My customers can shop around; see who does good work and compare costs. It can also work that way with healthcare. With united healthcare, i get information on quality ratings of doctors, Treatment Options and estimates for how much ill pay. That helps me and my guys make informed decisions. I dont like guesses with my business and definitely not with our health. Thats health in numbers. United healthcare. Support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. And. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff our lead story tonight, the partial Government Shutdown stretched into the weekend, and the impasse stretched tempers in congress. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. This isnt some damn game. The American People dont want their government shut down and neither do i. Reporter House Speaker john boehner gave no ground this morning, rejecting the president s criticism that he is to blame for the shutdown. All were asking for is to sit down and have a discussion and to bring fairness reopen the government and bring fairness to the American People under obamacare. Its as simple as that. But it all has to begin with a simple discussion. Reporter president obama, meanwhile, kept up his criticism of boehner, even as he and Vice President biden strolled to a Sandwich Shop near the white house. This shutdown could be over today. We know there are the votes for it in the house of representatives. And as i said yesterday if Speaker Boehner will simply allow that vote to take place we can end this shutdown. Reporter meanwhile, on the house floor, democrats pressed again for that straightup vote on a government funding bill. 99 of us are prepared to vote for a resolution at this day to open the government because that is the rational, common sense, right thing to do. I tell Speaker Boehner, mr. Speaker, were prepared to vote on that today, as soon as this house opens. Reporter within boehners House Republican ranks, there was strong sentiment not to give in. Now comes the president and the Senate Majority leader demanding that this house of representative surrender. We will not surrender were fighting for the American People. Reporter still, it was increasingly clear some republicans want a way out. Senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire. And i would say to my its time for a reality check. Defunding obamacare did not work as a strategy, so lets find Common Ground and work together, yes, to address the concerns that are very legitimate that we have with this health care bill, but also to get this government funded. Reporter the house did vote on a bill to reopen the federal Emergency Management agency, as a Tropical Storm approached the gulf coast. Republicans also pushed another spending bill to fund nutritional assistance for low income women and children. But the white house said the president would veto any partial spending bills that make it to his desk. The only exception, a bill that will pay retroactively some 800,000 furloughed government workers. As the battle over the shutdown drags on, an even more critical fiscal showdown looms over the capitol. Congress has until october 17th to raise the governments debt ceiling, or face national default. Thats prompted growing speculation that lawmakers could try to merge the two issues in a renewed quest for a grand bargain. Speaker boehner said today republicans will insist on spending cuts if theyre going to vote to raise the borrowing limit. I dont believe that we should default on our debt. Its not good for our country. But after 55 years of spending more than what you bring in, something ought to be addressed. This year well have more revenue than any year in the history of our country and yet still have a nearly 700 billion deficit. And i think the American People expect if were going to raise the amount of money we can borrow, we ought to do something about our spending problem and the lack of Economic Growth in our country. Reporter for his part, president obama said again hed be willing to negotiate on spending cuts and other issues, but only after the government reopens. In the meantime, the president , citing the shutdown and the debt ceiling fight, canceled his planned trip to asia for economic summits. Woodruff in other news, the Government Shutdown delayed economic talks with the European Union. The u. S. Trade representative had planned to go to brussels next week for negotiations on a landmark trade deal. And on wall street, stocks made up some of yesterdays lost ground. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 76 points to close at 15,072. The nasdaq rose 33 points to close at 3,807. For the week, the dow lost 1 . The nasdaq rose 0. 7 . Tropical storm karen churned closer to the gulf coast today. By this evening, it was roughly 200 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River and aiming for landfall somewhere between grand isle, louisiana and destin, florida. The storm could become a hurricane by the time it strikes shore, sometime tomorrow. More details have emerged on the connecticut woman who led police on a car chase through downtown washington, yesterday. Miriam carey first tried to drive through a White House Security barrier. From there, she raced to the capitol, where Police Briefly cornered her, before she sped off again. She was shot to death moments later. Today, investigators said carey was delusional, and believed the president was communicating with her. Her mother said shed suffered from postpartum depression. Police in stamford, connecticut where carey lived searched her condo overnight. We did not deem to be there any danger, but we certainly took all precautionary to make sure of that. So, with that being said, we tested the air, we tested different products, we deconned ourselves coming in and coming out. We secured it with our robot, and then we went in and secured some evidence. Woodruff careys oneyear old daughter was in the car with her during the chase and shooting. She was unhurt and is now in protective custody. An ohio man pleaded guilty today to trying to smash his jeep into a secret service outpost at the white house in june. Joseph reel rigged the vehicle and aimed it toward a guard booth. He said he hoped to use the commotion to spraypaint an antigovernment slogan on the white house. No one was hurt, and reel was quickly arrested. He faces 35 months in prison. In egypt, five people died today as Security Forces confronted thousands of supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. Witnesses said riot police fired tear gas and live rounds. The skirmishes broke out during marches in several cities, including cairo and alexandria. Demonstrators demanded an end to the militarybacked government. Riots erupted in kenya, hours after gunmen shot and killed a muslim cleric and three others. The deaths sent youths into the streets of mombasa, burning tires and chanting slogans. They accused police of carrying out the shootings as retaliation for the siege at a nairobi Shopping Mall that killed 67 people. A somali Islamist Group has claimed responsibility for the mall attack. The communist general who successfully battled French Forces and the u. S. In vietnam, has died. Vo nguyen giap was the last of vietnams old guard revolutionaries. In 1954, at dien bien phu, giap effectively ended more than 70 years of French Colonial rule. He went on to fight american forces, and ultimately conquered South Vietnam after the u. S. Withdrew. More than a million of his own troops died in the process. Vo nguyen giap was 102 years old. Woodruff still to come on the newshour the tragic tale of migrants fleeing the african continent; the Digital Currency known as bitcoin; twitter goes public; the man who saved the government 1 billion. Plus, david brooks and e. J. Dionne. Woodruff we return now to italy where after thursdays migrant boat shiprwreck, hundreds are feared dead and search efforts have been suspended. We have a report narrated by Jonathon Rugman of independent television news. Reporter they came to europe fleeing war and poverty and ended up nearly drowning, tantalizingly close to the mediterranean shore. Italys coast guard rescued these two african migrants, but its reckoned more than 300 may not have survived after their boat sank to the bottom. This morning, divers took the search underwater to the seabed 40 meters below to the rickety trawler which broke down with perhaps 500 people aboard. The rough seas led to this search being called off. This is not a hunt for survivors now, but a body count for the hundreds who could not swim. translated we will continue all day and all night until we can give these bodies a proper burial. Reporter over 150 africans, many from eritrea and somalia, were more than thankful to be rescued yesterday. The coast guard is usually first alerted by a distress call. But in this case, the boat did not telephone ahead. Instead the migrants on board set fire to a blanket and this desperate bid for attention proved fatal. translated they set a blanket on fire to make a signal but some gasoline on the boat caught light and the water caused the fire to spread. They were scared and all moved to one side of the boat so the boat capsized and they fell in the water. But many of them were trapped inside the boat. translated we rescued naked guys dirty from fuel. They had death in their eyes. It was an ugly and scary situation. I will never forget it. Even though i am 64 and have seen a lot, this touched me a lot. Reporter in italy, flags were flown at half mast on this day of official mourning. Pope francis was visiting assisi, where his namesake Saint Francis once dedicated himself to the poor. The pope abandoned his script and lamented a world which he said did not care about those who found death in lampedusa yesterday, and calling this a day of tears. But amid the anguish with one newspaper calling this a shameful massacre, the italians are casting this as europes problem just as much as theirs. The interior minister asked for europes help and claimed lampedusa would be nominated for the nobel peace prize. The survivors are being held in a socalled Welcome Center on the island where more than 8,000 have been received so far this year. And though italys Prime Minister is now calling for europe to set up humanitarian corridors for migrant boats, far more likely are more hearses carrying more dead. Lampedusas problem and no one elses. Woodruff ray suarez takes the story from there. Suarez for more on the perilous journey these migrants undertake, im joined by jeff crisp. He spent seven years at the u. N. Refugee agency and is now the senior director for policy and advocacy at refugees international. Jeff crisp, isnt this just the most recent of these tragedies . Isnt this a problem of Long Duration . Well, this tragedy has certainly gained more International Attention than any other previous tragedies of its type and thats partly because of the here is numbers of people involved, possibly 300 people may have lost their lives. Secondly because it seems to be a large number of women and children on the boat and i think this, again, has been one of the reasons why its attracted a lot of attention. Weve seen these kind of movements in the past but they tended to be younger men. Now were having a new demographic in terms of this Movement Across the mediterranean and i think also the fact that the pope has come out so strongly on this issue has attracted a great deal of attention but as youre suggesting, i think, this is not a few phenomenon. Its been going on for at least 20 years across the mediterranean and according to some estimates at least 20,000 people have lost their lives during that time. Of course, some people do manage to make the journey successfully and, again, according to one estimate in 2012 around 15,000 people did successfully cross the mediterranean and make their way to southern europe. Suarez in this case, both the living and the dead were many air treians from africas east coast. But these people heading in from morocco, libya, tunisia, are they from all over the continent . Pretty much so. From all over Subsaharan Africa and one has to take account of the fact that before they even get to the mediterranean many of these people have undertaken incredibly grueling and arduous journals. Imagine traveling over land from somalia and sudan and eritrea to libya and then having coconfront the possibility of the journey across the ocean. So these people are exn extremely difficult circumstances but the time theyve arrived in Northern Africa and thats only a transit point on their journey. Suarez in many cases theyve borrowed money or sold everything they had to have made the journey. It must be very hard to turn back if you realize its a bad idea. Its one of the most interesting things about this phenomenon is how do people make these journeys. In many cases families in the country of origin pool money, sell their goods in order to sponsor one person from the