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Americans Pawns of Congress; Veterans Remove World War II Memorial Barricades; House Puts Forth Bill to Fund Government Piecemeal; Kathleen Sebelius Explains Obamacare Enrollment; 783,000 Federal Employees Furloughed.

Aired October 01, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A game of political chicken, congressional ping-pong, the blame game -- whatever you want to call it, the shutdown is here and we are now deep into day one. But while the politicians duke it out on Capitol Hill, the federal workers and a lot of other American people become the pawns in what is going on.

Let's discuss what's going on with two of the co-hosts of CNN's new "CROSSFIRE." S.E. Cupp and Van Jones are joining us right now.

Van, what's wrong with letting House and Senate members get together and discuss the current problem right now? Maybe they might not be able to resolve it, but maybe they could work it out. That's what the House members have proposed. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has said no way.

VAN JONES, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: The same House members wouldn't get together the last time that the Senate was wanting to do it. This whole ping-pong thing goes back and forth. There would be nothing wrong with Boehner letting all the people in Congress have a vote. How about majority rule in the House? You have majority rule, this thing would be resolved, but have a minority faction of one party in one branch, in one House of one branch of a three-branch government holding up the whole process. So I think both sides now are locked into a dynamic. We've got to get out of it somehow. Today I think is a day where we have a breakdown in Washington, D.C., but a break- through in the rest of the country where people are signing up for health care. That's just as important for me.

BLITZER: Go ahead.

S.E. CUPP, CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: Well, I would trust Van Jones to lead on this issue more than the president.

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He's got it right. Everyone has to come to the table. And we are here today not just because Congress has failed to lead, but because the president has failed to lead. He's acting like a bystander in this problem. In fact, it's been his failure to explain and sell his namesake legislation over the past three years that's brought us to this point. Chris Christie said it perfectly last night. He said, "If you're in the executive waiting for leadership out of the legislative branch, you will be waiting forever." President Obama has not who the effectively brought people together.

JONES: I just think that's unfair, and I'll tell you why. First of all, the program he has put forward, Obamacare, is not the program that people have been demonizing. One reason the Republicans have gone to such extremes is that when you run away from a Republican program, which Obama put forward, Obamacare, from the Heritage Foundation, Mitt Romney's program. That is a moderate Republican, business-friendly program. The only way you can get away from that is -- you have no place to go but go crazy.

And what's happened now, you have Ted Cruz now the speaker of the House. How can President Obama negotiate with Ted Cruz over what's happened in the House?

CUPP: But, Van, what would you have them do? Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio were all elected running against Obamacare, promising constituents they would do everything they could to end it. What would you do, break that promise to your constituents?

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: They want them to act like this.

JONES: Who wants them to act like this?

CUPP: Their constituents back home.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: I see it all day on Twitter: Thank you, Ted Cruz for standing up for us.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: Thank you for trying to put an end to this.

JONES: I've been looking at the polls. And the polls say even those who don't like Obamacare say don't shut down the government. Even those who don't like Obamacare say it would be better for them to deal with this in the normal course of legislation.

We are now I think -- this is a very sad day for America. Even if we were to cave right now and give you everything you wanted for a two- month extension, in two months, we'd be right back here again. Then the debt ceiling on top of that. We're in a situation where I want to celebrate the fact that all across the country ordinary Americans can sign up for health care. This is a big deal for low-income people and working people. You got working people all across this country, Wolf, who go to work every day to catch an early bus and don't have health care. Today, they can get it. That's a good thing.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: But maybe when they work out the glitches and they can actually sign up, maybe they can.

BLITZER: Will the two of you be co-hosting "CROSSFIRE" later tonight?

VAN: Yes.

CUPP: Yes, indeed, we will.

BLITZER: 6:30 p.m. eastern, to be continued.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks very, very much.

Later tonight, "Crossfire," 6:30 p.m. eastern with Van Jones and S.E. Cupp.

Coming up, as a result of what's going on, the shutdown, national monuments have been closed.

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BLITZER: But that hasn't stopped bus loads of World War II veterans. We have a special report. That's coming up next.

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BLITZER: They wouldn't take no for an answer.

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BLITZER: Veterans, many in wheelchairs, as you can see, were able to make it to the World War II Memorial here in Washington. The National Park Service closed all of its parks, including national memorials, as a result of the federal government shutdown.

Let's bring in Erin McPike. She's on the scene for us.

Erin, what actually happened here? Because it's generating a lot of commotion out there. ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, Wolf, just yesterday, the National Park Service was saying one of the saddest things that would come of a government shutdown is that these Honor Flights, World War II veterans who come to Washington to visit some of the monuments, like the World War II Memorial, can't do it because they would be barricading many of the monuments, as they did this morning. But already, there were Honor Flights scheduled to come in today. So bus loads of veterans from Iowa, Mississippi and Texas did show up to the memorial and people actually removed the barricades from around the World War II Memorial so they could get in and see it -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Erin, hold on for a moment because Dana Bash is getting some news, potentially significant news up on Capitol Hill.

