boehner said he wanted to abide by, speaker john boehner has seemed to throw that to the wayside. as i mentioned, supporting this deal himself. as opposed to the mood, it was funny, john boehner, eric cantor, mccarthy, they made this decision not to speak on the house floor about this deal tonight. who did we hear from? from nancy pelosi, taking a victory lap, which i think says a lot about how both sides feel about it. at the end of the day it is about the law of the land, and after all the twists and turns, folks on both sides are breathing a sigh of relief. tomorrow when they wake up, they will know the majority, they know the taxes will not go up. the financial markets i'm going to guess are going to react positively to this deal. there

this deal we have in place, while it makes permanent the tax issue that will be taken off the table for a long time, this is just the first of three with the big fights that will occur on capitol hill. the debt limit in early march, a government funding bill ahead of that. there is a question about the automatic spending cuts. the sequester was the most difficult thing to figure out in this temporary compromise. we only had a two-month one. these are questions we do not know. president obama will most likely speak tonight. a sigh of relief, but this is the beginning of the beginning for what will be a very, very partisan trench warfare the next three works months in washington d.c. . they say this is bipartisanship and how democracy and the

republican response to work, but listen, there will be a lot more of these. if we go to the very last minute on this one, where a lot of folks thought that republicans would want to compromise with the president because he had so much leverage, just imagine what happens on something like the debt limit or the republicans feel they have leverage. >> 23 hours into the new year, just for those joining us, the gavel just went down. they have just declared that the senate bill, that the house has not concurred with it, that it has passed. it will go to the president for signature there. the real question to look for is, speaker maynor said, we will send it to -- not it is up to the senate. that is what they were saying, yet we were debating whether he was bringing it to the floor. was he actually thinking that he would not have to do that and then you add the element of cantor coming out against that

and the complexities that existed. they are very nuanced. >> what america was afforded today, folks that were paying attention to this and what they got on the news was really kind of a microcosm of the house republican conference. you saw that today. you saw boehner's leadership style and a sense of letting his members event. you saw eric kanter being with the conference. then you saw the pragmatic old bulls who have been there for a while that did not want to be blamed for going over the fiscal cliff. everyone got to see that in its entirety today. as far as going forward, richard, i think that those battles in the house republican conference are still very much alive it. they only lost eight seats. i believe a vast majority of them got over 55% in their districts. they will be reelected quite easily. their worries from a primary

challenger on the right. going forward, folks will have to realize when people say why want the compromise? because they see any compromise any time they are with president obama, and some will get flak for being too close to political interest. last thing, this is a deal that was opposed by the afl-cio and also imposed by the heritage action, the very conservative group that has a very influential scorecard here on capitol hill. you see both far left, far right, move on.org, they did not like this. some folks say both extremes don't like it. we will see what effect that has on members moving forward. >> we are just learning that speaker boehner voted for this as well as paul ryan voted for this. eric cantor did not vote for it. he voted against it. >> while. >> that is what we understand right now.

what is the next cep, and when will the president get that? if you want to comment on what we just learned about the votes from speaker boehner and paul ryan. the budget grew roll from the right voting for it and. cantor's saying no. >> i think it's fairly extraordinary. there has been a lot of talk, a lot has been written and speculated upon about eric kanter and the rivalry between eric kanter and john banner. folks happen to think -- i am getting an update here. let me update you. this is a press release just sent out by the press office just behind me. remarks will be open. 11:20 will get a statement here in the briefing room. you and i have been talking earlier, punctuating this long campaign, this long after that he has had to pass this bill

averting the fiscal cliff. people on the left have been disappointed in the fact that he did not stick to that $250,000 threshold that he and has raced up to $450,000. but the president has a victory here tonight, i think we can say, on balance. he will be coming out here to talk to us, talk to us in just a few minutes, richard. >> again, just learning, 11:20, the president will be speaking. we will have that for you on. i want to bring in e.j. dionne. just as we look at what the responses, columnist for "the washington post," senior fellow at the brookings institute, e.j., you and i have talked about the day, what do you make of the count, 257 to 167 in terms of an may column. we needed 217.

