now about the behind-the-scenes negotiations taking place on capitol hill this morning with high drama over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling looming coming on thursday. a lot of wheeling and dealing, secret meetings and name calling as well. house republicans working on their own debt ceiling and government funding bill. senate republicans will soon meet behind closed doors about their deal to end the stalemate, one that prompted president obama to call minority leader mitch mcconnell yesterday and discuss it. this senate deal keeps the government funded until january the 15th. that's the same day a new round of sequestration kicks in. it raises the debt limit through february the 7th and creates a new conference to resolve major tax and spending issues by no later than december the 13th. now, the deal also allows agencies more flexibility with sequester-related cuts. meanwhile, the one in the house has minor tweaks to obama care but keeps the same deadlines in

place. some argue this is the kick the can down the road style that we've seen before. >> doing the same thing over and over again is insanity. and we got one more chance here to actually get a deal. >> it's an embarrassment to me that we have spent all this time on a rabbit trail leading us to where we are. there's a lot of work that's going to be done over the next two or three days. i don't think it's time to spike the football in the end zone yet. >> there was actually 13 of us, six democrats, six republicans and one independent, and we put something together and presented it to the two leaders and i think that that's really when the conversation really got going. >> the wild card in all of this, senator ted cruz who hasn't said whether he'll vote to block a vote on the senate bill. cruz was busted holding a secret meeting last night with about 20 house conservatives. majority whip kevin mccarthy saw that group and was reportedly

particularly interested in what the group was up to. republicans taking a huge hit during this fiasco. the latest polls showing 74% disapprove of the gop's handling of the budget negotiations. and i've just been told we're getting a five-minute warning to when john boehner will come out. in the meantime we have enough time to speak with democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut and south carolina congressman james clyburn. gentlemen, again, speaker boehner has given this five-minute warning so if i jump away abruptly, please forgive me. congressman, let me start with you. republican leaders in the house and the senate have been holding these critical meetings to try to get the rank and file on the same page. are you optimistic and do you think it's likely house republicans will announce a workable deal? >> thank you so much for having me, thomas. you know, i'm always an optimistic person, but the fact of the matter is we would love to see the debt ceiling lifted for as at least a year. of course we will accept this --

these dates as proposed but from what i'm hearing, there are a lot of poison pills coming out of the republican conference. they would like to add new objections to the affordable care act. i understand that they are talking about getting rid of a big thing without offering in its stead. that effectively undercuts it. i understand they want to put extraneous requirements on the president and the secretary of the treasury to manage the deficit. that to me is an invasion into the prerogatives of the administration. and so these kinds of poison pills would not get us anywhere. i would hope that they would bring a debt ceiling deal clean, a cr clean and let's order the

negotiations for a budget by december 13th. all these things are fine with us, but these other extraneous things, i'm not too sure that democrats are going to be for that. >> sir, let's talk about those calendar dates that we've been talking about this morning. senator, i know that the president had earlier said that he wanted the senate democrats to come up with a one-year proposal for the debt ceiling. meanwhile all this has been mashed together with the shutdown and so we've got the debt ceiling looming, we're in government shutdown mode but the senate gop has postponed their meeting coming up today at 12:30 eastern time. if this deal gets done and the president signs it and as the congressman brings up, the senate deal keeps the government funded until january 15th, raises the debt limit until february 7th and could resolve through this special committee by december 13th where proper cuts could come in, isn't this just an extension of kicking the can down the road and we end up where we are 90 days from now? >> of course it is.

and democrats, as representative clyburn said, we've been clear we want at least a one-year extension of the debt ceiling. we'd like a longer term budget. it's republicans frankly that are insisting that we just kick the can down the road by a couple months. i have no idea why they want that. i mean we are taking a $160 billion -- $160 million hit to the economy every week of this shutdown. it's terrible policy economically for this country to essentially move backwards every week that the government is shut down and we risk defaulting on our debts and it's also terrible politics on republicans. why on earth republicans would want to be put in this position again in just a couple of months when they clearly lose out during these shutdown and default negotiations is absolutely beyond me. they have learned nothing either economically or politically from this crisis, and hopefully somebody over there is going to wake up in the next few days and realize that it's good for the country and, frankly, good for them if they extend this beyond january or february.

