they had to live on what most of us work at, and live on, they couldn't make it. >> reporter: the last time there was a government shutdown, congress voted to give workers retroactive pay, this time, there is no guarantee what will happen. >> a lot of similar feelings out there, john yang, from chicago, and how long does this go on? kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: good evening, brian, there are parks like smithsonian offering money for veteran's programs and to fund the operations in the district of columbia, but democrats say no, comparing that to a release one hostage at a time strategy. now, although congress and the president had already agreed to keep military paychecks coming,

democrats are saying no to this piece by piece approach, insisting that the full government be funded, not going one program at a time. brian? >> all right, kelly thank you for that update. and as you know what is happening right now in washington has been a long time coming. it is being drink by a committed core of republican members of congress who are all but assured of re-election in their districts and just can't be conservative enough for many of the folks back home. this is about the divide in our country, the end of the old chain of command in congress and anger over obama care. our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd has that part of the story. >> reporter: good evening, brian, you know, these tea party conservatives helped to propel republicans to take control of the house in 2010. and these conservatives are the engine behind this current standoff now. the tea party has the president's attention. >> 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. >> reporter: the faction is a group of about 80 members of congress, who in august wrote a letter to speaker john boehner urging him to use the budget negotiations as a wedge to reverse the affordable care act. >> we thought it was important to stand on our principles that since 2010 elections, the republicans are very clear, we don't like obama care, but never had a chance to actually vote on it. >> reporter: they come from the most conservative districts in the country, on average in 2012, they captured 65% of the vote in their districts, districts where the president barely cracked 37%. they represent only a third of the republicans in the house and only 18% of the american population. >> these 80 letter signers in the house come from districts where obama lost 23%. there is no shot they have at

holding them accountable for their seats. >> reporter: he comes from a district where the president didn't even break 20%. he is confident that his supporters will be there during the shutdown. >> most of the impact happens on their daily lives. they will get their checks. >> reporter: he came to the area the same year barack obama was sent to the white house. in 2012, cassidy got 37%, obama 22%, he argues that is not about ideology. >> blue america, red america, they want the government funded. >> reporter: both sides they say they won't budge. >> they should not have a gold plated situation for themselves. this is a battle ground, to make

this law less onerous. >> reporter: brian, they do get a little uncomfortable when they learn they are cashing their paychecks, he hopes to delay it, and not take it. >> chuck todd, as the sun sets on the u.s. capital. and as we mentioned, the whole world is watching, many are wondering what is going on. one headline called it "america's power failure," here is how great britain opened their channel 4. >> america's government closed for business, will the economy follow? >> washington is an angry, bitter and divided tone tonight. john, everybody here is blaming somebody else for causing the first government shutdown in nearly 20 years. >> all day it has been like that. it is the top story around the world, a reminder of how closely people watch the goings on in the world's largest super power. hear now, some reactions out there. >> just crazy, really crazy.

>> this time, they have gone over the cliff. and to my mind, it is highly irresponsible. >> it is quite painful, actually. >> some of the opinions and observations being expressed around our planet today. now, to the other event that took place at midnight eastern time last night. the start of a major provision of the new health care law, which was, after all, at the crux of this fight that led to the government shutdown. today was the first opportunity for millions of americans to go to these new exchanges and sign up for insurance on obama care, and turns out so many people tried to do it that computers crashed. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: across the country, the computers were up and running, and with nearly 3 million people trying to get to the site, they crashed, making it difficult to register.

in phoenix, the schultz family is waiting to enroll to quit their jobs and start a new business. >> we wanted to weigh the options, suddenly we couldn't get in. so we were disappointed. >> are you insured? >> reporter: she wanted to sign up in person. >> definitely worried about it. i have a few health issues going on with me, we need health coverage. >> reporter: colorado was at last partly working, residents there can choose between bronze's silver and platinum coverage. in denver, we found a family earning $50,000 a year could buy silver coverage through kaiser permanente, after tax credits, they would be responsible for 2600 a year in the family deductible, and 20% of their expenses, capping, though, at $10,000 per year, if that is too

