mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i say to the gentleman he is correct in assuming that the defense bill will not be ready. we don't know for sure but probably likely by wednesday or after. so without complete surety i will say to the gentleman, likely a suspension debate on the floor on tuesday. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for that information. moments will find that helpful. -- members will find that helpful. the majority leader mentioned last week and reiterated this week that we will not adjourn the 112th congress until we averted the fiscal cliff. i think the american people would share that view and would hope that was the case. i hope it's the case as well. on the fiscal cliff, one of the things, of course, in the fiscal cliff, one of the items of concern we had a debate upon on the floor today and the majority leader and i have discussed it again, last week and the week before that, part of the negotiations are with respect to the 98% of americans who fall into the category we seem to have agreem

mr. cantor: mr. speaker, along those lines, the gentleman tas about the 2001-2003 tax cuts. he's talking about mostly the 98% that he refers to that continue to need that tax cut and i'd ask the gentleman if he's now saying if we need to pay for that tax cut? mr. hoyer: i absutely believe we need to pay for that tax cut over that 10-year plan that we came up with to get us to a place that we can agree on being the objective in 2022 or 2023 as to where we want to be as a country in terms of fiscal sustainability. a credible plan that will get us from here to there, including taking cognizance of the costs of those tax cuts. yes, i'm saying over the longer term we ought to pay for it. right now the economy is struggling. the reason none of us wants to raise taxes on the average working men and women of this country is because the economy is still struggling. we are going to have that issue in terms of the payroll tax cut. we did the payroll tax deduction which is controversial and hasn't been a lot of

mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i'd say to the gentleman, that is correct. mr. hoyer: thank you for that information. i also want to congratulate the gentleman for providing for the week of the 17th. i know none of us want to do that but i appreciate the majority's focus on the business that has not been done. i also appreciate the gentleman's focus on the fiscal cliff and indicating that we need to resolve that prior to leaving the 112th congress. i think those are both positive announcements. i applaud him for that. on the fiscal cliff, we discussed this all the time but i want to inform the majority leader, there are now 175 signatures, we hope to have more, and would obviously welcome people on your side of the aisle, on the discharge petition for the walz bill which mirrors the senate bill as the majority leader i'm sure knows, to assure that no individual who makes $200,000 or less in net taxable income or a family of $250,000 or less will have -- see a tax increase on january 1. hopefully we will res

mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman. i thank the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, for yielding. mr. speaker, on monday, no votes are expected in the house. mr. hoyer: the house is not in order. i can't hear the majority leader. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please remove conversations from the floor. the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman. i yield to the majority leader. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman, mr. speaker. on monday, no votes are expected in the house. on tuesday the house will meet at noon for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. on wednesday the house will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. on thursday the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. last votes of the week are expected no later than 3:00 p.m. on thursday. members are advised that this is a change from the original house calendar. mr. speaker,

mr. cantor suggested the house and the state here this will a job was done. they're obviously going home for christmas and are you quitting? >> absolutely not. they do a great job on behalf of their constituents and our country -- >> speaker -- >> what mr. cantor outlined last night is that the house would come back if needed. we're prepared to come back if needed. >> it sounds like you're walking away from talks with the president. >> no, no. >> are you? >> no, listen, i did not say that. nobody ought to read anything into this. we have differences -- the country has big spending problems. we have to get serious about addressing them. >> this isn't the first time that something like this has happened during talks with the president. why should we have faith that when you negotiate with him -- >> listen, the president knows that i have always been able to deliver on any promise that i have made with him. the concern that i had is that time was running short, and the idea of the taxes ought to go up on every american taxpayer, i thought was wrong, and trying t

mr. cantor outlined last night is that the house would come back if needed. if needed. >> mr. speaker, it sounds like you're walking away from talks with the president. >> no, no, no. listen, i did not say that. nobody out to read anything into this. we've got differences, but the problem -- the country has got big spending problems, and we've got to get serious about addressing them. >> but this isn't the first time that something like this has happened during talks with the president. why should he have faith that when you negotiate with him, that your members are behind you? >> lisen, the president knows i have always been able to deliver on any promise i have made with him. the concern that i had is that time was running short, and the idea that taxes ought to go up on every american taxpayer i thought was wrong. trying to address the tax issue i thought was very important to do it now so that we don't have taxes going up on every american and hurting our economy. >> sir -- >> mr. speaker, you said here yesterday and expressed confidence that you were goi

