backing off their stand. >> it's really a tantrum. it's a tea party tantrum. you either give me my way or we're going to shut down government. frankly the job of congress is to keep government working, to keep it functioning. >> president obama has shortened a planned trip to asia while his government is shuttered. yesterday he ripped the republican strategy, specifically the tea party, for holding uncle sam hostage while keeping obama care in its sight lines. >> one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government shut down major parts of the government. all because they didn't like one law. >> it's like a double gun they're holding. one is to the government, the shutdown, and the other is to the republican leadership in the house. >> with speaker john boehner and his house gop digging in further and senator harry reid keeping on the pressure, is there any way out for the republicans who want this to end? >> this is a republican crisis

right now. and the republican party is desperate to get out of the crisis of their own making. when does john boehner finally say screw you guys? >> let's dive in for the very latest details on this. we have nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell and white house correspondent kristen welker standing by. kelly, let me start with you. it looks like there are about five possible scenarios or solutions that could come out of this. kelly, what are you learning is likely through today? >> reporter: one of the things that's been so difficult, thomas, in most crises we can see the leap frog of likely steps. even if there's some heat and fire in between, you sort of know where it's headed. this has been more difficult. part of what could happen is what has been requested but flatly denied. the whole idea of just simply republicans folding, passing funding for the government with nothing else attached. that seems less and less likely by the day. some kind of a short-term deal. something like days, not six weeks. then there's the possibility and i think this is most -- i think

the most likely at this point and that is a merging of two very bad deadlines. we've already gone past the government shutdown. we're living in that reality of the and then coming up midway through this month is the notion of when does the country run out of its borrowing authority. the treasury department says october 17th is when the country hits that debt ceiling. it seems more and more likely from sources in both parties that they will end up needing to merge these negotiations. how to reopen the government and then also how to resolve some of the longer term debt issues and deciding whether to give the country that ability to borrow or risk default. these are complicated issues. there are all sorts of different pressure points and there are heated battles yet to come. if you thought this was bad, that's even worse. it just seems because of the calendar, those paths appear to be merging and they may end up having to fold in negotiations for sort of a mega solution to our crises or risk further economic calamity. >> kelly, as we understand today

the house will consider these five mini crs basically taking the opportunity to pick winners and losers. >> yes. and part of what they have thought about doing here and they started last night and continuing today, let's take chunks of the federal government that many people like. there's wide support for, that there isn't the hot button agreement. so they began with things like national parks. today it's the national institutes of health of the and in a piecemeal approach reopen parts of the government. democrats are saying no to that. they don't want to pick winners and losers, as you indicated, or put one priority over another. so they're saying it's an all or nothing thing. open the whole government or don't do it like this. and so the piecemeal approach republicans think is a sign of negotiating, a sign of trying to open up the government. democrats are saying no, that's not the way to do business. thomas. >> meanwhile, kristen, for house speaker john boehner and those people picking up the "usa today" would notice the opinion

piece that he wrote skewarring the white house and and scorched earth policy of refusing to negotiate in a bipartisan way on his health care law, current government funding or the debt limit. what is his strategy going forward? as he talks about those three things, they don't get to live specifically on their own. they're all tied together now. >> reporter: that's right, thomas, but the white house continues to dig in its heels this morning. i can tell you they have already threatened to veto that piecemeal legislation that kelly was just talking about. the white house reiterating the point that the president is not going to negotiate over his signature piece of legislation under the threat of a prolonged shutdown or default. the white house feeling bolstered by the fact that to some extent they look at republicans who are in disagreement over this. they're also looking at the polls, which show that a majority of americans disagree with the republicans' tactic. so i don't think right now you're going to see a whole lot

of negotiating between 1600 pennsylvania avenue and capitol hill. what you will see is what president obama did yesterday. he was out in the rose garden hammering congressional republicans, calling this a republican shutdown. he's going to talk to ceos later today and tomorrow he'll continue to hammer them when he speaks at a construction company here locally. thomas. >> kristen welker at the white house for us, kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. ladies, thanks so much. on the house floor last night an kpas rated congresswoman pleaded with her colleagues to keep the capital district open. take a look. >> this is a living, breathing city. and the notion of holding up our budget under any circumstances or not distinguishing between the district of columbia appropriation, which is a budget, a local budget, not one of your 12 appropriations, a