family or the community to make their way. There are very large diaspora communities living throughout western europe and it seems to be the case that these diaspora communities are sending money back to the countries of origin and that this money is used to finance the journey. These journeys are not cheap because theyre organize bid human smugglers and theyre in this business to make a profit. Suarez youve mentioned thousands do successfully cross into europe. Where do they end up and what do they end up doing . Very, very few of the end uph any kind of legal status. Some apply for Refugee Status. In some cases they may be successful in getting Refugee Status and allowed to remain in the country. The majority will not be recognized as refugees. Many of them will simply go underground and have to live in the shadows of life working in the informallal economy often working within the communities of other people who have already left those countries and taken up riz dense in europe. Suarez europe has been undergoing terrible economic turmoil in the last several years. Is there less of a welcome for these refugees now and is it a political controversy, the number making its certainly political controversy and theres certainly been a movement in many western European Countries where right wing organizations are taking quite a hard line against the arrival of irregular or as they would call them Illegal Immigrants and i think there is an interesting debate going on about this kind of migratory movement. Some people see in the positive terms, the fact that people are making the best of their lives, trying to improve their situation, that theyre filling jobs that nationals refuse to take so they are making a contribution to the economy and, of course, theyre consumers. They buy goods in the economy and contribute in that way. But at the same time, there are many people that would argue that these people are arriving in an illegal manner, they dont have the right to take up residence in these countries and that theyre placing a great deal of strain on housing, on education, and health services. So theres a very lively debate going on within europe about the arrival of these kinds of my grants. Suarez we saw briefly the italian minister of the interior. He said to the Parliament Europe must realize its not an italian drama but a european one. Lampedusa must become the border of europe, not italy. Has italy been getting help from any e. U. Institutions . Certain. Certainly not as much help as italy would have like to have. This has been a constant phenomena of the recent years when refugees or Asylum Seekers go to one country other countries in the European Union are generally not that interested in helping out another country. So theres been a lot of competition, even tension between countries. For example, a couple of years ago when large numbers of tu indonesians during the arab spring crossed other into italy they tried to get into france, france said youre not coming into france. So this is an issue stirring up tension within koupbl reis between the European Union. Suarez one of the largest transit points was from morocco into spain. But has that been shut down . As far as we can tell. Its a heavily fortified frontier, very high fences, regularly patrolled by the military. The number of people seeking to cross that border appears to have subsided considerably. The new hot spot in terms of this migration is libya and i think thats because during the qaddafi period there were agreements between qaddafi and the Italian Government to stop these kind of movements taking place but the kind of problems that libya is now experiencing its been very easy for these human smugglers to ply their trade in this country because of the level of disruption taking place there. Suarez jeff crisp from refugees international. Thanks for joining us. Thank you very must have. Woodruff and to two stories from the world of technology. The first focusing on a Digital Currency that you may not have known about before it made National News this week. Our economics correspondent paul solman has been tracking its growth and explains. Its part of his ongoing reporting, making sense of financial news. Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the internet. Reporter the currency known as bitcoin, which made headlines earlier this week when the f. B. I. Seized silk road, the Popular Online black marketplace for drugs and other contraband, payable in bitcoin, that had done over a billion dollars worth of business in the last two years. But what makes this strictly computerized currency, created and maintained by a network of computers solving math problems, worth anything at all . Money is a convention. Reporter economic historian Richard Sylla. I take paper money, paper itself isnt worth much, because i know youll accept it when i want to buy something from you. Reporter and thats it . Thats right. Money is what money does. Reporter and since these days, in the world of libertarian high techies, skepticism about government issued paper money abounds, bitcoin a Digital Currency attached to no country at all is becoming their alternative of choice. Ive lost a lot of faith a lot of people have. If you look at when we started the Federal Reserve system in 1913 to today, over 90 of the value of your dollar has gone down. Reporter Charles Hoskinsons lament has been a familiar one among fed phobes in the past few years. I was a campaigner for ron paul back in 2008 and also in 2012. I met ron paul. He was a great guy and i really believe firmly in his message. Reporter and the key part of his message that pertains here . Sound money. Sound money. The idea that your money needs to have rules that cant be manipulated based upon political convenience. Reporter by contrast, says hoskinson, bitcoin is unmanipulable, apolitical. Invented in 09 by a fictitious person named satoshi nakamoto. Reporter a person or maybe group which has since vanished into cyberspace, bitcoins were invented so as to have an upper limit 21 million bitcoin can be created; no more. Bitcoins are generated all over the internet by anybody running a free application called a bitcoin miner. Reporter bitcoins are generated or mined by computers, solving math problems that become ever more complex and timeconsuming. The coins themselves strings of characters like a password or code, hence the name crypto currency. Easy to break the code . Absolutely not, says mathematician hoskinson. If that was the