another crisis on capitol hill. will the government shut down? a leading house democrat joins me with answers. obama care explained. a new ad from the government that lets some of the pictures do the talking. we'll bring you the nuts and bolts of the new health care act. the plot twist in that kenyan mall massacre. in some ways, an inside job. it's showtime in afghanistan. a fascinating new documentary that looks at the first national broadcast television network in that country. hello. it is high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to weekends with alex witt. just two days till a possible government shutdown. house members are meeting right now. at the same time, republicans in the house are holding their own

meeting to discuss the way forward on the budget battle. this is all happening a day after the senate passed and then sent back to the house legislation that would continue to fund the government until november 15th. senate democrats stripped a provision that would have defunded obama care. meanwhile, the president is holding firm on the budget and the debt ceiling. >> i will work with anyone who wants to have a serious conversation about our economic future. but i will not negotiate over congress's responsibility to pay the bills it has already will racked up. i don't know how to be more clear about this. no one gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the united states of america just to extract ideological concessions. >> let's go to capitol hill. nbc's luke russert with a good saturday to you there in the rotunda. where do things stand right now? >> well, good morning. sorry. good afternoon. it's already been a long morning here. the house republican conference is meeting right now, but what we can report to you coming to

us from gop leadership aides is that the house republican conference is going to plan to vote on a bill to fund the government however it will contain something in there pertaining to the president's health care law that democrats will not like. it could be cutting an existing tax on medical devices, could pertain to delaying the law for a year, could pertain to the benefits by members staff around capitol hill. we don't know what that will look like. the plan is to vote tonight, get it out of the house. all republican support and put it back in the laps of the senate. now, to set up this whole debate going on here, take a look at this little spot we put together. >> countdown to shutdown. a warning from president obama to congress. >> my message to congress is this -- do not shut down the government. do not shut down the economy. pass a budget on time. pay our bills on time. >> reporter: this after the senate passed a bill along party lines that would fund the

government through november 15th. the legislation now heads to the house where it faces opposition from republicans who oppose the bill because it doesn't defund obama care. >> this is like holding a gun on each other now, standing in a burning building, and deciding who's going to blink. >> senate democrats say the position of house republicans is extreme. >> the country's not going to be extorted. we're not going to going with a gun to our heads. >> today the house begins a rare weekend session to try and forge a compromise or the government shuts down on monday at midnight. for kerry galloway, a shutdown hits home. her husband is a federal worker. >> if it went on for very long and the bullies couldn't decide to share the sand box, i think the effects of that would be quite dramatic on my family. >> many americans are just tired of the partisanship. >> each of them have their own agenda. for whatever reason, they cannot work together. i don't understand why. >> reporter: and you heard that

gentleman there, alex, saying they can't work together. so far from what we've learned today of this plan for the house to pass something out of here that will be the republican bill and it goes back to the senate had, harry reid says he will not take any bill that touches the president's health care law. they just can't work together. all this as we tick towards monday night midnight when the government would run out of funds and we go into shutdown mode. this is a fluid situation but as of right now, looks like it's going to get kicked back to the senate and we'll have a standoff. >> so luke, do they for sure try to pass a gop plan today or might they just spend all day discussing options as that clock ticks down? >> they original will i when we came in, we were unsure whether or not they were going to vote on a bill to fund the government. from where we stand right now lady of the meeting at noon, the leadership team believes they can put something on the floor that will pass that funds the government and does something to the president's health care law that would get the 218

republican votes necessary that would placate what i would call the cruz caucus within the house republican conference. >> really? >> yeah, they believe they can do something like that that would fund the government for a year, however, because it touches the president's health care law, harry reid will do nothing with it. he will laugh at it and shrug it off. then you'll have the house gop saying we did our job. we were trying to fund the government. we passed our plan, the one that hurts the health care law. harry reid said i'm not going to goeshts on that. in order to fund the government cleanly without any change to the health care law, the only way boehner can do that is with democratic votes. what day does he do that? what time does he do that? that's the million dollar question. we don't know the answer. >> that's why you have your track shoes on today. thank you very much. you might wonder what would happen if the government shuts down. if there's no agreement by october 1st, nonessential workers roughly half the government workforce would be furloughed. and those who stay on the job including members of the military and air traffic

controllers would not get paid. instead, they'll be issued ious. passport and visa applications would stahl. so would student loans. national parks and monuments around the country would close to tourists, including one of the nation's most visited attractions, the statute of liberty in new york city. but in the 0 everything would come to a screeching halt. social security checks continue, medicare payments, federal prisons will stay open. mail delivery and members of congress will still be getting their paychecks. joining me now, congressman adam schiff, a democrat from the california, member of the house appropriations committee. it's great to see you. just about everyone thinks the government will the had in fact shut down. what is your informed opinion. >> well, as of 12 hours ago, i was saying i still thought it unlikely. i couldn't imagine they would go to the brink and beyond. but now i'm really not so sure. if the house takes up a bill that once again tries to defund

part or delay part of the health care plan, then i think we will have a shutdown. it may be a short one, but i think this is so incredibly irresponsible. here in the house, democrats are kind of in a wait and see mode. this is really a fight between gop and gop. in the senate, we've seen that democrats, republicans can get together to keep the government running with a clean continuing resolution. but here in the house, the house republicans won't agree with that. and so every hour that ticks by, we get closer to a shutdown. i find it astonishing and really just horrendous when you consider that if we had avoided this kind of self-inflicted wound over the last year and a half, our economy would be humming right now, but we continue to throw up manmade roadblocks. it's just all of. >> you heard luke russert just before saying that among the things that could be considered were -- would be some faction the gop would say let's attach some amendments here that

affects the affordable care act and would be able to claim we did our part. but in can the fa, aren't they doing something if they do that we already know will no chance and you know what get passed by either harry reid or the senate or the president. he said i'll veto it. how can they claim we've worked in good faith? >> well, they can't. all they can claim is that they kept their conference together. the speaker got to hold on to his job. and they could try to point the finger at someone else. once they pass yet another defund or delay obama care bill in the house, then it just goes into in their mode, the blame game. they try to deflect responsibility. but it's very clear, we can't continue to engage in these petulant my way or the white may way or the government shutdown, my way or is the country defaults on its credit exercises every three to six months. and if the president relents here, then he's just going to buy himself more and more of this hostage taking on the

economy. so it's got to come to an end. i think it will come to an end now. and i hope that if the house gop pushes us over this cliff again, that the country rises up and lets the gop know in no uncertain terms if they're not prepared to govern and they're the majority party, they're not going to be the majority party because i don't think anything less is going to instill in them the notion that they will have a responsibility to the country here. >> are there any republican house members, moderate or otherwise, who are coming up to you and wondering how they got to the this point where the tea party tail is wagging the gop dog, so to speak? into there are a lot of mainstream members of the gop. they're probably a majority in the republican conference who don't want to see a shutdown who think it would be politically disastrous. they have this hastert rule they won't pass anything with democratic votes. even if you had a majority of the republicans saying let's pass a clean resolution and it

passed with democratic votes, but lost that tea party bloc, it would be a violation of the hastert rule. unless it were a true majority of the republican conference and they're not willing to do that. i think the speaker's not willing to take the risk. so we have this dysfunction in the house. but you know, i do think there's a big bloc of you know, more or less sensible gop members in the house who think this is crazy and clearly the majority of republicans in the senate feel that way. >> okay. soleil out today for me, what is on the agenda? and do you expect you'll be voting on, if anything? >> well, i think there are two scenarios, and you alluded to one with mr. russert. that is they'll either come up with a bill today that will once again have this defunding piece to it and pass it, or they'll come to agreement they need to pass a clean cr and maybe they pass a separate bill on obama care, but at least the senate then can pass the clean bill and we can keep the government

