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House Vote Soon to Avoid Government Shutdown; "Game of Thrones" Vies for 16 Emmys

Aired September 20, 2013 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WENDELL POTTER, SENIOR ANALYST, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: No, it's not. You know, opponents want us to maybe -- maybe have amnesia because you know that between 2001 and 2011, health insurance premiums for families went up 133 percent. That's because insurance companies again have failed to keep the cost of coverage down.

So the premium increases that we're getting now, has really little, if anything, to do with Obamacare. It's because we still have insurance companies who in many cases are controlling a system but they can't control costs.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ok. I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer now, because he can sort of explain to us what's happening on the floor of the House right now and how we expect the vote, the outcome of the vote to be. Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Hi. Well, the Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives. I suspect almost all, if not all of them will go along with the Speaker of the House John Boehner, with Eric Cantor the Majority Leader. They will go ahead and pass this -- what's called this Continuing Resolution, this stopgap measure to keep the government funded. All aspects of the government, they will be funded at their current levels with the exception of Obamacare, which of course, is the law of the land.

That -- that will be the one exception. No money going to the Affordable Health Care Act, the law right now and it will pass, it will go to the Senate and then it will be up to the Senate to decide what to do with it.

The Democrats control the Senate, so almost certainly they will not vote for this legislation. They'll probably pass a separate Continuing Resolution which will keep the government funded at least temporarily, if not for a year, and send that back to the House, then there will have to be a House-Senate conference committee. They're going to have to decide since there will be two pieces of legislation, they'll have to decide where they go from here. And that's when the real negotiations will begin. We'll see who blinks first.

COSTELLO: So do you think this all will be done by October 1st? Because it kind of has to, right, if we don't want a government shutdown.

BLITZER: Yes. If -- they've got to pass it by September 30th in order to keep the government funded October 1st which is the first day of the next fiscal year. There's money to pay for all these services until the end of this month. There's no money that will be available, no appropriations bills have passed so far this year so there won't be any money for what's called the discretionary spending, all this spending that goes to all sorts of government programs.

The essential programs like Social Security, Medicare, they will have money, but so many other government agencies will be out of money. So there's going to be hundreds of thousands of federal workers who will be furloughed. A lot of people won't get the services they expect. Many more won't get some checks that they thought they were going to get because they won't be deemed as emergency or essential.

So it's going to be painful for a lot of people if the House and the Senate can't work out a deal to keep the government funded.

COSTELLO: Of course, President Obama accusing House Republicans of extortion so let's head to the White House now and check in with Jim Acosta. Where's the President now, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol the President is on his way to Kansas City for what is looking like a campaign style event on the economy. He's going to be going to a Ford plant out there. He's going to be talking about all the strides that have been made over the last several years since the financial crisis but White House officials are very up front about it. The President is also going to go after the Republicans on this prospect of a government shutdown.

And a couple things to point out following up on your conversation with Wolf.

One is that the White House has already said that the President would veto the legislation that is pending before the House today, and that it is not going to negotiate. The President is not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling. They have drawn a line in the sand on that. And they also say that he will never sign into law anything that delays or defunds Obamacare.

So basically, they are laying down two markers there and so this is just going to have to work itself out, White House officials say, up on Capitol Hill before the President takes a look at it. They say he will accept what they call a clean CR, Continuing Resolution, that keeps the government running for a short period of time, but they don't want all of these other Obamacare measures that the Republicans are trying to attach to it.

One other sign that the White House is ramping up pressure, earlier this week Carol, they did start to issue a directive to federal agencies around the federal government to start to prepare for the event of a government shutdown. That was sort of a quiet threat, quiet shot down Pennsylvania Avenue that hey, we're ready for this if you guys want to go there.

