senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, went to the house and house republicans angry about it and wanted to stop it. guess what. they folded at the end. but i'm going back to something i mentioned yesterday. i think the whole game for this is two things. one, the president's speech right there sort of saying, look, i'll let congress work the will which is significant because members in both chambers want that to happen. and then this idea of enforcement. they did an amazing thing on rush limbaugh. he made rush limbaugh come over to accept possible immigration reform. that is no easy task but what is -- how did he do that? making the case for enforcement. so what exactly is that enforcement mechanism that house republicans and conservative republicans and rush limbaughs of the world get on board with that's a final deal can liberals stomach that? that's something to pay attention to. >> right. when rubio was on limbaugh's show today, the red line he drew basically saying, democrats are out there saying that this commission that would be set up, to consist of southwest governors, ot

that makes it more difficult for house republicans and ensures the house republicans do what i think is probably smart thing to do on substance but not on taxes which is to vote against the bill. you ensure they get even more of the blame than they would have gotten had you done hit the way two weeks ago. >> bret: a.b., i should point out these are different votes we are looking at, on the screen. they don't deal with a fiscal cliff. tape freeze, and property. a bunch of votes that don't deal with the big issue we're talking about. bottom line, does this go through tonight? >> i don't think so. because they, they are going to have 36 hours. they have until 11:59 on thursday. they like the last minute. if they got this far over the cliff they'll keep going a whiling longer. we should say here the democrats don't love the bill. the house democrats all sign on to this. so if the democrats lose some and republicans are scrounging for their 40 to 50 -- >> bret: that is the key question today. the house minority whip, steny hoyer would not answer the question how will votes will you bring

house republicans huddled this morning, house democrats huddled this morning. joe biden made another trip, his 1ekd second to two days to sell democrats on the proposal. not a lot of problems as far as we know although there are people on the left who say the president is giving up too much in terms of the income threshold over which people's taxes would rise, but putting that aside, more significantly, house speaker john boehner and the majority leader, the number two in the house, huddled their troops. we started to get reports out of that meeting that there was a lot of dissatisfaction not only with the tax hike, which after all is a tax cut today. as of midnight tonight we're talking about cutting taxes, but the spending. not enough spending cuts in this bill to satisfy house republicans. eric cantor has come out against the bill and so the question is now how will the house act? if they choose to amend the bill and put in spending cuts, it's got to be sent back to the senate, and that's where that statement from that senate aide comes in. if the senate doe

and we're hopeful that republicans in the house will do as democrats and republicans did on the senate and weigh all the equities here, but decide at the end of the day not everybody gets 100% of what they want. democracy means a willingness to come together for the good of the country, that's what compromise is all about, especially in an era of divided government. our members are taking a look at the bill. and, you know, we just would ask our republican colleagues to bear in mind the good of the country as they also weigh all the equities here. with that, i turn it over to the distinguished vice chairman, mr. crawly. >> thank you, chris. i will add briefly we all appreciate the vice president coming to the caucus today in a straightforward, thorough way, explaining the process, the negotiation and why we are where we are at today. i do think, though, the time for discussion and talk is coming to an end. and it's going to be time for us to vote soon, or all this would have been for naugt. our being here new year's eve, new year's day, would have been for naugt if we don't come to a vo

>> rick: mike, house democrats have been keeping up the pressure on house republicans. how have they been doing that? >> they point to the fact that this deal in the united states senate got 89 vote, which is very difficult to do and has polarized washington environment. vice president joe biden also up here today making a second trip to capitol hill in less than 24 hours. his messages house democratics, we need you to get behind the deal that he had negotiated bottom line, house democrats are essentially saying it's time to move forward. >> vice president biden has worked very hard to come to a compromise. by definition, a compromise has elements in it that each party does not like. but by definition, it has things in it that each party should like. so essentially what the house democrats are saying this got 89 votes in the united states senate. huge bipartisan support. it should be voted on as is, rick. >> rick: all of this happens, mike, as we are about ready to close the book on this congress, right? >> that's right. we are less than 48 hours from a new congress bei

