two-month extension and the senate isn't bulging either. bottom line, 160 million american paychecks are on the line. live with us this hour, house majority leader eric cantor and house democratic whip hoyer. newt gingrich and mitt romney are tied at the top. with two weeks to go in iowa is newt beginning to lose steam? and winter whiteout. a deadly pre-holiday blizzard blankets the heartland bringing travel to a stand still until several states. good day, i'm chris in for andrea today. in the "daily fix" they're being bombarded with negative advertising, most it paid for by mitt romney supporters, and he's on the defensive. >> tell them they ought to be ashame of themselves, take this junk off the air and don't hide behind bologna behind the super

pack that happens to be run by five offy former staff. that's just bologna. >> we out to let campaigns raise the money they need and get rid of these super packs. >> john harwood is cnbc chief correspondent. we knew going into this election it was going to be super pack, super pack, super pack. the time is upon us now. what do you make of it? do regular people, is this a washington fight about who is spending what on whom? do regular people, iowa voter, new hampshire voters, do they differentiate at all and does this matter in a meaningful way in terms of voting? >> they don't differentiate. and it does matter. these are mitt romney attacks on newt gingrich and they're working. we can see that from the polls. newt gingrich in some sense is paying the price for not having a campaign organization, not having raised the money that mitt romney has, for having a momentum-driven campaign that boosted up his poll numbers in

the last month but that makes him susceptible to what the better organized campaign shs and that's specifically newt romney can do to them and they're doing it right now. >> john, i want to play a little bit of the romney super pack is called restore our future. they're up with a new ad in iowa, some blistering stuff. let's play a little bit of that. >> you know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's baggage. newt has more baggage than the airlines. freddie mac helped cause the economic collapse but gingrich cashed in. freddie mac paid newt $30,000 an hour. >> you know, we only have an hour's worth of live television but it goes on to a while like that, john. how much do we think ads like this hurt gingrich? are people gettingeded indicated by mitt romney or at least his superpac about his record? >> i think so. ordinary media coverage and people focusing on newt gingrich but a lot of it is driven by

paid media. the ad is correct. barack obama is happy about news gingrich's baggage but they would be happier if newt gingrich would betemit romney in the primaries because mitt romney is trying to leverage that reality in these this campaign advertising attack. >> john harwood, thanks for your time. the house wants the senate to come back to washington to hash out the payroll tax cut extension. but harry reid says his members are done for the year. house majority leader eric cantor is right in the middle of all this and he joins us now. congressman, thank you. i know the house has just voted to reject the senate plan to send to it a conference committee. why not hold an up or down vote though, a yes or no vote, on what the senate passed with 89 votes? >> chris, what the house just did was it voted to reject the senate amendment and moved to go to conference. and so we did do that. we're looking to now see that

harry read do his job and the senate come back to town because what is now the case is the papers, the actual bill itself, is back in, in the senate and in the senate's hands. as we approach the christmas holidays and then the prospects of a new year, what we're saying is we want to provide families with some certainty. i think everybody in the town agrees that 60-day extension on tax policy is not the way to legislate. everyone from the president to the democratic leaders in the senate as well as everyone in the house believes that is what we ought to be doing and that is a position that be taken on behalf of the hardworking taxpayers in this country. >> congressman, i don't want to get too in the weeds here but there was not an up or down vote. i understand what you're saying procedurally rejected the senate bill but there was not a up of down vote. a lot of speculation that a lot of your more vulnerable members didn't want to be on the record saying we're opposed to what is an extension of a tax cut.

does this not look like the same kind of partisan mumbo jumbo that people are sick about whether it's done by republicans or democrats? >> chris, that's really a distinction without a difference. what we did was r was reject the senate bill, the 60-day extension, instead we're for a year. again, the president has hade he's for a year. the democratic leaders in the senate have said they're for a year and we're for a year. let's get this done. when negotiations broke down, we were very close. and all we have to do is to satisfy those narrow differences that we've got and go ahead and provide certainty to families, to businesses, so that they don't have to worry with their tax status is going to be for the entirety of next year. that's all we're saying. >> now, you -- the house is 50% of this, obviously the senate is the other 50%. harry reid has now said he will not appoint conferees.

