jessica yellin, senior white house correspondent there for us. and the real message was to speaker boehner to pass the two-month extension and the message in the white house is that there isn't time to get that one-year deal done and to pass a one-year deal ultimately and so in the interim, to get past the hump, they need to get this two-month extension done and there's no time for anything short of that. beyond that, the white house maintains that what the speaker is doing right now is catering to the internal politics of his republican caucus on capitol hill instead of attending to the bigger issue. they are persuaded that there is a vote to pass the two-month extension because democrats in the house, plus about 30 republicans, they are convinced here at the white house, would vote to pass this but the speaker, in their opinion, is simply letting the more conservative group within his caucus dictate what he's doing. so the president is trying to keep up pressure on the speaker and siding with harry reid saying that the senate is not going to co

let's go to jessica yellin. what's the reaction?has put out a statement by the president in which he congratulates congress for ending what he called a partisan stalemate and ensuring that taxes do not go up for 160 million americans in the new year. to read from part of this statement, he says that quote, because of this agreement, every american will keep his or her tax cut. about $1,000 for the average american. about $40 a paycheck. he says that vital unemployment insurance will continue and then he urged congress to make sure that the payroll tax cut is extended through the end of the year. let me read part of the statement. quote, this is good news just in time for the holidays. this is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy and create new jobs cht this is real money that will make a real difference in people's lives and i want to thank every american who raised your voice to remind folks this this town what this debate was all about you. it was about you and today, your voices made all the differen

jessica yellin at the white house waiting for the president. delay here, but hey, he's not on our schedule, of course. what are we expecting to hear from the president and what do we all knee to be listening in for? >> well, t.j., what i'll be listening for is, it will be interesting to hear how much he focuses on what this bill will do for the american people. we've heard him talk about the $40 in the average american's paycheck versus how much he's going to press congress to get the full year extension done in the new year and how he would like to pay for that. this will be a look ahead of keeping pressure on congress next year to get the job done going forward. then there is this question, le single out people for praise, harry reid and possibly even senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who's been sort of his arch enemy this past year politically who really helped get the ball over the finish line by pressing john boehner, the speaker of the house, to give in and do this deal in the end. that was sort of in keeping with this sort of bipart

i'm going to give jessica yellin the last word.obama when he popped up in the daily briefing and i think we can all agree that everyone is agreeing that the one thing in common is that the clock is ticking. take a look. >> the clock is ticking. time is running out. and if the house republicans refuse to vote for the senate bill, or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days. i saw today that one of the house republicans referred to what we're doing as a high-stake poker. he's right about the stakes. but this is not poker. this is not a game. this shouldn't be politics, as usual. right now the recovery is fragile but it is moving in the right direction. our failure to do this could have effects not just on families but on the economy as a whole. >> so jessica yellin, the president there essentially tossed the ball to the house speaker. house speaker tosses it to the senate majority leader. now what? >> reporter: well, from the white house the president is using the bully pull pit to put all of the pressure on t

jessica yellin at the white house. thank you. let's head to capitol hill to congressional correspondent kate bolduan. urging him to pass, this is where the wiggle room comes in. a short term extension. what can we extrapolate from that? >> reporter: we're told that was intentional. they left it intentionally vague in this carefully crafted statement from the statement minority leader. for a couple reasons, for one, more of a technical reason. we're told to allow some flexibility if they did go to conference, what they would be. what short term would be. not to bind both sides as it was put to me for more of the legislative nerd so everyone could be okay with what they're talking about. but also as one top aide said, a way to offer a compromise. some wiggle room. for house speaker john boehner, for every one involved. and one idea that has been tossed around, not necessarily like this is the deal but one idea that has been tossed, has been bouncing around here is maybe not a two-month extension. maybe a three-month extension to ge

biologist yellin across nova has served at the station for twenty five years she often comes here with family in winter. she studies c i did ducks sure and i stay here. i just spend nearly all of the life time on water and in the end. it is only during the brief reproduction period that they make nests on the shore. they always stick together on land as they do on the sea. young female dogs with add their own nestlings count down to females to race their baby birds and sometimes several get together to form a kind of kindergarten where they grow their flat things together with him to find a safe place with enough food for their ducklings raising them together is the convenient thing to do. on. the water in the white sea remains cold even in summer time but the odds of dogs are never affected by the cold water in the waves the whole day. is the best biological heat insulator it doesn't lead to one thought in the old days where there were new modern synthetic materials around the fluff was used to make clothes for polar explorers and sleeping bags and it's indeed an excellent insulator.

