merry christmas, karl. >> merry christmas. how are you? jenna: very well. we have a couple busy weeks. what do you make of what is happening with the republican field right now? >> newt gingrich has been the sixth candidate who has risen to the top. like icarus fallen down. he looked like he was going to be a big winner in iowa a couple weeks ago. now looks like he could welcome in second or third. jenna: one of the things he brings up or has been brought up around his fall is the presence of negative ads. not negative ads necessarily from one candidate or another but these super pacs, super political action committees. >> right. jenna: a quick tutorial on that, karl. if i was running for office and john had a political action committee, we don't talk to each other. we don't strategize with each other but jon could put money to work to get me elected for office. you are a founder of a political action committee. are you putting money to

work in iowa? >> no. america crossroads is only involved in the general election. we'll put our money against president obama, not against other republicans. you're right about that. take a look at iowa. i look at at spending pattern as of this morning. rick perry is the biggest spender on iowa tv. spending $5.2 million. 1.3 came from his political action committee. make us great again. romney has spent 3.7 million. but 2.7 is by the super pac operating on his behalf. ron paul, all aimed at newt gingrich. gingrich received half a million dollars worth of time all out of his campaign. no ads yet. rick santorum spent $200,000 all of it from a super pac. no advertising in iowa by either huntsman tore bachmann. super pacs. 4 million has come out of the super pac. >> do you think that is one reason why gingrich lost his footing in the polls?

is that about where the money is being put to work? >> it is not just money. frankly television ads have smaller role in presidentialal campaign and primary than we might expect. they have a big impact but the overall message. he has shown vulnerabilities on things like freddie mac receiving $1.6 million from freddie mac to be a consultant. he also had some, some missteps. i think his attack on the judiciary initially was a good thing. it gave him the center stage. it was a big applause line in the debate but you upon reflection i'm not certain necessarily a big plus. republicans say wait a minute, that is good if we remove bad federal judges but the democrats could have done that to us in 2009 and 2010 when they controlled congress. would we really like a principle if you don't like a judge's decision you can go remove him so liberals in congress can remove conservative judges from the supreme court? i think it has been a combination of things that brought him to the place it is today. jenna: interesting to hear that. you've been a part of these

races. you see what it's like to try to formulate a strategy to be successful. we see bus tours happening. we see a whole lot of television interviews. i'm looking at the "real clear politics" average when it comes to the polling data. you have ron paul, romney, gingrich all at the time top. it is interesting. ron paul is actually topping the rest of the field, karl, in the iowa caucuses. perry making a pretty strong move in the fourth position. what is key? >> yeah. jenna: what is the key strategy to have the next two weeks? >> remember things will start to sort of get, as they are today by the end of the week, they will sort of remain like physics, once set in motion in a certain way they will tend to stay in that way through the 3rd of january so organization matters because during the christmas holidays people i think pay less attention to the ads and more attention to, you know the person they see at the social gathering or their neighbor who comes over for holiday cheer or their cousin they see at a family party. those, having people revved

up and ready to go helps you in the organization. five or six weeks ago i said ron paul was making a move and could pull a surprise in iowa and i think that's very much the case today. he could become first in iowa and if he does so, i don't think it necessarily improves his chances of being president. iowa has a terrible record unfortunately. only one candidate won the iowa caucus and gone on to win the republican nomination and presidency. that was george w. bush in 2000. otherwise we have a pattern of iowa caucuses produced somebody who doesn't go on to win the republican nomination. jenna: interesting. because if he is in the top three that means you have gingrich or romney vying for that second position, or, at this point anything can happen in two-week time period. a quick final point from you, karl. what about michele bachmann and rick perry? when you look in the past and you look at iowa it is always those that have scored in that position that then made a big move going

into new hampshire, south carolina or something like that. are you keeping your eyes on them? >> well, yeah, look. there are generally three tickets out of iowa. that is to say you get to go on and compete if you're in the top three. i think ron paul is likely to be one of them, and high floor and low ceiling unlikely to be nominee there may be four tickets out. two different candidates with two different bets. rick perry says i will spend a lot of money on television hope that moves me. michele bachmann says i have a big organization i built for the ames straw poll. i'm from iowa originally. born in waterloo. i will put emphasis on get out of the vote organization. rick an sore -- santorum has a organization and received a big endorsement from a republican who leads influential republican conservative group and came in second in. we have three candidates vying for fourth ticket out of iowa. one spending a lot of none any and other two spending time on organizations and

endorsements. jenna: interesting to watch as always. karl, we appreciate your insights as always. >> you bet. merry christmas. jenna: merry christmas to you. jon: right now a showdown on capitol hill over your money. the house kills a senate measure to extend the payroll tax cut which is set to expire at the end of the year, meaning taxes on average will go up $40 in a biweekly paycheck, with many lawmakers going home for the holidays, looking like taxes will in fact go up for millions of americans on new year's day. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill. where do things stand with the house republican leaders in what has been a standoff, mike? >> reporter: jon, their message they're here and ready to work. they have their conferees, the people they would like to negotiate a deal on the payroll tax holiday here ready to work. they insister this the party of lower taxes. hear is the house majority leader a short time ago. >> the president sits probably a mile away from here down pennsylvania avenue.

we're sitting here. people wondering why can't they just get together and talk and work this out? and that's exactly with we're asking to do. the differences between us are not very great. >> reporter: so the house is hoping that the president will ask the senate to come back and try to hammer something out. or they would like to negotiate directly with the president of the united states. we'll see, jon. jon: so what's the latest from the democrats on the hill? are they willing to negotiate? >> reporter: well, it's interesting because as you mentioned the vast majority of house members and senators are gone but a couple of the local members, democrats, went to the floor and tried to procedural move, trying to get the senate plan reduced. take a listen to this. >> the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on friday. >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker. mr. speaker. we would like to ask for unanimous consent that we bring up the bill to extend the tax cut for 160 million

americans. as you walk off the floor, mr. speaker, you're walking out, you're walking away just as so many republicans have walked away from middle class taxpayers. >> reporter: so then after that they talked to reporters and their criticism was facing or directed at the speaker of the house. take a listen. >> the speaker of the house and republican leadership were awol on the floor of the house today. i didn't see any of them. >> reporter: so does that sound like we're close to a compromise? both sides pretty entrenched in their positions. we'll see if we working is out. jon: that would be the christmas miracle of the year, wouldn't it? mike, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. jon: this latest deadlock will likely not help lawmakers popularity. take a look. the congress is ending the year with approval rating of 11%. that is the lowest it has dipped in the 30 years gallop has been asking americans to rate congress's job performance.

