remember, mitch mcconnell, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell had boehner's proxy -- i mean, he could not get all those senators to vote for this if there was not an understanding that once this passed and went to the house, that the house would take care of it and then they could all move on. imagine, mcconnell just came out today with a statement, after days of silence. i think we're seeing the beginning, not the end of an intense battle within the republican party, in the house, but also between the house and the senate. >> and when you have boehner being fraged, essentially by his ostensible followers in the house, that is just a washington reinforcing story of what's naturally going on in a primary campaign, in iowa and elsewhere. so it's this intermural republican battle, sort of, doubled or tripled. >> and what is -- >> there are lives at stake here. there are people's economic livelihoods. >> and we will actually be talking specifically about the human side of this battle coming up next. we will keep this robust discussion going with our panel and talk about the optics of the

and now mitch mcconnell puts out a statement very cryptic. he says house republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions while senate democrats want more time to negotiate the terms. these goals are not mutually exclusive. we can and should do both. so the way it's being imagined right now, and i have to caution, thomas, none of this is firm. is that house republicans would come back to the white house or come back to their senate counterparts and say, we don't want the two months, let's make it three months, which happens to be a quarter, a full fiscal quarter, which many businesses plan around, and try to go from there. and mitch mcconnell's statement certainly does nothing to throw people off the trail who suspect that could be the emerging deal. having said that, republicans time and time again in the house have insisted that the deal lasts for an entire year. they say that's what is required. that's the basis of them digging in their heels after everyone thought that 89-10 vote in the senate would be th

is mitch mcconnell in many ways more powerful than harry reid? >> given the cooperation that mitch mcconnell has been able to engineer a month republican colleagues in the senate they do have a veto with a majority party would like to do. this can lead to universal gridlocked meaning that not much is getting done. in fact, very little has emerged from the sand over the past year. but it's hard to say who is more powerful. most legislation that passes innocent has to clear both parties. clear the process by which they discover that there is sufficient support to move forward on the floor without running into problems spent mitch mcconnell got a lot of press when he said a couple years ago that his job was to make sure that barack obama was a one-term president. it isn't that his job? >> it is. the president opposition's job to do that. they see that as their roles just like the presidents fellow partisans, their job is to champion the president's agenda. these institutions do not work in isolation from one another. >> dr. lee, is a safety say that

that is the difficult battle speaker mccain -- mitch mcconnell and speaker boehner have. to find out what is the right course in their party to do. >> we will leave it there. thank you. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> throughout my military career, a kind of prided myself on not being afraid to tell people what i thought. the worst thing you can

we want to read for you part of a statement from mitch mcconnell that reads this. the house should pass an extensions that locks in thousands of keystone xl pipeline jobs. allows congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions. you write that the entire project is a boone dogle and propped up by industry lobbying, you say, as well as corrupt science. >> the jobs of course is the issue that everyone is talking about now and the main selling point for office. they are building the pipeline and talking about 20,000 new jobs and that was based on a side that even the company itself suggested was wrong they suggested that the real jobs would be in the neighborhood of 2,000 or 3,000. >> i was reading and they were saying at least in their analysis with the environmental impact, the incremental when we look at the billions of gallons of gas and unemployed across the country, with that all is the background. does it get built? >> i don't know. in the long-term, a lot of oil and we in america has a voracious appetite for it. despite the things that have been don th

speaker bane in the presence of harry reid and mitch mcconnell said let mitch mcconnell negotiate it. he did and there was an agreement. >> last week boehner said this. >> if the senate passed, i am committed to bringing the house back within 24 hours to deal with whatever the senate does. there is absolutely no interest in trying to be striking about this. >> boehner was careful and never said he would support whatever senate republican deal was cut. that certainly was what he was trying to apply at least a lot of people heard that. the house is scheduled to take up the senate bill and leaders expected to fail. they could take up an amended version or vote to take it to congress and force a smaller group of senators and members of congress. in a statement the white house scolded house republicans, telling members to stop playing politics and get the job done. moments from now, the director will join me to talk about where we go from here to keep in this in mind. this was the number two leader in the house. he had been signalling he was not in favor of this extension even before senat

mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader, need to keep that tax cut going for the rest of the year. the problem is with the speaker and with the republican leadership in the house of representatives, they don't want a two-month deal. they say it is too complicated, wouldn't really work, would set matters back. they want a one-year extension and they say there is a formula to do it. just get members of the house, members of the senate, so-called conferrees to get together this week an next week, work out a new compromise, get the president to support it. they'll get a one-year extension, that will be that. >> wolf, stand by. the white house has said a two-month extension of the tax cut going to keep middle class americans with getting hit with smaller paychecks nine days from now. we'll wait for the president's remarks. but i want to bring in dan lothian. dan, you and i are used to seeing this kind of stage craft during a campaign. but the white house is taking this argument to a whole nother level. you got the tax countdown clock. the twitter campaign. he's rolling out these famili

. >> mitch mcconnell is the good guy -- >> mitch mcconnell is a good guy. >> all of this is going to be forgotten and it will not meanin anything at next november. it is two months, so there will be fighting about it in february. but it doesn't really matter. >> after two months, what happens? >> they will have two months of argument over this. it is not economic idea. nobody is going to hire -- hiring a person in false -- it commits an employer to many years. he is not going to do it on the basis of a one-year or two-month tax holiday. there is no way you can make a political argument in an election year against putting money -- >> but unlike the bush tax cuts, it could actually help the economy, not because these are people who the employers will necessarily higher, but the tax cut is going to people who will actually spend the money -- >> the way last year's payroll tax cut help to the economy -- you are saying it is going to help the economy. there is no evidence it is going to help the economy. >> that is open to debate. elected as i am to -- reluctant as i am to dissent from ev

that is, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell breaking his silence. he hasn't said anything at all. he's been home and still is in his state of kentucky. he has what he calls a path forward which is effectively siding with the democrats. let's face it. he says that he believes the democrats should appoint the so-called conferrees or the negotiators to start talking about a long term deal to extend the pay roll tax cut for the entire year which is what republicans want. also telling his fellow republicans in the house, you've got to do a short term extension. that is something that they have simply not wanted to do. really dug in against doing that. one little important thing here is that it was a carefully worded statement. and the republican leader did not specifically say that the house republicans should pass what the senate passed, a two-month extension. he said to sentence it. gave them some wiggle room to see if they can save face a little bit and find a compromise maybe a little short, or a little longer than a two-month extension. >> perhaps i

>> we can all look to mitch mcconnell on various matters that come up on the hill here. not just this, but all kinds of debates to see, where is the end game? he's astute at knowing where the next steps are. today he's calling for a parallel track, acknowledging what house republicans want, supporting that, but at the same time, acknowledging what the president and senate democrats and many of his own fellow republican senators want, what the white house calls that insurance policy, of knowing that if it takes longer than the next week to sort out how they would pay for a year-long extension, make sure that there isn't an interruption in benefits or an increase in taxes. this what this all comes down to is not two months versus one year, it's about, how do you pay for it so that it does noted add to the deficit. that's not a part we've talked about as much, but that is really the undercurrent here of where so much of the disagreement lies. >> and is why, kelly, as you rightly point out, is why you have the tea party faction of the republican party still so antsy about th

you heard mitch mcconnell call on house republicans to pass an extension. what's missing -- neither of them is calling on the house to pass a two-month extension. so it seems that there is a little wiggle room. perhaps they are allowing for house republicans to pass something other than the two-month deal. so shorter, longer, maybe that would give boehner -- speaker boehner some cover to do something slightly different. >> jessica, obviously very important, the nuance there, the language, giving all sides just a political cover to come up with some sort of deal and come up with it rather quickly. wolf, i want to bring you back into the discussion, of course. i think what this boils down to, 2012 is all about the state of the economy and whether or not people feel that this president gets it. >> it certainly is, it is it's the economy, stupid," what our friend james carville said in 1992 when president clinton was running for president of the united states. mitch mcconnell did give an opening to the speaker john boehner when he said, we're ready to name sena