>> gentlemen, i'm going to ask you to stand by. i just got a note from the white house, a spokesperson there, about the house republican proposal. coming out in advance of what speaker boehner may say, but this statement says the president has repeatedly -- has said repeatedly that members of congress don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the bills. unfortunately, the latest proposal from the house republicans does just that. democrats and republicans in the senate have been working in a bipartisan good faith effort to end the manufactured crisis that have already harmed american families and business owners with only a couple days remaining until the united states exhausts its borrowing authority, it's time for the house to do the same. chris matthews was the host of "hardball" joins us now from washington, d.c. as well. chris, a lot of moving parts but it's all the same as we've been before. so the machinations remain the same. what the white house is giving in response to is the fact that what we're anticipating is that speaker boehner is going to come out, the deal that's been

hashed. it does involve wording that has to do with obama care, the aca. >> yeah. and i think the aca and obama care program, it's either going to be hurt a little or not hurt at all. i think the republican plan from the tea party people in the house is to make sure everybody sees the headline next week or this weekend, it was hurt a bit. it was underfinanced because you took away the medical devices or in some way weakened. they don't want to leave this fight without having scored a point against obama care. i think that's pretty clear right now. >> chris, so does that mean that that's what republicans are willing to save face with? that's the willing exit they will take? >> it's what they wanted from day one. no, it was from day one they want to score -- they wanted to wound, i mean not just pr-wise but wound obama care. they don't like it. i think that's been the tea party goal here. it wasn't about big spending government, it wasn't about the debt or government generally, it was about hurting the president's signature accomplishment. and if they can wound it this

time, they'll come back again in january and february again. i think the president -- i'm talking -- this is the way the president i think is looking at it. they came to get his baby, if you will, and they want to hurt it. >> all along they have wanted to repeal it. now they wanted to defund it and have gotten their way so far. then this comes up with a delay tactic basically. again, the president has said all along that he's not willing to negotiate anything that has to do with the aca. so is this dead on arrival? >> i think it's a -- i think he has to make a big choice. if boehner won't make a choice against doing this, the president has to make a choice against doing it and he has to risk all the problems, the hell that's coming thursday after midnight if he wants to stand his ground. this is a very tough one. this is very tough for the president. i think it's a little less tough for speaker boehner because it seems to me that he does have a majority of his republican caucus if he stands his ground and says, look, all we want is a couple of things here and we've

got them and we've got means testing in effect for the program exchanges, we got that and maybe a couple more things. but i think he might be able to get medical devices. that's the tricky one. that robs the program of about $5 billion over two years, about $29 billion over ten years or so. and the question then is, is that considered a mortal wound or serious wound against obama care? if the president believes it is, it's a real underfinancing of obama care which will hurt it down the road, he's going to have to reject it. if, on the other hand, he says we can afford this and some people say you can afford it, it won't hurt the program itself, he will accept it. this is going to come down to a very fine analysis of how bad an injury that does to obama care. that's all this is about now. >> there's a hot note the president is going to meet with leader pelosi, congressman hoyer, clyburn, coming up this afternoon at 3:15 he's going to be meeting with them at the white house. and, chris, you know, you've got great timing because you got this new book out called "tip

and the gipper, when politics worked" and it takes a very detailed look at what it's like for the president to have to work with a speaker who might be against him politically, but talks about the personal friendship that took place behind the scenes for tip o'neill and ronald reagan. we do not have an instance like that in modern day politics in washington, d.c. >> yeah, it wasn't a buddy story, it was more a story if you go through the whole book, it's very clear about people who are 180 against each other like today but they were able to talk. i think that was the big difference, they were able to talk all the way through. let's face it, back in the '70s when i was working for ed muskie and the budget committee, we got the budget approved in the spring on may 15th so we were way ahead of this. this is getting worse every generation. >> stay with me. here's john boehner. >> met with our members today. i tried to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that would continue to provide fairness to the american people under obama

care. there are a lot of opinions about what direction to go. there have been no decisions about what exactly we will do. but we're going to continue to work with our members on both sides of the aisle to try to make sure that there's no issue of default and to get our government reopened. >> we just talked to our members. i think it's been very clear all along what we as republicans in the house have wanted. one, we've wanted the democrats to sit down and talk to us so we could work out our differences and we've been saying since day one that we believe there should be no special treatment under the law and there should be fairness for all americans, those elected and those unelected. and i'm glad to see that harry reid and the senate finally has begun to sit down and talk with the republican leader there and we encourage that. we also, though, as the house republican conference think it's very, very important for us to