let's bring in senator bob casey of pennsylvania. he is the chairman of the joint economic committee. he helped come up with the two-month payroll tax compromise. obviously you are dissatisfied that the house has not taken up that senate measure but is there blame enough on both sides to go around? >> well, jon, i think there is a very simple solution here. we have a piece of legislation that went through the senate, got 89 votes. democrats and republicans coming together to say very simply in a very pared down bill that we're going to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million americans for two months. also has unemployment insurance for that same time period. so we came to an agreement on a very simple bill. got 89 votes for it. if the house passes that bill today or tomorrow, this whole, this whole problem would go away. i think the house would be a lot better off, and i think speaker boehner in his caucus would be a lot better

off if they came together and said simply, the senate has worked out an agreement where you have senate republicans, senate democrats and house democrats coming together. i think the senate republicans should join us and get this done, give people some certainty for this holiday season and everyone could have a much better holiday. we could still have debates in 2012 about the next phase of this but at least let's get this done for the first 60 days of the new year. would give people a lot of certainty and have impact on the economy, seems like maybe two months is better than nothing but i guess the argument coming out of the house side, house republicans wanted this thing done, wanted a payroll tax cut extension for a full year. washington seems to be, it seems to be very popular in washington these days to pass a continuing resolution, to nibble around the edges, get a week here, a month there. do they have a point? >> well, jon, i would agree that the way that business has been conducted in the

last year has been frustrating for everyone but in this instance we actually have an exception to the rule of the last year where we have an agreement, a bipartisan agreement, that i think house republicans would be, they would be better off, their constituents would be better off if they agreed with us. what they don't say when they talk about having a full year of a payroll tax cut, i worked night and day, i had two different versions of a compromise to get this done for the year. what they don't tell you they loaded up that one year payroll tax cut, they loaded up that bill with a lot of other things that don't relate in any way to cutting the payroll tax. what they should do is take our bill, which is very simple. it addresses payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance directly, and also the, help so doctors and medicare recipients are protected. basically three, three fundamental elements that are in that bill that gives people some certainty by the end of the year. so i still think that house

republicans have a chance now to get this right. think they, a lot of their membership want them to and i think constituents do. i know in pennsylvania democrats and republicans in this state want us to get this done at least, at least for first 60 days of 2012. jon: let's assume you're right and house republicans or the house does go ahead and pass this two-month extension. what happens then? are we fighting over same issues two months from now or less? >> no question we'll continue to debate this. but as you said a moment ago, doing nothing is lot worse than the 60 days. and i just think that when you see the impact that the payroll tax cut had on early part of last year, it was very strong private sector job growth. february, march, and april of 2011. we need the same kick-start to move the economy forward this year. this isn't a magic wand but it will help enormously. when you put 1,000 bucks in the take-home pay or pockets of average worker, that

creates more demand and all the business leaders i talk to, big businesses, small businesses say we need demand. when you have demand you can create jobs. jon: let's hope the logjam can be broken one way or another. senator bob casey, democrat of pennsylvania. thank you. jenna: we'll have congressman eric cantor coming up in 20 minutes to talk about where we go from here when it comes to the tax holiday trying to be extended. meantime, a huge drug bust in arizona. investigators are one step closer to one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in mexico. we'll explain how just ahead. plus more than 100 lead pouring into the fbi as investigators step up their search for this missing toddler. new details coming up in the a live report. we also have rick with us today. nas nice to see you. i have a job for everybody during the break. go to the happening now homepage and scroll on down. iowa caucus is couple weeks away. we want you to vote right now. who do you think will win the iowa caucus?

here are what the early results are showing so far. pretty close between newt gingrich and ron paul. now is your chance, foxnews.com/happeningnow. we'll have more of the show after a quick break. don't go away. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that miissippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

jon: a major drug bust in arizona leads to more than 200 arrests. now investigators think the mexican cartels are closer than we think. rick folbaum has the story. he is in our newsroom. rick? >> this was pretty impressive team work between

local and federal authorities in tempe, arizona. they called it operation crank call. it involved under cover work over 15-month period of time. the target was an offshoot of the sinaloa drug cartel that is considered one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the entire world. this began after a routine drug arrest. a police officer saw a man engage in a drug deal. he pulled him over. this guy wound up being a delivery guy for the drug ring and the investigation was off and running. in the end as you mentioned 203 people arrested. almost $8 million in cash was seized. more than 1200 pound of drug was uncovered. talking marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methaphetamine. also 44 firearms were seized as well. the state attorney general hopes the arrests will prompt federal officials to put more patrol units down along the arizona-mexico border. the investigation into the sinaloa drug cartel continues. the goal is to indict the

top cartel members and bring them to the u.s. to face charges here. back to you. jon: rick, thank you. we'll check in with you a bit. jenna: the death of north korean dictator kim jong-il is putting new focus on the decades long standoff between north and south korea. militaries on both sides of the border are on high alert on questions remain who will assume command in north korea. senior correspondent greg palkot is live for us from seoul, south korea. greg? >> reporter: hey, jenna. north korea is claiming that some five million people out of a total population of 24 million have publicly mourned their late dictator kim jong-il. now we have no way of verifying that but we can tell you from our time on the ground when that government wants to get people out it gets people out. there were tens of thousands of people out in the central square in pyongyang. this as the control of the centers of power tightens up. soldiers were ordered back into the barracks. cities were clamped down and

military officers were made to pledge allegiance to the heir apparent, the young kim jong-un. meanwhile we're up at the border between north and south korea along the famous demille at that rised zone, the dmz. there today we found north korean defectors and human rights activity -- activists frankly gets both sides of the border a little bit nervous. take a look what we saw. just a few days of a the death of kim jong-il, a few hundred yards from the dmz, activists staging a protest. they're filling up the balloons with hell yum and these -- helium and leave let's, on the other side, kim jong u.n. and his two brothers. the call to rise up against hereditary succession. the hope these balloons will rise up and float over there into north korea and find their mark. north korea has called this propaganda warfare and has promised to take action if

these actions were taken on the ground but there were no actions because, when we were there, the balloons, instead of going into north korea went back into south korea. still, the actions, the directions, the anger on the ground very strong. back to you, jenna. jenna: very interesting look. greg palkot, thank you. jon: well, a startling find by airport security in our nation's capitol. what screeners found in this book that gives a whole new meaning to the term paper cut. also more on the debt of kim jong-il. it is creating a litany of worries for our country but for china as well. why that nation wants a stable neighbor to the east and south and what it means for china's relations with the united states. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers.

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jenna: welcome back, everyone. some new developments in the search for a missing toddler in maine. 20-month-old, ayla reynolds was last seen friday night at her father's house. police have seized his suv and a car with unidentified woman who lives in another town. rick leventhal is trying to follow the story for us. a lot of twists and turnsing rick. where are we right now? >> reporter: police say the baby's father, justin dep.a. throw had visitors the night she disappeared from her crib. the car seize the is from a woman who was there last night. police aren't telling us who she is. there are dozens of investigators working this case and more than 70 people are searching, checking wooded areas, dumpsters, garages and ballfields near the girl's home. they drained a section after nearby stream and temperatures dipping into the teens and single digits. authorities are still saying

this is missing child case and won't speculate whether ayla reynolds is still alive. her mother is worried sick. >> is she okay? is she laying somewhere dead? is she safe? is she cold? is she being fed? is someone watching her? is she somewhere's like, you know. i just, i just want her home. i want her home safe. >> reporter: well, her father says he shared every piece of information possible with police. he also released a statement saying in part, quote, i have no idea what happened to ayla or who is responsible. i will not make accusations or insinuations towards anyone until the police have been able to prove who is responsible for this. the couple was never married and they never lived together. the state gave ayla to the father in october when trista went into rehab for substance abuse. last thursday ayla's mother filed paperwork seeking sole custody of the girl. this was the day before the little girl disappeared. we asked state police about