mr. cantor say this is a step forward. do you agree with that? >> only for the tea party, perhaps, because we have a chance to do real sensible immigration reform working together on a bipartisan basis. republicans never reached out to democrats. they knew this was an inferior bill. it pits immigrants against each other. it hurts families who are of african ancestry who want to bring family members the right way from africa and they do it to no real benefit to the american people because america workers might be disadvantaged because there are no protections for american workers to make sure that these newly-authorized green cards for the educated workers, which we do need, that those pay for those folks isn't undercutting the salaries current workers get. >> so it creates as many problems as they think it solves. is there anything in this legislation that could be salvaged that you could agree with? >> there is a stem bill that we can pass. and what the democrats did today on the house floor is say, look, this is the bipartisan bill we can agree

mr. cantor outlined last night was that the house would come back, if needed. we are prepared to come back, if needed. >> mr. speaker, it sounds like you are walking away from the talks. >> i did not say that. nobody ought to read anything into this. we have differences, but the country has been expanding problems. we have to get serious about addressing them. >> [inaudible] >> listen, the president knows i have always been able to deliver on any promise i have made with him. the concern that i had was that time was running short. the idea that taxes would go up on every american taxpayer i thought was wrong. trying to address the tax issue, i thought, was important to do it now, so that we do not have taxes go up on every american and hurt our economy. >> [inaudible] >> listen, there was a perception created that that vote last night was going to increase taxes. i disagree with that characterization of the bill, but that impression was out there. we had a number of our members who just really did not want to be perceived as having raised taxes. that was the re

mr. cantor just finished saying that they were not going to raise rates. what is your response to that? given that line in the sand, where does this process stand? >> let me say that there are three elements to this -- growth, reduction in spending, and raising revenue. we have voted for -- the democrats have voted for over $1 trillion in cuts and spending. that was part of the budget control act. that is part of how we should go forward. you cannot speak about reducing the deficit without talking about raising revenue. i think the president has taken his message to the american. i hope the republicans will listen to that. in the republican caucus -- i'm usually the last person to speak -- i know many members of them are ready to vote for middle income tax cuts. then mckinley the subject of rates and all the rest of that for next year -- and then we can be the subject of rates and all the rest of that for next year and whatever we would do under a broader tax reform package. >> [inaudible] >> no. >> last year you raise idea of redefining wealth. making it when million dollars or more. >

mr. cantor? >> a statement from boehner came almost simultaneously. he said the house did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass. now it is up to the president to work with senator reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. the speaker is expected to speak to reporters at 10:00 a.m. eastern today. now keep in mind last night's vote wasn't for any kind of bipartisan deal. it was vote for a deal boehner, himself, put together to set the tax threshold, that is people who would be exempt, at a million dollars, and give republicans leverage in negotiati negotiations with the white house. that obviously did not work. retiring ohio congressman steve latourest said conservative members simply wouldn't bend. were there any pleas by other members to encourage them to go along with this vote? >> no. i mean, we've been doing that for two years with these people. and all they -- they become martyrs. you know, they become martyrs in the eyes of these extreme groups in our conference. yeah. there are

mr. cantor. the speaker pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. cantor: i thank the chairman of the budget committee. mr. speaker, i rise to urge support the measure before us to replace the sequester and reduce the deficit and to extend permanent tax relief for the middle class and hundreds of thousands of small business people. for the past weeks and months, as people are budgeting for their expenses, we kept taxes from going up and offering commonsense spending reforms. the spending reduction act at issue today reduces our deficit and protects our national security by replacing indiscriminant cuts that are neither strategic nor balanced. mr. speaker, they we all agree that our current spending path is unthinkable and poses a real threat to the economy, to job creation and to our ability to remain competitive in the global economy. we must address the underlying issue that faces this country which is the mounting deficit and load of debt that we're going to leave to this generation and the next. but the president has not offered a serious and bal

mr. cantor said very specifically that they had the votes they were far off the count. we can't be playing russian roulette with this stuff. we're talking about people being hurt on january 1st, taxes going up for everybody and what their plan as they call it, plan b was to stop 0.3 people of getting a tax cut. in other words, they are the only ones that would have their taxes increased. i mean are they kidding? we can't get sufficient revenue from that. you know from the congressman from connecticut, mr. huelskamp who was apparently speaking for the far right as he spoke during the day today, he's saying this is definitely a spending problem. well if you say it's only a spending problem, or if you say it's only a revenue problem, you are not contributing to the solution. it's both a spending and a revenue problem. and the fact of the matter is the major part as we move towards 2020, the major portion of the debt of this country is going to be 40 to 45% based upon the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. that does not make any sense. we'll have no growth if we go over the cliff j

