mike viqueira is still with us from capitol hill. , any surprises in what you just heard from president obama? >> reporter: i just don't think that that's going to be the break through that's going to get us to avert this fiscal cliff. the president is essentially talking about the same proposal that he had on the table before, 98% of americans getting a tax cut. that translates to an income level of $250,000. obviously a nonstarter. still putting pressure on republicans to come around, to come down off their figure. i don't see what the president has proposed there or what the president spoke of in general terms anyway, and we assume he's talking about the bill that passed the senate with that $250,000 level that has now languished in the house for quite some time. hard to see how this is going to break the log jam. >> robert costa, he said he spoke not only with senator reid but also with speaker boehner so he continues that negotiation process despite last night's wounding. >> michael, that's the big thing to take away from what th

you heard what our reporter mike viqueira said a moment ago. the deal the vice president is offering and the different thresholds, 450 is the latest number we're aware of. the president discussed the issue of concessions. he has made so far. he did that in an interview yesterday on "meet the press." take a listen. >> the offers that i've made to them have been so fair that a lot of democrats get mad at me. i mean, offered to make some significant changes to our entitlement programs in order to reduce the deficit. >> all right. we're just listening to a democrat, tom harkin, criticizing the deal so far. the question -- we're speaking specifically of the concessions, perhaps the $450,000 offer we're aware of coming from vice president biden. are the president and democrats caving too much? tom harkin is expressing that frustration. >> well, i think we're all frustrated about that. i think the american people, 60% to 70% of the american people believe the president was correct in setting the limits at 250 and 200,000 for individuals as the cap on

and nbc's mike viqueira. mike, you are there on the hill for us.ave a ringside seat, a fresh round at 5:00. what are the oddsmakers saying on the hill. >> i think there's a slightly better odds than there were this morning, which is to say none to nil. >> right. >> reporter: i will say this, i don't think all is lost. i don't think anybody is going to throw in the towel on this thing. there may be some wiggle room but there's also the possibility that we do go over the cliff on january 1st. here is the threshold question, i'm going to break this down as easily and simply as i can. >> you are aware i am dumb, so thank you. >> would john boehner, a republican speaker of the house, would any speaker of the house, put something on the floor that goes against dearly held party doctrine? in other words raising taxes, and not get a majority of the majority and rely on the opposition party to do it? it almost never happens and i cannot envision it happening on this time. however, are there enough republicans to go along, a majority of the republican confer

it's mike viqueira. the question is, did the president know and as charles krauthammer outlined, you know, that he was going to crush the republican opposition, listen. i'm going to toot my own horn a little bit. i wrote about this two days after the election. what the president has done is take a battlefield victory and pursued the enemy in the woods and routed them. the advisers know that john boehner could not, cannot, would not pass a bill in the house of representatives to raise tax rates. john boehner came out the day after the election and tried to preempt that. he knew it was coming and trying to raise revenues closing loopholes. we won't raise tax rates, however. the president has compromised. he's gone from 250 to 400. he's changed some other things. he put the social security benefit reductions on the table. the so-called chain cpi and they knew all along -- i don't know if this was third intention or overt thinking but they're very smart people and no wriggle room, no flexibility for john boe

nbc's mike viqueira has the story. >> reporter: administration optimism for a deal. but only if republicans give in on raising rates for the wealthy. >> you think we'll get a deal by the end of the year? >> i do. the only thing that stands in the way of a deal right now is if a group of republican members decide they're going to block the deal because they want to extend tax cuts. we can't afford for the wealthiest 2% of americans. >> reporter: john boehner dug in. no rate rises on anyone. >> the president's idea of a negotiation is roll over and do what i ask. >> reporter: the opening bid brought the gop leaders by geithner is a nonstarter. >> i was flabbergasted. i looked at him and said, you can't be serious. >> reporter: included in the offer, $1.6 trillion in new revenue, twice what was on the table in last year's failed grand bargain, and $600 billion in spending cuts, much of it from medicare, not nearly good enough, say republicans who insist the president show more of his hand. >> the white house keeps spiking the ball on tax increases for the wealthy, but i

