. >> bono has been kind enough to join us from washington. bono, it occurs to me if we were talking about 30 million dead over 30 years in warfare, we'd be angry. we'd be fatigued and trying to end it. but what was the announcement, the good news that you delivered there in washington today? >> well, we are trying to end it. and the good news today on this 30th year anniversary of the discovery of this disease, hiv/aids, is that the end is in

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with all the details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. you may not be aware, but you got an extra $1,000 this year if you're working. payroll taxes went down by 2% but that runs out december 31st if congress doesn't act, you'll be paying that money starting in january. at a rally if scranton, pennsylvania, yesterday, president obama said this could cause a massive blow to the economy, allowing this payroll tax cut to go into effect again. he wants to pay for it. democrats want to pay for it with a 3% permanent tax on millionaires but republicans won't go for that at all. they say it's punishing the job creators. their new plan to freeze federal pay through 2015, cut 200,000 federal jobs and raise medicare premiums on the rich, also making sure millionaires don't get food stamps and unemployment. looks like it's going to be another year-end showdown over taxes. >> tracie potts for us in washington, thank you. >>> elsewhere, a new accuser in the penn state sexual child abuse scandal has filed t

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. newt gingrich is leading by double digits in several major polls, and that is bringing him a lot more attention and criticism from his opponents. michele bachmann questioning his conservativism. the new attack ad from ron paul talks about the $1.6 million he earn as a consultant for freddie mac saying it's the essence of a washington insider. gingrich on cnbc says he is the only speaker to balance the budget. mitt romney hoping to get back in front-runner status, tied in some polls with ron paul, has a key endoerment from dan quayle and romney says he has time in what washgs he'll iowa and will campaigning aggressively there. >>> the obama administration has taken a significant step in protecting the rights of gay, lesbian and transgendered community around the world. on orders from president obama secretary of state hillary clinton told a conference in geneva that the u.s. will use foreign aid to reward countries t

out how to get better when i'm already -- >> it is quite the cross to bear. >>> this comes to us from washington, d.c. where in a year where things haven't worked out quite so well for congress, even capitol hill's annual holiday celebration hit a glitch. with the help from a 7-year-old boy, house speaker john boehner lit the capitol tree. the democrats and republicans applauded as the white fir illuminated. unfortunately there was a technical mishap. it caused the lights on the tree to go out. comic symbolism, you might say, of a year of short-circuits in the halls of congress. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today." >>> some funky hairdos from south korea will really flip your wig. more than 80 professional hair designers gathered in seoul for the two-day, 2012 korea hair collection. look at that. it showcases some of the world's most extraordinary hairstyles. designers demonstrated their cutting techniques while models showed off the most bizarre. >>> you'd think being santa is a no-brainer. santa suit, white beard, done. it takes so much more. that's where santa school comes in. in brazil st.

halevy, thank you very much for joining us from washington. joining us right now by phone is mark rega from jerusalem, the spokesman for the prime minister. mark we've known each other a long time. i know this is a very sensitive issue in israel. but it's becoming an issue in the united states as well in the political campaign. we're having a forum tomorrow in washington with the republican candidates who are going to continue criticizing this white house for not being supportive enough to israel and not being aggressive enough to iran. what should the president right now be doing? >> i think the whole international community has to united and send a very clear, crystal clear message to the leadership in tehran to the ayatollahs that international community simply will not tolerate the continuation of their nuclear program, which as the recent iaea report said clearly is a program to achieve atomic bombs. and i think if that message is sent clearly and with teeth, that message can be received and hopefully will affect their decision making. >>

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with those details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. you may not have noticed, maybe you did, but you got an extra $1,000 this year because of the 2% payroll tax. president obama wants to extend that as he talked about that at a rally in scranton, pennsylvania, yesterday. this could be a massive blow to the economy to see payroll taxes go up 2% come january 1st. the issue here on capitol hill is democrats and republicans are at odds over how to pay for this extension. democrats want a permanent 3% tax on millionaires, republicans won't let that happen. there's a vote up this week. they are expecting to block it. instead, republicans say let's freeze the pay of all federal workers, cut 200,000 government jobs, make the rich pay more in medicare premiums and make sure they don't get unemployment and food stamps. they will be working on this very likely for the next couple of weeks until the very end. that extension runs out december 31st. lynn? >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you.