mr. cantor this is an obsession, but for one conservative commentator who appeared on this broadcast yesterdayven worse. >> president obama has this fetish of we've got to raise the rates on the top two because we're going to raise the deficit. >> who knew a balanced approach could be characterized as an obsession that evokes an erotic response. what this is about is the president drawing attention to a dirty little secret, their own fetish that republicans just don't like to hear ventilated in public. according to the congressional budget office in the years since 1979 as federal taxation has become less progressive, the income of the top 1% has grown by over $700,000, while the average pretax income for the bottom 90% of households has fallen by $900. did you get that. the top 1% up by $700,000, the bottom 90% down by $900. accusing the president of being obsessed is a

mr. cantor and his republican counterparts want to ruin the holidays for everyone by holding the middle classostage to the rich, well, santa's got a list he'd like you to know about. >> coal is a lot heavier than toys. i don't want to have to come back here in two weeks with a bag full of coal for those too naughty to do the right thing for our children and families. >> boehner and the boys, you better not cry, you better not pout. let's get right to our panel now. here in new york with us we're delighted to have sir richard wolffe, vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. and msnbc contributor jared bernstein a former economist for vice president joe biden. and with us from washington is democratic strategist julian epstein. richard, i have to start with you. did the president run on raising taxes or did he not? >> he did. >> duss all the public polling show a majority support this strategy? >> people support raising taxes on the super wealthy. >> does speaker boehner need hearing aids for christmas? >> and possibly a dictionary or thesaur thesaurus. everybody knows how it's going t

mr. cantor said that they're not going to go home this weekend. apparently they're going to be here.t's unclear what exactly they would work on, but this is some sort of dance we're seeing here, alex, that really has no explanation. >> we thought it was three acts. it turns out to be a 15 act. glen, if you break it down, as luke says, we were not that far away at some point? maybe we're still close, who knows? we have a handy chart. in terms of tax revenue, obama wanted $1.3 trillion. boehner $1 trillion. incomes affected obama was pushing for $400,000 or more. boehner $1 million or more. spending cuts is where there are question marks. the president wants $1.2 trillion. boehner hasn't addressed it in this plan b. the debt ceiling would be the sticking point. can they not just come together? can't we all just get along? >> can i call this the morning after bill? >> yes. the plan b -- the plan b metaph metaphor. here's what happened. a bunch of really conservative members called up john boehner and said we don't like this, you're way out in front of us. this happens -- anyone who has

mr. cantor or mr. boehner, when they came out of that conference, drawing any hard lines. it does seem like they're still playing to their base, as we said a couple minutes ago, just trying to string this out as long as possible. but i don't see any hardening. i just see dithering. >> there's another big political story i want to get your thoughts on before we have to leave for this segment of the show. it's about the future of labor. big blow for michigan. the governor there signing that right to work legislation yesterday. here's what he said just this morning on "morning joe." >> actually, i have never said unions are bad for business, and i don't believe this is actually a union. if you look, i believe this is pro-worker. because the way i view it is workers now have freedom to choose. >> are you serious? are you serious, this is not anti-union? at its core, this undermines the ability for unions to organize so you can make many arguments you like to say it's not anti-union. >> all right. >> this does not deal with organizing at all. this does not deal with collective

mr. cantor today and urged him to have us come back. they are having a discussion about that, i think, at 2:30, shortly, the republican conference on a call. i hope they conclude as we have concluded -- and i speak for leader pelosi and myself and all the democratic leadership -- that we must come back as soon as possible to work together to reach compromise, to ensure that we address the important legislation that is still pending in this congress, a congress which i believe has been the least productive, most confrontational, the least compromising congress in which i have served, and i have been here since 1981. the senate tomorrow will consider the sandy supplemental legislation. hopefully they will pass that tomorrow or by saturday. certainly, the house of representatives needs to address that supplemental to give relief to those that were savaged by sandy in the worst storm that has hit the northeast perhaps in history. the violence against women act passed senate overwhelmingly, something that we could work on today. the farm bil

