drowning in red ink? and even if a last minute deal is reached we'll need another one several weeks late e and then another one? why is congress staggering from crisis to crisis? i'm wolf blitzer. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. you're in the situation room. 30 hours from now, the united states faces the grim possibility of going into default on its debt and the credit rating agency, fitch, fitch has already issued a warning for a possible downgrade. one way or another, the standoff is in its end game. house republicans have tried to put together a tougher counter offer, but it looks like they may not necessarily have the votes the speaker wants. let's go to our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash. what is the very latest? >> reporter: this is not a nail-biter that anybody wants