nbc's mike viqueira and luke russert. gentlemen, thanks for being here. our cnbc colleague john harwood is reporting that there will be no vote in the house tonight, and according to his sources, the u.s. will go over the fiscal cliff. what's your reaction to that? have you heard that -- >> we can confirm that. >> i love john harwood, but luke and i have been reporting the same thing, jonathan, so there. >> okay. so we're going over the cliff? >> apparently. that's the bad news. the good news is, the parameters of a deal are definitely there. as you described, jonathan, the sticking point remains this so-called trigger, the sequester. remember, they agreed upon it last summer in july and august of 2011 when they came to that big debt ceiling deal. if there were no decision on how to cut government spending by now, these draconian cuts, indiscriminate across the board to defense half of it, $500 billion in domestic programs, the other half of it, the other $500 billion would go into effect. and now some want to have that delayed. they want to have it put o

a triple threat, luke russert and mike viqueira on the capitol hill and kristen welker from the white house. are you happy to be working on the holiday? >> it's fantastic. >> absolutely. >> sounded believable. viq, let's start with you. we have news trickling out today. working, trying to make a deal. what's going on? >> it's washington, d.c. nothing is as it appears. we6 classic kabuki theater going on here, toree. the president, jovial, said they were close to a deal. that joe biden, the negotiations with mitch mcconnell essentially borne fruit. republicans annoyed with that. the tax threshold, that's agreed upon. republicans agree, too. what about this sequester? supposed to be the trigger, supposed to be the apocalyptic scenario that made cuts in spending necessary. otherwise we go over the cliff and there are cuts to defense and domestic programs. the president wants to delay them two months, three yearmonta year. many republicans say, absolutely not. many were angry he chose to have a campaign-style event in the white house complex. mitch mcconnell took the floor of the senate a

mike viqueira, kristin welker. help new year. >> happy new year. >>> when we come back, the latest on secretary of state hillary clinton's condition. we just learned doctors found that blood clot in the space between her brain and the skull, behind her right ear. doctors say it did not result in a stroke but nbc news' robert bazell will be here with us. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton remains hospitalized this evening at new york presbyterian hospital. st

joining us with the latest a mike viqueira. we have seen video of speaker boehner on his way out of town. we've heard that he hasn't spoken to the president today. that doesn't seem to bode well for a deal, does it? >> reporter: well, no. on the other hand, harry reid, the senate democratic leader we understand has spent the last several minutes, he might still be there for all we know, at the white house huddled with president obama. you're right, last night when the house gop didn't have the votes, they pulled that bill from the floor, plan "b." everybody now sifting through the wreckage trying to figure out exactly where to go from here, michael. we saw john boehner take -- have a press conference today, he says it's all in the senate's court, all in harry reid's court, we passed a bill back in august. it's really serving as sort of a fig leaf for them that extended rates for everybody. harry reid got up on the senate floor and said it's up to john boehner to do something, mitch mcconnell says it's up to the president. we und

mike viqueira on capitol hill. i want to bring in the the chief deputy whip and i think you were able to hear mr. viqueira there saying representative rogers doesn't believe it will come up for a vote. and wouldn't make it through the house. do you agree? >> not necessarily. essentially what's happened with the speaker is didn't pass plan "b" and now delegated to the senate an enthe house republicans able to either vote for a tax decrease or vote no and look to democrats and some republicans to pass this. they have deniability and avoid the catastrophe of an economic meltdown. >> were you encouraged by what you heard from the president? were you encouraged? what did you think of the comments a short time ago? >> i was encouraged. two good things and a question mark. the good thing is political system's got to function and if they're reaching agreement, that's an agreement it's functioning. number two, the economy has to have some certainty. if we reach an agreement, it's good for the economy. this is like the colle

. >> joining me now nbc news white house correspondent mike viqueira. mike, let's talk about this thing. this is the time the lawmakers are breaking out the rule book to find some tricks. how does pelosi think she can force a vote on middle class tax cuts? >> it's funny, craig, the president visited the tinker toy factory yesterday but he's not playing around, that is for certain. his opening bid delivered by tim geithner the treasury secretary on thursday up on the hill was such a one-way document as far as republicans were concerned that the republican leader of the senate broke out in a burst of laughter when he saw $1.6 trillion in new revenues, principally from taxes on the wealthiest americans. that's, obviously, something the president ran on. but something as you saw there from orrin hatch and speaker john boehner that has been rejected. so, the senate has passed a bill that follows the president's wishes that extends the bush era tax cuts for the bottom 98%, but does not extend them for the top 2%. those couples filing jointly making more than $

nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. ke, it seems as though the president was using today's visit as a visual aid for republicans to remind them that the majority of americans are on his side when it comes to continuing tax cuts for the middle class but raising them for the top 2%. >> well, i think that's entirely accurate, martin. over the course of the past two weeks, think of what we've seen now in this public relations xin xran and the president have launc launched to try to get republicans to cry uncle on this tax hike. we have seen a parade of ceos coming up and down the driveway. we've seen the president travel to the business round table yesterday. we have seen the president talk to middle class taxpayers. we've seen this twitter campaign that you describe, my2k. the 22k being the $2,000 on the line if the country goes over the cliff. the president also went to philadelphia a week ago tomorrow to that toy factory. it was a toy factory but it's clear the president is not playing around here. he is really hitting th

nbc's mike viqueira is standing by on capitol hill. ke, i guess the big head line to come out of this other than the old christmas adage about the ifs, ands, buts, is the fact it's tied mainly to negotiation? >> yeah, if you spend any time around here, andy, two things are going to happen to you as a reporter, you're going to be insulted by john boehner, and you're going to hear him say ifs ands and buts were nuts -- would you put something on the floor that didn't have a majority of republicans to vote for? that really is a threshold question. what he's asking, would you allow a vote on allowing those tax rates for the richest mer e americans to go up, would you allow the house of representatives to vote on it? hedging response from speaker john boehner which is in itself interesting. basically what we have here, back to square one. there's no visible movement. i'm told over the course of yesterday there were no phone calls. whatever meetings or conversations took place, it went absolutely nowhere. there's a school in this town, expect

. >> joining me now nbc white house news correspondent mike viqueira. what can you make of this? fiscal cliff talks are they a nonstarter? >> i tell you, you listen to everything that is being said publicly. you see the president there. it's clear that the election, yes, is over. but the campaign goes on here. you know, i really believe that there two things that are clear from the white house to republicans. we are still in preliminary stages here, which is the good news, considering they are far apart. number two, the white house clearly feels it has the upper hand. it came with the $1.6 billion in new revenues and that's twice what the president was talking about before the election. republicans, obviously, rejecting it out of hand. we all heard by now republican leader in the senate mitch mcconnell laughed at it. there you see some of the provisions there. $600 billion in savings. some of it from medicare, another 50 billion in spending and new spending on infrastructure and stimulus spending. that's something that republicans aren't going to want to go to. the two sides are

now, we've yet to hear anything from any of the participants, and nbc's mike viqueira is live on capitolren, yeah, forgive me i'm looking at my black bery -- >> i've got mine. we're standing by waiting for some news of something, right? >> exactly. i have got a couple e-mails out looking for readouts of w457d ov what happened over there. >> having been on both sides of this as a staffer, sometimes the fact that nobody came out and said anything -- >> you took the words right out of my mouth, and i was going to say you have experience in these things. the fact they haven't all rushed to the microphones and delivered withering scorn on each other. they've only been out for about 15 minutes, maybe we need to give a little more time. maybe that's a positive thing. what we do know, karen, heading into this is that the president was sticking by his original proposal more or less. he had gone back down from the $400,0 4 $40,000 level back to his original $250,000. that's what he was going to put on the table along with some other things. clearly not something designed to gather a lot of republi

. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house. i believe mike could beat joe biden in a race.talking to real people about the real issues they face, house speaker john boehner once again slammed the president today claiming he's slow walking these negotiations. is there more going on behind the scenes than we're being led to believe? >> reporter: martin, i'm going to read a few tea leaves for you here. i'm going to go way out on a limb. the issue is that 35% where that top rate is now, is it going to go back to 39.6% where it was in the clinton administration. the president insists it must go up. how much? that's the question. whispering around washington for weeks has been there could be a promise around 37%. listen to what happened today, martin. speaker boehner was asked directly whether 37% could be the compromise. he hedged. he said there are a lot of things that are possible, it's not possible if the president has this my way or the highway approach but he said a lot of things are possible. joe biden at that diner in arlington asked the same question, theoretically we ca

