>> the 199 does not expire. i was speaking generally of tax credits to encourage activity in a given sector including the energy sector. >> so the 199 deduction for gas and oil would he won that you are talking about? >> the section 199 is not an expiring provision. >> i understand it's not expiring but if you're going to talk about energy tax provisions i don't know how you talk about one side without talking about the other side. >> the section 199, which applies for a manufacturing income including income derived to energy production, may have an effect on the allocation of resources towards those activities in a way from activities -- >> similar to tax expenditures effect on the allocation of resources as it pertains to renewable energy? >> that is correct. >> thank you. >> i was actually trying to be helpful. >> may too. [laughter] >> mr. goodlatte you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you both mr. white and mr. gornstein on your further thoughts on the market tax credit, and

those were the options expiring today. basically what happens when there is a lot of open interest sometimes you will see market participants have to buy below the stripe or above to hedge it. that causes the stock to what we call pin. when we look at what was going on that's what we saw. the stock was 30 and a penny. there were four and a half million shares to buy below the strike. maybe as much to sell. that compresses the stock to it. we talk about pin risk and we saw it with facebook. >> the question for investors, institutional or individuals, what do you do as the company is set to report the first quarterback and the lock-up looms. >> the action has been pretty positive. if you have the 30 strike on in june and you wonder what to do if you're long you don't want to exercise it. what if you're short? expect to be assigned on half the shares. that's what you will find monday morning. i wouldn't expect facebook to be far away from 30 on monday morning. >> with the concern now in the markets about european exposure, da

expiring provisions will expire unless orders can justify their continuation. in short, they should be the expiryrs -- expirers. there is safety in numbers. that they do their best to coalesce as a single herd and try to migrate across the tundra with as little attention as possible, you should break up the herd. reviewing each in detail may not be practical in a single year, given how many they are, but you can identify specific -- grips. -- grips. you should also schedule these out over time. if you're expire at any given time, you will be able to give each one more attention. third, i think you should change the tempore tax cuts. this has an unfortunate side effect. long term tax policies often get chopped into 1-year segments. in addition, 10 years of often can be used to pay for a single leader of the extension. you could require that it be assumed to be lasting no less than five years than the initial base line. proponents would then have to round up enough budget offsets to pay for those, and you could require that the offsets happened over the same span

and given the quality of cafeteria food, expired is an improvement.olks, the right for workers to dine on our childrenna table scraps is a huge victory for the unions. i just pray-- i just pray other unions, especially public sector unions, don't force us into giving them these kinds of outrageous benefits. what's next? what's going to happen? firefighters? are firefighters demanding the right to pick through the charred remains of the house they just put out? they could get a free melted blender. or-- or maybe union cops having trouble paying their mortgages will be demanding the right to free lodging in vacant jail cells. they'll already know their neighbors. ( laughter ) and union nurses could win the most exciting perk of all-- they could win-- they could win expired medicines. just think how strong the pen sillen will be after it moles a second time. the point is 100 arizona ago, unions ushered in things like the 40-hour workweek, the weekend, the end of the child labor, and now 100 years on, they are at it again, demanding benefits that none of

we appreciate that the subcommittee has decided to begin consideration of certain expired and expiring tax provisions, as this consideration is long overdue. businesses have been desperate for certainty in the tax law when attempting to make decisions that can help to grow the economy. however, many may view today's hearing as actually increasing uncertainty for businesses and for individuals that use these tax benefits. as we learned in our last hearing, so many of these benefits enjoy broad and bipartisan support. their extension should not be difficult. as we learned from the recent jobs report, our economy is struggling and job creation is still too slow in coming. unfortunately, proven job creation programs have not received adequate consideration in this congress. press reports indicate that the highway conference may be solved and possibly gridlocked and provisions on the president's to-do list to create jobs have not made it to a vote. the public's losing faith in congress's ability to act and act quickly to turn this economy around. frankly, i don't blame them. we've had a har

