i m erin burnett. outfront, breaking news, federal failure. gridlock reigns in washington once again. now the payroll tax cut proposal passes the republican house. so why do we say failure? well, the republican bill, included a controversial oil pipeline that the president has said he would veto. so, pass, smash. we re at square one. congress again playing chicken with the clock. there are just 18 days left until the tax cut expires. if it does, the average american will pay about a thousand dollars more in taxes next year. now, this may not be economic armageddon. but because the tax cut is popular for everyone, both parties want to pass it. so why are they failing? the bottom line, in one afternoon we found a way to compromise and get this done with the help of robert and williams at the nonpartisan tax policy center. here goes, what we call a decent proposal. if you extended the payroll tax cut for only people making under $75,000 a year, the price tag would be about $48
also, a man who knows all about the rise and fall of a front-runner, rudy giuliani. his advice to romney and gingrich. and one of president obama s staunchest supporters, movie mogul harvey weinstein, on why he thinks it s plain sailing for the democrats. i think the republicans every time they talk, it just doesn t seem to go too well for them. this is piers morgan tonight. good evening. just three weeks to go until the iowa caucuses, the nation s first contest of the 2012 presidential campaign. and two new surveys put newt gingrich firmly in the lead in that state. american research group gives him 22%. while the university of iowa hawkeye poll gives him 30%. so is the gingrich surge for real? joining me now is gingrich senior adviser kellyanne conway and gingrich senior adviser jim talent. let s start with you, kelly, you re new to the gingrich machine. in fact, he didn t have a machine until recently. so can we take the mere fact that you are on board as a sign th
presidentialness of romney, you would have the perfect candidate. if only it worked that way, huh? much more on the iowa stakes and the states in play. first the news you need to know. we ll shift to new hampshire. newt gingrich just wrapped up a debate with jon huntsman. it seem the real sparring was between speaker gingrich and mitt romney. romney threw the first punch saying gingrich should return the nearly $2 million in fees paid to him by freddie mac. one of the things that i think people recognize in washington is that people go there to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves. do you believe he should give that money back? i sure do. from the form he speaker, this counter punch. if governor romney would like to give back all the money he s earned from bankrupting company and laying off employees, over his years, i would be glad to then listen to him and i ll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won t take the offer. and responding to c
mentioned, one of the largest sports organizations, nonprofits in the country. this investigation started after two men came forward to espn s outside the lines, saying that they had been sexually abused by dod back in the 1980s when they were teen agers. both now grown men say they decided to come forward because of the sex abuse scandals that we have seen play out at penn state and syracuse universities. now, one of the men decided to speak anonymously to espn and ralph west spoke on camera, claiming that was sexually abused, at least six times, back in the 1980s just listen to what he told outside the lines. i was dead asleep and i don t remember anything, but waking up and he has he is trying to put his hand in my boxer shorts. and i jumped up, straight out of bed, and he is not there, but he is laying on the floor next to me down by the bed. of course i was freaked out. how did he get in the room? he add key. he always, somehow, had a key to whatever room i was i
the big contract for a drug that s not been proven yet, why is it going to make an 85% profit on its government contract? coming up, we re going to talk with a member of the company s board of directors, a familiar face here at cnn. we first got wind of this story in the los angeles times but since then, have learned a lot more. investigative correspondent drew griffin is keeping them honest. reporter: it s just another good business deal for billionaire investor and big-time democratic political supporter, ron perlman. this major political contributor to both parties but particular friend of the obama white house, owns the controlling shares in a company called siga technologies, and siga this year won a sweet $432 million no-bid contract from the u.s. department of health and human services that even a democrat says is a little bit too sweet to ignore. how did this become a no-bid contract? was it justified as a no-bid contract? overall, i think we need to begin askin