case then wed be in bigger problems, because all of our passwords would be vulnerable; people could break bank encryption; the secret communications the n. S. A. Uses and the government uses would all be decryptable. Reporter of course, even seemingly indecipherable codes are sometimes broken. One reason why bitcoin currency gives economic historian Richard Sylla pause. Im like warren buffet. I dont buy something if i dont understand it and for all i know the person who created bitcoins would be like king henry the 8th in britain who decided suddenly to double the amount of british money units around and there was a big inflation. Reporter well, bitcoins are supposedly created in a way where that just cant happen. Thats the argument they make and of course, thats the great argument for gold and silver standards, that the supply is limited. But, i think its much easier to change the algorithms or Something Like that and double the amount of bitcoins overnight than it is to actually come up with more gold and silver. Reporter nope. Mathematically impossible, counters the bitcoin community, and how do bitcoins actually work . Bitcoins are transferred directly from person to person via the net without going through a bank or clearinghouse. This means that the fees are much lower. You can use them in every country. You can purchase video games, gifts, books and alpaca socks. Reporter and as we saw this week, you can also purchase heroin high and consistent quality buy ten, get two bags free. The f. B. I. Has now seized the silk road site, calling it the the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet today. So, first and foremost, does bitcoin represent an unholy alliance of highminded freedom minded high techies, and global criminals, eager and able to capitalize on a totally free market . Look, says mathematician charles hoskinson, Digital Currencies are like any new technology. And just like the internet can be used for bad things, like terrorist activity or child pornography, bitcoin could be used for bad things, for example, funding rogue states like iran or north korea. Reporter or dealing drugs, or laundering money. Yes, bitcoin as a currency did initially appeal mainly to outliers, admits kinnard hockenhull, but it has begun to go mainstream, especially with investors. They think this is skyrocketing, i better get into it. But you also have people who want to use it, to send money instantly over the internet. And with bitcoin you can send money the same way you send an email. Its money thats designed for the internet. Reporter stephen pair has cofounded bitpay, a bitcoin payment processor. If you think about credit cards, they were designed in the 1950s, before the internet existed, right, so this is the first time weve taken everything we know about cryptography and the internet and security and designed a new Payment System from ground up. Reporter a system that bypasses the usual middlemen, making most noncash transactions way cheaper. So remittances. Reporter like remittances, says bitcoin promoter jonathan mohan. The money sent back home by workers in the developed world, now wired via a third party like western union. Where if your family at home makes 100 in a year, it costs 40 bucks to send them that 100. And with bitcoin, it would cost several cents. Reporter as illustrated by the small bubbles, some representing tiny transaction fees, on this realtime bitcoin trade and transaction visualizer. The vast majority of the planet dont even own a bank account. And its my contention that, a lot of people think this, that just as in africa they didnt go to phones. They went directly to cell phones, that in the same sort of adoption curve in these developing nations, youre not going to see them start getting bank accounts. Youre going to see them just going straight to bitcoins, because if you own a bitcoin address you have a bank account on your phone that you can interact on the global stage with. Reporter meanwhile, other socalled cryptocurrencies have been started, with different mathematical formulas and rules, trying to compete. Theres ppcoin, theres b. B. Q. Coin, theres litecoin, theres feathercoin, primecoin is a very interesting one that looks for really large prime numbers. Reporter and all because, says historian Richard Sylla, who chairs the board of wall streets Museum American of finance, theres so much skepticism about government and its money in and around the High Tech Community these days. Bitcoins are sort of a modern version of gold, computerized, sexier than gold. You know, we think gold is pretty nice. It shines, it looks nice, but bitcoins appeal to the more technologically savvy of people today. Reporter and since many of them have money, and cryptocurrencies do have certain advantages, says sylla, the bitcoin story may be with us for quite awhile. Woodruff a postscript to pauls report. The price of bitcoins did indeed sink shortly after the f. B. I. Raid, dropping from 140 to nearly 120. But theyve now rebounded back to almost 140 and some observers suggest the bust may have helped boost bitcoins legitimacy by ending the silk road connection. Woodruff now to a second tech story, this about the public launch of twitter. The social media giant announced late yesterday that it plans to raise one billion dollars by offering shares soon, through whats called an i. P. O. Started just seven years ago, the company also revealed its 100 million daily users are creating 500 million tweets a day. Hari sreenivasan has a closer look at that and whats behind the buzz of the i. P. O. Launch. Sreenivasan im joined by zach seward whos been covering this closely. For a lot of people who dont tweet or use twitter, why is this i. P. O. Such a big deal. I think before the i. P. Filing we new about twitter the cultural phenomenon, now we know about twitter the business, how much money its making or, more accurately, isnt making. It lost about 79 million last year. Thats one of many figures we didnt know before this i. P. O. Filing landed. Sreenivasan what else have we learned from the filing . It has about 215 million users, 49 million of those users in the United States and it makes most of its money from advertising, specifically 85 of twitters revenue comes from ads, the other 15 from data licensing and we learned its its ticker symbol. It will trade under the symbol twtr. Sreenivasan what they making money off of the users or us and what kind of money do we generate thats valuable to an advertiser . They