on this sunday night, on the brink. a government shoutdown now just over 24 hours away. tonight, who is to blame and the real impact for millions of american ? who is following you? turns out on social network, not just your friends, the government. like it or not. troubled waters. the toktsic threat to a vital part of the atlantic coastline. and high anxiety. we'll fly along with a man who jumped from 6,000 feet and wound up straight between a rock and a hard place.

good evening. things aren't looking good. we're now a little under 30 hours away from a partial shutdown of the federal government. the point at which washington will be unable to pay many of its bills. the mechanics of avoiding a monday night strutdown are pretty straightforward. a simple vote by congress to keep the money flowing would do it. but of course, as usual, it's the politics, not the mechanics, that are proving to be the obstacle. and the bart san bickering that we've come to know as business as usual, it was on rare display saturday night. not a good sign. we've got full coverage starting on capitol hill. good evening. where do we stand? >> reporter: what makes this different than other showdown crisis in recent years, leaders on either side are not sugar coating it. and none of that frantic back

scene negotiation going on. and it seems more and more unlikely that they can avoid this mess. >> the rules are suspended the bill is passed. and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. >> reporter: high steaks -- high stake ises but low expectations for capitol hill. notably not how speaker john boehner came together to -- >> and we want to work and negotiate and get the job done. >> tea party conservatives held to their demand refusing to fund the government unless the health care law is delayed one year. but senate democrats will wait until tomorrow to reject the house plan. >> this is the old football straenl. when you get to where you want to be in a football game, you run out the clock. >> democratic leaders say the tea party delay is going nowhere. >> there's a time and place to

debate obamacare. but not at a time when millions of innocent people are held hostage if we don't fund the government. >> reporter: the house had worked until the wee hours this morning. democrats, fumed. >> what on earth are we doing here? >> reporter: republicans did pass the plan to keep the government open, but with conditions. a one year delay of the president's health care law and repeal of the tax on medical devices. and if there is a shutdown, the military would still get paid on time. tea party force texas senator ted cruz defended the strategy on melt meet the press. >> the only people who aren't listening to this argument is the career politicians in washington. >> reporter: but tonight all is quiet. one day left before the government's lights go out.

nbc news. the capitol. >> reporter: tour boats loaded with visitors to the statute of liberty and ellis island today. but come tuesday, lady liberty and national parks coast-to-coast will close if the government shuts down. >> the fact that the statute of liberty could be held hostage, is appalling to me. >> reporter: the smithsonian will also close, long with yosemite, mountain rushmore. the leisure destinations that are the bread and butter to surrounding businesses. >> if that happened, it would shut us down. we come out here doing ligake tests. >> reporter: the last time the government shut down was in the mid-'90s for three weeks. >> we have employees that have families to take care of, bills

to pay. we are very concerned about the -- about the effect on them for any sort of shutdown. >> reporter: the impact to national parks visitors is just the start of a ripple effect. an estimated 800,000 civilian workers will be furloughed. government back home loans will be delayed. and if the shutdown drags on to october 17th, the stakes grow even higher. >> if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling and the u.s. treasury can't meet its obligations, that could raise interest rates, credit card rates and plunge the economy back into recession. >> reporter: there are still some programs that will remain untouched if the government shuts down. including mail service delivery, funding for social security and also air traffic controllers and screeners at airport. >> laying out where we stand and

what's at stake. now for more on how this is likely to play out, we're joined by nbc political director chuck todd. >> reporter: well, i can tell you what's going on at the white house. not much of anything. president obama con veeped a meeting of his senior staff earlier today. they talked about the government shutdown but also don't forget, tuesday is the day of open enrollment for the president's signature health care law. all of that coming together. but what's tomorrow going to look like? well, the senate will do its deal sometime tomorrow afternoon. send a bill back to the house. and at that point, sometime between i'd say dinner time tomorrow night and midnight, the house of representatives is likely to send back one more bill. maybe it's a clean bill with no riders or anything like that that would keep the government open for say a week or maybe it only has one demand on it. but this isn't over yet. it's likely to see one more

