budget cuts that are to take affect today. also extend benefits to the long-term unemployed. >> we don't think taxes should be going up on anyone. but we all knew that if we did nothing, they'd be going up on everyone today. we weren't going to let that happen. each of us could spend the rest of the week discussing what a perfect solution would have looked like. but the end result would have been the largest tax increase in american history. >> it's long over due to have this solution to go forward and remove all doubt as to how we go -- what comes next for our country. so we expect the american people deserve an up or down vote on what was passed in the senate. >> this is drama. unnecessary drama. and president obama bears the responsible for his failure to lead and his

intentional effort it appears to mislead the american public with this cynical bill. >> so it's not a perfect package. but it is something that gets us by while we tackle the larger issues in the next congress. i pray god that next congress is more willing to compromise than this. >> democrats in the house met with vice president joe biden today. he's urging their support for the deal passed by the senate. the holdup on the other side seems to be a desire for much more in the way of federal spending cuts. it's still a game of wait and see with severe consequences for most americans. being staying on top of the hill and have the very latest for you tonight on the 10:00 news. >> all right. let's join fox 5 political analyst to get more insight on this. mark, how is the president i guess going to claim total victory if in fact he's raising tax rates on the

rich but ultimately going up. he said it was 250,000 and now gone up to 4 or 450. >> that's right. plan b, john boehner, the leader of the rublicans offered to do it at a million. in a way, the republicans were defeated in terms of getting it up to a million. they never got a vote. everybody is going to get a tax increase that has nothing to do with this bill because of the payroll tax holiday. a person earning $50,000 is going to pay $800 more by virtue of the fact that expires. what you have really here now it seems to me is erik canter, the number 2 guy trying to make the number one guy in his own party john boehner look bad or maybe this is his attempt to run for speaker when the new congress comes into affect thursday at noon where they have an election. i mean, baner said

let's hand it over to the senate and the assumption was we all do what the senate comes up with. obviously, there's been a breakdown in communication. >> there's this thought going back to the election, the republicans are blindsided by how badly mitt romney was beaten and see this going on in the republican party itself. is this more than example of what's going on in the republican party? or is this an example of how things are going? >> well, yes, the democrats, if this falls apart and there is no vote in the house and it goes over to the next congress where they have to start over again and the markets plummet tomorrow, people will say that the republicans are the obstructionists. the republicans voted for this bill. mitch and joe biden couldn't be more different not only in philosophy but just persona. and they were acting like the

adults in the room doing something for the benefit of the country and the republicans said no we want something else. and they'll be blamed and i think many people will viewer i can canter as the person who put ambition in front of what he thought was the best for the country. >> fox 5 political analyst in tonight. we're watching closely. secretary of state hillary clinton is expected to make a full recovery. that's the prognosis from her doctors. she remains hospitalized in a new york hospital. using blood thinners to resolve a blood clot near her brain. discovering during a follow up concussion. forced her to cancel overseas trips. a new senate report finds the cia, fbi and other groups made changes to the talking points on the terror attack. the homeland security committee said the groups have been avoiding a discussion to

laying the an explanation of the changes. chris stevens and three others were killed in the september attack. the news edge on maryland and on this new year's day, same sex weddings became legal in the state of maryland. the black walnut point i nn invited gay couples to get married for free for the day. and several couples did just that. among those getting married, baltimore residents clayton book and wayne mckenzie. >> we've already had the recognition from family and friends and even colleagues. this takes it to the next level where we have the recognition on a legal stand point. we can do things for tax purposes and for state planning and all these other legal items that we now don't have to worry about and take care of one at a time. it's done now. it's all done and taken care of.

