this morning on "early today" -- dead on arrival. the house is set to approve legislation renewing the payroll tax cut but senate democrats say it doesn't have a chance. parents' worst nightmare. horrific video shows a little girl being run over by an suv. orca encounter. a california tour boat has an amazing run-in with a killer a california tour boat has an amazing run-in with a killer whale. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry.

today we begin with dueling power plays. in washington this morning, house republicans are scrambling to gather enough votes to pass a sweeping budget plan, but the senate's top democrat says no one's leaving town for the holidays until both sides agree on payroll tax cuts. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on all of this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. parts of the budget, like transportation, the justice department were set earlier in the year, but other parts like health, that's been a big issue because of the president's health law. republicans don't want to fund all of t education and other government departments, possibly set for yet another shutdown. now it looks like democrats and republicans have worked out their differences. aides say there's minor things they need to work out today but it looks like they'll be able to work that out. the other issue that they're trying to work out is the extension of the payroll tax cut. the house takes a vote today on the republican plan, $180 billion paid for by cutting salaries and benefits for

federal workers, but they added the quick approval, the faster approval of the keystone excel oil pipeline. there have been environmental concerns. president obama said he will not approve a payroll tax cut extension if that controversial pipeline extension that he put off until after the election is added as part of it. >> tracie potts for us in washington, thank you. well, marking a symbolic turning of the page for u.s. forces who fought and died in a war that spanned the better part of a decade, president obama met with iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki yesterday to discuss the past and the future. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: arlington national cemetery, almost nine years after u.s. forces invaded iraq, sparked a civil war but set the stage for democracy. elected iraqi prime minister, nuri al maliki, went to pay s respects to the americans who invested the most.

the iraqi national anthem. since 2003, 4,483 americans have died in iraq. in a few days almost all u.s. troops will be gone. >> we're here to mark the end of this war. to honor the sacrifices of all those who made this day possible. and to turn the page. >> reporter: president obama opposed the war but today sounded like george w. bush. >> we think a successful democratic iraq can be a model for the entire region. >> translator: but the goals that we established were achieved. >> reporter: were they? critics say no. >> is there any reason to trust maliki? >> no! >> reporter: former homeland secretary tom ridge at a protest outside the white house. iraq's closest ally now is iran. >> the single greatest terrorist organization in the world is iran.

>> reporter: iraq is promising to stage joint training with u.s. forces. >> so that iran doesn't think they have a free hand to rule the region. >> reporter: but thanks to the sacrifice of americans, iraq will now choose its own friends and go its own way. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. elsewhere, about 100 miles from the penn state campus, jerry sandusky will come face to face with several of the men accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were just boys. the former penn state assistant football coach will be in the courtroom at today's preliminary hearing when at least half of his ten accusers will try to convince a judge that there's enough evidence to take their case to trial. sandusky is charged with 50 counts of sexual child abuse and has been under house arrest since last week. here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. a christmas display sparked outrage and challenged tolerance

and provoked acts of vandalism. a skeleton of st. nick hanging from a crucifix, one of ten holiday displays approved to stand outside a courthouse. well, it was ripped down several times before its creator finally gave up and stopped reinstalling it. >> killer whales in california put on a spectacular show on for tourists. whale watchers got up close and personal with the massive animals. along with swimming right next to the boat, the whales also went airborne lifting their entire body out of the ocean. finally, monday was a productive day for michelle obama. first she learned her "let's move" initiative helped break the guinness world record for most people performing jumping jacks over a 24-hour period. next she continued an annual tradition, joined by the family dog bo at the children's national medical center, the

first laid by read "twas the night before christmas" to children. >> for a look at your forecast, here is bill karins. hi, bill. >> i haven't heard a lot about bo. >> it was the biggest deal. >> i know. some presidents always have the dog around, it was good seeing him. good morning. as far as the weather goes out there, we still have our storm system coming into southern california, arizona has gotten rain, too on the radar, a lot of heavy rain. talking san diego up the coastline, moving along i-5. this will be a bit of a difficult commute. the heaviest of it, the brighter yellows and oranges, that's where the downpours are, just offshore. some of that light rain has made it onshore that will pass northwards into oceanside short limit just be prepared, wet roads and probably a slow morning commute. as we go throughout the day, there's more of this on the way, especially over in arizona that's the flow we were talking about.