the numbers were there. >> i think there are a couple of significant things that bolt luke referred to and congressman norman f. . you will have to see coalitions like you had tonight, and it's really significant that speaker boehner, in the end, after sort of allowing the rebellion to have some voice, giving the republicans time to come to terms with the fact that they were going to essentially lose on this one. they had to bring it to the floor. you had a coalition of 85 republicans and 172 democrats who pass this thing. you essentially isolated the most conservative republicans in congress along with those republicans who did not want to take a chance. what you wonder it is, will such a coalition be allowed to work again on other fiscal issues?

and then the other point is that, yes, we do face two months of fighting, march madness as somebody said earlier, and there is a real difference of view on the republican and democratic sides. the republicans who supported this, look, taxes are out of the way. now it's all about spending. the administration has said, and i suspect president obama might say it again tonight, no, no, we are not done with revenue. the president has said he needed at least 8000000000000.6 in revenue. this is only $600 billion. that's a lot of money, but is not all the way up there. they think they can get more revenue out of tax reform. as we are fighting over the sequestered over the next few months, there will be a fight over more revenue. republicans will insist we can do it all with cuts. >> we are about to hear from the

president for those viewers just joining us in about 12 minutes. the president taking a bit of a victory lap. some of the criticism and questions out there is when the president did come to the camerons with middle-class voters in the background and a statement that was put on the web site after that. it seemed, from those critics out there, that perhaps it was a little too confident or did not match the tone and what needed to happen when it came to the way the sausage is made there on capitol hill. that did not help the process. does he have to be careful with this message, given that you just mentioned those three major fiscal crisis in front of us? >> there are two ways to read what he did. some argued he was too aggressive and caught republicans mad. it did not stop it. some of that tough language was aimed at democrats who were unhappy at different aspects of

it. they wanted more revenue and taxes to increase on people earning over 250,000, not 450,000. it was his way of signaling democrats who voted overwhelmingly for this. i played this tough, i have not been a softy on this. when you look at the results, you can't say that what the president said that night her things. i think there is one thing the president lost on that i think is significant and unfortunate. that is continuing the payroll tax holiday. i think the economy is not all the way back, it could use the boost of one more year. the payroll tax, low or middle income families could use that money for another year. that was an orphan idea the president proposed. no enthusiasm among republicans, but people on the liberal side

and the left side said they do not want to take any more money away from social security. for me, that is the most significant here. you are giving on the income and losing some of that revenue. yeah, that is significant, but a lot of democrats from affluent states and affluent districts actually wanted that number to go up a little bit. there are quite a few democrats who represent more affluent areas. >> thank you so much. we are waiting for the president speaking at 11:20. mike vick para at the white house, we have about 30 seconds here, talk about that john maynor/paul ryan vote for it and then the erick cantor no. >> a lot of people will be reading into that. >> for the future of leadership, causing mischief, they speculated that john bayno wanted to put this boat off until after the new congress.

on thursday, he simply played it safe. they knew this was going to be a very tough thing for him to put on the floor. the fact that he has done that and voted in support of it and now has eric cantor, his number two, the top deputy as the majority leader in the house of representatives voting against it, that is a fairly extraordinary development. paul ryan very influential, people have been watching him to see how he was going to be voting on this. he voted in support of it. i want to reemphasize something, extraordinary, democrats, 172 against their leadership and behind president as well. >> we continue to watch. the vote coming out, the bill has passed out of the house. we go to capitol hill to get response. table.

the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing senate 2318 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: senate 2318, an to act rise the secretary of state to pay an award to combat we have a deal. 15 minutes ago the gavel came down in the house passing concurring with the senate bill that was passed at 2:00 a.m. . 24 hours into the new year, and we go to the president. reaction coming out, look russert is getting some response now on that development. >> i actually just ran into them. the speaker's office says, speaker banner felt that this was a very important vote and the best deal that the republicans could get. he very much wanted to solidify the tax issue, get it in place permanently.

