Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Government Shutdown Imminent?; New Earthquake Hits Japan

Aired April 07, 2011 - 14:59   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Randi. Thank you, Chad.

The clock ticks toward a government shutdown. Less than 33 hours, 33 hours and counting. Hold on for the next two hours, everyone, news is breaking.

Want to show you this. There's the House Speaker John Boehner and the Senate leader, Harry -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, they just left yet another emergency meeting at the White House.

Remember, there was one there last night that lasted pretty late. Still no deal. Boehner said they're close. Reid said he's disappointed.

The stage now switches to Capitol Hill. At any moment now, we expect to hear from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. There you see the flags at the podium. He's going to come out to the mike, maybe to update us on the specifics. That's what we're hearing. So, just so you know, the word we're getting today from Republicans is, don't blame us if the government shuts down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think we all know that no one wants a shutdown.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: We are trying to do the business of the American people. We --

(BOOING)

CANTOR: We do not want to shut the government down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's not a single House Republican that wants to shut down the government.

BOEHNER: No one wants the government to shut down. And we're going to continue --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There you go.

And, as we said, just under 33 hours, 32:59:03 and counting.

Brianna Keilar, as we await Eric Cantor, set the scene for us there on Capitol Hill. We have just had a vote in the House. Can you bring us up to date on that, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, this was a vote on a short-term spending measure that would continue to fund the government an extra week. It was pushed by House Republicans. It included $12 billion in cuts, which is a sizable amount.

And it also would fund the Department of Defense through the end of the year. Republicans saying this is to fund the troops, because, Don, one of the worst visuals coming out of a government shutdown, if there is one tomorrow night, is going to be men and women in uniform who won't be paid.

So, at the same time, I should tell you, President Obama issued a veto threat on this bill. There are certainly things that Democrats don't want to stomach, certainly things the White House is not -- that the White House does not want to go along with.

And so it appears at least on that regard, there's an impasse.

LEMON: Brianna, Democrats today are saying that they're close on a budget cut number, but Republicans are throwing in volatile social issues.

Let's listen to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and then we will talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: This debate that we have been involved in for many weeks now used to be based on money. That's no longer the case. The Tea Party is trying to push through its extreme agenda, issues that have nothing, nothing, nothing to do with funding government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Brianna, what's he talking about here? Is this ideology?

KEILAR: Well, here's what he's talking about. There are a few moving parts in these negotiations, the numbers, the amount of spending cuts. That's one of the moving parts here. The other issue has to do with policy provisions that some House Republicans, especially, want, things like defunding health care reform, which, as you can imagine, the White House isn't going to go along with, defunding Planned Parenthood, telling Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

These are all things that Democrats just don't want. A lot of them have said they're deal-breakers. You talk to Republicans, they say they're important, it's not unusual to attach these things to spending measures. And you have some House Republicans who say if they ultimately don't get those things, Don, they're not going to vote for a bill.

LEMON: And, Brianna, in the midst of all the talk about the two sides apparently getting farther apart, Speaker Boehner said today -- he said it yesterday -- the people involved in the talks actually like each other. He said, I like the president. I actually like the guy. But he went out on a campaign trip.

Are you hearing anything about the tone of these talks?

KEILAR: I think -- specifically in terms of the tone, I think you can kind of see it when you're looking there at the stakeout position at the White House. You see John Boehner side by side with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and they're not throwing bombs at each other. They're saying that they're disappointed that they haven't made more progress, but that they are heading in the right direction.

This is not the vitriol that you saw in the mid-'90s. I think part of that is when you think of the characters at play, you really saw a lot of vitriol between then House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton. You're not really seeing that. And Speaker Boehner was here in the mid-'90s as an obviously less veteran lawmaker.

He saw this.

LEMON: Yes.

KEILAR: As a younger lawmaker, he was maybe more of a kind of bomb thrower, if you will. He hasn't really been that way as much as a veteran lawmaker.

And there certainly is this tone, both sides saying that they want to avoid a shutdown. I think they're both working to try to preserve that.

LEMON: Yes, I think the last time that I can remember, I could be wrong, was the health care vote that they had to work late into the night, have to work on a weekend. So they work late last night. What about the rest of the night? What are they doing? Working late again?

