Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20121228

Happening now, new details of the meeting between president obama and congressional leaders for what could be a lastditch effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. Families in the making ripped apart. Russia officially bans the adoption of russian children by americans. And for the second time in a month, a man pushed to his death from a new york city subway platform in the path of an oncoming train. Wolf blitzer is off. Im Candy Crowley. Youre in the situation room. All eyes on that white house this hour. And the meeting that may be the last best chance to keep the country from going over the fiscal cliff. Right now, the leaders of the house and senate are sitting down with president obama in a search for an 11th hour deal to prevent severe tax hikes and spending cuts from automatically kicking in with the new year. Cnns chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin is getting new details. Jess can ka, what are you hearing about that meeting . Reporter candy, the president is going to explain or reiterate the position he took on friday, that he would like a plan that extends tax rates for people who make 250,000 and below but raises them for those who make more than that. That it extends Unemployment Benefits for americans. And if the president , im told will say if he does not get an agreement to that plan, he will ask the other leaders what they can agree to, what what they would like instead. If they cannot come up with a proposal that will pass the house and the senate, will ask for a vote on his measure. But that meeting, candy, is still going on. Congre congressional leaders arrived at the white house for a lastditch meeting just days before a new years deadline. Back on the hill, pressure to break the stalemate. Weve got to demonstrate we have some capacity left to make decisions in washington on these very significant issues for the country. If we dont have a deal within the next 24 hours, the question is where do you buy a pair of shoes . Reporter ne met inside the oval office to avoid plunging over the fiscal cliff. If they agree to a plan, each of these players has a role. Senate majority leader harry reid quickly moved the measure to a vote. Minority leader mch mcconnell assured that no republicans block the bill. House Speaker John Boehner agreed to bring the bill to a vote on the house floor. And leader nancy pelosi with the number of votes needed to pass. What folks are looking for and all of us agree on this is action. They want to see that we are focused on them, not focused on our politics here in washington. Reporter that was the last time this group met more than a month ago. With time running out to forge a scaleddown compromise, can they agree on even the most basic elements, extending some income tax cuts, preventing pay cuts to medicare providers, fixing the alternative minimum tax. Among the options to gain votes, averting an estate tax hike toll woo republicans. Theres still time but no room for error. If congress doesnt act the impact psychologically and financially on americans of another plunge in the negative territory for the economy would be extremely harmful. Reporter and candy, as i said, those leaders are still meeting with the president. Well see if any of them come out and speak to us after that meeting breaks up as soon as we have any word on whether there is an agreement, well bring it to you. Jessica, its interesting to me the president s idea like if we cant get an agreement, lets just have a straight up or down vote in both houses on my plan. And heres what i cant figure out, whether thats a trap for republicans because then they can be accused of not even allowing it to come up for a vote and thats a great political talking point or is it a way out, saying look, we felt the situation was dire and we should put these things up there and see how the vote went. Which is it . Reporter im going to take the easy answer today. Its a little bit of both. They are confident it has the votes if they would bring it to the floor. Sure. Reporter so if they could get it to a vote, thats what they would want. And if they cant can, they can always have the talking point that they tried and it was blocked. So either way, that would be a win for the white house, wouldnt it . It would indeed. Thanks so much, Jessica Yellin at the white house for us. We want to get more with cnn ryan lizza. Hes washington correspondent for the new yorker. The president says, heres my plan. Its kind of the same plan that they all said, thats not a plan. To the republicans, they said thats not a plan. Okay, fine, just take a vote. It would mean that he believes that he could get enough republicans to get it through the house for sure. Yeah. Look, because of the filibuster in the senate and because john boehner wants a majority of his republicans in the house to pass anything, the president is stimied. There is a ma majority in the senate for a deal. There is a majority if you have a few republicans and democrats in the house and yet we cant get a deal to pass the chamber. So i think the white house, which now realizes that the negotiations with boehner failed. They are not going to get an actual negotiated settlement and they are not going to get an actual negotiated settlement with mcconnell in the senate. This meeting i think is for a little bit of show, frankly. Because they never hash out a plan. Right. The whole deal had to be hashed out between obama and boehner and that failed last week. So this is a bit of show and obamas now going to put the own news back on the house and senate and remind people that there is a majority for a plan. Its just not one that most republicans would support. Right. They wont even let us vote on it. But the thing is, i actually dont think that boehner has now has a requirement of the majority of his caucus should vote for it. Its unclear what his requirement is, right . If he would allow a vote on this plan and get almost all the democrats presumably and handful of republicans, i think it would break the deadlock, right . Yeah. So this is a little bit of obama throwing it back in Congress Court and saying, there should be a majority for this passing. But republicans are not going to they are going to be very, very cool to this today. Let me ask you about the politics of this post january 1st. Lets say nothing happens, they cant get a deal. Its now january 3rd. Who wakes up in the more powerful political position to get what they want in a fiscal cliff deal . Its kind of a strange situation. Most conservatives in the house want to go over the cliff because they want to vote to lower taxes and they will have the ability to do that once taxes go up after january 1st. It just sounds better. Right. Rather than i let your taxes go up. Exactly. I think politically, though, all of the policy moves in the direction of the democrats, right . Tax rates go up. Big spending cuts at the pentagon. And all the polls show that the republicans are going to be blamed for all of this. So obama as the one guy in this town that wants a deal more than anyone. On the other hand, hes probably the guy that purely political benefits the most after january 3rd satisfy in a stronger negotiating position. Hell also have, remember, a few more democrats in the house and in the senate. So the white house will be strengthened after this happens. But a lot of people in the white house and Treasury Department dont want that to happen because they think the markets may freak out. Already the markets are reacting to the news within the last hour. Yesterday the markets dipped a little bit on reids comments in the senate. So they are worried about the economy. I think purely politically, obama will be strengthened once we go over. Ryan lizza, thank very much. Its going to be an interesting couple of days. Yeah, it sure is. Thanks, ryan. Weapons of war on the streets of los angeles. Details of a shocking find in a Gun Buyback Program. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt treat that. Really . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. Thats the cold truth lets say you want to get ahead how do you get from here. To here . At university of phoenix were moving Career Planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. Ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while youre still in school, you might find the best route. Leads somewhere you werent even looking. Lets get to work. They are Deadly Weapons of war no one expects to see on the streets of an American City so you can imagine the shock when a Gun Buyback Program in los angeles yielded rocketpropelled grenade launchers. Kyung lah, what are you finding out about this story . Police are saying its certainly stunning but they are not surprised. This is something that they deal with every day. Weapons on the streets of los angeles, certainly very rare that they come across Something Like this but they are hoping that by showing it it gives americans some pause and perspective. A rocket launcher. Not just one but two handed over to police in this weeks gun buyback day. Shocking . Not to police who have seen it before. Among the roughly 10,000 citizens since 2009. We look like were in a third world war nation when you see all of these weapons and the question you have to ask is why . These were u. S. Made and owned privately although legal. They thankfully had no rockets in them. Police also collected 75 assault rifles that people traded in this week for gift cards. I dont think anyone should be surprised two rocket launchers were turned in. This is l. A. L. A. And much of america, says aaron cohen. This should be a reality check, he says, and a sign of how militarystyle weaponry can so easily end up in the wrong hands, like they did in the newtown massacre. Theres way too many weapons out there on the streets. The type of weapons that were brought in the other day, its just redid cue louse. So you think its gotten out of hand . I think that the system of issuing them has gotten out of hand and i think we have, again, have to look at the entire Safety System involved with giving handguns out. Gun shows and easy background checks cohen says, that adds up to an overly armed america. The people who turned in guns, most of them legal, came from all walks of life. I have grandchildren and no matter how secure you think your gun is, when youve seen what has happened, so i decided to turn it in. Many of the weapons that were handed over to police in the gun buyback were antique. Some of them were not functional. But police say its just a window into a look of how many guns are in los angeles in the city. Candy, they are estimating millions of guns exist in los angeles. I dont know if you know the answer to this question, but im pretty sure you cant buy a rocketpropelled gun launcher in a gun store, can you . No, you cannot buy one. It a very difficult to obtain. This came from overseas or someone bringing one in or do they have a theory . This is u. S. Made rocket launcher. Right. They dont ask the individual where it came from. Thats part of the reason why people turn it in, because theres no retribution against them when people turn over the weapons. Police say thats critical to making this gun buyback process work. But they stress it is u. S. Made. It was produced here. They just dont know how it made its way through to the hands of the lapd. Thanks, kung lah. Angry and grief. A teenagers suicide and why investigators are taking some of the blame. So as you can see, geicos Customer Satisfaction is at 97 . Mmmm tasty. And cut very good. People are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. So were taking you behind the scenes. This coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. Its not real. Geicos Customer Satisfaction is quite real though. This computeranimated coffee tastes dreadful. Geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. Someone get me a latte will ya, please . Another brutal rape case in india is drawing outrage. A 17yearold girl committed suicide after alleging she was gang raped a month and a half ago. Inaction on the part of local police may have played a part in this story. Reporter family and friends of the 17yearold victim were griefstricken at her funeral on thursday. The girls mother overcome with emotion cutting a picture of her daughter tightly to her chest. The teenager died wednesday after taking poison. Her death comes a month and a half after she says she was brutally raped. In a november interview with our sister network, the victim described her alleged attack. Translator i was raped by two boys. Its been two days since ive filed a complaint. They threatened me by saying my family and i will be killed. I demand justice. Reporter according to police reports, the incident happened on november 13th during the festival of the raleigh when three suspects abducted the girl, raped her several time and dumped her on the road. The girls family tried to report the case for two weeks but say police pressured them to withdraw the complaint. Translator my daughter was extremely sad and took her own life. Reporter the girl took her own life accusing two men and a woman blaming them for her death. She says in a note that when police finally did look into the case, they humiliated her by asking obscene questions about the attack. After her death, Police Quickly arrested the three named in the note claiming they had been investigating all along. Translator we have been probing the case and we have now arrested the men after they got their names. We will take necessary action on the suicide. Reporter but the Districts Police chief says that local Police Officers were negligent in their handling of the case. Translator for almost 14 days no action was taken, nor case was opened. Reporter two Police Officers have been fired and another suspended over the incident but thats little consolation to the young girls family. In a separate case, doctors treating a 23yearold indian woman gang rained on a bus in new deli say she has taken a turn for the worse. Her doctor says she is showing signs of severe organ failure. There are signs that russia may be finally changing its position on syria. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories in the situation room. What have you got . This could be a significant development. Syrias civil war rages on and the death toll rises. Russia has officially invited the head of syrias opposition for talks. The invitation comes despite russias criticism of the u. S. And other nations that recognize the Syrian National coalition as the countrys legitimate representative over president Bashar Al Assad. And an historic drought in americas midwest is threatening navigation and commerce of the mississippi river. Sharply lower water levels and ice that is slowing water flow could disrupt critical barge traffic. Contractors are working to remove rock formations in an effort to maintain a deep channel. And americas population growth is slowing down. The government says its due to lower birth rates during the economic recession and lower immigration numbers. As we start the new year, there will be 315 Million People in the United States. The population, though, has grown less than. 75 since 2010. So a slower rate of growth. Still, 315 Million People is seems like enough people in some places, thats for sure. Thanks, lisa. Hopes have been crushed and families in the making ripped apart. A new law bans americans from adopting russian children. Ng tom about that tiramisu. