you think welker will be able to pick him off.d long backed up. >> al: third and 17. lot of pressure. seconds are ticking away right here. and manning will throw and it is caught by welker at the 33 yard line. tremendous catch. >> cris: oh, what a catch. i don't think he ever saw this ball until he just digs his way out of there. oh, man, how does he make that catch? that's awesome. >> al: 24 yards on a third and 16. and now that pass will be caught at the 40 yard line by demaryius thomas. a catch by welker made a penny for tom brady's thoughts right now. gain of 27. four minutes to go. first down. and that's incomplete. decker coming on a slant and davis is right there. back to welker's catch. >> cris: he had to work so hard to get over the top of darius butler and then the ball was on him and just -- boy, that's an easy ball to drop right there. he's made some sensational catches tonight. >> al: second an ten. and over the middle. welker again. it will be a first down. takes it to the 26 yard line. six catches tonight, 71 yards.

we have nbc's kristen welker live at the white house now. kristen, what can you tell us from where you are? >> well, krystal, president obama has been briefed on what happened. they are monitoring the situation here. senior administration officials in contact with law enforcement officials as they try to get to it the bottom of exactly what happened. i was just inside the white house a few moments ago. i can tell you that some of the staffers, top officials here behind closed doors are meeting as they monitor this situation. outside pennsylvania avenue, which is the road right outside the white house, parts of that are shut down. they have brought in extra law enforcement just as an extra precaution. that is not unusual. that is something you would expect when there is any perceived threat to the white house. they have pushed all of the onlookers to the park across the street. a lot of them have just stuck around to try to watch this incredible event unfold. what they're watching really is extra security, which has been brought in. i can tel

kristen welker and nbc news senior political editor mark murray. kristen, let me start with you because the buses just rolled up a moment ago. the senators are making their way in and it's a rainy day there in washington, d.c. >> reporter: it certainly is, thomas. but the tone has changed here in washington, d.c., after that meeting that you talked about last night between president obama and house republicans. we are told that house speaker john boehner put an offer on the table essentially to increase the debt limit without reopening the government. he said before we can do that, let's have budget negotiations. president obama didn't reject the offer but he didn't accept it rooireither. he said, look, we need to do both at the same time. we need to reopen the government. and i am told that a number of establishment republicans agree with that thinking and that they have been increasingly voicing that opinion to house speaker john boehner. so it's back to the drawing board to some extent, but all sides describing that meeting as positive and const

>> kristin welker, thank you. stay with us. with us now is michael isikoff, our investigative correspondent. and, mike, we've been watching this tape of the vehicle itself having attempted to access the white house, failing to do so, and then accelerating -- sorry -- and then acceleratinac is that right, towards the white house? >> that appears to be the case. one little fact we've confirmed and i think it's partially visible from the photos is that the car has a connecticut license plate. so it was from out of town. who it was, who this woman was we're still waiting to find out. a couple of other just additional details. capitol hill staffers were just in the last few minutes notified by e-mail that there's going to be a park police helicopter over the capitol area, and that may well be happening right now as we speak or will be happening shortly. this is at the request of the metropolitan police. so clearly law enforcement still trying to piece together exactly what happened here. it's obviously a crime scene, and there's a l

and we begin with nbc's kristen welker at the white house. kristen? >> reporter: lester, good evening. president obama huddled with senate democrats here at the white house for more than an hour late this afternoon but still no deal. polls show a majority of americans blame republicans for the shutdown, giving democrats the upper hand. still, the public's patience with all of washington is running out. with senate leaders now heading the effort to fix washington stalemate, top democrats were called to the white house late today to update president obama. majority leader harry reid expressing measured optimism about his discussions with republican mitch mcconnell. >> the conversations were extremely cordial but very preliminary, of course. nothing conclusive. >> reporter: this after a flurry of activity on capitol hill. this morning, house speaker john boehner told the gop conference the president had rejected his latest offer. >> we went to negotiate and he took no offer. >> reporter: shifting the focus to the senate where moderate republican susan co

>> kristen welker at the white house. thank you. >>> now to an issue many americans have been dealing with for two weeks now -- trying to sign up for health insurance under the affordable care act only to find problems with the government website. congress will have hearings on the issue and although health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius faced widespread criticism over the problems, administration officials say she is not available to testify at the hearings. while there are signs of improvement, there are big concerns as we hear from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: near houston, the tara sidenberg spent more than two weeks trying to sign up for insurance online. her multiple sclerosis meds alone cost $4,400 a month. finally on friday, progress. >> i think i'm making headway. i want to see the options. see what's available. so i have yet to reach that point. >> reporter: while more people are now successfully navigating health care.gov insurance companieses are reporting problems. priority health in michi

