good morning. i'm chris jansing. so this is it -- tonight, the last debate in iowa before the big, big showdown. 19 days away now. last chance for the candidates to make a big impression on caucusgoers. now politico report that is newt gingrich's lead in the iowa polls might be slipping. and mitt romney has now clearly on the attack hitting gingrich for changing positions, for not being conservative, even calling him zany.

>> zany is not what we need in a president. zany is great in a campaign. it's great on talk radio. it's great in the print. it makes for fun reading. but in terms of a president, we need a leader. i believe that the comments he's made over the years suggest that he's unreliable as a spokesman for conservatism. >> debby wasserman schultz heads up the dnc. good morning. it's one of the most underused words in the dictionary, zany. is mitt romney going after newt gingrich tonight? >> he also used the word unreliable. and i would say it takes one to know one. i think someone who has had more different positions than carter has liver pills should know that what the term unreliable means. it's a person who's had both sides of the position on whether or not middle class americans deserve a payroll tax cut.

been for and against bringing troops home from afghanistan, has consistently focused on making sure that the wealthiest and most fortunate americans have the wind at their backs and to heck with the middle class. mitt romney will certainly know what someone unreliable is like. >> truth be told, you'd rather see gingrich as the nominee, right? >> honestly, chris, it doesn't much matter which one of the republicans are -- >> oh, that can't be true. look at the money mitt romney has. look at the polls that show where independent voters are. are you really going to try to convince me you wouldn't prefer -- >> as far as money, we fully expect that whoever the republican nominee is, no matter who it is, they're going to have the resources they need to be competitive. it's going to be a competitive election all the way to the election. but america is really at a crossroads. this is going to be a choice between two completely different visions for america.

president obama's vision, to stand up and make sure the american dream is possible for everyone. and the republican position, no matter which republican you're talking about, who think that our policy in government should focus on benefitting the wealthy and the most fortunate, no policy to assist the middle class in making sure that they can get a good job, that they can get a good education, that they can be better off than the generation before them. this is a party that really is completely out of touch with the average working family. the dramatic contrast between the two visions is going to be clear no matter which republican is the nominee. >> well, the dnc certainly has run ad after ad, sort of articulating the points you just made. do you think you guys played a role in his dropping poll numbers? >> in mitt romney's dropping poll numbers? >> no. >> no, i think mitt romney probably own that is all by himself. when you have someone like mitt romney who has said that corporations are people, someone who throws out a $10,000 bet as casually as i would bet a dollar, someone who says that

it's important for us to focus on the wealthy and make sure that we preserve their tax breaks as opposed to standing up for the middle class and fighting for a payroll tax cut extension, that middle class americans can ill afford to lose, i think mitt romney is fully responsible for the uncertainty and the angst that voters have. who wants a president who you can't count on? who wants a president that has no conviction? >> you bring up the payroll tax and the white house is having to prepare in case the government shuts down. give us the odds that that happens right now, is it 50/50? >> president obama is doing everything he can to make sure that we can continue to keeping the government up and running. you've got republicans like newt gingrich, for example, who have a track record of not caring about whether or not the government -- >> but he's not in congress right now, to be fair. >> no, but the leadership of the republicans, chris, have brought us to the brink -- this brink twice before already. it's so unnecessary.

we need to come to the table and work together. we have a balanced approach we could take. we could make sure that we ask for a little bit more from people who can well afford to give a little bit more and ensure that we have cuts to reduce our deficit and make sure that we're creating jobs and getting the economy to continue to move forward. but republicans are only interested if focusing on keeping the wind at the backs of the wealthy. that's unacceptable. to bring us to the brink of government shutdown over that is just proves how out of touch they are. >> congresswoman, thank you so much. have a great weekend. >> you, too. senate democrats are talking about dropping their demand for a new millionaire's tax to pay for it. this new compromise comes while congress is facing that midnight friday deadline to prevent the government shutdown. i'm joined now by susan page and by john stanton. good morning to both of you. >> good morning, chris. >> good morning. >> late last night, the house

