mike viqueira, robert costa, and chris sill lis za. other big story today, the nra speaks after the connecticut school massacre. that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics. tmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help cover some of the expenses medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to find out more, request your free decision guide. call or go online tod

i just want to bring in joy reid from the grio and robert costa from "national review."f moment before the president comes on here. robert, i want to start with you, mitch mcconnell is talking about the need for a bipartisan deal. is that a positive sign in your view? >> it's a huge sign. if leader mcconnell is walking out of the white house and saying he's hopeful and optimistic, this is a man of few words. that means something is really in motion right now on capitol hill. as a reporter just said, the real question is the rates. if you see movement on unemployment insurance on the alternative minimum tax, a slew of other issues that could be attached to a package, that means these leaders are talking and deal sh in the works. it could come to the senate this weekend and go over to the house. >> squlou, what do you want to hear from the president right now? >> you know, i think the president -- what we'll probably hear from him is not a new package, no the new offers. i think the president is beyond the point of making offers now, and he'll call on the house and senate

. >> and robert costa. welcome back. gemmy, i'll start with you.u can put together a deal that you think would work, what would it be? >> first of all, the key is a very simple word, compromise. democrats will have to understand a simple word even on entitlements and the cpi which cut social security benefits by $100 billion and he offered over 400 billion and republicans will have to stop this really crazy idea that we can achieve a sustainable ledger with absolutely no new revenues. if they can prom promyself on those two basic points we'll have a good deal and the economy can get back to the job of recovering. >> robert costa, if you'll put together a deal that you think would work, what would it be? >> there's so much noise out there right now with the house and the senate side about what kind of deal should happen, but what this really comes down to is rates. middle-class rates and both party leaders want those things to happen. 250 or 400k, whatever it is and maybe somewhere in the senate, pass it and go home. >>. >> if he kept the tax code a

susan milligan and robert costa. >>> susan, president obama and senator kerry have shared a unique historyr the past eight years and that's something that the president referred to today. >> of course, i also have to say thanks because john invited a young illinois state senator to address the democratic convention in boston. i was proud to serve with him on the foreign relations committee under the tutelage of joe biden where we all became friends. of course, nothing brings two people closer together than weeks of debate prep. john, i'm looking forward to working with you instead of debating you. >> susan, i guess the point, they've known each other in a variety of context and work apparently well together. >> they do. and ill think the other thing that's important about senator kerry in this role is that he can help bridge what has historically been a riff in the state department. they have different missions, but hopefully towards the same goal. he has street cred in both agencies and understands the missions of both agencies. he knows what it's like to have to deal with domestic politi

here with the scoop, cnbc contributor from national review online, robert costa.h this? i want to just add, senator jim demint coming out forcefully against speaker boehner's plan, and house member jim jordan also coming out against the plan. is the gop splintering? is there a civil war? >> larry, i'm here on capitol hill and what a raucous day today was for conservatives. you never really hear about it, but there's a group on capitol hill called the republican steering committee. they're a private group of lawmakers that decide committee spots and they announced that four lawmakers, popular conservatives from the class of 2010 and beyond would lose their coveted committee spots in places like the financial service committee and the agriculture committee and even the budget committee because they're not voting with leadership. there is irking a lot of conservatives because they think boehner is trying to exert too much control as these fiscal cliff negotiations continue. >> let's see if i get this right. top of the daily crawler website, a good one. conservative g

. >> thank you, robert costa and sam stein. we will be back in a moment. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> welcome back to hardball. what will a deal look like if there is one? and who is going to wind up giving up more on the tax cuts for wealthy americans? harry reid insists $250,000 is a threshold, but it may not hold. joining me now is josh green of bloomberg business week. josh, for the markets, for the business community, whether it is $250,000 and i know sit is a big deal for the politicians in washington, but $250,000 or $400,000 or $500,000, is there a big difference? >> no. the ceos have said to raise our taxes and we want a deal, and don't go over the cliff, because it will imperil the recovery and any deal is better than no recovery. >> and the markets have been volatile, and i dont n't know ie can show the chart, but every piece of news whether it is up or down, you can see from the peaks and the troughs here just for a tweet or a facebook post would send the market in a spin. >> well, wall street is expecting washington to do wh

let's bring in robert costa who by the way is the newly reported national review editor.ongrats on your promotion. i wanted to ask you. if it could happen in michigan a right to work law that gives individuals real choice where next? >> look republicans had a horrible 2012 but they still hold seats. they have an appetite for having labor fights. you are going to see them go into pennsylvania. it could happen. a lot of governors are going to start looking at their own states. does this slow that down? does it remind mr. obama and his left of center allies what happened in wisconsin they tried to recall the governor and it didn't work. and now it is spreading to michigan. does it have political implications in dc? sure. that is the big story right now. he has spoken to the workers protesting in the streets. this is the second term battle. how he is going to stand with the unions. go after them. how dbig a force are they going to be on the national stage? >> you are going to see them reassert themselves larry. they don't have the senate and the white house. so in this period

