right now on "andrea mitchell reports," how much longer will this private citizen be voluntarily doing the job of government park service workers? there's no telling now that speaker boehner proposes to raise the debt ceiling but leave the government closed. >> will you reopen the government if the president doesn't agree to anything? >> if and buts were can be enoughs every day would be christmas. >> debt threats. if congress can't strike a deal, treasury secretary jack lew has this message for the lawmakers flirting with that fiscal cliff. >> we've never been there and i

think anyone who suggests knows exactly what that means would be projecting after 224 years of the history paying all of our bills what happens if we stop paying all our bills. >> the senate has just now joined the house, voting to approve the pentagon paying death benefits during the shutdown despite the lack of appropriations. now, will the president sign that legislation? >> well, when did they all know about the benefits freeze? you won't believe what the pentagon had warned days before the shutdown. good day, i'm andrea michelle in washington where speaker boehner is expected to walk into the white house this afternoon with a short-term solution to avoid defaulting on our national debt. but we are still nowhere near a solution to opening the federal government.

texas congressman chairs the committee and will be at the white house meeting. thank you, congressman for joining us, mr. chairman, is this a good solution getting around the debt ceiling problem on a short-term basis but leaving the government closed? >> well, what house republicans have asked after putting one offer on the table, two offers on the table, three offers on the table, four offers on the table. i mean, we're not through negotiating, we're just kind of through negotiating with ourselves. all we've asked, will you sit down, mr. president, will you sit down mr. reid and begin to negotiate. we've got tens of millions of our federal government employed, unemployed people. we have people on a website that does not work, or a nation that's drowning in debt. obviously, we believe there needs to be a negotiation, and we want to be reasonable. but so far all we've heard from the president and harry reid is,

we're the party of no negotiation. i hope the president says fine, we know this is divided government. the least we can do is talk to each other and begin to negotiate a solution where nobody violates their principles and nobody gets everything. but everybody at least leaves the table with something. >> but congressman, what the president has said, what the white house has said all along is they will not talk under the threat of debts ceiling or of the government shutdown. so the government shutdown is still continuing. do you think they will sit down with you an will you sit down and not talk about obama care but perhaps entitlement, tax reform and other problems that they think? >> we'll be very happy to talk about all of that. first on obama care, listen, we don't support it. we're not going to support it. we support patient-centered health care. all we're asking for with the last offer, if you're going to

impose it on the nation, you ought to impose it on washington. we're still curious that president obama didn't sign up for obama care himself. if this isn't ready for prime time for big business, why is it ready for prime time with employees? i understand you can't do anything without the president's signature law, without his signature. i understand that. but we believe it's part of what's harming our economy and part of adding to the debt. if he doesn't want to talk about that, there are many other things included in the house and a republican budget offered by a budget committee chairman paul ryan that we're happy to talk about. but, andrea, what we're not willing to do is rubber stamp the president's spending plan and rubber stamp the borrowing plan. you know, the other day he spoke on your network and every other network for about an hour and a half. he was very fond of using metaphors. here's one of my own. it's kind of like the president is seigo ahead and buy the used

car, once the check clear then i'll begin to negotiate the muffler, the hole in the roof and the bent rim. well, we kind of need to negotiate this things now before we gift president what he's demanded. >> of course, if you talk about the debt ceiling, we're talking about paying for things that congress has already spent the money on. we're not talking about buying a future used car. we're talking about pay for the used car you that and everyone else voted for. >> well, one, obviously, house republicans didn't vote for the stimulus. obviously, house republicans didn't vote for obama care. but put that aside. this is a nation that's drowning in debt. every day, we hear once again from many in washington, many on wall street, don't worry about it, don't worry about it, we'll deal with it later. under the president's watch, more debt in four years than our nation's first 200. we've got a gross debt that's the size of our economy. this cannot go on forever, or we will not only -- not only blow

