athena jones us from the white house. two more republicans who signed the pledge said they would be open to tax hikes if they get other concessions. >> reporter: that's right, fredricka, and this is a bit interesting to see. they're talking about this pledge from the grover norquist group. he's the anti-tax crusader. his group has gotten the majority of republicans in congress to sign this pledge to oppose any effort to raise taxes in any way. so first we heard from a senator out of georgia, a republican, who said for his country he would break this pledge because if you stick to that pledge you won't be able to reach an agreement to bring down the debt. today we heard from south carolina republican senator lindsey graham and also from new york congressman peter king responding to this idea and jumping on the bandwagon with chandliss. let's listen to that. >> when you're $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is avoid becoming broke and republicans should put revenue on the table. i want t

and dedicated to the virgin goddess athena.ing it today is awe-inspiring, but imagine how striking it must have looked when it was completed, nearly 2,500 years ago, in all its carved and brilliantly painted splendor. the adjacent erechtheion is famous for its porch of the caryatids -- six beautiful maidens functioning as columns. dedicated to athena and poseidon, this was one of the most important religious buildings on the acropolis. this, rather than the parthenon, was the culmination of the panathenaic procession. at the foot of the acropolis, the ancient agora, or marketplace, sprawls out from its surviving temple. this is where, for 3,000 years, athenians gathered. while the acropolis was the center of ritual and ceremony, the agora was the beating heart of ancient athens. for some 800 years, starting in the 6th century b.c., this was the hub of commercial, political, and social life. visitors wander the remains of what was the city's principal shopping mall and administrative center. exploring the agora, it's fascinating

gris, how much is athena related? sandy, there's a window for lower gasoline prices and i'm afraid that window and closing rapidly and we started out before sandy and athena and the lowest level since the year 2000 on the east coast and now you add the problems of the refinery taking four more weeks to restart and we'll add to the deficit in gasoline supplies. >> hey, rich, to what extent are the seasonal factors going to determine gas' next move? >> jackie, take a look at the chart. we gave you a three-week chart and you simply look at the november price ban. and you buy it in november and sell it in may every single year for as far back as the chart goes and small businesses that are hedging up fuel costs going up and buying cheap options because the it is bottoming here. and the window of opportunity is closing now. >> gas is going higher and that's what the traders are saying. do you think gasoline prices have hit their low for the year? logon, futures now.cnbc.com and we'll give you the results on the live stream

cnn's athena jones takes a closer look at what's at stake. >> it's time to get back to work. >> reporter: with the election in the rear view mirror, the focus in washington is back on efforts to avoid the economically devastating fis cat cliff. if we just go over the cliff and let those policies stake in effect, we're basically going to undo the recovery. neither party wants to be blame for that. the cliff amounts to $7 trillion in cuts and tax increases over the next decade. the threat of these painful cuts set to begin on january 1st is part of the deal the congress and the president made last year to force them to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan. >> this is an unprecedented scenario that congress has basically put a gun to its oven head who's said if we don't act, we're going to shoot ourselves. >> so far that long-term plan hasn't materialized. the biggest chunk? the bush-era tax cuts. cuts for families make y ies ma $50,000 or more must end. >> if we're serious, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue. that meaning asks the wealthiest americans to pay a little more

and dixon says his station won't be calling it athena either. what if it's an epic dud? we'll find out sooner or later, erica grow, 9news now. >> what do you think? erica says the general feeling outside the weather channel has been to sort of ignore this whole thing that they're trying to put together. even the tv stations that are own bid the same company as the weather channel are deciding you know what? i don't want to do this. >> i think this is wrong. this may not be a bad idea per se but i think it's wrong when a private company decided we're going to do this. as meteorologists we have a community and when we give you the watches and the warnings they're coming from the national weather service and we have a consistency message. we know people flip back and forth and if we start giving one message here and another there, confusion will be rampant. for them to do it outfires let's building a consensus among the meteorological community. i think it's just a marketing and bad. >> it's not science. s the more about trying to brand it. >> yeah. no question about it. in

