nancy cordes reports on the congressional maneuvering. the egyptian army launches a violent crackdown on cairo protesters. alan pizzey watches the military turn against its former allies it is super saturday for hole i can shoppers. manuel gallegus tracks their spending on what could be a make-or-break day. and phoning it in-- ben tracy goes behind the scenesave full-size movie shot with a smartphone. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: and good evening. it's a deal but don't get too happy about it yet. that's the word from some republicans on a possible agreement to extend the payroll tax cut. while the senate today did give a final thumbs-up on a $1 trillion bill to keep the government running through next summer, the payroll tax deal faces another fight and soon. congressional correspondent nancy cordes has the latest. >> reporter: with the holidays fast approaching, senate leaders set aside their differences, to a point. >> we'll get it done. >> reporter: and crafted a deal that

congressional correspondent nancy cordes and on the other side chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell and our political director john dickerson. i've got to go to you first, jan. you were there yesterday when herman cain hung it up. i mean, did he really hang it up? he said he's suspending the campaign. >> it's over. i talked to cain and his wife gloria after the event yesterday. he said he had made the decision on his own before he got back to atlanta friday night, that he couldn't put his family through this, his wife through this anymore. gloria cain told me she would have supported him no matter what he decided. a part of her wanted him to stay in the race because she believes him. but the allegations of the harassment, the affair, it became too much. you know, bob, the establishment never took cain seriously. but he tapped into something real with republican primary voters who think that america has serious problems. they say cain as the man with solutions who was not a part of washington and who had this inspiring message about america's greatness. out of all the candi

he said everybody else running is his friend and he won't attack them. >> schieffer: nancy cordes you were out with newt gingrich all week and in south carolina. how will this play out? >> he's ahead by 11 points in the most recent poll in south carolina. what he's really planning to do is try to hang in tough in iowa and new hampshire. he has ron paul with a really tight organization in iowa. then you've got mitt romney really owns the ground game in new hampshire. he's hoping if he can just do well in those two states, get to south carolina, where he's more of an even playing field. nobody really has a huge organization there. he feels good because he's from neighboring georgia. he feels like the voters know him. it's a southern state. they feel like they can understand his message. he thinks he's going to win. >> schieffer: to the white house, where norah o'donnell hangs her hat these days as our chief white house correspondent. norah, they still seem to believe that mitt romney winds up with the nomination. does anybody over there want to run against newt gingrich? >> the obama ca

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill, nancy? >> reporter: scott, we are now official in a total stalemate and tonight most lawmakers are heading home for the holidays. >> reporter: the motion is adopted. >> reporter: house republicans doubled down on their risky strategy today voting to reject a two-month tax cut and to establish negotiations with a resistant senate. >> come back to washington! do your work! give the american people a year, not two months. >> reporter: democrats said house republicans were ensuring the payroll tax cut would expire all together in 12 days, causing the rate to return to 6.2% from 4.2%. >> what is happening here today is shameful, it is a disgrace, it is unreal, it's unbelievable. >> reporter: the senate passed the two-month tax cut overwhelmingly over the weekend after failing to reach agreement on how to pay for a one-year plan. then they left town giving house speaker john boehner one option-- take it or leave it. senate democrats say they're not coming back. does this mean the tax cuts are goin

nancy cordes reports they're taking action after a "60 minutes" expose. homes are crushed in los angeles. angelewan tells us the worst santa ana winds in years hit with hurricane force. and death exposes hazing at a top college marching band. did a drum major die at the hands of his fellow students? mark strassmann has the story. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. captioning sponsored by cbs >> pelley: good evening. it began nine years ago with what the pentagon called shock and awe. it ended today with humble thrds. the vice president of the united states slipped into baghdad unannounced, for his own safety, o hand over the u.s. military headquarters to iraq. what began in 2003 as an effort to overthrow saddam hussein became a vicious religious war, pitting iraqi against iraqi, with the u.s. caught in the middle. today, the violence has subsided, and iraq is the only arab democracy, but the future remains uncertain. rom axelrod was with the u.s. thvasion force in 2003, and he's tck there today. >> reporter: at c

we asked nancy cordes to tell us about the mandate and where the candidates stand. she's in manchester, new hampshire, tonight. nancy? >> reporter: scott, romney says he was just being outrageous, but his opponents wouldn't let it go today, mocking the multimillionaire for offering to bet a sum that most americans don't make in a month. >> rick, i'll tell you what. $10,000 be? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> reporter: the awkward exchange sprang from an assertion by texas governor rick perry who said romney supports a national mandate requiring every citizen to get insurance or pay a fine. >> i read your first book and it said? there that your mandate in massachusetts should be the model for the country. >> reporter: an individual mandate is the centerpiece of the president's health care law and the law romney passed in massachusetts in 2006. it's designed to make sure the uninsured get coverage so they don't pass costs along the everyone else when they get sick. but it's become a symbol of government intrusion for the tea party and for republica