suspects this morning. they told us we're trying to determine what we got. our focus is to find ayla period. we hope to learn more from a news conference scheduled 2:00 this afternoon. jenna: we hope we get more throughout the day. rick, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: in north korea kim jong-il's death is causing concern for north korea's largest neighbor, china. they fear any turmoil could trigger a flood of starving refugees into china and even worse for them the chance of reunification with the south which could create a pro-western democracy right on the china border. joining us now is peter brookes, former cia officer and a senior fellow at the heritage foundation. peter, you write that the possibilities in north korea a lot like a holiday present, beautifully wrapped but they could turn out to be a disappointment . what do you mean? >> well, there's a number of courses that are ahead of us and north korea is so enigmatic, jon. we're all trying to read the tea leafs right now to see

what we're getting. whether kim jong-un is in charge or in charge with an uncle and aunt of his and with the military. there is a lot of questions. i see three scenarios and they're very basic. one, we see the status quo. things continue along as they have. a good thing would be if they opened up and reformed and gave, you know, liberties and democracy and free markets to the north korean people. i don't necessarily think that's going to happen. the other concern is that things could get worse. you could have instability. you could have a civil war. kim jong-un could want to prove to himself, to has people and to the world that he is, this is a country that is not to be messed with despite his inexperience and young age and he could do some very provocative things towards south korea and the united states. we're all walking on eggshells wonder what would happen. jon: he may have already done the provocative things. the two most recent provocations between the two countries were the sinking

of that south korean navy vessel by the north. >> that's right. jon: the torpedoing of that ship and the shelling of that south korean island by the north. both of them, and i don't know how you, secret agents figure this out but both of them it is thought according to analysts were ordered by kim jong-un. >> well, he was, there with his father supposedly and probably a joint decision. he had been put on the military council so there is no doubt about that but, it's been relatively quiet since that point. and there were some talk between the obama administration and north korea recently about reopening nuclear talks and in exchange for food aid and some other things. this is, like i said, this is like an unwrapped present but we need to be ready for whatever is in that box whenever that present gets unwrapped. jon: there are possibilities though here. china doesn't want to see problems no north korea. neither do we. does that perhaps put is and the chinese more on the same page as we deal with this untested new leader? >> absolutely.

china is a major stakeholder in north korea. geography is destiny. you mentioned refugee flows. there are already 10 of thousands maybe hundreds of thousands of north korean ref few -- refugees in china along the northern border fleeing because of the famine that has been going on for some time now. china, as you mentioned, the other thing about the united states and south korea, about perhaps see agco laps in north korea, the last thing we really want to find out how china would react to a collapse in north korea after it happens. there should be conversations going on right now in discussing what the potentials are in north korea which are they're quite vast. >> are you confident that washington is holding those discussions? >> i would think that they should be talking with the chinese a bit about what the chinese, what they know. china knows more about north korea and has more influence there than any other country in the world including south korea and the united states so this is something we have to be

watching very, very closely because the potential for trouble is vast. jon: let's hope all the diplomats are not away for the christmas holidays. peter brookes at the heritage foundation. thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: it is an issue that affects millions and millions of americans. congress has just a few days to hammer out a deal. otherwise there will be no more payroll tax cut. this tax holiday will not be extended. why lawmakers are deadlocked is something we'll discuss with house majority leader eric cantor who joins us live coming up next. my name is jill strange,

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jon: a new battle heating up in the gop race for the white house. it's between the super pacs, the independent political groups raising and spending millions of dollars, money used to fund attack ads in the early primary states. chief washington

correspondent james rosen is live in our d.c. bureau with that. james? >> reporter: jon, good morning. super pacs are kind of like trial lawyers. everyone laments their influence and everyone uses them. with independent entities with virtually unlimited powers of fund-raising and spending they're very useful. accordingly the pro-romney super pac, restore our future, buying 3 million in airtime for this anti-gingrich ad. strong medicine. decrying the former house speakers baggage more than the airlines, but asserting gingrich supported fax taxpayer-funded of abortions. he post the on his website a petition for citizens to sign asking gop candidates to refrain attacks on each other. gingrich before and after he became a front runner lashed out against mitt romney and he did so in iowa yesterday afternoon. >> now, his super pac is run by his former staff with

money given by his friends. and i would simply suggest to all of you, if he can't influence his former staff and his friend, how is he going to influence the congress? >> there are limits what you can tell a pac obviously. these coordination rules. you're not allowed to coordinate. i'm sure i could go out say, hey, please don't do anything negative. this is politics and if you can't stand the heat in this little kitchen wait until the obama "hell's kitchen" turns up the heat. >> reporter: meantime texas congressman ron paul is looking to shore up his standing with pro-life voters with online ad highlighting his previous life as an ob/gyn. >> dr. ron paul, more than 4,000 babies delivered. a man of faith. committed to protecting life. >> some people need to have a good word said about them. ron is the sort of person that his life is his good word. >> you know, you just knew that ron cared about you.

>> reporter: and the voters in iowa apparently care about ron paul because according to the "real clear politics" website and their average of major reliable polls, ron paul is the frontrunner in iowa. jon. jon: james rosen life in washington. james, thank you. jenna: right now congress is deadlocked. the house rejecting a measure approved in the senate to extend the payroll tax cut or payroll tax holiday, however you want to call it another two months. there is no deal right now. it means taxes could go up for millions of americans in a matter of days. the millions of those who have a job and who get a paycheck. house majority leader eric cantor joining us now, a key player in all this. congressman, nice to have you with news jenna, good to be with you. jenna: as i was getting ready for the interview, i was looking at your title, representative eric cantor. reminded me congress is supposed to represent the people, the will of the people. i'm curious whether or not you think that what's happening in congress right now really reflects the will of the american people?

>> well, i don't. that's why we're here in washington today. and what we want to do is to make sure that everyone who has a job, all working taxpayers, are assured that their taxes are not going to go up for a year. and unfortunately that is not the case right now because the senate has said all they want is a six at this-day extension of this payroll tax holiday but i think even more, if we're looking at what american people expect, they expect their representatives in washington to be able to get along to try to work out differences and that's why we are here in washington and what i can't understand is why harry reid doesn't feel he needs to be here to try and resolve the differences because they're not that great. and in fact, just a mile or so away from where i sit, the president is here in town and white house. why isn't he talking to us, trying to work these differences how the? is there only one thing at stake here, that is whether we're going to see tax

relief for the people who have a job in this country or not after the first of the year. we think as --. jenna: let me jump in there. you mentioned harry reid and you mentioned the president and generalizing the comments we heard last couple days, both senator reid and the president feel like they did the work that they needed to do. just explain this to our viewers. there was a compromise reached in the senate, a bipartisan compromise. you had more than 35 votes on the republican side afreeing to the bill. this is what it involved. says that, basically the keystone pipeline deal was in. republicans wanted keystone pipeline deal as part of this they wanted to make sure the payroll tax cut extension wasn't paid for through raising taxes. that also was in. so the democrats compromised on that. why is the deal in the senate not good enough compromise, in the spirit of the fact we know when you compromise you don't get everything you want? why isn't that adequate? >> jenna, the problem doesn't solve anything.

