boehner. conaway. boehner. connolly. >> boehner. connolly, pelosi, conyers. pelosi. cook. boehner. cooper. colin powell. costa. >> okay. that was a live look at the 113th congress, which is already setting up to be very interesting. we did have one vote for eric cantor. we've had cantor vote for john boehner. i believe we just had a vote for colin powell. that just goes to show you that the 113th is vying to be as whacky as the 1 129. we've had votes for nancy pelosi, and obviously most of the votes coming in for john boehner from republicans. coming back out to the panel, i mean, the thinking is, karen, that john boehner really isn't in actual jeopardy unless, of course, 20 republicans were to decide to do the colin powell/cantor gambet here. >> just the very fact -- think about this -- that john boehner went into today with stories sort of swirling around whether or not and questioning whether or not he would really stay the speaker of the house, watching the vote count, let's see how many more general powell gets. that's not -- that just doesn't start him off very well. particul

boehner. rooney. boehner. ros-lehtinen. boehner. roskam. boehner. ross. boehner. rothfus. boehner. roybal-allard. roybal-allard. royce. boehner. ruiz. pelosi. runyan. boehner. ruppersberger. pelosi. rush. pelosi. ryan of ohio. pelosi. ryan of wisconsin. boehner. salmon. salmon. linda sanchez. pelosi. loretta sanchez. pelosi. sarbanes. pelosi. scalise. boehner. schakowsky. pelosi. schiff. pelosi. schneider. pelosi. schock. boehner. schrader. pelosi. schwartz. pelosi. schweikert. boehner. austin scott. boehner. david scott. pelosi. scott of virginia. pelosi. sensenbrenner. boehner. serrano. pelosi. sessions. boehner. sewell. pelosi. shea-porter. pelosi. sherman. simpson. boehner. sinema. pe he see. sires. pelosi. slaughter. pelosi. smith of nebraska. boehner. smith of new jersey. boehner. smith of texas. boehner. smith of washington. pelosi. southerland. boehner. speier. pelosi. stewart. boehner. stivers. boehner of ohio. stockman. stutzman. boehner. swalwell of california. pelosi. at that canow. pelosi. -- takano. pelosi. terry. boehner. thompson of california. pelosi. thompson of m

boehner is getting hit with. the delayed hurricane sandy relief bill has democrats and republicans in the northwest completely fuming. just listen to what new jersey governor chris christie had to say today. we'll be right back with some breaking news on this story. >> america deserves better than just another example of a government that's forgotten who they are there to serve and why. 66 days and counting. shame on you. shame on congress. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. inv

but boehner was at a million. boehner went down 550,000. so it's according to whether you want to count from the top down or the bottom up. both sides gave and i think the other side gave a little more. but governor, when it comes down to the debt ceiling that the chairman just referred to, president gave a warning to republicans. watch this. >> i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up through the laws that they passed. let me repeat. we can't not pay bills that we've already incured. >> sounds like he's pretty strong and stern on that. what dooungs, governor? >> he is and he ought to be. the last time, it was an international disgrace, not just a national disgrace, but an international disgrace. we shouldn't play politics with that. we owe this money. we've got to pay it. we've got o to have the funds to pay it. i think the sequester comes up in two months, probably a week or two before the debt ceiling. we're going to have to have some resolution of the broad

and the eventual reelection of speaker boehner and what lies ahd for this 113th congress. israel racing to reinforce its border with syria as assad continues his assaulted on his people, knesset speaker is joining us tonight. resolving to cut taxes, and reform with a cast of characters, leading our nation that cast is unchanged. fox news chief congressional correspondent with the report. >> john boehner of state of ohio having received a majority of votes cast is dually elected speaker of the house of representatives. >> reporter: after a bruising end of his first term, john boehner has been voted to serve another two years, three members voted for eric cantor. >> with hope for the future of our country, i present the people's gavel to the speaker of the house. >> reporter: after winning the gave emotional boehner told them new and old. the job ahead will be difficult. >> our national debt is draining free enterprise and weakening. >> reporter: the speaker made it clear he intends to lead. >> public service was never meant to be an easy living, extraordinary challenges, an