nancy cordes on what it would mean to you and future generations. is jim axelrod is in iraq where the war that began with shock and awe officially ended today with quiet reflection. >> it's a bittersweet moment. >> reporter: erin moriarty is following a murder mystery on long island where the discovery of the remains of nearly a dozen people set off a hunt for a serial killer. and the thousands of pictures that are worth one incredible story. anthony mason with the artist no one knew until now. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. just when you thought washington was hopelessly deadlocked, a conservative republican and a liberal democrat have net the middle with a proposal to save medicare. 49 million americans are on the government health plan, but it can't survive in its current state. it's projected that medicare will be bankrupt in 12 years. today's proposal would be a major change and we asked congressional correspondent nancy cordes to sort it out for us. nancy? >> reporter: sco

nancy cordes reports it includes slower mail and thousands of jobs lost. a woman is raped and then forced to marry her attacker. mandy clark on a case raising calls for justice. and byron pitts with the story of the u.s. versus haiti. opponents on the soccer field with an astounding bond of brotherhood. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. their voices are not heard; their funerals are not seen. a revolution is under way to end one of the world's longest- running dictatorships, but we don't know the facts because the government of syria keeps reporters away from its brutal crackdown. tonight we have a rare look inside. since spring, thousands of syrians have been demanding the end of the 40-year dictatorship of the assad family. the u.n. estimates that since the uprising began, syrian forces have killed 4,000 civilians and just today the spposition claimed 60 deaths in the city of homs. tonight, cbs news correspondent clarissa ward-- who traveled through syria without government supervision-

nancy cordes has the late news from capitol hill. >>ncy? >> reporter: scott, house aneaker john boehner briefed house republicans on his decision this evening in a teleconference call. id did not take questions. ed did not ask for feedback, because that's what sparked this otandoff five days ago. deserted by senate republicans and derided by democrats, house republican leaders believed they had no choice but to back down and accept the two-month payroll tax cut extension the senate had passed overwhelmingly. >> we were here fighting for the right things. it may not have been the politically the smartest thing in the world, but i'm going to tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. >> reporter: the bill keeps the payroll tax rate at its current 4.2% instead of the previous 6.2%. it also extends unemployment benefits, continuing to give people who've been out of work up to 99 weeks of unemployment checks. o part of today's agreement, house republicans extracted a promise, that the senate will appoint negotiators just as they have

nancy cordes is on capitol hill. and florida a&m says no. mark strassmann reports the school's president will not be suspended in the hazing scandal. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the secretary of defense says tonight that the united states will not allow iran to develop a nuclear weapon. in an interview with cbs news, leon panetta says that despite efforts to disrupt their nuclear program the iranians are reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less. secretary panetta spoke with us at an end of an overseas trip during which he reviewed strategy in afghanistan and officially ended the war in iraq. on the way home, he boarded the jet nicknamed "the doomsday plane." this is the command post where he and the president would direct a nuclear war. in an interview for "60 minutes," we sat down in the compartment where he would execute the commander-in-chief's orders. panetta told us iran needs only one year to build a nuclear weapon. so are you

but so far it's just been tough sanctions from this administration. >> schieffer: nancy cordes, among the things congress didn't do, we saw the collapse of the so-called super committee. but we kind of overlooked the fact that the law that created the super committee called for these draconian across-the-board cuts in places including the pentagon. at the end of next year. does anyone really believe congress will let those cuts go in now, go into effect? >> i think what we see this year is even when congress decides it wants to do something it didn't necessarily achieve it. even if you have some republicans and some democrats who want to roll back so-called see questions trags and make sure that those cuts aren't imposed they might not be able to marshal the support they need to actually pass a bill on it. you've heard the president come out very forcefully and say, look, i am going to stick with this. unless you can come up with some other way to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget, this was supposed to be a big stick to force the super committee to act. and, you know, if the super com

but so far it's just been tough sanctions from this administration. >> schieffer: nancy cordes, among the things congress didn't do, we saw the collapse of the so-called super committee. but we kind of overlooked the fact that the law that created the super committee called for these draconian across-the-board cuts in places including the pentagon. at the end of next year. does anyone really believe congress will let those cuts go in now, go into effect? >> i think what we see this year is even when congress decides it wants to do something it didn't necessarily achieve it. even if you have some republicans and some democrats who want to roll back so-called see questions trags and make sure that those cuts aren't imposed they might not be able to marshal the support they need to actually pass a bill on it. you've heard the president come out very forcefully and say, look, i am going to stick with this. unless you can come up with some other way to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget, this was supposed to be a big stick to force the super committee to act. and, you know, if the super com

