bill, if you can get this fixed, why not -- why not do the right thing for the american people even though it's not exactly what we want. >> full details of the deal, the compromise and reaction. president obama said, for the past several weeks i've stated consistently it was critical congress not go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 mill americans. an agreement meet that's test. more reaction coming as well. latest on the details and the political fallout. dana bash is with us and jessica yellin. let's go to the hill first. house republicans are saying we have a tweak in the language here to help small businesses, but this is cave with a capital "c," no. >> reporter: tweak with a little "t," barely you can see the tweak. house republicans gave in here. you could see it in the house speaker's demeanor. you could hear it in his voice. he all be gave a concession speech. both on the politics and on the policy of this. policy meeting as he said we fought the good fight. there's no question that they were unintense pressure inside the republican caucus from fellow republicans in the senate, from the "wall street journal" editorial board and more importantly, i think, in the past 24 hours or so, john from their own constituents. we're hearing from republican sources that members of congress left here yesterday, they went back home and they were hearing from constituents what are you guys doing? we don't want to lose $1,000 from our paycheck on average, get this done, fix it. >> now what happens? most have gone home. they can use a process called unanimous consent. one republican and democrat in the house, one republican and democrat in the senate. when will that happen? is there a possibility somebody could throw a wrench in this? >> reporter: there's always a possibility could could throw a wrench in this. the likelihood it will happen tomorrow and it will -- the expectation is it will go through without having to have a formal roll call vote. i got off the phone with one member of congress on the conference call with the house speaker who said it was clear, he's not going to take any revolt this time. he described the speaker as tires and ticked off, something he had never heard from the speaker before and he said this is what we're going to do this is the deal, the call lasted ten minutes, he hung up, that was it. it didn't look like -- he's been through a lot from his own caucus and the house speaker does not have the stomach to let this go any further. it's very likely it will pass tomorrow. >> just this morning the president was surrounding himself, as the president has the bully pulpit with real people, they're going to lose $40 a paycheck. tonight the president is celebrating, from a political standpoint he decided to do it by issuing a statement, not coming out, why? >> reporter: this isn't done yet, john. they're going to you know hold their fire until it's all signed, sealed and delivered. i will tell you the fact that dana reported that speaker boehner is not going to take any revolts is going to be music to the ears of everybody right here inside the west wing. one of the frustrations, time and again, has been that every time they feel that they have come close to a deal with speaker boehner it's sort of with lucy and the football and charlie brown. all of a sudden snatched away and things fall apart because he caves to something that happens in his caucus that's unexpected. so they don't ever want to get ahead of the story and they want to wait and see that the vote happens and it's done before they actually celebrate and pop that champagne cork. so i think they're being cautious at this point. but this sounds like, you know, the speaker's going to hold firm on this one. i wouldn't be surprised if we hear from the president after things are done, john. >> from a white house perspective and the politics of this, one 0 of the reasons the republicans took their position first many republicans thought the president would blink. in the past, sometimes he has blinked. from a political perspective, what is the team obama think is the biggest lesson for them here in victory tonight? >> reporter: well, in this instance, first of all, they, you know, this is their point of view, they don't think they blinked in the past. inside the bubble, inside their views they have their own view of things. but in this instance, there was no question that they had the right policy on their side, you know, a very clear question of a tax increase for the american people that was going to hit everyone, you no, in the pocketbook. and then they had democrats and republicans on their side and senator mitch mcconnell. when you have the guy who is the president's arch enemy all year politically siding with the president all day today and through this issue, it was not even hard call for the president to hold firm. i'll tell you one big game changer, one game changer, if you will, was when the speaker called the president this morning, he asked, would you send your people up to capitol hill to negotiate with me today? and the president said, no, i'm not negotiating with you. you have to talk to speaker reid's office. and then speaker boehner's office realized they had nowhere to turn, they had to deal with speaker reid. then you had mitch mcconnell saying i'm not with you so he had no space to maneuver. >> jessica yellin at white house. dana bash at capitol hill. joining us now, david derggerge. you've been saying all week republicans have been in an untenable position. what do you believe was the key in the speaker going back to the very same members and saying, we're taking it now? >> well, john, as you know, there's a kenny rogers line that you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them, and it became increasingly obvious to speaker boehner he had to fold. he was not only under pressure from constituents back home from pressure from senior republicans who believe this has been so botched that it is not only, you know, soured the american people once again on congress and washington, but it's left the impression that the real problem in a broken washington is a republican party held hostage by the tea party. you know, that was playing into a narrative that was very powerful for the president and democrats next fall. i think