john boehner canceled the vote. then he put out a statement saying it's now up to democrats to figure it out. and then the house went into recess and house republicans started going home for christmas. >> mr. chairman, you're close to the speaker. you serve with him on the education committee. does this feel like defeat tonight, when he could not cajole enough votes out of his caucus? >> well, yeah. that's exactly what it is. and he understood it, and he said have a merry christmas, we'll see you after christmas. >> we'll see you after christmas. yes, this was a defeat. this was not how it was supposed to go, but that is what happened in just the past hour. joining us is luke russert, nbc news congressional correspondent. luke, thanks for being here on short notice. appreciate your time. >> what a story, rachel. happy to be here. i've never seen anything like this in my 3 1/2 year on capitol hill. very rare moment. and talking to people who have been here for a while, this doesn't happen very much. >> what are your

only 19% trust john boehner. and in the wake of tonight's developments i would imagine those numbers would get a little worse for the speaker of the house. joining me tonight, former governor howard dean of vermont and cnbc political analyst. mr. dean, good to have you with us, governor. >> thanks, ed. >> give us in short order your commentary without question, what do you think has happened here this evening? >> well, the inside baseball of this is really a problem for the speaker. you can't -- this is something you can't do. you can't have your budget overridden, as governors know, and you can't have a major initiative like this go down when you think you have the votes and you don't. it would not entirely surprise me to see eric cantor or kevin mccarthy, who've been waiting in the wings, kind of gently stack the speaker in the back for a couple years, to make their move after the new session starts. the fiscal cliff, as you know, i believe the country would be better off if we went over the fiscal cliff. we wo

john boehner canceled the vote. then he put out a statement saying it's now up to democrats to figure it out. and then the house went into recess and house republicans started going home for christmas. >> mr. chairman, you're close to the speaker. you serve with him on the education committee. does this feel like defeat tonight, when he could not cajole enough votes out of his caucus? >> well, yeah. that's exactly what it is. and he understood it, and he said have a merry christmas, we'll see you after christmas. >> we'll see you after christmas. yes, this was a defeat. this woos nas not how it was sud to go, but that is what happened in just the past hour. joining us is luke russert, nbc news congressional correspondent. luke, thanks for being here on short notice. appreciate your time. >> what a story, rachel. happy to be here. i've never seen anything like this in my 3 1/2 year on capitol hill. very rare moment. and talking to people whief been here for a while, this doesn't happen very much. >> what are your sou

john boehner is not good at his job. we've ventured this as a hypothesis very early on in his speakership, i mean right from the beginning. it seemed like there might be something amiss, right? on the first day as speaker, he tried to have republicans pull off the stunt where they would read the whole constitution from the floor of the house. but even on day one, john boehner could not manage his own symbolic gesture. they skipped parts of the constitution. they skipped parts they did not like. and some parts they skipped because they were reading it out of a loose leaf binder and the pages stuck together. right then we should have known that was a bad sign. john boehner did not even succeed in getting all of his members sworn in when he took over as speaker. two new republican members of congress went to a reception and missed the swearing in. they apparently saw it happening on a tv screen that was playing at the reception, and they sort of tried to swear themselves in by raising their right hand to the television. but

john boehner canceled the vote. then he put out a statement saying it's now up to democrats to figure it out. and then the house went into recess and house republicans started going home for christmas. >> mr. chairman, you're close to the speaker. you serve with him on the education committee. does this feel like defeat tonight, when he could not cajole enough votes out of his caucus? >> well, yeah. that's exactly what it is. and he understood it, and he said have a merry christmas, we'll see you after christmas. >> we'll see you after christmas. yes, this was a defeat. this was not how it was supposed to go, but that is what happened in just the past hour. joining us is luke russert, nbc news congressional correspondent. luke, thanks for being here on short notice. appreciate your time. >> what a story, rachel. happy to be here. i've never seen anything like this in my 3 1/2 year on capitol hill. very rare moment. and talking to people whief been here for a while, this doesn't happen very much. >> what are your sou

now, this may well present a problem for john boehner's caucus, because john boehner sent a letter to the president this week with his own plan, which advocates what just might be the least popular policy in american politics. okay, maybe that's hyperbole. but just be a tiny bit, i mean, mandatory gay marriage, in which every single married straight person had to immediately divorce their spouse, and accept a state-assigned same-gender spouse to replace them would probably be more popular than what john boehner proposed this week. what john boehner is advocating is making medicare available to fewer americans. as it happens, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare. 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and it

