: and we assess the administration's post-election enda with senators dick durbin and kay bailey hutchison. >> woodruff: then, ray suarez gets the latest on the escalating violence in gaza after israeli air strikes killed the military leader of hamas. >> ifill: plus, there were new calls today for laws to police pharmacies like the one linked to the meningitis outbreak. betty ann bowser's update includes the story of one family's loss from the disease. >> i can't really think of one them them without the other. he was such a vibrant pern that who lit up the room and there's such a great big hole missing. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these instittions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the president faced the white house press corps today in a wide-ranging session. he addressed two major stories-- the fiscal cliff and the sex scan

when you think about kay bailey hutchison, senator hutchison anp senator kyl and senator mccainat comingm act. >> iink it's terrific. >> i think so, too.le they have the great caveats of how these people are going to s. aspire.it's it makes sense to me. it's a good compromise.itould be >> it is a step in the right direction. they should be saying, let's sit down and talk and get it donetha quickly. lou: cheri jacobus, you get the last word. >> it has to be a step in theh rightt direction.l lou: thank you all three so y much. okay, let's say thanks to all three and tell you that that iso it for us tonight. we thank you for being with us.w be sure to stayit with us tomorrow. good night from new york.

i was speaking with kay bailey hutchison.c aally that latinos may be sort of linked to republicans than democrats, that maybe some of these issues around immigration is what's keeping latinos from becoming republicans. do you think that's true? >> well, i think that latinos are like every other community in the united states. they have the same concerns. and those concerns are several. and i know that senator hutchison, of course, is very familiar with the latino community, representing texas. i would say, though, that it's the tone on issues like immigration but also the substance, the policies that republicans have embrace d on health care, on education, on the economy. on health care, for instance, republicans are very much against obamacare. at the same time for the latino community up to 9 million more latinos will be provided with health care because of obamacare. that's a huge deal in a community that has a high rate of diabetes, of obesity, hypertension. and where literally for most -- for many folks the emergency roo

senator kay bailey hutchison and sarah gerri: hello, everyone.aker john boehner and nancy pelosi threatened over the president had to go over the president had her go. we have two guests. welcome to you both. last night, we covered the details of the president's opening gambit in the fiscal cliff talk. he wants a $1.6 trillion tax increase, 50 billion and stimulus spending. and the white house has the ability to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval. a very big deal for folks there. today, the president is out there, trying to drum up support among the public. not in washington or with congress or the senate. here is what he had to say. >> it is not acceptable to me, and i do not think it is acceptable to you for a handful of republicans in congress will middle-class tax cuts hostage simply because they don't want tax rates on upper income folks go up. gerri: it sounds like the same old, same old. the president has been making the same comments again. is this any way to sell a plan? >> there really is not. the president is not bei

ray suarez asks texas senator kay bailey hutchison and illinois representative luis gutierrez. >> warner: and on the "daily download," we look at how the obama administration is re-using digital information gathered for the campaign to rally support now. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: washington was a-whirl today with more talk of avoiding the much-discussed fiscal cliff. but as november wound down, the president suggested an agreement on taxes and spending could come in time for the holidays. >> i believe that both parties can agree on a frame work that does that in the coming weeks. in fact my hope is to get this done before christmas. >> you know me, i was born with the glass half full. i'm an optimist. >> brown: hopeful signs emanated from the white house and the capitol today

introducing new immigration legislatton called the achieve act, sponsored by senators kay bailey hutchison senator john kyl. it would offer the opportunity of permanent residency for illegal immigrants who are in the country because of their parents. the pathway to residency would be open to those illegal immigrants seeking higher education or serving in the u.s. military. unlike the. >> translator, it does not offer a pathway to citizenship. joining us now from washington d.c., one of the sponsors and authors of this bill, senator kay bailey hutchison. great to have you with us. he resolutions on the bill. at this point it is terrific that you have come forward with this legislation. and you have been working on for some time. why now? >> well, as you know, because i talked to you earlier this year, we have been working on a long time, and it has taken a long time to talk to all the different groups that have an interest in to try to get the right balance. we feel we have the right balance. we feel it is time to go forward in a positive way with a program , an alternative that we think is

