President Obama will make a statement and take questions from the news media at 2pmET, says the White House. The broadcast and cable news and business networks will carry the news conference. This is day 8 of the government shutdown, while another potential crisis, the debt ceiling, is fast approaching.
NBC News will provide a special report anchored by Natalie Morales with Chuck Todd at the White House. (Brian Williams is scheduled to interview Jeb Bush at Education Nation). On ABC George Stephanopoulos will anchor and Jon Karl will report from the White House. Scott Pelley will anchor a special report for CBS with Major Garrett at the White House.
2:29pm: After a 14-minute opening statement about the budget negotiation stalemate, and the lack of a deal on raising the debt ceiling, which the president called “a lousy name,” he took the first question from the AP’s Julie Pace.
> The second question goes to Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg.
> Sam Stein of Huffington Post gets the third question.
> Roberta Rampton of Reuters is fourth.
> Ari Shapiro of NPR got the fifth question. He asked about a Supreme Court hearing on campaign finance law.
> Mark Landler, of the New York Times, went sixth.
> Seventh question when to Richard McGregor of the Financial Times in the waaaay back of the briefing room. The president punted his question to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
> Steven Dennis of CQ Roll Call got the eighth question and had a meaningful back and forth with the president.
> Before the ninth question, some reporters began asking questions without being called on, to which the president said, “I’m just going through my list guys, talk to Jay (Carney, his press secretary).”
> Mark Knoller of CBS Radio News asked question 10.
> The final question went to a “persistent,” unnamed female reporter in the third row.
3:20pm The news conference ends, without any of the major broadcast TV network correspondents being called on.