randall pinkston in washington. thank you.l street appears to be shaking off the concerns about the government shutdown. investors turn their focus away from washington and towards corporate headlines. >>> mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of the gulf coast as tropical storm karen approaches. home owners are boarding up windows, stacking sandbags and stockpiling food and supplies. mississippi bay st. louis is one of those low-lying coastal towns threatened by karen. that is where ben is. good afternoon. looks like a great weather day there, but i understand evacuations have been ordered in the region. >> yeah, it's tricky business when it comes down to these storms like this certainly along the gulf coast. these things move in quickly and, you know, as you just stated, suggestions for people to move out have now turned into demands in some cases. specifically in the barrier isle of grand aisle, and in the parish of louisiana which is the most low-lying area. they have spoken to officials in both of those a

. >> right now randall pinkston joints us live from washington. andall what are we expecting to hear from the president today? >> morgan we would expect that he could be repeating what he said throughout this entire crisis. first of all beginning last night when he agreed to continue funding for the paychecks for active duty military, and calling on congress to take steps to continue funding for all of the government. we understand that some federal workers have already received furlough notices, but we also hear that paychecks are in the mail for work already completed; that they will be paid at least once, and if this shutdown ends quickly, they will continue to be paid. i think the next pay period is october 15th. so that's some good news. whether the president has made any progress, whether he has been on the phone with republican leaders, i don't know. and it is apparent, at least based on what senate majority leader harry reid recently said, it's apparent that there is still a very, very wide divide between republicans who want to do somethin

. >> randall pinkston is live on capitol hill. randall, see beal us has apologized but has she said how they are going to fix the problem? >> republicans especially are pressing sebelius on the website, and they didn't support the act in the first place, and they are pointing out the fact that president obama promised people that they could keep the insurance that they had if they wanted to, but many americans are reporting that that is not happening. here is an example of the exchange. >> what do you say to mark and lucinda in my district who had a plan, liked it, it was affordable, but it is being terminated. >> insurance companies cancel individual policies year in and year out. they are not lifetime plans. >> let me move on -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> it's what they wanted, and i will remind you, some people like to drive a ford not a ferrari, you are take away their choice. >> well, dell that was just a sample of what secretary sebelius has been experiencing all through the morning and into the afternoon and more to come. >

i want to head to capitol hill, and randall pinkston, who is standing by on more of what the president said. he had a lot to say about the shutdown. >> yes, the president did an interview with associated press on a wide range of topics, focussing, of course, on the shutdown and the looming approaching debt ceiling, which will be hit some time later this month. the president insists on what we are calling - the legislatives call clean bills - that is to say - one will to reopen government, another to raise the debt ceiling, and talk about whatever else you want to talk about, negotiate as best you can. he doesn't want the republicans to tie the obamacare act or funding or anything else to either of that legislation. let's listen to what he said to the ap reporter. >> speaker boehner made a decision that he's going to hold out to see if he can get additional concessions from us and what i have said to him is we are happy to negotiate on anything. we are happy to talk about the health care law. we are happy to talk about the budget. we are happy to talk about deficit reduction and investm

you know, talking past each other. >> randall pinkston joining us live from the white house, randall if i get back in that cab, i'll tell them exactly what you had to say. thank you very much. >>> some optimism turning to pessimism. the stocks began to rally just a bit on word that house speaker john boehner was making a statement, but they turned back south when his comments were clear there would be no break through. and the polls seem to be bearing things out as well, just one week into the first government shutdown since 1996, congress is taking a beating in the polls. the latest gallup poll showing that their overal approval rating dropping from 19% to 11% this month. that is the second-lowest since gallop began taking polls. >>> at a conference in kabul karzai says they have failed to bring stability to his country and the air strikes violate afghan sovereignty. >> the united states and nato have not respected our sovereignty. whenever they have found it suitable to them, they have acted against it. this has been a serious point of tension between us. >> karzai's term ends next