you see the differences are narrow but how do we go forward if we don't have a conference committee? let me add, doesn't some of the burden lie in the house to find common ground with harry reid? >> absolutely. that's what we're saying. we want to sit down right now. we believe there is common ground on this issue and can provide some certainty in a full year's worth of tax relief for the working taxpayers of this country. and so now it's up to harry reid because the bill is back in the senate. and so if harry reid says he's not going to appoint conferees and go in and do his job, he'll have to answer to the american people. but what we're trying to say is, look, everyone in this town says 60-day extension of tax policy here is not a good thing to do. the president says inexcusable for us not to do a full year of tax relief for the working people of this country. let's do our job. we've got a few weeks here before the end of the year. harry reid needs to appoint conferees so we can iron out the

differences, find common ground, and go about compromising on this bill. again, we're not saying my way or the highway. it's harry reid now that's saying my way or the highway and is obstructing this process. >> congressman, this doesn't appear to be purely democratic versus republican issue. i know, mitch mcconnell and john boehner huddle and friday night. soon after that, the senate with lots and lots of republican votes, 89 total votes, passed a two of month extension. was there some kind of miscommunication or misunderstanding between mr. boehner yourself and mr. o'connell? otherwise, why does he go forward that otherwise 48 hours later reject? >> i was very clear with the senate in expressing my reservations and what harry reid wanted to do and said that our members feel, as do most americans, as does the president feel 60 days is not acceptable. come on, how can families plan on a two-month basis as to what their tax liabilities is going

to be as to how to deal with any of their expenses? that's what we're saying. we expressed that view. now it's up to harry reid because he provided the one opportunity for the vote in the senate that is an unacceptable policy. we're saying let's be reasonable. sit down and find out where we can resolve the differences and they're narrow. let's get the job done. >> i just want to highlight again, because i know that there are differences between harry reid and eric cantor and john boehner but seems like there are differences between republicans and democrats. let me read. is scott brown celebrity elected in a special election in a swing state of massachusetts up for re-election. scott brown on the house. we cannot allow rigid partisan ideology and unwillingness to compromise stand in the way of working together. now, dean hiller, another senator who used to be your colleague in the house, had similar things to say. is this not exposing a fisersure

not exposing what disagreeing with the strategic tact you guys are taking on this? >> i don't think so, chris, because if you look at what senator brown said after that in the same quote. he said he supports going to conference and ironing out the differences. it is not we who are being rigid, they are saying we are willing to sit down and compromise and continue the discussion so we can dot get this down for the working people of the country. harry reid is being obstructive saying it's his way or the highway. he's fiing fine, it's christmastime. new year is approaching. i think all of us can demonstrate to the people who put us here that washington can actually deliver results, recognizing that people are tired of hearing what can't be done in washington and we believe that things can be and we can provide this kind of certainty for the working people. >> let me ask you one other quick question, which is, there are a lot of headlines today that suggest john boehner does not have control of the republican conference, that he either agreed or seemed to

indicate he might agree to a of two-month extension but went to the conference and there simply weren't the votes there. is this a conference in chaos either in part or in hoel whole because you cannot wrangle the votes, the republican votes you would need on a payroll tax extension? >> absolutely not. john baner and i have always been together in saying we want a year's worth of tax relief for the working people in this country. our conference is overwhelmingly behind the sense, a much better path to make sure that we give some certainty to the working people. again, we're with everyone in this town and believes that's a better way. chris, if you think about it, people across this country are looking at this process wondering what's going on? i mean, why is it that everybody is for a year's extension but yet harry reid and the senate produced the 60-day, and frankly, a policy that's unworkable. you know, the people that are in the industry have said this can cause confusion, adding cost and uncertainty, why would we want to do that given the economic

times and trouble people are going through? >> house majority leader eric cantor, thank you for joining us on a busy day. i have a feeling this will not be the end of this conversation. >> thank you, chris. now to dangerous whiteout conditions from eastern new mexico to kansas. they're causing icy roads and chaos for travelers. the pre-holiday blizzard is being blamed for at least six deaths. weather channel meteorologist mike side is in garden city kansas with the latest. mike, what can you tell us? >> well, i can tell you, chris that the worst is over with as far as the falling snow and the wind. the winds are rung 15 to 20 miles an hour. windchills are around 10 and temperatures are in the mid 20s this afternoon here across the high plains. but the storm has really caused problems on the roadways. we still have parts of i-40 closed in new mexico and it's now reopened in the texas area around amarillo. we can show you some pictures around amarillo and around the area which was hit by this season opening blizzard. we also had not only a lot of