up our economy, we will bankrupt our children. so, as you well know, there's been, i believe, 53 different increases in the debt ceiling since the mid-'70s since i was an undergraduate at texas a&m university. and over half of those, something has been appended to it to try to deal with the deficit, to try to deal with spending. i mean, this is like a smoke alarm. and what republicans want to do, when we hear the smoke alarm, we want to fight the fire. our theory is the president and the democrats just want to unplug the smoke alarm. that's what the debt ceiling is. my guess is people in greece and detroit would have been well served had they had a debt ceiling vote and used it as an opportunity to try to reduce the deficit try to end some spending deficit so we don't bankrupt our children's future. >> what they had agreed to also, they had agreed to the republican number on the budget. and in fact, the sequester has

cut back spending far more from social programs that many democrats wanted. that said, let me quickly ask you about the military death benefits. i know the house had approved the benefits yesterday. and now the senate has just voice-voted that. now it's on its way to the white house, presumably. the senate voted by unanimous consents. at this point, there's still a real issue for other benefits. secretary consecky testified to the congress yesterday, to a house committee, that in fact 5.1 million veterans across our country, in the next couple of weeks, if the shutdown continues are going to be affected. they're not going to get their pension payments, disability payments claims backed up that they're furloughed 8,800 v.a. workers and more by the end of the month. what does that tell you about the veterans? >> well, as a son, grandson and brother of veterans i care deeply about these issues as i

believe most members of congress do. and that is why house republicans have already passed a bill to ensure that all veterans' benefits, all veterans' benefits are taken care of, that they are funded. and instead, yet again, we receive a veto threat from the president. now, i give him credit we passed a bill to make sure troops were paid. he signed it. we have passed a bill saying that federal workers will get retroactive pay. he signed it. every other bill, whether it be to make sure that children who have cancer get their care at the national institute of health, or to make sure that our brave men and women who served this nation in uniform get their benefits, he has issued a veto threat. so what wee think we're hearing from the president because you won't fund 100% of the government we want, you're only funding 95%, i'm going to shut the rest of it down. i mean, every single day republicans have passed bills. if the president has complained, fine, we'll open it up.

again, andrea, we can't negotiate with somebody who refuses to negotiate. but we want to make sure the veterans are not used as pawns. they could take this up, sign this bill, this would be done. and what we know on the death benefit, this doesn't take days, weeks or months. this can be done in a matter of hours if the president and harry reid will decide to no longer use veterans as pawns in this disagreement. >> and congressman, one quick question, why is the house gym still open? why is that essential? >> i -- you got me there. i've never been in it in my entire life. so -- i don't -- it's nonessential to me. >> i hope you're getting your exercise, i'm not your dock, to but i hope you're getting your exercise in another way. thank you very much for that. >> thank you. >> thank you, congressman. before the president meets with the house republicans later

this afternoon, he's going to meet with senate democrats among them new hampshire senator gene shaheen. senator, thank you for joining us today. what is your response to, if you can, what the congressman said about his view of the white house blocking a solution to this problem? >> i was disappointed to hear what the congressman had to say. i think it's disappointing to hear members of congress who are willing to pit one american against another. fact is this government shutdown is hurting so many people who don't deserve to be hurt, whether it's veterans, whether it's kids in head start. whether it's seniors who are getting meals on wheels. the answer to this is get this government up and running for us to work together to do that. to stop the name-calling. stop the accusations. and get on with the business of governing. >> should the president sign this military death benefit piecemeal bill to take care of

this particular problem? the senate has now voice-voted it unanimous consents. i assume you were part of that. should the president go along with this? >> listen, i think we have a responsibility to those men and women who serve in the military and to their families. if they have been lost in combat, if they put their lives on the line for the country, it's important for us to make sure that their families are taken care of. but that's not the underlying issue here. the underlying issue is we need to get everybody who is involved in government, who needs the programs and services that are provided, who are working for the government, they need to get back to work. we need to get this country moving again. and that's what opening up the government -- that's what making sure that we pay our bills through the debts by raising the debt ceiling would do. the fact is, since president obama took office, we've reduced the deficit in this country by over 50%.

