tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> all right, tracie potts, thank you very much, i guess, for the update. gee, tough going. >>> tough going too, the fog. day two of this stuff out there. >> really. thick pockets. you know what? it is going to keep temperatures much cooler in some parts of the bay area than what we are expecting for you inland. all your inland valleys this morning filled in with those dense, low clouds. you have a rain layer at about 1,000 feet this morning. that's a pretty deep marine layer. it is going to take some time to burn off once the sun comes out. it is one of those days where you are going to be able to see the sunshine from the mountains. see that thick, low cloud as it hovers at 1,000 feet. thanks for waking up with us on a wednesday morning. we want to get you closer to that weekend. the weather looks good for your outdoor plans this weekend. across the bay area, that time of year where it is really nice. we have chilly mornings to get through. thick pockets of fog. that will be the case until about noon. overall, looking really good. we saw that cloc

. >> nbc's tracie potts is live in washington with the latest on all this. good morning. so this deal is short term. break it down for us. >> reporter: well, what the deal entails is extending the budget so we can get the government running again and get people back to work as of this morning. let's take a look at the details. the budget would be extended through the middle of january, january 15th. and the borrowing authority that was a midnight deadline last night to extend the debt ceiling so we could borrow more money, that is extended through february 7, although the treasury department may be able to extend it a little bit further by prioritizing bills if in fact there is no agreement. the bill also says that furloughed workers get backpay as soon as practicable. so they will be getting a check at some point and it calls on a congressional agreement for long term budget. that plan has to be in by december 13. notably missing, any major changes to health care. that's what conservatives held out for. there is a provision that says the government has to verify the inco

. >> nbc's tracie potts is live in washington, watching all of that swirling around the capitol. good morning to you, tracie. another blemish to our nation's economy in the works right now. tell us about that. >> if we go over this cliff and don't have enough cash on hand to pay our bills, one of the big credit ratings agencies, fitch, has said they will look at downgrading our aaa credit rating and that could make a huge impact on things like interest rates for ordinary americans. that's something we're watching very closely. you heard harry reid there and that the senate may come to some agreement. but in the house, those tea partiers who insist on dealing with health care not after the fact, not after people come back to work, not after we avoid this midnight deadline, but first. upfront. they simply don't think it's fair they simply don't think it's working. richard? >> tracie potts, thank you so much. we'll continue to watch that on nbc news here. >>> two girls are charged with cyber bullying that turned deadly. police say 12-year-old rebecca sedwick just couldn't take anymor

i'm tracie potts, back to you. >> tracie, question for you. the health care exchanges went into effect this morning. if that is a sticking point on all of this, how do we move forward knowing that's already happened and already rolling? >> reporter: that's a good question, aaron. what we're going to need to see is some disconnect here with both sides really sort of digging in on that issue. democrats are refusing to roll back on it at all. republicans insisting that it's not working and that's why we need to take another look at it. the question becomes can they at least have some sort of temporary budget to get people back to work while they work this out? at this hour, we just don't know. >> all right. tracie potts on capitol hill for us. thank you, tracie. >>> this morning all 33,000 d.c. city employees will report to work. d.c. mayor vincent gray declared all city workers essential personnel. all emergency services in the district including 911 service will operate as normal. the trash will be picked up as well. d.c. parking rules will be

. >> nbc's tracie potts is live in washington with the very latest on all of this. good morning. so just what are you hearing about reports that one major u.s. credit agency could downgrade the nation's credit rating? >> well, apparently those reporting are true that fitch is considering putting the u.s. on a negative watch, it doesn't mean we'll be automatically down graded. and it's not really related to the health of our economy. it's related to this political impasse over how we go forward from here. now, you heard harry reid sounding optimistic about coming up with a solution, but keep in mind harry reid and his democrats in the senate are only half of the solution. where things really fell apart here were in the house of representatives where tea party conservatives simply insist they he are not going along with anything up health care is on the table, until health care is dealt with.e are not going alon anything up health care is on the table, until health care is dealt with.are not going along anything up health care is on the table, until health care is dealt with. so wh

tracie potts live in washington. good morning. the impacts are far and wide. so much, that president obama is shortening his upcoming trip to asia? >> exactly. we learned this morning from the white house that they can't get the people in place for the back half of that trip as a result of the shutdown. the president has called the heads of malaysia and the philippines and said, i'm sorry, i won't be there. he will be here, dealing with this shutdown and is now blaming tea party republicans for the shutdown. tea partiers insist most of the americans don't even notice the shutdown. >> they'll get their social security check. >> reporter: around the country, mothers and children have lost food assistance, some head start centers closed. cdc is no longer monitoring flu. hawaii is losing $50,000 a day because the uss arizona is closed. >> we cannot go in. it's just a big disappointment. >> reporter: the commentary is closing its naval shipyard. workers are getting rid of perishable food. >> even for hurricanes and tsunamis, i've never seen it this bad. >> reporter

