house, the physical papers are carried across the rotunda from one side of the capitol to the other, the rules committee will meet at some point and presumably, assuming it's all systems go and, you know, i point out there is still a house republican conference meeting between now and then, but if it is all systems go, the house rules committee probably reports out what's known as a closed rule, that doesn't allow anyone to offer any amendments and you have about maybe an hour of debate on the rule is typical and then an hour of debate on the bill itself is typical and then so then we're putting final passage sometime in the late evening. . >> in terms of reopening the government, if this is all worked out today, tonight, or early tomorrow morning, do federal employees go back tomorrow? do they wait until friday?

do you have any sense of the timeline for those federal workers? >> i really don't have a timeline yet in terms of what day the federal government would fully reopen. i'm sure that because -- because of the way the furloughs work, there's some -- it will take a little bit of time to get the system back up and running and everyone to have their blackberries and iphones, back accessing the corporate -- the government email servers and what not, so i don't know exactly how long that will take. i don't know exactly what time the panda cam will go back on at the national zoo. but what -- it will happen fairly quickly. i would note that we learned within the terms of this agreement is a retroactive pay provision for the federal workers. so regardless of whether they actually go back to work tomorrow, friday, or wait until monday, they are going to get compensailted for the time that

they were -- compensated for the time they were not able to work. >> you made reference to the panda cam which did become one of the very public symbols of the government shutdown. neils, i want to thank you very much for joining us. we are keeping an eye on a news conference taking place on capitol hill called, fix the debt. we thank you for sharing your insights with us, also online at rollcall.com. from the national press club here in washington, d.c., the organizers of the fix the debt campaign, including leon panetta, former white house chief of staff, getting under way live. >> the president of the committee for responsible federal budget and the president of fix the debt. >> thank you. thanks so much, everybody, for joining us today. this turns out to be an incredibly well-timed conference. but on behalf of fix the debt, fix the debt is a nationwide, diverse coalition made up of citizens, business leaders, civic leaders with the purpose

of trying to in a bipartisan way could he focus national attention on the need and push for a comprehensive debt deal that would help deal with the nation's fiscal challenges. today is obviously an important day. it appears we have a real plan put in place that would deal with opening the government and lifting the debt ceiling and putting in place a budget process to help focus on those discussions. we have today with us an incredible gathering of people who are going to talk about sort of the current crisis that we have been in, the state of play where we are. and the kinds of things we want focus on going forward from a really diverse group of people with diverse perspectives, because, again, i think the importance is to talk about how people with different opinions can come together and work on these issues. and i think what's clear is that what we have seen so far, the model in this country, is we have been lurching from crisis to crisis, and we can't continue to do that. i think going forward in the

coming weeks will be critically important. we know what we need to focus on. the issues of reforming our entitlement system. tax code, replacing the sequester with smarter cuts, and finding a plan to put our debt on a downward path. we think it's critical that it's time to stop the madness of the way we have been governing. start real negotiations. and solve the problems. i'm really thrilled today to be able to introduce secretary panetta who has held so many important roles in all of this, most recently as secretary of defense, but also played instrumental roles in budget negotiations in the past. he's going to kick off the discussion and talk to us from his perspective about all these issues. we are incredibly lucky to have him. thank you so much for joining us, secretary panetta. >> thank you very much, maya, and thank you for your great work. ladies and gentlemen, i thank you for participating in this effort to try to put this country back on the right track.

our hope is that later today with actions both by the house and senate that they can bring what i think has been a very shameful and tragic period in our history to an end. this is -- it's hard to believe that what has happened has been not the result of an economic crisis, not the result of war, but the result of a self-inflicted wound by people who, frankly, swear to make sure that they will do everything to protect and defend the onstitution of this country. 17 years ago we went through a similar shutdown when i was chief of staff to president clinton. that the time i thought

there were two lessons that were learned by that experience. a was that you don't take step that hurts the american people, innocent american people, by shutting the government down. that makes no sense to use that weapon against your very constituents, against the people who elected you to office. and secondly, that ultimately the lesson that came out of that was, it was better to govern than to create gridlock. and to shut the government down. better to govern. and that was the case. 17 years later i think those lessons still apply. it makes no sense to shut the

government down and to hurt this country. , hurt innocent people, kids women need nutrition assistance, families that are trying to meet their debts at the end of the month, putting people out of work and people out of jobs. threatening individuals in terms of their quality of life. it makes no sense to do that. to take a step that threatens our economy, hurts our economy, hurts our growth levels. an economy that's been through some rough times and that's looking like it may be on the right track. why would you take a step that would deliberately hurt our economy? and hurting our national defense. let me tell you that from my own experience, i just had the opportunity to come from the pedge penning -- from the pentagon, on the nation of sequester and this shutdown has hurt our national defense. not only are some very important

elements of our defense being put on hold, 12 air force squadrons, combat squadrons that have been grounded, half of our air force planes, combat planes are not ready for combat, we have ships not being deployed, we have maintenance that's not being done. we are virtually hollowing out our military. and a very important time when we face all kinds of threats abroad in this country. this is still a dangerous world that we live in. and then the shutdown on top of that, the furloughs, and the impact this is having on the men and women in the defense department is inexcusable. inexcusable in terms of protecting this country. so, it hurts america and americans when we shut down, my hope is everyone learns the second lesson which is that it's time to govern. to roll up their sleeves and get

to work. and a place they should be, and should have been weeks ago, is in a budget conference working on the key issues that they need to address if we are serious about reducing the deficit, getting rid of sequester, and trying to put this country on the right path for the future. budget conference that deals with entitlements, all the entitlement programs, and determines what reforms and savings can be achieved there. a conference that focuses on looking at the whole issue of discretionary spending. what kind of -- what tasks should -- caps should we put on it, but what should be the next five year for screagsier? we need to establish stability rather than kick the can down the road mentality we have been involved in. what's our discretionary spending going to look like over the next period? and looking at elements of tax reform, where can we implement

tax reform? what are some steps we can do to provide the balance and fairness that this country is all about? all of those things ought to be looked at. this is the opportunity to do it. so, my hope is that they will take advantage of this opportunity to govern this country. i believe we are at a turning point in the united states of america and it's a critical turning point. we can either be an american renaissance with a strong economic recovery, with opportunity for everyone, strong middle class, the opportunity to be creative and innovative. the opportunity to provide good education to our kids. to be able to have a strong work force as we do. this country could be in a renaissance in the 21st century. or a country in decline. american decline. if we continue to be dysfunctional in terms of how we govern this country and if we

continue to operate by crisis, after crycy, after crisis. -- crisis, after crisis. that is no way to govern the contry. what path we take is largely going to be determined how we govern ourselves. in recent years, unfortunately, as i tell my students, we govern democracy either through leadership or crisis. if leadership is there we can avoid crisis, but they have to be willing to take the risk associated with leadership. if leadership is not there, make no mistake about it, we'll operate by crisis, and crisis will drive polcy. you can do that. but there is a price to be paid. and the price that's paid is you lose the trust of the american people in our system of government. the time has now come to exercise leadership on all sides. the american people probably est example that all of us who were elected office drew our

strength from. the american people like my immigrant parents, had some fundamental principles and values that they believed in. common sense, doing what's right, hard work, sacrifice, and a willingness to do what they believe was necessary in order to give their children a better life. i have seen that that in our men and women in uniform, secretary of defense. our men and women serving this country are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect this country. they are willing to fight and to die in order to protect the united states of america. i believe they are willing to fight and die to protect this country, then surely those we elect office ought to be willing to take the risk associated with governing in order to protect this country. our hope is that they'll do that. they'll engage in this conference, and they'll do everything necessary to protect

the government of, by, and for people. >> thank you so much. next i'd like to introduce former congressman, former chairman of the budget committee, former head of office of management and budget, jim nussle. >> thank you, maya, wow, leon, that is impossible to follow. maybe i shouldn't even try, but i followed you a few times, both as chairman of the budget committee and o.m.b., aim proud of the tenure that you and the experience and the dedication and example of public service, and again you showed it here today. i thank you for joining us at this important moment. this is not a proud moment for our country. even with the good news of an agreement, we can all look forward and see a couple of different paths that could easily develop. one that is just as negative as the one that we have recently been on. that could by january 15 or

february 7 devolve into yet another crisis, stalemate, another juncture that would be proved just as damaging as the one we have been through. or a path where cooler heads can prevail. some experience, some judgment, some leadership. people who want to govern as secretary panetta said. people who want to step up and realize that the whole is great than the sum of the parts. that our country is more important than all of the little petty things that go on all the time. we have all participated in. i don't stand here with clean hands today, and i see former members of congress and of course leon as well, all of us from time to time, the rhetoric has gone up a little bit, too hot. maybe we have said something or done something, but at most junctures we were able to put all of that aside, come together, and say, ok, we said that. we did that. we have been there. let's come and figure out what

