good afternoon. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. the debt ceiling deadline now just 59 hours away, the shutdown entering its third week. and this means it is crunch time, just two hours from now, president obama and vice president joe biden will meet with the congressional leadership at the white house. attention has shifted to harry reid and the minority leader mitch mcconnell. they have just wrapped up a meeting within the past half hour. reid saying they're getting closer and closer to a deal. minutes ago, president obama said there is some progress on the senate side. we should get the videotape of the president. he's been outside of the white house, any minute now, we're going to bring you his comments as soon as they come in. stand by for that. meanwhile, republican senator bob corker of tennessee says the reid-mcconnell talks under way right now are where a deal is most likely to come from.

>> i think at the end of the day, the culmination needs to be something between mcconnell and reid. and i think that all of the side talks that have occurred have helped create an environment for that to happen. so you know, i think -- i know mitch and harry are talking and i think we're about to get to a place where you know, again, we can move something hopefully off the senate floor that's widely bipartisan. i think it's going to take that to having something move productively on the house side. >> let's get the latest where things stand right now. dana bash is at capitol hill. dana, give us the latest read we're getting on the reid-mcconnell talks. they just wrapped up a little while ago. what are you hearing? >> i'm in the capitol on the third floor and just came from the second floor where the leaders have their offices. some of the democrat who have been meeting in a bipartisan way

to try to find a deal were coming out of harry reid's office and got a briefing on his discussions with mitch mcconnell and they sounded very optimistic. i'm talking about senator amy klobuchar of west virginia, heidi heitkamp of north dakota all saying they feel things are moving in the right direction. heidi heitkamp even saying this is moving at warp speed, she said minute to minute. but the read they got based on the conversation that harry reid and mitch mcconnell had according to them was pretty optimistic. earlier, harry reid had walked out of mitch mcconnell's office and swarmed by reporters including myself. and he also sounded like it's possible that they could be working closer to a deal. he said that maybe they could even get something together by the time the leaders go to the white house, which will be a 3:00 meeting with president obama and the four top leaders. these democratic senators who we

just spoke to moments ago said that doesn't sound like it's possible but perhaps this white house meeting could be the place where they finalize things and work things out. things are happening very rapidly. now, the obvious question is, what are they discussing? my understanding from democratic sources is that harry reid went into the meeting with mitch mcconnell offering broadly to fund the government till close to the end of the year, mid-december, and to extend the debt ceiling for maybe pab six to nine months. we don't know what happened when mitch mcconnell came back to him. that is the key. republicans are trying very hard to get something from this. and just raising the debt ceiling pretty long-term, six to nine months and funding the government through the end of the year from their perspective politically doesn't get them very much. we'll see if there's any give on reid's part. he has been one of the real big drivers of this no negotiation stance. the president has been saying it but harry reid by all accounts

has been really driving this saying we've got to break the fever of republicans trying to use these crisis points to cut spending. we'll see where things stand after these discussions, particularly the high stakes discussions going on right now between these twos key players, mitch mcconnell and harry reid. >> the assumption, dana, i take it is if they can get some legislation passed through the senate and then send it over to the house of representatives, it would put enormous pressure on the speaker john boehner to simply let the already is nsena approved legislation come up for yea or nay and presumably would have the votes needed and to accepted it to the president for his signature. that's the theory, right? >> that is the theory. and that is part of the reason why the hope among senators even republican senators you heard an ordinary bob corker say this, you ran the sound bite a few minutes ago saying that's why they hope they get a big

bipartisan vote in the senate, it will make it easier for baner to bring up the vote that would get bipartisan support. whether that will happen will depend on what mcconnell will be able to extract from harry reid if anything in terms of whether republicans will be able to say we got this. i'm getting waived off of obama care that in this initial deal that they would agree to anything even repealing or delaying that medical device tax that helps pay for obama care. i just was talking to a democratic source who said we're really digging our heels in on this. but they may go to the white house and the president might say we'll give on that. so we'll see. >> we'll see, indeed. let's go to the white house right now. bianna keel ser over there. the day started without anything on the president's public schedule. he's now been out meeting at martha's table, an important group that provides food for hungry people here in