. >> randall pinkston us now live on capitol hill. ndall apologizing, taking responsibility, so how does she say they are going to go about fixing the problem in >> she says the work is already underway, technicians are running tests constantly, and already more people can use it. unfortunately this morning, there was an instance where some of the, members went to the site and showed that it was not working, at that moment. he just checked it and it is working. so it is still up and down. the republicans have been pounding her on a number of issues, including security questions about the website and of course what they say is a broken promise made by president obama that people who had an insurance plan that they liked would be able to keep the plan. here is an example of the exchange. >> responsible for overseeing this project is it you or your designee. >> i'm not pointing fingers at verizon. we own the site. the site has had serious problems -- >> who is in charge. >> the person now in charge is qssi -- >> who was in charge as it wa

. >>> randall pinkston looks at the people behind the rhetoric and the numbers. >> reporter: the shoutdowns expected to furlough 800,000 federal workers across the nation including tax collectors and food inspectors. >> i don't understand why the activity of the government should be stopped because of concerns about one aspect of legislation. >> reporter: the nation's capitol is being hit hard by the shutdown because tourism here is big business. visitors spend $6 billion a year generating more than 70,000 jobs. from national parks to national museums here in the district it was the same story, doors shut, tourists disappointed. you are taking a bike tour here. was this part of your plan? >> no it wasn't. we just thought since we can't get into any of the federally government run buildings this would be the next best way to see what is here. >> reporter: virginia settled for a snapshot outside of the smithsonian. she and her husband are from oregon. >> our son who lives in oregon, his job, even though he works for the county, he could not work today because they use the communications syst

randall pinkston on what is happening, or should we say what is not happening. >> reporter: i think you're right, thomas, in what is not happening. the chamber was convened to vote on legislation guaranteeing that federal furlough workers would be getting back pay when the shutdown ends. and something that we usually don't see on capitol hill, a near unanimous bipartisan vote of that measure. of course the other problem, the shutdown remains and we heard the difference of opinion between the democrats and republicans. first let's listen to republican eric don'ericeric cantor seems e unwilling to sit down and work out our differences. we have a majority leader who seems unwilling to sit down and work out our differences. it doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: that's the republican perspective, it's the democrats fault because they refuse to negotiate. the democrats held a news conference where they went over their side of events. let's now listen to the minority whip and house of representatives. >> we're now in the fifth days as the leader has said, of a shoutdown. we've voted to pay the

randall pinkston live in washington. randall, thank you. as randall was saying, the stock market, it is taking another hit as the government shutdown continues. the dow falling for a second day as investors worry the gridlock in washington won't be solved anytime soon. adding to the unease, rising unemployment claims and a decline in a key index on the services industry. in addition, the labor department says it won't be releasing the key september jobs report tomorrow because of the shutdown. at the centers for disease control, most employees there are now furloughed. as flu season kicks off, there won't be anyone tracking the virus as it spreads. robert ray joins us now live outside of the cdc headquarters in atlanta. good morning, robert. >> good morning to you. the headquarters at the centers for the disease control and prevention quite quiet right now. the building behind me normally a flurry of activity, about a few hundred people inside there right now. the cdc has roughly 13,000 employees around the world, 50 states, 50 countries. 6

randall pinkston is there now, my guess is she was there for more than four hours, grueling testimony. >> reporter: almost four hours, and yes, the testimony was grueling. especially by republican members of the committee by the failure of the website, about security weakness and her broken promises of having the website up and running by october. you played an is satirical statement about her state, kansas, and "the wizard of oz." >>> and some came away saying they did not believe her representation that they'll fix everything by november. >> her admission, how many people signed up? i don't know. how many people have been on the phone? i don't know. how many are the counts, i don't know. we have no way of knowing what she has told us is true yet the president of the united states are making claims that millions have called in. it's an admission that the system is not working and it won't be working any time soon. >> he thinks that secretary sebelius should resign or be fired. >> the democrats were somewhat kinder. what were they saying about kathleen sebelius and her testimony? >> r

