fiscal cliff deal or whether house republicans might try to change it. the white house, of course, keeping a close watch on developments. in fact, we just learned that the vice president has arrived into the democratic meeting. nbc's mike mccara is live at the white house for us. what's the expectation there? >> i think that white house officials are relatively confident that this is going -- that this thing is going to go through the house of representatives, and that is really a remarkable development in and of itself, chris, when you consider the fact that it was just ten days ago when the speaker of the houshgs john boehner, put that bill on the floor, plan b, that would have raised taxes on all individuals making more than $1 million. we know what happened. it crashed and burned. things punted to the senate, bringing us to the point we are today. now that threshold has moved considerably lower. it is considerably higher than many democrats, particularly from some on the left we heard from that are dissatisfied with the president and the deal that he has struck with the vice president and mitch mcconnell. they wanted it at $250,000. it's now at $450,000 for those