thanks to gloria borger, john harris, michael gerson, cynthia tucker. thanks for watching.

reid and john boehner, -- harry reid and john boehner, they knew they were serious. that made it harder for republicans to say they're not serious at all. it then became about the specific kind of cults, which made it a less easy political position for republicans to paints the democrats as out of touch. >> having watched a bunch of these deal-making conferences over the last 15 years, i can tell you that the dealmakers have a way of getting separated from their caucuses. even though they can come out of days of frustrating negotiations and sometimes go back and not actually be able to sell what they have wrought, ambassador that's one of the downsides of this last-minute deadlines that both sides of playing. it doesn't leave you time to miss calculate. and these kinds of judgments you make, i'll take a 3-1 turn, a 5-1 on a rider, you're really playing a very high-stakes game. so we'll see if we can get these passed. gwen: all of us were covering washington in 1995, the time of the last big government shutdown and there are similarities here. it's natural for us to i

gun and i want to thank you for that perspective on what you're doing in your movement that was john harris co-founder and spokesman for open carry dot org thank you now it has been exactly one year today that the b.p. oil spill sent millions of barrels of crude spilling into the gulf of mexico and what was the biggest spill of this kind in history and with gas now averaging three dollars and eighty three cents a gallon a dollar more than a year ago may be no surprise that gulf coast lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are again chanting drill baby drill and it's my p.p.s. mistakes that led to that spill doesn't seem like much of a change from the oil industry when it comes to new rules and regulations why might that be. it's the. record breaking profits. record breaking profits a may come as no surprise but earlier i talked with scott roberts he's director of gasohol a documentary about what the oil companies don't want you to know here's part of our conversation. other than the fact that you and i are paying a lot more for gas than we did a year ago and you would think that we would be p

. >> reporter: after a late-night meeting with house speaker john boehner and harry reid, president obamaaid he's certain they can strike a budget deal if they keep in mind why it's so urgent. >> hundreds of thousands of workers across the country suddenly are without a paycheck. their families are counting on them being able to go to work. >> reporter: both sides say last night's meeting narrowed the issues but there's still deep divisions and no agreement on how much to cut. >> we're not there yet. but hope lies eternal. >> there's an intent on both sides to continue to work together to try to resolve this. no one wants the government to shutdown. >> reporter: democrats insists his hands are tied by the tea party refusing to bend. >> he is going to be driven by these extremists into an unsustainable position and pay a price for it. >> reporter: perhaps no greater price than this. >> we have people coming from all over the country. >> reporter: sally ann paulson is waiting to bury her father at arlington cemetery. if the shutdown happens, his funeral may have to wait. lawmakers say they

he also said john boehner and harry reid will meet on capitol hill later today to continue with negotiations. >>> the faa is expected to issue an emergency order today requiring immediate inspections for boeing aircraft. the order would apply to about 175 boeing 737s worldwide to search for tiny cracks related to weak metal on the fuselage. concerns originated with an incident last friday involving the rupture of the aluminum skin and the sudden appearance of a five-foot long hole during a flight to sacramento. 80 of the planes' meeting inspections are in the u.s. most are operated by southwest. now, the order is not -- now, the order is not expected to include the boeing for southwest because those were inspected. these inspections caused delays for passengers around the country over the past three days. in the bay area, 12 flights were cancelled but southwest says operations are back to normal today. this morning, passengers at the oakland airport were concerned about plane safety. >> i'm nervous. this is my first time ever catching a plane. it happens to be southwest. >> yeah, it's defini

>>pam: president barack obama checked in separately by phone with house speaker john painter, and harryited the two men to the white house for an evening meeting. this is taking place right now. what house officials remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached. checking traffic in san francisco, the 80-11 split the top of your screen as traffic on 80 headed toward the lower deck barely moving there. southbound 101 crawling along as well. it we'll be back more news after the break. [ male announcer ] for 5 bucks, you can get a sub. or...you can get all this. kfc's $5 everyday meals. 5 meals, 5 bucks. choose from one of the colonel's favorites, like two pieces of original recipe. your choice of sides, biscuit and a medium drink, just 5 bucks. 5 freshly made today. 5 for 5 bucks every day. so why get a sub, when you can get a whole meal -- any day? today is a kfc day. and today tastes so good. >>grant: live in the news room, governor jerry brown is asking president barack obama for some help. he has requested a major disaster declaration for california. take a look at some of the im