running, or, and this is entirely plausible, alex, they just can't come to any agreement today and we don't vote on anything today. and it gets pushed off till tomorrow. they are at such a level of dysfunction, there's really no predicting the outcome into that's why you've had a change of heart thinking 12, 24 hours ago we may avoid a shutdown. because of the timeline you're 24iing huh-uh? >> that's exactly it, alex. there's a certain time necessary just mechanically to get bills through the house and senate. particularly the senate. so even if senator reid calls people back asap, as we've seen with mr. cruz, it takes a lot of time to move anything in the senate. each hour that ticks by without the gop and house knowing what they want to do without them being of one mind, we get closer to a shutdown. >> adam schiff, always a pleasure. best of luck. now to the ground breaking phone call between president obama and iranian president rouhani. their historic conversation 30 years in the making is is

signaling a dru direction in u.s./iran reegss. to what degreeing? kristen welker, is there an indication from the white house how optimistic they are on this. >> i think they are cautiouslily optimistic. i've been talking to foreign policy experts who are, as well. they will say this could be a new beginning in the relationship between the united states and iran. that phone call on friday was historic. a little bit of background about how it came about. president obama, president rouhani both at the u.n. this past week. white house officials were hoping there would be some type of handshake. rouhani turned that request down. he wasn't quite ready to do that earlier this week, in part because of pressure from the hard liners in his country, but after a conversation that was described as fruitful between secretary kerry and his iranian counterpart, rouhani came around. so officials contacted white house officials on friday, said that the president of iran wanted to have a phone

conversation with president obama. so at 2:30 friday afternoon, president obama called president rouhani. they spoke for about 15 minutes. according to president obama, they discussed a possible agreement about iran's nuclear program. but they also discussed that there were challenges, take a listen to a little bit more of what president obama had to say about this conversation. >> we're mindful of all the challenges ahead. the very fact that this was the first communication between an american and iranian president since 1979 underscores the deep mistrust between our countries, but it also indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history. >> reporter: now, white house officials say that that phone call ended with president rouhani telling president obama in english, have a nice day. president obama responding in farcy by saying thank you, of course, the rest of the conversation had been through a

translator. so certainly the possibility of a new beginning, but both sides proceeding cautiously, alex. >> i love that last detail you just shared. kind of cool. thank you very much. explaining the affordable health care act. is america ready to sign up come tuesday? and isn't it just a wee bit early for snow? not for folks in one part of the u.s. and it's not alaska either. . she was a picky eater. well now i'm her dietitian... ...and last year, she wasn't eating so well. so i recommended boost complete nutritional drink to help her get the nutrition she was missing. and now she drinks it every day. well, it tastes great! [ male announcer ] boost drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones, and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. and now boost comes in two delicious, new bars. look for them next to boost drinks. [ dietitian ] now, nothing keeps mom from doing what she loves... ...being my mom.

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it's a working weekend on capitol hill. this morning, the house gaveled into a rare weekend session. the house gop is meeting to figure out if they have an idea to fund the government. president obama is urging them to act with time running out ahead of monday night's deadline. on tuesday, health insurance exchanges formed under obama care will open for people to start shopping.

a new poll finds 74% of uninsured americans and 60% overall didn't know it. it's one of a number of problems in getting the program off the ground. david nather, senior policy reporter for politico pro joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> here we go. tuesday the exchanges open and then come january 1st, coverage kicks in. is the government and the people who will need it ready? >> well, no. i mean, if you look at that poll today just shows the word really hasn't gotten out at all. you know, if 12% of uninsured people know that these new health insurance exchanges are opening on tuesday, they've really got to get the word out more. you know, these exchanges are going to open. most of the function are going to work. some will not. there are going to be glitches. some functions have been delayed. the obama administration has tried to say look, that's -- it's not a big deal. the main stuff is going to

happen. republicans have been shining a spotlight on all the glitches and delays. reality is, we're going to be hearing a lot about that over the next week or two. enrolling in obama care is six months. it may shooting out down the road. >> okay. let's talk about the coverage being offered. it's got a tiered system. platinum, gold, silver and bronze plans. can you talk about the quality of each one and how it differs? >> yeah, it's -- they're different levels of coverage. they're basically covering different -- covering different amounts of the costs of your medical coverage. if you're looking for the cheapest plan, you would probably choose a bronze because it's covering maybe 60%. >> and that's maybe going to appeal to younger people, right? people that are really healthy like kids in their 20s and like i never go to the doctor, i feel great. >> yeah, exactly. they're going to want to choose the cheapest plan. that's understandable, but you know, the idea of these plans is to make sure there's some basic

level of coverage for everybody. right now, a lot of young people could go out and maybe find something cheaper but it's going to have a $10,000 deductible which means you don't get coverage of anything unless it's like a catastrophic medical expense. so you're paying money for it and finding out it doesn't seem to cover anything. obama care is trying to fix that. the controversy is some conservatives are saying people should have the right to pick bare bones coverage if that's what they want and that's being done away with. >> here's what's interesting. it varies from state to state. it will depend where you live in the country. in fact, the white house has released numbers on the cost of the new insurance plan. some critics have said, look, some states it's pricey. there's a 27-year-old making $25,000 a year who would pay $145 a month after tax credits. you have a 60-year-old making $50,000 a year living in dallas would pay $575 a month. so to what extent do you think this is going to be affordable

for most people? >> well, most of the -- most of the studies that have been done that looked at this show you know, it's -- after you take the subsidies into effect, there's going to be tax credits to help people pay for it. a lot of the premiums may be affordable for most people. there is going to be a problem for people who are kind of lowish income who have a lot of medical expenses because none of that is counting your out of pocket expenses. that could be a problem for people who use health care a lot. for the rest, it may be okay, especially after the subsidies that don't exist now. >> here's the important thing to remember really, that this does open up or at least improves coverage for people who previously couldn't get it. so do those benefits outweigh the costs? >> that's going to be -- you know, that's what the whole debate is about. young healthy people may go in and say, you know, i'm paying more. it doesn't sound worth it to me,

but you know, everybody else, you know, middle age, you know, older people, who use health care more, it's going to be a better deal for them. and really, after you know, really after the tax credits kick in, you know, a lot of young people may not feel it as much. but it's -- it is a tradeoff. it's not going to be as easy for younger healthy people as it used to be. >> david nather, policy reporter for politico pro. thank you so much. a former cia agent talks about mall security here in america. the new twist in that kenya attack. and in today's number ones, pizza hut plays a prominent role. what is the company doing that puts them on that list? nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media

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lowest level since 2007. plenty of unfilled jobs. a credit card service tops aol's weekly list of the top companies hiring this week. car solutions has more than 14,000 openings. petco has almost 11500,000 openings and pizza hut with 6300. california congressman darrell issa is the king of capitol hill in terms of wealth with an estimated fortune of $355 million. wonder who's at the bottom? california republican david baladow, will $4 million in the red all of it reportedly related to his dairy farm. >> monster university. anybody getting off. >> i'm officially a college student! >> monsters university was a big summer hit at the box office. but it fails to make playboy's new list of the nation's top party schools. west virginia university wins that honor or dishonor followed by wisconsin, colorado, oh, yeah, southern cal, right on and