that is why he voted yes. but as we were talking about before, you don't see these divisions within the house gop leadership. they are pretty much all together. sometimes you saw when nancy pelosi was speaker, she would vote against a war funding bill and the division we have seen them historic plea. a lot of people were looking at paul ryan, marco rubio voted no. grand paul voted no. paul ryan, a yes. what message does that send? that gave cover for republicans to come on board. john boehner, he got a lot of criticism today. he did not have to vote, but stood up and voted. he showed his conference what he thought. it was pseudo courageous. >> even though he did not have to vote, as you have underlined for us so far. we have some response there from

a representative from speaker boehner's office. on your side, what do we expect the president to say when he comes to the microphone and about three minutes? >> i think he will laud the bipartisan nature and look ahead to what we have been talking about over the last half hour, what is coming in two-month's time. let's take a look at what has happened since the election. i believe it was the day after the election, richard, when john boehner appeared in the capital and conceded that revenues were going to be raised. he wanted to close loopholes, and some deductions, but did not want to raise rates. he knew what was coming. the president had campaigned on that $250,000 threshold, over which people would have their taxes raged -- race. the speaker tried to get out ahead of that. the president stayed very firm -- i'm sorry, i think we are getting a two-minute

warning. the president stayed very firm. the speaker's figure for raising revenue was $800 million over ten years. the final figure they ended up with in this package, $600 billion in new revenues. very interesting, but there were supposed to be a 1 for 1 match on spending cuts to revenues. spending cuts are minuscule. that is what caused all the turmoil today, all these twists and turns. house republicans did not want to come forward and vote for this without significant spending cuts. there were told they would live to fight another day when this new confrontation comes down the pipe around the beginning of march. >> looking over his shoulder because at any moment, in about a minute president obama is about to speak. luke, as we do wait for the president to come to the microphone, you said, wow, when

we were telling you and releasing who voted yea and may. you have the boehner/client ray. and then you have to ask the question about leadership going forward and what this means. if you just look at the gop count, 86 yea for this, 151 day. let us reflect when we do have the conference who will or will not vote for john boehner to keep his speakership? >> i don't think there is any doubt that john boehner will be speaker. that will happen on thursday. there is a lot of confidence from folks that say there are not a love votes to overtake him. some real conservative members can say they are upset with john boehner and that his election would happen on the first ballot. this does show us a divide amongst the gop leadership. the narrative all along, richard, and i was one who said this loudly, was that eric

cantor had been in john boehner's side throughout this ordeal regarding the fiscal cliff. the last press conference john maynard did when plan b failed, eric cantor was right there saying we are in this together. tonight, a little broken up. they went there different paths. that is something we should not read too much into. the same thing people said -- >> the president speaking right now. let's stand by. >> happy new year, everybody. the central premise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed toward the wealthy at the expense of working, middle-class americans. tonight we have done that. thanks to the votes of democrats and republicans in congress, i will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans while preventing a tax

hike that could have sent the economy back into recession and obviously had a severe impact on families across america. i want to thank all the leaders of the house and senate, in particular i want to think the work that was done by my extraordinary vice president, joe biden, as well as leader harry reid, speaker mannered and nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell. everybody worked very hard on this. i want to thank you for your great work, joe. under this law, more than 90% of americans and 97% of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up. millions of families will continue to receive tax credits to help raise their kids and send them to college. companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research that they do, investments they make, and a clean energy jobs they create. 2 million americans who are out of work cut out there looking,

pounding the pavement every day, will continue to receive unemployment benefits as long as they are actively looking for a job. but i think we all recognize this lot is just one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy and brought an opportunity for everybody. the fact is, the deficit is still too high. and we are still investing too little in the things that we need for the economy to grow as fast as it should. that's why speaker boehner and i tried to negotiate a larger agreement that would put this country on a path to paying down its debt and also putting americans back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges and providing investments in areas like education and job-training. unfortunately, that just wasn't enough support or time for that kind of large agreement in a lame-duck session of congress. that failure comes with a cost. the messy nature of the process

over the past several weeks has made business more uncertain and consumers less confident. but we are continuing to chip away at this problem step-by-step. last year i signed into law $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction. tonight could the agreement further reduces the deficit by raising $620 billion in revenue from the wealthiest households in america, and there will be more deficit reduction as congress decides what to do about the automatic spending cuts that we have now delayed for two months. i want to make this point. as i have demonstrated throughout the past several weeks, i am very open to compromise. i agree with democrats and republicans that the aging population and the rising cost of health care makes medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit. i believe we have to find ways to reform that program without hurting seniors who count on it to survive.