dana bash is with us and jessica yellin. let's go to the hill first. house republicans are saying we have a tweak in the language here to help small businesses, but this is cave with a capital "c," no. >> reporter: tweak with a little "t," barely you can see the tweak. house republicans gave in here. you could see it in the house speaker's demeanor. you could hear it in his voice. he all be gave a concession speech. both on the politics and on the policy of this. policy meeting as he said we fought the good fight. there's no question that they were unintense pressure inside the republican caucus from fellow republicans in the senate, from the "wall street journal" editorial board and more importantly, i think, in the past 24 hours or so, john from their own constituents. we're hearing from republican sources that members of congress left here yesterday, they went back home and they were hearing from constituents what are you guys doing? we don't want to lose $1,000 from our paycheck on average, get this done, fix it. >> now what happens? most have gone

jessica yellin live at the white house for us tonight. thanks. >>> tonight, it's a safe bet more americans more concerned with last-minute shopping than they are about worrying about next year's taxes. alison kosik keeping track of the holiday sales rush. >> reporter: maybe all that holiday shopping procrastinating wasn't such a bad thing after all. if you waited till the last minute, there are some great deals out there. retailers are offering deep discounts in the final hours before christmas. ann taylor is offering half off the entire store, 60% off at the gap, you get the idea. and for anybody looking for a good deal, it's a shopper's paradise. but for retailers, it's a big scramble to get rid of their merchandise. analysts say retailers are aggressively slashing prices because consumers are more price conscious than ever before. and even though the holiday shopping season has been fairly strong, momentum seems to have slowed a bit and stores are still sitting with a lot of inventory on their shelves. it's one reason your e-mail inbox

the other end of pennsylvania avenue, jessica yellin. will the president heed the speaker's call and say, senate democrats, come back or does he think he has the upper hand here? >> quite simply new york. there's no indication the president will call the senate back. the feeling here is why should they? it's not their place. and it's the house's turn to act. their view is that the politics on this are very clear and the policy is clear because 89 members of senate have voted to pass a compromise. that's very rare, we all know. four senate republicans, all up for re-election, calling on the house of representatives to agree to this compromise and so, the white house's view is that they can keep the pressure on the house of representatives and as the clock keeps ticking, enough members of the house are likely to peel away that they will pass this measure perhaps after christmas and in the worst case, if they don't, then republicans are going to take the blame, john. >> stand by. back up to the capitol. dana, what do house republicans say a

. >> our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here to up his game today. clearly framing the campaign. why today? >> reporter: that's right, he is framing the campaign. and it's because essentially it's heating up now, and he has to get in -- he has to get in campaign gear before the frame is set for him, john. the republicans that you know are on the campaign trail every day trying to make this a referendum on the president's leadership on the economy. they think they'll win if it's a referendum on how the economy is now and the president's current job performance. if the president can turn this, the thinking goes here and on the campaign, into a debate about where the country's headed on contrasting visions of the nation's economic future, the obama team thinks that that's their sweet spot and that's where they can win. so the president today was trying to lay out his vision in this argument that the president can take the country in a better place if given another four years. you'll see this extend out once there's a republican opponent with the vision

jessica yellin, thank you so much.f getting out of washington in time for this weekend, in time for christmas, someone had to blink and someone did. aand when house speaker boehner stepped out after a press conference with democrats, he was all alone. >> good evening, everyone. senator reid and i have reached an agreement on behalf of the american people. key parts of this agreement are that on january 1st -- >> okay. the house republicans who vowed they would fight to the very end after today's vote, here's what they said on cnn. >> i'm disappointed in our entire leadership team. we have not cut spending we didn't force the president to the table when it came time to give him $2 trillion of spending authority. our borrowing authority. we didn't pass the budget balanced amendment. and we have yet to deliver them. >> i want to bring in kate bolduan on capitol hill. i imagine she's one of the few remaining there. now that this is sort of going away for a little while, what should we expect come end of next february? shou

well let's take a look at what the simulated flight to mars was all about and reported by spotlights yellin there to me there are. thousands of volunteers wanted to take part but only six which shows and for the experiment the simulation of a flight to mars they were locked inside the mock spacecraft for seventeen months and although they didn't have to experience the takeoff of the weightlessness of real space they had to survive the monotony of more than five days in isolation and without sunlight what made the most flight more realistic was the forty minute do in communication with the outside world which imitated the communication lag between mars and the emergency situations were also staged to see how the team would code the crew's trip climaxed in the simulated landing on mars but the experiment wasn't so much about plane it cosmonaut trying to cool would be cut off from the rest of the world for such a long time though that participants could leave their confinement to ten a time all of them stayed on board to to stay in durance scientists are now provided with some priceless psycho