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt"". it's time for headlines at the half. united nations inspectors investigating more sites in syria where chemical weapons were reported used. on friday the u.n. security council voted unanimously on a resolution to destroy the government's stockpile of weapons. police in china rescued 92 children and two women during a massive human trafficking bust. 301 suspects are being held. investigators say the children were kidnapped in central china and sold in other provinces. new information expected today on the deaths of 19 elite firefighters in arizona. the report is expected to outline weather conditions, communications and logistics in the hours before the hotshots died in a wildfire on june 30th. the ball is back in the house's court. house members are returning to work today trying to find a way to avert the first government

shutdown in nearly 20 years. this weekend's session comes a day after the senate passed legislation keeping the government running till november 15th. it does not strip funding for obama care. now, if congress can't pass a short-term funding bill by midnight monday, the government shuts down. joining me now, political reporter for "us news and world report" lauren fox and david nakamura. it's great to see you both. david, first, as the president says, no negotiating is going to be done here. what's going on behind the scenes? is the white house waiting for the gop to sort their issues out? >> absolutely. we just heard the president is going golfing right now. he loves to do that when he has free time. i think he's trying to project the idea it's urgent the house acts. yesterday you saw when he came out to make a statement, he didn't lead with the house and budget negotiations. he led with the discussions he had with iran's president. i think he's making clear, i'm going to turn to other priorities while you work it

out. we're not going to do any negotiating over obama care or any other priorities when it comes to the budget or the debt ceiling. monday, he's got a meeting with benjamin netanyahu and goes to asia at theened of next week. the president's making clear he learned from mistakes two years ago. when he did negotiate over spending cuts attaching it to the debt ceiling. he's not going to do that here. >> lauren, the senate passed that spending bill yesterday. it doesn't strip out any funding for obama care but funds the government till november 15th. even if there is an agreement reached in the house, are we being set up for a repeat of this on november 15th? halloween time going to be scarier because we're doing this all over again? >> certainly we could see deja vu on november 15th. i think what the senate is thinking is there's going to be another fight. the debt ceiling will need to be risen on october 17th, and if that doesn't happen, by that point, then a lot of the frustration and discussions

about the budget may happen around that date. so maybe november 15th could be something that doesn't have the pushback that we've seen on this particular continuing resolution. >> okay. david, so we could hit the debt ceiling as early as october 17th. if congress doesn't vote to increase the ceiling, the u.s. would default for the first time ever. how much is at stake here for the president if not the country? >> a lot's at stake. even though the president is trying to project an air he's going on with other priorities and going to draw the line, especially the debt ceilinging is a big deal. not only the budget but the debt ceiling could affect the u.s. economy. we saw two years ago, even though they made the deadline and they did lift the debt ceiling, you recall in the summer of 2011, they were downgraded by one of the wall street rating houses for the first time ever. that did hurt the economy to some extent analysts say. if it took longer, there is more uncertainty in the economy. the president's talked a lot

about the steps we've done over the last several years to get the economy moving again. but there's still a long way to go. he recognizes that. even though the democrats and white house are trying to put the potential blame on congress and there's some suggestions polls -- republicans, the polls do say that, they will take the blame, the president would take a hit, as well. we saw that two years ago. his an probable ratings have gone down recently. >> remember when this happened, '95, '96 when president clinton at perhaps the lowest ebb of his presidency. he came roaring back after that. what are the chances it could be only the gop that takes the political hit here and the president comes out okay? >> david? >> i think the president is concerned because you could talk all you want about looking at 2014 and the house using this as a strategy or using the failure of immigration reform to move forward and blaming republicans. but i think you washington would take the blame as a whole.

i think the white house ultimately is responsible for the economy. as much as the house has a divide amongst itself among the republican party, they will take a hit. i'm not sure the white house is insulated from that and it's going to be important as we go forward, you're going to see the president continue to put more pressure on congress to do this as we get closer to the deadlines. >> lauren, ted cruz and mike lee are trying to influence debate in the house. cruz says they've had numerous conversations with some house members. take a listen. >> house of representatives stood up courageously acted united to defund obama care. they listened to the american people. that was the right thing to do. house leadership did the right thing last week. i'm confident the house of representatives will continue to do the right thing. >> how much influence does senator ted cruz really have on the house? how is this playing out within the republican party as a whole? >> i had an interview yesterday with representative tom graves. he's the congressman behind the

defund effort in the of representatives. he introduced that legislation. he said look, ted cruz is a friend of ours. he has conversations with us. we've talked with him, but this isn't anything we wouldn't be doing on our own if ted cruz wasn't coming over and talking with us. but certainly it has made an influence on speaker john boehner. it's made his job much more difficult because there has been this active coalescing around some plans that maybe leadership would like to put the kibosh on. >> okay. lauren fox, david nakamura, we'll see if there's a can i bosch on the government shutdown stuff coming up. thank you guys. we invite you all to watch "meet the press" tomorrow. david gregory's guest is tom cruz. let's go now to the weather and an early sign of winter in wyoming. two inches of snow fell in parts of casper, knocking down several trees. although that snow is expected to melt this weekend. how is the rest of the country shaping up? meteorologist dylan dreyer has the answers.

good afternoon now. >> good afternoon to you too, alex. way too early for snow. other parts of wyoming in the higher elevations picked up 8 to 10 inches of the white stuff. oh enough with that. that's going to melt away. now we're talking about a lot of rain. there's this cold front moving through the center of the country dividing the country in half out ahead of it. it's nice and mild in the 70s and even some 80s through texas. but back behind it, it's only 53 degrees right now in denver. it will start to warm up though especially since we'll see more sunshine through the rockies throughout the day today and the entire weekend. but right where that cold front is from basically just through eastern iowa stretching down into northern texas, that's where we have a line of heavier downpo downpours. we could see flash flooding with thunderstorms that develop there, maybe some hail, as well. it's the pacific northwest where we see a huge storm system. it is going to produce a lot of rain and a lot of wind over the course of the weekend. in fact, some areas from seattle right down into portland could end up with 5 to 7 inches of

rain. we could see even more rain in isolated areas. on top of that, we could end up with wind gusts near 65 miles per hour. it is going to be pretty messy in the pacific northwest all the way through the middle of the week. seattle through wednesday, the rain continues to come down and it's pretty chilly too with temperatures around 5 to the 60 degrees. out ahead of the front, it's really nice. chicago above average. st. louis is above average with temperatures topping out in the mid 80s. about 10 degrees above average. we're going it see some cooler air start to work in as soon as tomorrow. chicago drops down to about 71 degrees. tomorrow besides a couple of scattered storms in texas, most of the country will see a pretty nice day. low humidity and temperatures in the 70s. >> thanks so much, dylan. in office politics, alison stewart, author of the book first class which takes a look at the history of washington, d.c.'s dunbar school, the first high school in this country devoted to educating black students. dunbar boasts a roster of accomplished graduates.

so i asked allison, did dun bar somehow found a silver lining to the scourge of segregation. >> if you really think about what it was maechbt to do, it was meant to demean, it was meant to infer that you were lesser intellectually, morally, socially. that was the whole point was we don't want to be near black people. we think they're lesser. what it did though in washington, and in other communities, was you had people who realized they had to fight for something together collectively. they were fighting to are their rights. that was a big part of the school. they were training what they would call the next great race leaders. all of these people would go in and try to overturn all of these legal obstacles and hurdles and break break all these glass skeelallings. i say in d.c. it wasn't that segregation was good. it was true int"gration failed. they will -- washington legally did he segregated in three months. 90 years of segregation just changed. they carved up the city.