and we'll go live now to randall pinkston. randall so the president decided to cancel the rest of his asia trip. does that mean he is working to end the shutdown? >> the president says he is going to be available to take whatever steps are necessary as he calls on the republicans to vote a clean bill to reopen the government and then raise the debt ceiling. but speaker boehner is also sticking to his guns. a statement released says that if the legislation that the house has approved, the piecemeal legislation to keep open veteran's affairs and others, if those pieces of legislation do end up at the white house, the president will veto them. secretary of state kerry is standing in for the president at the asian conference. the president had earlier canceled his visits to the philippines and malaysia. also today another front in this debate over the budget, we have unions representing furloughed workers demonstrating on the steps of the capitol saying that they want lawmakers to do their jobs, reopen government, get people back

randall pinkston joins us now live from washington where the president is about to speak. randall, we understand that there is good news to the economic front today. >> reporter: yes, indeed, there is, del zotto. the deficit, the nation's deficit has dropped to $680 billion that's the first time it's dipped below a trillion in about five years. that is very good news. the president to talk to talk up the advantages for foreign inning investors and are going to be using 32 trade missions around the world to try to get foreign investments in the u.s. already many foreigners do put dollars here. some billions of dollars in the past several years. equaling millions of jobs for americans and they want more of that. >> so, randall, what is happening today at this summit? >> reporter: we have heard from a number of ceos of major businesses, for example, bill simon of wal-mart, we have also heard from the head of dow chemical, they are here saying that america is a favorable environment for any foreign inning invest. they are talking about the low interest rates that the u.s. has.

randall pinkston joins us live on capital hill, and randall they said trust has to be in their words rebuilt between the u.s. and its allies. are stepping being taken to do that? >> given all of the issues right now, the administration certainly did not need the headache of having it revealed that the u.s. has been spying on some of its top allies. they are meeting with the nsa director, keith alexander who will be testifying later today on intelligence. they will be grilled, both of them, alexander as well as james clapper on the extent of america's spying operations and there will also be the introduction of legislation to scale back to modify the patriot act. this legislation will be introduced by the author of the patriot act, and among other things it will put restrictions on the gathering of metadata, as well as refining the extent to which america can engage in foreign intelligence, and presumably that will take into account spying on foreign leaders. >> randall in a lot of instances what the public finds out concerns what goes on in the house intelligence committee isn't lear

. >> randall pinkston joins us live from washington with details. good morning. >> lawmakers, as you know are heading back to washington, but not to resolve the shutdown. you have to wonder is it political grandstanding or is there substance? >> far be it from me to accuse the nation's law makers of grandstanding. others may do that. here is what republicans are saying - they are doing something substantive. they are coming into session to vote on the federal employees retro active pay fairness act. this is another of what the democrats describe as paes meal legislation. it is significant because it will guarantee that federal workers furloughed from their jobs because of the shutdown will get backpay. the republicans passed piecemeal legislation, among them to restate - return the funding to the national institutes of health. veterans' affairs, and bringing funding back for head start. these are programs - some of them, of course, democrats, and the republicans are hoping they'll get support. the white house and democratic leaders are saying that w

. >>> we want to go back to randall pinkston, and i understand that the white house has reacted to what is or may be a deal in the works. >> yes, the white house has gotten the memo, a deal from the white house, reacting to a short-term extension. this is what the white house is saying. the president has made clear that he will not pay a ransom for congress doing its job and paying our bills, and take the threat of default off the table for as long as possible, and that's why he supports the senate democrat's raising for a year with no political strings attached. but what we're hearing about today, dale, is not a year extension, but several weeks or months to allow negotiations to continue over a long-term, so-called grand bargain. >> and randall, when the window was opened a couple of days ago when president obama was speaking to reporters, there were some that said that he might have undermined the efforts of the senate who wanted a longer term deal. so who won or lost, is that a safe assessment of what we can see? >> we're already seeing the democratic leaders rallying around the pre

