they will go back to the tax rates that occurred during the clinton administration before the bush tax rates went into effect, 2001 and 2003. they will go back up to 39.6% from 35 or 36% right now. so, he will say these people can afford it. they will pay a little bit more. but it's not going to necessarily undermine the economic recovery. republicans will say something very, very different. as you know, ashley, make the point that a lot of small business owners, they will be penalized for this during an economic recovery, as we have now you this is the worst time to raise taxes on anyone. the republicans say let's renew the bush tax cuts for another year and then starting in the course of this year, let's work to achieve broad tax reform. that's the way to do it, so this is an opening gambit in the battle is going to be rather intense, not only over the next four months but then in the lame duck session before the end of the year that follows. >> often, wolf, as you know well

in a campaign season you get buzz lines and bumper sticker sayings and a lot of that has been class warfare. do we expect to hear that invoked today after the president say what is he has to say? >> even -- there's -- you know, a prebut theal, full, the republicans already saying this is part of the narrative this is part of what the obama administration wants to do have this class warfare. you keep hearing they say the president and supporters talking about millionaires and billionaires. they will argue that a lot of nonmillionaires and nonbillionaires are going to be directly affect by this the small business owners who file as individuals even though they may employ 10 or 12 or 30 or 40 people. their tax rates will go up if the president get what is he wants. this is going to be an intense battle, you are absolutely right, the words class warfare will be used intense civil. >> i throw in my own ling goes, something the president is hoping will be like a speed bump

toward the fiscal cliff? >> to a certain degree. remember, he doesn't have the votes to get what he wants. in the house, there is an overwhelming republican majority, they will vote against any tax increases, but even in the senate, where the democrats have a slight majority right now, there is still about half a dozen or so democratic senators, especially some of them who are up for re-election. joe manchin in west virginia, tester, for example, john tester, claire mccaskill, they may declare they are not going to vote for any tax increases which can be used against them in their own re-election bids, very, very tight close races right now. so he doesn't necessarily even have the votes in the senate if he is trying to pass new legislation to get -- to get what he wants through. so it is not going to be that easy for the president to get what he wants, certainly not the house of representatives, but maybe not even in the senate. and that's -- that explains, i think to a certain degrees, maybe on a different page. the former house speaker man iscy pelosi and chuck schumer,

influential senior senator from new york, obama administration said instead of the $250,000 threshold, make it $1 million. don't increase tax on anyone making under $1 million. but do the million dollar level. and i think that's part to make it more enticing for some of those democrats, for example who are in tough re-election battles. >> i think that's something our dana bash is going to be able to cover in a moment. if you wouldn't mind standing by for a second, wolf. i want to skip over to our white house correspondent, dan lothian, standing by, too. the flip side of the president's plan for the middle class is his apparent insist tense on letting those gritz up for the wealthy. let's play a quick clip from his former spokesperson and current campaign adviser on cnn's "state of the union." >> the president's totally committed to getting rid of the tax cut for those making $250,000 and above? >> let's make some progress on our spending by doing away with tax cuts for people that, quite frankly, don't need them. tax cuts that you haven't worked. and have them pay their fair share. >> is that a yes or no?

the president is completely committed to this? he won't allow it to happen? >> he is 100% committed to it. >> at a girl, candy, way to go get it on the record. this looks as though the president daring republicans to oppose the tax cuts for the many while insisting on the tax cuts for the few. real polling. >> that's right. as wolf was pointing out you does the president have the votes to get this passed in the senate? it is unclear at this point. what the president was able to do and the reason they do relish this is right fight is because it plays into this narrative that we have been hearing out there on the campaign trail. do voters want to be with the party around with the president who is trying to help those who need to help the mohr, the middle class, or are americans willing to go with the other side, the opponent mitt romney, hot president paints as only looking out for the very wealthy and they relish that fight because they think they are on the winning end of the debate. and you hear that. we heard that last week in the battleground states of ohio and

pennsylvania. that's the message that the president has been pushing. and he will continue to do that heading out on the road to iowa tomorrow. other surrogates will be in key battleground states as well. the reason they are pushing so hard is because they think it really sells well out there. >> that really leads to what my next question is, this is not necessarily going to be a small or short one-day blitz, is it? >> you know, we just have to look back to 2010 when the president was standing very firm in his position but in the end, agreed to extend those -- the bush tax cuts for two years because he had to get a deal done. people are saying, look, the president doesn't have the votes now what is his position going to be once this battle really heats up? i think women have to wait and see but certainly, they believe that the message of this is very clear, pointing to the president's narrative that he is looking out for the folks who need it most. all right. since wolf mentioned the prebut theal, i want to move on what we are talking about to this that

exact fact.prebuttal, i want to what we are talking about to this that exact fact. the romney campaign going on the offensive you the prebuttal before president obama makes the remarks in the east room. mitt romney's spokesperson said, president obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase it just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue,get america working again and help middle class. the president's latest bad idea to raise tax on families, job creators and small businesses. unlike president obama, governor romney understands that the last thing we need do in this economy is raise taxes on anyone. that is the prepared statement that went out. you can bet your bottom dollar the surrogates will be promoting

that hard to find a republican who doesn't like tax cuts, so assume the president's proposal would sail through corning at leetch the house anyway. maybe not so fast. cnn's dana bash is on the hill there is reaction to this and it is kind of unusual. can you explain? >>. >> they are saying, you know what have at t why is that? because they agree with the president that people who made $250,000 and less should keep their tax cuts but they also want people who make above that to keep their tax cuts, they argue that is critical to keep the economy going. as you were talking to wolf and others, got an e-mail from a senior republican strategist who is saying that they not only

welcome this debate but they have a vote or not in the senate, which i will get to in a minute, they are going to ham they are issue and tie every democratic candidate to the president's speech today. republican senate candidates around the country are gonna really hit democrats, saying effectively what their message is it, which is they believe that the president wants to raise taxes on -- not all americans but some americans and the americans that republicans believe are engines for economic growth. >> he has his own deal, his own plan he wants to outline and make sure americans know about t t -- it. >> i thought you were throwing to the soundbite. this is mitch mcconnell, the minority leader what he told candy crowley yesterday about the idea of extending tax cuts.

>> what we ought to be doing is extend the current tax rates for another year with a hard requirement to get through comprehensive tax reform one more time. i negotiated with vice president biden the two-year extension of the current tax rates we are in now the president signed it because he argued that to let taxes go up would make the economy worse. we have a slower growth rate today than we had then. that would settle at least part of the problem. >> so,s he rkso, here's the bot house republicans can and likely will pass another piece of legislation that extends all bush tax cut, won't go anywhere in the senate. senate democrats, who runt senate, a top aide told me today they do intend to hold a vote, despite the political perils for some candidates, to hold a vote of tax cuts up to $250,000 and less and expect to see that likely in the next month or two.