KEILAR: They are going to be working late again.

After that meeting at the White House earlier today, staff-level negotiations -- and we're talking top aides. These aren't just staff members. These are top aides to Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid. They're continuing to negotiate. And then we're going to see another meeting at the White House at 7:00 p.m. with Speaker Boehner and with Leader Reid -- Don.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much, Brianna Keilar.

You see the shot of the White House there. You see the countdown clock behind me. What is it, 32 hours, less than 32, 32 hours and counting there, almost 33 hours.

Let's get to the White House now and CNN's Ed Henry.

Ed, we saw the two leaders there meeting just moments ago and speaking.

What are you hearing, Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, in terms of the tone that you were asking Brianna about, Speaker Boehner was very quick to stress that it was polite behind closed doors, and that they're not exchanging angry words, if you will.

And, yet, there's still no deal. I think there is at least a little bit of optimism, though, in that they are still talking. And the news out of what just came out of this Oval Office building was the leaders from both parties telling us they're planning to come back here to the White House we believe at about 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

That shows that they're at least still talking. These talks have not broken down. And in the words of Senator Harry Reid, he said it's not done yet, but it's doable, Don.

LEMON: And then I want to say we have the little gizmo there, little picture in your television screen. We're awaiting Eric Cantor, the majority leader in the House, to come up and speak in just moments. You're looking at the microphone and the flags -- that's where he's going to speak -- to see if there's any movement on this possible shutdown of the government and the budget talks.

So, Ed, as we wait for Eric Cantor, let me ask you this. Some Republicans are accusing the president of getting into the talks way too late, failing to lead. What's the White House response to that, if any response at all?

HENRY: Well, they do respond. And they say, look, earlier in the talks there was a lot of just behind the scenes sausage making. And that's not what they believe should be the president's role. They believe he should wait until the final days, when he can have the maximum impact.

But certainly Republicans are going to make noise about that because they believe this deal should have been done a long time ago, earlier this year or even last year, when Democrats were running control of Congress and they failed to get a budget done. That's really the reason why we're in the fix we are right now.

But the White House pushback is essentially that, look, what's done is done and they don't think a president should be in the weeds throughout the entire process. But now you see him in these final hours, late last night calling both sides to the Oval Office, doing it again this afternoon, again tonight, that he's going to make sure and do everything he can in the final hours to finally get this through, Don.

LEMON: Is the president worried, Ed, that if he's involved too deeply in the talks, that he might get more of the blame if there is a shutdown?

HENRY: Well, you know, the president hasn't told me whether he's worried about that. And his top aides certainly won't admit that publicly, because they insist they're not looking at the politics. They want to get the best legislative deal.

But let's face facts. Last time, in '95, when there was a shutdown, the Republicans certainly seemed to take more of the political brunt. It seems pretty obvious that both the Republicans on the Hill, the Democrats on the Hill and now this White House are looking at all this, looking at the polls, trying to sort out how it will all play out.

And so politics is certainly going to play a role, no matter what anyone says. And I think more important than this short-term fight is the fact we have gotten some, some big, big issues like Medicare, Medicaid, big, big budget items, big-ticket items that are really driving the debt, more than these little, oh, we're going to cut $12 billion or $10 billion. And neither side has tackled that yet.

So if they're having this much trouble on the small stuff, just wait a month or so, when we start getting into some of those bigger- ticket items. This is going to be a rough ride for both sides.

LEMON: Ed, I want to follow up really quickly on this, because I asked Brianna Keilar about the tone of the talks. And from our vantage point, the relationship between the president and Speaker Boehner, it doesn't have the type of venom that we saw between then- President Clinton and then Speaker Gingrich during the last shutdown.

HENRY: Yes.

LEMON: Would you say that's accurate? And is it helpful here?

HENRY: Yes. It could be very helpful here. And that's why I was trying to make the point about Speaker Boehner saying that the tone was polite and the conversations are ongoing.