so what happened when d.c. legally segregated and it happened around the country is the systems, they weren't particularly interested in caring about these kids. whereas when the communities were separate, at least the people in the communities like you may not give us the best buildings, you may give us used books but we're going to make the best out of this horrible situation. >> before the book came out, i took my advance, which was not big because it was not a big -- it's not random house or anything. but i started a scholarship with united negro college fund for dunbar students because i know there are students there who are doing everything they canning to try to invest in their own education and try to go that next step. it if it's just a couple thousand dollars so they don't have to work to buy books or gets them the extra semester they need, i wanted that to be something that came from the book. anybody can donate to it. we left it open. so help me make it last a long

time. >> i'm so glad to be in your house because you work here. >> yeah. >> which has got to be a whole big kit and kaboodle with having your season at home, too. could you get your work done here. >> i tried to write this book here, but my kid was like a heat-seeking missile. he would find me no matter where i was. when i have to do calls, this is where i work at the dining room table. i had to go to a writer's collective, it's a huge loft in greenwich village. you turn off your phone. they even tell you to walk quietly. but there's something about being in a giant loft with all the other writers that helps you get inspired and stay focused. but you can't do an interview there and you can't bring five boxes of files with you. so that's when the dining room table comes in handy. >> you have a huge honor now being on the board of trustees of brown university. >> that's an amazing thing when they first said, we'd like to you run for the board of trustees at brown university,

said you know i'm not a hedge funder, right? i can help you raise some money. and they said no, it's really about we want a diversity of experiences and voices and you're somebody who keeps coming up. yeah, i really love the school. and so i said yeah, if i can make a difference in some way, if i can give you one idea, if i can hook you into a network of people that you might not know, i'd be really grateful. i was elected. there are certain places, jobs, people that change your life and brown university changed my life in a big way. >> tomorrow at this time, we go back with alison to her roots at mtv and her stop at msnbc. plus what she hopes lies ahead for "fairs class." afghanistan owned and operated. how the country grew a successful tv network and what the withdrawal of u.s. troops mean for its future. it's the subject of a new documentary next. run, go, go! did he just fumble? "i" formation! "i" formation! we have got to get the three-technique block!

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a strange scene in switzerland. fleece blankets to save the snow? well, that is what some ski resorts in the swiss alps used this summer to keep snow from melting. white reflexes sun light. right now resorts are rolling up the covers. a united nations report said there is a 95% likelihood an humans are behind global warming. as afghanistan undergoes a tough period of reconstruction, a new documentary opening this weekend chronicles a facet of transformation. the film is called "the network," and takes us into the country's first television station tolotv and its impact as an agent of change. take a look. >> villages that haven't seen the wheel yet. suddenly you'll see a television hooked up to a car battery and 50 people are watching tolo. >> joining me now is oscar winner eva orriner, the filmmaker behind the network. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm curious about the kind of programming this network features. if it's changed much since it

first debuted back in '04 during the post-taliban environment. >> yeah. right now they do a lot of tv like us, game shows, cooking shows, very similar to what we do with a definite afghan twist to it. when we started it was basic. they've come leaps and bounds over the last decade. >> so the you went all through afghanistan and saw the people mesmerized watching the tvs. what did you find most intriguing. it the owner of tolotv, part of the afghanistan elite. exiled from afghanistan and then returned is now profiting as the country goes through this rit rough period of reconstruction, right. >> here's the thing. he's an afghan, grew up in australia. he came back 1 years ago to try and help his country. he stumbled into media, him and his family. they have built an empire. but that's not what motivated them. they came back to the country primarily to try and help the country and rebuild it.

what they've done is pioneer media in the country. when they came back after the taliban, there was no media at all there. >> what do you find most intriguing about the television programming though? what is it that you find either the most like ours or the most different? >> i'll give you a great example which is "sesame street" new to afghanistan and was being made for the first time when i was there. and in afghanistan, "sesame street" teaches kids to read and write but also teaches adults how to read and write because the il rit's rate is so high. it's just like ours but a lot different. >> how many people actually have tv? >> it's pretty high percentage. probably about six out of ten people, seven out of ten people across the country have access these days. it's a huge agent of social change in the country and made a massive impact on the country. >> the u.s., as you know, gets ready to pull out its remaining troops out of afghanistan. did you find it challenging to not come across as biased in your portrayal of a country in

the middle of a major transition? >> yeah, i really wanted to just tell a simple story about a television network in afghanistan and focus on the media and what that effect can have on a country. i wanted to kind of stay away from the war in a way, but what i realized when you make a film in afghanistan, you have to cough the war because what they've had is 30 years of war. i think it's very telling time to have this film come out in the face of the impending withdrawal because it's a positive story about a bigger story that hasn't been so positive. >> i'm curious about the news broadcasts on this television network. to what extent does the country either censer, influence in terms of the government? >> right now, there's not a lot of censership. the government's often not happy with what they do. they do a lot of corruption storieses which creates a lot of enemies for them which is revolutionary in the country, criticizings government and business. so they actually have 24-hour news channel and do a lot of

investigative journalism which is -- it's not at the level of western journalism yet but it's getting there pretty fast. >> pretty cool. thank you very much. good luck with it. >> thank you. chilling new details how long terrorists had planned the attack on the mall in kenya. a free checked bag with my united mileageplus explorer card. i've saved $75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. you can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesn't charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u.s. when i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles in order to go visit my family, which means a lot to me. ♪ ♪ it's about where you're going. the new ram 1500. best-in-class 25 mpg. ♪ north american truck of the year.

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learning new details today about that attack at an upscale mall in nairobi. investigators is believe al shabaab operatives rented a store at least a year prior to the attacks and pay have used it as a staging area and as a makeshift armory during the assault. joining me now former cia officer jack rice. it's good to see you again. i want to talk about this new revelation here. can we assess how much of an advantage that gave al shabaab having a store in the mall? >> oh, my goodness. i mean the fact that they actually had the wherewithal, the time to actually load this up with heavy weapons, what it does for them is gives them the

capability to not just control an area which is something they were able to do with a dozen people but organize themselves in such a way where this is a central command post. it's an extraordinary thing and says a lot about their preparation and how effective they were in doing what it was they did. >> yeah. attacks on soft targets like this mall, the westgate mall in nairobi, obviously with the revelation about the store at the mall, this thing was meticulously planned. do attacks on soft targets generally require a great deal of planning or not? >> no, are i mean, that's the aspect of this which i find interesting is that -- i mean terrible but interesting in the sense that you don't need as much planning as you would for a hard target. the fact that you're dealing with civilians generally speaking,ing with little to no weaponry at all with little to no training or capability at all, fact you don't have to plan that much. but their willingness to control this very specifically, it's clear that al shabaab was trying to make a point that if they

want to go after any soft target or maybe 0 more, they have the capability. this was something they were doing to advertise themselves, not just in kenya, not just in east africa, but really on a worldwide basis. >> okay. to that extent, how realistic is it that something like that can happen here? will our security agents be able to pick up on intel or chatter during the planning stages? >> you would hope so but realistically, our intelligence people are, you're law enforcement people have been concerned about this since before 2001. we've always been concerned about soft targets. one of the problems we have is that they're soft. it's hard to stop them at every single entry and exit point. think about any mall in the united states. think about any western mall. you have many entry points, many exit points. you can't turn this into an armed for res. you have a lot of people. the ability to injury and kill a lot of people and create a statement is a very simple thing to do. but if we turn the entire world

upside down, frankly, they've won. so you can't really do that. >> okay. stay with me here. i want to get looking inside the country with these unconfirmed reports about americans possibly from minnesota being involved in the nairobi attack. it sparked concerns here about young men here in the u.s. being radicalized, recruited. minneapolis certainly is home to a thriving community of somalies. cbs and the associated press said said earlier this week that since 2007, at least 22 young men have left minnesota, they have joined al shabaab, including two who did so last summer. unconfirmed reports two more left earlier this month. that's deepened the concerns there. so how legitimate are these concerns? >> these concerns are real. i'm coming to you from minneapolis. i think about this in terms of the somali community here. what's critical is that there is a distinction between al shabaab and the somali community. they are not one and the same.

they are quite zing. at the same time, al shabaab has really focused in on somalies living in the states and in particular the twin cities. you're right, some 22 young men have been sent over. multiples of them have died. in fact, there were just several women, two or three in the last six months convicted of helping to fund al shabaab out of the twin cities. and so this is very real. their ability to reach out across the world and into the united states is something that they will have continued to do. the question is, are they recruiting to take them back to somalia to fight there or do they want to motivate them to act out here? we haven't seen the acting out here yet. but that's what intelligence officials are concerned about. >> sure. feeding into the sleeper cells here inside the u.s. concerns. jack rice, thank you as always. >> thank you. the new development this weekend that put florida's stand your ground law back in the spotlight. trying new things?