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. >> let's bring in nbc's luke russert and mike viqueira. thanks, guys, for joining me. so, guys, that is about as close to fighting words as we get on the senate floor. >> yeah. >> clearly though, luke, the strategy seems to be to put -- you know, senator reid is trying to put this back on boehner and really make the case that, hey, we in the senate, we've passed something, we could, you know, if the house would get back here, we could pass it right now, avert this cliff, and everybody could go home. that seems to be their strategy. >> and you heard right there harry reid really laying into republicans saying you guys have not been around. we have nobody to negotiate with. you know, negotiating to come to a compromise. a real interesting plan of attack by harry reid. mitch mcconnell came to the senate flor and said we await to hear from the president regarding any plan that he has moving forward but we're not just going to give a blank check over to democrats because we're on the edge of a fiscal cliff. and harry reid coming down and essentially tearing apart mitch mcco

. >> joining me from capitol hill is mike viqueira. thanks for being here. >> hey. >> you heard congressman cole there, number four house republican, deputy whip. he knows a bit about this. is he just trying to sound sort of positive? what do you take from that on the ground? >> i don't think that tom cole has the constituency, although he's known as a reasoned member and close to john boehner, i don't think he has the stoitsy to follow him to avert this cliff. look, the last minute, as tom cole said, the deals come together at the last minute. the last minute was really before christmas. as a practical matter, that is how these deals come together each of the last three years of the obama administration, on the budget, on deficit, on tax cuts years ago. they came together before christmas. it's hard to see how this works out at this point, to tell you the truth. there is a conference call at 2:30 among house republicans trying to decide what to do. we expect the leadership to let the rank and file know what their plans are. the speake

mike viqueira talking to us. thanks so much. >>> developing news this morning, nbc news has learned egyptian authorities have made a major arrest in the gaza libya consulate attack that killed ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. reporting from cairo, egypt, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, alex. sources tell nbc news they have a man in custody they believe is connected to the u.s. consulate in benghazi that took place september 11th and killed four americans, including ambassador chris stevens. according to the egyptian source the man is identified as being in his late 30s. he's known to egyptian intelligence officials for his connections in the past with extremist groups both in egypt and libya and his connections with groups in afghanistan and iraq. acht the country's revolution he managed to escape from a prison where he was being held. it was shortly afterwards he emerged on the scene for egyptian intelligence officials who say he began trading arms into libya, egypt and ultimately ont

. >> >> mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. where is almost nowhere? >> it's inside the beltway and it's business as usual. it's also december 1st, alex, and we have exactly one month now to avert the fiscal cliff and avert what everybody agrees would be economic catastrophe. of course that combination of $500 billion, a half a trillion dollars in extra taxes for americans, about $2200 just next year alone for the average family. $100 billion in spending cuts, automatic spending cuts, part of that sequester, from the deal that we went through last year that we took right up to the last minute. so, there are two things that are clear here after the president's proffer, one the president and the white house feel as though they have the upper hand here, there's no question about it. number two, they're playing hardball. number three, i'll add a third one, we are in the preliminary stages, believe it or not, as we enter this final month. here are the basic outlines of what the president is proposing, $1.6 trillion in new revenues. of course most of that, o

covering the week, gloria borger of cnn, susan davis of "usa today," and mike viqueira of nbc news. >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens, live from our nation's capitol, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with "national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875 we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed we were there to meet them. through the years from insurance to investment management, from real estate to retirement solutions, we've developed new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. this rock has never stood still, and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> wherever our trades negotiation the economy comes to life. norfolk-suffolk, one line, infinite possibilities. >> additional corporate funding is provided by boeing. additional funding is provided by the anenburg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. t

nbc's mike viqueira joins me from the white house with the very latest. 's anything new to report. seems like everyone is in their own separate corners, mike. >> reporter: it's no longer november. this is december 1st. it's a new month, the last month before we go over the fiscal cliff. now both sides after a lot of bipartisan talk of compromise in that post-election period, alex, it turns out what we have now a typical washington standoff. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: visiting a toy factory outside philadelphia, the president urged congress to act and avoid the fiscal cliff. if not, he says, taxes go up for everyone, including the middle class. >> it's sort of like the lump of coal you get for christmas. that's a scrooge christmas. >> reporter: with the election over the president has begun a new kind of campaign, for votes in congress. a series of white house meetings with business leaders, a grassroots effort on twitter, and friday's trip to an area rich in swing congressional districts. asking the public to tell republicans, allo

nbc's mike viqueira at the white house for us. mike, we are 24 days and counting.situation stand right now? >> reporter: which is over at the advent calendar here and start counting down the days to the fiscal cliff. the president said this morning in his weekly address he will not compromise on this issue of raising taxes. no compromise. he said i think it's the most forecefully he's ever said it, alex. there is some wiggle room. how high are the rates going to go for the wealthiest americans. visiting a d.c. area diner, vice president joe biden said if the gop were willing, a debt deal could be done in short order. >> it would take 15 minutes from the time the decision was made by the speaker of the house to pass and make permanent the middle class tax cut. the president would probably have me sprint up to the hill to bring the bill down for him to sign. >> reporter: but even after the latest in a series of private calls with the president, house speaker john boehner says the white house is stone walling. >> when it comes to the fiscal cliff that's threatening ou