florida's marco rubio for hutchison and kyle, they're leaving at the end of the year, so they'd lovepush this across the finish line. this would give the children of illegal immigrants legal status with visas and if they do all the right things, eventually a shot at citizenship. but unlike the dream act, this doesn't allow the young people to jump ahead of those who would like to be legal immigrants. >> i think it strikes a balance because there is a concern, there is people who have been waiting in line for ten years and waiting to come into this country and so i think this strikes that balance. so now these children will be able to go to college. will be able to join the military and then after that, get a work visa for four years. >> republicans note president obama's executive action, the dream act, is only temporary and many think this could be the permanent fix. >> harris: mike, does this suggest that some republicans might be changing their tone on this issue? >> there is definitely an alarm sounding considering the republican ticket did worse this time with latino voters than

. >>> karen hutchison got her first chance today. they were allowed two hours to survar the damage and return -- survey the damage and return with two suitcases. >> the whole first floor, the water went over the beds, the kitchen, everything is just torn apart. >> reporter: 324,000 new york, new jersey, and connecticut storm victims have applied to fema with rental and home repairs. >> reporter: in new jersey, no one knows the new strop of the housing need. >> your numbers will only go up. >> that's definite. they will increase. more people will register. we'll have more opportunity to conduct inspections and verify the losses that people have had and help them with that beginning step. >> reporter: the shelter camp is only contracted to be here for another week although that could be extended. there's a second camp just like this in northern new jersey, and in new york, they're talking about building a third one on long island. >>> this weekend some bay area veterans and their skills will be matched with people from the tech industr

hutchison: thank you. are there other -- are there other speakers on -- let me just say to notify me when there are ten minutes left in case senator collins comes or someone else. so i would like to have up to ten minutes and be notified. mr. president, i rise to speak against revoting this cloture and the main reason is that we are not going to be allowed to have amendments. that is unacceptable because though we have worked diligently with the sponsors of the cybersecurity bill on the floor, a number of ranking members of the relevant committees that have jurisdiction over cybersecurity have an alternative bill, the secure i.t. act, that we would like to be able to put forward as an alternative or have an amendment process that would allow our approach to have a chance to prevail anyway. now, we're aware that the president is signaling his intention to issue an executive order, but an executive order is not sufficient to really give the encouragement and the protection to the companies in the reporting l

thank you so much, senator kay bailey hutchison.senator blanche lincoln, thank you so much. >> great to be with you. so proud of kay. >> thank you, blanche. >>> today former congresswoman gabby giffords is expected to come face to face with the man who tried to kill her. jared loughner will be sentenced in a deal that gives him life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty for the mass shooting that left six people dead almost two years ago. several victims, including giffords along with her husband, have said they will be at the hearing. three say they will speak before the judge. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepr

so the republican party lost two moderate women, kay bailey hutchison and olympia snow. is the republican party going to try to lure back women like that to run for the senate in the house? >> they need to. even when i ran for office in 2010, no one was out to recruit me as a woman. no one was out to recruit me as a black woman, and they need to revamp the nrcc on how they recruit. democrats are good at going out and seeking diversity. we seek the white, wealthy males that are a part of the establishment or have given to the establishment. >> if you look at the demographic after the election of the democrat and republican party, it says it all. the democratic party for the first time is majority women and minorities. the republican party the majority white male, and that's the story that's here. absolutely. in fact, our organization which has been endorsing and supporting moderate republican women for 38 years, when there is almost no one left to support. we lost judy biggert, who is the only pro-choice republican in congress. she just got defeated. so the secret of the

senator kay bailey hutchison did not seek re-election. she is retiring at the end of the year. been the republican senator from texas since 1993 when she replaced lloyd benson. welcome, senator. good morning. >> thank you, randi. it's great to be here. >> we are focusing on what we learned in this election. so why do you think republicans missed so badly with women voters? >> well, i think that statistic that you just gave, 53% of all voters were women this year, means that we need to go back to the drawing board because we didn't get the majority of that 53% and i think some of the harsh rhetoric of some of our high-profile candidates, even though they were repudiated by the party leaders, nevertheless just gave a bad image that's really not real, but yet i think it means that we're going to have to really look at what women want to hear from political candidates. >> you certainly had a pretty stark assessment of some of those candidates. could you share that with us? i assume you're talking possibly about todd akin and richard mourdock who both lost their senate races after c