>> pelley: bob schieffer and nancy cordes are covering the battle over the payroll tax. dean reynolds and wyatt andrews on our new poll that finds a three-way tie for the g.o.p. presidential nomination. gingrich, romney, and none of the above. cynthia bowers is covering a deadly blizzard in the plains and a high school football coach finds the team's toughest opponent is poverty. seth doane on what he did to defeat it. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, in just 12 days 160 million work could see a tax increase in their paychecks and nearly two million others are struggling to get by without a paycheck could lose their

nancy cordes is on capitol hill. and florida a&m says no. mark strassmann reports the school's president will not be suspended in the hazing scandal. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the secretary of defense says tonight that the united states will not allow iran to develop a nuclear weapon. in an interview with cbs news, leon panetta says that despite efforts to disrupt their nuclear program the iranians are reached a in

nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight, nancy. >> reporter: well, scott, speaker boehner did not take the president up on that suggestion to hold a vote right away. he insists that congress could work out a deal very easily to extend this payroll tax cut for an entire year if only senate democrats would just come back. >> we're here. we're ready to go to work. >> reporter: a hand full of lonely house republicans are the only ones left on capitol hill now, waiting to negotiate with senators who left five days ago. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences. >> they are not representing the views of the american people. >> reporter: democratic leader steny hoyer called the move a gimmick, noting that half of the republican negotiators are on record opposing the payroll tax cut. >> i can't remember a time when 160 million americans were adversely affected by the actions that we took yesterday. >> reporter: house republicans are getting no backup from senate republicans who voted overwhelmingly for the stopgap two-month measur

so we asked nancy cordes to find out what his former republican colleagues would say about those days. >> i pull the string. >> reporter: newt gingrich led house republicans out of the political wilderness in 1994, and into the majority for the first time in 40 years. so why do so many of those members disparage him today? >> he's too erratic. he's too self-centered. >> he has these visions of grandiosity. >> i will have difficulty supporting him as president of the united states. >> reporter: the bad blood developed over his management style and his role in the government shutdowns of '95, and '96. republicans got the blame. president clinton got re- elected. >> i don't miss those days. >> reporter: ohio republican steve latourette says speaker gingrich was always in crisis mode. >> we would meet in a room in the basement of the capitol to 2:00, 3:00 in the morning it always seemed like four or five times a week there was some sort of emergency that needed to be dealt with. >> reporter: republicans were also embarrassed by the 84 ethics charges filed against gingrich. after a lengthy

he is the front-runner in the state of south carolina, and nancy cordes is in greenville. >> reporter: scorkt as gingrich gains momentum here and around the country he is making a tears bid for tea party voters who may be losing interest in herman cain, echoing their charge that mr. obama say radical socialist. >> when i was speaker i created 11 million jobs. he stands for unemployment. at a values level, we stand for american exceptionalism, the constitution, the declaration of independence, he stand for some weird european nationalist secularist model that doesn't work. >> reporter: the former house speaker also expressed suspicions self times about mr. obama's background as a community organizer, and said that the president has "no solutions for america." he is clearly trying to prove to republican voters here and around the country, scott, that it is he and not mitt romney, who would go after the president most aggressively in a general election match-up and give republicans the fight that they've been hoping for. >> pelley: nancy, thanks very much. they put up a small fight today

nancy cordes says there's word of a deal that would prevent a tax increase for 160 million americans. there's a new report on unemployment. anthony mason looks at the growing hopeful signs for the economy. how would the republican front-runners create jobs? wyatt andrews and dean reynolds put the question face to face. >> reporter: mr. speaker, can you tell me what your job creation plan is? >> pelley: and barry petersen on the new face of hunger in america, causing a run at the food bank. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, there is a deal tonight that would prevent a tax increase which would have hit most american households in nine days. date road, republican leaders of the house of representatives caved in and agreed to vote on a senate bill that would extend a

nancy cordes reports they're taking action after a "60 minutes" expoas a. homes are crushed in los angeles. lee cowan tells us the worst santa ana winds in years hit with hurrica

nancy cordes reports it includes slower mail and thousands of jobs lost.an is raped and then forced to marry her attacker. mandy clark on a case raising calls for justice. and byron pitts with the story of the u.s.