local budget and the other budgets is breaking my heart. >> we can understand the exasperation here. she was supporting some bills that would have funded d.c. and the department of veteran affairs and national parks. democratic congresswoman eleanor holmes norton joins me now. thanks for joining us. obviously your district is feeling the shutdown more than any other in the country. your colleague, darrell issa, joined in your plea last night. and you reminded all of your colleagues that this was not a tea party bill, but those efforts, they still failed and fell on deaf ears. so what's happening today and do you really have any hope left for a speedy resolution? >> let me distinguish, i was not supporting all of the three bills. i was supporting one bill. one of the reasons i can't support all of the three bills is that it would defy the dissention i'm making. the bill that i'm supporting had only the district of columbia

local budget in it. the other two were federal appropriations. the district budget shouldn't be up here in the first place and i was making that distinction. the distinction between a city and a federal appropriation. now, that distinction is very clear. the city delivers direct services. what is happening to federal employees and to fellow appropriations is outrageous. but they -- but the federal government does not deliver direct services for the most part. it's hurting its employees and it's hurting americans. what i'm trying to do is to extricate the district of columbia's local budget from federal appropriations. and i have to continue to do that. the district has only about two weeks of contingency funds to pay its employees. then what does it do? well, if the federal government runs out, you know, it continues to put people on furlough and the american people suffer from

a distance. if the district runs out, you have garbage not being picked up and you have a real crisis on your hands. >> let me speak specifically, though, and forgive me for mixing up because obviously the d.c. budget is in and of itself, but i was confused there thinking that parks, veterans affairs, memorials that they would be included in that. >> there were three separate bills. >> we saw yesterday, though, world war ii vets that stormed their own memorial because they were denied or going to be denied access because it was closed down. they were there to see it. they traveled from mississippi, i believe. our joe scarborough said in a political op-ed that they should listen to norton, fund d.c. and maybe pick up a little momentum and start working like a functional congress instead of a broken institution that has passed a total of zero appropriation bills this year.

congressman, you were around the last time the government shut down. is that the problem, that this is a dysfunctional congress now, worse than ever? >> far worse because at that time i worked with speaker newt gingrich after the district shut down for a week and there were several shutdowns following it of partial parts of the government. each and every time he kept the district of columbia government open. so i don't really see that we are in the same kind of situation. what's happening here is neither side seems to have an exit strategy. they both have goals. you notice that the republicans have not dropped their goal of doing away or delaying obama care. and the democrats continue to say what a congressional resolution is supposed to do is simply to fund the government. notice this also, what does this do? it funds the government for six weeks. so we're fighting over six weeks and then we're going to be right back here. and so will the district of

columbia. so a lot of this is all about strategy and not about how do you get to an end game or a goal. neither has changed their goals. and what i think is going to happen is this is going to play out until you meet the debt ceiling and then while you think they may or some of your commentators think they may be all rolled in together, i think there is a colossal crisis building up then about the middle of october and the district of columbia will be caught in that crisis unless you let my people go. >> correct, october the 17th. so a lot of people do speculate that these two could be funneling and barreling down to the same dateline. i think americans do believe in what you're saying here, that it is more important about the long game than the short kick the can down the road measures. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton, thanks for your time. >> always a pleasure. the longer the shutdown continues, the more we're hearing about how it plays out across the country.

if you had plans to see st. louis' arch, you're out of luck. it is closed for the duration. fewer than 600 of nasa's 18,000 employees will be reporting to work during the shutdown. most of the agency's programs, including the twitter account asteroid watch are on hiatus. that gives followers a heads-up about asteroids and comets that approach the earth. day two of people signing up for obama care health exchanges. how is it going out there? and the longer those closed for business signs stay up, will we see increasing cracks in the republican ranks? congressman sean duffy will be here to speak about that and much more coming up. we want to know how the shutdown is impacting you. head to twitter, share your thoughts with us. the #don'tshutmedown.