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin standing by. that's next. what is that? it's you!mma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. >>> well, we heard it again from the president from the white house daily breefg briefing. he says he cares about you, your money and family. he thinks republicans need to get on board. minutes ago, he spoke about the fight over whether or not to extend the payroll tax cut, which expires at the end of this year. now, the president put it in pretty extreme terms. republicans are willing to give tax cuts to the rich but not the middle class. here he is. >> now, i know many republicans have sworn an oath never to raise taxes as long as they live. how could it be the only time there's a catch is had when whes to raising taxes on middle class families. how

jessica yellin, cnn, washington. >>> it is the top of the hour. infants sickened. enfamil, feared it could be responsible for a death in missouri. the fda says, no. the enfamil is safe. unfortunately a lot of you have already thrown it out. you got it, continue using it. >>> three, two, one -- happy new year! >> happy new year, sydney, australia. the city puts on an enormous fireworks display to welcome in the new year. >>> and i think the only scheduled rival to that is times square with the big ball. preparations underway for the huge crowd expected for tonight's celebration. millions may be there. some have already staked out spots. security will be tight. you don't have to go there, though. you've got us. tune it in. 11:00 tonight. kathy griffin, anderson cooper. it's going to be great. >>> we head to the news and start with iowa and the republican presidential race. three days until the fir votes of cast. plenty of action in places like the giggle and go and bloomers. here's a taste of what potential voters are hearing there. >> my whole emph

gloria borger is standing by in washington and jessica yellin as we continue to watch these pictures.new york. jessica yellin, if i may, i want to begin with -- i don't know if it was a gaffe or not, but off the tip top, did you hear president obama say hello texas, and then he said kansas and then he mentioned bill self. was that purposeful or not? >> reporter: i think that the president was just rifting with the crowd there. i don't know if he made a gaffe or not. but i think it was a pretty big speech for the president and sort of his natural forte. what his specialty is, we all know he is good at speeches, weaving big themes and threads together and reframing discussions and he looked not on only comfortable but at ease and seemed to be enjoying himself. you heard the theme, the big topic, he believes that restoring opportunity for the middle class is the defining issue of our time. and it's not only the defining issue of our time, in his view, but he would like it to be the defining issue of the campaign because i'll tell you something, this is the campaign in a nutshell. that th

jessica yellin takes a closer look at the president's past year on the global stage. >> 2011 broughtsuccesses for president obama. the hunt for bin laden came to a close. >> the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al-qaeda. >> an end to a controversial war and a campaign promise kept. >> as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. >> but since the december withdrawal, violence has rocked the country and critics have pounced. >> it is clear that this decision of a complete pullout of the united states troops from iraq is dictated by politics and not our national security interests. >> the scene critics decry the president's plans to withdraw the 90,000 troops currently in afghanistan by 2014 as well as his policy toward israel. a speech president obama gave in may prompted israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to lecture president obama in the oval office. >> while israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go

jessica yellin got invited to the briefing. and the proposals are extreme and told a story.s is what he said. the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt. so the speaker is high on the pole and we'll see how many people like the view. that was david axle rod today. >> leave it there. >> let's move on, brooke. >> people can tweet us and let us know what they think. paul steinhauser, thank you so much. >>> coming up next, a man facing a life sentence. the sentence gets thrown out after he realizes where he actually was during the crime. it's bizarre. >>> plus this -- >> he pauses, he thinks, reflects before he answers questions and he really postures on what is the best way for him to respond. >> that was jerry sandusky's lawyer trying to explain why he has been fumbling after a wild day in this courtroom in pennsylvania. we're going to go to sunny hostin. she is fired up over this one. sunny is next. the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark

i'm jessica yellin, john king is off tonight. long hidden files reveal surprising details about presidential candidate newt gingrich's first divorce, for one thing they seem to contradict the story on gingrich's own website. >>> in texas, a man in a santa claus suit guns down a family. we have horrifying new details from the murder-suicide investigation. >>> and you simply won't believe what the tsa airport screeners confiscated this time because they thought it was a security risk. >>> but first, with eight days to go until the iowa caucuses, it's a virtual dead heat and that ee's bad news for the previously soaring newt gingrich. some are wondering if ron paul might actually take the hawkeye state. hi, joe, so just how close is it now? >> well, you said it, it's very close, a statistical dead heat among the top three presidential contenders right now. the des moines register said it all this morning asking the question, could ron paul win? which would be quite a surprise for a lot of people here, so ron paul 21%, followed by mi