boehner. >> and don't forget. the one reason they've been able to maintain the majority and the tea party people maintain their hold within the party is after redistricting, a lot are jer gerrymandered from the right. and that makes it very hard. particularly if boehner doesn't have the ability to give earmarks anymore. to have -- and this sort of interparty discipline. and boehner doesn't have the powers of persuasion it seems to win over his fellow leaders. >> the persuasion is not one thing we accuse mr. boehner of. >> not yet. >> david and jackie, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, a new team and a new vision for president obama's second term. big news on the president's inauguration today. >>> but first, joe biden is facing off against the nra. it's a showdown over gun control. and the vice president is getting a big assist from gabby giffords. you're watching "politicsnation" right here on msnbc. ♪ people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced e

both of them are -- broke with boehner during the latest speaker boehner. rand paul is in the senate. he is continuing the rand paul movement in many ways. he is now on the senate foreign relations committee. you will hear him talk more about the ron paul ideal foreign policy, less foreign aid, more conservative ideas about where to spend money, where to have troops. host: my apologies. coughing attack here. mitch mcconnell -- his role? guest: he is doing a lot. mitch mcconnell -- when there was really an impasse in the fiscal cliff negotiation, he was able to call vice president biden and cut a deal. that's as a lot about mitch mcconnell's political abilities -- that says a lot about mitch mcconnell's political abilities. the house continues to be a mess. mitch mcconnell is the one who can get senate republicans working together with the white house to get something done. host: next, a caller from north carolina, a republican caller. caller: good morning. can you hear me? guest: yes. caller: i just want to make a comment in support of john boehner. this is

according to politico, boehner had strong words for the senate majority leader quote, go f yourself boehner. as he pointed his finger at reid. reid a bit startled replied what are you talking about and boehner then repeated it. go f yourself. they didn't cut the deal. in the end it was vice president biden and the senate majority leader. what does this say about the inability to work together? >> i also like the fact according to that story that boehner then went around bragging to everybody he said that to reid. i think they were both at the bottom of the food chain here of decision makers. they were fighting at the bottom of the chain while mitch mcconnell and joe biden were putting together the deal. i think both boehner and reid in a way were powerless in this decision for obvious reasons. and they -- the white house -- i was told by david plouffe a month ago that he much rather would prefer to work with mcconnell than boehner. mcconnell knows how to play chess, boehner doesn't. >> he got his wish. >> and when i talked to the republican senators they said the same thing about harry reid

the house majority and their speaker, john boehner. we respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as republicans or democrats, but as americans, or at least we did until last night. >> jennifer: now criticism like that has prompted speaker boehner to change his tune. he now says that congress will take up that storm-relief package this week. coming us tonight from washington to talk about why congress did fail to act is andrew krol a reporter with "mother jones." andy welcome back. happy new year. >> happy new year to you too. >> jennifer: stenny holder says that eric cantor told him that he was 99.9% sure that a sandy package would in fact make it to the floor. and this was before last night. what happened? >> these -- this relief package for the victims of hurricane sandy, focusing on the damage in new york and new jersey was expected to be handled last night amidst all of the fiscal cliff drama, and about an hour before midnight as far as we know house speaker john boehner pulled the vote on this. he quietly said there wa

it is john boehner. nancy pelosi. at this poemt, after all the fuss and fighting, this is the one moment eric cantor, nancy pelosi walking to the podium. as you see the house chamber here is general celebration. family in the family gallery. john boehner now picks up the gavel. this is a big challenge. joining me now here watching is josh green from bloomberg business week, and karen from the washington host, and -- also from bloomberg. well, we see what just happened. your cover story is a wonderful picture that we'll show in a minute as we watch john boehner taking the podium of the babies in congress in this whole debate. >> yeah, our coverage is about the fiscal cliff politics, and basically our take-away was that congress is a bunch of babies and so i probably should pause to congratulate boehner who it seems like has finally assembled enough votes to actually win a round. >> can i just say, that is a really mean thing to say about babies. >> it's true. >> that crying you heard on the floor was not babies. it was