You know, if you go to CNN.com, we have actually got a piece up there that Wolf Blitzer, when he was senior White House correspondent in '95, filed on all this. And you look at some of the sound bites. Leon Panetta, a top White House aide, was essentially accusing the Republicans of being terrorists, terrorizing the White House, either we get our way or we're going to shut the government down.

You had Newt Gingrich firing back with angry words at Leon Panetta and others, and President Clinton. We're not really seeing that. When President Obama comes to the cameras, when Speaker Boehner comes to the cameras, they're being very cooperative, they're reaching out.

Let's see though how the words change on Saturday if the government shuts down midnight Friday. You may see the tone change ever so slightly and both sides start pointing the fingers more. But I think you raise a good point. And Brianna made a key point that the key players here aren't as venomous as we saw in '95. The war of words is not nearly as nasty. And that be helpful to --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hey, Ed, hey, thank you very much, Ed. We want to go now, the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, speaking. Let's listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CANTOR: -- keep our government open and to fund the troops.

None of us want a shutdown. I think all of us have said that. But if we do end up there, there is one thing that we feel very strongly about, and that is the folks, the men and women who are defending our country, and their families must be paid.

There is, in reality, bipartisan support for the bill we just passed in the House in the Senate. And we would urge Leader Reid to take that bill up to avoid a government shutdown.

You know, we continue to face a very serious fiscal challenge in this country. There's $14 trillion of debt. We continue to borrow nearly 40 cents on every dollar we spend. The federal government is broke. And we continue to try and put forward solutions to solve the problem, and the president has offered no serious plan to deal with it.

The president has continued to say he wants an adult conversation. And we're all adults here, but let's be real. The adult thing to do here is to keep the government functioning. It is to get our fiscal house in order. It is to pay our troops. And it is to get Americans back to work.

I would like to turn it over to the majority whip, Kevin McCarthy.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Eric.

As you watched on the floor, we passed a continuing resolution that funds the troop. It cuts $12 billion for the week. When you listen to the debate --

LEMON: Twelve billion dollars. And the president has said that he will veto it if it comes to his desk.

Up next --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I don't get to come to work on Monday, I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills. But I guess they just want me to tell my 3-year-old daughter in the meantime that she can't eat, that she will have to eat retroactively when I get paid again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There's a heck of a lot of outrage out there at the increased likelihood of a government shutdown. And coming up, exactly who will be affected around the country? We will break it all down for you. Also, the now infamous Bronx Zoo cobra, we had to report this one, has just been named.

And LeBron James' mother arrested. We will tell you what she's accused of doing to a hotel valet. Top stories are up next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Want to check some other stories making headlines right now.

Japan's Miyagi Prefecture rattled by a powerful new earthquake today. It was actually an aftershock. The 7.1 quake briefly triggered tsunami warnings. But experts say the damage is now over. The epicenter of the quake was near Sendai, one of the areas hardest- hit by last month's quake. And just as a precaution, workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, they were evacuated. There are no immediate reports of damage.

In Brazil, a gunman opens fire at a school in Rio de Janeiro. The bloody rampage left 11 students dead and 13 others injured. The 23-year-old gunman was a former student at that school. CNN affiliate Record TV says the man went into the school armed with two handguns. Police entered the building and ran into the gunman on a stairwell.

Officers shot him in the leg. Police say he then shot himself in the head and later died of his wounds.

The mom of a Miami Heat basketball star in trouble with police. We're talking about Gloria James. She is the mother of LeBron James. She was arrested today at a Miami Beach hotel. Police say she allegedly smacked a valet for taking too long to bring her car. She's also accused of being publicly intoxicated.

James was not jailed after her arrest. Police say she was released on her own recognizance. She's expected to appear in court to face charges when she's summoned.

After scaring the daylights out of New Yorkers, an elusive snake now has a name. The Bronx Zoo slippery, infamous cobra is going to be called Mia. It's an acronym for missing in action. The cobra escaped from its home at the zoo, but was found five days later inside the reptile house. Zookeepers announced the result of a naming contest today. And some 6,000 people voted online. Unfortunately, my suggestion, Cobra Winfrey, didn't make the cut.

They're bracing for the worst in Fargo, North Dakota right now. By this weekend, the Red River could crest beyond flood stage. Chad Myers is here to tell us how bad it could be. He will join us in just a moment.