doesn't go that far inland. really along the immediate coast. santa barbara, northward, you should be dry from now on. for l.a., you should be dry. most of the wet weather south of you. the curling here, that's the storm there. a piece of energy going up towards utah. another storm, this is a weak one, but it will bring precip into the northwest today. temperatures are chilly. at the beginning of that, maybe some freezing rain and temperatures are cool everywhere, areas like pendleton, oregon, the possibility of light, freezing drizzle. all the active weather on the west will come to an end as that storm comes across the country. coming up, stocks stagger,

deceptive data, and a dollar coin sells for millions. the early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, it seems like she's won every possible award this year, but we'll tell you who beat her out for billboard artist of the year. coming up, the seahawks keep their playoff hopes alive and more bad news for sidney crosby. you're watching "early today." pa

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here's some of your top headlines this morning. the supreme court has agreed to rule on arizona's controversial law targeting illegal immigrants. the obama administration has challenged several of the law's provision including one that requires police to question a person's immigration status if he or she is believed to be in the country illegally. iranian tv says experts there are in the final stages of recovering data from a top secret u.s. spy drone that went down in the country earlier this month.

the billionaire new jersey nets owner said he will run against russian prime minister vladimir putin in march's presidential election. this comes after unprecedented protests against putin and his party following allegations of fraud in last week's parliamentary elections. occupy wall street protesters' attempts to block the gates at some of the west coast' busiest ports led to the partial shutdown of docks in california, oregon and washington state on monday. several dozen arrests were made. and in china. very disturbing security video shows a little girl being run over by an suv during an apparent temper tantrum on her way to kindergarten. a group of bystanders managed to lift the vehicle and pull her out. amazingly, she was unharmed and her mother even made her go to school that day. unreal. well, now here is your early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,021 after tumbling 162 points yesterday. the s&p dropped 18 points.

the nasdaq lost 34. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 101 points. while in hong kong the hang seng was down 128. from ratings agencies to small investors reviews for europe's debt agreements were luke warm at best and it sent stocks tumbling on monday. moody's and fitch warned markets the deal didn't go far enough and debt ratings in europe may still be downgraded. spanish and italian debt soared italy's ten-year note yield approached 7%. gold prices fell to their lowest in almost seven weeks. u.s. bond yields fell as investors looked for safety. wall street's losses were wide. most s&p 500 industry groups fell more than 1%. all ten closed negative. banks were among the worst off.

morgan stanley, citigroup, bank of america and jpmorgan chase all fell. techs dropped after intel lowered revenue expectations following a similar move last week by texas instruments. resource stocks tumbled. oil fell and copper prices plummeted to a near two-week low. alcoa and exxonmobil were hit hard. elsewhere, diamond foods plunged on an investigation into its payments to walnut farmers. vulcon materials rocketed after martin marietta bid to buy the company for $4.7 billion in stock. turns out home sales data was inflated for years. figures will be lowered all the way back to 2007. it's estimated the national association of realtors overstated 2010 home sales by at least 15%. and finally, a rare 1787 gold

brasher de plume, the first american-made dollar coin minted by a goldsmith who was george washington's neighbor has been sold for $7.4 million. coming up, pink slip day in the nfl. plus, the seahawks butt heads with the rams in monday night football. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the cold and the rainy storm system in the desert southwest is headed for the central u.s. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, all but officially dead early in the season, last night the seattle seahawks won for the fourth time in five games. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the seahawks may have a losing record, but they kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a win over the rams. special teams came up big in the first quarter. boldin untouched off the edge and blocked that punt. robinson scooped and scored and seattle on the board. they were up 10-3 at the half. big play by baldwin in the first, another in the third. jackson found him wide open and baldwin took it in. the undrafted rookie doing it all. seattle led it 20-6.