license the stream of all tweets, everyones tweets. More than anyone could ever read, to marketers and to analytics firms that try to analyze the data and give it back to, among other people, advertisers that see value in what people are tweeting about, are they talking about certain t. V. Shows, that sort of thing. Sreenivasan another nugget i read about was that 65 of the revenues coming from mobile. What does that say about the evolution of the Online Activity thats happening on mobile versus a laptop or desktop. It wasnt long ago facebook was going public and at that Time Facebook disclosed it was making 0 of its revenue from mobile. Now twitter says its making 65 of its money from mobile. Huge difference and its as much about the general shift that the web is making from Desktop Computers to smart phones. It does speak well for twitter. It means that theyre well positioned for that shift and it means that the huge advertising business that it built up in just the past two years is pretty much majority mobile. Sreenivasan so looking at that advertising business, even though there are all these ads theyre serving, are the prices of ads staying high or has it gotten cheaper . Theyre not. That was a discloser twitter had to add as it submit this i. P. O. Filing confidentially originally to the s. E. C. And got feedback from regulators there. As it went through those drafts one disclosure it added was that its ad rates are declining. Twitter says thats because it has more ads to show, just more people using the service so by nature they have more supply its just going to be cheaper. But it is a danger. Sreenivasan this is something you said earlier, that theyre not profitable. So even with this all this money theyre making, theyve grown their revenue a huge amount year over year but theyre still not profitable, never have been, so why would someone want to buy a stock that has no path toward profitability yet . This is something that understandably confuses a lot of people. If youre going to be investing in twitter, youre making a bet on future profitability, obviously. Youre making a bet that it can grow well beyond the number of users it has currently, that it can show those users more advertising and that it probably that it can charge more for the advertising it shows. If you dont feel confident in any of those things happening then its a bad bet. But, you know, its hardly the only Technology Company which early on showed a lot of strong growth and profitability came long afterwards. Sreenivasan obviously a lot of people are considering this in the context of that facebook i. P. O. You mentioned. Was there a softening of the i. P. O. Market after facebooks notsogreat start . I think facebooks i. P. O. Was seen as a bit of a debacle. It was not pulled off well and then for the longest time twitter excuse me, facebook was trading under the twice at which it had opened at its i. P. O. Now its well above that price and its trading at record highs so twitter might have timed it really well. Social media stocks in general, linkedded in is another publicly traded social network are doing really well right now and twitter is trying to jump on this bandwagon. Sreenivasan who gets the most amount of wealth from this . This is a billion dollar i. P. O. Indeed. The only billionaire thats appears will be made from this i. P. O. Is ef williams, one of the founders of twitter who still owns a 12 stake in the company it was disclosed in the filing. But there are indeed lots of people who stand to make a killing at capital firms and other people who were not founders but include early employees and people who picked up stakes along the way. Sreenivasan finally, whats next . When do they take this on the road for investors and when theyll come to market . Twitters intent is to go public as fast as it can at part in order to avoid the facebook debacle at least thats what people close to the i. P. O. Tell me by law it has to wait three weeks and then it can go on a a road show to market itself to investors which will be probably truncated. They want to get this over and done with and be a publicly traded company before thanksgiving. Sreenivasan zach seward, thanks so much. My pleasure. Woodruff now, to a different kind of story about the government. Every year, the nonprofit, nonpartisan, partnership for Public Service honors outstanding achievements by civil servants. This year, of course, that comes amid a Government Shutdown thats affected hundreds of thousands of those workers. Jeffrey brown explains. Brown the awards are known as the sammys. The medalist are tara palmore and julie segre who used genome sequences to stop an infection from spreading through hospitals. Morris Williams Brown worked only financial matters in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, andrew rabbens handles kwraoupblg engagement for state department. Daniel madrz wr rbgskowski i believe proved firefighting techniques. John mackinnons forensic work led to the arrest of 55 people arrested for child pornography. This man oversaw the deliver riff of polio vaccine to children in india. David laveery was critical to the development of nasas mars rover. Antonio mendez helps free six diplomats trapped in iran and his story inspired last years oscarwinning film argo. Joining me now is kevin geiss, the Deputy Assistant secretary for energy at the department of the air force. He worked on alternative fuels and helped save more than one billion dollars and welcome and congratulations to you. Thank you, jeffrey. Brown so first i want to ask how does a person save a billion dollars . In laymans term, what did you do . Well, it takes innovation and dedication across the entire department of the air force. We have men and women who are pilots, aviators, Civil Engineers in jobs across the air force who come up with good ideas that we then demonstrate, build business cases and bring to the forefront that we can execute across the air force to save those dollars. Brown in your case what was the problem you were trying to solve . Jeffrey, we spend in the air force about 9 billion a year on jet fuel and utilities for our installations. Thats two and a half billion gallons of fuel. So when you look at what the big bills are in the air force, fuel and energy is one of those. So as my office which owns Energy Policy looked at the challenge, we brought in experts and subject Matter Experts from across the air force to help us to identify areas for improved efficiencies. And