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Obama Cancels Asia Trip; This Isn't Some Damn Game; Obama Talks Shutdown at Impromptu Lunch; DC Suspect Wasn't Armed; Government Shutdown

Aired October 04, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington, and we want to welcome viewers.

We're now well into day four of the government shutdown. The cost to the United States economy on this manmade -- not natural made, but manmade economic disaster is up to $1.2 billion. That's according to one study. And that's the same as the tab for all the weather-related disasters for the month of June, including massive flooding along the eastern seaboard, tornadoes in the south and Midwest.

President Obama has now formally canceled his entire trip interest to Asia. He was scheduled to attend a key summit in Indonesia, instead he will stay right here in Washington and wait for a bill to sign to get the government running once again.

In fact, only moments ago, he walked out of the White House with the vice president to have lunch and responding to questions, the president said, the House speaker John Boehner should act like a small business owner who offers discounts during the shutdown. Look past politics, help the people and let the House vote on a clean bill without any conditions attached.

Meanwhile, this is what we're hearing up on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, HOUSE SPEAKER: I was at the white House the other night and listened to the president some 20 times explain to me why he wasn't going to negotiate. I sat there and listened to the majority leader in the United States Senate describe to me that he's not going to talk until we surrender.

And then, this morning, I get "The Wall Street Journal" out and it says, well, we don't care how long this lasts because we're winning. Now, this isn't some damn game.

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MINORITY WHIP: As Governor McDonald said, this is no way to run a government. We've taken the Republican number. Mr. Cantor says he wants to act quickly. Mr. Lankford says he wants to act quickly. We will support acting quickly. Let's do it. Let's just do it. Open the people's government today. Not slice by slice by slice by slice.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: There's no doubt this impasse that we're at is a problem for the country. This is not the best way to run the most important government in the most important country in the word. The people around here who all they do is focus on politics who for every -- for every day is election day. They're focused on who's winning. Who's going to get the blame? You know, who's this going to help in the next election? And I suppose that has a place in politics in a governing process. Let me answer to you who's going to get the blame? We all are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Yes, he's probably right on that. Let's discuss what's going on.

Joining us now, Democratic Representative Steve Israel of New York. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in. A lot of folks are having a hard time understanding why the Democrats in the Senate won't even allow these piecemeal House bills to fund the national institutes of health or fund veterans' benefits, critically important issues. Why not at least pass this legislation and so that it won't be as painful, this government shutdown, as it is right now?

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Because this is not a restaurant menu, Wolf. This is the United States government. And what the Republicans are giving us is not a responsible solution to reopening the government. It is a political strategy. It is gimmickry. Here's what we should do -- and speaker Boehner as an opportunity to end what he called a game in exactly 30 minutes from now.

In 30 minutes, we'll go back to the floor of the House. House Democrats will, once again, offer the Republicans what they originally requested. We will offer them their budget level. We will produce 80 percent of the votes necessary to pass the budget at their level and reopen the government. All we're asking them to do is come up with the other 10 to 20 percent. If they can do that, we will pass this budget at their requested level. Government gets open again and then we can negotiate everything moving forward.

BLITZER: Well, here's the question. Let's say that the speaker, I'm not saying he will do this, he probably won't, will allow what's called a clean bill without strings attached, an up or down vote. As you know, there are 233 Republicans in the House. There are 200 Democrats. There are two vacancies. You need 217 votes to pass such a piece of legislation. Of the 200 Democrats, how many will vote in favor of that?

ISRAEL: Minimal 180, maybe more than that. So, as I said before, if we need 216, be 217 votes, depending on absences, we'll provide 80 to 90 percent of that vote on the budget that the Republicans requested. All we're saying is, don't defund Obamacare, the affordable care act, in order to bring the government down. Don't put on all these riders on contraception and other issues. We will provide the massive majority of votes necessary.

Now, there are 20 to 30 Republican who's presumably, Wolf, have said that they will vote with us. So, we're saying to them that in 30 minutes from now is put your promises on the floor of the House. Vote with us. You have the opportunity to do it. The games will end. The government will be open. And then, we can negotiate our legitimate differences moving forward.