>> since we are talking about acrimony or people who don't always get along or see the same thing, let's talk about some of the democrats because the president is at odds with some of his democratic leadership on just exactly what this tax cut proposal should read and we are talking numbers here. >> that's really good point, ashleigh. i think what you are alluding to is the fact that nancy pelosi, the top democrat in the house, chuck schumer who is a leader in the senate, they are all advocating passing a tax cut extension for people making $1 million and less. people, like chuck schumer, represent new york, which includes wall street. part of the thinking there is one of the goals of having this debate isn't just to appeal to the middle class it is also to they want to jump start the economy. part of the issue, economists will till the economy is having trouble getting going because of uncertainty in the tax code and the democrats on capitol hill,

some say, extend it up to $1 million. when it comes down to it at this point, this is you know, these are debates, these are streets will are going to be had without the likelihood of actually getting to the president's desk, it is a difference but not that big of a difference when it comes to what really matters. >> all right, dana bash on capil hill. stand by if you will for a moment. let's get right down to the money what does it mean for your money, the bottom line we like to say. our cnn business correspondent christine romans live in new york now. you and ali velshi have been busy all week long, hammering away on your shows, business shows, congress needs to act now or the economy will be in worse shape. i think you like to say this is the fiscal cliff coming at you like a -- >> a mack truck. to mix our metaphors. >> sure. >> this is something, if congress can't decide what to do with these expiring tax -- tax goodies and all these looming spending cuts, you're going to have a huge shock to the economy in the beginning of the year. the congressional budget office

said that would result in a recession, another recession at the beginning part of next year. so these bush tax cut a very big part of this thing we are calling you the fiscal cliffs. what does it mean in the president wants to keep the tax brackets of 10% 15%, 25% where they are, how much you have to earn to qualify for those. 10%, people who earn less than $17,000 and change. 15%, people who earn less than $70,000, married, filing jointly. 25%, people under $142, so on. so, where the president wants to allow them to expire you the 33% tax bracket, your taxes would jump up to 36%, an extra $17 or $18,000 in tax for people who make $388,000. the gop will say that is a lot of small business owners. 35%, people who make over $388,000, their tax rate would jump up to 39%, those prebush tax cuts levels. that means for the very rich,

and you can try to define just as you were talking about with dana what is the very rich, their taxes would be going up. >> i think one of the things key in this conversation, a lot of numbers and a lot of math. >> yeah. >> the president wants to go to iowa tomorrow to tout a couple making $82,000 together per year if he gets what he want f the president gets what he is asking for today, it would be a savings of $2,000. >> would say the same. >> no pay the additional 2,000. >> two have to have another $2,000 tax bill on top of that going back to those prebush tax cuts. now, some have actually called, budget hawks, people who study the budget exfor a while calling these the bush obama tax cuts for the rich, they were so mad at him extending this the first time n 2010, the president said i only want to extend the bush tax cuts for people in the middle class. in the end, remember, he had extend them for every ton get it done. >> bigger package, a bicker deal. >> unemployment benefits and

other things as well. but this time, robert gibbs says he is 100% committed, it will be just the middle class, not people that make more than 250. >> the pell lows she/schumer compromise sounds fascinating. >> they have democrat constituents screaming at them, i'm sure. >> all this math, really fascinating. >> it is your tax bill it is your tax bill. >> does make a big difference, we are talking in the house to isn't as for a lot of people. hold that thought for a second, christine romans. a reminder, president obama is scheduled to make those remarks about the tax cut proposal that he is putting forward. scheduled to be 11:50 eastern time. so, we are going to make sure we bring those to you. earlier this morning we told you they would be in the rose garden. apparently, inclement weather has forced that news conference inside to the east room so we have our live cameras shifting gears and moving inside but you're certainly going to get the news no matter what time it

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a mysterious illness in cambodia is so deadly it is killing you children at that time an extraordinary rate. nearly all those infected die within a day or two of being hospitalized. at least 64 children have died in just the past three months. >> health ex-spermts and doctors have been scrambling to figure

out the cause for this disease, possible treatments for t our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, has flown to phnom penh in cam bode yeah, he joins me live. san jay over the weekend, seems there was a bit of a breakthrough, just in times of identifying what the problem is. how helpful has that been in the tway works in a loft medical centers, you want to try to exclude a lot of things first n this case, there's a different pathogens, viruses, such as h5n1 which causes avian flu, the nipa virus, sars what they have beenbeen testing for the past few weeks. they have been searching for ener row virus 71. out of the 66 patients you mentioned, 64 of whom died, they tested this in 24 patients that is the number of samples they still had.

marn patients died with within 24 hours of admission. they came in with a fever and develop ensive light 'tis, inflammation of the brain. what is strange about this and has door wondering is their lungs would be profoundly affected after that, to the point where doctors described to me that their lungs were completely destroyed. not all of that fits with s with not all of that fits with s wi row virus 71. there are questions that remain to be answered. >> because we are on a delay, i'm going to give you both -- give you both of the questions at once. can you tell me about how contagious, if it's con tablup at all, this is and also how difficult is it to separate this disease from anything else that a child or adult may come in with, say like dengue fever?

>> this is one of the puzzles here, expect enter row virus 71 to be contagious. you would expect more than one child to get t that isn't happening here. the doctors and the folks from the world health organization aren't exactly sure why. it is good news but still remains a puzzle. as far as accept par tract out that is a challenging thing, ashley. you know, you look at some of the video, i don't know if you can see it of the hospitals. the main hospital here in phnom penh, which is so busy, they see some 4,000, 5,000 patients a week. many with things like dengue fever and other tropical diseases, it takes time to separate this out. they had to exclude you can as i mentioned earlier, everything else and sort of settle in on these mystery illnesses, trying to better define them. >> all right, dr. sanjay gupta live for us in phnom penh, cambodia, thanks so much. a reminder to our viewers are when keeping an eye on the

clock for you, the white house, the president is scheduled to make live remarks on tax cuts and extending them but only for certain people that is supposed to get under way at 11:50 eastern time, 30 minutes from now. as we watch the cameras and the live mikes for you, we will bring you his statements live. the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it.

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morning checking out cnn.com or any other dot com, for that matter it's not us. it's you. in fact, it's really you. you may be one of the many hundreds of thousands of thousands of people who lost their internet access it wasn't a joke. when someone sent you

information saying,000 do something about it,000 do something about t cybercriminals got to you and the fbi tried to protect you but now they are not going to protect you any longer. which means internet blackout. i gave the quick version of what this means and why somebody couldn't get online today. maybe you can go deeper to it and explain what they can do to get back online. >> well, first of all, ashleigh, i think this has been a pretty successful public awareness campaign. haven't gotten reports this has been a significant issue for a large number of people. there was the potential that a few hundred thousand people around the globe could not be getting online today. the facts have not borne that out yet. give you a sense of how we got here. this was a sophisticated online advertising scam that began five years ago, 2007, a half dozen

people from europe launched this. then to infect millions of people around the globe. malicious software got on machines. the software forced unsuspecting users to fraudulent websites, fraudulent advertising. the fbi were pretty aggressive, broke this thing up. the problem was they discovered if they shut down the internet servers, people would lose their internet access categorically. they replaced these bad servers, if you will, put good, clean servers up. it was sort of a temporary fix, a band aid, full, but now the band-aid has been stripped off. if you didn't get it fixed, you lost your internet. >> is painful when the band-aid comes off and going to be more painful to fix this than it would have been before midnight last night to go and check on it and do the prophylactic version of getting back online. dan simon, thanks so much do appreciate it. want to break down the numbers for you you what we are talking about is a fairly small

