Month. Thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president obama made another foray outside washington today, trying to build public support for a fiscal cliff agreement. It came a day after he resumed talking with the top house republican, and as a yearend deadline moved even closer. The president took his Public Campaign for a deficit deal on his terms to the daimler diesel plant in redford michigan. If congress doesnt act soon meaning in the next few weeks, starting on january 1, everybody is going to see their income taxes go up. Its true. Yall dont like that . No woodruff instead, mr. Obama again pressed for raising tax rates on the top two percent of incomes. And thats a principle i wont compromise on because im not going to have a situation where the wealthiest among us, including folks like me, get to keep all our tax breaks and then were asking students to pay higher student loans. Woodruff his michigan visit came a day after the president and House Speaker john boehner met privately at the white house. Their first oneonone session since the election. Neither side gave any details about what was discussed. Instead they issued identical statements saying that lines of communication remain open. At the same time the sunday talk shows highlighted a partial split in g. O. P. Ranks over letting the president have higher tax rates on top earners. Tennessee senator bob corker told Fox News Sunday that republicans should give ground on taxes and concentrate on longterm spending cuts. The focus then shifts to entitlements. Maybe that puts us in a place where we actually can do something that really saves this nation. So there is a growing body i actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take. Woodruff but on nbc, House Majority whip Kevin Mccarthy countered that that approach is the wrong way to go. It doesnt solve the problem. The president is asking for higher rates, hes asking for more revenue. Most economists agree the best way to get that is through closing special loopholes. When you close those it makes a fair tax process. Woodruff a new poll from politico and George WashingtonUniversity Backed the president s position. 60 favored raising taxes on households earning more than 250,000 a year. 38 were opposed. Another survey last week found that by a 2to1 margin, americans would blame republicans if theres no agreement by the end of the year. For more on the political dynamics at play and what might be in the deal taking shape, we are joined by lori montgomery, a reporter for the washington post. She covers Economic Policy and the federal budget. Welcome back to the program. Thanks for having me. Woodruff let me come at this from a different direction. Is there anything the two sides agree on . Well, they both finally agree that we need to raise some tax revenue. But they dont agree on how we should do that. That is the fundamental sticking point. The president wants to raise rates on rich people. John boehner and House Republicans have drawn a bright line in the sand that they will not raise rates. Theyll give him revenue but not by higher rates. Woodruff and we learned that a week ago. That was when the republicans came out and they met at the white house yesterday, the president and the speaker. What came out of that meeting . Neither side is really telling us what happened but by all accounts on both sides the meeting was very cordial. But there were no breakthroughs. There was no give from Speaker Boehner on the rate question, which according to democrats in the white house is the first hurdle you have to clear. There are unwilling to discuss how were going to tackle the entitlement problem until republicans very specifically agree that rates are going to go up. Woodruff each side still saying, lori, that the other side has to give. Thats right. Woodruff and so right now what is the pressure on the speaker . I mean he has to worry about being reelected speaker in january. What is he hearing from his ranks . Well, people are all over the map. Its sort of hard to tell what he could marshal the votes for. I think thats one of the problems theyre facing. When you hear people like corker, you know, theres echos of what his. His point on the house side as well that people are saying go ahead and give him the rates and lets toss this into next year when we have a debt ceiling coming up and well have pressure to get the spending cuts we want. Other people say no way i wont vote for rates under in any circumstances. Its all over the map and lawmakers dont have a lot of information about the state of these negotiations. Woodruff at this point are the staffs even talking to each other . The staffs we are told are continuing to talk. But they dont have much time. If they want to do a big bipartisan deal that has all these moving parts in it, they need to start selling it to lawmakers by the end of this week. Woodruff what are they saying in these meetings . Theyre talking about neither side. I mean, there must be. Is there any scenario presenting or. What do you hear . Thats an excellent yes. I wish i could answer it for you. But what we are told is that, you know, i mean, theyve got a numbers problem to solve too. Boehner offered 800 billion over ten years. The white house wants 1. 