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take a look and listen to this. new video just in of a headstart protest taking place in washington, d.c. headstart being one of the many programs impacted by the government shutdown. the shutdown leaving reportedly 19,000 kids without head start services. more than 20 programs in 11 states not getting the annual grant on tuesday. it's day two of the massive affordable care act insurance rollout. while white house officials are still trying to fix some of the computer glitches millions encountered, there's no doubt that the heavy traffic to the site shows americans have a healthy appetite for the controversial health care plan. the white house says 2.8 million people visited healthcare.gov. the federal website is handling sign-ups for 36 states. even in states with their own

exchanges, people also encountered problems trying to apply. surrounded by families who enrolled for insurance coverage president obama asked for patience in a statement yesterday afternoon and also made this argument to shoot back at critics who seized on the glitches. >> just a couple of weeks ago, apple rolled out a new mobile operating system, and within days they found a glitch, so they fixed it. i don't remember anybody suggesting apple should stop selling iphones or ipads or threatening to shut down the company if they didn't. that's not how we do things in america. >> joining me now from the white house is david simas, white house deputy senior adviser for communications and strategy. david, it's great to have you here. obviously, sure, when something is new, there's going to be glitches and you have to figure out where those hurdles are. the rnc released a list of articles and other media reports on those glitches and republican lawmakers say this is evidence, this is the proof that the health care law is going to be a headache america doesn't need.

take a listen. >> the obama administration should have acknowledged the ample warning signs of problems with the exchanges and heeded many calls for delay. >> as of this morning health care exchanges are not up and running, available for businesses and not working well. and again delay after delay after delay on the obama care exchanges. >> meanwhile we have the texas governor, rick perry, calling the implementation of it a felony and a criminal act. how do you respond to the critics and americans who may be leery of what this health care law means for them and open enrollment now? >> so here's what i know so far. in the first 24 hours of the opening of the market places, 4.7 million unique visitors to healthcare.gov. 133,000 phone calls. 104,000 web requests. one of the reasons why there's been such overwhelming and huge enthusiasm to shop and to see

what's available is something that you didn't hear from republicans in that clip nor from governor perry. because prior to yesterday, here's the reality of what people faced. one week or two weeks, a paper application. and once you go through that entire process, one out of every five people who apply for coverage was denied coverage. if there's anything that can be considered close to criminal, is the fact that millions upon millions upon millions of americans prior to yesterday because they had a pre-existing condition were denied coverage. as of yesterday, that's never going to happen again. >> david, we know that thousands across the country, they were able to apply and get through and succeed on their first day. more than 2900 in kentucky, 1100 in illinois, nearly 170 in connecticut. explain to all of us, though, how close are the tech geniuses to resolving some of these issues? and do you feel that the

technical delays are going to turn people off? again, yesterday just being day one, people have until the end of the year and january 1st to where this all kicks in. >> that's right. it's important to, first of all, understand why there have been the issues that there have been. it has been a function of volume for comparison. the 4.7 million unique visitors in a 24-hour period is seven times, seven times as many as ever went to medicare.gov and medicare is wildly popular in any one single given day. so what the team has been working on is ramping up the response, making sure that we're ready for these big influxes of folks so that the process will get easier. here's what we know already, wait times on the phone are better. the initial piece of creating an account is improving. and bottom line is tomorrow is going to be better. the day after is going to be better. and there is still an additional 180 days for folks to apply. and so this is day two of a

six-month process. to your question about whether or not people will come back, yeah, they're going to come back. the reason they're going to come back is because for many folks they have been denied for years and have been waiting for this opportunity to finally get some coverage that gives them peace of mind. that's why they're coming. >> let's talk about peace of mind because right now we have the american economy and the budget basically bowing held hostage because the rollout continues even as the government remains shut down and the two are intertwined with john boehner saying the shutdown and the president and senate democrats are refusing to negotiate overall of this. so explain why the president refuses to get with congressional leaders in a room and hash this thing out. >> the president has always said he is willing to talk to anyone at any time about ways to grow the economy and make sure that we're moving forward. but congress has two jobs, two very simple jobs. number one is to pass a budget.

number two is to make sure that the bills are passed on time. and what has happened is that a small minority in the house of representatives has decided rather than to sit down and make sure that it does its job, is essentially to hold the government hostage. so, look, there right now is a majority in the house of representatives that is prepared to pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government and they should do that immediately. >> david simas, white house deputy senior adviser for communications and strategy. great to have you on today. >> thanks for having me on. everybody started running. a lot of people that worked at the counter started ducking behind where the packages go and just everybody started running. >> two suspicious packages clear an airport in florida. now two people are under arrest and one biker in custody after this, that scary chase of road rage right here in manhattan on the west side highway. those stories and more in the news now. stay with us. in the nation, we know how you feel about your car.