. >> this week, i'm kristen welker in for david gregory. with the government shutdown this week and concern for jobs in the economy, what do the nation's entrepreneurs want from the political leaders in washington? that's the question asked by john deery and courtney in their new book, "where the jobs are." thank you both for being here. courtney, i want to start with you. we really saw the height of political gridlock this week in washington. what do you think the impact of the shutdown has been on the economy? >> well, for all businesses, i think the impact of whether it's a fiscal debate over a shutdown or whether it's a real shutdown or a debate over the debt ceiling and just the fiscal policy discussions in washington, uncertainty is the big factor for businesses. it's very difficult for entrepreneurs or large or small businesses to make decisions about the future of their company, hiring, growing their business, investing in new real estate, without knowing you know, when the economy can recover and what washington, when washington wi

. >> and we go now to christikris welker at the white house. this was rolled into that meeting last night the president had with some of the leadership. >> right, well, the administration warning that if the nation were to default on its loans, then it could send the country back into another recession. president obama making comments there to john harwood that the markets should be worried. some people took those comments to suggest that maybe he was almost trying to goad the markets, to help make his point about the real world consequences of a prolonged shutdown and a default. i can tell you, white house press secretary jay carney said that wasn't the president's intention. he was simply speaking from the past and of course what we saw during that debt ceiling fight of 2011. but tamron, i can tell you at this hour, the white house continues to dig in its heels on this issue. the president, jay carney reiterating that he's not willing to compromise on anything until there is a funding bill that is passed through congress. during his comments

i'm joined now by our white house correspondent kristen welker standing by. micha michael isikoff and usa today kplum columnist raul reyes. what can you tell us about jeh johnson and the president's announcement? >> reporter: jeh johnson was an early supporter of president obama's during the 2008 campaign. the two men reportedly having a good rapport, one of the factors that wept into this decision. but as say, he's the top attorney with the pat the penta now. he has been at the forefront of decisions made particularly related to the use of drone strikes as well as ending the don't ask, don't tell policy. when you look at the philosophy that these two men have they are really in sync, jeh johnson is opposed to the idea of an indefinite war. that is something he said recently and president obama has said recently. they sort of align on that point. in terms of him getting confirmed. i spoke with a top aide with the senate who says he didn't foresee any real problems at this point in time but it's still early and he hasn't made the official announcement. i can t

kristen welker is at the white house to tell us more. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. any hopes for a deal now rest with the senate where leaders will be back at the negotiating table today. with the markets set to open tomorrow, everyone from economists to average americans are hoping that progress comes soon. it's day 13 of the government shutdown and the public's patients with washington has just about run out. >> enough is enough. we need to stop all this craziness. >> reporter: the gridlock hurting small business owners like this florida-based fisherman. >> the park being closed mean we can't go fishing. that means we can't make any money. >> reporter: on capitol hill, a flurry of activity saturday with senate leaders, democrat harry reid and willing mitch mcconnell spearheading the conversations. >> the conversations were extremely cordial, very preliminary, nothing conclusive. >> reporter: the president met with top senators late in the day but no deal in sight. still more lawmakers are calling for compro

kristen welker joins us from the briefing room.he president has been briefed throughout all of this about the incident. >> jim and wendy, that is absolutely right. i can tell you that this basically, when this all started pennsylvania avenue was closed off outside of the white house. that is typical when you have a potential security breach like the one we had this afternoon. that has reopened. we can also tell you extra security was brought in. at this point and time, things seem to be getting back to normal here. president obama was briefed on the situation. senior administration officials have been in touch with local law enforcement and law enforcement officials throughout the afternoon trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. i can tell you when it all started to unfold, they were huddled behind closed doors monitoring the situation. in terms of the suspect who tried to crash into a gate outside of a security area here at the white house, that happened over at 15th and e. that's by treasury. that is really the far

thank you so much, kristen welker.et's get right to our panel in bethlehem, pennsylvania, msnbc contributor, professor james peterson. in los angeles is democratic strategist, professor bob shrum. and in washington is former minnesota governor and 2012 presidential candidate, mr. tim pawlenty. and i would like to start with you, mr. pawlenty. you know mitt romney well. there the president was, praising the effectivaneness of massachusetts health coverage that was signed into law in 2 it,000 and making the point that in the first month, only about 123 had signed up. by the end of the year, it was in the thousands. did he make the case? >> well, martin, good afternoon to you, and the president, of course, noted some of the similarities between the massachusetts plan and the affordable care act. and but there are also some important differences. he noted that in massachusetts it was done on a bipartisan basis. of course, in washington, d.c., it wasn't. in massachusetts -- >> and we know why that is, don't we, sir? >> yeah