the national reviews, robert costa who is a contributor for msnbc and the kudlow report.e all. you are in the jump seat and i will give you the first chance at this. you did this interview with tom price. it's about this idea that some conservatives may try to make baper's life so uncomfortable they could challenge him for the speakership. it's clear he doesn't have the votes for any of this, but how series is boehner taking it and how much of it is impacting the negotiations? >> it's a great question. the tension within the house republican conference is very real. tom price's comments about his concerns and about a potential deal that includes tax increases reflects where a lot of conservatives are. they are wary about what speaker boehner is doing. no one is really sure about the contours of the potential deal. >> you see here there seems to be all this evidence that republicans are publicly splintering. they are not behind one position. even mitch mcconnell said he can get his tax increases by doing nothing. >> there is a long way between overthrowing the speaker and

robert costa of national review reported a little nugget that republicans alerted the white house and that they may demand that this be part of the negotiation a couple weeks ago. that to me seems like a bit of a stretch. it seems pretty clear that mcconnell and the senate leadership sort of opportunistically seized on a stray comment from barack obama in his interview on "meet the press" this morning that he had put this social security cut on the table and decided to seize on that and throw it into the negotiation. i think it's important though to just step back a bit and ask ourselves why a deal might not get done as it's looking now, and i think it's two reasons. one, if we go over the cliff, i think democrats actually think the politics favor them, that the public is likely to blame republicans and the negotiations gets easier from their perspective, and on the republican side, the reason they think might go over the cliff, the real deadline isn't january 1st but when the debt ceiling comes due in eight weeks or so, and so neither side really sees this january 1st deadline as tha

let's bring in ryan grim, washington bureau chief, and robert costa, washington editor with the national review. good to see both of you. ryan, give us what you know, what's going on right now? >> there was some reporting earlier that reid had made a counteroffer to republicans. that's not true. that was a misunderstanding. so at this point, we're stalled. negotiations will continue through the night. reid said everybody can go home until about 11:00 tomorrow. tomorrow is new year's eve, for those paying attention. and apparently, there's no dignity left in the senate or house and they will be in tomorrow on new year's eve pretending like they're going to get to some kind of resolution here. >> what do we know about where they are, robert? did the inclusion of the vice president make any difference? what do you know? >> i think that's a key point, chris. tin collusion of vice president biden in these talks means that though these talks are stalled, negotiations continue. harry reid and mitch mcconnell had some problems getting to a final offer, final counteroffer this afternoon. but the

let's bring in robert costas. isn't that harsh? listen, you don't have to agree with her. had her vision and she went for it. what's wrong with that? >> i think it's not harsh at all. this has been one of the most activist administrators in the obama administration. she comes in in 2009. immediately she gets to work on cap and trade. it fails in the senate. since republicans took over the house in 2010, she has not had a lot of success. >> isn't that what she was supposed to do. couldn't you say there was by the election of barack obama a mandate on climate change and environmental reform. >> i disagree. i think ms. jackson would disagree. one of the reasons she's leaving if you read her statement, she seems disappointed that her green agenda has not come to fruition in the obama administration. the president has been focused on the jobs and the economy trying to win election. she's gone after coal and angered a lot of businesses for her regulatory posture. a lot of people on wall street will be happy to see her take the door and leave. >> they might be happy to see her ta

but that person also told robert costa from "the national review" that my concern is that in our conference conservatives who are a majority don't have a proper platform. matt, is this just a threat from republicans trying to get some leverage to go against john boehner? are there people who are really angry enough or convinced enough that they can't vote for this? >> i think what it reflects is populous pressure coming from the tea party movement. tea party movement is widely, i think, misunderstood by democrats as anti-tax or some other reason of the movement. it's an anti-government spending and government over-reach move m, which is very different from grover nor cyst project of holding the line on taxes. john boehner is a guy in 2010 who was asked what part of government would you cut, he's like, i don't know. he didn't have an answer. republicans have stopped having that answer traditionally. the tea party movement rose up to challenge that finally and put pressure on that. it's a real pressure, but they don't have leadership in the house right now that reflects that. they didn't get

with us, robert costa joins us, also nbc political director, chuck todd.ing joe" brewed by starbucks. >>> finally, a righteous mission of worldwide equal rights for the disabled, with the support of war heroes and senate elder statesmen. in a world gone mad, america can lead and reclaim its exceptional moral authority. >> they needed 66 votes of the treaty, two-thirds of the senate, and it failed. >> or we could [ bleep ] bed. how did that fail? what is wrong with you people? how did this happen? >> 38 republicans voted no. >> to vote for anything that is even perceived to be granting the u.n. power is a dangerous game for a republican senator because the u.n. is so unpopular among the republican base. >> oh, my god. it's official. republicans hate the united nations more than they like helping people in wheelchairs. >> with us now from washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. with us here on the set, writer for "the national review" online, bob costa. robert, thank you so much

robert, do you like costa or coasta? >> i like costa, i'm italian. >> anyway, washington editor for "the national review." jimmy, i love you and you come on all the time. i'm reading these notes and you, know, you're very slick but you know some of the stuff is not true. what are you talking about that rich people don't pay any national senior retirement, they pay nothing towards social security and nothing towards health care. they pay the maximum but because it's a small percentage of what they pay, you're saying they pay nothing, you're just conflating nothing with paying that it's cut off at $108,000 or whatever? >> no, my good friend, joe. clearly you didn't read all of my notes i sent in to the producer. there are five rates when it comes to earned income. what boehner, the speaker and president are dithering over are what those top rates are going to be, whether it's for people who make a million bucks or -- who cares? at the end of the day if you make $500,000 or higher, paying a little more isn't going to hurt y