nbc's tracie potts is in washington. good morning to you, is it a little bit less chilly there, would you say, might it get a little bit warmer over the weekend? what's your thoughts. >> reporter: maybe a degree or two. the number two in the republican conference did suggest they would want to bring this to an end by monday. but we don't know yet what the clear path to that will be. republicans offered to raise the debt ceiling and take several weeks to negotiate on the budget. but senate democrats rejected that, saying the government has to be open first. but the white house did seem open to discussions. bottom line. both sides say they want the shutdown to end. >> it's gone on too long, we hope the president will choose negotiation over crisis. leadership over inaction and dialogue over silence. >> what we want to do is offer to the president today, the ability to move, a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, an agreement to go to conference for the budget for his willingness to discuss with us. >> so here's what you

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> we'll find out. you. >> fingers crossed tight for all of us. >>> 4:42. still ahead, make sure to mark those calendars. we now know when twitter is expected to go public. >>> apple is one major step closer to landing its new spaceship in cupertino. the last hurdle it needs to clear coming up >>> a famous actor detained by police at a bar station. we'll show you what he tried to get away with and who came to bail him out. that's coming up next they say no good deed goes unpunished. and some days it seems true. but we keep on doing the things that matter& like buying new raspberry 5 hour energy. from now to the end of the year, a portion of each sale... benefits living beyond breast cancer, to empower women affected by breast cancer. new raspberry 5 hour energy. it's one good deed that will go just right. >>> 4:45. mountain view is celebrating with samsung. construction will begin on a 385,000 square foot office campus south of moffett field. samsung says the new buildings will be some of the greenest i

tracie potts is live in washington for us. good morning to you. what are democratic and republican responses to ryan's statement there? >> they want a budget agreement, too. it's all the caveat about how to get to that that's preventing progress here. you heard it from john boehner. you heard it from the president the latest is that the house is trying to form a working committee to try to come to some negotiation. democrats say no negotiating until people go back to work. of course, all of this running into the deadline for the debt ceiling and economists are very concerned about the impact of that. >> it will cause a sharp contraction in the amount of money the government is paying out to private sector contractors to defense, to social security recipients. the contraction are as high as 16% for the quarter, which is about double the worst of the great recession. >> senate democrats are working on this to come up with a plan to try to avert that, clean debt ceiling, raising of the debt ceiling. they think despite opposition, they can vote on tha

tracie potts is live in washington with all of the details. >> reporter: good morning. in the poll, the president's approval rating is at an all-time low. it's he at 42% compared to 51% now disapprove of how the president is doing his job. and take a look at how that has changed over time. going back to january, the beginning of his second term, he was at 52%. then we had the irs scandal and the benghazi hearing. it dropped a bit. by june, the nsa leaks came out. edward snowden was leaking information about america's secrets. his approval rating dropped again. and then by september with the president's critics saying he was indecisive on syria, we saw it drop down to 45% and now 42%. interestingly, the president's likability until now has held up, but for the first time that's upside down, as well, with 41% looking at him positively compared to more, 45%, seeing him in a negative light. and a lot of this now has to do with this troubled website. what about obama care, how do americans feel about it? 37% say it's a good idea, but more now, 47%, think it's a bad idea. rep

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >>> the government shutdown is affecting middle school students in the north bay. the students not happy about it. >> the students were ready to go on a camping trip yesterday. after months of planning, the trip is off for the kids and the 20 adults that planned to help. parents, teachers and students are frustrated. >> i was sad. i really liked the trip last year. i wanted to go this year as sixth graders. we get to cook more. >> i was infuriated. it was so frustrating that our government can't do its job. that's sort of the feeling i had. >> teachers now have enough food for 80 people for four days. they will be cooking it up at school taking the kids on local outdoor adventures to make up for the canceled camping trip. >>> we all know this place. actually, a place that is famous for being hard to get out of. because of the shutdown this morning, a lot of people won't be able to get in, alcatraz. visitors had to be turned away. one of the national parks had to be shut down. the private tour company, they did offer refunds or exchanges for a 90-minu