john boehner. who probably now has earned the titles of the worst speaker certainly in our lifetime if not the worst speaker ever in the history of the house of representatives. the guy is just a totals total loser. look. here is where things stand. right? it's not complicated. president obama, we've got this big debt crisis. president obama, two things -- number 1, months ago, he put out a detailed plan. it's in print, and it's online, of how to resolve this fiscal crisis. no. 2, the republicans said we are not going to deal with it. we will take seven weeks off. we will have an election and let the people decide. president obama went out in front of the american people. there was one issue, the central issue. it wasn't the war in iraq iran's nuclear possibility of iran getting nuclear weapons it wasn't peace in the middle east. it wasn't immigration reform. the number 1 was issue was president obama said very clear, we want the wealthiest two percents of americans to pay more in tax after having

adam: house speaker john boehner back on capitol hill. it is the latest round of fiscal cliff talks which, as speaker boehner opens the door for tax hikes. lori: don't count apple out. dissecting the opposing analyst calls. is the worst over for shareholders? melissa: it is time for stocks now. nicole petallides standing by. nicole: we are looking good. you mentioned boehner and obama speaking once again. many traders that i have spoken with that something, some white, would get done. we are up about one half of a percent. there is the nasdaq sitting right at the 3000 mark. i also want to take a look at two names that have been making news. that is sprint and clear wire. that is about a half of a percent for sprint which is the number three u.s. wireless carrier. now, they will have full ownership of the spectrum. that is some good news for sprint. you are seeing that clear wire is selling off the news. lori: president obama and house speaker john boehner meeting just hours ago. our rich and thin was first to report this news of the meeti

>> because eric can tore was behind john boehner on this vote i'm leaning no. he has an element within his conference that would not be there in support of him if there is a viable alternative. if this was the final vote, we feel for the guy. but republicans, it is interesting, harry reid said this was a dance. they realize that too, there was no way forward for the bill. >> because eric can tore was behind john boehner on this vote i'm leaning no. he has an element within his conference that would not be there in support of him if there is a viable alternative. if this was the final vote, we feel for the guy. but republicans, it is interesting, harry reid said this was a dance. they realize that too, there was no way forward for the bill. but the bhoener will get a lot of press in the next few days. >> luke russert thank you for your reporting there. >> ari, the republican started to realize something that everyone else had been saying about this. they started to realize, we are roting for something that we know won't be taken up by the senate but we are being

john boehner basically said no to all of that. and that's really not acceptable leadership. >> is there any -- should harry reid amend the bill that the house sent over at all? the fact is, harry reid has -- needs to add republican cooperation. he wants to say, look, this isn't a game. this isn't show. you know, i can bring out a bill, pass a bill. if john boehner says i'm not going to look at that, what's the point? let's make something happen here. that is what the american people are looking for. we're concerned about the fiscal and economic policies. there's a recovery period that we're experiencing to put more challenges before the economy both consumers and investors. let's create certainty. let's make sure that we pass tax cuts for -- you know, for the majority, the advanced majority, 98%. and let's get that done and move through the regular process to deal with the bigger questions. i'd like to ask you before we go, obviously, the governorship is up in 2014, is up for a race in pennsylvania. any interest in running against

john boehner apparently doesn't have a lot of time. he responded to the president moments ago in a very, very brief statement. here is what he said. >> republicans continue to work toward avoiding the fiscal cliff. the president's offer of $1.3 trillion of revenue, in spending reductions. fails to meet the test the president promised the american people, a balanced approach. and providing and working on a balanced approach. tax relief for every american, 99.81%. he can call on senate democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. tracy: 50 seconds or so. here with more including whether either side is enough to fix the debt problems gerri willis of the willis report, he didn't take questions or discuss. he spoke, he left. gerri: the president of questions but it was really a soliloquy. ashley: every word. gerri: the sides are so far apart from each other it is amazing. i was mostly interested in the two plans. what will it mean for this country? specifically in terms of the death,

john boehner says the you're getting the one, john boehner says you have about $800 billion, he is not including interest payments. we have talked about this a lot on the show, so much of the fiscal cliff is about who has leverage if they don't come to a deal. and so far, the president usually has because either all the tax cuts expire or a lot of republicans have said we'll just pass the senate bill, which allows for all the tax cuts over $250,000 to expire. that is the president's position. john boehner is trying to create a reality, a leverage point a little friendlier to him, by moving it up to a million and hoping it will split the democrats. it doesn't, at this point, appear to be working. >> sam stein, isn't plan b good for the white house? isn't the white house just kind of pretending they're not crazy about john boehner? especially the part where he says he will bring the senate bill to a vote in the house? >> well, yeah, it is good in one sense, that they will have a number of republicans voting for a tax hike. how many republicans they will get is another question entirely.

