carl cameron is following the action up to the minute from capitol hill. hi carl. >> reporter: in moments we'll get final total. before the debate began today, house speaker john boehner went off on conservative packs and tea party groups lobbying and pressuring republicans to kill this bill before it was written. >> when groups come out and criticize an agreement they've never seen, you begin to wonder just how credible those actions are. they've lost all credibility. you know, they pushed us into this fight to defund obama care and shut down the government. >> boehner defended his conservatism and those that pushed it knew it would backfire. >> the day before the government reopened, one of the people -- one of these groups stood up and said we really never thought it would work. are you kidding me? i'm as conservative as anybody around this place, and all the things that we've done over the three years i've been speaker have not violated any conservative principle, not once. >> democrats were furious the extension of unemployment benefits were excluded

james rosen and carl cameron. so what's the business in d.c. over the deal? are people upset about this? >> it's amazing. it didn't get the attention a similar gesture ten years might have gotten. if you're active and outspoken, it hit like a thunderbolt. you quoted john mccain of arizona. when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a dictator like castro, it is a propaganda coup. a number of things were incorrect in what you -- in your talking points. for example, you said that the obama administration has not lessened sanctions against the castro regime but over the course of the first obama, there's relaxations in the policy of feeler gestures to see if the cubans would -- >> but that was about tourism mostly and other things. it wasn't economic. we still -- their products cannot be sold here and killing them. that's the main product. okay. whatever. >> depends on how you define a sanction, bill, but you also made the references to richard nixon opening china, ronald reagan pursuing gorbachev and also the iran nuclear deal and saying that i

carl cameron, thanks so much. >>> 13 states will increase the minimum wage on the first of january.ut that list is washington state at $9.32 an hour. but for some, that is just a drop in the bucket. dan springer has that story. >> reporter: as the new year comes in for a landing, all economists eyes are focused on sea-tac, washington, an town with 37,000 people south of seattle. they are watching for an increase to minimum wage. hospitality and transportation will see their wage jump to $15 an hour. while employees welcome the raise, many business owns are preached to -- prepared to let some of them go. >> we are looking at making serious cuts and reducing employee hours, reducing benefits, eliminating some positions. >> reporter: and an airport parking company will cut staff and have customers self-pay. one member hotel will close the restaurant, eliminating 200 jobs. >> the pie is only so big. so if you give that into labor, something has to go and i haven't decided what that -- i love my employees so i don't know what to do. >> car rental companies arer wa. the owner of dollar ma

jenna: our chief political correspondent, carl cameron, is in washington.ocrats are not exactly happy with this. we had congressman van hollen on our show just yesterday saying that, but is their unhappiness going to lead to the deal to breaking apart? >> it doesn't look like that's the case at all. nancy pelosi making the argument we're unsatisfied, but it's better than endless cycles of gridlock. john boehner was quite feisty. he continued his attacks, his real create similar soft -- criticism of some of the conservative groups that have been urging republican lawmakers to vote against this deal and have often been voting conservatives to vote against some of the things that the speaker has brought to the floor as though he was somehow off the reservation of conservativism. today boehner said those groups have lost all credibility. in fact, one of them said they didn't think the whole shutdown strategy would work, and he acted as though that was the kind of absurd the city that makes him right -- absurdity. that's going to be an ongoing battle between con

. >> well, at the risk of consuming carl cameron's time, i'll do that >> you attributed give peace a chance to yoko ono. it was a lennon composition. >> now, look. the budget deal, you know, paul ryan worked with patty murray and democrats and came up with a budget deal ryan says you have to have going forward but we hear thunder on the right. what is the inside story? >> thunder on the right and left. part of the problem is that this is a deal cut by two people. the two budget chiefs in house and senate. now there are 535 other members of congress with two days to study this, then vote and race out of town. for a lot of folks it smacks of cram work in and deal with consequences down the road. basically it's a two year deal. a trillion dollars each year. would alleviate cuts by $63 billion, it's something but does raise things on air travel. cbo says it would reduce the budget but republicans say wait a minute f there is not serious spending cuts and reform in it why are we doing away with a budget act with serious fiscal discipline? in the sequester? democrats say they want unemploy

we'll go to carl cameron on the days back and forth with the budget. another big story tonight. there are conflicting signals tonight from the white house on when some of the obama care care deadlines are set. who's actually calling the shots. what any of this is going to look like

