harry reid just ate mcconnell's chess pieces. turns out reed had the 51 votes to pass mcconnell's sarcastic bill and said, fine, let's do this, mo-ho. really if it weren't for the part where harry reid said very serious offer that i haven't personally read, the whole thing almost sounded professional. now, mcconnell better have a pretty strong counterattack here. if he wants to stay in the game. >> matters of this level of controversy always require 60 votes. i would ask my friend the majority leader if he would modify his consent agreement to set the threshold for this vote at 60 >> jon: that's the bull [bleep] right there. passing a law in the senate requires 51 votes. there is no extra controversy rule that turns it into 60. parliamentarian will be like force transvaginal ultrasounds. we're going to need 75 on that one. that's crazy. that's controversy. i mean, anything that the ladies from the view can make a meal of, we've got to have 80. i'm sorry. oh, three nacho tuesday? let's just have three people. mitch mcconnell shoul

we know mitch mcconnell is here. we assume harry reid is here and their staffs are going back and forth. i spoke to one aide who said don't expect for any details to leak tonight. they'll be closed-lipped about this because the idea if anything does leak out it gives more of an opportunity for folks on either party to kill a deal if they don't like what they hear. some sort of a agreement will be announced tomorrow when the house is back in session and the senate is back in session and they can go back to say hey, this is the best opportunity. as far as the likelihood of this kraig, things have not been going well and there's optimism here and there and things are fluid like kristen says and it will be the final deal, but what we do know is these folks on capitol hill are very mindful of the damage that can be done to the economy if nothing is brief. we've had five down days in the stock market and we're preparing the country on tuesday for the first tax increase in 20 years, and i think finally at the end, that's st

and we have sound from mitch mcconnell on the house floor and harry reid. >> we had a good discussion with the majority leader with the hopes to come forward as early as sunday to have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference. >> i am going to do everything that i can. i'm confident that senator mcconnell will do the same, but everybody, this is whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect and some people aren't going to like it, and some people will like it less, but that is where we are. i feel confident that we have an obligation to do the best we can, and that was made very clear in the white house. we will do the best we can for the caucuses that we have and the country that's waiting for us to make a decision. >> clarence, you have seen this movie before. >> yes. >> it sounds like something is in the works, right? >> well, it sounds like something is in the works on at least the senate side. on the house side, we don't know about those hard core intransigent intransigents and whether even if the senate does come up

senator mcconnell got less than a million, 954,000 and senator reid, 363,000. a man whos had got 65 million votes has handed off the leadership of this key issue to two men combined who haven't gotten even 1.5 million votes. they represent fewer than 1.5 million people in america and he's seated leadershceded leade. why? >> obama has all of the power right now. the president had a meeting with congressional leaders and he knows at the end of the day what he wants that 250 threshold unemployment insurance extension, he's going to probably get it. he's going on "meet the press" first time he's going on in three years to put his foot on the republicans and senate republicans to say as this deadline approaches what will you do? will you prevent a small extension of tax rate increases. i'm offering you 250. are you going to take it or leave it. that's hard ball politics. that's what obama is doing now. he's not ceding power. he's letting them haggle over the threshold and he's ending this argument and this debate. >> all right, gentlemen. good discussion. great to h

mcconnell in your talks. my sources have said that those talks went very well and they've restarted the talks now between reid and mcconnell. now, it's going to go probably late tonight, late tonight. we'll have to see. >> okay. we're going to have to leave it there. that wraps things up for me. we continue to wait for a deal to be reached on capitol hill to avoid the fiscal cliff. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressur

one is that leader mcconnell is actively engaged. for the first time leader mcconnell is speaking to the president. if the senate is going to be the place where action starts, you need both of them there. and the second reason for optimism is boehner is back at the table because you can't pass something just through the senate. >> this afternoon's meeting feels much to me like optics to make it look like we're doing something but let me just say one more time, this is a total dereliction of duty at every level. i have been very surprised that the president has not laid out a very specific plan to deal with this, but candidly, congress could have done the same, and i think the american people should be disgusted. >> but let's be optimistic for a minute. let's say a deal is done. do you think that republicans can sell this to either their base or to the house at least as a tax cut, not a rise in taxes? >> chuck schumer brought up a good point. a key moment of these entire negotiations came on wednesday night when president obama calls