set of people. seems big, but it's not. 304,000 computers worldwide. that is out of 1.6 billion around the world. it just doesn't lessen the importance for the house to a suddens of people who are actually blocked out today and of course, the worry that this could happen again as well. back in a moment. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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just a reminder tour watching the clock the president is scheduled to make remarks about tax caught 11:50 eastern time b 20 minutes from now. we are going to keep our live eye on the white house and the east room. the tax cuts that he will be talking about and that we are now talking about are the bush

era tax cuts, extended for two years by president obama. but now they are set to expire. the president wants to keep them around, maybe for another year but not for everybody, just for some. here's what robert gibbs, obama's a former spokesperson and current campaign adviser said on cnn's state of the union. >> so the president is totally committed to getting rid of the tax cut for those making 250,000 and above? >> let's make some progress or our spending by doing away with tax cuts for people that, quite frankly, don't need them, tax dhauts haven't work and have them pay their fair share. >> so is that a yes or a new york the president is completely committed to this won't allow it to happen? >> he is 100% committed to t. >> to our chief white house correspondent now, jessica yellin, the president seems to have made up his mind on this but two years ago, he certainly seemed to have waivered. no chance now, right? seems to be what robert gibbs was saying? >> no chance now. i would say he has always been

clear that this is his position, ashleigh, but negotiated a deal, that's what you do sometimes in politics, you compromise and cut a deal. he allow them to be extended before. he says this time no way. this is about framing a campaign election fight and for the president, the white house you can it is about making the case that the president's fighting for middle class americans and would argue that is just silly framing of the issue and that they are really trying to jump start the economy, take care of everybody and that the president and white house aren't giving a full picture of the republican position. >> jessica, a lot of costs involved with this and then there are a lot of revenues involved with this depending which way the decision is made, whether there is a $250,000 ceiling, whether there's a million dollar creaming or whether the tax cuts get wiped

out completely or whether they are extended for everyone. i know it's pretty tricky but is there a way for you to sort of give us a "reader's digest" version of what it mean he is? >> yes e so, the bottom line on this is the bush era tax cuts are set to expire at the very end of this year. right now, there's a debate about how -- how -- for whom they should be extended. and how that will impact different categories of people. president obama is going to argue today they should be extended only for individuals who make less than $200,000 or couples, families who make $250,000r less. republicans are going to say they should be extended for everybody because there's so many people who are really middle income earners who fall into those 250,000 category and be hit by the president's proposal. the bottom line on it, ashleigh,

nothing is going to happen this year this is campaign era rhetoric so they can just frame a fight during the election because nobody expects anything to pass before the election. this will all take place after we have a new president elected in november so this is all about campaign politics, ashleigh. >> oh, boy surks it ever. the optics, the campaign slogans, the bumper stickers that can come out of this jessica yemen, thank you so much. as we have all been mentioning, there is prebuttal, the romney campaign is already going on the defensive, even before president obama gets a chance to make his remark in about, again, looking at the clock, 25, 26 minutes from now. mitt romney's spoke he is person releasing a statement today saying this -- so if your salary

goes up to $250,000 a year, you will be okay under this plan. anything over, you don't get that tax toll holiday anymore if the president gets his way. the president is scheduled to make his remarks about tax cuts shortly, doing the countdown clock for through our heads anyway, certainly bring you those comments live as we continue to watch the clock. there are a lot of warning lights

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extended period of time t is unclear how hot it was in that car but temperatures in that area have reached 103 degrees outside. the infant's father was arrested. he has been charged with neglect. the weather has been relentless in virgina. the state got slammed yet again, but this time, it was extreme winds coming through yesterday. only complicating you the recovery efforts and causing even more damage. >> can't even tell you what we are feeling. i drove up and said it has got to be a dream, this just can't:not be real. we just still are in a state of shock. >> more than 160,000 customers in nine different states, including virginia, and also washington, d.c., still without power today. you can count the number of days you're off the chart in terms of a week. the region could certainly get battered, too, by more severe storms this week. the weather story is not a good story. meteorologist chad myers is

standing by in the severe weather center. i still can't believe, chad, you and i are talking about power outages, those poor people, told me they might be getting their power back on on saturday and that was going to be difficult and yet here we are monday. >> it's now down to those wires that will only get two or three more people back up on the grichld the power crews did this triage and they do this all the time, they think, okay what if we put this line up, how many people are me we going to get b online. if it is 10,000, that is a priority line f it's two, it is a lower priority line. that is what we are doing now you can getting one, two and three up at a time. one, two, three, 160,000, that is maybe 60,000 more wires to get back up. the problem is not just wires but broke power poles, they have redig a power pole, put it up. the highs from last week are gone though. if you haven't been outside in new york city today, today a good day to get out there might need a sweat. temperatures in the 60s and 70s, middle 80s, the heat has built

back to the west, where the sheet going to be for the rest of the weekend now, in fact for about the next ten days. going to be 115 degrees in vegas today. 111 in phoenix. probably 127 in death valley. here are the highs from yesterday breaking all-time records in places, raleigh durham, 105, d.c., 102. today, you will be 20 degrees cooler, how about that in the cold front that came through here but also the focus for where those storms were yesterday in virginia and there will be more storms today that could make more wind to bring more powerlines back down with storms about 4:00, 5:00 today. >> so if i understand you correctly, we have a heat wave that is abating, it is bringing cooler weather but problematic weather, more storms that could double hammer these people. >> yeah. >> all the while out on the west coast, they are about to get another heat wave? >> another one. yeah. and it's -- i know it is a dry heat but 115 is still darn hot. >> yeah, well, especially since they just steamed get a handled on all the fire fighting out there hopefully that won't cause

problems for them. all right, chad myers, looks like you're not getting days off. >> not any time soon. 41 minutes past 11:00 on the east coast, which means the live eye is on and that room is full. it's the east wing of the white house. this was supposed to happen in the rose garden but because of inclement weather, it has been moved inside that microphone is waiting for the president himself. coming up, wolf blitzer is going to be here to anchor our network coverage of president obama's remarks on tax cuts, his plan for who should get relief in terms of keeping your tax treats. plus, going to have live team coverage on what the president is expected to say, how it is going to impact you and the reverberations for the campaign and capitol hill as well. e uth . i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families

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i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we are awaiting the president of the united states. he is about to walk into the east room of the white house to deliver a major statement on taxes. whether or not to keep taxes where they are right now or to let the entire tax structure lapse by the end of this year. if congress does nothing, the president does nothing, everyone's taxes are going to go up slightly, going back to the tax rates that occurred during the clinton administration. if congress passes legislation, that could change. the president about to announce that he wants the tax rates to remain the same for everyone earning under $250,000 a year,

if they are filing as a family, $200,000 a year if they are filing a $a sifile fili filing as a single tax runner. the republicans say that is not acceptable at all there will be a fight. a team of correspondents standing by. jessica yellin is with us, dana bash, our congressional correspondent, christine romans is with us as well, gloria bore gentlem -- gloria borger is back as well. the weather is not that great. why is he making this announcement? >> everyone is back from vacation right now and you the campaign in a sense, officially begins. for the president this is an opportunity to use the bully pulpit and take the fight to the republicans and try to define the campaign on his terms on the first day of the summer fight.