tracie potts. >> reporter: they will call them unacceptable but insist obama care itself is working. the government is bringing in more tech experts to fix the website. >> it has to be fix it. >> reporter: the website to sign up for health insurance as received 19 million visitors with nearly half a million applications. >> 19 million people. unique vehicisits. >> reporter: but republicans say without knowing how many have actually been able to enroll, those numbers are worthless. >> they've had three or four years here to get this ready. god only knows how much money they've spent and it's a failure. >> send air force out to silicon valley. load it up with some smart people. bring them back to washington and fix the problem. >> reporter: president obama's team hit the road in coming week, big push to get people to sign up but republicans who failed to get big changes in the government shutdown deal haven't given up. >> i would do anything and i will continue to do anything i can to stop the train wreck that is obama care. >> reporter: his republican colleagues in the house, they've

nbc's tracie potts has the latest overnight. >> reporter: starting this morning national parks are closed. political trials on hold. social security payments possibly delayed. food inspections scaled back. and many head start preschools shut down. lawmakers left capitol hill early this morning thoroughly frustrated. >> this is ridiculous. >> we are back to square one. >> john boehner named eight people to negotiate a plan to re-open the government. >> i would hope that the senate would accept our offer to discuss this so we can resolve this with the american people. >> reporter: president obama had a midnight message for u.s. troops. they'll get paid, but civilians face furloughs. >> you and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in congress. >> reporter: democrats and republicans are at odds whether to put the brakes on the affordable care act. sign-ups start today. as 800,000 federal workers show up to close their offices. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> thank you, tracie. >>> now we turn to nbc news political reporter casey hunt. we got to talk about this

. >>> nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more. tracie, good morning. what are we hearing about reports that one major u.s. credit agency could downgrade the nation's credit rating? >> reporter: well, apparently those reports are true, mara, that fitch is considering putting the u.s. on a negative watch. it doesn't mean we'll be automatically downgraded and it's not really related to the health of our economy. it's related to this political impasse over how we go forward from here. now, you heard harry reid soundingoptimistic about coming up with a solution, but keep in mind harry reid and his democrats in the senate are only half of the solution where things really fell apart here were in the house of representatives where tea party conservatives simply insist they are not going along with anything until health care is on the table, until health care is dealt with and that's where this whole thing seems to have fallen apart. so where do we go from here? it's possible that the senate could come up with something last minute and pass it and when it gets

tracie potts is live with more. >> reporter: how do you get hundreds of thousands of people back to work? there is a new strategy on capitol hill today but it's not clear if it's actually going to get people back to work. here is what's happening. three votes to get certain parts of the government running again including veterans' benefits, the national parks and museums and the city of washington, d.c., that funding is included as well. they tried it last night. it failed. now it's being brought up with different rules in the house with only a simple ma swrort. there is a fairly good chance based on last night's votes this could pass. the problem is it will face pushback with democrats in the senate. democrats along with the white house are against this. president obama has promised to veto a partial government reopening. it's all or nothing, get everyone back to work is their mant mantra. democrats pushed back and that's why it failed this in the house. we expect similar results in the senate today. we'll have to wait and see. that's the new strategy, just unclear at this point whether

tracie potts, she has the latest from washington. >> reporter: inside the white house just before the midnight deadline relief. >> we'll begin reopening our government immediately. >> reporter: president obama signed the deal after every democrat and 87 republicans including speaker john boehner, approved it. >> on this vote the yeas 285 t nays 144. the motion is adopted. >> it was a fool's errand and that's why some of us became so angry. >> it's time to restore some sanity to this place. >> reporter: this deal funds the government through january 15, extends credit through february 7, or a little longer, and requires negotiators to report on a more permanent deal by december 13. >> tomorrow we can go to the negotiating table to debate a budget, to create jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, that four-letter word. >> in the end conservatives gave up their fight. >> this is a terrible deal. >> reporter: it's not over. >> we're coming back early next week and we can continue to fight the good fight for the republican cause, for the conservative cause. >> reporter: 16 days with government's doors cl

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> it was quite the scene. >> 4:52. big day for the a's. while the team hits the field tonight there is a crucial court decision to attempt to get the team to move. >>> welcome back everybody on a friday morning. giving you a live look outside at the coliseum. a day for the a's both on and off the field. the on field activities. the a's start their playoff run tonight at home against the detroit tigers. both holding final workouts. bartolo colon won 18 games this year, and he will take the hill for the a's, squaring off against the tigers max scherzer. the five-game series already sold out. the first pitch tonight set for 6:37 so set your alarms. game 2 tomorrow at the coliseum. >> 4:55. off the field the bat tool move the a's to san jose heads to federal court. major league baseball trying to get the suit dismissed. claiming the league and the commissioner are illegally impeding a possible move by the team. lawyers for san jose say the case should go to trial. pointing out the league's antitrust exemption applies to players with labor issu