why in the world is mcconnell messing with this thing. >> bob, you've probably been part of these high profile negotiations. >> i have. >> and dana mass. it's horse trading. bottom line, he probably wasn't happy with where the tax rate was going and said, well, this is something that would be good for our side. so, can we essentially save some money on the inflation rate in regards to perhaps social security. he says it's not a deal breaker. if they don't want this, we can drop it. and he essentially said, af been waiting 18 hours for a counter proposal from senate majority leader harry reid and so that's when mcconnell went to the bullpen and called the vice-president, his old buddy to see if they could cut a deal. >> andrea. >> mike, i've heard the reason, i know bob says mcconnell got in at the last minute and democrats and president didn't want nancy pelosi in the room if you're going to have mcconnell you've got to have pelosi in the room. that's a strategy there. isn't it true that president obama and nancy pelosi have expressed their interest in some kind of cpi, changed cpi, co

i'm confident senator mcconnell will do the same. but everybody, this is -- whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect and some people aren't going to like it. some people will like it less, but that's where we are. and i feel confident that we have an obligation to do the best we can and that was made very clear in the white house. and we're going to do the best we can for the caucuses that we have and the country that's waiting for us to make a decision. >> but the president was in no playful mood. he warned reid and mcconnell that congress will be called to action, even if the leaders don't come up with a plan. >> if we don't see an agreement between the two leaders in the senate, i expect a bill to go on the floor, and i've asked senator reid to do this, put a bill on the floor that makes sure that taxes on middle class families don't go up, that unemployment insurance is still available for 2 million people, and that lays the groundwork then for additional deficit reduction and economic growth steps that we can take in th

and then we saw mitch mcconnell coming up saying, yes, mr. president, you have been bashing us for weeks, let's vote on those tax rates. mitch mcconnell said let's do that and we'll leave the sequester aside. we'll let it kick into place. we'll tackle that whenever we get back here to washington after the inauguration and the state of the union and all that fun stuff. so that's where we stand right now. that does remain the last sticking point. >> luke, jump in here. what do you have to add that mike has already told us. >> well, mike viqueira is 12, 13 years of experience on capitol hill, so there's not much more to add after that. what i will say is i don't think that we can dismiss a lot of the anger on the republican side at the president's remarks today. i have gotten a ton of e-mails from republican aides saying the president is holding the middle class tax cuts that were agreed to hostage. i think if you take a step back, it's quite extraordinary that mitch mcconnell has agreed to $400,000 as a threshold. you think of all the partisan

i have no idea what mitch mcconnell is talking about. it seems to be nothing more than political posturing, but i want to say nobody is trying to put this on john boehner. it's on boehner. he's the speaker, and so it's not of a political bringsmanship or gamesmanship. it's the fact. >> it seems the strategy here, boehner obviously kind of said and i think he's been called out for this, said it's up to the president and the senate. i give up, we're leaving town. i guess now they're going to come back sunday, as if that's going to create some sense of urgency. what strikes me is the message that continues to come forward is the american people are going to -- believe that the president and democrats are showing real leadership and they will blame the republicans if this deal goes south, and yet when you listen to mcconnell and you listen to speaker boehner, it doesn't sound like they got the message, and as harry reid pointed out, the president won and he won campaigning on these ideas. again, these guys are just being stubborn. >> absolut

it is interesting to hear mitch mcconnell talking about his good faith efforts. he knows that he just threw a monkey wrench into the negotiations y. think he is also doing it to protect speaker boehner and the republicans and the house because he doesn't want to send them a deal that he knows they are going to vote down. >> let's talk about the blame game going on. i want to play a piece of tape. republican this morning really blaming president obama. let's listen. >> what we're seeing here is a monumental failure of presidential leadership. the president is the only person with a pen who can sign this and it is the president's responsibility to work on something that the house will pass and the senate will pass. he is outsourcing this. he continues to campaign and lecture when he ought to be focusing on the number one problem that hurts us in the country which is our debt. >> what is your reaction to hearing that? >> that is a lot of nonsense and i think the american people who have been following this conversation recognize that the president has proposed a bal