randall pinkston joining us now. ndall president obama said he would be open to that possible deal, how has that been received? >> right now we're not hearing very much hospitalal to the president's window of opportunity for a short-term debt ceiling deal. senator boehner also wants it to deal with debt ceiling budgets. and democrats are expected to blame republicans. the president is expected to reiterate that fact this afternoon. this morning we heard the some thank from harry reid. >> let's reopen the government. speaker boehner could end this shutdown today, an hour from now, by letting the house -- entire house vote on senate's clean bill. when the speaker is on national tv and other places saying we don't have the votes, he will never know that. because he won't let the matter come to the floor. of course it has enough votes. there is no reason to drag out this process and force the nation's economy ever closer to a catastrophic default. >> reporter: what would have to take place is that speaker boehner would ha

. >> for the latest on the shoutdown, randall pinkston joins us live from capitol hill. ndall is this likely to drag on for a while? >> reporter: well at this point they are at logger heads. three house of representtives lead by the republicans sent to the senate it's a latest version of a continuing resolution to keep the government operating but to also try to defang, if not defund the affordable care act, obamacare, and the senate, lead by democrat harry reid quickly sent it right back to him. he actually tabled it on a majority vote. the senate is saying send us a clean bill. republicans are saying we want to do something about obamacare. and there's no agreement. >> randall what are the american people saying? all of the polling suggests that the americans are completely turned off by the republicans and the president. >> reporter: one of the latest polls shows very serious disapproval ratings, 49% of the public disapproves of the job the president is doing. 74% disapprove of the job that republicans in the house is doing. and congress is at 60%. so the american publ

randall pinkston is in the capital. good morning. you heard mike viqueira report that president obama gave a little opening yesterday for a possible deal. boehner seemed to reject that idea. is it dead? >> reporter: well, you know, the first thing to note is that the president's opening is over the objections of some democrats, because what he's talking about doing is a short-term deal for raising the debt ceiling. democrats, especially senate majority leader harry reid, had wanted a debt ceiling raise that would last beyond the next election to get us through the end of 2014. so the president has given ground on that. certainly republicans are aware that that is a -- for the democrats at least a significant opening and possibly an opening for them. you heard the public war words from house speaker john boehner saying that there is not going to be any deal, but on the other hand, the president keeps saying he's willing to negotiate. let me give you a quote. he says to them, extends the debt ceiling. if they can't do it f

randall pinkston joins us from washington, where the president spoke earlier. what is new about the program? >> well, traditionally states and localities have been the principal agents for bringing foreign dollars into the u.s. the obama administration select usa program is trying to do what other nations have done for years, that is the federal government will be the principal agent for coordinating and attracting investments to the u.s. very bornt. $168 billion in foreign direct investment into our country. >> we should find out why there's no substitute for the proud words, "made in america", here is three for, "select the usa." when you do, you'll find some of the world's best workers, innovative entrepreneurs, a government and a president who's committed to helping you create more good jobs. >> the president says they'll need a minimal aappropriation from the congress of $25 million. if they don't get the money, it will continue, because bringing foreign money into the u.s. is important for creating american jobs. >> randall pinkston in washington for us.