unveiled a massive trillion-dollar spending package to keep the government operating. but democrats in the house don't like it. why not? >> they say there are some provisions in there -- writers that have provisions on the environment and other issues that the white house doesn't like. but the body language this morning is different than last night. senator mcconnell has just said that he's optimistic and confident that both the payroll tax extension and the spending bill are going to get done in the next couple of days. senator reid sounds optimistic as well. i think we have the makes of a deal although we don't know all the details yet. >> well, obviously, john is in washington all the time. he's staked out mitch mcconnell's office last night. you tweeted harry reid was clearly not happy as he left. what's the fallout for democrat ifs they cave on the millionaire's tax? >> if they cave, obviously their base is going to be very upset with that. they see this as a winning issue. and it also plays into the

problem they've had all year long. they start to get a little bit of momentum, then they start to back off. all of a sudden they get cold feet and find themselves on the losing end with republicans being able to pull out a hat trick at the very last second. >> is there another way they could play this? >> i think if they had not connected the two bills, they would have been a little safer. they could have gone after republicans on the payroll tax cut. they had momentum there. if they allowed the appropriations bill to go forward so there wasn't this government shutdown situation looming over all this they could have done better. but it's tough to see how they come out of this with a big political win. >> surngs did they overplay their hand? >> perhaps. and republicans have backed away from a trap. for a while last night, it looked like 1995 all over again. you had a democratic president in a showdown with congress that led to a government shutdown over the holiday and that was the beginning of the clinton comeback. so congress, i think the problems in congress succeeded maybe in learning that lesson,

striking a deal that is there to be gotten so that they can do their business and get out of town. republicans in congress would hope not to drive down their approval ratings any further. it's now at 8% in one poll, 13% in another. hard to imagine it could get lower. but a government shutdown just might do that. >> which is why john boehner says he's still committed to a grand bargain to slash the deficit. but you write there's growing unhappiness among republicans for his push to cut a deal with president obama. >> that's right. a lot of his members look at this as a losing strategy. they do not want to see a large deal done. they feel like when they do that, they get distracted from the core stuff that republicans want to do. with the defense sequester that comes in play where they're going to have big cuts to the defense department, they would rather deal with that than trying to get this huge deal they're trying to get. >> susan, what's the sense you get in washington? when we looked at the new poll,

people are as disgusted with congress as they've ever been, ever. >> yeah. >> is the feeling in the halls there sort of like, well, let's roll the dice because it can't get much worse, we're already in single digits or is there a nervousness about it? >> there is neverness on both sides but especially with republicans about the feeling that congress can't get anything done, that it's locked into partisan gridlock. everybody is also focused on the presidential race. this kind of sets the stage for president obama who we know is going to be facing a tough race next year given the state of the u.s. economy. he needs to either show big results with congress or show that he can stand up to the republicans who control the house and are able to block action in the senate. i'm not sure the actions here at the end of the year do either thing for president obama. >> susan page, john stanton, great to talk to both of you. thanks so much. to be continued. >> thank you. the u.s. war in iraq has formally ended after nearly nine

years. 4,500 american dead, more than $800 billion spent, today, the flag of the u.s. forces in iraq was retired. defense secretary leon panetta says the sacrifice was worth it. >> the cost was high. the blood and treasure of the united states and also for the iraqi people. but those lives have not been lost in vain. they gave birth to an independent, free and sovereign iraq. >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has been there for it all. richard, what do you think it was like for those service members? what was the feeling there? >> reporter: there was just a few people attending today's ceremony, perhaps 200 or 300. it was a brief ceremony. the actual casing of the colors

only took about 10 or 15 minutes. then there was another half hour or so of speeches. most of the speeches focused on the sacrifices, the accomplishments that u.s. troops have been able to achieve here in iraq since the invasion nearly nine years ago. no questions about the war. there was some discussion of the cost, about the sacrifices that were made. defense secretary leon panetta said there will be challenges ahead but expressed confidence that iraqis and this country will have an optimistic future. >> we're going to watch very closely as we see how the transition goes and the inevitable difficulties there will be. but from your perspective and few people have spent as much time there as you have throughout all this, what do you think the accomplishments are? how different is the iraq that you're standing in today from when you went in nine years ago, richard? >> reporter: night and day. there's been so many things that have changed when i first came to this country.

