you saw a hint from senator sherrod brown, the chaos inside the capitol. this all comes as the government shutdown plays out on capitol hill. tensions already high. political tensions, because of the ongoing struggles between republicans, democrats and the white house about what they're going to do to move past this shutdown. the american people caught in the middle. obviously no word on whether or not this person who might have rammed one of the gates to the white house did so because of tensions. all over this country about which party might be at fault for this. but clearly, this comes at a time of heightened tension on capitol hill. i want to bring in jeff zellany, you said you confirmed with your sources that they confirmed to you they heard the shots themselves. >> they did these three senators, they were eye witnesses to these shots. three senators, shaken but calm, describing this situation here. but i can report to you now, the government shutdown means the capitol is not nearly as crowded as it was before. but the capitol police have been in full

senator sherrod brown is an ohio democrat.enator, what do you make of your colleagues like rand paul, maybe you don't want to get personal, but they're out there saying don't worry. we're going to walk off the cliff like a cartoon character and just keep walking. "a," why are they saying it? "b," what's the danger of saying it now? >> why they're saying it, it's a political party or a dominant faction of a political party now that doesn't believe in climate change, doesn't believe the president's born in this country, doesn't believe in the promise of stem cell research. and now they're denying that going -- that not paying our bills, not doing the right thing as a nation is not a bad thing. i mean, they are so wrong on this. i've spent the last two or three days just calling business people in ohio. most of them republicans. i don't know their party in every case, but across the spectrum. a lot of bankers, business leaders, hospital administrators. what does all this mean to you? they're increasingly scared because they are i

. >> joining me now, democrat sherrod brown, democrat of ohio. do you feel like you were edified by today's house hearing? are you confident that congress and capitol hill are going to get to the bottom of this and get it sorted out? >> well, i don't think there was much interest in that hearing in getting to the bottom and sorting it out. look, first of all, there is far too much contracting out in this government. you can look at nsa, you can look at iraq, the privatization of far too much of the armed forces. you know, from foodservice to soldiers and you can look at contracting out here. the fact is, the administration, of course, should have been better prepared, but the opponent to obama care, the ones that shut the government down to get rid of it are now saying delay, delay, delay it. they're of course going to try to do that. in fact, the issue is the president and the white house and hhs have got to fix this. they've got to make it work. a million seniors in my state have already benefited from free checkups and screenings. 100,000 youn

and businesses and regions would put that behind him and start acting like we should. >> senator sherrod brown, thanks for your time. you know what else? we have the browns and bengals doing well right now? >> yeah. >> good time for ohio football. >> thanks. >> let's bring in rob cox, an old, old friend of the show. a lot of people will make a lot about this being the first woman to head the fed. that is extraordinarily important in terms of breaking glass ceilings and to young women in this country, but perhaps the way she will perform the job, this is going to be the first democrat to helm the fed in 30 years. >> i mean, not since tall paul have we had a democrat in that office. but janet yellen is eminently qualified. s it is incredibly important she is the first female, but she's not in that position because she's a woman. she's incredibly qualified and she's the right person for the job. in so many ways, one of them is i look at it, she's been part of the policy that we now have, bernanke's policy, she kind of owns it. it's a good thing to have someone in there who kind of owns it. i know

. >> ifill: senators sherrod brown of ohio and bob casey of pennsylvania were also outside. >> we heardhing. >> about how many shots? >> five or six but there must have been some before because the police cars-- because bob first said, "why are all these police cars..." >> they were already there. >> first, we thought it was like a motorcade but it wasn't apparently. >> ifill: inside the capitol building, people were told to shelter in place, many in the dark, as the situation outside remained active. a park police helicopter hovered near the capitol dome, after police called for help. less than an hour after it began, the all clear was

