to crisis, this is doing deep damage to our nation. and it has to end. and yet the republicans just as the congresswoman you just interviewed, she says, oh, we're ready to create another crisis over the debt ceiling and december 15th, another crisis over continuing resolution. these are manufactured by our speaker boehner and his right-wing folks. they're doing deep damage. it has to ends. >> jeff merkley, thank you for joining us. i'm joined by nbc chief white house correspondent chuck todd from washington. chuck, thanks for being here. >> how are you doing, mara. >> the senate is expected to send back a clean cr to the house. what do you think speaker boehner is most likely to do if that happens? >> he's got a couple of options. i think what's interesting is what congresswoman ellmers said there or hinted at, which is this idea of buying more time. she's talking about debt limit. and it seems to me you're seeing almost a flooding of the air