they are trying to come up with some kind of a deal on an issue affecting everybody who earns a paycheck in this country. we re talking about the payroll tax cut extension. lawmakers have until the end of this month to figure out a way to pay for it, as well as unemployment benefits. and crucial payments to medicare providers on the table as well. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill to sort through some of this for us. already today, mike, lots of blame game going on in the struggle to come up with a full year extension of the tax cut, right? reporter: jon, that is right, and republicans are saying the idea of a millionaire surtax which the democrats have repeatedly thrown out there shows that the democrats are more interested in scoring political points over engaging and good faith negotiations. republicans have repeatedly called the idea of taxes millionaires more a nonstarter. here s more from republican leader mitch mcconnell, a short time ago:
good evening, everyone. i m erin burnett. and outfront tonight, exposed super pacs drop the fig leaf. after months of being in the dark about whose bankrolling the candidates, we have answers. now, you know that the super pacs are groups that can raise unlimited money and you know they re major players this election season. the federal election commission says this election might cost $11 billion. twice as much as 2008. and that jump thanks in no small part to super pacs. there are more than 300 of them already. so, today, we poored through hundreds of pages of super pac documents, really only for a few of the super pacs. the pro romney super pac called restore our future raised nearly $30 million last year. now, there were a group of donors that gave a million dollars each and one is julian robertson. he s been a mitt romney fan since the last election and told me that mitt is quote the smartest guy and extremely decent. outfront s strike team member mark was on the list
dark about whose bankrolling the candidates, we have answers. now, you know that the super pacs are groups that can raise unlimited money and you know they re major players this election season. the federal election commission says this election might cost $11 billion. twice as much as 2008. and that jump thanks in no small part to super pacs. there are more than 300 of them already. so, today, we poored through hundreds of pages of super pac documents, really only for a few of the super pacs. the pro romney super pac called restore our future raised nearly $30 million last year. now, there were a group of donors that gave a million dollars each and one is julian robertson. he s been a mitt romney fan since the last election and told me that mitt is quote the smartest guy and extremely decent. outfront s strike team member mark was on the list. the facebook board member told me quote, i think he gets it with respect to the economy in a way that the others don t. the super p
does anything serious get done? the goal is to get that done by the end of february and that will be another way of chris: the payroll tax cut. the payroll tax cut extension. another year of avoiding it would now you be nearly 30% cuts to medicare providing doctors and also an extension of the unemployment insurance that has gone on and on. chris: no deficit reduction or tax reform. no programs to get americans back to work. the only thing they anticipate being able to work on is the avoiding the phoney trigger from the supercommittees a failure that results to a lot of cuts that scares people in both party. even though you could fix it in the lame duck session they don t kick in until january 2013 they feel the pentagon has to begin its planning and that is the only immediate matter on their table for this year. chris: paul as a financial maven in our group here, that is a compliment. that is what we call a
nominate somebody who can be successfully painted as extremist or ex-outic character not for the trust of public office. chris: let s talk about governing the nation for the next year so that 2012 isn t a come completely lost year. when both parties said to me our top legislative priority for 2012 is to extend the payroll tax holiday. does anything get done this year? that gets done but does anything serious get done with a country with a $15 trillion debt, over 10 or 11 million people unemployed. does anything serious get done? the goal is to get that done by the end of february and that will be another way of chris: the payroll tax cut. the payroll tax cut extension. another year of avoiding it would now you be nearly 30% cuts to medicare providing