i will buy to introduce to you the moderator of this panel, john harris. john was the reporter who covered many of these events. he is the author of the critically acclaimed book "survivor." he is the founder and editor of political magazine. i cannot think of a better person to grill are participants about the events. >> ok, thank you. welcome to everyone here. welcome to the people watching on c-span. i hope we will have a lively and robust discussion. we do have to start with a disclosure. all of us up here on this panel were part of the deep fraternity of people and we felt like we run at ground zero. graves zero of an enormous story -- ground zero of an enormous story. we must be a little bit sensitive. we do not want to feel like we're grandpa simpson or something like that. as the book shows, there is quite a lot of indoor and relevance to some of these controversies that were all consuming at the time in the 1990's and may now seem quite remote given everything that has happened to this country and to this world since then. if you dig a little deepe

with john boehner and harry reid. >> tom: susie, that's because there's been no sign today that republicans and democrats making compromises on their differences and no consensus over how many billions of dollars to cut from the 2011 budget. >> susie: president obama and other white house officials warned today about the impact of a government shutdown and how cutbacks in services could impact the nation. darren gersh reports. >> it is the peak tourist season in washington, a time when the nation's capitol puts on a show. but there will be no national cherry blossom festival parade if the government shuts down. and there will be more disruptions, according to senior government officials. roughly 800,000 federal employees will be furloughed. the i.r.s. will stop processing paper returns, which could delay tax refunds for one in three taxpayers. e-filers will be okay. the federal housing administration will stop issuing loans, and that could have a big impact. the f.h.a. now issues one out of every three mortgages. small business administration loans? those will be put on hold too. and while

they met late last night with john painter and harry reid.hed by the two partners are looking for deeper cuts. six month left in the fiscal year. >> a time when the economy is still coming out of a deeper recession, it would be inexcusable given their relatively narrow differences when it comes to numbers between the two parties that we can get this done. >> i think we made some progress i wonder reiterate there is no agreement on the policy record for number. >> i have confidence we can get this done we are not there yet. >> mark: the government runs out of funding midnight friday, the national parks like alcatraz, and thethe smithsonian will be closed, are are as refund checks will be mailed out, immigration verification for jobs will be able to be done. federal ploy's might have to turn in their blackberries. revenue generating government offices will not closed. post office stays open so that tax deadline will not be pushed back. common security will be open although they may not be paid. if you're on medicare those payments continue, mil

the only good news today was that when john boehner and harry reid came out here to the microphones after meeting with the president, they came out together, so it appears that at least they're still on speaking terms. >> smith: chip, there's another meeting at the white house tonight and just over 24 hours to avert a government shutdown. can one more meeting make a difference? >> reporter: well, harry, i think it's clear that if there's going to be a deal it won't happen until both sides feel they absolutely have their backs up against a wall, and time is so short now that we may be at that point. when harry reid was here today he said he hopes they come out of tonight's meeting with something and he said if they don't, tomorrow could be a very bad day. harry? >> smith: chip reid at the white house tonight. thank you. bob schieffer, anchor of "face the nation," is our chief washington correspondent. tonight he joins us from the schieffer school of journalism at t.c.u., in his hometown of fort worth. if this government shuts down, what do you think the impact is going to be? >> you know,

barack obama spoke by phone to john boener and harry reid. they are trying to slash between $33 and $60 billion. if no deal is reached by friday night much of the federal government would shutdown. while he gravels with budget issues the president is about to announce his bid for a second term in the white house. ap is reporting that the president intends to file papers with the federal election commission as early as this week. the filing will allow his campaign to begin raising funds. mr. barack obama is expected to send out e-mail and text mess aplges to launch his 2012 reelection campaign -- text messages to launch his 2010 reelection campaign. >>> major development the fukishima reactor. >> stepping up three weeks after the disaster. >>> tough problem, toughy questions. the public quizes oakland's mayor. what she says will not get the axe. the 10:00 news continues in just 90 seconds . >>> japanese officials say they partially traced the source of highly radioactive water leaking into the ocean from one of the reactors t. is coming from a