republicans like senate minority leader mitch mcconnell argue that taxing the wealthy penalizes the people who create jobs. >> it's about whether we should help those who are struggling in bad economy by punishing the private sector businesses that the american people are counting on to help turn this economy around. >> ifill: but senate majority leader harry reid says republicans are balking because they favor the rich. >> every american family will have a $1,000 less to spend on food and clothing and diapers next year except about 350,000 people. and so republicans can continue to try and protect people who earn an average of $3 million a piece. >> ifill: but both sides appear to be edging toward some middle ground. house speaker john boehner today: >> democrats have called for them to be paid for, and so if in fact we can find common ground on these extensions i

mitch mcconnell also telling boehner to get in line. and john mccain warned boehner he's damaging his own party. >> there's no doubt this hurts the republican party. that bothers me a great deal as a republican. >>> all that came today from the right, and president obama threw another left hook today. >> this is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things, we can't do it? >> make no mistake about it, it's a cave-in and a defining moment for this house and this speaker. we're all over it tonight. luke russert is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. contingentm congressman, and former chief economist for vice president biden. luke, what a day. >> reporter: indeed, reverend al. we woke up this morning with the house gop having a press conference at 10:00 a.m. announcing they still would fight. they would fight this to 9 bitter end, because they thought a one-year extension was the way to go, but surely that's not the case. >> tell me why

house speaker boehner and your leader mitch mcconnell in the senate are all in favor of extending this benefit because they say it's not the time to hit americans 160 million working americans with a thousand dollar tax hike 234e6ked year. so you consider yourself as an outliar. in your party. even the candidates have said while they might have problems around the edges of it, they believe the tax should be extended. >> that's why joe mantion and i have teamed up. democratic senator and i as a republican both say we should not undermine seniors this way. we should not try to run social zuret without contributions. and that a piece of legislation which increases social security losses by 20 times causing those losses to replenish with u.s. government debt that doesn't even have a aaa rating from standard and poors any more is just irresponsible. >> we can move on, but it isn't being replaced with debt in the proposals. >> you're totally wrong on that. you are factly completely wrong. >> they're paying for it with sputs elsewhere in the budget. >> no, you're totally and utterly wrong. >>

but they reversed course after a statement by senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. in it, he said: six hours, house republicans >> when everybody called for a one year expension-- extension of the payroll tax deduction, when everybody wanted a full year of extended unemployment benefits, we were here fighting for the right things. it may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world, but let me tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. we were able to come to an agreement. we were able to fix what came out of the senate. >> moments later president obama issued his own statement welcoming the end of what he called the partisan stalemate. covering today's late-breaking developments is todd zwillich from the takeaway on-- and he joins you now. so todd what happened, what changed the speaker's mind and the mind of the republicans around him? >> judy, there's been a study drumbeat for the last few days coming, of course, from democrat, that's predictable. but also from republicans leaning on house republicans to relent here and go with the two mo

a lot of anger now between the house republicans and mitch mcconnell. that is an anger that will fester into the new year. >> and it's not a new anger. there has been frustration for a very long time. house republicans can tell you how many bills they've passed they believe the senate has igno ignored. those house republicans especially some of the newer group believe they were sent here with those marching orders that you talked about earlier, and they feel the senate has not responded. so there was a real tension that didn't get as much public notice as sort of an intramural fight between the house and senate. so senator mitch mcconnell pushed, that gave other republicans cover to say let's get this done. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. >> thank you, kelly. >> happy holiday. >>> we're going to turn to the other side of politics now, which is the republican presidential candidates, mitt romney for one, is focusing his attention on new hampshire, striking a confident tone there after picking up the support of george h.w. bush. the former presid

. >> republican minority leader mitch mcconnell said the house should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of keystone pipeline jobs and prevents disruption in payroll tax holiday. both sides have been publicly bickering say they both want a year long extension and claim the solution is simple. >> he can bring his dog up here. we are pet-friendly. again, it will not take a long time. we can probably resolve the differences within an hour. >> speaker boehner and the house republicans have the power to go up and open the doors and pass the bill. >> joining me now, kelly o'donnell. let's talk about the tone. it's hard to believe this is taken seriously when you have people like congressman kantor referring to the president taking his dog bo out for a holiday trip. people are saying $40 means heat and $40 means gas to get back and forth to work. >> the tone is heard in different ways depending on the context. had there been real americans standing there talking about what $40 means, kantor would not have used the kidding about bo the dog. the bigger picture is what mcconnell did.