i believe there is further unnecessary spending in government that we can eliminate. but, we can't simply cut our way to prosperity. cutting spending has to go hand in hand with for the reforms to our tax code so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that are available to most americans. and we can't keep cutting things like basic research and new technology and still expect to succeed in the 21st century economy. we are going to have to to continue to move forward with deficit reduction, but we have to make sure that we are growing even as we get a handle on our spending. now, when that last point i want to make. while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws that

they have passed. let me repeat. we can't not pay bills that we have already incurred. if congress refuses to fail to give us the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the global economy would be catastrophic. far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff. people will remember back in 2011 the last time this course of action was threatened, our entire recovery was put at risk. consumer confidence plunged, this meant business investment plunge, quote growth dropped. we can't go down that path again. this will remain in place as long as i am president. the deficit needs to be reduced in a way that is balanced. everyone pays their fair share. everyone does their part. that is how our economy works best. that's how we grow.

the sum total of all budget agreements we have reached so far proves that there is a path forward, that it is possible. if we focus not on our politics but on what is right for the country. the one thing that i think we will focus on in the new year is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little less drama, and the less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. we can come together as democrats and republicans to cut spending and raise revenue the way that reduces our deficit, protect the middle class, provides ladders into the middle class for everybody willing to work hard. we can find a way to afford the investment to grow and compete. we can settle this debate or at the very least not allowed it to be so all consuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face, creating jobs, boosting

incomes, fixing the infrastructure, fixing the immigration system, protecting our planet from climate change, boosting domestic energy production, protecting our kids from the horrors of gun violence. it is not just possible to do these things but an obligation to ourselves and future generations. i look forward to working with every single member of congress to meet this obligation in the new year. i hope that everybody now gets at least a day off, i guess, a few days off so that people can refresh themselves, because we have a lot of work to do in 2013. thanks, everybody. happy new year. >> there you have it, seven minutes speaking. president obama the very at business tone there remarking that the bill that was just passed on the house floor

maintains tax cuts for 90% of americans. he also said one step of many. although he had hoped for a grand bargain in all of this that it was not possible in the end. when he looks at the deficit, he still wants to focus on that when it comes to making sure and ensuring that the way the government pays its bills, that is something that he will not compromise on. he also said this is the first time in 20 years that congress has acted in a bipartisan way. mike was right there listening to the president. his tone was straight on. we just got this done. >> you are absolutely right. it culminates a long effort by the president and something he had campaigned on. you saw the president in one of his purposes to pre-empt the coming fight that is just two months away now. you heard him talk about it and laid down that marker yet again on the debt ceiling. he said he is not going to play

that game. he said it again tonight, the good faith and credit of the united states is not going to be put at risk, he said. he raised a point that has been raised many times, congress cannot take away the ability to pay the bills that congress has incurred. he laid down that marker. the question remains, congress has to vote to raise that debt ceiling. that is simply the fact. the debt ceiling has been hit yesterday on december 31st. because the treasury secretary is able to move around some sickout and by about two more months, the sequestration cuts that the president spoke about will be delayed another two months as well as spending bills that keep running. the president is trying to get out in front there and talk about the need for cooperation, talk about the president -- president of bipartisanship that has been set with what has

happened here. he talked about the fact that he still wants a grand bargain and the fact that medicare is something that will have to be addressed. those are difficult challenges that have to be faced. to a certain extent, he was getting out ahead of some of the frustration and disaffection that he will feel from his left, from the base of his party when those issues are tackled. the president had a number of things on the agenda that he wanted to address and punctuate this long fight that has just come to an end tonight on new year's day. i don't even know what time it is as we approach mid that. >> almost pass new year's day. we are just learning that the president will be heading to hawaii shortly and will be rejoining his family. >> as we had suspected. >> he left early so he could be part of this deal that was brokered. we sabas joe biden there. look russert, who is here with us, joe biden really coming in in the last hour and really