says 60-day worth of eggs shun. you asked about the people. what are the people supposed to do trying to budget for their needs and households? how do you budget on two-month increement? this is what we're saying. the only reason why the president suggested this is the only thing that can be done right now because harry reid and the senate are unwilling to come down to work. jenna: are you called the senate? are you called harry reid and tried to reach out and bring them back to the table. >> we have done a lot of things. jenna: have you done it? >> i have not. the speaker of the house who is in constant contact with the white house as well as the senate has done so. and what we've said is, look, comb and join us. the differences aren't that great. as you suggest, the deal in the senate is not even a workable deal because the people that administer payrolls in this country say you can't make it work. and if you try, you're going to potentially added aed costs, uncertainty and create harm to workers and

small businesses. why would we want to do that? and the reason why if you say, well, it is just a i about partisan deal, the fact is that was the only deal harry reid was willing to bring up in the senate but in the end it doesn't solve anything. it may make it worse and we're back having this fight again and again. what we want to do in the house is say look, let's do what most people do. roll up our sleeves, sit down and work, try to strike common ground and reach a compromise. that's what we want to do. jenna: what are you offering to democrats? when you say come to the table and we would like to see this extended for a year, what are you offering them to get that deal done? >> first of all, jenna, they say they want a year too. again so does the president. that's why the people of the country is wonder what is going on in washington, if everybody wants a deal why is there only a 60-day extension coming out of the senate? what we're offering is to sit down and talk about one area of disagreement and that is how to resolve the budgetary impact of a

one-year extension of a payroll tax holiday. that's all. we are willing to compromise and work with the democrats on that. they know that. and when the negotiations broke down last week, on the issue of one-year, we weren't very far apart at all. and i think that maybe just the fact that harry reid and his colleagues wanted to go home. and that is not an acceptable answer to the people of this country. especially --. jenna: do you really believe that, deep down, sir? >> i do. jenna: the reason why they did that they wanted to get out of dodge? >> jenna, i know we weren't very far apart. so i can not, i can not for the life of me figure out any other reason and so let's be truthful to the american people because we can get this done. and why don't we set a new tone for the next year to say, you know what? we'll stop focusing on what washington can't do and start saying what we can do. that's why we're here. we're asking the president a mile away to come join us to get harry reid back into

this discussion so we can resolve things and provide some certainty. jenna: big picture here, let me show you congress's approval ratings. we know they're at a low. obviously approval ratings are never very high when we come to congress. we'll try to show this on the screen for viewers. one of the things happened before we came to set there was about business being done in the house and house was adjourning for the day, while the adjourning happening you had some democrats try to start speaking the senate bill to the floor. in the process of doing that the republicans cut the mike and cut video to the floor. so the question is, this is just one situation, i understand there is no business being done but how damaging do you think this process is over all and to the confidence people have in the government? >> well, i mean again, i think that the facts are we're sitting here on the ground in washington waiting for the democrats to come and do their work. and the truth is, the bill is back in the senate now. and so if harry reid is claiming he wants the house

to act, we've acted. we acted yesterday. what we did is we rejected the senate amendment and we sent the bill back to the senate, asking for harry reid to come to a table, a conference, to work out the differences. so really it is up to harry reid to make sure that taxes are not going to go up. what we're saying is, a year is what everyone wants. we can get there. the differences are not that great. jenna: we'll see what happens over the next couple days. the year of 2011 is running out of time. congressman, nice to have you. happy holidays to you and your family. >> jenna, merry christmas, happy hanukkah. happy holidays. jenna: thank you, sir. jon: trying to make the most out of a tragedy. 50 people died in this 2009 plane crash near buffalo, new york. now federal regulators introducing new rules to try to prevent a similar disaster ever from happening again. it is up, up and away for three men on the way to

the international space station. we'll have more on their mission ahead. "happening now."

jon: there's some new information on airline safety just out. federal regulators announcing new rules to try to keep pilots from falling asleep in the cockpit. it has been in the works ever since a crash in buffalo back in february 2009 in which 50 people died. investigators had said both pilots were probably drowsy and also overworked. molly henneberg is live in washington with more on these rule changes. molly. >> reporter: hi, jon. transportation secretary ray lahood says the new rules, while costly to the airlines, almost $300 million over 10 years will help protect the flying public and make sure pilots get the rest they need before entering the cockpit. included in the new faa, that is the federal aviation administration rules on pilot fatigue, mandatory 10 hour minimum rest period.

two hours more than the previous minimum requirement they must have opportunity to get eight hours of ininterrupted police. they must have 30 consecutive hours free from work on weekly basis the pilot has to fly off on each flight plan and declare himself fit for duty or rested. if the pilot declares she is not fit or rested and prepared to fly the airline must remove that pilot. hear is the acting head of the faa. >> every pilot has a personal responsibility to arrive at work fit for duty. this new rule gives pilots enough time to get the rest they really need. >> reporter: part of what prompted the change in pilot fatigue rules according to secretary lahood was the 2009 air crash in buffalo. lahood at that praised the families of those who were killed and said they helped lead the charge to make flying safer. >> these families showed unbelievable advocacy and

leadership. and these families, with unimaginable heart brake, turned that into a powerful commitment to save the lives of others. they pushed us to make progress, the progress we're making today. >> reporter: cargo planes though are exempt from these new rules. the faa says it woe be too costly for cargo companies to adopt them. but secretary lahood says he is urging those cargo companies to voluntarily opt into the new requirements. one last thing. we got a statement in from congressman john michael. he is the republican chair of the house transportation committee and he has weighed in on these new rules. they do provide improvement for aviation security but he says pilots have to take personal responsibility on reporting to work rested. jon? jon: that sounds like a good idea. let's hope they keep things safer in the air. molly, thank you. jenna: speaking of the sky, a major new development in

the search for extraterrestrial life. the new planet nasa found and the similarities they share with earth. we're live with that story. new ranking among the top three fastfood chains. i bet jon has a opinion on this. the lowdown on where more of us are chowing down. that's next. jon: it is all about the fries okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb

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jon: hey, are you looking for a new planet you might like to call home? well, we have some new information for you now that is out of this world. nasa identify as couple of new planets, both about the size of earth. rick has details from our new york city newsroom. rick? >> well, jon, this could be a very big deal, the possibility of life on another planet though we're talking about two different planets each about 950 light years away. so don't go booking your travel plans just yet. science using nasa's kepler

space telescope to find the plan etc.. they're both as you mention about the size of earth, maybe a little bit smaller. there are a couple reasons there could be or could have been life there at some point. one, both planets orbit around a sun just like we do and two, there is a possibility that one of them, the larger of the two was formed with water which is of course pretty essentially if there is going to be any life of the study is coming out in the journal nature. it comes two weeks after a separate report that scientists found a very large planet, 10 times the size of earth, orbiting in an area called the habitable zone where the average temperature is 72 degrees fahrenheit which sounds a lot like san diego to me, not a bad place to visit about now. the key, in very short amount of time, in the last 20 years, scientists have gone from not knowing anything about whether other planets in the universe exist to knowing about a number about different planets some which could likely or at one point

supported life which i think is pretty cool. what do you think? jon: if you have 950 light years to spend getting there it would be fun to check out. >> exactly. jon: rick, i happen to like this planet i think i will stick here. thanks. jenna: here on earth a big battle for the top burger joint in the country. wendy's is about to overtake burger king in sales to become the second highest grossing children behind the king, mcdonald's. here to show us why wendy's so successful. >> have you been to wendy's lately. have you got the natural sea salt cut fries? let me tempt you. not on air. you eating and i talk. not only the french fries. first of all wendy's in the last year revamped its menu. you have the natural sea salt cut fries and reworked burgers. windy's offers breakfast. they didn't offer breakfast in the past. it was only one much and dinner. they immediately increased sales by offering breakfast.

at the same time their sales went up burger king sales have been decline. that is because burger king was bought back into private company last year. they're revamping their menu. this marketing research firm says the king will come back. they're introducing oatmeal. fruit smoothies auld kinds of things at bugger king. they're only $53 million apart in sales. wendy's is queen and burger king is number three. jenna: you know why wendy's is successful. >> the frep much fries. jenna: no the redhead. >> the first thing think did when bought the company they axed the king. dave thomas passed on. his daughter appeared in the advertisement. this is big king. the scary king with the big head, those ads gone, dead, done. jenna: thanks for the french fries. the crew will get them. come on, we can't eat these. we're on television. jon do you have another theory what could make us more heavy besides the just the french fries we have on set? jon: tomorrow i want to see

you with big pig tails. jenna: in my early years. it hasn't been a look yet. jon: antibiotics, are they making us fat? research suggesting that the drugs could do the same to us.