cbs news congressional correspondent nancy cordes is in our washington bureau this morning. good morning to you, nancy. what is the latest. >> reporter: the latest is that these benefits will not expire on december 31st but won't be extended for a year either. negotiators in the senate only come up with a two-month package and looks at extending the payroll tax at the current rate 4.2% and down from traditional 6.2% and that means a savings of a thousand dollars for 160 million americans and extends 99 weeks of unemployment benefits for long-term jobless americans. republicans did win a big concession here from democrats requiring the administration to make a decision on the proposed key dunn stos xl pipeline within a couple of months. this package will not be paid for with a surtax millionaires as democrats wanted but instead paid for by fees on lenders freddie mac and fannie mae. >> you say only a temporary deal. two months down the road they will be doing this all over again. what is going on? why not make this a longer deal? >> reporter: the problem they couldn't come to

nancy cordes tells tells us since that's report a bill to change the law has been gaining speed. >> reporter: it's called the stock disability and it would explicitly ban members of congress from profiting on information not available to the public that they gain through their work on capitol hill. >> we must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal. >> we should not be shielding congress from laws that apply to other americans. >> reporter: before the "60 minutes" piece aired last month, the stock act had been languishing for five years. new york democratic congresswoman louise slaughter had only managed to round up nine cosponsors in the house. and now you have how many? >> now we have 138. >> reporter: slaughter was inspired to introduce her bill after a staffer to former house speaker tom delay made thousands of day trades from his office. do you think this is a really widespread problem? >> it's really difficult to tell, but what i want to do is nip it in the bud. >> i have not made any decisions on day-to-day trading activities on my accounts and haven't for years. >>

nancy cordes tells us what else the post office is doing to deliver itself from the threat of bankruptcy. >> reporter: here's how bad things are for the postal service. this post office in tiny burr hill, virginia, lost $27,000 last year. postal t postal service wants to close it and 3, 700 others. dale wise, who goes there everyday, says there isn't another post office for 15 miles. >> it's mighty important to a lot of folks in this area and i hope we can maintain it. >> reporter: congress has balked at those closures so the postals after announced today it's going to close roughly half of its 461 regional processing sites as early as next march. it means a first-class letter will have to travel farther to reach a processing center, slowing the delivery of time-sensitive mail like checks and prescription drugs and virtually eliminating next-day service for first-class mail for the first time since 1971. first-class mail is the postal service's most lucrative product. but it's also in steep decline with volume down 29% from its peak in 2001 as americans turned to private shippers and usi

here's nancy cordes. >> reporter: in the small, arid town of pavilion, wisconsin, water is a preciousty so the e.p.a.'s findings are devastating for farmer john fenton. >> right now i don't know if i'm poisoning my family or if i'm not. >> reporter: according to the e.p.a., the groundwater supplying his well contains benzene at 50 times the maximum contamination level, methane of near saturation levels and a p.h. levels of household bleach. fenton and 20 other families were warned by the e.p.a. last year not to drink or cook with their well water and to use a fan while showering. >> so we're trying to prevent the buildup of explosive gases that could result ifous blowing our homes up. >> reporter: today the e.p.a. blamed by-products of hydraulic fracturing. millions of gallons of water, sand, and potentially toxic team cals are released into the earth, shattering the stone and releasing the gas for collection. pavilion sits on a geological bed of natural gas rich sand stone and the canadian energy giant encana owns 200 natural gas wells within four square miles. the water from louis m

congressional correspondent nancy cordes has the latest. good morning to you, nancy. the president called up the speaker said and said take the two months deal and we will come back to the table early next year and fight out a longer term deal. what did the speaker say in response? >> reporter: essentially, he said no dice. house republicans are all in on this one. speaker boehner continuing to insist that actually this is something congress could easily work out on its own and could come to an agreement on a one-year deal if senate democrats would just come back to the negotiating table. here is how he put it when he was sitting at that negotiating table alone yesterday. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do, extend the payroll tax benefit for the next year. >> reporter: he said he knows that the timing isn't good for anyone coming so close to christmas, but this is something that the american people deserve. >> what are you hearing from senate democrats today?