. >>> from dylan to the white house with kristen welker. good saturday morning to you. lots of talking going on yesterday. does the administration have plans for more gop members today? >> absolutely. they tell me they will be talking to lawmakers throughout the weekend. the house will be back in session at 9:00 a.m., alex. the senate will also be at work. they are inching towards a deal in part, alex, because there is so much pressure, so much public frustration and calls to get something done. if you look at the polls, the vast majority say the blame is carely on republicans. the gop trying to get something done here. they put forward an offer to extend the limit. the debt ceiling expires in just five days. he wanted to link that to budget negotiations to reopen the government. it would have been a six-week deal. president obama said, look, he is glad there is a willingness to work on something. he said six weeks just not long enough. listen to what jay carney had to say on this part. >> tying the debt ceiling for six weeks creates a dynamic very similar to the one we

thank you kristin welker, casey hunt and howard fineman. chris matthews and "hardball" picks things up when our coverage continues. they're doing of the public uly. he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com [ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away in the back of our mind. a secret hope. that thing we've always wanted to do. it's not about having dreams, it's about reaching them. ♪ an ally for real possibilities. aarp. find tools and direction at aarp.org/possibilities. >>> we're back for the second day in a row veterans stormed through barriers in washington. they were helped by republican members of congress. hundreds of veterans had arrived on honor flights for a prev

kristen welker from the white house. we appreciate it. take care. >> moving on to the battle for virginia with the election for governor just 18 days away, a new nbc 4, nbc news and mayor's poll showed the government shutdown came at the worst possible time for ken cuccinelli. the fallout may be impossible for him to overcome. terry mcauliffe leads by eight points among likely voters. 46-38. that's up from a-point lead last month. libertarian candidate sar vis gets 9%. 39% of virginians say they or a family member were affected by the shut down and by 54 to 29% margin, they blame republicans instead of the president. the anger is taking a toll on cuccinelli. mcauliffe is winning voter who is say the shut down has a major impact on their vote. 55-27. he wins voters who say it is a minor issue, 52-33. cuccinelli leads with voter who is say it's not an issue. the director of the poll and a proud red wolf. >> red fox. red fox. >> i know a little bit about that. looking into the numbers, there is a fascinating thing. i want to put it up there.

kristen welker is at the white house to tell us more. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. any hopes for a deal rests with the senate where negotiators will be back at the negotiating table today. with the markets set to open tomorrow, everyone from economists to average americans are hoping that progress comes soon. it's day 13 of the government shutdown, and the public's patience with washington has just about run out. >> enough is enough. we need to stop all of this craziness. >> reporter: the gridlock hurting small business owners, like this florida-based fisherman. >> the park being closed means we can't go fishing. that means we can't make any money. >> reporter: on capitol hill, a flurry of activity saturday with democrats and republicans spearheading the negotiations. >> the conversations were very cordial, but very preliminary, of course. >> reporter: the president met with top senators late in the day, but no deal in sight. still, more lawmakers are now calling for compromise. >> the voters have put in plac

we'll start the hour here with nbc's kristen welker at the white house. what should we expect at p tech and who is going to be there gathered around the president. >> reporter: good afternoon, we know mayor bloomberg will be there, a big proponent of education reform behind a number of reforms in new york, including this new school, which is just two years old. also, new york mayoral candidate bill de blasio and andrew cuomo. the school was started in 2011. you heard the president say it's a six-year program and when students graduate they have an associate degree. because it's a partnership with ibm, they have a leg up when it comes to getting a job with that company. when it started in 2011, had just over 140 students, they are expecting by the start of the 2014 senior year it will have more than 400 students. the president really going to use this to talk about thinks larger budget priority as the budget conference prepares to meet next week. those recommendations do on december 13th. we learn that president obama spoke with a number of lawmakers inclu

>> kristen welker there with a moving story.artin. >> we'll be right back. max and penny kept our bookstore exciting and would always come to my rescue. but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasn't himself. and i knew he'd feel better if he lost a little weight. so i switched to purina cat chow healthy weight formula. i just fed the recommended amount... and they both loved the taste. after a few months max's "special powers" returned... and i got my hero back. purina cat chow healthy weight. ♪ [ male announcer ] laura's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor (announcer) at scottrade, our cexactly how they want.t with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call m