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jenna: we start off with fox news alert. the battle over tax cuts. the only thing bi-partisan at this point it seems to be the blame game. glad you are with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee? all kinds of finger pointing going on in washington. i'm jon scott. house republicans are renewing their call for democrats in the senate to end the bitter stalemate over the payroll tax cuts. jenna: earlier today senate majority leader harry reid called on house leaders to approve the two month inch text and bargain over the one year extension. americans want to know for certain that their taxes will not go up for a full year. >> i think it's important to note that the president, bi-partisan leaders in the house

and bi-partisan leaders in the senate have all really asked for the same thing over the course of the last several months. let's extend the payroll tax credit for a year. and all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. jon: an editorial in today's "wall street journal" says republicans have thoroughly botched the politics of the tax-cutting debate adding quote, republicans have also achieved the small pheur aeblg of letting mr. obama position himself as an election year tax kirt, although he spent most of his presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases every in 2013. this should be impossible.

they say, look, everybody else says if you pass a two-month payroll tax extension that is a real accounting nightmare. you've got to pay for changing paychecks, and then maybe changing them back in two months. it's a point i hadn't heard yet. >> the amount of gimmick retha ry is astonishing. i think they make a good point. if you talk to accountants, they will say that the senate plan and the plan that president obama supports is virtually unworkable. they will have to come up with some sort of plan that goes beyond the two months. the larger issue, you know, i do think the "wall street journal" has an excellent point. the fact that republicans have found themselves on the shortened of the argument about tax cuts against these democrats and this president is nothing

short of amazing, but it shows -- i think it also reveals that democrats are pretty good about talking about this sort of thing, but also that republicans have been very bad at sort of framing the debate. when they should be completely in charge of this debate. jon: you point out in your column that among democrats at least the tea party or the tea party republicans are getting the blame. the tea party is not an organization that is known to embrace tax increases. >> just the whole concept that somehow the house or the tea party republicans are somehow in favor of raising this tax is absolutely preposterous. on the one hand you have the house republicans, the tea party republicans that have supported a year-long extension of this tax cut. the people who support the one year extension are in favor of raising -- it makes no sense. it's a washington squabble that most voters don't really pay

attention to. they will pay attention and punish some people if their rate actually goes up. but also to blame in all of this is the media. i mean, we don't ever hear mainstream media worrying, fretting over tax hikes. they love tax hikes. you know, you go through newspapers and they have like, you know, the countdown to when this tax hike takes effect. oh, my goodness, in all my years i've never heard of sort of your normal, you know, "washington post," new york times mainstream media concerned about a tax hike. jon: then there is the whole situation between the house and the senate. when i studied them i learned that they were coequal in the legislative branch and yet the democratic control senate passes a bill and then scoots out of town with all these senators going off to far flung vacation locals and basically daring the house to mess with their bill, and the house did so, or didn't take it up i should say.

>> one of the things going on here is that harry reid and the democrats in the senate have accomplished so little this year, or in the past couple of years, we are going several years without even a budget, which is just extraordinary failure on the part of the senate. the fact that they actually have managed to getting to together and get it passed it such amir aeblg, i thina miracle, i think everyone in washington said we should go with this because they actually accomplished something. and their argument in the house is what you accomplished wasn't good, so we have to take it up again. jon: harry reid got 89 votes in the senate for this silly extension. that's about as b bi-partisan as you get in washington these days. >> absolutely. it is absolutely a success. i would say it's sort of a legislative success. it's not a full success until both sides agree on it, and it

gets signed by the president. and, you know, that is a reality that harry reid has to sort of deal with. jon: in the meantime the president kind of stands above the fray and comes out of it looking like he is the adult in the room. >> absolutely. and yet if people would listen to him, he's running with the exact same lark about tea party republicans are trying to kill this tax cut, which it really tarnishes his standing as the adult in the room, but i don't think he's going to change his tune any time soon. jon: charli charlie herd with the washington times. jenna: we are expecting a briefing where jay carney ask answers questions from the press. yesterday we had a surprise

guest, president came into the room. we'll watch and wait for that. you can see the countdown clock in the background there. jon: the president wants to get going with his vacation in hawaii, right? jenna: i'm sure everybody wants to get going with their vacation, including us, right? maybe everybody wants to move on to the next issue. we'll see what is presented here at the press briefing and kind up to date on what is happening in the house, how they are going to try to make progress and maybe present another bill or something to try to get some things together before we get into the new year, 2012. in the meantime another thing we're watching very closely is what is happening on the campaign trail. you have newt gingrich now complaining about some hard-hitting tv ads calling them false and misleading and he's blaming mitt romney for all of this. romney says he can't control the independent pack groups, the independent action committees behind these ads. and he says if gingrich can't take the heat he's like lee to witness againslikely to witness

before the present. carl cameron is live with more. >> reporter: beautiful, cold, freezing rain day in the granite state. a few weeks away from the first in the nation primary. new hampshire because it follows iowa, it's often reactive to what happens in the first caucus state. there is a new poll in iowa today with tough news for newt gingrich. it shows that mitt romney is back in the lead handily, 25% in the latest rasmussen poll. ron paul has pulled into second-place with 20 and newt gingrich has dropped into the teens. the speaker himself and his team have both said its because of the barrage of attack ads that have befallen him, largely from his rivals, but in some cases millions of dollars of attack ads. one of the super packs is run by

former romney aids, that's why newt gingrich thinks the fix is in. romney says he can't control what they have done. the latest attack ads pretty tough stuff. here is what they are doing. >> gingrich not only teamed up with nancy pelosi on global warming but together they cosponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a u.n. program supporting china's one child policy. gingrich ensue ported taxpayer funding of some abortions. >> reporter: the gingrich campaign says the reference to the u.n. was never even voted on. the gingrich argument is it's a false attack. the reference to he supported some taxpayer funded abortion. that's in a specific instance where mr. gingrich said he would support assistance to people who were the victim of rape or in crest. which a lot of candidates with few exceptions have embraced.