house speaker john boehner met with house republicans for an hour and a half today. he didn't share his opinion of the bill but many other republicans like alabama's spencer bachus did. >> the senate bill failed miserably in cutting spending. >> reporter: michael conaway of texas. >> i'm unwilling to gag down a deal that is unacceptable. >> reporter: even the number two house republican, virginia's eric cantor, said he could not support the bill in its current form-- despite the fact that it passed the senate at 2:00 this morning with huge bipartisan support. >> the yays are 89, the nays are 8. >> reporter: the bill is the product of the intense last-minute negotiation between senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden. it contains no major cuts partly because the speaker himself pulled out of talks with the president last month over a grand bargain that would have cut nearly a trillion dollars in spenting. we asked louisiana republican john fleming about that. this bill makes a lot of tax cuts that republicans like permanent. why not claim v

republican house that stopped him. all the achiefments he got, obama care and stimulus he got in the first two year when had control of the congress. now, look what happened tonight. the republicans are split and this will only be able to pass because democrats are supporting it. on the politics of this, he s now very much weakened the republicans. he split the republicans in the house and the one obstacle to his being able to control the agenda in washington is now very much diminished and that i think was his political objective in all of this so he achieved a lot on substance, higher taxes or tried to undo the regan idea of the lower taxes and second on the politics by splitting the republicans and taking essentially control of washington. that doesn't mean he will succeed through the two years and have it all his way but he sure has succeeded tonight and that is why republicans as chris said are so bitter and heartbroken. >> bret: you are looking at the vote tally. already have 43 republicans voting for this and yo

house republicans could decide to amend it. that would certainly only complicate matters, possibly even put a deal further out of reach. our senior congressional correspondent, dana bash, has been following the breaking news for us. she's beginning our coverage this hour. what's the very latest you're hearing about the fate of what the senate passed last night? >> the latest is that house republicans are still in this me meeting, as you said, the second of the day. and the house rules chair, who is in charge of making sure that things go on to the floor, is probably the easiest way to say it, he just told me that there will be a series of votes soon, not on the fiscal cliff, but here's why that's interesting. it's because leaders, whoever they are, when they run the house, tend to use that time to whip votes, to try to see where the votes are on a particular issue, because all the members are on the floor. so it may be that that will be a time when they're going to try to really gauge, beyond just this meeting, where they're ta

where is the power among house republicans right now? >> well, there is a great deal of leverage with the... with that small group of conservatives that you describe. there's a lot of criticism around washington that a group that is relatively small in number has outsized influence. they point to grover in order quist. he's one guy. why does the at a party caucus who are vocal but still relatively small amongst 535 members why do they have so much influence? that's maybe a question for another day. keep that in the back of your mind. for tonight, it's really going to be the whip count on this spending cut amendment. do republicans, house leaders, with that 217 are the votes there? keep in mind they're not necessarily trying to get there. there's no indication that house republican leaders really want to throw a last-minute monkey wrench in or challenge the senate to make good on their threat that they won't touch that. watch that whip count. does it get to 217? if it does, we're in for a very, very long night. we're in for a long day tom

what is the problem that the house republicans have with it? >> well, the house is a fundamentally different place than the senate, judy. remember, this is not the first time we've seen this dynamic. back in february there was the debate over that very payroll tax holiday that is expiring... that has expired frankly at midnight. you got 89 or 90 votes in the senate for that. that deal fell apart in the house. the highway bill got 74 bipartisan votes in the senate. that fell apart. they're two different places. there had been tacit assurances or at least pronouncements from the house republican leadership after speaker boehner's plan-b fell apart last week that the senate had to act and that that was the only way forward. there's some frustration as you can imagine, on the house side now that the senate did act and acted with 89 affirmative votes for the tough deal that leader mcconnell and vice president biden struck. only to have a rebellion in the house republican conference. now that conference is in discussions right now, as we speak. they

