not perfect but the greatest in the world, while the government employees may get their paychecks, these businesses might not be there. if they miss payroll or default, they are gone. market sees that this group of irresponsible individuals is not only holding the government of the united states hostage, all businesses that are partners with the government which are of all sizes and shapes, but then they seem willing in their comments to hold the economy of the united states hostage. that will cause havoc on every business in america, every family in america. their credit ratings will go down and it is hard to even contemplate. heidi, i don't know if you want to add to that.

>> just the point that as bad as what this is, if we can't figure out how to solve and increase the debt limit, that is going to have catastrophic results. we need to start talking about those catastrophic results. far too many people in the american public think this is about increasing the ability to spend money. instead of the responsibility that we have to pay our debt. treasuries are held on balance sheets because they have always been backed by the full credit of the united states of america. what happens when we violate that trust? what happens to that? for all of business, for the entire economic structure, this is not a game. that is the point we are trying to get across. this has incredible impact on a fragile and hopefully growing economy that we cannot let this continue.

we have got to solve this problem. the quickest way is not picking winners and losers but funding the government for the time period, getting to work on the tough issues. stop playing games with the american economy. and more important, with the lives of american people. >> [inaudible] should leader reid bring those standalone devotes to the floor? >> that is leader reid's decision. the key is for the house to pass the resolution to open the government. this cannot be done by a piecemeal and should not be done by piecemeal. what part is more important than the next?

many of us could argue while those might be important issues, what is more important than the millions of small businesses who undergird the entire economy of the unit is dates? -- the united states? the tea party has to understand that they cannot hold government and private partners which are many, from big companies like boeing and lockheed, two small companies, hostage over their inability to get a law that they don't like amended. this has hardly ever been done before in the history of the united states. it cannot be done. they have to open the government. when the government is open, we can get back to work and get to the negotiating table over those issues about how much we should spend on our troops, how much we should spend on domestic, how much we should spend on intelligence, etc. those games, those gimmicks are not going to work. the only thing that the house

can do is open the government, pass the resolution -- their budget numbers, say yes to their own budget number, get the government back open again and then we can all get to a negotiating table and put everything on the table. we can put everything on the table. that is what we need to do. >> [inaudible] >> i don't think that all the republicans are going along with this. many of them are being quiet until they hear from their constituents.

every day that this goes on, they are hearing from their constituents and it is my hope, my hope that many brave men and women in the republican party will stand up and close this tea party down. it is not a party. in the real tea party, they threw tea overboard. in the real historic one. today, they are throwing small businesses overboard. by the boatload. they are throwing people overboard. they are throwing their own neighbors overboard. they are throwing their communities overboard. this hostage taking of the government and our private sector partners is unparalleled action, unprecedented. it has got to stop. >> [inaudible] >> i am not surprised but i remain hopeful because i know many of these men and women personally. i have the deepest respect for many of them. i think hopefully in the next

day or two, you will hear more voices joining senator mccain, senator graham, senator corker, representative king, who have tried to speak the truth. they have been quieted by their party for now but hopefully, they will continue to provide really good leadership. >> [inaudible] >> i don't think negotiating with that kind is a good thing to do. their own people should never be held hostage. we have to get back to the work of government. open government, let the private sector get back to work, get to the negotiating table. that is what we're going to do. thank you. >> in a news briefing, senate

majority harry reid called on house speaker john boehner two and the shutdown by bringing up a spending bill for a vote. he also looks ahead to the race of the federal debt ceiling. this is a half-hour.

>> we have a very simple message today for speaker banner. let the house stop those irresponsible record gains and react to the government. he single-handedly is keeping the government shut. some recent stories have even suggested that the speaker is keeping the government shutdown because experience. if that is true, i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings. but we shouldn't take it out on hundreds of thousands of americans who are out of work. they are really suffering. i can only imagine what leaders around the world must think. i met yesterday -- very briefly i had to go to the white house

to spend time with the greek prime minister. i had talked to him on the phone before. i was kind of embarrassed. the greek government is having a lot of problems and going on about our problems? we shouldn't be a dysfunctional government. there is no reason to be other than one man and that is speaker boehner. we can't perform the most basic functions of government because he doesn't have the courage to stand up to that small band of anarchists. i know that is not the path that he prefers. i know that because we met the first week we came back in september and he told me what he wanted is a clean cr. we said this before, we didn't like the 988 number. but we negotiated. that was our compromise.