years was it harry reid who said the war is lost was it was a or was that the american right there conservatives who constantly do fundraisers for the troops concert is it is the left like john kerry and harry reid and dick durbin and dick durbin who compared the troops the cold and the tongue in guantanamo bay and you don't have to prove your patriotism to me no i don't approve of you're not reading citizen and i think we all believe in a healthy and secure america god no that's not true but not every american doesn't one thing you don't i'm saying that every american does but. it's been the american left it's harry reid harry the war is lost reed it's the left which is what is going on about afghanistan afghanistan where our objective as the north koreans are and as you were talking about being after al qaeda for having a safe haven is now i see that resurgence of al qaeda i mean the words are no i mean we now have a president who's helping al qaeda in libya oh well out from iraq is leading the charge against moammar gadhafi has limited office and you his press releases that's literally cutlets about most of that say well it's also a fact wooders is a first person it was a

over about seven billion dollars and after the president hosted a meeting last night with john boehner and harry reid came out and said that neither a number nor a policy had been agreed to there's one thing that it seems both sides are happy to see fly under the radar in this entire debacle the fact the defense spending is getting off scot free the fact that it's not even a part of the debate but once again consider the unthinkable untouchable sacred cash cow but democrats really want to prove that this isn't about money for the g.o.p. but about politics think planned parenthood n.p.r. the e.p.a. you know why don't they offer the perfect alternative the haps a way of bloated defense spending joining me from colorado with his take is david sirota radio host and political journalist david thanks so much for joining us tonight i think it's pretty clear that this really isn't about the money it's more about politics but you make an interesting point you say that it looks like both parties have finally engineered a budget showdown that delivers the results the military industrial complex has been wa

frustrated by the lack of progress up on capitol hill, and that's why he's invited senate leader harry reid and speaker john boehner to come here to the white house later this evening for one more chance to try to forge a deal. harry. >> smith: chip reid at the white house, thanks. cbs news political analyst john dickerson is in our washington bureau tonight. john, who has the most to lose politically if the government does shut down, the republicans or the democrats? >> reporter: well, the polls show that people are ready to blame both congressional republicans and the president equally if there's a shutdown. and the problem for the president is that if there is a shutdown, he loses, as chip said, on the economy. the republicans in the house, they worry, of course, in the mid-90s, that they lost this argument, and the problem for republicans now is that this is the first big test of their leadership, what they're saying privately to their members is if we've come to washington and said we're the adults we have to show the minimum level of adulthood and keep things open. so for the white house tonight, they

conservatives who constantly do fundraisers for the troops conflict is it that is the left like john kerry and harry reid and dick durbin dick durbin compare the troops. and the tongue in guantanamo bay so you don't have to prove your patriotism to me no i don't approve of your government and citizen and i think we all believe in a healthy and secure america god no that's not true but not every american does i'm not saying you don't i'm saying that every american to us but. it's been the american left it's harry reid harry the war is lost reed it's the left which is what is going on about afghanistan in a state where our objective as an entire president is you're talking about being at for al qaeda for having a safe haven as now it is so you have resurgence are kind i mean the words are no i mean we now have a president who's helping al qaeda in libya. i call al qaeda from iraq is leading the charge against moammar gadhafi has murdered of his son you his press releases that's literally cut and that's about right so that it's a well it's also a fact wooders as a first person it was a first place repo

the event is being moderated by politico editor-in-chief, john harris. >> i'm hoping that we'll get ae to explore those photos in a vigorous way today both with some lively back and forth between our panelists, they have very different perspectives -- at least did at the time. i'd be surprised if they still don't. but maybe we'll find some surprising convergence and agreement, but i'd like to see some vigorous back and forth between the panelists. we do hope as the afternoon continues to hear from you in the audience with your questions. so anyway, i'd like to introduce several people who i think are not going to need a lot of introduction from this audience. we'll start down at this end. robert fisk, of course, is remembered as the first white water independent counsel. before there was ken starr, there was mr. fisk who came, was appointed in her -- to his job. he actually was not, correct me, you're not independent counsel, you were special counsel, right? >> i think the title was the same, it was independent counsel pursuant to the code of regulations. >> appointed by then-attorney

know that you and the other our patriotic millionaires wrote a letter to president obama to harry reid and to john boehner saying please factotum or any kind of payback. will certainly i haven't heard anything directly if there was one senator who needed speech on the senate floor i think it was john but he could be wrong who basically gave one of the stock responses which is if you want to pay more taxes just write the government itself and send it in and the problem with that is that if. we we can solve the problem just by asking people to voluntarily paid more is our little group just just send in more money essentially treating it like a charity that we may take time to problem we're going to have to all pull together in order to six this problem and there's also probably going to be coated with should pay if we're going to get our souls out of this and how do you know that if the government does raise taxes especially on the wealthiest americans how do you know they're actually going to use that money to fix our deficit and fix our budget woes instead of car another war. i do know that. i do.