i give john boehner a lot of credit. he is trying so hard to make the president understand that we cannot spend what we do not have and we cannot keep borrowing. i do not know why that is so hard for anybody to understand it. you have to keep in mind since the president has been in office, we have not had a balanced budget. i think most people will agree that in every home that is run properly, you need a budget and the government needs a budget. you cannot just keep running and borrowing to do everything you want to do. the american people are sick of it. they need to get together and decide what they are going to do. they need to get a balanced budget. they need to quit spending what they do not have. and they need to get this thing done before the end of the year. host: thank you for the call. from our facebook page -- join us on our facebook page. a couple of other editorials we want to share with you. from "the new york post." on the other side from "the washington post." beverly is joining us from illinois on the d

. >> i don't know how john boehner did this. but tonight, john boehner's plan b is being attacked by president obama and rush limbaugh. and in a last word exclusive, the basketball coach who used his post-game press conference to talk about something much more important than the game. mass murder in america. >> the fiscal cliff talks, are they stolen again? >> i hope the president will get serious soon. >> i have met them at least half way. >> john boehner's so-called plan b. >> what is the strategy for plan b? >> make sense of what just happened. >> they're thinking about voting for, raising taxes. >> except for household income above a million. >> but they will reject spending cuts. >> the president will have a decision to make. >> that defies logic. >> this is baffling. >> grover norquist has given his blessing, that defies logic. >> people across america thought we were behaving like adults. >> stay classy, gop. >> if this does nothing, it will give us perspective. >> it is announcing a task force on guns. >> violence that w

now, this may well present a problem for john boehner's caucus, because john boehner sent a letter to the president this week with his own plan, which advocates what just might be the least popular policy in american politics. okay, maybe that's hyperbole. but just be a tiny bit, i mean, mandatory gay marriage, in which every single married straight person had to immediately divorce their spouse, and accept a state-assigned same-gender spouse to replace them would probably be more popular than what john boehner proposed this week. what bjorn baijohn boehner is a is making medicare available to fewer americans. as it happens, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare. 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and it

than it being john boehner and president obama. we're ten days away with a whole new game plan. >> john kerry's foreign policy, jeff goldberg, getting back to that, we're going to have this nomination this hour. is his foreign policy going to be obama boem's foreign policy? will his advice to the president be appreciatably different than hillary clinton's? >> well, in point of fact it will have to be barack obama's foreign policy. he is going to -- it's very difficult for senators to make this transition. he elizabeth be an employee. an employee with -- still an employee of the president. that said, i think sde have -- my impression is he does have a more active stance on i couple of key issues on reaching out to iran, on middle east peace process. i know that the president is not that interested in pursuing middle east peace process right now. he doesn't see a high chance of success. as a new secretary of state, of course, he wants to make his mark, and so you are going to see some conversation in the administration about what to

boehner the game right here on unfortunately john boehner is holding the middle class in the working class in this country hostage i think what it what what it requires though tom for the next thirteen or somebody we have this clip progress of them got to come together and they've got to push this president we cannot continue to be the progressive movement as we voted for him we're going to sit back now the time for us to push this president and say you know we have some frustration with different parts of this bill we want you to fix it i didn't even need a bill. you know we were going to do a lot of the end of the year and. let the cuts happen and let the let the taxes go up and then but you know with a new congress that has fewer tea partiers and you get together and say ok you guys you want to you want to do some tax cuts you want to do some some some revenue cuts let's talk about it but you know he he he he he's got all the power right now y c. well given the way i get paid and i think it's a good i think at the end of the day tom i think there's a couple there's a couple things

john boehner rejected that. john boehner said, no. we can't go along with that. so the president comes up with a compromise. we didn't like the compromise. he did it last weekend. he said we will take that 250. we will give you a tax break on the first $400,000 of your income. and the payroll tax holiday which we were going to continue. no. we will get rid of that. that hurt the middle class. we will get rid of that. and guess what? we said we weren't going to touch social security. we will put social security on thetable. shouldn't have done it. he did. he puts that out there and boehner reject that, too. and he says, no, i am going to have my own plan. i am calling it plan b. i am going to raise taxes only on people who make over a million dollars. so give everybody a tax break on the first million dollar they own, which gets up to even like .5% of the american people not even the top 1%. john boehner takes plan b and by the way everybody said -- everybody said as recently as yesterday, this is a dead-end. this is not going anywhere. here is first, democratic l