the right path forward should be. what we have seen recently has been reckless or incompetent. pick your poison. it's based on debates that are important, the role of government, surge, is an important national debate that we have now, we will continue to have. waste, fraud, and abuse, tax reform, entitlement reform, even defunding or delaying programs that may be popular on one side and unpopular on another are certainly worthy of debate. but anyone who has watched saturday morning cartoons and has catched how a bill becomes a law by schoolhouse rock, i'm just a bill, only a bill on capitol hill, no. -- know, and knew what was going to happen. this didn't take anybody other than a kid watching saturday morning cartoons to understand that when the president and the

senate say no, the house isn't going to go. that's just the way it works. that's the way our system has been developed. and instead of educating our constituents, instead of taking this as an opportunity to inform people and to explain exactly how we are going to govern ourselves in a self-governing society, people have taken this to forward their own personal or their own personal political agendas, which has been an abomination, in my view, very reckless and incompetent toward our system of self-government. so we have an opportunity today cooler heads did prevail. we have an opportunity to look forward over these next couple of months and say we can put this process back together. both secretary panetta as chairman of the budget committee and myself have participated in these conference committees between the house and senate where budget negotiators come together and plot a path

forward. they are messy. they can be ugly. they can be just as difficult as what we have seen. but, if people are committed to the end result, and if they will listen to organizations and campaigns such as what we have assembled here today, we can give them some tools for that toolbox as they go in to try to build that consensus. there are many good examples of that here today. fix the debt was put together as an organization or as a campaign that believes that tax reform ought to be on the table, certainly. entitlement reform needs to be there. sequestration is a crazy, dumb way to run the government. so looking both annual as well as automatic spending needs to be put on the table. focus needs to be on the long term. not february 7. not january 15. but how about 2020 and 2025? and when our kids and grandkids have to look at some of this

debt into our eye. that's the reason we focus in on the debt because most in a bipartisan way can say, fixing the debt is -- has got to be the ultimate goal. everything else, yeah, we'll have those fights. we'll have those disagreements. no one even in this fix the debt campaign is going to agree 100% of the time. but we have partners here today that i want to invite forward to give a little bit of their perspective on this. as an example, we have had a group of former members, some of them here today, that in a bipartisan way have met on the outside, on a regular basis, to talk about ways that they can influence our former colleagues on a bath path forward. we have had a wednesday morning what we call debt fest, where we get together over breakfast and talk about ways that our organizations can work together and stay together and focusing attention on this very important mission. we have invited a couple of those partners to come here

today and to give us some of those thoughts. so i'd like to invite a few of them forward here today. first of all i'd like to invite javier who is the president and c.e.o. of the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce to come forward and provide his perspective. javier. >> good afternoon. on behalf of the united states hispanic chamber of commerce i'd like to thank the team at fix the debt for organizing this press conference. the usatc represents 3.2 million hispanic-owned business that is together contribute more than $468 billion to the american economy every year. we also advocate on behalf of 206 major american corporations, and we do this through our network of 200 local chambers and business association throughout the nation. while the usatc represents the interest of business men and women who happen to be of hispanic descent, we never

forget we are first and foremost american businesses. and every tax bill we pay, every job we create, every product we manufacture, and every single service we provide goes to benefit our american economy. as one of the nation's largest business organizations, our memberships' pry marrakech is the health and prosperity of our economy. all -- primarily is the health and prosperity of our economy. all businesses are helped by a stable political climate and state of any economy. our american people understand we must work together to sustain the growth of our businesses, the security of our jobs, and the full faith and credit of the united states. everyone from main street to wall street knows that the wake of the america -- weight of the american economy rests on the shoulders of our elected officials, and we are asking them to put the common good of our country before political partisanship and self-interest. how deeply has our nation sunk

into the trenches of partisan politics that not only has the government of the strongest democracy in the world been shutdown, but now facing the threat of an unprecedented default, which will jeopardize our standing as a global economic leader? for the past years our congress has been plagued by divisive politics that have reversed the recovery of our economy. this environment of brinksmanship has reached its boiling point and the current threats of default are already resonating and creating signs of uncertainty in national and international markets. consumer confidence is now at a low while interest rates continue to climb. and the ongoing gridlock is estimate estimated to cost taxpayers almost $19 billion in extra interest. even foreign debt holders are demanding more collateral due to the uncertainty of whether

america can even meet its financial obligations. a substantial sentiment of the membership does business abroad and is deeply impacted by both the health of our national and the international economy. it is no secret that if congress allows the united states to default on its debt, the economic consequences would be nothing short of catastrophic. what happens in the united states doesn't only affect our nation, it impacts all of the countries that rely on the stability and the well-being of our american economy. recently mexico and brazil, the two largest economies in latin america, and two very important trading partners, saw their currencies lose value simply because of america's threat of a default. chinese officials have urged the u.s. to avoid a debt crisis for the sake of the global economy. and just last week the international monetary fund warned of a worldwide shock that would result from the united

states defaulting an stated that it is critical for our country especially its elected officials to prevent a looming crisis that would put the global economy at risk. the american people, our economy, and quite frankly the world is hoping for better news from washington. the usatc stands with our friends at fix the debt, with secretary panetta, with former o.m.b. director jim nussle, and all of the other organizations assembled here and we all call on congress to raise our nation's debt ceiling and avoid this default. we are urge congress to put an end to this hostile climate of uncertainty and brinksmanship. it is time to move our country forward, not jeopardize the hard work and the progress we have all made together. at the end of the day elected officials like our business community have steak in preserving our free market economy and american way of life.

negotiations wlrks they are motivate bide profit or politics -- whether they are motivated by private or politics, when we recognize that cooperation works better than conflict, and solidarity outlasts isolation, and our differences do not outweigh or common interest. thank you very much. >> next we'll hear from ian cramer, the executive director of leaders engaged on alzheimer's disease. >> thank you, jim. thank you for the opportunity to be here today. this is not a happy day. this is a day where we all sigh in relief that the circular firing squad said ready, aim, and held its breath. and this crisis is not over. all it is is delayed. so the didn't are still pointed. and the real tragedy is that the harm that could be done by a default, the harm that has been done by the government shutdown, and the harm that continues to be done by sequester is not

suffered by those who impose it upon us. it's suffered by those that they victimize, and that's the american people as has been stated before. while we are relieved we have not defaulted, and while we are leaved that the government shutdown appears to be near its end, hopefully not to resurface, sequestration continues to be a weight on our economy and more important weight around the necks of the american people who desperately need the government to function and for a long-term solution to be found that keeps them out of this sort of day-to-day jeopardy about whether the programs and services upon which they depend and for which they pay will or will not be there in their time of need. i'm going to focus primarily on sequestration, but we know that sequestration is 10 annual doses of bad medicine. it is not only what happened so far, it's what could happen over the next nine budget cycles if we don't fix it, fix it now, and fix it once and for aw. so if you want to -- all.

so if you want to understand what sequestration means for pursuing our own clearly identified and clairefully planned national agenda, i would offer you one example of many and that is the crisis around alzheimer's for five million americans who have the disease, there are 15 million caregivers. if we don't proceed with the science we need, over 13 million americans will have alzheimer's and well over 40 million americans will be their caregivers within less than two generations. currently dementia costs the american people over $200 billion, with a b, billion dollars a year for care giving. we invest a paltry roughly $500 million, with an m, in trying to arrest that disease or reverse its tide. so it's ary particular cuely small investment and one that sequestration erodes. who agrees we have to take more dramatic steps to fight alzheimer's? to invest in the science that will provide us a catalyst to reverse the trajectory of this

disease? i'll tell you it's president obama and it's n.i.h. director francis collins, but it's also house majority leader eric cantor, how tea market caucus founder, michele bachmann, and former house speaker newt gingrich. they are joined in by republican senators, collins and moran. in fact the entire congress, every last member of congress that voted unanimously about two years ago to adopt the national alzheimer's project act to create the first ever national -- it has in its most recent update, 2013, a consensus plan, a business plan, to stop and effectively prevent alzheimer's by the year 2025. that plan depends on scientific investment that the sequester not only prevents from being increased, but it erodes the slight investment we already have. who else is for that increased investment? i'd argue the entire american

people. the five million who live with this disease today. the 15 million who are caregivers today. and all the rest of the american population that live in fear of their family being struck next. so who is against n.i.h. having the tools it needs to stop alzheimer's? no one. no one will come forward. no one should come forward to say they oppose those kinds of investments. but actions speak louder than words. so your commitment is shown by what you do or what you choose not to do. and sequestration is no accident. sequestration is a choice. it was a choice from the first day it began. it remains a choice until we stop its 10-year run of bad medicine. so what stands in the way? what stands in the way of getting rid of sequestration? it's exactly what the secretary and congressman an javier spoke about, it's the will to do the work of the people rather than engage in political brinksmanship, hopefully, in their minds, self-serving

political gain. even that fails. what they can do is succeed in the fight against alzheimer's and so many other challenges before this country if they are brave enough to put politics aside, get rid of the sequester, and engage in long-term serious budget planning that reduces the burdens of cost from care and invest in innovation which is the driver of our economy. so i would say do not isolate alzheimer's as the reason to get rid of sequestration. look across the government at all the good that all these members of congress vote for, issue by issue, then say are they undermining their own good intentions by their actions and choices to allow sequestration to remain in place? thank you. >> thank you. next we'll hear from tom mccracken, president of the national small business association. >> thanks, congressman. i can add a great deal i don't think to the excellent opening statements of secretary panetta and congressman nussle. certainly associate myself with their remarks.

