the president signs it, but sharyl attkisson reports the deal won't last long. the syrian uprising takes an ominous turn with deadly car bombings in damascus. clarissa ward goes inside syria and meets the rebels plotting to overthrow the regime. mark strassmann on today's new smart cars that can stop themselves to prevent crashes. and steve hartman's "on the road" with santa's toughest challenge. >> santa, for christmas i want my dad to come home. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. no holiday tax increase. after a week-long standoff, the senate, house, and president came together on a two-month extension of the temporary cut in social security payroll taxes. a year ago, that tax rate was lowered from 6.2% to 4.2%. and for a lot of families, that comes to about $80 a month. house republicans wanted a longer extension and they threatened to let the tax cut expire if they didn't get their way. but today they backed down and the president was quick to grab his pen. sharyl attkisson has been covering

sharyl, i wonder, why didn't the government bring criminal charges this case? >> reporter: we asked about that and the justice department told us their goal in this investigation was not to prosecute executives but to identify discriminatory practicepractices and recovery r victims. >> pelley: sharyl, thanks very much. elsewhere in washington, there is no progress to report tonight over an extension of the payroll tax cut, so in 10 days, nearly 200 million americans will find a tax increase in their paychecks. the two percentage point cut in social security taxes ends on december 31. you may remember that on saturday, the senate passed a two-month extension, but yesterday, the house of representatives refused to go along saying that two months isn't enough. president obama is asking the house to reconsider. woo have two reports tonight. first norah o'donnell at the white house. norah. >> reporter: well, scott, in an effort to end this standoff, president obama today called speaker john boehner and urged him to call a vote on what the president sees as the only

sharyl, i wonder, why didn't the government bring criminal charges this case? >> reporter: we asked about that and the justice department told us their goal in this investigation was not to prosecute executives but to identify discriminatory practicepractices and recovery r victims. >> pelley: sharyl, thanks very much. elsewhere in washington, there is no progress to report tonight over an extension of the payroll tax cut, so in 10 days, nearly 200 million americans will find a tax increase in their paychecks. the two percentage point cut in social security taxes ends on december 31. you may remember that on saturday, the senate passed a two-month extension, but yesterday, the house of representatives refused to go along saying that two months isn't enough. president obama is asking the house to reconsider. woo have two reports tonight. first norah o'donnell at the white house. norah. >> reporter: well, scott, in an effort to end this standoff, president obama today called speaker john boehner and urged him to call a vote on what the president sees as the only

sharyl attkisson has been covering from the capitol to the white house. >> i said it was critical for congress not to go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million working americans and i'm pleased to say that they've got it done. >> reporter: the president couldn't have asked for a better sendoff for his hawaii holiday. a week ago, nobody predicted democrats would win such a decisive p.r. victory as tax cutters looking out for middle-class workers while republicans stood in the way. house republicans failed at their attempt to hold out for a full one-year extension of the payroll tax cut. instead, it's renewed for just two months. it saves a thousand dollars a year for a worker earning a $50 salary. the deal was sealed today in a remarkable session of the house and senate which had basically closed up shop. >> the house stands adjourned until 1:00 p.m. tuesday, december 27. >> reporter: leaders were able to expedite the tax cut extension as long as not one single member objected. nobody did. >> happy new year as well. >> reporter: the democrats' leader in the senate, harry

sharyl, thank you very much. team of peace monitors from the arab league arrived in syria today, but there is no letup in the regime's deadly crackdown on dissent. video posted on the internet appears to show syrian tanks rolling into cities that support the uprising against president bashar al assad. a syrian human rights group says 22 civilians were killed just today. shaken by an earthquake. the damage report for the washington monument, next. and get a cold... ...you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart. you spend all day cooking it. so why spend even a moment considering any broth but swanson? the broth cooks trust most to make the meal folks spend all year waiting for. in stuffing and more, the secret is swanson. to make the meal folks spend all year waiting for. some baby formula from more than 3,000 stores. one infant died from a rare bacterial

sharyl, thank you very much. team of peace monitors from the arab league arrived in syria today, but there is no letup in the regime's deadly crackdown on dissent. video posted on the internet appears to show syrian tanks rolling into cities that support the uprising against president bashar al assad. a syrian human rights group says 22 civilians were killed just today. shaken by an earthquake. the damage report for the washington monument, next. and get a cold... ...you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart. you spend all day cooking it. so why spend even a moment considering any broth but swanson? the broth cooks trust most to make the meal folks spend all year waiting for. in stuffing and more, the secret is swanson. some baby formula from more than 3,000 stores. one infant died from a rare bacterial infection in missouri this week after being fed en

cbs' sharyl in washington. thanks, sharyl. >>> meanwhile, wall street is in a merry mood this week. dow jones industrials gained more than 400 points in the last three days. for the year the dow is up 5%. >> here to tell us what is driving the market is alexis christoforous. >> it's getting on the housing front and the unemployment front and does that mean that the worst is behind us? >> well, at least we're taking baby steps, we have to start some place. we'll start with the job market. the number of americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits dropped to a low and claims below 300,000 for the past month or so which does show job growth. the unemployment rate fell in 43 states last month. we're looking at the unemployment rate hanging election. >> in addition to unemployment, housing, jim and i have been togging about this. housing has been showing improvement. >> 2012 could be the year we see stabilization in the housing market and we had builders busiest last month and home construction busy and permts for future construction and mortgage rates hitting a record low thi

