now standoff of the omnibus legislation, spending for the government.h government shutdown looming friday night. all of that said. mara, back to 2012. >> back to 2012. >> bret: thought on iowa and ron paul gaining support here. we have seen these organizationally strong in this state. >> organization counts for a lot in iowa. anything can stop newt gingrich consolidating the anti-romney vote is good for romney. at this point, newt surged so far and so fast that he is expected to win iowa or place a close second. i think that if paul could win, that gives romney a new lease on life. newt has to look to south carolina where he is polling strong. the trick for romney he was stuck at 25 and now he dropped a couple points below that is count on the rest of the candidates splitting the rest of the vote. >> bret: i have only been in sioux city for a few hours. but i have noticed the local cable provide they're has fox news channel, the local ads are nonstop. they are one after another. candidate ads. and ron paul has a really brutal ad against newt gingrich th

the omnibus appropriations bill obviously because it has so many different agencies in it rather than each separate agency bill going forward as we have done normally in the past in the senate, because it has so many, there are people who are going to disagree with parts of it. there is no getting around that. the military construction of which i am on the subcommittee and have chaired it in the past is part of this bill, so are many of the other bills that are very important for the functioning of our government. however, what the appropriations bill has done in the main is to stick with the agreement that we all made. in august, there was a lot of negotiation on how we deal with the debt. you know, mr. president, to be honest, i didn't think it was enough. many of us didn't think it was enough, but we have not been able to come to terms between the two houses of congress and with the president on how we can do more and get the votes to do it and get the president to sign the bill. so i'm not saying that we're going to agree with everything in this omnibus appropriations bill, but ev

look, that is on the omnibus bill.l has the spending levels for each part of government through the next year, that is, until the 1st of october of next year. so that's important that that job get done. separate and apart from that is a package extending the payroll tax cut, the unemployment insurance benefits, dealing with the reimbursement for doctors who treat medicare patients. that is moving on a separate track. and we also are seeing progress there. >> senate democrats reportedly, are they considering dropping the millionaire tax to pay for extending the payroll tax cut? is this something that's really on the table? you said it's going to be this minor inconvenience to the wealthy. but is it something that you'd be willing to cut? >> we'd prefer not to. we think it is entirely reasonable that those who have had the greatest benefit from the economy over the last decade and who at the very top have seen their tax rates almost cut in half, that it's not unreasonable to ask those earning over $1 million a year -- re

the senate will vote on the omnibus -- there is a package that the house has passed.he house also funded disaster aid separately. the senate will approve the disaster bill, probably, and not paid for the house approved of. that is the understanding in both chambers. funding for disaster aid is not counted in the overall numbers of the national budget. it is an offset and that has been a place of contention. host: after the senate votes on this today and house is expected back on monday to vote on this, is that correct? guest: that is correct. the house will be back on monday. they have been vague on when they would come back but they will come back and approve the two-month paper a bill. they have already approved on a bus. host: we have a picture of john boehner and he has not signed off on this. guest: he may not like it, but yesterday he said he was specific in saying that the keystone pipeline provision was not included and that -- in the two-payroll bill. host: stan freeman -- dan freeman of the national journal, you can read his reporting on this and other issue

that is the omnibus. around 3:00. the time is not always exact. there's a ruling from this white house, its predecessors that if one house passes a spending bill as we are doing here, and there's a presumption it will pass in the other body, the time is extended for 24 hours. so everyone doesn't have to worry about the government closing tonight. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, let me echo the remarks of the majority leader. as he's indicated, the administration takes the view that if the final appropriations bills pass one house this afternoon, we could have that vote today or it could be tomorrow. but the administration, i'm told by the majority leader, takes the view that if it's passed one house, there will not be a government shutdown. so i think everybody should be reassured that's not going to happen. the conference report has been signed and we're moving toward completing the basic work of government through next september 30 very shortly. on the second issue, the majority leader and i are making significant progress and reaching an agreemen

