[ female announcer ] so call now to choose a u-verse triple-play bundle for just $79 a month. get the same great price for two years. plus switch and get a total home dvr included for life. why wait? call today. [ male announcer ] choose at&t and build your bundle. it's whatever works for you. ♪ president obama is expected to speak at any moment and we'll bring it to you live. the president is expected to talk about the government shutdown and the looming crisis over raising the debt ceiling. if it isn't raised the government could default on its debt. >> as soon as the president begins we'll take you there live. first, stunning top story out of

the south bay. a man has been arrest owned child sex abuse allegations as a daycare center. the abuse happened'm at the center on south wolf road. the man was living with in-homeday and as the reasoner's relative. he was arrested last week and charged with sexual abusing two children. officials are looking into whether there may have been additional victims. they're urging parents parents o believe their child might be involved to contact police. >> developing news in san francisco. homicide detectives are investigating the mysterious death of a seven-month-old baby. officers arrived at a home in glen park neighborhood. police showed up at the house after the baby's mother took the child to san francisco general about 12:30 this morning. the child died at the hospital. the city medical examiner declared the death suspicious, and called police.

and developing news right now in san francisco. where police and fire crews are combing the area around twin peeks reservoir looking for a missing driver. this is a live picture from sky 7hd. officials say a car rolled from twin peeks boulevard down the hellside to the reservoir at 4:00 this morning and caught fire. they haven't seen any sign of the driver or any passengers. crews brought in extra equipment to lying up the area to see whether they can find anybody who might have been thrown from the car. >> developing news from the south bay. fests are monitoring hot spots after a raging fire at a south santa clara county lumberyard. several buildings were scorched. matt keller is live at the scene. reporter: the call to firefighters came just after

7:45 this morning. flames were erupting at the lumberyard on monterey road in the area known at coyote. forget the flames. the biggest danger to the firefighters was the live power lines. >> electrocution. because of the -- leave it at is it because the lines are in the way and they're live, there's nothing we can do until pg&e shuts down the line. >> firefighters faced another obstacle. no water hydrants. this area lacks the infrastructure and a good built-in water system so the call went out for water tenders. once on the scene -- the 2,000-gallon tanks emptied into them, making the water viable the fire engines and firefighters. the water tenders can then leave to fill up again. no one was injured, and despite the fire being at a lumpberyard, very little lumber was burned

two cars were destroyed and two outbuilding. another building described abc an historical bunkhouse was heavily damaged. the firefighters saved this barn. >> this is the old train depot from 1868 and the barn was built in 1870. they're on the historical registry for old historical buildings. >> this is day eight of the government shutdown. president obama is expected to begin a news conference at the white house at any moment. we're monitoring that for you. republicans and democrats accusing each other of refusing to negotiate to end the shutdown. katy? we lost her pick -- there she is. >> this morning, house speaker john boehner's office said president obama reiterated we won't negotiated on the government shutdown or raising the debt limit. the white house says the president is willing to negotiate after the threats of a government shutdown and default

are taken off the table. >> house speaker john boehner says the way to resolve the differences is to sit down and have a conversation. >> refusing to negotiate is an untenable position. and, frankly, by refusing to negotiate, harry reid and the president are putting our country on a dangerous path. >> the social security administration warns, no nine days it will no longer be able to guarantee checks will go out. nearly 60 million americans get an average of $280 a week in benefits. if the government defaults there could be a very difficult choice. pay lenders like china or keep commitments to retirees, because of the severe consequences some analysts believe washington won't be so reckless as toy awe low it. >> we think a resolution willle be reached before we get to default on the debt. >> the october 1st debt limit deadline is looming, but the original sticking point, the cause for the shutdown, is the new federal healthcare law or

obamacare. standard majority leader says let's talk about. >> we believe obamacare is already saving lives but we're willing to work with republicans to change it if they think they can make it better. we want to do that. >> according to a cnn survey of house members, there appears to be enough votes to approve legislation to re-open the federal government. all 200 democrats and 17 republicans support passing a continuing resolution with no strings aattached. live in the news room, abc7 news. >> a new abc news washington poll shows republicans are losing the most in the shut crown blame game. 70% of those surveyed disapprove of the way the g.o.p. is handling the shutdown. 61% disapprove of the job democrats are doing, and those numbers up seven and five points in the past week. >> president obama virtually unchanged with 51% unhappy with his approach, up just one point

since the shutdown began. >> today, pg&e official are in court to argue a pipeline in san carlos is safe. the gas pipeline in question, line 147, runs underneath a four-mile residential area on britton avenue. leaders persuaded a judge to or the it shut down after an internal memo from pg&e questioned its safety. yesterday pg&e greatly reduced the pressure on the line and capped it so it can no longer receive gas. new details from the pilots in the crash of asiana flight 214 at san francisco airport. the pilots are now blaming mechanical failure. they said the speed control system, also known as auto throttle, disconnected without warning before the plane hit a sea wall. the both 777 crashed on july 6th, leading to the deaths of three teenage girls.