but as i said before i represent the small business community. and for us all of this creates a crisis of confidence, that is the fundamental issue whether it's the shut down, the threat of reaching the debt limit, and the ongoing brinksmanship. you have to ask yourself, i ask folks this all the time, if you were about to make an investment, open a business, start a business, grow a business that required you to risk your economic future, your home, your life savings, is this the moment in time you would choose to do that? do you have enough confidence our leaders are going to put in place -- i would submit to you the answer to that is no in most cases. that's why this is so crucially important. small businesses and start-ups are the place forward. and we'll grow our way out of this mess and our leaders in washington need to give those folks a reason to believe in the future of this country. that means putting aside petty grievances and getting to real long-term deals because as has

already been mentioned these short-term issues are just that short-term issues. the real issues of this country are the long-term debt. we hope that our leaders will grab this opportunity in the coming couple months to sit down and talk seriously about how we can put these differences aside and get this country on the right framework where we all, who are invested in our economic future, can have confidence and move forward. thank you. >> let me invite former hunter rolings, president of the american association of universities. hunter. >> thank you very much, thank you to fix the debt and to secretary panetta for this occasion which i think is particularly important given the late hour that we find in our congress. i want to be very brief which for an academic is always a challenge, but i will succeed in that. we had the best research universities in the world. by a wide margin.

and we have the best innovation system in the world. but those are now jeopardized. those universities and that innovation system are jeopardized by the continuing problems here in washington. this is not today's problem, it's not this week's problem, it's not the sequester's problem, it's the budget problem overall. because as was just said, members of congress did not vote against research. they just let cuts in research happen because of what is now in place. a budget that is constantly taking money away from research and innovation and putting it in the hands of old people like me. who frankly should not be getting the percentage of revenue that is now coming to our generation. the reason we have the best research universities in the world is that for some 70 years now the federal government has invested heavily in research. competitively awarded research

granths which build the faculty members of the university of michigan, virginia, harvard, stanford, and all the other great universities in this country that carry out research. what's the result of that research? a great innovation system. an economists now acknowledge that 60% or more of u.s. economic growth over the past few decades is based on innovation. and a huge percentage of that innovation is done in research labs at our universities because business for the most part has stopped doing fundamental research. it has to be focused on the bottom line, and so it no longer invests as in the days of bell labs in fundamental research. fundamental research is instead carried out in our nation's universities. china has noticed that and is now investing heavily in creating great research universities. we are disinvesting at the same time. so we are rapidly creating an

innovation deficit. the innovation deficit to me long term is just as important as the budget deficit. because what it says is over the long term we are going to lose our advantage in innovation and someone else is going to get it. and that will then determine economic suck is sess in the future. we just won a bunch of nobel prizes again this week and last. most of those prizes as has been the case for some time now, are awarded to american researchers and frankly, to researchers born in other countries who now work where? at our universities. how much longer is that going to go on if we continue the innovation deficit and disinvesting in research when other countries have seen that as their long-term goal? we need to fix this problem and we need to fix it quickly. and stop the crisis management and get on to thinking about the long-term investment, the only thing that's going to lead to

long-term success for this country. thank you for an academic that's brief. >> thank you, hunter. our last speaker before we take your press questions is mary woolly, who is the president and c.e.o. of research america. >> thank you maya and fix the debt colleagues and everyone who has spoken already. research america is an alliance of patient groups, academic institutions, business and industry, and scientific and clin cal -- clinical societies, well over is00 -- 100 million americans represented. we all believe that research for health and the entire research and innovation echo system, should return to being -- ecosystem, should return to being the number one american priority. sequestration and this shutdown have truly wreaked havoc on american science overall, and that includes medical research and the nation's public health

capacity. research projects, including clinical trials, have been canceled or stalled out indefinitely. researchers have been furloughed or laid off. young scientists are not receiving grants for innovative studies and are rethinking their career options. suppliers and other businesses that rely on discovery from basic research are downsizing. the c.d.c. is blind-sided by food borne illnesses outbreaks that they are not staffed at this point to control. anti-department of defense is hampered in its conduct of medical research to benefit our wounded warriors and protect our men and women overseas. and that list goes on. that's today's list. but i really shudder to think about the long-term risk. the risk of deprioritizing research and innovation. as hunter mentioned, other

nations are not just sitting idly by, they are actively exploiting our failure to prioritize research and innovation. in addition to china i'm talking about singapore, india, sweden, germany, and the u.k. to name a few. national public opinion polls commissioned by research america show that more than half of americans do not believe the u.s. will be world leader in science and technology by the year 2020. that's just over six years from now. and unfortunately americans might be right about that loss of leadership, but they don't like it. for instance, an overwhelming majority, 90%, say it's important that the united states maintains its world leadership in medical research and science overall, but our elected officials listening to their constituents? are they listening to the

concerns of americans? i would argue that in this recent period of time they have not. yes, we must reduce the deficit. we must fix the budget. cutting funding for medical and health research and other domestic discretionary priorities is counterproductive to solving the problems we talk about alt time and wring our hands about. like controlling health care costs. diseases and disabilities are not going to cure themselves or be prevented overnight. it's research that is a deficit reduction strategy. public health readiness is a deficit reduction strategy. so why are we squandering those solutions? now, i know you know, the president knows, that congress knows that there is a way to fix the budget, and it involves tax and entitlement reform. and we need smart tax and entitlement reform that doesn't undermine public or private

sector medical innovation. to give you just one example, cuts to prescription drug reimbursement would undermine innovation. prescription drugs prevent hospitalizations, alleviate disability, and represent only a small fraction of health care spending. developing new medications is a high risk proposition, and it takes both public and private sectors working hard at it. if reimbursement is cut, though, it undermines the flow of capital necessary to the development of those solutions that we are all waiting for. and for sure, sequestration has to go. now, we look to that conference committee, the budget conference committee, to address sequestration and to eliminate it, and we and the members of our alliance will be speaking to members of that committee.

startving the national institutes of health and national science foundation and other katja lists to innovation and -- medical progress should be in -- an american priority. in our polls commissioned by research america, majority of americans say they would pay more in taxes if they knew that would go toward medical research. that's how important it is to americans. stalling that research now through sequestration or the kind of reform that, again, undermines something we too long have taken for granted while other nations are ramping it up, will drag our nation down at the very moment we have everything it takes to soar. the interest group that policymakers are not listening to, i would argue, is the american public. and the words that policymakers are ignoring at our peril is our

nation's future. thank you. >> we do have time for questions. i just want to make win one point which i think the unifying theme you hear here from this diverse group is it people want our leaders to govern and we want them to lead. and it is time for them to stop lurching from one crisis to another and focus on some of the longer term issues. i think i'll quote erskine bowles here who says we have made all the easy choice, we have aid all the stupid choices, now it's time for this country to make some of the real choices. we hear how important that is. i would be glad to turn questions over to the secretary and any of our speakers today. yes. >> you talk often about sequestration.

sequestration remedies in this deal is a failure of leadership? >> the fundamental challenge that's faced was to do whatever is necessary to end the shutdown in the government and to extend the debt limit. this is a double whammy, 17 years ago we were just dealing with the c.r. in this situation we had both the debt limit coming due as well as the funding for the government. so the first thing that had to be done was to do whatever is necessary to try to end the shutdown and, tend the debt limit. i understand that fight could have been done on sequester, a number of other issues, but having been in that institution and understanding the kind of politics you have to engage in in order to get things done, i think they made a choice. now, understand that my hope is that once you get into a budget conference, and once you're

dealing with the bigger issues on niments, discretionary, as well as tax reform the decisions you make will not only help in terms of deficit reduction and putting this country on the right path towards ending the deficit, but also will end sequester. >> accomplishment in this negotiation was securing the cut limits under the sequester, budget control act. >> you're going to hear, i'm sure, over the next few days everybody talking credit for what they won and lost. i have to tell you something, you know what, as has been said and needs to be repeated, there are no winners and losers in this process. the american people have lost, and now they need to roll up their sleeves and do what is ight for this country. >> my question is this, actually to congressman or secretary, whatever comes out of a budget conference obviously there's

going to be major changes in government. government priorities, programs. one group that seems to have got en attacked, had to sacrifice, and the rest is the federal employee themselves. and there have been, for example, in the erskine bowles there was talk about further cuts in terms of pension changes and that sort of thing. i guess what i'm wondering is do you think at this point some kind of continued reductions or continued changes in federal worker benefits is going to be necessary as part of an agreement? or do you think that given what's happened maybe that could be put on the back burner? >> i would say it's a fair question, but it's way too early. what we are saying today is that everything needs to be on the table for consideration. the big items that are often left off the table need to be on the table for this discussion. and as so many have said today, this is a process. it's not going to completely resolve itself through this committee process. a budget conference can come out