the exact bill that he now -- that was our negotiation. i didn't twist his arm. he twisted mine a little bit. it is not a number that patty murray liked. it wasn't her budget number. that was our compromise. he refused to let his own party vote because he is afraid to stand up to something he originally agreed to. who is stopping him from having this vote? a very small band of people. what do they want. we are not going to be disrespected. i said on the floor this morning that if i disrespected marlon, i am sorry. i am not going to be disrespected. we have to get something out of this. this is where the speaker is. i don't know what that even is. that is what we are dealing with.

all they have to do is let the house work its will. clean cr would pass the house. there is no doubt about that. >> if this will help, i want to join with the majority leader in apologizing for anything i said that may have disrespected congressman marlin. i haven't met him but if i said anything, i want to apologize and i hope that he will take it to heart and reopen the government. maybe he should consider apologizing to 800,000 furloughed federal workers. a fourth of them are disabled. they are out of work. they won't call on the floor of the house of representatives, a continuing resolution that would put the government in business. talk about disrespect. that to me is inexcusable.

it is one thing to show your courage by making personal sacrifice. it takes no courage to take it out on an innocent person, in this case, 800,000 people. one of my colleagues is going to make an announcement today that some major defense contractor in his state has announced the layoff because of the government shutdown. 4000 employees because of the government shutdown. it will affect two major states. talk about the impact of this on innocent people. this is totally unnecessary and totally unforgivable. it is not about the dollar amount as senator reid has said. we took their dollar amount. that is what senator murray and the rest of us agreed to. we have agreed to compromise. $988 billion for the extension of cr. we are prepared to negotiate. as senator reid put it, we are ready to sit down and put the major issues facing this country on the table between democrats

and republicans as it should be. what is it really all about? it appears is really all about the health care reform act. you ought to consider what the senator said yesterday when she came to the floor. it was a very telling comment. she is no fan of obamacare, the health care reform act. she pointed out the absurdity of the house and senator cruz's strategy, though she didn't use those names, i did. she said this, we have already seen exhibit a of why it wasn't a winning strategy. the government shut down yesterday and the obamacare exchange is opened. it continued anyway. clear, isn't it? if the object of this whole exercise was to stop obamacare, it didn't work. 5 million people across the united states have already been in contact with these insurance exchanges. the only complaints are that

they can't get in fast enough. in my state, 230,000 people out of 1.8 million uninsured people have already made contact with the insurance exchange in illinois. i am pretty proud of that. the state that should take the most pride per capita and what they have achieved when it comes to the insurance exchange is the commonwealth of kentucky. listen to the numbers reported in kentucky this morning. they were reported by audrey haynes, secretary of the cabinet for health. she was on c-span this morning. listen to what happened in kentucky. 117,000 unique visits to the kentucky insurance exchange. 109,000 prescreened to determine qualifications. 13,000 have already applied for health coverage. 8000 are complete. how about that?

two days in kentucky. 8000 already successfully have made their applications and completed on the insurance exchange. i hope the senators from kentucky will take great pride in the response in their state to these insurance exchanges. in all seriousness, how are they going to go home and tell these 8000 people that they are not going to have health insurance? how can they explain to people in their state or any state why eliminating obamacare is in the best interest of working families anywhere? it is not. >> thank you. i want to thank my colleagues. yesterday we saw in the house, today in the senate, an attempt to move some piecemeal bills, fund this, fund that. they say, why don't we do that? we like nih, we like veterans, we like d.c. we do. but to fund these piecemeal

bills would give ted cruz a veto power over what is funded and what isn't. he came up with a strategy. shut down the whole government and then we will take the few pieces and let you fund them. ted cruz is not the entire u.s. government. ted cruz should not be able to determine that if he doesn't like student loans for middle- class families or food stamps for people who are hungry, that the government won't fund those but will fund other things that he likes. we are not going along with it. how could we? that charade is pretty much over. the house spent two days trying to pass those bills. we disposed of them in a half- hour. now, the spotlight turns to speaker boehner. the entire spotlight over whether the government stays open -- sorry, the entire spotlight over whether the government stays closed or is opened is up to speaker banner.

we are working with the white house. how can speaker banner stop the republican shutdown? just vote. everybody knows if he put the bill on the floor of the house, it would pass. it would absolutely pass. my guess, it would pass by more votes than anyone imagines. we are hearing many more congressmen are upset with the strategy of shutting them the government. it is no longer a small band. it is growing every minute. the number of congressmen this morning back in their home districts were talking about how the shutdown is a bad thing. every day, it gets worse. dick mentioned the shutdown of a major industry in a major state. that is being repeated over and over again. it is all up to speaker boehner.

