his way. i m sure it will be lively and good and we will have live coverage on cnn. jim, don t go too far away. it s a central question in the budget stalemate. are there enough votes in the house of representatives to pass legislation to fund the government with no strings attached? the answer is yes and no. a cnn survey shows there are 218 house members who say they would support a bill with no special provisions. that is the so-called clean cr or continuing resolution. that is one more than the minimum need to do pass the measure 217. the tally includes all 200 democrats and 18 republicans but the republicans are not willing, at least so far, to force speaker john boehner to bring that kind of continuing resolution to the house floor. let s bring in our chief congressional correspondents dana bash who is watching what is going on. it s a dilemma right now.
they are all watching what is going on. jim, i was confused earlier. the vice president joe biden, a lot of people are suggesting he is missing in these discussions involving the government shutdown and hasn t been visible publicly but i assume playing a role behind the scenes. the meeting the president had with the four leaders in the house and senate and republicans, was he there? reporter: he was there. it s interesting to talk about the vice president s role in all of this. he was instrumental in brokering a deal to avert physical catastrophe the last time this came up in 2011. he was apparently talking behind the scenes with the senate majority leader mitchell mcconnell extensively. one thing i heard from a democratic sort who would have some knowledge as to what is going on here at the white house
the president earlier called the house speaker john boehner but it wasn t exactly the conversation that boehner has been speaking. here is what the speaker said before he spoke to the president. americans expect us to work out our differences. but refuse to go negotiate is an untenable position and, frankly, by refusing to negotiate, harry reid and the president are putting our country on a pretty dangerous path. listen. there has never been a president in our history that did not negotiate over the debt limit. never. so what did the president say during that phone conversation? our senior white house correspondent jim atocosta is standing by at the white house. what is the white house saying about the phone call, jim? reporter: it s interesting to note, wolf, that the president s phone call to house speaker john boehner came shortly after the remarks from the house speaker earlier this morning. white house officials saying the