BLITZER: But if you're going to lose 20 Democrats in the House of Representatives who wouldn't even vote for this clean continuing resolution, CR as it's called, you're going to need more than 20 Republicans. You're going to need closer to 40 Republicans. Do you think you have the -- that kind of vote?

ISRAEL: Well, it depends. I'm not saying we would lose 20. It's unclear. We'll know when the speaker allows us to vote. But the onus is on him to allow us to vote. I actually think that there are 20 Republicans who presumably have gone on the record saying, if the speaker of the House would allow them it vote for this clean budget, that they would do so.

I think once the vote opens up and once you see the vast majority of Democrats who want to solve this problem and cooperate, I think that more than 20 Republicans would join us. I think, at that point, it is a done deal which begs the question, why won't speaker Boehner allow for that vote? What is he afraid of?

BLITZER: Well, I -- you say it's a done deal but I'm saying, if you lose 20 Democrats, you said 180 Democrats you think you can get out of the 200 in the House of Representatives -- if you lose 20 and they can only pick up 20 Republicans, you're going to lose that vote for a clean CR.

ISRAEL: Well, I said I don't want to get too hung up on the exact numbers. I said that I believe that there would be a minimum of 180 Democrats. It could be 190. It could be even more than that. So, I -- we provide 80 to 90 percent of the total necessary to reopen the government. The question is will the Republicans provide the 10 to 20 percent that's in the balance?

BLITZER: Have you done a headcount of the 200 Democrats if they would vote in favor? Do you -- have you done a little whip as they call it here in Washington.

ISRAEL: Wolf, there is very strong consensus on the Democratic side that we should pass a budget and that we should reopen the government. We don't like elements of that budget, but we're willing to do that so long as we can reopen the government and then negotiate our differences moving forward.

You know, I personally believe that the vast majority of Democrats, as I said before, if not all Democrats, then close to it, would support that approach because it is balanced and it is responsible versus the imbalance and the irresponsibility and the recklessness of House Republicans who have brought us this showdown.

BLITZER: Congressman, the president of the United States just left the white House for lunch. He walked out with the vice president, Joe Biden. While he was sitting down, he had a little exchange with reporters. We're getting the videotape. I think it's almost ready. It's almost queued up. I want to play it, because, once again, the president makes his case, putting the pressure on the speaker of the House, to go ahead and let this up or down clean vote, as it's called, go forward. I think that tape is ready right now. So, let's play it.

It's not ready yet but it will be ready in a few seconds, I'm told. The president of the United States, just beautiful day here in Washington, decided he wanted to get out. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's great to see you. Before I order, I just want to say that part of the reason we're here is we're starving and the food here is great. The other part of it though is that right now, this establishment is providing a 10 percent discount to all federal workers who are on furlough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Plus a cookie.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Plus a cookie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And that I think is, you know, an indication of how ordinary Americans look out for each other and aren't obsessed with politics and aren't trying to extract concessions out of each other. They just try to make sure that everybody's doing their job and that we're doing what's best for the country. And right now, the House of Representatives has the opportunity to do the exact same thing. This furlough or this shutdown could be over today. We know there are the votes for it in the House of Representatives.

And as I said yesterday, if speaker Boehner will simply allow that vote to take place, we could end this shutdown. A whole bunch of families, not just here in Washington but all across the country, will have the certainty that a paycheck will be coming, that they'll be able to make their mortgage, that they'll be able to pay their expenses, that they'll be able to look after their families. And we can get back to what we should be focused on every single day, and that's how we make sure we've got a strong middle class in this country that anybody willing to work hard can get ahead.

And when it comes to negotiations, I've said I'm happy to have negotiations with the Republicans and Speaker Boehner on a whole range of issues. But we can't do it with a gun held to the head of the American people. So, reopen the government. Make sure we're paying our bills. Two basic functions the Congress has. And take your queues from folks like this, you know, who are more interested in making sure that everybody is being treated fairly and properly and less interested in politics and scoring points. All right?