all time for debate on the motion has expired. pursuant to house resolution 708 the previous question is ordered on the motion. the question is on adoption of the motion. aye a aye -- those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mr. dingell: on that, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of a vote by the yeas and nays will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. this will be followed by five-minute votes on the motion to recommit, if offered, adoption of the resolution, if ordered, motion to suspend h.r. 4017, if ordered, motion to suspend h.r. 4173, if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or

and the payroll tax cut is going to expire. so those are just the tax portions of the fiscal cliff which when you throw in some sequestration possibility on the spending side make for -- make for a rather steep cliff in terms of the one-year timing. current law is literally that the tax cuts would expire at the end of the year, but sticking to pay/go on the current baseline just requires that that revenue be made up over ten years. and that's what the difference is between current law and a current law baseline. >> thank you over here? >> good morning. victor teroni. many good ideas here. let me add one more. so is let's suppose a decision is made in tax reform to lower rates, broaden the base, probably lower the corporate tax rate. i am skeptical that this is going to satisfy the current law baseline, come up with the revenues we need, or do an up on the distribution. so about a year ago, i wrote an article in "tax notes" describing the progressive expenditure tax. this would be a supplemental expenditure tax. it's a little di

it's closer to expiration so it's beginning to decay. would be inclining to take the money if you feel compelled to invest. you could take a portion of the profits and powe dane chally roll it out and up. >> this is also a trade that depends on your world view here, mike. >> certainly. >> just on a world view, what is it? >> i think that's exactly right. the other thing is this has more direct exposure. i am concerned about what's going on so i would be inclined to make sure i'm keeping a very tight rein on it. >> when you look at them and they oar making 52-week highs, this is not a stock you would put in that category. these are the guys that made "john carter" not too long ago, okay? but at the end of the day it's massive move. they nailed it. they did it at a time when things were kind of rocky. i think buying a call -- >> i think he said he loves espn and that makes sense. he loves john carter, too, by the way that and he's the only one evidently. >> our thanks as always to carter braxton worth. if you want more follow us on twitter

that's only $1200 because of the expiration of the payroll tax. the state most affected his connecticut home of more affluent americans compared to west virginia which is the least affected that the states are least affected are looking at is tax increase of 45% of the families and comes the basically a racing wage game. >> host: talk about the impact of tax increase on stating congressional districts and the analysis by the heritage foundation. here's the number to call republicans 20273002 and independent callers to (202)628-0205. we have a democrat from san diego. good morning. >> caller: good morning. how are you? thank you for taking my call, suzanne. i want to ask the gentlemen your guests regarding their assessment. my question to the gentleman is, why should we believe anything that he is saying at this time since the heritage foundation are the persons who were responsible for the obamacare health care plan in regards to the mandate. that is my first question to him. why should we believe or trust anything from this coming out of the heri

the speakepro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. hoyer: let us vote down the motions for contempt. mrspeaker, i now yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. issa: mr. speaker, it is now my honor to yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, an active participant and from the district from which th event sprung, mr. go czar. -- mr. gosar mr. gosar: finding the attorney general in contempt of congress is long overdue, welcome news for the merp people and especially for arizonans. as i explained, mr. holder has shown his contempt and utter disdain for our constitutional rights, our border, arizonans and all americans. 115 members of congress agree that americans lack confidence in mr. holder and his department. every member of congress should do their constitutional duty and hold the attorney general in contempt toy. the people of arizona, california, nemexico, and texas who deal with the unsecure borders and violent mexican cartels on a regular basis now must als

of the same expiration to reduce costs. how do you make money? do you want stock to fall to the strike put. that's where you make the most money. what's the trade? >> in this trade, i will buy the august 19.17 put spread. stock closed around 19.81. when i look at it, august 19 puts were 45 cents. i will buy one of those and i had sell one of the august 17 puts to reduce my cost. so my total outlay will be 30 cents. break even level is $18.70. below that level i start to make money. i make max profits below $17. the important thing to note is volatility on ge is quite low. if you want to do just a put as opposed to a put spread, that would make sense. i sold the 17 put spread to reduce cost. >> what do you think of this move, scott? >> i like put spreads, not on ge. i think ge capital is a bufferer, the dividend is a duffer, i don't think ge gets down to 17 bucks in the time frame. >> how is capital a buffer if we run into another crisis. if anything, that's going to be the anchor that drags it to the bottom. >> if we run into crisis, everything w

