kelly, the house majority leader eric cantor issued a warning and optics matter and to see that shot in the middle of everything else makes it even more interesting. >> reporter: it it can certainly ir rate voters. the practical side those members not at the table negotiating things like the fiscal cliff and the role is something to vote on and so getting back to their districts, some of them say to you having a chance to talk with voters at home is valuable. many of them have fairly packed schedules for events at home but then you have to weigh it against the appearance of people leaving the capitol and does that suggest to people at home they aren't really as nose to the grindstone as they might be? it's an eye of the beholder moment and when you talk about a lame duck congress, here we are with many of these members waiting to have their new colleagues come in this january and tackle some of the big problems and looming deadlines. how do they shake it snout over time we have seen that the lake duck sessions are sometimes not very productive. not a lot going on. but we're certainly

. >> just in the last few moments, the house majority leader eric cantor, has said that he believes the republican leadership has the votes to get the so-called plan b through the house when they vote on it thursday. the problem, though, is that senator reid says it would never get through the senate. so we're basically back to square one. forget about plan b. now we may have to go to c or d or e, one of those. >> shepard: all right. ed henry, thanks. there is apparently optimism. in fact, there is that a budget deal could be near and it showed on wall street. in fact, for every two stocks that fell, nearly three finished in the green. the dow jumped by the end of the session 116 points. nasdaq up 44. the s & p 500 climbed some 16 to close at a two-month high. >>> today marks one year since the last u.s. combat troops left iraq. america still has a huge presence in baghdad. the u.s. embassy there is as large as vatican city with almost 200 american troops providing embassy security and handling sales of u.s. arms to the iraqis. it may be a preview of the future of afghanistan in which t

eric cantor, the majority leader is a bit different. somewhat younger than boehner, a very clever guy, very, very ambitious, he has his own channel interesting than the obama white house's vice president i. they're very close in a sort of need each other as information sources and they believed it was biden who is leaking to eric cantor is speaker boehner was pursuing separate talks with obama during the so-called talks of which eric cantor was livid and ultimately what data this talks almost certainly because the dynamics going on with honor. that is the excuse he gave was that democrats will low. this is how childish you? >> guest: the question i'm going to ask is if eric cantor what passed john boehner, he wouldn't hesitate to push them, would you? >> guest: is it even-tempered sort. unless the moment is absolutely right, you tend not to get ahead of declaring a mutiny. >> host: said there senescence? >> interestingly, working more in the middle is the majority whip, kevin mccarthy. the carthy has been in for three terms and so in a

eric cantor told them to be prepared to be in session through january 2nd. so remember yesterday we talked about optics, how bad it was for them to look like they weren't going to be in washington, d.c. they no longer have that problem. john boehner, one member who is on that conference call earlier today, told me, he said we're going to see what the senate has to do and what they will give us. he also made clear that he would not be comfortable putting a bill on the floor that would need all democratic votes to pass and only a handful of republicans. meaning as of right now, john boehner is sticking by the hastert rule. that's very significant because he feels that maybe they get something large scale if they can get a lot of republicans or this is just all for show to show the american people they're still there to the end. >> hold on. 6:30 on sunday? i mean, as harry reid pointed out, that's 48 hours. i mean, in terms of the optics and as you said, it's conference calls and no real details coming from the house republicans on what it is they would accept

eric cantor seen as the chief threat to boehner in the immediate future didn't like them either. it was a consensus decision by tee party republicans and republican leadership and walter jones from north carolina. this is a guy republicans have had it in for half a decade now. he's been an outspoken critic of the iraqi war. the bigger issue with boehner is the story of his entire speakership. it's poorly matched for the moment to have the position of speaker, because he's been in congress for more than 20 years. he was a mag mattic guy for much of his career. no child left behind, and he found himself next in line and then it tea party stuff in 2010. suddenly all the conservatives took over the house, and you know, they never trusted him. the tea party people don't trust him and the conservatives on talk radio don't trust him. if there's a deal on the fiscal cliff, if there's going to be a deal before january 1st, there will be rate increases of some sort. boehner can't be the guy to lead republicans to that, because they don't trust him and looking for sign of a sellout. what he