. >> we have randall pinkston at the white house. randall, what was your take away from the president's remarks? >> reporter: well, if anybody thought that there was going to be some talk of compromise, that word didn't come out of the president's mouth. he's obviously standing firm on his belief that what congress should do specifically what the republicans of the house of representatives should do is give both chambers an chance to vote on up and down legislation to keep the government going. he said he's prepared to work with republicans and democrats over spending, over the budget, but he said this is not about spending or the budget or deficit. he said the deficit in the u.s. has been falling faster than it has fallen in the past 50 years. he said it has been cut by one-half since he has been in office. according to the president this entire dispute is all about americans, one faction of the republican party trying to overturn the affordable care act and the president will not allow that to happen. no talk of compromise. we are w

randall pinkston joins us live from washington. good morning, randall. figure something has got to give. does anyone know what that might be in >> well, while there may not be a negotiation scheduled between president obama and senate democrats, there are apparently intense discussions going on within the republican party in the house of representatives. speaker boehner has it within his power to make a move to get this whole thing settled, and president obama is saying it is up to boehner. the white house was forced to keep his tension on the white house. he canceled his trip to asia because of the shutdown. jay carney said . . . president obama called his indonesian counterpart who was said to have understood the reasons. the president comes on the heels of the president skrcrubbing hi plans to visit malaysia and the philippines earlier in the week. in his place secretary kerry will visit the region. while president obama will be absent in asia, so will a potential meeting with president putin. the two were set to speak after hardly speaking last month

. >> randall pinkston joins us from washington. ranl, you heard the trust has to be rebuilt between the u.s. and its allies. what steps are being taken on capitol hill to do just that? is. >> i suppose you would say they are extraordinary step. first of all one on one meeting with a top intelligence operator general keith alexander, who is the director of the national security agency, and he of course would have been expected to assure them that they will not be the subjects of future spying. of course the big question is: whether, to what extent the u.s. spied on them in the past. the white house has set that it is not happening now and that it will not happen in the future. but we continue to hear white house spokesman jay clapper refuse to say how extensive it is. how extensive america's spy operations has continued. this new amendment to the patriot act which has been discussed will also include provisions that will establish a privacy advocate, someone who can talk about civil liberties with respect to america's spike program

. >> that was randall pinkston reporting. drones are used by the u.s.target al qaeda and the taliban. and while some senior militant leaders have been killed, civilians have also died. still the obama administration is defending drone strikes. >>> the budget confrontation that led to a partial government shutdown has dealt a major blow to the republican party. according to a new abc washington post poll. public approval of the gop is at its lowest in 30 years,. >> reporter: as congress tries to shift through the wreckage and make sense of the shutdown and debt ceiling crisis, there is bad news as far as the public ainger and political fallout is concerned according to a new poll. the washington post and abc out with a new poll. 12%, 12% approval rating now for congress. that is a new low in 40 years of polling in in washington post abc news poll. 85% disapprove of the job that congress is doing. congressional republicans their approval rating also in the tank. 32% favorable. 63% unfavorable. that is the lowest in 30 years in that poll. now, a year is a

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randall pinkston joins us live, just yesterday, european delegates said that the trust that is between the nations has to be rebuild, their words and they say that steps must be taken so what are those steps to rebuild the trust? one of the major steps is to allow those officials to have communications with key intelligent officials to calm nerves and ease concerns about the reports that the u.s. has been spying on its top allies including the leaders of some of those nations like angela merkel for example. i can't show it to you because the camera position can't change, but awaiting the arrival of general alexandar who will be testifying about 1:30, about 30 minutes from now before the house select committee. there will be a proposed legislative change. the author of the patriot act, which clears the way for so much intelligence gathering in the wake of 9/11, back in 2001, is now proposing another piece of legislation, that would amend the patriot act, to redefine exactly the extent of spying that will be allowing to be done on american citizens for example, the so called collection o

it is expected to be a topic of conversation at the white house this morning and that's where randall pinkstonoins us. has there any reaction on the situation in libya. >> so far no. however we have been hearing from secretary of state john kerry's spokes men, kerry travelin traveln the far east, his spokesman is saying that the u.s. is looking into the reports of the kidnapping and subsequent release of the libyan prime minister. we are in close touch with senior u.s. and libyan official oz. ground. of course, what is going on there is that the rebels, the people who grabbed him are believed that the u.s. colluded in this past weekend's snatching grab of an al quaida leader who was suspected in the embassy bombings back in '98. >> and we will have more on libya in just a few minutes. let's get back to the shut down and the debt ceiling. talk about this meeting between president obama and house republicans. who is going to be at in meeting and maybe more importantly who won't be there? >> we have seen a new kind of urgency in the past few days on the part of both of the white house and congres