we are on an important course to pay down the long-term debt. and to deal with the deficits. and the best way to do that is to work together, to get the government up and running and to stop making accusations. >> now, if the president goes along with this proposal from speaker boehner and there's a short-term extension to the debt ceiling, the government would still be closed. so how does that help, we're talking about 5 million veterans in a couple weeks who are going to lose all of their benefits? >> i don't think that's the answer. i think the answer is to reopen the government. there's a senate-passed bill in the house that appears to have the majority needed to pass it. the speaker should take that up. get it passed. reopen the government. make sure that the country pays its bills. it's a sad day when china is expressing concern to us that we're not paying our bills. so we need to restore america's

credibility here at home and around the world. and the best way to do that is for us to work together. >> and briefly, i know you've been very instrumental in resolving this iraq visa legislation for the translators and the other iraqi citizens who were so helpful to us during the war and have been trapped. tell us where this now stands. >> well, in this difficult time when government was shut down, one of the things that we did agree on is that we should make sure that those iraqis who have helped our men and women who were serving there, put their lives on the line, should be able to come to this country and get a visa to do that. so i'm pleased we passed a short-term extension for three months. hopefully, we'll follow that when it passes take up the defense bill later this year. but it's very important to make sure that we keep our promises to those iraqis who put their

lives on the line to help us. >> senator, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. and house democrats met with the president last night. according to reports he got an earful from d.c.'s nonvoting representative eleanor holmes-norton about the administration opposition to the city of washington. joining me jim clyburn, congressman thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> it's great to see you, apparently this was not such a warm and cozy meeting between the veteran congressman eleanor holmes-norton and the president of the united states when it came to the district reopening -- right now the district is using its own emergency funds to keep open. >> yes, i know. i think all of us are aware that the district of columbia is in a very unique, and i think, disadvantageous situation. they collect taxes.

they have their own budget. and yet, they have to come to the federal government to seek permission to spend their own money. that's something that i don't like. the president expressed or said he does not like that. and he said that he will be working very hard to get rid of that forever. >> but that has been impossible for a lot of reasons, including as you know republican opposition to d.c. having a voting representative. that said, why not a separate bill for the district of columbia. this city has a surplus. not asking for a handout. has plenty of money in the bank. but if this isn't resolved the emergency money will run out that d.c. is spending from its own rainy day fund, and the city is going to shut down. >> that's correct. but just remember, that the d.c. budget is taken care of, in that budget that we passed in the house that, of course, the

senate did it different proposal. but the house, the speaker has not appointed conferees, and therefore, we can't get the conference on those two measures. this piecemeal approach the president is against, i'm against it, i'm a big supporter of d.c. a big supporter of this mail. but the fact of the matter is congress should not be picking winners and losers and there are a lot of losers when we do this piecemeal approach to governance. we want to go to regular order and stop this piecemeal approach what we're doing even what we're hearing today, deciding we will do the debt ceiling, but we won't open the government back up. that's picking investors on wall street, people working every day, running businesses on main street, and they are suffering

because of the shutdown. so we are picking wall street over main street. everybody ought to be treated fairly, and this is an unfair proposal. >> are you going to -- are you going to recommend that the white house opposes it? because it seems from the white house briefing so far, that the president might go for this? >> well, i'm not against the debt ceiling. i'm all for this proposal. what i'm saying is, it shows favoritism, it's unfair for us not to put people back to work. not to do this -- this continued resolution. that would solve the problem that we have with the district of columbia. so if the republicans are really wanted to help the district of columbia, then let's do the continuing resolution. let's open government back up. and they will be helping the district of columbia, and in colombia, south carolina, as well, my hometown.