cantor hit the president over taxes in the last hour. want to play that for everybody. >> the president has said on a daily basis that we should be passing a balanced plan. but what we hear from the president is continuing only discussion on one side of the ledger. it has always been about tax rate increases and nothing about spending. >> talking about a balanced plan here, eric cantor slamming the president, when the president came back the new white house counteroffer revenue from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion, the gop saying that they want the spending cuts in addition to the taxes but the problem is the taxes, period. is there any way for the white house to make the talk about an increase palatable so that the right looks like they're moving forward, so john boehner looks like he's moving up from his number? >> well, the only way they make that look palatable is if they actually put some serious spending cuts on the table. what we saw yesterday was fancy accounting by washington officials. we don't have serious spending cuts. even f

eric cantor the majority leader says the ball will be in the president's court. take a listen. >> and the president has a decision to make. he can support these measures or be responsible for reckless spending and the largest tax hikes in american history. >> here is the problem for eric cantor and speaker boehner tonight. they had guaranteed they would have the votes to pass so-called plan b the tax portion but just raising taxes over a million dollars a year. that picture you showed about recess subject to the call of the chair that's washington speak for they don't have the votes to pass that plan shep. so right now they are behind the scenes breaking arms trying to get enough republicans to pass. this they may or may not be able to do that tonight. if they don't it, will show they wasted even more time and are that much closer to the cliff without a plan that makes it through the house tonight, shep. >> shepard: it's a drama we will watch throughout the night. we will report live once we know exactly what they have decided. investigators are reportedly examin

eric cantor is willing to dig in his heels and keep everyone working over the christmas holidays. >> the president seems to be walking us ever so slowly towards the cliff. we've said we're committed to staying here. we're going to stay here right up until christmas eve, throughout the time and period before the new year. >> somebody get that man a corn cob pipe. but if mr. cantor and his republican counterparts want to ruin the holidays for everyone by holding the middle class hostage to the rich, well, santa's got a list he'd like you to know about. >> coal is a lot heavier than toys. i don't want to have to come back here in two weeks with a bag full of coal for those too naughty to do the right thing for our children and families. >> boehner and the boys, you better not cry, you better not pout. let's get right to our panel now. here in new york with us we're delighted to have sir richard wolffe, vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. and msnbc contributor jared bernstein a former economist for vice president joe biden. and with us from washington is democratic strategi

eric cantor looking right over his shoulder. you could make the argument that cantor is the big player who is not in the room. because if boehner does a deal with the president and goes back and tries to get the republicans to vote for it in the house and cantor says no, where are we? the president, calm, cool and collected and remembering what this election is all about. get your cell phones out. tonight's question. will republicans punish e speaker boehner for trying to work with the president? text a for yes, b to no to 622639. we'll bring the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is congressman emanuel cleaver from missouri. great to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> i'd like to talk about the congressional black caucus if i could. they have been very, very strong about do not touch the entitlements, we're not going to move on this. so you have the president not moving on rates. you have your caucus moving on entitlements. although you said the democratic leadership -- you said you could support means t

eric cantor said republicans want to sit down with the president. we want to talk specifics. but the fact that we can't include any in our plan -- >> we're saving them up. >> stephanie: right. aids are speculating that obama is willing to let america go over the cliff -- >> by the they are not a tax increase, they are cuts that were supposed to expire years ago. >> stephanie: thank you. the size of the problem cannot be solved without taxes going up. >> we can probably solve this in about a week. it's not that tough. but we need the conceptual break through that says we need to do an balanced plan. >> stephanie: someone is going to do that internet thing with hitler -- >> oh, they already have. >> oh, several versions. >> stephanie: yeah. okay. the president. >> i'll be here and i'll be available at any moment said the president about getting serious to solve this problem. >> stephanie: oh that's boner. >> serious amount of bourbon. >> stephanie: serious liquor. not the kids kind of liquor. he also accused the president of shifting the goal post. >> i'm shifting the goal post

