piece straight out of the new york times explaining how republican senator susan collins got together with two other family senators to form this bipartisan group, and it s that group that the new york times is reporting who developed really what s the blueprint, the framework for this bill that is right now the best shot at ending the shutdown and this debt ceiling crisis. here is one congresswoman, her explanation of the difference that the women can make. i think we need more women because in my experience and the women in congress on both side of the aisle talk about this all the time, how if they just put us in a room together more often, we could solve a lot of these problem. women are more focused on consensus building. not all women. the times i ve worked with women, they re not as focused on obliterating the other side. they want to find a way to get to the end. joining me now is one of those senators. she s jeanne shaheen from new hampshire, who s part of this
votes. we know there s strong bipartisan support for this. in the house, it s a much more political this is one of the things that some of my conservative friends haven t figured out yet. without 218 votes in the house, you just don t have any leverage. so i don t suspect that nancy pelosi is going to give us very many votes, but there will be a few democrats that vote. before you go, i want to clarify one thing you said about the changes the speaker made to this republican plan. sounds like you re saying not only would people like you, members of congress, the president, the cabinet, not get federal subsidies for your health care but also your staff. is that what you re saying? you re expanding it to include congressional staff? as i understand it, yes. so all members and staff in the white house, all members of congress and their staff. you feel comfortable taking that money away from people who are making, you know, $18,000, $20,000 on your staff? i don t think it s wise.
lasted about two hours. what was discussed isn t entirely clear, but those reportedly in attendance included like-minded opponents of obama care who have been encouraged by cruz to lead the unsuccessful effort in the house to derail the president s health care reforms. and stay with me because next hour, we re going to talk to a reporter who broke that story. he s matt fuller from roll call. we ll talk to him next hour. and this stalemate in congress showcases the difference not just between parties but also between genders. i want to show you something. this is one opinion piece from cnn.com. i m quoting, this has not been a shining week for the pay tree our i can. the men in suits diter, posture, plan negotiation sessions and then cancel them, wage battle, refuse to surrender. then there s this fantastic
from san diego. a guilty plea. is this a surprise? reporter: well, the speed at which all of this happened is the biggest surprise here, brooke. also, essentially, the personality transplant that we saw take place in bob filner just a few weeks ago, you may recall he was defiant, refusing to leave his job as san diego mayor. the man we saw in court today appearing was conciliatory. he was obedient as he pled guilty to these charges. charges that occurred all within this past year while he was mayor. the most serious of which is that he restrained a woman using force against her will at a fundraising event. remember, we are not just talking about san diego s former mayor but a ten-term congressman, a man who spent 20 years in congress, the former chair of the house veterans committee, who is now a felon. here s what his attorney told us. he s a much more humbled man, in my own personal view, from the first time i met him early
i don t want to make a prediction. i would hope there would be on something that s reasonable. i m not prepared to tell you yes to that yet. that s an unfortunate thing to hear. thank you very much. brooke, back to you. dana bash and congressman charlie dent. thank you both very, very much. i m going to talk about the deadline bearing down on us with two washington veterans. gentlemen, welcome to both of you. congressman, i want to begin with you because i remember our interview. we last chatted in january. it was day one of your retirement. we talked about the new congress. i very distinctly remember a word you called your former colleagues, chuckle heads. ten months later, sir, has much changed? no, other than there s more chuckle heads on the horizon and more chuckle headedness going on.