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it's rush hour on capitol hill. the house is on the clock and the battle over the budget. a crucial saturday session going on right now with the real threat of a government shutdown. making the call. president obama talks to the president iran. is this the start of stopping iran from going nuclear and a legal victory for a florida woman who lost a stand your ground defense. >> good day to all of you. come to weekends with alex witt. 10:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening. big news from capitol hill developing right now. within the hour, we have learned that republicans will likely vote to pass a bill that delays obama care for one year and then send it back to the senate just two days before a possible government shutdown. nbc's luke russert is on capitol hill. luke, you know, good grief here. isn't this the exact same bill

they passed already and the senate stripped it so we're not getting anywhere? >> this one's a little bit different. obviously the situation is fluid. things are changing. we don't know the official language yet but aides and members tell us what this bill will look like, it will be a one-year delay of the entire law not just it being defunded. a delay of implementation. on top of that, there would be a cut to this tax on medical devices. it's actually unpopular with a lot of democrats, as well. lastly but not least, all monies to troops would go forward in the sense they won't have this optics problem as in the event of a government shutdown, military service members do not get paid. it's held up. under this plan, they would be paid right away if the government were to shut down. so it takes away the worst optics problems for the troops and gives the red meat part of the gop what they want which is the year long delay on the health care law. despite all this it will be

soundly rejected by senate democrats. harry reid won't take it up. it sets us up for this struggle where you'll have the house gop saying we've done our job. senate democrats saying we're not going to accept a government funding bill that touches the president's health care bill and the tick-tock goes till monday. what's interesting about this bill though is from where we stand right now and anything can change with the conference, but they're not whipping the bill. they believe they have the votes to pass it with republicans alone. they've thought this before sometimes and there have been more conservative element of the conference has not moved because of fears that the bill would not be conservative enough. this time they will think they can pass it with just enough republican votes. it will be fascinating see how it plays out. but the big story from this, alex, is we're going to go to even more extreme standoff heading into monday. >> okay. now, the republicans who are behind this bill, they're aware that this is a nonstarter, right? i mean you've reported it. harry reid has also said if this is in a bill, it's a nonstarter.

president has said if any of these things are in the bill, they're nonstarters. they realize the government is going to shut down in a little more two days. what's at stake here? >> well, they sincerely believe they can jam the senate and jam president obama and get something to their liking here. that's what they sincerely believe. i've had conversations with a lot of this many. they feel they can do that. public polling says if the government were to shutdown, the gop would get the blame. that's why democrats are not moving at all. they say fine, go ahead. shut down the government. we think we can win this battle. what's fascinating here is we said all along, the only way to fund the government cleanly would be boehner would have to attract democratic votes. today on saturday, he's not trying to get democrats today. he's trying to go with straight republicans. this is another move to draw out the process. this sets up monday where the question becomes, does the gop budge? does harry reid make say hey,

maybe we entertain any of this idea? no, he probably won't do that, but it just further delays the process going down to mid fight on monday. >> okay. luke russert, thank you. >> take care. the cost associated with shutting down the government can be enormous. the last two the shutdowns five-day stoppage in november of '95 and the 21-day shutdown from mid-december of that year to early january of '96, combined losses added up to at least $1.4 billion. check that in today's dollars, it's more than 2 billion bucks. those losses however don't include the value of lost work and income that would have been generated for the government. and while congress grapples over the budget, time's running out down on the farm if congress doesn't pass a new farm bill by tuesday, a number of agriculture programs might be adversely affected. the biggest impact would come after the first of the year when government subsidies to farmers would send dairy prices soaring. what might be the result? the cost of milk could double to

a gallon. joining me for more is republican congressman and dr. larry bu chon. thank you for being here. >> you're welcome. >> so you may have heard a little bit of frustration in my voice. the congress is looking at a clock that is ticking. will there be a government shutdown given the progress of things today. >> no, i don't think anyone wants a government shutdown. house republicans certainly do not. >> but the wanting one, sir, and doing -- making activity and creating votes and creating bills that will lead to one is a different thing. i don't think.anybody wants one. will there be one? >> i don't think there will be one. look, i think that the house republicans are going to this evening vote on a reasonable cr that's going to also delay obama care by a year. polling shows over 50% of americans think it's not being implemented properly. it's just not ready for primetime. also the medical device tax, important to indiana and the rest of the country. 79 votes in the senate. so the the other thing is,

funding the troops, making sure if there happened to be a shutdown, we fund our troops. those are very important things. the house and senate are two different bodies. both need to do their work. >> no matter how one feels about obama care, the affordable care act, same thing, is it responsible to hold the entire federal government hostage over something fairly voted in and signed into law over three years ago? >> i don't think anyone's holding anyone hostage. it's important for the house to do its work and house republicans have the majority. i think the president and senat senator reid think compromise agreeing with them on everything. our constituents expect us to do our work. that's what we're doing. in my district, people don't like the health care bill. they think the implementation is going poorly. businesses are cutting out fulltime employment. cutting people's hours to 29 hours. people aren't expanding. at the end of the day as a physician i want everyone in

this country to have quality affordable health karat a reasonable price. the obama care bill doesn't accomplish that goal. over 31 million people by 2023 will still be uninsured according to the cbo. 7 million people will loss employer based insurance based on this. i think we're being responsible. we'll see what the senate does. we need to work together. no one wants the government to shut down. >> representative bucshon, your assessment of harry reid and the democrats, are you willing to take the mirror, if you will, of that statement and turn it right around on those tea party conservative republicans who aren't they doing the same? >> well, i mean, you know, in the republican conference, of course, you have a variety of different opinions on what direction to take. i think that you know, at the end of the day, house republicans are going to do the responsible thing. and we're going to pass bills that we believe in that we believe are right for the country and see what the senate does. i think that just to say because

certain people in the senate won't accept this doesn't mean that the house has to do what the senate wants. we're two separate bodies. if we went along with that, why be in the majority in the house? you know, when you have a house majority, we were voted by the american people to be in the majority. they expect to us do our work. that's what we're doing. >> is there any place where you are willing to compromise? >> well, i mean i have worked with the democrats across the aisle on drug shortages on a cdl bill for vets rans. >> but related to this particular -- relative to this particular in terms of what everything is all stewing over right now, the affordable care act, is there a place where you can see compromise you would be willing to go along. >> i mean i think at the end of the day, the medical device tax is something that probably has a lot of votes in the senate. so you know, i don't like to speculate on what the senate

will do. but you know, just assuming that what the democrats want in the senate and in the white house is necessarily the right approach for the american people is an assumption i'm not willing to make. i think house republicans are going to do the responsible thing that we think is the best approach for the american people and for physicians out there that are trying to take care of patients every day which i was for 15 years. and know that this bill is not going to insure everyone and know people are going to be without health insurance and we're going to have all kinds of other problems in the health care market. >> take a listen to part of president obama's speech on thursday. here's that. >> sure. >> in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should go broke just because they get sick. in the united states of america, health care is not a privilege for the fortunate few. it is a right. >> so, doctor bucshon, 15 years