. >> bono has been kind enough to join us from washington.ono, it occurs to me if we were talking about 30 million dead over 30 years in warfare, we'd be angry. we'd be fatigued and trying to end it. but what was the announcement, the good news that you delivered there in washington today? >> well, we are trying to end it. and the good news today on this 30th year anniversary of the discovery of this disease, hiv/aids, is that the end is in sight. you can't defeat it until the number of infections are the lower than the people you're treating. that's obvious. well, for the first time that's possible now through getting people these drugs early in the process. it stops them reinfecting other people. male circumcision, and getting women, pregnant women the drugs means their children aren't affected. >> while americans, really starting with president bush on forward, have made great achievements in their charity and giving overseas, domestically we have a problem here? >> america has been the turning point in the war, if you'd like. it would be

let's bring in our panel with us from washington. msnbc policy analyst ezra klein of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney. good afternoon to both of you. if i can start with karen. the president's policies have created more than 3 million private sector jobs in the last 21 months, brought the jobless rate down to its lowest level in three years but according to republicans he's a jobs killer. just explain that to me now. >> look, martin, the problem is they are very disingenuous. republicans have consistently been trying to make an argument that 99% of americans and economists and all people who have looked at this know not to be true. we're not going to get there just by spending cuts. i think the president has rightfully, as well as democrats in congress, tried to hold the line on this foolishness. we saw it again just last night. the other thing is and republicans are probably starting to notice it, although i think the white house is right to be slowly cautious on t

drug seizures are up down there joining us from washington dr. james car van know from the heritagellegal immigration. we assume that the bad economy is one of the reasons that people, there aren't as many jobs there used to be. and then we assume that because the border patrol has been beefed up down there and the national guard a few of them are backing up the border patrol that's helped out. is there anything else in play? >> no. i think that's right. it's mostly the economy. look, we have been putting more money into border security since the 1990. and what we saw was for 20 years we kept putting more stuff on the border and the illegal population kept getting bigger. people kept trying to come here. when they got here they stayed instead of going back home. this is the first time we have seen dramatic reversal. it's about jobs. >> bill: also has to do with border fence in sectors in arizona. in california, very heavily populated factors that put the fence up. that worked. they moved the national guard finally. president bush moved them down t

and with us from washington, msnbc contributor jonathon capehart, opinion writer for "the washington with just -- you know, as you know, very few short weeks away from what will happen in iowa, michele bachmann, of course, won the iowa ames straw poll. rick perry's thrown huge sums of money into that. and yet, according to the polls, nights rer doing particularly well. is it too little too late for them now n. >> i think it is. things have been set there. this debate this past weekend, i think, was a really critical moment. and i really don't see any stopping newt gingrich. i mean, rick perry, as you pointeded out, has been spending a lot of money in iowa. it barely moved the needle. i would say if you are mitt romney, you are praying that those two candidates pick up at least a few points because the more that they increase their support, that directly takes away from newt gingrich. >> ron paul has been vocal in attacking the king of bling for receiving money from freddie mac. released an ad on that very topic today and had this to say on "meet the press." listen to this, john. >> m

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the president is hoping to put the pressure on in a speech today at a small town in kansas, the same place president roosevelt delivered his popular square deal speech, protecting the middle class. the president spoke at the white house yesterday saying republicans should not raise taxes on the middle class. but this payroll tax cut extension and the unemployment benefit extension he wants is going to cost $180 billion. yesterday a senate majority leader harry reid unveiled how democrats want to pay for that, no payroll tax for businesses, fees from fannie mac and fannie mae. some republican leaders are signaling compromise, but other members still have an issue with that millionaire tax. we'll watch the situation because that payroll tax cut extension expires at the end of the month. >> tracie potts in washington, thanks. >>> let's go to where thousands took to the streets in moscow, protesting what they contend was a rigged parliamentary elec