i heard mitch mcconnell and speaker boehner say they don't want to shut down. no one wants a shutdown they said. not so. the tea party does want a shutdown. let me give you a couple of quotes. the government shutdown, that is what i wanted to hear. the people in the audience applauded. you can get the tape. and senator lee said a government shutdown was necessary. the list of tea party activists and tea party representatives who say they

want to shut down is long but they can accomplish it on their own. they are aided and abetted by speaker banner. if speaker boehner is to say, tea party, you cannot have your way, the government opens right back. if he continues to aid the tea party, the government stays shut down. the real focus is not on the tea party. they want to shut down the government. the real focus is on speaker boehner. if he will finally resist the tea party, the government could open in about an hour. >> are you going to apologize? >> oh, to marlin, my sincere apologies if i have offended you. i don't know you, but i don't want to offend you from afar or from close up. [laughter] >> he is not the first person you have offended. >> if it takes a group, i am in

too. what we heard yesterday from the representative sums up the house position perfectly. we are not going to be disrespected. we have to get something out of this. i don't know what that even is. they have no idea what they want anymore. but they are making our country pay the price for that. they seem to think if they do the right thing, the obvious thing, a vote to end the government shutdown while the continue to negotiate, it will be clear that house republicans were duped. they had no idea what they were getting into. they had no plans for getting themselves out. senator cruz spent the summer traveling around the country, promising the tea party the sun, the moon and the end of

obamacare. he spent 21 hours on the senate floor pretending to filibuster a motion he then voted for and then he tossed the problem that he created over to the house. to quote my good friend, he pushed house republicans into traffic and wandered away. on tuesday, to the shock of tea party years around the country who had been told a government shutdown would and obamacare, the new marketplaces came online. millions of families and small business owners signed onto healthcare.gov, and there is still no creepy sign of uncle sam popping up in women's exam rooms. i am not surprised house republicans feel disrespected. they were goaded into taking their own constituents hostage and they have to know by now, they are going to have to release them.

as upset as they are about their own situation, families and communities across the country have real reasons to feel disrespected and the pressure is going to build. every single day in every single newspaper and local newscast across the country, people are hearing about the impact of the shutdown. many of them are already feeling it themselves. hundreds of thousands of workers are furloughed, including intelligence workers. nih researchers working on cures for cancer. small businesses feeling the pain. head start students being turned away. national parks closed. the list goes on. i say to house republicans, this isn't about you. it is not about your feelings. it is about the people you represent.

more and more republicans are coming out in support of a clean cr that will end this crisis. 20 in the house so far. speaker boehner, we say let the senate bill, up on the floor. give it a vote and end the government shutdown. give it a vote and end the shutdown. when he does, we are waiting at the table ready to negotiate on the long-term budget deal and an end to the crisis. >> does the congressman have a point? he said we will be not disrespected. but you have an air of sarcasm. do you think that in a negotiation, they do have to give something? >> how about the $988 billion we don't like? that was my concession to get this done cleanly. he said, you have to do that. i talked to my friends and said,

we have to sell this thing. we did. senator murray is an example. i kept trying to say, patty, let's end this thing. after 5:00 in the morning, we had over 100 amendments. talk about a concession. that is what legislation is all about. i did that. i trusted john boehner. he had some problems of his own. then they start doing all of this. he tried to live up to that. he tried to give them something to vote on. repealing obamacare. they said, we can see right through that. you made some kind of a deal.

you're going to have this cr at $988 billion, which we hated. he couldn't live up to that. he has been doing gymnastics with himself ever since then. yesterday, i said this on the senate floor. i really believe this. i thought we had something he couldn't refuse. open the government and we will negotiate on anything you want. i outlined anything they wanted to talk about. the farm bill, we will talk about that. discretionary spending, health care, anything you want to talk about. that includes obamacare. we will talk about anything, but open the government and get the debt ceiling out of here. i respectfully say to you that i think we really compromised a lot. >> a bipartisan group of house members came forward and proposed a six-month cr with a medical device tax repeal and

said this is a very compromised decision. can you take that? >> we said we will negotiate. that includes anything to do with health care. but the government has to be open. we have to get the debt ceiling out of the way. the device tax, i am not going to get into this. it is something i have spoken to senators about. we are willing to talk about that and anything else. this proposal is an act of desperation. you can't do something -- you can't do it. it involves tens of billions of dollars. >> if we were to give in to a demand, what do you think

