your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their short-term agenda. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. good morning. i'm chris jansing. this afternoon, the president is expected to announce another

appointment to his cabinet. jack lew as the next contrary sorry secretary. right now, lew is the president's chief of staff but he's been budget director and a veteran of the clinton administration. lew is also the fourth white man to be chosen to fill the president's second-term cabinet. and the white house is feeling the heat on this. l.a. times writes, the cabinet may not meet its own diversecy standards. "the national journal" why obama's white-guy problem seems worse than it is. and "washington post," obama needs some binders of women. and it didn't help when hilda solis announced her resignation yesterday. let me bring in political reporter for "the washington post" and staff writer sarah toeplitz. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> let me read to you part of

ruth marcus' column. "not an outrage, but a shame. the face of power that president obama has chosen to present to the country and the world with his second term cabinet picks is striking. except for the african-american top of the pyramid for its retro look. white and male. it's "mad men" goes to washington, except it's leaving." >> so much of the debates that went on in the 2012 campaign was about the role of women. it was about mitt romney and his so-called lack of understanding of the role of women and lack of sort of acknowledgement of that. so now, the white house, where they roll out white man after white man, in terms of these top cabinet posts i think it has struck people as some srt of dissident in terms of what the obama claimed to be about and what they're presenting now. i think it's odd to me that they would be so heavy-handed in dealing with this. that someone in the white house didn't notice that they may have

had an optics problem in rolling these folks out back to back to back. so what you have them do, of course, is say, well, they've got all these other people who are sane in the cabinet. >> let me interrupt you there. i want to play exactly. the question, obviously, was asked yesterday and here is the white house' response. >> janet napolitano is the secretary of homeland security. the u.s. ambassador of the united nations is susan rice. again, i could go through the list. this president has appointed -- has made two appointments to the supreme court. both of them women. and i think that his commitment to -- >> is that -- >> i think the record speaks for itself. >> sheri, you can tell they're aware of what's being said. they released a photo. take a look at this with female advisers in the pitting because everyone was talking about this other picture. ten advisers in the room with the president during the fiscal

cliff negotiations. and you don't have to stare it to know they're all men. how much is an optics problem and how much is a very real problem? >> i think the majority of the problem is optical and also a communications issue. even if you look at the timing of the rollout, some of his previous nominees. look at the chuck hagel nominee. they've been hanging them out to dry essentially. and for members of congress to have their opportunity to throw shots at them. it's been rather interesting and rare that the transition has been so bumpy, especially for a president going into its second term. but, look, there's still a lot of turnover going into the cabinet. even though the president announce three cabinet members are staying on for a while. who knows if that's going to be six months, a year, two years. we'll see if he's going to nominate more women. i do believe he'll be under immense pressure to appointment the secretary of labor to

succeed hill da solis. i want to bring in charlie rangel. congressman. >> to see you as always. first black president. he's getting questions about diversity. are you concerned? >> of course, i'm concerned. any questions are fair and the record speaks for itself. >> if the record speaks for itself, what does it say going into the second term? >> it's as embarrassing as hell. we've been through all of this with mitt romney. and we were very hard with mitt romney with the women binder and all of these things. with the first term, you could see people got to know who is around and qualified in order to get this job, number one. i had thought that it could be the harvard problem where people just know each other, trust each

other. and women in minorities don't get a chance to rub elbows and their reputation and experience is not known. but whatever it is when you have minorities that do understand the problem as colin powell as has often spoken out that people with minorities don't know how to use it. so in the second term, these people should be just as experienced as anybody. any other american. >> you heard what the white house is saying about this, that if you look at other high-level positions, not necessarily cabinet positions, that he has appointed a lot of women, a lot of minorities. but is it important from your perspective that these positions, that women, minorities get appointed to, are visible, the most highly visible? we know that state, defense, treasury, as ruth marcus points out are kind of the big boy jobs. >> please. let's make it clear. it's not the individual that gets these procedures,

prestigious jobs that we're talking about. we're talking about american kids being able to look and aspire and hope that one day. there is no way to substitute having an african-american president with kids now no matter what the economic or social circumstances are. their parents could tell them if they can get the money, if they can raise a couple billion dollars that they could become president. so the whole idea with women, when mothers are raising their kids and they tell them that, in this great country of ours, you can make it, that is far more important than the individual that has succeeded. and i think hillary clinton really is the one that shined on this whole idea, not only is the question of fairness, but what is good for america, as she assumed that role of secretary of state. and so you have to do these things because it's the right thing to do as a symbol of what america stands for. and that's whether you're republican or democrat. that is one of the major problems that republicans have.