Also, did you hear this? One of President Obama's very good friends arrested. What he was allegedly caught doing by an undercover cop -- coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Part of the Upper Midwest bracing for near record flooding. The Red River is expected to crest well above flood stage this weekend.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple is already pushing for a federal disaster declaration here. And National Guard troops are patrolling dikes. Students have been let out of school early this week, and they're joining volunteers to help with all that sandbagging they have to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BERG, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT: It's a huge undertaking, especially for us. We're on a Peninsula, you know. It's tough. And we're prepared this year and we have been really focused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

LEMON: If the government does shut down -- this is back to our top story here -- what are -- how are you affected?

And the video you're looking at right now is this woman. Do you recognize her? If you don't, you probably know her name. She's the woman who burst into a Libyan hotel screaming that she was raped by Gadhafi's forces. Now she has given her first exclusive and only on- camera interview to our very own Nic Robertson.

Up next, what she said and which part of it Gadhafi's son asked Nic not to show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: While budget negotiators talk, the clock continues ticking. It's a countdown that has nerves on edge. I want you to listen to these federal workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be difficult. I have a child, a young son, and my wife is also working in Commerce. So, we will be without both of our incomes. So it may be difficult. Hopefully, it won't last more than a couple days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's longer than that, I will eat ramen and do what I have to, to kind of make ends meet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's bring in Sally Katzen right now. She has some experience with government shutdowns and the stress that they create. During the last one she was a deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Sally, thanks for joining us.

What's happening right now in the offices of federal workers and managers?

SALLY KATZEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY BUDGET DIRECTOR: Well, there's a lot of discussion going on between the workers and with their managers and even higher up in the agency.

But what's probably more important is what's going on in the heads of the people who are the government employees. I mean, you talk a lot about the financial consequences of closing the government and stopping a program and then starting it up again, and the disruptive aspect for people who are accustomed to government services.

But when you shut down the government, you don't just close a door. You -- there are people who ordinarily walk through it. And the two people you just had on were talking about loss of salary. But there's also a loss of esteem and there's a loss of morale. It's very dispiriting and quite depressing, in fact, for people who have been working in the government, who go every day, maybe for years, maybe for decades, to do something they think is important and suddenly they are told you stay home and you're not essential. And how do they feel about that?

LEMON: Personally, Sally, did you experience this with your co- workers and with workers during the last government shutdown? What are the personal stories from there?

KATZEN: Well, what I heard mostly was a sense of, what did I do wrong? Is this really my fault?

It was self-doubt. And when they came back to work and they were faced with picking up the tasks that they were undertaking when they were told to leave, they're sort of wondering, well, what's the next step? Will this happen again?

And, in fact, in '95, it did. There was one small shutdown, and then everyone came back to work, and then there was a longer shutdown. And we're facing here not only the fiscal year 2011, but debates that are going to be coming up about the debt limits and then 2012. So this is sort of a dress rehearsal for what could be happening.

LEMON: Yes. You have said about the last time and I think this time as well, you said you don't want to sound too soft and fuzzy, but these issues are very real, and people tend to personalize them, even though it's people above them, the people who hired them, who are trying to work out these issues.

KATZEN: Yes.

This is clearly the human face of the shutdown. And the senior agency officials hear these stories. They respect the people who work for them. And there's very little they can say or do to comfort them at a time like this. It's frustrating. LEMON: Sally Katzen, thank you so much. I thought it was important you said how to make your employees understand that they are valued. That's what a good manager, management 101, that's what they should be trying to do right now. We appreciate it. Thank you.

KATZEN: Thank you.

LEMON: Up next here on CNN, our Nic Robertson talks with a Libyan woman who says she was raped by Gadhafi's troops. That exclusive interview is next. And Nic will be here live to tell us what she said that Gadhafi's son didn't want us to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: By now you know her face if not yet her name. Eman al-Obeidy The alleged Libyan rape victim whose desperate cries for help at a Tripoli hotel two weeks ago captured the world's eye. It also put a face on a crisis in Libya. Al-Obeidy She says she's grateful for the outpouring of international support.