with a budget conference report, which may in part put in a process for further reforms, changes, reductions, increases, getting sequestration off auto pilot and back on to what we call in the house of representatives and the senate, regular order. these are things that are, i think, important. your point not only for government workers today, and i -- we all know many of them, they are friends, they are family, but i also think about we are going to lose a generation of public -- we may have yet lost a generation of public servants who have watched this process over the last two, three, four years and have just said, forget it. why would i choose public service as a vocation when it should be an admirable -- it's calling. it should be whether it's in political office or whether it's in government service, there are so many good people who don't deserve to be used as pawns in

this process. yes, changes need to be made. those changes may affect many workers. but it shouldn't just be about them. everything should be on the table. eesecretary panetta and chairman nussle, is there any reason to expect this budget conference to be anymore successful than the supercommittee was? has anything changed? >> this is not going to be easy. and nobody i would assume this is going to be easy. the hard work begins now. the kind of game playing that went on over these last few weeks with the shutdown and with the debt limit and all of the threats and counter threats that went on, that's going to -- politics of this town. the hard work, the hard work is to sit down and walkthrough the entitlements and determine what

reforms need to be made, what savings can be achieved there. look at discretionary spending. kind of lay out a path for that. nd look at tax reform. somebody who was with me at the time hoe sat down at andrews air force base and went through that process. and walked through all the entitlements and walked through discretionary spending. and then walked through the whole tax arena. and finally came to a bipartisan agreement. but that was tough and it was not easy and it took courage. and there are risks involved. risks on all parts. but that's what governing is all about. that's why we elect people. we don't elect people to simply survive in office. we elect people to make the tough choices of governing this country. hopefully having been through this experience of the shutdown and implications of not

increasing the debt limit will be a sufficient enough incentive for them to now turn to governing. >> stars and stripes, secretary, senator mcconnell was trying behind the scenes to get a provision in the deal that emerged in the senate that would give federal agencies more flexibility in dealing with sequestration cuts. as no one needs to tell you that arbitrary across-the-board -- congressional record nature of the cuts makes it very difficult for agencies. how important would that provision have been? and how difficult is that for an agency to have to deal with that -- >> it was a crazy, crazy form louisiana they designed it to be crazy. to basically do a meat ax cut across the board that was going to be so bad it would force them to do the right thing. that was the whole logic, if you call it logic, why they developed sequestration.

they obviously didn't have the courage to deal with sequestration, so sequestration went into effect and it's created havoc across-the-board across the board, particularly at the department i headed. i would rather instead of playing with ideas as to how you create flexibility so you can move money around within the bounds of sequestration, i would rather than deal with the bigger issues in the budget and be able to detrigger sequestration. that would be the more responsible approach. >> pentagon official, if you could get one thing from congress -- >> listen, right now they are sinking in quicksand. they'll take whatever rope you throw to them. >> i was wondsering if you would entertain a question on another topic.

benghazi. >> another question. >> anyone to chime in, talk about tax and entitlement reform what, sort of institutional congressional reforms do you propose? that's a look ahead to priorities. >> i would be interested in leon's answer to this as well because we have both been through the wringer when it comes to considering budget process reform. i think it's a little bit of a panacea. this is the reason i say that, i'm somebody -- i'm the last person i believe who brought budget process reform to the floor. and actually had a chance of getting something passed. my reason for saying it that way is that there are some changes that could be made. but the problem over the last seven, eight, 10 years is that it hasn't been used. my advice to the committee on budget in both the house and senate when they held hearings about this was, why don't you try it? first before you decide to

reform t you might find it works. -- reform it. you might find it works. if you respected it. if you adhere to the timetables. if you work together in a bipartisan way and bicameral way. really what this process has an opportunity to do is to put that back on track. i'm not sure it will. but before somebody blames the process, realize that this is a process created by human beings. if human beings don't open their ears and start listening to one another and getting to know one another and realizing as an example, if i'm not mistaken the president has in his budget this last year over $500 billion worth of entitlement reforms. now, i would bet there are many republicans who either don't know that or are surprised by that. i would take that as a good starting point as a republican to say, let's start there. let's bring ours to the table. let's see where we can work out both our differences as well as our commonality. but it starts by listening.

and recognizing that we are not that far apart on many of these issues if we bothered to open up our ears and stop blaming the process enlook into our own souls and hearts about what eeds to be done. >> getting back to the leadership. i was wondering if you can describe what you think the white house can do to encourage the next few months to go differently. you talked a little about this earlier. >> there are some elements, basic elements that are important to make these kind of budget conferences work. and first and foremost is restoring some trust. these people don't trust each other. for a lot of reasons. some are justified. some not justified. but the problem is if you get into a room and you have to deal with tough issues, you got to trust the people you're in the room with that they are going to

tell what you they think. they are going to be honest, and that you're going to tell them what you think and be honest. you're going to have that kind of exchange and that you're not going to suddenly walk out and do a bunch of sound bites with the press. that's the kind of atmosphere you need to have. one of trust. secondly, you really do have to put everything on the table. you can't say we are going to study this but not do this. you need to put everything on the table. it doesn't mean you're going to do everything, but you need to put everything on the table and go through it and talk about each of these programs. and thirdly, when they work their way through it, they shouldn't agree on anything until they have agreed on everything. so even though they make some tentative decisions, wait until the end of the road, put everything together to basically package the deal. and lastly, and on the budget question once you put those pieces together, you decide how do you enforce it effectively.

and very frankly there are some steps. we did it at andrews air force base. it was frankly the heart and soul of not only the bush budget that we passed or the agreement that was made, but also at the heart and soul of the clinton budget when that passed. there are very goodellments. pay-go, some of the things done with regard to limits and enforcement of limits in terms of spending, etc., etc. those are very effective tools and they shut to be built in this process. if this is going to work, if this is going to work, then the members up there that have been beating each other up and engaging in a sound bite, we are going to have to put all that aside and decide you are going to go into a room and try to be honest and truthful with one another. that's going to be a big step. i can't say it's going to happen. but everybody, from the president to the leadership to democrats and republicans who are involved in that conference, they are going to have to restore trust to get something

done. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> there 9 national press club in washington, d.c., the campaign to fix the debt. you heard comments from maya mcginnis, the president of the committee for a responsible federal budget and head of the campaign to fix the debt. also former o.m.b. director, former clinton chief of staff, and former defense secretary as well as former congressman leon panetta. jim nussle, the former budget

director in the last two years of the bush administration, and former republican member of congress from iowa. if you look at u.s. debt lock.org, you'll see the kind of numbers that the folks at fix the debt campaign are talking about. the national debt now stands at 16.9 trillion. approaching nearly $17 trillion. here is the debt perfect citizen in the u.s. just over $53,000. and the debt per taxpayer, now approaching close to $150,000. that from u.s. debt lock.org. this tweet and we are following your tweets at the hash tag c-span chat. what do cubs fans and ted cruz have in common? both keep promising to win only to lose time and time again. he adds, go cardinals. earlier today at noon eastern time the u.s. senate gaveled in and comments from the two leaders, harry reid democrat of nevada, mitch mcconnell republican of kentucky, as they

outline framework of this agreement that will reopen the federal government and raise the debt limit through early february. we carry it live on c-span two. we begin with comments from the democratic leader, harry read. >> madam president, the eyes of the world have been on washington all this week. and that is a gross understatement. and while we witness add great deal of political discourse, today they'll also see congress reaching a historic, bipartisan agreement to reopen the government and avert a default on the nation's bills the compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs. it's never easy for two sides to reach consensus. it's really hard. sometimes harder than others.

this time it was really hard. after weeks spent facing off across a partisan divide that often seemed too wide to cross, our country came to the brink of a disaster, but in the end political adversaries setaside their kitchens differences and disagreements to end that disaster. i thank the republican leader for his diligent efforts to reach this important agreement. republican leaders' cooperation was essential to reach an accord to pass both chambers of congress and also be signed by president obama. as part of our agreement, in order to assure congress continues to work setting this country on a path of fiscal sustainability, this legislation strikes leaders, to name conferees to a budget conch committee which will set our country on a long-term path to fiscal sustainability. i know some say that's going to be hard. but what we do hard here, and this is really hard, but i think

e can get it done. the committee members must have open minds, be willing to observe every option, no matter how painful their own political ideas and political parties. this conference committee held by chairman murray and chairman ryan, which will begin to negotiate the budget resolution in december, is the appropriate place to discuss our different viewses -- views. best way to chart a course for economic growth. this legislation also funds the government through january 15 and averts default through february 7. during which time we can work toward a long-term budget agreement that prevents these frequent crises. perhaps most importantly, this legislation is a stand off, the groundwork of washington to a halt this fall. madam president, this is not a time of pointing fingers or blame. this is a time reconciliation. i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of

this great capitol to pass this remarkable agreement which will protect the long-term health of our ghi and -- i'm sorry, and a default on our nation's debt, and also set a foundation for economic expansion. . what we've done is send a message to americans from every one of our 50 states, in addition to that, to the citizens of every country in the world that the united states lives up to its obligations. now congress must return to its most important job, fostering economic growth and protecting the middle class families. i appreciate through all this the steady hand of president obama to help guide us to this conclusion. i'm optimistic that the spirit of compromise that's taken root in the senate other the last two days will endure. i do know this. senator mcconnell and i have sat in very, very serious