this is athena. as we head throughout today and tomorrow, we're expecting the highest impact. winds of 40 to 60 miles per hour forcing power outages. some people just had their power turns back on. they're concerned about flying debris from the areas damaged by superstorm sandy. rainfall isn't going to be all that significant. anywhere in the ballpark between 1 to 3 inches. some isolated areas will pick up maybe 5 to 6 inches of rain. i think the most severe component of this storm is going to be the very, very heavy snowfall right at the immediate coast. impacting the i-95 corridor up and down the eastern seaboard. so we'll continue to watch this one for you. finally, here in the bay area, getting a return to fall. temperatures on track with our seasonal averages. and it's been hot around here. so 66 degrees right now in livermore, just about where we should be. 67 in sunnyvale. 60 degrees in san francisco. as we head throughout the day today, 10 to 15 degree drop-off with the onshore flow. sunny the second half of the day. the rain arrives the second half of your thursday. h

you heard athena reporting on that. he won't, though lawmakers may still compel him to at some point instead acting director michael more rel will take over. michael hayden explains why. >> i know some people are saying that they were hopeful that general petraeus personally would testify but, frankly, you want the agency to testify. you want someone who is knowledgeable about the event, what the agency knew, what the agency did. and mike morell is fully qualified to do that. now, at some later date they may want general petraeus to come back in and give his personal impressions. i understand that. but the hearings go on and cia will be there telling what it knew about that event. >> and michael morell is filling in as cia director until president obama chooseses a permanent replacement. >>> israel fired a warning shot into syria today after a stray mortar shell came across the border. the shell hit an israeli post in the golan heights area. jerusalem has filed a complaint with u.s. forces operating in the area. meantim

let's get athena jones in washington. athena, are they optimistic they can find common ground? >> reporter: well, they say they are, you know, with congress returning, and so far not much public evidence that there has been any real progress in the deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. folks here in washington hope there can be a turning point between republicans and democrats. after meeting with president obama before the thanksgiving holiday? >> well, i want to welcome the congressional leadership here. >> reporter: congressional leaders express optimism about reaching a deal to avoid $500 billion in increases set to take effect next year. >> we had a very constructive meeting with the president. >> we have a cornerstone to work something out. >> reporter: staffers have been working to figure something out, how to avoid taxes, and reduce spending on medicare. but it is not yet clear when the lawmakers and the president will meet next. and even if some progress is made this week, a final deal could still be a long way off. >> we rarely see the hill and the white house make decisions

we'll see. >> reporter: this week might bring the parties one step closer. >> athena jones joining us live from the white house. what is next? >> reporter: the work continues. we know that we expect the president to have another meeting with lawmakers, with the congressional leadership, from both parties and both claim wears. the question is when will that meeting take place? there's not another one on the president's public schedule just yet. but that could certainly change. we know that senate majority leader harry reid said before the thanksgiving break that they'd be working on this over the break and that they hoped to meet with the president this week. we'll just have to see if that happens. >> all right, athena jones at the white house, thanks so much. >>> meantime, talks are set to resume tomorrow in cairo between israelis and egyptians. they're hoping to hammer out details of the assess fire with hamas. troops have reprettied from the gaza border, israeli troops, and hamas leaders say a delegation from gaza has arrived in cairo. on the table, opening border crossings and easi

athena jones is in washington. so athena, what are we expecting to hear from the speaker? we just heard from brianna what we're expecting to hear from the president. so take me to the speaker's remarks. >> reporter: hi, ashleigh. what we're likely to hear from speaker boehner, what we've been hearing, not just the last few days, but several months, more than a year, as you guys just talked about. we know what the sticking points are. one of the major ones is whether to raise taxes for the wealthy. this is something the president ran on. speaker boehner spoke with abc. let's listen to what he had to say about that interview. >> raising tax rates is unacceptable. and, frankly, it couldn't even pass the house. putti putting increased revenues on the table, but through reforming our tax code. and i would do that if the president were serious about solving our spending problem, and trying to secure our entitlement programs. >> reporter: so there you have it. he said raising tax rates is unacceptable. this is really the new slash old mantra. he says, again, revenues are on the t