it's the political reality of what they were facing that i think eventually forced their hands. though they -- as you and i talked about earlier this week on monday on the merits -- they had a good case for a year long. that's what president obama w t wanted wausa year long but on t politics they had to fold. >> taxes will not go up. american people will not have payroll taxes go up. they won't say i'm short of what i was going to have in there. is this forgotten or will the price the republicans paid this week carry snoev. >> that's a really good question, john. my sense is that the issue itself will be forgotten quickly but symbolically, it had an importance that went beyond the mer litits or the immediacy com at the end of a rotten year in washington, it left the impression right at end that the real problem is the tea party and the extremism on the republican side. even though democrats deserve an awful lot of blame for what happened, what went wrong in washington this year. no question national year ended on a down note for republicans. even as they foal, there is symbolically, lasting damage. and overall, you have to say, look at overall picture over the last three or four months this has been a story, the bigger story is the resurrection of president obama and democratic hope for 2012. >> there's no doubt about that. it if you look at it again, a long way off, a lot can happen but the president's approval rating, it's up, overall approval rating inching up. talking about 2011, still approaching the new year. we'll see what happens. a contrarian question, you heard dana bash reporting speaker boehner was ticked off, tired told the freshman members who at times have pulled him along this year, this time you're listening to me. might there be an important lesson for them? could speaker boehner actually benefit from this in the long run next time around? can he say we're not doing that again? >> i think so. i think he's going to get tougher because speaker boehner was put in an awkward position. not only were the republicans getting hurt but there was a real chance republican losses next fall would be larger than expected and speaker boehner's job might be in question as you well know. what's gotten interesting having made an important argument are we ever able to return payroll taxes to their old levels? you know this does have a lot to do with the viability of social security. if we act like you can't raise taxes $1,000 in order to pay for social security, we've got a more severe problem than we ever thought we had with the defic deficits. >> absolutely right. the only way out of this, the bush tax cuts are about to expire, now you have a payroll tax holiday on the books it's a political issue. only way to get out of this is comprehensive tax reform. appreciate your insights. one quick moment for those at home, this is not just a washington political fight. this would have been money out of your wallet. we assume the deal's going to go through. you can watch it with us. if this compromise holds $35,000 a year, that means you will keep that $700 a year payroll tax holiday you've been getting in recent years. instead of having your taxes go up 27 a paycheck. if you make $50,000 a year, let's assume now that means you'll keep that $1,000 payroll tax holiday next year instead of losing $40 a paycheck. this is the number the white house was focusing on, most of those making 75 grand you will keep next year $60 a paycheck. that' paycheck every two weeks is the calculation. if you make more money, you'll save more money. still ahead here, exclusive talk with michele bachmann who says she's sensing something in iowa that will shock the rest of us. coverage of the breaking news, the deal to extend your payroll tax cuts. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. my old contacts would sometimes move and blur my vision. then my eye doctor told me about acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink so now, i'm seeing more clearly. 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'cuz robots work for free. robot 1:good morning... robot 1:...female child. sfx: modem dial-up noise woman: are there flaws? yeah, um, maybe. anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. john boehner announced house republican as degree to a two-month extension. now the speaker just this morning said no, he wanted a one-year extension. tonight the speaker bowing. with us, paul begala along with susan molinarmolinari, a former congresswoman in new york, a mitt romney supporter in this presidential year. you have experience in these deals. i'm going to come to you first. >> lucky you. >> you have -- you are not a fun of him in the presidential race but former speaker gingrich was on the road yesterday saying republicans are right on the policy, two months is a joke, it should be a yearen they should make the process work in washington but need to find their way out of this the incumbent president he said, in in case the democrat, almost always wins. >> it pain me to say this but newt gingrich was right. this was a -- the prushs were lag on this discussion in the beginning, making it so that the democrats were able to finally, you know, reclaim the man tell of the party of the middle class which they have not been all year. then the republicans came up brilliantly with the keystone amendment forcing the president to choose between his base and the independents who want to see job creation in the year of his election. they should have declares victory and gone home. an amazingly brilliant political move. it still will bear fruit. a year from now, no one's going to remember this, but this did not have to be fought. >> i'm -- i agree with you a year from now people are not likely to remember the details. there should be a lasting piece of who's on your side narrative that we'll find out in a minute. to susan's point the republicans, some people at home agree, some disagree but the republicans have been disciplined. leader mcconnell on the senate side, speaker boehner since they took charge in the house. disciplined together on strategy. here they got up to the goal line, got the keystone pipeline and fumbled. >> they did. >> a failure to communicate and mitch mcconnell thought it was a good deal and boehner couldn't sell it what