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill, nancy? >> reporter: scott, we are now official in a total stalemate and tonight most lawmakers are heading home for the holidays. >> reporter: the motion is adopted. >> reporter: house republicans doubled down on their risky strategy today voting to reject a two-month tax cut and to establish negotiations with a resistant senate. >> come back to washington! do your work! give the american people a year, not two months. >> reporter: democrats said house republicans were ensuring the payroll tax cut would expire all together in 12 days, causing the rate to return to 6.2% from 4.2%. >> what is happening here today is shameful, it is a disgrace, it is unreal, it's unbelievable. >> reporter: the senate passed the two-month tax cut overwhelmingly over the weekend after failing to reach agreement on how to pay for a one-year plan. then they left town giving house speaker john boehner one option-- take it or leave it. senate democrats say they're not coming back. does this mean the tax cuts are goin

. >> joining us from capitol hill is congressional correspondent nancy cordes. good morning. what happened over the weekend? friday, it did seem like there was a deal. >> reporter: what happens is house speaker john boehner briefed his house republicans on saturday and they were overwhelmingly opposed to this deal to the surprise of many. as you heard him say, the senate deal only extends the payroll tax cuts two months because senate negotiators from the two sides couldn't agree on how to pay for it for an entire year. house republicans say that creates too much uncertainty. the american taxpayer won't know whether their tax cut is going to expire in another two months. so they are opposed. >> what happens if the senate bill does, in fact, fail in the house? >> reporter: it could very well fail. we are hearing what house republicans want is to negotiate with the senate and change the bill but senate democrats said flatly they are not coming back. the senate voted overwhelmingly to pass this bill on saturday. and then it left town for more than a month. keep in mind, if the t

nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight, nancy. >> reporter: well, scott, speaker boehner did not take the president up on that suggestion to hold a vote right away. he insists that congress could work out a deal very easily to extend this payroll tax cut for an entire year if only senate democrats would just come back. >> we're here. we're ready to go to work. >> reporter: a hand full of lonely house republicans are the only ones left on capitol hill now, waiting to negotiate with senators who left five days ago. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences. >> they are not representing the views of the american people. >> reporter: democratic leader steny hoyer called the move a gimmick, noting that half of the republican negotiators are on record opposing the payroll tax cut. >> i can't remember a time when 160 million americans were adversely affected by the actions that we took yesterday. >> reporter: house republicans are getting no backup from senate republicans who voted overwhelmingly for the stopgap two-month measur

nancy cordes from capitol hill, thanks very much. you'll be watching that. >>> also in washington, erica hill. back to you. >> thanks. >>> a surprising decision on what is known as plan b or the so-called morning after pill. the secretary of health and human services overruled her own medical experts deciding that younger teenagers should not buy plan b without a prescription wyatt andrews is here in washington with that story. >> good morning. >> reporter: this is the first time the white house has ever publicly overruled an fda safety recommendation and it just happened to take a controversial issue off the table just before an election year. for millions of women, it was a stunning reversal. the makers. plan b, the emergency contraception drug sold with no prescription to women 17 and older, had applied to loosen the rules and sell the drug over-the-counter with no restrictions on anyone, including teenager girls. looking at strictly at the safety studies, the fda approved the change, but the secretary of health and human services

nancy cordes has the late news from capitol hill. nancy? >> reporter: scott, house speaker john boehner briefed house republicans on his decision this evening in a teleconference call. he did not take questions. he did not ask for feedback because that's what sparked this standoff five days ago. deserted by senate republicans and derived by democrats, house republican leaders believed they had no choice but to back down and accept the two-month payroll tax cut extension the senate had passed overwhelmingly. >> we were here fighting for the right things. it may not have been the politically the smartest thing in the world but i'm going to tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. >> reporter: the bill keeps the payroll tax rate at its current 4.2% instead of the previous 6.2%. it also extends unemployment benefits, continuing to give people who've been out of work up to 99 weeks of unemployment checks. as part of today's agreement, house republicans extracted a promise, that the senate will appoint negotiators just as they have

cbs' nancy cordes on capitol hill, thanks so much. >>> speaking of that election and the race for the white house this morning, there are signs that newt gingrich is starting to pull ahead of the pack. >> pretty extraordinary when you think about. a new poll for wall street and wj and nbc news poll. shows newt gingrich in first place. jan crawford is here with more. jan, the numbers, a lot of people thought newt gingrich was out of the race a few months ago. >> written off to dead, exactly. >> 17 points up now. >> it's been astonishing poll. 17 points ahead of romney who everyone thought was going to be the inevitable nominee and not a lot of time left before people vote in january but not all good news in this poll for newt gingrich. half of the people surveyed said they wouldn't vote for him. when you look at the critical head-to-head matchup with president obama he is down by ten points. mitt romney is only down two points from president obama. the margin of error in this poll is three points so they are tied in the head-to-head matchup. remember, gingrich came out of nowhere for s