Dana, what are you learning?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This could be directly related to what Erin is reporting on. Deidre Walsh and I are getting from Republican sources who are meeting right down the hall from where I am right now that their next move will be to relent a little bit and to put a bill on the House floor that funds the government piecemeal, starting with the park service, which would affect the area where Erin is right now, the National Park Service, veterans and also the D.C. government. Unclear how the Senate is going to react to that. It might be hard for them to beat that back since those are some symbolic and also important functions of the government. But that is something that we are told that House Republicans are going to come out and begin the process of doing later today. Very interesting. You know, what we don't know for sure is if this will be so-called clean, meaning they won't have any strings attached. That would be a nonstarter in the Senate. If there are no strings attached, it would be hard for Senate Democrats to vote against these things.

BLITZER: As you know, Dana, they already did that as far as military men and women getting their paychecks. That was proposed in the House and then it was passed by the Senate yesterday. When I interviewed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, he said -- in "The Situation Room," he said flatly, he was praising Harry Reid for allowing that clean bill, the continuing resolution as it's called, to allow the men and women of the U.S. military, uniformed men and women to continue receiving their paychecks on time. And he then proposed, let's do this for all sorts of other areas, including park service, park police. And then he went point by point by point. It sounds to me like what these Republicans are now proposing is what Ted Cruz recommended on our show yesterday. But tell me if you disagree.

BASH: It certainly wouldn't be the first time House Republicans would do something that Ted Cruz recommended. As you're talking, I was processing the politics of this. And as I was thinking about what Erin was saying and the fact we are live at the park service. If Democrats do want to play hard ball, they understand what Republicans understand, which is why they're putting the park service up first, which is that that is the most illustrative of a government shutdown, the closed monuments, the closed veterans memorial, things that people like to do as tourists, as Americans in this country. Symbolically, those things being closed could hurt the Republican brand if they are, in fact, blamed as they expect to be for the shutdown. So if Democrats do want to play hard ball in the Senate, they could reject that, saying, no, if you want to fund the government, fund it all. We're not just going to open the park service so it doesn't look bad for you. We'll see what they say.

BLITZER: We'll see what they say. A potentially significant development, another proposal coming from the House Republican side. Now it's up to Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate to respond. We'll see how they respond this time.

Dana, don't go too faraway.

Erin McPike, thanks to you, as well.

So how will the shutdown impact you? Empty offices mean many federal services are not available today. See how long it lasts. We're going to outline what you need to know. Stay with us.

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BLITZER: Despite intense opposition to the Affordable Care Act by some members of Congress, it is the law of the land, and today is the first day of what's called open enrollment.

Perhaps no one better understands how this new law will affect so many Americans out there than the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, who is joining us right now.

Let's talk a little bit, Madame Secretary, what's going on. We're hearing there are serious glitches. Even the president acknowledged it. Tell us how bad these problems are on this first day of open enrollment.

Kathleen Sebelius, can you hear me? It's Wolf.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I can. Hi, Wolf. How are you?

BLITZER: All right. Thank you so much.

All right, you're at the White House. We just heard from the president. Even he is suggesting there are some glitches out there on this first day of open enrollment. What's going on? Because you've had a lot of time to prepare for this day.

SEBELIUS: I think what we're seeing, Wolf, is a very high volume of interested Americans. And that's very good news. So the simultaneous hits on the website -- we had over a million visitors before 7:00 a.m. this morning. And we are working as we speak to make sure that we can process people in a more timely fashion.

But I think the volume-related issues are ones that we welcome, frankly. It shows how many people are eager to get real information, eager to see plans side by side, make a comparison, figure out what they might qualify for in terms of financial help, and then make a good choice.

Just to remind your viewers, this is an open enrollment period that lasts for six months, starting today, October 1st, lasting all the way till March 31st, 2014. So it isn't that you miss something if you don't visit the site today. If people also want in-person help on the phone, we have a toll-free call-in line with translators available who speak up to 150 languages.

So we're thrilled that so many people have paid attention, have visited healthcare.gov. We welcome them to keep coming, shop, get information, ask questions, make sure you understand what plans might work for yourselves and your families. And for the first time for that 15 percent of American who don't have the affordable health coverage, they finally have health security headed their way.

BLITZER: So what happens over the next six months, some people decide they don't sign up for the Affordable Care Act, sign up for health insurance? What happens after March to those people?

SEBELIUS: Well, at the end of March, when those individuals who can afford health insurance who choose not to purchase it this year, when they pay their taxes, they'll be asked whether or not they have health insurance. And they will owe a fine as part of their tax bill, making sure that we encourage people to sign up. Because you can't pick and choose when you will be sick, be in an accident, have a diagnosis, and we think it's much better for people to have some personal responsibility. But for the first time, a lot of people who have been priced out of the market or locked out of the market with a pre- existing health condition have seen a change in those rules. Companies have to compete for their business based on service and based on price. And we know that for the large number of people, that 15 percent who don't have coverage, they can actually find a plan in their home community with a private company for less than $100, less than the price of your cell phone bill. That's very good news for individuals like the people who were with the president in the Rose Garden just a few minutes ago.

