. >> reporter: tonight president obama told doreen gensler -- >> when i heard about the story i toldhe department of defense within our administrative powers we should be able to g

. >> reporter: tonight president obama told doreen gensler -- >> when i heard about the story i told the department of defense within our administrative powers we should be able to get that fixed. >> reporter: and to be clear, this fix is to let a private charity step in and fulfill a commitment that the government made and right now won't keep. while some pentagon leaders are relieved right now, we also hear that many top uniformed leaders are frankly disgusted that the world's greatest military is letting it be bailed out by a private charity. brian? >> andrea mitchell, dover air force base tonight. andrea, thank you. in congress, in washington, it was the politics of this death benefit and the broader shutdown that played out for most of this day again today in congress largely an exercise, as you saw, in damage control. nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. it is congress's job to fix this mistake but nothing was simple today. with the private group stepping in, that took the political pressure off. that group will pay the benefit and when