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the latest on this. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the candidates are way on the ground and stepping up the air war. >> good to see you. >> reporter: the gop presidential candidates are making their closing arguments in iowa. >> don't do anything to any other country we don't want them to do to us and that would solve a lot of our problems. >> reporter: ron paul is the wild card, polling second, but with a well-organized army of supporters. that makes him a target. >> ron paul would dangerous as a president of the united states. >> one of the people running for president thinksist okay for iran to are a nuclear weapon. >> reporter: mitt romney has a shot at winning, if he can convince enough voters he's conservative enough. >> i'm mitt romney. i believe in america and i'm running for president of the united states. >> reporter: it's a battle for social conservatives, who are split. rick santorum is gaining ground. rick perry is trying to get it back. >> which rein running for president v

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that. tracy, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. house republicans led by speaker john boehner say they don't want a two-month extension, they want a full year extension and they'll vote down that temporary extension later today. this after 89 senate democrats and republicans compromised, voted on the two-month extension and then left town. even senate republicans are urging their fellow republicans in the house to do so today, but it looks like that measure may be the rejected. bottom line, your payroll tax cut, as of january 1st, still very much up in the air. what happens from now? a couple of things. first of all, if they vote on something different, the senate may have to come back and approve or disapprove that. or they might be able to work this out in conference. what the senate passed includes that controversial keystone xl oil pipeline. democrats gave in at the last minute to get this extension done, but the white house says it doesn't force them to approve the pipeline. >> traci

abc's tahman bradley joins us from washington. good morning, tahman. >> reporter: good morning, dan and sunny. the aircraft was reportedly used to spy on osama bin laden's compound in pakistan. now iran says it's recovered the aircraft. the claim was made on iranian state television that they shot down and captured an unmanned u.s. spy plane. they say it was the rq-170. a secret groan that can presumably go without detection. it could be a significant capture, if true. >> important secrets can be lost by looking at the kind of material on the skin or looking at the kinds of shapes employed. >> reporter: the u.s. military acknowledges that a reconnaissance plane crashed. official says it was not shot down. a senior u.s. military official says that the military is "assuming iran has something." there are provisions built into drones. if this is a stealth drone, it could help the iranians better understand the vulnerabilities of the u.s. >> it would have been poor planning to use the top technology on a platform they knew might go dow

brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: well, lynn, one last bit of drama and guesswork here today. if even one lawmaker objects, the vote would have to be pushed into next week. house republicans have surrendered in the fight over extending the payroll tax cut. >> we were here fighting for the right things. 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: facing immense pressure from the 160 million americans that face a january 1st tax increase and from members of their own party with a costly backlash, republicans decided to go along with the two-month extension passed by the senate. but a key provision, language that protects small businesses from nightmarish reporting requirements allows gop lawmakers to walk away with an important consolation prize. it's a holiday gift for taxpayers and an election year present for president obama. >> this is it. this is exactly why people get so frustrated

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. a couple of issues going on here. the budget and the payroll tax cuts. it looks like congress may have a solution to that can they've been kicking down the road month after month. health education among departments unfunded permanently. now it looks like they've worked out the details. aides say there are minor details to continue to work out but it looks like that will happen before the end of the month. now, the payroll tax cut. republicans take a vote in the house today and they expect to tie that to that controversial keystone pipeline. there have been protests over environmental issues with the pipeline. the white house had put off that decision until over a year from now. the senate will reject this, we are told. president obama has all but said he'll reject any attempt to tie this payroll tax cut extension to the pipeline. the tax cut extension would save the average american $1,000 a year. today's vote would also cut unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to 59 weeks. that's a re

dana bash joining us from washington. let's bring in robert zirmman, a democratic strategist and republican strategist. thank you for joining us. let's just think about this for a second. mike huckabee makes a point. we're not expecting terrible weather particularly for io wans. >> if it's nice, those people who like romney will come out and vote. if it's not nice, they might say it's kind of cloudy outside. i'm hanging out inside, but the ron paul supporters will climb over three or four mountains to cast their ballot for him. what's your thought on this? >> i love mike, but i couldn't disagree more. the reason is that in iowa you have some of the most extreme republicans in the country. these people would come out in a tornado. when they make up their mind and they have their candidate and this is the smallest sliver of people who will participate in any primary or caucus anywhere in the nation and believe me, when they make up their mind they'll be out to vote regardless of weather. >> christine romans, my colleague, sh