. >> let's do something a little more top call, which is john boehner and eric cantor. even politico was saying a year ago they call for a truce, their staffs were trying to find a way to work together. speaker vote is coming up january 3rd. boehner had a bad beating in that plan b vote. >> i think the main thing that boehner has going for him in the rivalry is he has the worst job in the world. >> is it really the worst job in the world? >> certainly the worst job in congress. speaker boehner has to sit there and eat a lot of stuff you wouldn't necessarily want to eat because there are a lot of republicans who basically want to emote, they want to act up and speaker boehner just has to take it and try to hammer deal and eric cantor, if he goes into boehner's role, he has to do the same thing boehner wants to do. >> the starting quarterback hates the number two quarterback and boehner, if he was smart, he should have dispatched him a long time ago and said, young man, i'm going to put you out to pasture if you pull that crap on me again. he made a mistake over the debt

. >> bayne never >> holman: in his appearance earlier, boehner, flanked by majority leader eric cantor, sounded doubtful, but said he's willing to try. >> how we get there, god only knows. all i'm telling you is that eric and i, and our team here are committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol, and the white house to address that. >> holman: still, as the capitol emptied for the holiday, the clock was ticking down to more than $500 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes kicking in. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and gerson-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist michael gerson. david brooks is off tonight. gentlemen, good to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> woodruff: so mark, the fiscal cliff, it's still with us. it's still out there. the president made a last minute statement late this afternoon. where does everything stand? >> nobody knows, judy. what happened last night in the republican caucus is precedent shatteng. i mean it really is. that john boeer could not get a majority of

. >> bayne never >> holman: in his appearance earlier, boehner, flanked by majority leader eric cantor, sounded doubtful, but said he's willing to try. >> how we get there, god only knows. all i'm telling you is that eric and i, and our team here are committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol, and the white house to address that. >> holman: still, as the capitol emptied for the holiday, the clock was ticking down to more than $500 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes kicking in. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and gerson-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist michael gerson. david brooks is off tonight. gentlemen, good to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> woodruff: so mark, the fiscal cliff, it's still with us. it's still out there. the president made a last minute statement late this afternoon. where does everything stand? >> nobody knows, judy. what happened last night in the republican caucus is precedent shattering. i mean it really is. that john boehner could not get a majorit

. >> yes, those gyrations include majority leader eric cantor introducing a second bill to bust a move alongside plan b, one that would replace the automatic defense cuts set to kick in at the new year and instead make additional cuts to programs including food stamps, meals on wheels, the affordable care act, and transportation services for the disabled. merry christmas to you. and while the president was visiting wounded troops at walter reed hospital this afternoon, speaker boehner was trotting out his same old tired talking points about slow walking toward the cliff. >> president obama and senate democrats haven't done much of anything. their plan b is to slow walk us over the fiscal cliff. i did my part. they've done nothing. >> you can't see it there, but just behind the podium, those are the gyrations harry reid is talking about. let's bring in nbc's mike viqueira who is live for us on capitol hill. mike, what on earth is going on? in simple terms, what is going on? >> reporter: well, you know, martin, a lot of people are asking the same question you're asking, and that is is th

eric cantor saying nothing is happening? if it is accurate assessment, how worry are you about the deadline that's a couple weeks away? >> well, to be charitable to the majority leader, that it's the specificity of his proposal is lacking itself. clearly, first of all, chris, as you know, congress has got to be here in order to work. and we've been in session the fewest times in the history of any congress in recent memory. and that, with the enormous task that we face in front of us of both putting country back to work, first and foremost, and then dealing with tax cuts for the middle class, which will create the kind of certainty that every single person of all stripe, whether in the middle class, lower middle or very wealthy, we have a bill waiting to be taken up in the house of representatives that the president will sign. and we can easily put people back to work address our infrastructure problems, underscore it by what happened in the northeast with sandy and the commitment between a new jersey governor and the presid

