Battle before the fiscal cliff . And the closings are sparking protests and outrage. Right now im terrified. Im terrified. They had to live on what most of us work at and live on, they couldnt make it. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in new york. Its day two of the Government Shutdown. So far Party Leaders are digging in their heels, but could they be about to break under the pressure . The president has called john boehner, nancy pelosi, Mitch Mcconnell and harry reid to the white house this afternoon. Joining me mow for our daily fix, chris cillizza, and nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly odonnell. Kelly, first to you. What do you expect . Are there any signs a all of negotiating or of beginning to budge on this, especially if the white house is saying consistently that they are not going to change their position on obama care . Well, ann dree yarks i think there are new activities, but does that mean theres any new Real Movement . That i dont see yet. I can tell you that senator harry reid has placed a phone call to Speaker Boehner followed up by a letter that ive got here on my ipad that begins with this sort of interesting political statement. This is reid to boehner. I hated the iraq war. I think i hated it as much as you hate the Affordable Care act. Sort of setting the tone of theyve both been in difficult positions politically in the past. Now, reid goes on later in the letter to say to boehner, if you open the government, i will appoint the negotiators from the senate side to work with negotiators from your side to begin a bigger conversation about the longterm debt of the country and how to resoft some of these bigger issues. That is not a new position, but its a new way of packaging this offer with the phone call, the letter, prior to it the meeting at the white house today. What i get from republican sources is that there is not an expectation that the white house meeting is going to bring about any breakthroughs, but it is an opportunity for people to sit in the room, see where things are, and im still getting the indications from house sources that they expect this standoff will continue for a period of days. Now, that does not mean that it automatically keeps rolling a few more weeks into the whole debt ceiling discussion. There might be some ways to reopen the government and begin the debt ceiling conversation, but one of the things to keep in mind is even if the house were to cave in a way and say, lets just open the lights and open the doors and vote for a spending measure that has nothing else attached to it, its only a short time that less than two weeks period when theyve got to negotiate again. So there is a bigger problem, a colliding of calendars in a way, so i think there are public movements happening, but im not certain they suggest any real solution yet. Andrea . Chris, youve been doing your own web count. I think so far the last i checked with you, you had 14 House Republicans willing to vote for a socalled clean continuing resolution. They only needed 17 to reach the magic number. Where do you stand . There are three leaning that way, andrea. You know, im skeptical, i would say, about the white house meeting at least moving any numbers. Kelly points it out. I would just point you to what they said, both the white house, John Boehners office, Mitch Mcconnells office. John boehners office said were glad the president has finally given up his position he wont negotiate. Mitch mcconnells office said they were confused why the meeting was called. A white house official said this was so the president could make clear the need for a clean cr and raising the debt ceiling without any conditions attached to it. That is not exactly a recipe for deal making at this point. I think that this has at least as much potential to sort of make it less likely or the same amount of likelihood that a deal gets done as makes it more likely a deal gets done. It seems like were headed for a relatively short meeting in which entrenched positions are rehashed. They both come out to the cameras and condemn the other one, which really doesnt, as you might guess, move us all that much closer to a solution here. I think youre right on that, chris. I think thats the mood. And John Boehners most recent Public Statement was his usa today oped, where he said, the fact is that washington democrats have slammed the door on reopening of the government by refusing to engage in bipartisan talks. They continue to reject our calls for fairness for all americans. So getting back to your whip count, though, is there i mean, has boehner put enough pressure on the democrats in the white house because of the refusal to negotiate . Is that part of the reason why the president s calling this meeting . Or is boehner the one under pressure because the republicans are really taking most of the political heat . Sure. My take on it, andrea, is this. I think that the white house is walking a fineline between not wanting to look like they are fully disengaged. They know republicans are trying to make this point that the president s refusal to negotiate is unprecedented and a huge mistake and show hes not interested in a deal. Look. John boehner has the same problem that john boehner had four days ago, three days ago before the Government Shutdown. There is a group of republicans in the house, and its a lot bigger than the 14 people who said they would sign a clean cr who are republicans. Theres a group of 40 to 50 republicans in the house who simply are not going to vote for a continuing resolution that does not include delaying or defunding obama care. At least today theyre not going to do that. Thats the bigger problem here, andrea. If john boehner wants to pass a clean continuing resolution with the votes of a vast majority of democrats and a handful of republicans, the idea of