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. From what we surmise, this meeting at the white house between the president and congressional leaders is broken up. At least so far as nancy pelosi is concerned. You can see this tape. She obviously has left the meeting. John boehner, the speaker of the house, has also been seen leaving. So what we want to do is find out what is going on here. Obviously we have our Jessica Yellin there and we will talk to her a little later about what she has learned. Now, the fiscal cliff and these lastditch talks is the only game in town. Joining me for todays strategy session is Roland Martin and cnn contributor erick erickson, editorinchief of. They are saying, hey, we dont have to compromise. We have more people in congress coming in that are democrats. The president doesnt have to give on that 250,000 top. Where do you stand on this . Do you think the president does or should compromise up to particularly on the tax issue . You cant be a democrat and ask republicans to compromise if you dont want to give up something. I think the president clearly understood that. So when he laid the 250,000 out, he gave himself some room because, again, you saw Speaker Boehners proposal, it dealt with 1 million. Look, you have to compromise. Democrats cant say, hey, we have more folks coming in because the republicans still control the majority in the house. You have to give to get. Its as simple as that. So at the moment thats a no for you for democrats giving something up until they see signs from republicans who, i should point out, have said we will raise taxes for some folks. Thats something, is it not . President boehner had to pull the deal off the table when it came to taxes of folks above a million dollars. Its not like they are saying we are going to give up a lot. If that bill passed, then you have a marker. The bill didnt even go up for a vote. Theres no marker for the gop. Erick, i want to talk about something that you wrote today. The leaders on both sides are incapable of negotiating their way out of a burning paper bag, which is a great phrase. The problem here is that paper bag is burning sort of across American Voters here. So what do they do now . Just say we cant get this and give it up . They have to keep negotiating. Well, they have to keep negotiating or do what they were doing with Hurricane Sandy where they couldnt get the legislation out until they amended it. Most the amendments are going down in flames with the democrats but republicans are feeling like at least they can make some additions. You have the leaders doing all of the negotiating behind closed doors. What about this idea that the president was saying, if you cant agree to my 250,000 and some other things and no changes in estate taxes, just put it on the floor for an up or down vote s that okay with you, erick . No, i dont think so. I dont think the republicans need to give the republicans the talking point that they killed this plan without the president doing something. Look, plan b would have passed. Republicans would have supported it. I would have supported it even though i didnt agree with. Roland, where does this go from here . Heck if i know. I say kneel down and pray. You have people locked in look, both sides are simply playing chicken. Republicans are hoping that democrats blink. They are thinking, president obama has blinked before. He doesnt want to see the markets crash. At the end of the day, who gets screwed . Who gets screwed . Americans. The people who dont have Unemployment Benefits, the folks out there Barbara Starr talked to someone making 23,000 at mcdonalds whose taxes are going to go up. Its the American People, the average people, they are going to get screwed by congress not being able to do their job. Erick, want to play something that charles said last night and got reaction from you. Hes been using this and i must say with great skill and ruthless skill and success to fracture and basically shatter the Republican Opposition and his objective at the beginning was to to create an internal civil war and hes done that. Do you think the president is responsible for creating a civil war in the Republican Party . Sorry, erick. I think to a degree he is although i think john boehner has more on that having cut the deal to raise taxes on 1 million or more. The republicans have had to hold this line. They would have opened them up to bigger fractures. Yes, to a certain degree i think charles is right. The president won by winning reelection. Thats what happened. He won. That does tend to happen after you lose a president ial election. Yes. Let me get you both to this. This is probably the last time ill talk to you between now and 2013. So i need you to say you cannot say the president or mitt romney in the answer to these questions. Name your political winner and loser of 2012. Roll land . Winner, latinos, prejudice is going to push forward when it comes to Immigration Reform and folks from the west indies and caribbean and other parts of the country. My loser, crazy republican males who dont know how to talk about the issue of rape. Dont touch it or youre going to get burned. Thats the biggest loser of 2012. Okay, erick, i know he doesnt include new that crazy white thing that hes talking about. What are your winners and losers . He just doesnt like the way i dress bill burton and the super pac. Lose ares on the left, unions are huge. And losers, john cornyn, horrible recruitment two years in a row and this time they didnt have jim demint to blame. Dont blame that texan on me. Okay. Take it up with him after the show. Erick erickson, Roland Martin, thank you very much. Happy new year, guys. Hopes have been crushed and families in the making have been ripped apart. A new law bans americans from adopting russian children. Welcome to chevys yearend event. So, the 5. 3liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds . 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a controversial bill barring americans from adopting russian children. The new law is heartbreaking for hundreds of families in the adoption process now. Foreign Affairs Reporter elielis elise labott is at the state department. What are you hearing . Its always a lot of tense words but today i spoke to officials who are just sad, that the russians are really playing politics and denying children in russia a better life. Let me read you a little bit of a state Department Statement saying the russian governments politically motivated decision will reduce adoption possibilities for children now under institutional care. We are further concerned that statements that adoptions already under way may be stopped and, candy, there are about 46 children who are still in the pipeline right now. Russian officials are saying that these children could be put back in the russian registry for adoption in country but theres no guarantee that they will be because there are about 120,000 children in russia waiting to be adopted right now and the state department, u. S. Administration really in a debate right now how far to push this because, as you know, a lot of other issues at stake in the relationship with russia, such as syria, crisis with iran, a lot going on. Sure. But this certainly is one of those emotional issues. America always prides itself, weve seen what happens in connecticut. We talk so much about protecting our children and for some of these family they were already their children although they were still living in russia. Is there anything that the u. S. Government could do . What would be a response that might evoke a response from russia . Well, right now the state department is asking the parent of these children to sit tight. They are working on negotiating these 46 cases, making sure at least those children who have already bonded with those parents already in the pipeline waiting to be taken back to the United States could be, if you grandfathered in, if you will, and then they are trying to work with the russians on lifting the entire ban. There is already an adoption agreement between the u. S. And russia that theyve been negotiating for about two years. It was just signed in november. This ban that was signed by president putin doesnt repeal that treaty and the u. S. Is encouraged by statements by russian lawmakers and other cabinet ministers that say that maybe this ban could be lifted because its certainly as it has touched here in the United States, its touched a nerve in russia about whether its best for the russian children and best for the russian relationship with the u. S. , candy. Elise, thank you so much for that update. This is drawing debates from u. S. Lawmakers. Senator john mccain says, i often wonder how much lower the russian government under president putin can stoop over to punish babies and children over a political disagreement between our governments is a new low, even for putins russia. And a similar ban was enacted but later dropped and he joins me now. This must bring back horrible heartbreaking memories for you having been through something similar. You knew your boys . I did. I did. And like elise said, this is a very sad day. It takes me back to 12 years ago when president putin put a severe similar moratorium on adoptions when i was in the middle of it. And so i know that you still advocate and are involved in the community of American Parents who adopt russian children. Have you talked to current families who have some children that i stay in close contact with the center for National Adoption and i know they are working very, very hard on behalf of these kids but my heart really goes out to these families. At this time of year especially, i cant believe were standing here talking about this yet again. When we talk about the families, its so important to remember that these are kids were talking about. These are not political pawns. These are little children. In institutions at this point. Babies. Right. You have your two boys here and they are beautiful. We have them in the studio here. Have you talked to them about this . What are they saying . Well, my guys have grown up here in america. They are very proud of their heritage being russian, but they are also thriving in america. They are athletes. They are getting a great education. They are you know, they are just wonderful young men. Absolutely wonderful. And i just cant help but think of what would happen to them had they stayed in an orphanage in russia. The very best orphanage in russia cant compare to a home to to a family. Anywhere. And a family that wants them. Absolutely. And you had met your sons. Well, i had met them on a video. Oh, on video. I had gotten a video and they had become mine. They were in my heart already and i just wanted to scoop them up. And when the ban came, when the moratorium came, we didnt know it was temporary and it was devastating. It was absolutely devastating. And i cant imagine these kids who have met their families. The families have been over there in many cases. Absolutely. And they are dreaming about their homes. They are dreaming about an american mom, dad, brother, sister. And now unfortunately they are going to have to wake up from these dreams and look around and realize they are still in the nightmare of a russian orphanage. And is there something that can be done that you see is an easy fix here . Here is a child that you already consider your child and they are caught up in something so far above your pay scale and theres nothing you can do. Governments and politics are so big and the families are so small and the children are so tiny that it is. It is a very helpless feeling. But there are very, very dedicated people in the government and in nongovernment organizations that are working to make this this to make to make this go away. We are optimistic that president putin somehow will become a hero to these kids. And what do you say to supporters of this law who say, look, these children need to be taken care of in russia. Absolutely. I agree with that. It would be wonderful if russians were adopting. But they dont, you know. And interNational Adoption is not about finding children for parents. Its about finding homes for these kids that so desperately need homes. I would love for every child to be adopted in russia by russians but its not happening and there are people here lined up waiting. And russia adopgs have been on the decline. I know the process takes a couple years, really . Its up to two years and takes up to three trips to russia. We should be working on making this easier, not harder or now it seems impossible. I imagine just seeing your emotion and how you feel about this and these two little boys that is there something youd like to see . Does it meet the president ial test to you . President obama is a family man. Hes got his two beautiful daughters. I have my two beautiful sons. There are so many families that want beautiful kids and that need families. I think, you know, president obama would be my hero. Would be my hero if he would do what a dad needs to do. Thank you for coming in and sharing some of your story. We wish all of those families waiting out there anxiously, we hope it somehow gets worked out. Thank you so much. Boys, thank you for kwoming in. Police are now searching for a woman who witnesses say pushed a man into the path of a oncoming subway train. Its the second such killing in a month. A horrifying death that may give chills to anyone who rides the subway and for new yorkers, its a gruesome repeat of a crime that shockeded it city. Cnns poppy harlow has the story. Poppy . Reporter candy, twice this month someone is pushed from a new york city subway platform in front of an oncoming train and killed. It happened right on this platform on thursday. It was horrible. Fell to the bottom and i never want to hear Something Like that again. Reporter this man heard the final scream of the victim. James callanans train was halted because of the incident. They said this is the last stop, debris fell on the tracks. Thats all they were telling people. Reporter the victim was standing on the edge of this subway platform in queens when a woman who was pacing and talking to herself pushed him on to the tracks. Surveillance footage captured this woman running from the station. Police are searching for the woman they describe as heavyset, in her 20s, wearing a ski jacket and sneakers. We do live in a world where subway platforms are open and thats not going to change. Reporter at a News Conference on friday, mayor bloomberg and