initiatives that we could put in place to help save that money. Brown and the alternative energies you were working on . We have certified all of our aircraft fleet to fly on alternate fuels, both Synthetic Fuels as well as biofuels and weve also instituted over 50 alternate energy or Renewable Energy projects on our installations. Brown does this have wider applications beyond the air force . Absolutely. And we also look to best practices if industry and in particular from our aviation operations. We have men and women in our reserves mo who fly for some of the large commercial airlines and Cargo Airlines that we tap into and we bring those ideas into the air force to try and find opportunities for more potential efficiencies. Brown what is your background . How does one come to this kind of work . I well, i am the First Air Force Deputy Assistant secretary so there was no path to get here. Brown you created it. It was created and i came into it but my background was in chemistry. I think as a scientist thats trained me to always asked ask questions, to be concerned about the limitations and issues and assumptions that we have and whatever technologies or programs that we have. Brown the timing of this was coincidental burke here we sit amid a Government Shutdown and i understand that you are one of several of this years winners who are on furlough. Correct. Brown the disconnect must have hit you. Well, i will say that im frustrated because i joined the federal service in 2002 because i wanted to serve and my biggest frustration is that i am kept out of my office and kept from serving in the way that keeps me coming to the Office Everyday to do that job. The mission that we have in the air force to fly, fight and win in airspace and cyberspace and everything that we can do with my staff and my office and partners across the air force to help save the air force money. Brown from where you sit, do you understand the sometimes its vitriol that is aimed at federal workers. Do you understand where any of that comes from . Ive heard comments folks make but when i look at what we do in our office, what we do in the air force, our results speak for themselves. We are, in 2012, we were hauling almost 20 more cargo in our aircraft and using 13 less fuel. So we have shown not only that we can do the mission but we can do more mission and save energy doing it. On our installations we have cut our Overall Energy consumption per square foot by over 21 compared to 2003. Brown you were telling me before we started that youre keeping busy even while you have these days on furlough. Right. Well, i am a Squadron Commander for a Civil Air Patrol squadron here locally and we do emergency services, support homeland operations and have a strong Cadet Program in our unit in fort belvoir, virginia. Suarez kevin geiss is air force assistant secretary for energy. Thank you so much. Woodruff you can learn more about the winners on our rundown blog. Woodruff and to the analysis of brooks and dionne, New York Times columnist david brooks and Washington Post columnist e. J. Dionne. Mark shields is off today. So we just heard from this gentleman in here, kevin geiss, who works for the air force, hes furloughed. David, is there a message there about federal civil servants, Public Servants and what theyre doing and not doing right now . I think theres a message about the quality of civil servants. I often ask republican political appointees who are in the departments, how good are the career people you work with . Almost universally even if a lot of the republicans are not very fond of Big Government but they say the people in the offices are quite impressive. And when ive sat in on meetings at hud or other agencies ive been astounded by the high quality of the people. Theyre not getting a lot of money, theyre doing it for the service. They are of high quality, the people in this government. David cameron, the Prime Minister of britain, had a good comment a couple years ago. He said he used to call them all bureaucrats but as he got to know them he decided that was not the right way to talk about them in a demeaning way and he stopped using that word and i think thats appropriate because the quality is quite high. Woodruff what do you take away from someone like that at this point . I think the government is full of people who are performing Public Service. Its a term we dont use. A partnership for Public Service gave these awards and one of my favorite organizations, ought to be everybodys favorite organization regardless of their politics because they are lifting up the people who do well, are doing good things like mr. Geiss. Theyre trying to recruit better people and when you look at this shutdown, theres something so deeply disrespectful about it. The way that congress can just walk away from paying the salaries of all these folks. And what does that do to recruitment. What does that do to morale in the Public Service . Theres some people who want to attack government, theres some people who want to reform government and make it work better. I think most americans are on the side of the people who want to reform it and make it work. Woodruff david, are we any closer to a resolution . Here we are four days into the government being shut down. We must be closer because there will be a resolution, weve moved a few days ahead. Woodruff there will be a resolution . I assume by the time we die there will be a resolution. Its not too evident. One thing is happening on the republican side. I think theres a widespread recognition from everybody whos not in ted cruzs own personal household that this was a very dumb strategy. That if you walk into a confrontation with the president , there should be some possibility of success and they walked in really with zero possibility of success. Focusing on obamacare which was never going to be defunded merely distractd from the actual which you will launch of obamacare, it distracted from the issues upon which republicans are strongest and it was an incredibly dumb hamfisted policy and that awareness has spread throughout the senate where theres been some sharp challenges to ted cruz from some of his colleagues. Its spread among the republican elder class, the people around town who are who want the Republican Party to do well. And so theres been a little more rethinking and a little more opposition, i would say, to some of the Tea Party Ted cruz types which hopefully, in my opinion, will build and offer some more sensible