the white house says the president spoke yesterday to john boehner and harry reid.stressed to both men the need for a compromised budget plan. the funding for the government expires on midnight friday. if a budget isn't in place by then, much of the government would shut down. >>> reports said president obama plans to file papers with the federal election commission this week. that would allow his campaign to start raising funds. >>> oakland mayor jean kwan spent part of her day hearing from residents on what things should be cut and spared. that meeting comes after the mayor released a long list of what could be on that chopping block. kwan has been criticized for not recommending what should be cut. she says the decision should be a joint effort with the city council. >> the mayor does the budget, but they have to finalize it. i wish when i was the chair, that i would have detailed numbers about options this early in the game as they consequently have. >> yesterday here on ktvu morning's on two, he told us, he won't be making recommendations. >>> two bay area univ

house speaker john bay nor and harry reed met later in the day for what both sides described as a productive session. >>> and in the meantime we are learning more details about what president obama's schedule will be when he comes to the bay area later this month. the president is going to hold a town hall style meeting at facebook in palo alto on april 20th. the rest of his visit here will focus on fund raising for his re-election campaign and that includes a dinner for 35,000. $800 per person. and a lower dollar event in san francisco with tickets priced at $25 to $2500. >>> in japan the utility that owns that damaged nuclear plant says it has finally been able to stop the leak of highly radioactive water that has been pouring into the pacific ocean. tokyo electric power company says it plugged the leak where contaminated water had been gushing out through a large crack. leak was discovered on saturday and radiation of more than 7.5 million times the legal limit for sea water was found nearby. >>> victims of the san bruno explosion are now getting the chance to tell their stories to the pe

i will buy to introduce to you the moderator of this panel, john harris. john was the reporter who covered many of these events. he is the author of the critically acclaimed book "survivor." he is the founder and editor of political magazine. i cannot think of a better person to grill are participants about the events. >> ok, thank you. welcome to everyone here. welcome to the people watching on c-span. i hope we will have a lively and robust discussion. we do have to start with a disclosure. all of us up here on this panel were part of the deep fraternity of people and we felt like we run at ground zero. graves zero of an enormous story -- ground zero of an enormous story. we must be a little bit sensitive. we do not want to feel like we're grandpa simpson or something like that. as the book shows, there is quite a lot of indoor and relevance to some of these controversies that were all consuming at the time in the 1990's and may now seem quite remote given everything that has happened to this country and to this world since then. if you dig a little deepe

house speaker john boehner and harry reed. while cutting $38.5 billion from the current years budget. >>> in international news in libya the government says forces shot down two u.s. built helicopters being used by rebels. two chinook helicopters were shot down near burga. the claim has not been claimed by rebels. rebels acquired a few aircraft when some airforce units from libyan army defected to their side the government is accusing rebels of violating a no fly zone. >>> deadly shopping mall shooting in the netherlands left at least six people dead a 24-year-old man reportedly began shooting in a crowded shops center near amsterdam yesterday, he wounded 15 people before committing suicide. the gunman had permits for the weapons used in the attack. police believe he acted alone. >>> four people are recovering this morning after a small plane crash in southern california the single engine beech craft bonanza slammed into a storage facility. according to an faa spokesperson the plane took off and then lost power. the four passe

i will buy to introduce to you the moderator of this panel, john harris. john was the reporter who covered many of these events. he is the author of the critically acclaimed book "survivor." he is the founder and editor of political magazine. i cannot think of a better person to grill are participants about the events. >> ok, thank you. welcome to everyone here. welcome to the people watching on c-span. i hope we will have a lively and robust discussion. we do have to start with a disclosure. all of us up here on this panel were part of the deep fraternity of people and we felt like we run at ground zero. graves zero of an enormous story -- ground zero of an enormous story. we must be a little bit sensitive. we do not want to feel like we're grandpa simpson or something like that. as the book shows, there is quite a lot of indoor and relevance to some of these controversies that were all consuming at the time in the 1990's and may now seem quite remote given everything that has happened to this country and to this world since then. if you dig a little deepe

