once jay carney comes there, we'll have live coverage. we're also waiting to hear from the former can the of state the former secretary of state hillary clinton. she has been relatively silent, only speaking through a spokesperson just a little while ago earlier last week. but now she's going to break that silence and tell us what she thinks about this crisis in syria. stand by. we have live coverage of all of this coming up. meanwhile polls released this hour show how concerned americans are about the risks of military action in syria. most say the risks aren't worth it. in the new cnn/orc poll, 72% say a strike against syria would lead to a alarmer war that could spread throughout the middle east and other parts of the world. 67% say an attack would likely result in syria using chemical weapons again in the future, 31% say that's not likely. americans are also worried a strike would lead toe boots on the ground. two-thirds say it's likely the u.s. eventually would have no choice but to send ground troops into syria. people are also conc

compliment from jay carney not withstanding, that is high cotton, as my grandmother would say, with jaycarney saying that from the podium. >> he was kidding, that i thought it was funny. was funny, but way may not be funny is how you have been treated or not treated. first of all, did anybody get fired for talking to you, for cooperating with you? >> not that i know of. a lot of it was done in the context of other stories i was reporting on over the years. a lot of these people i have written about for various newspapers and magazines and stuff. i have not been mistreated. i am sure people are bad mouthing me. one of the interesting parts about the criticism has been the tenor of how dare he, how dare an insider speak critically about other insiders, because i have got to be honest. i live here. i work for a big paper. i guess i am an insider. i do not have a luxury of calling myself a foreign correspondent and sweeping in and then leaving. this is the world i write in, and i write in it willingly. there is this how dare you think, which is just the czar. look, i think the job of a good

i think there is something to what jay carney said about decisivene decisiveness.g to look at the situation and say maybe we're going down the wrong direction and be willing to change his mind. what i think is so fascinating about the way this has played out with syria is a lot of the things the president has said in more recent days i actually would not have been surprised about if he said them originally. the idea of going to congress. the idea of working through the u.n. those are all types of things we would expect from barack obama, but it's just the way this played out where you had such a buildup toward military action and then this very public reversal and that's what i think has really caused a lot of concern for lawmakers. >> pete? >> yeah, when jay carney is assessing new facts, new information, that's fine. that's one thing. head snapping shifts, contradictions. foreign policy that could be described as bipolar is not sufficient. there are costs to that kind of thing. he's quite right. this is the history of the 20th century. weakness and irresolution i

i think jay carney released a statement. the president is not engaging with republicans to find a solution. he came out yesterday in the briefing room and was animated but didn't engage with them. is that a mistake? >> reporter: well, you know, not at this point. this has been a republican fight internally. i don't think the president could pick up the phone and call john boehner and say hey, john, what can i do to help you to work this out with your republicans? you know, that isn't going to go anywhere. boehner decided, in fact, he wants to play to his, this group in his republican party to get them on board, show united front, toss it over to harry reid in the senate. i think the president spoke his piece. at a certain point, the american public looks to the president for leadership. i think he's going to have to intervene and try to knockheads, lbj, if that can work, who knows. for right now, there's nothing he can do so he's sitting back. >> he's kind of sitting back. gloria, i want to look at, there is a new poll i wan

jay carney comes forward and retorte back that we are exceptional. this is an opportunity to pick out a common enemy. we're insulted as a country. if i'm president barack obama and want to play this chess piece, i want to let this play out. you called out our country not the democratic party. he calling out the fundamental things about our country. >> wait a second -- >> romney nailed it when he said -- >> show me the influence russia has gained -- >> iran and syria. that's they're biggest customer bob. >> if you would pay attention to what happens in the middle east. they used to be strong in egypt -- >> if i would pay attention to what's happening in the middle east. if the president would pay attention. we know what russians have been doing for decades. president barack obama has said nothing. he has not pushed back. i take that back. he did say something to him on an open mooirk. i'll have more flexibility. that shows naive. they're telling me i have to go to sound. speaking of naive, brian brought up senator me then dez said he felt like vomitin