mitch mcconnell searched the house to pass a short-term fix. president obama when to the cameras at the white house. >> has this become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things, we cannot do it? >> i am ready to sign that compromise the second it lands on my desk. >> most members of congress have already gone home for the holidays. this is something that could be passed by unanimous consent. members would not have to be present. >> if those cuts had expired, 150 million workers would have seen a 2% -- two percentage point increase in their social security. a decision to -- is still pending on whether private bradley manning will stand trial on 22 charges against him in the wikileaks scandal. attorneys made their closing arguments today. the defense team said the army had failed the troubled soldier and is now trying to stronghold -- strong arm him into pleading guilty. he is accused of handing over thousands of pages of national secrets to wikileaks. if court-martialed, and he could face a life sentence. baltimore city school offi

. >> i than, but the deal was riched in the senate and mitch mcconnell was leaving hie fiving. he praised the deal. >> the house did not agree with that. the senate could have an agreement. >> dear speaker boehner think there was a good deal? >> he did not agree with the deal or we wouldn't be here. that was a senate deal and senate republicans and democrats came together. house members have not. when we have these kinds of differences, we set up a conference committee to iron out the differences. we have done this for over 200 years and on issues far bigger than this. we can make this happen. i don't think the senate is taking the right attitude by saying our way or the highway. we are gone and the american supreme a glitch, it's because house republicans stayed in town and we left and didn't accept the bill. it's not the time for our way or the highway. this is the time to sit down and come to a committee and have hare reed appoint and let's iron out the deal. i am willing to give. i am willing to look at all of the above. options and let's come up with something that's good

coffee that mitch mcconnell wouldn't the republican leader in the senate would not have pulled together that kind of a vote in the senate if he didn't think that john boehner wanted this thing to happen and he and john boehner i mean they're the two senior republicans yes they got to be talking to each other so boehner had to have said to mcconnell sure go ahead and do it will you know we'll be able to pass it which means that when it finally got passed and it was dropped and boners lap my guess is eric cantor he turned around he says what's that poking me in the back and turned around and it was eric cantor with the shift you know well you know look i mean i've long said you know john boehner has become kind of like the speaker in name only eric cantor really runs the house of representatives on these any real question about that we this is the first time that bayer has been has been pulled back on his leash you know by by mr cantor and we know from what senator schumer said on saturday that they did have a deal that better you know came to the table the mcconnell had requested kind of

here is senator mitch mcconnell on that. >> here's the problem. president obama is getting heat over the base on this project, very young and liberal voters he will need to knock on doors before november. the president has said time and time again that his top priority is jobs. yet, here we've got the single, largest, shovel-ready project in the country, ready to go, ready to go and delaying its approval, interestingly enough, until after the election next year. martha: all right, there you have it. we are joined by democratic congressman chris van hollen. set ranking member on the budget committee. congressman, welcome. >> good to be with you. good to be with you. martha: so why put this thing off? >> interestingly the gentleman you just quoted, who is the republican leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, said as we all know that his top priority was not jobs. it was defeating president obama and his re-election. in fact the personal who is engaging in politics right now is mitch mcconnell just like he told us he would. look the reality is that t

mitch mcconnell said only senate republicans voted against this bill. it's a very hard thing to try to go back and start negotiations all over again for him. it's almost a pontius pilate moment, if you will, he washed his hands of it. and he's moving -- >> a lot of biblical metaphors here. >> right. >> it is true. >> it is true, he washed his hands of it. and now boehner is out here having to fight the battle. and i also think it's interesting that we talk about the relationship between boehner and cantor and you know, there is a lot of rumblings from those folks and the ones who coalesced around cantor. who said the two months would not fly. and boehner knew that. he said i sort of told mcconnell that wasn't going to work. there was a kind of belief from the senate which allowed the folks in the house call, called the house of lords over there, that while these commoners in the house will just take what we give and they should do it because we're so much smarter. >> and we will be talking -- >> you're seeing that rebellion right now that we've seen all

senator mitch mcconnell joins us from louisville. the house is expected to pass a bill to extend the tax cut and link it to further action and try to move up work on the key stone oil pipe line. you're number two, senator john kyle said the package that comes from the house is it. i don't think there is any further negotiations. is that your position on the house bill. take it or leave it. >> guest: the reason we are dealing with emergency measures is that the president's policy all put in place in the first years of the administration when he had a compliant congress had failed. they ran the debt up 35 percent. unemployment hasn't budged at 8.6 percent . that's the reason we are discussing these temporary measures. i believe we should extend the pay roll tax holiday and avoid a tax increase for people . i agreed with senator reed, my counter part that we ought not to do it again next year. that is an emergency package coupemed with reforms and same time, chris. we would like to create jobs. we have the key stone pipe line in there.