the proposal by senators kay bailey hutchison and jon kyl rifles the d.r.e.a.m.made it out of president obama ended up circumventing congress and enacted some terms of the d.r.e.a.m. act. kay bailey hutchison joins me now. good to have you here this morning. >> thank you, martha. great to be here. martha: i know this is something you have had in the works for quite some time. some might look at this rollout now and say, well this is because, you know, the republicans had such a tough time with the hispanic vote in the election. >> actually we have been working on it, jon kyl, john mccain and myself for over a year, trying to put something together, talking to a lot of different factions and people about what would be a balanced and responsible way forward on this. and things got in the way. during the election process, and then the president's executive order. but we wanted to put this marker down. it might come up in the lame-duck session but if it doesn't at least it's a start to talk about this very finite group of young people who are here because they were b

hutchison and snow were retire something down to 15. last night five women won.isconsin, hawaii, maine, north dakota, that is great. >> greg: i don't. >> dana: 20 women total in the united states senate. government has been very good for women in terms of advancement compared to the private sector. and on corporate boards right now today only 13% is comprised of women. senate is doing better. >> bob: greg? >> greg: chris matthews had something interesting to say about the election last night. >> i'm so glad we had the storm last week. because i think the storm was one of those things. no, politically i should say, not in terms of hurting people. the storm brought in possibilities for good politi politics. >> greg: all right. i'm not done. >> bob: sorry, i thought it was it. >> greg: he since apologized for the comment. i don't know why he had to apologize because that is how he really thinks. so did michael moore, who thanked mother nature for sending hurricane sandy to help obama. michael moore said you mother nature with your horrific damage, death and destruct

on the senate side, two retiring republicans, kyl and hutchison hired their own immigrant friendly bill, achieve act. alternative to dream act. that grants a pathway for citizenship for imgrants seeking a college education and military experience but who turn down welfare. bret? >> bret: doug, thanks. >>> home prices and consumer confidence are both up here in the u.s. but perhaps some of the most confident consumers about home prices are not from america. correspondent william la jeunesse explains from los angeles. >> realtors linda and brent cater to buyers in the wealthy los angeles suburb of san marino, where a recent influx of chinese helped stabilize the market. >> this is the formal dining room. >> this is the top 1% of managed speakers coming from china. there really is the people who have their own businesses or maybe were part of the government. >> non-americans bought $82 billion in u.s. homes last year. $7 billion from the chinese. who often paid cash for homes with special kitchens, in-law sweets ansuites and ponds. >> people in china do business from their homes so they wa

john mccain i mean, , rick santorum, rick perry, rudy guiliani cockade bailey hutchison, derek , te championic skater, i mean, just a whole -- bob macdonald. the great governor of ohio. we just had a great event. the crowd was going -- they were going crazy. it was unbelievable, the support and standing out there and that whether to hear mitt romney. gerri: a critical state and a critical region for the candidate. absolutely true. i have -- i think one of the biggest surprise is the democratic party has done our seniors in florida. a recent poll shows romney with 57 percent of seniors in florida. obama 40% with something that you just could not have predicted because people thought that paul ryan's plan fo dicare, medicaid was going tax absolutely put of seniors. what happened? >> well, they have been spreading their message. all over florida. wonderful everywhere. a senior living in florida. $760 billion from the medicare system. and seniors are recognizing that. recognizing what is going to happen. small businesses are recognizing that. anso e are finally getting the true facts out there a

we talk to texas senator, kay bailey hutchison.hjulian casto will join us, steven latourette, and austan goolsbee will be sitting down to talk about what exactly is this fiscal cliff that everybody's up in arms about. >>> and with so much at stake, is it even possible to find something to laugh at? well, comedian david allen grier would say, absolutely. we'll chat with him this morning as well. >> i'm so happy that kay bailey hutchison will be here. it's so interesting to talk to members of congress when they have one foot out the door. you tend to get a much more different perspective -- >> honesty. that people to feel they're going to come back to work next year don't have. that's 20 minutes from now. >> thank you very much. >>> mother nature delivering a jarring hook on top of last week's epic body blow to the northeast. a powerful winter-like storm knocking out power to another 100,000 customers in new jersey or new york and the new jersey area. damaging winds, really bitter cold temperatures, and driving snow, forcing hundreds

