President Obama is scheduled to deliver a statement on the looming government shutdown from the White House briefing room today at 4:45 PM ET. There's a live video feed at the top of this post and will provide live updates during his remarks.
1:56 PM PT: President Obama hasn't taken the podium yet, so he's running a bit behind schedule.
2:00 PM PT: One more minute.
2:02 PM PT: The president is at the podium.
2:04 PM PT: "If you are on Social Security, you will keep on receiving checks. If you are on Medicare, your doctor will still see you." Troops will still serve, homeland security will etc. "NASA will shut down almost entirely. ... Offices will close ... Paychecks will be delayed ... Vital services...will be hamstrung ... Veterans will find support centers unstaffed ... Tourists will find national parks immediately closed."
2:05 PM PT: Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees will be indefinitely furloughed, Obama says.
2:05 PM PT: "A very real economic impact on real people right away."
2:07 PM PT: Says what a shutdown "is the height of responsibility" and "it does not have to happen." It's "preventable if the House chooses to do what the Senate has already done." Points at "extreme right wing" of Republican Party.
2:08 PM PT: President Obama uses the fact that Republicans are targeting Obamacare to talk about the benefits of the law, including on the availability of insurance plans starting tomorrow through exchanges.
2:09 PM PT: Obama: If we give in to GOP hostage taking now, "does anybody truly believe we won't have this fight again in a couple of months?"
2:11 PM PT: "One faction of one party in one House of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election. Keeping the government running is not a concession to me. [...] It's a basic responsibility."
2:12 PM PT:
Rep Dent (R-PA): "The hour glass is already empty and it's time that we pass a clean CR."
— @frankthorpNBC
2:12 PM PT: "You don't get to exctract a ransom for doing your job."
2:14 PM PT: "Congress needs to keep our government open, it needs pay our bills on time, and never, ever threaten the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and time is running out. My hope and expecation is that, in the eleventh hour once again, that Congress will choose to do the right thing, and that the House of Representatives will choose to do the right thing."
2:17 PM PT: Obama's basic position is clear and non-ideological: Disputes over policy are fine, but you have to resolve those disputes without threatening Armageddon in order to get your way. His only bottom line is that Congress should fund government and deal with the debt ceiling without adding extraneous demands. The GOP, on the other hand, is making specific ideological demands. It's plain as day which position is stronger: The President's, because House Republicans not only needs to convince people that their position is right, but their hardline tactics are an acceptable way of achieving them. That's two big hurdles, neither one of which they are likely to overcome. Because they are wrong on both.