, federal unemployment insurance expires, and a whole host of other challenges. can you assess, if you can assess it, we'd want to hear your assessment, of the impact on the economy just on one of those items, specifically, if the tax cuts for middle income folks were to expire. just that particular question. if you can make an assessment of that. >> well, the potential expiration, i'm not sure i can break it down to the different components but the potential expiration of the so-called bush tax cuts, 2001-2003 tax cuts is the single biggest item in the fiscal cliff. and would have, i think, if everything else held constant, would have an adverse effect on spending and growth in the economy that would be significant. now, in saying that, i'm, again, talking about the size, the fiscal impact of that. i'm not necessarily saying that the right thing to do is to extend those cuts, it could be there are other steps you could take that would have a similar impact. but that is the single

the alternative scenario tries to capture the broadening expiring positions. it turns out that under the alternative scenario, given the provisions one extends the provisions, that marginal tax rates are kept low, and the base is not changed really. it also turns out under current law there's some effective broadening of the base, because more and more income would be taxed under the minimum tax. >> so broadening the base would be -- would not hurt the economy the way that raising the rates, current rates would affect the economy, is that correct? >> i think that's generally true. but the effects of broadening the base depends on the nature of the broadening. and particular provisions that might be broadened in, say, a tax reform plan that congress considered. we'd have to look at the specific provisions and we're pred to do that, and talk with you about the economic effects of those. >> okay. thank you. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you. mr. schwartz? i'm sorry, miss castor. my apologies. you were here first. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, dr.

expires the 31stf december. the sustainable growth rate which we affectionately refer to as the doc fix, the alternative minimum tax, the debtimit, all come to bear at the end of the year. in addition to that, the sequester, which i think all of us believe is not the appropriate way to go, but is the way we set up to force us to take action on a comprehensive big, bold, balanced plan. unfortunately, the supercommittee was not able to reach agreement on that. i want to say to my friend, the majority leader, i would hope that you would be urging all of us -- i will join with you in that effort urging all of us to be ready to make some tough decisions, but decisions which need to be made in order to stabilize our economy and stabilize the fiscal posture of the united states. i am hopeful that we can reach a credible, sustainable fiscal path for our country. the only way we are going to do that is if we work together in a bipartisan fashion. the gentleman and i were very successful in working on the export-import ba

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. all time has expired. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 3187 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? rashaun stephany mr. speaker, i have a -- mr. mckinley: i have a motion at the desk. the clerk: motion to instruct conferees offered by mr. mckinley of west virginia. mr. mckinley of west virginia moves that the managers on the part of the house at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two houses on the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 4348 be instructed to insist on the provisions contained in title 5 of the house bill relating to coal conbuggs residuals. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 7 of rule 22, the gentleman from west virginia, mr. mckinley, and the gentleman from cali

completely and after they expire then you pass middle class tax in the new congress. should the republicans support a tax cut for the middle class if it doesn't include a tax cut for people like mitt romney who millions and millions of dollars of income only pay fifteen percent income tax. you know here's the problem all in all we don't have a leader right now so what's coming on is a person like jeb bush to say hey i know what i what my father did i know what works and i'm going to make this work again so i don't think it's their concern that they are conceding at all they're finding a solution because what's happening right now between both parties is everybody wants to be right instead of finding the solution and jeb bush is finding a solution so do you do you think the job was setting himself up for a twenty sixteen presidential run with a little you know he's going against orthodoxy and against romney. i don't know if he's against romney he's actually voting for romney and he's come out in support of romney but i absolutely think that he is setting himself up in