Speaker John Boehner if republicans hold the House Majority in 2015, thats going to go away. And jack lew has written a letter to congress. It says, if we have insufficient cash on hand, it would be impossible for the United States of america to meet all of its obligations for the first time in our history. Hes obviously talking about the debt ceiling. For this reason, i respectfully urge congress to act immediately to meet its responsibility by extending the nations borrowing authority. The debt ceiling is the real issue that i think all sides recognize has even more painful impact in the world than what were seeing now with the Government Shutdown. So one scenario could be we get closer to that point if there is some trust. Thats going to be a big, big if. If they can put together some trust to begin serious conversations about dealing with the debt ceiling, looking at longterm debt problems in the country, having those conversations where a lot of things are on the table and these are not easy asks in any way, then i think you could see there might be some willingness to at least get the lights on and that sort of thing. Thats still days away, i think, from all the sources im talking to. So i think were in a period now where both sides want to always have sort of the optics of looking engaged, offering ideas, even if the ideas arent new, saying them in a new way today, and looking for that moment when theres a break. Even if you do a whip count and find there are enough votes, the leadership still has to say theyre going to go that way. We dont have any indication that House Republican leadership will offer a spending bill with nothing attached related to the health care law. At least not yet. So i think its certainly a sign to watch when the president engages himself with the officials here on capitol hill. And every one of these steps can teach us something, but it doesnt necessarily mean theres an imminent end or a big change. We hope there will be one. We just dont see signs of it yet. And we should also point out that the president has now canceled the last two stops on his asia trip. Hes leaving this weekend. Secretary kerry is going to pick up those two stops in the philippines and in brunei. Thats affecting at least one part of diplomacy. Thank you very much chris and kelly, working overtime there around the clock on the hill. Frustration, of course, is mounting across the country. Millions are affected by the shutdown. Heres part of Peter Alexanders report from the today show. Reporter in virginia, dawn wondered when shell get her next paycheck after being furloughed. It means we have to make our groceries extend for two, three weeks instead of the one week we have. We have to maybe make the gas in the car last that much longer. Reporter she and her stayathome husband john have two children anne only a weeks worth of savings. It makes our life harder to because were already down to the bare minimum. One family story. How much longer will the public be asked to put up with this . Joining me now is bill crystal, editor of the weekly standard. Youve watched washington from inside the white house. You worked in the Vice President s office. Youve worked on the hill. Youve been a journalist for many years. This does leave the impression with the American People that were the grownups. That, you know, the asylum is being run by the inmates, to mix metaphors here. Theyve had that impression at times over the last 25 years. There have been other shut downs. This feels worse partly because there are no appropriation bills and partly because of the debt ceiling showdown. I think kelly is right to focus on that. I think republicans are thinking a lot about how to manage this in a way that sets up a real negotiation over the debt ceiling, which they want to obviously have be a successful negotiation. Thats one piece of reporting to kellys good reporting, which i believe what House Republicans are going to do today is move five of those small bills. They moved three yesterday. They didnt get the twothirds vote they needed because it was on the suspension calendar. Today theyll have a regular rule. Theyll only need a majority. Theyll get a majority. Yesterday they got 38 democrats to vote for those bills. Are they going to move all five . I believe so. Funding nih, funding veterans. I think thats a tough thats a shrewd move by Speaker Boehner. I gather that some Democratic Senators have gone to senator reid and say i dont want to vote against funding nih. You have Cancer Patients waiting for their treatments. The analysis last week was extremely certain among pundits that it the republicans are going to be totally on the defensive and theyre just going to pummel this. I think its more complicated. If the House Republicans can pass those bills today, that puts pressure on the senate democrats. The administration sent a letter opposing those bills but not threatening a veto on them. That may account for president obama suddenly deciding, hey, maybe im not simply winning this. Maybe its time to be president and call the leaders down to the white house for a discussion. I think the republicans have handled this pretty well over the last 24, 48 hours. Again, i think thats a pretty smart tactic. Its legitimate, too. It really is going to fund nih and d. C. Government. How do you f youre a democratic government, say, no, im sorry, we cant do that because we have a separate disagreement over the continuing resolution. Senator Kristen Gillebrand was saying you cant pick and choose what part of government you want to fund. You know, its the government. You cant just say, i like this from a, and this from b. Well, you can for a week or two. If youre in a crisis, theres a disagreement, the negotiations havent been fruitful. If you cant do that, the republicans say, lets pick and choose for a week. There are some