COSTELLO: All right let's head over to Capitol Hill, where this passionate debate is now ongoing. Erin McPike is there. Describe the atmosphere.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, they will vote within the next half hour to an hour on this Continuing Resolution and of course, as we know, we expect that vote to pass in the House today where it will move to the Senate, as Wolf mentioned. We learned yesterday, though, that Republicans do not have the votes to force a filibuster and that means that Democrats need just 51 votes to restore funding for Obamacare, and then pass the full bill and that will, of course, send it back to the House.

Now, this vote today is a bit of a symbolic measure for House Republicans to take a stand against Obamacare. That's what a lot of the debate this morning has been on about how much Republicans as we know don't like Obamacare, but the real test will be when the House votes again on this bill sometime next week or it may be next weekend, right up to the deadline -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right Erin McPike. Thanks so much. I want all of our correspondents to stand by. And Jason Johnson and Amy Kremer, Wendell Potter you too.

We're going to have a quick break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Passionate statements being made on the floor of the House of Representatives. Of course, the debate is all over this Continuing Resolution to keep the federal -- the federal government funded at least for a short time, but of course, there is also that -- that little thing in there that also defunds Obamacare which makes it much more possible that the government will shut down. We're hoping not, but it's looking that way right now.

With me now to -- to analyze all of this is Wolf Blitzer, Jim Acosta, Wendell Potter, Erin McPike, Jason Johnson and Amy Kremer. Thank you all for being with me.

And I told you there has been these passionate statements on the floor of the House of Representatives. Well I want you to listen to some of them right now. The first one from Harold Rogers, he's a Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, then from Sandra Levin, a Democrat from Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAROLD ROGERS (R), CHAIRMAN, APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: To be clear, if this legislation is not enacted and we embark on a government shutdown, the consequences are severe. Our brave men and women in uniform don't get paid. Our recovering economy will take a huge hit. And our most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly and the veterans who rely on critical government programs and services could be left high and dry.

REP. SANDY LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Will he act as the captain of the entire House of Representatives or remain a captive of his right-wing Republican mates? Will he as he acts worry mainly about the risk to his speakership or the risk to our entire nation. House Republicans taking the ship over the cliff would take the nation's economic wellbeing with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right of course, he's talking about House Speaker John Boehner. And I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer right now. And we've been hearing the past several days about this civil war within the Republican Party. Do Republicans in the House really want to be having this kind of debate?

BLITZER: Well, the Republicans all say, every one of them, just as all the Democrats say, they don't want to see a government shutdown. But what so many Republicans, certainly the base of the Republican Party, the wing that John Boehner is clearly responding to, Tea Party supporters, other conservatives, they hate Obamacare, they are trying desperately, they have tried 30 or 40 times already and they have passed legislation in the House to defund, to get rid of Obamacare.

It certainly has not gone anywhere in the Senate but they're trying once again right now. They want to make a statement. They don't want Obamacare to go forward. And the question is it's not going to pass the current legislation in the Senate. Will those Republicans in the House of Representatives be willing to see the government shut down in order to try to defund Obamacare?

It's a matter of principle to a lot of those conservative Republicans, Tea Party supporters and others, because they hate it so much, they think it's a disaster for the country and they want to make this powerful statement.

The problem they have and even a Republican political analyst like Karl Rove, the so-called architect of the Bush years, he wrote a piece in the "Wall Street Journal" saying this is a disaster for the Republicans if they go ahead and they link Obamacare to a government shutdown. It would just be -- it would just be politically a nightmare for them in the midterm elections next time. Just as it caused the Republicans so many problems, the two government shutdowns in '94, in '95 and '96 during the Clinton administration, it helped propel Bill Clinton to get himself re-elected in '96 despite a lot of problems that he had, because so many people were angry at Republicans for that government shutdown then.

So there's a lot of considerations -- political considerations, economic considerations. The nation's health is at stake as well in terms of this economic recovery and Carol, if you think this is a big battle right now, even if they get through this government shutdown battle right now, just wait until mid-October when they have to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

On that issue, the President is saying he's not going to talk. He's not going to negotiate at all. He's drawn another red line. Either you raise the debt ceiling or forget about it and the Republicans are angry about that; even some Democrats say well, at least you should talk to Congress about this, talk to the Republicans about it, but by saying he's not even willing to discuss it, that's going to cause a huge political battle in the first couple weeks of October.