in washington, tracie potts, nbc news. >> as always appreciated. >> 4:21. still ahead our investigative unit digs into the legal troubles around 49ers star aldon smith. we'll have the new concerns raised and how soon fans can expect to see him back on the field. >>> continuing coverage let's check in with mike inouye. he's got the latest on the conditions right now. this is the time to get outside. >> yes. definitely because friday and as we expect today probably 5:30 when we're going to see a lot of folks on the road. right now we're looking at oakland. if you had not heard the b.a.r.t. strike going. we have some buses and ferry service but that was nothing as far as relieving the friday commute and today's monday. looking toward oakland. a smooth drive right now. on the sensors we don't see a lot of slowing. this is one of the first spots we're going to see something worse than yellow. you are about 60 miles per hour for north 880. 580 going to be packed and the east bay. this part of the map that's the heavily impacted. for the most part. then as it ripp

>>> tracie potts live on capitol hill for us. thank you. stay with news 4 throughout the government shutdown. we'll keep you up to speed until the crisis is resolved. head to nbcwashington.com to get answers to some of the questions you may have. >>> 4:34. secretary of state john kerry is defending the cam tour of a suspected al qaeda operative in libya. the libyan government calls it a kidnapping. he says anas al libi was a legal d appropriate target. he says he'll get a fair trial. they say al libi was involved in the bombings of american embassies in tanzania and kenya. kerry is commending bashar al assad for destroying some of his chemical weapons. he says assad deserves credit for complying with a resolution calling for the weapons to be destroyed. this is the team of u.n. inspectors making sure the weapons are dismantled. kerry says assad isn't off the hook yet, but he calls the progress so far a good beginning. >>> more than 50 demonstrators died in violent clashes with security forces and others in egypt. supporters of ousted egypti

scott. >> tracie potts live in washington.thank you much this morning. >> new details on that explosion that caused delays at l.a.x., this morning it is business as usual. several flights were delayed after reports of an explosion in an employee bathroom. officials found evidence of a plastic bottle with dry ice. that a chemical reaction caused the blast. screening was temporarily halted but as police investigated the area no. one was hurt no no. arrests have been made. >> 6:32. looks like a beautiful day ahead. >> good morning. check throughout sunrise. isn't this pretty over the bay bridge. gorgeous start to the day. a few ripples out on the bay because we do have winds moving in and they are starting to pick up. right at the coast, offshore flow. a clear coastline. 43 degrees, in napa now, as 40 degrees it's chilly out there. bundle up even at 50 in san jose expected to fall for the next hour, hour and a half as we head throughout the next time period. our hour 1/2. by this afternoon beautiful rebound, 2 to 3 warmer than ye

tracie potts, wbal-tv 11 news. >> marylanders can start signing up for insurance under the affordable act today. funding for the health care reform act is already secured. but maryland is feeling the effects of the shut down elsewhere. fort meade will be open. military personnel will still report and they will still get paid because of an order the president signed yesterday. national parks like fort mchenry will be closed. >> we are making phone calls to any groups who might have reservations. >> officials say each day the shutdown translates to $5 million in lost state revenue. we are taking a close look at the top 12 real impacts of the shutdown on our website. we will explain how it affects you on our homepage and on our mobile app. remember some new driving laws take effect today. kim dacey joins us live to explain. good morning. >> good morning. as of today, you can be pulled over just for using a hand-held cell phone while driving. also for not wearing a seatbelt, even if you are not behind the wheel of a car. many people rely on drive time to stay on top of things at work . st

. >> we get the latest from tracie potts. >> good morning.e operating with a skeleton crew of this morning. president obama maybe canceling his asian trip next week. he is blaming the tea party. insist most americans do not notice the shutdown. mothers and children have lost food assistance. the cdc is no longer monitoring flus. hawaii is losing $50,000 a day because the uss arizona is closed. the commissary is closing at the pearl harbor navy shipyard. >> even for hurricanes or tsunamis, i have never seen it so bad. >> that is money out of their pockets. >> with national parks close, this class had to cancel their camping trip. >> i was sad because i like the trip last year. >> the joint resolution is not agreed to. >> votes are scheduled again today to fund washington, dc. democrats insist they will not do it piecemeal. president obama blames t