mr. cantor today and urged him to have us come back. they are having a discussion about that, i think, at 2:30, shortly, the republican conference on a call. i hope they conclude as we have concluded -- and i speak for leader pelosi and myself and all the democratic leadership -- that we must come back as soon as possible to work together to reach compromise, to ensure that we address the important legislation that is still pending in this congress, a congress which i believe has been the least productive, most confrontational, the least compromising congress in which i have served, and i have been here since 1981. the senate tomorrow will consider the sandy supplemental legislation. hopefully they will pass that tomorrow or by saturday. certainly, the house of representatives needs to address that supplemental to give relief to those that were savaged by sandy in the worst storm that has hit the northeast perhaps in history. the violence against women act passed senate overwhelmingly, something that we could work on today. the farm bil

mr. cantor outlined last night is that the house would come back if needed. prepared to come back, if needed. >> speaker, it sounds like you're walking away from talks with the president. >> no, no. listen, i did not say that. and nobody ought to read anything into this. we've got differences, but the problem -- the country's got big spending problems. and we've got to get serious about addressing them. >> the first time something like this has happened during talks with the president, why should he have faith that when you negotiate with him -- >> the president knows that i've always been able to deliver on any promise i've made with him. the concern that i had was time was running short. and the idea of the taxes ought to go up on every american taxpayer, i thought was wrong. and trying to address the tax issue i thought was very important to do it now. so that we don't have taxes going up on every american, and hurting our economy. >> sir, are you -- >> mr. speaker, you said here yesterday, you expressed confidence that you were going to pass that bill. >>

mr. cantor is now speaking. again, he's keeping it very very short and very much to the point.egotiator had all of 30 seconds. that's it. we brought it to you live. >>> back to the judge. >> well i was sort of hoping he would say no new taxes no new spending no new borrowing, draw a line in the sand, do what you were sent there to do. they are becoming enablering of obama -- they are becoming enablers obama is spending us into oblivion. stuart: if john boehner takes any questions, we will go back to it. we're going to concentrate on speaker boehner because he's the principal negotiator. i didn't make much of that and i don't think you did either. >> i was disappointed he didn't make a counteroffer or didn't say here's what we will do, here's what we will never do. stuart: should he be negotiating in front of the cameras? >> the president does it. stuart: what you are saying is do not cave on anything. right? i mean that's your position. >> not anything substantial. obviously you can compromise on things that are not substantial, but new taxes, new borrowing and new spending, th

mr. cantor outlined last night is that the house would come back if needed, and we are prepared to come backer, it sounds like you're walking away from talks with the president. >> no, no, knee no, listen. i did not say that. nobody ought to read anything into this. we've got differences, but the country has got big spending problems and we've got to get serious about addressing them. >> this isn't the first time that something like this has happened during talks with the president. why you should have faith that when you negotiate with him -- >> listen the president knows that i've already been able to deliver on any promise that i've made with him. the concern that i had is that time was running short. and the idea of the taxes ought to go up on every american taxpayer i thought was wrong. in trying to address, trying to address the tax issue i thought was very important to do it now, so that we don't have taxes going up on every american and hurting our economy. >> mr. speaker, you stood here yesterday and expressed confidence that you were going to pass that bill. >> sure did. [laughter]

mr. cantor? >> talk about the face of futility.hat was house majority leader eric cantor spelling out where things stand as our elected representatives left. americans want something. the most recent news poll shows the majority of republicans, 59% want a compromise on the budget. if that is the case, what is the deal with making a deal. is it about the personalities at the table? allen is a professor after administration at new york university's graduate school of public service where he teaches negotiation, conflict resolution and public involvement. thank you for being here. >> my pleasure. give us your assessment of the negotiations between john boehner, the republicans and president obama. >> it's hard to know what's happening at the table. my speculation is, at some point, the president said to the speaker, so i have made some compromises already. i put things on the table. what do you have to put on the table? that may have been what triggered boehner having to go back to the house to get something passed because he couldn't