ray kelly were inundated with questions about the subway death. Mayor bloomberg, a second subway pushing death in this city in less than a month, im wondering what your reaction to that is, how can it be prevented . I dont know if there is ways to prevent. There is always going to be a deranged person. Reporter just this month, a 58yearold man was pushed from the tracks in times square. Reporter would you consider putting more police on the platform in the wake of what has happened this month . We feel that we are properly deployed. Reporter so not something you would consider at this point . You show me anyplace in this world where you have 5 1 2 Million People get together where there is virtually any crime. Reporter they said people should stay away from the platform edges and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Bill henderson advises the mta. What can be done to prevent things like this . Well, i mean, not you cant eliminate the possibility. But this is a very rare occurrence. Reporter why not put some sort of barrier here . Well, you have different car types running on the tracks in new york city subways and they have doors placed at different points along their length. If you ran a different kind of car, youd have to move the openings. Just not practical . Just not practical. Reporter very expensive . Very expensive. Reporter keep in mind, subway deaths like this are very rare. Years go by without them happening. The same is true in other major cities like washington, d. C. , and boston. Candy . Milk lovers could be in for some sticker shock. Would you believe 7 per gallon . A side effect of fiscal cliff negotiations in lack of action on a lot of other legislative matters. The farm bill expired last summer with no measure from congress to rereplace it. One of the protections for farmers that goes away december 31st is the dairy. That means prices could skyrocket. I brought that up with secretary vilsack. In the short term it seems to be, why does anybody care that theres not a farm bill on january 1st . What will happen to me or my family sitting here in washington, d. C. . Well, if you like anything made with milk, youre going to be impacted by the fact that theres no farm bill. Because if there is not an extension of the existing bill or a new bill, basically on january 1st or shortly thereafter, permanent agricultural law goes back in place, 1949 law, the federal government will go back into the business of strongly supporting and i mean strongly supporting the dairy industry by raising the price for Dairy Products for 38 dlaurz to underweight. Thats almost double the price that dairy is today. Thats going to ultimately ramp up so when consumers go into the Grocery Store instead of seeing 3. 60 a gallon for milk they are going to see 7 a gallon for milk. So it impacts consumers. It impacts those of us concerned about the energy and security of this country because the farm bill contains ways to promote alternate energy sours, ways to create a Biofuel Industry that is robust and creates consumer choice. For those concerned about exports connected to the agricultural exports, we lose the ability to market exports without a farm bill. If youre concerned about the ability to add adequate nutrition and supporter of farmers markets and want to see an expansion of that, cant do it because there is no farm bill. If you like the idea of fields expanding habitat opportunities or you like to hunt and you like to fish, your hobby, your vocation, if you will, in that area will also be affected by no farm bill because a lot of the programs are not extended. If youre a farm family, youre going to be impacted. So there is an impact and an effect by not having a farm bill. Congress has three options before the end of the year to prevent the price spike and everything that comes with it. They could either extend the current bishlg pass a new bill or some kind of provision to keep the 1949 farm bill from taking effect. He thinks the role of people are losing power. My interview with secretary vilsack on state of the union at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. The white house meeting between the president and four top leaders, the meeting is over and according to our senior congressional producer, deed dra wall, she says that nancy pelosi returning to the capitol said that the white house meeting was constructive and candid, which means argumentative. Ex Speaker Pelosi said the president led the meeting and to see what senator mcconnell and or leaders in the senate could work out between the two of them. Pelosi also said that john boehner said that he would only bring up something for a vote in the house if the Senate Passed it first. So thats what we know about what went on in the meeting. Of course, all of our reporters are checking into that and we will have more news for you on that meeting and the possible outcome as soon as we get them back up there checking it out. Now, an iconic piece of Human History wrapped up. Well show you what it is and why its being shielded when we come back. 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. This season, discover aleve. All day pain relief with just two pills. Aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u. S. Postal service. Well even drop off boxes if you need them. Visit usps. Com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. Any time of year. Nice sweater. Thank you. Heres a look at this years hot shots. In pakistan, a vendor arranges apples on his donkey cart. A look at laptops at a come utter congress. In albania, a boy looks over the turkeys that hes selling. Hot shots, pictures coming in from around the world. Former president h. W. Bush could soon be released from a houston hospital. Lisa silver sister is monitoring that. Hi, candy. Good news on that front. The former president is singing, yes, singing with the hospital doctors and nurses. The family is confident he will soon be able to leave. Hes in the intensive care unit being treated for an elevated fever. He was treated for complications due to bronchitis. And a move to lower phone bills for federal inmates. Sky high rates, a typical 15minute statetostate call can can cost 16 because most prisons cost huge commissions to providers. Officials say they want to reign in costs. Wall street closed lower for the fifth straight friday and ended the week down almost 2 as fear about the fiscal cliff continues. Selling gained steam when no progress was reported in the meetings between president obama and congressional leaders. The dow was down 150 point today. The nasdaq and s p down 15. Candy . Not a way to end a year or start a new one, is it . I know. But its not entirely unexpected considering we get closer and closer to the fiscal cliff. Investors get spooked. And its the stock market. What goes up goes back down. Thanks, lisa. Visit the Kennedy Space center and will you see something very impressive but still under wraps. The Space Shuttle atlantis flew Many Missions ins day and now its the site of a new exhibit that will be unveiled next summer. Cnns John Zarrella is there. Hey, john. Reporter candy, we are here and we have the hard hat on because we are in a working area construction site. This is the massive building that will house and actually already does house the Space Shuttle atlantis which came over here in early november. For the viewers out there, if you cant recognize it because it doesnt quite look right, thats atlantis wrapped in 16,000 feet of shrink wrap. It kind of looks like a caterpillar in a kok couldnt. Come march, it will spread its wings when they take the wrapping off of it. The shuttle is at a 43 1 2degree angle here because thats the angle that it would be when its flying in space and suspended off the ground here and people will be able to walk around here, walk by it, walk around it. And i have tim macy with me. I know you left that whole wall off he in order to get the shuttle in here from over at the nasa site. That had to be one heck of a job getting it in here. It was close. On paper it looked pretty easy but when it came down to it, moved it around just a little bit. The wall itself was about 85 feet wide and the wing span, as you know, is about 82 feet. We didnt have a whole lot of room to move it around. Reporter but never a concern that you would get it in here . Never, ever a concern. We always knew it would get in. Reporter people are going to ask, can i go in it, can i touch it . Its a pricele artifact. As much as wed like people to be able to do that, its not going to happen. Youll be able to get really close and touch some of the things that were actually inside the shuttle itself back when it was flying. Weve broken that out into some exhibits that are available below it. Reporter thanks, tim, very much. We have a couple of artist renderings that show what the building is going to look like when they have the grand opening in july and not only the shuttle which is the centerpiece of all of this but there will be a telescope replica suspended here in this exhibit area. There will be about 60 int active games and such for people to see and use and play with and get an idea of what its like again, it last flew in july 2011. That was the final shuttle flight of the Shuttle Program in history and atlantis, of course, the last of the shuttle fleet to fly. Candy . John, thanks so much. It looks like fun. I will be there next summer. Sure. Youre in the situation room. Happening now, the uniquely washington version of lets make a deal. We have the latest from the this afternoons big meeting in the oval office. Whos eavesdropping on your email . The government may be. What congress is doing that may have civil libertarians up in arms. And a plea for help describing work conditions and it may be a hoax and dirty international politics. Welcome to our viewers around the United States and around the world. Wolf blitzer is off today. Im Candy Crowley and youre in the situation room. We begin with the latest fallout from this afternoons big meeting at the white house. Republican and Democratic Leaders at the house and senate met with president obama to discuss ways to avoid the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax increases and spending cuts that hit in just four days. The meeting broke up about 45 minutes ago. Cnn radio capitol hill correspondent lisa awaited the leaders arrival. Lisa, lets talk about what we can look for out of this meeting. Is there any chance at all to get a deal before the clock strikes midnight on the 31st. Reporter right. I think the key player is Mitch Mcconnell to watch. Were getting potentially more information about what is happening next. Our capitol hill producer deidre walsh was there when some of the leaders returned and she spoke with nancy pelosi who said this meeting was constructive and candid. Heres what is especially interesting. Nancy pelosi told reporters that the president led a meeting that ended with senators reid and mcconnell trying to work something out between the two of them. Now it seems like weve gone from a process that was president obama and Speaker Boehner and then today to five leaders back to two. And those two, for the moment, seem to be senator reid and senator mccon until. Also, i had a source in senator mcconnells office who said we should be getting a statement from the republican leader of the senate any time now. So that statement will tell us a lot, candy. It will. But we also know that even though its in the senate hands now which is basically where Speaker Boehner tossed it when he couldnt get his plan b passed by his own caucus, it doesnt mean that Speaker Boehner is out of the mix, right . Because hes still going to have to pass whatever they pass in the senate, hes going to have to have enough votes in the house to get it passed and particularly he needs at least a sizeable vote in his own caucus. Hes not entirely out, is he . Reporter not at all. And i think youre familiar with this and unfortunately our viewers are, too. These are meetings to have meetings. The white house was trying to set up an even smaller group. Senators reid and mcconnell to start the beginning of a possible deal. What theyve got to is and and Speaker Boehner to see and then go fortunately there. And i think its really meetings to have meetings and we also know senator reid when he returned to the capitol hill, deidre walsh was there. The next 24 hours are critical. And candy, if you dont mind, that reminds me of something that i heard from senator ben nelson. If we can, lets play that sound bite from a few hours ago. We dont have that sound bite ready at the moment. Im sorry about that. What senator nelson said was the next 24 hours are the window if something doesnt happen in this next day, then there may be no chance of getting a fiscal cliff deal by january 1st. So thats along the lines of what senator reid is also saying. Here we are, critical hours yet again. They are running out of days, as you know. Well get back to you when you get that statement from senator mcdonnell. Thanks so much. You got it. Cnns chief correspondent ali velshi has a lose closer look at how lawmakers and president obama got themselves in this mess in the first place. Now weve passed a bold package of tax relief for americas families and businesses. It starts more than a decade ago when then president george w. Bush initiated a series of tax cuts for all americans but its a deal with the devil. The cuts, which are politically expedient but costly to government expire in ten years time. Both houses of congress have now passed a package of tax relief that will protect the middle class. When it came time for the cuts to expire, the u. S. Is just emerging from the worst recession since the great depression. So president obama agreed to extend the tax cuts for two more years in exchange for congress extending federal emergency Unemployment Benefits. Those cuts are expensive. If they are extended by 2020, the bush era tax cuts will be responsible for more than half the total national debt. Democrats insist that taxes go up for the wealthy but stay in place permanently for those earning less than 250,000 a year. We need to stop the job killing tax sites and stop spending now. Republicans refused to play ball. They say no higher rates on the rich, no tax hikes on anyone. Based on an ideology that calls for government to be as small as possible. Its roots are as old as american politics but today the philosophys main spokesman is this man. Grover norquist. President of americans for tax reform. Norquists pledge signed by almost all republicans by congress forbids raising taxes ever under any circumstances. Things come to a head in the summer of 2011. Republicans demand that the government reduce its deficit as a condition for raising the debt ceiling. Both democrats and republicans earth tactics that shut down the government and ultimately cost america its aaa Credit Rating for the first time in history. But in a lastminute compromise, both sides agree to a trillion dollars in spending cuts up front and another 1. 