we are going to move from the briefing room to outside the white house where harry reid and john boehner will speak. momentarily, we expect them to be there after meeting with the president. >> has he come out yet? >> no. [laughter] president obama said a couple of minutes ago that he and congressional leaders have made some progress. he hopes to announce tomorrow that a shutdown has been averted. over the past couple of days, house negotiators say they have agreed on funding levels but a deal preventing a government shutdown is being held up by differences on policies over abortion and greenhouse gases. [unintelligible] they talk about why they support cuts in federal spending. >> are we ready? >> everybody shush. ladies and gentlemen, i want to thank you for coming out tonight. i am sorry you have to come out today. it is day 47 and, again, we are at 0. we are standing on the senate steps asking senator harry reid to take action. we need to make sure we are finding our troops and responsibly funding government. i took the liberty of doing some numbers. the estimated cost of the shutdow

a government shutdown can be avoided by the budget deadlock as he met late last night with john dana and harryhed by the tea party are being pushed for a cheaper and deeper cuts. -- the deeper cuts. if there is no deal with the shutdown will happen friday ed midnight. that would mean hundreds of thousands of workers who worked for the u.s. government will stop getting paid. what will this mean for you? national parks like alcatraz, museums like the smithsonian would close this weekend. tax refunds would not be mailed until the shutdown is over. if you apply for a job the government won't be able to verify your immigration status. federal rebs sides will not be updated, federal employes might be asked to terminate their blackberries. but good news is as the post office will stay open, harmon securities days on the job. even those workers will be paid. if you're on medicare, social security those will be taken care of. military personnel will continue to get paid for their service in the event of a shutdown but their paychecks will be delayed since we're with the corporate realm. >> justine: thi

. >> don't bet against john kasich. >> todd harris and steve mcmahon. thank you for being with us. that's "hardball" for now. "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell starts right now. >>> today nato taught us how to name a military operation. "odyssey dawn" is now "unified protector." and house speaker john boehner wishes someone, nato, anyone, could protect him from the sheer madness of eric cantor. >> the senate's got to act prior to the expiration of cr. if it does not act, hr-1 becomes the law of the land. >> the misunderstanding of the constitution by these people is profound. >> after i devoted last night's show to teaching eric cantor how wrong he was, eric cantor gets it right today. >> the problem is the president's in the white house. it is up to harry reid. >> we can't impose our will on the senate. >> so that means the republicans have to compromise with senate democrats. democrats say there's a deal. republicans say no deal. >> a deal is in sight. >> and nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to. >> compromise numbers reportedly around $33 billion. >> the

a rider was put in the bill by agreement of the john boehner, president obama, and harry reid to provide the district from spending its money the way it sees fit -- to prevent the district from spending its money the way it sees fit. autonomy, the ability to spend money to wait you -- the way you feel you should. and money for the voucher program -- that was not solicited by officials of the city government. >> they could not get planned parenthood. it wanted to get planned parenthood. they went after d.c. -- is tha t what happened? >> it is part of the pro-life package. if you don't know before, you must know now that only 3% of planned parenthood of's budget goes to abortion, because the jon kyl said was 90% and it turned out to be not true and a lot of people made fun of them. >> slightly off. >> some liberals, like vince gray and eleanor holmes norton, feel like they've been sold out, but the tea party, too, feels like they have been sold out. >> the congressional budget office projected the sittings of $30.5 billion, amounting to suited $370 million. it that is this year's -- going

in statement today house speaker john boehner and harry reid offered very different reasons for the stalemate. >> all i can tell su is that almost all of the policy issues have been dealt with. and there is no agreement on the spending limit. and we're work og to try to get there. >> i've said it thousands and thousands of times, privately and publicly. our goal is not to shut down the government. our goal is to cut spending. thank you. >> the issue here is funding local health clinics, provide services like cancer screenings, to save women's lives. and save money down the road by catching diseases. they're expensive. expensive to treat and sometimes too far along to treat. the fact that republicans have made this about women's health and not about money or anything controversial is really a shame. >> this follows tense negotiations that have continued throughout the week as tonight's midnight deadline approaches, many questions remain. will the government in fact shut down. what are the possible consequences, what will it take to reach an agreement. joining me now with some of the answers, a