you lost 101 for the omnibus going forward. rt of your party that isn't buying in the compromise. they want to hold the line. is that a problem for you as leaders of this caucus? >> some of the frustration exists because we are not getting as far as we like if you talks about about reducing spending or implement the pro-growth tax policy. we have a divided government. we have come to washington to effect real change that is difficult. you will see the republicans united behind trying to do the right thing. asking the president to stay in town to work it out. no working person in america can face tax increase for the rest of the next year. >> bret: thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> bret: leadership change taking place in north korea for the first time in 20 years and seen as optimism and dread. we look at the future of north korea. >> reporter: the man officially called dear leader, kim jong il died of a heart attack saturday. news of his death hidden by the hermit kingdom until early hours of monday. l.a. known pictures

president, we continue to work on an agreement to consider the omnibus spending bill and the payroll tax cut compromise. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. as a reminder, the majority leader filed cloture on the motion to proceed to h.r. 3630 this evening. unless an agreement is reached, that vote will be taken on saturday morning. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> intel of the aspen institute and pbs blumenauer teamed up for a discussion on innovation, jobs and the global economy. next to hear from the head of the small business administration, karen mills. this is just under an hour. >> good morning. i am elliott gerson executive vice president of the aspen institute. thank you all for coming this morning. we are delighted to have you here. we are absolutely thrilled to be presenting this program today with our wonderful partners, the "pbs newshour" and intel corp.. it's been part of an ongoing dialogue t

>> well, we are depending on the president to do what he has said. there is an omnibusget bill that has to pass by the end of the year to keep the government run, and i think that the strategy for the republicans is to get that thing passed, and then jet out of here, but the president has said he will not sign the omnibus without them dealing with the payroll tax cut. you mentioned earlier, chris, they are holding so many things hostage. they believe they have perfected the hostage taking, and they are going to demand that the president sign the keystone pipeline deal which is very controversial from the legal perspective and environmental perspective and they want to nullify the environmental protections and the clean air and water provisions in order to pass this payroll tax cut for middle-class americans. and these are just sort of non-starters. so i think that this is a time when it is really important for the american public to have a president who's on their side. he has said he will stand in the gap, and i think that is very significant. another thing, chris, i d

the bill? i would think so. >> i'd say speaking of embarrassment, we're doing it omnibus again. we're doing omnibus again on the eve of chaste is because we haven't passed our appropriation bills. we have had almost as many show boats in the senate this year, equal number of show vote, designed to fail, to go nowhere to present a talk point for president and his campaign and on real bills than were supposed to pass. >> bret: that was very, very interest on the senate floor. it had senator mcconnell, up against the majority leader harry reid. this is a standoff with a government shutdown looming again. friday night. omnibus is the overall spending bill. appropriation bill put in one bill to fund the government. this is now tied to similarly tied to extension, the payroll tax extension that passed the house. we're in the weeds here. but basically the republicans are saying you have a way out of this. the democrats are saying this is u unacceptable. except for a congressman disagreed with reid saying it's dangerous to hold up a complicated deal with time running out and says if he

in addition to this, the president has not signed the omnibus bill. i think he was going to wait for this one which means come friday the government could shut down. once again brinksmanship of hanging by our thumbs. so if i could make any point today for america, don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain here. we are not doing anything. we could have, but we are not. and after that great expense of shuttling all back and forth this week we come here today and we have a rare opportunity to really come together and provide the vital assistance to americans in need. the senate certainly answered the called in a bipartisan bill which was really quite wonderful. it made us feel good about the congress. they passed a bill in support of 89 senators and 80% of the republican senators. and i'm very proud of them. not only did they vote for that but unfortunately the house can't do the same. this bill had the blessings of the speaker of this house as of saturday. after a year of bitter battles in washington we stood on the brink of a bipartisan agr