happens on the debt ceiling? what do you think happens when the cr has to be renewed? the hard right says, see? we got something we wanted. we will up the ante this time. it is not this specific proposal. the device tax is not that much of obamacare. it is the message. we would threaten and shut the government down until you agree with us. you can't fall for that legislative blackmail or it will get worse and worse. if they open up the government, we talk about it. >> the president was very clear last night about this. he believes that the debt ceiling is not a place where there should be hostagetaking. my republican friends say that has been done before. when barack obama becomes professor obama, it is pretty good. he laid out this over the

generations of time. this has never happened before. thanks, chuck, that is absolutely true. >> why were you able to agree to that standalone bill would you objected to the standalone bill today? >> by that time, we hadn't had all the silliness back and forth. we thought that would end it. >> talk about what senators are doing to reduce debt. you have new visual aids today. people can get into parks or federal office buildings. what are you doing? >> i expect to be here. we don't have to be here this weekend. all they have to do is have a vote. i have closed my nevada offices, which is so hard -- i have

people here who are on furlough, a lot of people on furlough. one person -- they just had their third baby within the past few months. this is hard. another senator has a lot of caseworkers who make $27,000 a year. they are on furlough. i have reduced my staff a lot more than makes it easy for me. i have a list of people on my desk. i really feel sad about this. >> senator reid, you seem to have changed the demands here.

are you going to pass a clean debt ceiling bill? >> right now, the debt ceiling is facing us. they are right on top of us. we will act on a clean debt ceiling. the president has said he will not negotiate on the debt ceiling. it never happened in the history of the country. there has never been a negotiation like this. in the past, you have a bill we are trying to get through. i think it was called -- what was it?

so, it has never happened before. we can't do this. my friend warren buffett today said we are always trying to be nice. he said it won't be so bad. he knows how horrible it is. the debt ceiling is cataclysmic. >> a question for senator durbin. would you mind elaborating on the dod layoffs, the dod contractor? >> i will let the senator who told me announce it on the floor. >> in 2011, to keep the government of them, you agreed to $38 billion in cuts. you agree to a policy preventing public money -- there were negotiations on the debt limit. looking back, was it a mistake to negotiate on keeping the

government open in 2011? >> we are where we are now. not where we were then. >> -- a number of them have spoken about it. would it have to be a clean cr or is there room for anything else? >> we have made it so clear. the president was very articulate last night in saying, i am doing this not for barack obama. i am doing this for the country. we can't every time we have to raise the debt ceiling, which has been done numerous times. you can't have a president that is held hostage to situations like they are trying. the president will not do that. he understands what america is all about. the tea party folks either don't or don't care.

>> republicans and democrats -- it doesn't seem like there has been any progress. >> i feel positive that if john boehner who is basically a nice guy cannot let this go on. he can't have his speakership more important than the country. last question. >> if john boehner does allow to just vote on this clean continuing resolution, who would likely be the next speaker of the house? >> the safety, security of this nation and economic welfare of this country is not john boehner. john boehner is going to let his

speakership be more important -- 72% of our intelligence community is out of work. they can't do their job. you have people who can't get care. sick babies, sick everybody, they can't get the help they need. i can't say it is well -- i am never good with words. i will close with this. house republicans continue the lifeboat strategy. deciding which government functions are worth saving. here are some of the functions not in the lifeboat. market regulation, chemical spill investigations, antitrust enforcement, immigration checks,

workplace safety inspections. nutrition for 9 million children and pregnant women. housing and rental assistance for the poor. if john boehner thinks his speakership is more important than these people, i feel sorry for john boehner. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> house minority leader nancy pelosi joined senator reid on calling for a vote on a temporary spending bill to fund the whole government. this is 20 minutes.

>> today marks the third day of the republican government shutdown. it could be over in hours if the republicans would take yes for an answer. yesterday afternoon, over 100 members of congress and others who backed what we were doing stood on the steps of the capitol and spoke to speaker boehner telling him to allow a vote -- a vote to keep the government open. on two separate occasions, we proposed motions to keep the government open by accepting the senate bill. i remind you that what the senate bill contains is the number 986 that the house republicans proposed, and on both occasions, every democrat

voted to keep government open, swallowing the 986 even though it is a figure that we have mostly opposed. last night, following -- leader reid and i proposed to the speaker to accept his number of 986 and ask them to bring up a vote. one by one, republican members say they're willing to reopen the government by voting for this 986 number. enough of them have spoken that if the speaker brought the bill to the floor, it would pass with enough republican votes to be sent to the president.