bill: carl cameron, thank you. we'll see whatç happens.ma in december for the last four years now. why break the string in thank you, carl. here's martha. martha: some republicans saying the best chance for a sweeping 2014ç midterm election is justo pass this budget and move their attention back to obamacare. here's house budget committee chairman paul ryan. >> elections have consequences. we're going to have to win a couple of elections to actuallyç pass the kind of budgets that you and i are in favor of, the one i passed in the house just last spring. martha: bret baier joins me now, anchor of "special report." good morning. >> good morning,ç martha. martha: this clearly is paul ryan's strategy, he wants to just get a deal done and leave the focus on obamacare for the midterms, right? >> yeah, that's right. that is the argument those republicans like paul ryan, like speaker boehnerç are making, tt they need to get a w on the board. they need to get back to normal action in congress. they're making the argument that by continuing these

and federal budget that is carl cameron 32. and economy 38. and these are approval ratings.t is going on here? >> not surprising to be honest with you. once a president gets in the soup, all of the numbers have a way of coming down. combine that with the fact that people are not sure about the iran agreement and everything else, it is not a pretty picture. something happen today that may change the trajectory. >> which is what? >> i was those -- teasing you. >> the third quarter growth up to it 3.6 percent. i don't know if that were to hold but if it holds another quarter that could turn the president's fortunes around. >> that is one. michelle what about this? >> this is the first time since 1974 that majority of americans see this country as not powerful, as powerful as a decade ago. they are less respected and think that their country is not important on the global stage and the reason why is the foreign policy. putting obama care aside which is awful, a lot has to do with foreign policy. we saw what happened in syria the president made a huge mistake. putin provided a li

carl cameron on some of the senators turning on their own president imt few senate democrats are more bothered by obama care than mary landrieu who is facing a fight in right wing louisiana and has launched her own ad blasting the president for obama care that she voted for and defended. >> senator landrieu has said president obama needs to stick to his word. >> this is a promise you made and this is a promise you should keep. >> in arkansas, mark prior is another endangered democrat where obama care is unpopular. like others, he voted for obama care. and now he is distancing himself from obama care. his new ad. >> prior last year said, quote, the bible is not a rule book for political issues, everybody can see it differently. republicans need six more seats to win the senate majority next year. the top targets are landrieu in louisiana, hagan in north carolina, alaska and montana, south dakota, west virginia and iowa. republican control of the house is not really at risk. out of 435 congressional districts, only 35-45 are considering true swing districts where control could shicht fr

didn't carl cameron on reaction to an agreement that is getting some vocal bipartisan disapproval but quiet and grudging approval from the rank and file. >> reporter: republican house budget committee paul ryan and gop leaders acknowledge the bipartisan budget blue print falls short of conservative goals but call it necessary to end years of budget gridlock and shutdown. >> we have to make a way to get this divided government to work. >> spending levels were set at a little over $63 billion a year. it increases fees on air travel and other things. if re -- it reduces the budget by $85 billion. they were quick to pan the deal. gop across the capitol cast it as more taxing and spending. >> this can raise taxes and fees and it won't address the long-term overspending problem in washington which is we need to reform entitlements. >> house speaker john boehner fired a missile at them. >> they are using our members and the american people for their own goals. this is ridiculous. listen, if you are for more deficit reduction, you're for this agreement. >> speaker boehner trying to brush bank

as chief political correspondent carl cameron reports, there are many democrats who say their party needs adopt a corollary rule. nominate the most liberal candidate or risk losing relevance. >> reporter: unemployment has finally dipped, but wall street got a big bailout. most bush tax cuts remain and much of the obama agenda is stalled. progressives blame the president and weak party leadership. >> democrats didn't push hard enough to create an agenda that would put america back to work, rebuild our infrastructure, get us out of the wars, and to take us in a new direction on trade and push for civil liberties. >> reporter: but the think tank known as third wave ripped into far left economic pop ulists, warning in a hard-hitting op-ed that, nothing would be more disastrous for democrats. the political problems of liberal populism are bad enough. the movement relies on a, we can have it all fantasy. when the tea party pushed the gop right, democrats lost the house majority in the biggest blowout in 50 years. a coalition of 54 blue dog democrats saw their ranks decimated by more than half t