stress in whatever proposal we move forward will reflect our position on fairness, that no special treatment for anybody under the law. >> very clear in our discussions that we think individuals should be treated fairly. that big business should not have special treatment and members of congress should not have special treatment. we are very cognizant of the calendar. we want to find a solution to this in a bipartisan manner that gets this moving forward and gets america back working again. >> for weeks now the republicans in the house have been leading with solutions and we believe that this is the time for solutions and they need to be based upon fairness for all. we recognize that people all across this country continue to struggle and have their challenges and as the foundation we want to ensure that laws are written and implemented in a way that provide that fairness for all, whether it's moms, dads, small business owners, seniors, young people, that are trying to find their way forward.

and we in the house, we remain committed to being a part of a solution to working in a bipartisan fashion to find those common sense ways to make sure that we're doing what's good and right for america. >> i'll take a couple of questions. >> mr. speaker, the changes in your bill to the president's health care law are arguably pretty minor. were they worth a two-week government shutdown? >> we're working with our members on a way forward and to make sure that we provide fairness to the american people. >> mr. speaker, can you guarantee that the american people, congress will not go past the deadline -- >> i have made clear for months and months that the idea of default is wrong and we shouldn't get anywhere close to it. >> last question. >> mr. speaker, will there be a vote today on the plan? >> are you going to vote today on this plan that would make some changes to the senate bill and reopen the government? >> we are talking with our members on both sides of the aisle to try to find a way to move forward today. thanks.

>> all right. listening to speaker john boehner there after coming out from his conference talking about the fact that they don't want to have an issue of default, they want to get the government open and running but their big issue is no special treatment under the law when it comes to the aca. we heard the word "fairness" and "fair" used a lot there. chris matthews was listening with me. we also have james clyburn who was kind enough to stick around for us. i'll talk to him in a moment about goegt white house this afternoon. chris, let me start with you about what we've heard there. it doesn't seem as if we've made any forward motion, especially if they kick the can o'kick the dead horse, better yet, of the aca. >> it looks to me like they're going to focus on the treatment of members of congress and their staff. i mean it's a very political issue. they're playing it politically of course, most people do at this point. it looks like that's what they want to end up with.

they're trying to do something to make it look like members of congress are not getting a special break, although i never thought they were getting a special break. they were part of obama care like everyone else and the government is their employer and should be treated as the employer under obama care. i always thought it was a bit of a phony issue but sounds very good politically. i understand what they're up to now, this end game. get credit for having stood up for fairness. i think they said it themselves. this will be their issue because they know issues like medical devices don't grab the people at home and questions about what role the secretary of state can play in terms of prioritizing payments doesn't grab people at home. i think they want to end on a winning issue that sounds good at home. >> people with memories are going to recognize fairness is not about shutting down the government when your only job in congress is control of the purse strings and keep the government running. so when you throw your hands up in the hair and run away from the real issues because of a sticking point over a bill that was passed by both congress,

vetted through the supreme court and voted on by a mandate of the american people, it doesn't seem as if they have a true leg to stand on about what is fair about it and what's not. >> what there is, is a very good system for enacting law affecting members of congress and the entire country, affecting our finances and it's called the appropriations process and the budget process of the starting in the 1970s, we got the budget through in the spring, we got the appropriations through in the summer and a second budget resolution done before october. boy the 1980s when i was working for the speaker, they got most of the appropriations done on time and a few that didn't and that was covered by the continuing resolution. today we're in a situation where no appropriations passed, no budget resolution and thanks to mr. cruz said he didn't want the two committees to meet. as a result we're in a ridiculous kerfuffle where possibly defaulting on the u.s. good will and credibility in the world built up over a century,

thinking about playing with that because they have got this little political piece that they're working here on what they call fairness, it is totally disproportion nat to the danger we're facing right now in the next 48 hours. >> chris matthews, the host of "hardball" tonight at 7:00. chris, "tip and the gipper" is great. >> we'll talk about it. >> thanks so much, great to have you on. congressman clyburn, thanks for your patience as well. i know you had an opportunity to hear speaker boehner and eric cantor and some of their other members. it doesn't seem as though the ball has moved down the field very much but i have a note saying that you're going to the white house this afternoon for a 3:15 meeting to speak to the president directly. what do you expect to hear from him if the right is still in the same sticking point that it's been the whole time? >> well, i believe that the president is going to hold fast to the positions he has been