. >> let's go to the white house and nbc's kristen welker.publican in the senate, john cornyn of texas said in a statement, he has, quote, grave concerns about the pick. what are the expectations of that nomination? any chance republicans are in a mood for another skirmish following the debt ceiling debacle? >> reporter: well, martin, look, i wouldn't be surprised if you had more republicans coming forward and expressing opposition to johnson. cornyn made the point he doesn't have experience in immigration. white house officials say, look, he's an expert in a lot of other areas, to sort of defend that position. but there's no indication that he won't get confirmed. i've been talking to top aides on the hill who say that he does have broad bipartisan support, he after all, has a strong background with the pentagon, the former top attorney for the pentagon. so this is someone who is known to washington, and based on my conversations, they think that he will get confirmed. and this is just not the fight that republicans want to have right now. >

kristen welker has more. >> reporter: with the u.s. capitol as their backdrop, protesters turned out by the thousands with one message for the u.s. government, stop watching us. >> they don't have a right to listen in on our conversations and go into our e-mails. we're not doing anything wrong. >> reporter: some were elected officials. >> they're damaging the constitution. the white house is damaging the constitution. >> reporter: many here haled nsa leaker edward snowden a hero. >> he's a patriot. >> reporter: snowden sent a letter to the aclu last week urging the public to join the march writing today no telephone in america makes a call without leaving a record with the nsa. our representatives in congress tells us this is not surveillance. they're wrong. as pour the fallout overseas, in new details according to a german magazine, they targeted angela merkel's cell phone since 2002 when she wwas still an opposition leader. several world leaders, close u.s. allies. with germany and france demanding answers, some political analysts sa

thomas. >> kristen welker at the white house for us, kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. ladies, thanks so much. >>> on the house floor last night an kpas rated congresswoman pleaded with her colleagues to keep the capital district open. take a look. >> this is a living, breathing city. and the notion of holding up our budget under any circumstances or not distinguishing between the district of columbia appropriation, which is a budget, a local budget, not one of your 12 appropriations, a local budget and the other budgets is breaking my heart. >> we can understand the exasperation here. she was supporting some bills that would have funded d.c. and the department of veteran affairs and national parks. democratic congresswoman eleanor holmes norton joins me now. thanks for joining us. obviously your district is feeling the shutdown more than any other in the country. your colleague, darrell issa, joined in your plea last night. and you reminded all of your colleagues that this was not a tea party bill, but those efforts, they still failed and fell on deaf ears. so what's h

back to you guys. >> thanks so much for that rundown, kristen welker.he footage there, bill russell taller than the president. we're looking at deval patrick, the governor, speaking. we'll go back and bring in dana mill bank from the "washington post oh." how are you, dana? >> okay. i'm excited about this speech as the world series. >> yeah. how everyone feels. look, kristen raised several things. we only have a little time but she spoke with bipartisan unity that may have helped not only the mood but the actual enrollment numbers in massachusetts and that the president has to address criticism while dealing with that. >> well, and of course it would have happened and that's the avenue the president went down originally. didn't get a lot of support and decided to go on his own. it's sort of interesting that mitt romney is back to defending romney care which he was running away from readily during the campaign. but, of course, if you have everybody pulling in the same direction, things work out a lot better. it's no coincidence that the states that are h

for more we're joined by nbc's kristen welker live from the white house. reporter: well, joy, you're right. that meeting has gotten under way. we know house speaker john boehner was spotted arriving at about 4:30 this afternoon. boehner will present president obama we believe with this new plan, which would essentially increase the debt limit over six weeks. and then as a part of that plan, it would call for negotiations before the government shut down has ended. those are sort of the facts that we believe. but of course, things are fluid. so it's possible that boehner may have changed his proposal. the big question mark, will president obama accept his proposal? i've been talking to senior administration officials who say the president isn't weighing in, and the white house isn't really going to weigh in until they actually see what is on the table. and then of course the other big question here, the other big question, boehner's caucus support and signoff on any deal to increase the debt limit. a lot of people scratching their heads about why lawmakers w

nbc's kristen welker.een sebelius, the embattled secretary of health and human services, met with insurers today. we also know she'll be in phoenix, away from the first of at least three hearings on the website. how is the white house handling calls for her immediate resignation? >> reporter: martin, they are standing behind her. there is no indication that is going to change. the president has continued to reiterate his full support of her. having said that, and she made this clear in an interview she gave last night, he wants this problem fixed. so she is going to go to a call center tomorrow. she is also going to have public availability tomorrow. and i expect we will be hearing more from secretary sebelius. she is going to testify next week to a congressional committee. and i think the other important big headline martin, the cms is going to deliver daily briefings about the website. a number of republicans, but also democrats, were calling for more traernls transparency as the obama administration att

nbc's kristen welker. thank you, kristen.moment. - who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-906-8500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why? good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy. [ female announcer ] with allstate you get great protection and a great price, plus an agent! drivers who switched saved an average of $498 a y