let's go live to washington and cnn's athena jones. what do we know? >> we're a few blocks away from the state department. there's still a lot of questions about this. there was a flash fire in the duct work at the state department. this is according to a d.c. fire department official. the fire started at around 11:04 a.m. as construction workers were performing work on the state department's premises. that fire has been put out and as you said, there were four people who were injured. one of them critically. three of them were transferred to a hospital here. two are in serious condition. one is in life-threatening condition. and so we're still waiting to hear more about this. fred. >> all right, athena, keep us posted throughout the afternoon. thanks so much. >> iconic 12 actor larry hagman has died. he was best known for playing one of television's great bad guys, j.r. ewing, you remember him on the primetime television series of "dallas." offscreen, he was known as being larger than life and his co-stars remembering him as fun, wild, and rememberabl

>> athena jones, thank you very much. the fiscal cliff wasn't on the president's mind while he was out christmas shopping though the reporters tried to ask him about it. the president and this daughter sasha and malia stopped by. the president bought 15 children's zbiks to be given to family and friends. the president's daughter sure to be sad about this next one. their beloved justin bieber is losing the top spot on youtube. korean top star psy now has the most watched video on youtube ever. it edged out the biebs and his 2010 song "baby." the dance craze inspired more than 850 mill iion viewers on youtube. ♪ 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... -[ man ] 1... -[ woman ] 2... [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ male annou

libya, you heard athena reporting on that. lawmakers may still compel him to, at some point. instead, acting director michael mc morell will take over. general michael hayden has more on why. >> there is reasons that general petraeus will testify but frankly you want the agency to testify. you want someone who is knowledgeable about the event, what the agency knew, what the agency did, and mike morell is fully qualified to do that. now, at some later date they may want general petraeus to come back and give his personal perceptions. i understand that. but the hearing will go on and the c i'm a will tell what it knew about that event. >> michael morell is filling in as cia correct director. >>> an afghan girl testified today. staff sergeant robert bales is accused of killing 16 afghan villagers in march. the 7-year-old described via satellite how she hit behind her father as he was killed. today's hearing held at a washington military base will decide if there is enough evidence to bros cute bales. >>> an investigation is under way after two homes exploded in indiana neighborh

reporter athena jones takes a look at how congress is to approach the issue when it returns to work this >> it's time to get back to work. >> reporter: with the election in the rear view mirror, the focus in washington is back on efforts to avoid the economically devastating fiscal cliff. >> we just go over the cliff and let the policies stay in effect are we're basically going to undo the recovery. >> reporter: the cliff amounts to $7 trillion in spending cuts and tax increases over the next decade. the treat of these painful cuts, set to begin on january 1st is part of a deal congress and the president made last year to force them to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan. >> this is an unprecedented scenario that congress has basically put a gun to its own head and said if we don't act we're going to shoot ourselves. >> reporter: so far, that long-term plan hasn't materialized. the biggest chunk of the cliff, the bush tax cuts. they are also a big sticking point democrats insist cuts for families making $250,000 more must end. >> we're serious about reducing the deficit. we have

athena jones, live in washington.r a deal on the fiscal cliff in the next half hour when we're joined by democratic congresswoman sheila jackson lee of texas and republican congressman tim huelskanm. >>> the united nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly yesterday to upgrade the status of the palestinian authority to non-member state. palestinians celebrated this endorsement of the move towards statehood. but the united states and israel strongly opposed the resolution. cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott is in washington to explain what it all means. why do the u.s. and israel think this is not a good move for -- for palestinians? >> well, christine, i mean, it signals the frustration on the part of the world, and the lack of the peace process. and what the u.s. is saying is that it really doesn't give the palestinians what they want, which is an actual state. it doesn't give them borders. it doesn't give them any sovereignty. and so all of their u.s. argues is going to do is antagonize israel and lead to