i can tell you this, the remarks, my guidance, is that he will speak for seven to eight minutes, flanked by working families and other people who would be affected by the kind of tax cut that he is advocating here. and the idea for democrats, no doubt is to argue that with the kind of tax cut he is advocating, it, in a sense works give middle class families the kind of clarity they need to start spending again to boost consumer confidence and in a sense, politically, to change the subject, so that everyone is talking about this fight with -- between democrats and republicans over who should get a big tax cut instead of talking about you know, the jobs picture and other topics that are not quite as flattering for the white house right now. >> all right. stand by, dana bash is up on capitol hill. the president certainly doesn't have the votes in the house of representatives where there's a lopsided republican majority in the house. i'm not even sure he has the votes in the senate to pass

legislation, what he wants to do given the fact there are a half a dozen or so democratic senators up for re-election who aren't inclined to vote for raising taxes on anyone. >> that's exactly right. still, i talked to a senior democratic senate source who said that they do plan to have a vote to match what the president is saying today at some point, because unlike the house and the senate, democrats still run it and they do have that ability. but you are exactly right. the very first question that i asked to the strategists who are trying to get democrats elected and also to the republicans who are trying to beat those democrats, is how are you going to use this and they said no matter whether there's a vote or not, they already are going to take the president's speech, the minute he gives it happened it to republican candidates out there for the senate and use it to hammer democrats. as you said, certainly everybody agrees that the tax cuts for those making $250,000 and less should be extended. the big question is whether those making the higher amount should be extended. and republicans have already in

the past, and certainly in the future, if there is a vote, use that vote to say, a-ha, these democrats voted against it effectively voted to raise people's taxes and that is, i think history shows, not necessarily the best political move for a democrat, especially those in battleground states. >> i would like to you stand by as well, dana. christine romans, our business correspondent, is standing by, watching all of this. what this means, if you were making more than $200,000 a year as an individual, $250,000 filing jointly or as a family, if president obama gets his way, your taxes will go up from 33%, which is the current tax rate to 36% rate for some but for most of those individuals, from 35%, which is the current federal tax rate, up to 39.6%, which was the tax rate, of course, during the clinton administration. so it will be -- for very rich people, it will be a significant

increase in taxes. >> and it is going to show, like if you make $388,000 a year or so on paper, just the straight change in the tax rate is going to be another 17, 18,000 dollars in taxes, but with everything in taxes, wolf, there's nothing simple about it and there are a lot of other things that are packaged up into tax breaks and tax goodies, amt, alternative minimum tax, there's corporate tax rate, different deductions in tax credits having a kid in college and go up into the formula for the middle-class families and what the president and the others like to say and others like to say, if you don't keep it in place, couples making less $250,000 or less, if you don't keep them in place, they are going to see a tax increase, and this is something that you won't like to have in a fragile economy. and it is also what is rich in america, $250,000 or something higher like nancy pelosi says, and some people say $1 million

is higher in some of the high tax states to talk about raising the taxes on the wealthy and republicans talk about what it means for the small business owners, but what it means for everyone, wolf, if we don't handle the temporary taxes, taxes for almost h everyone will go up if congress does not do something at a time when the economic recovery is fraj ji gid we are not seeing the economy produce jobs. tax breaks are very difficult to take back. they really are, especially when you give tax breaks to the middle-class who feel it. and they will feel it in the paychecks more than anybody else. so it is very hard to give somebody a tax goody and bring it back and that is where we stand right now. >> okay. we will bring in gloria borger and we await the president who is about to go into the east room of the white house and he has major guests there, and he

will make a pitch to increase the taxes for middle america and not so much for the wealthy americans. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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where they are, and he wants the tax rates to go up for people making more than that. tax rates will go up for everyone at the end of the year early next year unless congress passes new legislation. as we await the president, let's bring in the chief political analyst gloria borger, and as i said to dana, there is no guarantee that the president has votes to get done what he wants and especially not in the house of representatives. we have looked at some of the democrats who rup for re-election and joe manchin of west virginia and bill nelson of nebraska and bill nelson, florida, and claire mccaskill of missouri and jon tester of m montana and jim webb of virginia retiring and they have in the past indicated they may not go along with the president on his new initiative today which is really not a new initiative. he has been consistent saying this is what he wants to do for a long time. >> well, this is about framing the presidential debate. this is about barack obama

differentiating himself from mitt romney. it is a reprieve of the fairness argument na we h that we have b hearing over and over and over again. this is a time in the presidential campaign when people's perceptions and views start to harden, wolf. so what the president just had last week was some very bad employment news, and there is a worry in the campaign that those kinds of bad numbers are going to have people's views hardening about the economy staying in a ditch or going into the ditch, so what they are trying to do now is so to speak switch the subject to say, i'm the president who believes in fairness and i want to repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy and extend them for people earning under $250,000 a year as opposed to mitt romney who cares more about the wealthy, is wealthy, himself, and, you know, hitting him on the record at bain

capital. so you really see the battle lines being drawn in this campaign, and this is really a part of it, and by the way, wolf, this is also the way that the president can use the bully pulpit. when you look at this event today, look at where it is and look at at the people he has with him to illustrate his proposal and whether it passes in congress or not, which it won't, almost is beside the point at this. this is about campaign. >> and let me bring back jessica yellin, who are the folks that the president invited into the east room today to watch the speech he is about to deliver? >> well, wolf, i am told middle-class workers who would benefit from the tax cut he is proposing and again to underscore what gloria is saying the point that the white house is trying to illustrate is that he is pushing for a tax cut that would benefit most americans, and then the case that the white

house will plan to make is this would pass and would affect most americans which is the white house's point if only the republicans would stop insisting that the very rich also get this tax cut. and the only reason that the one-year extension is not going through for everybody is because the house republicans are insisting the very rich have to get the tax cut, too. that is how the president will ultimately hope this argument plays out. we know it is going nowhere in the senate or the house, but it is just campaign era politics. the bottom line is that it is a rhetorical battle that the white house thinks is very beneficial to them. they think it is really one they can win, wolf. >> because, let me bring in dana bash, because mitch mcconnell and other republicans in the senate say, you know, extend the current bush tax rates for another year right now, dana, they say, and in the course of

the year, let's everyone get together and engage in comprehensive tax reform for the country and get rid of the tax breaks for the big companies that is not necessarily need them and work for the tax reform, if you will, and that is a pretty strong argument that these republicans, dana, are making. >> that is exactly right. mitch mcconnell made that very point to candy crowley on "state of the union" yesterday and that is the framework of the legislation of the republicans that they will push later this month, and extend all of the bush era tax breaks with the argument they can use that year to frame some comprehensive tax reform. and the -- well, maybe the but i should put on this is that we have heard the promises on both sides of the aisle before. we have heard promises that they will focus on the commission that we saw the bowles/simpson commission, and that didn't happen and we saw the promise of

