Couples' therapy for the government shutdown

Speaker of the House John Boehner (L), R-OH listens as US President Barack Obama delivers a statement on Syria during a meeting with members of Congress at the White House in Washington, DC, September 3, 2013.

As the government shutdown continues, it's clear that our two political parties aren’t communicating as well as they should be.

The shutdown is now in its second week, and Congress doesn't appear to be any closer to a resolution.

President Obama called House Speaker John Boehner this morning to say he won't negotiate on reopening the government. He also said that there would be no negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, a vote that's expected to come next week.

Speaker Boehner has indicated he will push to raise the debt ceiling but that the House would not pass a budget measure without limits on the Affordable Care Act. So the standoff continues.

Now, if we were talking about a married couple, how would they resolve this? We turn now to Ben Karney, a social psychology professor at UCLA who studies marriage.