when republicans in the house refuse to do anything on gun control democrats in the senate could pass legislation to keep weapons of war out of the hands of the mentally ill democrats need a legislative agenda to run on in two thousand and fourteen in two years to break the republican majority in the house that's why they need to begin compiling a resume of progressive legislation passed in the senate. but they can then sell to the american people the next election. and the only way they'll be able to do that is to ditch the filibuster in its current form. these are the stakes heading into the new legislative session when you sign it such as an old boxer and an antagonist of the las vegas mob harry reid knows how to fight it's now time for him to take that same fight to the republican minority in the senate and give the american people what they want the senate is listening to and actually passing legislation for the middle class if harry reid throws in with merkley warren and udall in the democrats' prospects to twenty fourteen get a lot brighter and if he doesn't already know it you

look at the difference between senate republicans, house republicans, the fact that speaker boehner doesn't seem to be in a position to negotiate with the white house any further. that seems to be falling all to you. how much damage does it do to your goals for the government that the republican party seems to be so divided over what you have just done on the fiscal cliff, and continues to be divided over the way forward on taxes and spending? >> well, there are divisions among senate democrats as well. in fact, i don't think there's a bipartisan -- i think there's a bipartisan majority in the senate for not raising taxes further. in other words, taking the same view that i do, which is that the tax issue has been resolved. it's behind us. so there are divisions on both sides. i mean, we can spend a lot of time talking about that. but the requesty is, what are we going to do for the country in the meantime? the american people chose divided government. we have a democratic president, democratic senate, and a republican house. they expect us to figure out some way to make progress for the co

house republicans are going to meet to decide what the next step is. vote, no e vote, change things? so while we have heard the reactions from some lawmakers on that senate deal, americans who are a bit groggy from last night, are waking up to the news and having weighing in. alison kosik has been out sampling some of that opinion. what are people saying? >> reporter: you know what's interesting about being in a diner, we're at the tick tok diner. pretty fitting considering we're moving against a clock as far as the fiscal cliff goes. i can go from table to table, i can say two words and fiscal cliff and it opens up the flood gates of opinion. i know you have an opinion on how these negotiations have been going. >> they are not going anywhere. they have had two years to work on this. if i had two years to work on a project and didn't meet a deadline, i would be fired. they are all having lunch. they are not working. i want to see something really working like the rest of us. >> reporter: the legislation that's on the table from the senate have you seen

it died because the house republicans would not bring it up. i think you could see a very similar situation this year where i think it is likely you could get 60 votes or something like that in the senate. the critical question once again will be, will house republicans bring it up even if most of them oppose it? >> i want to go back to something ana was saying about the debt. the debt that democrats have and the need that republicans have for it. you look at the exit polling, and it's critically clear, obama got 71% of the latino vote. in 2008, mccain did a little better. let's go back to 2004. kerry, who lost, pulled in 53%. topping double digits, 10% of the voter base. so, ana, those house republicans have to be very, very careful if they want to be relevant. >> they know that, christine. i just spent three days with the republican house conference at their retreat in williamsburg, virginia. and this was a big part and a big theme of the three-day conference. we need to do better with minorities. we need to do better specifically with hispan

this is not a bill that most republicans, house republicans, but people like erick erickson, on the conservative republican side, voiced significant displeasure on. where do republicans go from here? because, surprise, surprise, a.b., tomorrow, the 113th congress comes in, john boehner, presumably, will be reflected speaker, and the party has to regroup and move on. where do they go? >> well, that's a -- the macro question of this leaderless party, it's been leaderless for so long. it was cleansed by a leaderless movement. still, the tension between the establishment and tea party forces really define their divisions every day, no matter what's on the floor. i would say that the people who have got their hands dirty voting for that last night, house speaker john boehner, budget committee chairman, paul ryan, they knew that kevin mccarthy, the whip, and eric cantor, the majority leader, wanted that to pass. so the people who got to vote against it still wanted it to pass. so that is really a big tension about who had to take, you know, the dirt, and who got to indulge themselves to vote against i