getting this done, you saw him smiling over the shoulder of president obama and probably thinking we did get this done and i came in at the last moment. as we look forward to these other clips that we have been talking about, will we see more of vice president joe biden in the mix to try to put together some deals? >> one would think. i spoke to gop aides who are very much involved in the fiscal quick ordeal. they told me almost to a person, we really wish joe biden had gotten involved a month ago after the election because he is better to negotiate with then the president and the president's team directly. part of that is a knock on the president of the united states, but it could be joe biden's relationship with people in congress and that he understands how the sausage is made. it's not pretty and it takes barbering back and forth connecting on a personal level. to go back to what the president said, which i found interesting,

he took time to mention energy reform, gun violence and immigration. those are important to him. those i can tell you will not move anywhere in the house of representatives until the debt limit is fixed, and president says he will not negotiate over the debt limit. i can tell you from pretty good sources that house republicans will not extend the debt limit unless it fits a manner roll, matching spending cuts. could there be some sort of negotiations moving forward that this would be figured out? certainly. the idea that he will not negotiate will not sit well with house republicans, and they are more than happy to try to bring this fight to him, very aggressively, come march 1st. this fight will be the one that grabs all the media attention that takes that political capital, which is so important in the beginning of a second

term. president obama has 11 months to get things done before people move on to the 2014 midterms. immigration, energy, new gun-control, a lot of that will be washed up by this debt limit fight and by 5 over continuing to fund the government. those things sound nice, but i will tell the audience these next few weeks, months on capitol hill will be about the budget and about a new cliff, a new cliff if you will. this is the debt limit cliff, the sequestration cliff. all those big issues will probably be on the back burner. >> luke, mike joining us. ezra, we got the numbers, the president just spoke. luke was just saying, the president coming out and laying out his plan, looking at the

future fights, if you will. he did mention energy, gun-control amongst all these other issues that we have debated just within the last week or so when it comes to fiscal issues and for the government. put this into context for us. >> it's all about the debt ceiling now. we will hear recommendations on gun control in january. i have high doubt that anything big will happen on energy before we get to the debt ceiling. the fiscal cliff had the possibility to push the economy into recession. probability and stayed over it. reaching the debt ceiling would push the global economy, not just into recession but into a genuine crisis. we are talking depression that has a lingering consequences for the american economy because we will not be able to borrow at anywhere near the low rates we do now if we go over the debt ceiling. this will be a really dangerous negotiation and dangerous for

the reasons we have set. you have two cents making an argument that cannot both be true. republicans say they will force a debt ceiling negotiation and they are going to get spending cuts. it will be one to one for every dollar increase with big spending cuts and no board tax cuts. we are only going to negotiate over tax reform and spending cut packages. either one side is right in the other is wrong or they are both wrong and we will reach the debt ceiling. three possibilities on the table, one very, very dangerous for the economy. they can't all be right, only one can be right. >> when you look at this, talking about the debt ceiling, and we pushed into the first couple of months of the new year, should we expect another confrontation as we have experienced here during new year's? >> there is no evidence that

congress, the american political system at this period in time can do anything in advance. they are always cramming. they are always going over cliffss. it is an embarrassing way to run a government. again, i want to be very clear that the debt ceiling is a much more dangerous negotiation. what i would love to tell you is that there is nobody in the government crazy enough to do this again, but there are people who will bring it to the edge. one thing i think we need to say, and it's important to take from these negotiations that helps republicans had a reputation for being completely unreasonable. they don't negotiate, come to deals. in the end speaker boehner brought this bill to the floor knowing it would pass. his members supported him, many did vote for it. some of the key fiscal leaders did vote for it. republicans are irrational. they had a vision of what is in

their political best interest. we may get to the debt ceiling and a look at what the president is doing. we are better getting, just having a deal with spending cuts and revenue generating tax reform. a lot don't even mind tax reform. and they might be blamed for it by the business community and the public. >> what about political calculus? speaker boehner vote yes, cantor voted no, paul ryan voted yes on this as well. 85 yeas. what is your reflection? >> i think that there was a vote that was somewhat misleading in its tolls tonight, which is to say there are a lot of republicans that voted no. speaker been brought this to the floor in knowing that he would survive bringing it to the floor. they allow this to come to a