ath athena jones is live from washington. what now, athena?the past couple of days, very different from the tone we heard immediately immediately after the election when congressional leaders met with the president at the white house. the big hang up remains on one issue of tax revenues. republicans and democrats can't agree should theye bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, cap some deductions, close loopholes, or some combination of the above? right now they can't even seem to agree on the amount of revenue that should be raised. that $1.6 trillion figure is something that the republicans say is much bigger than had been being discussed previously. i can also say that republicans feel like there's just been way too much emphasis on the whole tax issue. they want to see more talk about spending cuts. the white house has on the table a plan that would have $400 billion in unspecified cuts to programs like medicare and others. but republicans say that's just not enough. they want to see them getting serious. this is where we stand right n

cnn's athena jones has more from washington. >> it's time to get back to work. >> reporter: with the rear view mirror, the focus in washington is back on efforts to avoid the economically devastating fiscal cliff. if we just go over the cliff and let the policies stay in effect we're basically going to undo the recovery. neither party really wants to be blamed for that. >> reporter: the cliff amounts to $7 trillion in spending cuts and tax increases over the next decade. the threat of these painful cuts set to begin on january 1st is part of a deal congress and the president made last year to force them to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan. >> this is an unprecedented scenario that congress has basically put a gun to its own head and said if we don't act, we're going to shoot ourselves. >> reporter: so far that long-term plan hasn't materialized. the biggest chunk of the cliff? the bush tax cuts. they're also a big sticking point. democrats insist cuts for families making $250,000 or more must end. >> if we're serious about reducing the deficit we have to combine spending c

athena jones has more. >> reporter: as more facts emerge about the circumstances that cost cia directoreus his job, so do the questions. >> i have questions about the whole matter. >> reporter: like who knew what when about the fbi's investigation into a complaint that his biographer paula broadwell sent harassing e-mails to a woman close to petraeus. according to a u.s. official, it was that probe that revealed an affair between broadwell and petraeus. director of national intelligence james clapper learned of the investigation in a phone call from the fbi on election night. clapper told the white house on wednesday according to a senior u.s. intelligence official. but it's unclear when the fbi probe began. >> the fbi director had the obligation to tell the president or the national security council at the earliest date. it seems this has been going on for several months and yet now it appears that they're saying that the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> reporter: among other questions, why weren't key lawmakers told s

. >> that was athena jones. tax hike and a steep spending cuts could take place next year. >> the saturday after thanksgiving is the time to celebrate small business saturday to encourage shoppers to patronize mom- and-pop businesses. such was the case today at this space hardware and elceritto small business saturday was launched by american express in 2010. >> this nice holiday weekend taking place with warm temperatures. we are starting to see some fog. and on this shot, perhaps over the bay there is some but it is so dark. normally, can see the lights from emeryville but because of this we are looking at some mostly cloudy skies for oakland. temperatures relatively mild in the 50s for san francisco, berkeley. san jose, it is cooler in petaluma at 45. for tonight, look for this coastal fog to continue to press into the bay. and the valley for the east bay valleys and patchy, dense fog that could produced visibility by sunrise. for tomorrow, clouds clearing. mostly sunny for the afternoon not quite as warm but

most of us have seen in our lifetime, i think, on the fiscal will matters at least. >> reporter: athena> hurricane sandy changes the rules for election day. some voters will now cast their ballots by e-mail and fax. how d? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... woooho

petraeus does not testify. >> reporter: cnn has not been able to reach broadwell for comment. >> athena jones reporting. and david boyle has spoken to general petraeus, and worked with him and followed his career up close as he researched a book after iraq, and i asked him what it was like to interview petraeus. >> i wrote a book about him and interviewed him -- a book about iraq and interviewed him in 2010 and when i asked him for an interview, i got an e-mail response from him directly like that. i got other e-mails from him subsequent to that, subsequent to our interview, where he was enthusiastic and supportive and cheering me on for getting good reviews, and it was like i had a mentor. you know, he is very effective personally. but then when i start reading about the fact that he may have been obsessively e-mailing his mistress and so forth, he struck me as a man who may have had a digital addiction or a digital, almost like a digital mania, which all of us can maybe relate to these days, because he's a guy who was constantly e-mailing, texting and perhaps he was googling himself t