but the question is, this morning, whether harry reid and john boehner at some point today with justback to their respective caucuses and say, look, we have negotiated as much as we can, we fought as hard as we could but this deal is take it or leave it. we'll see. >> is there one major sticking point? i know there are probably several but they have to figure it out. >> reporter: several, frank. really just depends on who you talk to. democrats say the republicans are holding up this budget deal because of -- they don't agree on regulations on abortion and environmental protection. republicans say no, this is bigger than that. we're concerned about the budget cuts but it's not certain yet on just whether or not the two sides have found common ground between that $33 billion in budget cuts that democrats have agreed to and the $40 billion that republicans are demanding. >> what about the chances, joel, of another temporary spending plan if they can't get a deal done by tonight? > >> reporter: i can tell you this, that stop-gap measure that the house passed yesterday with republican at

yesterday, saturday, he was on the phone to john boehner and harry reid, trying to talk about the detailsthe compromise they hope will be coming this week. on the question that paul is raising, whether we're every going to get to the point of talking about tax simplification, changes that would lead to reductions in the deficit, i think the white house is getting ready for a process. i think it could come quite soon, by june, july, in which the white house will begin to roll out ideas similar to the simpson-bowles deficit commission. i think we could have, this summer, a very big and important debate on how to get these numbers better. >> we didn't get to talk about the big cuts that have to be made in entitlements with the senators. and also on the pentagon. where do you think can big cuts be made in the pentagon budget? >> oh, man. it's like the morbidly obese patient that's like, where do you start? it really is. and god bless anyone, rumsfeld, gates and others who are trying. it's very, very hard. they have made significant cuts. there is plenty, plenty of waste in that place. you hav

president obama says if house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid don't iron thingsut by friday, the deadline, he will summon them to the white house. friday's deadline not met? most federal employees will continue to work because they are considered essential employees. hundreds of thousands of nonessential workers will stay home and federal tax refunds could be late. >>> the president will hold a town hall meeting via facebook in silicon valley. reps say the event will be on april 20 in palo alto, home of the facebook headquarters. it will be streamed live over the internet. ceo mark zuckerberg will also be there. some of the topics expected to be discussed include the economy and the government's debt. >>> 6:40. blockbuster goes to the highest bidder and a major score for netflix. why it could have fans going mad. >> plus, google heading to court. why the web giant is getting grilled over internet piracy. >>> and the market just opened a few minutes ago. let's take a quick check. so far, so good, a short time in we have green lights across the board. and jason bro

harris, democrat steve mcmahon. let's talk about some blocking and tackling politics. it's this deal in ohio. johnic about to sign the collective bargaining. it's going to be different than ohio. you've got 90 days if you don't like the legislation to get it on the ballot as a referendum. steve mcmahon, i'll start with you. if you're the labor movement, are you almost licking your chops that -- >> yes. >> -- great, sign this bill, governor kasich, let's go to november? >> if you look at governor kasich's numbers right now there was a poll that came out a couple of days ago that has his approval rating at 30% which is lower than george w. bush's approval rate ever got in eight years in office. he's got a real problem because he overstepped on this thing. he may recognize it but he's going to plow ahead and assume that in four years people will t in the next 90 days, which they can do -- >> this is labor. >> -- it's going to be something where independents are going to go with labor on collective bargaining because independents are like democrats in the way they view that. >> todd harris, watching j

example, we know at least five of the carpenters who built the inside of the white house -- tom, harry, john, paul, we have their names -- were black. and they were enslaved. now, there was probably free black labor that was involved and, of course, white labor. but black labor, it was loved in washington d.c. and in the capitol and in the white house. and they were burnt down in 1814, and it took three years to rebuild. again, they relied on slave labor to do that construction. now, meanwhile, in this ten-year process while they're building the nation's capitol, the issue is where will the president and the rest of the government be? and for a short period they were in new york, but eventually then they all moved to philadelphia. so washington and his entire household, including his black slaves, all moved to philadelphia. now, he had two problems in philadelphia. one was that it was the center of the abolitionist movement in the country. this is where you had the most number of free blacks. this is where you had the quakers, and they were on it. and they had set up the underground railroad