vote knowing it would pass and essentially become law afterward. when you were speaker of the house, one of the key powers to have is the power to control the floor. speaker boehner used that tonight in a way that he and his members understood would lead to probably the passage of this bill. while it's true that republicans chose to vote no on the bill specifically, the republican party and house republicans permitted the bill to pass. there were political calculations, but in breaking and permitting the bill to come to the floor without the support of more than half the republican congress, speaker banner and his congress, they said, they said that we see in our political self-interest to resolve this negotiation and allow this bill to pass even if a lot of us will vote for it. it was an attempt to have it both ways. in a broadway people understand

the republican fingerprints all over this. >> quickly to you before we move on, how will this be remembered a year from now? >> poorly. this has been another embarrassing set piece from an embarrassing congress. >> it will be positive. >> no, it will not be. >> thank you for joining us tonight. we appreciate it. to you here, mike, what will be the perspective on what we have experienced today? will it be forgotten based on the fact we have these big cliffs in front of us? >> i think there is a lot of scar tissue built up around some of these fiscal fights. i agree wholeheartedly with ezra. it will depend on how this next conference -- confrontation is resolved. the debt ceiling is the debt ceiling, once you have gone beyond that there is no turning back. that is a very hard deadline, whereas the fiscal cliff, while it would be horrible by most

accounts for folks's taxes to go up, some $2,200 on average for the average american family, that is something that can be handled retroactively. people would have tried to absorb it the best they could. richard, as i'm talking to you now, you can hear the rovers of the helicopter, marine one as it lands on the south lawn here to pick up the president and take him back to air force one and to rejoin his family after his abbreviated stay in hawaii with these negotiations not bearing fruit the first time over the christmas holiday. he is expected to be out there for about another week. certainly the president wants to come to the briefing room and punctuate the negotiation, large and successful negotiation that he has had with strong support from democrats. 176 democrats in the house of

representatives voting for this measure, 12 of voting against. that is an extraordinary total considering what we have heard from the left leading up to this vote about their frustration with the president, and their words, caving on that income level. altogether, an extraordinary series of events, a lot of turmoil. for a while there, it did not appear as if congress was going to be able to get it done. they got it done, it certainly wasn't pretty, but we are not going over that fiscal quick. >> january 1st, we got it done 23 hours into the day. mike, luke, stand by. we are definitely going to have more on this. again, we are getting reaction to the bill on the house floor that passed in concurrence with the senate bill and to go to the white house. they have a deal. this about 40 minutes ago.

257-167. many congressmembers' excited, some are definitely not. we will have more coverage of this fiscal cliff negotiation and now the agreement here on a mess in d.c. we will be right back. wholesome noodles on spoons. a kite, a breeze, a dunk of grilled cheese. catches and throws, and spaghettio's. that's what happy kids are made of. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪ i have direct deposit on my visa prepaid. my paycheck is loaded right on my card. automatic. i am not going downtown standing in line to cash it. i know where my money is, because it is in my pocket. i got more time with my daughter, we got places to go.

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breaking news this hour, 11:46 eastern time, about 45 minutes ago a deal was passed in the house and will be sent to the president. we are getting reaction. we got this from speaker boehner's office. he voted for in this concurrence, this bill that went to the house floor. he brought it to the floor for the up or down vote. he says that the federal government has a spending problem that has led to a $16 trillion national debt that threatens the country to the future. on the day after the election, i propose that both parties work together to avert the fiscal cliff in a manner that would insure 2013 is the year that we enact entitlement reform and pro-growth tax reform to begin to solve the country's debt problem. luc russert, who has been on capitol hill in the halls there, he has seen speaker boehner go by you many times today. you have reflected very clearly about the surprising things that

have happened today, one of which is how the speaker voted for this. when we were having the separation between eric cantor, the number two republican from the house and speaker dinner not saying anything early. what reactions to you here at the moment? >> it's interesting, richard. it's not a bill where you have a typical victory lap because neither is tied is particularly satisfied. they are more elated with the bill then are republicans. the president was very happy that taxes will go up for the majority of americans. as i have said, republicans are giving the message of look, we will live to fight another day and fight on the debt limit. by march 1st. democrats are happy to get this done and able to avoid the calamity that would come to the fiscal cliff. before you went to break, you ask what we would remember from a year from now. it's important to say that the