our randall pinkston joins us live from washington. i understand that the president has now canceled his entire trip to asia. >> yes, he has. he had already canceled his planned trip to the philippines and malaysia, but he had hoped to be able to make another conference in indonesia. es canceled plans for that, as well. his press secretary issued a statement saying the president is not going because he wants to focus on the shutdown and of course the pending debt ceiling crisis. the press secretary went on to say that this cancellation is the result of the represent-led shutdown of the capitol and american led government. >> if the president is staying in washington, has he laid out a new strategy to end the stalemate? >> at this point, the president is sticking to his previous strategy, which is to say that he he's not going to negotiate over the shutdown, he's not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling. however, we are hearing from some democrats that they may be willing to give the republicans something that they wanted, which is

randall pinkston has the storey. >> amnesty international focussed on drone strikes in north waziristan. investigators researched nine of 45 known attacks occurring between january 2012 and august 2013. in one strike they claim 18 labourers were reportedly kill. >> the most challenging situation we had to face was the complete and utter secrecy of the u.s. authorities. because of that we cannot be 100% certain, but we are certain that these and other killings in the reports may constit use war crimes. >> the pakistani prime minister visiting washington expressed concern about the u.s. drone policy. >> in a national conference we declared the use of drones is not only a violation of our territorial integrity, but detry theal to our efforts at ellimb nating terrorism from our country. this issue became a matter in our bilateral relationship. i stress the need for an end to drone attacks. >> yemen is a frequent argument of u.s. drones. human rights watch charges the u.s. launched 80 targeted killings there since 2009, killing 473 people - among them civilians. >> we found despite assurance

aljazeera's randall pinkston has more on what has become the most controversial tool in wear fair. >> amnesty focused on drone strikes. >> we have a face the complete and utter secrecy of the u.s. authorities. because of that, we cannot be 100% certain but are concerned that these killings may constitute war crimes. >> the pakistan prime minute at her visiting washington today expressed concern about u.s. drone policy. >> more recently, our political parties in a national conference had declared that the use of drones is not only a continued violation of our territorial integrity, but also detrimental to efforts at eliminating terrorism from our country. >> this issue has become measured as well. i would stress the end of drone attacks. >> human rights charges the u.s. launched 80 targeted killings since 2009, killing 473 people, among them civilians. >> we found that despite assurances from president obama that it's doing its utmost to protect civilians in harm, that for the most part, it is killing dozens of innocent civilians, if not more. this is a clear violation of international

randall pinkston reporting from washington. how long. >> if the government shutdown lasts for several days or weeks. furloughed workers won't be collecting a paycheck. the average paycheck is $70,950. not every federal employee earns that much. looking at the workers in national parks and services, on average, they make $30,950 a year. >> national monuments and sites are closed and nearly 20,000 employees that run them are on unpaid leave. visitors staying at mount rainer national park are shut out. >> there is truly in paradise. the mountain is in an early and sudden snowstorm. below at the park's main entrance, there is a cold reception of a different kind. visitors are turned away. >> we thought we'd be hiking for days and days in the national park. >> they planned their vacation months ago, flying in from fort myers, florida. >> our own government is holding us hostage because they can't figure out a way to deal with situations. >> as part of the government shutdown, 192 mount ranier employees are furloughed. they received