has john boehner and the rest of them, cantor, eric cantor, haven't heard much of him throughout this whole thing. paw ryan, paul ryan budget mfte out yesterday saying he's in favor of plan b. all of them together after the election whipping, is the republican party still looked at as the party of economic growth? the message you outlined with which i basically agree, that jack kemp sends a message, keep tax rates -- flat tax -- has the gop lost that message? >> they certainly don't articulate it to the extent we would like. they tend to leap right into the details and forget to frame the case, and you hear this all the time. if you listen to talk radio. not the republican talk radio, but anywhere else, if they're reporting on a news event, and it's unfortunate, because, really, what the republicans are about is helping those 23 million americans who don't have a job get a job, and obama is spending more money taking it out of the private secretarier into more government spending is not the way to get us to 4% growth. >> just capping deductions, gone from the private sector to the --

eric cantor looking right over his shoulder. you could make the argument that cantor is the big player who is not in the room. because if boehner does a deal with the president and goes back and tries to get the republicans to vote for it in the house and cantor says no, where are we? the president, you have to give him credit, calm, cool, collected, holding the line and remembering what this election is all about. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. will republicans punish speaker boehner for trying to work with the president? text a for yes, b to no to 622639. you can always go to our blog and leave a comment. we'll bring the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is congressman emanuel cleaver from missouri. congressman, great to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> you bet. i would like to talk about the congressional black caucus if i could. they have been very, very strong about do not touch the entitlements, we're not going to move on this. so you have the preside

if possible he could wait through monday and eric cantor threatened that today. he said "we might stay here all weekend." the senate is intending to come back next thursday and deal with it then. >> the critical point here is will john baner be willing to bring up a bill in the house that's a compromise that may require more democratic votes than republican votes? that is anathema to him, but it may be the only way out of thiss me. >> brown: norm ornstein, christina bellantoni, thanks so much. >> suarez: still to come on the "newshour": targeting pakistan's polio eradication workers; state department security failures; the pros and cons of saving versus spending and north dakota's senator elect. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: amid the fiscal cliff fight, members of the house and senate paid final respects today to the late senator daniel inouye. the hawaii democrat died monday at the age of 88. he had served as a u.s. senator for five decades. inouye's body lay in state in the capitol rotunda, an honor that's been b

his deputies, eric cantor, mccarthy, were both there when plan b was introduced and failed to be introduced. so the logical successors weren't there. >> so paul ryan is the person who has the support of the house of speakers. those who don't like boehner, don't love boehner, they love paul ryan. he was whipping plan b. so paul ryan, probably the most high-profile guy who could be a consensus candidate getz boehner. he's not running against barren. he's not even interesting. >> if the president get this through, and it i know it's a big if -- he has to know goes yags. >> you're always going to have to include john boehner. he's speaker of the house. i think you're making a fair point that the power of house republicans to drive the debate is being underquestioned right now. people are going to look to this experience as to how john bane err may or may not be able to drive this discussion. >> sam, on this kind of deal, there's always last-minute horse trading. things get thrown on the paper and the base finds out and gets upset. what gets him upset when he's trying to get it done by the end o

house majority leader eric cantor says the house could be in session until january 2nd, the day before the new congress is sworn in. boehner, meanwhile, maintains that it's up to the senate to act first. >>> millions of americans may watch the ball drop new year's eve in times square, but a group of democrats is organizing its own ball drop on capitol hill. they'll launch their countdown today. their ball represents republicans dropping the ball on middle class families should lawmakers fail to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. >>> new this morning, iran's state television is reporting the country's navy started training drills in the strait of hormuz. that area sees 20% of the oil pass through it. the state tv report says that the programs include more ships, submarines and jet fighters. they've warned other ships to stay away from the site until after the new year. >>> melissa mollet joins us from the live desk with more. good morning, melissa. >> good morning. the search is on for 23 pakistani policemen who appear to have been kidnapped by the taliban. they went missing thursd