112th congress is all over. this congress will go down in history in terms of stats as the worst congress in terms of passing legislation. the folks in the house and speaker boehner and all to the rank and file, their mission when they were elected in 2012 and president obama's first midterm election was that they wanted to be appliqued on president obama's legislation. if you look at what they were able to do in the last two years, they were pretty much able to curtail any of the big things that president obama wanted to do. while we look back at that and say this was a very -- the least productive congress, they did exactly what they said they were going to do in 2012 -- 2010. they wanted to cut spending, cut spending, that will be the message moving forward. >> thank you so much for all your reporting. we appreciate it.

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congress finally got a deal done. that happened 52 minutes ago. the gavel came down. about 30 minutes ago president obama came to the microphone at the white house before he embarks to hawaii and made his remarks. this is what he said. >> happy new year, everybody. a central premise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed toward the wealthy at the expense of working, middle-class americans. tonight, we have done that thanks to the votes of democrats and republicans in congress. i will sign a law that raises

taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans while preventing any middle-class tax hike that could have sent the economy back into recession and obviously had a severe impact on families across america. i want to thank all the leaders of the house and senate, in particular i want to thank the work that was done by my extraordinary vice president, joe biden, as well as leader harry reid, speaker boehner, nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell. everybody worked very hard on this, and i appreciate it. joe, once again, i want to thank you for your great work. under this law, 90% of americans and 97% of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up. millions of families will continue to receive tax credits to help raise their kids and send them to college. companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research that they do, and then

spends they make, and a clean energy jobs they create. the americans out of work but out there looking, pounding the pavement every day, are going to continue to receive unemployment benefits as long as they are actively looking for a job. but, i think we all recognize that this law is just one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy and brought an opportunity for everybody. the fact is, the deficit is still too high. and we are still investing too little in the things that we need for the economy to grow as fast as it should. that's why speaker boehner and i originally tried to negotiate a larger agreement that would put this country on a path to paying down its debt while also putting americans back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges and providing investments like education and job training. unfortunately, there just wasn't enough support or time for that kind of large agreement in a

lame-duck session of congress. that failure comes with a cost, as the messy nature of the process over the past several weeks has made business more uncertain and consumers less confident. but, we are continuing to chip away at this problem step-by-step. last year i signed into law $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction. tonight's agreement further reduces the deficit by raising $620 billion in revenue from the wealthiest households in america, and there will be more deficit reduction as congress decides what to do about the automatic spending cuts that we have now delayed for two months. i want to make this point. as i have demonstrated throughout the past several weeks, i am very open to compromise. i agree with democrats and republicans that the aging population and the rising cost of health care makes medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit. i believe we have to find ways

to reform that program without hurting seniors who count on it to survive. and i believe there is further unnecessary spending in government that we can eliminate. but, we can't simply cut our way to prosperity. cutting spending has to go hand in hand with further reforms to our tax code so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most americans. and we can't keep cutting things like basic research in new technology and still expect to succeed in the 21st century the economy. we will have to continue to move forward in deficit reduction, but we have to do it in a balanced way, making sure that we are growing even as we get a handle on our spending. now, one last point i want to make. while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another

debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws that they have passed. let me repeat. we can't not pay bills that we have already incurred. if congress refuses to give the united states government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of the fiscal collect. people will remember back in 2011, the last time this course of action was threatened, our entire recovery was put at risk. consumer confidence plunged, business investment plunged, growth dropped. we can't go down that path again. today's agreement in shrines, i think, a principal into law that will remain in place as long as i am president. everyone pays their fair share, everyone does their part.

that is how our economy works best. that is how we grow. the sum total of all the budget agreement we have reached so far proves that there is a path forward, that it is possible if we focus not on our politics but on what's right for the country. the one thing that i think hopefully in the new year we will focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, and little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. we can come together as democrats and republicans to cut spending and raise revenue the way that reduces our deficit, protect the middle class, provides ladders into the middle class for everybody who is willing to work hard. we can find a way to a for the investments we need to grow and compete. we can settle this debate or at the very least not allowed it to