alternatives. Woodruff how are you reading this e. J. . Are you sensing theres movement on the part of republicans . I sense some Movement Among republicans who are not in deep red districts. You see almost two dozen now who say they would vote to pass the senates budget, the Senate Continuing Resolution if they could. And i think democrats are now trying to find ways of putting those guys and women on the spot. Because if they combine with democrats, we would end the shutdown. But the thing thats really strikes me, i was in the white house this week and talked to a number of top aides to president obama and i have never seen the administration be so resolute in saying we cannot make any concessions on the issue of the shutdown or on the debt ceiling. We are happy to negotiate after those are settled. Obama is famous for liking to negotiate. Some of us are somewhat critical of him for being too eager to negotiate but this time theyre saying there is a principle here, its a constitutional conn monstrosity to get something done in this case repealing the Affordable Care act when the president wont sign it and they dont have a majority in the senate. Woodruff constitutional monstrosity, david . This has become such a stupid event because were not even arguing about the size of the government or the philosophical divide, were arguing about process, who will talk to 40 who and whos willing to negotiate more and whos willing to negotiate less. It strikes most people as it strikes me as a debate with no substance to it. As a debate about dysfunction in which washington displays its dysfunction. Now i concede that most of the blame probably has to go to the republicans but i do not think Barack Obamas off the hook here entirely. I do think overall it has been a longrunning problem for this administration that they didnt find a way to isolate the tea party and work with the other republicans to create a governing majority and that still holds. Now theyre going to try to do it and i hope they do. Maybe they can carry it over into immigration, other things. But its been a problem for the administration unable to get to separate these small rump group from the rest of the republicans who they could have worked with. Woodruff you think they should have done that . I think its John Boehners job to do that. I think john boehner whom a lot of people around town like, i kind of like him, up to now hes been a guy who likes to get stuff done yet in this case he has allowed this small minority to dictate what, as you say, is a really dumb strategy. And i think at some point earlier on he should have said, you know, maybe ill risk my speakership but a lot better than than pursuing what one conservative writer called the seinfeld shutdown. Its really about nothing now. Its about whatever comes up on a given day that can justify it. Woodruff but wasnt it about health care . Well, that was never going to happen. So there was some wild predictions made by some in the tea party that it was going to the exchanges were not going to be launched, there would be americans would be rallying in the street against obamacare. Obamacare is unpopular but theyre not rallying in the street and they wont defund it. The republicans didnt win the last election, they have to understand that. So you have to deal with that reality. But the problem for the party is that you have a group of people who are not normal legislators, theyre just interested in making a media display. But i think boehner could not have acted and survived his speakership before. But now with much more unhappiness at this rump i think hes got a little more room to take some action to regain control of the house. Woodruff is that what you think is going to happen . That hes going to shift his position and be willing to bend after saying hes not going to bend . I think hes in a very tough spot now and he still seems to be digging in. He gave some signals that he would never allow us to default, he eastd somehow pass the debt ceiling yet today he was out there talking about spending which had nothing to do with obamacare sayin Say Something me done about this. I think hes got to find a way to end this because its hurting washington generally but its clearly hurting republicans more. But i think if he doesnt end it, some of the republicans who come from districts like here in virginia where were sitting where a lot of federal workers live, in states like new york and pennsylvania where they said this isnt the kind of republicanism we believe in. And i think they may have to create some of the pressure to get off this. He could do it and the president could do it by shifting the focus away from the dumb obamacare strategy to what has been on our agenda for the past couple years, entitlement reform, tax reform. Woodruff a bigger package. I dont have huge hopes this is a moment were going to get a big grand bargain but you can at least get to ground where theres compromise possible and i hope that boehner move there is, as he is, and i hope obama moves there as well because there still is some sort of deal to be made there. But you cant negotiate a budget. I mean, the democrats passed a budget in the senate like the tea party said they were going to do 18 times the republicans turned down a conference. We could have been negotiating this for the last 18 months. I think you cant now without ceding an important principle negotiate a budget before you settle the shutdown and the debt ceiling. I think theres ample room to have negotiations after that. Woodruff is there a danger that the debt ceiling gets caught up in all of this and they dont raise it . What would be the consequence . Obviously that would be cataclysmic for the economy and john boehner said that will not happen. I think the president doesnt want it to happen either. So you have to say the odds that well do the debt kreiling are that it will go over create that cataclysm are small. Im the guy who said the government would shot shut down to shush me on my predictions. Woodruff i was sparing you by not reminding you of that. So when they were sitting around in 1914 the leaders of europe thinking were not going to have a world war or anything. And lo and behold they do. And thats a good metaphor because i think one of the problems here is back in 2011 after the election when the tea party looked very strong president obama did negotiate with them over the debt ceiling. And i think they miscalculated in thinking, well, we can do this again and hell do it