. >> gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you. >> the gentleman from -- >> mr. chairman, can i just -- point out that i want to continue this discussion outside of the hearing room between now and the next time we have the distinguished witness here? >> okay. statement will be in the record. the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierre louisy. >> good morning, administrator. thank you again for meeting with me in february to go over the public safety crisis we're facing in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. you, as much as any other federal official, have an intimate understanding of how serious this problem is. the number of drug-related homicide in puerto rico in recent years would be considered a national emergency if it were occurring in any state. that's not just my opinion. that's what senator rubio also stated during a hearing in december. since our meeting, there have been several important developments. first, the house approved a bill federal efforts along the southwest border have affected trafficking routes and crime rates in the caribbean, and t

the moral danger of thinking -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from california, ms. choo. >> thank you, mr. chair. i represent a district in los angeles county where three years ago, a young rising star, an elected official in my district was murdered by the mexican drug cartel when he was simply visiting relatives there. this tragedy is why my colleague and i worked on legislation that would allow u.s. law enforcement to more easily freeze the illicit proceeds of criminal organizations in u.s. financial institutions in hopes of freezing those assets for seizure. and our legislation, which was signed into law, allowed u.s. courts to freeze assets once there was evidence of criminal activity. so what role has this law, the preserving foreign criminal assets for forfeiture act played in assisting dea's financial organizations and interindicting them, laundering organizations? >> first, let me thank you for bringing us that legislation. it has helped already. i'm aware that more than $15 million has been frozen because of that. so we

the existing agreement expires in 2025, so the intent is to make them both expire at the same time so we can negotiate together. it was approved in the '90s. >> i think that typically, they would want even longer because if they were going to have to find their own way of treating sewage, it would be a much bigger discussion and much longer term. president moran: commissioners? is there any public comment? do i have a motion? tmoved and seconded. the motion carries. >> item 14, to authorize the issuance of their principal amount of up to $35 million in refunding water revenue bonds, approving the form and authorizing execution and delivery of documents. authorize the general manager to sell one series of bonds of either a negotiated or competitive basis as he determines is in the best financial interest of the sfpuc and award the series of bonds to the highest bidder. president moran: can we have both items called? >> 15 and 16 are related, this is not. president moran: proceed. >> this item, after last month's successful water bond sale, we have a reaction for the 2012 year. this $35

year end along with the spending programs that will expire. should those programs and those tax cuts be action tended? >> what i think they should do is to find a way to keep the expansion going. and i think the -- as weak as it is here, you know, unemployment in the eurozone i think is 11%. and germany's doing well. but a lot of the small countries are doing extremely well. many of which are not in the euro. but they're trying to figure out a way to promote growth. and what i think we need to do is to find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what's necessary in the long-term debt reduction plan as soon as they can. which presumably it will be after the election. >> so does that mean extending the tax cuts? >> well, i think what it means is they will have to extend -- they will probably have to put everything off until early next year. that's probably the best thing to do right now. but the republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts p

you buy one put and sell lower with the same expiration. you do this when you are bearish and you want it to go to the short put strike. that's where the profits are capped. walk us through the levels. >> sure. i am buying the august 8070 put spread. one of the august 80 puts and paying $4.95. the levels that i looked at and i'm selling one august 70 put for $2.60. the net premium is $2.35. the break even point is $77.35. below that level in the stock -- $77.65, sorry. below that i will see profits on the trade and i'm risking $2.35 to make $7.65. august reported earnings august 3rd and i think linkedin has about 15 to 20% of catch up for what we have seen. >> i don't like linkedin stock. i use linkedin, but i'm probably one of the few people. >> you pay to use linkedin? >> i do. i'm a paying user of linkedin. you can give them money if you want to. the fact is, the stock's valuation is insane and given the fact that we are living in a high volatility environment and way out of the money puts are expensive if you are inclined to make a trad

