vote on what's called a clean bill without any attachments, without any references to obama care to come up for a vote to get the government back operating and this shutdown, the president getting ready for his very important meeting later today, 5:30 p.m. eastern over at the white house. he's invited the republican and democratic leadership of the house and senate, including the house speaker, of course, john boehner. we'll see what emerges from that meeting and have extensive coverage later in t"the situatin roo room". let's see if they can resolve

this matter. meanwhile, people all over the country are outraged about the shutdown. they want to deliver a message to washington. ted rowlands is on the road for us. he's listening to these folks. you're joining >> well, wolf, yesterday, we were in chicago. today, we're out in the suburbs in naperville, illinois. this is a community tat leans a little to the right, and guess what. people here like all across the country have very strong opinions and messagefor washington. morning commuters outside chicago have a lot to say to lawmakers about the government shutdown. >> grow up. you're there for a bigger purpose. >> it's games they're playing. i would say get beyond it, get over it, and then think about the people, you know, that they're hurting. >> while there's universal disgust for both parties, many republicans we talked to are concerned their party will end up taking a hit. >> i think the republicans will get a lot of blame for it,

unfortunately, i don't think it's their fault, there's plenty of plame to go around, but they'll get most of the blame. >> what would you say to the president and harry reid? >> let's get off this my way or the highway stuff. let's compromise, figure out what piece s we can make work, what pieces we can't make work and adjust. >> some thing it's up to president obama to break the gridlock. >> i think he should step in and do something, absolutely. don't worry about obama care and whatever. do something now for the people struggling in america. >> some actually think a shutdown isn't so bad. >> i don't have a problem with it. i don't want to see the government default on its debt, but if the government is not doing something, it's pretty a good thing. >> are you worried the shutdown is going to hurt the party? >> no, i'm very much in favor of what they're doing, frankly. as you can see, the world isn't coming to an end because the federal government shut down.

>> bottom line, wolf, wherever you go, i think around the country, it's safe to say, democrat, republican, independent, people are frustrated with the inactivity in washington and the mess that they have created with the shutdown. >> thanks very much. so after all you have heard about the government shutdown, what is your message to washington? you know what? make a video for us. send it to ireport.com. ireport.com, as the shutdown continues, we may share your views right here on cnn. >> you don't want to spoil your appetite too much, but the people you count on to keep your families save from disease and poison, many no longer on the job right now. for that, you can thank the government shutdown. brian todd is joining us next with information you need to know about the suspension of the fda few inspection program. i'm only in my 60's.

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help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. shutdown could soon impact your family's dinner table. the food and drug administration has furloughed almost all of its food inspectors, calling them, quote, nonessential. brian todd has been looking into this for us. what is going on? >> wolf, you talk about the imentd pact on everyday americans on this government shutdown. how about the food on your grocery store shelves. the fda, i spoke to an fda official who said we have been hit very hard on this, especially on the food inspection side. bottom line is a lot of the

inspectors who inspect your eggs, fruits and vegetables, seafood, have been furloughed. not all of them but a lot of them. the risk of food producers, farms, others, cutting corners not having someone to make them be vigilant about the sanitation of their food, that's going to be going away in this government shutdown, so the risk of an outbreak of food borne illness will go up and is going to continue to go up as long as the shutdown is in effect. the fda saying they're unable to support the majority of the food safety activities in the shutdown. not all have been furloughed and state-run inspectors are still on the job. they're still working, so not every food inspector is furloughed, but a lot are so the risk of food-bourn illnesses are going to go up as long as they're furloughed. i don't know why they're considered nonessential and others are not. >> the department of agriculture is in charge of meat inspection.

are they considered essential or nonessential? >> whatever they are considered, they're still on the job. they'll be functioning normally in the shutdown, but again, our fruits and vegetables, seafood, eggs, they may be slipping through the cracks and they're not inspecting a lot of the imports that come in from overseas. 80% of america's seafood comes from overseas so a lot of the seafood is not being inspected. they'll try to get to some of it at the ports, but a lot overseas will not be inspected before it gets to the united states. >> i know you'll be doing investigating and more in "the situation room" later today. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." lots more news coming up then. "newsroom" continues right after this with brooke baldwin. humans. sometimes, life trips us up. sometimes, we trip ourselves up.

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