the government would be open in a matter of hours. instead, the republicans are taking the piecemeal approach. it is nothing more than a gimmick. we are not buying their gimmick. they cannot cherry pick their way out of their own manufactured crisis. these games have to stop. this is not just about this particular -- you can't cherry pick because the legislation -- on the labor bill for example, we call it lamb eat lamb. there is nothing that you would cut in order to pay for something else. there is a oneness to it.

if you pick out one piece of it and say, this is what we are going to support, you are upsetting the balance in the bill. this is an irresponsible approach. i am concerned that the republicans are trying to buy time in order to tie the shut down of government to defaulting. that would be cataclysmic. it would be dangerous to our economy. i was so proud of the president last night because he was very clear about not negotiating on the full faith and credit of the united states of america. what i suggested last night was two things. one, let's just take it off the table. democratic president, republican congress, democratic congress, republican president, let's take it off the table.

surely, people have talked in the context of fiscal responsibility about suggestions they may have. we have never defaulted on the full faith and credit of the united states of america. let's take that off the table. this is all about the affordable care act. they want to overturn, the defund, prolong, whatever it is. the fact is -- they have no connection to each other and they should not be connected. in addition to saying let's take the full faith and credit of the united states off the table as a threat or is leverage or anything else, let's also remind them that any bill that is passed in congress can be

revisited. another bill can pass. it can be amended or whatever. if we all thought that every bill that was passed would forever be the law, you can always improve. you can always have a debate. but you shouldn't, you must not do it as a threat to the full faith and credit or as to whether you will keep government open or not. i can only think they must not have confidence in their ideas that they would have to go to these extremes to have anyone listen to them. in addition to the cataclysmic effect this will have, it's always important to know what it means to the kitchen table discussion of america's families.

it will raise interest rates on credit cards, mortgages, student loans, you name it. it would also have a negative impact on 401(k)'s. don't just take that from me. the treasury department issued a report. it warned that the dire consequences of taking us to the brink -- credit markets could freeze. the value of the dollar could plummet. interest rates could skyrocket, making it hard for families to get loans and for businesses to invest, in addition to what i said earlier. in 2011, americans saw the impact of the last debt limit crisis. that was just the discussion of it -- that we had our credit

rating downgraded. in 2013 this was a it wound we should avoid. five years ago today president bush signed the tarp legislation. this was an extraordinarily difficult vote. we saw it as a meltdown of financial institutions, the failed policies of the bush administration. his secretary came to us. we amended it, but we didn't like it, yet it was the democrats who saved the day and supported president bush on this.

republicans to this day have not produced the 100 votes they promised for that bill. what are we here for? we have our differences. we have our discussions, but this is about the united states of america. the least a republican can do is keep it open. we are ready to reach across the aisle. this is a big concession for us. you heard our distinguished whip mr. hoyer rail against it, yet in order to keep government open we would extend the hand of friendship to our colleagues and say we will except your number, and let's go to the table for discussion. this is awful in terms of the government being closed, but now

we are in the third day of implementation of the affordable care act, a dream come true for many people in our country that they can fully realize liberty to pursue happiness. it is interesting. don't count california. don't count new york. don't count places with state run exchanges. in the federal market places, 7 million people will have health care.

more than 295,000 people called the hotline, and 167,000 tests requested on healthcare.gov. this is in two days. the overwhelming response has been clear that no matter how hard some people try to stop it, the affordable health care is up and running, and americans will keep gaining access to health care, and we will take pride in adding a pillar of economic and health security to our society. we are very proud. that was intentional. republicans wanted to dim the light on the affordable care act with that, i would be pleased to take any questions. >> back in the mid-1990's,

president clinton and the congress were able to do things to fund during the shutdown. why is there opposition from democrats now as opposed to 1995? >> that was a different story. we were doing appropriations. we have the labor and human services bill. we had the veterans bill, which we passed in june with billions of dollars in the bill. now they're taking a piece of it. this piecemeal -- well, is irresponsible and harmful. we had passed a good deal of it already.