saddam hussein, a drishgictator in power. iran was the absolute enemy. iraq was closed off. it was an ultranationalist country. since then, there haven't been many accomplishments according to a lot of iraqis you speak to. there was a series of elections that brought in sectarian government that is opened the door to iran, a civil war began in this country, a surge came that stopped the civil war and for the last year or so, u.s. forces have been staying on in a training mission. the situation on the ground is not stable right now. iraq is sovereign. its security forces are much better than they ever were. the iraqi army is stronger and has better bases than it did under saddam hussein. but the political situation is

very dire. muqtada al sadr and others have tremendous power in this region. sunnis feel they're being squeezed out of power. and the u.s. embassy here is going to be like no other diplomatic mission in the world with 15,000 to 18,000 people working here with most of them being security contractors. this will be a new phase with, i think, tremendous challenges ahead. but it won't be america's war anymore. but there may be another phase of the iraq war. >> nbc's richard engel, richard, thank you. 25 miners are above ground after what's called a rock burst occurred at an underground mine in northern indiana. a rock burst, an explosion of rock due to natural pressure. unfortunately seven miners were injured when they were installing liners to protect against those rock bursts. this is the latest incident from the lucky friday mines where just a few weeks ago a miner

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occupy protesters interrupted newt gingrich just as he was about to start a speech at the university of iowa. >> we are outraged! we are angry! >> i'm going to go ahead and try to talk over them and hope that owl of you who would actually like to hear something -- >> ron paul says he's not necessarily going negative, he's just pointing things out. >> if the media won't talk about a person's record, i think the candidates have a responsibility to point out, his position used to be this. what is wrong with that? that's what a campaign is all about. he used to say this and he flipped over like this.

i don't consider that negative. >> the candidates made time to hang with mike huckabee at the premier of his anti-abortion documentary. huckabee won the iowa caucuses four years ago. huckabee hasn't endorsed anyone yet but he did sit with newt gingrich. someone else making it official, former iowa congressman fred grandy backing newt. he also flowed "gopher" on "the love boat". a brand-new picture for the obama family. sasha and malia posing with mom and dad, also known as the president and first lady. good-looking family. we couldn't end without showing you why herman cain is one of barbara walters' ten most fascinating people. >> what kind of cabinet position would you like if it were possible? >> we are speaking totally, totally hypothetical, right? >> right. >> department of defense. >> what? >> her reaction says it all.

when you're the frontrunner, the hits just keep on coming and newt gingrich is getting hit by fellow conservatives. >> my worry about newt is that we don't have an election which we talk about the issues. we don't talk about obama. we're going to be endlessly talking about newt. >> the leading conservative magazine "the national review" praised newt gingrich's comeback but refused to back him writing, quote, we fear that to nominate former speaker newt gingrich would be to blow the opportunity to win the white house next year. peter boyer is a special correspondent for "newsweek." he wrote this week's cover story "inside newt's stunning comeback." good morning, peter. >> hey, chris. >> reject a hasty marriage, he appears to be unable to transform government or himself. does any of this surprise you? >> of course not. although i think that that commentary and much of what we

have seen, including fred grandy's endorsement, the gopher endorsement, the gopher component, will probably mean less than what ron paul says. the outsider, fired-up conservative critique of newt gingrich is the one that's going to stick. q. the washington examiner" this morning -- >> you were talking to an editor there, right? >> yes. >> what do they tell you? are they really nervous about newt? >> just exactly like this editorial you referenced. they understand the newt surge. they understand that the conservative base has been fired up by the fact that he is so forcefully articulated the conservative position. but folks in washington remember newt and they remember his speakership. and there's a lot of bad blood. they question his leadership. that means nothing. what means something is when