snow up to two feet but we had drifts as high as eight to ten feet in southeast colorado and that led to the traffic accidents around the area. behind me, this is garden city. and life is starting to come back to normal late this morning, early this afternoon. chris, because the roads are still in pretty bad shape, in fact, it's travel is impossible basically north, south, and west out of garden city. better weather ahead but it stays below freezing, chris. you want a white christmas, come out to kansas. most of the country will not have a white christmas thisa year. still ahead, we'll get the democrats' take on the payroll tax fight with democratic whip stanny hoyer. who is winning along conservatives? that all important block. and don't miss "the daily rundown quot "tomorrow. the one and only chuck todd will be on the road with a live interview with former massachusetts governor mitt romney. but lately we've been using k-y® intense™.

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new numbers from the "washington post" and abc news show newt gingrich's surge has lost steam while romney has pulled even with the former speaker. inside the numbers there are still some stark differences. for instance, gingrich still holds a commanding lead among the most conservative republicans, 36% to 22%. dan balls is my colleague and the senior national political correspondent for "the washington post." dan, let's get right into it. the conservative number seems to be important because we know people who are self identified conservative tend to be the ones most likely to vote. does that suggest that gingrich still has kind of a core strength there, or not? >> well, i think what it really says, chris, is that it's a reminder that governor romney's continuing to have trouble with that part of the republican base

and that's an important problem that he's got to overcome as this campaign goes forward. right now it's helpful to gingrich but the question is whether he can survive the attacks that are going on, particularly in iowa where he's being bombarded by negative ads. so things are pretty fluid right now. but i think it does remind us that governor romney does have a problem with the base. >> and you know, dan, i know you're like me, always liking to dig into the numbers. one of the numbers we found fascinating is what i was calling the authenticity gap. we ask'd great question, which of the candidates will say what he believes? 65% of people said they either had a great deal of good amount of belief that ron paul would say which he believes. gingrich, 52%. romney, 51%. these are republicans. this is a problem we've known for romney, do people believe him. does this speak to why we're talking about ron paul 14 days before the iowa caucuses?

>> i think in part it is. although, i would add this caveat, chris. ron paul is kind of non-politician's politician. i think people recognize that. they think he's less likely to hedge his bets or, you know, to care with his words or do things like other politicians sometimes do. i think that voters, even republican voters, tend to see both romney and gingrich as more traditional politicians who are, you know, who are more likely to say what they think they need to say to try to win support. it's clear if you watch ron paul in these debates he's prepared to say whatever he wants to say because he genuinely believes those things. some of them are quite controversial. i don't think it's a recognition of his overall support but i think it's a reason and why he has developed some support of signature kansz in e significance in iowa. >> we asked which position would hurt the most. 45% of the people said ron paul's position on iran, which

he talked quite a bit about in the last debate, made them less likely to vote for him. dan balz, my colleague and friend, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, chris. joining me now, brad woodhouse, communications director for the democratic national committee. brad, you just heard, dan and i were talking about iowa. i was fascinated by jim, if president's campaign manage, kind of low-key figure, he did a press briefing for reporters in which he said -- this last last week -- he said obama has more staffers on the ground in iowa than any of the other campaigns. obviously organizing in 2008 was a huge part of obama's success in the primary and general election. my question for you, there was so much enthusiasm around president obama last time around. we know from polling that that ennethusiasm has dimmed. can the organization make up for some of that enthusiasm gap? >> obviously we believe it can. i think there's more enthusiasm

there than some of the polls led on. we so v. seen that in the hunts of thousands of conversations if not millions of conversations that the campaign has had with supporters from last time. but i tell you, in iowa we are better organized. there are stories that both gingrich and romney in particular are scrambling to open offices, to organize. look, i'll tell you, chris, the republicans' approach to organizing it is almost rivalled by the approach to the middle class. they didn't think much of it. it hurt them in 2008 and i think it t will hurt them ban if we will leave iowa better organized than whoever wins iowa on the republican side. >> brad, in 2008 there was a lot of worries that the fight between barack obama and hillary clinton will be too much problem, too much money, too much attention. it went do to june but wound up being a good thing because president -- then senator obama and then senator clinton spent time registering lots and lots

of voters, excitement. is not the same thing true on the republican side if this race goes, you know, into march or april? don't they benefit from that same phenomenon? >> well, i don't think so. one different thing in 2008 was the country didn't know who barack obama was. so i think he was the one that benefitted the most from the long primary season that the democrats engaged in in 2008. people know mitt romney, they know newt geng dprich. the truth is there are a lot of polls that show the more they get to know them, the more they don't like them, the more their favibility ratings fall. and i think we've seens that campaign has gone on, republicans, mitt romney, newt gingrich, in particular have fallen in esteem, even in their own party, and we've seen the president's poll ratings most recently on the rise. >> brad woodhouse, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, chris. showdown on the hill. has john boehner lost control of his conference? the political briefing is next.

