m. lewis construction is a $60 million company with about 250 employees. [ cheers and applause ] >> anderstand you're opening your fourth office at the end of this month. so this story is what with america is all about. you start off, maybe you don't have a lot, but you're willing to work hard, you put in the time. opportunity's out there and you are able to pass on an even better life to your family, your children and your grandchildren. and it's good news that after how hard the construction industry got hit during the recession, things are starting to get a little better. remember, it was just five years ago that our economy was in a freefall. businesses were shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs every single month and the recession ultimately cost millions of americans their job, their homes, their savings and everything they worked hard to build. today, over the last three and a half years our businesses have added 7.5 million new jobs. [ applause ] >> our deficits are falling. our housing market is healing which means construction is improving. manufacturing's growing. the auto i

m lewis construction has done well, but a prolonged shut down can change that. megan mcgraph spoke to employees as they wnlt in this morning. what did they say some. >> they are concerned the they have their jobs, but worry about what the future holds. you saw the president speaking to employees and other guests, but a few moments ago he arrived by motorcade. take a look at the video. of all of the people who work in the area offices watching the motorcade. the president is waving as he passed by the the folks lined up on the walkway. they had several facilities here in maryland including the asphalt manufacturing plant here in rockville where the president is speaking. they acquired that plant a few years ago adding jobs to the local economy. the company is doing well. they are up to 250 employees and expanding and starting to bounce back from the revegz. the president said a prolonged shut down can hurt the economy and hurt businesses and lead to job losses. the small business loans are on hold. there is no one there to process them. loans like m lewis used to

m. lewis construction in rockville. it is a women and minority- based small business. however, the.sharing some bad news with these folks telling them how a continued shutdown could affect them and their business. congressional leaders looked frustrated, a bit defeated you could say after a white house meeting that ended with no signs of compromise last night. democrats say they're willing to go to conference to hash out their differences, but house speaker boehner will not budge on obama care. republicans have offered piecemeal bills to fund portions of the government, including the national park service. >> it is a shame that folks in this country who come to washington to be able to see these memorials can't. >> why are you pushing for monuments to be open instead of head start preschools for low income children? isn't that as important? >> that is coming as well. we're going to take every issue that is out there that we have agreement on and put it on the floor and we will pass the funding bills to go to the senate. >> it's like asking a large family for the parents to pick thre

. >> president obama spoke today from the m lewis construction company in rockville. it's one he said that's grown because of low interest rates. >>> the navy and air force football game will be played in annapolis saturday despite the government shut down. the academy's football program is funded with non-government money. the game is sold out and is one of the most notable home games on their schedule. all other athletic events involving naval academy sports clubs are canceled. all the school's academic faculty is on furlough. no classes are held. you can see that game saturday live right here on wjz. >>> look outside your window. it's another nice summer-like day in our area. at druid hill park guys were working up a sweat playing an afternoon game of basketball on the court. another live look outside through our harbor cam. it's warm and sunny with a few clouds out there. there it is. meteorologist tim williams is in the first warning weather center tracking things that could impact our weather in the next week. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. we'll talk about

m. lewis construction is an example of a thriving small business that would feel the impact of an extended government shutdown or default. >>> small businesses are definitely not the only ones feeling the pressure from this. every week around 200 new patients start clinical trials at the national institutes of health in bethesda and other hospitals. >> a little girl from waldorf, maryland was supposed to start a clinical trial for her advanced cancer next week at children's hospital in philadelphia. but as peggy fox reports, the shutdown has put her treatment and hope for survival on hold. >> reporter: 8-year-old mattie major doesn't look sick at all but this week her leukemia came back for the fourth time. >> you wouldn't even know she had cancer honestly. on her worst day she's still smiling. >> reporter: mattie is so self- assured, she has no problems scolding her five older brothers and sisters. >> when she relapsed a couple days ago her mom started crying. she looked at her mom and she was like, why are you worrying? >> reporter: her mother robin major has reason to cry. the clinical

m. lewis construction in rockville. it's one of the largest women owned and minority owned businesses in the state. now obama's press secretary jay carnie says that the company is an example of a business that has grown in recent years because interest rates have developed and been very low and businesses have been able to borrow money cheaply to expand. the president met with congressional leaders today to find common ground but there was no problem at the meet -- progress at the meeting. if the shutdown continues for any length of time and the government detalls on the debt ceiling in two weeks it would harm small business. massachusetts lou's employs about -- m. louise employs about 200 people. the company saved thousands of miles of road and highways and does a lot of very big projects in maryland and other states. they are the type of projects that could be put on hold by state and local government if the states do put the projects on hold because of no money coming from the federal government. the president will g