Now, for the very first time, on camera, she is speaking out. The exclusive interview with CNN's Nic Robertson recorded on Wednesday was facilitated by Moammar Gadhafi's son against the explicit wishes against the Libyan government. As Nic explains, transmission of the interview was delayed almost 18 hours after the Libyan government insisted on reviewing the interviewing, a review that never came.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When you came to the hotel, you wanted focus plain to the journalists everything that happened to you. Can you explain and show to me what happened to you?

EMAN AL-OBEIDY, ALLEGED LIBYAN RAPE VICTIM (via translator): I was kidnapped by two cars belonging to the armed forces and the Gadhafi brigades. They drove their normal patrol police cars. They dropped me off the patrol car because I am from the eastern province and they asked me to ride in their car. Then they took me.

They were drunk in the car and took me to the residence of one of them where I was tortured, raped, beaten, and I was tied. When I showed the journalists my bruises as a result of being tied, my hands and legs were tied up backwards for days.

ROBERTSON: Do you still have the marks on your wrist?

AL-OBEIDY: I still have some of the bruises. But I have pictures of the marks that I took with my phone. I have pictures of all the scars. I will provide them to you after I download them. There are some light bruises on my arms here.

ROBERTSON: You're still quite bruised here.

AL-OBEIDY: There are a lot of bruises on my body as a result of the torture. People have blamed me for showing my body. They said, "how can she expose her body to people like that?" Because I was depressed and there's no way to show people how I was tortured and the way I was tortured. I was brutally tortured to the point of them entering weapons inside of me.

After two days they would also pour alcohol in my eyes. When the Libyan government spokesperson came on and said I was drunk and mentally challenged, he had not reviewed the case or seen the investigation. He just spoke without any knowledge. They just know how to lie.

ROBERTSON: That was two weeks ago almost. How are you now?

AL-OBEIDY: I'm tired. Every time I leave, two times -- I call it kidnapping because they have no right to detain me. Once I try to go and they prohibited me from traveling and the person who stopped me was not from the passport control officers. He was also with the Gadhafi brigades and he took my passport and I was beaten at the border and prohibited from traveling.

Then they took me back in a police car. Then they kept me for a day and a half for no reason and did not give me any reasons for prohibiting me from traveling. All I wanted was to get to my family to feel secure next to them. I was imprisoned in Tripoli. There were even orders to keep me out of Zawiya and to keep me in Tripoli.

And the third time I was arrested, when I came to try to talk to you for the second time at the hotel. Of course, after all the lies and libels they have been saying about me on the Libyan channels, I wanted to only out to clear my name from all the terrible things they have been saying about me. I wanted to defend myself because they did not even give me the right to respond. They kicked me out and took my phone away and threw me in jail. Even when they took me to the department of criminal investigations, they were told they had no right to detain me.

The country is unstable. The police act on their own. I don't understand what's happening. And the third time I was detained was when I tried to follow-up with my court case and tried to seek the path of law since they said that I should seek the law for justice.

I went to follow-up on my case. Then an employee at the public prosecution, just an ordinary employee, not with the army, took a gun and threatened to kill me in the middle of the prosecution department. I don't know what the solution is or what to do.

ROBERTSON: Your situation has touched the hearts of thousands of people around the world. Why do you think that is?

AL-OBEIDY: So the whole world can know what's happening in Libya. Libya has lived many, many years without media exposure, without exposing the facts. Let the world know what's happening. The world has felt for me, and especially women, because I was raped and kidnapped, which moves people. And at the same time, the truth is coming out. Nothing remains hidden.

ROBERTSON: What should the world know about you as a person apart from the terrible things that have happened to you? AL-OBEIDY: I'm an ordinary Libyan citizen, Muslim, conservative. And everything they said about me is a lie. I'm well educated. Unlike the way the Libyan TV portrayed me. I come from a good family regardless of what they said. I'm also not mentally challenged like they said. Just because I raise my voice and talk to the media, they blamed me and questioned my sanity.

Nevertheless, I want my rights. Even without the media. I appealed to Gadhafi and said, look at what happened to me. I want him to give me my rights. I talked to him and did not talk to the other people. And all that was useless. The people who have attacked me, raped me, kidnapped me, tortured me, and locked me up are still wandering the streets and are not arrested.