again. What they didnt see is that the president learned something from that experience and said i am not going to do that again. If he holds back and says im not negotiating until we do the debt ceiling hes asking the republicans to give away their leverage before they get to anything negotiations. They wont do that. Woodruff what makes you think the speaker may be getting closer to giving some ground . What is the what signal are you well, you see the well, you see the buildup of upset in the Republican Party. Not across the whole Republican Party. A lot of republicans, rand paul, think were winning, were winning. In their districts they are winning. Its good more them. But across the republican chattering class i think theres a recognition that theyre not in a good spot. They should havent gotten in a fight in the first place, john boehner never wanted to be in this spot. And so and you see him shifting away from the obamacare toward these other wider grand bargain issues. Thats clearly a sign he wants to get into some new sort of game. Woodruff and is that so e. J. , do we then see the makings of getting this resolved next week . You know, its the best line on all of this, herb stein, the conservative economist who said when something cant keep going on like it is, it wont. So someday were going to get there. But i am very worried that john boehner now has a whole series of positions hes taken and its going to be very hard for him to back off. And on the white house side, its going to be very hard for them to provide fig leaves given what their position is and given what is clearly a lot of hostility. The president s really calling out john boehner in his public speeches in a way he didnt before. So i see this as a very different kind of confrontation than the confrontations weve seen before. Woodruff are there longlasting is there longlasting damage to the country in some way . To everybody involved in all of this because of the Government Shutdown, david . Or are we just now in a place where we can just shut down the government every few years and sort of move on with life as usual . I mean, what i would say that the big effect is on trust in government. You know, i think its the most important statistic so i quote it all the time. When they ask people as they have for decades do you trust government to do the right thing most of the time . If you go through the first 20 years of the century 70 of americans trusted them. Now the number is around 22 and so theres no trust in government and this will just amplify and fortify that belief that people think washington is just screwed up. Woodruff does that matter . It does matter. I think you saw cost of the shutdown in the cancellation of the president s trip to asia. Whether youre a republican or democrat or an independent you want the United States to be present in the world. It is important that we improve pivot toward asia, as the president likes to say. Now what do we look like in asia compared to say, the chinese and others . Yes, we are a free country and they are not but this kind of chaos is not good for us. One good thing could come out of this. I think the tea party is past its high tide. I think there is a slowlybuilding revolt within republican ranks against this kind of politics, which is not about governing, its about stopping stuff. Woodruff less than 30 seconds. Do you agree with that . I do. I think its a rump that had its moment. On the other hand it has institutions, a donor base and aggression. Ted cruz, those republicans, the Heritage Action groups, they go after other republicans. Theres an aggressiveness there that is not muched by any other part of the party and somebody has to stand up and balance it. Woodruff we are delighted to have the two of you to stand up for what you came to talk about. David brooks, e. J. Dionne, thank you so much. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day the partial shutdown of the federal government headed into the weekend, with no hint of resolution. Tropical storm karen churned closer to the gulf coast, aiming for a likely landfall tomorrow between louisiana and florida. And federal investigators said it appears the woman killed in a car chase from the white house to the capitol was delusional. She apparently believed the president was trying to communicate with her. Online, even though millennials are the most educated generation, its taking them longer to launch their careers than it did their parents. But dont blame Older Workers refusing to retire. We have an explanation on making sense. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. Before we go, a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. Gwen is off, preparing for washington week, which airs later this evening. Heres a preview is washington dysfunctional or is this the new normal in the nations capitol . We examine the shutdown showdown tonight on washington week. Judy . Woodruff tomorrows edition of pbs newshour weekend includes a report on a little known task force that now has the authority, under the Affordable Care act, to decide which Preventive Medical Services must be covered in full by insurers. Woodruff thats on pbs newshour weekend tomorrow night. Then, right here, on monday, well preview the Supreme Court term. The justices are scheduled to meet despite the Government Shutdown. Im judy woodruff. A goodbye to a thank you to someone who has been behind the camera of the newshour family for the past 18 years. Kathleen mccleary, our deputy executive producer, is headed to new mexico to start her next exciting chapter of her life. She goes with our love and our gratitude. Im judy woodruff. Im judy woodruff. Have a nice weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. United, and union bank. At union bank, our relationship matters work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic positions. We offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. What can we do for you . And now, bbc world news. This is bbc world news america. Imrting from washington, laura trevelyan. A watery grave off the coast of italy with no hope of finding more survivors. 300 migrants may be dead after a boat capsized. Washington, the texas state fair in full swing but the Government Shutdown is the talk of the town with a clear message from lawmakers. They need to get the Government Back to work and work out their differences. It is a problem of plenty in maine where a bountiful catch of lobsters is putting many in a pinch. Welcome