the story on the hill is that a group of republicans failed to push john boehner -- 12 broke from boehner in a tense public roll-call vote either by voting for someone else are not voting at all. it was five short of what would have been needed to force a second ballot. after electing mr. boehner as speaker, republicans announced their other leadership positions. eric cantor and kevin mccarthy work reelected as majority leader and minority whip. cathy mcmorris rodgers takes over as conference chairman and craddick walton becomes -- greg walden becomes chairman of the nrc see. joe crowley is the new caucus vice chair. after the formal swearing-in of the group, speaker boehner met with members and their families for a mock swearing-in selected have their picture taken. -- so they could have their picture taken. >> how are you? thank you all. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> thank you. thank you all. >> thank you, sir. i am proud of you. >> stand right there. there we go. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> raise your right hand. >> you are in the middle. you can hold that. >> thank you very

. >> john boehner got rolled. >> john boehner has had permanent damage done to him. >> john boehner walked past harry reid and said go blank yourself, and then bragged about it. >> does he even want this job anymore? >> one long national nightmare is now finally over. >> the debt ceiling. >> the debt ceiling is coming. >> no. >> the sequesters are coming. >> cue the next countdown clock. >> i will not have another debate with this congress. >> house republicans see it as a trump card. >> they should pay the bills they have already racked up. >> while they approve this deal to avert the fiscal cliff. >> last night the house of representatives failed. >> there was no deal to send money to the victims of hurricane sandy. >> lawmakers from new jersey were angry. >> last night it was my party responsible. >> they are leaving this party without help. >> congress. >> congress. >> congress. >> the laughing stock of the country. >> 66 days and counting, shame on you, shame on congress. >> all right, let's get a couple of things straight here, okay? first of all, there is nothing wrong with legislat

boehner's signature tears flowed and who can blame him? ever all, the man has just had the privilege of leading the most loathed and least productive congress in modern history. having accomplished almost nothing, the to-do list greeting the new congress includes gun control, immigration, the sequester, the debt limit, the farm bill, hurricane sandy relief, the filibuster, and the violence against women act, all items left unresolved by the last congress. but if there is much to do and much republican opposition to doing it, at least speaker boehner can take heart that expectations are firmly in the gutter. the columnist gail collins writes in today's "new york times," the bar is low since some people believe the departing 112th congress was the worst in history because of its stupendous lack of productivity and the favorability rating that once polled lower than the idea of a communist takeover of america. indeed, with expectations so low, at least there's no risk of anyone being disappointed. joining us now is nbc's luke russert live fro

or can boehner dump cantor? >> guest: i don't think you're going to see speaker boehner dump cantor. i don't think they are the best of friends but they have a close professional relationship. this is a conference that needs the leadership to be working together. in the past there has been discussion of the regard between boehner and cantor but moving forward, there continues to be in the political corner working together as a better solution. the most important thing to watch is that cantor isn't saying much published in -- publicly and at least there's doing that i doubt you will hear about cantor working gets boehner. >> host: gilbert go kentucky, independent caller. >> caller: good morning. it seems to me that cantor goes behind speaker boehner's back. [inaudible] there is a lot of sacred stuff going around in the republican party. they need to be more united and they are not. the american people elected the same people over and over and over. until that stops i don't know how americans are going to move for

look, i have been a defender of john boehner. i think he did an exceptional job when he was minority leader in 2009 and 2010, paul, really giving very strong principled opposition to the kind of policies that barack obama was promoting at that time, the stimulus bill, obamacare, and so on, holding the republican caucus in line on principled grounds. i think where republicans need to go now is look, we know barack obama is looking at governing from the left. we've seen that just the last few weeks, i think that republicans have to be very principled in opposing those policies and paul, one other thing, they have to get back to the growth message. isn't it interesting that in the last five weeks, nobody, neither party, has really been talking about what's good for the economy, how do we grow jobs and make the private sector more prosperous? >> well, steve goes back to 2009 and 10. 2011 and 12 weren't good for the republican house in terms of tangible accomplishments, they were great on liberal governments, but all you could say for