white house press secretary jay carney holding a briefing and talking about the various provisions p s flying around. you heard dana talk about the repeal of the medical device tax. jay carney called that blatant extortion, indicating, not really hinting, that the white house will not accept any kind of continuing resolution that includes anything that affects obama care. drawing the line in the sand there. the president said as much when he was meeting with the israeli prime minister earlier this afternoon. here's what he had to say. >> the bottom line is that the senate has passed a bill that keeps the government open, does not have a lot of extraneous issues to it. that allows us then to negotiate a longer-term budget and address a range of other issues. but it insures we're not shutting down the government and not shutting down the economy at a time when a lot of families out there are just getting some traction and digging themselves out of the hole we had as a consequence of the financial crisis. i have said before, congress has two responsibilities. pass a budget, pay the bill

the president's press secretary jay carney is joining us.st reported, jay? >> well, wolf, i'm fascinated to hear dana's report. i think it reflects that so much of what we've been seeing in these past days has been the result of an internal political struggle within the republican party, and especially within the house republican conference. remember, that speaker of the house boehner initially indicated that he was pursuing a course of action that would lead to the passage of a clean continuing resolution, a clean bill that would fund the government without any extraneous agenda items, but he withdrew from that course of action under pressure from the tea party caucus, and now according to cnn's reporting and others, there is a movement of some more mott rat republicans within that conference who are saying simply that it's bad for the american people to go down this road and to shut the government down for a political, partisan reason. congress has two responsibilities, as the president said, to ensure that the government is funded, and to

cooperative in recent years, and this was all sort of punctuated by white house press secretary jay carney who he said russian practice stestige was oe with this proposal. here is what he had to say. >> russia is assad and syria's closest ally. russia played the role of blocking international efforts thus far to holds assad accountable and the proposition put forward to deal with assad's chemical weapons presents a real opportunity, if it were to be successful. >> reporter: now, it's interesting to point out, anderson, at the end of the news conference, jay carney called on a russian reporter who said now, wait a minute, this whole russian proposal came from those constructive conversations going on between the president and president putin of russia and jay carney had to say you know what? you got a point there. >> secretary kerry, as we said is headed to geneva to meet his counterpart. how optimistic are they they will hash out a deal since the sides seem so far apart? >> you get the sense they are cautiously optimistic but at the same time, jay -- or anderson, you're hearing the same th

the white house press secretary jay carney is standing by live. we'll talk about obama care and much more. >>> a global alert for the so-called white widow. a british woman whose husband was a suicide bomber. she's wanted in kenya on explosives charges. could she be tied to the mall attack? >>> and a quarter million dollars for a private flight into space. hundreds have already signed up, including some big name hollywood celebrities. we will show you what they're paying for. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> a fiery president obama isn't holding back with two potential showdowns looming in washington, one of them now only four days away. he's sounding a lot like candidate obama in his latest obama care event, the president accusing republicans of blackmail and worse, vowing he won't negotiate when it comes to last minute gop attempts to stop his controversial health care legislation from taking effect in exchange for a deal to keep the federal government from shutting down. our senior white house correspondent brianna keilar i

and jay carney's obsession with "crossfire" continues.hen we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn 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. does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct. learn more at purinaone.com ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] build anything with the new toyota tundra. toyota. let's go places. >>> we've been debating obstructionism. now let's try to cease fire. i think there's one thing we can agree on. at the end of the day i don't think we're going to default. i think it is a matter of how much de

. >> reporter: now, it's interesting to point out, anderson, at the end of the news conference, jay carney called on a russian reporter who said now, wait a minute, this whole russian proposal came from those constructive conversations going on between the president and president putin of russia and jay carney had to say you know what? you got a point there. >> secretary kerry, as we said is headed to geneva to meet the counter part. how optimistic are they they will hash out a deal since the sides seem so far apart? >> you get the sense they are cautiously optimistic but at the same time, jay -- or anderson, you're hearing the same thing from jay carney here at the white house you hear at the state department. the state department spokesperson said at this briefing earlier this afternoon with reporters that what secretary kerry is doing over there in geneva is testing the seriousness, as she put it, of the russian proposal. they are looking at what will be on paper at this point, let alone what might come down the road at one point during this breathing. jen said they are going to the mee