>> the marriage law was challenged the issue went before maryland voters. 52% approved the bill. the new year means new laws to follow. wants to ban smoking on all county owned and leased properties and wants more bike lanes. more than 400 are going into affect around the kuven tree today. shannon has details. >> reporter: in kentucky, it's now illegal to release wild hogs into the wild. there are a number of employment related measures as well including these. in oregon it's now illegal for employers to advertise a job opening if they won't consider applicants unemployed. and now illegal to ask for or require you to hand over the passwords to social media accounts. that goes for applicants and current employees. other states have enacted similar laws. in all, more than 29,000 laws were

passed by state legislature inside 2012 and many of those kick in today. very busy year at the federal level. many new regulations stemming from laws passed over the last couple years will phase in today including hhs mandate that employers who provide health insurance coverage must make sure it includes free access to birth control methods. there is exemption but there is more than 40 cases who say that's what they are and the obama administration is refusing to recognize them. hobby lobby is believed to be the largest employer. founder and ceo david green says we simply cannot abandon our religious belief to comply. the company is facing fines of $1.3 million a day starting today. in washington, fox news. >> straight ahead on the news edge, if you didn't make it to

the president's first inauguration, this may be your year. then new year, new goals. why now might be the best time to build your dream house. >> thanks a lot. so the first day of 2013 not that bad. what about the next 7 days of 2013? we'll have that complete forecast. it's all coming up. >> of the 8 teams playing this week nend round one of the playoffs, three are led by rookies. the red skin ands seahawks will feature two of them. mike shanahan weighs in ahead in the sports edge. >> you have a story idea, there's the number and e-mail address. we'll be back.

 smoother ride at the gas station in the new year. the national average for a gallon of regular $3.60 in 2012. up 9 cents from 2011. hurricanes, refinery outages and tensions in

the middle east. the president's inauguration a few weeks away and still a lot to get done. the military heavily involved in this time around. officials have constructed a giant map. thousands from all military branches will take part from security and ushers and even marching in the parade. many tourists so excited. >> it's not everyday you get to watch history happen. and that's one of the things folks here will be able to see. >> there will be two swearing in ceremonies this year. a private one sunday and public one monday january 20th. since the constitution calls for the president to be sworn in that day. coming up, how affordable a new home can be in 2013 and newest holiday shopping craze gift card weekend. how retailers are trying to l back into the stores. love at first sight might not be true after all.

there is a biological response to meeting someone new. then the first five minutes your brain starting producing dopamine. and after ten minutes you begin to generate oxytosin. might not be love after all. ll.

here's some good financial news for 2013. building your dream home maybe within reach. it appears the u.s. population is shrink ing. liz mcdonald reports. >> reporter: some good news for home builders and maybe home buyers. a report saying lumber prices could fall 25% in the new year due to a big jump in

supplies from canada. our friend up north is the world's biggest exporter of lumber. and on wall street the market closed for new years. looking to start the year strong with solid gains in 2012. don't look for solid gains from america's population. the census bureau estimating 315 million people living in the usa on new year's day. the growth expected to be the slowest since the 1930s. and still feeling the affects in drop from birthrates. that's business. i'm liz mcdonald. >> all right. well, it's tuesday already; right? >> hey, it is already tuesday. >> today feels like a vacation day. nobody is around. tomorrow, wednesday everybody is getting back to work. >> people at home will understand and it's enjoyable to come to work on july the 1st.

i mean january the 1st. i'm trying to jump into the summer already. didn't feel bad out there today. temperature up into the middle 40s. let's show you the evening forecast. cloudy skies at 7:00. cloudy skies at 9:00. the clouds will begin to breakup a little bit. nothing to worry about this evening. we're going to stay dry and it's dark. some clearing takes place overnight tonight and certainly by tomorrow morning, the clouds will breakup and we're going to have sunshine. temperature here in town just down i believe below freezing. and you get out in the suburbs and temperatures will drop up into the 20s. we've changed the temperature we're 45 degrees. that's a new high for the day. again, not too bad. could be a whole lot worse on this on january 1st. dulles is 40. they came up a degree too. gaithersburg 39. has to do more than anything with the clouds. they get thicker and the temperature will tend to stay up a little bit and

keep what limited heat we've had today trapped in the area. don't expect temperatures to fall off all that much this evening until we begin to breakup some clouds. 45 now the new high. still cold out in the nations. the northern plains, central plains. 19 degrees. chicago. they were 22 last hour. they've dropped down to 19. so this is where the cold air is living right now. it looks like it will touch us as we get through the next couple days. because we do have a frontal system that's going to move through overnight tonight and that's going to allow for some of the colder temperatures. here's the set up with this week. the jet stream is taking a big jump out to the west. it's really going to allow for milder temperatures and no big storms out to the west of us. a little dip through the midwest. we'll be touching some of the extremely cold air. but true arctic air looks like it wants to stay to the north of us. highs this week will be in the