randi. >>> athena jones, thank you very much. >>> congress isn't the only group concerned with balancingudget. we'll introduce you to a group that's trying to teach fiscal responsibility to underserved communities. ♪ >>> for some families veterans day is intensely personal. parades and flag-waving have their place, but nicki bunting sees veterans day through the eyes of her two small children who will never again see their father. her tribute? keeping his memory alive. this is her story. >> scoop it up. scoop it up. >> lacrosse is something that we both dreamed of watching our kids play. he really analyzes the game, and he plays it well, which is just like his dad. ♪ >> bubba always dreamed of being a dad. that's kind of all he ever wanted to be. he was gone for about ten months and was training the afghani national police. he came home for about two and a half weeks. that was his r & r period. it was awesome. connor had changed so much, so it was really cool to see bubba's reaction to all the new things that connor could do. he really, really, really loved his friends and family. he wou

dixon said the station won't be calling it athena either.y guess is we'll find out sooner or later if it's an epic dud. erica grow, 9news now. >> the general feeling outside the weather channel has been to ignore named storms altogether. it's going to be interesting to see and we wanted to bring howard in on this. >> i don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. my concern is that you have a private company taking the lead. if we're going to be in the meteorological community warning people getting out the message, we have to be consistent and i think that has to have the national weather at the head of the decision making processes. those are the guys who issue the watches and warnings that we bring to you in math and we do that and the other stations do that. we all give you the same watches and warnings. those are the official word. now we have an unofficial word coming? i think that's going to breed confusion especially with the weather channel versus everybody else. >> do you believe really that i'm going to take this storm more seriously

today's coastal storage doesn't make the cut and dixon said his station won't be calling it athena either. so what if a storm named after a greek god or goddess ends up being an epic dud? we'll find out sooner or later. the weather channel has decided to ignore the storm names here altogether. i have a bulletin from the national weather service earlier today please refrain from using the term athena in any of our products and the other tv stations around the country owned by the same company as the weather channel are staying clear of this naming game as well. >> it's a little goofy. it's one sight to name a storm in hindsight, but to name it ahead of time is a little goofy and i'm not so sure people will take the warnings any more seriously. >> snowfall is so tough to nail down, which areas are going to get impacted significantly, whereas with the hurricane they're flying airplanes into it and know how strong the winds are. >> right. they check those for days. back to you guys. >>> what are some of our politicians doing the day after election day? celebrating the stride d.c. public schoo

athena joan has been following the fiscal cliff negotiations. >> martin, with congress returning this weekend, not much public evidence of any real progress on a deal the avoid the fiscal cliff. folks here in washington are wondering if this week will prove a turning point for republicans and democrats. members of congress expressed optimism sunday about the prospects for reaching a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. a series of tax increases and spending cuts next year that could do serious damage to the economy. they also sounded warnings. >> we can and must get an agreement. otherwise i think first of all the markets are going to start reacting. >> it's not a done deal and not a certainty. if congress does nothing, which congress has gotten pretty good at doing these days, we'll go over the fiscal cliff. >> reporter: staffers have been working behind the scenes to find common ground to prevent across-the-board cuts lawmakers say should concern everyone. >> i think you should be worried if you have a fence job we all ought to be worried whether we are dependent upon other aspects of th

athena jones joining us live from the white house. two more republicans today who signed the pledge say they'd be open to tax hikes if they get other concessions. >> reporter: that's right, fred. what they're talking about is this tax pledge from grover norquist's group, the anti-tax crusader, and his group americans for tax reform have asked republicans over the years to promise to oppose any effort to raise taxes in any way. now, just this past week, we heard from georgia senator republican saxby chambliss saying, for the love of his country he'd be willing this oppose this years-old pledge because if you stick to it it will make it much more difficult to reach agreement on the debt. today we heart from senator lindsey graham and peter king, congressman out of new york, also jumping on the bandwagon with that. let's listen to that. >> when you're $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming greece. and republicans should put revenue on the table. i want to buy down debt and cut rates t