however, jay carney acknowledges this is a sign of progress but they are waiting key details.arney is on msncb, he says that the president feels like he wants to take the case to congress and congress ought to street authorize the strike. details are limited but syria says it is working with russia to lay out a plan. so far the president has been facing an uphill battle with his quest for congressional appro approval. obama sat down with savannah. one thing he plans to explain his take on syrian president bashar al assad he says is more talk than anything when it comes to war. >> syria doesn't have significant capabilities to retalia retaliate. iran is not going to risk a war with the u.s. over this. >> talking about the latest poll released that shows 58% of americans don't want congress to support military action. how about this, 74% feel the united states should focus more on domestic problems and do less around the world. one last thing in response to syria's compliance, the white house points out up until this morning syria had not even acknowledged it possessed chemical

joining us now from the white house, press secretary jay carney. e table. jay, given the latest developments, first of all, what's the white house response to that? and also with the american sentiment that we've been talking about all morning, what then is the goal tonight? >> well, mika, good morning, first of all. thank you for having me. what the president said last night reflect where is we are this morning. we see this as potentially a positive development. and we see it as a clear result of the pressure that has been put on syria by the fact that the president has been moving forward and taking his proposal that we engage in limited strikes against syria in response to syria's use of chemical weapons against a civilian population. so he will go forward tonight and make the case to the american people as well as to congress as he has been that what happened on august 21st was a chemical weapons attack with terrible consequences, that it is undeniable the responsibility for that attack rests with the assad regime, and that the international com

if you believe jay carney, never came under consideration. it's unbelievable. >> i'm not sure i believe jay carney about that. to say that it had been under consideration would open the door -- my guess is that was not entirely true. >> others in congress were -- >> i can't imagine any other president do this, the ramifications of this. george w.? george w.? can you imagine what certain people at this network in 2006, in '07 or '08 who have done. at this table can you imagine what mika would be reacting. mika would be killing george w., everybody here on this network would be killing george w., everybody at the "new york times" would be killing george w., every journalist in washington, d.c. would be killing george w. -- >> but also, i mean i think he's put in a horrible position. >> no, he's not. he's president of the united states. he should be smart enough. the guy should be smart enough -- there should be one person to have the guts saying mr. president people are dying, you should not, you need to comfort the nation attack republicans to

jay carney told me the reason why the president didn't mention it is because they have a separation here at the white house that their support of the rebels is one thing but what the president wanted to focus on last night was assad's chical weapons attack. th'shat they think is the most important case to make to the american people, shep. >> shepard: ed, libya is the most recent country to work on destroying its chemical weapons. in tripoli, leaders declared that country had weapons -- those weapons in january of 2004. and, according to foreign policy magazine, nine years after promising to get rid of its weapons, libya has destroyed barely half of its total mustard gas stockpile. syria, of course, has far more chemical weapons than libya or anyone else. so getting rid of them could take even longer, most estimates indicate years. in both the u.s. house and senate, lawmakers are still split about a possible military strike and while the latest developments mean they won't have to vote on one right now, they could still have to make the decision soon. team fox coverage continues with tha

he let his press secretary jay carney do the dirty work. >> unlike russia, the united states stands upor democratic values and human rights in our own country and around the world. and we believe that our global security is advanced when children cannot be gassed to death by a dictator. it is also worth noting that russia is isolated and alone in blaming the opposition for the chemical weapons attack on august 21st. >> jay carney who as a journalist spent some years in the former soviet union. let's bring back our panel dana bash, jessica yellin, gloria borger and democratic senator chris murphy. senator as a member of the senate foreign relations committee, i don't know if that allows you a special insight into the mind of vladimir putin. but why do you think he took this shot at american exceptionalism? do you think it was just so the likes of us would be discussing it right now? why go after in an op ed purportedly to win over the american people would he take a shot at us? >> i think most of russia's foreign policy over the last couple of years has been dedicated to the single foun

we'll hear what jay carney has to say.lso the top senior advisor to the president dan pfeiffer will answer some of your questions, as well. gloria borger is here. much more news rit after this. across america people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® is different than pills. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once-a-day, any time, and comes in a pen. and the needle is thin. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza® is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza® has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza® is not insulin. do not take victoza® if you

jay carney is the white house press secretary.resident obama launched a political offensive tonight against republicans. and hours before the shutdown, the president spoke plainly and forcefully about the faction of republicans who have taken the government as their hostage. >> sometimes to the consternation of my own party. but one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of an election. keeping the people's government open is not a concession to me. keeping vital services running and hundreds of thousands of americans on the job is not something you give to the other side. it's our basic responsibility. >> president obama also made it clear to republicans that their brand of extortion is what he called it, won't win them any concessions from the white house or the american people when it comes to the president's health care law. >> you don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job. for doing what you're supposed to be

