0 rig message to congress. and everyone goes to sin city uh to have fun. so why are these unions assaulting tourists on the strip? breaking news tonight. good evening. i'm megyn kelly. critical neg investigations over a plan to raise the nation's debt limit. house republicans presenting their proposal to president obama during a closed meeting at the the white house a few hours ago. suggesting a six-week extension, we believe, while the parties negotiate spend ing cuts and tax reform on a larger basis. both sides i say the meeting was productive. no word on a deal. meantime we are hearing the white house is insisting that the government be re opened as part of a debt deal. something republicans re fused to make part of the negotiations but may be re considering. we'll bring you breaking developments. also breaking tonight"the , house reverses itself hours after insisting white house action was unnecessary to reinstate the death benefits to grieving military families, president obama signs a bill doing exactly that. angrily pressed a pentagon official for answers on why the benefits were not provided. >> it is an we are failing in our duty to those who take care of us and protect us every day. >> i believe the guidance issued by controller hill was based on a decision by the department of defense to misinterpret to pay the military for political purposes. >> it's outrageous. >> yes, you could have paid the death benefit. yet you chose to do an interpretation. to maximize pain. you have compounded the problem by your conduct in how you have misinterpreted intentionally this law. it is an embarrassment to the interpretation of what we did does pay the death benefits, sure. there might have been ambiguity and the lawyers could argue over it. chuck hagell, the secretary of the defense or the president of the united states need to say, pay these guys. do it. i don't care if it's ambiguous. ask for prince later and pay them. >> who would have challenged it? >> nobody. >> we were headford the shutdown and members of congress foresaw there might be an issue with paying the military so they passed a pay our military act. that act specifically said let's authorize the sums necessary to provide pay and allowances. the department of defense has a list of what's included in pay and allowances. specifically on there is death benefits. so there was a good faith believe that the death gratuity would be covered by the act passed on the eve of the shutdown. once d.o.d. conferred with d.o.j., the department of justice sits down with the department of defense and says, no, not covered. did anybody contact congress and say, you weren't explicit enough. there was a loophole and our veterans are about to get the short end. what are we going to do about it. >> they wanted to do it on purpose. we have civilian control of the military. the secretary of defense chuck hagelle should have said get it done. he's the one who's at the top of the food chain and broke the sacred trust with the families. the military families weren't pawns to be played with by this administration to make political points. that's what happened in this situation. chuck hagel needs to look in the mirror and say, did i do any job as secretary of defense and as the guardian of the trust with the military families and the american people, did i do my job? i would look him in the eye and say, sir, you did not do your job. you did not do what you were the action on this legislation is now just for show here. >> you don't need legislation? >> we don't need legislation. >> would the president veto that legislation? >> first of all, the legislation isn't necessary. our view has been that the piecemeal funding is, again, a gimmick. >> yet they did it. the senate passed it and the president signed it about half an hour ago. your thoughts? >> think about this. somebody in the department of defense looked at somebody else in the eye and secretary hagel or somebody under him probably and said do not pay the military families. do not do it. i don't care if we could do it. do not do it. by doing that they advocated their authority and ability and responsibility to be in that position that they were supposed to serve in. they gave it up. i don't want them there anymore. i want them gone. i would put somebody like jim mattis, an old general in the marine corps who retired. they need somebody like him to be doing this. you need someone to look out for the best interest of the military and families. we don't have that. >> understood. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> we are joined by the c ergs o of concerned veterans for america in iraq and afghanistan war veteran. i want to pick up where we left off about hagel. >> sure. >> you heard congressman hunter saying he should step down. bill o'reilly called for that last night. hagel for the first time in his tenure as defense secretary showed up at dover air force base to grooet greet the bodies of the fallen. the very bodies of service personnel to which he was denying benefits. he'd never been. >> when your back is against the wall you do what you can to fix the problem. notice who is leading the charge. congressman hunter. mike cough man, iraq vet. they understand the central aspect of the sacred trust. you want a commander in chief at the end of the day that will give you what you need to succeed on the battlefield. if you give your life on the altar of freedom your family will be taken care of. president obama and chuck hagel didn't do everything in their power -- it could have been the stroke of a pen, a piece of legislation. this