glenn beck says yesterday that newt gingrich is a progressive. what means something is when newt goes after, i think, foolishly -- goes after mitt romney on his bain capital -- >> mitt romney's pretty nervous. his people are pretty nervous. obviously he's really starting to attack. one of the things he's doing is going after his wealth. i want to play a little clip from mitt romney. >> he's a wealthy man. a very wealthy man. if you have $500,000 purchase from tiffany's, you're not a middle class american. >> i'm going to go on a limb and say while most people would agree with that, the typical american are all saying, mitt romney, you're talking about someone else being wealthy? >> i will bet you $10,000, chris, that that line -- >> i don't have $10,000 to bet you, but -- >> it won't win him the

nomination. nor will him saying that newt gingrich is zany. that's the beltway critique of gingrich. >> how did you find him to be? you talked to his inner circle, you talked with him. where is he at right now? >> i found him a little bit surprised that he was where he is. >> really? >> a little bit beginning to feel the swollen chest of being the frontrunner. my guess is he's fixing to be surprised again when he finds himself not necessarily the frontrunner and struggling not only in new hampshire but then thereafter in south carolina and elsewhere. i think the conservative base in a way has been riding the wave of -- part of it is -- the very first republican frontrunner was donald trump. again, it's not because trump is this lifelong famous republican. trump was saying things that the base was hungry to hear. he was going after in the most forceful manner, some would say

a marginal manner, after the president. and gingrich wasn't attacking the other candidates. he was only attacking the press, which is always red meat to the base, and the president. i have the feeling, though, that the conservative critique of newt gingrich, which is that he's not really a conservative or if he is a conservative, he's a big government conservative is the thing that will be his undoing. that's the thing he needs to fight. >> peter boyer, great to see you. thanks for coming in. >> yes, ma'am. take a look at these images. satellite pictures of what's believed to be china's first aircraft carrier. digital globe commercial satellite shot the pictures and they're confident the carrier is indeed china's. china purchased the ship from the ukraine of years of refurbishment.

they say it's to carry out research and training. although the concern is it signals china's concern to grow as a military power. former rockette amy brunette opened this dance studio in jersey city, new jersey. she monetized by renting space, added adult classes, a performance summer camp and partnering with another group on performances of "the nutcracker." i love the holidays. and with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpkin pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as 1... -2... -3... [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card.

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new census figures out this morning get to the heart of the occupy protests we've been seeing this year. nearly one out of every two americans is now classified as poor or low income. they're getting squeezed by high unemployment, rising living costs and stagnating wages and those new numbers may explain what's behind another survey which asks the question, how much would you need to be rich? $1 million, $500,000? i'm joined now by ezra klein. ezra, good morning. >> good morning. >> how much is it? >> $150,000. in fact, in most cases, not even that. what gallup asked was, how much money would you need to be rich? some people said $60,000, some said $80,000. but the majority of americans

said they would be rich with $150,000. once you get there, most americans say, that's good enough for me. >> what's your takeaway from that? >> that people in politics have a much higher threshold for what people believe to be rich. back in the 2008 campaign, there was a debate between john mccain and barack obama in which rick warren, the pastor from california said, where do you put the cut-off for being rich? john mccain said $5 million, which much nobody makes. but barack obama said $250,000 which puts you in the top 2% or 3%. for most americans, that's $100,000 you need to make for most americans to consider you rich. >> but the survey had many differences. people making $150,000 a year say earning $100,000 would make them rich. those earning over $50,000 say $200,000.

is there something instructive in there for politicians? we know the numbers. we've done it on this program about how many members of the senate are millionaires and how many members of the house? >> the circles of people in washington and frankly the folks who work in the media in new york and who work in business and finance in new york, the circles we all run in are very wealthy. the people who live in urban centers tend to be wealthier than people who don't. washington and new york happen to be very, very wealthy cities in particular. when you're dealing with people in the upper crust, the people you know are quite wealthy. so that can skew your vision of what people in the country actually make and the sort of struggles they're undergoing. i'm struck when we talk this washington between the democrats who want to raise taxes and the republicans who don't because the fact of the matter is, the democrats want to raise taxes on a very, very tiny minority of the american people. republicans want to usually cut