john boehner cannot negotiate now. if he didn't have the votes for his plan "b" that set that income threshold at $1 million, there's no way in the world he gets anywhere close to the amount of votes he's going to need for the latest negotiating position for the president, which was up to $250,000 to $400,000 for married couples filing jointly. that's where we are right now. the threshold question all along is would john boehner put something on the floor of the house of representatives that required him to pass by majority democratic support and lose the majority of his party -- the republican party. i'm here to tell you, michael, that simply doesn't happen. >> is it good or bad news for the president, mike, in so far as the boehner defeat, the embarrassment last night really leaves the president without someone with whom he can negotiate? in other words, who does the president turn to now? >> reporter: and that is a great question. as a matter of fact, we are told that harry reid, the democratic leader of the senate,

john boehner said okay. and then the next thing the president hears he is blowing it up because he doesn't have the votes. >> i know what he was goidoing. he wanted to go to the president and say look you're finally going to get your tax hikes on the wealthy a million dollars up. 98% still get their taxes lowered. i'm surprised he didn't count his votes before he did that. a man as experienced as he is. >> that is what is so shocking. >> if he was going to step out on the ledge you better have the votes. he walked out on the ledge, turned around, and nobody was with him. >> craig shirley had a very interesting quote in "the washington post" this morning. >> he's got this in "the washington post" saying if this was a parliamentary system tonight's dissent on plan b would be seen as a vote of no confidence in boehner. the national gop is now simply a collection of warring tribal factions. i'll add to that. a flue cnn opinion research poll has found the majority of americans believe the republican party is now

i wouldn't want to be in john boehner's shoes rooity now. the most likely path of averting the fiscal cliff before the new year would be getting what president obama laid out yesterday and that was extending the bush-era tax cuts of $250,000 or below as well as extending unemployment insurance and if it sails through the senate and gets to the house and john boehner allows that to get up to a vote it would most likely pass without a majority of house republicans and that could infuriate the republican caucus. the other option for house speaker john boehner would be to hold firm to hold their ground. however, that's actually the most likely outcome to going over the fiscal cliff and all polls, actually show that republicans would bear the brunt of the blame for that. so i wouldn't want to be in john boehner's shoes right now. >> either way, if it is the first scenario that mark marked out for us, if not speaker boehner, then who might replace them should there be a revolt here? eric cantor, just a year ago we were watching 2011 and it seemed

now, this may well present a problem for john boehner's caucus, because john boehner sent a letter to the president this week with his own plan, which advocates what just might be the least popular policy in american politics. okay, maybe that's hyperbole. but just be a tiny bit, i mean, mandatory gay marriage, in which every single married straight person had to immediately divorce their spouse, and accept a state-assigned same-gender spouse to replace them would probably be more popular than what john boehner proposed this week. what bjorn baijohn boehner is a is making medicare available to fewer americans. as it happens, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare.ç 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and

this isn't john boehner's problem to solve." seriously. that is what he said. he said don't blame us, we're just the speaker of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the u.s. senate and the guys who aren't allowing the president to pass his plan. but you know, we've got nothing to do with this. you know, congress comes first in the constitution. tax bills -- and this is going to fundamentally be a tax bill when we pass it. they have to begin in the house of representatives. they can't originate in the white house. the president can't write legislation or pass it sifl. the founders would have been shocked to hear congressional leaders talking this way. but put that aside. mccollum basically said to reid i can't help on this one. how did harry reid respond? this way. >> speaker boehner should call members of the house back to washington today. he shouldn't have let them go, in fact. they're not here. they are not here. john boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing. >> right.

who came out against john boehner's plan. what does he see negative to get? dennis: a man who could be the next governor of california pushing to legalize recreational use of pot. cheryl: as we go to break with it today's s&p winners and you have a nike, big lots, we will be right back. cheryl: 30 past the hour and stocks every 15 minutes with nicole petallides. volume of the of the surprise today, billion shares traded by noon. nicole: what we see in volume, you have a rebalancing at the end of the day of the s&p so some of those types of things that are really just right here on wall street don't bother the investors at home. that is why you see heavy volume and there is heavy volume but what we are seeing is a trend and the trend, market today is worried about washington. as you are seeing all the major averages are lower,-1/3%, a ticketing nasdaq 1-1/2% people flocking to the save haven of u.s. dollar and save haven of gold. gold is up $10 today. let's look at walgreen's which is down 4% at the moment so walgreen's contin