fillmore tells zachary taylor that the omnibus bill comes up for a vote in the senate and it's a tie vote, even though taylor has said he will oppose the omnibus bill because it does not want to deal with all these issues a once, fillmore will vote for it, but the time and forces of president to veto it. great politics. he tells taylor this early in july. on july 4th i retailer goes to a july 4th picnic. he sits in the hot sun for hours and hours. july 4th is great. he sits in the sun for hours and hours, it cucumbers and no court cherries in know, were not sure which. not much refrigeration. he gets a stomachache. at the time he weighs in at close to 300 pounds. a stomachache for him as a national disaster. and a few days later he's dead. and suddenly the man from the middle of nowhere is president of the united states. .. in the year or so later said it's time to take this out and they asked him to leave. he does what no accidental president in history has ever done. he accepts every one of these resignations when they are offered the day that it is inaugurated so here we have a pr

last one. >> can you explain why the omnibus agreement was called a republican proposal, given the democrats signed off on it? >> because the republicans submitted a proposal that is not a democratic proposal. >> democrats signed off on it. >> they did not sign off on republicans filing a bill at 11:40 p.m. on their own. that is not the case. as senator reid made clear, there are still issues that need to be resolved, should be resolved, can be resolved. we are pleased with the progress that has been made, but this was about tactics in politics. having republicans put this down close to midnight last night, i do not think that is very much in doubt. >> [unintelligible] i am a little confused. >> the house republicans filed a bill last night by themselves that is an omnibus bill. that is not a conference bill. it is not a democratic and republican bill. it is a house republican bill. that is i'm sure part of the atmosphere and tactics here. both sides seem to recognize that there is the capacity here to compromise, a path to compromise. the issues that still need to be resolved on the spendin

journal" the house is in session and a couple of hours to vote on the house- senate compromise on the omnibus spending bill that will keep the government operating for the rest of the year. members may wait until next week to continue debate on extending the payroll tax cut. in about 45

the last hurdle that was keeping him from going other than this pay roll fight was what's called the omnibus spending bill. the big budget that funds the government through 2012 next year. had not yet arrived at the white house yesterday. it is now here. the president can sign it. so as of the white house has said or administration has said that he will sign it before midnight tomorrow. so we could see a situation where the president signs it either today or tomorrow. and gets on a plane. could go to join his family for christmas in hawaii. and then in theory, could come back after the weekend to sit here at the white house and once again, urge congress to pass some kind of pay roll extension so the american people's taxes don't go up in the new year. we could see hill going to hawaii for a brief christmas break and then come back if this isn't done. >> we'll see. i'm sure members of congress would like to take vacations as well. some are-stick around washington. speaking of congress, live to capitol hill. senior congressional correspondent. dana bash joins me now. and it's not often you see

president's 2012 budget to study the port's deepening, so lindsey graham cut a deal to put more money in the omnibus spending bill. >> we're a red state in south carolina. it's no accident we weren't in obama's budget. >> south carolina officials complain that the administration has dropped the ball on improving america's export capacity, particularly with the renaissance in manufacturing here. the panama canal expansion will be completed in two years, yet we still don't have a national strategy for how to take advantage of it. in atlanta, john roberts, fox news. >> as businesses and consumers depend more and more on computers to manage their finances, hackers are taking advantage of the dependence to further their causes. here's one example tonight. good evening, doug. >> good evening, shannon. this came in the form of a hack. thousands of subscribers and clients woke up christmas morning to find their credit card information compromised, and some of their accounts looted by anonymous. the attacks were placed on december 24th, then two days later someone claiming to be part of the anonymous consort