>> and there are a lot of south carolinians in the military and veterans who are about to lose all of their benefits according to secretary conscheckky, including families of the fallen. what is your position when we're told a private charity, the fisher house foundation is going to be bailing out the pentagon and paying these benefits for the duration of the shutdown? >> well, i understand the senate would see the proposal that would take care of that. i'm a big supporter of fisher house. i've been helping to raise money for fisher house for a long time. and it is something to step into a gap, which is what they did. but, remember, this was on condition that they will be repaid once the government is back up and running. so i support that. we'll have other situations like

that. but just remember, this proposal that my colleagues keep talking about for veterans is $6.2 billion short of the budget that we passed that took 421-4, to take care of veterans in every category. short of what the veterans need for their full benefits, i think is a little bit unfair to the veterans. and this way, we're collecting some veterans over other veterans. we ought to treat all veterans with wholeness. and that's what we're trying to do. >> congressman, thanks very much. i know you got to go to a vote. appreciate it. >> thank you very much for having me. and after seeing the deep impact of the government shutdown, some people are taking matters into their own hands like this man, chris cox from south carolina took a lawnmower

and leaf blower to the national mall and began cutting the grass between lincoln and world war ii memorials. saying he wanted to make sure that the lawn looked very best for the veterans. you could see cox is part of the bickering here in washington. coming up, we'll hear from ken fisher, his foundation is the foundation that stepped up to give charities to fallen men and women.

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early this morning, libya's prime minister ali zeidan was kidnapped from a luxury hotel in tripoli only to be released several hours later.

the demands said to be part of the semi autonomous wishes that served as the police. surrounded his hotel and removed the prime minister at gunpoint. the kidnapping appears to be in retaliation from zeidan's known capture of abu anas al libi. joining me is richard engel. richard, we know from the benghazi officials that the officials are semi, and semi autonomous. how did this take place? >> this is actually a pro-government militia. though it doesn't seem about use when you hear it's a pro-government militia. but this is a militia that was deputized by the government to fight corruption, to oppose law and order. there is still a lot of chaos in libya. the government which is weak uses these groups almost like --

think of texas rangers or like cowboys in the 1880s when you have a group that's deputized and are they official forces or are they outlaw or somewhere in between? in this this case, somewhere in between, they take their job very seriously. this morning around 4:00, they surrounded the corinthian hotel in downtown tripoli. they went in heavily armed. the prime minister's security contingency had ten bodyguards just backed off. didn't want to get into a gun fight. these 100, to 150 gunmen took them to their vehicles marked with the logo of the militia group and took them back to their headquarters and gave them a serious warning on corruption and on prior knowledge, we have been holds of this u.s. military snatch and grab operation over the weekend that many libyans were angry about. and then they released him. they released him because some

of his bodyguards and supporters relatives went to the headquarters and firing up in the air. no one was killed in this incident, had it gone on a lot further, you would have had militia on militia violence to try and have him freed. >> and it's certainly a perfect metaphor for the fact that this is a failed state, a failed government. and that after the war, we still have a lot of work to do, or they have a lot of work to do in libya. >> well, look what the we've learned about libya just in the past few days. you had an accused senior al qaeda member living more or less openly there for the last two years. the person who was snatched by u.s. special operations forces. you have u.s. special operations forces conducting autonomous, or autonomous with a slight tip-off raids in the country. and then you have militia groups that are so bold and autonomous that they feel justified in

abducting, threatening and then releasing the prime minister. >> pretty worrying stuff. thank you very much. all this time, after that war, with everything that was sacrificed by all sides in that war, we have this situation. >> the problem it was never stabilized afterwards. they kept the guns. the militias never went home. and the rebels are still fighting that war like rebels. that's been the fundamental problem. >> what in fact, richard what wasn't revealed the benghazi outpost, the target, was the cia operation to disarm the rebels under which there was diplomatic cover by that state department consulate. and that was the benghazi operation which, of course, led to such tragedy on september 11th a year ago. >> yeah. i've spoken to people who said united states helped nato. this was a nato operation to get rid of gadhafi. to carry out air strikes but

they didn't ever send people there on the ground, large numbers or relatively small numbers, to try and disarm the force. this incredible desire to not have boots on the ground. that we wanted to change the regime with air strikes and coordination. but the idea of having even a small number of boots on the ground was such a red line that no force went in to try and collect these weapons to establish a post-collapse of gadhafi system. and we're still living in -- we're still paying for the results of that. >> richard engel, thank you so much. thanks for being with us today. and coming up next, we will dive into the politics of the government shutdown but first, take a look at this. cnbc calls this the saddest shutdown photo you will ever see. all that kid wants to do is go to the zoo, one of our favorite places in washington. a piece of shutdown propaganda? perhaps. look at those little ears on that little hat. ♪