grave. >> unlike russia, the united states stands up for democratic values and human rights. >> jay carney went on to say the owe nuss is on putin now. he put the proposal on the table and he is close to syrian president assad and carney says russia's press steaming on the world stage is on the line right now, suggesting perhaps the u.s. wants russia to take ownership over the crisis. remember last week the president said it wasn't my red line. the president says putin bears some responsibility. >> secretary kerry admitted it will be an immense challenge to make sure assad hands overall of the chemical weapons. one expert called the mission next to impossible. members of congress have serious concerns too, and we will go live to dc coming up inside fox report. >>> first a 13-year-old boy is under arrest after police say he threatened to shoot up his school and set off a bomb. police called the threats credible except they also say he didn't have anyway to carry them out. in other words he had no guns and no explosives. still before investigators tracked down this eighth grader staffers dec

you can see jay carney has just taken to the podium in the white house briefing room.e expect him to address the ongoing budget battle that could result in a government shutdown less than 12 hours from now. we'll listen in for and you soon as he addresses that, we'll bring you any and all news. wheenl congressman johnson will join us and tell us what is happening in capitol hill in regard to this. >> hi, allyson how are you? >> i am doing well. the senate is expected to shoot down the legislation. harry reid doesn't like the delay or defund obama care. and so they will kick it back to you in a half an hour if they vote on it and then what, what would you do? >> we'll go in conference at 2 o'clock to determine that allyson. i don't understand why this has to be an either or proposition. the american people made it clear that they don't and they have major concerns about the health care law and they don't want the federal government to shut down. house republicans and colleagues have been here all weekend ready to go to work and i wish senator reid would come to the tabl

he was supposed to be a hard news guy. >> so was jay carney. i was in the white house press office he was the dc bureau chief for "time" magazine. i remember in 2004 when "time" magazine did a cover called cowboy diplomacy. i know you are talking about how we handled some of the coverage, but in a way are you so under siege. it is the mainstream media and you have no other choice but to be gracious and provide interviews where you can. before he came the press secretary i remember thinking okay, good, now we can all stop pretending. i think that is healthy. they can look at me and say how ironic is this? she was the former white house press secretary. i never pretended to be an unbiased person. >> we hire analysts. you are not going out and covering al-qaeda attacks. he said how the audience relates. he is a committed democrat. >> or people who have >> but the -- i have always said this on his program that the national media skews left about 7 or 8 to 1. for every conservative working at the national level there are eight or seven liberals. >>

jay carney said absolutely. no end to the healthcare law. well done, mike viqueira. i understand every bit of that. >>> syria took center stage on the second day of the u.n. generalcy systembly session. they met to talk about a resolution to eliminate syria's chemical weapons stock pile. it takes place as world leaders continue their turn at the podium. we turn to john terret at the united nations. john, it's the meeting that everyone is really anticipating, isn't it? give us a read out of what really happened. >> reporter: i thought mike viqueira did very well as well, now we're talking about the adjustment adjustmenunited nati. look, they had a launch together, they gave him a lunch with the other four members of the security council, and they all agreed over lunch that they would only talk about syria, and that's what they did. they talked about a mechanism about the prohibition of chemical weapons and timing of other issues, going in there and sorting exactly what kind of chemical tomorro weapons stock s bashar al-assad really has. you were right when you said u.

jay carney said the u.s.for a diplomatic solution to the crisis to succeed. so far there's a healthy debate among lawmakers. listen. >> the president appreciates that and you've seen his administration at every level engage with congress in any way it can to provide more information about this very important issue. >> trace: earlier we spoke with republican congressman michael grimm. now let's get the democratic side, washington congressman amd adam shapiro adam smith. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for the chance. >> a lot of republicans believe some democrats areçó relieved te vote's not happening because they believe a lot of democrats wanted to support the president but were not in favor of force in syria. were you in that camp? >> i don't think we're relieved. we all have different positions. the biggest perspective from the democratic side is it's apparent in the senate and house the president would have a difficult time getting those votes. the impact on policy would not have been good so this gives