the house republicans? the senate democrats? or the white house? >> the house republicans and barack obama profoundly disagree on the direction of the country. they disagree on moral, cultural, fiscal and social issues. that's-- >> i don't want a divided answer. i want who is the bigger or biggest culprit? >> well, obama proposes and they reject. >> he can't bear to say it's the republicans' fault. the tea party republicans are obviously the fault in the house. and the senate republicans bear the brunt of abusing the filibuster, the point where they've used it 385 times while reid has been the leader. it was used once when lyndon johnson was the speaker and that was the great civil rights battle. it's a total misuse and abuse of power. >> harry reid should not get a free pass. he has prevented republicans from ever offering amendments on a lot of these important votes. his management of the senate is imperious and when republicans have allowed things to move to a vote, not filibuster them, he still prohibited republican amendments so he bears at le

of course it comes down to the rank and file house republicans. as you know, they have been difficult to please on this issue. and if there isn't a vote on this bill outright, if they really don't like it, they could propose to amend it. make some changes, and then send it back to the senate, which would take a little more time, obviously. but the thought here is now that we're over the cliff, house republicans would be voting for a tax cut, instead of for a tax hike, and because of that, the house republicans, more of them, may be able to support this. >> brianna, we will be speaking to a number of house members over the course of the morning. are they going to vote yea or nay on this. let me ask you this, what was the president's role and the white house role as we headed into this overnight vote last night? >> well, obviously, i think leading into what you saw was vice president biden being very involved, and in a way he served very much as the president's proxy. this is something that has taken a lot of the president's attention. but some peop

the house speaker would have to get involved, something the republicans in the house of been stressing all they, this is a deal between the minority leader mitch mcconnell in the senate and the vice-president of the united states and the house speaker john boehner was not involved. however, there is death valley contact between the two offices as they continue to negotiate, the minority leader and the and vice-president. when you have such overwhelming support it creates more pressure from members of the house to vote for this. you are going to see very likely high-profile republican members in the u.s. house vote against this because of the lack of spending cuts caught. diane: we did hear from several house republicans saying it would come out against this, but we did not hear from boehner. he did not give adjust of whether he would pass and not. that being said, he and thursday he is back up for reelection. expected to affect that have? rich: it's interesting. we will see how many republicans go along. he controls the house floor. this is him putting this bill, this compromise propos

in this case, the majority of republicans in the house. that's exactly what speaker boehner is going to have to do tonight. how much credit does the speaker deserve for bringing this to a vote despite opposition from his very own party? >> well, i think it's pathetic that we have stooped so low. because if this last election tells us anything, the american public wants the parties to work together across the aisle. this so-called hastert rule started a few terms ago where the republicans say we're not going to bring a bill to the floor until we have a majority of the republican party, 218 votes. and of course what that does is it creates gridlock, because it has the most extreme legislation. it doesn't have bipartisanship. and it dies in the senate. so i'm hoping that tonight's vote where democrats and republicans will do the right thing, will herald well for the next congress, where people can come across the aisle and work together for the good of this country. that's what we need to do. >> do you expect, congresswoman, for hastert rule

no major entitlement reform that the republicans, the house republicans wanted. as mike suggested they believe the republicans do that they will get those in the debt ceiling fight. we'll see. the bottom line is that a top official here are told me a short time ago they are not spiking the ball tonight because they know full well house republicans still have to sign off on the quote unquote deal and senate republicans and that is why vice president biden is up there lobbying them to report it. we'll see. they say they are not spiking the ball. earlier today when the president had a campaign style rally here at the white house republicans certainly thought he was spiking the ball but the president and his aides say all he was doing is laying out once again, his principles in it this fight which he says is all about protecting middle class tax cuts. take a listen. >> preventing that tax hike has been my top priority because the last thing folks like the folks up here on this stage can afford right now you is to pay an extra $2,000 in taxes next year. middle class f