washington. we're going to get the videotape of what he just said momentarily and at 3:00 p.m., he's going to have the meeting with the republican and democratic leadership of the house and senate. the last time around, as you well remember, brianna, that scenario unfolded. there was a deal in the senate, it went to the house. boehner let it come up for a vote. it passed, that fiscal cliff was avoided. the only difference the last type was biden was directly involved with mitch mcconnell. this time harry reid is involved with mitch mcconnell. what do we anticipate happening during the course of today. >> was we speak, president obama has been out making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with youngsters at this food pantry in d.c. to try to highlight some of the effects of the shutdown and to show many of the volunteers at this pantry are furloughed workers, folks who have not been working and using their time for a good cause. i think he's trying to kind of maybe some folks don't always have a ton of sympathy for

government workers but he's certainly trying to show some there, as well. he will took this opportunity to really i think ratchet up a little bit of pressure on the house of representatives. he said there is some progress on the senate side. he said, but he also called the government shutdown completely unnecessary. he acknowledged, as well that there are certainly differences. and he said we stand a good chance, this is not a quote but just sort of broad strokes when he said we stand a good chance of defaulting if there isn't a compromise with republicans. he's trying to kind of outline the stakes here and when he has this meeting this afternoon with the senate and house republican and democratic leaders either it's to kind of push along what's going on in the senate or it is certainly tosh highlight some of the progress or maybe he'll do a little bit of both. it's such a moving target at this point. but we're hearing from the president himself he feels like there is some progress in the

senate. >> you think there's any chance the president would do what he said repeatedly he wouldn't do, but at least allow some symbolic element of obama care to be included in this deal if you will, for example, delaying that tax on medical devices for two years, which is what senator collins and a whole bunch of other democrats and republicans are recommending? >> reporter: right now, wolf, even privately, white house officials, while they say they're open to this idea of the medical devices tax, you know, perhaps in a vacuum, they don't like the dynamic of it being in their feeling sort of held hostage here. so it's not that they're not amenable to discussing that. you have a lot of democrats who don't even like that tax but they don't like that it is a bargaining chip in this atmosphere. so at least at this very moment, it appears that no, that's not likely. but you know and i know that there's a big difference between monday and between wednesday when we're looking at that the october 1th deadline.

things can change very quickly. what three days before a potential default can be a nonstarter, you know, staring down the barrel of a default sometimes that can change. but at this point, the white house insists they don't want to negotiate on that when it's really being sort of held hostage to the idea of a debt ceiling. that's how they see it. in a way it's sort of like extracting ran some and they don't want to negotiate that way. >> we'll stand by to get the videotape of the president's comments on this government shutdown momentarily. beanna, thanks very much. later this hour, i'll also speak with two members of congress, representative scott ridgell of virginia, republican who sayset would vote for a clean budget bill to get the government going again and senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. she's a democrat, heavily involved in these behind the scenes negotiations with democrats and republicans. while all this talking is going on in washington, the voices of the people are growing louder and louder to end the shoutdown.

♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hail >> was that the scene at the world war ii memorial over the weekend in washington. high profile tea party supporters such as sarah palin, ted cruz joined veterans as they rallied against president obama and democrats for their role the ongoing stalemate. >> why did the federal government spend money to erect barricades to keep people out of mt. vernon? why did the federal government spend money top erect barricades to keep people out of mount rushmore? look, our veterans should be above politics. enough games. >> i call upon all of you to wage a second american nonviolent revolutioning to use civil disobedience anton demand

that this president leave town to get out. to put the koran down to get off his knees and come up with his hands up. >> wow. pretty outrageous statement right there. we're going to have more on that part of the story coming up this hour. as you can see, the memorial has become a symbol in the bitter fight between republicans and democrats over the shutdown when the white house press secretary was asked last week who was at fault for the closure of the world war ii memorial, jay carney said it's the republicans. investors meanwhile are weighing in again today on what they think of the debt ceiling talks here in washington. i'll tell you what happened when wall street opened for business today. that's next. (music plays throughout)

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nation's capital. many of them have been volunteers at martha's table over the years. and he wants to make his point and among other things, he wants to make it clear that they need support right now. they need to end this government shutdown. the president then went ahead and he spoke at some length about what's going on. the tape is now coming in of what he said. we're going to play the entire tape for you right now. it sets the stage for what could be a critically important meeting coming up in less than two hours, 3:00 p.m. eastern when the president has invited the republican and democratic leadership over to the white house white house. the senate and house leadership including house speaker john boehner, senate majority leader harry reid all coming over to the white house right now to meet with the president and the vice president at 3:00 p.m. eastern. they've been making some clear progress, but they're not there yet. and as they say in these very, very tense difficult negotiations, there's no deal until there's a deal. you can be 70% of the way there,