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with premium care maintenance included. we've got some sad news we need to pass along to you. we are just learning and confirming that best-selling writer/author tom clancy has passed away. his publisher confirming his death to nbc news. a statement is expected to come shortly. clancy became a household name for his military thrillers including "the hunt for red october," "patriot games." clancy was just 66 years old. a developing story that we've been following out of florida where two suspects are under arrest after a frightening bomb scare at jacksonville international airport. that airport was evacuated for hours last night with people scrambling for safety after someone was heard making a threat. authorities called in a bomb squad after two suspicious packages were found. one of them at a terminal and another at a parking garage. >> didn't really hear too much, just everybody started running, a lot of people that worked at

the counter started ducking behind where the packages go and just everybody started running to say get out. >> we've got more here. kerry sanders joins me and has been monitoring the situation from jacksonville. tell us more about how this all unfolded and what's the latest with these two arrests. >> reporter: it's sort of interesting because the two arrests are not necessarily connected. the authorities have concluded these two people didn't know each other. first of all, let's talk about how this began. in the security line at the tsa, 39-year-old zelijko causevic goes up and according to the booking report when he goes up, he actually announces i came to the security guard and i said "i got a bomb in here." that's an actual quote from him. then it goes on to say he didn't actually have a bomb but had supposed to be a bomb but it's not. he went on to say it was a luggage scale containing two flat round batteries and a microchip inside. nonetheless, the authorities immediately realized they had somebody here who was a threat. so as they moved in on him to arrest him, other people in line

saw this. and then another person in the line, manuel rivera, took off and he took off running all the way to the parking garage at the airport. well, the police pursued him and confronted him there. they're not exactly sure why he took off, but they say that he resisted arrest when they came up to him. initially the authorities thought not only were perhaps these two people connected, but there were actual flights out there getting ready to take off so they closed the airport, they grounded the flights that were out there. one of them was a u.s. airways flight. they actually stopped the plane there and out on the tarmac had the passengers deplane rather than bringing it back to the terminal. one of the passengers who was on appeared suspicious so the captain on board alerted the authorities that maybe this passenger somehow may have been connected. turns out he had nothing to do with it. so today we have two people that are in custody. the airport which had cancelled flights is now sort of ramping back up, getting its operations, but there were some people whose flights were just plain outright

cancelled and they're not catching flights until much later this afternoon. but clearly heightened alert. a lot of concern but at the end of the day, no bomb. thomas. >> nbc's kerry sanders reporting. kerry, thank you, sir. a pennsylvania appeals court has dough nied jdenied jerry sandusky's request for a new trial. he is serving a 30 to 60-year prison sentence. his lawyer says he plans to seek supreme court review. wit h olay. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface, because energized skin is younger looking skin. ♪

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so some of the reactions there. and there may be a tiny, tiny light at the end of this tunnel. despite no solid formal negotiations going on right now, there are signs of cracks within the republican party. congressman peter king said on "morning joe" that meetings will be held today about what's been happening in congress. >> i would say there's well over 100 who are totally fed up with this policy. they're afraid to go forward because they're afraid of a primary coming up in their district but they want the government to open. they realize this is a dead-end policy. >> nbc news is learning boehner, pelosi, reid and mcconnell will be at the white house this afternoon to talk about this. we have congressman sean duffy joining me. sir, i'm just getting this information. let me get your response to that. it's just crossing my desk that the four leaders will be at the white house. is that a positive move in the right direction? >> listen, absolutely. the president had been talking about how he doesn't want to negotiate, doesn't want to talk. he had drawn a line in the sand. i think this is a really

positive development. the only way you get two sides with different opinions to come together to find resolution, to find common ground is when you communicate, when you have a dialogue. so i would say absolutely kudos to the president for inviting the leaders of both chambers to the white house to start that conversation. >> okay. but to start that conversation, are you willing to accept, though, if the president is not going to negotiate and say that dealing with the budget of the country should not be tied to obama care? are you willing to separate those two things? >> listen, i think that's an untenable position, especially when america understands how we've moved. many of us don't like obama care so we voted to defund it. then we moved to have a wholesale delay for one year. but right now, i mean the position that we have is the administration, barack obama and jay carney and their team should all be in obama care like the rest of america. if it's good for america and members of congress, it should be good for the president and

his team. we've asked for that. we've also asked that individuals get treated the same way as big businesses. they came to the hill and lobbied for a one-year delay in the requirements of obama care. we're asking give that same delay to the individuals. treat them fairly like you do the big businesses. they might not have as much money, but we should treat them equally. >> why delay ultimately, though? why delay ultimately when this needs to be tested? when it needs to be rolled out and the fact, you know, that it passed through both houses of congress in 2010. it's been vetted by the supreme court. the american people re-elected president barack obama back into office on the mandate that obama care was going to be law of the land and the senate remains democratic controlled. now while the house remains republican controlled, two-thirds of washington is democratically controlled so why is it the republicans are refusing to untie how to fund our government to what is the aca? why do those two have to be

