and carol lee of the "wall street journal" joins us from the white house. thank you both for talking to us. carol, i'm going to start with you. from the white house perspective, where do things stand? >> i think from the white house perspective, the ball is essentially in the house john boehner's court. i think the president and his team of advisors feel that they've positioned him fairly well, that he's in a very defense i believe position in terms of his latest offer, that he forward yesterday. to the speaker. but if you step bck and thi out were were fou days ago versus where we are now, it's pretty remarkable how much the two sides have come to very close to reaching an actual deal. now the two sides are in this position where the job is to sell it to their different caucuses and make sure that the seams don't come unraveled in the coming days. once speaker boehner on friday decided he would retreat on republican opposition to raising tax rates, it became a matter of what you dial up and what you dial down as opposed to this philosophical debate we've b

newshour tonight, we get the latest on the search for an agreement from the "wall street journal's" carol lee wnyc's todd zwillich. >> woodruff: then, we turn to the shootings in connecticut. ray suarez has our update, as some students return to school and two more families bury t

newshour tonight, we get the latest on the search for an agreement from the "wall street journal's" carol lee and wnyc's todd zwillich. >> woodruff: then, we turn to the shootings in connectic.

carol lee. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. just to follow on ben's question, what is your next move? are we in a position now where you're waiting for the speaker to make a move? >> i'm going to reach out to all the leaders involved over the next couple of days and find out what is it that's holding this thing up, what is holding it up. if the argument from republicans is we haven't done enough spending cuts, that argument is not going to fly, because we've got close to $1 trillion in spending cuts. and when you add interest, then it's more than $1 trillion in spending cuts. if the argument is that they can't do -- they can't increase tax rates on folks making $700,000 or $800,000 a year, that's not a persuasive argument to me, and it's certainly not a persuasive argument to the american people. you know, it may be that members of their caucus haven't looked at exactly what we've proposed. it may be that if we provide more information or there's greater specificity or we've worked through some of their concerns, that we can ge

carol lee. there you are. >> just to follow on ben's question, what is your next move? are we just in a position where you're waiting for the speaker to make a move? >> i'm going to reach out to all the leaders involved over the next couple of days and find out what is it that's holding this thing up. what is holding it up? if the argument from republicans is we haven't done enough spending cuts, that argument is not going to fly because we've got close to $1 trillion of spending cuts. and when you add interest, then it's more than $1 trillion in spending cuts. if the argument is that they can't do -- they can't increase tax rates on folks making $700,000 or $800,000 a year, that's not a persuasive argument to me, and it's certainly not a persuasive argument to the american people. you know, it may be that members of their caucus haven't looked at exactly what we've proposed. it may be that if we provide more information or there's greater specificity or we've worked through some of their concerns, that we can get some movement there. but, you know, the fact of the matt

then he goes to carol lee another good friend who has been in the studio with us. fiscal cliff. then he goes to keira i forget her last name from politico. she asks about the fiscal cliff. at this point i was going crazy. i was going bonkers. get back to the issue of the day! let's get back to saving these kids! finally david jackson got it back to the fiscal cliff. but it just shows to me that the white house press corps is so -- so fond of navel-gazing. they can't get out of the beltway. they don't know what the freak is going on in the rest of the country or what people really care about. care about the wonky issues and the cheap, partisan political games that people play and that john boehner is playing with the fiscal cliff. i must admit i was disappointed not to mention jake tapper's impertinent and disrespectful question. to the president. 1-866-55-press. happy with obama? yes or no. happy with the white house press corps. yes or no. your turn. let's get it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversati

carol lee. >> thank you. just a follow-up. what is your next move? are we in aa position to wait for the speaker to make a move? >> i'm going to reach out to all the leaders involved over the next couple of days and find out what is it that's holding this thing up? what is holding it up? if the argument from republicans is we haven't done enough spending cuts, that argument is not going to fly because we've got close to a trillion dollars of spending cuts. when you add interest it's more than a trillion dollars in spending cuts. if the argument is that they can't increase tax rates on folks making 700 or 800,000 a year, that's not a persuasive argument to me, and it's certainly not a persuasive argument to the american people. it may be that members of their caucus haven't looked at exactly what we've proposed. it may be that if we provide more information or there's greater specificity or we worked through concerns we can get some movement there. what would violate my commitment to voters is if i ended up agreeing to a plan that put more burden on t