we have got all the latest on this nor'easter's path apparently named athena, right after this. stay tuned. up. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >>> residents in the northeast still recovering from the fallout of hurricane sandy, but another big storm is causing power outages once again. meteorologist todd gross is monitoring nor'easter athena's path and he joins us with the latest.

athena jones is live in washington this morning. we saw the president get involved before the holiday break. what is the plan in terms of meeting again with congressional leaders? >> reporter: good morning, randi. you are probably sick of hearing about the fiscal cliff bushgt this is the most important thing facing them heading into next year. we know the president is going to be meeting with members of congress again, the congressional leadership of both sides and both chambers just as did he the friday before thanksgiving. eventually. the keyword there is eventually. there's not yet a meeting on his public schedule, but we know that after that meeting, that friday before thanksgiving, leaders of congress on both sides came out and talked in positive terms about the idea that they -- this was a constructive meeting that, they knew where they stood, they knew what they had to do, they knew what their responsibilities were. there were cornerstones of being able to work out a deal. we also heard from senate majority leader harry reid

. >>> that was athena jones reporting. >> they suggest if a compromise is not reached.nians could be slapped with new taxes and the state could be thrown into a $11 billion deficit. >> house of representatives could sleet next week. it would expand the number of visas for science and technology students from other countries and make it easier for those students to bring the families to the u.s. house proposal would allow family members to come to the u.s. one year after they applied for the green cards. they say it is a bill to a stepping stone of immigration reform. opponents say the increase for visas for technology student would be upset by eliminating other visa programs. >> it is expected to top the agenda when president obama welcomes mexico's president-elect to the white house this week. he will return to mexico's institutional revolutionary power to party after 12 years when he takes office december 1st. he pushed more nor economic reforms and including overhauls of energy and tax laws. >>> supreme court could decide whether to take up the issue of gay marriage

. >> this latest storm has been given a nickname, athena, after the greek god of wisdom. she is also the goddess of courage. there is no shortage of courage, despite the work that needs to be done here. bbc news. >> now to the presidential election, which returned barack obama to the white house for a second term on tuesday night. just how and mr. obama defied history to win, even though u.s. unemployment is so high, is something that joe benson knows something about. and he was mr. obama's chief pollster in 2008 and in this recent election. he joins me now. >> how much more did you know that the american public knew going into the election on tuesday? >> when you are pulling in a presidential campaign, you ought to have a lot of confidence in your numbers. my wife and kids were joking with me that they saw me more relaxed than they've ever seen me before any election. i think we we had a hard-bought, close campaign, but we were confident that we will -- hard- fought close campaign, but we knew we were going to get the numbers that we needed. >> there has been a lot of co

we'll send it back to you. >> and before we let you go, explain why we're naming this storm athena.hy are we naming winter storms? >> here at the weather channel, we have a new naming scheme. what it means is basically we're giving names to storms just like we would hurricanes where it gives attention to the storm, lets people get aware what have happens with the storm when it has maim i think pacts. now people taking action because of what's happening with the storm. >> and mike, thank you very much, sir. >>> coming up, what will the next ten years bring for relations for china and the u.s.? we'll get a view from washington. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit. >>> more than 2,000 hand picked chinese delegates gathered to kick off the communist party's week long leadership transition. senior fellow is in washington and joins us now. xenia, good morning. >> good morning. >> i want to explore the impact of the leadership on the u.s. it's gotten drowned out amid the focus in washing