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that. tracy, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. house republicans led by speaker john boehner say they don't want a two-month extension, they want a full year extension and they'll vote down that temporary extension later today. this after 89 senate democrats and republicans compromised, voted on the two-month extension and then left town. even senate republicans are urging their fellow republicans in the house to do so today, but it looks like that measure may be the rejected. bottom line, your payroll tax cut, as of january 1st, still very much up in the air. what happens from now? a couple of things. first of all, if they vote on something different, the senate may have to come back and approve or disapprove that. or they might be able to work this out in conference. what the senate passed includes that controversial keystone xl oil pipeline. democrats gave in at the last minute to get this extension done, but the white house says it doesn't force them to approve the pipeline. >> traci

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the very latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the candidates are sprinting toward the starting line. >> what's going to happen in this process -- >> reporter: with six days to go before the iowa caucuses, the gop presidential campaign is getting personal. mitt romney mocked newt gingrich's failure to get on the primary ballot of his home state of virginia. >> more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you know, you've got to get it organized. >> so, our campaign is going to stay positive. >> reporter: gingrich insists he's going to be positive, his supporters have launched attacks on romney, and a new text message campaign calling romney's once pro-choice views. rick perry portraying the other candidate as washington insiders is campaigning with the ultimate outsider, controversial sheriff joe arpao. rick santorum's campaign is finally gaining momentum and michele bachmann is desperately trying to get momentum back. knowing with less than a week left a lot can happen. romney is strug

. >>> nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it's been a rough primary season, but the republicans are about to face their first official test. one week before the iowa caucuses, ron paul is leading the gop presidential pack. but it's still anyone's race. >> usually the iowa caucuses aren't completely defined until very close to the end. >> reporter: while rick santorum is hunting for votes -- >> you're not electing someone to cast votes. you're electing a leader. >> reporter: michele bachmann is getting ready to hit all of iowa's 99 counties. rick perry released a new attack ad. but it's aimed at washington. >> get a job like everybody else back home. >> reporter: mitt romney is still trying to convince iowans he's conservative enough. >> i'm going to do something to government. i'm going to make it simpler and smaller and smarter. >> reporter: newt gingrich failed to make virginia's primary ballot, and days before iowa, that's a setback he can't afford. >> we're disappointed but it was

nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with the latest. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. all this volatility shows social conservatives are still shopping around, and that's good news for mitt romney. five days before iowa, the gop presidential deck has been reshuffled again. and this time mitt romney's on top. >> this is an exciting time. we're going to take back the white house thanks to you guys. thank you. >> reporter: ron paul has slumped to second but picked up a key endorsement from michele bachmann's co-chair. bachmann says her one-time supporter was offered a lot of money to switch sides. he denies it. >> i believe we have the opportunity to elect conservatives. somebody that holds our values dear. >> reporter: rick santorum has suddenly vaulted into third place. >> how many times do you hear this as a conservative. don't try to impose your morality on us. >> reporter: newt gingrich is now on a slide, and he's lowering expectations. >> what do you have to do here in iowa? >> you have to be in the top three or

dana bash joining us from washington. let's bring in robert zirmman, a democratic strategist and republican strategist. thank you for joining us. let's just think about this for a second. mike huckabee makes a point. we're not expecting terrible weather particularly for io wans. >> if it's nice, those people who like romney will come out and vote. if it's not nice, they might say it's kind of cloudy outside. i'm hanging out inside, but the ron paul supporters will climb over three or four mountains to cast their ballot for him. what's your thought on this? >> i love mike, but i couldn't disagree more. the reason is that in iowa you have some of the most extreme republicans in the country. these people would come out in a tornado. when they make up their mind and they have their candidate and this is the smallest sliver of people who will participate in any primary or caucus anywhere in the nation and believe me, when they make up their mind they'll be out to vote regardless of weather. >> christine romans, my colleague, sh