this is a different approach. it's not going to get us to the table. it's keeping government shutdown. >> doesn't it make it more difficult to explain to the public, and aren't the optics getting worse if you keep standing fast? >> no, and if republicans want to think that, let them think that. we have to do the right wing. -- thing. the right thing is to open government and have any discussion you want. if you want to cut veterans benefits as they did the other day, then let's have that discussion, and let's amend the

appropriations bill to do that. i don't think that's what the american people want. they don't want to go to the table because they don't want people to see the totality the disaster that their budget is. they are cherry picking, and we don't support that. i salute harry reid for holding his caucus together like we have held ours. >> yesterday you circulated a letter calling for a clean cr. i wonder if you were giving that to republicans. >> they are welcome to sign on. on the floor of the house, the

republicans voted no on their own number. every democrat voted on it. most of them are coming forward saying they want a clean cr. they haven't abandoned their leadership by voting on the floor, but i think they would like to support the bill. you always get a turn. i will come back to you. >> can you explain how you were at that meeting with speaker boehner, president obama and others for almost an hour and a half and apparently made almost no progress. how is that even possible? >> i don't know how you categorize the meeting, but i did not see it as a meeting that did not make progress.

progress is made when you don't waste your time on skirting the issue. i am always proud of the president, as you know, but he was very clear about our constitution, the role of congress, and how we have to respect each person's responsibility. we believe it is a responsibility of congress to pay our bills and to pass bills that would keep it open. we had that clarity. i made the point, let's take full faith and credit off the table. i'm not saying republicans agree with that. if you want to debate the affordable care act, debated in congress, but not to say, we are shutting down government unless you delay it for a year or overturn it or whatever else. i always find meetings are productive when the air is clear, when people make clear

what they are willing to do. i did not leave there thinking there is not a possibility. maybe i am overly optimistic. we all have to do what we can to try to find common ground. if i told you a week ago we could help republicans pass the bill on the floor, i would be doing it with fewer democrats than i can now. we have worked through this to say we must accept the number because so many people are out of work.

republicans make this big deal about how they are supporting veterans while they are cutting billions of dollars in the amendment they had on the floor. there are almost 600,000 veterans at work in the federal government. many of them in intelligence and defense. and really across the board. more than a quarter of the people who are now without work and pay are veterans. i would support them and their families and where they are now, so i think when you ask are they getting nervous, they are not getting nervous about something that cuts from veterans affairs.

we just have to get the message out. i am counting on you to do that. i think we can stipulate on certain facts, and we have goodwill among us, and that is always useful. i am very proud of the president. i think it was a useful meeting. how long was it? >> there's a group working on a proposal that would include a clean cr accompanied with a repeal of the medical device tax . do you think i changing it it wouldn't violate some of the principles you laid out? >> no. you left out one important ingredient.

it is 986 for six months. that's a significant part of their proposal. i think it's important to put it on the table. that's what we came here to do. that's very wholesome. if you want to have a discussion about the medical device tax, fine, but don't tie it to the government. i respect people trying to find common ground. to get to your point about last night, you learn from them, and they advance the cause. i don't want to unravel the affordable care act, but telling them it's not going to shut down government is not going to

happen. this is devastating to our country. it was for six weeks, not for six months. i think it's good people are working together. i had the highest regard for my colleagues who were engaged in that. >> even though these are two distinct issues, they are getting blended together. doesn't it solve those problems?

>> it's intentional to bring two things together. why do you think we are doing ridiculous exercises in futility on the floor of the house that keep going nowhere? because they are stalling for time so that they can jam this up against the debt ceiling. i hope they prove me wrong, but it gives every appearance of getting dangerously close to the conversation on the debt ceiling. by the way, we are in the conversation on the debt ceiling. you have an element of truth in what you said about wouldn't it be helpful. my point is let's open government, have it open for six

weeks at the 988 level, and go to the table and have the budget discussion immediately, because that could solve some of the debt ceiling angst. one of the things that is problematic in terms of our credit rating, it is not just the credit rating, which is vital. it's also uncertainty about having a budget. if we show them we are having discussions on the budget as we should have done six months ago, it could take us to a place where there is more comfort level. with that, i am going to go back to work. i am very proud of them. they are full of ideas and

imagination and integrity. that's what sad about this, the opportunity cost for people working together and the entrepreneurial spirit and employing and engaging talent from members on both sides of the aisle to think in fresh ways about how we can get the job done for the american people. thank you. >> on c-span today, "washington journal" and synnex, life with your phone calls. and then a live session of the u.s. house. an beginning in about half hour, we will be talking with the staff of the national review. first, publisher jack fowler.

also on the program, the national >> and it's day four of the partial shutdown of the federal government. has canceled his trip to asia this weekend and on the washington journal, c-span will continue to cover the related events here in washington. we want you to continue to be part of the conversation. here's how you can participate. democrats (202) 737-0001