taking over time and i expect for him to continue our conversation this afternoon. but let me say this about what we just heard from chris matthews. i think chris is absolutely correct, that congress is already -- all members of congress, we are covered by the affordable care act. all this does is add the president and cabinet members to it. and i'm not too sure that that's not irresponsible on our part. we are now covered, thanks to senate grassley, by the affordable care act so this is just a nonissue as far as we are concerned. >> just to explain that to everybody, sir, just a little more, the fact is that the aca was brought into the american system, introduced into law, again, vetted by both houses and sent up through the supreme court and voted on by the american people that it worked for them because of president obama's leadership and it's for people in this country that do

not have access, do not have coverage already, do not have access to affordable care and can't afford it. so basically what the right is trying to do is use a crowbar to pry away any coverage from the white house and president obama and cabinet members and they're currently covered, they don't need the aca, but stick them on this anyway as some type of political jab. >> that's correct. but i think chris may be overestimating what's going on in the republican conference. i believe that they have a majority of the republican votes, but the fact is we ought to ask ourselves do they have 218 votes or maybe 217 is what's required now. or will they have to come to democrats to get some of those votes. if so, i don't know of any democrat that's going to vote to undercut the affordable care act at this point. that's been vetted by the american people last november,

it has been approved, signed by the president, approved, deemed constitutional by the supreme court. we ought to get away from that. and they are talking about eligibility and that kind of stuff. we don't mind talking about that. but funding the affordable care act ought not be put at peril and i should hope that the president will hold to that, senate says they will, and we ought to get away from that and start thinking about what to do in a budget that we ought to be discussing between now and december 13th as they require. we don't mind doing that at all. and all of these extraneous things ought to be brought into that discussion. we ought not to be holding the working men and women of this country hostage while we argue over what is now settled law. >> we remain hostage for a little while longer and all

stare down the debt ceiling which is coming up thursday, so it's a group of issues going on and we know you'll be at the white house coming up at 3:15 to talk to the president directly. congressman clyburn, thanks for your time. i appreciate your patience. >> thank you for having me. this is going to leave our question of the day for you. will house republicans drive america to default. weigh in on facebook and twitter. keep the conversation going right there. we're back in a moment.

thood thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide.

a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions

or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. welcome back ervgverybody. we just heard from speaker boehner talking about where house republicans are today, speaking in reference to the type of bill they're trying to push forward and get everybody on the same page to get the government back up and running and to avoid a government default coming up on thursday, the 17th. however, there is provision or a select group of provisions

attached that revolve around obama care. the white house was quick to respond saying that members of congress don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation's bills. now, we do know that coming up this afternoon, that the vice president is also going to be with the president's meeting today with house democratic leadership -- house democratic leadership coming up at 3:15 and we are waiting for house democrats also to speak in advance of that meeting, so we're keeping an eye on that and their news conference. back in a moment. meeting took forever.

oh, my parents will be here any minute. ♪ canned soup? no way. ♪ mmm! this is delicious katie. it's not bad for canned soup, right? pfft! [ laughs ] you nearly had us there. canned soup. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] so good, they'll think it's homemade. try campbell's homestyle soup. m'm! m'm! good.

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. our leadership team met with members today trying to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that would continue to provide fairness to the american people under obama care. we're talking with our members on both sides of the aisle to try to find a way to move forward today. >> so call it what you want. political chicken or capitol hill ping pong. the game continues at this hour.

john boehner and his gop leadership will vote on their own version of a deal to open the government and extend the debt ceiling. house leader nancy pelosi is expected to give a news conference at any moment and house democratic leaders will meet with the president and vice president at the white house 3:15 eastern time and joe biden will be a part of that meeting. the big question is will any deal get done. luke russert joins me now live from capitol hill with more on this. luke, it really does seem that maybe they haven't seen the movie "groundhog's day." it's like here's where we are again and anything coming from the right that involves the aca is not going to move. >> yeah, it's a fascinating dynamic, thomas. we were standing outside this gop conference meeting that started at 9:00 a.m. it went exactly two hours. we're told many members spoke. many spoke in opposition to this bill that had been leaked out. you obviously have seen the details on our air, but it's interesting that there's no guarantee this republican