mr. romney says look if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. of course he's voting a famous former president. several times over he's amplified that and amped it up a little bit with language you don't often hear from mitt romney. >> with regards to the heat associated with ads, you know, if you can't stand the relatively modest heat in the kitchen right now, wait until obama's hell's kitchen shows up. >> reporter: i talked with him a little while ago on his bus and asked him about that. he said, usually i say hew toothpicks. pretty funny from mitt romney, he said hell, probably five or six times today. since it's clearly his sound byte of the day he'll be saying it over and over and over again to make himself more accessible to voters, more real, and zing

newt gingrich with these attack ads. everybody knows these ads come weeks before the race and that's the spot where we are at now. jenna: you can tell it's campaign season when carl can say it's beautiful and it's freezing rain outside. >> reporter: clarice up, jenna it's crunch time. jenna: it is crunch time. carl, thank you so much. a fascinating race to watch, it's only going to get better. carl mentioned that new iowa poll, scott rasmussen will join us to break down the numbers in about 15 minutes or so. interesting moves that we are watching as we get closer to the iowa caucuses. jon: let's get carl a umbrella. breaking news out of syria, more than 200 people killed in those vie atlanta clashes over the past few days. check out this amateur video. this shows the fighting between protestors and government

security forces. syria has banned most journalists and independent reporting inside the country. most of the footage we are left to show is shot by witnesses and uploaded onto social media sites. leland vittert is live in jerusalem for us now. >> reporter: that video that is coming out of syria is tough to watch. pretty soon we will have to come up with a new name other than protestors to describe what is going on in that country as it ascends into a war. it appears bashar al-assad has attacked some neighborhoods and killed everybody inside. so far in the past couple of days we hear about 200 deaths, but that number could certainly go much, much higher. there is yet to be any kind of territorial division inside like we saw in libya. there is always now a free

syrian army, and these rebels gave us some of the first look at themselves as they were fighting in that video and they put out propaganda tape of themselves on motorcycles with ak-47's. those are relatively light weapons. compared to what the syrian army has to deal with they might as well be water pistols. the syrian arm he showed fighter planes, attack bombers, and helicopter gun ships to be used against the protestors. they put out video that had surface to air missiles going off. that was a thinly veiled threat towards any country that might get involved and protect these people and protestors with any kind of no-fly zone. we have now got even a response from the united states. they put out a very strongly worded statement. the united states says president assad doesn't deserve to be the president of that country any more. that might not mean much since

the u.s. has pulled the military intervention card off the table and president assad thumbed his nose at several people who said this violence has got to stop. jon. jon: we'll be right back. this is an rc robotic claw.

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pilot's business associate. rick has more from the newsroom. >> reporter: you hate to hear stories like this any time, especially right before the holidays. this family was headed to see relatives in georgia, a new york city banker, as you said his wife and two kids e. had bee. he had been a pilot for two years. he was also flying a colleague who was going to a business meeting in georgia. they apparently had problems with ice building up on the wings. witnesses reported seeing one of the wings snap off before the plane plummeted to the ground. there were no survivors. the debris was scattered all over the crash site as you can see here. the family is being remembered for their charitable work. the firm where the two men worked say they were professionals that were very respected in the world of finance. jon, i'm wondering, i know you're a pilot. this was a secattaz700 that is

the plane. couldn't it deice itself? jon: it does have that feature. ice when you're flying is just about the most dangerous thing that can happen. >> reporter: the ntsb says the investigation into exactly what caused the crash could take about six months, back to you. jon: very sad story, rick, thank you. jenna: reading writing and hate overseas taught in the schools of an american ally. fox news uncovering evidence that sawed yea sawed yeah that. the. the textbooks were obtained through confidential sources and the translations provided to fox. in 2006 the saudi ambassador to the u.s. publicly pledged that

the kingdom had reviewed the textbooks and removed anything, quote inconsistent with the needs of an education. the textbooks show 10th greaters where to cut off the hands and feet of a thief. they call for the death of all homosexuals and a nile lacing of the jews: there is a jew behind me come and kill him. >> to teach 6 million children in these important years of their lives, if you install that in their brain, no wonder we have so many saudi suicide bombers. >> reporter: earlier this month the saudi minister responsible for the textbooks talked about educating the saudi women. >> i always say to people, please come, come, but come

without preconceived ideas, especially when you want to raise the future. no one is going to introduce violence. violence is absolutely against. i think -- i don't know who put in those ideas. >> i can show you quotes. >> there are many quotes. >> reporter: fox newsletters asked the saudi embassy here in washington for comment, if they had anything more to add to what the minister told us and if we get a response we will certainly update you, jenna. jenna: we will watch the developments of that story. catherine thank you. jon: we are all over iowa as you know and there are brand-new rasmussen polls out 13 days ahead of that state's caucuses, who is surging, who is dropping, scott rasmussen breaks down the new numbers, plus talking about numbers we've got our eyes on the dow which isn't looking as good as it did yesterday. will stocks repeat the 370-point

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jon: fox news alert, a new rasmussen polls on the iowa caucuses are out. mitt romney is holding onto his frontrunner status when likely caucus goers are asked who they would support if the january 3rd caucuses were to be held today. ron paul moves up to number two with 20% of those polled. newt gingrich drops to number three at 17%. let's talk with scott rasmussen, the president of rasmussen

reports.com. this seems to support the stories in the press the last week or so that newt gingrich's surge has seemed to peak an has dropped back. >> absolutely, newt gingrich showed at 32% a month ago, he slipped a little bit further. in iowa at the moment it's become a race between romney and paul for the top. then you've got four other candidates. gingrich, rick perry, rick santorum and michelle bachmann who are all expecting to finish fourth, but romney is at the top of the heat. jon: one of the questions you asked is who do you believe would be the strongest competitor to run against president obama? mitt romney comes out on that poll -- on top in that poll as well with 35%. explain the difference between the 35% he gets in this poll,

and the 25% in the other one. >> partly the reason that some people are voting for mitt romney is simply because they see him as the most electable. the reason the 35% say he's the strongest candidate but only 25% would vote for him because there is some discomfort among a conservatives in iowa about governor romney. having said that, this is a significant change. a week ago romney and gingrich were tied, in terms of who was seen as the most electable. as that number goes up for romney it will certainly help his campaign. jon: then explain another sort of conundrum here. you asked people who do you think would be the weakest candidate against president obama. ron paul comes in as the quote unquote weakest candidate and yet he's the number two candidate in this poll overall. >> that's right. ron paul, this is a big jump, a week ago 14% said he was the

weakest candidate. partly because of issues in his past have been raised and things seen in the debate. he has a very strong base of supporters but he doesn't do as well among people who consider themselves republicans. he leads among those who are outside the party but expect to register as a republican just for the caucuses. a lot of republicans are worried about that outcome. jon: looking over these poll results, one thing that seems certain is that people are solidifying their support for which ever candidate is out there. you asked -- are you certain to vote for the candidate that your telling us that you're supporting? and you've got 47% saying that they are very certain that they are going to stick with their man or woman. >> that's up a little bit from last week, but, again, 49% are saying -- excuse me 45% saying, we are not sure, we might change our mind. there are a lot of people trying

to decide between rick santorum and michelle bachmann, or rick perry and newt gingrich, or some other combination, and all of this gets back to this point about how volatile this election can be. we are still two weeks out. people in iowa are going to enjoy christmas and hopefully get away from the politics for a little bit. then they will have to make up their mind. the candidates and their organizations are going to work hard to get their supporters to the polls. still it's a very volatile and fluid situation to be on the top of the heap. jon: scott rasmussen always does fascinating polling on these races. thank you. >> thank you. jenna: chinese cyber spies hacking their way in to computers. a change in leadership in nuclear north korea, an original member of the so-called action

is of evil. we are going to look at potential threats to our national security. that is next with ambassador bolton. ffee. sure. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. reddi-wip us real dairy crm. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

