John Avlon talks with former FBI hostage negotiator Christopher Voss about how to end the fiscal crisis in Washington, D.C.

Said Voss: “It actually reminds me of a prison siege. The opposition isn’t particularly organized. The smart move is to pick among the leadership on the other side who is the most reasonable. Then you empower them by talking with them and granting some sort of small concession. And they suddenly gain a lot of influence on their side.”

“If the United States government, for the first time in its history, chooses not to pay its bills on time, we will be in default. There is no option that prevents us from being in default if we don’t have enough cash to pay our bills.”

— Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, quoted by the Washington Post, adding that, “Congress is playing with fire.”

A senior House Republican tells CNN that “one idea being considered to end the immediate fiscal impasse is a bill to fund the government and extend the nation’s borrowing authority for six weeks.”

“The GOP lawmaker said a committee could then be set up to negotiate the fiscal issues dividing the two parties and negotiate a plan to keep the government funded for the rest of the year without the proverbial gun to their heads.”

New York Times: “The twin shutdowns of 1995 and 1996 had a theme: Cut federal spending, especially on Medicare, to eliminate the budget deficit in a prescribed length of time. This time around, even many Republicans no longer know what they want to achieve.”

Said Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL): “I think now it’s a lot about pride.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “may be catching grief from some fellow Republicans in Congress for his role as a leader of the group in Congress in favor of shutting down the government rather than funding the Affordable Care Act, but he’s getting support from the Florida Republican Party,” the Tampa Tribune reports.

“The state party’s caucus of state committeemen and committeewomen, who make up the governing executive committee of the party, just voted by acclamation during a meeting in Orlando to express their support for Cruz.”

“This mess was created by the Republicans for one purpose, and they lost. People in my district are calling in for Obamacare — affordable health care — in large numbers. These guys have lost, and they can’t figure out how to admit it… So we sit here until they figure out they fuckin’ lost.”

— Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), quoted by Slate, on when the government shutdown will end.

“You really have to call Cruz, I’m not even joking about that. That’s
really what you have to do, because he’s the one that set up the
strategy, he’s the one that got us into this mess, and so we’ve got to
know what the next move is.”

— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), quoted by the New York Times, when asked what Republicans were going to do next in the budget standoff.

Marc Thiessen: “Quick: What do Republicans want in exchange for ending the government shutdown? If you know the answer, congratulations — because Republicans sure don’t.”

“It calls to mind the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George are coming up with an idea for a show to pitch to NBC — and decide it will be ‘a show about nothing. That’s what this standoff has become — the Seinfeld Shutdown, a shutdown about nothing.”

“Obama presses GOP’s Boehner”

— Richmond Times Dispatch, October 4, 2013.