80% or 90%, but until you're 100% there and you've reached a deal, then of course, there's no deal. so let's see the exactly what the president had to say when he went to martha's table just now. >> all right, well, the -- the main reason that we're here today is first of all, just to say thank you. we've got some wonderful volunteers here at martha's table. and they do a great job all year round making sure that folks who are in need are able to get you know, the kind of nutritious meals that are so important to families. and so we very much appreciate them and appreciate martha's table. we come here usually every thanksgiving to do great work with the whole family. part of the reason i'm here today is because we've had a lot of volunteer here who are furloughed federal workers. these are folks who have not been paid, in some cases are very eager to be back on the job

but not even allowed to work, yet they're here giving back to the community. i think that shows the kind of spirit that we have among all kinds of federal workers all across the country. people who dedicate their lives to public service, think that what they're doing is important in terms of helping this country and yet find themselves in a situation which because of politics they're not able to do their jobs. now, this week we'll be entering into the third week of a government shutdown that was completely unnecessary. and i'm going to have the opportunity to meet again with the congressional leaders this afternoon. and i am going to once again urge them to open the government and make sure that the united states government is paying its bills. this is fairly simple. and this whole shutdown has been completely unnecessary. keep in mind that the problem is not that the u.s. government has run out of money. the problem is not that our

deficits are going up. our deficits have actually been cut in half since i came into office and are continuing to go down. the problem is not that there's not the opportunity for us to work intelligently to come up with a budget that creates long-term fiscal stability while still investing in growth. the problem is is that we've seen this brinksmanship as a strategy time and time again to try to extract extreme or partisan concessions. and i think the american people have made very clear that's not how we expect washington to do business. there are going to be differences between the parties. there are going to be differences in terms of budget priorities but we don't need to inflict pain on the american people or risk the possibility that america's full faith and credit is damaged just because one side is not getting its way. and you know, not only is it untenable for us to continue the shutdown, this week, if we don't

start making some real progress both in the house and the senate and if republicans aren't willing to set aside some of their partisan concerns in order to do what's right for the country, we stand a good chance of defaulting. and defaulting would have a potentially devastating effect on our economy, sending interest rates shooting up, people whether social security recipients or people with disabilities or small business people who are vendors to government not getting paid on time, we've already had a damaging effect on our economy because of the shutdown. that damage would be greatly magnified if we don't make sure that the government's paying its bills. that has to be decided this week. so my hope is that the kind of spirit that that is shown by all these outstanding volunteers is going to carry over in the meeting with the leadership this afternoon. they can solve this problem today.

and it doesn't mean that the differences between democrats and republicans goes away. that's what elections are for. but between elections we're supposed to be governing and not supposed to be hurting the very people who sent us to represent them. and i hope that that kind of spirit holds true during the course of discussions today and over the next several days. all right? >> reporter: are you confident that you can -- >> good. >> are you confident a deal can be reached >> look, are i think that there is -- there's been some progress on the senate side with republicans recognizing it's not tenable, it's not smart, it's not good for the american people to let america default. there's been some progress in recognizing that we're not going to be able to completely bridge the differences between the parties all at once. and so it doesn't make sense in the meantime to try to use a shutdown or the threat of

default as leverage in negotiations. so that's progress. but obviously, until the details are done, until these folks are back to work, so that they can volunteer on weekends during their free time supposed to when we'd like folks to be on the job, you know, i'm going to be you know continue to push congress as hard as i can. but we'll see if we -- we'll see this afternoon whether this progress is real. i think there has been some progress in the senate. i think house republicans continue to think that somehow, they can extract cop sessions by keeping the government shutdown or by threatening default. and my hope is that a spirit of cooperation will move us forward over the next few hours. all right? thank you, everybody. thank you, guys. >> step back, thank you.