they just don't get where america is going. >> let me bring our women back in. and besides the change that we're looking at in terms of diversity, there's also been a lot of talk about this whole talk, nomination day, about the team of rivals which seems so important. and it's more like a team of allies. and given where we are in washington, and how divided it is, is that a problem as well? >> well, you know, i think that's certainly was the idea behind the first administration. the whole cabinet, team of rivals but there was also a sense in the early days that there was an insular crowd that the folks in the white house had a lot of presidential finds that he had known coming in washington for the years that he was here. that is the case as well.

obviously, he's going into the second term. it's going to be a tough road to hoe going forward, whether it's gun control. whether it's budget negotiations. so people who have been in washington for years, tend to stay in washington for years. they're the ones in the pipelines and they're the ones who get the jobs. >> let me switch gears because there's another big story in washington today. and that is this meeting between joe biden and among others, the nra. congressman, this meeting also with hollywood, the video game industry, how important is it? >> it's so important. i never once thought that the churches and the synagogues and the american people were prepared to take on the nra. they are so unbelievably powerful on the hill. but now with the president bringing in the swinging joe biden, would assume many with bloomberg just waiting to get up to bat. >> and your friend, governor cuomo, did you hear him yesterday. >> exactly.

>> let me play a clip from his state of the state address yesterday. >> i say to you forget the extremists. it's simple. no one hunts with an assault rifle. no one needs ten bullets to kill a deer and too many innocent people have died already. [ applause ] >> there are two perspectives on statements like that. one is it's very important for somebody who's high-profile to get out there, to set the example. the other is, he's a liberal democrat. he's in a state that already has tough gun control laws and essentially it doesn't mean that much. what do you think? >> i think common sense will prevail. people who love hunters and love to hunt, this has nothing to do with protecting their rights to do just that. we have too many guns. people are dying. it's a civilized country. it's the worst example we can set for the world. i'm proud of my mayor, i'm so proud of joe biden.

when he sits at the table, he means business. i think we're really on the right road and we've got to do something this time. >> connecticut's governor dan malloy is one of the elected leaders talking to vice president biden yesterday. let me play to you what he said this morning. >> he's got this down pretty well. he understands what we need to do to make it less likely that these things are going to happen in our -- in our cities and towns. and these mass murders could be limited, at least, going into the future, if some common sense things are taken -- the magazine thing is very big. >> the top two limit, magazines and closed-gun show loopholes. take us inside the hill here and take us inside the white house, shira, what are the chances this gets done? >> it's very doable. if there's ever a chance for congress to pass measures this is it. but the road is complicated. you have democrats controlling the senate but many of those are

fairly conservative democrats supported by the nra in the past. then you have the house which is obviously controlled by republicans, many of whom are conservative. it's a difficult path to pass this legislation. that's why it's interesting to hear joe biden mention the executive order issue and whether he might use that. >> would you suggest that the president do that, congressman? >> i want him 0 do everything he can. and i want him to say this to the church. if they can give this much authority and support against the same-sex marriages, if they can just substitute gun control there just for a little bit of the time, it won't be the congress. it will be the american people that can and will do this, if it's presented to them in the common sense way. i just hope, you know -- human life, whether it's in newtown or whether or it's in chicago or new york, the churches silence on this issue has been deaf

deafening. now the door is open. i've confident congress will respond. >> congressman, good have you with us. thank you so much. >> you bet your life. >> it is hitting most of the country. it's so bad in boston. with 700 reported cases. the mayor has declared a public health emergency. >> that's ten times the amount of total cases we saw all of last year. please all, everyone out there, get to the health centers this weekend. get your flu shot. >> there were 18 deaths nationwide just yesterday. and tomorrow, the cdc releases its late of the flu count. and it is expecting a big jump in numbers. south carolina alone is reporting 22 flu deaths this season. we'll get a live update outside one busy hospital just a little later in the hour. how does this thing work?