as a practicing physician, sir, have you seen people financially destroyed by an illness or an accident and if so, how do you respond to the president? >> well, i haven't personally because you know what, my hospital and myself always wrote off 100% of the bills to people that couldn't afford to pay because as a heart surgeon, i felt like it didn't matter what type of insurance people had. i treated everybody the same. you know, there are republican ideas. we had an alternative to obama care which would get us to where we needed to go. dr. price has an approach. hr-2300 which gets us to where we need to go to insure everyone. and you know, the premise of trying to make sure that everyone has quality affordable health care in a timely manner is something we all agree with. i think there's a lot of republican alternatives to get us to where we need to go without having the federal government encroaching on everything we do in our lives with databases and all kinds of other requirements in the obama care bill. >> well, congressman and

dr. larry bucshon, thank you for your time. >> i appreciate it. of let's bring in washington bureau chief for "usa today" susan page and the blogger roid wilson. good to see you. >> susan, i know you've been watching this very closely here. we're hearing republicans will likely pass a bill that will denies obama care for a year. is that going to solve anything? >> i think we are on a path, it is hard for me to see how we avoid a government shutdown given what we just heard from the congress mann mann -- congrn bucshon. senate democrats have made clear they won't take that issue up. a couple weeks ago, i was on your show and we were convinced we were going to bomb syria and had this unexpected initiative from vladimir putin. in the absence of an initiative of putin, it's hard to envoigs how we avoid a shutdown on

tuesday. >> roid, one of the hurdles the government shuts down tuesday if no budget is passed. number two, the debt ceiling if not raised by mid month, we could default as early as october 17th. here's what the president said about that. >> some republicans have suggested that unless i agree to an even longer list of demands, not just gutting the health care law but cuttingtachs for millionaires or rolling back rules on big banks and polluters or other pet projects that they'd like to see, that they would push the button, throw america into default for the first time in history. >> in terms of history, reid, has this ever happened before where the house has held the debt ceiling limit hostage like this? >> yeah, it did the last time we were having this debate over the debt ceiling just a little while ago. this is -- i feel like this is we're talking about the a, minor

hurdle maybe a small hill that comes up on monday with the continuing resolution and we're ignoring the fak that mt. everest is right behind that hill. just a couple weeks later. there is no good will. no negotiations going on in the background about how to get over the debt ceiling hump. and you know, at the end of the day, this is a big massive problem that's going to have a much bigger impact not only on the u.s. economy but also the global economy than if the federal government shuts koun for a few days. let's not poo-poo the notion of government shutdown. that's going to have a big impact in the short and long run. but you know, smashing through the dibt ceiling is a much, much bigger deal. this is a huge problem that neither side is talking to the other. you know, president obama has said there will be no negotiations. but house republicans doesn't sound like they're negotiating very much either. >> the hill in front of mt. everest, that's a great analogy. the battle over the budget stems from funding for obama care.

the white house released a new video explaining what the affordable health care act means. here's part of it. >> all the plans in the mark place acquired to cover a corset of essential health benefits. doctors' visits, emergency care, prescriptions and lab tests, be rehab for illness or injury, mental health services all come standard. >> it's kind of like a ken robinson video right there. is this an explainer, propaganda, both? >> i think it reflects failure on the part of the obama administration to adequate lit explain this more than three years after it was passed. people continue to have very little information, very little understanding how the exchanges work, what it's going to cost them, how they're supposed to sign up. you do see lots of activity now the ans on both sides as the enrollment for the exchanges opens on tuesday because there's so much confusion about it. it makes it harder for democrats to defend the affordable care act when americans don't understand it and when we continue to see a majority of

americans saying, it was the wrong thing to pass saying they oppose it. >> i'm curious, where both of you come down in terms of whether we're going to see a government shutdown. reid? >> there's going to be a shutdown. the things coming out of the house republican conference right now the, this delay of a year, it really seems like the house republican leadership has no ability to sit down with the senate. by the way, i was thinking about this earlier when congressman bucshon was talking and everybody is talking about negotiation. where are the conference committees? what usually happens in congress, the senate passes a bill, the house passes a bill. they sit down and hammer out some kind of middle ground and then that bill goes back to the respective chambers and passes. we haven't had a single conference committee in the entire 113th congress. that's a big sort of indication on how willing both sides not just democrats, not just republicans are to say it's my way or the highway. you can't do that with divided

government. >> susan, your thoughts on government shutdown. >> very likely we'll have a shutdown. the question is, does something then happen that breaks this attitude so that we see serious negotiations so we avoid a much more serious crisis on the debt ceilinging >> susan page,ing roid wilson, good to see you. >> thanks. the hour's other big story, president obama's call to the president of iran. is it a break-through or merely just breaking the ice in well, that's next. e you? jc: i'm your coworker! c'mon guys, i'm driving. e you? hey, you guys comfortable? it's best-in-class rear legroom. and with a turbo engine that gets 35 hwy mpg. you know j.d. power ranked passat the most appealing midsize car two years in a row? i bet, uh, dan here wishes somebody found him most appealing two years in a row. ron: it's ron. jc: ron... exactly... vo: right now get the 2013 passat for 0% apr for 60 months with optional down payment match of up to $500. [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant.

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iranian president hasan rouhani returned home this morning after a trip to new york where he spoke on the phone with president obama ending a 35-year silence between the leaders. in tehran, he was met by both supporters and protesters some of whom threw will shoes and eggs at his car.

joining me ali an ru zi in tehran, mark ginsberg and. with a welcome to all three of you, ali, you first. there were these protests against president rouhani this morning. what has been the general reaction to the news from new york? >> generally people have been quite happy there was some sort of the conversation with america. people in iran want better relationships with american. the people like the americans and the most important part is they realize they have better relations with america if the sanctions are lifted. their lives will get better. goods will become cheaper. the money will strengthen against the dollar. for the most part people want to see better relations. it highlights the divisions in country. there was a group of 70 or 0 hard line people that showed up to the airport and were very upset there was any sort of

reproachment with america. this is horses for courses here. it's a country somewhat divided. a majority of people i think want a relationship with america but also a very powerful core of this country doesn't want relations with america. and that was very evident at the airport this morning. >> ambassador, you were middle east advisor to president carter during the iranian revolution. what was your reaction when you first heard about this call? >> well, i'm all in favor of talking. there's no doubt having president rouhani and president obama talk is a good thing. and if it breaks the ice and it gives a better understanding and atmospherics for the hard work that secretary kerry is going to engage in in geneva and after all, it is secretary kerry's job and responsibility now to carry this forward and he's done a great job in the last few weeks to carry that burden, so it really depends because we all know what the deal is here. we all know that in the end, iran is going to have to open up its nuclear facilities for inspection to agree to not

exceed uranium enrichment above 20% and to in effect start negotiation with the united states that's going to permit verification that it is not engaged in building a nuclear weapon. that deal is on the table, and the united states has been prepared to lift sanctions if the iranians are prepared to make those concessions. but as ali probably would tell you, the iranians believe the americans need to lift sanctions before any concessions are made on their part. >> maureena, what is your read on this new face of iran? >> to a certain degree i agree to what the ambassador and ali has said. on the other hand, for me it is very difficult to trust any iranian official, including mr. rouhani. his justice minister was one of the leaders of the death committees when i was in prison in the '80s and he gave the order of the executions of many iranian political prisoners. and i just received news that on

september 25th, seven prisoners were executed in the prison. and that the government is refusing medical treatment to many.political prisoners. basically they are not executing all of them but by not giving them medical aid, they're allowing them to die. i'm totally for negotiations but at the same time, i would very much appreciate it offmr. obama and i think all political prisoners would appreciate it if mr. obama doesn't only focus on the nuclear issue but also the human rights situation in iran. even though iran has released 90 political prisoners, there are hundreds more in iranian prisons. talk is not enough. plaintiff rouhani talks a lot. we have to see how he acts. >> another thing ambassador, i'll reach to you with this question in terms of acting. prime minister netanyahu comes to the white house on monday. how do you think he and israel in general reacts to all of