2 trillion in cuts to be decided by a special congressional supercommittee. But a poison pill was attached. If the supercommittee cant reach a deal, automatic across the board cuts known as a sequester would go into effect be at the exact moment when those bush tax cuts extended for two years would expire. So the point is we could have all seen this coming and some of us did. We yelled at the top of our lungs about it but were drowned out by the election. It seems that Good Governance gets drowned out by continuous elections in america. This time there may be a serious price to pay for it. If we go off the fiscal cliff, be will you notice an immediate change to your wallet . We want to get a reality check from Stephen Moore, a member of the wall street Editorial Board and author of whos the fairest of them all . Stephen, we have spent six month talking about this cant happen we cant go off the fiscal cliff. Weve got to meet this deadline and now they are saying, its not that bad. Which is it . Look, i dont think its the end of the world and i think it would get resolved in the weeks ahead but its a black eye for our whole political system. Think about this. Here we are two or three days away from the start of the year without any American Business or investor or workerer knowing what the payroll tax is going to be, income tax is going to be, i mean, this just isnt a very good way to run a country and its almost like Banana Republic politics. My dad used to say, no way to run a railroad. Lets talk about a couple of things. This whole idea that tax rates on everyone will go up. Does the irs, does the Treasury Department have the ability to sort of say, look, heres some guidance. Keep withholding where it is . The irs is in turmoil right now. They dont know what to do. They are putting out mixed signals whether they can advise businesses what to do. I do think for those people who are really worried, middle class people are worried about their tax bills going up, i do think if we dont get this solved in the last day and i think theres a decent chance that we may get a resolution on december 31st. If we dont, sometime in january there will be resolution and i think what republicans said and even the president would go along with this, whatever we decide to do, lets make the tax cuts retroactive to the first of the year. What does that first paycheck look like into january . It could be you know, you could have that additional money wi withheld from your paycheck. The law this is is assuming we go over the cliff. Everyone is facing a higher tax increase. Not just bill gates, not just Warren Buffett but anyone with an income over 25,000. And dont forget, by the way, the payroll tax goes up, too. Every worker is going to get it. Social security tax. Which no one is talking about. So that says to me that those are going back up anyway. Thats about a thousand dollar cost. It doesnt sound like people have to worry about their taxes and most people. But what about the psychological impact . Havent we already seen it in christmas buying . Havent we already seen it in wont Consumer Confidence take a hit . Wont businesses still say, be i dont know. I dont know whats happening . It already has, candy. This years Christmas Shopping season was lackluster at best. You mentioned businesses. I talk to Small Business men and women all the time. They say, we are not hiring right now. We are just canceling a lot of our plans to make new expenditures which you need to do if you want a vibrant economy. Were really seeing the impact on the stock market. This is not a good way to run a railroad and the economy is already taking a hit because of all of this turmoil. And as i said, im a republican but i think both parties take a black eye here because nobody comes out of this looking very good. Our polling shows that the republicans will take the biggest hit. But if youre going to take a political hit, do it at the end of an election season. Thats true. If we get there are a lot of economists who believe i guess i put myself in this camp. If we dont get this resolved for several month and sometimes these political fights go on and on. This is at the core of what these two parties believe in. I think that its possibly. And if we dont have to push the panic button new years day and looking at this thinking and feel the effects . I think starting at the end of the month, next month. End of january . If these guys cant get it together, were going to have to totally change our Family Finances because we dont know how much taxes were going to pay. For the average middle class family, were talking about through the year, 2,000 to 2500. Stephen moore, who believes that we can still get a deal, the last remaining optimism in washington, d. C. Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. The meeting at the white house has broken up. Were beginning to get bits and pieces from the capitol hill attendees. We are told that the ball now appears to be in the court of senator reid who is the democratic leader in the senate and senator Mitch Mcconnell, the republican leader. Were also told that Speaker Boehner made it clear in that meeting at the white house that he wouldnt bring anything up for a vote until it passed the senate. I want to bring in Jessica Yellin. What are you picking up . Whats the next thing were going to see unfold . Reporter everybody is getting their word in and the next person to speak will be president obama. He will be speaking in the Briefing Room at 5 45 this evening. Thats about half an hour from now. I would expect just based on how he handles situations like this in the past, it will probably not be a very lengthy statement. My expectation would be he will probably remind the American People and members of congress that theres not much time to go, that they have the basics for a deal and urge everybody to get this done quickly. But we will hear what the president is what he has on his mind in just under 30 minutes now. So we can wait until he says it himself, candy. Even if he talks briefly, you always can read a lot he picks his words very carefully so i suspect, jessica, were going to get the tone of that meeting. From his body language, from his mood, yes, weve seen him come out of these meetings and speak to the press before and convey a sense of deep, deep frustration in the past and weve also seen him come out with a sense of positive optimism. So well wait to read the tea leaves. You know, so far not a whole lot of optimism but maybe things will change. We can always hope. We can. Jessica yellin, we will see you in a bit. Thanks very much. The governments ability to eavesdrop on your conversations. The bill that opponents say is too secretive. Details, next. Also, why parts of a transportation lifeline are in danger of shutting down. Bottle . Yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. And i relieve nasal congestion. Overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multisymptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. Nyquil® cold and flu doesnt. Neural speeds increasing to 4g lte. Brain upgrading to a quadcore processor. Predictive intelligence with google now complete. Introducing droid dna by htc. Its not an upgrade to your phone. Its an upgrade to yourself. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. I just finished a bowl of your new light Chicken Pot Pie soup and its so rich and creamy. Is it really 100 calories . Let me put you on webcan. Lean roasted chicken. And a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. This is senator Mitch Mcconnell. Hes the republican leader in the senate. I hope that we can come forward as early as sunday and have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference and so well be working hard to try to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours. And so im hopeful and optimistic. Im hopeful that i can do everything i can and that senator mcconnell can do everything he can. Everybody, whatever we come up with, its going to be i am perfect and some people rbt going to like it. Some people will like it less. But thats where we are. And i feel confident that we have an obligation to do the best we can and that was made clear in the white house and were going to do the best we can for the caucuses that we have and the country who is waiting for us to make a decision. So that was the u. S. Senate floor. That was harry reid. You just saw what the two of them said was what we had learned from others about the meeting that is in the next 24 hours we may learn if theres going to be a deal and whether this will bleed into 2013. Its up to senator reid and mcconnell say, its going to be something i can sell to my caucus and its going to be something that he can sell to his and senator reid said, look, its not going to be perfect. That much we knew already. 24 hours, those two men trying to come up with something that will not just pass their caucuses but passed by enough in the house to avoid this fiscal cliff. So we will keep you abreast of that again. Well hear from the president at 5 45 eastern time. Thats in about 15 25 minutes. Despite what you might think, congress is getting some work done. Today senate sent president obama a bill that reauthorizes eavesdropping on communications in search of possible terrorists. In doing so, lawmakers brushed away concerns about violating privacy. This did not get much attention until today. The vote in the senate was not close and without much fanfare. One of the most hotly disputed tactics on the war on terror will keep ongoing. He ordered it just after 9 11 and became one of the most controversial tactics used by george w. Bush to fight the war on terror. The secret wire tapping of kmun kags between people in the United States and overseas. It drew fire because sometimes the communications of innocent americans got caught up. In 2008, the practice was authorized by congress but with limitations. A warrant is now required to target an american, including americans who are abroad. But its still a hugely Controversial Program and the senate has passed a fiveyear extension of it. Its an enormous potential of abuse given the ugly history of the use of intel general surveillance for illegitimate purposes. They believe there are way too many innocent people being monitored. They say this classified program is also too secretive and pushed for more disclosure. I think we ought to know whether for purposes of the amendments act generally, how Many Americans are being swept up under the legislation. But there wont be more disclosure because that got voted down. Dianne feinstein, the democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence committee, warned that shedding more light on who is being surveilled would you wo destroy the wire tapping program which she says has worked well. In four years, 100 arrests to prevent something from happening in the United States. Some of which comes from this program. So i think its a vital program. Conservative analyst says a wide dragnet is worth the cost. Lets suppose youre a pakistani, you dont have your green card, you call your uncle, yes, you could get caught up and maybe if hes a member of the taliban theres going to be somebody in the federal government who thinks we need to ask some questions of this person. But if youre the person here talking to the uncle and youre caught up in this youre not caught up in the sense that youre going to jail, in the sense that anything bad is going to happen to you. But there are concerns about that. Civil libertarian Julian Sanchez points out that the National Security agency which does most of this surveillance has a massive new data center in utah where it stores innocuous communications. Sanchez worries that anyone with a security clearance could pull private communication of innocent people. In response to that concern, we contacted the nsa, a spokesperson for that agency. Quote, its operations will lawfully be conducted in accordance with u. S. Laws and policies. Without a doubt, one of the biggest misconceptions is that were unlawfully listening in on or reading emails of u. S. Citizens. This is simply not the case. Nsa is unwavering in its respect of american civilities. Dianne feinstein has issued her own assure rans. She has. The Intelligence Committee is going to conduct what she calls extensive oversilth. Look, seven years after we found out that president bush and his team was doing this, very controversial then and still controversial. A lot of thing shoved it off the center stage. Right. Thank you, brian todd. Even after the cleanup, this years snowstorm will leave entries in the recordbook. Stand by for the latest. Book. Stand by for the latest. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isnt a thing at all . Its lots of things. All waking up. Becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. Cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. The ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. The next big thing . Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. You are looking at a split screen of the exterior of the white house as well as the White House Press Briefing Room. The president is expected in that Briefing Room at 5 45 p. M. Eastern time. A little over a little under give his version on what went on in the meeting he just held with leaders on capitol hill. We do know that it has now been put to the Senate Leader to come up with some sort of compromise. Were going to get the president s version of what went on. Weve just learned now some sad news. That victim of the gang rape in india has died. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories. Lisa . This is a terribly sad story, candy. Officials say the 23yearold woman who suffered a gang rape and severe injuries on al new delhi bus died a few hours ago. Earlier they said she was experiencing organ failure. Her attack led to mass protests where reported rape cases have increased drastically over the last 40 years. And Nelson Mandela is home after a Long Hospital stay in an exclusive interview, his granddaughter said hes well, alert, and playing with his grandchildren. She says social media rumors that mandela is, quote, close to death, she said those rumors are hurtful and wants them to stop. He was hospitalized for a lung infection and gallstone surgery. Okay. Have you had enough of snow . Snow now covers 65 of the 48 lower u. S. States. More could be on the way this weekend. Two to four inches from the midwest to new jersey. The northeast could see more. In montreal, they are digging out of an alltime daily record of 17. 7 inches of snow, which is unbelievable. Im sure a lot of people who have holiday plans, the new years eve plans are going to be keeping a close eye on the weather. Candy . All of that snow and not a flake in washington on the ground. Were supposed to get some precipitation tomorrow morning. Well see what happens. Thanks, lisa. And now a desperate plea reinforces what many fear about working conditions in china but heres the rub. It may be a hoax. Questions . Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. The u. S. Government is investigating a claim that may be nothing more than a hoax but even if these specific allegations are disapproved, they speak to a larger concern about working conditions in china. The return appearance from lisa sylvester. Youve been asking questions about this story. Yeah. And the first thing we should say, is it a hoax or is this a cry for help. Its a letter reportedly from a Chinese Labor camp tucked in the most unlikely place and now this letter is getting lots of attention online. Julie says she found the letter in a box of halloween decorations. The halloween graveyard kit sat in her storage room for about a year until she dusted it off in october and all she could say was wow. It was definitely hidden. The headstones were, you know, approximately 18 inches tall, 12 inches wide and there were two of them put together and the note was slipped in the middle of them. And then that whole package was wrapped in sealed cellophane. The note written in neat hand with broken english says, sir, if you occasionally buy this product, please kindly send this letter to the world human right organization. The letter goes on to say the product was produced by the labor camp in china. People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without saturday, sunday break, and any holidays. Otherwise they will suffer torturement, beat, and rude remark. Julie keith posted the letter on her Facebook Page asking friends what she should doll with it. She has since turned over the letter and the box that it came in to immigration enforcement. The case is under investigation. It is illegal to import products made by forced labor. Keith is convinced that the letter is real but neither has cnn or officials been able to confirm the authenticity. The offenders are often accused of petty crimes and can be detained up to four years without any judicial process. The idea is they are being allowed to work while under detention. There has been a push by some sectors in china to reform or resend such labor camps. There is a labor camp, the Chinese Embassy in washington did not return cnn calls and its been likely the letter is legitimate and the halloween decoration was marketed and sold under the suppliers comply with no evidence that produced the halloween decoration. Enforcement confirmed it is also looking into these allegations and typically and it might take quite a bit of time, candy, before we get to the bol tomorrow of all of this. Thats interesting. The letter might be a hoax but the problem we know is all too real. Its not so much whether or not this woman made up this letter. Thats not what immigration Customs Enforcement think but somebody in the production chain, maybe in the packaging or someone else slip this in as opposed to coming in from a labor camp. Thats going to take some time. To be continued. Thank, lisa. Opposition activists report at least 100 deaths and Bashar Al Assad may be losing one of his biggest supporters, russia. They now want to talk things over with the leader of the syrian opposition. Joining me now is Nick Paton Walsh who is joining me about this story. Nick, we have this russian plan from a purely diplomatic view. Is there any chance that they can get agreement on it . It already is facing problems. Weve heard from the Opposition Party that hes happy to talk but doesnt want to go to moscow. He wants to go to an arab state with a clear agenda. We hear the egyptians saying they want to see this end with Bashar Al Assad leaving power. And other say its simply buying time for Bashar Al Assad to kill more civilians in their eyes. Its raising problems but the net result of this in the eyes of many observers was never really about getting these names on the table to negotiate a peaceful end to this settlement. It shows that the russians for the past two weeks have been disparaging the leader of syria and willing both to talk to the opposition and perhaps maybe through this unsettle those around assad who may have been waiting for that moment, candy. It is is progress of some sort certainly it sounds like even if its not the agreement itself. I guess the question is, if the men in suits, the diplomats arrive with a plan, are the rubbles on the ground or, for that matter, the Government Troops on the ground going to listen to them . Reporter thats the major problem at this moment in time. The political leadership, this shut telling that has been going on for month now, very little from that itself. And the Free Syrian Army all saying that they dont want anything to do with this. Its one spokesman for a fraction tur of movement that is and moving to take a key air base that might perhaps actually cut off much of their ability of the regime to supply forces in the north and give them much greater control over the country that they would suddenly agree to a settlement. For them its about moving Bashar Al Assad violently ending him and his regime and i think this particular bout may weaken assad but not negotiate his departure. I certainly take it that we are not there in terms of peace for syria. This has been going on for quite some time. Nick paton walsh, thank you for watching this for us. Have a good new year. Well talk to you on the other side. Okay. To wrap up what is going on with the fiscal cliff negotiations, we know that there was a meeting between the president and the Top White House leaders. We expect the president to appear in about 6 1 2 minutes to give us his version of what went on during that meeting. We know that the ball now appears to be in the court of the senate where the two top leaders, a top democrat and republican will try to work something out. Cnn will carry this live. Again, 5 45 p. M. Eastern time. Several minutes from now. We expect to hear the president s side of what went on in that white house meeting with the four leaders on capitol hill. Well be right back. [ woman ] ring. Ring. Progresso. I just served my motherinlaw your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Welcome to chevys yearend event. So, the 5. 3liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds . 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. They have three or four more minutes. We expect that in the next several minutes. Right now i want to bring in lisa who is up on capitol hill. We already have a little bit about what went on, lisa. What can you tell us . Reporter right. It sounds like what happened is the president went in with his own plan a and plan b. We heard this from Jessica Yellin. That the president was going to again present the same offer that he had in the past week. If republicans didnt like that and didnt have a counter proposal, he was going to offer an up or down vote. Whats interesting, candy, it didnt get to that point. Instead of the president pushing for that up or down vote which sounds like a do or die last tactic, it didnt get there. Instead, these five these four men and one woman decided that they had one last chance, that they talked over various ideas, various proposals. In the end because it seemed the fate of this fiscal cliff deal rests with the Senate Acting first. We know that from the House Speaker and also because of procedure, they decided that the two lead senators should in fact meet and figure out that deal first. This is the actual progress that weve had in weeks but we dont know what will come of it. Senators reid and mcconnell have about a day to come up with a deal. It sounds like the senate may not come in tomorrow, which makes a lot of sense because senators reid and mcconnell have to figure out a poe teng deal behind closed doors and then may reconvene sunday around lunchtime. It not set in stone but thats what were hearing for now. Lisa, stick with me. I want to bring in Jessica Yellin. Jessica, have you been able to pick up any intel at all or are we just now awaiting the president s word . Reporter candy, i do have a little bit of information he and were still awaiting the president. Im told with a source that the meeting was constructive but this person also said that the president did, as we expected, according to a source, outline the proposal to increase taxes for those households that make more than 250,000 or more and extend Unemployment Insurance. And the president reiterated that this could pass both the house and the senate. He asked mcconnell republican senator minority leader what they wanted to dork how they wanted to proceed and im told the central sticking points from this sources perspective were regarding tax rates. In other words, at what level taxes should increase. And the estate tax, whether there would be a specific to keep the estate tax from going up. Now, as we know, reid and mcconnell are going to work out an agreement. The next element of this is that the president said if senators reid and mcconnell cannot come to a deal, the president did ask that republicans allow his alternate proposal come to a vote, the 250,000 measure. Because the white house believes and democrats broadly believe that that could pass in both the house and the senate, candy. So Jessica Yellin is watching this from the white house as we await the president. I want to give you a couple of statements that we got up on capitol hill. These from senator reid and senator mcconnell, the respectively majority and minority leaders in the senate. The two men who are going to be talking over the next 24 hours to try to fix this fiscal cliff thing. Heres what they had to say. We had a long meeting in the white house it was very constructive. I hope that the next 24 hours will be very instructive with what were able to accomplish. Was there discussion of a concrete proposal . We talked about a lot of things. Theres no concrete proposal at this time. We have a number of Different Directions that were goi to try to take and were going to see what can be worked out. We are engaged in discussions, the majority leader and myself and the white house in the hopes that we can come forward as early as sunday and have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference so well be working hard to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours. So im hopeful and optimistic. Wow. Hopeful and optimistic. That sounds pretty good. I have our chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin and radio hill correspondent lisa. Honestly, they are not calling each other names which yesterday was going on and optimistic and hopeful sounds about as good as its gotten. Yeah. There were more positive noises coming from all sides right now. And we are all looking for tea leaves. That is encouraging. Given the amount of time left and the pressures on every party involved if positive and hopeful is enough at this time. Might not get us there. Might not get us there. I will also add that some republicans are insisting that there was never a discussion of this 250,000 or a proposal coming to the floor. Maybe the president will dispute that in his remarks. Not surprising that not all sides agreed to even what happened in a meeting, candy. No, we shouldnt be surprised by that. Lisa, let me bring you back in. From the point on capitol hill, what do we look for next . These two men, obviously they dont have to be in the same room but in the next 48 hours were at a standstill here. Right. I think what were going to be looking for what my life will be like, standing outside of doorways, seeing who is going to whose offices, making phone calls and seeing if these two people are meeting in person or over the phone. Just a guess, i dont think well hear something until sunday morning. Leader mcconnell said the earliest that he thinks they could present something is sunday. And, of course, as i reported, we dont expect the senate to necessarily be in session tomorrow. The senators may have the day off except the two working on this deal. So i think were going to try everyone will be fighting furiously. With just the two men and their staff, we may not get details of an emerging deal until as soon as sunday. So theres still time, jessica, for this but it cannot be and will not be that kind of mega deal that everybody thought might be possible month ago . Reporter no, thats right, candy. Thats a big disappointment at the white house and on capitol hill. It will not even if they get this done will not include broad tax reform. It will not include measures to bring down the self sit over the next ten years. What any smaller deal at this point might include, would include is some way to extend low tax rates for middle income americans. The white house is insistent it would include a perhaps the republicans incidence some way to keep down estate tax rates and more other sort of in the weeds issues about how doctors who accept medicaid payments would do in the tax code. The socalled doc fix is important in the medical community and important to patients who are on medicare because it involves how much money the doctors actually get for treating a patient. Let me bring you in. We expect to see the president in less than a minute. But the other thing that cant be in this is anything about entitlements. Thats the huge issue for republicans. Right. We had just a News Conference today, the only republicans that came to the mike today came to the microphone to talk about entitlements here on the senate side, about medicare. They see that as the gaping hole in the United States budget and many of them are frustrated that so far there really has not been any specific plan from the white house to try and deal with it. Also remember, Unemployment Benefits run out tomorrow. So the fiscal cliff actually starts tonight. Jessica, it was an interesting statement put out recently by a republican thinker who said that he thinks the president peekispeaking of t president , there he is. Good afternoon, everybody. For the past couple of months, ive been working with leaders of both parties to try and forge an agreement that would grow our economy and shrink the deficit, a balanced plan that would cut spending in a responsible way but also ask the wealthiest americans to pay a little more. And above all, protect our middle class and everybody whos striving to get into the middle class. I still want to get this done. Its the right thing to do for our families, for our businesses and for our entire economy. But the hour for immediate action is here. It is now. Were now at the point where in just four days, every americans tax rates are scheduled to go up by law. Every americans paycheck will get considerably smaller and that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy. It would be bad for middle class families and it would be bad for businesses that depend on families spending. Fortunately, congress can prevent it from happening if they act right now. I just had a good and constructive discussion here at the white house with senate and house leadership about how to prevent this tax hike on the middle class. And im optimistic we may still