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i like her. a lot of republicans in the house and some in the senate are saying default isn't possible because they can't decide which bills to pay like interest on the debt. not so said treasury secretary jack lew in a senate hearing. >> prioritization doesn't work? >> i think prioritization is default by another name. >> joining me now is m nbc contributor and host of can in play" so they're saying that the republicans can't say what they're saying that the republicans can do. john boehner is proposing a short-term extension of the debt ceiling. this is acceptable to the white house, you think? and that means leave the government shut down while the debts ceiling is resolved? >> well, you mow, andrea, a

white house official sent out a statement soon after john boehner made this proposal. the proposal, as i read it at least is sort of two-pronged. the first prong is that we will bring up a clean -- a debt ceiling increase without anything else attached to it, if you, the white house and senate democrats, agree to enter into a larger budgetary negotiation bargain compromise with us, moving forward that would both reopen the government and address longer term spending issues. so, there's so many questions, it seems to me. one of which it is john boehner get a clean debt ceiling bill through the house with a majority of republican votes. we know he can get one with the majority of democratic votes, does he want to do that. and, two, does the white house seem could be signaling, yes, president obama would sign a clean debt ceiling increase. but, no, he will not promise in

exchange for that signature a broader negotiation on the government shutdown and larger budgetary issues. so the meeting at 4:30 this afternoon between those 18 members of the house delegation and the president is going to be critically important what comes out of that. but the cake does not seem to me, at least, to be baked on this yet. >> but they're sort of stirring the dough, getting it ready. getting the batter ready to put in the oven. >> which is more -- i don't want to extend this metaphor too far but it's certainly more than we had a few days ago, frankly. >> and he's meeting with the democrats tomorrow. of course, we know the drivers are the house republicans. and the final debate last night got heated. let me play a little bit of cory booker's race and his republican opponent. >> the delaware river, we have the pullback of the eta to let fracking go on like fraccers do that can pollute our waters.

>> you may not want to swim in that river but i think it's from all the shooting victims floating around in your city. >> looking through the rest of these notes from that debate, i didn't watch it live, but, boy, it got pretty rough there. >> i watched the hls, more accurately the lowlights. steve lonegan who is really the one on offense most of the time. he's behind, new jersey is a blue state. most suggest cory booker is positioned to win next month by double digits. this is a state that has a long history of bare-knuckle politics. that debate, i spent a little time watching it i was taken aback. in that clip you played you could tell cory booker was taken aback by it. >> and lonegan had all sort of racial comments that were inappropriate to say the least. i don't know if you're that far behind you're that negative

given you're not going to win. >> that he doesn't like cory booker would probably be the answer, i don't know the answer. thanks a lot. coming up next, ken fisher of the fisher house organization, the foundation that has stepped up to pay the military death benefits of fallen service men and women, commitments made by the government and broken. all we do is go out to dinner.

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(dad) just feather it out. (son) ok. feather it out. (dad) all right. that's ok.

(dad) put it in second, put it in second. (dad) slow it down. put the clutch in, break it, break it. (dad) just like i showed you. dad, you didn't show me, you showed him. dad, he's gonna wreck the car! (dad) he's not gonna wreck the car. (dad) no fighting in the road, please. (dad) put your blinker on. (son) you didn't even give me a chance! (dad) ok. (mom vo) we got the new subaru because nothing could break our old one. (dad) ok. (son) what the heck? let go of my seat! (mom vo) i hope the same goes for my husband. (dad) you guys are doing a great job. seriously. (announcer) love a car that lasts. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. the country is continuing to react to news that families of those killed while serving in our military will not be receiving much needed death benefits during the shutdown, including there's been a lot of outrage from lawmakers and from the white house. but as we learned, they'd all been warned. >> reporter: for days now we've heard the outrage on capitol hill. >> it's disgraceful that they're withholding these benefits. >> now, they're being denied