house republicans should pursue their own agenda and let mr. obama and senate democrats pursue theirs. mr. obama has his tax triumph, let it be his last. if the "the wall street journal" editorial board is telling republicans hunker down even more, does this bode well for your party? >> no. no, it would kind of bifurcate all over the place. norm is right, we saw that played out on the floor, the split in leadership on the vote, you have members who are frustrated by being led down one rabbit hole, only to wind up in another. i think what "the wall street journal" is saying, though, and there is some truth to this, you have to identify a strategy and plan and stick to it, and you have to be able to marshal the forces, both inside the caucus and around the country, that is going to be able to explain that to the american people. and no matter whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, at least be consistent in an idea, theme, philosophy, that people can latch on to. may disagree or agree with, but at least there's a discussion point. that has been s

not so much with the white house but with his fellow republicans in the senate. and so the egoless harry reid watched joe biden come in from the bull pen and get well-deserved credit for helping to close the deal. and then, harry reid got back to work, to the day to day work. the governing chores that he does so well. including making sure that the nervous staff of the american embassy in kenya, in this post-benghazi era, when the staffs are especially on edge that they knew who their next leader was going to be. the majority leader of the united states senate got back to work today as he does most days. with the full and sometimes invisible cooperation of the minority leader of the united states senate. and as usual, no one noticed. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy,

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 standing with the core of the congress. you had 85 republican neys but 151 nays. they're going with the core of the conference. but boehner as speaker, he rarely votes, but he came on the floor last night and voted because he was trying to push consensus. one of the most important parts of last night's whip is that boehner didn't really whip. he didn't go on the floor, touch shoulders or shake hands trying to get people to volt. he urged people to come together if you could. you look at those 85 republicans, you have ryan but also a lot of moderates, a lot of retiring members, every member from the pennsylvania delegation to the philadelphia suburbs, those are the kind of people that backed boehner. a lot of the old bulls, pe

now, i would love to see every house republican go to the house right at the center of the capitol, in the rotunda, is a copy of the mag na carta, 1215, almost 800, 900 years ago, in 1215, the nobles said to the king, you cannot spend money that we don't approve raising and the king was in a weak position and said, yes. and all of the legislative branch rose out of that historic moment and the legislature has every right to say we're not going to pass and we're not going to give you the money and because of the situation they find themselves in, could have a devastating effect of april 1st not passing certain things. what if they decided, for example, not to fully fund the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and said, no, we're not going to fundamentally implement them, it would be illegal to try to implement it. and ronald reagan discovered in the iran-contra process, the power of congress to say you can't spend the money, is 100%-- remember, the first public speaker in 40 years, we met the contract, we closed the government twice, for six days in november and 21 days in december

that means he was the number one republican in the house. that should have put him in line to be speaker of the house if anything happened to the guy above him. but when something did happen to the guy above him, dick armey never got the job. it was newt gingrich who had been the number one in the house. he had been the speaker while dick armey was the number two republican in the house. and newt gingrich did get thrown out by his own house republicans in 1998. dick armey was next in line for the speaker's job when newt gingrich was thrown out. but they threw dick armey over as well. mr. armey never got the top job. he then left and took a very sweet and highly paid job as a lobbyist, which led to his even sweeter job with freedomworks, which has now led to the sweetest job of all, which is getting paid $8 million to please not come to work anymore. what happened to dick armey and what happened to newt gingrich happens a lot to republicans. they tend to back stab their own supposed leaders. they tend to throw their own top guys out. they did

i think what we are seeing as about seven hours of printing from republicans in the house. i am hearing that people are softening their stance again, giving up on the idea of amending the senate bill and going for a straight up or down vote. it remains to be seen whether it actually advances. >> the amount of political bickering is extraordinary. >> it is political bickering. we have had seven hours of that and the feeling is that it is dying down zero little bit. eric cantor is the majority leader in the house. he is a very senior republican politician. he is a driving force in the party and he sticks with speaker of the house john boehner. he said i do not support it. that is different from john boehner, who think would rather get this bill done and move on to the next battle. the republicans feel more confident about the battle over raising the debt ceiling of the united states. an image of would leave you with is that although there is a split between these very senior republican politicians in house, they did go into their latest meeting about two hours ago absolutely