BLITZER: I've heard from a lot of young people especially who have suggested they're willing to pay that fine because it's going to be a lot less than signing up for health insurance. They think they're healthy. They may be in their 20s and 30s and are not going to sign up but willing to pay the fine. What kind of fine are you talking about would be levied on their income tax returns?

SEBELIUS: The first years, the fine is $85. It gradually increases over time. And I know there's a lot of belief that somehow young, invincible Americans will never sign up. We didn't see that when the law changed to allow young Americans to be covered on their parents' plan. We have three million young adults right now who were previously uninsured before the Affordable Care Act who now have affordable coverage.

I travel all over this country and hear from young people each and every day who say, you know, it's got to be affordable. I've got to be able to pay it in my overall income. But I know it's really stupid not to be covered. I know something could happen. I know I could fall on the basketball court or be in a car accident, and I'm one step away from bankruptcy or putting those bills on my parents. If it's affordable, I want to take a look.

And that's what we're saying to people. Visit healthcare.gov. Find out options that are affordable for you. We also have, for young Americans under 30-year-olds, a catastrophic plan to choose from if they don't want full coverage but want to make sure, if some terrible accident happens or they have to have a serious surgery, that they won't be bankrupt. They can choose a catastrophic plan or a full- coverage. We think the options are affordable enough and understandable enough that it's really a brand new day for lots of Americans.

BLITZER: Yeah, there are four categories, the bronze, the silver, the gold, the platinum. You pay a lot less with the bronze, but you get a higher co-pay, a lot more deductible. Those are just some of the issues out there.

Kathleen Sebelius, thanks very much for joining us.

SEBELIUS: Great to visit with you.

BLITZER: Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services.

All right, we have a lot more to talk about. This shutdown, how is it impacting you? A lot of empty offices in the federal government right now. We'll tell you what that means.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they need to do is take a pay cut themselves, OK? And leave us alone because we're the ones running this country. Obviously, they're not doing it. You got grown men sitting up at the White House that can't even sit down and talk to each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of jerks running the show up there and it's not fair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's stupid that they can't get together and get it organized and do whatever they're supposed to do.

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BLITZER: Just heard a lot of people are very angry. They're frustrated with the federal government right now. And why wouldn't they be?

Some of those hit the hardest by this shutdown are government workers. The numbers bear repeating. Get this. 783,000 federal workers have now been furloughed on this first day of the government shutdown. That, according to a CNN analysis of contingency plans published by the federal government on Friday.

Let's bring in Colleen Kelley. She's the president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Of those nearly 800,000 workers, Colleen, how many of those are in your union?

COLLEEN KELLEY, PRESIDENT, THE NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION: We represent over 150,000. More than half of them have been furloughed.

BLITZER: Mostly here in the D.C. area?

KELLEY: Believe it or not, only 15 percent here in the D.C. area.

BLITZER: Really?

KELLEY: 85 percent across the country, Wolf.

BLITZER: So what are you hearing from them? These people need this money to survive, a lot of them. They're not wealthy people.

KELLEY: They're not. They're like most Americans. They live paycheck to paycheck. They have mortgages and rents and tuition to pay. They're helping elderly parents as well as their children. And they've had their pay frozen the last three years. And many have already served unpaid furlough days in the last few months from the sequester.

BLITZER: Now, I remember the last time there was a government shutdown. I was the White House correspondent for CNN, '95, '96. They wound up paying back the salaries that people missed out during the government shutdown retroactively. But there's no guarantee that will happen this time, is there?

KELLEY: There is no guarantee. It took a specific act of Congress in '95 and '96 to make that happen and it would take that again.

BLITZER: So what are you hearing from your members? What are they saying to you? What can they do to turn this around and end this government shutdown as quickly as possible?

KELLEY: Well, they're very frustrated and angry and scared because they do live paycheck to paycheck. They're reaching out to their congressmen and Senators, asking them to get the government back to work again. And they are standing with NTEU as we continue this fight to make sure that whether they're shut down for one day or five days that they will be paid.

BLITZER: I always thought that at the last minute they'd work out some sort of deal, get some sort of legislation through so there wouldn't be a government shutdown. But I was wrong. My optimism did not prevail. Did you really think it would come down to this?

KELLEY: I hoped, but by yesterday, I was afraid this was going to happen, unfortunately.

BLITZER: So it's a sad, sad day for your union, for hundreds of thousands of workers out there. Think of all the people, the families that depend on these workers. The pain is obvious. KELLEY: It is. And many families are two-federal employee families. The spouses are both federal employees. Two people have been sent home from work today with no pay.

BLITZER: They have to work this out.

Colleen, thanks very much. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the members of your union.

KELLEY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Good luck to all the people who have been furloughed.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." We'll have a lot more coming up then.

NEWSROOM continues right after a quick break with Brooke Baldwin. She's got a special guest, the former Republican presidential candidate, Jon Huntsman, who says Republicans went too far this time.

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