mcconnell and joe biden. so there's an indication of how things are going. >> you wrote that democrats are hesitant to put a deal on the senate floor with no republican backing, because it just offers them a chance to score political points when public opinion does seem to be favoring the democrats. democrats don't have an incentive to waste a show of support for something that can't pass, right? >> that's exactly where democrats are. they feel like they want to get a deal with republican backing, if they can. but remember on friday, the president kind of put republicans in a box. he said either cut a deal in the senate and push it through, or i'm going to ask harry reid to put my scaled back plan on the senate floor. and remember that scaled back plan has tax increases for everybody who makes over $250,000, which republicans don't love at all. i'll have harry reid put that on the floor and you'll have to block it. and you will have to then take responsibility for not pushing it through. so republicans are a

i'm confident senator mcconnell will do the same. but everybody -- whatever everybody comes up with is going to be imperfect. some like it. some like it less, and that's where we are. i have the confidence we're going to do the best we can. that's the message in the white house. we we're going to do the best for the country that's waitinger for us to make a decision. >> clarence, you even seen this movie, right? >> well, yeah. at least in the works on the senate side. on the house side, we still don't know about those hard core intransigents, and even if the senate does come up with something, if the house can agree to go along with it, as kristen said, you have to have all the democrats and about 30 republicans. there's only about six republicans that are familiar to democrats. the rest don't seem to lose any points as far as they're concerned by appearing to be as much of a road block as they can, even if it means going over the fiscal cliff. so if harry reid and mr. mcconnell can't come up with something, then you've got barack ob

i'm confident senator mcconnell will do the same. but everybody, this is whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect. >> and t.j., there's a lot of pressure on lawmakers and on the president to get something done. we've already seen the markets impacted by this. a lot of americans have just expressed frustration and concern over what's going to happen to their tax rates in the new year if in fact lawmakers can't get a deal. so there's a lot of public pressure to get something done on this. and of course, time is really running out. t.j.? >> kristen welker for us at the white house. thank you so much. and joining me now with some inside perspective, there he is smiling this morning, democratic congressman elijah cummings a ranking member of the oversite committee. you are in baltimore, maryland right now. >> that's right. >> when are you heading back to washington, d.c.? >> i'll be in washington sometime later on this afternoon. >> and sir, what are you going to do when you get there? >> well, sadly, t.j., the house is in a posi

harry reid and mitch mcconnell. that seems to be what's happening, although vice president biden has stepped in because reid can't hold his group together. >> republican congressman of georgia, jack kingston. thank you for your time. >> thanks, chris. >>> president obama will be making a statement on the fiscal cliff moments from now at 1:30 eastern time. stay with us for live coverage of that. next, an update on secretary of state hillary clinton's health scare. >>> minutes from now medicine prez obama will make a statement about the state of the fiscal cliff negotiations. stay with us for live coverage of it. >>> meantime, secretary of state hillary clinton is under observation at new york -- at a new york city hospital today. her spokesman says she was admitted sunday for a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained during a recent bout with the stomach flu. nbc's chief science and health correspondent bob bazell is at new york presbyterian hospital where secretary clinton is being treated. bob, i know

his comments step all over mitch mcconnell's claim. it's not an effort to marginalize the minority party. with 386 filibusters from republicans, these rule changes are simply a way to make the senate work again. that's what you pay them for. let's turn now to senator debbie stabenow of michigan. there's been a lot of conversation in the liberal community in this country about this. and democrats seem to be chomping at the bit. is this going to happen? are we going to see change? >> yes, i believe that we are going to see change. we have the support to make the changes and i think it's clear the public wants us to get something done. of course, we're going to work across the aisle, but one person shouldn't be able to hold up the department of defense bill or in the case of my bringing jobs home act, which is so important for shipping jobs overseas, we had 57 votes but we couldn't get 60 to stop a filibuster and they haven't to stand on the floor and talk so nobody knew who it was from block us to closing loopholes to bring jobs home. th