COSTELLO: Ok so we'll just concentrate on this latest crisis first of all. I want to bring in Gloria Borger. And Gloria I would like you to listen to Amy Kremer because she's with -- she's a conservative Republican, a Tea Party Republican. She thinks what's going on right now in the House is a good thing but Amy, I must say that many Americans will look to the Tea Party and blame the Tea Party once again for kind of like messing with our economy at a time that the economy's fragile and we shouldn't be messing with it in this way.

AMY KREMER, CHAIRWOMAN, TEA PARTY EXPRESS: But this is the thing. This bill that's going to be passed is to fund the government. What Harry Reid and Barack Obama don't like is that we are now putting their caucus in a corner where they have to take a stand and the Republicans, the moderate Republicans don't like us because we are a threat to their power base, their power structure. We are more of a threat to the Republicans than anything.

But the thing is, this bill funds the government. It totally funds the government. President Obama and Harry Reid have been talking about a government shutdown over the sequester. I mean no one's even talking about the Keystone Pipeline that's part of this that the President has not approved for how many years now --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Ok so, so Gloria -- so Gloria, does Amy have a point?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I think what we need to talk about is the political back story here and the political back story here and the reason Republicans are fighting each other is that a lot of Republicans in the House went home during the recess and they got pounded by lots of outside groups, some of them Tea Party affiliated, some not, saying you've got to kill Obamacare, ok. They got pounded at their town halls they got pounded on these ads. These are Republicans who came back to the House, said to their Speaker we've got to have this vote because we're taking a lot of heat for it back home.

So they go to the Speaker, they say to him you're not going to get our votes, we've heard our constituents, we've seen these ads, they're raising a lot of money against us, they're afraid of getting primaried by more conservative members, so they did this and then a couple days ago, the leaders of this movement in the Senate said oh, sorry, by the way, this is never going to pass the Senate and so these House people feel like they're left holding the bag.

So there is a huge fight going on in the Republican Party. I believe that in the end, if this gets stripped out in the Senate, you'll go back to the House and you'll get a bunch of House Republicans to flip and in combination with Democrats, they will pass something that funds the government.

The question is now what's the next fight. The next fight's going to be over the debt ceiling and I think that's going to be a larger and even more difficult problem.

COSTELLO: Gloria Borger, stick around. I got to take a break.

We'll be back with more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Another live look at the House of Representatives right now. Of course, they're considering, they're debating right now this bill that would fund the government but strip funding from Obamacare. We expect the actual vote to take place, oh, maybe in 25 minutes, maybe earlier but sometime in the 11:00 Eastern hour.

We are going to step away for a bit and talk about something a lot more fun. And that would be football. Because football season's in full swing and the rivalry express bus is on the road. We're heading to eight campuses over the next two months to check out the madness of big time college football.

And speaking of madness, Carlos Diaz at the bus' first stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Good morning.

CARLOS DIAZ, CNN SPORTS: Good morning. If you didn't get a chance to watch this, this morning, we are here at LSU, it's our "Rivalry Express". We're going to be at a different college location every Friday for the next eight weeks. There are a lot of wagers going on right now, whether I'm going to survive the entire time that we're on this big college tour.

But we're here for LSU/Auburn. It is going to be an unbelievable rivalry tomorrow. They have been playing the game since 1901. That's how long this rivalry took place. And if you missed all the craziness this morning, here's a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: I'm painting a young (inaudible) here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's an artiste.

DIAZ: Am I doing a good job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Oh, yes.

DIAZ: Is this weird for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right leg, baby.

DIAZ: Oh, yes, baby. Keep it going. Keep it going. There we go.

We got tigers and horses fighting. Guys, easy.