we should move to a system in which the presumptions is that expiring provisions will expire. they should be the expirers. you should divide them up. they must do their best to coalesce into a single heard a judge to migrate across that annual legislative tundra. rd. should break up the her you can separate out the stimulus provisions, a charity cannot energy provisions. you should try to spread steadily expiration's over time. few export any given year, you will be able to give eacone more attention. he should cnge budget rules. pay as you go budgetinreat discipline, but has an unfortunate side effect. 10 yrs of offsets can be used a for a single year extension. to combat this, you could require any temporary provision should be assumed to last no more than five years. proponents would have to round up enough offsets to pay for those five years. you should require offsets occur over the same span of years as the extension. thank you for inviting me today. i look forward to your question. >> thank you. i think for the opportunity to discuss the expiring tax provisions. the hea

along with the spending programs that will expire. should nose those programs and tax cuts be extended? >> i think they should find a way to keep the expansion going. i don't have problem extending all of it now. including the current spending levels. they are still pretty low, the spending levels. >> citigroup, peter orszag, is joining me now. peter, you heard it. you agree with president clinton on extending the bush tax cuts at least temporarily, is that right? >> i did agree. >> i remember that. >> what we need to do is avoid this massive fiscal contraction at the beginning of next year. that would be disastrous for an economy on its behind heels and that's about to be hit by a bad shock from europe. we need to figure out how to avoid this big collapse and i think president clinton is right about that. personally, i would prefer to let all of the tax cuts expire and actually end them, don't mend them. end them and then come back with something else that has as much macroeconomic benefit but better structure. >> what would that be?

potential expiration of the so-called bush tax cuts is the single biggest item in the fiscal cliff. if everything else held constant, it would have an adverse affect on spending and growth in the economy that would be significant. in saying that, i am talking about the size of the fiscal impact of that. i'm not necessarily saying that the right thing to do is to extend those cuts. there could be other steps that would have a similar impact but that is the single biggest component of the so-called cliff. >> in keeping with my orders are and time, i will turn to vice chairman brady. >> you mention the options of quantitative easing. would that are ground become blind to treasuries? >> -- would the third round be confined to treasuries? >> still law permits us to purchase treasurys and government agency securities. those are the securities that we have purchased in the past can and i wouldn't want to take anything off the table at this juncture. i want to emphasize that there are two steps -- the first is to determine whether we think growth will be adequate to lead to further improvem

>> we do see some raising the price in the 6-9 months before the patent expires. >> does that defeat alleged massive savings to the consumer from ger nark drugs? >> not at all. the opportunity is enormous. we know that if the country used anti-inflammatoriy drugs the way doctors and kaiser did rather than celebrex and vioxx, the country would have saved 5 billion dollars. >> i'm sorry we are out of time dr. sharon levine. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network... a living breathing in$elligence bringing people together to bring new ideas to life. lo. it's so simple. [ male announcer ] in here, the right minds from inside and outside the company come together to work on an idea. adding to it from the road, improving it in the cloud all in real time. good idea. ♪ it's the at&t network -- providing new ways to work together, so business works better. ♪

this is an expiration week, and i hear from traders that market on close orders will move this market, and it's starting to happen as you see. lows of the day for all of the major averages, there is the nasdaq down 15 points now, and the s&p 500 index just off the lows at 1517. so with this expiration and market on close orders, this could be an interesting hour, maria. >> all right, let's get more on the big story everybody is covering today. that is kajamie dimon's testimo. >> just within the last 20 minutes or so, jim crammer was on our air saying he thought dimon was a loser. in capitol hill terms, he emerged a winner. there was an expectation he would get a bloody lip here, he really did not. the senator ds not lay a glove on him at all. the one bit he might regret from this testimony today this was coming soundbyte where he talked about proprietary trading and it might play into the hands of others. >> you can look at almost anything we do and call it one or the other. every loan we make it proprietary. if we lose money the if you remember loses money. if we buy treasury bonds a