Instead of giving me a solution, they prohibit me from traveling and instill fear in me. Not all people believe what they are saying about me. Many people here in Tripoli greet me in the street and recognize my name and say they stand by me and that they do not believe what is said about me. People here in Tripoli are sympathetic with me.

ROBERTSON: Do you have a message for your parents and for the thousands of people that have supported you?

AL-OBEIDY: I would like to direct a message to my parents. That they keep pursuing my situation so I can return home and be with them in the coming time period and to stay strong. I would like to thank everyone in the world who stood with me and monitored my case and felt sympathetic to my plight. I would also like to thank CNN which has monitored my case day-by-day and checked in to make sure I'm OK every day. Thank you.

ROBERTSON: What do you want to happen next? What do you want to do now?

AL-OBEIDY: I hope that the way they refer to our country, a country of law, that the law can get me my right from those who raped me and did all this to me. And I hope to get my right from the Libyan state TV for libel, if there is such a thing as law.

And if there is no law, I call upon all judges, district attorneys, prosecutors to stay home and tell them that the Libyan TV is the one whom investigates and questions and judges people so there is no need for you guys.

ROBERTSON: You had a chance to talk to Mr. Sati Gadhafi. What did you talk about? What were your thoughts?

AL-OBEIDY: he was a humble and understanding man. And he treated me well. He said that he will take my case and help me. I only ask for one thing, which is to clear my name in front of the people and to take legal measures against the state TV after all the lies they said about me. At the same time, I asked him to help me return to my family. He has not promised, but he said he will try to help me return to my family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nic Robertson joins us live from Tripoli. Nic, an amazing interview. What struck you most about Eman al-Obeidy, not the interview, but just about her, herself?

ROBERTSON: Well, we talked to her before and after the interview, and there were certain things that she disagreed with Sati Gadhafi on. And she was not afraid to tell him some of the leader of the regime here, a person that most people in this country fear, she was not afraid to tell him her opinion, to tell him she thought he was wrong, to stand up for what she believed in.

So this lady came across as somebody who was very passionate, very strong and intellectual. Clearly physically she's recovering from the trauma of being raped in such a way, but obviously one can see that she was still sort of struggling and is going to struggle with the fact that she can't leave the country, can't get to her family.

We did see her sister with her. We did see her sister's child. But when she left the compound, that's the last we've seen of her. She's still struggling to leave the country. She's a very strong determined woman.

LEMON: CNN's Nic Robertson in Tripoli. Thank you very much for that report.

You know who's worried about a government shutdown? Military families. They don't want to go without paychecks. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anyone else in the world spent six months on a project after it was due, they would be fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, she makes a point. And I'll pose her concerns to a congressman who serves on the house financial services committee. See how Tom Price answers to military families coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: With each little tick of that clock behind me spells bad news for the American people. It is 32 hours, to a possible government shutdown. Last-ditch efforts underway right now. The president ended another White House meeting with congressional leaders and still no deal.

Tom Price is a Republican congressman from Georgia and he serves on the budget committee. Republican House Speaker John Boehner just back from that meeting. He came out and spoke. Have you heard from your leader? What's he telling you?

REP. TOM PRICE, (R) GEORGIA: What's happening right now is the negotiation behind closed doors which is a good place for it to be. If we're able to work anything out, that's where it will be worked out, not in the headlines, not in the press. And I'm pleased things are continuing to move. I hope we're able to get to it before tomorrow night, because the last thing we want is for the government to shut down.

LEMON: You said it shouldn't be worked out in the press, should be behind closed doors, but there should be some degree of transparency about it. After all, the American people are the ones who put you in that job. They deserve to know what's going on.

PRICE: Sure. The whole discussion is happening out in a transparent and accountable way and ultimately any vote will be there. But when you get down to the nuts and bolts, when you're talking about things across the table, that can't be done with the cameras on because it just doesn't work. As you well know, when you're negotiating with somebody on a house deal or car deal, the last thing you want is the press there peering over your shoulder.