>> wearing a nice green apron. martha's table provides food for a lot of people in the d.c. area, people who are hungry. the president volunteering today and using this moment to underscore once again close but not there yet, not by any means. they still have a lot of work to do and presumably doing more of that work when the president meets with the republican and democratic house and senate leadership at the white house 3:00 p.m. eastern. that will be a critically important meeting even though the president says some progress has been achieved on the senate side between harry reid and mitch mcconnell, there's still work to be done on the house side. we'll see how the house speaker john boehner deals with all of this. we'll get a quick check on markets. we've got a democratic senator amy klobuchar, i'll speak with her. scott ridgell, republican everyone virginia, he's here, as well. much more of the breaking news coverage right after this. [ horn honks ]

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efforts to raise the

country's debt limit reopen the government are clearly intensifying today but still no deal. the debt limit deadline less than 59 hours away. this is day 14. we're starting week three of this partial government shutdown. president obama getting ready to meet in a little while with the bipartisan congressional leadership at the white house, 3:00 p.m. eastern. the senate majority leader harry reid and minority leader mitch mcconnell have wrapped up another meeting in senator mcconnell's office. republican senator bob corker says the focus now is finding a middle of the road solution. >> certainly republicans have been in a place that was not going to lead to success for you know, the last six weeks or so. democrats have been in a place over the last 4 hours that was not going to lead to success because they were overreaching and trying to undo settled law under the budget control act. and i think that thing are back in the middle of the road on the senate side.

and i think there's an opportunity today to brick that to a conclusion and to begin moving something off the senate floor in a bipartisan way. >> let's bring in chief political analyst gloria borger. the key is to get something past the senate so it can go to the house. >> there's the question of what can get through the house. >> if it passes the senate with extensive bipartisan -- a lot of republicans are on board. that will put enormous pressure on baner to let it come up for a vote in the house into it will put pressure on him if he still has the group in the hell no caucus that won't go for it, would he be willing to bring something to the floor that could get less than a majority. >> he did that last time with the fiscal cliff. >> that's right. he has listened to that caucus for a long time now. but i think, wolf, what everybody is looking for here is a figure leaf. everybody right now understands what they're facing. they don't want to deal with the

debt ceiling crisis. and so what the democrats are looking for is some way to the say late now the lock in that second round of automatic spending cuts. maybe there's a way we can deal with that. the republicans are looking for a way to say we need to have some serious entitlement reform, budget negotiations. maybe there's a way to conflate the two of those things so they can say we're going to agree that we have to come up with some spending negotiations and get through the rest of this mess. also, there's a question of just how long this will go on for, do they extend the continuing resolution for six months, for six weeks. you know, that's the big question too. >> a lot of people have been wondering, we've been asking this question for a week. the vice president, his role. john mccain weighed in yesterday. john mccain and joe biden go back many, many years in the u.s. senate. biden spend decades in the

senate. i want to play for you what mccain said. >> i'm hopeful that we will get negotiations. i hope the president will become engaged. maybe we need to get joe biden out of the witness protection program because he has good relationships with -- >> we haven't heard very much from him. >> all right. so pretty cute but it's -- there's an element of truth there because biden has not been very visible. behind the scenes, he'll be in the meeting with the president today but when mccain says get him out of the witness protection program, those are pretty biting words. >> it's very clear biden is not leading any negotiation. there's a reason for that, which is that harry reid, the democratic leader in the senate, does not want joe biden meding any more in the senate. he feels like he did not cut a good deal on the debt ceiling negotiations backing in 2011. reid wants to do it himself.

the only problem reid has is he and mitch mcconnell, the leader of the republicans in the senate don't get along at all. so now you the have 2000 guys trying to come up with a deal that can barely stand to be in the same room with each other because harry reid is working to defeat mitch mcconnell up for re-election in the state of kentucky. mitch mcconnell did the same when reid was up for re-election. they're not really best of friends. >> mitch mcconnell has a tea party challenger challenging him, as well for the republican nomination. gloria, see you later in "the situation room," as well. the senate may be moving closer and closer to a deal to end the shutdown, extend the debt sealing. will it get through the house? we're going to talk with a republican congress mann from virginia, scott ridgell and find out if he's ready to give his stamp of approval. 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct.