the so-called gang of six in the senate talking about tax reform, and that didn't produce anything. i mean, say it like it is, politics got in the way. and whether or not it can act l actually happen after directly after an election when you are a little bit further away from the election, you know, perhaps it is possible, but just seeing the way that things have moved so fast and everything no matter where you are on the calendar is so intensely partisan and political and little doubt that would happen, and that mean iin the compromise and the discussion about the tax reform in that one-year framework. >> yes, it is going to be eyeball to eyeball and not only for the next four months between now and the election, but it is eyeball to eyeball in the two months a of the election and the so-called lame duck session of congress. because if congress does nothing, everyone's taxes, the tax rate will go up for everyone, because that's the law of the land. so there's going to be intense e negotiation, and my own sense that probably nothing serious

will be done between now and november 6th, but between the lame duck session as they face the fiscal cliff, action will be taken. we are approaching the top of the hour where, let me set the scene for you if you are just joining us, the president is go ing to come out to the east room and make thetase case he that wants the tax rate to remain the same for individuals making $200,000 and lez for families making $250,000 a year or less and he wants the taxes to go up back to the clinton administration rates for everyone else making more than that. the republicans say they will reject any tax increases right now whatsoever. we have all of the reporters standing by. jessica yellin, da na basna bas christine romans. and let me bring you in,

christine, because a lot of the economists say that the economic recovery is fragile and it would be a mistake to raise taxes in a period of economic weakness right now, because it could further undermine the economic recovery and that is not just coming from republican economists, but independent and democratic economists as well. >> yes, and look, this is why you are supposed to handle things like this when the times are better to run the books and the budgets that are sustainable. you know, we have got this not only the tax part of this equation, but you have talked about the fiscal cliff and the huge spending cuts that are triggered as well, and the two things at the same time that the congressional budget office says will push the economy into another recession at the beginning of next year, so we know that, you know, we know that -- you can pick the metaphor and the mac truck or the fiscal cliff or whatever you want to use, but the economy is growing too slowly really to be able to handle the families spending the money based on what they are getting out of the paychecks to handle a tax

increase for that. what would it look like? marry and filing jointly couple making $80,000 a year, the tax rate would go up, and they would pay, you know, another $1,300 or $1,500 a year, and that is real money out of middle class households frankly. and this is important especially after the jobs report friday and some would cynically say that the president is trying to turn the page only the bad jobs report and focus on something that he can control which is what your tax rate is, because the jobs rate just has not been, not been robust at all and the recovery has been too slow for anyone's liking, but the combination of the tax cuts, wolf, and that tax increases and the big spending cuts at the same time really is something that is keeping economists and people in the market up at night about it. >> and gloria borger, the

republicans are already throwing the president's own words back at him, and the last time this came up in 2009 when the president agreed to extend the bush tax rates for everyone, rich, poor, middle-class, whatever, and the president, himself, acknowledged that he did not want to raise taxes, because at the time and i will read it directly and this is the president of the united states in 2009, the last thing you want to do is to raise the taxes in the middle olle of a recession, because it would suck up and take out more demand in the economy and put businesses in a further hole. now, the country is not in a recession right now, but it is not great recovery either. those words that the president said back in 2009 are already being thrown back at him and the folks saying you don't want the raise the taxes on anyone right now, because it could undermine the economic recovery. >> and you could make the argument that the growth rate is less than it was in 2009-2010, and so why would the president be doing this now? the republicans obviously pick up the argument which says that if you do what the president

wants to do, that is a tax increase on small businesses. and you see what is happening here, wolf. the house is going to vote to repeal the president's health care reform bill. that is not going the go anywhere, but they now call that a large tax increase thanks to the supreme court decision. they are now talking about this as a tax increase, and so they are going to continue to call the president the largest tax hiker in history, and that is their hyperbole, and so that the arguments are just being played out here. sometimes i think that you ought to just send congress home when you get close to the election, because nothing is ever going to be done except for this kind of rhetoric. that is what we are seeing play out today. it is just more framing of the debate, and the republicans as dana bash has been saying this morning, the republicans are welcoming this, because it helps them define their argument for

to mitt romney and the democrats are saying, okay, we are the ones who want to be fair and care more about the middle-class. and by the way, the polling, i should add, is with the president on this that half of the public says that we want to keep the tax cuts for those earning under $250,000 and only one quarter of the public says to keep it for the wealthy. >> and jessica yellin, i don't know if the white house is reacting already to what the president, himself, said back in 2009 saying that in an economic recovery and in his words in the middle of a recession is not a good time to raise taxes and that is why he extend ed the buh tax rates two years ago and he said, you know what, he is not going to do it anymore and doubling down on the strategy. >> no, they are not in the habit of preempting his own comments generally, wolf.

but they point out that they are, and have been consistent on the logic that he believes in not extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest, and another republican office at the same time sent out a series of times that the president has also argued that he does not believe in extending the tax cuts for the very wealthiest, and so he will no doubt make the case that this is the best position for giving security and confidence to middle-class americans knowing that they will have this tax cut for another year, and it will enable them to go out to spend more and know that they have the certainty that they will have this money in their pocket, and in a way stimulate spending. if he does not make that case, you could point to some economists who have. and so, that could be one argument that we could hear from the democrats in the future, and the larger case they will make is that this is exact ly the kid

of, you know, message that he has been driving home for the last few months on the campaign trail that he's most concerned about the middle class who is being squeezed by an economy in their kind of framing that an economy that helps the people who are already doing well and is not helping the folks in the middle, and he is concerned most about the folks in the middle. and so this is a way to reinforce that message, and draw contrast with the republicans who again are going to insist on extending the tax cuts for everybody, and then that means that they will, and the democrats will say really for the very wealthy h and tlalthy y are the only people who will not get the tax cut. what they do agree is that that they want a one-year overall tax extension for some portion of the population and overall broad tax reform. that is a huge leap forward and

there have been many years in which nobody in this nation has agreed that they are ready to take on the tax code. so which ever man is elected president next year, we will see congress most likely try to delve into the sticky complicated tax code and really try to get at the loopholes and the subsidies and try to get some real reform next year, wolf. >> all right. i guess that some of the president's guests are walking in right now. we can see them walking in on the little risers over there, and standing behind the president, and the president will tell us who these folks are, no doubt about it, and then the president will make his remarks. these are middle-class families, and small business owners and others invited guests by the white house. and the president will walk in shortly after they come to their position positions there. he will be introduced, and he will make the remarks. one of the things that we will be looking forward to assessing maybe in the discussion after the president is -- here is the

president. let's listen to the president right now as he walks in and delivers his prepared remarks. he will make a speech, and this is not a news conference and he won't be answering the reporters' questions. >> thank you very much. thank you. everybody have a seat. have a seat. well, good afternoon, everybody. >> good afternoon. >> i am glad that things have cooled off a little bit. i know that folks were hot. you know, we are here today to talk about taxes, something that everybody obviously cares deeply about. i have often said that our biggest challenge right now isn't just to reclaim all of the jobs that we lost to the recession, and it is to reclaim the security that so many middle-class americans have lost over the last decade. our core mission as an administration and as a country has to be, yes, putting people

back the work, but also rebuilding an economy where that work pays off. and e anconomy that if you work hard you can get ahead. and what is holding us back of the challenges is not a lack of plan or changes, but it is a stalemate in this town, in washington between two very different views about which direction we should go in as a country. nowhere is that stalemate more pronounced than on the issue of taxes. many members of the other party believe that prosperity comes from the top-down so that if we spend trillions more on tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, that that will somehow unleash jobs and economic growth. i disagree. i think that they are wrong. i believe that our prosperity has come from the economy that

is built on a strong and growing middle class. twhaun can aft-- one that can a the buy our products that we have to sell, and a middle-class that can buy a home and send their kids to college and have enough to retire on. that is why i cut the middle-class taxes every year that i have been president by $3,600 for the typical middle-class family. let me repeat. every year since i have been in office we have cut taxes for the typical middle-class american family by $3,600. i wanted to repeat that because sometimes there is a little misinformation out there and folks get confused about it. moreover, we tried it their way. it didn't work.