speaker, about the business that is pending before this congress. we have passed an omnibus appropriation bill. this bill that is on the desk here, 1,207 pages, reported out last night, a conference report. i urged support of that bill, but it was not, of course, consistent with the pledges that were made to do appropriations bills discreetly. that is one after another. difficult to do that, unfortunately. the way we should do it, but we didn't do it this year and we have not done it in years' past under democrat and republican leadership. but i am concerned, mr. speaker, that we have some critically unfinished business pending in the congress of the united states. we passed a bill here through the house some days ago which provided for the extension of the payroll tax cut that we gave to 160 million americans last year. our economy is still not as robust as we want it to be. and the president of the united states has said, let's continue that tax cut for middle-income americans. we have not done that yet. and unfortunately the bill that we passed through the house had items

republic senator lindsey gram did manage to cut a deal to put a little more than $4 million into the omnibusstudy going it should also be pointed out, shep, that senator graham says south h carolina is a red state, no surprise to him that the money didn't put any money in his budget to fix his harbor. >> shepard: john, thanks. i guess the kids have the christmas list made out, right? some probably want bikes, some want dolls. we know of one who just wanted to look like everybody else. her mom's hands were kind of tied, so with nothing to lose, she wrote a letter to santa, asking for help. >> she is waiting for christmas to come. she is asking about santa. >> she is saying that she is happy and she is going to look pretty in her earrings. >> shepard: she was born deaf, one ear deformed and the other one missing. >> i love her to death. >> shepard: her parents say they would do anything for her but they couldn't give her ears. in desperation mom wrote a letter to operation santa. dear santa, i'm writing you this letter for my daughter. >> that's cheryl with the children's hospital of los angel

and that gave senators time to return this morning at 9 eastern time to work on the omnibus spending bill. and according to the hill newspapers and others, leaders in the senate met with their

it must be snuck into the omnibus end of the year bill. whether it be the x.l. pipeline for the oil industry, whether it be the light bulb bill for the coal industry, whether it be the billionaire tax breaks, staying on the books rather than helping to make sure ordinary people get tax breaks, billionaires, oil -- the speaker pro tempore: time of the gentleman from massachusetts has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. markey: i urge a no note. mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. at this time i'm happy to yield two minutes to my good friend from banebridge township, ohio, mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. mr. latourette: i thank the chairman and i thank the speaker for the recognition. you know, one of the useless sort of pieces of trivia i carry around in my head is the originator of superman comics was from cleveland, ohio. i think he sold the rights to it for a pittance and very sorry after that. one of the things i could never get my arms around in the superman series was the bi s

. >> it's worth mentioning as we talk about larded on items that mising from the omnibus bill, restrictions to cuba. energy efficiency standards for incandescent bulbs and federal and local funding for abortions in d.c. we're now in a season where you have any piece of legislation and people are just trying to throw things in. and then it becomes a battle over this mi nusha. >> right. once you take those out, these are the things you have to stack on this legislation. why republicans think the pipeline is the thing they want to go to the floor on and, by the way, destroy their position in terms of being the ponte that always favors tax cuts. newt gingrich kept calling another payroll tax cut and the middle class tax cut. so talk about losing the message war on this one. to go for a pipeline, i hear the argument about jobs. they're not jobs right now. these are long term infrastructure projects. why put your flag down on that particular issue? i think luke is right. they need to get out of town. get this issue off the table and talk about whatever else they want to beat the president up on.

yes, jessica. >> clearly the president will stay in town to sign the omnibus, but now he said it's up to the speaker to take -- make the next move. so what is the president's next move? will he go join his family in hawaii? >> i don't have any scheduling updates to give you. we are obviously in a pretty fluid situation. but the president made clear in his call to speaker boehner earlier today, as i made clear in the readout, that the action that must be taken is the house needs to take up the senate bill that was supported by an overwhelming percentage of republicans and democrats in the senate and pass it to make sure that taxes don't go up. >> which is to say he has no intention of negotiating -- >> the negotiating has happened already. it is not -- as i just explained, it is not at all the case that this is simply the president saying, here's what i want and do it; this was a compromise worked out by the republican leader in the senate with the democratic leader in the senate, with the approval -- in fact, even the instigation -- of the speaker of the house. >> so the wall street j