and i feel sorry for john boehner in so many eways. he's literally between a rock and a hard place but he's got to resolve it as representative pelosi said as speaker. he's got a responsibility to provide leadership and resolve this within his own caucus. >> while this has been going on for weeks now we've been talking about this. the american appetite, as i said, it is growing to get something done. americans are paying attention. 53% are optimistic and satisfied that obama was re-elected. 45% describe themselves as uncertain or pessimistic. that optimistic number is up from october. how how much do you think the p.r. campaign paying into that? >> i don't think it does much. the president won re-election and driving support for his numbers. what we have to watch over the next few days, ultimately, something like 70 or 80 republicans have to sign the tax relief in order to get past this cliff. that's the big challenger. we've only seen 10 or 12 republicans in congress say i'm willing to raise taxes. until that number gets higher this i

for the president and john boehner. everyone said john boehner was the loser and i don't see how this helps the president's position. stuart: when he was asked by you walking away from the president? walking away from future talks and he adamantly said no, i did not say that. >> don't quote me saying that. stuart: we are down 120 points with the dow jones average. no movement from the stock market despite what john boehner had to say. no movement at all. loss of losers with the dow down 127. start with the dow. where are we? nicole: bank of america down 2.5%. all the financials are taking today and such an indication of how market sentiment is on wall street. caterpillar,/4% and hewlett-packard down 1.5%. stuart: thanks. bottom line from all of this is the republicans will not accept higher tax rates and the president does not want to make serious cuts in spending. is a standoff and that is still true on the market where the dow is down 127 points. new subject. the nra's leaderships to speak today, one week after the ma

you have challenged john boehner. i mean, what you put out there, it may sound -- may sound very normal and calm and compromise-filled to many. but perhaps to him, it's a little bit of a slap in the face. have you talked to him about it directly? >> yeah, of course. i mean, look, i deal with the speaker on a regular basis. and he knows, look, i'm never going to undercut him and he knows when the tough votes come, and they're going to come, that i'll be there to try and support him and help him. so he's not going to scold me because i offered in private, you know, my advice that was solicited and then when it was leaked actually defended in public. i don't think he would expect me to do anything else. >> well, it's good. it's good you stand by what you said. and i know we have to applaud when anyone chooses to do that in washington, sir. thank you so much. appreciate your time, congressman cole. >> thank you, erin. >>> a man who stood by what he said, even though it flew in the face of what others like grover norquist

john boehner as we heard from kelly o'donnell is going to have to face meeting democrats if we have a deal. then he's going to have to go back to his caucus and say re-elect me as speaker. how does he do that? >> i think it's two separate questions, richard. on the first point he's going to have a difficult time to corral votes. if the president bring his 250 plan to the house floor, you're not going to see many republicans go after it. but at the same time i think boehner is pretty safe when it comes to his speakership. if gentlemen were making noise against the speaker, there would be huge trouble. i think boehner's pretty safe because there's not a challenger. >> sam, if boehner's safe in his job, it doesn't mean to say he's at all relevant here. he's just not a factor at this point, is that right? >> i think it's right but it's because boehner expressed he couldn't get his plan throw the court. i can only imagine how angry mcconnell and his staff are because they put him in a bind. all the while mitch mcconnell's got an eye on 2014 when he's up for re-election but the house speake

this isn't john boehner's problem to solve." seriously. that is what he said. he said don't blame us, we're just the speaker of the house of representatives and the minority leader of the u.s. senate and the guys who aren't allowing the president to pass his plan. but you know, we've got nothing to do with this. you know, congress comes first in the constitution. tax bills -- and this is going to fundamentally be a tax bill when we pass it. they have to begin in the house of representatives. they can't originate in the white house. the president can't write legislation or pass it himself. the founders would have been shocked to hear congressional leaders talking this way. but put that aside. mcconnell basically said to reid i can't help on this one. how did harry reid respond? this way. >> speaker boehner should call members of the house back to washington today. he shouldn't have let them go, in fact. they're not here. they are not here. john boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing. >> ri