martha: and the sparks fly at the white house press briefing when jay carney and ed henry go at it.ow you what happened. >> the president changed his mind on syria. it wasn't a bad thing, he thought it was smart. i'm just asking. tease are the facts you've been presenting every day at this podium for the last couple weeks. before mike could see his banking and investing accounts on one page... before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. bill: mentioned this right before the break, there are headlines out of moscow, vladimir putin saying moments ago he cannot be 100% sure that the syrian government will comply with the deal to destroy its chemical arms, its chemical weapons. he says he sees reason for hope. assad pretty much admitted all of it last night in

but jay carney wouldn't take the debate. they're on defense on health care. the last thing they want to do is elevate ted cruz. >> there's a new deadline on the debt ceiling? >> reporter: that's right. october 17th. according to the treasury secretary, jack lew, speaker boehner said, that means we have to get to work and come to a deal to avoid default. he came up with a grab bag of things republicans want to add, including a one-year delay to the president's health care law. jay carney immediately said, again, we're not going to negotiate over that. they are still at a standstill. >> another deadline. ed, thank you. the american dream is many things to many people. so it's not exactly something you could measure, right? well, right until now. james rosen takes us through it tonight. >> bret, good evening. to so many of us, it seems as though the american dream, that loosely defined ideal, is now slipping away. a research team at xavier university has developed something called the american dream composite index, a monthly survey of 1,000 americans that measu

. >> jay carney today still taking questions on the timing and tone of the president's speech yesterdaythe economy, and mostly going after republicans. we're back with the panel. a.b.? >> i thought it was interesting not only was it just entirely inappropriate and something that was easily cancelled, but just coming off of the heels of an address to the nation about potential use of military force in the middle east which the president ended up going through with even there was a deal and then the vote had been scuttled, no vote in congress. he felt he still had to go forward and give this speech anyway. and then days later they have this situation with a terrible tragedy right in the nation's capital with something they can easily -- he was not going to main street in some small town with a whole crowd set up. he wasn't on air force one when it was happening, he was right here. it was easily rescheduled or postponed. i think steve is right. i think he isn't prepared to jump into another gun control debate. that's why he made remarks about it happening, but didn't push for anything. but

. >> bill: ed henry has a shootout with jay carney. very entertaining. >> herald on whether billie ray cyrus being a good father to his daughter >> bill: in the impact segment tonight. very entertaining exchange yesterday at the white house between fox news channel ed henry and obama spokesman jay carney. >> yesterday; you and the president talked about never in the history of america has the debt ceiling been used to extort a president. probably saw the "the washington post" looked at that, looked at the facts and gave you four pinocchios so are you going to correct that today? >> there is no question that prior to 2011 there has never been a case where one party with one ideological agenda has threatened to default on the united states obligation for the first time in the history. >> four pinocchios. >> you can ask the "the washington post." >> continue to say this has never happened before of? >> ed, why don't -- why don't we look at what republicans have said. >> no. this is the "the washington post" you still haven't answered that

jay carney said this. >> both

and ed henry had this back and forth with jay carney just yesterday.tlemen to listen to this, i'll ask you both specifically what's wrong with henry's question, if anything? watch. >> here we are more than two years late you're saying the same thing -- >> and how many jobs has the economy created since then? >> we are man key yesterday said it's not keeping up, people are leaving the -- >> you and i, we're going to do this on crossfire one day, i promise. [laughter] and let's be clear that i'll be on one side, and you'll be on the other. bill: okay. two years later, brad, he said the fed says it's not growing the economy. what was wrong with that question? >> no. well, there's nothing wrong with that question -- bill: because it was denied by jay carney. >> ed henry's right. we continue to print money, we're not growing the economy and have enough revenue for what's going out, and the president doesn't have the confidence in his policy that permeates to the marketplace. there is no ability for people to even know what their liability is on taxes, on wh