>> we have also got mike viqueira. mike? a lot of people and myself included believe that the payroll tax cut is the most damaging part of this for the middle class. if we do not extend it $125 billion comes out of the economy this year. so, you know, when's the latest on the payroll tax cut? any chance it's extended as part of a deal? >> reporter: great question. i cannot compete with peter's metaphor. it's a full court heave as the buzzer is sounding. that's the odds for a deal before monday night new year's eve. the payroll tax cut, krystal, never on the table honestly if you talked to folks involved in the negotiations, folks on k street and interested and have their ear to the ground in tax policy. you realize that the payroll tax cut, an extension of the holiday, never seriously considered and part of the reason is there are folks on both sides who think it's a bad idea, only in terms of if you're a democrat, payroll taxes are dedicated to social security. and other social safety net programs and shortchanging them in

in the a white house and mike viqueira.s lending their voice to the fact that taxes could go up? >> he was a heretic last week and he's keeping it up. it's bob corker. he's not been here that long but he's marching to his own drum when it comes to the republican side. bob corker, the republican in the senate said he would break the grover norquist push. he didn't talk about the tax rates. as we all know, the key is the president's and democrats insistence on the rate going up from 35 to 39n't 6%. this week, he was much more specific. he's saying to republicans, hey, cut our losses now and live to fight another day. here he is. >> has a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing we don't have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue. we have one house, that's it. the presidency and the senate in the democrats hands. a lot of people are putting forth a theory. i think it has merit. you go in and give the president the 2% increase that he's talking about. the rate increase on the top 2%. all of a sudden, the shi

mike viqueira is there. so what? even if they reach a deal today or tomorrow? do we have time to get this dup? >> i think so, t.j. if they sign off from everybody in the senate. if everybody stands up, no & nobody objects. they call it unanimous consent around here. they can wave their hansory anything. badda bing, badda boom. it's out of here. you look at senate leaders on the floor, and you ask what the heck took so long? the first senate session since 1995 to fall during the holiday week. known all along the fiscal cliff is looming, yet the deadline spurs action. not a done deal. still a chance we head over the cliff. here is what has to happen. mitch mcconnell and harry reid have to come to agreement. by tomorrow, possibly. have something they can vote on in the senate tomorrow night or possibly even monday. send it to the house of representatives where the president says the house speaker john boehner should put it on the floor, regardless if it gets the majority of the majority. that's the traditional way of doing things. the president said if any of the

joining me to talk more, we have peter alexander standing by at the white house as well as nbc's mike viqueira on capitol hill. some verbal smackdown, basically flipping the lights back on and harry reid taking to the floor to eviscerate speaker boehner. >> the sad part is you often seen the floor opened that way. mitch mcconnell being later today. i'm sure we'll hear something later. to hear it two days after christmas and a matter of days before we go through the fiscal cliff, obviously not encouraging. harry reid says time is running hout. he doesn't know if they could go through the legislative hurdles. if they have the votes around here, they can legislate the sky is green and the grass is blue. that's not an issue. what harry reid is really saying is mitch mcconnell, get on board, don't try to filibuster. of course they're talking about a bill that had raise capital on couples making more than $250,000 a year, and do a few other nuts and bolts that are deemed the bare minimum that the president wants to see done before we hit january 1st. i've got to tell you, though, getting back to the

let's bring in nbc's mike viqueira who is live for us on capitol hill. ke, what on earth is going on? in simple terms, what is going on? >> reporter: well, you know, martin, a lot of people are asking the same question you're asking, and that is is the squeeze worth the juice here and what the republican leadership is doing in the house of representatives. clearly, martin, at this point you have to say that the odds that the nation is going to go over the cliff have increased quite significantly over the past few days. you know, when they stopped arguing about the principle of raising taxes last weekend and started getting into the nitty-gritty numbers, that was reason for optimism. the trouble is a lot of people hadn't finished arguing about the principle. we just had a preliminary vote in the house of representatives. it's called the rule for all you legislative geek out there. the republicans got 219 votes in favor of this procedural vote that allows them to proceed on plan b. of a majority is 218. we're in squeaker land for pla b b. if there aren't en