counteroffer from the house could have gotten 218 votes. that's why john boehner said we're still evaluating what we're going to do. now, from sources i've spoken to, the idea boehner would still like to put a house proposal on the floor by tonight, but they'll have to go back and rework this bill and perhaps make it more appealing to the more conservative members within that conference. one thing that stood out from conversations i had is that some members said the ultra conservative members within the conference wanted the federal subsidies for the president's health care law that extended to members of congress, those were going to be repealed from the proposal. they wanted that to extend to staff and that's been a point of contention up here. there's been a lot of ideas that government workers should be subjected to the same regulations as the president's health care law. other older members of congress say, no, that's unfair because our staffs are already working for a small amount of money they deserve to have the federal government pay-in for their premiums. so that's one issue to look at. as far as everything else, thomas, interestingly enough if

something comes out of the house, it actually makes it easier for senator reid to pass something more quickly because they could amend a house bill, maybe keep one thing in here that's not too inflammatory towards democrat, like the two-year repeal of the medical device tax and send it back. so it's a fluid situation. but what we can say right now is that what boehner wanted to do, which is put the house back in the game, that has to be delayed right now because this bill is not doing enough for his conservative members. >> nbc's luke russert reporting there from capitol hill. luke, keep us posted. i appreciate it. nbc "daily rundown" host got the first word of the deal in the house when one of the gop members rushed out. take a listen. all right, so we don't have that sound bite. we'll work on that to get it back to you, but we were hearing there exactly some of the point details that were coming out this morning at 9:00 a.m. take a listen. >> we have been assured and reassured by the president and

members of congress on numerous occasions that the budget won't be balanced on the backs of veterans and yet here we are today. >> we need a permanent fix, not the temporary band-aid of budget deals or to face this again in a few months. >> we have to end this shutdown. congress has to do its work. piecemeal will not work. >> all right, so hearing there from certain veterans about what this has done to them while we've had the government shutdown, while we wait for thursday to come, which is the default date of the 17th. joining me now is republican congresswoman from tennessee, marsha blackburn. congressman, great to have you with me. here we are on the heels of john boehner coming out and giving a brief description of the bill that's being crafted together and cobbled together to get enough support, but it includes revision work or anything tied to the aca that the president has been very firm on, saying that that's really a

nonnegotiable starting point, especially mainly the delay of the medical device tax. do you agree that no matter what something needs to come from the house that still has attachments for the aca? >> well, i think that one of the things that we're looking at is the fact that the house is the one who continues to pass builds and send to the senate and continue to invite the president and the senate to the negotiating table so we can address this. we have been doing that for months and weeks and days and even years when you look at the fact that we're the ones that continue to pass a budget. but nevertheless, we do find ourself at another deadline, this dealing with the debt ceiling, and again, in order to get the senate working toward something, we are going to take the steps to bring together components of a bill that we will send over to the senate and

be hopeful that they are going to take it up, take some action and maybe they'll work late for once. >> congressman, let me ask you, when it comes to obama care, do you hate obama care more than you love your country? >> i've got to tell you something. i think that comments like that that you are making are just incredibly inappropriate. what we have to realize -- >> you don't think it's incredibly inappropriate to shut down our government and take all the hostages of americans that you've taken? no, no, no, it's not inappropriate because you took the government hostage through the shutdown and all the american people, you're walking them to a cliff, the economy, and you're going to push them over one by one based on the fact that you don't like the aca. that's all it is. you don't like the affordable care act. >> listen to yourself. listen tou yourself. just listen to the way you're sounding, my goodness. we didn't want a government shutdown. we don't want a government default? >> really? because on august the 6th at the economic club of national -- on

august the 6th you said everything we can do whether it's defunding, delaying, replacing, all of our energy needs to be every one of our efforts. i applaud ted cruz for getting out there and bringing this to the forefront. did you not say that? >> those are comments that i did make to the economic club, and let me tell you why. >> so you have been planning a shutdown since august. >> no, not at all. not at all. what you are doing is so inappropriate. we didn't want a shutdown. what we want to do is solve problems. >> how can you say that you didn't want a shutdown if you said that everything we can do is defunding, delaying -- >> to a $2.6 trillion program. it is too expensive to afford. we know from history you can look at what happened in tennessee with ten-care and you can look at how this affected