connected? >> i want your viewers to understand right now the president has won. he can't take yes for an answer. we've said, okay, let the exchanges go up. let obama care go forward. what the president did was he rolled when big business came to washington and said give big business in america a one-year delay on the requirements of obama care. he did that unilaterally. we think just because small communities, small families in america, middle class families in america, just because they don't have big lobbyists in washington, just because they don't have a lot of money doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated with that same delay for the requirements of obama care like he gave big businesses. >> don't you think, though, that the glitches and the fact that there's been such a rush for people to go out and vet what open enrollment means, what october 1st meant to so many millions of americans, some reportedly over four million that have gone individual clicks to test and learn about what obama care could mean for them come january 1st, isn't that the sign that the country is

interested in having access to affordable health care? it's not just a privilege for those among us that are lucky enough to work for a big company or lucky enough to be able to afford it, but it should be affordable for all americans. >> two points. i never saw jay carney at the computer yesterday signing up for paum care because he's not. he's not in it. but thomas, what i'm concerned about is my families back in wisconsin that are seeing their full-time jobs turn into part-time jobs. listen, in wisconsin we're seeing numbers that our families and our young people are going to see a 77% increase in health care premiums. those are the numbers that i'm concerned about and that's because of this law. and that's been our concern. but listen, i want to see our government get back up and running. i want to see us come to a common consensus. i'm even willing to say let's do a one-week extension. let's open it up for a week and negotiate the finer points of the disagreement. >> doesn't that get to the whole fight of kick the can down the

road. why can't we figure out a long game of how our country should run instead of these small piecemeal measures that really get nothing done? >> thomas, we do small piecemeal measures. that's the way the process works. we do appropriations bills throughout the summer of every year and then vote on those and pass them by the start of the calendar, which is october 1st. that hasn't happened because the senate hasn't taken up those bills. so listen, this has been dysfunctional, but the bottom line is the president has to talk to people. he hasn't moved off any of his positions. he hasn't compromised, he hasn't communicated. even to the point where democrats are saying, listen, we're not going to open up the open air monuments. we're not going to open up the world war ii monuments. this is the same mentality who gave us little kids to raise money and see the white house but he shut it down because of sequester. >> do you think you should pick losers of what gets funded and what doesn't? >> no, what i support is an

appropriations process that goes through systematically what we should fund. >> why didn't house republicans send people to negotiate with the house and senate over the budget? why does the house republicans send conferees in the months leading up to this to negotiate the house and senate budgets? >> what i think we need to do is find points of agreement. who disagrees we should not open up our world war ii museum? >> why did house republicans send conferees to negotiate the house and senate budgets in the months leading up to this? did they or didn't they? >> we have conferees ready to reopen up the government. that is the most critical thing -- >> did they or did they not meet in the months to come before all of this? >> did the senate send conferees to meet us on our bill to open up the government to keep government running? they won't even send conferees to negotiate. that's the problem. let me talk about the budget quickly. one of the issues that we have is republicans put out a budget that actually balances.

our concern with the senate is they have a budget bill that never balances. it doesn't balance in ten years, not 50 years, not 100 years. so how could you find agreement with someone who goes i will never balance the budget. i won't tell america how much i want to spend and how much i want to raise your taxes. we're willing to say this is tough stuff but we'll put a budget out that balances and shows the american people how we do it. it's pretty hard when you're that far apart and they won't even concede the point that we want to balance the budget. that's been our issue. right now we all want to keep the government open. we have that common ground. >> but it's day two of the shutdown. congressman, i have to run. we've gone a little long. we did report that mcconnell and pelosi, reid and boehner are all going to be at the white house coming up at 5:30 this afternoon. congressman sean duffy, thanks for your time. i want to bring in today's agenda panel to talk more about the effects of the shutdown, irin carmon, corey dade, bill