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welcome back. the talk here in washington today is about a possible, possible compromise deal being bandied about in the halls of the u.s. senate. 12 senators, six democrats, six republicans met this morning. they have been working on some details of their plan which may be the best hope so far in getting a deal done on the shutdown and raising the debt ceiling. joining us now from capitol hill is virginia republican congressman scott imageal. thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >> what do you think? let's say this passes, some sort of language passes in the senate. got a bunch of republicans on

board, bunch of democrats. it comes to the house of representatives. do you believe your speaker, the speaker of the house, john boehner would let it come up for a vote even if a majority of the republicans are not necessarily on board? a lot of republicans like you would be on board, but if the majority would not on board, the so-called hastert rule, do you think he would let it come up for vote, get the government reopened and avoid any sort of default? >> if it appears that there is no other option whatsoever, that's probably the case, but wolf, let's make it clear here. i'm a fiscal conservative. i'm a ford dealer who came up here a little over two years ago, swinging a big bat to get our fiscal house in order. i'm one of the most conservative members in congress. i did say on the first day of the shutdown we needed to have a clean cr come to the floor because i thought what would happen as this thing unfolded as it has, we would be in quite a quagmire with respect to what we're asking for is republicans. and it's unfortunate i think

that our what we've been advocating for is has been a little bit unclear in the last few days. but what's needed, wolf, is for us to not default. it's for us to fund this government and simultaneously and importantly, get reforms that slow down the rate of growth of mandatory spending. this is equally as important and i really see my democratic colleagues and principally senator reid i just don't see the leadership there. there's real reluctance on his part and commitment and sense of urgency on the part of republicans. i'm proud of ha. >> what if harry reid, would out a deal with mitch mcconnell and they get that kind of compromise you're looking pore? i assume if that were there to pass overwhelmingly in the senate, you and a whole bunch of other republicans would join presumably almost all of the democrats, those 200 democrats and get it passed? >> the key is how long these things are. if we have a short-term cr,

maybe december 15th, it allows us to have our appropriations process move forward. on the debt limit, i think anything beyond june of next year is not wise and here's why. we need that pressure point. i wish we didn't need to have a pressure point from democratic colleagues but we do need one. that would give us the time to advance a longer term solution. what every american has to ask his or her member of congress is this, do you either have a plan that puts america on a better fiscal path or are you supporting one. america first plan to get the - america back on track financially. and look, it may not be the best plan. i think it is. but even if it's not, this place is run off of something i call it we ought to be. we ought to be reforming mandatory spending. i've heard that since i've been here. i'm over with. we need leaders to put out specific definitive plans. >> very quickly, i want to get your quick reaction.

over the weekend, there was a rally over at the lincoln memorial. we heard some outrageous comments front larry klayman of freedom watch. i want to get your reaction. listen to this. >> i call upon all of you to wage a second american nonviolent revolution to use civil disobedience and to demand that this president leave town to get out. to put the quran down, to get up off his knees and to figuratively come out with his hands out -- up. >> when you hear that kind of language, what do you think? >> i have a visceral response to that, and i repudiate it. it doesn't reflect my personal values. my 0-year-old father right now, ike rigell is listening right now and he raised me to say it's always the president, the president of the united states,

we respect the office and that type of language is harmful to our country. and it's what's pulling us apart. civility is not weakness. i refer to the president as the president in my home and my office and in my district. and i think this needs to be done all across america. it's not about an individual. it's about the office, and this is the fabric that holds us together as americans. >> well said. you can can certainly disagree with policies, but you have to respect the president of the united states. he is the president, not only twice elected but the last time by more than 5 million votes of the american people. scott rigell of virginia, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. so are they really making progress on a possible deal? >> he with less than 59 hours to go till america maxes out on its credit line, we're going to speak with senator amy klobuchar of minnesota, part of an elite group after u.s. senators, they're working behind the scenes very aggressively to try to come up with some sort of

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to be a critical if not the most critical day so far in the this government shutdown. the need to the raise the nation's debt ceiling. dana bash is getting new information up on capitol hill. the action clearly on the senate side. what are you learning? >> reporter: we just saw harry reid, the senate democratic leader go back into mitch mcconnell's office. this is at least the second meet they've had today, perhaps more without people even realizing it. that is definitely a good sign. reid himself suggested so going into the office and to the meeting with mitch mcconnell. he said that they're not there yet but they're getting closer. again, this is something he told us earlier, as well. what exactly sort of the final sticking points are? as you can imagine, because this is a very delicate negotiation,

they're holding their cards very close to their vests as to what mitch mcconnell may be trying to demand, but big picture, we know that they started out with harry reid making an offer of extending the continuing resolution or the spending bill to reopen the government to about mid-december. and with regard to the debt ceiling to extending that, raisrais raising it for the next six to nine months. that didn't give mitch mcconnell and the republicans much. of course, he came back with something. we're not sure where things stand. we're hoping to find out more very soon. >> thanks very much, dana. let's bringing in senator amy klobuchar of minnesota, she's one of 12 senators, six democrats, six republicans who have been working very actively behind the scenes to try to come up with some sort of deal. senator, thanks very much for joining us. >> well, thank you, wolf. >> how close are we to a deal,

