take action on extending the bush era tax cuts. appeared being the keyword. senator majority leader mitch mcconnell announced he would not filibuster the measure. instead he allowed a straight up-or-down majority wins vote. the republican plan, extend the tax cuts for everyone. and president obama's plan, extend the cuts for 98% of americans, how olds making under $250,000 a year. why would senator mcconnell do such a thing? >> the only way to force people to take a stand is to make sure that today's votes truly count, by setting these shoet votes at a 50-vote threshold, nobody on the other side can hide behind a procedural vote while leaving their views on the actual bill itself a mystery, a simple mystery to the people who sent them here. >> and tonight, we now know where everyone stands. the democrats' bill narrowly passed, 51 to 48. with two democrat, joe lieberman and jim webb opposing. the republicans' plan failed. the vice president was there himself in the big chair in case he needed a break a tie. on the surface, this may look like a big win for the president and his party. but before breaking out the champagne, here's a reality check. this is all just political theater. no real legislation that will affect you or me came out of capitol hill today. and every member of this kabuki congress knew it. instead, we're still playing chicken with the fiscal cliff. tax cuts expiring for everyone automatically. now, the cbo says if congress let this is happen, economic growth could contract by 1.3% during the first half of 2013. but the agency said would probably be judged a recession. our economy is only projected to grow between 2.% and 2.8% next year. not only are we speeding towards that fiscal cliff, we're wasting money with all this mindless bickering. this week, we actually learned the cost of all this sandbox politics. $1.3 billion. the government accountability office calculated the cost of last summer's debt ceiling debate. a fight in the name of fiscal responsibility that essentially held the full faith and credit of the united states hostage actually ended up costing taxpayers an additional $1.3 billion. as you hear it on this show every day, it's been almost a year since we lost our aaa credit rating. and it's all because of washington's inability to work together. "outfront" tonight, one man who's a leader in the house and a member of the super committee which couldn't ultimately make a deal. democratic congressman james clyburn. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> you've been in congress for over three decades. my first question, has it ever been this bad and who could you make a deal with on the other side of the aisle? >> i've been here a little short of two decades. i came here in 1993. but from afar, i have seen it this bad, maybe not over the deficit and over the budget. but i can remember the hustles and tussles back in the '50s and the '60s. i'm just old enough to remember all of those things and had a great interest in it. so ill say to all of the viewing public, the only thing that's different today than from 30, 35 years ago is the fact that there's instant news now. everything's done in real time. and communications are so much better, and people are a little more tuned in. but these kinds of things are not all that strange to the congress. >> well, then give us some assurance. tell us that behind the scenes at least there's some constructive conversation going on about how to deal with this fiscal cliff before we go over it. >> well, i believe that the budget priities committee, the committee on budget priorities and policies, they have said to us that this is not really a cliff in the common sense of the word, but more like a slope because i do believe that even after the elections, there is plenty enough time for us to come back here in a lame duck and do what is necessary to extend budgetary considerations for at least a year while we'll have time to really work on things we need to do. and that is to have the massive overhaul of our tax code. i think that we're in the trouble we're in today not so much because of people's priorities but because we have a problem with our tax code that needs to be fixed. i think that's what's important about that vote today. >> but, congressman, that approach of, we'll all get together and work together after the election, someday never seems to come. you were on the super committee. and republicans say that there was never a serious proposal from democrats to deal with entitlement reform. help clear that up tonight. what specific concessions on entitlement reform did you and your fellow democrats put forward on the super committee? >> there were a lot of considerations given. you remember senator baucus brought on issue to the table that had massive entitlement controls. the last time i checked, he is, in fact, a democrat. i would ask you to ask those repuicans, what kind of tax cuts, what kind of revenue -- did they ever bring into the discussions? they never brought any. that's where the problem was. we're supposed to have the people living on fixed income, people getting medicare, social, medicaid, they're supposed to make all the sacrifices while wealthy people continue to pump their earnings off shore and not pay taxes on them. there's another report out today about the trillions of dollars that are being hidden in offshore accounts by very wealthy people while we're talking about making poor people suffer entitlement cuts. >> well, congressman, thank you for coming "outfront." let's hope a deal can get made before we go off that fiscal cliff. president obama opening to secure reelection with the help of black voters. and the mother of cal ripken, jr., abducted at gunpoint but released. what we're learning about the abduction and the suspect. and we're learning new details about the suspected gunman in the colorado shooting. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch? with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. see life in the best light. 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[ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. our second story "outfront" tonight, can barack obama depend on 2008-level support from black voters in november? a new report by the national urban league says african-american voters could p the election this year by staying home and costing the president crucial votes in battleground states. minutes from now, the president is taking his message straight to the urban league. how concerned should the obama campaign be? john king's been breaking down the numbers. john, what states could be affected here? >> in a word, they should be very concerned. in the end, politics is about math, addition and subtraction. that study says about 65% of african-americans turned out in 2008 and they say if it dropped back to 2004 levels, that would be about 60%. if it dropped back, the urban league study says, good-bye, north carolina. 25% of the vote in north carolina will be african-americans. if that percentage drops and turnout drops, the president will lose north carolina. in virginia, 50% of the vote just in richmond, the capital city, is african-americans. 20% of the votes statewide in virginia, if turnout drop, the urban league says probably that one gone from the president's column. and it says ohio -- we know ohio was always the mother of all battlegrounds. about 50% of the vote in cleveland is african-americans. democrats need that cushion. you see how big of a cushion the president got there four years ago. democrats need that cushion from african-americans in cleveland to win statewide. if that turnout is down, the president would be at risk. the report says michigan would be at risk. another state, florida could be at risk. only about 12%, 13% of the vote statewide in florida african-american. but 20% of the vote in miami, african-american. and even pennsylvani people will say, what are you talking about? a nine-point victory for the president last time. but if african-american turnout is down significantly, even pennsylvania could be at risk. >> let's do a deep dive on the keystone state here. walk us through how pennsylvania could be in play if african-american vote doesn't reach those levels. >> let's come west to east. most of the african-american vote is in the east in philadelphia. but most people believe that mitt romney will do better than john mccain. a lot of these counties were closer in 2008 than they were in 2004 and 2000. people think mitt romney will do better than john mccain. you come over here, scranton, allentown, redding, these are places barack obama struggled in the democratic primaries. if mitt romney does a little better against blue collar white workers, he can do better. then into philadelphia and the suburbs. this is where the state is always decided. of the president's big margin statewide, much of it, the overwhelming bulk of it came from this whopping size victory in the city of philadelphia. we went to philadelphia to look at the turnout operation. i was there several times back in 2008. the campaign got an early start because, why? african-american unemployment is high. it knows that could have some people discouraged saying, he's been president for almost four years, why should i vote? and there could be complacency. a lot of african-americans will say, my vote doesn't matter. they also think this is an important factor. history has volunteers pounding on the doors of voters last time. even people there concede the point that it's harder the second time around. he's an incumbent president. you're not making history. you have a tough economy. the obama campaign has this advantage. there was no primary challenge. they had been working this for nths. but that activity is part of the worry. they know if the numbers are down here in philadelphia and mitt romney can do a little better out in the suburb, you have a battleground state. >> fascinating analysis. as we know, every vote counts. thank you. also in pennsylvania, a shocking revelation from the state about its controversial new voter id law which is being challenged in court today. the law requires all voters to show photo id. something critics say will depress turnout. supporters argue it's necessary to prevent voter fraud. but this legal document, in this document, the state admit that is it is, quote, not aware of any incidents of in-person voter fraud in pennsylvania. in addition, the state says it has no evidence to prove that, quote, in-person voter fraud is likely