joining us from the capitol joining us from the capitol with the very latest is todd zwillich. he's washington correspondent for "the takeaway" on public radio international and a regular guest on the newshour. so todd, you're back with us again. six hours to go until midnight. progress reported but still to deal. >> senate republicans, judy, the latest thing that has happened is senate republicans came out of a conference meeting with their leader, with mitch mcconnell all sounding positive. theall echoed what you had in the piece there from mcconnell saying they were very, very close to sequester the automatic spending cuts remain an outstanding issue. and kind of got thrown into the mix again today. you know, the president in that appearance in the executive office building today in front of a supportive crowd, not really a press conference, more of like a minirally, talked about the sequester and his desire to have any delay in the sequester paid for with revenue increases. you know, i talked to a few house members just a few moments ago. not only ot tone of the president's

we turn to newshour regular todd zwillich. he's washington correspondent for "the takeaway" on public radio international, and was there for the senate vote until nearly dawn today. todd, you've probably slept at the capital last night. most of the republicans in the senate voted for this bill. what is the problem that the house republicans have with it? >> well, the house is a fundamentally different place than the senate, judy. remember, this is not the first time we've seen this dynamic. back in february there was the debate over that very payroll tax holiday that is expiring... that has expired frankly at midnight. you got 89 or 90 votes in the senate for that. that deal fell apart in the house. the highway bill got 74 bipartisan votes in the senate. that fell apart. they're two different places. there had been tacit assurances or at least pronouncements from the house republican leadership after speaker boehner's plan-b fell apart last week that the senate had to act and that that was the only way forward. there's some fru

we get an update now froms in regular todd zwillich. he's washington correspondent for the take-away, public radio international. he was there for the senate vote until nearly dawn today. so, todd, it looks like another long night for you and the other members of the press, members of the house, of the congress. where does everything stand right now? >> well, judy, house republicans met about an hour, hour-and-a-half ago. they just had been on the house floor. now that vote was not notable except it was a whip session. here's what house republican leaders have told their rank-and-file. we have two choices for you. choice one is to amend this bill. they've got a package ready to go of spending cuts. it's about $330 billion over ten years. the house has already passed it. it's a sequester replacement bill. it cuts food stamps, federal pensions. it cuts some other domestic spending. it gets rid defense cuts. we can pass that and attach it to the senate deal and send it back to the senate. they've also been warned, you can do that if you wan