senators reid and mcconnell talking past each other. sounds like we're not exactly close to a fiscal cliff resolution at this point. >> yeah. what does it all mean for wall street? will it be an ugly day? michael guyette from pension partners and michael farr from farr miller in washington and our very own rick santelli. michael, i'll get to you in a minute. the markets moved up and closed marginally in the red on the news the house will reconvene on sunday night. i get the feeling that all of that back and forth between senators reid and mcconnell, had that come out during market hours, the market would have reacted very differently. so far apart. i didn't hear anything in the way of compromise there. >> even before of the house meeting, marks were down 1.2%. that's noise but not really a panic. the result of the fiscal cliff here is not risk off. it's risk protation into those areas of the investable landscape. look at emerging markets, lock at europe. they are decoupling. if anything, price is still very bull ir. i would rather liste

so mcconnell wants a deal. they are negotiating with harry reed as was mentioned behind closed doors. look, there's still a lot of room that mcconnell needs to move and reed needs to accept to get there. both on the tax rate side and what would come along with that and whether any spending cuts would be part of any equation. but mitch mcconnell made positive sounds yesterday. and i think that led folks to say, hey, maybe there's at least an outside chance of getting a deal. >> if a deal gets done, it will be a much smaller deal than both sides thought they would be able to reach if you asked them a few months ago. the president has a full agenda in the coming year. he said that he wants to do something on immigration. he is indicating that he would like to do something with regard to gun control and there's been talk on energy legislation. but it looks like raising the debt ceiling is not part of the deal. that is four major political fights that the president has on his hands. what is going to get lost the lon

mitch mcconnell. [applause] >> over the years, we recognized many remarkable men and women in this place of honor. all of them extraordinary. it would be foolish to make comparisons among them. for me at least, today's ceremony was particularly meaningful. i first came to know the woman we honor today two decades ago. and told the story of her struggle. and to make that cause -- it was impossible not to be moved by her quiet resolve, her hidden, luminous heroism and it is impossible today all these years later not to be moved by the fatah that this most unlikely of revolutionaries may yet witness the deepest longings of her heart. representative, democratic system in which the people of burma are able to fully enjoy their god-given rights. it is in this hope that we stand today with the people of burma and with aung san suu kyi knowing that whatever the future holds, she will fight unflinchingly to the end. in this place surrounded by the statues of our own national heroes and equality, we draw inspir

i think the key player is mitch mcconnell to watch. we're getting potentially more information about what is happening next. our capitol hill producer deidre walsh was there when some of the leaders returned and she spoke with nancy pelosi who said this meeting was constructive and candid. here's what is especially interesting. nancy pelosi told reporters that the president led a meeting that ended with senators reid and mcconnell trying to work something out between the two of them. now it seems like we've gone from a process that was president obama and speaker boehner and then today to five leaders back to two. and those two, for the moment, seem to be senator reid and senator mccon until. also, i had a source in senator mcconnell's office who said we should be getting a statement from the republican leader of the senate any time now. so that statement will tell us a lot, candy. >> it will. but we also know that even though it's in the senate hands now which is basically where speaker boehner tossed it when he couldn't get his plan

i spoke to staffers close to senator mcconnell that said there was optimism on their side yesterday, including from their boss, senator minority leader

these are talks between biden and mcconnell. what they agreed to is 39%, 39.6, rather, of individuals over $400,000 in income. married couples above $450,000. estate tax to 40% for estates over $5 million p.m. and rise in dividend rates. can they resolve the disagreement offer spending cuts? democrats are resisting. they want a longer perhaps one-year delay and president obama was trying to rally those disappointed democrats with remarks that he just made by citing gains that he had won in terms of energy and education tax breaks he supported in the past and vowing to seek more revenue later on when we get to the discussion of entitlement cuts or what republicans believe is safer ground. saw some tweets saying he is trying to gum up the works. but there is the way the to and fro negotiation of president obama making sure his own troops are in line if he makes a deal. >> absolutely. talking to and fro, when president obama was speaking and saying a fiscal cliff deal was in sight, we saw the dow spike back above the 13,000 market

john boehner -- >> but mitch mcconnell did reach ute to the president. do you see that as posturing, we're doing our best, or do you think the republicans are serious and feeling pressure about making a deal? >> i don't think they feel that much pressure. i think they feel -- they feel a little bit of pressure but feel more pressure from their base and from the right, and that is especially true in the house among the house caucus. the whole reason for that plan b fiasco, of course, that boehner pulled before christmas, was that his more conservative members wouldn't agree to any tax increase at all, even on incomes above $1 million a year. the pressure they feel is from the right, and believe me, you look down the list of the republicans in the house of representatives and try to look and see what percentage of the vote barack obama got in their districts. which is a good barometer of how much kind of pressure they might feel to moderate. barack obama got 38%, 42% in most of their districts. they don't care about what democrats in their districts think.