6 trillion. They have to meet on the numbers somewhere. At this point boehners office is saying they have refused even to agree to a higher number. Woodruff finally, one is hearing some talk that one or the other side may feel its better to wait until after january 1. Well i think people are both sides are start of gaming out what happens if we to january. Democrats feel that, you know, at that point everything becomes a tax cut because taxes are already up. So well be cutting taxes. And republicans maybe feel that, you know, you could see where that might be a good thing for them too. There are big pressures bushing against. Pushing against that too. This is a congress that has been fighting over these issues for two years. Corker has made this point as well. If we cant do it, weve been over all these issues. Now is the time. Theres going to be a new congress in january. You have to educate all these new people coming in. In addition to the economy, there are incentives to get it done now. Woodruff well let you go back to watching it. Lori montgomery of the washington post, thank you. Thank you. Ifill still to come on the newshour, the righttowork battle in michigan; tax breaks on the chopping block; Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano; toxic chemicals in sandys storm surge; and factory workers at risk around the world. But first, with the other news of the day, heres Hari Sreenivasan. Sreenivasan egyptian president Mohammed Morsi called out the military today, ahead of next weekends referendum on a new constitution. Opposition forces say the document will enshrine the power of islamists and curb human rights. Security forces were deployed today near the president ial palace where protesters remain camped out. They said its not enough that morsi rescinded decrees that granted him nearabsolute power. E new constitutional declaration canceled the first one but statement it contained the same statement as the previous one. He is playing with us and trying to gain time until the referendum. We understand that. Nothing changes our position because we know he hasnt changed anything. Sreenivasan the antimorsi faction has organized a new round of mass protests tomorrow. Meanwhile, morsis islamist supporters are planning a rival demonstration of their own. The president of venezuela, hugo chavez, flew to cuba today for his third cancer operation in the last year and a half. Chavez was greeted by president raul castro upon his arrival in havana. Chavez is scheduled to be sworn in to a new sixyear term, one month from now. Meanwhile, former South African president Nelson Mandela underwent new medical testing in johannesburg. He was hospitalized saturday for an undisclosed ailment. Mandela is 94 years old. Britain will become the first country to try to map the genetic code of thousands of Cancer Patients. The government said today it is setting aside 160 million for the project, over three to five years. We have a report from Lawrence Mcginty of independent television news. Reporter after treatment this woman told me shes now fine. Genetic tests show she has a gene called backer which means the cancer would almost certainly come back. She decided to have her ovaries and breasts removed to stop it returning. Genetic testing had saved her life. The Prime Minister was today banging the drum for even more genetic testing that will analyze all the genes of 100,000 Cancer Patients like francis to build up a d. N. A. Database. Scientists first decoded the three billion bits of d. N. A. In the human genome 12 years ago making it possible to tailor drugs for individual patients. We have to say to the lady in front of us in the clinic we know from the bar code in your cancer that you will respond to this treatment but not to this treatment. Thavery important. We have treatments that work for some of our patients but we need to have tests that really can choose the right treatment for the right person at the right time. Reporter but its not just tailoring drugs for individual patients. Researchers will be able to use the d. N. A. Database to look for new cancer genes. Finding them should allow sign tiffs to develop new treatment. Sreenivasan the project has raised privacy concerns, but Prime Minister camerons office said participation is voluntary, and the data will be made anonymous before it is stored. Parts of the upper midwest in the United States are digging out after a slowmoving winter storm dropped up to 14 inches of snow over the weekend. In minnesota and wisconsin, roads were a mess on sunday as drivers braved ice, snow drifts and low visibility. By this morning, the Minnesota State patrol reported more than 600 crashes, with at least one fatality. Trading was light on wall street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 14 points to close near 13,170. The nasdaq rose almost nine points to close just short of 2987. The former head of the International Monetary fund, dominique strausskahn, has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit, for an undisclosed amount. A state court judge in new york announced the agreement today between strausskahn and a hotel maid. She had accused him of assaulting her last year. Strausskahn said it was consensual, but the incident sparked other allegations and ended his hopes of running for president of france. Authorities in mexico and the u. S. Confirmed today that singer jenni rivera was killed sunday in a plane crash. She and six others were on a private jet that went down south of monterrey in northern mexico. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Rivera was one of the most popular female singers in the musical genre known as grupero. She sold more than 15 million albums and won a number of latin music awards. Jenni rivera was 43 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to gwen. Ifill michigan, home to the United Auto Workers and one of the most heavily unionized states in the country, is suddenly ground zero in the National Debate over workers rights, as the republican lawmakers who control the States Legislature prepare to cast a vote tomorrow that could permanently alter the political landscape. Ifill hundreds of people descended on the State Capitol building in lansing last week to protest a move to make michigan a righttowork state. Republicans running the state house and senate have approved a pair of bills to allow workers to hold union jobs without joining the union. Organized labor was furious. You will have people that will be working right ale long side of you that will not have to Pay Union Dues but you Pay Union Dues but will still be able to get all the benefits from being a union member. Ifill democrats in the legislature complained that republicans rammed through the bill with no hearings or public comments. This is a travesty. Theyre pushing this at the 11th hour because they know that the public doesnt want it. Ifill republicans argue a righttowork law will make michigan more attractive to potential employers. Its about creating an environment where job providers and employers will want to come to michigan, create jobs here, better jobs, more jobs. We have hung out the open for business sign to the world. Michigan has the best trained work force. Now has options and opportunities for more people. Ifill republican Governor Rick Snyder agrees the law will help the state. He has promised to sign it. Snyder greeted president obama when he traveled to michigan today but there was no indication that they discussed the righttowork issue. The president was later cheered when he visited an Engine Assembly plant outside detroit. These socalled righttowork laws they dont have to do with economics. They have everything to do with politics. What theyre really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. Ifill 23 states have laws on the books banning the mandatory collection of union dues. In Wisconsin RepublicanGovernor Scott walker turned aside a recall vote after he curtailed collective bargaining for public employees. Voters later repealed an ohio law to reduce collective bargaining. Michigan lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the righttowork law tomorrow. Union supporters planning for largescale protests, cement the weekend in civil disobedience training. Now, for more on the behindthe scenes debate over right to work, were joined by michigan congressman sander levin, a democrat. He met today with Governor Snyder and with the president. And republican state senator john prose, who is one of the sponsors of righttowork legislation. Representative levin, i want to start with you because you met with two of the key people who who have been debating this today, Governor Snyder, president obama. What were you there to say . To say this is a very divisive effort. Michigan is already open for business. We added 30,000 auto jobs since the recession began. Already were growing. This would terribly disrupt the pattern of labormanagement relations that has really evolved very effectively for the last decadeandahalf. Its deeply divisive. Secondly i want the record to be very clear. There is no requirement today that people Pay Union Dues or belong to a union. What the law says is this. If a majority of employees vote to be represented, if they decide to do that and if the employer decides to agree that there can be a requirement that people pay their fair share for representation. That can be done. It should be emphasized under the federal law and the state law where a majority decides to be represented, the representative must, must represent everybody regardless of whether or not theyre a union member. There can be no distinction. I talked to someone today at detroit diesel. He said this. He went down to the plant in north carolina. There was on a tshirt, it said, i ride. You pay. Essentially people want to be freeriders and not be responsible and pay a fair share of the cost of representation. After a democratic election. Thats what this is all about. Ifill let me talk to state senator prose about that. How do you respond to this idea that theres no need for a law like this . I think when you look at the issue of right to work or freedom to work you really have to ask the question whether or not that individual is buying into a system that they care to be a part of, that they really choose to be a part of. Do they have the ability to do so or are they coerced into doing so in the process . Frankly when you look at the issues surrounding this particular question, you cannot operate in a vacuum. You have to recognize the fact that states like indiana, that border our state of michigan, is the 23rd state. Michigan would be the 24th state. This isnt a new discussion nationwide. 24 states in the next couple of days will be the righttowork states that will put us in a better position for worker freedom where they have the chance to actually choose to participate without it being compelled to do so. Let me just say. Ifill go ahead, congressman. Let me say in terms of brand new. Look, there has been no airing of this issue in michigan. I disagree completely congressman. Let me finish. Ifill gentlemen, one at a time. Ill give you your opportunity to respond. Let me finish. What happened was this. There was an election. This is a lameduck session. It was decided, well, because of the election, maybe you cant get it through next year so push it through. There are no hearings ever been held on this in the state of michigan. Weve had a pattern ofy fek live labormanagement relations for many many years. Now youre going to set people against each other. Theres no coercion here. Nobody has to join a union or pay dues. They have to pay a fair share of representation that must include. Thanks, gwen, i would like to resp