To prepare for Washington Week. And those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by 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 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 the outcome of todays debate in congress was certain. What happens next, is anything but. At stake keeping the government operating past months end, and keeping president obamas signature Domestic Initiative on track. On this vote the yays are 230, the nays are 189, the joint resolution is passed. Woodruff with that, House Republicans closed ranks behind not just a vote to pay for the federal government, but yet another attempt to derail the president S Health Care reform law. This week, g. O. P. Leaders attached a provision to eliminate all funding for it a move that was necessary to satisfy tea party conservatives, including John Culberson of texas. We in the house, the constitutional conservative majority have kept our word to our constituents and to the nation to do our job, to fund the essential aspects of the government and to ensure that weve done everything in our power to protect our constituents from the most unpopular piece of legislation that has ever passed in the history of Congress Obamacare by permanently and totally defunding it. Woodruff democrats accused republicans of pushing a dead end strategy with only one possible ending. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi what is brought to the floor today is without a doubt. Without a doubt a measure designed to shut down government. It could have no other intent. Its purpose is clear. And if they our colleagues on the republican side deny that then they have no idea of the gravity of the situation. Woodruff the two parties are also at odds over overall spending for the coming year. The bill locks in lower outlays across the board, forced by automatic cuts the socalled sequester. Majority leader eric cantor americans are tired of seeing their government continue to spend more and more of their hard earned tax dollars and for the First Time Since the korean war, itll be possible to have two consecutive years of Discretionary Spending cuts. Woodruff virginias jim moran and other democrats argued today the plan shortchanges critical needs. We need to do what this congress was meant to do. We need to fund the government adequately to be a first Class Society with a first class economy that can compete and beat anyone. We cant do that on the cheap. cheers and applause woodruff but with a g. O. P. Majority, passage was never in doubt, and republicans cheered their leaders when it was done. Speaker john boehner declared the burden is now on the senate to do what the country wants. Our message to the senate is real simple. The American People dont want a Government Shutdown and they dont want obamacare. Woodruff but the senates majority leader democrat harry reid made it clear he disagrees, insisting in a statement that his chamber will not pass any measure that targets obamacare. The senate takes up the spending bill next week, while the house turns to another fiscal fight, raising the National Debt ceiling. The president weighed in on that issue, during a visit today to an auto plant in liberty, missouri. If congress doesnt pass this debt ceiling in the next few weeks, the United States will default on its obligations. Thats never happened in american history. Basically, america becomes a dead beat. We cant just not pay our bills. Woodruff the treasury projects the Borrowing Limit could be reached by late october. And in the other news of this day, the showdown in washington sparked a selloff on wall street. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 185 points to close at 15,451. The nasdaq fell 14 points to close at 3,774. For the week, the dow gained about half a percent. The nasdaq rose 1. 5 . The Obama Administration has laid out the First National limits on Carbon Pollution from power plants. Under the proposal, new coal fired plants would have to prevent up to half their Carbon Dioxide from escaping into the atmosphere. The Power Industry condemned the plan; environmental groups welcomed it. Well have more on this in a moment. Chicago police fanned out today, hunting culprits in a shooting that wounded 13 people in a city park. The youngest a threeyearold boy remains in critical condition. Witnesses reported bullets were fired from a passing car. The citys Police Superintendent said the attack looks gang related. And he called for action to prevent Mass Shootings. Military type weapons like the one we believe to have been used in this shooting belong on a battlefield not on a street or in a corner or in a park in the back of the yards. This country should have a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines like the ones used in this event. Its common sense. Woodruff chicago had a surge of shootings and homicides last year. Overall, Violent Crime is actually down so far this year. In yemen, alqaeda militants killed 38 Government Troops and wounded dozens more today. It happened in the Southern Province of shabwa, in a remote area that was blanketed in heavy fog at the time. The attackers wore Army Uniforms and hit several military sites. A top israeli official is warning iran could build a nuclear bomb within six months, despite tehrans diplomatic overtures. The Israeli Strategic Affairs minister Yuval Steinitz issued the warning today in an israeli newspaper. He said, there is no more time to hold negotiations. In washington, the state departments marie harf said the Obama Administration is not ready to go that far. We are committed to preventing iran from getting a nuclear weapon, that all options are on the table to do that, but obviously diplomacy is the preferred one, and that there were not out of time here yet on diplomacy, obviously wed like to give it a chance to work, and we believe theres an opportunity right now to do just that. Woodruff for his part, iranian president Hassan Rouhani called for constructive interaction today. Writing in the Washington Post, he said we must Work Together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart. Rescue parties in mexico kept hunting for mudslide victims today in a Village North of acapulco. Emergency workers dug through the mud and debris for 68 people whove been missing since a mountainside gave way. The disaster was triggered by a tropical storm. The resulting flooding and mudslides have killed at least 97 people, all told. Pope francis denounced abortions today and urged Roman Catholic doctors not to perform them. The remarks came one day after he warned the church against emphasizing what he called smallminded rules. He spoke today in an audience with catholic gynecologists. translated dear friends, doctors, those of you who are called to deal with human life in its initial phase, remind everybody, with facts and words, that this life is always, in all its phases and at every age, sacred. Woodruff before today, some leading catholic conservatives voiced disappointment that francis had not spoken out about abortion. Still ahead on the newshour new rules to make producing electricity cleaner; the violence faced by minority christians in egypt; the taxes, credits and penalties in health care reform; brooks and dionne on the weeks news and a memoir of loss in the rural south. Woodruff we zero in now on the e. P. A. s decision to issue its firstever curbs on power plant emissions. Its