probably the best john boehner can do. difficult for the republicans. 80-plus just ran four years ago with a promise they wouldn't raise taxes. i can understand why he's having trouble getting those votes, but i think he has no choice but to the try to pass snag soomething pushes the ball back into the president's court. the passage of the spending decreases was important. that's really where the emphasis should be. in tan ideal world, shouldn't raise taxes, shouldn't give the government more money because they're wasting money. we're not an an ideal world. i think john boehner, plan b is probably the best he can get. >> ask i ask, the other side of heather's point, republicans are losing the messaging battle. >> no question about it. >> a threat they're losing the messaging battle? >> the point made about tax increases not about the rich, poor, or anybody else. not giving a government wasting way too much money more money to waste. as you were, i was part of the reagan administration. the idea, don't feet the beast. star

now, this may well present a problem for john boehner's caucus, because john boehner sent a letter to the president this week with his own plan, which advocates what just might be the least popular policy in american politics. okay, maybe that's hyperbole.ç but just be a tiny bit, i mean, mandatory gay marriage, in which every single married straight person had to immediately divorce their spouse, and accept a state-assigned same-gender spouse to replace them would probably be more popular than what john boehner proposed this week. what john boehner is advocating is making medicare available to fewer americans. as it happens, there is brand-new polling out today on how americans feel about the idea of congress using these deficit negotiations to make cuts to medicare. 79% of americans say they do not want congress to touch medicare in these deficit negotiations. 79%. if you want to get specific about john boehner's proposal, what he wants to do to medicare is to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. and as it turns out, there is also recent polling on that specific proposal. and

is john boehner trying to harness and limit the power of the tea party? they suffered serious defeats at the polls. is he trying to look them in the eye and say you forced us into this backwardation, now play ball with me or is he at their beck and call. >> it's a mix. he may still need some of them, not all of they will, but some of them. at the same time, i think he's saying look, wake up, guys. this election should not be in they were related as the republicans losing, because they were too moderate. our candidate, mitt romney had to go far to the right and never was able to bring himself back. i think speaker boehner's gained some credibility with his own party. flashback to the payroll chasm cut episode a year ago when he urged his colleagues, this time a year ago. we better extend. his guys said no and of course they were right back here in january, having to agree with the president, which is why i also think right now boehner's real sort of view is probably closercloser than he would say. >> eliot: maybe the best thing for boehner is that allen we

earlier reports of this story had it john boehner would be on hand, but john boehner is not even in washington, d.c., and a spokesperson told us they haven't been invited. so figure that out. who will follow as it continues to break but right now a meettng with congressional leaders on the fiscal cliff with the president on hand tomorrow, friday, and we will shirk over that. i put different topic. even if you aren't a frequent flyer, my next guest says you can enjoy the perks of being one. like being upgraded to first class and it is not as hard as you think. now, rick, have waited for this segment for the whole show because i wanted that elite status but i don't fly enough to really earn it. so tell me, how can i get that elite status without doing all the work were spending all the money? >> typically the one bad problem with elite status if you have to fly. you don't have to fly very much. we'll give you an example of how my wife achieved elite status in one trip but typically a big difference between the miles you get on your credit card and bonuses and vendors to those you can use to rede

is john boehner trying to harness and limit the power of the tea party? they suffered serious defeats at the polls. is he trying to look them in the eye and say you forced us into this backwardation, now play ball with me or is he at their beck and call. >> it's a mix. he may still need some of them, not all of they will, but some of them. at the same time, i think he's saying look, wake up, guys. this election should not be in they were related as the republicans losing, because they were too moderate. our candidate, mitt romney had to go far to the right and never was able to bring himself back. i think speaker boehner's gained some credibility with his own party. flashback to the payroll chasm cut episode a year ago when he urged his colleagues, this time a year ago. we better extend. his guys said no and of course they were right back here in january, having to agree with the president which is why i also think right now boehner's real sort of view is probably closercloser than he would say. >> eliot: maybe the best thing for boehner is that allen wes

that is before the debacle with john boehner. it has been a bad week and it sounds like they are continuing to be a little delusional. host: it has been a tough week for the speaker. when you make a threat you better beable to back it up. guest: i think the only people that had a worse week was the wizards. this was a bad week for him and you can't shugger coat it at all. host: the guide to the federal budget, how big is the federal budget? how much money does the government take in? how much do we spend? how much is $167 trillion for the current debt? guest: spending this year will be $33.8 trillion. the deficit of about $1 trillion that is for fiscal 2013. that assumes that somehow the fiscal cliff doesn't happen and we don't reduce the deficit by $600 billion. national debt, about $16 billion , debt held by the public -- as a percentage it is getting up there. we've had it before. as we talked about two weeks ago it is not so much that the size of the debt it is how fast the debt is growing in comparison to the size of the eco