the president tried to walk down the aisle with boehner twice. and boehner couldn't deliver. he cannot control his caucus. now whether anybody could is another question. >> you know what scrambled eggs are. >> yes. >> are you in the position, aamongst scrambling all of these eggs, because a viewer has to understand this, one of the things that obama did, well, he dispatched biden out there -- >> what is obama's problem right mow? what is it going into this? >> what is going into it is republicans didn't watch tax hikes on the rich but obama wanted this whole raft of special interest tax credits for wind, for algae energy, for nascar and hollywood, got tax credits out of this bill. >> the college credits. the day care. >> the obama push, if you look at just the business ones, leave aside the individual ones, there is more money, 70 billion in business tax credits, so that is revenue lost, than he gained in his tax hike to the rich, which was only 60 billion, over one year. and so obama had this disparate view where he wanted to raise taxes on the rich but he also wanted to cut

you know, it's part of what people find endearing about john boehner. you have also got to wonder if it's partly the exhaustion of what he has recently gone through and perhaps the hope that the next two years will go a little bit better for this new congress. >> well, good afternoon, alex. it is true that people often note the emotion that seems to come very easily for speaker john boehner. he will say that he is sort of embarrassed by it and that he can't really control it. the emotion just brings near the surface, and it does come out, because he says he takes all of these things very seriously, the responsibility you can the historic moment, what it means to be, as he says, a regular guy with a big job. so he knows that people make fun of him for that as well. so i think essencetive to it. but getting to know him day to day i it seems to be a very genuine emotion and i think because he has been speaker now for a couple of years, people are more accustomed to seeing it. i thought he was able to hold it in check quite a bit more today. he paused sever

boehner could face an uphill battle, really? even if he wins back the gavel he'll have challenges ahead. joining us the power play fox news live and he's not challenged by anybody except for nancy pelosi, she's not going to get it and he's going to get it, isn't he? i know if he gets 17 nos and they have to keep voting and voting, they'll put him in line. >> one or two. they may punish him, the conservative members we're seeing the votes come in for people who aren't john boehner, these are protest votes, not to make nancy pelosi the speaker of the house again, this is to punish john boehner for what they think was him trading away, and selling out the very principles that put them into office. so he's going to get it. everybody believes that he's going to get it, but they may make him wait until a second ballot and try to embarrass him. >> megyn: all right. and then it will all be forgotten tomorrow. word to washington, it's like a little thumb of the nose. okay, but what if a second -- what does a second, what term will it be

>> boehner. >> boehner. black? >> john boehner. >> boehner. jon: as we understand it, they are going to be calling the names of perhaps 429 house members. that's the number that responded to the quorum call. there should be, at least by the counts of republicans and democrats in the room, there should be 433 present, but 40 -- what's the number? 419? is that what i said earlier? jenna: i believe that's what you said. i do listen. 429. [laughter] jon: 429. okay, so four of them, i don't know, for whatever reason they're just not present or at least not acknowledging -- jenna: it's a pretty interesting process. these are people you're going to work with for a couple of years, and you have to stand and be present and say who you're going to vote for or say you're not going to vote for. that could be someone tough to face in the hallway when you've got to meet them in the eye and say you didn't get my vote. jon: right. there was some talk among some republican members who were dissatisfied with the leadership of speaker boehner, they wanted to hav