With that, I'm going to order. But let me --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) that you're winning here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) just have lunch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no winning when families don't have certainty about whether you're going to get paid or not. I've got staff in the white House. There is staff all across the country in rural areas who are working for the agricultural department, who are working for veterans affairs, who are on their job despite the fact that they're not getting paid or have been sent home and want to be on their job because they're looking after their fellow citizens on a whole range of services. And as long as they're off the job, nobody's winning. And that's the point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's kind of how (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should get this over with as soon as possible. All righty? Now, I'm going to order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you get?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got the (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm paying for Joe so don't take his money.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought you said I was paying for you?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no, no.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, hell, OK.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got it. You got the what?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got the Ninth Street. They say it's kind of -- it's kind of like a sub.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's salami (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, somebody said that there was a -- the Race Street was good too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is that good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's turkey (INAUDIBLE.)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to try our (INAUDIBLE), man.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's try that out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All right. So, I want to get an Eighth Street, Ninth Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want to drink?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I think I'm going to have water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sorry, what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This -- whatever this is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And why don't you get a cookie too, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get a cookie today, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right, they were ordering their drinks now. The president of the United States gets the Race -- gets the Race Street. The vice president gets the Ninth Street sandwich. We're going to do some investigation to see what they're having for lunch.

Let's bring in Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. This was sort of out of the blue. The president decides he and the vice president would walk across the street, leave Pennsylvania Avenue, head out for lunch. They picked this place because they're giving a 10 percent discount to federal employees who have been furloughed which is very nice. I keep seeing that popping up, by the way, at a lot of places here in the nation's capital.

But on the substance, once again, the president said he's ready to negotiate with the House speaker, John Boehner, but very tough words he said, we can't do it with a gun held to our heads. So, when he says a gun held to our heads, what does he mean by that?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what he means by that is that he is not going to negotiate on larger budget issues while we're in a shutdown, while the nation is approaching the debt ceiling and potentially going into default.

The president -- and I think you heard it once again there, people are perhaps looking for tea leaves to see whether or not he has moved at all on this position. But he hasn't. He's not going to negotiate these issues until the House Republicans get a clean continuing resolution out of the House that keeps the government running or opens it up again and until he gets a measure that lifts the nation's debt ceiling so the country doesn't go into default on October 17th.

So, you heard the president reiterate that. Another interesting thing that came up, Wolf, as you heard the president talk there inside Taylor Gourmet just by the White House here, he was asked about that comment in "The Wall Street Journal" from a senior administration official. It was an anonymous quote. But that senior administration official told "The Wall Street Journal," quote, "we are winning" -- this is not maybe an exact quote but a rough quote, "we are winning." And then it doesn't matter how long the shutdown lasts because it's the end result that matters.

And you heard the president say in that video that nobody is winning when furloughed employees can't make ends meet or are not getting paid. And so, you heard the president there sort of clean up what was clearly an embarrassing comment coming out of this White House. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, was on Twitter early this morning trying to say, no, no, we disavow that comment. That comment does not reflect the attitude over here at the White House.

And you heard House Speaker John Boehner up on Capitol Hill earlier this morning saying, this is not a damn game, referring to that "Wall Street Journal" article. He actually held up the newspaper and referred to that comment. So, there may have been stage crafting, some political clean up going on at the white House today. Perhaps the president wanted to get outside and go for a nice walk. It is nice in Washington.

And for the record, Wolf, we did ask him on his way back in, he had a turkey and provolone sandwich. That was his sandwich order. I also asked him, how long is the shutdown going to last? And he said it could be over in 30 minutes if the speaker calls for a vote -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens. Turkey and provolone. It sounds pretty good right now. All right, thanks very much. Jim Acosta joining us from the White House.

We're going to continue to follow this story. Tempers clearly are flaring though up on Capitol Hill over the government shutdown. We're going to show you just how heated it's getting and why one former lawmaker says Congress needs to change its ways.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New details emerging today in the deadly car chase that ended in a hail of bullets on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The driver of that black sedan was later identified as a 34- year-old woman named Miriam Carey from Stamford, Connecticut. It's not known what triggered her actions, but source tells CNN investigators in Stamford found two psychiatric medications in her apartment. One was an antidepressant, the other treated schizophrenia. Her boyfriend says she suffered postpartum depression and was delusional. He says she believed President Obama had locked down Stamford and her home was under electronic surveillance. That's what she supposedly believed. Carey's one-year-old child was also in the car but was not hurt, was seen carried away by a police officer.