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we're going to show you some tape we just got. happened just seconds ago. literally. defense secretary leon panetta going to be hosting afghan hamid karzai at the pentagon. karzai has a busy schedule. he's meeting with hillary clinton. he visited leaders yesterday on capitol hill. and he will sit down with president obama. and nbc's tia who is normally there is here with us. >> thank you. good to be. >> you met with karzai. you did an interview with him. give us your perspective on his visit here? >> it should be interesting. what they're trying to do is get the serious ball rolling on what america's future in afghanistan is going to be.

president obama had strong words in the interview, particularly to the united states. i think he's being realistic in the fact that america may not have much of a presence after 2014. and he's trying to get his ducks in a row for afghanistan's future. although president karzai, if you think about it, there's going to be another election in 2014. he's not going to be the president of afghanistan. right now, what he's focusing on is helping his own legacy. >> and how many could be left behind. it could be zero, maybe 3,000, as many as 15,000. obviously, he's going to push for more, rather than less? >> it seems that way. president karzai and the afghan government right now, look, they know what they need is an international presence to help the afghan troops to continue to build the afghan forces because they can't handle afghanistan right now themselves. they can't secure their own country. but there are people on

president karzai's staff that have the illusion that america needs afghanistan more than afghanistan needs america. but as we all know, that's not the case at the moment. because the focus of 2014 and beyond, is if america doesn't stay and help, will the country fall back into a civil wary will it fall back to the taliban? and does that mean al qaeda is coming back. president karzai knows that he needs america's help right now. but he's also trying to let america know that he means business when it comes to securing his own land and having complete sovereignty from american rule and military. >> it just shows you how dmrik indicate the whole equation is. atiyyah, good to see you here. one crucial voice on afghanistan will be chuck hagel if confirmed as secretary of defense. president obama nominated him earlier this week now the white house is gearing up for a nomination fight. cleaning me is roger simon from politico. good morning.

>> good morning. your new piece is titled "hagel puts country ahead of conquest." where do you see us if indeed chuck hagel is confirm as defense secretary? >> i see us heading out. hagel has wanted our forces out of afghanistan for a while now. we have accomplished our purpose there. we have met our goals. we have dispersed al qaeda, and destroyed much of our leadership. andal we're doing now is propping up a regime that is not liked by the people of afghanistan. there is no hope, as hagel has said, of turning afghanistan into an american suburb. that loves liberty and human rights and all the things that we love. it's a different country. and our mission has already gotten out of control there. >> but in your capitol hill column, you ask a question that i guess begs to be asked, which

how can we have a defense secretary who is not in love with conquest? >> because chuck hagel says, this is almost a direct quote, word for word, "we lead the world. we don't dictate to the world." and when we do have to take military action, we do so with our allies. we don't go into it alone. and we have a clear strategy. and a clear objective. once we accomplish that, we get out. we don't need nine-year wars in iraq. over imaginary weapons of mass destruction. we don't need 11-year wars in afghanistan, long after our military goal has been accomplished. and you know, chris, he gets what future warfare is going to be about. it's not going to be about expensive aircraft carrier systems. and missiles. it's going to be about

cyberattacks. chuck hagel gets cyberwarfare. he understands that a foreign country like china can shut down our weapons, can shut down our electrical grid, can shut down our water grid. and he knows that that is the battlefield of the future. and that's where we've got to spend our money. >> but there will be a fight, obviously, in part, because hagel makes a lot of republican hawks shudder with some of his comments. what do you think is at the heart of the opposition? it most political, roger, or philosophical? >> it's a little of both. there are hawks, in the senate, clearly. there are people who are upset with hagel because he doesn't even know he is a decorated vietnam vet and would be the first enlisted man ever to become secretary of defense. they don't think he's hawkish

enough. some are upset about his past statements about israel. some are upset about this past statements about gays in the military, for which he has apologized. and you know, i think this controversy over cabinet appointments is good. because america learns about who these people are. but the reality is, if the president sticks behind his nominee, the nominee almost never fails. but i think i read in "the new york times" yesterday, the senate in its entire history has approved 500 cabinet nominees and rejected 8, 8 or 9. >> wow. >> last time we rejected anybody in the senate was a defense appointment. a senator, a former senator, just like chuck hagel was a former senator john tower was rejected.

but he was a republican appointment facing a democrat majority senate who defeated him. chuck hagel, though a republican, is a democratic appointment, going into a majority democratic senate. chance of hagel being defeated, or really any of the other people we've been talking about these last few days for other spots, the chance of him being defeated is almost zero. >> roger simon, it's good to have you on the program. thanks, roger. >> great to be here, chris. thank you. it was a big morning for the movie "lincoln" nominated for 12 academy awards including best picture, best director, best actress and supporting actor. 11 nominations argue go, django unchained, les mis, and zero dark thirty. i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save