. >> nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. can lawmakers reach a deal in the next few days, that is the question. >> it is a question. chuck talked about path one, two and three. with the government still in shut join, no one really wants to see that. here's where we are right now, with failed negotiations between house republicans and president obama, over the weekend, the senate took over. s there a small group of senators, six republicans and six democrats trying to hammer something out, as chuck ted, the least on a temporary basis to buy some time to negotiate. but avoid this debt ceiling deadline on thursday. those involved think that it is likely they'll come up with something, but there's still a lot of skepticism. >> if we had engaged in this negotiation, the budget conference and there was an impasse, i'd say, well, there's fault on both sides. republicans and the senate would not allow us to go to even a budget conference to debate the issues for six months. >> the greatest act of bipartisanship over the last few dec

tracie potts is live with the latest. are things looking good for a deal in the next 48 hours? >> reporter: it is possible and maybe even probable now that a small working group seems to come up with a deal that will get people back to work and allow the government to borrow money to pay its bills through january. in exchange for that a delay in the medical tax. i think the senate will get a look at it in caucus meetings today. it also needs to pass republicans in the house. they are waiting to see what the senate has come up with. some lawmakers say the polls of how american public feels about this have had a huge impact. >> the only way we get the republicans to the table is if the national polls showed they were way out of step with the american people and thank goodness the american people are weighing in. >> reporter: in fact, that is what many of the polls including our own have shown. now it looks like there is a bit of progress with two days to go before the deadline. >> right down to the wire. >>> a massive earthquake has struck the philippines killing at least 20 peop

tracie potts is live in washington with the latest on this. tracie, any more clues this morning? >> not specifically. that's really what investigators want to look into. her family is talking. one of her former bosses is talking. what we're learning about her doesn't necessarily connect to why this happened. >> this does not appear to be in any way an accident. >> that's all we know about the 34-year-old woman rammed a barrier near the white house with her child in the car, hit an officer, and then took off speeding toward the capital. police cornered her at one point but schett away. she later crashed near a senate office building. she was killed. authorities learned later she had no gun. >> i hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. >> four or five quick ones. >> there was momentary chaos near the capital where lawmakers were in session. investigators say she had mental issues. police searched her home in connecticut. a former boss said she was a loner. >> she didn't want to have a personal relationship with anybody in the office. she was somebody who came in, did her job and left. >

tracie potts has more with what we are expected to hear the president say. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're expecting the president to take this head on and say that it's unacceptable that after months of preparing, they weren't ready for the millions who tried to log on. the capacity was not there. the site crashed and they never have gotten it back to the point where most of those people can log on and get health insurance. now several weeks into this roll-out. the president will have with him providers and patients and which is owners who support the health law, his argument will be just because we had really bad technical glitches at the beginning let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. keep the program that works or will work for many americans. here on capitol hill republicans aren't buying it saying this is another example of why what they like to call obama care is not working. looking that the by the numbers, 19 million people individual users have tried to log on, less than half a million have been able to apply. we won't fi

nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington. tracie, good morning, what is the holdup. >> reporter: the big question is if there are enough votes. the house republican leadership insists that the votes that you heard simply are not there. not only "the washington post" but our own nbc analysis shows that the votes are likely there. 22 of moderate republicans who said yes i will vote for a clean budget, a c.r., as they call it here in washington, to get this process moving and to get rid of the government shutdown. that would give the 217 votes to pass it. that's why you're seeing pressure on john boehner to call for that vote. the problem he's got, the conservatives in his party who say they control a third of the votes in this country, represent a third of the votes in this country and absolute will will not back down with dealing with health care. they want to see it go away. >> tracie, nice to see you. >>> now to more charges and new details on that high speed motorcycle chase in new york city. 34-year-old reginald chance is t

tracie potts is live in washington for us this morning. my question is, is everyone else on board with what paul ryan wants? >> reporter: ryan says he wants a budget. that is what everyone wants. the issue is what are the sides willing to give up to get that. you heard it from john boehner. you heard it from the president and from senate democrats. the latest offer is a conference committee, a working group from both parties that would get together and try to negotiate it. democrats say not while people are out of work. that is not negotiating in good faith. so that is likely to go nowhere in the senate. no one wanted to see this move towards the debt ceiling. here is what one economist says about what can happen if we hit the debt limit. >> it will cause a sharp contraction in the amount of money to private sector contractors helping defense, social security recipients. the contraction are as high as 16% for the quarter which is about double the worst of the great recession. >> we are in the second week of the shutdown, no agreement, no n