be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time. Senators reid and mcconnell are working on such an agreement as we speak. But if an agreement isnt reached in time between senator reid and senator mcconnell, then i will urge senator reid to bring to the floor a basic package for an upordown vote, one that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends the vital lifeline of Unemployment Insurance to 2 million americans looking for a job and lays the groundwork for future cooperation on more Economic Growth and deficit reduction. Guys, i can hear you over here. I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities, as long as those leaders actually allow it to come to a vote. If members of the house or the senate want to vote no, they can. But we should let everybody vote. Thats the way this is supposed to work. If you can get a majority in the house and you can get a majority in the senate, we should be able to pass a bill. So the American People are watching what we do here. Obviously their patience is already thin. This is deja vu all over again. America wonders why it is that in this town, for some reason, you cant get stuff done in an organized timetable, why everything always has to wait till the last minute. Were now at the last minute. And the American People are not going to have any patience for a politically selfinflicted wound to our economy, not right now. The economys growing, but sustaining that trend is going to require elected officials to do their jobs. The Housing Market is recovering but that could be impacted if folks are seeing smaller paychecks. The Unemployment Rate is the lowest its been since 2008. But already youre seeing businesses and consumers starting to hold back because of the dysfunction that they see in washington. Economists, Business Leaders all think that were poised to grow in 2013, as long as politics in washington dont get in the way of americas progress. So weve got to get this done. I just want to repeat we had a constructive meeting today. Senators reid and mcconnell are discussing a potential agreement where we can get a bipartisan bill out of the senate over to the house and done in a timely fashion so that we met the december 31st deadline. But given how things have been working in this town, we always have to wait and see until it actually happens. The one thing that the American People should not have to wait and see is some sort of action. So if we dont see an agreement between the two leaders in the senate, i expect a bill to go on the floor and ive asked senator reid to do this put a bill on the floor that makes sure that taxes on middle class families dont go up, that Unemployment Insurance is Still Available for 2 Million People and that rlays the groundwork then for additional deficit reduction and Economic Growth steps that we can take in the new year. But lets not miss this deadline. Thats the bare minimum that we should be able to get done. And it shouldnt be hard since democrats and republicans both say they dont want to see taxes go up on middle class families. I just have to repeat, outside of washington, nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern over and over again. Ordinary folks, they do their jobs. They meet deadlines. They sit down and they discuss things and then things happen. If there are disagreements, they sort through the disagreements. The notion that our elected leadership cant do the same thing is mindboggling to them. It needs to stop. So im modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved. Nobodys going to get 100 of what they want. But lets make sure that middle class families and the American Economy and in fact the World Economy arent adversely impacted because people cant do their jobs. All right . Thank you very much, everybody. President obamas take on what went on, modestly optimistic after constructive talks, i believe those are the quotes. I have with me, ron brown, cnn contributor. Ron, its not how it works in washington, the straight upordown vote. It hasnt for a long time. There are two separate things here. Theres the filibuster in the senate. But the biggest obstacles is the hastert rule in the house. It has always been hard to see bill that a majority of House Republicans would vote for that would be acceptable to president obama. So in many ways, i felt for really months, the only two choices were going over the cliff or abandoning that hastert rule and john boehner being willing to bring up a bill that could be passed by democratic votes, not passed by the majority of republicans. Sounded a little more optimistic on the relative gauge we have than over the last couple of weeks. Theyre now running out of venues to discuss this. They discussed it at the white house. Tried to get a deal between Speaker Boehner and president obama. Now its gone to the senate. Harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell will try to work something out. After that, they have run out of both time and places to go for a deal. Right. Most of the time, when theres stalemate, its tougher for the democrats than republicans because democrats are the party of activist government. They want things to happen. When things dont happen, theyre kind of the loser. In this case, it is hard to see how the republicans are better off after the cliff, if we go over. Were going to have more right after a quick break. Ooh baby, looks like you need a little help there ooh baby, can i do for you today . [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance . Align can help. Only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. Try align to help retain a balanced digestive system. Try the 1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. Align. Happening now, president obama says hes still optimistic a deal can be reached to avoid that fiscal cliff. Just four days until the deadline. The president just spoke about his lastditch talks with congressional leaders. Plus, police are searching for this woman after another person was pushed in front of a new york train and crushed to death. And a huge piece of American History is under wraps. Well tell you why. Wolf blitzer is off. Im im Candy Crowley. Youre in the situation room. So president obama says the time for action on the fiscal cliff is here. He has a calendar, too. He just laid out his position after talks with top members of congress. Everyone seems to agree its up to Senate Leaders to make the next move and that the next 24 hours or so are crucial. We want to bring in our chief White House Correspondent, Jessica Yellin. Jessica . Reporter hi, candy. The president made it clear that he believes that this still can get done. He said he has a little bit of confidence, optimism that it would get done. But he expressed an enormous amount of frustration, it was clear, with congress dillydallying, if youll let me say that. Hes frustrated that its what he called deja vu all over again. And insisted that its up to the senate now to get this done as the clock ticks to new years eve. Heres what the president had to say earlier. If we dont see an agreement between the two leaders in the senate, i expect a bill to go on the floor and ive asked senator reid to do this put a bill on the floor that makes sure that taxes on middle class families dont go up, that Unemployment Insurance is Still Available for 2 Million People and that lays the groundwork, then, for additional deficit reduction and Economic Growth step that is we can take in the new year. Reporter so that would be the president s fallback plan, urging the democratic leader of the senate to take up the president s proposal if the democrats and republicans cannot come to an agreement of their own. The problem with that, candy, of course, is even if that were to pass in the senate, theres no assurance that Speaker Boehner would even let it come to a vote in the house. Not sure that that would get us anywhere closer to avoiding the cliff. In about 24 hours, we should know whether that really is it . We were just saying that theyre running out of people and places to do this deal. Reporter theyre running out of ways to hide and ways to put this off. I would say if this is dying, its dying a slow death. Instead of a rapid one. But everybodys fanning the flames of hope. Theres still a chance that life will be found. I dont want to milk this anymore. You know what im trying to say. I got you, jessica. Our chief White House Correspondent whos not going to see a new years eve in the fun sense. Well talk to you later, jess, thanks. We are seeing Senate Leaders take new initiative in the fiscal cliff standoff after their talks with the president. Harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell talked about the meeting and the tough work ahead. I think it was a very positive meeting. There was not a lot of hilarity in the meeting. Everyone knows how important it is. It was a very serious meeting and it took an extended period of time, as you all know, waiting for us. Mr. President , i would just add i share the view of the majority leader. We had a good meeting down at the white house. We are engaged in discussions, the majority leader and myself and the white house, in the hopes that we can come forward as early as sunday and have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference. And so well be working hard to try to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours. So im hopeful and optimistic. Lets bring in cnns senior political analyst, ron brownstein, editorial director of the national journal. Im not sure where to begin here. It was constructive. Everybody said the word constructive. Hopeful, optimistic. Mitch mcconnell is thats practically effusive for Mitch Mcconnell. The president said modestly but i listen to the other half of the president s talk. And it seems like hes preparing for nothing here. Lets understand the box or at least the framework and what youre talking about here. The fiscal cliff was a device that the president and the congress agreed to in 2011 to try to put more pressure on themselves to do what they couldnt do then, which was reach a big deal on the deficit. Its a noose of their own construction. And here we are, were kind of defining dysfunction down. Not going over the cliff is a pretty modest achievement that they may not be able to reach, almost completely gone right now is the discussion of doing what it was supposed to do in the first place, reaching a longterm deal. This is going to be a tiny deal its avoiding the worst, rather than getting anywhere near what would be the best. Theres also a process here. Its a great Political Forum and president s have said, just vote on it. Give everybody a chance to vote. Thats not even quite that clear in the senate thats going to be possible. No. It hasnt really been possible increasingly less possible since the 1980s. The routine use of the filibuster, once the filibuster was reserved for the biggest disputes. Things like the civil rights fights of the 1960s. Now it is routine. It requires really 60 votes to do anything in the senate. We have this intense level of party line voting with the filibuster. Its like a Parliament System without majority rule. Then you have the informal analog to that in the house which the Majority Party says, were not going to bring anything up. It has to have 218 votes but it has to have a majority of the majority which gives a veto to the republican wing of the conservative party. Thats where werestick stuck right now. Lets bring in lisa dejardan. Is there in this particular case reporter im hesitant to get into it because it gets into senate procedure. The simplest would be if the leaders agree not to invoke that 60vote requirement. If they agree a majority would be enough. For that to work, the rest of the senate would then have to essentially allow it to. There would have to be no one that attempts a filibuster. Thats the easiest way to get around the 60 votes. Another way is to possibly use some sort of budget measure that could be part of the budget reconciliation process. That makes things more complicated. But that is the way the Health Care Bill was passed. What are you expecting tomorrow . Reporter tomorrow, actually, i think its going to be pretty quiet up here. I think there will be a few people who will be trying to work out some very heavy details, some staffers, especially the senators, mcconnell and reid themselves. But for those of us up here, if we get any details, it would be good. But i dont expect it. I think its going to be a quiet day of doing the hard work and then perhaps tomorrow night, well start perhaps hearing phone calls from leadership out to house members, out to some Senate Members to try and feel for whether theyve got the votes on this. Then i think sunday seems to be the earliest that we would get this grand, official presentation. But i think its really too early to tell if even that will happen by sunday. I think were just in the first hours of this potential new consortium of two trying to come up with something. Thanks so much, lisa. Jessica, let me bring you in one more time out of the white house and ask you, do you get the sense that anything much has happened other than the problems been dropped in the lap of these two Senate Leaders . Do you get the sense there really has been movement . Reporter no. But as weve discussed, when pressure mounts, thats when congress acts. And thats when the thats the frustration the president expressed. But you do hear sounds of more encouraging progress sounding noises. I dont know what else to call it. People who want to get a deal done say that they are going to try. So that in itself is cause for some optimism. Id say that the president sounded on his scale of anger, zero being known and ten being high, he sounded only about six. So theres still room for more frustration. So maybe the meeting wasnt all a loss. Less than horrible . Reporter yeah. Beyond that, it doesnt seem very much progress has been forged yet. Even if we avoid the worst here, it really doesnt fill you with a lot of optimism about the next two years. We know at least for the next two years and probably the next four years, were going to have divided government with president obama and republicans in the house. We have a closely divided country with democrats having advantage at the president ial level. They have to live with each other. None of us are going away. And the issue really is, is red america and blue america willing to mediate its differences . Otherwise were saying, compromise is too hard for us, well leave it to our kids to do it for themselves. This doesnt auger very well for so many important issues. These two sides ultimately do have to leave with each other. We saw a Republican Congress in 96 and 97, they were able to get a lot done. Can these two sides kind of find a way to mediate their differences because no one is going away and this could be a very long two years if not. Thanks. I want to thank Jessica Yellin for us tonight. Also lisa up on capitol hill for us. Ron brownstein, thanks so much. For the second time this month, someone has been pushed in front of an oncoming train in new york and died. Now the search is on for a suspect. And l. A. Officials say its a sign of the times. Rocket launchers and other military weapons are turned in at their gun buyback. Really . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. Thats the cold truth in that time thereve been some good days. And some difficult ones. But, through it all, weve persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. So why should our anniversary matter to you . Because for 200 years, weve been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. And the next great idea could be yours. In new york right now, police are searching for a woman who fled from the scene after a gruesome death at a train station thats similar to a recent killing. Police just released this sketch of the suspect. Heres cnns poppy harlow. Reporter twice this month someone is pushed from a new york city subway platform in front of an oncoming train and killed. It happened right on this platform late thursday. Its horrible. It was horrible. Dont ever want to hear Something Like that again. Reporter this man said he heard the final scream of the victim. James train was halted because of the incident. They said, this is the last stop on the 7 train debris fell on the tracks, thats all they were telling people. Reporter witnesses say the victim was standing on the edge of this subway platform in queens when a woman who was pacing and talking to herself pushed him onto the tracks. The victim was a Graphic Designer who had moved to new york from india. Feeling very bad. He has nobody here. And i heard that his parents died a long time before. Reporter Surveillance Footage captured this woman running from the station. Police are searching for the woman they describe as heavyset, in her 20s, wearing a ski jacket and sneakers. We do live in a world where our subway platforms are open and thats not going to change. Reporter at a News Conference friday, mayor bloomberg and new York City Police commissioner ray kelly were inundated with questions about the subway death. Mayor bloomberg, a second subway pushing death in this city in less than a month. Im wondering what your reaction is to that . How can it be prevented . Well, i dont know that there is a way to prevent theres always going to be somebody, a deranged person. Reporter just this month, a 58yearold man was killed when a homeless man shoved him onto the tracks in times square. Would you consider putting more police on platforms in the wake of whats happened this month . No. We think that we are properly deployed in the transit system. Reporter not something youd consider at this point . You show me any place in this world where 5. 5 Million People get together that has the virtually zero crime rate that we do. Reporter the mta which runs new york city subways would not talk to us on camera but said people should stay away from the platform edges and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Bill henderson advises the mta. What can be done to prevent things like this . Well, you cant eliminate the possibility. But this is a very rare occurrence. Reporter why not put some sort of barrier here . Well, you have different car types running on the tracks on new york city subways. And they have doors placed at different points along their length. If you ran a different kind of car, youd have to move the openings. Reporter just not practical . Just not practical. Reporter very expensive . Very expensive. Reporter keep in mind, subway deaths like these are very rare here in new york city. Years go by without them happening. And the same is true in other major cities like washington, d. C. And boston. Poppy harlow, cnn, new york. Now that the Space Shuttle program is history, atlantis is under wraps before it gets a new home. Its quite a sight at the Kennedy Space center, ahead. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. Up high ok. Dont you have any usefull apps on that thing . Who do you think i am, quicken loans . At quicken loans, our amazingly useful mortgage calculator app allows you to quickly calculate your mortgage payment based on todays incredibly low interest rates. Right from your iphone or android smartphone. One more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. Folks here in washington were treated to a remarkable sight this year. The Space Shuttle discovery flying on the back of a jet swooping past the Washington Monument on its way to its new home at the air and space museum. The shuttle endeavour went on a road trip through los angeles to get to the California Science Center where its now on display. And now the shuttle atlantis is taking its place in history without traveling anywhere. Cnns John Zarrella is at the Kennedy Space center. Hey, john. Reporter hey, candy. Youre right, atlantis is really the only one of the shuttles that didnt have to take wing to get to its future museum landing site. Atlantis in november literally just went ten miles down the road from the Vehicle Assembly building here to the visitor complex. For the viewers out there saying, where is it . Thats it right there behind me. That is atlantis. And it is completely wrapped in shrink wrap. Why is that . Because they are building the facility, the museum around the shuttle. So its quiet here now. But i have to tell you, all day today, the workmen were just hammering and theyre putting up scaffolding and theyre finishing this up by july when the grand opening will be. In march, theyre going to actually unwrap atlantis when most of the work will be done then. But you can see its on a 45degree angle. Thats because it is tilted the exact way that it would be when it flew in space. Its suspended on some giant beams there. 153,000 pounds, the shuttle weighs in the current configuration that it is. And you know it last flew in july of 2011. It was the very last shuttle flight, sts135, went to the International Space station. That was the end of the Space Shuttle program. On november 2nd, they rolled it out, ten miles from the Vehicle Assembly building over here to the visitor complex. Im joined by tim macy. The interesting story about that, that whole wall back there was not there. You actually had to get this vehicle in here and that had to be a trick. It was a trick. We knew it was going to work. On paper, it was great. No problem, no worries at all. Bull when we came around the corner, that 85foot whip looked pretty tight. The wings are 82 feet from tip to tip. Came around the corner, backed it up a couple of times and it came right up to the spot. Reporter but you never had a concern you were going to make it . Never had a concern. Reporter tim, thanks very much for taking time to be with us. One of the things is people are not going to be able to touch it. Youre not going to be able to go inside any of the shuttles because they are literally national treasures. Theres a walkway down below here. There will be all kinds of interactive exhibits here. The hubble space teleskop mockup as well. This is a 100 million facility that theyre building here. 90,000 square feet. Its going to be fascinating. Were glad we got this opportunity to come in here today. Ive seen the shuttle in all kinds of configurations but this is clearly the weirdest. First time youve seen one shrink wrapped. Reporter no, never. Thank you so much, john. You get all the good assignments. Have a great new year thank you. Were taking a closer look at what will happen if america dives over that fiscal cliff. 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Happening now, a killer discovery, weapons of war turned up at the gun buyback event in los angeles. As americans get ready for the new year, what will really happen if politicians drop the ball and we go over the fiscal cliff . And that time again. Anderson cooper and Kathy Griffin give me a raucous preview of their annual new years eve bash. Wolf blitzer is off. Im Candy Crowley and youre in the situation room. We heard president obama say hes modestly optimistic that a lastminute deal can be reached with members of congress before america goes over the fiscal cliff four days from now. Hes warning that no one will get everything they want, but he says that shouldnt stand in the way of reaching an agreement. Were now at the last minute. The American People are not going to have any patience for a politically selfinflicted wound to our economy, not right now. We are joined by former labor secretary robert reich, the author of beyond outrage. I wish we had more time. Id ask you all about how to fix it. But lets focus on this one part, secretary reich. You listened to the president. What did you hear . Candy, i heard basically washington boilerplate, keep our fingers crossed, this is going to be a hail mary, but i have no idea how this is going to come out. When you hear him say, ive asked for an upordown vote, do you hear, theres a possibility or do you hear, uhoh, this is a guy looking to position himself for after we go over the fiscal cliff . Well, undoubtedly the president wants to be seen as doing everything he possibly can to avoid going over the cliff. But the chances of avoiding, going over right now are very, very small. Mitch mcconnell has to basically cooperate on the senate side and not do any kind of procedural maneuvering and john boehner in the house has got to be willing to put the bill on the floor if it comes over from the senate. And even if a majority of republicans are against it and thats asking a very great deal of both of these republican leaders. Lots of ifs, and or buts in getting a deal. Lets talk about not getting a deal for a second. Lets say you wake up january 2nd, you live in racine, wisconsin, how is your life going to be changed . Not dramatically. Your Social Security temporary tax holiday is going to be over regardless. That means the typical family is going to be paying about 1,000 more in 2013. It would happen automatically anyway because its not part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Your income taxes might go up a little bit. The irs and the Treasury Department do have some authority, some discretion as to whether they will change the withholding temporarily. I dont think theyll do that unless they have a very, very clear signal from congress that congress in fact is going to extend the bush tax cuts at least up to 250,000. So i think your weekly paycheck may be shaved smaller. I dont think most people are going to notice it. Unemployment insurance benefits, if you are unemployed, longterm unemployed, those are going to come to an end. Thats going to be a big, big hit for 2 million american families. And that was my next question. Who will feel it first and the most . I suspect thats longterm unemployed. Yes, longterm unemployed are going to be feeling it immediately. Again, the highincome taxpayers, they will see it. Whether they feel it, some of them if youre over 1 milli million, you may not feel it at all. But your taxes are going to be up substantially. But theyre only going to go back to the bill clinton days. And anybody who remembers the bill clinton days and the bill Clinton Clinton know that is those taxes were not onerous. They didnt stop the economy from doing quite well. Now, on the spending side, the president s proposing really no spending cuts until there is a grand bargain hopefully in january. But without any kind of a bargain at all before then, assuming we do go over the fiscal cliff, then there are going to be substantial cuts in military, contracting krirlt contract military contractors are going to feel it almost immediately. And the discretionary spending. Thats everything the country does other than the military or Social Security or medicare. So i just want to get one thing straight about the tax rates. That is that the Treasury Department, if it senses that, yeah, theyre going to get a deal here fairly quickly, could say can direct how much withholding employers have to take out of paychecks . Is that correct . Yes, thats right, candy. The irs, theyre part of the Treasury Department, they do have authority, they do have discretion to alter those withholding tables. But i dont think they will alter them unless they get an absolutely clear signal from congress that they should be altered. Theres no reason for them to play any guesswork. They dont want to be caught three weeks or four weeks or ten weeks into the next fiscal year with revenues being substantially less than they otherwise should be or would be. And we talked to the wall street journals steve moore a little while ago and i asked him about the psychological effect if we go off the fiscal cliff. I want you to hear what he said. I talk to Small Businessmen and women all the time. They say, were not hiring now. Were canceling a lot of our plans to make new expenditures, which you need to do if you want a vibrant economy. And were really seeing the impact in the stock market the last couple of weeks. So this is not a good way to run a railroad. And the economy is already taking a hit because of all this turmoil in washington. You agree with that, that weve already seen the impact of not having a deal to avoid this cliff . I dont think weve seen all of the impact. Undoubtedly, Stephen Moore is correct that the stock market is reacting, particularly over the last couple of days. But most people, most institutions, most companies, most consumers assume that there will be some sort of a deal or if theres not a deal, at least by monday, then there will be a deal within the next few days. And i dont think it has really sunk in to most of the players in this economy that there is a small possibility of no deal at all, even no deal retroactively in january. On that cheery note, let me thank you for your time. I wish i could be more upbeat. I hope you have a good new year, notwithstanding, candy. Thank you. You as well, sir. Thanks for joining us. Byebye. Milk lovers could be in for some sticker shock after the first of the year. How about 7 per gallon . A side effect of fiscal cliff negotiations in washington is impacting a lot of other matters. The farm bill expired last year with no measure from congress to replace. One of the protection for farmers that goes away january 1st is the dairy subsidy. That means the price of milk could skyrocket. I brought that up with agriculture secretary tom billsack who says milk prices are just the beginning. In the short term it seems to me the sales job has to be, why does anybody care if theres not a farm bill on january 1st . What will happen to me or my family sitting here in washington, d. C. . Well, if you like anything made with milk, youre going to be impacted by the fact that theres no farm bill. If there is not an extension of the existing bill or a new bill, basically on january 1st or shortly thereafter, permanent agricultural law goes back into place, 1949 law. Which means the federal government will go back in the business of strongly supporting the dairy industry by raising the price support or support for Dairy Products to 38 a hundred weight. Thats double what the price is of milk today. Thats going to ramp up so consumers are going to be a bit shocked when instead of seeing 3. 