i think you probably just heard what eric cantor had to say, that the president is walking us toward the cliff. what do you say? >> the ball's in the republican court. we have already enacted over $1 trillion of spending cuts since the bowles-simpson recommendations came out. we have done $1 billion in spending cuts. >> there is some indication that that's part of the concern right now, that's part of why they're not getting a deal, because the democrats want to include that $1 trillion with the rest of the cuts, and in fact, the republicans are saying you can't add that in, you can't get credit for that now, we have to start from zero. >> wait a minute. that spending caps apply not just this year but out in the future. we have enacted discretionary control of spending that will bring real savings. the next piece needs to be the bill that we passed over to the house that provides the tax certainty to the taxpayers of this country for the first $250,000 of taxable income. that's the next major piece. do we have to go beyond that, absolutely. we're prepared to go beyond that. but to sa

. >> bayne never >> holman: in his appearance earlier, boehner, flanked by majority leader eric cantor, sounded doubtful, but sa he' wilingo try. >> how we get there, god only knows. all i'm telling you is that eric and i, and our team here are committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol, and the white house to address that. >> holman: still, as the capitol emptied for the holiday, the clock was ticking down to more than $500 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes kicking in. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and gerson-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist michael gerson. david brooks is off tonight. gentlemen, good to have youit us. >> good to be with you. >> woodruff: so mark, the fiscal cliff, it's still with us. it's still out there. the president made a last minute statement late this afternoon. where does everything stand? >> nobody knows, judy. what happened last night in the republican caucus is precedent shattering. i mean it really is. that john boehner could not get a majority of his

house majority leader eric cantor is telling his members to be prepared to work through january 2nd. both sides are still far apart on taxes and spending cuts. harry reid says prospect deals by monday are unlikely. minority leader mitch mcconnell says there's still time for an agreement. >> republicans aren't likely to sign a blank check just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. that wouldn't be fair to the american people. >> now, a new reuters poll shows americans blame republicans more than democrats or president obama for the fiscal crisis. and when asked who they held more response, 27% said the gop, 6% pointed to the dems and 30% said all of the above. for more on this, we're joined by christian schultz from barronberg bank. welcome. so we're going over the fiscal cliff. >> well, the consumer confidenc already be over the cliff in terms of confidence already. that might already be the first impact of the crisis of -- not of the crisis, but yes of the fiscal cliff. it seems we have this moment where this animal goes over the cliff, all limbs are still rotating aro

at the same time, gop majority leaders including eric cantor met with small business owners. cantor blamed the president for being obsessed wtih raising taxes. the president says he won't budge on higher taxes for the top 2%. the stock market rallied yesterday after bloomberg news reported 40 republicans have joined a bipartisan call to break the budget impasse. california shipping ports in l.a. and long beach are back in action. an eight-day strike started by clerical workers over the outsourcing of jobs has ended. an additional 10,000 port workers refused to cross the picket lines, which crippled cargo deliveries. the clerical union is expected to vote on whether to ratify the agreement in about 2 weeks. while shippers and workers have worked out a deal, the national retail federation warns it's possible retailers could get left with some bare shelves during the holidays if the strike continued. plans are moving forward to allow big box retailers to do business in india. for years, walmart and other u.s. companies have been battling to set up shops there. the indian governm

john boehner, eric cantor, other leading republican leaders are saying there is a no go here. the president has to put something else on the table. the president is saying that is a no go as well. we're at a standstill. it is a deadlock. and we'll be right back. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and multiply. polident is specifically designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way than brushing with toothpaste. that's why i recommend using polident. [ male announcer ] polident. cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. [ male announcer ] lifts to clear obstacles. ♪ lowers to cut drag. rises to every challenge. the class exclusive air suspension in the new 2013 ram 1500. engineered to move heaven and earth. guts. glory. ram. guts. glory. have led to an increase intands clinical depression. drug and alcohol abuse is up. and those dealing with grief don't have access to the professional help they need. when you see these issues, do