discussions the last few days. we are going to do everything we can to change the atmosphere in the senate and accomplish things that need to be done for our country. >> madam president. >> the republican leader. >> this has been a long, challenging few weeks for congress and for the country. it's my hope that today we can put some of those most urgent issues behind us. after yesterday's events the majority leader and i began a series of conversations about a way to get the government reopened and to prevent default. i'm confident we'll be able to do both of those things later today. crucially, i'm also confident that we'll be able to announce that we're protecting the government spending reductions that both parties agreed to under the budget control act. and that the president signed into law. that's been a top priority for

me and for my colleagues on the republican side of the aisle throughout this debate. and it's been worth the effort. some have suggested we break that promise as part of this agreement. some have said washington needs to spend more, that we need to raise taxes, that we need to just tax our way to prosperity. and balance. what the b.c.a. showed is that washington actually can cut spending and because of this law, that's just what we've done. for the first time since the korean war, for the first time since the korean war, government spending has declined for two years. in a row. the first time in 50 years. and we're not going back. -- we're not going back on this agreement. there's a lot more we need to do to get our nation's fiscal house in order. hopefully once we've gotten past the drama of the moment, we can

get to work on it. but for now, let's not understate the importance of the budget control act or the importance of the fight to preserve it. this legislation is the largest spending reduction bill of the last quarter century and the largest deficit reduction bill since 1981 that didn't include a tax hike. preserving this law is critically important to the future of our country. throughout this debate, the public has rightly focused on obamacare, for good reason. this law is ravaging our economy, killing jobs, driving up premiums and driving people off the health care plans they have and like in droves. it's disastrous -- its disastrous rollout is a sign of even en-- of even worse things to come and the refusal to delay it reflects a stubborn ideological obsession to that will do untold damage to our

country and republicans remain determined to repeal this terrible law. but for today, for today, the relief we hope for is to reopen the government, avoid default, and protect the historic cuts we achieved under the budget control act. this is far less than many of us had hoped for, frankly, but it is far better than what some had sought. now it's time for republicans to unite behind other crucial goals. madam president, i yield the floor. >> the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, his comments about two and a half hours ago announcing the framework of the deal that's been followed by a series of party caucuses going on at this hour. house democrats are wrapping up a meeting in the u.s. capitol and house republicans scheduled to meet at this hour, 3:00 eastern time, with speaker boehner and the republican

leader, eric cantor. we're also getting word in term os they have timeline and what's next, because the senate may very well be out next week, both the house and senate scheduled to be out this week for what they called a district work period and we're keeping track of all of this on our facebook page, asking you to share your thoughts and comments, whether you think the deal announced by senators reid and mcconnell to reopen the government will work and do you support the agreement? share your comments below in the comment section and vote yes or no if you support this agreement as outlined by senators reid and mcconnell. available online at thehill.com, senate to vote first on the debt ceiling legislation.

we expect the senate vote could come around 6:00 or later, the house vote could come around 9:00 or 10:00 eastern time, we'll have live coverage on the -- of the house here on c-span and coverage of the senate on our sister station, c-span2 and we'll have your calls as well. we want to show you these comments by senator ted cruz who spoke to reporters on capitol hill. > i'll give you time to setup. relax, i'll give you time to set up.

>> unfortunately, once again it appears the washington establishment is refusing to listen to the american people. the deal that's been cut provides no relief to the millions of americans who are hurting because of obamacare. it provides no relief to young people coming out of school who can't find a job because of obamacare. it provides no relief to all the single parent who was been forced into part-time work, struggling to feed their kids on 29 hours a week. it provides no relief to all the hardworking family whors facing skyrocketing health insurance premiums and it provides no relief to all the seniors, to all the people with disabilities who are right now getting in the mail notifications from the health insurance companies that

they are losing their health insurance because of obamacare. it is unfortunate that washington is not listening to the people. i want to commend the house of representatives. the house of representatives has take an bold stance, listening to the american people, but unfortunately, the united states senate has refused to do likewise. the united states senate has stayed with the traditional approach of the washington establishment of maintaining the status quo and doing nothing to respond to the suffering that obamacare is causing millions of americans. this is unfortunate but nobody should be surprised that the washington establishment is pushing back. nobody should be surprised at the resistance to change. let me say, the american people in the last few months have risen up in overwhelming numbers. we have seen millions of americans all over this country working to change washington. that has been incredible progress and this fight, this

debate, will continue until collectively the american people can make d.c. listen, can get real relief for all of the people who are hurt because of obamacare. you want to know what this fight is about? it's about one thing. this is about all of the people across this country who are right now facing terrifying decisions because they're losing their health care, losing their jobs, being left in the cold and sadly the united states senate has said, washington will do nothing, it has created the problems you are face bug washington will do nothing to address the suffering you're feeling. that is unfortunate but this debate and this fight will continue in the months ahead. >> two-part question here. number one, will you filibuster. >> what's the second part? >> the second part is, if you're not going to filibuster, will you take a significant amount of time to pass this thing? >> there have been many questions about the timing of this vote. the timing of this vote, it is

my understanding from leadership, is likely to occur today. i have no objections to the timing of this vofmente the reason is simple. there's nothing to be gained from delaying this vote one day or two days. the outcome will be the same. every senator, every member of the house, is going to have to make a decision where he or she stands. but there's no benefit, i've never had any intention of delaying the timing of this vote and indeed, i thought it was interesting reading in the papers that much speculation about whether we might delay the timing of the vote, republican leadership never asked. if i intended to delay the timing of the vote. my focus is on the substance. my focus is, i think, where the american people's focus is, which is, what are we doing to provide real relief to the people who are hurting because of obamacare? unfortunately, today, the answer is the united states senate and the washington establishment is doing nothing to provide relief for the millions of people who are hurting because of obamacare. >> can i ask about where we are right now. as you well know, you have a lot

of fell he republicans down right angry at you because here we are, almost three weeks later, the strategy you started out on, to defund obamacare as part of funding the government was -- they never thought would work because the votes aren't there, and here we are, reopening the government after a lot of bruising political warfare internally and you got nothing for it. >> respectfully, i disagree with the premise of that. i think we have seen a remarkable thing happen. months ago, when the effort to defund obamacare began, official washington scoffed they scoffed at the american people -- that the american people would rise up they scoffed that the house of representatives would do anything and they scoffed that the senate would do anything. we saw first of all millions opinion -- upon millions of americans rise up all over this country, over two million people signing a national position to defund obamacare. we saw the house of representatives take a courageous stand listening to the american people, that everyone in official washington,

just weeks earlier, said would never happen. that was a remarkable victory, to see the house engage in a profile in courage. unfortunately, the senate chose not to follow the house and in particular, we saw real division among senate republicans. that was unfortunate. i would point out that had senate republicans united and supported house republicans, the outcome of this, i believe, would have been very, very different. i wish that had happened. but it did not. but it does give a path going forward that if the american people continue to rise up, i believe the house will continue to listen to the american people and i hope in time the senate begins to listen to the american people also because, look, lots of people in washington love to focus on the politics. it is unfortunately the game of this town. but what matters more than any politicians in washington is all of the people across this country who are hurting right now, who are getting in the mail a notification that the health

care they're relying on for their care, for their parents' care, for their children's care, that it's being canceled because of obamacare. president obama promised the american people obamacare would low you are your health insurance premiums. i would venture to say virtually every person across this country has seen exactly the opposite happen. has seen premiums going up and up and up and everyone who clicks on obamacare and sees the premiums, sees the premiums going up and up and up. president obama promised the american people if you like your health insurance, you can keep it. we now know that statement was flat out, categorically false. people all over the country are losing their health insurance. 15,000 u.p.s. employees got a notification in the mail that they were losing spousal coverage. their houses and wives were all losing the health insurance that they wanted and they liked. that is happening all over the country. it's wrong. and the focus in my view should not be on the politics of

washington. the politics of washington is the -- at the end of the day doesn't matter. what the focus should be is on making washington, d.c. listen to the american people and respond to the very real harms that obamacare is causing to millions of people. thank you very much. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. >> senator ted cruz delivering comments early this afternoon, clear anything potential roadblocks of a senate roadblock that will occur late they are afternoon or more likely this evening. here's a headline from "the new york times," the senate paves the way to end the debt impasse. the deal worked out will go to the senate first, then a vote in the house likely later in the evening around 9:00 or 10:00. we're getting your calls and

comments. #cspanchat. is >> misty is joining us from kentucky on the democrats' line. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. i was going to say that, you know, i don't understand why -- my family is republican and i'm i just i draw food stamps otherwise we'd starve and be homeless. i don't understand what's going on. >> 202 is the area code here in washington, d.c., 585-3885 is the line for republicans. 202-585-3886 for democrats, and a line for independents, 202-5

