peter alexander standing by outside the white house. when struck me is the fact the president was able to bring up two big points to the governors about what he wants to do. other than closing tax loopholes where he feels he can raise revenue. wants to talk about infrastructure and education. he feels that should not be bipartisan issues. i think that s exactly right. the white house is convinced that there is a better way to go about doing this. they believe that a lot of things changed since 2011 when the crisis was put into place. sequester was first formed p for one, they say the president won. they say the american public opinion is on their side. they believe that their way to go forward is with some tax reforms as well as spending cuts together. what i think is what the backdrop for this now, tom, the fact that across this country, even in advance of this sequester taking place, recognizing there is bipartisan agreement on one thing, this will very likely happen but get thin
amongst themselves. but the white house, craig, throughout has effectively stuck to its guns and said they believe if mitch mcconnell allowed a vote in the senate and john boehner allowed one in the house that they would be able to get the initial plan passed. peter, thanks. we know everyone s taxes are going up if congress fails to reach a deal. here s the breakdown here. incomes under $20,000 will get hit with a $400 tax hike. between $20,000 and $40,000, more than 1,200 more. $40,000 of $65,000, $1,900 and between $65,000 and $108,000, expect to pay $3,500 more in taxes and anything above that, uncle sam s going to take more than $14,000. joining me to talk about this, congressman yarmuth of kentucky.
we all have our ideas and in the senate, you re right. we probably another 40, 50, 60 of saying that we re ready to both raise revenues and control entitlements. when s the missing ingredient? it is presidential leadership. i think in the end we ll get a deal. the question is the timing. am hopeful there will be a deal that avoids the worst parts of the fiscal cliff, namely taxes going up on middle class people. it s pretty apparent that we are not going to do what we ve been called to do. this is 112th congress. we have had two years to deal with quote the fiscal cliff. let s bring in our man at the white house, peter alexander standing by. pete, we just got word the president it appears is making some sort of smaller offer at this 3:00 meeting. any idea what smaller might mean? reporter: it s a good question, craig. actually kelly o donnell reporting some more of this from
deal which in turn was the new big bird, alex. monday s debate is all about foreign policy. the president in the polling so far gets the edge over mitt romney on the topic on the broad topic of foreign policy. but as peter i m sure is going to tell you, mitt romney is expected to go after him not only on libya and the attack in benghazi and the aftermath of that but also on china and trade policy as well. alex? all right. mike viqueira, thank you for teague it up for us for peter alexander standing by to step onto the screen. we ll get the latest on the governor s debate preparations. peter is in florida. lunchtime there in florida, peter. any breaks for the debate prep team? reporter: it s a good question, actually, if they had any lunch it was a quick one. i just passed senator rob portman. he plays the role of barack obama, the sparring partner for mitt romney. he was literally in the hotel ten minutes ago walk into the room where are going to be for the next couple of hours hon
they have no agenda for the future. no agenda for america. no agenda for the second term. it s a good thing they won t have a second term. they have they ve been reduced to petty attacks and silly word games. reporter: that of course is a response to romnesia that you heard the sound bite from mike viqueira just a matter of moments ago. the romney campaign is convinced that this foreign policy debate will be focused on larger issues like leadership and competence and a vision for the future. just within the last couple of days the romney campaign was out with that new ad where it sort of promotes romney as a bipartisan leader as they try to show him as someone that americans can embrace as their national leader. all right. nbc s peter alexander in florida. peter, thank you very much. and joininging me now for more front page politics,