things that honestly, the federal Education Department can close down for a week and nothing dire is going to happen. Nih, cancer trials, you know, the whole d. C. Government, veterans affairs, treating veterans hospitals, thats another question. So i think you can pick and choose for a while, but the key point, i think republicans can now play this into the debt ceiling negotiation. That has to be a negotiation. There are not 50 democrats in the senate who will vote for a clean debt ceiling increase. There certainly arent 218 republicans in the house. At some point harry reid, Mitch Mcconnell, john boehner, nancy pelosi and the white house have to sit down and say, what deal can we cut . When we talk about what deal can be cut, the president has indicated and certainly the republicans are interested in entitlement changes in medicare and important things that have long been part of budget negotiations but not the Affordable Care act because thereses no way that hes going to give up the one piece of legislation that is the center piece of his, you know, first term. Also, what he won reelection on and the Supreme Court upheld. The notion of defunding the whole thing was impractical. Could you delay the individual mandate for a year, considering the somewhat chaos weve seen . If people want to use the exchanges, fine. Why are we forcing it . Could you give up the congressional exemption, which is unpopular . I think those are things that could be negotiated. I dont think the president will yield on the individual mandate because its important from his point of view to the whole structure of obama care. You can imagine him giving up on the congressional exemption. You could imagine other compromises. You might get a deal on some entitlement tweaks it and return for Discretionary Spending on defense and domestic. I dont think the deal is that impossible to envision. I agree for now we have this kind of dramatic standoff, but i actually who knows. I think we could imagine a deal with a continuing resolution rolling to the debt ceiling, maybe an extension of both to negotiate a little longer and actually Something Like in august 2011, there was this huge clash and everything was going to collapse. They ended up with a budget control act from a Republican Point of view that has constrained spending, has leveled spending off for the National Government for a couple of years, didnt destroy the economy, didnt destroy anything much. I think it hurt defense a little bit. The pentagon would say you want to deal with the sequester. Could they deal with the sequester in the debt ceiling negotiation, give defense more and spending more p thats a doable deal. Bill crystal, thank you so much. Thanks. And two men have been arrested following a bomb scare last night at one of floridas busiest airports, jacksonville international. The airport was shut down, terminals evacuated for nearly six hours because of two supposedly suspicious packages, one of which was destructive. One of the men arrested was stopped going through security when he told a screener he had a bomb hidden inside his backpack. Hes been charged with manufacturing and possessing a fake bomb. A second man was stopped in an airport garage for acting suspiciously. He was charged with resisting arrest. Authorities believe the two men were not working together. The airport reopened shortly before midnight, and it now has resumed normal flight schedules. Before they sat down, one more time, just for themselves. Before the last grandchild. Before the first grandchild. Smile. Before katie, debbie, kevin and brad. There was a connection that started it all and made the future the wonderful thing it turned out to be. At bank of america, we know were not the center of your life, but well do our best to help you connect to what is. And as we continue to talk about the Government Shutdown and the latest from washington, im joined by virginia senator mark warner. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. What do you expect to come out of this meeting with the leaders and the president today . Any give at all from the democratic side . Ale, awell, andrea, i hope t house will go ahead and reopen the government. I think thats not very likely from what were hearing. Andrea, i heard, you know, some of the earlier commentary and stuff. The idea respectfully that youre going to pick and choose which pieces of government to reopen, i mean, we have 1700 people at the National Science foundation. There are 30 working today. Its not like the rest of the world is going to say timeout on all science because america has stopped. Weve got 70 of our civilian employees who work in the Intelligence Community who help protect our troops, help protect our agencies, help protect our country who are been furloughed right now. Thats not protecting our country. The idea that you pick and choose, yeah, we got things to debate. If this was a debate about our balance sheet, how do we deal with entitlements, how do we deal with tax code and revenues that a lot of us have been calling for, i still wouldnt like it, but at least it would be connected. Youve got now a group that says, you know, this kind of our way or the highway. I dont characterize it as democrats versus republicans. Its not democrats versus republicans. Its democrat, republicans, and a small group of this tea party crowd who have this burn down the house mentality, which to a degree is succeeding because we are grinding our economy to a halt. If you sell things around the skyline drive, youre losing resources as well. You had been a leader among senators of democrats and republicans who got together over the years to talk about Budget Solutions and budget cuts and compromises. Where has this hit, you know, this hard reality of the Government Shutdown and no conversations, no negotiations of any kind . Ive been talk