all part of a bigger effort to reduce Greenhouse Gases and its generating an intense reaction from both sides. Hari sreenivasan has the story. Climate change caused by Carbon Pollution is one of the most significant Public Health threats of our time. Sreenivasan at the National Press club in washington, e. P. A. Administrator Gina Mccarthy said the stakes are too great to wait to address climate change. Power plants are the single largest source of Carbon Pollution. New power plants, both natural gas and coalfired, can minimize th eir Carbon Emissions by taking advantage of available modern technology. These technologies offer them a Clear Pathway forward today and in the long term. Sreenivasan under the proposed rules, new power plants would have to install technology to capture and store Carbon Emissions. Natural gas plants would be limited to onethousand pounds of c. O. 2 per megawatt hour. While coalfired plants would be limited to 1,100 pounds per megawatt hour. To put that in context, the most efficient plants running today emit about 1,800 pounds. But the guidelines would not affect existing plants, which will be dealt with in a separate proposal next year. Last year coalfired plants were responsible for about a third of americas energyrelated Carbon Dioxide emissions and they supplied 37 of americas power. But nearly all climate Scientists Say c. O. 2 helps trap heat in earths atmosphere, contributing to climate change. And in 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that the e. P. A. Has the authority to regulate carbon under the Clean Air Act. Coal generates electricity. The regulations coming down are sreenivasan critics like the American Coalition for clean coal electricity, an Industry Group have been campaigning to kill the new rules, saying they are costly for consumers and would prevent utilities from building plants. C. E. O. Mike duncan issued this video statement these proposed regulations put america on a dangerous and economically destructive path. Coal is the dominant source of electricity in the United States. Those who believe it can be easily replaced are sticking their heads in the sand. Sreenivasan the proposed guidelines now enter a oneyear comment period. The industry says new technologies to store and capture the carbon has never been proven at such a wide scale. Its planing to challenge the rules in court. Juliet eilperin of the Washington Post has been covering this and joins me now. So do they have a point . Is Carbon Sequestration or Carbon Capture a Proven Technology . Well, its proven it has worked in certain cases but it hasnt been applied commercially on a large scale. So in terms of does this Technology Actually function, absolutely. But has it been prove then a competitive marketplace, the answer is no. Srennivasan we mentioned earlier that this particular rule would not affect existing coal plants. Why is the coal industry responding so vehemently now . Are there a lot of coal plants in the pipeline . There arent a lot of coal plants in the pipeline. And in fact a couple of them that are under construction are ones that are doing Carbon Capture and storage such as the plant in mississippi. But they really see this as kind of two things. One, the nose under the camels tent which is this is the beginning of regulation of Greenhouse Gas emissions and ultimately the administration is moving forward and will be addressing existing plants. And also while naturalgas prices are very low, which is one of the reasons why people are building gas plants rather than coal plants, obviously Market Conditions can change and the coal industry doesnt want to be constrained. They want an opportunity to compete in the future should market shift dramatically and gas becomes more expensive. Srennivasan so how does this fit with the president s second term agenda on global waming, on the environment . This is an important part of his agenda. What youre seeing her is really the here is the most important Domestic Initiative that the president has taken in his second term to use his own executive authority to tackle climate change. So this is the first step. Again, the epa has made it clear that its going to move on and now tackle existing plants. But what this shows is that there is a political commitment on the part of president obama and his top deputies to really use the levers that they control where they dont need congress to address Carbon Emissions nationwide. Srennivasan does this particular rule change signal what will inevitably come to existing coal plants . Is it a slippery slope that the coal industry is trying to avoid . Well, again, it shows that they are going to address this, Gina Mccarthy, the epa administrator made it clear that people dont necessarily have to read the tea leaves in this proposal to see whats going to happen when they tackle existing plants. Right now, in fact, she used this proposal as a launching point to say that epa is going to reach out to whether its the states as well as utilities, across the country to really begin the discussions about what will it look like to regulate existing plants, you know, going forward. But you know t clearly shows that they are going to push the energy. That they are comfortable with the idea of using the Clean Air Act to drive the deployment of Pollution Control Technology across the country in the power sector. Srennivasan Gina Mccarthy also mentioned the Public Health aspect of this. How does that factor into this rule . I think that, you know, thats certainly something thats important, particularly in how the Obama Administration frames this. When you look at power plants, while this is addressing, again, the Climate Impact that they have, they are a major source of emissions that are linked to, for example, lung and heart disease, things like asthma there is Something Like 30 million americans who face some sort of lung disease that, you know, in some ways one can tie to power plants. And so thats something that they see as important. And one of the things that Gina Mccarthy has been trying to do with its rollout of this proposal is talk about the connection between climate and Public Health, what people often talk about, for example, at the American Lung association s the climate penalty that basically as temperatures rise, all the conditions that we have ordinarily including smoing become more intense and become more of a problem for americans. And so i think that it is an important way that, certainly, the administration will be making its case to the public of why this move is justified despite the clear Economic Cost that come with it. Srennivasan thats likely to happen next in the courts . Well, first, the first step is that this ruling needs to be finalized and that will take a year. So the epa will take comments on it. And then they will issue a final rule about a year from now. Once that happens, i think you can expect to see attorneys head directly to federal court to challenge this. They will argue that it does not meet the test under the Clean Air Act that this technology has been adequately demonstrated. And so you are going to see a court battle. But that doesnt mean that the rule wont go ahead. Most likely it will move ahead and then it will be up to a court to block it if it chooses to do so. Srennivasan Juliet Eilperin from the Washington Posting thanks so much. Thank you. Woodruff now, in the final story from her re