>> b.a.r.t. management and unions are still negotiating over contract issues as they counseled down to the end of the 60-day cooling off period. the possibility of a strike was prompting business leaders to come up with contingency plans. amy is live with more. reporter: the bay area council just held a news conference saying if there's a strike, it will have massive cob -- consequences and the bay area has to rise to the occasion and they have ideas. here's a look at what happened in july when b.a.r.t. went on strike. it could a traffic nightmare. they predicting this time it will be much worse. july was a time when a lot of people aren -- are on vacation. they acknowledge there are groups such as restaurant and hospital workers don't have a choice when they go to work but they're asking for help from those i with flexibility. >> for employers we ask you to allow employees to telecommute

or to telecommute more often, or request them to do that. if telecommuting good night work we -- doesn't work we ask about policies for core work hours so employees can avoid the peak commute times. >> here's what they bay area council is worried about. it constant ducted a pole, asking if there's a strike, what would you do. more than 50% of respondents said they would switch to their car. 17% would work from home. 13% would hop into a carpool. so the majority of the people getting into their car. of course, they bay area council is hopeful there won't be a strike. one member suggested today the b.a.r.t. management and union go behind the closed doors, lock the door, and don't come out until they have an agreement. but if there is a strike this friday they want to be ready, and they even created a web site to check for updates and suggestions. we have a link on our web site. so check out abc7news.com for

all the information you need. live in san francisco, abc7 news. >> stay with abc7 news for the latest on the b.a.r.t. strike. we have a range of resources at abc7news.com in case of a strike, including more on transit options and how they plan to happen all the extra passengers, and you can find real-time traffic maps and waves traffic app. >> a driver who apparently fell asleep at the wheel gave one san jose neighborhood a rude wakeup call. the driver hit several parked cars on camden avenue. young can see the tire mark. he sheered off a fire hydrant before slamming hard into the side of an apartment building. one guy thought moving his car across the street. >> we have had two cars hit on

that side of the street, one totaled. two totaled there. thought i would be safe over here but i not. >> crews were able to cap off the gas meter hit by the truck. police say the driver was not drinking. >> the new $100 bill rolls out. not all are created equal. we'll find out which wins are worth a small mint, and i. >> the life changing disease that actor tom hanks says he has. >> the hp wave could change for employees with flex schedules. >> taking you live outside, another beautiful fall day around the bay, but things are changing. we'll have the c

or how to find big savings on the things you need. >> announcer: this is an abc news special report. government shutdown. hello, everyone. i'm george stephanopoulos in new york. we're coming to you right now because president obama about to hold a press conference in the white house briefing room. his first press conference since the government shut down about eight days ago. we're also ten days away from a far more consequential deadline when the government begins to lose the ability to make its interest payments and pay off

other government obligations like social security payments starting on october 17th, when it loses the ability to borrow more money. that deadline looming as well. but both the white house and congress now stuck in a stalemate. house republicans saying they will not open the government, extend the debt limit unless they get changes in the affordable care act or more restrictions on government spending. the president saying he's not going to negotiate over those issues until, unless and until the government opens up again and the debt limit is extended. and john karl down at the white house, that is the position the president just reiterated in his phone call with speaker boehner a few hours ago. >> reporter: yeah, george, you might consider it progress that at least the two of them had a phone conversation, but really the two sides are as dug in as ever. the president calling simply to reiterate his position that he will not negotiate until republicans agree to reopen the government and remove that threat of default. george, one analyst compared this situation to a game of chicken where both drivers have ripped the steering wheel out of the car and thrown it out the window. it's not clear how they get out

of this one. >> and it is hurting everyone right now. the president, democrats in congress and republicans in congress all disapproved now by the american public. we show the president 50% disapproval. democrats in congress about 60% and republicans at 70% disapproval right now. the country not liking what they are seeing at all. the president about to come out and restate his position right now. we don't expect any new offers from the president in this press conference. as we said, he just spoke to speaker boehner a few hours ago and dug in one more time saying he absolutely is not going to negotiate. the president now. >> good afternoon, everybody. i am eager to take your questions. so i'll try to be brief at the top. this morning i had a chance to speak with speaker boehner, and i told him what i've been saying publicly, that i am happy to talk with him and other republicans about anything, not just issues i think are important but also issues that they think are important. but i also told him that having

