viq, let's start with you. we have news trickling out today. working, trying to make a deal. what's going on? >> it's washington, d.c. nothing is as it appears. we6 classic kabuki theater going on here, toree. the president, jovial, said they were close to a deal. that joe biden, the negotiations with mitch mcconnell essentially borne fruit. republicans annoyed with that. the tax threshold, that's agreed upon. republicans agree, too. what about this sequester? supposed to be the trigger, supposed to be the apocalyptic scenario that made cuts in spending necessary. otherwise we go over the cliff and there are cuts to defense and domestic programs. the president wants to delay them two months, three yearmonta year. many republicans say, absolutely not. many were angry he chose to have a campaign-style event in the white house complex. mitch mcconnell took the floor of the senate and pretty much calling the president's bluff saying, yes, we have an agreement on taxes. let's go ahead and vote on that. leave the sequester the way it is. that's not going to fly. we have an impasse

viq, does there appear to be any progress? >> reporter: i don't think so, craig, and we're watching it pretty closely. we thought perhaps after yesterday there would be. but this morning in his weekly address the president says no compromise. those top late rates for the w will raise one way or the other, but the wiggle room may be raise by how much. visiting a d.c.-area diner, vice president joe biden said if the gop were willing, the debt deal could be done in short order. >> it would take 15 minutes from the time the decision was made by the speaker of the house to pass and make permanent the middle-class tax cut. the president would probably have me sprint up to the hill to bring the bill down for him to sign. >> reporter: but even after the latest in a series of private calls with the president, house speaker john boehner says the white house is stone walling. >> when it comes to the fiscal cliff that's threatening our economy and threatening jobs, the white house is has wasted another week. >> reporter: this morning in h