leaving boehner deserted by two-thirds of his caucus just tuesday, as they voted against him. of the 112 congress, and today. he won a second term as speaker, and boehner, cried tears of joy. >> we're sent here not to be something, but to to something. or as i like to call it doing the right thing. it is a big job, and it comes with big challenges. >> one of the loudest voices in yesterday's republican rebellion was new york congressman peter king, who blasted boehner for not holding a vote on sandy relief, accusing the speaker of taking out this function within the leadership ranks on the state of new york, and telling voters to stop donating money to his party, he today reversed himself. >> john is a voice of reason in our conference, despite when things i said yesterday, i do consider john boehner a friend, which is what really hurt the other day. lou: king reversing himself after boehner agreed to hold a vote on a scaled back version of sandy relief, and new jersey governor chris christie, saying as governor he has actual responsibilities unlike the people in congress, but

boehner said he wanted to abide by, speaker john boehner has seemed to throw that to the wayside. as i mentioned, supporting this deal himself. as opposed to the mood, it was funny, john boehner, eric cantor, mccarthy, they made this decision not to speak on the house floor about this deal tonight. who did we hear from? from nancy pelosi, taking a victory lap, which i think says a lot about how both sides feel about it. at the end of the day it is about the law of the land, and after all the twists and turns, folks on both sides are breathing a sigh of relief. tomorrow when they wake up, they will know the majority, they know the taxes will not go up. the financial markets i'm going to guess are going to react positively to this deal. there >>> this deal we have in place, while it makes permanent the tax issue that will be taken off the table for a long time, this is just the first of three with the big fights that will occur on capitol hill. the debt limit in early march, a government funding bill ahead of that. there is a question about the automatic spending cuts. the sequester

. >> john boehner. >> boehner. >> burgess. >> john boehner. >> boehner. >> buscos. pelosi. butterfield. pelosi. calvert. >> dana, i don't know if you're able to answer this question or not, but we see that they're going through the formality of nominating pelosi, but we know because the democrats don't have the majority that she would not likely be speaker. do we know if there's ever been any occasion where you didn't have the majority and they nominated a speaker that wasn't in the majority? this seems like a formality here. >> reporter: it is a formality. because there were questions how the process works and whether or not he gets a real challenge, we looked it up. in the past 100 years, so not since 1913, only once has there been a real challenge that has forced a recurring vote. i think it was nine times in 1923 that they had to vote over and over again until they finally got a speaker. that's a long way of saying, no, this is a formality and again it's he a way for some -- for a few members to express their concern, express their protest on the republican side at leas

he was boehner's ally. >> why? >> that really helped boehner at the end. why? because i think ryan long term is just like camp dadave camp. they're talking about the long-term tax reform is going to come on the debt ceiling in 2013 with the budget fight. you're so right on the debt part. but what they want to do now is lock in the rates. that was their argument in the caucus meeting last night. that was their argument on the floor. lock in the bush era rates, do what you can and move on. >> why did they break away from john boehner at the last moment other than it made a hell of a lot of good sense if you're actually conservative ideologically, you don't believe in adding $4 trillion to the national debt? >> i that i raets really the case here. i cover the house republican conference all the time. i don't think the cantor and mccarthy ney votes are a move against boehner. i don't see a coup happening against boehner. i think when boehner comes up for election in a day or two, he's going to win re-election as speaker. what cantor and mccarthy were doing was stan

come in on day one and make a stand against boehner? but you're not signing the grover norquist tax pledge. it's hard to read that. >> a bold move on day one to go against speaker boehner. he clearly did it from a position of principle. he took on a republican congressman, ran a great ad, depicting politicians as pigs at the trough. he's got a very anti-establishment message. and to his credit, he says, look, we need to find a way to work against party lines and he's not signing any pledges. that's a hopeful pledge. but i was really struck, not just by his vote, but the dozen or so folks that voted against boehner and how close this came. >> six votes? >> yeah. >> that's pretty incredible. >> erin, we discussed, sources on the hill have been saying for weeks, boehner's safe, boehner's safe, this turned out to be a real nail biter. it does show that boehner's got a real problem holding together his conference. the lessons he takes from it will be fascinating. but the vote revealed the fault lines beneath the republican party. i mean, whe