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politico briefing, chaos on capitol hill today with house and senate republicans moving in two very different directions on the payroll tax cut discussion that has politico asking, has john boehner lost control? very good question. politico's editor in chief john harris joins us now. john, we heard eric cantor at the top of the show essentially saying everything is fine. it's now the ball's in the court of the senate. john boehner and i agree on everything. but we're seeing fissures. >> i'm having a little trouble with audio. let's see if we can get that fixed in just a moment. >> john, the question i was asking is, do we know, is there, the reporting by politico, is there any evidence that we do see a split, whether it's between john boehner and eric cantor or whether it's between john boehner and eric cantor and the rest of the republican conference? sure looks like that from the outside? >> chris, your audio is just

coming back to me, i have the gist although i did not hear every word. as john allen and kim wrote this morning, john boehner has had a very, very difficult time under the best of circumstances. his job is hurting. there's clearly disarray among republicans over how to handle the confrontation with president obama over the payroll tax and that disarray difference between republicans in the senate or republicans in the house and clearly differences of strategy within the house has really put them in a compromise position where it's not clear that he is a leader who can get his team to follow up. >> and i would say, you know, eric cantor was on earlier and said he and boehner are united front but in truth we know that eric cantor has higher ambitions. eric cantor emerged to put his voice in the head of the tea party. how much do we i have that boehner speakership is in jeopardy, not in this one event but they didn't bring this up for a yes or no vote because they didn't want to pass it with

a bunch of democratic votes, right? >> that's my understanding. i don't think that speaker boehner's speakership is in trouble but it's a complicated job. and at least my reading of the situation, eric cantor isn't trying to provoke, in fact, he's taking pains to avoid a direct, you know, zero subconfrontation with john boehner. clearly relishes the role of being able to make it in a way, basically at will. >> thank you, john. sorry for the audio problems. we're going to go to jay carney, the white house spokesman at the white house briefing room now. >> more than 80% of republicans voted for it. i think all of you here are astute enough analysts of washington and congress to know that the reason they refused to vote on that bill is because it would have passed. it would have resulted in

absolute assurance that 160 million americans would not have their taxes go up on january 1st. and that is most unfortunate. it still is available, however, as an option for the house. they can take up the bipartisan compromise that passed overwhelmingly in the senate, the result of a neg yaotiation between the republican leader and the senate democratic leader, negotiation that was a result of a strategy agreed upon by senator reid, senator mcconnell, and speaker boehner, a result that was deemed by the speaker of the house to be a good deal in his conversation with his own colleagues, house republicans. we agree with that assessment. it is absolutely a bipartisan compromise. and it reflects the work that

the senate, dem leader, and senate republican leader achieved towards a year-long solution to extending the payroll tax cut. they worked very hard on that. senator reid worked very hard on that bipartisan compromise. they could not quite achieve it in the time allowed and passed a overwhelmingly bipartisan two-month extension as insurance to make sure their americans did not have their taxes go up in 11 days and 10 hour. 160 million americans. that is absolutely what must get done and the house still has that option. so we hope they take it. >> so what is the president going to do? is he going to do anything? >> he will continue to urge the house to do the responsible thing, not for him, not for democrats or republicans, not for party, but for the american

people. look, everyone is for now an extension of the payroll tax cut for a year. i would remind you that we are even in this position of trying to extend the payroll tax cut because the president has been pushing for it since september. everyone is now for it. all leaders of both houses are committed to extending it for a year, and we expect absolutely that that will happen. but as you know, last week and then on saturday, after negotiatio negotiations, bipartisan negotiations between senator mcconnell and senator reid and others, a decision was made that more work needed to be done to reach that full-year extension compromise and that as an insurance policy against raising taxes on 160 million americans, this two-month extension of the payroll tax cut was the right way to go. the kind of consensus that that