. >> with congress's christmas vacation hanging in the balance, eric cantor delivered the news. lawmakers plan to spend the holidays if washington. >> the president seems to be walking us ever so slowly toward the cliff. we've said we're committed to staying here. we're going to stay here right up until christmas eve throughout the time and period before the new year. because we want to make sure we resolve this. >> one thing that is clear, the american people want to send -- see an end to the standoff over the fiduciary fiasco by news years day. a majority of all democrats and republicans say they would like their leaders to compromise, even if it means giving ground on long held party positions. expectations are in check. 48% to 48% whether a deal will actually get done. if there's no agreement, 56% say both sides will be to blame. 24% say it will be the republicans' fault and 19% will point the finger at the president. twice as many people said they trusted obama's hand willing of the fiasco. talks as opposed to boehner although 29% trusted neither. one thing that could embol

eric cantor was a part. this may cantor livid and he walked out of those talks because of the dynamics going on with boehner. does this sound childish to you? >> the question i'm going to ask is that eric cantor walked past john boehner leaving out an open window -- window he would not hesitate to push him with a? >> for one 11 thing boehner is an even tempered so is boehner. unless the moment is absolutely right you tend not to be able to get ahead by declaring. >> the there is a -- between cancer and boehner. >> working more or less in the middle is the majority whip kevin mccarthy. mccarthy has, he has only been in for three terms and so in a lot of ways he is a freshman himself and he recruited a number of the freshman and became an away sort of the big brother to them. it was a very clever move on mccarthy's part because the freshman many times they have behaved and then the straw that has stirred the drink of the 112th congress. anybody who knows they are whims and their sentiment, kevin mccarthy. mcca

majority leader eric cantor. >> we protect 99-- 99.81% of american taxpayers from a tax increase in these very whfficult economic times. >> reporter: that wasn't good fluff for some conservatives who said taxes should not go up for anybody. to placate them speaker boehner introduced a second bill cutting spending by about $200 billion. the whitehouse says the reason that you are resorting to plan b is because you realize you didn't have as much republican support as you wanted for your own proposal in fiscal cliff negotiations, is that true? >> listen, the president knows that i have been able to keep my word on every agreement we've ever made. the fact is, is that his plan is not balanced. and as a result, time is running short. i'm going to do everything i can to protect as many americans from an increase in taxes as i can. short. ha reporter: majority leader harry reid said even if plan b passed house it would be dead on arrival in the senate. >> we not going to do anything to protect the tea party-driven hat ership in the house. it's not what the american eyople want. it's not what th

this is the number two republican in the house of representatives, house majority leader eric cantor. he is holding a news conference all about the fiscal cliff that is expected to be voted on, well, the plan b that we were just talking about, speaker boehner's plan. about expected to be voted on today. he is saying he is in favor of that bill. let's listen in. >> vote on the one million dollar cuttoff. making it more difficult to negotiate with the president? >> listen, our members understand that the nation faces largest tax increase in its history come january 1, 2013. this bill is a bill that provide permanent tax relief for taxpayers earning a million dollars and under. we protect 99.81% of american taxpayers from a tax increase in these very difficult economic times. we hope that the senate will take this bill up along with the spending reduction act and get the job done in lieu of, or absent any kind of agreement coming from the white house. we are again taking concrete actions to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> mr. leader, i know that this bill was presented last night, sequester,

house majority leader eric cantor urged democrats to support the bill which extends the bush tax cuts on income over 1 million. >> we house republicans are taking concrete actions to avoid the fiscal cliff. absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option. and senate democrats should take up both of these measures immediately. and the president has a decision to make. he can support these measures or be responsible for reckless spending and the largest tax hike in ameran histy. >> rose: the white house has pledged to veto plan b as 2012 comes to a close it remains to be seen whether law lakers will rise above partisanship or avert fiscal crisis. joining me al hunt and july yana goldman. we want to talk about the fiscal cliff. we want to talk about white house appointments. we want to talk about gun control and we want to talk about hearings on capitol hill involving benghazi. but i'm pleased to have my friend julianna goldman and al hunt. and al joins me this evening in recognizing that i didn't have a tie, so he joins me. so thank you, sir. >> i love the l