30s. and then we'll progress into the 40s. and it looks like for the weekend we may get up into the middle 40ths. the rain today has stayed to the south of us. and any of this light snow you see out to the west it's had a hard time coming over the mountains. maybe if you are up to washington county, frederick county, carol county, places like that. perhaps you saw a bit of a flurry. most of us saw a sprifrpgle or two. 31 tonight in the city. cooler back to the north and west which is typical as the neighborhoods will be colder. around dulles it's 28 and gaithersburg 28. tomorrow we warmup only into the 30s for most of us. we're talking 38 here in town. gaithersburg, 35. manassas 39. may touch 40 degrees or so farther to the south and southwest. and annapolis right around 40 degrees. it will be a sunny and

chilly day tomorrow and i like the fact that it's going to be sunny and the winds are not going to be blowing all that much. even though going to be on the cool side in the 30s, not going to be super cold. we start off with sunshine at noon and again we're chilly as the temperature starts to back off late in the day. look at the accu weather 7 day forecast. 38 tomorrow, 39 on thursday. then we start a gradual climb that will take us through the weekend where we get back up into the 40s. 39 there and next week, 45 and 47. but did you notice across the board here, no big storms. no rain, no snow. nothing like that. so looks like as we're entering 2013 not too terribly bad. >> thanks. tech toys ruled this holiday season. a record number of americans bought a tablet and smart phones. according to some estimates, 51%

of americans received tablets. 49% got smart phones. and people activated 332% more apple and android devices than last christmas between december 1st and december 20th, roughly 4 million devices were activated per day. first black friday and cyber monday. shoppers can get more savings and special offers at participating retailers. several stores participating including amc, apple bees, bath and bodyworks and olive garden. >> we'll see how counterpart with the seahawks stacks up. scott smith up next with the sports edge. and 18 month old snow boarder. the toddler dressed in a snow suit, goggles and helmet. the boy's father decided to teach his son to snow

board. wanted to include his kids in the activity. e activity

i'm scott smith with the sports edge. a job well done by mike shannon. may go beyond a division title. reportedly considering a contract extension for their head coach even though shany has two years left. he's done a great job coaching. prove to be more draft day gems. robert griffin iii versus russel wilson. both have surpassed ben roethlisberger's rating. if you add andrew luck to the mix, three rookie qb's playing in the post season. he's never seen anything like it. >> you take a look at 40 years

in the national football league and all first round draft choices that play ten or more games, only 7 guys that's winning records and this year there's three guys with winning records. i can't really explain that. but all three quarterbacks playing at a high level. i think it's great for the game. i think it speaks highly about colleges and what they are doing with the passing attacks now to get them accustomed to the nfl and credit to these quarterbacks and how they play. >> sunday the redskins are on pregame show. all the inside angles as the skins take on the seahawks. the fox network pregame and kick off between the seahawks and redskins. today college football. georgia and nebraska in orlando. start things in the second quarter. taylor martinez finds rex. nebraska built a 31-23

lead. the bulldogs erin murray is good. throws deep to chris conley. the two point conversion ties the game at 31. first play of the 4th quarter, murray gets a little pressure. escapes the pocket. on the run makes the throw. great catch by keith marshal. 24 yard touchdown. throws five tds. a school bowl record . 427 yards. the old ball coach in south carolina facing michigan in the out back bowl from tampa florida. defb into gym gee. 17 yard touchdown. the two point conversions fails. michigan leads by 1. dillon thompson. hits as he throw s and caught by bruce ellington with 11 seconds to go. south carolina defeats

michigan 33-28. also the gator bowl. 34-20 win first bowl game since 1939. and college hoops, maryland defeats 81-63 for 12th straight win. highlights later on tonight as the wizards look for their second win in three games. >> all right. one last look at the forecast. >> up next couple days pretty chilly. temperatures only in the upper 30s. some clouds on friday. temperature of 40 degrees as we warmup on saturday. lots of sunshine for the next several days. >> all right. thanks. and the news is always on myfoxdc.com. back here tonight at 10:00. tmz on tv is coming up next.

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