carl cameron is live in washington with more on in this story and how african-americans are doing in . well, overall the economy has had some pretty good news this week, but in the aggregate over the course of the last five-plus years, african-americans have been behind the curve and not fared as well. take a look at in this. over the course of the last five years when president obama took office in early 2009, there has been a drop in the unemployment rate, but it has been far smaller for african-americans than for latinos and certainly for whites. overall, the black unemployment rate is still at 12.5%, that's only a two-tenths drop over the last five years whereas whites and latinos have dropped significantly more, and it's still more than double what the white unemployment is. the republicans have been complaining about -- democrats, excuse me, have been complaining about this, african-americans, minorities have been trying to put pressure on the obama administration and have even suggested over the course of the last couple of years in the form of the urban league, the naacp and a

let's get to carl cameron for the latest. how did it go? >> reporter: pretty short.s because the members had to vote on the senate floor. then republicans using the arcane senate rules halted the hearing and there's no wore when they'll resume the process. the g.o.p. was protesting the democratic change to voting on judicial nominees. the nomination has been held up for more than 120 days mostly because republicans want to ensure that all of the investigations of the irs scandals are completed and want to make sure people are held accountable for the irs delaying and some cases denying tax exempt status. he addressed it in his opening remarks. here's how he talk about the scandal. >> in every area of the irs, taxpayers need to be confident they will be treated fairly, no matter what their backgrounds or their affiliations. public trust is ther irs most valuable assets. >> one of most unpopular agencies in history. the irs is working on rules that would limit activity of groups with tax exempt status. that is controversial because those groups are raising a lot of mon

here is carl cameron. >> reporter: democrats hope the president's nomination of retiring max baucus to the ambassador to china, helps them keep the montana senate seat in democrat hands and picking up six senate seats needs to get the path ort. >> if the house stays republican, which is very likely, then president obama's last two years will be lame duck hell. >> reporter: but if baucus is confirmed as ambassador to china, montana's democrat governor steve bullock must appoint an interim senator. the govern is expected to tap john walsh who is already running for the open seat and better defending it as a pseudo incumbent on the job. and this might help a vulnerable incumbent survive. he chairs the finance committee over taxes, health care and trade and will be replaced byron wideman. he would have to relink wish his chairmanship would will go to mary landrieu, one of the most at-risk democrats in the senate and a top target. and cheering the committee could give landrieu new clout to persuade voters to keep her around. >> this move helps both the -- helps the democrats keep both ploen

carl cameron reports on the troubling numbers. >> a critical measure of prosperity is employment and during the obama era blacks have not fared as well as others. when president obama took office the unemployment was 7.6% and the white unemployment was 6.9% and latino was 6% and now hit a high of 16.7%. last month over all was 7%. white jobless has come down seven-tenths of a point to 6.2%. latino is down to 8.7% but black employment is down two-ten jz at 12.5%, double the white unemployment rate. >> we are never satisfied as long-term as the unemployment rate is double-digits. that is not okay for any community. and until we put more stimulus and more money back into the economy, instead of cutting and cutting and cutting, we're going to see high rates of unemployment in african-american communities and that will persist. >> ben jealous stepped down this year complaining that blacks have lost ground since the president took office. white folks are doing a bit better, black folks are doing a big point worse. >> the national urban league and national action network during the first te

joining us from washington, james rosen and carl cameron. is getting cut in the military by how much? >> military retirees and it's their benefits and cost of living adjustments and other things and it's $6 billion over the next ten years and a major fiasco that illustrates why last-minute deals crafted behind closed doors in congress are almost always filled with traps and big surprises. >> so when you say military retirees, does that include wounded warriors and people on disability or just regular folks who are getting a pension? >> all of the above. >> even if your arms and legs are blown off, you're going to get cut in one benefits you receive as well. lawmakers in both parties are very angry about this. >> we'll get to that in a minute. let's lay the baseline on what's going to happen. you say cost of living, which is built into inflation cost of living, right? is that where the cuts are? >> that's the vast majority of this. cost of living adjustment upward would be essentially brought downward and cost is $6 billion over ten years to

joining us now from washington ace correspondents carl cameron and james rosen. >> so, rosen, let's runthe first one is merrill newman 85 years old the north koreas have them, what did he do. >> korean war vet. been accused of war crimes, bill during his service in 1953. he has read some videotaped statement in which he apologized. not known whether that was coerced or not but it's believed that it was. >> of course. he was over in north north korea on a tour, right? >> that's right. they are accusing him of committing hostile acts by looking for spies and terrorists under the guise of being a tourist. >> he looks like james bond. all right, and the other guy is kenneth bae, 44-year-old american missionary and also being held in north korea. what did he do? >> right, he has been sentenced to 15 years in a labor camp earlier this year. he has been also convicted under the north korean system of justice such as it is for committing hostile acts to bring down its government unspecified. >> okay. in cuba, a man named allen groce, 64-year-old former sib contractor for the u.s.a. agency for i