at the beginning of the last decade congress passed trillions of dollars in tax cuts that benefitted the wealthiest americans more than anybody else. and we were told that it would lead to more jobs and higher incomes for everybody, and the prosperity would start at the top and then trickle down. and what happened? the wealthy got wealthier, but most americans struggled. instead of creating more jobs, we had the slowest job growth in half a century, an instead of widespread prosperity, the typical family saw its income fall. and in just a few years, we went from record surpluses under bill clinton to record deficits that we are now still struggling to pay off today. so we don't need more top-down economics. we have tried that theory. we have seen what happens. we can't afford the o go back t it. we need policies that grow and

strengthen the middle-class, and create jobs and make education and training more affordable, that encourage the businesses to start up and create jobs right here in the united states. that is why i believe that it is time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, folks like myself to expire. that -- the -- [ applause ] and by the way i might like to feel differently, because it is not that i like to pay taxes and i might feel differently if we were having huge surpluses, but everybody agrees that we have deficits and we need to do something about the debts. so that the money we are spending on the tax cuts for the wealthy is a major driver of our deficit, and a major contributor to the deficit and costing us $1 trillion over the next decade.

by the way, these tax cuts for the wealthiest americans are also the tax cuts that are least likely to promote growth. so we can't afford to keep that up. not right now. so i'm not proposing anything radical here. i just believe that anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under bill clinton. back when the economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, and biggest budget surplus in history, and plenty of millionaire millionaires to boot. and this is not just my opinion. the american people are with me on this. pollf a poll shows that is the case. and there are plenty of patriotic and very successful and wealthy americans who also agree, because they know that making that contribution, they are making the country as a whole stronger. at the same time, most people

agree that we should not raise taxes on middle-class families or small businesses, not when so many folks are just trying to get by and not when so many folks are still digging themselves out of the hole that was created by the great recession that we had. and at a time when the recovery is still fragile. that's why i'm calling on congress to extend the tax cuts for the 98% of americans who make less than $250,000 for another year. if congress doesn't do this, millions of american families, including the good looking people behind me could see their

taxes go up by $2,200. starting on january 1st of next year. that would be a big blow to working families. and it would be a drag on the entire economy. now, we can already anticipate that we know what those who are opposed to letting the high end tax cuts expire will say. they'll say that we can't tax job creators and they will try to explain how this would be bad for small businesses. let me tell you, folks who create most of the new jobs in america are america's small business owners, and i have cut taxes for small business owners 18 times. since i have been in office. i've also asked congress repeatedly to cut taxes for entrepreneurs who hire h new

workers and pay their wages. but i want to make a proposal that would decrease the taxes for 97% of small business owners. in other words, 97% of the small businesses fall under the $200,000 threshold. so this isn't about taxing job creator, but it is about helping job creators. i want to give them relief. i want to give those 97% a sense of permanence. i believe we should come together and get this done. while i disagree on extending the tax cuts on the wealthy, because we cannot afford them, i recognize that not everybody agrees with me on this. on the other hand we all agree that we should extend the tax cuts for the 97% of the american

people. everybody says that. the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle-class, and i don't want to raise taxes on the middle-class, so we should all agree to extend the tax cut for th middle-class. let's agree to do what we agree on. right. that is what compromise is all about. let's not hold the vast majority of the americans and the entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. we can have that debate. we can have that debate, but let's not hold up working on the thing that we already agree on. in many ways the fate of the tax cut for the wealthiest americans

will be decided by the outcome of the next e llection. my opponent will fight to keep them in place, and i will fight to end them. but that argument shouldn't threaten you. it shouldn't threaten the 98% of americans who just want to know that their taxes won't go up next year. middle-class families and small business owners deserve that guarantee. they deserve that certainty. it is gooder f for the economy it will be good for you and we should give you that certainty now. we should do it now. it will be good for you, and it will be good for the economy as a whole. so my message to congress is this, pass a bill extending the tax cuts for the middle-class,

and i will sign it tomorrow. pass it next week, i will sign it next week. pass it -- and you get the idea. as soon as that gets done, we can continue to have a debate about whether it is a good idea to also extend the tax cut s s the wealthiest americans. i'll have one position, and the other side will have another, and we will have that debate. and the american people can listen to that debate. and then next year once the election is over, and things have calmed down a little bit, based on what the american people have said and how they have spoken during that election, we are in a good position to decide how to reform the entire tax code in a simple way that lowers rates and helps our economy grow and brings down the deficit. because that is something that we are going to have to do for the long term. but right now, our top priority has to be giving middle-class

families and small businesses the security they deserve. you are the ones who are driving this recovery forward. and you are the ones who are driving this recovery forward and i think it is time to widen the circle of opportunity and help more americans who work hard to get away. it is time we learn the lessons of the past and lay a foundation for the better future. that is what i'm focused on everyday and i hope that congress will join me in doing the right thing. thank you all for being here. thank you. >> there he is the president of the united states wrapping up in 12, 13 minute speech of why he wants to extend the bush era tax cuts for another year for those families making $250,000 a year or less and individuals making

$200,000 a year or less, and saying that he does not want to extend the bush tax cuts for folks making more than that, arguing they don't really need those continued tax rates if nothing is done, everyone's taxes will go up at the end of the year when the bush era tax rates expire. it is a sensitive issue right now, and even before the president spoke, the romney campaign issued a statement and let me put it up on the screen and read it to you. this is from the romney spokesperson, president obama's response to more economic bad news is a massive tax increase. it just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get america working again and help the middle-class. the president's latest bad idea is to raise taxes on families and job creators and small businesses, and almost half a million fewer workers are working today than the day barack obama took office.