congress with arizona senator john kyl, massachusetts congressman barney frank, senator kay bailey hutchison of texas, and the connecticut independent joe lieberman. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union." >>> 35 members of congress retired this year. ten in the senate. 25 in the house. the highest number of retirmts since 1996. i sat down with four of the retirees at senate joe lieberman's hide-away offense in the capitol to talk about what they'll miss, what they won't miss, the days they'll remember the most and what's still left to do before they go. let me start out. we are at the end of the year. we are looking at a situation where the country is about to go off the so-called fiscal cliff, and i wanted you to kind of look back and think did you ever believe that people -- that congress would get so entrenched in different sides that there was a possibility the country would go off the fiscal cliff? does it surprise you where we are? >> i mean, what shocks me is that we're actually $16 trillion in debt. i mean, we built up this incredible debt over a period of years. i neve

suarez: the man whose place you'll be taking in the senate, jon kyl, is the co-sponsor with senator hutchisonthe achieve act which would give legal residence to people who came illegally as children. he won't in the next senate. will you take over that spot? >> well, i'm glad they've introduced it. that gives us a point of departure, where to start from, and there will be reaction to that as we go into the new year and we can either introduce that same thing or something like it. what we have right now with president obama's action is a temporary measure. we need something permanent and this is always -- this has always been an issue that we needed to deal with in a humane rational way and if f this bill represents the place to start, that's great. >> suarez: well ear about to make a career move, a move for the people of your state. one thing voters said consistent through twelve was that they didn't get a sense that congress was getting much done. do you have optimism that the next congress is going to be different from this last one? >> i do. mostly because we have to. we're at a point on t

one retiring senators kay bailey hutchison of texas and jon kile of arizona today introduced the gop'sl it a starting point for a conversation about immigration. of course, the president has said immigration reform will likely be a top priority in early in his second term. political analysts say the republican proposal is largely symbolic and has zero chance of passing during the lame duck session of congress. >>> a federal court laying out exactly what tobacco companies will have to say when they admit they lied to us. they deceived the public about the dangers of smoking. a judge several years ago found that companies violated u.s. racketeering laws and ordered them to publish ads with corrective statements, unquote. today the court specified what those corrective statements must include and they are the admission that cigarette companies intentionally design cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction. what a shocker. >>> former senate majority leader and one-time presidential nominee bob dole is in the hospital tonight for what is to us an undisclosed medical co

. >> kay bailey hutchison on cnn said we had republican candidate whose got high profile and said stupidhings and that tainted the party. there's a shift -- there's a long -- >> don't forget people shouldn't forget after the party moved away from todd akins they came running back when they thought he had a chance to win and lost over 10, 12 points. that's the taint and she and others can't away from and we shouldn't let them. >> we had a couple of people say stupid things, both murdoch and aiken have constituencies. >> method of conception, rape as a method of conception. >> are we a center-right nation? >> no, we're a center nation. period. >> i think that the results on tuesday would prove that theory. a shout out to david corn for the 47% video that -- >> least a point and a half nationally. >> according to governor rendell, wanted to get that shout out. governor rendell, joy, david. david's book "showdown inside story of how obama battled the gop to set up the 2012 election" a mfust-have. governor rendell's book "a nation of wusses." joined by josh green, kurt anderson, lynn sweet, j

it was co-sponsored by john kerry and kay bailey hutchison is create a infrastructure bank.ave the federal government seed it with capital but have private sector money. have the projectsawarded by a board, a group of technical experts that evaluate the projects on their merit rather than congressional district. guess who doesn't like this? most congressmen. >> they want to be able to reward them. >> they don't want infrastructure built that is based on merit and not based on pork. they talk about how they hate pork. but then they want the bridge back home. then they want the baseball field back home. so this is where presidential leadership can come in. this is where bipartisanship can come in. do you have broad agreement, you know, infrastructure is something everyone agrees the government has to be involved in. >> what if the deals are profitable and what part are not? if there is an infrastructure bank zsh bank, does that end up as a net cost to americans? yet it increases trade and increases protection from storms. or can these things actually be generating a profit? >>