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lawmakers and nobel laureate paul krugman say the treasury department has the power to mint the supercoin which in turn would be used to raise the debt ceiling. and white house press secretary jay carney added some fuel to the fire when he refused to rule it out. >> do you believe you have a power to mint -- >> there is no plan "b." there is no backup plan. there is congress' responsibility to pay the bills of the united states. >> that's a little evasive in your answer. but i say -- are you narrowing the lead -- are you trying to leave room or not? >> there's no substitute for congress extending the borrowing authority of the united states. >> do you believe this is an option, and viable? >> i think there's the only option there. there is no backup plan. the only option is for congress to do its job. >> let's bring in nbc analyst and former communications editor karen finney. and also chip saltzman. good morning.

>> it seems crazy we're talking about this. but supporters of this trillion-dollar coin are pointing to this law which says in part, quote, the secretary of the treasury may mint and issue platinum coins and has his discretion. i don't know how many trillion-dollar coins there will be. but karen, do you think there's anyway chance? >> no. no, on a humorous level, yjay ws trying to leave room that there will be no coin. this is silly. congress has no responsibility. one interesting thing for people outside of the beltway trying to follow the ins and outs of this, it does give an iconic idea to sort of think about. but i also think for most americans, they think, wait a second, what that represents, the people we sent to washington to do their job, they're so

defunct, they can't do their job that the president has to go around them. that doesn't seem like the kind of government that people believe they elected. the last thing, it's terrible for the broader global economy, what message does that send for the rest of the world when ours is supposed to be a stable economy. >> kind of like putting money in the basement, isn't it? there is a tradition to start using the coin. so far it's got 7300 signatures. the using this as political fodder. they say lib brans want obama to mint $1 trillion to pay for his spending. what do you say about this? >> i hope i'm on the list to get one. with the petition drive, i think the white house has set their own, if they got 25,000 signatures they'll address this issue. jay was dancing a little bit yesterday at the press conversation where he did put a little fuel on the fire, but,

look, congress ultimately has responsibility to do this. i think what we're going to see unfortunately over the next six week, congress is going to be dancing on this issue and we're not going to be talking about a deal until we get close to it. >> in addition to this coin option, there are at least 21 democrats who have signed a letter urging the president to raise the debt ceiling using the 14th amendment. what would be the impact be, karen, if the white house did that? >> at this point, it would be tricky, the white house has been consistent saying they don't believe they have the authority to do that. again, i think the central message around this debate where you see democrats and the president keep trying to come back to is, we're talking about paying bills that we've -- money we've already spent. we're not talking about the president's spending. we're talking about paying for things that congress has all right appropriated and said we're going to spend the money on these things. that's just good sound fiscal policy. so i think it's part of the reason they don't want to talk about the 14th amendment, frank

list, let's not get sidetracked with coins and other gimmicks. let's actually sit down and do the work. that being said, i betcha we'll see a lot of those coins around here for the inauguration weekend. somebody is going to come up with that idea. >> and they don't cost a trillion dollars. one more idea out there, chip, speaker boehner has talked about a month-to-month review about that. let me play what they had to say about that this morning. >> what's going on in washington? nothing. absolutely nothing. they're bouncing from one crisis to another. they can't have a budget. they're financing the world's largest economy from month to month. >> and maureen dowd chimed in asking what's wrong with weekly. how about hourly? chip, can you imagine having one of these fights every single month. is jane boehner serious? >> it would give karen and i something to talk about every day on your show.