our state. by the way, it was a democrat governor who had to come in and reshape that program. what we're saying is let's learn from the mistakes of the past. let's look at things that are lessons learned -- >> but senator bob corker calling this silly and self-defeating all the effort that's being placed into the efforts to try to do something with obama care based on closing off the government and then trying to push us into default. >> i've got to tell you, it is not house republicans that wanted a government shutdown. you know as well as i do that the president and leader reid are the ones that were pushing for a shutdown. everybody is aware of that at this point in time. what we are seeking to do is to solve the problem. >> kwoocongressman, let me ask to stand by real quickly. nancy pelosi is speaking. stand by, please. >> what you saw here earlier,

was that here where they were? the speaker was here? was a speaker who did not have the votes for his proposal. if there's any hope here, they don't have the votes. so why are they doing this to the american people. sabotaging a good faith bipartisan effort coming out of the senate, wasting the public's time. and in this case time is money. time is money. this is going to be very costly to our economy, even if eventually we do lift the debt ceiling, the cost in interest payments will be in the billions of dollars. this republican habit of sabotaging of any effort to move forward is a luxury our country cannot afford. and you could see by their comments, they did not have the votes. there are those on the radical right who don't want to lift the debt ceiling and you have the

moderates who say whether they want to do so in a way that is clean that will go to the senate that will pass and that the president will sign. with that i'll yield. >> i don't know that there's much to end. i think the american people were heartened by the fact senators were talking. from all appearances they were close to reaching an agreement which would open up our government and which would make sure that the credit of the united states was not put at risk. and as leader pelosi has indicated, make sure as well that interest rates would not spike, that 401(k) values, retirees would not go down, that people would not be adversely affected. in fact what they have done once again, we understand from the republican conference, is to snatch confrontation from the jaws of reasonable agreement. that is what so angers and makes

the public so upset rightfully with their government. they want reasonable solutions so that they and their families can have some confidence that their government is being run appropriately, but more importantly so their lives are not disrupted and that government employees aren't put out -- that when a veteran makes an application, there's somebody there to take the application or social security or disability, somebody to take them. somebody to show them around the national parks. all of these things we are undermining the confidence of the american people. it is such -- so sad that on the brink of an agreement that would open up our government and make sure that america pays its bills that the republican conference met this morning, apparently after a number of them talked to ted cruise, and saz, and said, t good enough for us. now i want to yield to jim clyburn, the assistant leader. >> thank you, mr. whip.

i think that what we are experiencing at this time is a tremendous effort on the part of the republicans in the house to once again undercut the verdict of the american people that was rendered last november. what they have added to this legislation are more extraneous issues dealing with the affordable care act, something that ought to be settled law and i thought we had gotten away from. i do believe that we are experiencing, according to the information i have received, a nine-month low in consumer confidence because people are really leery of the republicans' ability to accept their verdict and move on to the next issues. so i would hope that sometime

within the next few hours the speaker of the house will take an assessment not just of his conference but an assessment of the american people and allow an issue to come to the floor that would give us a raising of the debt ceiling, give us a continuing resolution and allow for some negotiations on the budget that will put americans back to work as we argue over these issues. with that, i would like to yield to our distinguished chair of the caucus, mr. becerra. >> thanks, jim. 15 days after republicans drove 800,000 americans over the cliff and told them not to come to work, we're now in this 11th hour on the verge of watching republicans shut down the economy as well.

and simply because there's a family feud going on among republicans. senate republicans have chosen to try to sit down with our -- their democratic counterparts to try to come up with a solution. we can disagree, but if we can come up with a common sense solution, that moves all of us forward. but this last-ditch effort on the part of our house republican colleagues to disrupt irresponsibly disrupt those conversations leaves all of us at risk. and no american family should have to pay the price for the reckless behavior of some politicians who are trying to get their way in a budget bill and in a bill to pay our past debts at a time when so much is at risk. three and a half years after we saw the depths of economic