them on everybody. neither one leaves you with a revenue base that actually works for the sort of government the two sides tend to say they want in the future. but it makes more sense if you think of the fact that these democrats and these republicans mostly don't want to raise taxes on people they know and on some intuitive level, that's how they're making their policy judgments. >> it's fascinating stuff. always good to see you, thanks. if you want to let us know what you think it means to be rich, go to twitter. the iowa caucus 19 days away. what's the key to grabbing the first state in the nation? and i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry, buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] you need a more complete cold formula, like alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. it's specially formulated to fight your worst cold symptoms, plus relieve your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth!

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of delegates. >> mark murray joins us here in new york today to break down the ground game. welcome to new york, my friend. >> thank you, chris. >> let's start in new hampshire. there's a new poll out there. >> there is. ron paul was campaigning in the state of new hampshire. this new poll shows him at 8%. mitt romney in the big lead. there's been buzz that ron paul has movement going on in iowa. it hasn't yet translated into new hampshire. but he's certainly one to keep on watching in that state. >> north carolina isn't an early state but it is an important one for the president. >> yesterday he gave his iraq speech at ft. bragg. it's a presidential battleground state. it's one the obama teams want to be able to have a path to 270 electoral votes. >> and south carolina where mitt romney has an uphill battle with conservatives and evangelicals. >> he's also at that 23%. our recent nbc/marist poll, south carolina had him at that 23%, 25%. one thing worth noting, he's

starting to go up on television. we just got word in south carolina. watch out there. >> iowa, iowa, iowa. 19 days and counting. >> we have a big debate tonight. that is the big story. can newt gingrich hold on? we're going to really find out in the next week -- >> how much will he get attacked? >> we're going to find out how durable he is in the next week. if we see polls a week from now, you'll know he has a weakened stance. he's able to absorb these hits. watch out. >> stay with us, mark. i want to talk more about iowa. it could still be anybody's game if you believe nate silver, the political polling analyst at "the new york times." what really matters in iowa? reka basu wrote a fascinating article about this. i loved your article. iowans know a lot. they meet a lot of these candidates. it's covered intensively in the media. but you say it comes down to something for intangible. what matters in iowa? >> thank you, chris. thanks for mentioning my column.

i think there are a couple of things there are defining the way iowa voters are going to vote in the caucuses are feeling. they're a little bit in conflict with one another. the first is kind of a personal, organic, cultural trait that i talked about in the latest piece. and that is that iowans really value modesty and humility, a person who can admit to their failures, who isn't too perfect looking, who doesn't come across as too all-knowing or too self-confident or too bragging. i think that that's played into why someone like initially herman cain or someone like ron paul who's been polling consistently high or even someone like newt gingrich who has a rumpled, professorial look about him who says he's erred and asked god for forgiveness -- romney is just -- i was at the

debate on saturday and people sitting next to me were just going on about how he wears too much makeup. he has this just out of the tanning booth appearance. e swaggers too much. he's too suave. not a hair out of place. i don't think that $10,000 wager with rick perry did him too much od either. >> we're still talking about this, mark. this thing that -- we've seen it having spent time in iowa. they're looking for somebody who both looks like he can run the country but is accessible and seems like he can relate to their problems. >> one other thing. iowa's always seen as being iowa nice. that people like their candidates to actually play nicely. we've now seen some negative attacks coming from mitt romney hitting newt gingrich. we've seen ron paul go up with a negative tv ad. it will be interesting to see if there's a backlash against paul, against mitt romney, you've seen newt gingrich, he wants to have a positive campaign. so it will be interesting to see what ends up happening the next couple of weeks. >> that's interesting.