. >> gentleman's time has expired. chair recognizes gentleman from puerto rico. >> welcome back, attorney general. and i realize it's been a long hearing. and as you say, the eighth occasion on which you appear before us. as i stated before, first thing i'll say, i have to commend your demeanor, your patience, your decorum in appearing before us. and in subjecting yourself sometimes to process that i do not believe is fair. if anything, this committee should always try to afford due process. i'm sad to say that sometimes here you were interrupted in a way that is not disserving to the position you're holding. so i for one, i thank you. now, as you probably expected, i want to complain a little bit. the familiar subject of my questioning is the federal government's response to drug-related violence in puerto rico and neighboring u.s. virgin islands. the murder rate in puerto rico and the u.s. v.i. is nearly six times the national average and nearly three times higher than any state. most of these homicides are linked to

it can work towards your favor. >> looks like our time has expired. i'm melissa lee. thank you for watching. for more go to our website optionsaction.cnbc.com.

>> yes, we do, sir. >> that expired on july 31, 2008. >> that is correct. the directive that's expired unless explicitly rescinded or replaced remains in force until one of those two actions comes about. >> there we go again. you know, not doing things for 30 year, working off of expired directives, 11 years between reviewing documents, i mean, that's part of what's gotten us into this mess now. wouldn't you agree? >> i would say that we do need -- >> you wouldn't run a business that way. >> i would say that we need to strengthen some of our policies now. i would say that the definition, however, you know, 11 years for the definition of a prosthetic i don't know that in and of itself is problematic. >> when can this committee expect to see the full detailed plan on reorganizing your prosthetics purchasing process? >> we are right now, and i will ask mr. doyle to elaborate on this. we are in the midst right now, as we testified earlier two weeks ago, in the process of transitioning. that process was documented in a plan that was approved by the senior procur

it can work towards your favor. >> looks like our time has expired. i'm melissa lee. thank you for watching. for more go to our website optionsaction.cnbc.com. careful, pringles are bursting with more flavor. [ crunches ] mmm. [ explosion ] ♪ [ explosion ] [ explosion ] ♪ [ crunches ] [ explosion ] [ crunches ] [ explosion ] [ crunches ] [ explosion ] [ crunches ] [ explosion ] [ explosion ] [ explosion ] [ explosion ] ♪ [ male announcer ] pringles... bursting with more flavor. [ crunch! ]

we don't know and we can't be told. >> the gentlemen's time is expir expired. >> do you mind if he responds. >> the witness will respond. >> i agree. as i said in my statement, when you create authorities for the government, you need to create counter balance of oversight and the problem with that went quite far with new surveillance authorities in our view of the means of public oversight don't match the authorities. >> the gentlemen from california, miss chu. >> thank you, mr. share chair. you mentioned the "new york times" article that revealed the security agency had intercepted private e-mails and phone calls of americans. you stated that the aclu showed that agencies conducting surveillance have improperly coned or dem nated. you can talk about the kind of information that they obtained? >> thank you for the question. the aclu filed the litigation to find out how it was implemented and all the records we made available, but the records show among other things that the government has repeatedly violated minimization and targeting rules. at least some of the violations resulted in the c

the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. all time has expired. question is oned amendment offered by the gentleman from arizona. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the ayes have it. the amendment is adopted. the gentleman from florida. mr. crenshaw: record vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from arizona will be postponed. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in house report 112-518 upon which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. amendment number one by mr. gosar of arizona, amendment number two by mr. broun of georgia, amendment number four by mr. scalise of louisiana, amendment number five by mr. moran of virginia, and amendment number seven by mr. flake of arizona. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amen