>> kristin welker at the white house, thank you so much. the roundtable for the lightning round. steve, change the name or keep it? >> i think you want something scary, so the washington debt limits would be a much better thing to do. >> mike murphy? >> what's next, the minnesota non-violent viking? >> rich? >> i think if you change it, you ruin the parallelism of the cowboy-redskin rivalry. >> marcia? >> change it. >> we'll be back with you in a moment. what's better than zero heartburn? ♪ nothing, that's what? that's why i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. 'cause it gives me a big fat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc. the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. [ larry ] you can't beat zero heartburn. and best of all, it means i can enjoy all the foods i love. oh, zero heartburn is awesome. just like zero cutlery. ♪ [ male announcer ] prilosec otc. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the new twin turbo xts from cadil

i'm kristen welker in for chuck todd. the markets have been flying blind for more than two weeks waiting for the september jobs report, which was delayed by the shutdown. we finally got that report this morning, but it's not moving wall street much one way or the other. take a look. 148,000 jobs were added in september. below what analysts had expected. but we also saw the unemployment rate tick down to 7.2%. the lowest rate in nearly five years. most sectors added jobs. the biggest gains were in business services, transportation and warehousing, government and also construction. the leisure and hospitality sector lost 13,000 jobs. turning to health care's rough rollout and the ongoing technical problems with healthcare.gov, the sprint to fix website is on and the white house may only have about a month to do it. yesterday in a speech in the white house rose garden, the president apologized, acknowledging the rollout has been rocky but defending the law. take a listen to what he had to say. >> there's no sugarcoating it.

nbc's kristen welker.rter: thanks. >>> while the house of representatives continues to score lower on approval ratings than a severe dose of gonorrhea, the senate has at least tried to spend the last few weeks as a beacon of reason and decorum. it's worth saying it's the senate that brought the current disarray to some kind of order. we're glad to be joined by senator chris murphy, a democrat from connecticut. good afternoon, sir. thank you for joining us. i know that you have rushed to our camera. we do appreciate it. let's assume that this deal passes through the house and the senate, signed by the president. are we not back to square one? what was the point of all of this risk and harm to the american people? and was it right of the president to say to republicans that if they couldn't have their way, since they lost the election, then they were certainly not going to have their way by way of extortion? >> you know, you have three ways to try to get your way here in washington. you can pass a bill, or y

all right, let's get right to nbc's kristen welker at the white house.o kristen, janet yellen would obviously be the first woman ever to lead the fed, an historic figure should she get the job. she is described as a consensus builder. given what you heard me reed from john cornyn in the senate, does the white house expect a fight on yellin? >> well, i think there will be a fight, like everything in this town, joy, certainly. i wouldn't be surprised to see that and as you pointed out, john cornyn is gearing up for that. having said that, i also think the white house expects she will ultimately be confirmed. this is someone who has broad support amongst democrats. and also sort of a bipartisan support from the sense that a lot of people believe she is highly qualified. she is a 67-year-old woman who has more than a decade of leadership experience in the fed. she is, of course, the number two at the fed right now. so no one really questions her readiness. and in terms of the market reaction today, the markets responded positively. she is someone who is well

let's get right to nbc's kristen welker at the white house., the president was clearly keen to promote the benefits of the affordable care act. as the exchanges open this morning. but instead, he was forced to chastise republicans for failing to accept the -- by the way, he won re-election in november and refusing to accept the supreme court actually affirmed the law as constitutional. >> that's right, martin. good afternoon. president obama with some strong words for republicans. you just played some of them. he labeled this the republican shutdown. you can expect to see more events like this. in fact, the white house already announcing that on thursday, president obama will speak at an area construction company where he will call on congress, congressional republicans, to reopen the government. i can tell you that the thinking here at the white house is that they are going to continue to dig in their heels, reiterate this point the president is just not going to negotiate over his health care law, his signature piece of legislation. they bel