it was an interview with hutchison who has been in congress a very long time and on her way out so perhapse freely than she might have otherwise. she was talking about in a very blunt fashion, how a couple of congressional candidates may have done some serious damage, particularly among women voters on their comments about rape. have a look. >> all right. >> i think we had republican candidates who got very high profile and said some very stupid things. >> aiken. >> uh-huh. i think that really tainted the party even though mitt romney came right out and said, this is not right, we disagree with this. the party leadership did the same thing. no one embraced todd aiken after he said those things, including the republican campaign committees. but yet it was used in the political sense against us and it was -- it was -- i think it's the feeling that republicans don't get it. >> so, wolf, here's my question. she's not the only one coming in with some -- the after-the-fact armchair quarterbacking, quarterbacking anyway. there are a lot of conservative wlos are very critical of their own party ri

kay bailey hutchison and jon kyl introduced the bill they call the achieve act. unlike the act, this bill does not guarantee a path to citizenship. >>> at the white house, mexico's president-elect backed president obama's plans to push for immigration reform. vice president biden will lead a u.s. delegation to the inauguration on saturday, a trip president obama admits he envies. >> any excuse to go to mexico i'm always game. in fact, i'm jealous of joe biden. >> secretary of state hillary clinton, meantime, who is expected to step down in the months ahead, is reflecting back on the last four years. who has impacted her more than anyone else she's met over hundreds of thousands of miles on the road? >> well, i've met a lot of really extraordinary people. i've been very fortunate to do that over the course of my life. but if i have to pick only one, for all the reasons that are well-known publicly and all the lessons that i learned from him personally, it would be nelson mandela. >> former senate majority leader bob dole is expected to be released from walter reed

ted cruz has been elected a republican in texas to replace retiring senator kay bailey hutchison. in wyoming, barrasso is going on. you might see defeats al gore there, that's a different al gore. no relation. >> in terms of the races we cannot project. >> there are really some nail biters here. indiana, look at this. we talked about this being an early bellwether about whether republicans can take the senate. 63% reporting, joe donnelly is just two percentage points ahead -- >> tightening. >> it is, 46,000 points, we're just watching that to see if republicans can hold on to that seat that is now held by richard luger. massachusetts, the key race of the year, scott brown has 48%. elizabeth warren, the democrat, is beating him by over 31,000 votes but only 23% reporting. virginia, look at this. this is so close. 51% to 49%. 46% reporting. again, just a reminder, this is the democratic seat that republicans really want to capture, george allen in particular wants his old seat back. he was defeated six years ago. >> so far does this affect the balance of power? >> it doesn't but loo

hutchison: mr.president, i rise today to talk about the need to address entitlement reform as part of the impending fiscal cliff. now, mr. president, i'm not just going to talk about the macro issue. i'm going to talk about specifics on a way that we can at least do one entitlement reform -- social security -- with specifics and make a difference for the long-term future of social security for the millions of americans that depend on it and have earned it, but also it is so important that it be part of the discussion today. so much of our short-term consequences and needs for the fiscal cliff have dominated the discussion. well, that's okay. we are one month away, after all, from dire circumstances. however, we can't avoid talking about the long term, because that's what we've been doing that has caused us to reach a fiscal cliff. we've got to look at entitlements. according to medicare trustees, for instance, medicare paid $35 billion more to beneficiaries this year than it took in last year in pay

let me close by thanking senators kyl and senator kay bailey hutchison. yesterday they introduced the achieve act, which has been called the republican version of the dream act. i've worked with them for a long time. we share many of the same ideas. we have some differences. i have some concerns, but i really appreciate that senator kyl and senator hutchison have come forward with this proposal -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. durbin: i ask two additional minutes, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i'm sorry that i won't have the chance to work with these two senators on these measures because they're retiempleg buretiring. but i hope we can build on what they've offered in a bipartisan fashion. let me point out two major concerns with the cay chiefage of the bill is limited to young people who arrived in the united states at the age of 13 or under that would have the effect of excluding dreamers who would brought when they were still children of 14 or 15. let me give you two examples of people i kno