0 . this is cnn. about 9:00 here on the east coast, only about three hours to go before a government shutdown, john boehner tweeted this photo moments ago, showing the speaker on the phone with president obama. it is not clear if they will speak again tonight as the clock ticks away. that does it for this edition of "360," ten hours away, from the looming shutdown. piers morgan starts right now. this is cnn breaking news. this is "piers morgan tonight." the house votes another bill that would fund the government but delay obama care, that bill is certain to be rejected. an imminent shutdown, now only three hours away, we'll see the effects right away. some of the most iconic items in the u.s. locked down, the statue of liberty, the face of liberty to many around the world, the gate ways, the arch, closed. many working for the government about to be furloughed. listen clearly to a frustrated president obama earlier. >> the shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people. right away. >> here are the numbers, the shutdown could cost a billion a week in lost pay for federal workers. of course, congress itself will continue to be paid. but the total impact could be ten times worse, the estimates of the shutdown could cost the economy $5 billion. the crucial question tonight, who is to blame and can anyone stop it? cnn is covering the story from every possible angle. i begin with dana bash on capitol hill. and jim acosta, dana, can anything stop this shutdown? >> do you believe in miracles? >> not really, no. >> reporter: that is just about what we'll need to see here for at least a technical shutdown, meaning the clock striking midnight and no bill to fund the government passing congress, at least, and heading to the president's desk. what is happening as we speak, as you said, the house passed the bill that the senate is almost definitely going to reject. that is probably going to happen maybe in about a half an hour, meaning that they will formally reject it. and then the house goes back to the capital to figure out what their next move is. i am told it could be an all-nighter. it is entirely possible that we could see one, maybe two more of these volleys back and forth. that the house impacting it, in some way, shape or form, the senate rejecting it until -- we don't really know. and to be honest, the sense i get from the republican leadership and the aides, they don't really know. i don't think it is fair to say they're making it up as they go along now. but they're definitely trying to figure out how to go forward now without completely alienating their conservative base. and more importantly if you look at the polls, the majority of the american public are looking at this going i don't get it. you have made your point, let's move on. >> and dana, you will be here with us throughout the night. and jim acosta, we got news that the president reached out to congressional leaders. he called senate majority leader harry reid, mitch mcconnell, and house minority leader nancy pelosi, what was the reason for the calls and how did they affect it? >> reporter: well, we know that the president has not spoken by phone, or at least not that we have been told publicly since a week ago friday. the fact that the president called john boehner, the minority leader, nancy pelosi, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, and harry reid is the sign the president is engaging with the leaders. but really, the white house strategy said this is your deal, congress, you guys pass the bills you send them here for me to sign. so that is the president's message, and piers, there were words that i heard stand out, if there were five words, they are "you can't shut it down." that is what the president said about his health care law, the white house, and talking about the phone calls from the president to congressional leaders said the president reinforced with the republican leaders that he will continue to oppose what they call any politically motivated attempts to de-fund or delay the affordable care act, which is the obama care. he is not compromising, if there are any bills coming from the house to continue funding the government that does anything with obama care, listen to what a president obama said to npr steve inski recent with respect to what he should be offering as far as a deal. >> i should not have offer anything. they are not doing me a favor by paying for things that they have already approved for the government to do. that is part of their basic function of government. that is not doing me a favor. >> jim, let me just ask you. you are a seasoned white house expert. when -- when the president of the united states says i don't have to do anything, effectively, doesn't that just confirm my suspicion about president obama, he is not very good about negotiating these things. i mean, i couldn't imagine president clinton not calling or negotiating with newt gingrich. it is very risky to do this, although i don't really blame him, bshould not he be wrestlin with them? >> the nation's credit rating took a hit, remember that process, that debt ceiling negotiation process the president engaged in produced the sequester. so the white house at that point was dealing with capitol hill on this sort of brinkmanship, but they decided this time they're not going to do that. what has changed since then? well, in 2011, the president was a year away from running for election, he likes to say these days i have run my last election. so it is possible the republicans have misread the president's intent to negotiation on this health care law. keep in mind, why would the president sign a law that delays or tinkers with the threat of a government shutdown? he says he is not going to do it. he says when all of this gets out of the way, he looks at the process. he has not said what he is willing to look at but is offering that as perhaps a tiny fig leaf to the republicans, but i really get the feeling the president is saying listen, to john boehner, the tea party republicans, if you want to go off the cliff, go right ahead. >> jim, let's go back to dana, back to you. >> reporter: well, if you take a look at the senate floor, piers, the senate is already voting to what we believe will be an ultimate rejection, they were ready to send the house bill on what they say was the bill, a non-starter. i covered this for along time, i don't remember the last time i saw a piece of legislation get from the senate and on to the floor, this quickly. but senate democrats are determined for a lot of reasons, primarily the clock, that we're getting close to midnight to make their voices heard and their position known. and very clear that they're going to reject this. and i should say this is the third attempt that house republicans have sent to them in the past week that they're going to reject. the first, of course, was completely de-funding obama care. the second that they rejected today -- the house passed over the weekend, was to delay obama care for a year, among other things, and what they voted on just this evening was just to delay the individual mandate and also to make clear that members of congress and their staff won't get the federal, premium support for their health care plans. this will be the third time they rejected it. >> well, dana, we'll get back to you on the dysfunctional d.c., for now, the dow jones dropped more than 128 points today, the s&p 500 and the nasdaq closing with big losses, as well. how much will a shutdown cost you? with the answers, cnn christine roman, i have been watching you all day, getting increasingly angry, most americans share your view. this is a small part of america