mcconnell's office responded with while the president was taping those discordant remarks senator mcconnell was in the office work to go bring republicans and democrats to get on the solution. discussions continue today. >>> joining me, doug shawn, former pollster for president bill clinton. nancy, media speaks strategy and national spokesperson to senator john mccain. >>> the president goes on "meet the press" and claims it's the fault of the awful republicans and that angers mcconnell, who lashes back out. so that was clearly a calculated risk by the president, angrying your opponent versus pressuring him publicly to cave. which way does it go? >> we don't know. we're all pretty pessimistic given the breakdown the talks today but i think the president's strategy is to keep constant pressure on the republicans, recognizing this battle is not going to be over whether or not there's a deal. it's going to go on dealing with the debt sciele and the budget and the president is not letting up. he said he won the election and that's how econducting himself. the polls are pretty clear that he's go

harry reid and mitch mcconnell are the key players. he sounded frustrated after not receiving a counter-offer. a key member of the leadership team offered this update. >> offeringses and discussions between and we remain hopeful that will get a breakthrough. obviously what happened here between the two leaders in the senate had broken down because the senate democrats failed to come forward with a counter offer to the proposal the republicans made last night. hopefully the discussions between the.and senator mcconnell will get us on track. >> republican aides recognize the consequences if it falls apart. everybody gets a tax increase in 48 hours. >> well, it's less than 48 hours now. i'm wonder, are the democrats fighting among themself? >> there's a battle over social security. republicans are including a new way of calculating inflation to lower payments to recipients of social security. democrats had could consider it if it's part of a $4 trillion package. now republicans say it's off the table and key democrats are hopeful senate l

>> i think if mcconnell is onboard he will bring a lot of republican votes. the democrats are by and large if the president supports it they will back their president. there could be enough votes in the house, speaker john boehner talked about amending that bill. i think if it gets a 70 to 30 senate vote i think i it get te votes in it the house to pass but it might not happen until after january 3, january 4. >> i want to ask you about what ed henry was just reporting. president obama says either a deal is reached or you vote on the short-term stop gap measure. if republicans fail to pass it i'm summarizing it's their fault. so the president kind of tossing the ball into the republican's camp, placing blame on them. in your opinion s that presidential leadership? >> the republicans have gone after the president that he has deferred to congress on this is that he was unable to strike a deal between -- with speaker boehner and now it is to reid and mcconnell. on one hand, obama is criticizing the congress but also giving them the responsibility to come up with

mitch mcconnell and his buddies worked on saturday. wow, wow, that's fantastic. >> it really -- it's touching, isn't it? just a little working weekend. a nice long christmas break. the house disappeared for the holidays after boehner's plan "b" failed. where is the sense of urgency? everyone is home at night and hopefully we're all putting our hopes on mcconnell and joe biden having a productive dinner, but by god, to your point, this has been going on for not just weeks or months, but years. and the fact that they're trying to cobble together some kind of patch to avoid the political pain and the economic pain more importantly to the country that's set to kick in tomorrow night at midnight is, frankly, pathetic, and it's a political problem, but it's an economic problem, and it's entirely self-created. when marshall blackburn was talking earlier and trying to blame the senate, look at the mirror. don't block at the other guy radio right now. you have to own this, and if particularly in the house of representatives because it's the rep

you heard senator mcconnell talk about that on the floor. we are still awaiting a counteroffer by the democrats. and there was an indication that we could have received that by 10:00 this morning. we have yet to receive it. but there are discussions that continue. senator mcconnell and vice president biden are continuing to discuss this and we think there perhaps still could be a path forward. the one thing that is a, you know, democrats come out and made a big deal out of chained cpi, republicans are very concerned that if that not be used as an offset to reduce or to replace some of the spending cuts that you would occur in the sequester, that democrats put forward an alternative and so this is a process. obviously, there's a lot of give and take going on now, but republicans don't want to see new revenues, in other words, democrat tax increases, be used for new spending. so that's sort of where many of our members have drawn the line now. >> that is where it times to be one of the big road blocks are right now, democrats -- you-all want t