i think one of the bigger questions when you look at the greater ceconomy, when you talk to people, especially in tennessee, the senate hasn't passed a budget in almost four years. the congress on the house side is having a hard time dealing with the debt ceiling. the uncertainty of whether there's going to be road program dollars, what the dollars are going to look like in education. nobody is planning outside of two months because they don't know what the debt ceiling is bowing to be, for the federal spending is going to be. a lot of private companies have a lot of money kind of in the bank waiting to see what finally happens so they can get on their with life. >> chip saltzman. karen finney. i'm sure we'll talk again. thank you so much. also making news this morning, flu cases are surging across the country with health officials saying it's spreading much faster than usual. nbc's kevin tibbles is joining me from where emergency rooms are taking patients. 41 states have the serious

problem. what are you hearing there? >> well, what we're hearing here at the st. francis hospital is that they are very busy and i can attest to that because i'm in the emergency room at the hospital right now. and as you've just said, chris, some 2200 people, more than 2200 people have actually been hospitalized with the flu. so far this year. and the season's just getting under way. and i'm, this morning, going to attempt to not become one of those statistics because -- >> oh, no, you're going to do this -- >> oh, no. i didn't know this. >> lauren is going to be doing to me what most of you should be having done to yourselves, so to speak, with regards to the flu season. lauren is going to be giving me a jab. >> a jab. >> in the arm. should everybody be doing this, laura? >> yes, absolutely. it's very important, especially for the elderly to be getting -- for getting their flu shots. i'm going to poke.

one, two, three -- >> ouch. >> that didn't hurt. i'll get your band aid for you. when you say everybody including the elderly, you're not referring to me? >> absolutely not. >> i'm getting my own special band aid. >> you are. a very special band aid. a lovely cookie monster friend there. >> thank you, lauren. not to make light of you, if you are elderly or have a young child and they are sick, you should take them to the merm? >> absolutely. >> folks like me should go to bed, drinks plenty of fluids. >> lot of fluids. check your fever. ibuprofen can treat that. watch your symptoms. >> you're guaranteeing this is going to work for me? >> i hope it's going to work for you. >> you got yours yesterday. >> yes, i did. it didn't hurt. that owl was a little much, kevin. the twitter picture. >> do i get my prize?

>> yes, of course. >> what do you get? i didn't get anything. >> i got some stickers. >> kevin tibbles, thank you so much. seriously. >> i'm in tip-top shape. >> seriously, though. this say big problem. and they say it's going to get worse. if you haven't gotten your flu shot, we've been saying it for days, you might want to think about it. in the meantime, let's talk about what happened in colorado, the quote was, he wanted to kill them all. prosecutors say that was james holmes' plan when he went on a shooting rampage at that movie theater last year. a judge will decide by tomorrow whether there's enough evidence to put him on trial. the preliminary hearing ended yesterday without a witnesses called. call it the steroid shutout, the baseball association of america did not elect any baseball players to the hall of fame. with 75% of the vote needs to get in, some of the biggest names on the ballot, barry bonds, roger clemens, sammy sosa didn't even come close. it's the second time in 40 years

the association failed to elect any candidates. and morgan stanley is cutting its work worse, the company plans to slash 1600 jobs mostly senior position. half of those jobs will come in the united states. and there are new rules to prevent future meltdowns. cnbc is here with the details. good morning, mandy. >> good morning to you as well, chris. it's an initiative by the consumer financial protection bureau which was formed to protect the consumer. it's rolled out these new rules to try to make sure that mortgage borrowers can afford the loans they take out. they pose a range of restrictions on the lenders themselves on the banks that you go to get your mortgage, sufficient as, telling the banks do not let the borrower being saddled with payments over 43% of your income. try not to lend too much to

people so they don't get completely bogged down and completely over their heads. hopefully, these new rules will prevent a future crashing in the housing market. >> and we chose this next story in your honor, because mcdonald's is getting a temporary name change in your native australia. >> yes, it is. for one more. mcdonald's is going to be renamed maccas. this say popular name for mcdonald's. i use it myself. i'm really starving i need some maccas right now. it's in honor of australia day which falls on january 25th. apparently at least a fifth of australians according to a survey, use the name instead of mcdonald's. here's what some people had to say about this move. >> i prefer maccas to mcdonald's. >> but it's not fun using the

slang, is it? we'll have to come up with another name. >> there you go. i think it's a great idea. you never know, if it's popular, it might even stick. >> cnbc's mandi drury, thank you so much. we'll be right back. customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally.

