KING: And this is one of the things -- this is one of the things that we know drives you at home a little crazy. You watch these debates in Washington you think it is a sand box at best. And this playing out that Kate just explained to us, a shutdown averted for now. It plays out at a time when you watch Washington. It's pretty clear. It's pretty clear. You don't think much of this town. How is the U.S. being governed? Eighty-one percent of Americans are dissatisfied -- dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed. Nineteen percent say they are satisfied.

That 81 percent in the Gallup poll a historic high for discontent with the way the government is being run. How about the United States Congress? Sixty-nine percent of you say you have not very much or none at all on the question of trust and confidence in the Congress. Look at that -- seven in 10 Americans essentially say they have not very much trust or no trust at all in the legislative branch of government -- right there 69 percent. That is a country that has a very dim view of its government. So let's go straight to the source.

One of the Republicans who came to Washington promising to change the culture of this town is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Senator Paul, we've averted a shutdown for tonight. But how much does this weigh on you? I know you came here saying we're not going to spend any more money. We don't have any more money to spend. How much does it weigh when you see the American people look at Washington -- this is my term not theirs -- they essentially see a daycare center? SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Well, I'm sort of perplexed because you know the Democrats held this up because they said we don't want to offset the spending. In other words, the Democrats are insisting that we borrow the money for FEMA. And I don't think anybody in America thinks that we can perpetuate these debts and continue these annual deficits and the trillions of dollars. So I think most people say well gosh, why couldn't we cut duplicate spending or why couldn't we cut some foreign aid or foreign welfare that we're sending? So I think really the American people are ready for us to offset what we're doing and have cuts and not just add to the debt.

KING: I think the big question of that -- you're absolutely right -- most public opinion polls have shown people are very upset about the deficit. They want it dealt with. But I just want to show another graphic to our viewers -- I want to take this one down and talk about what we were talking about in the sense of this FEMA fight, about $3.5 billion, $3.65 billion. This is the entire United States federal budget up here.

You see where most of the money goes. Discretionary security spending, discretionary non security, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, other mandatory program, FEMA, how much is FEMA? Look at that tiny slice. This was a huge fight. Senator Paul, you were willing if it came to it, if it came to it to have the United States government shut down over this tiny little sliver. Is that principle that important to you?

PAUL: Well what I would say is it's sort of the opposite. The Democrats are willing to shut down government if we don't borrow that tiny amount of money. But the thing about it is, is every program up here you can say it's only a tiny amount of money, but you know if you can't cut 100 million here or you can't offset three billion there, we're never going to balance a $1.5 trillion deficit.

So really you do have to look at even small amounts and it should be a priority. Should we be spending this money overseas in foreign aid or foreign welfare? Should we be building our bridges here in our country? And it's something I actually agreed with the president. I got to ride on Air Force One with him recently and he's mentioned that. We have to be concerned with our country's needs as a priority right now.

KING: How much does this come up in the Republican conferences especially with members who are on the ballot next year and I asked the question in the context of this. We have a new CNN/ORC poll out tonight and now again tonight we can tell our viewers, the breaking news is the government shutdown has been averted. But with that possibility, Senator, we asked them if the government shut down who would you blame? Republicans in Congress, 47 percent, President Obama, 33 percent, are there jitters in the Republican ranks that the image of the party is taking a hit in the middle of all this?

PAUL: Well, I think you could also poll and ask people whether or not they should think that we should add more debt or whether we should offset debt. You know it's not whether we should shut it down. I'm not in favor of shutting it down either. I think we should pass appropriation bills like we used to.

We should have a budget. American people are upset because we keep bumping up against deadlines. It sort of looks like poor planning or it looks like a circus up here because we always bump up against deadlines. But I can tell you I'm up here day after day not voting, sitting around, having no debate and then the deadline comes and it's hurry up or the government shuts down.

How come we didn't have this debate last week or the week before or the week before that? Everything comes to a deadline, I think, because of poor leadership and poor planning in this place.

KING: I don't think I would disagree with you on that point and I think that can be, at times, a bipartisan disease. I'm not pointing at any one side. One of your Republican colleagues, Scott Brown, said this today. "The gridlock and partisanship in Washington right now is disgusting. With economic instability in the United States and around the world, it's unacceptable for Congress to add more uncertainty to the marketplace by threatening another government shutdown."

Now Senator Brown is up for re-election next year. He's up for re-election in a tough state for a Republican, so maybe that's a little bit about his re-election campaign as well. But we've already seen the United States credit rating downgraded. You saw the poll numbers I just showed you. I understand your point, Senator.

Is there any effort to get the Republicans and the Democrats in a room to say, let's get back to passing a real budget? Let's get back to looking like we can figure out what the hell we're doing here?

PAUL: Well, many of us on the Republican side have been pointing out it's been over 900 days since the Senate has had a budget. So we are pushing to go through the process in a normal fashion, but I think people are also alarmed when you talk about uncertainty in the marketplace, I'm very alarmed when I read the news coming out of Europe. But that has nothing to do with them having too much debate or over there or too much gridlock.

It has to do with them having too much debt. That's our problem. We are following on the heels of Europe because we have an enormous amount of debt. And I agree with Admiral Mullen when he says it's the number one threat to our national security is our debt. So we've got to offset debt every time. Every time we have a new spending program, it's got to be offset by cuts in other places and that's the only responsible way for a legislature to act is to prioritize spending.

For example, on the highway fund or you giving money to turtle tunnels, squirrel sanctuaries and flower beds and our bridges are crumbling. That's what I asked the president. Can we not fix our bridges and put off some of these beautification projects for a while? I think that's a bipartisan way of looking at it and I'm more than willing to work with the president on that.

KING: Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, appreciate your time tonight and I hope maybe by the time this super committee gets about its business we can have a little bit more of an adult conversation. We'll keep in touch with you as that plays out. We appreciate your insights this evening, sir.

PAUL: Thank you.