bachmann voted for boehner. this tells you how disorganized conservatives are in the end. two days after he proceeds over and endorses the massive tax increase going against basic republican principles. conservatives in the end make him speaker again. >> the caucus is in disarray. they didn't ban together in the fiscal cliff thing. the republicans have more leverage with the credit ceiling. you heard mitch mcconnell refer to it. it will depend if they use that leverage to whether they get together behind a common position. that will be john boehner's channel to deal with that. my gosh, i mean, i don't envy him as two more years as speaker but i don't know why he got re-elected. i don't think anybody else wanted the job. >> bret: former spea speaker dennis hastert has a rule named for him. majority of the majority, bringing forward a bill. don't bring forward a bill unless the majority of your own caucus supports that piece of legislation. talked about that going forward on brian kilmeade radio show this morning.

so john boehner retains this gavel. is it -- why should he even want the -- i'm surprised he wants it. >> well, i think, perhaps, you know -- if we're going to look at the other side for a minute, maybe he's looking at this. yes, in a weakened state. but does this not give him an opportunity now to say, you know what, i tried it your way, far right. i'm going to take bills to the floor, even if they don't have majority republican house support. and really shoot for some grand compromises. maybe he does go back to the old school way of how he used to be, which was, you know, trying to strike the grand bargain and going across the aisle and such to get big issues done. frankly, it's going to be really hard to get issues like immigration, gun control -- >> it is. and i guess my question -- who talks to the white house? who will negotiate for the republican party on capitol hill? john boehner said it's not going to be him. >> exactly. john boehner actually said, i'm not going to have one-on-one meetings with the president a

what was john boehner thinking? chris christie said he refused to return his phone calls, four phone calls. >> i think it was a mistake on the speaker's part to not schedule that vote. if there's one thing i learned working over the past 20 years is never fight over disaster assistance. i think it was really high tension getting through the fiscal cliff negotiations and trying to get that legislation passed and i think that's what i will chalk it up to, but i think the speaker is trying to correct it and he will and i think he's going to be re-elected today. >> the other thing the speaker says is i'm not going to talk to the president. given the fact that he became marginalized in the talks over the fiscal cliff, how does he stay relevant? >> well, he is relevant because of the three things that are coming that you know very well, chris, the sequestration, the three-month day and the debt ceiling itself. we've got serious issues to take care of in the next two months. we haven't begun. what happened two days ago did

he said after the meeting he had with the speaker, john boehner, boehner promised this vote beginning on friday, then in the middle of the month gave him an olive branch. peter king, who had been very critical earlier in the day, all of a sudden he seemed to be reassured. do you think that reassurance is justified? >> i'm not entirely sure. i do think -- look, i know john boehner has been preoccupied. we all know that. but it seems to me there's a great -- miss of if nothing else a real moment to come out a little bit like a hero. it's just tone deaf. whatever the practicalities are, that this involving hurricane sandy would get pushed aside. i mean, you know, look at the martens. i mean, the family you just had on. they lost their house. there are so many people here in new york still without power. you know, it's still an ongoing problem, and it's been maybe it's not at the forefront anymore, but it seems to me that there are just -- even the optics of it would be perceived by most people. so that's what to me seems most surprising here. >> all right. everybody stay put. don't go an

>> it was a huge problem for boehner. as he was trying to gavel down the 112th congress and let it die a lot of new jersey and new york republicans and democrats expected they were going to get a vote on the hurricane sande aid and they were shouting as he was gaveevpling it down, wait, wait, we need our vote. you didn't play it there but chrissie named boehner and said it was his fault. boehner is caught between new jersey republicans who want this spending and a conservative base that doesn't want to see any more spending. they want to see if it happens, it should be offset with other cuts and they were trying to give the anti-spending folks something to hang their hats on. very, very tough situation. >> and that's what boehner is up against. he couldn't get that bill -- fit that bill with the money for hurricane aid no matter how angry chris christy got. >> they did pass something today and are going to do a bizarre two-step process january 18 with sandy aid and then an amendment that is even bigger than the bill itsel

