withus, democratic congressman from new york, anthony, former congressman from tennessee, harold ford white house correspondent savannahuthrie. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> good morning. back in september austan goolsbee was appointed to the economic council. along with treasury secretary tim geithner, goolsbee delivers a briefing to the president every day. goolsbee is now front and center in the administration's attempt to achieve agreement in congress on this tax cut deal before they go home for the holidays. mr. goolsbee, welcome to "meet the press." let's start there. are you going to get a deal? will this pass through congress before chstmas? >> i certainly hope it does. what the president got in the package is very important for the economy and to see 150, 200 million people and their families have taxes go up in less than three weeks would be a serious blow. think everybody should take a step back if -- i understand the feeling that it's a bitter pill to swallow high income tax cuts but what the president was able to get that is substantially bigger than th

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let's begin with democratic representative harold ford. he offers the following advice from the "washington post." meanwhile this morning, from the wrapup look at cq weekly, they're looking at parties at wrapping up committee rosters. let's hear from you as the new congress begins in washington next week. will things really changed in our nation's capital? the soviet joins us from broken arrow, a coloma -- sofia joins us from broken arrow, okla.. go ahead with your comment. caller: i am so happy that the house, the senate, and everyone there and the white house is working on together in unity. it is long overdue. the military, which my son has done at 18 calendar years, i was so happy to see him come home. i am so related best they are working together -- so elated that they are working together as one. i am so happy that now, the whole united states and abroad can see that we can work together as one. host: will we see this with a divided congress in 2011? caller: i did n think so. i think the trend started from the beginning. to keep the

harold ford had just gotten in. and i saw him welcoming and i went over and sat down next to him.us under 35. so i was sitting there, talking for about ten minutes. i was like, basically, where do you school? who's going to win the nca this year. and then i walk back to my chair and get a staff member pulling me out going, what did you say to him? what were you talking about. >> it's like you and maxine. >> it's amazing. >> but on a leadership level. wouldn't you argue that what the president did is exactly what everybody has been complaining about for a year, which is reach out to the other side and actually practice bipartisanship. >> you've got to talk to the other side. >> when i ran this past time, i'd never seen anything like it in my life. >> against a guy, by the way. let me just say, if you're running in west virginia, you want to run against a guy whose family lives in palm beach, florida. that's good, senator. go ahead. >> it helped a little bit. but in running, i never saw the situation. and we're talking about different things that need to be done, how we're going to

issue because you have congressman steve cohen who represents memphis and that was a district that harold ford jr. held and his father held. even the last two, the former mayor of memphis just ran against him and got dusted -- because cohen was all about the issues. but do i believe that the point -- the point i think you're trying to make is not a question of the crossover vote but how does an election of a tim scott in a largely white conservative district and alan west in florida, and in memphis, there was plays a role on the judges? when it comes to making the decisions, because typically, the argument has been, need to have district designed a certain way to elect people that look look -- look like us, but if you have hispanics winning largely african-american areas. powell won that seat, how will that impact those -- those judge decisions as relates to the ruling. i think that's one of the points she was trying to make. >> i do yoling matters. >> class matters. race hearties, they're all important factors but itology has clearly emerged as a very important driver in the process. and the

issue because you have congressman steve cohen who represents memphis and that was a district that harold ford jr. held and his father held. even the last two, the former mayor of memphis just ran against him and got dusted -- because cohen was all about the issues. but do i believe that the point -- the point i think you're trying to make is not a question of the crossover vote but how does an election of a tim scott in a largely white conservative district and alan west in florida, and in memphis, there was plays a role on the judges? when it comes to making the decisions, because typically, the argument has been, need to have district designed a certain way to elect people that look look -- look like us, but if you have hispanics winning largely african-american areas. powell won that seat, how will that impact those -- those judge decisions as relates to the ruling. i think that's one of the points she was trying to make. >> i do yoling matters. >> class matters. race hearties, they're all important factors but itology has clearly emerged as a very important driver in the process. and the

issue because you have congressman steve cohen who represents memphis and that was a district that harold ford jr. held and his father held. even the last two, the former yor of memphis just ran against him and got dusted -- because cohen was all about the issues. but do i believe that the point -- the point i think you're trying to make is not a question of the crossover vote but how does an election of a tim scott in a largely hite conservative district and alan west in florida, and in memphis, there was plays a role on the judges? when it comes to making the decisions, because typically, the argument has been, need to have district designed a certain way to elect people that look look -- look like us, but if you have hispanics winning largely african-american areas. powell won that seat, how will that impact those -- those judge decisions as relates to the ruling. i think that's one of the points she was trying to make. >> i do yoling matters. >> class matters. race hearties, they're all important factors but itology has clearly emerged as a very important driver in the process. and the cou