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the details on that and a massive defense bill headed to the president's desk. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. it looks like the late-night negotiations saved paychecks and federal jobs. no shutdown at midnight tonight if, in fact, votes happen in the house and senate as expected. democrats and republicans each gave up something for the trillion dollar spending bill. democrats wanted energy efficiency rules sooner, they booked off that. and republicans wanted restrictionses on people spending money and making visits from cuba a budget spending today's vote. the payroll tax will be extended. the cuts extended for two months we're told. and unemployment benefits for 99 weeks, and preventing a 27% cut in medicare payments. the $626 billion bill , defense bill is a done deal. it's below president obama's request, but worked out with a deal with the white house that will allow the fbi to continue to arrest terror suspects. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. >>> well, on the presidential campaign trail it was all about ne

brian mooar joins us from washington with the details. good morning. >> reporter: well, lynn, one last bit of drama and guesswork here today. if even one lawmaker objects, the vote would have to be pushed into next week. house republicans have surrendered in the fight over extending the payroll tax cut. >> we were here fighting for the right things. 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: facing immense pressure from the 160 million americans that face a january 1st tax increase and from members of their own party with a costly backlash, republicans decided to go along with the two-month extension passed by the senate. but a key provision, language that protects small businesses from nightmarish reporting requirements allows gop lawmakers to walk away with an important consolation prize. it's a holiday gift for taxpayers and an election year present for president obama. >> this is it. this is exactly why people get so frustrated

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more. >> reporter: good morning. the president is hoping to put the pressure on at a small town in kansas, the same place president roosevelt delivered his popular square deal speech, protecting the middle class. the president spoke at the white house yesterday, saying republicans should not raise taxes on the middle class. but this payroll tax cut extension and the unemployment benefit extension he wants is going to cost $180 billion. yesterday a senate majority leader harry reid unveiled how democrats want to pay for that. no payroll tax cuts for businesses, fees on mortgages from fannie mae and freddie mac and they're scaling back the millionaire tax to 1.9%. some republican leaders are signaling compromise, but other members still have an issue with that millionaire tax. we'll watch this situation because that payroll tax cut extension expires at the end of the month. >> thank you. >>> overseas now where thousands took to the street in moe moscow protesting what they called a rigged vote. slat myrrh putin emerged

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning. whether payroll taxes go up 2 pest in 12 days is in limbo yet again. we thought we had a deal. only the senate. 89 democrats and republicans supported this. voted on it and went home. a two-month extension of the payroll tax break along with unemployment benefits and, yes, that controversial keystone xl pipeline, speeding up an approval process for that, but when they went home, the house said no, we don't like that deal. and republicans plan on defeating that in a vote later today. what happens next? the senate may have to come back from the break and deal with that. if not, they may be able to work this out in conference this week. and that's what house speaken john boehner seems to indicate that they will be able to work this out in conference. less than two weeks now until that deadline that will one way or another affect your paycheck. lynn. >> tracie potts there for us in washington. thank you. >>> now here's a look at other stories m

brian mooar joins us from washington with details. good morning. >> reporter: well, lynn, there's one last bit of drama and guess work. if even one lawmaker objects, the vote is pushed into next week. house republicans surrenders in the fight against the payroll tax cut. >> we were here fighting for the right things. may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world. i tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. >> reporter: facing pressure from 160 million americans who faced a january 1st tax increase and members from their own party, republicans decided to go along with a two-month extension passed by the senate. language that protects small businesses from reporting requirements allows gop lawmakers to walk away with a consolation prize. it's a holiday gift for taxpayers, an election year present for president obama. >> this is it. this is why people get so frustrated by washington. >> reporter: surrounded by people who would pay if the tax cuts didn't pass, the president turned up the heat. now he's tweetin