. >> the president called the house speaker john boehner and harry reid and pressured both of them todo whatever it takes to get something done to avoid a government shutdown. any shot we're going to see a compromise before the end of the week? >> i do think that there's essential a shock. congressman boehner would like to focus on the fight over the budget. he needs to get a sense of whether this tea party caucus is going to go along with a deal. on the democratic side there's a concern over some of the spending mechanisms here that would deny the spending on some things that the democrats care bshgs like health care or planned parenthood. there are some definite battle lines. here you see the president just trying to push this to a deal, and the ultimate argument is, look, there's better economic news with jobless numbers. let's not threaten this recovery by even threatening a government shutdown. >> let's talk about that jobless number. the unemployment rate is lower than it's been in the last two years. democrats say, see, we can't shut the government down right now. it's going to

here at home, president obama had a busy saturday placing calls to house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid pressing them to agree on a $73 billion series of cuts from this year's budget. the government faces a shutdown on friday without a budget settlement or another extension of the deadline. meanwhile, the president's political advisers say he could file with the federal election commission as early as monday and begin raising money for his reelection campaign. but those same advisers say that could be delayed until the budget impasse is resolved. david gregory will have much more on this tomorrow morning on "meet the press." assistant majority leader senator dick durbin of illinois will be among david's guests. >>> still ahead this saturday night on "nightly news" -- troubling news from japan. investigators discover a source of radiation from the damaged nuclear plant leaking directly into the ocean. how dangerous is it? >>> also ahead -- where is spring? from a major league hailstorm in washington to a heat wave in the west. and tonight forecast for dangerous weather tomorrow. >>>

mark: a looming federal government shut down as president barack obama resumes talks with john painter and harry in hopes of avoiding a shutdown. but the ninth the republicans are pushing for a house vote on all one week stopgap measure to keep the ground running one week. it doesn't appear that democrats will agree. if it shuts down and federal parks including alcatraz will be closed on the weekend. >> craig: alcatraz right there would be shut down, as well as national monuments like the washington monument and the statue of liberty. it is under the auspices of the federal government. if you can't go out there it has the effect on the other businesses here. you see the boat that goes out there every day, a lot of tourism, it is very popular. you have the federal government losing revenue at visitor centers, local businesses like the blue and gold fleet will not be brought to our righable to opers something to consider as they consider this as to what to do. alcatraz is one of the most popular sites in the bay area. a lot is at stake. >> mark: if there is a shut down, not just parks but museums

backdrop, the president has called a meeting at the white house tonight with majority leader harry reid and speaker john boehner. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on the hill. i don't know if i envy your beat on a day like this or not. kelly, thanks. >>> so how are the american people feeling about all of this? that's just one of the questions we asked in our brand new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd with us here in the studio tonight with the numbers. and here's a hint. they also contain a big surprise about a potential gop candidate in 2012. chuck? >> hey there, brian. yes, they do. a lot in this poll. let's start with the shutdown and try to explain the politics of this and why is it that the president and speaker boehner are so far apart. a majority of republicans are telling republican leaders in our poll, 56%, stick to your positions. don't make compromises. this includes 68% of tea party supporters. among democrats, democrats are saying congressional democratic leaders should make compromises. 68%. this includes 76% of political

. >>> president obama welcomed house speaker john boehner and senate majority reader harry reid to the. details on what the president called a productive meeting coming up. >> that's good. we're hopeful. it has far-reaching effects. >>> are you getting ready to hit the road for a family vacation this spring? be ready to pay more at the pump. a new warning on the growing rate of gas prices. highest prices in three years some are saying. >> and even if the government does shut down this week, by the way your taxes are still due april 18th. >> come on. >> i know. we'll have some look at tax-filing tips to save you money. >>> and the late-night meeting that took place at the white house aimed averting a government shutdown. the president emerged after 90 minutes saying no deal had been reached. >> but the president said he's optimistic that an agreement can be reached before the deadline. >> i remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown. but it will require sufficient sense of urgency from

the president says his fourth meeting with house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid last night yielded progress, but still no deal. >> we haven't settled issues in 40 years. we're not going to settle them in a few hours. >> resolve this issue now and make certain that we resolve it in a way that no member of our armed services or their families is harmed by the decisions that we make. >> at least protect our military, who are serving in afghanistan and iraq. and their families who are back home. >> all those in favor say aye. >> reporter: yesterday, house republicans passed a bill to keep the government running for another week. but it's not likely to make it to a senate vote. it includes $12 billion in spending cuts that democrats oppose. the extent of spending cuts in the budget are at the heart of the impact. the president canceled today's planned trip to indianapolis. he's staying in washington in hopes of breaking the stalemate. congress failed to pass legislation that would suspend its own pay if there's a shutdown, and you can imagine many are balking at