republicans in the house will be meeting at 1 p.m. eastern time to figure out what they want to do given the fact that the senate last night passed their version of the fiscal cliff deal. so, again, a lot of things going on on capitol hill today. it looks a little sleepy there in this picture that we're showing you of the dome, but make no mistake, a lot of activity, and we've got it covered for you right here on fox. heather: no sleep for a lot of people last night. those that weren't working, they were in cities all across the country ringing in the new year in grand style. there you go. if you missed it, you can see it right there. here in new york city more than a million people from every corner of the globe, they gathered in times square to watch that massive ball drop. did you see it, rick? rick: we watched it, sure. heather: did you? i was sound asleep. marking the 106th year of the ball dropping and then over in atlanta more than 100,000 people gathering for live entertainment and fireworks and to watch the 800-pound giant pe

we are a member of organization that supports republicans and republican members of the house. here's when we do and we go out and recruit. i think, you know the voters want to check and balance in washington. we are going to offer a positive alternative. great candidates. we now -- second biggest majority since world war ii coming off the biggest majority. we intend to build on that. and we are a member-driven organization. you bet we will work with incumbent. >> this has nothing to do whether support john boehner or not. members of the leadership deem across the street at the capitol or at the nrcc, have a common goal mission, that is to move forward with the republican principles that grows job and bring down our debts. i look for unifying things. i will not get off into the absolutes. >> okay. greg waldon, chairman of the nrcc. republicaning from the state of oregon. other stuff i wanted to get to and came to climate and energy issues and i know you care about. hopefully next time we will get to that. >>> promises, promises. deep dive into the president's first term. campai

republicans, and i don't see the composition ideologically speaking of the house republicans changing soon, though, it is interesting to see that in the congress, in the house of representatives, there are still a lot of people from the very hot blooded class of 1994s the newt gingrich revolution. some of these guys, in fact, one now retiring, he is a member in good standing of the moderate two-state club and is retiring in large part because of the disgust of the tea party, and so this is a guy, you know, who, in a lot of ways, was the forerunner the movement, mellowed over time. one way to look at it, and another, i suppose, is the class much 1994 was nowhere near as conservative. >> liberals by comparison. do you think if another t.a.r.p. bill comes up, it's let the banks go? >> no, boehner in the house leadership will have a decision to make, and he's not going to want there to be a great depression on his watch, especially if there's a republican administration. if there's a president romney, i mean, romney supported t.a.r.p. and supported it rapidly, and, in fact, i mention in t

on the floor of the house right now, we are told house republican leaders are trying to get a sense of whether or not there are the votes for what house republicans have been saying behind closed doors and publicly that they want all day, changes that they want to the bill that passed the senate early this morning. those changes are spending cuts, specifically what house republican leaders have done, they put together a package which the house has actually passed before, a package of about $300 billion in spending cuts to add to this as an amendment. but there's a very interesting tactic that john boehner in particular is using here. when he announced this just about an hour ago to his rank and file in a meeting, he said what i'm going to do is i am going to have this as an option, this amendment, but i'm also going to go on the floor which as i said, they're doing right now, and see if i can get the votes even to pass that, the majority votes to pass that. if i can, i will let the vote happen, we'll have the amendment and we'll vote on the senate bill and send it back to the senate. b

the republican house of representatives all voted against that. the spending that's -- >> plenty of other money in there, though, this congress voted for, the house-led republicans went along with a lot of spending in the past two years. look, at this stage, john boehner could have had a deal a couple of weeks ago that would have included some modification on the c.p.i. for social security recipients, and the president said, as well, some adjustment against the wishes of his own party members, he was willing to talk about the raising the retirement edge, the eligibility age. >> democrats in senate said that was off the table, that was never a reality. second of all, we're in a position that we're dealing with spending cuts -- >> didn't john boehner reject a better deal from his values, according to his principles, that he ended up -- he then ended up finally leading the house to vote for last night? >> no, because last night was not a final deal. last night was a debate over how much of the tax increase obama was going to take off the table, and h