such a conversation, talks, negotiations shouldn't require hanging the threats of a government shutdown or economic chaos over the heads of the american people. think about it this way. the american people do not get to demand a ransom for doing their jobs. you don't get a chance to call your bank and say i'm not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an xbox if you're in negotiations around buying somebody's house, you don't get to say, well, let's talk about the price i'm going to pay and if you don't give me the price then i'm going to burn down your house. that's not how negotiations work. that's not how it happens in business. private life.it happens in in the same way members of congress and the house republicans in particular don't get to demand ransom in exchange for doing their jobs. and two of their very basic jobs are passing a budget and making

sure that america's paying its bills. they don't also get to say, you know, unless you give me what the voters rejected in the last election i'm going to cause a recession. that's not how it works. no american president would deal with a foreign leader like this. most of you would not deal with either co-workers or business associates in this fashion. and we shouldn't be dealing this way here in washington. i've heard republicans suggest that, well, no, this is reasonable, this is entirely appropriate. but as i've said before, imagine if a democratic congress threatened to crash the global economy unless a republican president agreed to gun background checks or immigration reform. i think it's fair to say that republicans would not think that was appropriate. so let's lift these threats from our families and our businesses, and let's get down to work.

it's not like this is a new position that i'm taking here. i had speaker boehner and the other leaders in just last week. either my chief of staff or i have had serious conversations on the budget with republicans more than 20 times since march. so we've been talking all kinds of business. what we haven't been able to get are serious positions from the republicans that would allow us to actually resolve some core differences. and they have decided to run out the clock until there's a government shutdown for the possibility of default thinking it would give them more leverage. that's not my characterization. they've said it themselves. that was their strategy from the start. and that is not how our government is supposed to run. it's not just me, by the way, who has taken the position that

we'll only have conversations about anything. senate democrats have asked to sit down with house republicans and hash out a budget but have been rejected by the house republicans 19 times. at the beginning of this year speaker boehner said what we want is regular order and a serious budget process. so the senate should pass a bill and the house should pass a bill, and then a committee comes together and they hash out their differences and send a bill to the president. well, that's exactly what democrats did. except somewhere along the way house republicans decided they wouldn't appoint people to the committee to try to negotiate. and 19 times they've rejected that. so even after all that the democrats in the senate still passed a budget that effectively reflects republican priorities at republican budget levels just to keep the government open.

and the house republicans couldn't do that either. the point is i think not only the white house but also democrats in the senate and democrats in the house have shown more than ample willingness to talk about any issues that the republicans are concerned about. but we can't do it if the entire basis of the republican strategy is we're going to shut down the government or cause economic chaos if we don't get 100% of what we want. so my suggestion to the speaker has been and will continue to be let's stop the excuses, let's take a vote in the house, let's end this shutdown right now. let's put people back to work. there are enough reasonable republicans and democrats in the house who are willing to vote yes on a budget that the senate has already passed. that vote could take place

today. the shutdown would be over. then serious negotiations could proceed around every item in the budget. now, as soon as congress votes to reopen the government, it's also got to vote to meet our country's commitments, pay our bills, raise the debt ceiling because as reckless as a government shutdown is, the economic shutdown caused by america defaulting would be dramatically worse. and i want to talk about this for a minute because even though people can see and feel the effects of a government shutdown, they're already experiencing it right now, there are still some people out there who don't believe that the fight is a real thing. we've been hearing that from some republicans in congress, that default would not be a big deal. so let me explain this. if congress refuses to raise what's called the debt ceiling, america would not be able to

meet all of our financial obligations for the first time in 225 years. and because it's called raising the debt ceiling, i think a lot of americans think it's raising our debt. it is not raising our debt. it does not add a dime to our debt. it simply says you pay for what congress has already authorized america to purchase. whether that's the greatest military in the world or veterans' benefits or social security. whatever it is that congress has already authorized, what this does is make sure that we can pay those bills. now, the last time that the tea party republicans flirted with the idea of default two years ago markets plunged, business and consumer confidence plunged,

america's credit rating was downgraded for the first time, and a decision to actuall through with it, to actually permit default according to many ceos and the congress would be, and i'm quoting here, insane, catastrophic, chaos. these are some of the more polite words. warren buffett likened default to a nuclear bomb, a weapon too horrible to use. it would disrupt markets. it would undermine the world's confidence in america as the bedrock of the global economy. and it might permanently increase our borrowing costs. which of course ironically would mean that it would be more expensive for us to service what debt we do have and it would add to our deficit and our debt, not decrease them. there's nothing fiscally responsible about that. preventing this should be simple. as i said, raising the debt ceiling is a lousy name, which is why members of congress in both parties don't like to vote on it, because it makes you