mr. boehner and cantor and mr. mccarty of the republican leadership whether they are under pressure from contractors to say we got to do a deal. once you walk in to a negotiation. you are disadvantage. and that is it visible for the democratings . what the democrats are doing and i might have done it when i was younger grab the republicans by the head and say we will rub your noses and rub it in there for a while and for their own dignity >> what does this have to do with the fact that the republican party is it going through soul searching after the election and trying to find perhaps a way to remake itself. to be more appealing to the constitients. >> i think the republican party is in a defining moment. some say we have to give up on immigration that is not helping with hispanics and we can't have the social issues going on. but one thing that holds the party together and brings us all together. et cetera, is the fact that we stand for smaller government and less taxes. we believe the private sector is the way t

mr. cantor outlined last night was that the house would come back, if needed. we are prepared to come back, if needed. >> mr. speaker, it sounds like you are walking away from the talks. >> i did not say that. nobody ought to read anything into this. we have differences, but the country has been expanding problems. we have to get serious about addressing them. >> [inaudible] have always been able to deliver on any promise i have made with him. time was running short. the idea that taxes would go up on every american taxpayer i thought was wrong. trying to address the tax issue, i thought, was important to do it now, so that we do not have taxes go up on every american and hurt our economy. >> [inaudible] >> listen, there was a perception created that that vote last night was going to increase taxes. i disagree with that characterization of the bill, but that impression was out there. we had a number of our members who just really did not want to be perceived as having raised taxes. that was the real issue. one of my colleagues the other night had an analogy of 1

mr. cantor? >> all right. it's a little bit of a contrast there. a live look at the white house.ing joe." harold ford jr. still with us. and joining the table is former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst, steve rattner. also with us from chicago, former senior adviser to president obama, now the director of the institute of politics at the university of chicago, david axelrod. good to have you all at the table this morning. all right. >> david axelrod, putting on your hat as institute of politics guy and not barack obama communication guy, what the hell happened last night? >> well, a whole lot of nothing, obviously. >> we're trying to figure out how john boehner botched this the way he did and caused further damage to my party. >> yeah. no, they went from plan "b" to plan see you later is what happens. and i really don't know the answer to what happened. obviously, you saw eric cantor. they had confidence. they had votes. and you know, it was largely a symbolic vote anyway. because that plan wasn't going to fly, wasn't going to fly in the senate. the president

mr. eric cantor said we would be called back within 48 hours notice. see you after christmas. that is all was. host: is the speaker negotiating on the position of strength? guest: the speaker has been negotiating as much as he can with -- i think the president has not been dealing in good faith and has not been negotiating at all. he has given us a plan that was basically his budget that was voted on in the senate. 99-0 against his budget. in the house he does zero votes for it also. that is what the president put on the table. i do not think he has been negotiating in good faith at all. we need to find solutions to the fiscal problems that america faces, and it is spending. it is not taxes, it is spending. republicans across the board are not for raising taxes on anyone. the president one year or so ago said in a bad economy which should not raise taxes on anyone. that is exactly what i believe, and that is what the republican party believes. we should not raise taxes on family businesses that are creating jobs. i have a small business, and i will give you an example in my di

mr. cantor indicated that would be addressed before we left here at the end of the 112th congress. that is some six days a week off for days until december 31, obviously. foreign intelligence surveillance act, to make this country -- to continue making this country safe and secure and and power our people to protect us for those who would harm us, that bill is being considered on the senate today come on the floor. the senate is here, working. the house is not. we had a pro forma session. a session without substance or solutions. postal or four passed overwhelmingly in the senate. we can address that issue as well. the alternative minimum tax will expire on december 31, resulting in a tax increase for working middle-class americans. so that as well as the middle class tax bill that the senate passed and it only got to the floor because on a bipartisan basis the senate agreed it would come to the floor, and it passed and is pending here. we could bill -- bring that bill to the floor today if members were called back and we were here. notice was sent the day before christmas. we coul

mrs. o'connor called american tapestry. jodi cantor wrote the eponymous and david marinus first half of his biography of president obama, barack obama the story came out as well. >> guest: yes, whenever there is a sitting president it is a print for publishers who can jump on a bandwagon in publishes many books as possible. in the interesting because it helped them them to be shouted to a student in a year to his early organizing days and really did a thorough job in terms of talk with a full plethora of people in his early life. jodi cantor did a lot of recording an investigation with your book about the marriage between barack and michelle obama and rachel swarms took a larger view, looking at the first lady and her lurcher ancestry in putting together a lurcher story is the result. >> host: bob, go ahead, please. >> guest: i was going to jump in. of those three may paper with marinus. in my review i read of this exhaustive and exhausting. he goes into every detail and his and his obama is going off to harvard or is just entered harv