mitch mcconnell at this point does not support the mcconnell plan at all. he didn't think democrats did either. and yesterday he wanted to call their bluff. now that is when c-span 2 suddenly became amazing television. yesterday afternoon mitch mcconnell asked the senate to move to an immediate vote on the mcconnell plan. vote on it now. you figured harry reid would back down. prove that even democrats don't like this idea. but reid did not back down. he doubled down. he said, yeah, let's vote on the plan. but let's move to an immediate up or down vote. no filibuster, no 60-vote requirement, let's see if it gets 51. if so, it's passed. at which point, mcconnell kind of filibustered his own bill. he said, no, if we're not going to have a 60-vote threshold, there would be no vote at all. he got his wish and then e he launched a filibuster or a 60-vote challenge against a vote he asked for. claire mccaskill was senate president at the time. here was her reaction. >> is their objection to the original request? >> yeah. >> objection is heard. i got whiplash. >>

even mitch mcconnell says we are very, very close. so the markets have moved up on that hope we will get a done deal and avert the fiscal cliff. >>> positioning portfolios for the new year, i can majs is tricky right now. there's a lot of mess going on in d.c. we're going to help. we're going to give you the single best play for 2013. >>> and also next, two congressman, one democrat one republican. they're going to talk to us about the fiscal cliff. are they happy or sad? and can they rise above to get a deal done? "closing bell" will be back after this break. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 gives me tools that help me find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and with schwab mobile, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can focus on trading anyplace, anytime. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 until i choose to focu

mitch mcconnell is a tough place and this is the underreported part of the story. he has to figure out a deal that gets through the senate and doesn't make john boehner look too bad in the house and there are a lot of conservatives in the house that don't want to do any type of deal that would raise taxes on anybody even though they'll go up on the entire country the first tax hike in 20 years after monday night. >> and one would also assume that mitch mcconnell would have to back a grant, he could face a primary fight if this thing -- >> you touched on one of the great sub plots of these entire negotiations is personal things that boehner and mcconnell have in these negotiations. obviously, mcconnell doesn't want to have someone on the right come after him because he was in favor of a tax hike and john boehner's re-election as speaker of the house. and that would come across as a vote of no confidence. very embarrassing and they don't expect it happening and there's a lot at stake for mitch mcconnell and john boehner personally. great point you brought up. >> if t

senator mcconnell says no stumbling block should cutff this deal. when the democrats protested they said fine take it off the table but it talks like reed and the republican leader got stuck. they called in the bullpen. called in a senate colleague vice president joe biden. >> willing to work with whoev er can help. it remain as possible sticking point. appears to be a willingness and interest or the courage to close the deal. >> top on the republican side sound hopeful because they believe vice president biden can cut a deal but it may not be tonight. >> president obama putting pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal. mr. obama making remarks about the fiscal cliff aired it earlier today. he put much of the blame on shoulders of the republicans if no deal is reached. the gop fired back saying the president should lead right now not cast blame. correspondent s henry is live from the white house. >> he is frustrated going on a talk show today in the middle of the negotiations. he has not been on one of the programs since 2009. he felt it was important

and mcconnell has really controlled the leaders. the fact that he's meeting with harry reid means there probably isn't going to be a filibuster. i'll find that very surprising. the problem is that never have we seen, not in my lifetime, a weaker speaker of the house of representative than john boehner. john boehner has essentially thrown up his hands and walked away from this process. he's walked away from the constitutional mandate that senate and tax bills come from the house, not the senate. and he's said you guys pass something. they were going to pass something. it's the house that's the problem. it's always been. and this is the same congress that has been behaving this way for two years. >> thank you, joy, thank you clarence. we have a great programming note. on sunday, president obama will be david gregory's guest on "meet the press." that's this sunday on "meet the press." but coming up next, whatever became of john boehner. remember him? not too long ago, he was the leader of an increasingly powerful republican party in th