downturn, we have seen 7.5 million americans go back to work. we cannot watch our colleagues sabotage those good efforts and disrupt an opportunity to actually move us forward, so we urge our republican colleagues to talk to us here in the house. we urge our republican colleagues not in this 11th hour to put the american economy at risk and we urge our republican colleagues to make up with their own republican brethren and come to an agreement that we can then move forward with for the american people. with that let me yield to the vice chair of the democratic caucus, joe crowley. >> something that continues to change is the logic behind the republican shutdown of government. first it was about defunding or repealing the affordable care act. then it was about the budget. now it's about something else. something else with the intention to sabotage the bipartisan common sense solutions that our republican colleagues and democratic

colleagues in the senate were trying to work out. but one thing still hasn't changed, and that is for the last two weeks the republicans continue to ensure that the government shuts down. by their behavior are on the krus cusp of seeing our national debt is not paid. as the leader had mentioned, the real practical element to that and how it will affect the average american is catastrophic. with that, i now turn to congressman steve israel from new york. >> thank you. >> let's talk about what they understand is the house version of the bill that they're crafting, but senator harry reid is on the floor now. let's listen in. >> this bill that they're sending over here is doomed to failure. it's doomed to failure legislatively and it is so awful, awful, awful for our country. >> senator from new york. >> i'd just like to underscore

for a brief moment what our leader has said. you know, default will be devastating to this country. closing the government is awful for our country. and yesterday we all saw for the first time after the government has been closed for too many days when we're on the eve of default some real progress. leader reid, leader mcconnell coming together on the outlines of a plan that made a great deal of sense, that each side had to give but could accept. and all of a sudden at the last minute as the train, the locomotive to avoid default is heading down the tracks and getting some steam, speaker boehner throws a log on the path. this is wrong. he knows that his proposal which we don't even know what it is yet, they have to tweak it, probably to try and appease the

hard right, but he knows his proposal with the measures in it already that have leaked out would not be signed by the president or pass the senate. so instead of doing the right thing, looking at the senate proposal, a bipartisan proposal, and moving forward on that, speaker boehner decides to light a match and throw it on the gasoline that's already all over the place. i hope he will desist. we all have seen that the house can't lead in this regard. they can pass a lot of one house bills but they can't get anything done. let him desist. let him defer to the democratic and republican leaders here in this body so that we can avoid default, open the government and get back to america's business. i yield the floor. >> listening to new york senator

chuck schumer there and prior to that listening to harry reid saying that whatever bill that boehner was trying to get together to send over would be doomed to failure. the political director of nbc news, also the host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd is with me and has been paying attention to the bouncing ball here. chuck, explain what we're seeing, because the left is coming out pretty reactively to the little information that they have on where boehner is, although nancy pelosi was pretty firm in saying that the address that boehner gave was basically a show of hands saying he doesn't have the votes. >> well, thomas, i'm sort of -- i am surprised by the heated rhetoric i'm hearing from democrats on the house republican proposal as we know it. at least the contours of the outline. because the contours of the outline, here's what house republicans did. they essentially bought into the senate structure on when the budget -- how long they would fund the budget and the next debt ceiling and they have backed away from some of the

asks they have had before for them, right. they have toned down the idea that all members of congress and staff, instead it's just members of congress that they want to fall under the health care law. look, that's just a fig leaf so boehner can get the votes the first time. the senate would likely strip that out on the medical device tax and that being the delay. the only other sort of new addendum to it. so my point is, thomas, i am surprised with the heated rhetoric democrats are using to describe what house republicans did which to me it seems as if what boehner is trying to do is offer up something so he can show that he's not -- so he can show his own republicans that he's not simply surrendering to the senate deal. that he's saying, hey, we'd like to at least have something in that senate deal that we want. i think what they really wanting is the medical device tax delay. the vitter thing is just a silly campaign poster type deal. it's not a serious -- not a serious part of this deal. you would assume that some democrats would take that as

saying, okay, boehner is essentially conceding here, they have just got to find a way to offer some fig leaf. is it that medical device thing? who knows. is there one more democratic concession democrats would like to see conceded to them because that's their other boeef here, there's no part of the house plan that's a concession on democrats to anything. at least the senate deal. there's at least a concession there. but again, thomas, i'm just struck boy the heated rhetoric from democrats on this because this house bill to me is designed to get a deal with the senate and to sort of allow boehner the time to get something through the house. >> time is of the essence but we'll all remain on the sidelines here watching and waiting to see what they do. house leadership, chuck, is due at the white house at 3:15 with the president and the vice president so we'll continue to watch this. we're back after a quick break. . thank you. i got this. oh, no, i'll get it! let me get it. uh-uh-uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check

from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip? oh, here's one... get an allstate agent. nice! [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-905-6500 now. here we go! hold on man. is that a leak up there? that's a drip. whoo. okay. aah. now that's a leak. that is a leak! and if you don't have allstate renters insurance... game over. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables from things like water damage for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-905-6500 now. plus, drivers who switched saved an average of $498 a year. just a few more ways allstate is changing car insurance for good. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do.

we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger.