expensive, they can choose bronze plans, lower monthly premiums, but higher deductibles and co-pays. >> reporter: the insurance would cover radiation, chemotherapy, hearing aids and eye exams. but with so many glitches, many republicans insist that obama care is not ready. >> my advice to people is buyer beware. >> we'll speed things up in the next few hours to handle all of this demand that exceeds anything that we had expected. >> reporter: the white house says the system is improving and people are signing up, but amid high demand, big delays on day one, tom costello. and our chief medical director, dr. nancy snyderman, has been answering questions, she is here tonight, and i want to talk to you, nancy. this one is from mariar, what

will it cover for women? >> extraordinarily important question for women. as the exchanges open today, it will have a major impact on women. before the affordable care act, women paid higher health care premiums than men, because frankly, being a woman was considered a pre-existing condition. that is now illegal. as of january 1st, 2014, some tests like mammograms will be more accessible. you will also have access to birth control now available without a co-pay, insurance or deductibles. now, i know there are a lot of numbers to crunch as tom costello just said. if you need to know what you can afford, we have a calculator for you, either on nbc news or nbcnews.gov. and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu warned the

world not to fall for the charm offensive by the new guy in charge in iran. in a forceful speech to the body, he took on president rouhani directly, saying he is not much different than his predecessor. >> when it comes to iran's nuclear weapons program, the only difference between them is this. mahmoud ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf's clothing. rouhani is a wolf in sheep's clothing. >> netanyahu said israel is ready to stand alone if need be to make sure tehran never gets a nuclear weapon. still ahead for us tonight, a family tragedy on a popular hiking trail and the father who sacrificed his life for his teenage daughter. and later, they were soldiers once, they defeated tyranny around the globe and were not going to let a little

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. tonight, authorities in colorado have recovered the bodies of five members of the same family who were killed in a huge rock slide while they were out on a hike. only a 13-year-old girl survived after her father sacrificed his life to save hers, and tonight, as her hometown struggled with this, more rock slides could be triggered by rain. we have more on our report from gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: the low area, a grim recovery after it ended today, after a landslide swallowed five hikers, their bodies were trapped in a cascade of boulders, some bigger than

cars, adam ross saw the situation and called the authorities. the lone survivor, 13-year-old grace johnson, who the authorities took to the hospital, where she had a broken leg deputies saying that her father threw himself in harm's way to save his daughter. >> he is a real hero. >> reporter: the father, dwayne johnson, a high school football coach, his wife coached track, family members also were visiting from missouri. >> those two boys just loved this area. >> reporter: monday morning, the group was hiking about 100 miles southwest of denver in a popular trail in the san isabel forest. the experts say there are about 5,000 rock slides in colorado,

but experts warn the heavy rains could mean more rock slides. >> there are unstable rocks, and they could fall for days and we weeks and possibly months. >> reporter: for now, outside the high school, they gather in grief. >> we may never get over this, they were so much a part of every single thing we ever did. >> reporter: a community resolves always to remember the day the mountain moved. gabe gutierrez, colorado. >> and we'll be back in a moment with another first at the vatican to report. ♪ [ male announcer ] may your lights always be green. [ tires screech ] ♪ [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't.

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our commitment has never been stronger. . it seems like several nights here lately we have reported this new pope has done something entirely new and today he has done it again. this has to do with the first-ever vatican disclosure, and a highly unusual surprisingly honest interview with a reporter. we get the story today from

nbc's chris jansing. >> reporter: from the big, enthusiastic crowds he draws to the little used car he drives, francis has a new style. in an interview with a newspaper reporter, he made clear the vatican is in for a shake-up and he does not want to be treated like royalty. heads of the churches have often been narcissists, flattered by their courtiers. >> i think the pope showed up, he did what? just like we are. >> reporter: for the first time ever, he opened the books on the very private vatican banks, real -- revealing the numbers of $18 million, the job? to change the often secretive

church bureaucracy, they are ramping to change, which means fewer orders for rome. in a blatant interview, he told the newspaper this vatican-centered view is not one i share, and i will do everything to change it. at 76, he is in a hurry. >> he knows what needs to be done, he is not going to let anyone stop him. >> reporter: he own told vatican police to crack down on gossip, the old making way for the new, chris jansing, new york. when we come back, the heroes who would not let a shutdown stand in their way today. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn.