rekha, would you agree with mark that maybe for this particular debate tonight for this point in the campaign, people like ron paul and mitt romney might want to think about how tough they get, how nasty maybe this gets? >> actually i don't think they have much to lose at this point because it's really newt's game to lose. so i think they have to attack him. that's the only strategy that can work. they have to show him to be vulnerable in various areas. one area they can do that in sioux city which is the most conservative area of the state in terms of social conservatism and evangelicalism is to maybe get down and dirty and talk about his three marriages because those are the kinds of things. if you look at the republican party platform in iowa, it's all about personal virtue and morality and staying true to your spouse and so on. and those at only areas they can

get under his skin, i think. >> it would be interesting to see if they go there. i feel like people know that already but maybe because we're in the media, we have a skewed sense of that, mark. >> newt gingrich did a great job of withstanding the attacks. he hasn't taken the bait on the campaign trail. we'll see if he's able to do that tonight. it was interesting at the last debate that rick perry did get under mitt romney's skin with that $10,000 bet. >> that's right true. great talking to both of you. thank you. let's take a check of other stories people are talking about right now. 115 vehicles made the list of top safety picks from the insurance institute for highway safety. that's the most ever. toyota has the tops on the list. 15 of them, including lexus and scion. general motors, 14 cars on the list as well. another company has pulled its commercials from, thelc's "all american muslim." kayak has joined lowe's in stopping its advertising for the reality show.

kayak says tlc was not upfront about the nature of that program. the world's third smallest baby is, quote, growing and thriving. she was born 16 weeks early. at birth, she weighed just over half a pound. less than a average can of soda. she's now up to more than four pounds. they hope she can go home by the end of the year. a holiday good deed between two strangers both in tough times. an unemployed san jose man lost his wallet with nearly 1,4$1,40 tucked inside. two hours later, kathy silva, also unemployed, stumbled upon the wallet. found the man's phone number inside and gave it wac. he called silva an angel. we still have ten days to go until christmas but already retailers are seeing a surge in returns. cnbc's brian sullivan is here with what's moving your money.

buyer's remorse already? >> that story you just did was a great return, right? that's good to hear in the holiday season. let me give you some good news first. so far americans have spent about $25 billion shopping for the holiday season. that is up about 15% from last year. that's good news. what you referred to is that returns are also up. in fact, about 21% from just four years ago. so people are spending more but i guess they get home and think, what in the heck was i thinking when i bought that? and they return it. it's not just an odd stat. it hurts retailers because they have to eat the cost usually and then deeply down it to move it. we're spending more. but the retailers are taking a lot more stuff back. >> and speaking of returns, this is fascinating, "consumer reports" did a little survey of what we do with those unwanted gifts. >> about 83% of people either made the most of it or just kind of kept it in a closet, right? they either dealt with it -- >> five years from now, you throw it away. >> yeah. and then you say, what in the

world is this and who gave it to me? but there are some interesting numbers here. 2% of the people gave it back, which i would find very interesting. 2% of the people took pictures and posted it online. look at this crummy gift grandma gave me. thank god grandma's not on facebook, right? don't throw it away, folks. but the lesson is, watch what you buy, get gifts that are smart. and the in-laws are the biggest culprits of giving gifts that people simply do not want. >> they mean well. i'll go there. >> it's not the thought, it's the gift that counts. >> anyway, brian sullivan, have a happy holidays. >> thank you. first the sag award nominations yesterday. today it was the golden globes. new girl, modern family, enlighten, glee. american horror story, boardwalk

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the reverend robinson will be my guest in the next hour. just moments ago some hopeful signs from senate leaders on the standoff over extending the payroll tax cut. >> we are working hard to figure out a way to resolve the remaining differences on the payroll tax extension and the related issues that are important to both sides. >> we hope we can come up with something that would get us out of here at a reasonable time. >> i'm joined by congresswoman bar bara lee from california. were you encouraged from what you just heard? >> yes, i am. but i'm also encouraged by the fact that hopefully people who have been reliant on this tax deduction will still have it come january. we're talking about $1,000 to $1,500 in a person's paycheck, if they have a paycheck. and so that's good news. but let me tell you, it's not over until it's over.