boehner put it quite succinctly. he said the president was angry, and so angry and so hot, he was spewing coals. >> narrator: outraged, obama immediately called his own press conference. >> good evening, everybody. i just got a call about a half hour ago from speaker boehner. it is hard to understand why speaker boehner would walk away from this kind of deal, and frankly, i think that one of the questions the republican party is going to have to ask itself is, can they say yes to anything. can they say yes to anything? >> tensions were unbelievably high. you know, this is now one week from d-day. >> narrator: then it was boehner's turn. >> now let me just say that dealing with the white house is like dealing with a bowl of jell-o. they refuse to get serious about cutting spending and making the tough choices that are facing our country on entitlement reform. that's the bottom line. >> we're heading into the weekend with the best opportunity for preventing economic cataclysm on a global level from occurring... is now

did mitch mcconnell jam john boehner and force boehner's hand? >> he didn't force boehner's hand, but he did step up in a way that boehner didn't. people will tell you on capitol hill boehner's nerve never looked weaker, here's why. for most of the day yesterday we were not sure there would be a vote, and if there was a vote it could include new spending measures. this bill is all tax increases and very little spending cuts. when the republicans got together yesterday afternoon, there was a rebellion among house republicans. they all wanted spending cuts, both boehner and his number two, eric cantor put out a statement saying there was near unanimous concern about spending. the debate for much of the day is what do we tack on to this turkey the senate sent us? do cuts that we know kill it as the poison pill or there was some conversation about attaching cuts that democrats might find acceptable that the president has been for in the past. in the end, mark, republicans decided they couldn't be stuck with the idea of a middle class tax cut that the

than john boehner. marco rubio in the senate is calculating his 2016 primary and thinks there's something there. you know, the problem really is the bigger picture is the democrats are the ones who keep becoming reasonably saving the day, putting the votes over the top. this gop leadership is failing the country. it's not just that there's no ko home invasion. there's no strategy or plan to do anything different. john boehner and eric cantor had their chance to actually come up with a more reasonable package and didn't. >> ari, i thought that john boehner showed a little courage there. he was almost -- if you will, going against so many republicans and saying you know what? there aren't a whole lot of spending cut, but the country cannot go over this fiscal cliff because tens of millions of americans could see their taxes going up. he did the right thing in terms of wanting to prek so many. >> at the end of the day, the speaker's job is to be the most reasonable person in the house and the person has to

boehner's side. the republican congress knows that had he to put something on the floor and that are revenues were going to go up. they just don't want their fingerprints on it. there's going to be an enormous amount of republicans who want to vote no. he is in a bind. sfoo we talked about this before. this has been the least productive congress in history. it's certainly the most unpopular. i think the latest approval rating is something like 12%, and, you know, we talk about this triple threat, but there's a lot of other things on the pre president and congressional agenda. there are huge. things like immigration. things like the president who has said he wants to do gun control, and if i can, i want to read for you what jonathan wrote in new york magazine headlined "why is obama caving on tacks" noting that he campaigned successfully on tax hikes for those making above $250,000, he writes the erosion signals a major substantive problem in its own right, but it raises disturbing questions about oba

boehner got rolled. and john boehner said at one point in his career, not too long ago, that thanltd happen, but the writing was on the wall. at 2:00 in the morning, the night before last, wherever that was, chris, new year's eve, i guess, the night of new year's eve, 98-8 in the senate. they expected this to sweep away all the opposition, and ultimately, that's what happened, but not without a whole lot of drama yesterday. john boehner knew, the day after the election, when he approved in the raeburn room and said he was willing to give on revenues, $800 billion worth, just not by closing loopholes and simplifying a tax code and things of that nature, but not by raising rates. he saw the writing on the wall. everybody knew what the president had campaigned on, on that $250,000 threshold. obviously, the white house, a lot of smart people here knew that boehner had no flexibility. the president hit the road on those campaign-style events. he ultimately gave ground at that income level, now at $450,000, as