republicans will convene in ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i am pink and i am a covergirl. ♪ >>> on thursday, house republicans will convene in virginia for their annual retreat, where there will be no talk of retreat, but where john boehner will explain the debt ceiling and get his caucus to understand, where it will be economic suicide to go all in and default. at his news conference, president obama explained the debt limit to the american public and the political media this way. >> congress authorizes spending. they order me to spend. they tell me you need to fund our defense department, at such and such a level. you need to send out social security checks. you need to make sure that you are paying to care for our veterans. they lay all of this out for me. and because they have the spending power. and so i am required by law to go ahead and pay these bills. separately, they also have to authorize the raising of the debt ceiling in order to make sure that those bills are paid. and so what congress can't do is tell me to spend x, and then say but we're not going to give you the authority to go ahead and pay

house republicans balan s balkes deal. hard to see how republicans can get much of a better deal now. how so? >> look, republicans lost the last election. they don't control the white house, they don't control the senate. the bush tax cuts were going to expire no matter what. the president had campaigned pretty much consistently, repetitively and so on on an upper class tax hike of some kind, so you were always going to have a situation where you had 700 billion, 800 billion in tax increases no matter what. give that they could negotiate the threshold upward is pretty much as good a deal republicans were going to get. frankly not a good deal in any cosmic sebs for republicans but giving the correlation of forces facing them, not a bad deal to walk away with especially since it's a bad sign for the democrats going forward that they needed to move the threshold that the president had campaigned on upward to 400,000. a sign that democrats are still quite uncomfortable voting for tax increases with or without republican suppor

not so much with the white house but with his fellow republicans in the senate. and so the egoless harry reid watched joe biden come in from the bull pen and get well-deserved credit for helping to close the deal. and then, harry reid got back to work, to the day to day work. the governing chores that he does so well. including making sure that the nervous staff of the american embassy in kenya, in this post-benghazi era, when the staffs are especially on edge that they knew who their next leader was going to be. the majority leader of the united states senate got back to work today as he does most days. with the full and sometimes invisible cooperation of the minority leader of the united states senate. and as usual, no one noticed. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-ma

house republicans are in the spotlight at this hour as they decide their next move regarding fiscal cliff negotiations. tara joins us live from the news room to tell us how they're meeting behind closed doors. >> this is new year's data na that climaxed when the senate endorsed compromise legislation by 89 to 8. >> as amended his past. >> that came hours after president joe biden and senator republican leader of kentucky sealed the deal. it negates the fiscal cliff of across the board tax increases and sweeping government other agencies but many house republicans said that they were opposed to the bill because they didn't cut federal spending and they were hoping gop leaders will give the house a chance to amend the bill and send it back to the senate. democrats are saying enough is enough. >> we could allow us to go over or we can try to come together and pass something that something probably on both sides of the aisle no one agrees with 100% of. >> what we're going to do in the present plan is put nearly another trillion dollars worth of debt on the american people. time is running out

i'm confident that if the republican men of the house actually had a visceral connection to the terror of violence and rape, they would make this a priority, and don't worry, republicans, protecting a lesbian, native american, or undocumented immigrant woman from violence isn't a slippery slope to actually recognizing these people as full human beings and giving them equal protection under the law. thanks to the re-election of president obama, the supreme court will take care of that for us. all right. that does it for "the cycle." martin bashir, it's all yours. >> krystal, i agree entirely. a disgraceful sin of omission. thank you for that and thank you for joining us. good afternoon, it's thursday january 3rd, and two more years, two more years! >> the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio having received the majority of the votes cast is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 113th congress. >> an absolute disaster. >> and i hope and pray that's what we will have. >> this is why the republican party is so irrelevant right now. >> i think nobody in amer