house majority leader eric cantor urged democrats to support the bill which extends the bush tax cuts on income over 1 million. >> we house republicans are taking concrete actions to avoid the fiscal cliff. absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option. and senate democrats should take up both of these measures immediately. and the president has a decision to make. he can support these measures or be responsible for reckless spending and the largest tax hike in american history. >> rose: the white house has pledged to veto plan b as 2012 comes to a close it remains to be seen whether law lakers will rise above partisanship or avert fiscal crisis. joining me al hunt and july yana goldman. we want to talk about the fiscal cliff. we want to talk about white house appointments. we want to talk about gun control and we want to talk about hearings on capitol hill involving benghazi. but i'm pleased to have my friend julianna goldman and al hunt. and al joins me this evening in recognizing that i didn't have a tie, so he joins me. so thank you, sir. >> i love t

cantor standing behind him with a knife in his kidney. just waiting for him to move the wrong way a lot of those people are not going to be in the congress next year so i think boehner is going to have an easier time my guess we'll see but my guess is this is going to be played out for as we could january alfredo in mountain view california hail freddo thanks for calling tonight here our last caller we have just a little less than a minute left. i just wanted to point out of the end that to me there's no difference between both parties republicans and democrats represent corporate interests. and i like the body to. not only caught my interest but i'm going to change the we tried to. get your point and i don't disagree with the both parties are to a large extent beholden to corporate power and billionaires but that said we have basically a two party system because the first past the post winner take all elections we can either go with this or are voting for a more parties in or you can show up at your local democratic party or republican p

. >> house majority leader eric cantor says more needs to be done about spending right now. >>> meanwhile, public policy polling conducted an unusual survey to test american knowledge about debt reduction policy. people were asked what they thought of the panetta burns planning, something that doesn't even exist. one-fourth of the people took a stance on it anyway. 8% are in support by golly. 17% opposed. >> that's right. it's important to do research. >> absolutely. >> do your homework. >>> apple stock is coming off one of its worst sections on wall street. apple shares fell 4% after a research firm raised its outlook for sales of tablet computers but said apple's ipad could get stiff competition from tablets like amazon, google and samsung. >>> facebook could get another boost on wall street. the social media site is joining the nasdaq 100 index. shares will be added next week. the nasdaq 100 represents the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks trading on nasdaq and investors say it's somewhat of a victory for facebook, which has struggled on wall street since its ipo in may. >>> 4:51. the fe

cantor standing behind him with a knife in his kidney. just waiting for him to move the wrong way a lot of those people are not going to be in the congress next year so i think boehner is going to have an easier time my guess we'll see but my guess is this is going to be played out the first week of january alfredo in mountain view california hail freddo thanks for calling tonight here our last caller we have just a little less than a minute left. i just wanted to point out again that to me there's no difference with bodies republican fund them up close represent corporate interests. and i like the body. and i would call them is going to change when i was there we tried to. alfredo your yes and no i get your point and i don't disagree with the both parties are to a large extent beholden to corporate power and billionaires but that said we have basically a two party system because the first past the post winner take all elections we can either go with this amount of voting bring more parties in or you can show up at your local democratic p

he needs to get the middleman out of the way and go onto eric cantor and negotiate with eric cantor, he does have the power. host: why does the majority leader, rip eric cantor have the power you say the speaker does not have? caller: because john boehner has been boxed in. everything he does when he goes back, he tells barack obama one thing, but when he goes back to his caucus and comes back, he has something different. eric cantor is wanting to be speaker of the house. everybody knows that. john boehner has no power, he is a middle man. from let's move onto dean the line for republicans. caller: base spend around all day trying to name a post office after somebody rather than the real issues of the day. i suggest we mail all of these people a rope, not so they can safely rappel off of the fiscal cliff so they can hang themselves during the next election. that is what will probably happen to a lot of them. let's get this problem solved it for christmas. host: do you think that will happen before christmas? let's move on to tally on the line for independence. caller: i have been wat