and we've just come through the worst job creation quarter in two years. unlike president obama, governor romney understands that the last thing that we need to do in this economy is raise taxes on anyone. he has a plan to permanently lower marginal rates, help middle-class americans save and invest, and jump start economic growth and job creation. and now, let me bring in our panel, and what i didn't hear the president say is that if the republicans in the house, and in the senate, they manage to get together a majority to pass legislation that would extend the bush tax rates for everyone and not just the middle-class, but for everyone, i didn't hear him say he would veto that legislation. i know it is a sensitive subject for the white house officials, but what are you hearing? >> i would be fairly confident that he would, wolf. this is something he has drawn a bright line on before in the debt talks last summer, and he

has made it clear this is a position that he absolutely rejects. and this is where he, what he staked the re-election on that he is fighting to protect the middle-class in essence of against what he says are the privileges that the very wealthy have gotten under the tax code and under sort of the regulations, and sort of the privileges that wall street has g gotten for some time, and he has gone out of the way to say that he is giving $3,600 tax cuts and it is broken down between health care reform, and stimulus and tax cuts, and though he has not said it, i am confident that the white house would not accept a full extension of the bush era tax cut for everyone, wolf. >> and christine romans, the bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest would go up, and those currently paying 33%, and their tax rate would be 36% which is what it was in the clinton administration, and those currently paying 35% which

is the maximum tax rate, their tax rate would go up to 39. %, and the democrats argue and the president argues and the president's reporters argue that these people were doing just fine in the '90s in the clinton administration when they were paying the higher tax rates and they will pay more and that is not going to necessarily undermine the e kconomy. >> and they are talking about the golden days of the 1990 when you had a budget surplus and 23 or 24 million jobs created and an economy that was firing on all cylinders and quite frankly, there was work for anybody who wanted it almost. i mean, there were companies doing everything they could to try to hire and train workers and companies were investing a lot of money in training workers, because they had, with the labor market i can remember then, wolf, talking about running out of workers, that we were going to have maybe less than 5% unemployment rate and what would that mean for america and now just 20 years later how times have changed.

but what they are saying is that, hey, look, we had higher tax rates then and as the president says plenty of millionaires at the time. and he is taking a stab from what you are hearing from republican talking point sheet about how this would hurt small business owners, and that there are small business owners whose taxes and who make more than $250,000 a year and their businesses are in those income taxes, but it is only 3% of small businesses that, it is only 3% of the small businesses and not very many of them, and a big chunk of them, and the president is saying, look, we are looking at lower taxes and keeping them lower for 97% of the country and raising them for the top 3% of the country and the president says that is fair. >> and the argument is that yes, yes, 3% of the small businesses would be affected, but they are the ones, the biggest of the small businesses employ iing th most individuals in their small businesses. so it would have a disproportionately significant impact, christine, on the small businesses who are the largest and the most productive small

businesses if you will. >> and the white house would say, they were doing fine with higher tax rates in the 1990s. that is where you go back and forth. i would point out that the taxes are a part of a big picture and not like a scientific form ula o create a job. there is no periodic table of the elements of how to create a job. in some cases, it is much more nuanced and so many levels and confidence. there is a confidence question here, and one thing that is interesting about what you hear about the lack of confidence among the business owners and they are worried about the economy and worried about the demand and the certainty, and the certainty of the tax code and health care and all of thess things, but there is not a lot of confidence in these things. >> thank you, christine and jessica yellin, thank you to you as well. stay with us, because we are about to go around the world with suzanne malveaux in the n "cnn newsroom," and the ""cnn newsroom" international" and afghanistan and syria and austria and that is only two

minutes ago. i'm wolf blitzer, and i will be back in the situation room at 4:00 p.m. eastern. >>sorry. he wants you to know about priceline's new express deals. it's a faster way to get a great hotel deal without bidding. pick one with a pool, a gym, a great guest rating. >>and save big. >>thanks negotiator. wherever you are. ya, no. he's over here. >>in the refrigerator? there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is.

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welcome to the newsroom international and i'm suzanne malveaux and we are going around the world in this half hour. this is what is going on right now. a manhunt is under way in afghanistan for taliban militants who participate d in the execution of a young woman. it happened in the warren province north of kabul and the video is just coming to light. i have to warn you, it is very disturbing to watch. we are showing you this, because it is an important story to see. now the woman, she is sitting there on the ground covered head to toe in the burqa, and the executioner takes aim from close range and firing nine bullets n into her. [ gunshots ] >> as the shots ring out, men can be heard cheer iing.

we are not going the show you the moment of her death. i want to bring in mohammed jamjoon who joins us from abu dhabi, and mohammed, tell us what the circumstances were around this, and what kind of accusations were hurled at this woman, and how did this happen? >> well, suzanne, afghan officials are telling us that they believe that two members of the taliban had been involved in some sort of a relationship with this woman. that they had been involved in a dispute over the woman, and that in order to save face, they decided that they would accuse the woman of adultery, and by doing that, they would then be able to be judge, jury, and executioner and within an hour of hurling that accusation against the woman that she was, that she had been involved in adultery that they had executed her. now president karzai of afghanistan is promising there will be a manhunt and that the men involved and the taliban members involved in this

incident, this atrocious, horrific incident that they will be brought to justice, but women's rights activists that we are speaking with are not really taking that as a reassurance. they have said in the past and they continue to say now that when there are these horrific episodes of brutality against women like the one that you are seeing in the video today that oftentimes these men escape justice in afghanistan. suzanne. >> and mohammed, talk a little bit about this, because a year ago as in afghanistan, and seems that at least things are improving for the women there, but when you look at this, it looks like the back to the days when the taliban ruled from 2006-2011 when people pack ed te stands to watch things like this. is that goes back to the days? >> well, it certainly seems that way, suzanne. and even though there have been steps that have been made in afghanistan for the advancement of women's rights there, and they are no longer under the rule of the taliban, this is

re really reminiscent of the days and it is important to remember that just this year human rights watch released a report that they said in afghanistan nearly 9 of 10 women suffer physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetime. that is staggering to imagine when you think of the fact that the coalition forces have been in there for 11 years now, and that billions of dollars have been poured into that country to try to improve the lot not just of afghans, but women in particular who suffer under such harsh conditions. i will give you one example. i was in afghanistan a month and a half ago and we did a story about the maternal mortality rates lowering in afghanistan and better for mothers there and pregnant women, but let's expand on that. in fact, what happened is that n in the most recent survey of save the children, afghanistan went from being the worst place in the world to be a mother to being only the second worst place in the world to being a o

mother, and that is what you have to measure against in afghanistan when you talk about improvements. so much money put in there and yet the women there facing still horrible circumstances and such horrible violence on a daily basis. suzanne. >> we have heard from the nato forces commander there in afghanistan and also heard from the secretary of the state hillary clinton and both of them condemning what is taking place there. mohammed, thank you. appreciate it. new plan for peace in syria. kofi annan says that the syrian president has now agreed on a new approach to ending the violence. game-winning scalp protection, great looking hair... and confidence [ male announcer ] up to 100% flake free with head & shoulders for men.