we are hopeful republicans on the house will do as democrats and republicans did on the senate and weigh all of the equities here, but decide at the end of the day that not everybody gets a hundred percent of what they want. democracy means a willingness to come together for the good of the country. and that's what compromise is all about, especially in an era of divided government. our members are taking a look at the bill, and we just would ask our republican colleagues to bear in mind the good of the country as they also weigh all of the equities here. and with that i turn it over to the distinguished vice chairman of the caucus, mr. crowellly. >> thank you. i will add very briefly, we all appreciate the vice president to come to the caucus in a straight forward, very thorough way explaining the process, the negotiation and why we are where we are at today. i do think though the time for discussion and talk is coming to an end. it is going to be time for us to vote soon. or all of this would have been for not. our being here new year's eve, new year's day and happy new year to everyon

now, i would love to see every house republican go to the house right at the center of the capitol, in the rotunda, is a copy of the mag na carta, 1215, almost 800, 900 years ago, in 1215, the nobles said to the king, you cannot spend money that we don't approve raising and the king was in a weak position and said, yes. and all of the legislative branch rose out of that historic moment and the legislature has every right to say we're not going to pass and we're not going to give you the money and because of the situation they find themselves in, could have a devastating effect of april 1st not passing certain things. what if they decided, for example, not to fully fund the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and said, no, we're not going to fundamentally implement them, it would be illegal to try to implement it. and ronald reagan discovered in the iran-contra process, the power of congress to say you can't spend the money, is 100%-- remember, the first public speaker in 40 years, we met the contract, we closed the government twice, for six days in november and 21 days in december

you never know what the house republican conference. they're known to kill things in the 11th hour, this entire congress. sdroo do not pack up the cut yet, luke russert. >> take care. >> joining us to discuss the deal in more detail is democratic congressman jason altmeyer from pennsylvania. congressman, good to see you. good morning. or good afternoon, i guess, now on the east coast here. texas senator kay bailey hutchison said she thought the deal was about even. that's the way she put it in terms of both sides getting what they want and having to sort of put up with some stuff that they didn't. do you think that's a fair assessment? >> i do. i think that's exactly what happened. the tax cut number is a little bit higher than democrats had hoped. it's lower than the republicans had hoped. the dividends and capital gains rate basically they split the difference. the sequester delay -- i think it represents a good faith and at the end result it's a compromise. sdoo let me ask you where you are going. to luke's point, nancy pelosi has no

the senate is controlled by democrats, the republicans control the house. they have to find a way to work together for the good of the country. >> well, we can only hope so. congressman jason altmire, thank you so much. good luck, sir. happy new year. >> thank you. happy new year. >>> the party to rival all parties last night. in new york city, hundreds of thousands packing new york's times square to watch the crystal ball drop and ring in the start of 2013. and believe me, they had to want to be there. it was cold! ♪ >>> back to the fiscal cliff. all but five republican senators voted to pass the bill put together by senator mcconnell and vice president biden last night. among those voting in the affirmative, north dakota's republican senator john hoeven. senator hoeven, thank you for joining me. happy new year. >> happy new year, chris. >> you talked about the possibility for tax reform and social security reform. are you disappointed the senate couldn't come up with a bigger deal? >> i was pushing hard for a big deal that included tax reform, entitleme

even the house republicans are proposing 67. they are well to the right of the business round table. in the press, their recommendations were treated as totally self-evident. >> it only makes sense that adjustments need to be made now that we're living longer, naturally, people are afraid of change of any sort, and these entitlements are sacred cows for so many. >> it only makes sense. meanwhile, on fox news, well, you watch. >> well now, we're hearing from a group of ceos who are pushing a plan to gradually increase the retirement age to 70? saying that that is what is best for the country's economy. i mean, i laugh, because 70 is not old. i mean, are we supposed to react to that as though it is 90? 70, you have to work until 70? >> oh, yes, nothing like highly paid very young television hosts mocking blue collar workers who think that 70 is kind of old to be standing on their feet on the job. 70. if you want to talk about cutting social security that is fine. it is not an unreasonable point of view. you're allowed to have it.