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but add a breathe right strip, and pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do. sleep. add breathe right to your cold medicine. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. . finally tonight, of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion of congress, the president, and this government shutdown. no one is anxious to see innocent victims suffer because of a political fight. and yet, that is almost what happened today on the washington mall, remember, officially, the mall is shut down. but telling that to men who were boys when they went off to fight

for this country. tonight, more on the story. >> reporter: as happens most days, buses arrived at the national mall today full of world war ii veterans, men and women in their 80s and 90s, here to see the monument erected in their honor. but because of the government shutdown, access to it was cut off. >> you know, my dad was a world war ii veteran. >> this is just one day. >> reporter: these vets came on a long planned and hard to cancel flight, all were disappointed to be locked out and few were interested in having their plight hurt for political purposes. >> are you disappointed what congress has done? >> that is something else, if you don't want to get involved in a political thing, what do you say? >> reporter: he put this trip together for their father months ago. >> i don't know if we'll get back or not, that is the

problem. >> reporter: there is rare bipartisan agreement among the elected officials present that closing this open air memorial was not a good idea. eventually the gates were moved and the gates came through. park officers stood aside, they were not about to stop those who stormed the beaches of normandy and fought through island after island in the pacific. harry smith, nbc news. >> and that is our broadcast on this tuesday night, thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, and of course we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

rock slide disaster.

the mountains. >> this family wiped out. >> the hero dad who gave his life to shield his daughter. >> then, biker road rage uproar. >> many people feel he and the other bikers never should have surrounded the s.u.v. like that. >> you have your wife and daughter there and you are surrounded by a mob of angry men. >> and government shut down. is this a joke? >> i thought they were shut down. >> and, let's scare evelyn to death. >> [screaming]. >> imagine this happening to you at work all day long. everywhere you turn this dude does this. can they ever be friends again? now "inside edition" with deborah norville. deborah: hello and thank you for joining us. officials in colorado say the rock slide that killed five people caught everyone by

surprise. one 13-year-old girl survived but all the casualties were members of her family. ironically the tragedy happened while they were making their way down what is generally regarded as a hiking trail for beginningers. >> it's a spectacular beauty spot but the site of a horrific tragedy. a mom, dad, teenage daughter and two nephews were killed when a freak rock slide buried them. >> there was an avalanche. >> the couple's youngest daughter was the lone survivor and was saved when her dad shoved her out of the way. the tragedy is the latest in the wave of disasters caused by the rains in colorado. dwayne johnson, a high school football coach was killed. so was his wife donna who coached track. their daughter kiowa was a senior. the two nephews were visiting from out of town. the family was on a popular hiking trail in the shadow of mount princeton three hours outside of denver.

the path is a mile long and is considered an easy hike. but the recent downpours that caused so much flooding across colorado apparently made the rocks on mount princeton unstable. rescue teams were also in peril. >> there were rocks coming down while they were in there so it's unstable. >> the victims were buried under boulders the size of cars. hiker adam rogers made the chilling 911 call. >> it was terrifying. i have never seen anything like that and just the sound alone was really terrifying. a huge cracking sound that sounded like an explosion and then came down. >> classmates at buena vista high school held a heart- breaking vigil. you can see from these you tube videos why nature lovers flock to the hiking trails on mount princeton. the views from the top are truly spectacular. now tragedy haunts this natural

wonder. the 13-year-old who survived suffered a broken leg along with other injuries. other news, who is to blame. the terrifying incident between a gang of bikers and an s.u.v. sparked a national debate. whose fault is it? the s.u.v. driver who may have clipped a biker or the biker gang that chased him down and later beat him. and where were the cops? >> that terrifying confrontation between a family and dozens of bikers is now sparking a national debate over who is at fault, the bikers or the driver. >> some people wondered well, he should have stayed there and waited for police to arrive. well, a whole bunch of guys are beating on his car and he has a baby inside, i don't think so. >> cops arrested this biker saying he started the whole thing by deliberately pulling in front of the luxury range rover and bringing traffic to a stop on the busy west side highway in new york city. cops say the range rover's tires were slashed before