sorry to disappoint. >> the omnibus bill looks like it's on its way towards passage and negotiation, and we now know the president and senate democratic leadership are working to hold that up until the payroll tax gets done and of course that has in peril of the omnibus doesn't get done and we have the government shut down. is the president willing to take that risk? >> with the president is not willing to do is leave town or allow congress to leave town without ensuring that 160 million americans do not see their taxes go up next year on average a thousand dollars. there is ample time for congress to finish its business and to finish america's business. they should pay the payroll tax cut extension, extension of unemployment insurance, and they can finish the spending bill all before leaving on their vacation. there's no reason this can't be done. i will make another point which is there are still issues to be done with the spending bill despite some of what you've heard. there has been no bill feingold and no shared but we know they're there are issues that concern us in putting out

fillmore tells zachary taylor that the omnibus bill comes up for a vote in the senate and it's a tie vote, even though taylor has said he will oppose the omnibus bill because it does not want to deal with all these issues a once, fillmore will vote for it, but the time and forces of president to veto it. great politics. he tells taylor this early in july. on july 4th i retailer goes to a july 4th picnic. he sits in the hot sun for hours and hours. july 4th is great. he sits in the sun for hours and hours, it cucumbers and no court cherries in know, were not sure which. not much refrigeration. he gets a stomachache. at the time he weighs in at close to 300 pounds. a stomachache for him as a national disaster. and a few days later he's dead. and suddenly the man from the middle of nowhere is president of the united states. .. whenever an accidental president comes into power, members and in a resignation. and most presidents they thank you and put these envelopes and their task. if you need them later, they take them out. so bobby kennedy, for instance, offered to resign that lyndon jo

tw two-month extension of the payroll tax, unemployment insurance, and doc fix, disaster aid and the omnibus appropriations conference repo report. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> according to the hill newspaper and others, leaders in the house agreed on a two month extension of the social security payroll tax holiday, and that bill freezes scheduled payments in medicare until march, and it would extend unemployment insurance. house speaker john boehner has to take it over with the gop members of the gorches before signing up, but it includes the keystone pipeline project. that from the hill newspaper. bringing you live coverage again tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. eastern time here on c-span2. ♪ >> this week on q&a, our guest is christopher hitchens and columnist for vanity fair. he's the author of over a dozen books. his most recent is the memoir, "hitch 22", and last summer, he was diagnosed with cancer. he joins us from his home i

the highlight is a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, funding most of the federal government. that passed easily, with 67 votes, 32 against. in addition, the senate who addressed a couple of measures on emergency spending that were separated from the omnibus spending bill. one was about $8 billion in emergency spending to fund disaster relief, the bulk of it going to fema. the other bill was something house republicans insisted on, and almost 2% across the board discretionary spending cuts to offset emergency spending. that has been a fight since the beginning of september. democrats have argued emergency spending should not be offset. republicans say congress cannot keep adding to the deficit. that offset measure, while approved in the house on friday, was defeated in the senate today. the emergency spending will not be paid for. basically, the house passed the offset to give conservatives in the lower chamber political cover for supporting the extra emergency spending. there is extension of the payroll tax cut and a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill. >> who are the winners a

fillmore tells zachary taylor that the omnibus bill comes up for a vote in the senate and it's a tie vote, even though taylor has said he will oppose the omnibus bill because it does not want to deal with all these issues a once, fillmore will vote for it, but the time and forces of president to veto it. great politics. he tells taylor this early in july. on july 4th i retailer goes to a july 4th picnic. he sits in the hot sun for hours and hours. july 4th is great. he sits in the sun for hours and hours, it cucumbers and no court cherries in know, were not sure which. not much refrigeration. he gets a stomachache. at the time he weighs in at close to 300 pounds. a stomachache for him as a national disaster. and a few days later he's dead. and suddenly the man from the middle of nowhere is president of the united states. .. in the year or so later said it's time to take this out and they asked him to leave. he does what no accidental president in history has ever done. he accepts every one of these resignations when they are offered the day that it is inaugurated so here we have a pr