scher. gang, it's good to have you here. let me start where we left there with the congressman and the fact that he wants to let all of us know, irin, that republicans are trying to downplay this shutdown, that they're willing to talk about this and the fact that they want parks to be open to vets and to kids. is that really going to work, irin, to play on the emotions of what the parks means as opposed to what it really means overall for a government shutdown? >> well, i think this is a moment in which we can really see what their priorities are. yes, as you mentioned, they are choosing which parts of the government they believe should be kept open. well, it turns out they don't really care that much about millions of pregnant women and new mothers who get nutrition assistance or seniors who get nutrition assistance. i mean at this point it looks like the democrats are not even going to accept it, but in theory what we're really seeing is where their priorities lie. certain things that involve optics, such as the world war ii memorials and not people who if we let this drag on for another

week or so are really going to be figuring out how they can eat. >> yeah. where the next meal is coming from. corey, "the new york times" has highlighted 20 hard-core conservatives who are not going to back down on this. how is that small group of republicans able to hold government funding hostage? again, this is the minority of the majority minority out of two-thirds in washington, d.c. did you do my math there? okay. >> the math also, it's actually a wider pool. you're talking about roughly as many as 85 lawmakers in the house. they're either tea party -- tea party loyalists or they're gerrymandered into conservative districts where they don't face any penalty, any consequence if they go against this clean resolution. and so it holds john boehner over a barrel. let's think back to 2012.

coming off the election, john boehner conceded that obama care was the law of the land and that it's time to just basically sit back and watch and gleimplement. since then he's had to dial that back because that conservative wing is absolutely entrenched and will not let him bring this vote to the floor. >> meanwhile, this was interesting because ann romney actually weighed in on what's going on in washington, d.c. and proposed this solution. take a look. >> i'd like to invite everyone to come to my table, sit down, have some coffee cake and let's not get up from the table till we've got it figured out. >> the coffee cake summit. it's not a bad idea. so bill, let me talk to you. maybe coffee cake is this afternoon at 5:30 when the four show up at the white house with pelosi, reid, mcconnell and boehner. but you noted that there is this new strategy among republicans, the piecemeal bill approach. we just had congressman duffy on talking about that, that this is just the way that it's done with

these appropriations bills that are kick the can down the road style. we haven't had any appropriations bills this year. but is piecemeal the way we need to govern? >> well, no. it muddles the republican message. they forced the shutdown. they said it was more important to defund or delay obama care than have the government be open and now they're complaining that the government is not open. it doesn't make any sense. duffy is on here trying to claim we're the ones compromising. what was the concession that came out of the republicans' mouth? there was none. they're changing their demands. they're not offering a concession. whereas the democrats have offered the concession. we'll keep the sequester. plenty of democrats are livid about the sequester. they said, fine, we'll keep the sequester but keep the government open and do your job. the republicans have done nothing along those lines. i think it's very transparent they're just game playing and not acting responsibly. >> i want to say thanks, guys, sorry for our shortened time. irin carmon, corey dade, bill

scher. as always great to see all three of you. you can find more from our panel on msnbc.com and follow the link to my name. across america people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® is different than pills. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once-a-day, any time, and comes in a pen.

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having a family history of lymphoma, i just feel it would be a wise idea to actually be covered in case anything, god forbid, should happen. >> it is day two in the new air after of health care coverage. for the first time more than 45 million americans will have access to the experience of what they have been denied for so long, that is affordable quality health care and the peace of mind that comes along with it. >> a few years ago, amanda barrett left her job in new york to take care of her parents. for a while she had temporary insurance that covered her multiple sclerosis. when it expired, many insurers wouldn't cover her because of her ms. she ended up paying $1200 a month. that's nowhere near affordable. sky-high premiums once forced

nancy beagle to choose between paying her rent or paying for her health insurance. she's been uninsured ever since. nancy says they talk about those who fall through the cracks. i fell the cracks ten years ago and i've been stuck there ever since. >> that was president obama at the white house on day one of the rollout describing real people with real stories about life before the aca and what the new health care law will mean for them. joining me now is one of those real people who appeared with the president, maureen murphy, an independent contractor. maureen suffered a stroke after being denied coverage and was at the white house yesterday when the president spoke. maureen, it's great to have you here, especially for your firsthand insight because you're already benefiting from obama care. i'm talking about before the law actually went into effect. tell us more about your backstory, the benefits of the care that you receive. >> yes. thank you so much for having me, i really appreciate it. when i got sick in 2010, i was able to get coverage through a portion of the affordable care act that was called the pre-existing condition plan, and it was basically the high-risk