LEMON: That's private information, though. Listen, we've heard optimism from one side, pessimism from one side, optimism from some, pessimism from others. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blames in part, congressman, the stalemate on Tea Party movement influence in this whole process on the Republican party. Congressman, is it fair to stay that you have cred with the Tea Party and is Harry Reid correct?

PRICE: Well, I think that the Republican conference has credibility with the Tea Party because that's the American people. So many individuals across this country identify themselves with what's called the Tea Party movement. These are just folks who want responsible governance. Why Senator Reid continues to denigrate a significant portion of the American population is beyond me. We need to get together and solve this challenge. The last --

LEMON: Let me jump in here.

PRICE: Sure.

LEMON: Is there an influence by the Tea Party on this particular process?

PRICE: There's an influence by the American people. They spoke loudly last November. Part of that group that went to the polls were individuals that allied themselves with what's become known as the Tea Party.

LEMON: We're not debating, you know, whether or not people are patriots are not. I'm asking you, is there a significant influence by Tea Party on the process that's going on right now?

PRICE: Well, there's a significant influence by the American people who want smaller government, less spending.

LEMON: The reason I bring that you want, our latest Gallup poll, 58 percent of those asked want Democrats and Republicans to reach a compromise, 33 percent want you to hold out. So my questioning in that, who are you listening to, who are people listening to in this? If you have a very conservative side of the Republican Party that people associate with the Tea Party movement, that's where my questioning is coming from.

PRICE: Well, I think if people are listening to the whole array of individuals. And we find ourselves with the 58 percent of the American people who want this to be worked out. The question is, who's going to move?

As you know, as we've talked about, the House has had a Bill in the Senate now for nearly 50 days and the Senate hasn't acted. Where's the compromise going to come? Do they need to come to us, or do we need to be negotiating with ourselves? That's what we're not interested in doing is negotiating with ourselves.

LEMON: Thanks for answering my question. Let's move on now. Whoever you want to blame, a showdown will hurt real people. You have to admit that. I want you to take a listen to a story out of Chicago about military families then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leellyn Mendez Tovar is sorting items for military care packages. This military mom is volunteering for the organization, Operation Support our Troops. But she knows a care package is little comfort for all the troops who may not get paid if there's a government shutdown. Mendez Tovar's son is serving in Afghanistan.

LEELLYN MENDEZ TOVAR, MILITARY MOM: He has four children he's supporting, and if this government shuts this down and he doesn't get paid, I don't know what's going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The founder and president of Operation Support our Troops has been on the phone nonstop taking calls from worried military families. The mother of two sons in the service, she says most soldiers live paycheck to paycheck.

DEB RICKERT, OPERATION SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: We have a lot of families that are really, really stressed with multiple deployments. I wonder how much more our military families can take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The fear there, palpable, congressman.

PRICE: It sure is.

LEMON: What do you say to those two women?

PRICE: First we say thanks so much to all the men and women who are serving and their families who are sacrificing so much. Secondly, that's why the house passed a bill today that would fund the troops and families through the end of September.

I'm sorry to say that Senator Reid has said he won't bring that up in the Senate and the president issued a veto threat. He's going to veto funding for the troops. That's not where we need to be. House Republicans are trying to be as absolutely as responsible as we can to make sure our troops are paid for and their families receive their money as well.

LEMON: Congressman Price, if there's a shutdown, would you consider foregoing getting paid or possibly donate your salary to military families who might not get paid?

PRICE: I don't know if there's a mechanism for that. We don't get checks when the government shuts down either. What we're committed to doing is trying to make certain that doesn't happen.

Remember, ten times the past 30 years the government has shutdown, the vast majority of those, eight of those times, three or four days and over a weekend and the vast majority of the American people didn't see any change at all. So, if it comes to that I hope it is for a very short period of time.

But again, we are working as hard as we can to make certain we reach an agreement, make certain we decrease spending at the federal level, fund our troops and make sure the government doesn't shutdown.

LEMON: Thank you very much, congressman, and on behalf of the American people, I say get back to work and let's get this thing done.

PRICE: Thanks, Don, so much, take care.