the president signs it, but sharyl attkisson reports the deal won't last long. the syrian uprising takes an ominous turn with deadly car bombings in damascus. clarissa ward goes inside syria and meets the rebels plotting to overthrow the regime. mark strassmann on today's new smart cars that can stop themselves to prevent crashes. and steve hartman's "on the road" with santa's toughest challenge. >> santa, for christmas i want my dad to come home. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. no holiday tax increase. after a week-long standoff, the senate, house, and president came together on a two-month extension of the temporary cut in social security pa

sharyl attkisson, cbs news, the pentagon. >>> thousands of grave markers at arlington national cemetery be replaced or corrected. the army reported to congress thursday that potential mistakes involved about 64,000 grave markers. last year, misplaced graves were found. this report mostly found incorrect spellings and other minor errors. >>> straight ahead, your friday morning weather. >>> and in sports, the colts make a last-minute desperate drive against the texans to win their second game. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! thank you! hey. hey mom! what are you doing? what is that? what is this? it's a special paste i invented to replace socks. we're dipping our feet in it. why? because we can't find socks that shape to our feet. we're sick of it! sick of it! that's really stupid. that's the future. try hanes socks with the

sharyl attkisson is on capitol hill for us this morning with details. good morning. i guess the day in washington today will be caved. what is going on? >> reporter: the uncomfortable stalemate appears to be over to 160 million workers no longer have to worry that their payroll taxes will be going up on new year's. the house and senate could pass the two-month extension as early as today without a formal member by member vote, as long as nobody objects. that would end the public relations nightmare for republicans that if he would suffer for failing to get together on this, tension sooner. john boehner admitted as much last night. >> may not have been the politically the smartest thing in the world, but let me tell you what. i think our members waged through a good fight. we were able to come to an agreement. we were able to fix what came out of the senate. >> reporter: republicans have been unable to agree on what to do before now because those in the senate had agreed to just the two-month extension. they were content with doing that over the holidays, while some h

sharyl attkisson has the story on those who prey on homeowners. >> reporter: good morning, guys. 2011llion dollar weather disasters. that's created plenty of opportunities for the crooks who follow after the storm to exploit unsuspecting customers. when a monster hail storm hits the northeast in 2009, workers for a company called precision builders saw opportunity in the aftermath. they went door to door offering free inspections for hail damage and cash for new jersey homeowners like jeff and tonya williams who would display signs on their lawns. >> that was worth $500 if you put the sign. >> put the sign out as advertisement for them. >> the williams hadn't noticed any hail damage, but figured, why not get a free inspection? >> you really did not go through an area that did not have a precision sign on at least every other lawn. >> not precision and two of its workers have been charged with insurance fraud. the new jersey attorney general says they inflected the supposed hail damage themselves to collect the insurance money. they've pleaded not guilty. investigators say storm chaser

>> sharyl, thank you very much. >>> we'll move to the penn state scandal where the wife of suspect jerry sandusky is speaking out for the first time calling the charges against him false. >> meantime, he is now free on bail. we have more from pennsylvania for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica. jerry sandusky spent just one night in the county jail before posting the $250,000 bail he needed to get out. 200,000 of that came from real estate holdings. but 50,000 of it came from a person whose name is beginning to be mentioned in the case, his wife. dorothy sandusky sped past reporters on her way into the couple's home thursday. an hour later a car pulled up bringing her husband back from jail to begin living under house arrest. he's the one facing 52 counts of child sexual abuse. but his attorney joe amendola told cbs news that 68-year-old dorothy known as dottie is also suffering the consequences. >> her whole life is ruined. i mean even if they come at it and i've compared this battle to climbing mt. everest from the bottom, i mean even if somehow jerry comes out of this

investigative correspondent sharyl attkisson is in washington with this story. >> reporter: as congress battles over how to fix a ballooning debt problem a new report from capitol hill shed light on why the problem exists. meanings billions of your tax dollars going to questionable programs at a time when there is no extra money. ever wonder if cocaine enhances the sex drive of quail? maybe not. but the national institutes of health does. it gave the university of kentucky more than $356,000 to study just that. how about lending a little help to china? the country that holds more than a trillion dollars in u.s. debt, we sent 18 million dollars back in foreign aid. >> nothing is being done to eliminate wasteful spending. >> reporter: the waste book is put out by senator tom coburn. it identifies programs we can't afford with $15 trillion debt. there's the $3 billion the pentagon spent on alternative engines for the s-35 only to have is later decided the engines weren't needed. 113,000 to preserve the history of video games. 500,000 of your hard earned money went to researching why chimps

sharyl attkisson is also at virginia tech. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> reporter: the 2007 tranelgeds on the minds of everyone here, especially those who made it out. for frederick cook, a graduate of virginia tech, the unthinkable was happening again. >> your heart just kind of drops. it's like a pretty intense, emotional thing. >> reporter: cook was an engineering student in 2007 when seung-hui cho went through a shooting campaign. he survived but 32 others and the ganman didn't. >> my life has changed dramatically since the shooting. there isn't a day that goes by that i didn't think about what happened there. >> reporter: those painful memories rush back as cook anxiously followed thursday's event from his downtown office in blacksberg, just blocks away from campus. in 2007, virginia tech professor and poet nikki giovanni gave this memorable address. >> we are the hokies. we will prevail. we will prevail. we are virginia tech. >> reporter: thursday, she was back on campus in lockdown. part of new security measu