mcconnell and joe biden are talking. when things between mcconnell and reid stopped working, mcconnell, highest ranked republican in the senate, reid the highest ranking democrat in the senate. we have to believe some work is being done somewhere. >> some of it is being done somewhere. talking to an aide to senator mcconnell, we understand that discussions between biden and mcconnell went into the night so this is something that they are working on, although certainly, yes, it's being left to the last minute and unclear if we'll avert the fiscal cliff. talk to snom senators, and they say we are going over the cliff. some way they think there will be a deal by tonight and a vote by tonight, but the fact is it's very iffy. here is what's not iffy. an incentive if we go over the cliff to get this done. because it is -- both sides have been preparing themselves for the blame game. it is in full swing now. president obama said, basically saying if we go over the cliff, he is really going to take aim at republicans more than h

mitch mcconnell. look where they're coming around on. when boehner decided to halt the talks and go toward his plan "b," they were upset because they thought the white house should be coming up another $100 billion, $150 billion on spending cuts. what i never understood is why stop the talks right then? if you believed you were close, the white house at $400,000, boehner at $1 million, they stopped trading proposals. boehner decided not to do that. now, i think there's clearly some sort of personal -- they don't know how to talk to each other, the white house and boehner. they just don't know how to negotiate with each other. biden and mcconnell do know how to speak to each other. and i think if they get 75 or 80 votes in the senate for what they come up with, and you know what? they're not that far apart on this fix, if you will. basically, they seem to be divided on whether to buy down the sequester. but they're not that far apart. and if they get 75 or 80 votes, that's going to mean 30 to 35 republicans. boehner has to put it on the f

but forgive me, i thought mitch mcconnell was on the floor. the other thing i wanted to tell you about is mcconnell and the vice president have been in intense negotiations up until 12:45 in the morning and 6:30 in the morning and the negotiations are continuing. that's why we're getting from both sides of the aisle despite some grumbling on the flanks of the left and the right that they are making progress. >> all right. i want to listen to what tom harkin, the veteran senator from iowa. the progressive unhappy with parts of the negotiations. let's listen to him for a minute. >> that's the real middle class in america. they are the ones getting hammered right now. they are getting hammered with housing costs, rental, heating bills, kids going to school. they have no retirement. now they are talking about raising the retirement age on people who work hard every day. women standing on their feet for 30, 40 years and raise the retirement age again on them. well, again, if we're going to have a deal, the deal must be one that does favor the middl

are you listening, mitch mcconnell? >> briefly. i think 24 hours, 48 hours and there is a small deal. >> how many of you think that is the takeaway? >> yeah. >> nothing big. the idea of a grand bargain, we failed on the debt ceiling. >> that might happen a little later. >> i'm going snake formation like nfl draft famously football style. doug, shameless plug. >> yes! nfc east champions. 13 years i've been waiting to say this. >> the past is the past. kim? >> i want to say for your new baby. good for you. >> thank you. >> i want to plug tom cole. i think he has been smart on this. congressman tom cole. weeks and weeks ago he had this done and he needed, you know -- >> we may wind up basically where he -- >> and he is deeply conservative. it is not like he is a moderate member. he is a deeply conservative member. >> uplifting news, go skins. >> where is my foam finger? i have my own shameless plug. if you liked this hour of television and let's be honest, you probably did, i hope. i will be on for andrea mitchell at 1:00 p.m. that is

. >> and she's certainly got mcconnell's attention. consider this statement from ses is he benton, his campaign manager. i'm quoting. it's going to sting. we're doing to make sure that you don't come out with your nose clean. we're going to drive your negatives up and very aggressively and publicly litigate your record before the citizens of kentucky. benton, who ran ron paul's presidential campaign, says this was not directed specifically at ashley judd. is there benton preparing for a political campaign for a personal assassination. >> this is the way mcconnell has always run his campaigns. it's never to talk about what he's done for kentucky and what his vision for the future of kentucky is. it's always about making sure that whoever is running against him is unacceptable and spending whatever it takes to do that. so, you know, i think it would be interesting. ashley judd is a very, very popular figure, and you take on somebody with that -- who is that well-known and who is that popular, you go negative on them at your own peril. pe