good morning. there are some glimmers of common ground here among the two sides that could form the basis of a deal. the president is now talking about actually lowering the tax rate for the top 2% not now but later. and republicans are now taking some heat over their latest plan a lot of it from within their own party. five, four reporter: house speaker john boehner led the countdown to the lighting of the capitol hill christmas tree last night. one. reporter: but a different countdown weighs on the minds of these lawmakers, the countdown to the fiscal cliff. a series of tax increases and spending cuts due to kick in at the end the year. god bless us, everyone. reporter: speaker boehner offered the republican proposal this week and now he faces opposition from president obama. the speaker s proposal is out of balance. reporter: some in his own party are lining up against him. jim demint a tea party leader said speaker boehner s $800 billion tax hike will de
than $200,000 a year and on couples making more than $250. he said this today. the way to recovery. bill whitaker reports from california. schools close as the flu bug spreads. elaine quijano reports on where the virus is woshs and how efgtd the vaccine can be. and what city in america. raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the issues is that we are going to have to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with very you have to cuts that we ve already made and we re going to have to see the rates on the top 2% go up and we re not going to be able to get a deal without it. pelley: that, the republican house speaker said in response, will never work. the republican counter offer cuts spending and raises taxes for no one and nancy cordes has the state of play as of tonight. nancy? reporter: scott, a dispute erupted today over whether negotiations are going on at all. top republican aides insisted they hit a wall while the white house press secretary ins
The first time you hear about a planned hate-rally outside a mosque, attended by armed bikers, you wonder: How did things get to this point? There were [.]