approach created is pretty unprecedented in washington. and definitely unprecedented in 2011 in washington. so we had 90% of the united states senate vote in favor of something that was a toughly negotiated compromise between democrats and republicans. i think as you've seen, when you ask what the president will ask congress to do or what the president will do, i mean, he will say what a agreeing number of senators are saying, they're saying, please, speaker boehner, please, to our colleagues in the house, support what is absolutely the right thing to do here. do not let taxes go up on 160 million americans in just 11 days. pass the extension. >> can he offer -- can the president offer my assurances to the american people that this will get done this year or are his hands tied and it's up to the speaker and the republicans.

>> well, in order for it to get done it has to pass the house. he -- this is one area where his executive authority does not extend. he cannot order the extension of the payroll tax cut. congress has to take action. he has worked very closely with leaders on the hill to reach this point. and again, i will point out to you, the president began in september calling for not just an extension of the payroll tax cut to put 1,0$1,000 extra this year in average american family's pockets but for an expansion of that, an expansion for the individual tax cut and he pushed for the -- he called for expanding it to small businesses. he did not get all that he wanted in this compromise. he didn't get that. he originally put forward a way to pay for it that asked congress to close subsidies and to close -- end corporate subsidies and loopholes and ask

the wealthiest americans to pay more. he didn't get that. he asked -- he supported the democratic proposal in the senate to pay for the payroll tax cut extension with a sur it is zurwhat we got was compromis worked out by senator reid that was good enough for 90% of the senate, good enough for the 80% of the republican members in the senate. and certainly the right thing to do for the country. >> that's white house press secretary jay carney making the case for the senate compromise. this comes just moments after house republicans rejected the senate compromise plan and pushed the plan into a conference committee which i would remind people senator majority leader harry reid said he won't op point members to. democrats are laying blame for the current standoff squarely at

the feet of the most conservative house members. >> it is just the extreme tea party element of the republicans in the house of representatives who are standing in the way of a tax cut for 160 million americans. >> pennsylvania republican congressman michaelly joins me now. congressman, thank you. i don't know you could hear but jay carney, white house press secretary making a direct case in 11 days 160 million americans are going to see a tax increase unless the house and senate act. are you and your colleagues, many of whom are freshman republicans, willing to push this all of the way out, from the outside this looks like a political game of chicken. do you turn the wheel or do you push your pedal to the metal? >> as you know, chris, this is my first time in congress. only been here 11 months. i come from the private business sector. from a private businessperson to say, you know what, we're going to give you certainty for the next two months. i think the house republicans

would like to give the gift that keeps on giving. a 12-month gift not a two-month extension. a two-months extension that's going to cost $30 billion. you can imagine me being in the automobile business,t

how this will hit people, this payroll tax increase if it is not -- if the tax cut is not extended. if you earned $50,000, your taxes will rise by $1,000. if you earn $75,000, taxes will rise by $1500. >> yes. >> this is real money for people at time of continued economic anxie anxiety, tension, people worrying about christmastime, certainly worrying, are they able to provide for the family, what the future holds. what do you say to those people of both the small businessmen and members of congress? >> as a small business -- let me make this point. i own not only pay as an employee, i pay in as an employer. so i do understand. i've done it for 57 years. my family has. first of all, are we talking about a payroll tax cut that gives you 100 and what, 60 dollars for the next two months? or next 12 months knowing toer sure you have $1,000. a lot of people have automatic deposits and automatic

withdrawals. we're playing with people paychecks over a political football here. this is absolutely ridiculous. i would never accept it in my business and, quite frankly, would you go to any model that's working at $15 trillion in the red and say, you folks need to tell us how to run our business. i would never take advice on a model like this. the american people are understanding right now what's going on. they get it. they know what we're trying to do is give them certainty for 12 full months. not two months kick the can down the road routine. >> the house republican leadership today decided not to have an up or down vote on the senate compromise but rather to reject it and send it to conference committee, essentially allowing vulnerable republican members to not vote against a payroll tax increase. as someone who is new to congress, was that the right thing for the leadership to do or should you have voted up or down on this? >> here's the one thing i know. last week we voted to give the american people a one full year