account to this play before the government does shut down. >> we learned this weekend about a major new component to the government's secret surveillance program. one that may now be coming back to haunt the very nature of social networking. >> reporter: more classified documents leaked by ex-contractor and federal fugitive edward snowden disclose yet another nsa program that secretly collects permanent data on american citizens. the documents show the agency since 2011 has been building large scale graphics of foreign intelligence networks that include the social connections of some american citizens. accessing facebook, twitter accounts, bank codes, and even gps locational data. >> the government is putting

together databases from other personal and professional lives to basically tell a comprehensive story of how we live every day. >> the nsa that all queries must be conducted for a purpose. and at a rare meeting, the u.s. intelligence committee vigorously defended the nsa's efforts and denounced the leaks lie snowden. >> there's no way to make up for the damage that's already been done. >> reporter: but they dodged questions about what is currently being done such as this exchange that tracks where a person has been from the cell phone in their pocket. >> has the nsa ever collected or ever made any plans to collect american cell site information? >> what i don't want to do is put out in an unclassified form anything that's classified here.

>> reporter: the nsa has repeatedly said there's been no willful instances. but they've been caught spying on their girlfriends, boyfriends and spouses. >> in arizona investigators released a 120 page report that leaves almost as many questions as answers about why 19 firefighters died in the yarnell hill fire. it was the worst firefighting tragedy since nine seven. he with covered the story tonight. >> i can feel it, you know. >> reporter: these radio transmissions are believed to be some of the final communications from the grand the mountain hotshots. shortly after this video was taken, 19 firefighters lost their lives in arizona. investigators now believe that poorly programmed radios made

communication a major problem. just before flames swept over the hotshots, there was a 33 minute radio blackout. >> nothing will bring them home. >> julian as craft and their four children lost andrew. >> that being my husband and a loved one, i'm not okay with 30 minutes unaccounted for. >> reporter: the report says they were in a safe zone when they descended into a valley. when crews couldn't out run fires they deployed emergency shelters. no one knows why the men headed into the valley. >> we don't know that information. we don't have it. that's the decision making process of the 19 men. >> reporter: when the hotshots were surrounded by flames, a dc-10 full of fire retardant was over head. but they never received the

crews' location. >> they did everything they could. and they stayed together and they loved each other. >> reporter: the report places no blame. 19 families never got to say good-bye and now they may never have answers. nbc news, los angeles. >> overseas a week after terrorists gunned down and tortured dozens of people inside a popular mall in kenya, nbc news has obtained photos that show what the scene looked like after the attack. in the meantime, investigators have taken a ninth suspect into custody. here is the latest. >> reporter: these inclusive pictures reveal the utter devastation inside the westgate mall. four floors of upscale malls in american. it was crowded with families enjoying a typical saturday afternoon. after four days of warfare

between ten to 15 militants and hundreds of kenyan forces. that's what's left of the food court. the grocery store is where sources say the most intense fighting took place. today kenyan leader stone walled a government report that said there had been recent warnings about a possible attack at the westgate mall. >> [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: also today, a mystery solved. who is the mother seen in this video protecting her children? all of them playing dead until the help arrived? >> the bullet casings dropping near on the floor. you could smell the gun powder. >> reporter: she is now safely home with her son and daughter and husband. she spent 4 1/2 hours on the floor keeping her young children quiet. >> it was absolutely no way to move.

now i was praying, god, please protect us and provide a way out for us. >> reporter: they hope to find out who the officer is and thank him for saving the family. >> across the continent now to nigeria where gun men stormed a college campus killing as many as 50 students as they slept. most of the victims in their late teens and early 20s. they say they were islamic militants but say they have no conclusive evidence yet. we turn now to iran after so many years of hostility. when president obama called iran's president on friday, many viewed it as a sign of progress. but do the iranians welcome a warming with the west? >> reporter: he was greeted at the airport by hundreds of supporters pleased at the