pool that was created to form a bridge for anyone very specifically like me who needed -- for my situation needed medical care to bridge us to january of 2014, once the exchanges are open. if i had not been able to get that care or that insurance, i quite honestly would have most likely died. the stroke that i had was caused by an autoimmune condition that's a rare blood condition, and not to get all complicated with medical terms and all that, but basically my body has a wire crossed. it's what happens with autoimmune. my body has an antibody that was creating clots and lots of them. and if you have lots of clots going through your body and one comes to your brain, you have a stroke. and what was -- after that, that was bad enough, but the thing is it kept going and going and

going so i needed to get very specific treatment and because i had the insurance through the pcip, which was, like i said, part of aca, i was able to go to johns hopkins and i got to the correct specialist who once i got to her, i really like within two days, it was like i got my body back after nine months of absolute hell of trying to just manage it and figure it out. i was in and out of the emergency room. after i saw her and got the right treatment, they're went to the emergency room again, i feel great. everything is good. i have to maintain my health. i have to make sure that i have medication because i will need that for the rest of my life. >> what does it mean because you need to switch now that the aca has gone live of the so you'll switch, correct? >> i'll be signing up. i know the exchanges opened yesterday. i was running around and also don't have access to a computer right now so i haven't had a chance to look at what the options will be in virginia, but once i do, like everyone has

been talking about, i'll have a variety of plans to look at, see what fits my specific needs and then choose. and obviously i need to make sure that i have very good prescription care because that's kind of the paramount thing that i need to maintain my health right now. >> maureen murphy, thanks so much. we wish you nothing but continued success and the best of health. thank you. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. as we told you about a few moments ago, we're learning there will be a meeting at the white house this afternoon between congressional leaders boehner, pelosi, reid and mcconnell. baun janar's office put out a statement saying we're pleased the president finally recognizes that his refusal to negotiate is indefensible. it's unclear why we'd being of this meeting if it's not meant to be a serious talks between the two parties.

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all right. welcome back, everybody. want to tell you more about that developing news we got just moments ago where congressional leaders are going to be visiting the white house later this

afternoon roughly around 5:30. senator mcconnell's office has now issued a statement saying just yesterday the president reaffirmed that he would not negotiate with congress. senate democrats actually voted not to negotiate. so frankly, we're a little confused as to the purpose of this meeting. but anyway, the aides have confirmed to nbc news that boehner, pelosi, reid, and mcconnell will all be there. senator ted cruz just sent out his own statement about an incident with world war ii vets yesterday at the memorial in washington. he says, quote, president obama is so set on imposing his destructive far-left ideology that his government is literally blocking veterans out of memorials. honor flight vets crossed the barriers of the memorial yesterday, not letting the shutdown stop them from visiting. two additional groups are expected to visit that memorial today. that's going to wrap up this hour for me. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern.

"now" with alex wagner is coming up. >> hey, thomas. more of what we expected. it's day two of the government shutdown. republicans are still in denial. the prognosis for reaching the next stage isn't looking good. we'll discuss what rock bottom looks like with "the new york times" jeremy peters and other panelists. plus, the shutdown is already hitting federal workers, head start kids, veterans, and seniors across the country. but many of those same people have already been feeling the pinch for months. sam stein weighs in on the sequester semester. and a filmmaker joins us to talk about his new documentary, about one of philadelphia's darkest chappers. all that when "now" starts after this. [ woman #1 ] why do i cook? ♪

because an empty pan is a blank canvas. ♪ [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. ♪ [ man #1 ] to remember my grandmother. [ woman #3 ] to show my love. ♪ [ woman #4 ] because life needs flavor. ♪ [ woman #5 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish. make it delicious with swanson. [ woman #1 ] that's why i cook.

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. the shutdown is on with no clear end in sight, and the republican party is in denial about who caused it. it's wednesday, october 2nd, and this is "now."

i'm joy reed in for alex wagner. day two and hour 36 of the government shutdown, and congress is maybe, possibly, a little bit closer to breaking its seam iemingly infinite dead. president obama invited congressional leaders to the white house today for a shutdown meeting. all are expected to arrive at the white house around 5:30 p.m. the white house also announced that president obama would cancel stops in malaysia and the philippines due to the shutdown. it's the third time the president has had to cancel a trip to asia due to domestic issues. and last night speaker boehner and house republicans tried to pass three emergency funding bills that would finance veterans programs, national park, and museums and federally finance services in washington, but they failed to get the required two-thirds majority. "the new york times" calling yesterday's spectacle in it the lower chamber