extension. now we come back to conference. we passed a bill, the senate, the senate passed a bill, sent it back to us. we're saying we agree on some points of it. we need to come back in and fix it for the american people. i -- this gets twisted and turned a lot of different ways but at the end of the day what's best for the american people? not what's best for republicans and not what's best for democrats, what's best for the american people. let the seniors now that in two months from now your doctor is going to see you because it's fixed in there for two kraers, not two months. we have to be practical and straight for ward. we are working as hard as we can. i will work through christmas. i've worked every christmas eve and new year's day. my family is used to me not being home on holidays because that's how i put food on the table and clothes on their back. i would make the same commitment from the people of pennsylvania who sent me. i'm not looking for a way out. i'm looking for a way to get it done. >> thanks. from the very heated domestic policy, to foreign

policy, in egypt are women are leading the charges against the ruling military. today hundreds of women marched through central cairo calling on the nation's generals to give up power. it was sparked by the disturbing images of a woman who is dragged half naked through the street and starched on. michael singh is a former member of the national security council and is now managing director of the washington institute. long title. i want to make sure i get it might. michael, what do we make of this? where is it coming from? is it sparked specifically by this one incident, the power of that video? was there more underlying this or is this a single incident and it will go away in a few days or do we expect more? >> it's a bit of a snowball effect, chris. obviously those images are atrocious. these women being dragged through the streets and beating an kicked. it's terrible. secretary clinton and i called that out very appropriately. but, you know, essentially there's disaffection, unhappiness with the rule of the

military council and with the economy and, of course, the protests in the streets. and making the economic situation worse. it's like a downward spiral, essentially. and all this unhappiness masks deeper fundamental issues in egypt. there are questions on what is the continuing role of the military council. are they going to have a privileged position or not? what is the solution to get them out of doldrums and what is the religion going to be in egypt this is something no one has a clear vision. that's a problem. frankly, the political elections that the protesters are calling for are not going to help. >> to your credit i remember you and i having a conversation several months ago in which you said, yes, we've moved on and this is progress, but what's next is the issue. you mentioned, i thought interesting, hillary clinton said yesterday in georgetown, she said egyptians are specifically targeting women. you agree with with that.

was there any sense that this -- that there will be a world outcry beyond what we're seeing, obviously in egypt, but a world outcry if we have our lead diplomat saying this is a specific target eed campaign at women in the country. >> there should be a world outcry. it's not just women. it's minorities. there were these terrible events in october, for example, directed against christians. but more importantly, there's an outcry in egypt. the sight of women being stripped and beaten on the streets is one which i think is very offensive in a conservative society like egypts and it's going to bring more people out in streets. >> more to come, michael singh, thanks for your time. up next, house democratic whip steny hoyer ways in live on "andrea mitchell reports." honey, check your email! [ cellphone chimes ] [ cat yodeling ] kids! [ cat yodeling ]

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coming up, we're following the latest on the deadly blizzard that lost six lives and brought travel to a stand still highways, shut down in five

states leaving thousands of people stranded and more snow is on the way. we'll have the latest. republican congressman jack kingston will join me live. now that house republicans have backed themselves into a corner according to critics, what's next in the payroll tax fight? also expecting to hear from house speaker john boehner within the hour. we'll bring that to you live. and it's a super bowl first that has nothing to do with the halftime show or the team's playing. it's all about you, we'll give you the details next on "news nation." >> house republicans want to go back to the drawing board to rework the payroll tax cut extension but congressional democrats say that's not going to happen. maryland congressman steny hoyer is house minority whip. thanks for joining me. i know it's a busy day. obviously you know the house has rejected the senate plan and say they want to go to a conference committee. harry reid has said we're not even going to appoint conferees.

what's the harm of appointing conner frfe conferees that something gets done by congress? >> i think harry reid is certainly willing to talking about trying to reach agreement. in fact, he's been doing that for months now. and every time he's offered something on the floor of the senate, it's been rejected by house republicans. finally, they got to an agreement. finally they came to an agreement how to do it, and albeit it's in the short term. we all want a long-term solution but we have a short-term solution. what that short-term solution does is to give certainty to 160 million americans that they're at going to get a tax increase in january. to 48 million americans that we're not going to put your medicare doctor services at risk. and 2.3 million americans have unemployment insurance is not going to go away. it's a short term. no doubt about that, we want a