happened? >> you had idealists in the republican party saying correctly that a one-year extension would be far better for the economy and far better for taxpayers and they were tired of the kick the can done the road brinksmanship we've seen over the last year. unfortunately everything's timing in life. this did not go well. it was good policy and bad politics. boehner knew it, he's a professional, mcconnell knew it he's a professional, and they had to extricate. >> paul you're not a fan of how the president communicates. today he used the bully pulpit as any good president, regardless of party would do. surrounds himself at the white house with real people and says the republican are wrong, don't listen to me, listen to real people. >> richard from rhode island wrote to tell us having an extra $40 in his check buys enough heating oil to keep his family warm for three nights. in his words, i'm quoting, if someone doesn't think that 12 gallons of heating oil is important i invite them to spend three nights in an unheated home. or you can believe me when isao that it makes a difference. >> not a natural populace but they figured this out. >> right. that is an event reagan could have done 30 years ago, bill clinton certainly would have done 15 years ago. bully for president obama. the question of who's on your side to me can be the defining issue of his re-election campaign. 2010 is who is going to cut spending and republicans always win that fight. if president obama, looks like he's spent the year moving the debate off of who is going to cut spending and on to who is on your side. republicans, god bless them, thank them for doing what my party could never have done on its own, redefining the democrats. we know how to run this play book. it's a gift. i want to thank them. >> i don't mean this the way it's about to come out, because i have great respect for people in both parties and position of leadership. but speaker boehner is sometimes like a puppy dog you can see his emotions on his face. he might be trying to say i won this but you can tell by his eyes he didn't. look at the speaker earlier. >> sometimes it's hard to do the right thing. sometimes it's politically difficult to do the right thing. but you know, when everybody called for one-year extension of the payroll tax deduction, when everybody wanted a full year of extended unemployment benefits, we were here fighting for right things. it may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world but i'm going to tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. we were able to come to an agreement. we were able to fix what came out of the senate. >> is he hurt by this? is his standing with his own caucus hurt by this? >> i think everybody gets this was a fractures caucus, to your point. the speaker helped himself because he came up with what was a smart strategy and he was sort of pushing against the ideologue, for better or worse. at end of the day he cracked the whip and said we're not winning this, time to cut our losses and slink back. let me say something. it is always easier for an incumbent president, one president, to stand up and have the bully pulpit and you don't have to be a great communicator to be the one person out there to make the speech when you to deal with a multitude of ideologies that make up one political party. there's no one in the republican party that wants to see anyone go without their heat or to go cold. but what they were try to do, to nancy's point, two months, three months is not workable and it's not practicable. let's act like grown-ups and get a real deal. when it looks like it wasn't going to happen they folded. >> they lost that argument. look, democrats or republicans, two-month extension of a tax pool si is poolish. >> right. >> the way washington works now is childish, we can all agree on that at the table. but they lost the fight when majority of senate republicans joins democrats and embraced the two-month extension. if republicans were going to hold that's when he had to told. >> the speaker's been hurt by this it's probably because he didn't understand his own caucus well enough and communicate to senator mcconnell so the right flank could have held strong if you will. i do think they had the better policy. one thing that is sad is the american people are angry at the house of representatives. if i were going to be angry at anybody, any body of government, it would be the senate. the house has produced a budget. the house has done things that the senate has punted on. it spent almost three years since the senate's produced a budget. i'm annoyed that they're coming out looking like the heros. >> you know what i think -- it does go to something that's been said. it wasn't the arcment as it was the timing. if the republicans advances the arguments on all of these things the extension of the payroll tax, which they intended to do but never talked about politically and three months, two months versus a year, if they started that conversation first, they would have won this. >> what happens next year? because you know, you're all smarter than i am on the math. we've been taking money out of the social security trust fund. it's a payroll tax holiday. the george w. bush tax cuts are about to expire. i assume the argument is you don't want to keep undermining social security so you need to take that money back. you have to do tax reform. no way in you know what that's going to get done between now and the presidential elections. how do they deal with the tax issue now? >> here what happens senator bob casey, a former client and dear friend of mine, proposed. income over $1 million, first million you pay the same rates. over $1 million they tack on 1.9%. >> not in an election year. >> democrats want that fight. they think it's a better policy. you're asking millionaires like big shot cable news hosts to pay 1.9% more on the money after the first million to give a tax cut to working class people. that's better policy, better for the economy and better politics. senator casey and the democrats have the better of the argument. >> you'll all be back as we fight that one. >> taxing job creators is not a good idea. >> the breaking news tonight oois your taxes will not go up in nine days. the debate will be back after the holidays. develop