death benefits because of this senseless shutdown. >> i'm ashamed. i'm embarrassed. >> reporter: lawmakers complaining that families of fallen u.s. service members are not getting emergency death benefits because of the government shutdown. the outrage spread to the white house. wednesday, president obama told norene ginnsler -- >> when i heard about this, i told the department of defense we should be able to get that fixed. >> reporter: in late september, several days before the shutdown, the pentagon warned this would happen. >> we would also be required to do other bad things to our people. examples, we couldn't pay death gratui gratuities. >> reporter: wednesday as the remains of four service members killed in afghanistan last weekend arrived to dover air force base the house unanimously passed the bill to restore the benefits. >> how dare we not provide these

families with the necessary support. >> reporter: but the senate refused to consider the measure. late wednesday the justice department scrambled to find a fix. >> that's how a lot of veterans feel right now. they're stuck in the middle of this political debate. whether it will be death benefits. whether it be v.a. comp and pension. >> reporter: so ken fisher who heads a private organization for veterans and their families stepped in to pay the benefits after seeing our report on "today." >> they're grieving, they've suffered enough. why on earth should they have to worry about where their next dollar is coming from. >> reporter: also stepping up, jefferson's restaurant in bellville, illinois, which posted a message on facebook offering to donate 100% of their profits to the families of the fallen. >> if one person does it, 100 more will do it and it will help people out. >> backs with is the chairman and ceo of the fisher are foundation, ken fisher.

tell me how this was all worked out. did you hear from chuck hagel, his office, if you volunteered the money -- they couldn't solicit it, but if you volunteered the money it would be legally about acceptable to get this money to the families? >> yes, i've heard from secretary hagel. and other at -- other people, you know, in the government. about this. you know, it all started again with you. and you know, we were contacted again by senator manchin about whether or not we'd be willing to do this. this is such an incredible a terrible situation. that this was just, you know, as i said, this has been an easy decision for us to make. we're still working out the details, and as it stands right now, i've got six checks sitting on my desk. i'm just waiting for the addresses as to where to send

them. and they will be overnighted. and these families will have these checks tomorrow. >> now, i know these checks will be for presumably the $100,000 of the death benefit. the pentagon did come up with some spare cash or extra seats on planes that were going anyway to get some of the families to dover for the dignified return of the remains. but that said, there were a lot of other people involved. and i know you're a very generous man. but if this thing, this shutdown goes on for another couple of weeks, secretary consecky says that billions of dollars will be lost to veterans. that veterans will not be getting their pensions. 5.1 million people will be affected, potentially, if this goes past october. >> andrea, the fact that our veterans are being used as what i think are political pawns here is just inexcusable. these are men and women that have stepped up. they have sacrificed. they're families have

sacrificed, for any benefits to be withheld in this circumstance, again, is just mind-boggling, to be honest with you. it's really just beyond logic. >> at this point, the senate has now voted for the benefits to be paid as has the house. it's gone -- or it's going to the white house. what should the president do? he's said in the past he does not want to do thinks piecemeal. obviously, we wants to get the whole government open, but should he sign his legislation? >> in my opinion, this legislation is too critical not to sign. these families as we've discussed, andrea, before, this is too -- they've suffered enough. i mean, for them to be, you know, stuck in the middle of this government shutdown. and, you know, and the fallout from it. again, inexcusable. this has to be done and it has to be done now. >> president secretary jay carney was asked about this at today's briefing which is under

way, asked about working out this fix. this is what he had to say in part. >> -- determined the dod could enter into a rush agreement with the fisher house that would essentially make the organization a government contractor that could deliver benefits and enable dod to reimburse the costs that had incurred after the shutdown. >> this is after saying there was no legal way that money could be voluntarily given. they came up with a legal solution, as lawyers want to do. that begs the question, that is disturbing, frankly, to a lot of top uniformed leaders on the side of the pentagon, we're told, that a lot of them upset that the greatest military in the world has to be bailed out by a charity, even one as wonderful as yours and what you're doing. isn't it somewhat demeaning to the pentagon and the military that these benefits have not been paid? >> well, i think the reaction has to be uniform.