jon: new information and it is pretty disturbing about hackers in china stealing computer files from the u.s. chamber of commerce. doug mckelway live in washington with more on that. >> reporter: jon, it remains unclear how much damage was done by this cyber attack apparently traced to chinas an intrusion lasted a year and gave the chinese government access to information about the chamber's three million members and quietly shut down in may of 2010 after the fbi alerted the chamber to it. it is believed the scope of the attack was limited and the chamber took aggressive steps to prevent further intrusions. the chinese embassy in wash has denied any involvement in the attack telling "the wall street journal" that the allegation, lacks proof and evidence and irresponsible. the spokesman also said that the cyber attacks are also

prohibited by chinese law but u.s. firms scoff at that denial and say chinese and russian and other foreign cyber attacks are increasing in complexity and frequency. >> fiscal year 2011 alone our u.s. computer emergency readiness, team, u.s. crt, responded to more than 100,000 incident reports and repleased more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts and information products and we know only a small proportion of cyber incidents are currently reported to the government. >> reporter: it is widely known that the chinese government or entities operating with its blessing have hacked into u.s. power grids and actually shut down power stations. the pentagon recently revealed it too had been hacked and that 24 how files were stolen from a defense contractor by unnamed foreign entities. a company specializing in computer security, rsa, had

algorithms behind its secure i.d. token hacked. that is like breaking into a heavily guarded locksmith and stealing the master combination of every vault own the vegas strip. jon, it is a war out there and being waged every day. jon: very scary. doug mckelway in d.c. thanks, doug. jenna: well it was president bush who famously named or coined the phrase, the access of evil that included iraq, iran and north korea. with all the changes we've seen over the last 10 years and really specifically this last year when it comes to the middle east and north africa and now north korea one of the questions we're asking today, what is today's axis of evil? are there any changes? ambassador john bolton a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor. ambassador, what do you think about that? is there a new axis of evil today? >> part of the problem the 2/3 of the old axis of evil still there and still cooperating on ballistic

missile and nuclear matters. iran very close to its own nuclear capability. north korea having detonated two nuclear devices. so that problem not only remains, it has grown. there are plenty of indications that other countries could be problematic as well. and that if north korea keeps its nuclear weapons capability, if iran achieves nuclear weapons, other countries would have a strong incentive to go nuclear as well. so this problem of proliferation, that is the very definition of proliferation. each country gets a nuclear or chemical or biological warfare capability. others have a strong incentive to do the same. jenna: would you include pakistan in the axis of evil in the day and age we're in right now? >> well i wouldn't put it in the same category as north korea and iran. i think the real risk in pakistan the present, very weak civilian government and even the military which we have trained many of its top people, that that government

could fall to a radical islamist regime either pakistani taliban or other radicals and then that arsenal of nuclear weapons, that very substantial arsenal, would fall into radical hands. so it's a big risk there for sure. jenna: and i ask that of course because we do know pakistan has the nuclear capability. we're still questioning, you know, where iran is on that journey. in 2002 you gave a speech, beyond the axis of evil and you included a few other countries interesting to look at now, almost 10 years ago and in the beyond the axis of evil you included libya, syria, and you also included cuba. would you still put those countries in that place right now? and is cuba still on top of your list as a place to watch as a place that supports terror? >> well the libyan problem hopefully has been taken care of. the syrian problem remains. israel destroyed a north korean nuclear reactor, speaking of that cooperation,

being constructed in syria. destroyed it in september of 2007. undoubtedly there was libyan involvement there. so i think syria remains a serious concern. the reason we put cuba on the liz and i would keep it there today is because they had a research and development program in biological warfare and their medical capabilities were used i think to cover that program and we wanted to prove that the risk of proliferation was worldwide. it was not just the middle east phenomenon. so today if you look at venezuela which has the world's second largest deposits of uranium ore next to canada, how close hugo chavez has gotten to iran and russia, that we have to worry about nuclear proliferation with some involvement by venezuela as well. jenna: interesting to think about venezuela and we're hopscotching around so many different countries here but chavez he is sick.

we do know he is sick. we'll be interesting to see if that is big story in 2012. if some reason he was unable to maintain his power hold in that country. something we'll watch closely going into 2012. you said 10 years ago in the speech that global terrorism changed the face of terror we meet keeping weapons of mass destruction out of terrorists hands must be a core element of our nonproliferation strategy. of course that was during the bush administration. could you give us a grade how well over the past 10 years we've done that, ambassador, how do you think we've done. >> i think it is mixed. there isn't any evidence that terrorist groups like al qaeda or taliban yet have nuclear weapons although certainly been a priority for them. but you know, when you have a situation as we do in north korea today where we have a very unstable new government, north korea would sell anything to anybody for hard currency. if al qaeda in arabian peninsula or al qaeda in the north africa could come up with enough money to buy a

nuclear weapon or radiological elements they could use in a dirty bomb be i am sure the north koreans would be happy to sell it to them. jenna: are you concerned about that now? >> i'm very concerned that north korea, which is the world's biggest proliferator of missile technology would be happy to be the world's biggest proliferator of the nuclear technology as well. what this demonstrates is you can not stovepipe weapons of mass destruction. this is not a northeast asia program. it is not an iran problem. it's a global problem and you need a global strategy to counter it. jenna: i have only 30 seconds, how best to create that global strategy? >> i think you need u.s. leadership. i think that is what it comes down to. looking for multilateral agreements against proliferation is pieces of paper. you need active american leadership. jenna: we'll watch the story. north cree as you mentioned was talking to syria and that is why the israelis came in and tried to intercede there. obviously did intercede with

that happening with the nuclear weapons going back and forth. we do know they can reach the middle east. something we'll be watching. a scary time but interesting one as well, thanks, ambassador for taking a look at it with us. >> thank you. jon: there are new concerns using antibiotics to keep livestock from getting sick and losing weight. there is lots of concern that the antibiotics may be fattening up people. the doctor is here to give is the facts. christmas trees being adorned in homes across the countries these days but do you know why we decorate the ever greens and how they became the symbol of the season? we have some answers for you next. ♪ . [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny.

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jenna: a quick fox news

alert. want to take you down to the press briefing that is going on right now. we just got news that the president went ahead and called speaker boehner, the speaker of the house and also called senator harry reid, the leader in the senate. these calls happened within the last 30 minutes to figure out a way to make a compromise happen over the payroll tax holiday extension. we'll dip in and take a quick listen to jay carney now. >> it was worked out by the senate democratic leader and senate republican leader in a process that was agreed upon with the speaker of the house. they produced a result that the speaker of the house told his own membership that he supported and that he recommended they support. they should just get it done. and then we can all, the senate, the house, the administration, work on extending the payroll tax cut for the entire year, a commitment this president has made from the beginning when he was the first to put on the table through the

american jobs act a payroll tax cut extension for 2012. but we have to get this two-month extension done or else taxes will go up on the american people. and it really is, not that difficult. the house has the ability to call up the senate legislation, pass it, and move on. and taxes will not go up. the average american family will not have to worry about how to make end meet with $1,000 less next year. so we urge them to do that. that is what the president urged the speaker to do. just moments ago. >> white house and congressional democrats be willing to give some sort of ironclad commitment to pass a full year's tax extension by a certainty in 2012, in, in exchange for passing this

two-month extension? >> the president is committed to a one-year tax cut. that's what he has been pushing, both here in washington and around the country since september as part of the american jobs act. when it was separated out from the american jobs act. senate democrats, house democrats, are all committed to doing that republican leaders of both houses say they are committed to doing that. it can be done. so it would require finishing the work that senators mcconnell and reid started as they tried to reach a year-long agreement. they made good progress but work needed to be done which is why they then moved to the two-month extension to insure that americans didn't have their taxes go up. that is the sensible thing to do. pass the-two month extension, return to work on the year-long extension or explain to the american people, 160 million of them,