mr. speaker, have voted for. >> pelosi is lobbying for house republicans to hold a vote on letting tax cuts expire for the wealthiest americans. with house majority leader eric cantor and congressman paul ryan tasked with pushing boehner's plan on the tea party, it's going to be a tough sell. they are part of boehner's strategy team? in the meantime, the white house is hitting back at boehner and the gop tactics. >> a question of whether or not we have specific spending cuts, the answer is we have. i understand they may not agree with all of it. but it exists. >> i'm joined by illinois congresswoman january schakowsky joining us tonight. congresswoman, good to have you with us. >> thanks, ed. >> harry reid now says it's going to be awful hard to reach a deal by christmas. where is this all heading, in your opinion? >> the republicans are in total disarray. i think john boehner went to the floor today to encourage his -- or to placate his tea party people saying the real answer is in more cuts and the president has to be clear about the cuts, which as you said, and pointed out, that we have been very explicit about that. i think it's going to be very hard for us at

cantor has a lean and hungry look. ashley: he certainly does. what would you ask mr. bernanke this afternoon?bly ask him why the sense of urgency when you are trying to signal that you're trying to keep your foot on the pedal and stimulus policy talking about an exit strategy of switching to an economic outcome based approach to guidance rather than the current calendar, what was the current calendar based on the exit of the fed funds rate. it is surprisingly got a consensus view, and i like to hear the other members who probably are not on board were as convinced as the chairman himself. tracy: michael, i'm really hoping you will ask him what his favorite ice cream flavor is. >> i think we need to know how the world of federal reserve is going to get the unemployment rate down. nothing in their tools allow them to do this. it is a function of bad fiscal policy in particular government mandated health care which spot to drive the unemployment rate up again, not down and it's not that the fed has anything in the policy to be able to lower that. we will keep the pedal to the metal until the yea

cantor and the tea party. is the showdown referring to any specific incident or just politics in general mr. corn? behind-the-scenes account of what happened in the white house after the november november 2010 election when the republicans and the tea party really knocked barack obama for a loop and took control of the house and everything happened after that. the tax cut deal, big fights over the budget and the debt ceiling and deficit reduction and also the bin laden grade and reagan but happened in egypt and libya. so i'm looking at how obama made the decisions he made and why he took the actions he took in that very perilous time politically would also explain how this is all done in a way to set up the 2012 campaign that we just went through. he had a theory indy to do big hit in 2010, yet the theory that he could make the 2012 race a choice not just between him and mitt romney but a choice between different ideologies and different approaches to government and values. everything he did in that timeframe he kept trying to tether to this big idea. when i wrote the book of course we didn't know

mr. can'ter in just a while on the floor -- cantor in just a little while on the floor, i think the overwhelming majority of republicans don't want to see the working americans, 98%, get a tax increase on january 1. because we have overwhelming agreement, the american public are saying to themselves, hey, you guys all agree. why don't do you it? that's what they're so frustrated about. even when we have disagreements obviously we're having difficulty moving but when we have agreement, the other side's refused to put that agreement on the floor so we can enact it. >> madam leader and perhaps mrs. crowley can weigh in on this. this question about the supplemental. don't you think that this request which we're going to hear from the administration in the next couple of days from the supplemental, because it's expected to be so large, that that has to be enrolled in some way into this conversation? even if you get a deal of $1.2 trillion or $2.2 trillion or whatever it is, you have $80 billion to $100 billion coming off on the supplemental. doesn't that have to be part of this conversation as the su

cantor who will be skewered in the history books. chances are good that they will be little more than footnotes in this washington drama. instead mr.ant for personal isolation in a political system that demands the opposite will frame his presidency in the history books as one limited by his own personal isolation. make no mistake about it, barack obama will win politically by stiff-arming the third ranking public official in american government. but that victory will cost more than it's worth. the damage done will not only be to the president's legacy but also to the country he serves. and i guess, you know, there is a good long-term point here in that if we get to a deal, that nobody is happy with, that may be better for the country down the road. the president could also win this politically. the polls are showing, harold, that if they don't get a deal, the republicans will be blamed. i'm not sure that's, though, a long-term win for the president. >> i tend to agree. i think the more both parties are credited with a deal and vice versa blamed for a deal not being done, the better it is for the total body of politic. the posturin