shannon. shannon: how optimistic are democrats sounding. depends on who you ask. senator chuck sho shuman said t of the big deals come down to the final moments. he seemed cautiously optimistic. another congressman chris van hollen from maryland didn t sound quite as optimistic. i think it is too early to say even though we are are really only hours away from what has to be a drop dead time forgetting an agreement. right now you i would say it is about a 50/50 chance they are able to get an agreement. we expect the key negotiators mitch mcconnell on the republican side and harry reid on the democratic side to meet with respective senators at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon and should hear whether they feel like they have a deal or are still is struggling and perhaps have to go to president obama s plan c. shannon? shannon: we ll stand by. we know you are on it. mike emanuel on capitol hill.
cliff, where the decisions are made? shannon, i have a great suggestion. but before that, let me commend my friend for his wisdom. he has had 16 years experience in the house, i am going to miss him when he retires after this year. but he said it exactly right. the problem, of course, with so many people unemployed you get these people back to work and i don t care what tax rate they re paying, it might be a lower rate, but we are going to generate revenue and that s the only way you solve the problemful you don t solve it with taxing the rich, whether you call that $250,000, $400,000, a million, you pay for the governmentay day, 4 day, 2 days, whatever. he s right. we have to get people back to work. you ask me specifically what i could have in mind, not avoiding the cliffs in the future. in regard to raising the debt ceiling, i don t think that should be done in the congress,
p.m. eastern on new year s eve. those are the top stories right now. you are going to be off, aren t you? that s way past your bed time? reporter: i am going to be off and watching to make sure that the confetti that they tested actually floats, like they said. god forbid. shannon: we will expect your report on that next week. reporter: yeah. shannon: looking back at the shooting at the sandy hook schol as the worst day of his presidency, president obama promised to put his full weight behind new gun control legislation. debating an nra proposal to put armed guards in schools. i am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. i think the vast majority of the american people are skeptical that somehow is going to solve our problem. if you go into this capitol, you are going to be met with some armed fourses. if you go into a school house, the best solution to protect
mark. the question is, will you get enough republicans to buy in if that is the deal? shannon? thanks to mike on capitol hill. we will continue to check in. now to ed henry, continuing our live team coverage from the white house. good afternoon, ed. reporter: good to see you, this is the president going out and trying to frame this debate on his own terms, appearing on a sunday talk show for the first time since 2009, when he was pushing health care reform, now, obviously trying to sell a fiscal cliff deerl deal. he went on nbc s meet the press, again and again, he hammered the message, trying to put the blame on republicans for the fact we are up against this tight deadline. the president made clear that if republicans in the next 48 hours do not come up with a counter proposal to get us through this crisis, he wants an up-or-down vote on his short-term plan to extend unemployment for 2 million people and extax cuts
every proppings bill right now? there is no action that has come out of it. the house has passed 7. the senate hasn t taken action. look, we have a whole appropriations process that is falling apart in the last couple of years, whether it is hyperpartisanship or outside interest groups because of buckley versus vallejo. we have a system that is not working for the american people. with people needing jobs and having to save their homes and protect their retirement and their investments, we shouldn t be in this situation. it really needs close scrutiny to ask, how did we get here? how can we make sure this kind of hijinx never happens again. shannon: even if you reach a deal, it will be a temporary patch. everyone knows that. there are so many other big issues, the debt ceiling, entitlement reform, tax reform, is there any way to reconfigure the way the hill is working now? because this is one of many crisis that are coming. is it always going to be at the