you've heard it from senator mccain, you've heard it from other members of congress. you'll hear it from the leaders of our military. this is just inexcusable. it's embarrassing. it's shameful. this is -- it's -- but, again, there's so much blame to go around. but it's just -- for the world's greatest military to be doing this to the men and women that make it the world's greatest military is -- i keep coming back to that word shameful, andrea. there's no other word to describe what's happening right now. >> ken fisher. thanks again for everything that you are doing. you know it is very much appreciated by, not just the military, but by all the rest of us. >> well, thanks for breaking the story, andrea. i appreciate it. and when we come back, who john mccain is blaming for the government shutdown. he spoke out today and he did not pull punches. wait till you see this. i remember the day my doctor said i had diabetes.

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this morning, senator john mccain sat down with tina brown at the daily beast annual hero summit. and he blamed the tea party for the government shutdown but also blamed the president for not, in his view, negotiating. >> if we obviously the debt, there are some colleagues of mine who believe we have enough money to keep the government going and all that. what i think they're not appreciating is the signal we send to the world. you know, the chinese own $1 trillion of our debt, our securities. if we send that signal, i think you're going to see the markets act and it's going to force us to act. the question is, why should we put the american people through this? why should we do this? everybody knows what the answer is here. we sit down, we do something about the medical device tax because most everybody is unalterably opposed to. we probably do something to make

sure members of congress are subject to the same health care provisions under obama care that other americans are. maybe a couple of other small things and get going again. unfortunately, we are driven to some degree by, i'll be very frank with you, some incumbent republicans' fear of a tea party primary. >> well, i know we see that, but isn't really the big question now -- i mean, the story of this political crisis is the culpability not just of the republican crazies but of the republican noncrazies. how do we get to the point where mitch mcconnell is rand paul's bitch? i hate to use that word, but where's the heroism in your own party? why aren't the moderate republicans fighting back? we're always saying, you know, why don't the moderate muslims fight jihad, but this is jihad. >> i think it is, but i'd also like to point out that the president, as opposed to -- excuse me. i hate this device.

>> it was that word that i uttered that made the phone ring. >> the president's making a mistake too, my friends. that is, in '95 when we shut down the government, there was around the clock, literally, negotiations with bob dole and newt gingrich and the president. they talked and negotiated. whether they reached any agreement or not, at least there was the effort being made. i think the president, up until about yesterday, by saying i won't negotiate under any circumstances, is making a mistake too. what we're doing, tina, long term is we're really shaking people's confidence in government. if that's the case, that has really long-term implications because i still think as churchill said, you know, it's the worst of all, but a better one hasn't been invented. i really -- i joke about it, but i really worry a lot about it. >> wonder who is calling john

mccain. an edgy interview. maybe that's the reason for the cell phone call. we'll be right back. [ unr ass people like to pretend a flood [e could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk.

and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, tomorrow we find out whether malala gets the nobel peace prize. follow online on twitter. tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> hi, great to see you. the white house says it is happy with house speaker john boehner's offer of a temporary debt ceili ining fix. right now the proposal is calming nervous on wall street, but what does that mean for the government shutdown and the hundreds of thousands affected by that? we'll talk to the top democrat on the house budget committee, chris van hollen. and was it murder? the body of a georgia teenager found rolled up in a wrestling mat. it's been ruled an accident. his mom and dad will join us live.

plus, a controversial new abortion law in california expands who can perform the procedure. those fighting the laws say it's dangerous for women. it's our "news nation" gut check. ♪ violin... hey, what are you doing? music lesson. he has to start sometime. [ bell rings ] ♪ music lesson? whoo! [ bell rings ] [ female announcer ] by their second kid, every mom is an expert and more likely to choose luvs than first time moms. and new luvs with nightlock offer our largest absorbent area ever. they lock away wetness better than huggies, even overnight. live, learn, and get luvs.

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