this? >> well, i don't think the israelis have any illusions about this window dressing. it's sort of like a nice box for christmas and when you open it up, there's nothing there. that's the israeli perspective. they've even this game before whether it was president ha tammy or efforts on the part of previous administrations or this president to engage the iranians exchanging letters and nice tweets. the bottom line is the israelis have to deal with the reality, and that is in iranern that supports terrorism and an iran that represses its political prinners and executes them, iran that supports hezbollah and the assad regime and continuing to build a potential nuclear weapon, at least make every effort to appear to be doing so. so the israelis shall we say have no illusions what iran is up to and they are concerned as i'm sure prime minister netanyahu is concerned that the americans are shall we say going

to get swept off their feet by the charade of nice talk from iran. >> all right. guys, i'll have to cut this off here. but thank you very much. we do have developing news from the hill we'll be talking about. ali, ambassador, thank you so much. she is facing 25 years of prison for firing a bullet into a wall. let's do a warm welcome. let's do crisp on the outside. cozy on the inside. and let's not do any of this. let's go to school. let's go to save. and then, let's go to town. so then we can go do, absolutely nothing. let's do this. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. owens corning insulation, now $11.87 a roll. ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear!

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hour. a live look at the house floor where debate on this budget is continuing as you can see. there's also word now from nbc's luke russert the house will vote and likely pass a bill which delays obama care for one year. it then goes back to the senate with these two short days before the deadline. and a possible government shutdown effective midnight monday night. coming up, we'll speak with vermont's peter welsh in a moment. [ female announcer ] who are we?

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." 32 past the hour. now to capitol hill. clock is certainly ticking. look at a live shot of the capitol. at some point today, the house is expected to vote on a measure that puts obama care language back into the spending. this as white house officials work behind the scenes in a different attempt,' desperate one to keep the government running. kristen welker is at the white house for us. what is the white house strategy over the next 48 hours with word that house republicans are putting obama care language back into the spending bill? >> well, alex, good afternoon. i anticipate there will be meetings here at the white house today throughout the weekend, outreach to the hill. i can tell you based on my latest conversations with officials here at the white house, the president holding firm. he is not going to agree to any legislation that scales back his health care law at all. so this is a real standoff. a government shutdown looking increasingly more likely.

take a listen to what president obama had to say in his weekly address. >> i don't know how to be more clear about this. no one gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the united states of america just to extract ideological concessions. no one gets to hurt our economy and millions of innocent people just because there are a couple of laws that you don't like. it hasn't been done in the past. and we're not going to start doing it now. >> alex, i can also tell you the white house feels as though it has some leverage here in part because there is so much infighting amongst republicans about this strategy of trying to defund the president's health care law, but they are certainly watching what's happening on capitol hill closely. >> i know you are, as well. thanks you so much kristen welker from the white house. joining me now is congressman peter welch, member of the oversight and government reform committee. i'm glad to have you here because i know you're running back and foorg between having to do votes. there's one going on, sir, a

procedural vote i understand with the important vote coming sometime today between 5:00 and 8:00. is that what you've heard. >> that is what i've heard. we're seeing that the republicans, it's like they're at the alamo. they hate this health care bill and opposed it in congress and lost and then opposed it in the supreme court and lost and opposed it in the last presidential election and lost. and now what they are saying is that we've got this strategy default on the debt and shut government down and we think we'll get our way. it's a strategy, frankly, that's doomed. eventually, they do have the power to shut the government down and default. they can do that. it's reckless and unwise. but once they do that, the markets are going to react violently and quickly. ha they'll pistol whip this congress into doing that which it should do then. we should be doing it now. >> representative welch, as i look at part of the plan we believe will be coming from the republicans, it delays the health care law for one year,

repeals the medical device tax and will allow for the troops to get paid previously had the government been shutting down and it stale may, they will only get ious to cash in later. are there democrats you think will vote for this how is this going to split. >> i think the democrats are solid with the president. the bottom line here is that when you use tactics that are so destructive to the economy and to the country, shutting government down and literally key faulting on our debt, the bad you do outweighs any justification of what you claim is the good you want to do. you know, we're in uncharted territory here. there's been a lot of grandstanding in the past by both parties on the debt ceiling. both parties knew at the end of the day we paid our bills. the republicans here this time are using this and they're quite willing to send this country into default and shut the government down. they can do it. that's the irony. they can do that, but it will only last a day or two.

the markets will react and we'll have to do our job. that's essentially what it boils down to. >> tell me how frustrated you are right now. >> you know, it's almost like beyond frustrationing to boredom. there's no strategy here. it's understandable that there's a fierce debate that continues about health care. they've opposed it from the very beginning, very fiercely. but they lost. you know, at a certain time in politics, this happens to all of us, you've got to sober up. you've got to get real and move on. and that's the stage we're at now. they haven't arrived there yet. so it's like the speaker has the toughest job in the capitol has to exhaust every bad option that his conference comes up with including default and hutdown before he comes to democrats and puts a clean continuing resolution on the floor so we can meet our responsibilities and keep the lights on. >> last hour i spoke with

representative adam schiff who said he has spoken with moderate republicans that are saying, here we are again. we're frustrated, as well. do you hear that from any of your colleagues from the other side of the aisle? >> i do. see, that esa lot of good republicans here. and they are fiscally responsible folks by and large. and this latest plan they have would add about $40 billion to the debt. they also know that we're playing with fire when we rick the full faith and credit of the united states. so the bottom line here is there's this wicked split within the republican party between the irreconcilables on health care and what i would call a sensible moderate practical republican majority. i think they're actually are more votes but they don't have enough votes in order to pass it solely with republican votes. >> let's push ahead, sir, to the debt ceiling deadline just a couple weeks from now. how concerned are you what we're seeing now is just turning out

to be a prelude to the debt ceiling fight? >> i'm very concerned about that. america pays its bills. a confident country doesn't mess around with its credit rating. it's almost as though a homeowner gets mad at his or her electrician and don't pay the plumber. they're not arguing about the bills. they don't want obama care to be implemented and willing to essentially destroy our credit rating. that's a reckless, reckless way to proceed. and i am concerned about it. you know, the last time we went through this exercise august of 2011, we had the first time our credit rating was downgraded in the history of the country. we didn't actually default. but that downgrade cost us about $100 billion. i mean, what was that about? >> i hope that's a rhetorical question because i can't answer that one. i would like to ask you, though, sir as we approach the 11th hour, is there anything more the president can be do? >> no, this is a decision that the republican conference and

mr. boehner has to make. essentially what's going to happen here is that the house republicans can be pass these really stupid bills. they'll send it over to the senate where it will be rejected. and at a certain point, mr. boehner has to put a clean continuing resolution on the floor and look to democrats to pass it. and i think the president has indicated he would support that. senator reid would and a lot of us on the democratic side would do that. that would only be short term six weeks. so we could see this happening all over again. >> we'll look forward to having you back with us, representative peter welch, thanks for peeking with us. let's go now to florida. new developments in the case of a woman sentenced to 20 years for firing what she called a warning shot at her husband who had been abusive. an appeals court granted her a new trial. gabe gutierrez has the latest. >> the appeals court ruled that the trial judge here in duval keep the made a fundamental error during jury instructions. now a case ta drew national

attention will once again be in the spotlight. >> we love you. >> love you. >> this morning, ma ris sass alexander has a new chance at freedom. an appeals court ordering a new trial after she was convicted last year of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. >> she has no prior record. she's led an upstanding life. everyone concedes that no one was harmed here. >> in august of 2010, during a violent argument with her husband at their home in jacksonville, she went to the garage and got her gun which she legally owned claiming he threatened to kill her. alexander says she fired a warning shot into the wall to scare him off. but prosecutors argued she was aiming at her husband. and missed. the jury took just 12 minutes to convict her. florida's gun laws require a minimum sentence of 20 years. a punishment even her now ex-husband thinks is too severe. >> he recognizes that she's going to be punished. he wants her to be punished appropriately. >> we want justice.