administration has been the king of executive orders. anything they wanted to do they could have done it. it's because of what hunter said. veterans and military families have been political pawns, blocking veterans, the v.a. benefits and talking about how horrible it will be for veterans to this. they have been using them. it's an outrage. we should be calling them on it. >> why? because politicians know veterans touch a soft spot in the american heart? >> that's right. the president believes by turning up the heat on the shutdown he can point a fipger at republicans. there is a political win for him to turn up the heat on veterans and military families. someone made the call not to reduction, these are important issues. leave vets, war widows and military families out of it? that's an important statement to make. >> you guys go out on the battlefield to protect us, our freedoms and values. who has your back? >> that's right. this is not equal opportunity outrage. that is commander in chief, a leader looking for our backs at every moment and didn't here and needs to be called to the carpet. >> thanks, pete. coming up, we have big twomts in this case that i was on the o'reilly factor discussing half an hour ago. i don't know if you watched. but it's about whether christmas carollers can sing religious songs. we have breaking news on that. both sides in a big supreme court case taking up the question of when you can open a public meeting with prayer. that may soon be problematic. be thankful you don't live in d.c. 100%s of angry truckers are planning a protest to shut down the city. is their cause just? they feel so. others feel it is outrageous. one of the organizers joins us next here on "the kelly file." with an innovative showerhead plus wireless speaker, kohler is the proud sponsor of singing in the shower. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. 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(both) i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. happy happy. i love logistics. a lot of americans are outraged at what is happening to this country. military members used as pawns. sacred mon mepts closed to the very men they honor. one man who's had enough is joining a protest by hundreds, if not thousands of truckers in d.c. tomorrow. another launched a one-man effort to pay respect the to fallen heroes when other cannot or won't. truckerer nest lee joins us with chuck cox, the lawn mower man which i love. chris is on the left. e rne st on the right. you're part of the trucker protest in d.c. tomorrow. what's the goal? >> the goal number one, it's a pleasure to be here. the goal of ride for the constitution.org -- and that's where you can go for up to the minute live coverage from the middle of the protest through the weekend. ride for the constitutional.o.o. we hope to get the attention of the unrepresenting representatives in washington, d.c. to let them know we, the people, have had enough. the government is too big, too intrusive. too many regulations, too many departments. it is weighing down everything in this country. every problem in the country, none can be fixed by government because the government caused them all. we are joining together, not just in d.c. we are looking for an egypt-type moment here. not with 30 to 35 million people but from coast to coast over 100 million people getting together, getting out on the road or just staying home and not spend ing money for three days. lots of ways to approach to come together causing the world's biggest traffic jam. i know d.c. is the focus. but this is an egypt moment for the country to say, we have had enough. the federal government needs to go back inside the framework of the original constitution. >> you are going to get people's attention by clogging the streets of d.c. that will cause people to take notice. chris, you're a regular american guy walking around d.c. seeing the monument s, barricades, trash on oh the ground, lawn's overdwroun. you decided to do something. what made you pick up the lawnmower, pick up trash? >> well, megyn, of first of all, i'm flattered to be here. thank you very much. to answer your question, i set out to prevent headline news. i didn't set out to make headline news. my goal was to fortify the boundaries. first it was to play a security role. it evolved into a janitorial role, if you will. once the trash cans started spilling over oh i was embarrassed. i didn't want our nation's capital to be showcased in newspapers around the world with trash pouring out of the bins, pictures of veterans rolling over tobacco spit cups and half eaten bananas, you name it and it was out there. i have had several volunteers show up and now after today, i have word that people are coming in as far as california, texas, nevada, oregon, are coming to stand with me. i am en couraging all americans to go out and find a memorial or a park near your home but don't show up with a picnic basket. show up with a rake and a broom, a track bag and do your part to stand with the park service. now more than ever they need our help. >> chris, you're worried about america maintaining its image as a leader in the world. ernest you are concerned about merg's identity, the principles we were founded on. quick last word, chris. >> i think we should take away all the limousines and pick them up in a bunch of little short yellow buses. thanks for having me here. >> a quick last word from you, is if you are a high level mexican drug cartel official that you can literally get away with murder. 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