Just yell your name out when I walk by. Here we go. No, you're not doing it. Ok.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is more than just a football game when Auburn comes to down.

DIAZ: Does auburn have a chance? I guess it's a no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: That's the way it was this morning; as you can see -- pretty insane. They don't just tailgate in your normal tailgating buses. They tailgate in hearses out here in Death Valley which is what LSU Stadium is known as, you know, Tigers Stadium.

It's so loud, by the way, back in 1988, after they scored a game- winning touchdown against Auburn, it actually registered on the Richter scale. That's how loud the fans are here at LSU. So that's what we can expect this weekend. LSU/Auburn tomorrow night at Tigers Stadium which is about less than a mile that way -- you can actually see the top of the stadium from here.

Carol Back to you.

COSTELLO: I know. You're exhausted now.

DIAZ: I'm going to go lay down for awhile.

COSTELLO: That tiger digs you, man. Carlos Diaz --

DIAZ: Is this thing open? Can I get in the back? I'm just going to get in the back of this thing, all right. Thank you. Good-bye. See you, good-bye.

COSTELLO: Ok. Have a nice nap in that hearse. Thanks, Carlos.

DIAZ: Sure.

COSTELLO: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Again, we're keeping an eye on the House of Representatives where very soon, lawmakers will vote on a bill to fund the government for a short time but also strip funding from Obama care. We expect the actual vote on that Continuing Resolution to happen in 10 to 25 minutes.

Right now, they're voting on other matters like -- I wish I could tell you what they are, but they have nothing to do with the matter at hand, the short-term funding bill. So when they begin to actually vote on that measure, we will take you back to Capitol Hill.

Let's talk about the Emmys now. The Emmy Awards are two days away and one drama is going to be competing in a big way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: HBO's "Game of Thrones" has racked up a whopping 16 Emmy nominations. Our Tory Dunnan has a look at the secrets behind the scandals (ph) and the swords.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TROY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ask just about anyone to describe "game of thrones" including the actors, and the response is rarely lackluster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Epic. Incredible.

MARY MCNAMARA, TV CRITIC, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Awesome. It is the most astonishing show on TV right now.

DUNNAN: It's based on novels by George R.R. Martin and watching it is like being on a roller coaster and not knowing when the dips, drops and turns are coming.

PETER DINKLAGE, EMMY NOMINEE: We continue to tell stories that are not traditional and take twists like life does. You know, make you feel something. God forbid.

DUNNAN: The passion is proof in the show's 16 Emmy nominations, everything from Outstanding Drama Series to costumes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not slander if it's true.

DUNNAN: To Best Supporting Actor and Actress.

STACEY WILSON, SENIOR EDITOR, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: In terms of fan favorite, critical mass, number of nominations, I feel like "Game of Thrones" actually does have the edge for the first time.

DUNNAN: "Game of Thrones" explores tough issues like social status, sexuality and war.

So what is the secret?

WILSON: It's never cheesy. It's never schlocky. It's never low budget. It feels as sophisticated as television can feel and still be sort of a fantasy.

DUNNAN: And the fan support can't be understated. She's speaking the language you had to learn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's impressive. That's very impressive.

DUNNAN: Unlike many other TV shows, in this one, no one is guaranteed another season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm dead.

DUNNAN: We went straight to the stars -- nice to meet you.

KIT HARRINGTON, ACTOR: Nice to meet you Tory.

DUNNAN: For answers.

HARRINGTON: In this, you don't know if the hero's going to make it through because it's very realistic in that way. Good people don't always win. That's very true of our show.

DUNNAN: But perhaps the biggest mystery of all --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the winter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winter is coming.

DUNNAN: When is winter coming? That's the question.

HARRINGON: It's always coming, isn't it. And it never arrives.

DUNNAN: We're told Season Four starts next year but not before those Emmy awards are handed out.

Tory Dunnan, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. I'm Carol Costello.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)