carol lee. >> thank you, mr. president. just to follow on ben's question, what is your next move? are we in a position now where you're just waiting for the speaker to make a move? >> well, i'm going to reach out to all the leaders involved over the next couple of days and find out what is it that's holding this thing up. what is holding it up? if the argument from republicans is we haven't done enough spending cuts, that argument is not going to fly because we've got close to a trillion dollars of spending cuts. and when you add interest, then it's more than a trillion dollars in spending cuts. if the argument is that they can't do -- they can't increase tax rates on folks making $700,000 or $800,000 a year, that's not a persuasive argument to me and it's certainly not a persuasive argument to the american people. it may be that members of their caucus haven't looked at exactly what we've proposed. it may be that if we provide more information or there's greater specificity or we work through some of their concerns, that we can get some movement then. but the fact of the matter i

these students came to city hall to sing christmas carols and acoding to their direct yes, to express preegsation for mayor ed lee hoping that the mayor with city money. >> all schools need more money. it's ay travesty we're down to bare bones. >> juniors athe school and others district wide must now meet new academic requirements in order to graduate in 2014. data indicates 45% of the students under danger. the supervisor is one of the co-spon sponsors taking $840,000 from reserves to pay for efforts like night classes and counselors to try to get failing students back on track. >> we're facing a crisis now and believe that that requires that we do something beyond what is being done for the district. >> the school district is independent from the city. supervisor mark farrell believes the city should not dip into reserves. >> this current estimate is that it's going to cut $30 to $40. it's irresponsible. >> a ban about $1.4 million, no one is questioning that. in question is $840,000. a final vote coming next month. live in san francisco, at city hall, abc 7 news. >> students learning as much as they do from a

lee gifford. en good night, everybody! [captioning made possible by worldwide pants, inc., and the cbs television network] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- [ singing christmas carols in background ] aunt sally's singing again. it's a tradition, honey. [ singing christmas carols ] mmmm. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands! cinnamon rolls. [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ get to holiday fun faster >>> you're watching cbs 5 eyewitness news in high definition. >>> breaking news tonight. a car crashes into four people in twin peaks, sending them plunging down a hill. and then it speeds off. good evening. i'm ken bastida. >> and i'm juliette goodrich. sharon is on the scene right now at twin peaks. >> reporter: here with us is lieutenant silverman who is going to fill us in on what happened. >> so we had a group of four pedestrians walking on the roadway and a car came by and struck three of the four of them and they were knocked down the hill a distance of about 30 feet. >> how are they tonight, the three knocked down the hill? >> so all three of them went to

lee. >> what is the single most recorded holiday song? >> "jingle bells." >> incorrect. >> silent -- christmas song? or christmas carol?. >> "white christmas." >> yes. ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ >> she does not get a point for that. this game is rigged. on christmas? you're cheating on christmas. it's sad. go back to 4. back to 4. >> we're going to play by hoda kotb rules, which is to say if she gets the last question right she wins. >> double or nothing. >> here it is. it's triple or nothing or whatever you want to call it. last question. what are the names of all 12 of santa's reindeer from the song rudolph the red-nosed reindeer? >> come dancer and prancer and comet and cupid. >> vixen. >> uh-huh. >> and rudolph and donder. it's not even donor. it's donder. and blitzen. >> did you say dasher? >> yes. >> that's 12. >> i won! no, kathie wins. >> my cd. >> kathie wins. >> kathie lee gifford's 1994 album "it's christmas time." >> i don't have one of these. >> i did this for warner brothers so many years ago. it sold like pancakes. >> cannot pull back the curtain on the game show a little bit? >> yeah. >> we c

carol brady. >> eric: no clue. >> andrea: silent night. on the 19th day of christmas, answer this. my true love gave to me -- >> maids dancing. >> lords leaping. >> cold sores. [ laughter ] >> andrea: no. give you a hint. tommy lees drumming. [ laughter ] >> bob, can we get off the stds and get back to christmas. >> bob: sorry. >> andrea: 11 -- >> eric: lords a leaping. >> andrea: you keep saying that. no. >> eric: did i say that for 12? >> andrea: you did. 11? [ laughter ] >> andrea: pipers piping. ten, say it, eric? >> eric: lords aleaping. >> andrea: eight maids a milking. six geese a laying. >> bob:♪ three french hens ♪ two turtle doves ♪ partridge in a pear tree >> andrea: very good, robert. >> bob: thank you. made up story after the story about santa claus. santa claus is real. >> andrea: mariah carey, she and fallen brought back one of her songs all i want for christmas is you. take a listen. >> dana: from a great movie. >> ♪ make my wish come true ♪ all i want for christmas ♪ is you ♪ ♪ >> ♪ i don't want a lot more christmas ♪ ♪ there is just one thing i need ♪ ♪ and i don't care about the presents ♪ ♪ underneath the christmas tree ♪ >> andrea: what a great version. i love her. 'canes is from one of my f