vulnerable in political campaigns. but it does not increase our debt. it does not grow our deficit. it does not allow for a single dime of increased spending. all it does is allow the treasury department to pay for what congress has already spent. but as i've said, it's always a tough vote. people don't like doing it. although it has been done 45 times since ronald reagan took office. nobody in the past has ever seriously threatened to breach the debt ceiling until the last two years. and this is the creditworthiness of the united states we're talking about. this is our word. this is our good name. this is real. in a government shutdown millions of americans face inconvenience or outright hardship. in an economic shutdown every american could see their 401(k)s and home values fall, borrowing costs for mortgages and student

loans rise, and there would be a significant risk of a very deep recession at a time when we're still climbing our way out of the worst recession in our lifetimes. the american people have already fought too hard and too long to come back from one crisis only to see a handful of more extreme republicans in the house of representatives precipitate another one. now, the good news is over the past 3 1/2 years our businesses have created 7 1/2 million new jobs. our housing market's healing. we've cut the deficit in half since i took office. the deficit is coming down faster than any time in the last 50 years. america's poised to become the number one energy producer in the world this year. this year for the first time in a very long time we're producing more oil than we're importing. so we've got a lot of good things going for us. but the uncertainty caused by

just one week of this nonsense so far has caused businesses to reconsider spending and hiring. we've seen consumer confidence plunge to the lowest level since 2008. we've seen mortgages held up by thousands of home buyers who aren't sure about the economic situation out there. and all this adds to our deficit. it doesn't subtract from it. so we can't afford these manufactured crises every few months. as i've said, this one isn't even about deficits or spending or budgets. our deficits are falling at the fastest pace in 60 years. the budget that the senate passed is at republican spending levels. it's their budget. that democrats were willing to put votes on just to make sure the government was open while negotiations took place for a longer-term budget. and what's happened, the way we got to this point was one thing and one thing only, and that was

republican obsession with dismantling the affordable care act and denying health care to millions of people. that law, ironically, is moving forward. so most americans, democrats, and republicans agree that health care should not have anything to do with keeping our government open or paying our bills on time. which is why i will sit down and work with anyone of any party, not only to talk about the budget. i'll talk about ways to improve the health care system. i'll talk about ways that we can shrink our long-term deficits. i'll also want to talk about how we're going to help the middle class and strengthen early childhood education and improve our infrastructure and research and development. there are a whole bunch of things i want to talk about in terms of how we're going to make sure that everybody's getting a fair shake in this society and that our economy's growing in a broad base, we're building our middle class. and by the way, if anybody

doubts my sincerity about that, i've put forward proposals in my budget to reform entitlement programs for the long haul and reform our tax code in a way that it closed loopholes for the wealthiest and lowered rates for corporations and help us invest in new jobs and reduce our deficits. and some of these were originally republican proposals. because i don't believe any party has a monopoly on good ideas. i've shown myself willing to go more than halfway in these conversations. and if reasonable republicans want to talk about these things again, i'm ready to head up to the hill and try. i'll even spring for dinner again. but i'm not going to do it until the more extreme parts of the republican party stop forcing john boehner to issue threats about our economy. we can't make extortion routine as part of our democracy. democracy doesn't function this

way. and this is not just for me. it's also for my successors in office. whatever party they're from, they shouldn't have to pay a ransom for congress doing its basic job. we've got to put a stop to it. last point i'll make. already this week i had to miss critical meetings in asia to promote american jobs and businesses. and although as long as we get that fixed that's not long-term damage, whenever we do these things it hurts our credibility around the world. it makes it look like we don't have our act together. and that's not something we should welcome. the greatest nation on earth shouldn't have to get permission from a few irresponsible members of congress every couple of months just to keep our government open or to prevent an economic catastrophe. so let's pass a budget. let's end this government shutdown. let's pay our bills. let's avert an economic shutdown. let's drop the gimmicks, put aside what's good for any

particular party, and let's focus on what's good for the american people because they know we've got a lot of work to do. all right? so with that, let me take a couple of questions, and i will start with julie pace of a.p. >> thank you, mr. president. obviously, if congress does pass a clean cr and clean debt ceiling bill, those may just be short-term measures. if that happens, does your offer to negotiate with them on issues like health care and spending and debt reduction still stand in the intervening weeks that they pass measures that are perhaps just six weeks or two months long? >> absolutely. i've said that i will talk about anything. what will happen is we won't agree on everything. i mean, the truth is that the parties are pretty divided on a whole bunch of big issues right now. everybody understands that. and by the way, voters are divided on a lot of those issues too. and i recognize that there are some house members, republican house members, where i got

clobbered in the last election. and they don't get politically rewarded a lot for being seen as negotiating with me. and that makes it harder for divided government to come together. but i am willing to work through all those issues. the only thing that our democracy can't afford is a situation where one side says unless i get my way and only my way, unless i get concessions before we even start having a serious give and take, i'll threaten to shut down the government or i will threaten to not pay america's bills. so i will not eliminate any