60 for milk they see 7 a gallon for milk. Thats going to ripple throughout all of the commodities if this thing goes on for an extended period of time. So it impacts consumers. It impacts those of us who are concerned about the Energy Security of this country because the farm bill contains ways in which we can promote alternative energy sources, ways in which we can create a Biofuel Industry thats robust and creates consumer choice. For those concerned about exports and the jobs connected in this country to agriculture exports, we lose the potential capacity to promote and market exports without a farm bill. If youre concerned about the ability to provide adequate nutrition and you are a supporter of farmers markets and you want to see an expansion of that, cant do it because there is no farm bill. If you like the idea of expanding habitat opportunities, you like to fish or hunt, your hobby, your vocation, if you will, in that area is also going to be affected by no farm bill because a lot of the conservation programs are not extended or ended. If youre a farm family, obviously youre going to be impacted. Across the board, in virtually every aspect of our economy and society, there is an impact and an effect by not having a farm bill. Secretary vilsack was also the former governor of iowa, told me he also thinks theres no farm bill because Rural America is losing power and influence as more of america lives in cities and suburbs. My interview with secretary vilsack this sunday on state of the union at 9 00 eastern. Might not expect to find launchers turned in at a Gun Buyback Program. But officials arent batting an eye. I dont think anyone should be surprised two rocket launchers were turned in. This is l. A. Copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, im breathing better. So now i can be in the scene. Advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. Unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an antiinflammatory and a longacting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. Advair wont replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. People with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. Advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking advair. If youre still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. Get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd. Com. Officials in los angeles say they have terrifying proof that their Gun Buyback Program was a success. Kyung lah is in l. A. What did they find . Reporter a lot of weaponry. What we could not find is a Police Officer who was stunned by this. One of the reasons that they wanted to show off these rocket launchers is that they hope to give americans some pause and some perspective. A rocket launcher, not just one, but two handed over to police in this weeks gun buyback day. Shocking . Not to police who have seen it before. Among the roughly 10,000 guns turned in to police by the citizens of los angeles since 2009. We look like were in a thirdworld nation when you seize all these weapons from individuals and the question you have to ask is, why . Reporter these rocket launchers were u. S. Made, owned privately though illegal and turned over to police under the no questions asked buyback. They thankfully had no rockets in them. Police also collected 75 assault rifles that people traded in this week for gift cards. I dont think anyone should be surprised two rocket launchers were turned in. This is l. A. Reporter l. A. And much of america, says aaron cohen, a security expert advising clients around the world. This should be a reality check, he says and a sign of how military weaponry can so easily end up in the wrong hands, like they did in the newtown massacre. Way too many weapons are out on the streets. Its ridiculous. Reporter do you think its gotten out of hand . I think that the system of issuing them has gotten out of hand. And i think we have to look at the entire Safety System involved with giving handguns out. Reporter gun shows and easy background checks, cohen says, that adds up to an overly armed america. The people who turned in guns, most of them legal, came from all walks of life. I have grandchildren and no matter how secure you think your gun is, weve seen what happens. So i decided to turn it in. Reporter and so the big question, where on earth did these rocket launchers come from . Well, the lapd says no questions asked, part of the reason why their gun buyback is to successful, that no matter what they get in, they will not ask where it came from. Candy . Kyung, handguns are one thing. Rocket launchers or Something Else has this ever happened before . Reporter you know, we spoke to the gun division. And the officers there say this is the fifth one that theyve gotten since 2009. The fifth one that people have handed over willingly. So they believe that there are more out there. And Something Else, another number that i actually find more stunning than five rocket launchers since 2009, is that there are approximately and these are estimates approximately 8 million guns in the city of los angeles. Thats a lot of guns. Kyung lah, thank you so much. Appreciate the story. Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a controversial bill barring americans from adopting russian children. The new law is heartbreaking for hundreds of families in the adoption process. The move is seen as retaliation for a law president obama signed this month imposing travel and financial restrictions on human rights abusers in russia. I talked about the new ban with lee allen who adopted two boys from russia in 1999. When we talk about the families, its so important to remember that these are kids were talking about. These are not political pawns. These are little children in institutions at this point. Babies. So you have your two boys here and theyre beautiful. We have them in the studio here. Have you talked to them about this . Are they aware of this . What are they saying . Well, my guys have grown up here in america. Theyre very proud of your heritage, being russian. But theyre also thriving in america. Theyre athletes. Theyre getting a great education. They are theyre just wonderful young men, absolutely wonderful. And i just cant help but think of what would have happened to them had they stayed in an orphanage in russia. The very best orphanage in russia cant compare to a home, to a family. Anywhere. And a family that wants them. Absolutely. And you had met your sons well, i had met them on video. I had gotten a video and they had become mine. They were in my heart already. I just wanted to scoop them up. And when the ban came, the mor tarm ca moratorium came, we didnt know it wasnt temporary. It was devastating. I cant imagine these kids who have met their families the families have been over there and met these kids. Theyre dreaming about their mom, dad, brother, sister. And now they are going to have to wake up from the dream and realize theyre still in the nightmare of a russian orphanage. And is there something that can be done that you see thats an easy fix here . To me, it must be the most helpless feeling. Heres a child you consider your child and theyre caught up in something so far above your pay scale and theres nothing you can do. Governments and publics are so big. And the families are so small. And the children are so tiny, that it is. It is a very helpless feeling. But there are very, very dedicated people in the government and in nongovernment organizations that are working to make this go away. And were very optimistic and very hopeful that president putin somehow will become a hero to these kids. Groups such as Amnesty International oppose the ban. The state Department Says it deeply regrets the new law. Going out front on todays white house fiscal cliff meeting, john avlon is sitting in for erin burnett tonight. What have you got . We have congressman steve laterett. And allegations of abuse right next to the pentagon. Its disturbing and fascinating. Sounds like a great show, john. You never know what will happen when Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin ring in the new year on cnn. Theyll give us a preview. And i asked kathy about her obsession with a certain bearded are cnn news anchor. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust. I get congested. But now, with zyrtecd®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. Zyrtecd® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtecd®. Behind the pharmacy counter. No prescription needed. Just an update here on the state of play for those fiscal cliff talks which are now basically taking place between two men, senator reid who is the majority leader, the democratic leader in the senate, and Mitch Mcconnell, who is the republican leader in the senate. Now, what we are hearing from the Senate Majority leader in a statement he just put out is that he is preparing a bill that he will be ready to put up for a vote monday. And what it will do is prevent a tax hike on middle class families and that is defined by the white house and others as anyone making up to 250,000. It will also include provisions that the president said he wanted, among them, extensions for longterm unemployed. So what we have here is senator reid saying, if i dont get a deal with senator mcconnell between now and monday, ive got a bill that im ready to put on the senate floor. So that is where we are now. We now want to move on to some of the headlines in the news. T brutal sexual attack sparked passionate protests across i believed yeah. She has died. Lisa sylvester is here with that and more. Tragic story. The 23yearold woman who suffered a gang rape and severe injuries on a new delhi bus two weeks ago died a short while ago at a singapore hospital. Earlier they said she was experiencing organ failure. Her attack led to mass protests across india. Where such cases have increased drastically the last 40 years. The death toll rises in syria. Russia has invited the head of the government for talks in spite of nations that recognize the National Coalition as the countrys legitimate representative, over president Bashar Al Assad. A florida man has pleaded guilty to smuggling dinosaur fossils into the United States. Federal prosecutors use these skeletons as evidence in the case. The accused importing a 70 millionyearold bones of a dinosaur from mongolia. He faces up to ten years in prison. How does he even get that stuff into the United States . Its not like you can sneak it into your suitcase. Lisa, i appreciate it. Anderson cooper and Kathy Griffin are preparing to host their annual new years eve bash on cnn. We dont know how much theyre preparing, they tend to be unscripted to put it mildly, take a listen. Kathy, i know somebody tells me, im not sure this is true, somebody tells me youre obsessed with wolf blitzerer. Yet every year its me talking to you guys. Do you take it personally . Do you think theres something to this . I think wolf is wise to stay away from Kathy Griffin. I once i dont know if you know this story, candy. I lent Kathy Griffin once skad to come to me house in long island. Like a nice guy i sent her a guy, she wanted to go there a day in advance. To clean up the place. Just to go first of all, she arrived, she was terribly disappointed,think she thought it was going to be like the house in downto know abby. The chef never arrived. There is no chef. Anyway. She arrives. And while time on the news that night, during commercial breaks im receiving tweets. Not even tweets. Text messages from her. Sexts. Shes sending naked pictures of herself sprawled on my couch, drape the over the kitchen counter. I think candy has done that on a daily base sister. I had to get a wet vac and cleaning crew in there for a week. Moving this conversation along. Candy, put your shirt back on, this is embarrassing. Okay. Um i said, why dont you ask anderson lwhat i sexted him on Election Night . Sexy messages for david gergen. Top that, crowley. Usually i can follow up really well but theres no place to go after sexting david ger den. The embarrassing thing is i showed david the messages, she was pressuring me. He finds me attractive. And hpd . He got red in the face. So what youre start at the beginning. When youre on the air live, lets say, on new years eve, for instance, anderson, who gets more worried, you or kathy, about what the other one going to say . Im the only one whos worried. I have no worried whatsoever. Thats a disadvantage, anders anderson. I think kathy with each year has a growing sense of empowerment. The first year she was a little, you know she was only on for a brief py is was timid. Exactly. Last year she stripped. The year before that she used curse words. The year before that she told some poor person in the crowd i cant say what she told the person. I believe there was one year you called me the day before, girl, i just got back from jalalabad, youre going to have to take this one. True story, anderson . I dont think i said girl, i dont think it was jalalabad. One of the bads. I just got back from somewhere, im exhausted, youre going to have to carry this one, i might have said that. Be careful what you ask for. Every year hes said that to me. There will be lots more where that came from, monday night, cnns new years over live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin starts at 10 00 p. M. Eastern from times square. I knew youd come. Like i could stay away. You know i cant do this without you. Youll never have to. Youre always there for me. Shh ill get you a rental car. I could also use an umbrella. Fall in love with progressives claims service. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Its lots of things. All waking up. Becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. Cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. The ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. The next big thing . Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Something youve always wondered, what happens when you put a dog behind the wheel . Heres one of jeanne moos most popular reports of 2012. Reporter sniff this. Dogs giving up the back seat for the drivers seat. Just when you thought youve seen it all. Reporter and soon wed all seen it. Video of three dogs at an spca branch in new zealand being taught to shift gears good reporter and steer. Clever boy reporter first on carts, then on actual cars with the controls modified for doggie legs. A reporter a is the command for accelerate. Good boy reporter just months ago the idea of a dog driving was considered a joke. A gag subaru used to advertise cars. And remember those old snl bits . Lets hope the new zealand dogs look out reporter do better than the driving cat did. The motorist mutts were celebrated by gawker, dog drives man. Finally, dogs who chase cars will have something to do once theyat