we'll stay here until we get this done. >> not surprisingly, six out of ten want the tax cut renewed. it means about $1,000 in their pockets. are you hearing a lot from your constituents about this? what are they telling you? >> my constituents are saying to pass this and pass a clean bill, don't attach riders to it. and secondly they're asking to extend this unemployment compensation bill. i have to just tell you what the republican tea party has done as it relates to their bill. they have reduced unemployment compensation from 99 weeks to 59 weeks. secondly, they have required now as eligibility drug testing. thirdly, they want to make people pay $20 to $25 for counseling services. this is outrageous. first of all, we have people -- over 2 million people in our country who have hit 99 weeks. and so we have to go in the opposite direction. congressman bobby scott and i have been working with the white

house and with senate leadership to try to extend by 14 weeks unemployment compensation as they are called the 99ers because there are 2 million people who won't even be eligible if we extend this unemployment compensation which we must do. >> in addition to the 99%, there's this fight over the 1% and there are now reports that democrats may give up their fight for a new millionaire tax to pay for that payroll tax cut. would you be okay with that? >> i don't want to give that up. i understand that we have to negotiate something to get this done. but believe you me, we should not give up on fairness and some equity in our tax system. and the 1% need to be able to pay their fair share. it's been the 99% who have been losing over and over and over again. so if they give up on the millionaire surtax, we have to find a way to pay for it that does not hit the most vulnerable and low income individuals. this is a national emergency. when you have people unemployed -- i have to just tell you, the congressional

black caucus and the congressional progressive caucus held jobs tours during the summer and we saw lines and lines and lines, thousands of people, thousands of people want to work. there's one job for every four persons who wants to work. so we have to be about creating jobs. until we do that, we have to extend a safety net, this bridge over troubled waters and we have to make sure that people have something to survive on. and that's unemployment compensation. >> you also have hanging over your head this action that needs to be taken to prevent a government shutdown. deadline is midnight friday. will you go along with this new trillion-dollar proposal to keep it running? >> we've got to see what they're proposing. but i have to tell you, i'm on the appropriations committee. and many of the cuts that they have proposed are just heartless. secondly, we never even in subcommittee or in washington language is what you call marking up the bills in the

labor, health and human services subcommittee, we never had a process to do that. they're bringing their bill forward. we have to see what's in it. but if you look at history and what's happened over the past years since the republican tea party has been in power, they want to cut mass i -- they want to make massive cuts, they want to freeze federal employees' pay, they want to hit the senior citizens and our children and low income individuals in a disproportionate way and that's not fair. if it attacks those who need the support of government during these very difficult times, no, we should not do that. more and more people are falling into poverty. one in three americans now live beneath the poverty line or near poverty line. so we have to understand that whatever we do here, we should help those who are poor, help those who are middle income from falling into the ranks of the poor and every policy should be about that until they figure out a way to work with us to pass the american jobs act and to create jobs.

>> congresswoman, thank you so much. a little earlier we talked about the ceremony in iraq with the u.s. formally shutting down the nearly nine-year war. today's tweet of the day comes from quest love -- he kept his word, barack obama said he'd end the long overdone war, the last troops leaving this week, finally, thank god. welcome home. it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd.

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paris jackson, janet jackson and the grinch who damaged christmas. in her first solo interview, michael jaj's daughter paris is opening up to ellen. she talked about how her father inspired her to become an actress and how she really felt about wearing masks as a kid. >> yeah, i was like, this is stupid. why am i wearing a mas snk bkma? but i realized as i got older.

>> janet jackson is the new face for nutrisystem. talk about a grinch, vandals destroyed a christmas display, all caught on video. the duo caused $7,000 in damage. police are searching for the scrooges. we hope they find them. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts up next. i'll see you right back here tomorrow. ouncer ] who fills their holidays with sawdust? ♪ with quarter-inch holes and blueprints for the coming year? those of us with doers on our lists. and because it's always better to give than to guess, we can take these last few days of shopping and our holiday budgets a lot further. ♪ more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot.

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the gop establishment versus newt gingrich. key republicans voice their concerns about a newt nomination while romney goes into attack mode labeling gingrich as zany. could ron paul be the sleeper candidate in iowa as the gop field prepares for their