mike viqueira from the white house. >> reporter: there are reports that the president put forward a proposal, wanted to put it in the legislative language and working with democrats. there was a tweet of senator scott brown until january 3rd coming back to d.c. because he was hearing reports of a possible piece of legislation. that got everybody in a frenzy until it was completely, thoroughly shot down by both the white house and many senior aides here on the senate side. so basically, craig, we are nowhere. if house is out of town. the speaker of the house john boehner says it's up to harry reid and the senators and up to mitch mcconnell to allow an up or down vote for 50 and not 60 votes. meanwhile, mitch mcconnell says it's up to the president to act and to lead. i mean, basically, what we have is the president insisting on the package that he's insisted on all along. those making more than $250,000 to have the taxes raised, some january 1st. nonstarter. abundantly clear in the house of representatives. there's some question here and harry reid said he expects to go over the fiscal cliff.

. >> that would bring us to what our mike viqueira calls the inertia scenario where they decide the bestng is to go over the fiscal cliff. the democrats for some of them from their perspective it is not a bad thing because they think they have the upper hand in public opinion and also that it basically assures the elimination of bush tax cuts. on the republican side it does the same thing but then they can say, i didn't vote for a tax cut. un, they just expired. is there -- are there enough people there who really are willing to hold firm and let us go over the cliff? >> yes. i think clearly there are. one sign that people are trying to prepare the way for americans not to take it so seriously, after months of talking about the catastrophic consequences of going over the fiscal cliff, you see people now at the white house, on the hill, in both parties talking about it as a slope, not a cliff. that there will be a deal early in the new year if not one by new year's eve. so i think clearly both sides think it is now likely that we'll go over the cliff and that they want to argue it's not s

mike viqueira and jennifer ruben.ne of the pieces of conventional wisdom always circulated in washington is the good old days of washington ended with the robert bork confirmation hearings and republicans say ted kennedy started it and republicans said no, it started with newt gingrich or that period -- or it started with jim wright, and what do you say? conventional wisdom because we all lived for it? >> you can look at scalia and you can point to that and say 98-0, and bipartisan support was the largest sweep of u.s. history as we all learned, is an anomaly. it all happened during the cold war from the depression to the end of the cold war with was the heyday. >> do you buy that it started with bork. >> "lincoln" the film proves there's been dirty politics for quite some time. >> and it can be nasty. >> a little bit. a little bit. >> and alexander hamilton had something to say about it. >> yeah. >> you had a point on judges. >> it changed this whole industry of people who research and run ads. >> do you think it's n

with me now, nbc news white house correspondent mike viqueira. viq, does there appear to be any progress? >> reporter: i don't think so, craig, and we're watching it pretty closely. we thought perhaps after yesterday there would be. but this morning in his weekly address the president says no compromise. those top late rates for the w will raise one way or the other, but the wiggle room may be raise by how much. visiting a d.c.-area diner, vice president joe biden said if the gop were willing, the debt deal could be done in short order. >> it would take 15 minutes from the time the decision was made by the speaker of the house to pass and make permanent the middle-class tax cut. the president would probably have me sprint up to the hill to bring the bill down for him to sign. >> reporter: but even after the latest in a series of private calls with the president, house speaker john boehner says the white house is stone walling. >> when it comes to the fiscal cliff that's threatening our economy and threatening jobs, the white house is has wasted a

there's mike viqueira standing by for us.now something else that representative cummings said. i just said you're standing by. it seems like even when they come back to d.c. they're going to be standing by. they don't seem to have much to do in the house right now. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. don't have anything to do in the house. for now they don't have anything to do in the senate, t.j. that's the thing. harry reid, mitch mcconnell, the two democratic and republican leaders respectively in the senate got back from that big white house pow wow yesterday behind closed doors. timothy geithner, top aides, top house leaders as well renewed sense of optimism. they were going to get to it, negotiate, try to come up with something on a smaller scale anyway to get us past this fiscal cliff to make sure the average or typical american family of four's taxes don't go up by $2200 next week when you throw all of it together. we are tolded to that there have been telephone calls, e-mails back and forth at the staff level throu