that is completely oblivious to how this looks. >> look, this is somewhere between long-term stupidity and long-term destruction. we are the biggest business in the world, and now you're saying look, the board is fighting with each other, the stock is fighting, just a dangerous place to be. the long-term implication depends on how long it goes, depends on how long it goes, maybe a couple of day, maybe wall street can withstand it, but the longer it goes, the more it hurts the americans, paycheck to paycheck, and hurts the 401(k)s for americans riding the stocks. >> one point you made, the gun permits, new gun permits may be delayed as part of all of this. so this may be, without them realizing it, the tea partiers may have literally shot themselves in the foot. >> an interesting irony, as it were. look, when you look at the treasury department's list of contingencies, they run atf, and there are gun permits that run through that. when you shut down the government, you slow down or stop the work of the government, and the government issues gun permits. >> excellent, let's talk about the shutdown, that is the more serious issue. should america default, then this right now seems pretty unthinkable. if it defaults, what could be the effect on the economy. >> jack lew, the secretary of treasury, says you don't do this. we pay our bills on time. you are the gold standard in the world. you mess with those bills, it could be catastrophic for the country. what a lot of people want to do is watch the stock markets in the next couple of days. what happens on the floor is to see if congress somehow is doing the worst damage and somehow gets closer to the debt ceiling. and if we have to borrow more money october 17th to pay the bills that congress has already spent. >> this is a scandal, thank you very much, good to have you. john mccain was in his second term in the senate during the last government shutdown during late 1995 and '96. who better than to talk about this tonight? john mccain what is your reaction to this impending shutdown? >> well, my reaction is that it is unnecessary. and i'm afraid that the american people, as they have in the past, will blame republican, ie, republicans, and what is particularly disappointing is that obama care is going to have a lot of problems in its rollout. the president's polling numbers are falling in every category. and yet the story is to the american people, that republicans are fighting republicans. that is not helpful. >> it is not helpful, but it happens to have the benefit of being true, doesn't it? what is going on with the heart of the gop here. because it seems to me that large numbers of your party don't realize what a potential laughing stock they are making for the entire party. >> well, first of all, in their defense, these individuals, particularly house members campaigned saying that they would go to washington and they would do anything in order to repeal and replace obama care. by the way, one of the ironies is that this does not stop obama care. it stops government, but it doesn't stop the funding of obama care. but i respect them. and i respect the position they held when they ran for election. and achieved that election. but i also think that it is very important that we understand that americans don't like government. they don't like congress. they don't like government. but they don't want it shut down. and when -- in '95, when we shut down the government the last time we had already passed a number of appropriations bills. so the impact of the shutdown of the government when we haven't passed a single appropriations bill, will be more meaningful and will be more impactful. and again, there is one other thing i want to mention. in 2009, i was on the floor of the senate every single day fighting obama care. amendment after amendment. we didn't vote on it finally until christmas eve morning. i campaigned in 2012, as hard as i could, to repeal and replace obama care. so we didn't win. and the other aspect of this is that if you really thought you could on a path to repeal obama care, would require 67 votes in the united states senate. we now have 46 votes. and that -- because 67, because that is the number of the votes in the senate that would be required to override a presidential veto. so my proposal is why don't we go at it from the most unpopular provision, such as the tax on medical devices. and let's rifle shot devices, so we force people to vote on those through the regular legislative process, you see my point? >> no, i do see the point, it is a position that is understanding, there are a lot of things that can be changed. but you don't surely if you're the world's great super power, bring your government stopping because you want to de-fund something, because he is being elected on it. after barack obama was reelected he told this to diane sawyer. >> i think the election changes that, that president obama was reelected. obama care is the law of the land. >> he used the point here, there is the speaker saying quite clearly obama care is the law of the land. and indeed, as the president said earlier, he was reelected on that basis. so the position of these renegades, for lack of a better word, in the republican party trying to shut down the obama care, seems incredibly selfish. >> but again, piers, we have to recognize that that is what they ran on. and that is what they were elected on. so that explains a lot of their passion. now, i obviously, have a different view than they do. but you have to respect the fact that they are doing what they believe was fulfilling their commitment to the voters that sent them there. and we all know that the speaker has a great deal of difficulty in controlling 30 or 40, whatever it is, of his conference. which would then make him have to rely on democratic votes to achieve something, and obviously, he doesn't want to do that. it is a very difficult situation. but one that i'm afraid that when government is shut down for a few days that the american people will blame congress. and that is not some clairvoyance on my part. >> you can see the cnn poll, they said they were acting like spoiled children. who do you blame, republicans, 59%, democrats, 68%, and 47%, the spoiled child. the clear implication from that already is that republicans will get more blame than the democrats. so this action, not only damaging america and america's interests and economy, but also specifically will damage the republican party, the party of which ted cruz and others are members. >> well, one thing that i would point out is that every senator has the right to act in the way that they see fit. and senator cruz and senator lee are acting in a way that they do, and we will let the american people make that decision. obviously, i disagree with that. but i respect their right to do so. but we also at some point have to honor the commitment or the decision, let me say, the decision of the american people which took place in the elections. in democracies, rightly, majori majorities do rule. and it is clear the majority is in two of the branches, in the executive and the senate. and the republicans only control one of those branches. so that is why it -- i've seen this movie before. and we will not repeal obama care, at least in this fashion. >> senator john mccain, good to talk to you. >> thank you, piers. and newt gingrich tells me how he thinks it will go this time. and what he would have said to president obama. i was made to work. make my mark with pride. create moments of value. build character through quality. and earn the right to be called a classic. the lands' end no iron dress shirt. starting at 49 dollars.