the white house said he will visit m lewis construction to talk about the impact it is having on the economy. the administration warns this and the looming battle over the debt ceiling could hurt businesses. no end in sight to the government shut down. do minnico joins us. >> the house is going to try to pass this series of funding measures on three items related to the va, the parks and d.c. city government. they were not able to pass that last night because they needed a 2/3 majority to do so. this time they will bring it up and need a simple majority, but that opens up the possibility for democrats to bring up procedural test votes that could mean we see where some republicans might be on a clean cr. all of that doesn't matter because the senate will reject it and the white house threatened to veto it. >> they just want to see these guys start to work and get something done. >> it always is. when one side said you don't do something about a law we dislike, we will shut the government down, it becomes something people should pay attention to. >> what is the latest message? >> our t

m. lewis construction site in rockville, maryland. this is a women and minority an owned business. you can see the stage is already set here outside the construction site. the president scheduled to speak at 10:30. crews already preparing for that talk on how a continued shutdown will affect the workers here. congressional leaders looked frustrated last night and perhaps a bit defeated after a white house meeting ended with no signs of compromise. democrats say they are willing to go to conference to hash out these differences but house speaker john boehner will not budge on obama care. republicans you may remember have offered piecemeal bills to fund portions of the government, including the national park service with no success. >> it is a shame that folks in this country who come to washington to be able to see these memorials can't. >> reporter: why are you pushing for monuments to be open instead of, say, head start preschools for low income children? isn't it all important? >> that is coming as well. we are going to take every issue that is out there that we have agreement on

m. lewis, main storage facility caught fire and most of the company's equipment was destroyed, causing millions of dollars in damage, but even while the fire was still burning dozens of employees rushed over to the facility and tried to save as much as they could. some of you were probably there. and when they finished cutting fire lines and spraying down the perimeter of their own property they went over to help their neighbors and afterwards, eventual of the employees here at m. louise are on salary and even though the company had taken a big financial hit, sedalia and natalya paid everyone overtime and along with each check they included a personalized note saying just how much they appreciated the efforts of the workers. and sedalia said, everybody says the biggest asset to a business is employees, some people mean it, some people don't. we actually do. so this company right here is full of folks who do right by each other. they don't try to see if they can work every angle. they don't lie about each other. they don't try to undermine each other. they understand they're supposed to be on th

he will speak at the m lewis construction company in rockville in montgomery county. >> reporter: good morning. the third day of the shut down brings news that classes at the academy are canceled by the game will go on this weekend. the money is not appreciate d by congress so the show can go on. it takes 930 civilians to run the academy they are all furloughed so the classes are canceled. the next game at boston college will also be played. >>> baltimore city police are on the look out for their newest public enemy number one 26-year-old christopher wood. he's wanted for stabbing the mother of his child to death. he's believed to be in the south baltimore area. >>> a father and son shot by someone in middle river. officers say it appears robbers broke into the home as part of a targeted attack. police are not sure how many people are involved. so far no arrests have been made. the 20-year-old son who uses a wheelchair is in serious condition. he and his father are expected to survive their wounds. >>> a man is charged with murder stemming from a domestic dispute. dem

the white house says the m lewi construction company san examply of how a long-term shutdownshuto would hurt small businesses? bui the meantime the white house has announced the president will cut short an upcoming trip to asia to deal with the crisis. he was supposed to visit four countries beginning saturday, he will now visit two and come baca to washington.to >>> now one the piece meal bill the house voted on last night was to allow d.c. to use its oww money to keep the government funded. c eleanor norton got quite emotional as she pleaded e with her colleagues to pass it. >> you are casting this city precisely where it cannot be cast, it's just another federal appropriation, this is a living, breathing city. and the notion -- >> we have been getting a lot o comments from you about the shutdown on our twitter andand facebook page. one viewer writes i'm essential but not getting paid and i still have to report to work. i'm forced to work for free. wow, not sure but i trust god that he will turn this situation around. >>> vincent asked, quote how can workers be furloughed and thed one