senators right now working on the omnibus spending bill. that is $915 billion to fund the government through september of next year, and that is the final measure to be taken up today. you can watch live coverage from the floor of the senate over on our companion network, c-span2. >> hear what candidates are saying from the campaign trail at the newly designed c-span website for campaign 2012. >> i say if you cannot live with a nuclear iran -- and i cannot -- then you have to decide what to do and i think all options are on the table. >> it would took that oath seriously, we would get rid of 80% of the government. >> your question was -- who is the proven constitutional conservative in this race, and that would be me. >> read the latest. all at c-span.org/campaign2012. >> president obama spoke friday at the 71st general assembly of the union for reform judaism. this event took place in maryland. it is about 30 minutes. >> thank you. [applause] thank you so much. thank you. thank you so much. thank you, everybody. thank you. please, please ha

. >> a gop victory in the bat over the light bulbs, politico reports the final omnibus bill, the onet avoided the shutdown, will block new standards for incan des cement bulbs. this became a human fight over government intervention, even though it was supposed to be for a better environment. >>> big endorsement today from nikki haley. haley said romney can create jobs and turn the government around even though she dodged the question whether romney is a true conservative. >> what lets me know on top of that, and the bone us in of all that that this is right, is that governor romney is the one candidate that president obama consistently tries to hit and get out of the way. that lets me know he is scared of him. it also lets me know governor romney has got a good fight in him and the one president obama doesn't want to have to go against. >>> time now to put the candidates' statements from last night to the test, truth or twisted? "washington post" fact checker glen kessler is on the case for us. good morning. >> good morning. >> all right. let's start with the front-runner, newt gingr

one is this payroll tax extension, then the omnibus which funds the government through the next year.he's been waiting for that payroll bill to get over here, for all we know. or maybe he's just packing for hawaii. joke. >> he's got a couple things to wrap. he bought some christmas gifts -- >> i'm sure he has people pack for him. >> he wants to do it himself. jessica, thank you so much. as we have a little fun there as we wait on the president here, crossing over to the top of the hour, 1:00 eastern time. waiting for the president and,

the omnibus bill we're considering now will provide much-needed investment that will help communities do that. while i fought for stronger investments, it's clear every little bit helps. earlier this earlier this week, this is an amazing story, the chillicothe fire department received a grant through the a.f.g. program. it follows a safer grant that not only helped hire personnel, it saves lives. fire chief steve gallagher, whom i've spoken with prior to this, was off duty when he experienced a pulmonary embolism or a blood clot to the lung. without a grant that kept his neighborhood firehouse open, and without the medic who was hired because of the a.f.g. grant, the chief said he would have died. these federal investments literally helped save chillicothe's chief's life. 40% of deaths among firefighters occur due to cardiac arrest. he wrote to me, "when i helped write the grant application, i knew it would save lives, but i never imagined that one of those lives would be my own." with reduced tax revenues, with increased need of vital public services like fire and police, it's critic

when will the president sign the omnibus? here. >> what happens if he hasn't got here. >> i'm not sure it is physically here yet but when it arrives there's a process in the, in that august institution that takes time in terms of producing --. jenna: again that is the press secretary jay carney. you can watch the rest of this on foxnews.com. a big headline is that the president placed a call to house speaker john boehner urging him to take up the senate bill that was a bipartisan bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months going into the next year. the house has already voted not to do that. so we'll see where we go from here. continue to watch this. every movement as we go closer to 2012. meantime foxnews.com to watch this live. jon: not to put too fine a point on it but i guess the house just didn't vote on the senate bill, right? jenna: they voted not to take it up. they voted not to take it up. they did not vote on the bill at all. jon: right. jenna: that's what they want. they want to bring it to the floor, vote on