randall pinkston joins us at capitol hill. what happened in those nsa hearings today? >> well, tony, the hearing ended an hour ago after an unusual three and a half hours technique. the members of the house select committee on intelligence complimented the work of the national security agency which as you know are under fire since the revelation by former nsa analyst edward snowden that revealed documents that showed that they had been listen together phone conversation or scooping up the phone numbers of conversation of american citizens. the director of national intelligence said that the information was gathered legally, and the content is only available to a handful of people. >> everything that we do on this program is audited 100%. on the business records. 100%. the da data is kept separate frm all the other data we have. it's important to understand that the leaker did not have access to this data period. >> so randall, are these hearings setting the stage for the usa freedom act, and if so what would that legislation mean? what would it entail? >> reporter: wel

randall pinkston speaking to one witness who has shared one or two shouts. >> three witnesses, a grandfather, father, and a son, who were having a hot dog break near the grounds of the capital when they heard gunfire. they immediately saw police just rushing to the scene within minutes, as one put it. now having heard the previous reports about a possible incident near the white house or the treasury, and then another incident near the grounds of the capitol, it sounds as if what they heard was the continuation of the chase. but they're not saying this. this is my speculation. they're not quite sure where the shots are coming from, but they're pointing in the direction of the capitol building. this is less than an hour after this occurred. the grandfather, grandson all here in louisville, kentucky, here on a break to show the son the nation's capitol. they were you calm, cool, and collected, they said that they felt safe. the police chief told us there was apparently no terrorism was involved. it was a tragic incident but not involving terrorism. and we now know that the houses of congress h

randall pinkston joins me now live, you were listening, it was fascinating in the sense that those of us that have been in town for a long time, know they do not talk about these things in open. >> truly fascinating. and they explained that what has happened in the past several months is that the threshold for discussing these kind of sensitive intelligence details has been lured because of the leak of all of that sensitive data by former nsa analyst edward snowden. but the bottom line here on both clapper and alexandar, the top intelligence chiefs of the u.s., the bottom line here is they say they are doing everything they are doing according to the law that they are not spying on any americans citizens without a court order. or for that matter one of them added not even spying on foreign citizen who is are not involved in any kind of terrorist investigation. and that they intend to continue to do what they are doing, because it saves lives not only in america, but as you just pointed out in europe as welt, where general clapper says the threat is much closer. >> and randall, there s

let's go live to randall pinkston. some republicans say she should lose our job. what are you hearing in washington? >> publicly the white house is defending secretary sebelius saying she has support of the president. and we are also reading that the president is rather steamed about this whole website crash affair. but at this juncture think about it, what it is the president's option. if he fires her, he has to get another secretary who has to go before the senate for confirmation and that would be another headache, so the best thing to do is to try to let her get it online and working. and the president doesn't have a reputation for throwing his cabinet members overboard when they get into a little jam. he sticks by them, and that is what is expected to happen for secretary sebelius. but the jury is still out on whether or not she and her department can get the problem fixed. >> randall i want to let our audience know, that when secretary sebelius begins to testimony, i may be somewhat rude and cut you off so we can hear that. >> of course. >> also there is a q

randall pinkston on today's nsa actwitchties, he joins us from washington, d.c. randall? >> reporter: john, two intelligence officials gave vigorous denials blaming part of the problem on a misinterpretation of leaked secret documents. they also gave a rare insight on details of america's intelligence techniques. >> confident and almost defiant, the top spy chiefs made no apologies. vigorously defending the job their agencies do to keep america and her allies safe. >> there has not been a mass casualty here in the u.s. since 2001. >> that's not by luck. they didn't stop hating us. they didn't say that they were going to just forgive this. they continue to try. >> the work of the national security agency is under fire because of revelations by former nsa analyst, edwin snowden. s scongressman james sense en brenner is expected to propose a new law, the freedom act, which would stop dragnet collection of phone calls of american citizens, place stronger restrictions on who is targeted and .a special advocate to the super secret fisa courts to protect privacy rights but direc