5-3887. on twitter, the hash tag is #cspan chat. there has been 17 government shutdowns since 1977. here's a look at the numbers. the longest back in 1995-1996 in the clinton administration, 21 days. >> this one in its 16th day. the most expensive shutdown was in the clinton administration a total of 26 days at a cost of about $1.5 billion. in 2013 dollars that would be a total of just over $ billion. -- over $2 billion. mary is joining us next from wallington, new jersey, independent line. >> good afternoon, steve. thank you for c-span. >> sure. >> it was rahm emanuel who said never let a good crisis go to

waste. what we've seen the last few weeks with the shutdown and the debt ceiling issue has been a crisis. but there's something else going on in the country that a lot of people are not realizing. and it's very frightening if you stop and think about it. we have a man in the white house that has complete control over the executive part of the government and on several occasions he's already abused pow every there, especially in the area of immigration. he's got the senate in his pocket with harry reid. he's now telling the supreme court what cases to bring up and what ones not, case in point, the n.s.a. and now he's bullying our part of the government, the house. now the american people need to understand something. if we don't stand up for our liberty and freedom now, we are going to be heading toward a dictatorship and we're going to see ourselves like cuba, venezuela, and russia. one more quick comment, steve.

we have an election in our state today for senate which is lonegan vs. booker. i am asking everybody who has not voted yet to go out and vote for lonegan. we even have mayor bloomberg from new york putting money in to get booker into the senate along with obama and then we'll have nothing more than another obama clone. thank you and have a good day. >> marry lou, thanks for the call. and that special election is taking place in new jersey today. in two weeks, voters in new jersey also electing a government. we carried the second and final debate between the candidates. if you want to watch that debate courtesy of njtv news it's on our website at c-span.org. russell hill reporting that speaker boehner's job is safe. the story is online at thehill.com. he said the republicans said the speaker is no no danger of

losing his position despite presiding over republican defeat in the fight over government nunding. there's a republican study committee going on this afternoon, it's closed to staffers, only members of the g.o.p. study committee. there's also a republican full caucus meeting going on at this hour and in the last hour, house democrats were meeting to walk through basically to step forward for this legislation. adam is joining us from new hampshire. democrats' line. your take on of this, adam. >> good morning. good afternoon. all i want to say is when bush and the republicans have destroyed our deficits, when republicans win, america loses. good day. >> james is next from kentucky, republican line. god afternoon. >> good afternoon. i would like to make a comment, s our president is holding everything over our head, trying

his lly us into taking and or doing his policies i really don't agree with that. i think the american people should stand up for our constitution, for our bill of rights and everything should be put to a vote by the people. that's -- i agree with the shutdown. i say turn out the lights, don't pay nobody. senate, president, nobody. until everything is worked out , thene problems are fixed we can go at it and open the government back up. >> does that include the military and social security recipients and unemployment benefits and all the other government services? >> as far as the military, the death benefits that he didn't

want to tissue they didn't pay the 16 soldiers or 17 that we lost they didn't fly the families to meet with the body, i don't agree with that. if i have family in the military, and i've told them, come home. if they don't want to take care of you, they don't want to pay your benefits that you signed up for when you went in, then come home. lay your gun down and come home. >> ok, james from kentucky. julie, has this tweet. >> and from millers creek, north carolina, independent line. >> i don't know a whole lot about this stuff, but with these communist run countries, at least you know who the crooks are. you've got so many crooks up in the white house that they've got more money in the bank than they

need. they can afford to have the government shut down, they're still getting paid. what's a man to do? >> ok. thanks for calling. nancy is next joining us from farmington, new mexico. democrats' line. >> ok, thank you. i would like to know, does any of the senate and all the congressmen, do they have to have obamacare too or are they immune from it? because i think it's wrong. i think it's wrong to push anything like this on the american people. there should be -- how are they going to be funded? are they pulling from medicare or social security? that seems to be where verything else is pulled from. i'm totally against anything being pulled from social security, that should be our own savings for years i worked from 1957 up until 197 -- i mean

2003. every single year, and i picked social security -- paid social security that whole time. am i going to be entitled to that, everything plus interest that i paid in? are the rest of the american people entitled to that too? and don't take kay away medicare. that's been forced on us and we need it. >> ok. i hear your husband also commenting on that as well. of course one of the premises behind the president's health care law, the affordable care act, is ensuring that everyone has insurance and if you don't buy into the insurance plan through your employer, you then sign up on the exchange and if you don't sign up on the exchange, then you face penalty which is would increase in subsequent years. getting more information if you log on to healthcare.gov if you're able to get on the website. admittedly, there's been problems with that as well, the president talked about that yesterday in a series of interviews with reporters. we go to tom, joining us from

rmont -- bernie sanders very critical of what's going on in washington, what's your take on this? >> hi, i'm calling from the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. >> i apologizing you're on the air. >> i want to make a comment -- about pre-existing insurance. i had cancer. in order for me to get this insurance, which they said i could get even though i had pre-existing conditions, they said i could get it, which was dishonest, because in order to et it i had to have a denial letter from another insurance. i had to get my surgery before i could have the insurance which ended up costing over $80,000 because government takes so long. well, you know, about -- they

sent me a letter, agriculture government insurance and said, hey, tom, you're going to be on the standard plan now, even though you're pay manager money, we're putting you on the standard plan with everybody else and your deductibles will be way higher. ok, i have no choice, because i'm a pre-existing person, i just got a letter from the government say you know what, they're going to cancel you in december. so i've been trying to, you know, get on that website which doesn't work and i just want everybody to realize that, you know, i've already had a taste of the government insurance and it really stinks. >> ok, tom, thanks for the call. did off final thought? go ahead. >> they lied to me. they lied about everything. just wanted to let you all know. >> tom, thanks for the call from arizona. apologize, we thought you were calling from vermont. we're seeing some activity at one of the stakeout areas on capitol hill where members of the house republican caucus are

meeting. it began at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. earlier in the afternoon, members of the republican study committee a conservative group of republican house members, having a meeting and the interesting note about that is that lawmakers asking staffers to stay out of the room so there could be what they called aen -- an open dialogue among member os they have republican study committee. the "washington post" is reporting that tea party groups denouncing the senate plan. matt kibby, president of the national tea party group freedom works, lashing out at the senate deal as a capitulation to the president and the senate majority leader harry reid that story from washingtonpost.com. when legislators come to the microphone, we'll take you there live. in the meantime, we'll hear from more of you. ben is on the phone from texas. >> good afternoon. i'm calling to say that, you know, i agree, you know, and i disagree with the government. there's ean, i agree

government, i receive disability, i receive food stamps and medicaid but also, i mean, ok they're going to open the government but what's going to happen to, like, when you know they open it for a short period of time and then when it happens again, we'll be back in the same mess we were already in. i mean you know, they should say, hey, you know, let's fix it, let's fix it for a long time, you know, let's get it over and done with and take care of it. that way we don't have to face this problem no more. you know. i mean, people that live on social security, s.s.i., you know, they depend on those governments every month, like the president said, to pay our bills, you know. and i mean, imagine if people lost those benefits, where are the people going to go that pay rent, that are buying houses, that pay mortgages or that have to pay electricity or people

that don't even get food stamp benefits but receive social security and s.s.i. but don't get food benefits how will they buy food? i mean people will not be able to survive and then people that do receive benefits and are not able to work, how are they going to make it if they were to lose those benefits? you know. >> ok, i'll stop you there. thankers in call from texas. from our twitter page the hashtag is #cspanchat. >> sue joins us from indiana. >> hello, this is sue. i guess like what you said, he's taken us in, the republicans should have held out to the very end and what i would do, i would shut them in a room like i did my kids. i'd put one in one bedroom, one

in the other and saying sit there until you think things over. don't come out, don't talk to nobody. another thing i'd like for them to say, if the president would stay at home in washington and stay in his office eight to 10 hours a day, don't get out and run around and try to put himself on tv and sell himself. he'd be better off. and so would our money. so i think they better just hold off and not do anything because obama is in to take us for everything. >> ok. sue, thanks for calling. not sure if you saw that a moment ago, speaker of the house john boehner walked by the microphones, giving a fist pump to reporters. he did not speak to reporters at the microphone there. joining us live on the phone is bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill" newspaper, keeping track of all of this as we move into day 16, tomorrow would be day 17. thans for joining us. >> thanks steve. >> first of all, the fist pump

but no remarks, does that tell you anything? >> i don't think he's going to say nudge today. boehner went in, big fwammable on this defund, delay og ba ma cair strategy. he didn't want to do it at fers but later embraced it. id.-- it did not work out, culminated in the republican effort to get the votes last night on a high provile -- profile bill and like we've seen before the house republican conference, there were enough defecks that they couldn't even move to a vote on the house floor. that really killed all the leverage boehner had and that's why the house is going to vote what the senate comes up with. this is very similar to how the fiscal cliff debate ended up and it looks like that we're going to get a deal, it's going to be signed into law, but certainly john boehner did not get what he wanted, not even close. >> i want to go back to an