let's say in the senate, a deal that would unite harry reid and mitch mcconnell? >> well, i think you see with the two leaders meeting, a number of times this morning, talking yesterday, that there are some very productive discussions going on that are very positive. our group called together under the leadership of susan collins has been contributing to those discussions and we're feeling good about this,ing as good as you can feel when we've got the government shutdown and we're creeping up on the day where america actually would be saying to the world, we're not paying our bills. that can't happen. not to the greatest democracy on earth. i think that's what's uniting us. one of the things i like that people are talking about we also have to look at a reasonable time period here where we can negotiate a longer term budget deal. we have passed a budget in the senate. the house has passed a budget deal. and to bring those two budgets and make the very serious

attempt to get a longer term budget so we don't lurch from financial crisis to financial crisis would be the best outcome of all. >> i know senator mansion of west virginia has been part of your group. he released some of the details of what you're talking about. give us a few of the headlines, the main parts of this tentative deal that will hopefully is in the worksing >> senator manchin played a critical role here. i don't think we want to be negotiating on television as alluring as that would be for your viewers. you hit on some of them. we need to open the government again in a time period which also gives us that moment in time with all of this momentum to actually negotiate a longer term budget deal. the second thing is to stretch the debt ceiling date out so we don't have something next month, we're back at this again in terms of putting our stock market into a situation where we could see a sudden downturn.

look what happened in 2011. we haven't reached the day and the dow cropped 2,000 points and we lost over $2 trillion in household wealth. those are very important parts of thist deal for really both political parties and most importantly, for the american people. >> a lot of republicans and crates in the senate, i think more than 70 already on the record wanting to end or at least delay this tax for medical devices as part of the affordable care act. and i guess one of the proposals is now at least to delay it for two years. are you on board for that? >> well, actually, wolf, senator hatch and i have led that effort in the senate. it was our amendment to repeal the medical device tax that was voted on this spring where we were able to get 79 votes, including over 30 democrats to vote for this repeal. again, we're looking for whether or not this is included as, it's in the midst of the discussions.

we don't know that. but one of the things that has been discussed is a two-year delay, and that would allow us to look at this again and figure out whether it should continue and at what level because it it is truly a tax on manufacturing. it an involves a lot of jobs in this country and smacked together at the last minute in the negotiations. that's why a lot of people are interested in looking at it again on a bipartisan basis in the house and the senate. >> i knew you were among those who would like to see it go away, at least delayed. the only question i was trying to get is, are you okay making it part of the deal to reopen the government fully and extend the debt ceilinging? in other words, link that medical tax device issue, medical device tax issue to the current negotiations? >> of course, i am. and i think one of the key things here is we're looking at how that would be paid for and how would we go forward. but it is clearly in the discussions. >> you think the white house is

going to be on board to make that connection? >> that is up to them. the president has you know, addressed this in the past and i guess the discussions are under way. and that is all i can say right now because i have certainly found in the last few weeks, a lot of people talk on tv. what we need to do is to allow them that space to get an negotiated agreement, some common grounden an we' engroundg forward to explaining why it is the best thing for america. >> so much is at stake right now for the whole country right now, especially if that debt ceiling is not raised and raised quickly. senator, hope you'll come back. thanks very much for joining us. >> i look forward to it. thanks, wolf. >> thanks to you and senator collins and all the others who have been working so aggressively behind the scenes to end this current crisis for the united states. >> you've done a tremendous job. >> thank you very much. the dow has been a real barometer of the progress on the debt ceiling deal. zain asher is joining us over at

the new york stock exchange. what's the latest, zain? >> wolf, you know, right here i think there's some sort of blind optimism. everyone knows harry reid and other senators are saying they're getting closer to a deal. we have the white house meeting at 3:00. traders are certainly crossing their fingers. remember it is technically a holiday. banks are closed. the bond market is closed. the number of trade taking place is muted. we're in the green right now. also another thing is that traders i've spoken to downstairs say from what they understand even if october 1th comes and goes, we may not technically run out of money till the end of the money. we know there is some wiggle room. another thing people have been asking me is how do you as an investor handle this degree of uncertainty. the best thing is to avoid panic buy agen selling as we get closer to thursday. in this kind of climate, i think

it's very important that investors think long-term. people are saying if we make it out in one piece, we are likely to see a rally. people are saying the fed>> mar as you're speaking. zain, thank you. we heard from lawmakers. now we want to hear from you. after the break, we're heading to the west coast. we'll hear some californians. what their messages are to washington. an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner

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just heard from senator amy klobuchar, key democratic senator from minnesota working behind the scenes to come up with a deal ending the government shutdown. let's bring in bob corker, the republican senator from tennessee. i know he's been working very aggressively behind the scenes as well. deal or no deal? are we there, senator? >> you know, wolf, i think the outlines of a deal are there. i think some details are being worked out. you know, obviously, the republican side would like to have a shorter debt ceiling increase, and a longer continuing resolution because you lock in those reduced spending levels, democrats would like it in reverse. my guess is those issues will be resolved very soon, and yes, i do think there will be something on the senate floor in the next 24 hours. >> maybe as early as today, you think, if the meeting at the white house goes okay? >> yeah, i'm not sure the meeting at the white house is one that necessarily has a lot

to do with bringing this to a conclusion. but i certainly -- it's always good for leaders to be talking. i think the reid-mcconnell discussions have born some fruit and the offers are being looked at back and forth and hopefully we'll get to a place that's good on the senate side, and wolf, you know, it goes to the house, and i don't think it can yet be visualized what's going to happen there. >> my own gut tells me and correct me if i am wrong, if it does pass, if harry reid and mitch mcconnell can be on the same page and it does pass the senate with 70 or 80 votes, that's going to put enormous pressure on the speaker, john boehner, to at least let it put it up on the floor for a vote. probably almost all of the democrats would vote, and then you would have a deal, the president would sign it, and at least the government shutdown

would end and the debt ceiling would be extended. what's your analysis? >> at the e7bd of the day, you know, wolf, what's happened over the last two months is there's been this defunding effort, which was never realistic. you're not going to have a moment like this to leverage doing away with the central agenda item of the president. it's just not going to happen, so we basically wasted two months and we've been talking about the wrong topic, which is spending and our country's solvency. so what's going to happen, wolf, and i think there will be a frimwork put in place. as you know, january 15th is very, very important. that's the date that the automatic spending cuts kick in again and you go from a $986 billion per year to $967. and i think that's the opportunity we have to get to the mandatory reforms you know we need to put in place, i know,

and everyone up here knows. again, yes, there's a deal to be had here. there is something that could be good for our country. it's just a shame that we have wasted the last two months on the wrong topic, on the wrong page, and finally, over the last 72 hours, have gotten there. but we could have made a lot more progress. there's a lot that this country needs for us to do up here as far as spending reforms and hopefully this framework will be put in place over the next several days to allow us to again do those things that we know have to be done for future generations. >> very quickly, because we're almost out of time, but you're a numbers guy. you point out correctly that the current discretionary spending would go from $986 billion, that's almost a trillion to $967 billion. in the scheme of a trillion, $19 billion cut, explain why that would be such a huge deal. >> well what's happened, wolf, you know this. we have had reductions in spending over the last two years

that we haven't seen since 1955 and 1956. but all of those cuts have come on the discretionary side. people are worried on the military side and also research and development, that we're getting into the quick, if you will. what we haven't done is dealt with the 70% of the budget which as you know is on automatic control. we have no say over that each year. it just keeps growing. that's the part that's taking our country under over time. so again, i think that the fact that we've had these reductions, there are people concerned about the military readiness. i'm concerned about it. i still think, though, if we're not going to reduce spending in any other way, keep sequester, but i think it might be the mechanism now, and maybe this is the time. we've had a lot of dry runs, but maybe this is a time where we finally get some of the mandatory reforms and for what it's worth, the president was discussing that the other day. obviously, there were some

issues he has. senator reid has been talking about that, senator mcconnell, certainly all of us on our side have been talking about it. so maybe we're going to finally get to that place where the mechanism, by the way, wolf, that doesn't shut the country down and doesn't put our country's credit in question. so maybe the sequester is the place. >> and maybe out of this crisis something positive could emerge for the country. let's hope. and see what happens. but as you point out, the next 24 hours, critical indeed. senator corker, thanks very much, as usual, for joining us. good luck to you and everyone trying to end this government shutdown. >> that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." much more then. in the meantime, the news room continues with brooke baldwin right after this. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online

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