>> today press secretary jay carneys said it is on the line when it comes to dealing with syria's chemical weapons but says the u.s. has seen more corporation from russia in the last two takes lan the last two years. the white house is hardly brimming with confidence that diplomacy will work. with president obama out of the white house at a volunteer event on this 9/11 anniversary, administration officials were fielding questions on syria and offering few answers. there is no timeline yet for the still developing russian proposal to rid syria of its chemical weapons. >> i don't want to suggest that all of this could possibly be wrapped up by friday. >> white house press secretary jay carney repeatedly raised doubts about whether the russians can even be trusted. >> russia has been assad's closest ally. trust but verify. >> until a reporter noted the plan for moscow grew out of discussions between president obamas and putin. >> i take your point and i accept that. >> i will not put american boots on the ground in syria. >> despite the president's words of caution, the white house conceded i

here's how white house press secretary jay carney responded to putin's op ed today. >> the fact is that russia offers a stark contrast that demonstrates why america is exceptional. unlike russia, the united states stands up for democratic values and human rights in our observe k own country and around the world. we believe that our society is advanced when children cannot be gassed by a dictator. >> america should be making the case that it is exceptional. this is a distraction? there's a lot to this. let's bring in georgetown university professor, georcharl cupton. charles, one of the messages of this in your face as michelle called it, one of the messages here, i think is, america, you are not exceptional. you must play by the rules, and the rules in the united nations are going to be rigd so there will be no military action in syria which means russia protects assad and it means russia protects its own investments. i think he wants to stop military action. what's your take? >> i think that's just about right. we know that putin has made a profession of trying to trip up washington an

there's a briefing with jay carney, the press secretary that will start sometime electric from now.reaching out to them over the course of the last hour about the fact there's concerns this could be a stalling tactic. russia stead america has to pull the threat of military action off the table now bashar al assad said the u.s. must stop in its words arming terrorists, referring to weapons provided to rebels in that country. one more in the eyes of many people a stalling tactic. that's a great concern this could be the u.s. running around in circles and not making any real progress. >> chris cillizza, the president is where the american people are in terms of polling. he's looking for a diplomatic solution rather than military action. >> certainly what we know is that the vast majority, i say 60 plus percent in most data i've seen, vast majority of the american public does not want a military action by the u.s. in syria, even with the knowledge that president assad used chemical weapons. so i think what's hard about this, andrea, it was always a difficult case for the president to ma

. >> bottom line is that -- i pressed jay carney on the tone of this.ater on after saying that, the president charged there's an extreme wing of the republican party that in his words wants to tank the entire economy. i asked carney whether or not that was appropriate while the manhunt was going on. he said they did not think about cancelling the speech, that there's a lot of pressing budget issues now, and as much as he wanted to honor victims, he wanted to make sure and keep pressure on republicans to get the budget crisis solved as well, so he obviously is juggling a little of both. >> certainly considered a curious choice, but bob, you have a question. >> it is bob beckel. we were asked to not have you speculate on anything, let me ask you to speculate tonight whether there will be a white house event scheduled for tonight. is that still going to be on? >> reporter: they're having an event scheduled with the first lady and the president honoring latin music. every indication is that that's moving forward, it is not speculation to say they're plannin

ed henry pressed jay carney about that today. there's not been ongoing negotiation. kind of it. >> he wants to shut down debate. on the so-called affordable care act, the employer mandate is part of that act. it was sustained by the supreme court. the employer mandate was upheld by the election results. president obama delayed it for a year. what's the rational for delaying that? the other matter, the house republicans are restoring the original intent of the law. the president can say all he wants that the republicans are being ridiculous. the question is can they get beyond the sense of disarray on the republican side and the scare stories and get people focused on why the senate democrats are insisting on the shutdown, which is the one-year delay of the individual mandate, just a delay, it's not changing the law, but delaying something that's not ready to go into effect. especially on the special treatment of congress. >> okay. let's take a live look at the house floor. they have started a series of three votes. there are three votes in the series. this is all abo

yesterday the white house press secretary, jay carney, refused to set a deadline on the time it wouldake for some outcome of these diplomatic efforts to resolve the syrian chemical weapons issues. meanwhile the president points out that there are other very important questions facing the nation, facing the congress and the american people. >> we're going to focus on some specific issues, including managing some of the budget debates, the roll out of the affordable care act, where we have seen some tremendous progress over the last several months and are confident that starting at the beginning of next month, people are going to be able to start signing up for health care in many cases for the first time, and we're going to spend some time talking about issues like comprehensive immigration reform, that are still of enormous importance. >> so a lot of issues on his plate in addition to syria, meanwhile with respect to the affordable care act, house speaker john boehner said congress is taking steps to slow it down with the goal of trying to defund it totally. boehner saying that they a