Many questions, though, remain about the incident. Foremost among a lot of people is whether police needed to use deadly force to stop her. CNN law enforcement analyst, the former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, is joining us right now.

I can't tell you how many people have tweeted me, have said to me, why did they have to kill her? Why couldn't they have just blown - shot her tires out to stop her? As we now know, she wasn't even armed.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well by that time she's used her vehicle, Wolf, as a weapon at the 15th Street altercation near the White House with Secret Service Police, then again at the video point where she stopped on the street again by those five officers. The problem is that twice then she's refused to comply and give herself up to the police and get out of the car. Twice she's used that car as a weapon itself trying to back into other police cars, injuring or potentially injuring those officers.

You'll notice in the video that you have five police officers surrounding that car and then she backs into the one police car and escapes in the one open way that she could, the one area that was not blocked. Those five officers are all carrying handguns. Now those handguns are going to be ineffective against modern radial tires on a vehicle. These tires are synthetically wrapped like Kevlar, like a bulletproof vest. So the bullets would just bounce off and be dangerous and ineffective.

BLITZER: Really?

FUENTES: So that's one reason.

BLITZER: And they're not even necessarily instructed or trained to go after the tires -

FUENTES: Right.

BLITZER: To stop a dangerous vehicle?

FUENTES: Well, they work great on television shows.

BLITZER: Yes. They -

FUENTES: They just don't work great in real life.

BLITZER: Really?

FUENTES: And the officers would know that.

BLITZER: I didn't know that.

FUENTES: You would need a higher power weapon, pretty much, to try to shoot -

BLITZER: Their handgun would not do it.

FUENTES: Secondly, if you shot all four tires out and were successful, she can still drive that car on the rims and still run over people on the sidewalk.

Now, one of the things that people have to realize here in the Capitol, you've got the Secret Service Police, the Capitol Police, the National Park Service Police, the FBI, the other federal agencies, they train together almost monthly, but several times a year, because of the major events that occur here and they train with the latest intelligence in terrorism. It's no secret that cars are used to carry bombs. And so in this case, she's using the car as that weapon. But they don't know if she's intending to drive that either to the White House or to the Capitol and detonate a bomb and kill hundreds of people. So --

BLITZER: Yes, that's about the most sensitive area of the United States. You try to get into the White House, go through a barricade, that doesn't work. Then you head up towards Capitol Hill, try to get up to Capitol Hill, those areas, as you well know, are among the most sensitive areas in the United States.

FUENTES: That's exactly right. Yes, we're not talking about some cornfield in Nebraska.

BLITZER: Right.

FUENTES: We're talking about downtown Washington, D.C.

BLITZER: Right. And there's a history.

All right, Tom, thanks very much for that explanation. Tom Fuentes, our law enforcement analyst.

Governing by crisis. We're going to hear from someone who was the secretary of agriculture during the shutdown back in '95. He says the current crisis is, quote, "an embarrassing failure of our system of government," and he wonders if the oldest democracy in the world could even work anymore. Stand by. Dan Glickman about to join us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: So there certainly is a lot of frustration out there right now as the government shutdown drags into a fourth day. The tension is also rising here in Washington, especially on Capitol Hill. Listen to the House speaker, John Boehner, blast Senate Democrats and the White House this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I sat there and listen to the majority leader in the United States Senate describe to me that he's not going to talk until we surrender. And then this morning I get "The Wall Street Journal" out and it says, well, we don't care how long this lasts because we're winning. This isn't some damn game. The American people don't want their government shut down and neither do I.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Strong words from the House speaker, John Boehner. He's furious, among other things, at "The Wall Street Journal" article he was referring to, quoting an anonymous White House official saying we're winning.