tracie potts has been monitoring the hearing. she joins us live with an update now. tracie? >> reporter: we are watching that right now. she talks about how much money she spent on this website not working $174 million on the site and i.d. to support the site and get it working for millions of americans that need health insurance. earlier in an opening statement, and, by the way, she went off script. she didn't really talk about what she said she was going to talk about in an eight-page prepared statement. in a shorter version, she did apologize we didn't see that in an earlier statement. i apologize. i am accountable to you for fixing these problems. she talked about the improvement that they have made. she said that health care.gov can now accommodate 17,000 people signing up for accounts. what she has yet to say is how many people have actually successfully been able to use this site so far. the government has said they are not going to release those numbers or they are not going to have those numbers until the middle of november. we watch now as she is grilled not just a

nbc's tracie potts is in washington for us. tracie, good morning to you. here's a hearing on capitol hill today. what might we learn? >> reporter: well, the hearing is going to solve some of the top administration officials on intelligence. the director of national intelligence, james clapper, the head of the nsa, the national security agency, general keith alexander and others who lawmakers want to ask, how extensive are these surveillance programs? why are they necessary? and particularly as we've learned of late, why are we tapping cell phones and other conversations of our allies, of world leaders like angela merkel, the german chancellor. the germans are really upset about this. they're calling for an investigation. even some democrats are saying it's over the top to tap cell phones of our allies like senator dianne feinstein. her senate intelligence committee may also be looking into this. in a statement, she said "with respect to nsa collection of intelligence on leaders of u.s. al allies, let me state unequivocally, i am totally opposed. i do not b

tracie potts live in washington. the post is reporting president obama is canceling a trip to asia? >> reporter: that is what they are reporting. we are trying to confirm that this morning. clearly this has consumed the white house. this along with the rollout of the affordable care act has consumed president obama's time. it is essentially the sole focus at this point. here on capitol hill there are efforts to try to get the government running again but not in a format that democrats plan to accept. last night there were votes to get pieces of the government back on track, veteran services, the city of washington, d.c. which is federally funded and a few other things that republicans voted on but those votes did not pass. they are going to try to again today with a new rule to pass it with a simple majority. it is probably not going past the senate. democrats say it is all or nothing. we are not going to pick out certainer parts where people can come back to work. epenitentiarial epenitentiarially -- essentially what all of that means, grid lock. >>> and the government shutdown cou

nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington. tracie, good morning to you. folks wondering what's next and when. >> reporter: right. and when are they going to fix this? they're throwing everything at it they can, including outside experts. the latest from the white house is that they really don't know when this site will be fully functional. despite a slew of tech experts working 24/7, the obama administration's website to sign up for health insurance is still jammed. >> a lot of people are calling, well, we've tried this and keep getting error messages. >> there's no sugar coating it. the website has been too slow. >> reporter: president obama promises a fix, but the white house has no idea when. a spokesman hinted that the government may be flexible but would not say for sure if people who cannot sign up will still be penalized. >> the law is clear if you do not have access to affordable health insurance, then you will not be asked to pay a penalty because you haven't purchased affordable health insurance. >> they need to enroll by the middle of february

tra tracie potts is live on capitol hill now with more on this. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: there's a new strategy to get certain parts of the government running again like our national parks and museums, certain veterans benefits and money for the city of d.c., for the district. that was voted on last night, but it failed. today reapians are going to bring it back under a new rule, a different rule, that would allow a simple majority only, li likely to face a pushback from democrats in the senate even if they do get that passed today, the president is blaming the tea party for all of this. >> the shutdown is not about deficits or budgets, this is about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don't have it. >> we want fairs this. we want fairness for all americans. we want a budget agreement that gets the debt under control. we want to grow the economy and that's what we're here to do. >> reporter: republican aides say they thought the votes would pass yesterday, the votes last night, for particular parts of the gov

tracie potts is live on capitol hill. she has new details from overnight. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. overnight we learned that after a 6-hour capture the prime minister was freed. he tweeted that he was fine, thank god he said, and that if the point of this operation was to get him to resign, he does not plan to resign. ali zeidan had been under investigation for bribery and corrupti corruption. while we unusually thought this capture initially described as abduction or kidnapping, at first we thought it may have something to do with the raid, the u.s. raid over the weekend that capture add top al qaeda operative. it looks like it was not terror related. it was former rebel groups that loosely work with the libyan government on security who had political differences with the prime minister. but he is back, he has been freed. and now emergency meetings are capping with the cabinet to get a sense of what the situation is there now after the prime minister was returned. >> tracie potts, appreciate the update as always. >>> it's 5:43. the secretar