it is friday, and there's a lot to tell you about, including ben bernanke telling congress the expiration of the bush tax cuts could send the country over a fiscal cliff. we'll let him explain. plus greece really needs to get its act together. come on, guys. i'm not sure how much more of this we can watch. greek politicians now brawling on morning television, taking swings at women. tell you what's going on here a little bit later in the snow. first let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. another day of brutal killing of civilians in syria and another round of condemnations from a united nations that can only condemn. with the reported massacre of another 80 civilians this week, international envoy kofi annan is warning of an all-out civil war there. we'll have a live report in just a moment from nbc's amon mohadine but first a look at the latest on the ground from syria and some of the images in the report are graphic. >> lying for the world to see, the victims of what amateur video appears to show as a massacre in the village of kobair and surrounding a

a deal on expiring bush era tax cuts is looking increasingly unlikely as the growing divide between democrats and republicans over how to prevent the economy from falling off a so-called fiscal cliff plays out on the campaign trail. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: mitt romney went to missouri to blame president obama for letting down american families. >> it is a moral failure of tragic proportion where there are over 23 million americans who are under employed or stopping looking for johns. >> if they had taken all the steps i had pushed for, we could have put more americans back to work. >> reporter: his new ad pushes one step to put employees to work. >> it's paid for by asking the wealthiest americans to pay a little 340r. congress refuse toss ask. >> reporter: hiking taxes on millionaires, but for everyone else, renewing the bush tax cut rates that expire in december is the obama plan. congress won't act because republicans want all the brackets to stay the same for another year. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke warned if there's no deal by year's end and everyone's tax

rate expired. however, that is no longer the case. this bill contains a number of important provisions, including a flood insurance phase-in amendment offered during debate in the house nfip bill last july. instead of an overnight sticker shop for homeowners, they will be phased in at 20% per year for five years when preferred risk policies are no longer available in their community. specifically, it will effectively allow homeowners next year in 2013 residing in sacramento and the rest of the country to pay close to if not the same amount they're currently paying. each year after that the price of flood insurance will continue to be both affordable and predictable, only rising by 20% until it reaches full price in year five. this provision will save the average policyholder in a remapped area hundreds of dollars, if not a few thousand, over the next five years. mr. speaker, this provision offers real savings, especially in these trying economic times. whether it's for a senior citizen on a fixed income or a family struggling to make

my time is expired. i now recognize ms. johnson for five minutes. >> you forgot to look to see who is over here. it's woolsey. >> i'm sorry. >> i make about a five-minute speech of ms. woolsey. we're going to lose her and i'm going to miss her. i recognize you. and if ms. johnson was here, i would recognize here. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> i have got to be more careful. >> yes, you do. more discerning about your women. so dr. holdren, thank you for all you do. we've put a lot on -- of importance on your office and we expect a lot. and we get a lot. how is the united states stacking up as compared to the rest of the world in our support for science and technology and the policies that we put in place? and feel free to tell us where we can do better. >> well, first of all, i would say that the united states continues to lead the world in science, engineering, and innovation across a very wide array of crucial fields of fundamental research and applied research. the united states leads the world. we remain by far

programs will expire, the need to raise the debt ceiling will be an issue. bernanke's urging congress to avoid these severe fiscal tightening in the near term. do you think anything happens before the elections? everybody's talking about this. >> sadly, i don't think so. i mean, we have washington in office, i would say the chances are 100-1 that they're kind of successful in dealing with this. the big implication of this, though, is that for defense companies and health care companies that face the sequestration of thespending, they're going to have to allow, because of work rules, they're going to have to let employees know by september tt there's a significant possibility of them being laid off early in next year -- in 2013. so oddly the bigger impact for the fiscal cliff could be more felt in 2012. >> wow. >> rather than 2013. so ultimately i think most peoplele believe the can will bc dded down the road. obviously you have to do that in a lame duck session of congress in eight weeks. it's hard to have a good outcome. >> another story was china cutting i