The former agriculture secretary, Dan Glickman, blames the crisis on Congress. In an op-ed Glickman writes this, "as Congress continues to govern by lurching from crisis to crisis, the American people continue to roll their eyes in disgust." Dan Glickman is joining us here right now.

Thanks very much, Dan, for coming in.

DAN GLICKMAN, SENIOR FELLOW, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: You spent how many years as a member of the House of Representatives?

GLICKMAN: I spent 18. And the only caveat --

BLITZER: Eighteen in the House of Representatives.

GLICKMAN: Eighteen. And the only caveat -

BLITZER: Before you were agricultural secretary during the Clinton administration.

GLICKMAN: That's right. That's right. And I was there during the shutdown that occurred in late 1995 when I was secretary of agriculture. It turned out our agency was about the only one that got funding before the shutdown occurred, so we were -- I didn't have to personally face this issue, but I was here when that happened.

And I would make just a couple of comments. One is, is that, this is a system wide problem. It's not really just Congress. It's our whole government system that has trouble working when there's no trust between the president and Congress. And it works both ways. Our system was designed to have one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator. We have separation of powers. So we split the Congress and the president and then we split the Congress into two parts as well. So under the best of circumstances, it's tough to work. And when there's no trust in the system between the parties and between the branches of government, it really can grind to a halt.

BLITZER: Is it worse now than it was when you were in the Congress?

GLICKMAN: I think it's worse, although I think the people are just as good. I -- most Republicans and Democrats do want to do the right thing and they want to get this thing done and I suspect most people want to see this shutdown ended and I believe the speaker when he says that. But with 24-hour media, with all the money in politics, with all the special interest groups coming in from all sides, it makes it so much harder for members of Congress to avoid engaging in what I call tribal warfare. And that's what we just have to get out of.

BLITZER: So how do you do that?

GLICKMAN: Well, I think that it takes leadership. It takes leadership on the Congress -

BLITZER: From the president?

GLICKMAN: From the president and from the Congress to work together.

BLITZER: Should the president simply call in John Boehner, forget about Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, forget about Mitch McConnell, because it really is, when all is said and done, the president and John Boehner. They have to work this out. Should he just call in John Boehner and say, Mr. Speaker, you and I, we've got to figure this out because there are so many people suffering right now. And if this debt ceiling isn't raised, it's going to be potentially another deep recession for the entire economy.

GLICKMAN: Well, the consequences are very great if the debt ceiling isn't raised. I predict it will be raised because I don't think anybody - and the speaker himself has said that he didn't want to see us to go into default. But -

BLITZER: So what does the president need to - I mean he is the president. He doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected.

GLICKMAN: Yes.

BLITZER: It's his second term. Shouldn't he just do what president - what LBJ might have done or Ronald Reagan might have done, really take charge of this current crisis.

GLICKMAN: Times are different than they were before.

BLITZER: Why is times different?

GLICKMAN: Because of the - all these outside factors that I talked about. And also the members of Congress were a lot more independent on both sides of the aisle and I think Speaker Boehner is facing that right now. So, you know, all I can tell you is the president has to be personally engaged all the time, 24 hours a day. He's the only one that speaks for all the Americans. But it also requires the leadership of Speaker Boehner and the Senate leadership, as well, to engage.

You know, this is not a game. I agree with what the speaker said right here, this is serious business, serious stuff. And, you know, I predict that they'll get these problems solved in the next couple weeks. But we can't govern lurching from crisis to crisis every three months for the next few years. We'll become a second rate power if that happens.

BLITZER: I - you make excellent points and I hope that they figure it out, but I'm not very optimistic, at least in the long-term. We'll get through this current crisis, but six months from now, a year from now we'll be lurching to lurching to another crisis. GLICKMAN: Well, if the people speak, that's the thing that is the greatest governor on the system, and let's see what happens.

BLITZER: Let's hope they do. Dan Glickman, thanks for coming in.

GLICKMAN: OK. Thank you. Sure.

BLITZER: The House speaker's split personality standing firm against Democrats over the shutdown, but courting their votes on another issue. Up next, the Tennessee congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, she's standing by to join us live, I'll ask her which John Boehner she's supporting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)