carl cameron swoops in behind me with her on this story. at's happened so farsome. >> reporter: hi, jenna. you know, it's important to know that this guy, john koskinen, was nominated 120 days ago, and there has been a holdup, and it's the irs scandal. congressional republicans want the investigations of the scandal completed before proceedings go forward, and the meeting just ended a few months ago -- a few minutes ago, excuse me. it is not at all clear when we'll get a final vote, but he kit address the agency's admitted misconduct before 2012 rex. he did -- election. he did so today trying to reassure lawmakers that he gets it, there's a problem, and if he gets the job, he'll try to fix it. watch. >> in every area of the irs, taxpayers need to be confident that they will be treated fairly no matter what their background or their affiliations. public trust is the irs' most important and valuable asset. >> reporter: and, obviously, it's taken a huge hit because of this. there are a whole bunch of other issues. the irs is working on new rule

carl cameron is live in washington with more on this for us. what do we expect today, karl?porter: hi, martha. well, the hearing just got started x they took a brief break. they're going to make sure everybody can get in to watch this. the man's name is john cos kin, and he is already facing some tough questions about the agency's admitted misconduct in targeting these conservative groups who found their applications denied and in some cases delayed in what was admitted wrongdoing by the irs. we can expect senators to demand a whole series of commitments to run the irs more fairly than recent history, there are a whole bunch of other issues including that the irs is working on rules to limit the political act visit of these -- activities of these groups. a lot of groups have popped up in the last few years on both sides of the political spectrum, and they're enjoying all the money, the access and the ability to participate. they don't want to be muzzled, some argue it's free speech, others say it's not up to the irs to make these judgments, it's up to the congress to write t

our chief political correspondent, carl cameron, is live from washington with more on this story. >> has said she pledged to fill out her term, but that's a pledge that has about a 24-hour price the tood to it -- tattooed to it, so don't think she's out entirely. president obama supported a bailout for wall street, most of the bush era tax cuts were left intact, and instead of universal health care, they got obamacare. mr. obama's not running for office, a whole new feisty brand of populism is sweeping the party. firebrands like warren along with new york city's new mayor, bill de blasio, are some of the darlings. centrists from the think tank third way warned against moving to the extreme left in a scathing "wall street journal" op-ed that said, quote: >> r eporter: former president bill clinton deliberately picked fights with far-left liberals to cast himself and the party as more mainstream. both parties face this. listen to a warning for his own party, democrats, from indiana u.s. senator even bye. >> i do think you're going to see a more activist, liberal wig of the democratic p

our chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in washington with more on this. , what's in a possible deal? be is there a possible deal? >> reporter: well, there may be, and it's only being negotiated by two key members of congress, paul ryan -- the house committee budget chairman, republican -- and patty murray, the democratic senate committee person. and they've got a very, very busy calendar and an awful lot to do and not a lot of time. ryan and murray have until next friday the 13th, yes, you heard right, they're several imposed deadline, to come up with a one-year spending agreement to raids the spending cap under the so-called sequester law to a trillion bucks. if they don't have a deal in five weeks by jab 15th -- january 15th, the government will shut down again. the only other option is to continue. let's take a look at the graphic here. the only option they would have is to continue with do $967 billion that is in place right now for next year. the problem with that is it calls for $107 billion in mandatory across the board spending cuts that both parti

carl cam-on-live in washington -- cameron is live in washington. this fight has gone public. why is the speaker picking a fight. >> political pushback against people driving him crazy. these groups have been undercutting boehner as the speaker for years. he is a republican and a constitutionally sworn officer to make government work, and some groups like the heritage action, club for growth, very, very fiscally conservative organizations, freedom works, closely associated with the tea party, and a whole bunch of others, pushed this shut downstrategy a couple of months ago and afterwards they all said they knew it would fail. so boehner is not going after members of congress who backed shutdown politics and have given him a hard time. he is attacking the outside groups help asked what he thought the groups' reaction was, he says he doesn't care. in his mind they have no credibility left. >> these outside groups have been putting up all the money for these more conservative, sometimes tea party candidates. there's clearly a divide in the party. makes it harder to get elected. >