tracie potts, thank you very much. >>> today, officials in alameda releasing more information about the discovery of more than a dozen seniors found without adequate care at a castro valley nursing home. removing 14 elderly patients from the valley spring manor care facility. the patients have been left there with only three staff members for two days. the rest of plothe employees le after they shut down that facility. the facility was dirt. the facility's owner and attorneys say his client does not agree with the state's finding. the facility was, in fact, properly staffed. in the meantime, an advocate for the elderly suing the state for putting the elderly at risk. the sacramento bee reporting that the suit filed by the sacramento-based foundation, aiding the elderly, accused state regulators for taking months, sometimes years to complete investigation of other long-term care facilities. the lawsuit names the state's department of health and two top administrators. the department says it cannot comment on pending litigation. >>> the warriors are returning to the hard core ready for an

tracie potts, thank you very much. >>> it is 5:42. now, a preview of an exclusive investigative unit report. >>> drivers under the influence, not because of alcohol. our investigative unit found drugs from prescriptions to illegal nar cocotics impairing those behind the wheel. drugs can affect your ability to drive. identifying what kind and level of impairment is challenging. some police departments are training officers as drug recognition experts to identify and get the dangers off the road. >> when there was the drug issue brought up, it was, this wasn't an accident. this could have been prevented. it is such a risk to do that and then go out on the road. and rip people's families apart. >> tonight at 11:00, our investigative unit has a powerful video that has the story of a young mother hit by a drugged driver and left caught between the balance of life and death. her story and more about how law enforcement and district attorneys are working together to get drugged drivers off the road. >>> if you have a tip for our investigativ

is>>> tracie potts, thank you. >>> some d.c.its are hurting because of the government shutdown as well. they're furloughing work eers a cutting services because had he are the not getting funding. they include the latin american youth center in columbia heights and the health facility in adams morgan. today a longtime youth basketball coach is expected in court. a bond review hearing this morning. malone used to coach the d.c. assault program. in august he was charged with possession and intent to sell heroin and cocaine. the drug enforcement investigating malone for about a year. if convicted he could get 40 years in prison. this morning a carjacking victim is sharing her story with news 4. the incident started monday when a woman was sitting in the front seat outside a home along biltmore. the maryland woman says she was looking at her phone when someone yanked the door open. >> he just pulled my arm and said get out of the car. and right then i just panicked. i started screaming and i was honking the horn. >> yesterday her bm

tracie potts joins us with the latest. just a matter of hours before they get moving again. >> reporter: exactly. today you will hear from kathleen sebelius, the head of health and human services. her department is in charge of the site. s this is her eight-page opening statement to congress today where republicans will likely grill her not the only about the failures with the site but about whether americans can afford the insurance plans. >> the new law is more than a website. >> reporter: she'll tell congress they have had 700,000 applications. from her medicare chief no word on how many have been able to get past the error messages to actually buy insurance. >> we will not have the numbers available until mid november. >> reporter: opponents are unconvinced that the faulty website and insurance itself are a good deal. >> there is no way to fix this. >> it is a public relations nightmare. >> it's not time for sanding to take place, but a chainsaw needs to come out. >> reporter: today, president obama heads to massachuse

>> tracie potts live on capitol hill for us this morning.you. >>> millions of mothers may have to find a new way to feed their babies if this government shutdown drags on. >> the federally funded women, infant, and children's program known as wic may run out of money. states say they only have enough money to keep the ram running through the end of october. about 9 million women and children could be affected if this program runs out of money. >>> 6:34 right now. if you're a federal worker furloughed, you can go back to school for free. georgetown is offering six free courses to anyone out of work right now because of the government shutdown. they'll be held over the next two weeks at georgetown's downtown campus on massachusetts avenue. we just checked the school's website, there are still plenty of open seats for all six classes. we posted a link. go to our "news 4 today" facebook page and go to nbcwashington.com for constant updates on the government shutdown. we're posting those updates and trying to answer all of your questions about th

>> tracie potts on the hill for us. thank you. >>> today d.c. mayor vincent gray and eleanor holmes norton will take their plea to the steps of the u.s. capitol. they plan to hold a press conference on the east lawn to highlight the negative impacts the district is feeling. this comes a day after a letter was sent to the president and congressional ladiers asking for a meeting. by law d.c. cannot spend its own tax dollars. contingency funds have been used to keep the government running. fwra says that money is quickly running out. >>> 5:33. we don't know if congress will raise the debt ceiling but we can tell you the senate had will vote to raise it before of next thursday's deadline. harry reid filed a bill yesterday to raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached until after next year's election. he isn't sure if he has enough to pass the bill. even if republicans try to delay that vote. if you pick up today's "wall street journal" you'll find an op-ed paul ryan wrote. the former vice presidential nominee insists the president must be willi