we have jessica yellin, athena jones and ali velshi in new york. let me begin with you. we were watching the president walk in the east room. i noticed standing ovation. the energy in the room. the president pulled out his own pen saying yes, i'm ready to sign the bill flanked by marylandle class americans. when it comes to middle-clax tax cuts it sounds like the president is sticking to his guns. >> his terms are fairly stark. he's willing to negotiate on entitlements, medicare, medicaid. the white house democrats consider that a huge give the democratic party but what he is not willing to negotiate on is raising taxes on the wealthiest americans and that's where the battle lines will be drawn. congressional republicans have made it clear that is where they draw the line. they do not want to see a change in tax rates. now the white house, if you would ask them, they would say that their position has been bolstered by the election because the president ran on this. and the american people voted for it when they voted him in to office. arguably he has a significant bit of

athena jones is joining us from capitol hill. athena, good to see you.ner. he says he is willing to accept new revenue, but not from higher tax rates on wealthy americans, so where is the compromise here. what is the offering? >> well, exactly. i mean, that's what we were standing what we are several months back. both sides say they want to find common ground and both of them remain dug in over this big issue of taxes. they should have to share the burden of bringing down the dead, and let's listen more of what speaker boehner had to say in his speech yesterday. >>> certainly won't do in a lame-duck session of congress. it won't be solved simply by raising tacks or taking a plunge off the fiscal cliff. >> you mentioned they are open to new revenue, and it's very important where that revenue comes from, and it has to come from the right place. to him the right place is not raising taxes on higher earners, it's tax reform that would lower rates for everyone, and it's economic growth that would bring in more sales taxes and that sort of thing. >> harry reid

after superstorm sandy slammed into the northeast, the hard-hit region facing another stormy blast in athena. nbc's danielle leigh reports. >> reporter: the season's first winter storm to strike the northeast continues its trek northward, dropping heavy snow and beating communities in new england with strong winds. people already battered by hurricane sandy last week barely waited for the sun to rise before starting to clean up -- again. >> good news is that we have not seen the kind of damage we saw with hurricane sandy. >> reporter: marie was without power for more than two days after the hurricane. then came the snow. >> winter last year was very mild here. and it was a wonderful, wonderful thing. so i'm kind of hoping this year will be the same. >> reporter: what you've seen so far, gosh, you think -- >> it hasn't been pretty. >> reporter: several inches of snow blanketed the region, setting a record for snowfall in the big apple. winds toppled power lines, putting pr than 100,000 people in the dark, possibly for the second time in just over a week. >> i went out to run to the store. i c

--athena jones.. >> this is not a done deal or a certainty if congress does nothing which they're pretty good about these days. we will go over the fiscal cliff. >> staffers have a working behind the scenes to find common ground to avoid cuts that should be concerning for everyone. >> they should be worried if we have a defense job or if we are dependent on others of the federal budget. the regulation of our food safety, and our borders being secure. or fbi. >> the sticking point is what to do about taxes. the democrats want to raise taxes for the wealthy and republicans to not. the anti-tax crusader had gotten a majority of the " law makers to pledge not to support any effort to raise taxes. >> i'm willing to recorgenerate revenue. where is below but i will not raise tax rates to do it i will cap deductions, and violates the pledge, long story short. for this country of democrats will do entitlement changes. >> is not we clear when it will meet next a deal could be well off. >> we rarely see the will and the white house make decisions, early. i would be pleasantly surprised to see a dea

athena, thank you. appreciate it. >> we're still talking about sanda.ivors. they still need it. up next, you're going to meet a woman who survived the storm and is heading up an effort to help her neighbors. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit. introducing the new 13-inch macbook pro,s ls f sport. ♪ with the stunning retina display. ♪ for the pro in all of us. >>> the red cross and other relief groups always show up to help after a natural disaster like superstorm sandy. but now we're seeing a rise in grassroots efforts to help out, to help the survivors. i'm talking about volunteers out of power and water themselves, but they have organized their own start-up groups to help those in need. michelle is a leader who is doing just that. good to talk to you. i'm glad you're safe. you're calling us from rockaway now. take us back to the night that sandy made landfall. how was that for you that night? >> the night of the storm? >> yes. >> it was a pretty inte