LEMON: All right, as if President Barack Obama needs any more bad news right now, now one of his closest buddies busted. What the heck went down in Hawaii this week? We will have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One of the president's best buds in Hawaii has a court date early next month. Take a look at Bobby Titcomb, a mug shot snapped Monday night in Honolulu. He is accused of soliciting sex from an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. He said they are pals, right? We said they are pals. Their friendship dates back to childhood and here is the president and Titcomb for a round of golf in June 2008 and the president played golf with Titcomb on four different occasions and spent time with the Titcombs during Christmastime. The president and Mrs. Obama dined with Bobby Titcomb December 29th and spent most of the next day at his house. Titcomb's arrest on Monday has just come to light and we have yet to see a comment from the White House.

Did you hear what Donald Trump told my colleague Suzanne Malveaux today? He hopes the president, he hopes is a citizen, a U.S. citizen, because if he isn't, Trump says it is the biggest scam in all of history. More on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, we know Donald Trump for many things. Real estate's one of them, relationship issues, and yes, even his famous comb-over. Now we know Trump has sent a group of investigators to Hawaii to look into President Obama's birth as he considers a presidential bid in 2012. Trump spoke to my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux earlier, and made these allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP: You have to be born in the country. If he is three years old or two-year-old or one-year-old and people remember him, that is irrelevant. There is no birth certificate, only a certificate of live birth and a much, much lower standard. No hospital records, his own family doesn't know what hospital was born in Hawaii but you have no hospital records in any of the hospitals that he was born in, no bills, no room numbers, no nothing. They do that for other people but don't have for Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, so, Wolf Blitzer joins me now with the very latest from the CNN Political Ticker. I have a question four, if Donald Trump already knows that Obama doesn't have hospital records in Hawaii, why did he send a team to investigate?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": He says he is still not 100 percent convinced. He says he has certain doubts. He says three weeks ago when he started raising some questions, he thought that Barack Obama was actually born in Hawaii, but as he has learned more about it and as the controversy over his remarks over this whole birther issue expanded, he has become increasingly convinced that maybe he wasn't born in Hawaii. So he says he not there yet, not 100 percent convinced of that, but he wants to check it out. He has got questions that he is raising.

You will be interested to know, asked our own Brian Todd once again to take another look at the record. And for example, raising the question, two Honolulu newspapers a few days after he was born, both contemporaneously reported that Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu.

Now, how did that happen? Those records came from the hospital. They didn't come from private individuals just making announcements in newspapers. That's what the record has shown, at least until now. So, there's a lot of issues this are coming up.

But he is not shying away. He is not a shy guy as you know, Donald Trump. What's interesting and fascinating right now that in these latest public opinion polls, he is doing remarkably well if, and this is a huge if still if he decides to run for the Republican presidential nomination, coming in right behind Mitt Romney, tied with Mike Huckabee.

So he is doing well, he says by June he will make a final decision after this season's final run of "Celebrity Apprentice." So we will see how he does. But he is at least making all the signs that he is real serious about this.

A couple other political notes we are watching, Sarah Palin who is also saying she is undecided about running, she is not doing well in these latest public opinion polls. The new NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" survey says that her unfavorable number has now reached an all-time high for her -- 53 percent of Americans say they have either a negative or a very negative view of the former Alaska governor. Only 25 percent give her favorable ratings.

One other note. The pretty popular Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, causing a little bit of stir back in New Jersey. He says he is definitely not running for the Republican nomination, even though plenty of Republicans would like him to run for that nomination.

He called some of the teachers' union leaders, in his words, political thugs. That's causing a little bit of a stir out there. He is saying the teachers are great. The union leaders who represent the teachers, in his words, political thugs. We're looking at all the politics, CNNPolitics.com, on our "Political Ticker."

I know you go there every single day --

LEMON: I do.

BLITZER: -- don't you?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I absolutely do. Chris Christie is becoming very popular lately, and of course, Donald Trump. When everyone thought that Sarah Palin would have been the front-runner, it seems like they may be pulling ahead of her if they do indeed decide to run, Wolf.

I will be watching. And I go to the ticker every day. Thank you very much. Another update in about 30 minutes and updates online at CNNPolitics.com and on Twitter @PoliticalTicker.