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there are at least 30 people killed today while the u.n. and arab league's special envoy kofi annan met with syrian president bashar al assad and after the meeting in damascus, annan said that assad agreed to a new way for peace. and we have heard it before, a that there is an agreement for peace, and it has fallen apart, any more confidence here in what they have discussed? >> not for the people who were there in the lobby of a damascus hotel that kofi annan and bashar al assad, the president of syria, said they had agreeded on a new approach to solving the crisis and ending the violence. the syrian government is pledging again to abide by the kofi annan six-point peace plan. and since then, the violence has

gotten worse and the sectarian violence has spread and turning some parts of syria into a full blown civil war. so, is there confidence, suzanne, out there? not really. there was really no confidence after the geneva action group meeting to which iran was not invited at the request of the united states and interestingly now kofi annan is in teheran, and he is going to be talking to the iranian officials to try and this is a last throw of the dice, suzanne, as far as kofi annan is concerned to try to get some regional cooperation to solve this situation in syria. >> why do they keep trying this? it seems that over and over they try and it doesn't work and is this really the only thing that they figured they can do? >> it is the only thing that is out there. there is really no other solution offered. there is no other plan. there is no plan b. we have heard that many times from officials as well. but everybody is having to acknowledge now, and by the way, you are seeing the images here of the meeting between kofi annan and there he is bashar al

assad and the senior presidential advise there that i just spotted, and as well as high level officials from the ministry of foreign affairs. so, the question is, what else can you do? i mean, you at this point have the kofi annan plan and nothing else. so you keep trying over and over again, but in the backdrop as you mentioned in your introduction, suzanne, violence continues which started as a democracy movement has morphed into a armed rebellion against the regime of president assad, and this is becoming harder and harder to solve. >> and one other thing that we heard from the syrian president is that he is accusing the united states of destabilizing the country and they are partnering with the terrorists, and is there anybody who believes what he says is true? >> i don't believe that anybody who knows the situation in syria believes that the armed opposition is constituted of foreign terrorists. they aare defectors from the

syrian army and they have defected and now they are armed. it is very different. as far as the united states and other countries that are the allies in the region such as saudi arabia and qatar, they are not openly saying that in any way they are arming or militarizing the conflict, but saudi arabia and qatar are saying that that rebels should be arm ed in the fight against the regime. >> thank you. a mysterious illness kills 60 children in cambodia and now the invest gay fors have found a clue to help them fight for the lives of dozens of more sick children. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting?

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welcome back to newsroom international, i i'm suzanne malveaux and we are taking you around the world in 60 minutes. a mystery illness has killed dozens of children in cambodia. it hits them so fast that they die within days. 64 have died since april. officials are scrambling to find out what it is before it spreads even further. >> well, our concern is really to get the diagnosis sorted out as quickly as possible, because then it will be much easier for us to assess how dangerous or not dangerous it is for neighboring countries. >> and they say they might have some clues. i want the bring in our own dr. sanjay gupta who is in cambodia

and what have we learned about this illness first of all? >> well, what they have sort of zeroed in on, suzanne, to some extent is a particular virus known as the internal virus 71, and the doctors have tried to exclude things like sars and avian flu and h1n1 and after they excluded those thing s ts looked for things less common and in the samples of the patients they studied they found this interval virus 71. and suzanne, keep in mind 64 patients who have died, so this is the partial explanation by that doctor, because they are obviously investigating. >> sanjay, any sense of how this is contagious or how it is spread? >> well, this is one of the sort of the pieces of the puzzle here to put together.

in some ways you would expect this interal virus 71 to be with the people in the homes and it does not appear to be contagious or clustering in homes or communities, so that part of the virus does not fit either. but i can tell you what happens with these children they typically die within 24 hours of admission, and oftentimes starts with a mild fever and then progresses to inflammation to the brain and then a very, very profound deterioration of the lungs. the lungs are completely destroyed as one of the doctors put it to me, and again, that does not fit with the interval 71 virus either. so they are wondering if this virus is part of the equation, and something else stands as well? that is what the doctors are spending time trying to figure out. >> and sanjay, explain to us what you saw in the hospital, and you saw other children in

that hospital that are very sick as well. >> well, suzanne, in this part of the world and phnom penh in particular is a part of the world where dengue fever and malaria and -- i don't know if you are looking at images now, but 4,000 or so children a week come into the hospital. many of them have these very serious problems. so first of all, they have to treat the types of illnesses with fewer resources and then try to parse out who of the children have these sort of mysterious illness and what can be best done for them. there is a few challenges ongoing here. again, not a definitive diagnosis as to what is killing so many of the cambodian children. >> it is heartbreaking to see. sanjay, thank you, as always for your excellent work. more than 47,000 lives have been lost in mexico's war on drugs.

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it has been just days since the mexicans elected a new president, a nd now the president-elect enrique pena nieto has spoken. >> translator: yes, we should look at the drug war. personally, i'm not in favor of legalizing drugs. i'm not persuaded by that as an

argument. however, let's open up a new debate, a review in which the u.s. plays a fundamental role in conducting this review. >> i want the bring in our own juan carlos lopez who has been cover i covering the election and the drug war, and what is he talking about when he talks about a new war with the united states? h. >> well, suzanne, it is an ongoing debate on how the war on drugs should be fought. many in the region and not only this president, but president calderon and other regional leaders have been asking for a new conversation and discussion on legalizing drugs and they don't believe as mr. pea ynieto that the strategy of drug prevention is not working and he

wants financial aid and military equipment and training, but more emphasis on the consumption of the united states, and this is probably the largest consumer of drugs in the world, and many see a direct link between that consumption and the war of taking place in mexico and other countries. >> one of the things that was striking, president obama as well as secretary of state hillary clinton and the trips to mexico that i covered, they did take responsibility saying that the americans are drug users, and we have to take some responsibility and accountability for the problem, and they worked very closely with philippe calderon, but you had still more than 47,000 people who ended up dying over drug-related violence. is there a new plan here? a new strategy with the new president? >> well, from what i heard from this interview, and what i have been reading from after the election, it seems it is a continuation of what the current government has in place. now what we have to put in context here is that mr. pena nieto belongs to the party that

was in power for seven decades before a change of party in 2000, and there was an anecdotal conversation where people said before this government came on board, there wasn't this widespread violence, but the cartels weren't as widespread in the involvement of the drug trafficking before that year. mr. pena nieto had the task of telling people, i will keep doing this and fight the cartels and no cease-fire with them. he hired the former head of the colombian police who is considered an expert in the war on drugs and he has to convince the mexicans and the people that he is going to be tough on drugs, and the mexicans are tired of the violence and the 47,000 deaths and the violence that comes with the drug trade. >> all right. juan carlos lopez, thank you. appreciate it. they are wearing only a thin layer of paint. wait until you see the artwork at this year's body painting festival. . i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city.

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several stories caught our attention today and the photos as well. look at these performers covered in body paint and barely anything else. they were at the world body painting festival held in austria over the weekendment some 240 artists from 40 countries showed off the designs

to win prizes. in italy, these are soccer players from the parma football club exercising on the beach in their spee dose and gearing up for the the 2012-2013 season. earlier today, taiwan tested 26 missiles in a live fire military drill and only two of them missed the target which is an improvement from the earlier test, and this is significant, because mainland china two miles away considers them a renegade state and has missiles aimed at state and has missiles aimed at the island. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm suzanne malveaux, and this hour in the "cnn newsroom," where we are focusing on politics and the president's new plan to extend the bush era tax cuts for families making $250,000 or less. and also a roll back of the voting rights of 1965.

and deja vu as the house votes wednesday to repeal the health care law again. it is the 31st vote to repeal obama care as it is called, but the first one since the supreme court has upheld the law. the initial attempt to get rid of the law came in january of 2011, two weeks after the gop took control of the house. that vote passed and died in the senate however as it has every other time that the house has tried to repeal the law. president obama says he has a sure-fired way to help middle-class taxpayers to help families making less than $250,000 a year, and get rid of tax breaks for the wealthy. i want to bring in jessica yellin who is in new york today. he talked about this and talked about it from the white house and clearly laying down the gauntlet, if you will, and he says, okay, i want to put this before congress again and this is going to be an issue that is going to be hot and heavy for the next four months, and do