tracie potts is live on capitol hill right now with the new numbers on that side of the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. our pollsters say they have never seen a poll so clear about how people feel about their government. 6 in 10 say fire everyone here on capitol hill. all of them. and start over. 7 in 10 say republicans are putting politics before what's best for the country. about half of those polled said the same of president obama. and almost a third say that this shutdown is personally affecting them. there is an effort to reopen the government possibly according to one key republican as soon as monday. after republicans sat down with president obama they didn't come to an agreement but does seem there are more discussions going on about how to get that done. the republican party offered to raise the debt ceiling and prevent what the administration says would be a financial catastrophe starting next week, in exchange for six weeks to negotiate over the budget. senate democrats say no negotiating, reopen the government. that's where part of this gridlock sta

tracie potts joins us live from washington. a lot of folks asking what is the next step on this? >> the next step is to fix it but the problem is the white house is there is no timeline on that, and they are bringing in a lot of people on that to help but don't know how long it's going to take. despite a slew of tech experts working 24/7, the website to sign up for health insurance is still jammed. >> a lot of people are calling well we have tried this and keep getting error messages, what do we do? >> and president obama promises a fix and the white house has no idea when. a spokesman hinted the government may be flexible but would not say for sure if people who cannot sign up will still be penalized. >> the law is clear if you do not have access to affordable health insurance then you will not be asked to pay a penalty because you have not purchased the insurance. >> time is of the essence. >> texas republican ted cruz joked about the problems last night. >> you know those nigerian scammers, they have been a lot less active lately, because they have all been hired to run the ob

nbc's tracie potts joins us in washington. if there are enough votes, what's the hold up. >> reporter: the white house insist there are enough votes. our own counts seems to suggest there may be enough votes to get this budget done but the other big question here is we've got a looming debate and a looming deadline over the debt ceiling, and america's credit card is about to be canceled. the pentagon has ordered more than 3,000 employees back to work but more than 400,000 remain at home because congress can't agree on a budget, what they call a cr. >> there are not the votes in the house to pass a clean cr. >> reporter: our count is they could without cutting or delaying the health law. with president obama refusing to negotiate on that, it's gridlock. >> his refusal to negotiate is what is putting the government at risk. >> conservatives against the health law say they're not backing down in we do control a third of the government. people did elect us to fight. >> reporter: next week the u.s. runs out of credit to pay its bil

tracie potts is live with details. good morning to you. tell us about the new low that you're finding in the poll. >> reporter: the president's job approval is now at an all-time low after a big slide this year. take a look. 42% is now his approval rating. it's upside down from his disapproval rating. and this has been sliding about 10% over the course of the year. if you take a look in january when his second term first started, he was at 52%. and that slid after the benghazi hearings, after the irs scandal, after edward snowden started leaking information about the nsa, and by september, it was down to 45% amid his indecision on syria, now at 42. but what's also knew, people don't like the president as much as they used to. his personal likability rating had been holding up. but now, his positive rating is upside down at 41%, considering his negative rating at 45%. people in this country don't think the health care law, obama care, is a good idea. in our poll, 47% to 37% think it's a bad idea. finally, the republican party, they're not t

nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington. good morning. we're hearing there are calls for a major review? >> reporter: exactly. the president says he wants to get to the bottom of this 60 million people tapped in spain. world leaders, almost three dozen of them including germany's angela merkel and the germans are really upset about this. they are calling for an investigation. there are eu representatives here in washington asking questions about why the united states would be tapping phones of friendly countries of its allies particularly in europe. germany say it's illegal and they want to know more about what's happening. president obama says that even though the white house said he didn't know about it until recently but the president says the buck stops with him and he wants to know what's going on and specifically who we've been spying on. now we may get some answers on that today. the house against committee hears from intelligence officials. diane feinstein says with respect to nsa collection of intelligence on leaders of u.s. alli

let's go live to tracie potts. >> reporter: boehner doesn't think the votes are there. democrats disagree. our own count shows at least or as many as 21 republicans may actually go with democrats to pass that at least temporarily so they can get the negotiations here to get the government back open. right now there are no real negotiations happening but a lot of talk back and forth especially between president obama and the top republican on the hill. >> if the republicans and speaker boehner are saying there are not enough votes, then they should prove it. >> the president's refusal to talk is hurting our economy and putting the country at risk. >> reporter: president obama says he will only negotiate when he is sure health care is off the table. as of now the only votes we're seeing is to restore the government piece by piece and a vote for back pay. it looks like they'll sit in the senate until they come to a larger agreement. >>> federal courts may have to start furloughing employees soon if the shutdown doesn't end. the supreme court will begin to hear arguments th