let's bring in senator sherrod brown of ohio. i appreciate it, congressman, for joining us tonight.enator, what's the latest out of the senate at this hour? >> when america woke up this morning, they saw harry reid and mitch mcconnell, the leaders of the democratic and republican caucus conference in the senate come together on an agreement. and it looks -- they were very close to that agreement. john boehner then let it be known that he wasn't happy with it, and those negotiations, while they're still -- still in the works, but it's delayed it a bit. we're still hopeful that senator mcconnell, senator reid, it come together, we can vote on something tonight or tomorrow morning, get it to the house. but ultimately, it rests with speaker boehner. he's got to decide, as congressm congressman van hollen said, he's got to decide is he peeker of the far right republican right wing or speaker of the united states of america? >> mitch mcconnell stalled today. can you trust the guy? here all of a sudden boehner comes up with a proposal, and then mcconnell takes a step back from all of this

we're trying to get reaction sherrod brown and getting describes what they saw and heard outside. >> we thought we heard shots so a lot of police cars, and then we heard shots. then the police told us to go back. we were simply walking back to our office. >> we heard shots. >> i heard three. >> we heard, three, four, five pops, probably. then the police--we were just walking. we were in the grassy area where people park, and then we were told to get back and get behind a car. >> i want to get back to mike viqueira. you said something interesting about how this all ended. and there was probably at least one certainly more than one, but at least one important security question that you think medes to be asked and answered. >> well, i think it will be asked, and i don't doubt there is a perfectly good explanation. in the wake of 9/11 a protocal was initiated--there is this friction between capitol police and leadership and membership of congress. many rank and fire members think that the area should be opened to pedestrians. people should be able to come and go as they please. that driv

. >>> joining me now is senator sherrod brown, democratic senator from ohio, and senator, you have been a strong advocate for the social programs that have been so important to the middle class people of this country, and important to the tea party caucus and john boehner and your republican colleagues. what is your reaction to the injection of entitlement reform on the conversation of the pending debt reform and debt ceiling? >> they're willing to do almost anything to privatize social security, to privatize medicare, cut social security, privatize medicare. i just heard about the demand to raise the retirement age. i was in youngstown not long ago, one woman said i'm 63 years old, i work two jobs, i don't have health insurance, my goal is just to stay alive until i'm 65. your goal is just to stay alive until you can get health insurance. for these people, i said to you before, chris, abraham lincoln said i have to go out to get the public opinion polls, listen to people. people like paul ryan, the number of senators that are advocating raising the retirement age, the eligibility age f

ohio senator sherrod brown is also speaking out about the dangers of the deal.s what he told me back in september. >> the congress and administrations of both parties don't seem to have learned much about trade when it was nafta, when it was pntr, with china, a host of smaller countries and then it was kafta and each time promised jobs and each time our trade deficit grows. i'm as concerned as you are where a company can sue -- a company has a right to sue another country, to actually sue the government of another country. that undermines all kinds of democratically attained health and safety rules and regulations. >> and senator brown from ohio is totally correct. about u.s. sovereignty. this is where the tea party should be alarmed. according to a leaked document, foreign corporations within the united states would be permitted to appeal key american legal rulings to an international tribunal. holy smokes, michele bachmann, where are you? a number of unions have come out against the deal, including the communication workers of america, and the afl-cio. cwa pre

. >> ifill: senators sherrod brown of ohio and bob casey of pennsylvania were also outside. >> we heardething. >> about how many shots? >> five or six but there must have been some before because the police cars-- because bob first said, "why are all these police cars..." >> they were already there. >> first, we thought it was like a motorcade but it wasn't apparently. >> ifill: inside the capitol building, people were told to shelter in place, many in the dark, as the situation outside remained active. a park police helicopter hovered near the capitol dome, after police called for help. less than an hour after it began, the all clear was sounded, people were cleared to leave the building, and the house went back into session. todd zwillich is a reporter for wnyc and public radio international's "the takeaway." he was on capitol hill today and is there with us tonight. todd, where were you when all that unfolded? >> i was indoors in the senate press gallery covering the government shutdown and having bit of a lull in the afternoon because negotiations had been at a standstill. then word