earlier question we had with you a couple of days ago when we chatted with you on c-span raid east washington today. what has this shutdown been about? >> this shutdown, i think, a lot of it has been about the tea party and the tea party wing of the g.o.p. which insisted on defound -- defunding or delay og ba ma cair. that was -- that really -- that movement got going because of implementation problems that the obama administration has had with the health care overhaul but at the same tame, it comes down to votes. republicans never had the votes, they don't have the power they only control the house, they don't control the white house they don't control the senate. if you don't have the votes on the strategy, the exit strategy will be dicey. house republicans for a while bobbed and weaved but harry reid stood there saying eventually you're going to come to me and at first the polls weren't too bad for the republican, they took the blame and democrats took a little less blame but

over the last week it just really plummeted for the g.o.p. they lost a lot of political standing. and that's why house republicans were scrambling to try to get the votes and they just couldn't corral enough of their republicans to pass a bill which would have given them more leverage and maybe mitch mcconnel could have requested more out of the deal but the bill did not pass and they have to eat what the senate has done and we have seen this time and time again where the house is eating what the senate has done, whether it's the violence against women act, the payroll tax extension in 2011, student loans, fiscal cliff, and now this one. so the g.o.p. really has to pick up the pieces here. >> let me follow up, first on a political question, then a procedural question. but first, ramsey cox, calling from "the hill" reporting that the speaker's job is safe for now, but could he face

repercussions in his own caucus and notably from the tea party members? >> yes and no. on one, this was a debacle for house republicans. there's no other way to put it. however, the tea party was behind this. this is john boehner embracing what the tea party wanted to do. so as far as the only one who is vocally out there criticizing the speaker and this strategy on a daily basis was peter king, a centrist from new york. he's not going to be speaker of the house. he's thinking about running for president in 2016. there's a question of, if boehner will not be speaker, who is? so basically, we talked to conservatives a lot today and they say, listen, we like john boehner. he's doing as good as he can. we like how he fought this fight. it hurt boehner's political stock, no doubt about it. i think he'll stay for the rest of the congress. the big question is, will he be the top republican in the next

congress? there's a lot of speculation he will not be around, that he's had enough of these fights, had enough of hurting these -- herding these cats in the conservative wing of the republican conference and he's kind of tired of it. now boehner may push back on that, saying that that speculation is wrong and boehner is not going anywhere but these fiscal fights, there are a lot of scars on boehner, as well as democrats and that's where the trust between the president and boehner is not what it used to be. and the trust between harry reid and john boehner is not what it used to be. and because this fight was so ugly, because the government was shut down, on the precipice of the default uric think about the agenda, where do we go from here? can a farm bill get done? can immigration get done? the prospects for legislating the rest of the year, as far as successful legislate, they don't look good right now. >> not sure if you saw this

written statement issued by speaker john boehner but in one part he said, in our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue, he went on to say, we will rely on aggressive oversights that highlights the law's massive flaws in smart, targeted strikes that splits the political coalition the president relied upon to convince the american people. >> if the law is a train wreck, then republicans, including john beaner and ted cruz will point back to now and say, we try. we tried to stop the law but we didn't have enough republicans in the senate to mount a successful filibuster. and the democrats stopped us. if obamacare is a success, well, the democratic party is going to have a lot of success in the future years. i don't think it's going to be black and white. in some states it will probably go well, in other states there will be some problems.

and that's why there's so much riding on it. january 1, obamacare, the bulk of it will go into effect, some of it has already gone into effect. then we'll see what this health care system looks like and how effective it is. but boehner there is trying to say, well listen, i fought the fight. but i can only do what i tried to do and obviously they didn't have the budget. >> it's now mid afternoon in washington so what can we expect moving into the evening? >> it looks like the -- it's fairly certain the senate is going to move first here. there's speculation earlier in the day that the house was going to move first but after ted cruz indicated he would not do any delaying tact ins or filibuster, then that paved the way for the senate to move first. this is going to happen very quickly. the senate, by this evening, will be voting, they'll approve this and then it will go to the house and we're expecting a vote later tonight around, we talked to members, it's kind of a guessing game, around 8:00 or

9:00 is when the debate could end and/or a vote happens. the big question, not having democrats support it, because most of them will support it, it's how many republicans support this. will a majority of the house republican conference, will the hastert rule be in effect in some way, this is going to be voted on no matter what but will a majority of house republicans back boehner? boehner, remember, he's speaker. the speaker usually does vote, it's his preference or her preference, to nancy pelosi, but if they want to make a point, they can vote yes. we'll look to see if a lot of house republicans vote yes and whether speaker boehner votes yes or decides not to vote. but this is headed for president obama's desk very shortly and then the government will reopen and then we'll probably have another fiscal fight early in january/february. >> speaker boehner telling cnn at this hour, we fought the good

fight, we just didn't win. he's encouraging his republican colleagues in the house to support the senate plan but as you indicated, it will be interesting to see how many split and support the plan and how many vote against this senate plan. we've already heard from tea party organizers saying they are encouraging their members in the house to oppose the senate plan. >> yes. there's also primary politics in play. this bill is going to pass, so this is something that -- and a lot of democrats, as i mentioned, are going to support it. this bill is going to get to the required 217 votes it needs because there's some vacancies in the house, so not 218. republicans can decide, do they want to be on record supporting this and some fear it could be used as ammunition in a primary if they do vote for this on the fiscal cliff deal that was not popular in the house republican conference, there were only 85 republicans so certainly far less than a majority of the house republican conference

voted for that. and the interesting vote back then was that paul ryan voted yes, speaker boehner voted yes, majority leader cantor voted no, and majority whip mccarthy voted no. that surprised a lot of people. that's another thing we'll be looking at. do all g.o.p. leaders support this or do they split like they did in the fiscal cliff debate on taxes? >> and finally, we've been asking reporters in terms of the schedule for the government to reopen, could that happen as early as tomorrow? would there be a day or two transition period or would we wait until next monday? >> that's a great question. i've had some friends who are government workers asked me that question. i think it would probably be unlikely tomorrow. but then you're dealing with thursday and maybe the government decides, ok there is a process for opening the government, informing people about this, and of course if this gets to president obama's desk, he'll sign up right away.

i would say the earliest the government would open is probably friday and they may take it to monday. but the office of personnel and management, as far as i understand it, has not made any announcements because the bill hasn't passed yet. i imagine we're looking at friday, but latest, monday. >> in terms of schedules, we're getting word the senate will be out next yeek. is that true? >> i have not heard that. i heard house republicans were telling us that they were going to vote tonight and then get out of town and then come back on tuesday. there was speculation that because this was initially going to be a recess week, both chambers -- i have not heard the senate would be out but these guys have been working as have ur hardworking reporters and editors, work a lot of weekends. it would not surprise me for them to take a vote from legislating for a week and a half and then come back after that week and a half is over. >> bob cusack, we want to thank you and your team from the hill

newspaper because we have relied on you extensively over the last few weeks to share your expertise with our audience. thank yous for joining us again. i'm sure we'll be checking in with you in a few days. >> thank you. >> you can read more online at thehill.com. aaron is joining us, what are your thoughts. >> how are you today? >> fine, thank you. >> i have a couple of things to say. i want to. -- i want people to think about the obamacare and how it is nothing but a tax and in the legislation of the bill, it also states that it doesn't -- it doesn't state it directly but it s -- it does away with charity care, ok. anything that's forced on the public to purchase like that should be illegal. it's unconstitutional. and i know i speak for a lot of people in this area that will not sign up for obamacare, that are losing their health care and

they are willing to pay out of pocket for their health care. >> aaron, thanks for the call from illinois. there's a different point of view from january coleman who sent us this tweet. >> we're going to come back to your comments in a moment but i want to read in its entirety the statement of speaker of the house boehner. it's available on the website as well if you want to read it from home. >> that fight will continue. blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the senate will not be a tactic for us. the speaker said, in addition to the risk of default, doing so

would open the door for the democratic majority in washington to raise taxes again on the american people and undo the spending caps of the 2011 budget control act without replacing them with better spending cuts. with our nation's economy still struggling under years the president's policies, the speaker says raising taxes is not a viable option. our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue. we will rely on aggressive oversight that highlights the law's massive flaws and smart, targeted strikes to split the legislative coalition the president relied upon to force his health care law on the american people. again, that statement as read in its entirety from speaker of the house john boehner issued a short while ago. ryan from new hampshire. republican line. good afternoon. >> how are you doing, steve? >> fine, thank you. >> calling in regard to a few different things. i consider myself republican but i was told when you're young and naive, you consider yourself democrat and as you get older

and wiser, you become republican. i question either of them right now. the stimulus, squandering money, billions in solar, millions in art appreciation, the sequestration which was reducing spending. it was stopping the overspending. now we have obamacare. and people are going to capitalize on this and people will be hurt. on top of it how much does our house and our senate pay for their snrns? how much are they taxed? and in fact if we don't pay our taxes, we could be imprisoned. so that's threatening us, that our veterans, our military, may not be paid. can they go to prison? >> thanks for calling us from new hampshire. betty is ginning us from indiana. -- is joining us from indiana. democrat line. >> steve, i'm on social security, my husband is too.