boehner did not say either way. we are also hear iing that as t bill came to them from the senate, he would also be a no. luke russert has been following this throughout the last 24 hours and all the things. you have with you the representative. >> you're a close ally of speaker boehner. what happened in conference today? what was so problematic with this bill? >> the difficulty is it's heavy on tax increases. the spending reductions are basically nonexistent and adds about $600 billion more in spending. >> where do we go from here? you think there will possibly be a vote tonight on an amended bill? >> the overwhelming consensus in the conference was that the leadership should go back, huddle, find an amendment that addressed spending in a responsible way. it's not going to be some amazingly huge package, but a token and symbol that is not the poison pill that does not drive the democrats off the wall. there was discussion about something that the president himself already suggested, to lay don't marker as we move f

politico reports boehner told harry reid to go blank himself. part of the reason boehner is so testy is a fracture in his own party's leadership. republican leader eric cantor broke ranks with the speaker when the deal came up for a vote. boehner and house budget chairman paul ryan voted for the bill, while cantor and house whip kevin mccarthy voted against it. what does that tell you? president obama needs to move forward with plans to avoid the next fiscal crisis, the debt ceiling. he is not worried about engaging with a fractured gop. the president is going right back to you, the american people. the white house getting after it. put on their website, publishing the facts sheet. what this tax deal is all about. the details were shared on the president's massive e-mail list. the white house also released a video where the president explained his strategy of tax cuts and deficit reduction. >> so instead we're solving this problem in several steps. last year we started reducing the deficit through $1 trillion in spending cuts. and the agreement

>> house speaker john boehner had kind of a rough week here. the at a party folks not happy with the deal that he struck >> the president was able to get the speaker to undo everything he had promised he would do >> where are you? mr. speaker, we need leadership. >> tonight i am ashamed, shame on you, mr. speaker. >> jon: republican or democrat, senator or congressman, team edward or team jacob, everyone agrees john boehner sucks. at least we can be assured that as the incoming congress votes for a new speaker of the house, it's clear what the outcome is going to be. >> john boehner won re-election as house speaker today. >> jon: oh, boy. (train whistle blowing) >> jon: welcome back to the show. listen. as you may recall, a couple months ago america was hit by two major disasters. one of them natural, hurricane sandy and one of them somewhat man made the republican majority in the house of representatives. the second of those disasters has made it impossible to clean up the first one >> the $60 billion hurricane sandy aid package. the house adj

i think speaker boehner did well through this. i'm a fan of this and i think he will be re-elected as speak. they are taking out frustrations on him when he manages a difficult process. >> bret: kirsten? >> it's not pro or anti-boehner situation as much as why was it get to this point? why couldn't they have -- why so much pork in it. why so much spending that is meant to go and relieve the problem. >> who controls this -- >> it started in the senate. >> you be i'm saying this is the disflux of washington -- dysfunction of washington. they didn't know this was coming out of the senate? can people talk to each other? >> corruption of the word. idea of emergency. this will happen quickly and because earmarks are harder to get. no one knows that passes in midnight. they have done the right thing to hold it up. >> next up, fiscal cliff deal, bill, soon to be law. and the debt ceiling fight to come. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetab

i don't think he is going to vote for boehner. because the hurricane sandy money, big money new york and new jersey held up, here is king. go. >> these republicans have no problem finding new york when they are out raising millions of dollars. he they are in new york all the time filling their pockets with money from new yorkers. i'm saying right now anyone from new york and new jersey who contributes 1 penny to congressional republicans is out of their minds because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of new yorkers and new jerseyens absolute disgrace. >> bill: so king is not voting for boehner. he is cass straght his own party. >> well, i wouldn't say that. this was spoken in a heated moment; it was the same reheated moment. in essence, the same cast of characters from the new york, new jersey delegates met with speaker boehner a short while ago and it was all hashed out and the money for sandy victims for hurricane sandy relief is going to be voted out of the congress in two stages. the final vote on january 15