house majority leader eric cantor who assured earlier in the day that plan b would pass didn't have a whole thrott say last night. >> no vote tonight? >> no. >> will there be a vote tomorrow? >> nope. >> are you ditching plan b? will there be a vote today? >> no. >> a lot of nopes and then no answer when they asked if he was ditching plan b. republican congressman steve latourette was in the room when they called off the vote. >> led us in both the pledge and the prayer. he gave the serenity prayer. and then went to the microphone and said there's going to be a short conference. we don't have the votes. as a result, we're not going to proceed. as a result, we're not going to be here and we're not going to be here until after christmas and maybe we don't come back at all this year. i hope you all have a merry christmas. >> was -- was there any pleas by any other members to encourage them to go along with this vote? >> no. i mean, we've been doing that for two years with these people. and all they -- they become martyrs. they become martyrs in the eyes of these extreme groups. >> other

cantor, responded with this: >> all of a sudden they're asking for $1.6 trillion in tax hikes and nowhere near that number in spending reforms. >> reporter: democrats are angling to raise taxes on the rich now and negotiate tax reform and spending cuts later. house minority leader nancy anlosi said the republican hard line is softening behind the scenes. >> i do know that many of the members there that they are ready to vote for middle income tax cut. >> reporter: both sides admit they have to make compromises in order to cut a deal. but, scott, what's happening isght now is that both sides are playing the clock hoping the pressure builds on the other side to compromise first. >> pelley: wyatt, there is one hiint on which mr. obama says he will not compromise. ome president made his case today at a toy factory in pennsylvania and our chief white house correspondent major garrett is at the white house for us tonight. major? >> reporter: scott, the white house does not deny opening fiscal cliff proposals ignore persistent republican demands for deeper spending cuts than the president has al

the leadership or refer to speaker john boehner, minority leader eric cantor, kevin mccarthy. it's not for this class of 87 freshman. the class of 2010. would be minority leader boehner. these guys came and not beholden by any means to leadership and made it clear from the outset that they were not just going to be told to fall into line. the real problem for modeled this republican leadership, but to prove to be the case if the democrats regain power is that the enforcement tools of yesteryear are indeed of yesteryear, since it earmarks have now been banned, since the blogosphere you can turn somebody into an instant martyr by stripping them of their committee assignments. it's very, very hard to use a stake in addition to a kerry. there's a .. of my book i referred to after the debt ceiling fiasco of the summer of 2011 when they came back in yet another conjuring resolution used to fund the government and the obama administration had passed a budget was coming up. the republican leadership believed they couldn't use the vote in fact there are members voted against it. the ap

cheryl: so much for christmas eve in eric cantor's household. thank you very much. much of the dismay of unions, michigan governor rick snyder has given the final stamp of approval and signed right to work legislation in that state. is making mich. the 24 right to work state. on the heels of the other states expect to follow suit. legislators and unions from the state like new york and new jersey to push for this. dennis: state economies will grow better. on fed watch, maybe 16 minutes. before ben bernanke and company give the latest on the economy. keep it here for the best coverage on fox business. cheryl: this is the place to be. our of our panel will come back and talk about who should replace fed chairman ben bernanke, hearing he wants to go, who should be in line? dennis: like attending his own funeral. how world currencies are faring against the u.s. dollar. cheryl: we are moments away from the fed's decision, the final scheduled meeting of the year. we are now seven minutes away. we will get that announcement. maybe analysts believe today's announcement will

we have congressman eric cantor, the house majority leader is pushing to cut the red tape. and since he does have out there, he actually has a shot at doing it. it's just too hard right ow for businesses to continue to operate, given all the onerous and burdensome regulations coming out of washington. and we want to make that stop so we can turn the country around and began to be a starter country again. know th the obama administration over the course of the term has imposed 400 regulations that impose more than $0 million of costs annually on small businesses. the small business administration has said that there are so many regulary burdens on small business that it cost them $10,000 per employee. those are the kinds of things that we want to stop right now so we can see more startup and jobs created. >> is one thing to hope for freezing regulations. but i guess we had hoped for "a-team" canaday. if you don't know these regulations, you could be in big trouble. let's say that you stop adding to the regulations. that alone has prompted the obama administraon say, well, re