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and tribulations are having a huge influence on hollywood. unlike what we've seen in decades. making the news, politically charged films like "lincoln," django unchained and zero dark thirty. joining, ted johnson. how are you doing, ted? >> good morning. very good. >> it's been a political year at the box office. it's interesting to me because politicians seem to be so unpopular. why is hollywood suddenly so in love with politics? >> well, in fact, you would always seem to believe -- you would almost believe there was a big pool of oscar voters in washington, d.c. this year. i mean, just given the political movies that have been out. i think a lot is coincidence. a lot is the fact that, when you enter the fall, you have the studios release a lot of their serious movies. these are a little more difficult to market. it's a lot easier to market them when you can say it's based on a

true story. and the fact of the matter, many of these best stories come from these great political debates. whether it's "lincoln" in the civil war. argo with the hostage crisis in 1979. and then obviously "zero dark thirty" with the hunt for osama bin laden in the role of torture. >> "lincoln" led the back with 12 nominations. it's not an academic-packed civil war film. a lot of it happens -- it's pretty dark and confined. and it obvious focuses on the political battle over the 13th amendment. i'm not sure a movie like this would have gotten made 20 years ago, do you think? >> i was actually really surprised. especially because there's this perception that major studio pictures tend to fall on stories about superheroes. they're action-packed. there has to be that immediate

tug. but i think what was critical was actually getting steven spielberg to do this movie. i don't think it could have been made. i don't think it could have been sold in hollywood without spielberg. you know, he pretty much dictates whatever he wants to do. he'll find the financing and get the studio to really back it in a big way. it's also interesting that lincoln feeds into what i would say is a commonality with some of these other political movies. they're very much about the ends justice the means. we're seeing a lot of movies about the process, the political process. whether it's bureaucracy, or what happens in the halls of congress. and it's not always a pretty sight. but whether -- again, whether you talk about "lincoln ""argo" "zero dark thirty" these all end in a pretty can way. yes, the fact that they have political movies but they still

have very much a hollywood ending. >> and i also think in the case the "lincoln" and "zero dark thirty" it doesn't help that they got a lot of publicity. everybody was talking about lincoln's book, team of rivals. you were hearing it from the president, the congress. they had the showing. and then of course, "zero dark thirty" controversial in the way it treated waterboarding, the way it treated torture in general. but that brought in a lot, too. so that's never a bad thing for a movie, is it? >> yes, you always say all publicity is good publicity, especially when you're talking about the oscar race. but the exception is when it may go a little too far. and i think there's going to be a lot of speculation over "zero dark thirty" it dutt not get a director nomination for kathryn bigelow. >> i was surprised with that. >> yes, that was one of the big surprises this morning. more the controversy played into

that, three lawmakers on capitol hill, john mccain, dianne feinstein and carl levin come out and right this letter slamming this movie which is unprecedented with a movie that is just about to be released. the studio is very much thinking that it stepped into a much larger debate that predates the movie that has to do with the role of torture in the hunt for osama bin laden and in the war on terror. and they've kind of fallen into this great debate going on between the cia and lawmakers on capitol hill. >> to be continued, ted johnson, thank you so much. today's tweet of the day also blends movies and politics, pourme coffee writes, 2014 oscar winner, ocean's 14, danny and accomplices tunnel from metro in daring heist of is $1 trillion coin from treasury. now...guaranteed.

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just 95 days to get your taxes done.

and a government watchdog report confirms what just about all of us know and dread. filing your taxes is a complicated, intimidating process. richard lui is here with the drilldown and some opening details on the new record. richard. >> chris, you got three weeks because you know what, that's how long it will take to read the 4 million words of the tax code. chief tax code writer dave camp says a recent report confirms that the "quote, the tax code is ten times the size of the bible with none of the good news." so here's the bad language, tax language is so complex, it takes the equivalent of 3 million people working all year to complete business and individual tax returns. now, the cost to do that is $168 billion. that's greater than the "gameday" of half the states in the union. and the tax bible, it continues to crow on average, one additional change per day over the last dozen years until this

year. the hullabaloo that was the fiscal cliff may have bore some fruit. few tax code additions were made because congress was too busy for the fisticuffs. and irs programmers were waylayed by the cliff debate. outraged you say? not completely. americans like their deductions and credits. tax-free employer benefits, yes. tax-free contributions, yeah. mortgage deductions, definitely. amounting to half a trillion dollars annually, they are -- [ cow moo ] -- yeah, the tax sacred cow. president obama is targeting that and hedge tax breaks as well. something that speaker boehner

agrees with if in spirit. >> moos on the way. >> i was trying to make it fun. >> i was wondering why there were cows in my ears on the break. now, i understand. those numbers are mind-boggling. thank you, richard. i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts is up next. we'll see you back here tomorrow. helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. sven gets great rewards for his small business! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve great rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice.

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