ve had a quadruple heart surgery and just broke my hip. monthly ke our spending away, they will kick us out on the street because people don't have sympathy for people who can't pay their bills. we wouldn't have money to pay gas, electric, water, insurance, we wouldn't be able to pay to get into the doctor and i just wish they'd open the government back up because it's getting a lot of these elderly people to death. it scares them to death. because you know, they'd be sitting out on the street. they know it. people in nursing homes and stuff. i'm with the government reopening so we can get to our

money to pay our bills. >> ok, thanks for the call from new albany, indiana. when we checked in with bob cusack of "the hill" newspaper, i asked about potential repercussions for john boehner, speak over the house. article, that ed urging the republican members to vote no. eric wasson announcing the club for growth opposes the senate deal that raises the debt ceiling and ends the government shutdown. it urged members to vote down the deal and says it will punish members who support it on the club's annual scorecard. they said this announced plan, the details of which aren't completely known, appears to have little to no reforms in it, there are no significant changes to obamacare, nothing on the major entitlements that are wracking up trillions in unfunded liabilities aened no meaningful spending cuts. if this bill passes, congress will kick the can down the road

yet again. that from club for growth. martha is joining us next from davenport, iowa. independent line. go ahead. >> hi. can you hear me? >> yes. go ahead. >> i would like to urge the american people to look into the new world order, see what that's with obamacare, that's what it's all about. >> thanks, martha. to wayne in jacksonville, florida. republican line. >> thank you very much. in talking today to the social security office, just happened to reach one of my members or my groups, vietnam vet, and he was talking about that they're work bought paychecks there. i am on social security disability. this is the baby boom talking to you here. i think that the president has used the younger vote who lived

through none of that to get himself elected and then he has the house that he -- he sticks his face out with a smug look and says, i wish these people could get theirselves together and make a decision. when i was growing up, the president stayed in and stayed with the people. didn't stick his head out occasionally and say, i wish they would get it done. he was with the people. he encouraged everyone to make the decisions and keep the country running. i think this president is in a tree trunk like a squirrel and he sticks his face out and then he ducks away again. >> ok, wayne, thanks for the call. some new information on the house schedule, it is expected to be a late evening here on c-span and the votes probably sometime around 9:00 or 10:00 but again we stress that timeline is fluid. the senate's first -- the senate first is going to vote on this

measure and then it will move to the house of representatives. we'll have all the votes and all the debate here on c-span and there could be votes tomorrow but the house will not be in session on friday, october 25, as bob cusack indicated, this was going to be a recess week for the house and senate. both bodies in session dealing with the government shutdown and the looming debt limit. tomorrow is the deadline according to treasury secretary jack lew. we're getting your comment obs the hash tag, #cspanchat. there's this from r. jacobs. lorry is on the line from pennsylvania. >> supposedly this is over a 2,000 page document, obamacare, how many representatives have read the complete document and realize what they're putting into office? the concern is that i've heard from people that have tried to

log on to the system to sign on for the obamacare, which i have not, but they asked what you vote, whether it's democrat or republican, whether you have guns in the house and a lot of other personal information which i think that that should not be part of signing up for health care. if it is health care. otherwise we also have our medicare and our medicaid for people that are less privileged to get health care. so are we just reinventing the wheel? what all is required from people signing up for obamacare. the other concern i have is over the spending because i think we're spending way too much, we don't know where our money is going, we're offering everybody else money, we send money to all these countries and yet we've got people here that can't afford to live. i think that we need to really look at where our money is going, not saying everything is on automatic pay and start looking at where we're putting our money. we should be able to take care of our own people without being in this kind of society that

you're paying for something you don't know what you're getting. >> thanks very much for the call, lorry. next is richard joining us from leesville, south carolina. our democrats' line. good afternoon. >> yes, sir. i'm calling to talk about all this stuff going on with the government. >> we want to hear from you, go ahead. >> here's my opinion. congressmen and senators are paid too much money. why don't they live like normal americans on a $60 paycheck. why don't they remember this is a privilege, not a luxury, to represent their people and this country. i think they ought to get together and get their heads examined. i appreciate your time, thank you. >> thanks for the call. from our twitter page, house republicans, 0-42 on the affordable care act. >> next call on the republican line. joe from magnolia, ohio. go ahead, please. >> yeah, i'm just calling to

voice my concern about the obamacare and going back to the fight promises the president gave -- the five promises the president gave when he campaigned on this particular subject. number one he promised universal coverage. after this plan enacted there's still going to be 31 million people uninsured. they'll be paying the penalty of $95 a year for not insuring the first year. the second was no new taxes on the middle class. how does he think these companies that are being taxed like the medical insurers, the health companies, the medical device manufacturers are being taxed, where are they going to recover their costs? they'll recover their costs by increased premiums. he promised annual premium savings of $2,500 a year. i've talked to many people whose policies have been canceled because they have to carry the 10 essential benefit categories now that their insurance has a month. $291 to $762

no increase in the deficit. projections say the deficit is going to grow by $500 billion the first 10 years and it's going to add another $1.5 trillion to the deficit in the decade after that. you can keep your plan if you like it. you can't keep your plan if you like it. it's got to cover the new 10 essential requirements which is going to raise your rates. and how about all these people that are being called and canceled on, over 100,000 in 46 -- over 146,000 michigan people were dropped from their insurance. yeah, they can sign back up but now it's under a whole new plan, a whole new benefit and a whole big increase in cost. >> jennifer in ohio, thank you for sharing your perspective from the republican lean. a few more minutes with your phone calls, up next, we take you to the senate floor as

senator reid outlining the framework of this deal. jonathan joining us on the democrat's line from texas. >> hello. i'm concerned -- i have concerned with this society. i notice i sit back and wait, i like to observe how people respond to certain situations, especially this crisis. i notice that people have grown to be very, very ignorant and that many people call and say, i agree with this government shutdown, it's the best thing john boehner could have done. that -- they've never known what it is to know a hard day in their life. this affordable health care act has given my family a very good chance of seing a doctor. nobody knows what it means not to have enough money to go see a doctor and just waitism support -- my family supports president obama very much, his health care

plan as well. they need to reopen the government. it's pathetic how people are just sitting back and agreing with everything. i just can't understand why -- how they can be so coldhearted beinghese 800,000 workers fur load, not able to pay their bills. i don't understand. >> thanks very much for the call. i want to update you, we're keeping track of new developments on where things stand. this is from "the washington post" which has been blogging during the course of the day on developments in two areas to share with you.

>> that would change the timeline, initially we thought the vote would happen this evening. we'll kept you -- keep you updated on that. next is david from gore springs, mississippi. go ahead, please. >> this is david carlton. i would just like to know why we can't have a national health care plan? i don't understand it. that's all i've got to say. >> ok. evelyn is next from louisiana. go ahead please on the republican line. >> yes, i'd like to know what this people are thinking. they need to pay attention to

who is voting for this bill. the republicans should stand firm. obamacare is a wreck. he is a liar. he said we could keep our health insurance. we could keep our doctors. hat is not true. the subsidies he is giving the members of congress is a bunch of baloney because in case people don't realize, the subsidy is tax dollars. and they come from the working people of this country. our politicians are not representing us. they're representing themselves. they sit up there in their ivory towers and they vote in their own pay raises. you tell me, what job that you can get and vote in your own pay raise. those things should be taken to the american people to vote. to see if they are deserving of them. our constitution says no taxation without representation. and these people are not representing the american people.

>> thanks very much for the call. another viewer saying the affordable care act is not perfect but republicans did work with the democrats. >> we'll get more of your comments from the hash tag #cspanchat. join the conversation on our facebook page, facebook.com/c-span. earlier this afternoon, senator harry reid on the senate floor with the details of this agreement. >> i ask unanimous consent that the car rum call be terminated. >> objection. >> the eyes of the world have been on washington all this week. that is a gross understatement. we've witnessed a great deal of

political discord, today they'll also see congress reach a historic, bipartisan agreement to reopen the government and a crisis. it's never seizey -- easy for two sides to reach consensus. it's really hard. sometimes harder than others this time was really hard. but after weeks spent facing off across a partisan divide that often seemed too hard to cross, our country came to the brink of disaster. but in the end, political adversaries set asider that differences and disafwreepts to prevent that disaster. i thank republican leader for his diligent efforts to reach this important agreement. republican leader's cooperation was essential to reach an afford that could pass both chambers of congress and also be signed by president obama. as part of our agreement, in order to ensure congress

continues to work to keep the country on the path to fiscal sustainability this bill instructs leader to name conferees to a budget conference committee to set our country on a long-term path to fiscal sustainability. at present some say that's going to be hard. but what we do is hard here and this is really hard but i think we can get it done. the committee members selected must have open minds, being there to consider every option no matter how painful to their own political ideas and their own political parties. this this conference committee, led by chairman murray and chairman ryan, which produced its negotiated budget resolution in december, is an appropriate place to discuss our different views of the best way to chart a course for economic growth. this legislation also funds the government through january 15 and averts default through february 7. during which time we can work towa