lynch is isn't only playing for a new contract, he's playing for skittles. ninth separate game he scored a touchdown and mom with a bag of the good stuff. no sugar-coating this loss for the rams, they were blown out 30-13. tough day for a pair of coaches after starting the season 4-9, dolphins fired head coach tony sparano. even though they won their division title last year, the chiefs let go of todd haley. lightning have been a disappointment. petr sykora got things started, 28 seconds into the game. and then in the second period, scoring three straight goals, zach parise and adam henrik both had a pair. tampa couldn't recover and the devils held on to win it 5-4. what was supposed to be a two-game break has turned into a lengthy stay with no end in sight. sidney crosby out indefinitely with concussion-like symptom. he's passed every test but still suffering. the penguins captain missed 70 games since january. penguins are maybe without their star, maybe they should sign this guy. he buried a shot from center e

ice. the hole was just a half inch bigger than the size of a puck and he nailed it. he won a car. no, it wasn't a zamboni. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. coming up, the latest in star wars versus star trek battle. the oldest woman ever to make the cover of "vogue." your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. and we'll introduce you to one family that truly goes all out for their annual christmas card. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday morning. we have rain down there on i-5, oceanside down to san diego. rain moving through arizona. later today we will see rain moving into the northwest. not a lot of moisture with that we have to be careful in some of the valleys, we could get isolated patches of freezing rain or drizzle. tomorrow, forecast won't change much. we will start to dry out a bit there to the southwest. if you're watching us on khnl, news now in honolulu, hawaii, see art that explores current social, economic, and moral issues at anxiety's edge at the honolulu academy of art. very deep. >> that's a lot. bill, thanks. here's an early look at the headlines in entertainment. a spiteful move by flight attendants striking back at alec baldwin over his airline tantrum

is getting him more attention. the american airlines flight attendants union now wants "30 rock" removed from all in-flight entertainment following the "saturday night live" spoof. is which right or wrong -- steven spielberg says he's doing a fourth jurassic park movie. >> to make the third one better. >> amy winehouse's dad wants lady gaga to play his daughter on the big screen. adele won artist of the year but on the down side adele says her next album won't be out for two or three years. amazing. >> 62-year-old "vogue" cover girl meryl streep is the oldest woman to be so honored. and george takai, "star trek's" sulu offered a video offering peace between star trek and star wars. i didn't even know there was a

trash talk fest. instead he is suggesting focusing all your wrath on the twilight series, which calls really, really bad. this comes to us from kare 11 news in minneapolis, minnesota, where one family added a wacky twist to dressing up for holiday photos. the johnson family turn their annual christmas cards into grand productions. following mom's directions, they dress up in outrageous outfits, even the family pet is enlisted for the yearly holiday greetings sent to nearly 200 families. with their over-the-top costumes they have created their own picture perfect holiday for nearly 20 years. adorable. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

a traditional ceremony in peru allows villagers to settle old scores by duking it out. what other way is there to do it? the festival stems from a form of martial art performed by incans. women and children are asked to join in in the punching fest which combines the moves with folk music and dance. participants say the fights get everything out of their system so they can get along the rest of the year. well, santa is looking to get in shape. he need not look further than south korea, that's where thousands of suited-up santas ran a marathon and played tug of war. it was all part of the santa sports festival.

organizers say the annual event promotes good health and raises money for charity. and it looks like santa is even trying to shed a few pound with a few dance moves in philippines. a traffic cop is abusing motorists and us by showing off his smooth moves in a santa costume directing traffic with both his hands and his hips. he eases congestion and lightens the commuters' mood. he's known as just the traffic cop and he's become a highlight for that long ride home. looks like he's adopting some king of pop move there is. >> he has to slow it down. burning too many calories. >> why doesn't that happen on the subway of new york? you never see the mta guys breaking it down that never happens. time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. in virginia, nasa's orion spacecraft will replace the shuttle carrying future astronauts into space and back to earth it will undergo the year's final splash test in the same basin where the apollo astronauts trained for

moonwalks. nasa's ongoing tests will determine if it's safe for reentry and ocean landing. eight years ago today, saddam hussein was captured by u.s. forces in an underground hiding place. he was convicted of crimes against humanity and was sentenced to death by hanging. and tv legend dick van dyke turns 86. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. natalie morales has the latest on the recovery of lauren scruggs, the texas model who was struck by an airline propeller. and actor christopher plumber talks about his new film "the girl with the dragon tattoo." keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.