they would proceed forward in terms of what the rules would be. there is ongoing negotiations but both sides seem to be staking out their position. it's not really a real effort to try to stay here is what we can do constructively. >> that's probably because they have to introduce each other to the other party each time they meet because they don't meet very often. this is a lame duck session, as you know. should we expect just a temporary deal that will as speaker boehner loves to say, kick the can down the road, as opposed to actually solving the problem? >> there will be no big grand deal in the lame duck session. what we'll have is some sort of stopgap measure, something that then kicks into 2013. the reason why, there's just not enough time. what you will see is some sort of trigger mechanism which will try to make what has to happen in 2013 actually occur. remember, we are here where we are today because of a similar trigger mechanism. >> indeed we are.