>> alexander had tried to claim immunity under florida's stand your ground law. her case drew national attention in the wake of last year's shooting death of unarmed teenager trayvon mar it in. while the court upheld that stand your ground did not apply in alexander's case, it did rule the jury instructions were wrong because the judge implied it was up to alexander to prove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. when in can the fa, the burden of proof falls on the prosecution. >> what the court is saying is that the instruction issive artfully worded and gives the jury the wrong impressing who bears that burden. >> prosecutors call the reversal a legal technicality and say they plan to argue the same set of facts. a new trial date has not been set, but alexander's lawyers say they hope it happens within the next six months. in the meantime, they plan to ask the court here to reconsider her bail. back to you. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, thanks. in the tug of war over the budget and obama care.

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>> the 45 past as we're checking back on the house floor. debate on the budget continues. luck russert is reporting the house will vote and likely pass a bill that delays obama care for one year. so it will then go back to the senate with just two days before the deadline and a possible government shutdown. time for the big three and "today's topic"s, tick-tock, the obama doctrine and best week, worst week. contributor and managing editor of the goldie taylor project, goldie taylor. republican strategist and contributor susan del%io and democratic strategist morris reed. i'm so glad to have you here. i'll reach out to you first, goldie. it's up to the house to avoid the government shutdown. give me a best and worst case scenario here. >> the best case is the house republicans could come to their senses, send a clean continuing resolutioning >> by 5:00 p.m. today.

that's when they're thinking. >> by the end of the day. the worst case scenario is what they're working on right now, attaching unrelated items like stripping away funding for obama care or even as they say a one-year delay or even stripping away the cutting as it were, the tax on medical devices which would cost this economy $109 billion over the next decade. so those kinds of things are literally dead on arrival. the president won't capitulate on this. >> as i look at my notes, those two things will apparently be included. susan, we have the tea party senator ted cruz saying he's holding numerous conversations with house members. is he really influencing the gop? is he actually talking to house members around and over speaker boehner? >> he may be offering them a little cheerleading, but the packet is most of those members will end up going back to their districts as rock stars for it. at the cost of the rest of the republican party who very well in 2014 can lose any hope of

gaining back the senate if we are looking at a government shutdown which is very likely for a few days. >> morris, what's interesting is all this is going down. the president is out golfing today. is that what you'd be advising him to do right now? what is the in esage he's sending there? >> well, the message is that i've done my job and the republican house needs to do theirs. he has done what he needed to do. they need to send him a clean bill. i would have to just echo what my colleague is saying that this is really about 214 politics for the republicans, a question of whether had he keep or lose the house. i never thought i would be saying this under obama we may have an opportunity to take the house back. if they do this the house will be in play. >> i agree with morris 100%. it's quite unfortunate because this is going to really decimate parts of the party. >> you and i were saying we should say during the break, that you think this would do the republicans ability to gain seats in the senate is pretty much new and void after

something like this. speaking of ted cruz, there's been a lot of power plays on his name this week. here are a few. cruzzy train, cruz control, cruzzen for a bruisen, the walking ted, cruz nato. my ep knicks made up cruz nad doe. that's the ultimate bad disaster films. which is you guys favorite? maybe you should go withnism? he's the ep of the show. which one do you guys like the best. >> i'm going with cruznado. i have to agree and disagree with my colleagues. i do think this makes the idea that republicans would take over the senate in 2014 a much stiffer climb. the idea we're going to break the gerry mappedered districts and give democrats the house is a much steeper incline. ted cruz is walking out of this with a shutdown that he's wearing as a badge of honor. in a few days, when people stop getting their paychecks, when he people running dry cleaners can't pay employees or make

deliveries, when the roads clear in d.c. and people can't pay for their light bills or groceries, that's going to be a crown of thorns. >> anyone else want to weigh in before >> morris? >> crazy cruz. >> that one's good, too. >> we have more to add to the list. let's go on with our next topic. susan, the obama doctrine. here's the president on iran. >> the very fact that this was the first communications between an american and iranian president since 1979 underscores the deep mistrust between our countries. but it also indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history. >> has the president's nonmilitary sanctioned diplomatic approach, is that winning the day? isn't that what americans want, susan? >> it is what americans want,

but there's no indication that we should be able to trust iran or syria, for that matter. so it's not one of those trust but verify. it's don't trust, verify and verify again. plus we have to be concerned about one of the countries in the region, israel, and how they react to all this. they are dealing with an iran that's constantly funding terrorism and trying to take them out as a nation. >> what about the u.n. agreement, morris, on the resolution to secure and destroy syria's chemical weapons stockpile? did all the stars align here for the president. a couple of weeks, we were talking about the possibility of bombing them on our own with nobody else standing shoulder to shoulder with us. is this president at the right place at the right time? >> we'll see. i've said before that iran is a cancer in the region. i still believe that, whether it's in remission or active, we'll see. but the words on paper mean nothing. deeds and actions are what we have to be judging iran by. until we deal with the ayatollah because frankly the president means nothing in iran.

it is the ayatollah that makes all the decisions. until we deal with him decisively, there will be no change of course there. >> do you think the issues of iran and syria will define this president's legacy on foreign policy? >> i think absolutely they will. at the end of the day, i think it's right that you have to verify and verify again before you can begin to trust a country like iran. we have to be very, very careful. but we also have to be careful about the region. that's why it was important to get the u.n. security council to agree to this resolution on chemical weapons in syria. and having russia and china come to the table for the very first time on this. this isn't the president being the right place at the right time. it's the president being in the right place and doing the right thing. >> the week's worst and best coming up. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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we are back with the big 3 for the best and worst of the week.

carnival cruz, crazy cruz, cruzilla, some of the names we've gotten. goldie? >> my best is this president. it is syria, it is iran, it is what's happening on this debt ceiling fight and this government showdown fight. that's my winner. my loser i thought was going to be ted cruz. it is speaker boehner who's no longer a leader but a stenograph stenographer. >> susan? >> best goes to rep peter king, republican out of new york for standing up and calling cruz dishonest with the american public. and the worst goes to cory booker. he's actually seen a 12-point slash in his recent polls. now only a 12-point race. he should win but that should not be happening in new york. >> morris, you? >> i think the u.n. had a great week. i think we saw some sign of activity and life there. bravo to them. the worst goes to cruz. i want cruz to understand he is

no newt gingrich and understand how shutting down a government changed the course of history for newt gingrich. that's a lesson for ted cruz. he is certainly no newt gingrich. >> goldie, susan, morris, thanks so much. i've got four seconds to say good-bye. i'm handing it off to craig. >> that's impressive. from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece, ♪ kohler will make your reality a dream. "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one...

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what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. good saturday afternoon. i'm craig melvin. you're watching msnbc. two days remain for congress to reach a budget deal. a short time ago, odds of a shutdown went up. right now, the house is holding a rare saturday session capping a week of ramped-up rhetoric and threats. >> the american people are suffering under obama care. obama care isn't working. >> the people that are trying to get ahead are the people it's directly hurting. >> we are for cutting spending and reforming our tax code. >> all this would be funny if it