why congress would not listen to them, would not listen, why the house republicans would not listen to their senate colleagues, would not listen to republican elder statesmen and states women all around the country and the city telling them to do the right thing here? it's bad for the country. and, it's bad for economy and bad for the american people not to pass this bill. so we, you know, we feel very strongly about it as you can tell. >> is the president expected to hear back from speaker boehner on whether this might be an option? >> look, i think it's pretty clear, again not because i say it because many others are also saying it, that the ball is in the house's court. there is a compromise available. an avenue out of this blind alley, if you will that they have driven themselves into, and it is the senate bill. vote on it. pass it, and we can move onto discussing and figuring

out a solution for the year-long extension. senator corker, republican from tennessee, i know what's going to happen and i agree with the editorial this morning in the "wall street journal" probably the best thing to do at this point is get this behind us and move on, urging the house republican leadership to change course and endorse a compromise reached in the senate that got the support of 90% of the those members, democrats and senators alike. senator mccain, it is harming the republican party. it is harming the view if it is possible anymore about the american people about congress. so do the right thing. pass the payroll tax cut. make sure americans don't have their taxes go up on january 1st. yes, alex? >> okay. just staying with this theme. specifically what is the president offering the speaker in return for sort

of reversing himself on this? >> you misunderstand here. there is not, this is not a game of poker, high stakes poker as one republican congressman deemed it. we're talking about 160 million americans and their paychecks. there is no political quid pro quo here. there was a bipartisan compromise reached with overwhelming support from republicans and democrats in the senate at the direction of the republican leader in the house. that initially garnered the support of the republican leader in the house. and let's review some history here. the president and democrats initially supported, put forward the american jobs act which was paid for entirely, including the payroll tax cut extension and expansion, and the pay-fors in that bill were what the president very firmly believed if he could have his way entirely, was

the way it should be done. when republicans blocked that and senate democrats crafted a separate payroll tax cut extension with ui extension and some other measures and tried to move it and have it paid for by asking 300,000 wealthiest americans, millionaires and billionaires to pay a little extra, republicans blocked that. so we compromised. the president, senate, compromised. and, the deal that was passed, the compromise that was passed by the senate, by a vote of 89-10 did not have the pay-fors that the democrats wanted. did not have the pay-force the president initially submitted but they had a compromise set of provisions that paid for it that won the agreement of 89 senators including 39 republicans that is the essence of compromise. the bill even included an extraneous political victory

that republicans insisted on. >> say something else but same thing. cr runs out on friday. when will the president sign the omnibus? >> when he gets here. >> what happens if he hasn't got here. >> i'm not sure it is physically here yet but when it arrives there's a process in the, in that august institution that takes time in terms of producing --. jenna: again that is the press secretary jay carney. you can watch the rest of this on foxnews.com. a big headline is that the president placed a call to house speaker john boehner urging him to take up the senate bill that was a bipartisan bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months going into the next year. the house has already voted not to do that. so we'll see where we go from here. continue to watch this. every movement as we go closer to 2012. meantime foxnews.com to watch this live. jon: not to put too fine a point on it but i guess the house just didn't vote on the senate bill, right? jenna: they voted not to

take it up. they voted not to take it up. they did not vote on the bill at all. jon: right. jenna: that's what they want. they want to bring it to the floor, vote on the bill. but that would cause a big problem for republicans because they do not want to see taxes go up but they don't want this two month extension, if they vote against the bill looks like they're vetting voting against taxes being lowered. that is something they don't want to do either. jon: between a rock and a hard place. jenna: yeah. jon: all right, the majestic evergreen is beautifully decorated in lights and ornaments. it is one of the most recognized symbols of the season but do you know how the christmas tree came to play such a major role in this holiday? lauren green does. she is live in the new york city newsroom. >> reporter: the decorating christmas trees is a tradition that goes back 500 years. it is not a religious symbol for christianity but does have strong ties to the faith. take a look. christmas trees, a tradition for eastern pennsylvania,

one year even supplying the clinton white house with its tree. >> this has been a family business since 1945 and we have grown over the years from what used to be a hobby. >> reporter: nationwide, 25 to 30 million real trees are sold annually despite conflicts calling it a christmas tree or holiday tree, evergreens have no biblical to celebrating the second biggest season of the christian calendar. >> the christmas tree is not by any means an essential element of christianity or the story of the birth of jesus. there's no association from a biblical and theological point of view. ♪ . >> reporter: however the trees do have religious origins. ancient egyptians, romance and celebrated festivals about them. tribes connected trees with deities and sacrificed animals or slaves to them. in 17th century an english among stopped the practice. >> he got to mad that he

chopped down odin's sacred tree. that end the practice. you guys love trees. look at the evergreen. it is ever green. it never dies. it is eternal life jesus gives you. it is an arrow. it points to heaven and points to god. >> reporter: also connection to martin luther the father of the protestant reformation. germans brought the trees to america. that is why we celebrate christmas trees. this is one of the back stories about christmas. read more about it online at foxnews.com. jon: a little history lesson. lauren, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: it is a big medical story that caught our attention especially when you can blame something else for you gaining weight. potentially antibiotics. the study is looking at right now. some researchers are saying ant bottom ticks could be jeopardizing our health by making us gain weight. dr. garner joining us from new york methodist hospital. ant bottom i can it is making us -- antibiotics

making us gain weight? >> they feed animals and cows big jeer the purpose is to make them bigger? >> not to take out the bacteria but to make them bigger. we have too many uses of bacteria fighting antibiotics that shouldn't be. kid gets sick, take them to the doctor, some parents demand antibiotics. most sore throats you don't need antibiotic. >> if you go home with nothing, patients want something. >> so bacteria, 20 trillion bacteria in our body. only 2 trillion of our cells. they outnumber us and in our body living there. jenna: antibiotics are affecting bacteria in our stomach and our intestines? >> in our stomach and intestines. that is not the intent. when you wipe them out people are gaining weight. nobody can figure out exactly why. that goes back a years. military people given antibiotics gained five pound in seven weeks in the

study. jenna: is there any way to put the good bacteria into your stomach after wiping them out. don't over do antibiotics to begin with? >> exactly. don't overdo ant bottomticses. the main issue, bacteria adjust the food and send signals to the brain you're full. when the bacteria are removed the signal gets whacked out of and you don't hear it. it makes feel hungry. we mentioned before hormones control appetite. our partners are gone and brain gets all messed up and starts making us eat. that is how it happens. jenna: one other thing looking to lose weight in the new year. might be ant bottom i can it is you've taken in the past. >> people with the correct bacteria have fewer incidents of allergist of multiple schro rose sis of different types of cancer. not just gaining weight. we develop them. jenna: this is -- >> size of your stomach. jenna: it is? >> amazing. this is how the guys do it. jenna: french fries would

fill that in a second. that is the size of the stomach. >> i gave you my heart and my stomach. jenna: dr. garner. thank you we'll be back with more "happening now." [ child ] it's so cool! you can put a force field on him and be invisible! [ child 2 ] i call first player. no. i already called it. [ dad ] nobody's playing anything until after we get our homework done. thank you. hello? test drive's not over yet. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive, it's never been easier to get the allew passat,

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