>> we have been assured and reassured by president and members of congress on numerous

occasions that the budgets won't be balanced on the backs of veterans and yet here we are today. >> we need a permanent fix, not the temporary band-aid of budget deals or to face this again in a few months. >> we have to end the shutdown. congress has to do it's work. piecemeal will not work. >> those are some very powerful comments made earlier at the world war ii memorial where 33 veterans and military groups are holding what might be the biggest protest yet at ending the shutdown. this follows what reporters call a million vets march this weekend also at the memorial. it attracted ted cruz, michael and sarah palin. palin suggesting the president committed impeachable offenses. protesters heard from this. >> we're ruled quote, unquote, by a president who bouse down to

allah. i call on you to use civil disobedience and demand this president leave town, get out, to put the koran down, to get up off his knees and to figuratively come out with his hands out -- up. >> joining me now from veterans. organizers weren't too happy with palin and ted cruz hijacking or co-opting their march issued a statement saying harry reid lambasted those who wanted the shutdown. what's your reaction as a veteran yourself who knows machinations that go on in d.c. and how this looked.

>> the march that happened over the weekend, i don't consider that a legitimate march. i've never heard of those groups or anything like that. obviously when sarah palin and ted cruz joins up. our organization features a world war ii veteran who was motivated to be in the national cable ad arguing for a fully funded government because of the amount of benefits that support him. he was motivated by what happened at the world war ii memorial two weeks ago when the republicans showed up there. i think what you're hearing with the lead in, what's going on with 33 veterans service organizations, those are legitimate and funded by, supported, providing service to our veterans. they are talking about no piecemeal. these are the type of talking points that came out of the white house, fully fund the government. this is the talk from democrats. obviously what's going on today is much more relevant to what veterans need than what happened over the weekend. >> i want to talk about exactly what's going to happen to veterans. show the screen.

checks to 5.1 million veterans won't be issued, 360,000 surviving spouses and children of wartime vets may step getting v.a. money. this is certainly a larger teal. as we saw earlier in the month, the issue of the gratuity death benefits halted and not going out to military members that we've lost, this is a really big deal for so many american families coming up in the next couple of weeks. >> it's a huge deal. that's why you see 33 veterans organizations out there. there's issues now in the fact guard and reservists can't go to battle and get paid. come 1 november if you lost both your legs in vietnam on pros theblgts and 100% service kented disabled, you don't get a disability check because the republicans hijacked over obama care. if you're going on the g.i. bill you may not get payments. 1 november is a huge day and we're getting to the moment it's

going to be a severe problem. >> thanks. that's going to wrap up this hour for me. don't go anything. up next alex wagner from d.c. if you look at a khan academy video, they cover everything from basic arithmetic to calculus, trigonometry, finance. you can really just get what you need at your own pace. and so, bank of america came and reached out to us and said, "we are really interested in making sure that everyone really understands personal finance." we're like, "well, we're already doing that." and so it was kind of a perfect match. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. so don't wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare... and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there's a wide range to choose from. we love to travel -- and there's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans

endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. more is better. that's why we designed the all-new nissan versa note, with more technology, to get you into, and out of, tight spots. and more space so that you always have your favorite stuff. and, just for good measure, an incredibly efficient 40 mpg highway. so that when you're doing more, you're spending less. the all-new nissan versa note. your door to more. now get a $139 per month lease on a 2014 nissan versa note.

♪ just because it might avert disaster doesn't mean it will pass the republican house. it's tuesday october 15th and this is "now" live from washington, d.c. faced with a bipartisan senate deal that would reopen and fund the government through january 15th and raise the debt limit through february 7th, this morning speaker john boehner alluded to the fact the house would put forward its own bill with the same extension dates but with a few modifications. >> there are a lot of opinions about what direction to go. there have been no decision about what exactly we will do. we're going to continue to work with our members on both sides