in terms of the dynamic between john boehner and mitch mcconnell on this, mitch mcconnell is gone. what is the line of communication there? do we know at all -- usthe sena would where to come back if they change the bill significantly. >> correct. from aides i have spoken to, there is -- they're employing there's conversations ongoing. but even if the senate were to do something, the way in which it would happen is there would be some sort of an agreement between harry reid, mitch mcconnell and john boehner that the house would pass something that could garner democratic support in the senate. you can pass it through the senate without bringing everybody back because the senate is going to go into a pro forma session. it could be done through anonymous consent through an empty chamber if they so decide. that being said, harry reid has stuck to his gun and said they would not bring the senate back. i've spoke to a few republicans saying, look, i don't mind coming back after christmas, december 26th. people are little bit too chicken little right now saying the sky is falling. we sti

which is an indictment of mitch mcconnell. and let's talk a little bit about the relationship between boehner and mcconnell because they've been casely -- i think "the new york times" describe it adds hand in glove this year. but here, hand was not in glove. >> because there was nothing in boehner's glove at the moment. he can go into a room and negotiate a deal which most moderate republicans consider to be a good deal. but at this point the reason his speakership is in danger because democrats don't know if he is speaking for his caucus at this point. can he deliver the voetsz when they strike a deal with him behind closed doors, with reed, with mcconnell. >> it was a year of boehner just not being able to close the deal. >> not the fact that nobody objected this morning was a plea about surprise to john boehner. he can at least go home for cyst ms. and say, well, i can a least have a nice one because it was very possible that -- >> viewers at home. >> somebody could have come and object i'm surprised a little bit they didn'

mcconnell. house speaker boehner seemed on board until he discussed it with fellow republicans. >> it is the radical tea party republicans who are holding up this tax cut for the american people and jeopardizing our economic growth. >> gop leaders now want the senate, which has gone home for the holidays to come back and negotiate a year-long extension. senate majority leader harry reid issued a statement last night saying he's open to talks, but wants house members to pass the short-term plan first. it would be unconsciousble for speaker boehner to write a by partisan agreement that would protect middle class families from the thousand dollar tax increase looming on january 1st. and other low points for congress this year, bring the treasury to the brink of default for the first time and the government to near shutdown more than once. drew, never a dull moment this year. >> never a dull moment. tara mergener, thank you. >>> the iowa caucus is only two weeks away, and it is a dead heat between n

. >> reporter: senator republican leader mitch mcconnell played a key role in all of this. he essentially said what the house republicans wanted a long-term deal and what the democrats wanted two-month extension, not mutually exclusive. he says the american people can breathe a sigh of relief tonight. bret? >> bret: mike, thank you. just in from chad pergrem producer on capitol hill speaking to another g.o.p. member who asked to be unnamed. "speaker boehner may have a hard time keeping his speakership after this." so there are some heart burn up on capitol hill from house republicans. we expect to hear more of that throughout the show. we talk about it after the panel. ed henry has reaction from the white house and look at how the president can capitalize on the impasse. good evening. >> good evening. i'm told not to expect the president come out on camera. he did it saturday and the deal unraveled. they don't want to get ahead of this and they want to make sure it gets through the house and senate before they celebrate too much. the president put out a written statement sa

i think mitch mcconnell will sit back and see how the house nl handles this. he is far out on a with this deal. i'm not sure how he can walk away, but he is going to try to do it from this point forward and anything he can do to avoid under cutting john boehner and making the problems worse. >> as we know, 160 million americans stand by and wait to hear if their taxes are going to go up. nbc's luke russert, thank you very much for joining us. newt gingrich from professor to sheriff. stay with us. . >> just in the capital police to arrest him? >> if you had to or instruct the justice department to send the u.s. marshal. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. wh