to occur in december 2012 in the absence of the photo id law. good to have you both on set. if the state is admitting that this photo id law is not going to have an effect, that this is not a problem, what's the fight about? why is this necessary? >> i think you might be misinterpreting what was said. here's the thing, prosecutors are very stretched and they have limited resources in terms of what they can investigate and what they can prosecute. voter fraud is something that hits a relatively low priority issue. you don't go after those things or prosecute them. that doesn't mean you don't try to take the necessary steps to prevent voter fraud from happening in the first place. there's a lot of financial fraud that happens that doesn't actually get investigated and doesn't actually get prosecuted. doesn't mean it's not there or that you don't take steps to prevent it. >> if this was a real problem, they'd be saying they have some credible case, a single credible case to make in court. and they haven't. right now, as many as 758,000 people in pennsylvania don't have the required photo id. that's larger than obama's victory over john mccain in the state in 2008. right now, cnn, we have pennsylvania leaning obama. but is this a real problem for the obama campaign? >> this is a problem. but i must have the the worst timing. where's erin? >> i'm sorry to disappoint you. >> back to serious. this is a really big problem. as the attorney general said recently, this is almost like a poll tax because for many people who do not have photo id, who have to go in and register for photo id, get their driver's license or get their birth certificate, it's going to cost them money to get those documents before they go in to see the secretary of state. that's going to cause people a problem. if you're a poor or elderly person who doesn't have your document, this could be a huge impediment to you showing up and voting. >> it could potentially. we had a heated discussion featuring a member of the gop leadership in pennsylvania making a claim in front of cameras about the impact of this voter id law. let's have a quick listen. >> voter id, which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. [ applause ] >> so this on-camera statement plus this letter from the governor's office, how can the republican party fight this perception that this is not simply about politics? >> two things to keep in mind. one is that in pennsylvania, there are a lot of raw feelings from earlier elections. for example, in 1999, the philadelphia mayoral election in which sam katz narrowly lost to another candidate, john street. a lot of concern about fraud but it wasn't rigorously investigated because it would lead to a lot of raw feelings in the community. that's one reason why pennsylvania folks are concerned about that issue. there are about 30 states that have passed voter id laws. in rhode island, you have certain provisions kicking in in 2014 rather than in 2012, whereas texas and pennsylvania have particularly rigorous laws. they're trying to bring online perhaps faster that they can realistically accomplish. they're actually trying to address some of those concerns that you have about indigent voters. but, again, it's all about does the bureaucracy move quickly enough to accommodate that. that's a legitimate concern. >> we have 11 new states with this law in place. this is a debate we're going to continue to have. >> democrats are really focused on it. i don't think it's going to be -- we're not going to sit around and wait for this to happen. >> it's important, the facts of the particular laws. >> thank you both for joining us. ahead, do russian officials have the right to come into the homes of children, adopted in the u.s.? why russia and the state department don't agree. and mitt romney and president obama are exchanging some strong jabs in new ads. but do their attack lines add up? you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ are we seeing the rise of an ac/dc cyber virus? i'm talking about the rock band. a finnish company says it received an e-mail from a scientist at the atomic energy association of iran claiming its program has been compromised by a computer virus. it plays ac/dc's "thunder struck." it can verify the e-mail was sent from a researcher within the organization. why should you care? cyber security is a big issue that congress is finally trying to tackle. tonight, the senate is starting to debate a bipartisan bill to require both government and private companies to do more to protect their networks from the threat of cyber attacks. the number tonight? $1 trillion. that's how much computer crime costs company, according to a study. that was back in 2008. chances are, that number is much higher now. we shouldn't have to wait for a digital pearl harbor to take the cyber security threat seriously. still "outfront" in our second half, a controversial adoption agreement with russia. would it sell out some american parents? and a miraculous recovery. shot three times during the movie theater shooting. but tonight he walked out of the hospital and he's "outfront." . i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. so i can get three times the coverage. 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