0 the differences between the new republican plan and what the white house proposed are stark when it comes to taxes. the gop calls for $800 million in new taxes. it's half of what the white house asked for. republicans to $67 billion. the gop plan changes how security benefits would be calculated. why he favors tax rates instead of eliminating deductions. not enough revenue. less revenue equals more cuts in education. republicans ruled that out saying the new revenue would not be achieved through higher tax rates which we continue to oppose. they were referring to an erskine bowles plan that he testified to in the fall of 2011. the white house made it clear that's a nonstarter and they won't even respond until the gop puts forth a plan that includes a tax rate hike. the obstacle continues to be republicans who hold out hope. millionaires and billionaires. while it sounds like the two sides are far apart, the budget numbers are not that far apart. the white house you get close. they say it lacks detail. doon pfeiffer says it does not say which loopholes they would close or savings they would achieve. if the president is rejecting this middle ground offer it is his obligation to present a plan that can pass both chambers of congress. are we at a stalemate who offers something next? house republicans said theirs mirrors one proposed by erskine bowles, the democratic chair of the fiscal position. bowles shot down that suggestion. while i'm flattered the speaker would call something the bowles plan, the approach outlined in the letter speaker boehner sent to the president does not represent the simpson bowles plan nor is it the bowles plan. harry reid says not only does speaker boehner's proposal delay revenues into 2013, it sets up another destructive fight over the debt ceiling. the senate wasting the public time. house republicans should allow a vote on the senate passed middle income cuts. a discharge petition to force a vote on extending on tuesday at noon. the two sides are still talking informally. last night oklahoma senator tom coburn while berating the white house for rejecting boehner's plan out of hand, ended up criticizing both parties for what looks like brinksmanship right now. >> here is speaker boehner taking a midpoint and offered it and it's already flatly rejected? we need nothing offered in publ public. nobody should come out of the room until this is solved. >> today state budgets affected by automatic budget cuts scheduled for january 1 will be meeting with the president and congressional leaders at the white house today. the offer is falling flat. it's the middle ground between establishment republicans it's not quite the middle ground going forward into the middle middle but going back to boehner's proposal the conservative groups are linking it to his decision to yank plum committee assignments from what boehner described as uncooperative members. four house members who have a hisses try after it was determined that they were, quote, not team players, the op told nbc news. in some way it was a low risk act of retribution. he went after three freshman and a north carolina congressman who has never been popular with his house colleagues. the others were tim huelskamp. the gop lead ership might think they have silenced conservatives but removing me and others is a vindictive move and a sure sign that the gop establishment can not handle disagreement. almost immediately conservative groups lashed out. in a statement, congressman schweikert is free of the last remnants of leverage against them, referring to the other two members of congress that were also stripped of committee assignments. the founder and chairman dick armey resigned yesterday. this is a clear attempt on the part of the republican leadership to punish those in washington who vote the way they promised their constituents they would. conservative blogger eric erickson on his blog writing on the same day john boehner, eric cantor and kevin mccarthy punished those for standing up for their convictions sold out their own convictions. erickson wasn't the only 0 group. calling it an $800 billion tax hike. the most conservative media outlets have been in boehner's camp, conservative organizations have a lot of sway with some members. bane earp does not want a full fledged rebellion. a few things to keep in mind. number one, any thought boehner didn't believe he had more control over his conference this time than he did two years ago should be set aside. cantor and mccarthy having his back. he only has to worry if somebody is high profile were somehow to challenge his standing with house republicans. that's not the case. they were in concert on this. does it mean -- send a signal to the white house that this time what boehner says and negotiates goes though it may not be a majority of the majority but boehner is comfortable in the position that he's established. that said, how much is boehner helped by his proposal? his proposal seemed a little bit not quite even close to what boehner and the president were in july of 2011 when the grand b bargain talks fell apart but now you've got conservative criticism of what he did offers as a reminder how difficult it is to find 218 votes in the house. well, what the president set to announce his secretary of state pick, some worry it may be stretched out now to early next week, senator john kerry desperately wants the job, has stayed very, very quiet. yesterday he exchanged good natured ribbing with senator john mccain at a news conference called for support of a u.n. treaty to support those with disabilities around the world. mccain started it off. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. [ laughter ] >> thank you very much, mr. president. [ laughter ] this is what happens when you get too loose. >> kerry and mccain are working together on the effort to persuade their senate colleagues to ratify the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. as we discussed in the show yesterday, the treaty has run into opposition from more conservative members of the republican party. think of it as two wings of the party inside their isolationists and those who are just anti-u.n. even as they are internationalists. simply others that don't believe the u.n. should sign on as party to any united nations convention and because a two-thirds super majority is rard to ratify a treaty, that opposition means it will be close and they may lose. yesterday kerry told reporters he is about four votes short but thinks a handful of senators might still be willing to sign on. in an effort to win those 11th hour votes, former senator bob dole who was there when the ada, americans for disability act, was negotiated and signed in the early '90s, is expected to be present on the senate floor or at least right next to the floor when the vote actually takes place. of course dole was just optized at walter reed army medical center last week. his public appearances are very, very rare these days. he'll be honored late they are morning and then he'll be sitting there watching as some senators potentially walk by him to make that decision to vote against a treaty that he has been campaigning very hard for. the tough time this treaty is having is the latest sign of the growing isolationist party. yesterday the president used a speech celebrating the 20-year effort by retiring senator richard lugar and former democratic senator sam nun. to secure nuclear stockpile, to issue a strong warning to president assad against using chemical weapons. >> i want to make it absolutely clear to assad and those under his command the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable. >> u.s. officials tell nbc news that syria's government has ordered the chemical sites to be, quote, prepared. sparking fears that they could be getting ready to mix a deadly nerve gas. so the direct warnings president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton delivered to syria come as that country's ally, russia, signals that the use of chemical weapons is a red line for their own support for syria. joining me now is nbc's chief pentagon correspondent jim jim miklaszewski. a speech that really didn't have anything having to do with what syria, clearly there's intelligence on the ground that has u.s. officials concerned. >> reporter: that's right, chuck. all the latest intelligence indicates that the u.s., nato, and particularly the syrian people are really staring the worst case scenario directly in the face. just about the time rebel forces started to make significant advances in the capital da m damascus, u.s. officials tell nbc news that the assad regime informed its chemical weapons corps to get prepared. and just about that time, u.s. intelligence noticed a flurry of activity around several of the chemical weapons sites, an indication, perhaps, that the chemical corps is moving two precan cursor chemicals to the same locations to weaponize artillery shells and once you combine those precursor chemicals it creates that deadly nerve gas. now the question is, as president obama threatened, there will be consequences if assad regime does use chemical weapons against its own people. what are those consequences? well, the u.s. military does have several contingency plans in place. right now it appears that the use of ground forces is pretty much out of the question because it would take a massive invasion to try to control those chemical weapon sites. now air strikes are a possibility but, chuck, if you strike those chemical weapon sites -- >> you don't want to put that in the air. >> reporter: that, too, could spread the deadly chemicals. the most viable option right now may, in fact, be direct air strikes against the assad regime targets themselves perhaps even president assad. >> all right. i want to quickly ask about this iranian claim that they captured a small u.s. drone, u.s. navy, i know, has already said all unmanned air vehicles have been accounted for that are operating in the middle east region. are you hearing anything different? what could iran think it has that it doesn't or is it another country's drone? >> reporter: if you look at iran's video, it is a scan eagle drone which, quite frankly, sort of like honda civics. everybody has one. you can buy them pretty much on the open market. the belief is that they got it from the persian gulf state, united emirates, which have scan eagle drones like the u.s. navy does. but it's believe d that the iranians may have managed to steal one disassembled or someone even in that government under the table sold them one. they do acknowledge it looks like a scan eagle but it's not american. and they believe the iranians simply somehow got it off the shelf. this is not top shelf. that is horse and buggy technology. >> not even honda civic. all right, all right, jim miklaszewski, at the pentagon this morning. thank you, sir. up next, cliff counting. where is the middle ground you? johnny isaacson will be joining me next. plus, 28 days later, there are still votes being tallied from the presidential election. the very latest on president obama's growing margin of victory and the single best bellwether county in the country. i'll be telling you where that is. see, it's not even today's trivia question. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. an interview today, television interview. bloomberg. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! 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