year. harry reid, i'm convinced, has said he is willing to sit down and talk about how to get to a long-term agreement. but you understand, he's been working on that for months. he has failed. what he doesn't want to do is put at risk over the expectation for in 14 days they can do what they couldn't have done in months. john mccain -- excuse me, senator o'connell, said this bill, that is the senate bill which got 89 votes, was designed to pass, designed to solve the immediate problem so it would give them time to solve the long-term problem. harry reid's prepared to do that. we have a motion to instruct on the floor of the house that's going to be voted on very soon. it was a bipartisan vote that we got on the conference report. there were a number of republicans voted to accept the senate bill by voting against going to conference. we believe that the most

rational common sense certainty creating position that we can take now is to take the senate bill, which is a short-term solution, and then work for the next 15, 30, 45, 60 days on coming to agreement on a long-term solution. but people have been watching the congress and that's tough to get done and certainly tough to get done in the short term. and very frankly, speaker boehner sent a bill, a house rf representatives sent a bill to the zent senate that was designed to nail. he knew it was not going to pass the senate. >> congressman, i want -- two things. first of all, scott brown who we mentioned earlier, massachusetts senator, he put out a statement, i want to read it. it angers me that husband republicans would rather continue playing politics than find solutions. i can't imagine that makes john boehner or eric cantor happy. speaking of eric cantor. we had him on the show earlier. i want to play what he said about harry reid and then come back and talk about it. >> the bill is back in the senate. and so if harry reid says that he's not going to appoint

conferees, that he's not going to go in and do his job, he will have to answer to the american people. >> congressman, the question i have for you is that, at the end of the day if you're an average person who is just trying to make ends meet, what you see is more dysfunction from congress. how do you avoid if you're a democrat and spend a lot of time in democratic politics, how do you avoid this being a pox on both of your houses and who has the high ground on it? >> chris, i agree with you. it's important on not only who has the high ground but the right ground. clearly the american public is just saying, look, get the job done, fellas. make sure that we are certain of what's going to happen on january 1st. well, the senate has done that. they did it with 39 republicans out of 47 voting for it. they did it with 50 democrats voting for it. 90% of the senate said, look, this is an agreement which will give us certainty and give confidence andal l al landallay.

they rejected it after speaker boehner said he was for it. moving forward. what harry reid is saying, look, for months i've been working on trying to get a have been workio get a deal. we weren't able to get a deal. we have an agreement finally. that's what the american public has to see. that will allow us to work. what he is saying is pass this and give us time. if you think we can get to an agreement, speaker boehner i understand the president made no substantive suggestions of what his caucus could agree to. >> i just want to return to the point which is the average person watching us, i'm not disagreeing with you on the back and forth, but the average person watching this sees democrats and republicans playing politics while we are 11 days away from the family $1,000

ta increase. is there a burden on you. you have been in politics a long time and in the house a long time. can compromise happen here? does compromise have to happen even if you believe you are meeting republicans 80% of the way. is it incumbent to say you know what, given the stakes, we have to find a way to make a deal. >> we did do that. >> that's what harry reid and mitch mcconnell did. they came to an agreement what the american people want. get the job done. they sent it over here and the speaker thought it was a good bill and it ought to pass, but the tea part faction said no way. the problem we have found frankly we would shut down government if the tea party faction had control.

we wouldn't have paid our debts or passed any appropriation bills if the tea party faction in the house prefailed. it didn't. we are seeing that we can't go that partisan confrontational route. >> i will end it on come to an agreement. thanks for joining us. >> you bet. >> what are political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we will be back with that. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups.

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the next 24 hours we will be watching the game of chicken with democrats and republicans. let's hope it gets resolved. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall has a look it's what's next. hi, tamron. >> good thing nobody has $10,000 on whether to bet. incredible breaking news. two storms abreuing.

the deadly blizzard and mother nature claimed six lives and thousands of people are stranded as a result of this awful storm and the other storm brewing, on capitol hill. the house is just rejected a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. i will talk with republican congressman jack kingston who said it would be reckless to accept the senate's take it or leave it extension. that's his viewpoint of it. plus, you tube's list of the top viral political videos of 2011. this one made the cut. what else is on the list? "news nation" is minutes away. when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. [ record scratches ] ...and over [ record scratches ] probably isn't giving results you want. discover neosporin® lip health™. shown to restore visibly healthier lips in just 3 days.

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two big storms browing. one on capitol hill and one by mother nature. we begin with breaking news in the storm that could certainly be called a human-made crisis. the showdown on capitol hill over extending the tax cut and we are