possibility of a recess in relations with the west. while dozens of people accused him of selling out by talking to president obama. hard lined newspapers wrote, death to america. and criticized him for giing too much and getting nothing back. the west wants him to solve the nuclear dispute. but at home, people expect him to fix the economy. i've been walking around the streets of teheran gauging the mood among the people about how they feel about better relationships to the united states and everybody, without question, favors better relationships. they want iran to come in from the cold. >> i think the time to change that attitude and go towards, you know, peace and friendship. >> lots of people want to go to america but they're not able to because of the situation. >> reporter: this lady is a single mother struggling to

support herself and 16-year-old daughter. she told me the last few years everything has become so expensive. she worries about her daughter's future. she wants to stud law or medicine, especially in america. she said, i am pleased he spoke with obama. we should have peace with other countries. the real test will come in mid-october when they meet to try to hammer out a deal on the disputed nuclear issues. >> when "nbc nightly news" continues on this sunday, what's behind a major environmental threat to a huge part of the coastline? and later, a wing and a prayer. a man who gets his thrills flying through a narrow opening between two mountain peaks. so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology,

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in florida, scientists say time is running out for a vital waterway now so polluted that soon the damage could be irreversible. thousands protests along the dying east coast threat. more tonight from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: environmental threat that has sign tifts on residents on high alert covers about a third of the florida's east coast. they're now fouled with pollution and algae. some areas so toxic that they've urged people to stay out of the water. >> it's not only beyond critical, it's disastrous. it's outrageous. >> reporter: this is a lady who manages a boast store in

florida. she took these pictures by her dock. >> it burns your eyes and throat. it has a lot of different uncomfortable effects. >> reporter: it's the indian river la goon system. home to 4300 plants and animal species. for years, the la goon has been filling up with fertilizer and sewage from agry culture and killing wildlife. >> we're messing with mother nature and we don't want to get to the point of no return. >> reporter: normally this sand bar is covered along the edges by boats and sunbathers. but now, with all that algae and posted health warnings, most people are staying away. in the south lagoon area, scientists say the natural balance is upset from lake water being released from lake okeechobee. and in there's an unusual high

number of manatees and dolphins dying this year. and they're trying to protect them. >> i'm angry. it needs to be fixed. it's not a -- it's not rocket science. there are solutions. they're all political solutions. >> reporter: scientists warn efforts must begin soon to save this treasured waterway. >> and up next as we continue this sunday night, big time college football coach, who was sacked this weekend. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room.

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talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. get the blood tests. change your number. turn it up. androgel 1.62%. finally tonight it's a kind of stunt you know you should be watching with your eyes closed but you can't help yourself. it was all about jeb in a wing suit diving 6,000 feet into the history books this weekend in china. >> this was his target aiming to fly through the narrow crevice on the right. >> i'm definitely scared. >> reporter: he calls this his most challenging yet.

but early saturday it looked like it wouldn't happen. >> the wind is way too strong right now. this landing area is pretty much off limits. >> reporter: but the in valley below, thousands of villagers were gathering to witness the stunt. there was growing anxiety in the camp. >> you can see the mist is touching the top and the ceiling is too low. >> reporter: they prepared to scrap the jump. >> we wouldn't even jump any way. >> and late afternoon the weather broke. the clouds have cleared and wind speeds have dropped. but there's real concern about the turbulent air inside that crack. his chopper circled the mountain lining up for the precise ankle to jump. then he was flying. diving down at 100 miles an hour and into the crack between the rocks. there were gasps around the valley as he emerged unscathed

pulling his chute for a hard but safe landing. when we caught up with him, he was happy. >> it was the single gnarliest thing that i've done without a doubt. i have never experienced anything more hard core period. i was 100% sure that that was not happening. >> reporter: but he conquered the mountain mountain and achieved what had seemed impossible. nbc news, china. >> and that's "nbc nightly news" for this sunday. coming up, football night in america followed by the falcons patriots game. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. for all of us here at "nbc nightly news," good night.

. a look from above at atlanta, georgia, where tonight beneath the georgia dome, the records don't tell the whole story as the unbeaten new england patriots visit the down but dangerous atlanta falcons on "sunday night football." after a pair of narrow road losses matt ryan and the falcons 1-2 but with the quarterback at the helm of a explosive attack the falcons still have time to make a run at the playoffs.