we saw that happen last week, the real-world effects that could occur, things like fewer air traffic controllers, the national parks have to shut down visitor centers and other agency having to furlough workers and reaches across basic government services. we ll have to wait and see come tuesday, wednesday, thursday, get a sense of the country is that concerned or if they are sitting this here and saying, gosh, seeing this song and dance before. government shutdown in april 2011, the debt ceiling showdown that summer, the fiscal cliff on new year s eve, and this i think and there will be another fight over government spending by the end of march. we have been seeing this for two years and maybe george will is right. most people saying, gosh, they are sorting it out and we ll ride it out. people need to understand that it is going to hit them in
re-elected, the republicans will be able to filibuster his agenda, and i think he ll have similar problems to the ones he has now. but romney, if they can get control of the senate, number one, they set the agenda, and number two, there is the possibility of making big changes through reconciliation, doing an end run around democratic filibusters. you only need 50 votes for that, so the stakes are huge. jonathan capehart and michael crowley, thank you very much for joining me tonight. thanks, lawrence. thank you. coming up, another episode of off the cliff. republicans are starting to get really scared that the democrats are ready to go off the cliff, the fiscal cliff on new year s eve. that s in the rewrite. [ mrs. hutchison ] friday night has always been all fun and games
possibility of making big changes through reconciliation, doing an end run around democratic filibusters. you only need 50 votes for that, so the stakes are huge. jonathan capehart and michael crowley, thank you very much for joining me tonight. thanks, lawrence. thank you. coming up, another episode of off the cliff. republicans are starting to get really scared that the democrats are ready to go off the cliff, the fiscal cliff on new year s eve. that s in the rewrite. [ mrs. hutchison ] friday night has always been all fun and games
how many of them were willing to vote for a tax increase on incomes over $250,000. 51 democrats voted for it. that s exactly the number that voted for the last time they voted for it, in 1993. only two democrats voted against it in 1993, more voted against it than today. but the bill, of course, that was voted on today has absolutely no chance of becoming law, because the house of representatives will ignore it. and if the house of representatives continues to ignore it for the rest of the year, you know what that means on new year s eve. after the senate vote today, senator patty murray, known on this program as senator thelma, said this.
time limit and he has to race through a bunch of things. he did a great job and got us an awful lot of stuff. jonathan, i noticed that you tweeted right before the show tonight that you forgot something for the show. and i m staring at you on the monitor and i m just trying to guess what that is. i just can t figure out, is is something what s what might it be? it s a little drafty in here, but i maybe you can see it. dress casual? i m sure the people on twitter have figured it out. joy reid and jonathan capehart, thank you both for joining me tonight. thanks, lawrence. coming up, the senate passed a tax increase today. it actually did. a tax increase on top income earners. but we re still moving closer to going off the fiscal cliff on new year s eve. and in the rewrite tonight, the confused ramblings of bill o reilly on gun control. he claims gun laws do no good. then bill o reilly proposes a new gun law.