. >> let's turn now to randall pinkston, he is live for us, give us more details. more of the flavor of that hearing today. >> well, tony, rather than a grilling i'd have to say you would describe the appearance today by the top intelligence officials before the house committee as a love fest. the committee members defended their work, and complimented the work they had done in gathering intelligence, not only here in america but also abroad. the national director and the nsa director general keith alexandar focused on something called section 215, the information collection process that allows the scooping up of meta data, the phone calls and the text messages and the like, but they did not -- they say they were -- took special steps to make sure the content of that data was not revealed to anyone. i am totally opposed to what they tried to do, i think the nas is doing a outstanding job, and for us to tie its hands will cost american lives. >> now, that was not a general keith alexandar who said that meta data was under lock and key, that very few people had acces

. >> randall pinkston for us, thank you. >>> it is being called the last push for peace but it is proving to be a difficult sell. the friends of syria met in london hoping to bring the syrian opposition on board. al jazeera's barnaby phillips has more now from london. >> reporter: the foreign ministers who met in london call themselves the friends of syria, but they are certainly not friends of the syrian government, and they've longed struggled to find an opposition with whom to do business. william hague tried to reassure those who came to london. >> we include moderate armed groups represented by the syrian national coalition continue to need our strong collective backing. there can be no peaceful collective settlement in syria without participation of the moderate opposition. >> reporter: but speaking afterwards the leader of the syrian national coalition announced tough conditions if his group is even to attend talks in geneva. >> if the aim was to remove the criminal from power and the war criminals are tried, these are our true demands and where we stand and to build on these princ

. >> randall pinkston is live in washington this morning. good morning, randall. so, washington right now is preoccupied by the government shutdown. you mentioned this in your piece, that the real issue looming is the potential debt ceiling debate. put into context for us what a default would mean. >> as we just heard, there is no precedent for the u.s. government defaulting on its debt, so there is a lot of sun certainty. one thing wall street hates more than anything else is uncertainty. a default would create that hoar at home and around the world. on the plus side, people who guy government bonds don't have too many other places to go, even if america's deteriorating is dropped, it's still the strongest economy in the world, so there would be some ramifications, but mostly uncertainty and that's not a good thing. >> there are a lot of strategies floating around about what the president by himself could do if this debt ceiling debate does become a problem for him. one strategy is that the president in vokes the authority over the 14th amend. that would allow hi

. >> thanks so much, randall pinkston reporting from washington, live this morning. >> the governmenttdown is impacting millions of federal workers this morning and will affect almost every single american in ways big and small. aljazeera has that part of the story. good morning. >> good morning. it's not looking good. starting todd, 800,000 federal workers will be staying home from work. another 1 million employees will be asked to work without pay. before we get into that, let's start out with what does not change. social security payments will still go out on time. the same goes for unemployment checks, plus doctors and hospitals will still get paid by medicare and medicaid. the post office will keep delivering your male. at airports, air traffic controllers and security screeners will keep working. the f.b.i., border patrol and coast guard will stay on the job. as for soldiers, everyone active in the armed forces will remain on duty. late monday, president obama recorded a video message to members of the military, ensuring them they will be paid without delay. >> national security

we go live right now to washington and in a second we're going to talk to randall pinkston who is standing by live. >> we can pass those those savings on. >> welcome hugh jackman. >> having low prices drives traffic to our shores. >> please welcome john legend. >> which allow us to lower expenses and lower prices again. >> please welcome tom cruise. >> all around the globe, walmart is taking the lead and making a difference. >> the american dream has become a global concept. i think it's our country's best export. >> 2012 was a good year for walmart. but it was a bad year re# #a# #d# #y# ##fo# #r# ## >> after the tazreen fire, walmart announced that it had dropped success apparel as a supplier. we tried to speak to success' representative in bangladesh, but we found the company had closed down its office here. we also tried to interview the company's ceo, gila goodman, in new york but she refused to speak with us. kevin taxin was success' president at the time of the fire. he also refused to speak to us on camera. he now heads up another supplier called americo group. one of its clients...