to bring back in senator johnny isaacson, republican from georgia and we are joined by senator sherrod brownrom ohio. this is such a moving target. you met with the white house, the president at the white house yesterday. you, this morning. what did president obama have to say about where this ultimately is going to end up? >> first of all, we have gone from not talking to each other at all a week ago to where everybody's talking. the meeting this morning was substantive and helpful. the president laid out somewhat-if possibilities. we laid out some what-if possibilities. at least the beginning of the process of getting to a deal has begun. we're a long way from being there, but at least we've begun the process. >> is it still important to you, senator brown, that the first part of any deal is lift the debt ceiling and open the government? >> i spent much of this week and i know johnny does the same kind of thing in georgia, calling bankers, calling people running big research institutes in ohio, research facilities, calling hospital administrators, business people, just to see what's happen

senator sherrod brown, thank you so much. >>> and joining me now, white house correspondent kristen welker, kristin, will this be wrapped up? >> reporter: well, it certainly looks that way. the white house is certainly feeling o in ing optimistic. they undrged congress to act swiftly to end the government shutdown, they're essentially calling on the house to follow suit. as you just pointed out the bill is expected to pass the senate. i think the white house likes its chances right now. house speaker john boehner earli earlier capitulated, he said we fought the good fight, he believed he had enough votes to get through the house. chris, this is not over until it is over, you noticed president obama has been in the background for the past several days. we haven't seen or heard from him much, because he wants to let this political process play out, allowing the political pressure to build up on republicans. the white house officials thought they would blink, that is essentially what happened. the white house got what they wanted out of this deal. the government will reopen, the debt ceiling

because of redistricting in ohio, president obama one ohio, sherrod brown one ohio, and the democratic congressional candidates won almost one million more votes, but it is 12-4 republicans versus democrats because of redistricting, so those notionns are forced to -- those republicans are forced to appeal to a conservative base and republicans like mike are left high and dry because pragmatists are now forced to be extreme and we are getting extreme government. it is not good for anyone, and it is especially bad for the country. dynamics, areose you actually optimistic we will see an agreement, given we are hours away from october 17, the self-imposed deadline? guest: i am cautiously optimistic that at the end of the day when we are faced with default theme and sending a signal to the entire world confirming what fitch said about a possible lowering of our rating that at the end of the day we will come together, and i think the next question is what happens to speaker john weiner in that process -- john boehner in that process. if he has to courage, it will strengthen the silent majori

what's happened in ohio is because of redistricting, we had president obama won ohio, sherrod brown oneo. a democrat congressional candidate won almost 1 million more votes than republican congressional candidate, but it's 12-4 republicans versus democrats in the congressional delegation because of redistricting. so those republicans are forced to appeal to a very, very conservative base. and i think moderates and independents like mike are really left out to dry because they want to solve the problem and the traditional pragmatist that come out of ohio unlike john boehner, are now forced to be extreme. we're getting extreme government and it's not good for anybody. it's especially bad for the country. >> host: are you aptly optimistic that we will see an agreement today, kevin we are hours away from october 17, the self-imposed deadline? >> guest: i am cautiously optimistic, i am, that at the end of the day when we are faced with defaulting and sending a signal to the entire world confirming what fitch said about a possible lowering of our rating, that at the end of the day we will com

the democratic senator, sherrod brown of ohio was outside the capitol yesterday during that incident. he's joining me from capitol hill. senator, great to see you. thank you for joining me. >> thanks. good to be here. >> a scary afternoon for so many in washington and capitol hill. you were closer to the action than most. what did you see? >> i was walking just from the capitol towards the office buildings with senator casey from pennsylvania and senator murphy from oregon. we saw a number of police drive by. that's not that unusual with motorcades in that part of washington and then -- we noticed there were a lot more cars driving faster and we looked ahead, maybe 7,500 feet and saw people drop to the ground and we heard several pops. several gunshots. what happens is police tell you to go the other way, get behind cars, drop down, whatever. the plus rush towards the danger. that's what they do and that's, you know, why we respect people that do that for a living. >> absolutely. i'm sure, i want to know when you heard shots what went through your mind? i know you were on capitol hil