Welcome back, everybody. Our starting point is the state department. Now blasted for systemic failures that led to the deadly september 11th attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. An independent review board determining that security at the physician facility grossly inadequate that leaders in washington ignored repeated requests to add personnel there and after the tragedy that claimed four american lives, there was a lack of transparency, responsiveness, and leadership at the senior levels in libya, and in washington, d. C. Our Foreign Affairs reporter elise lab bot live in washington this morning. What happens next after this report . Well, soledad, the panel made about 29 recommendations for the state department to get working on. Let me go over a few of them quickly. First of them is to strengthen security personnel for the highthreat post. One problem, the consulate relied on temporary, inexperienced staff and local militias not up to the task. They called for tighter securities at facilities and upgrades. A review of fire safety procedures. Smoke inhalation killed ambassador stevens and sean smith. And indepth checks of the threat environment. A big criticism, the state department failed to recognize the deter yoreating security situation, even in the face of other attacks leading up to 9 11 and congressional support for resources. Shrinking budgets for security was cited here as a major problem. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton sent a letter to congress with the report, saying the department will do its part to implement some of these recommendations. Already working on them. Congress has to support them, soledad. Lots of questions in the wake of this horrible thing that there was a coverup, and people pointing different fingers at different people, but looking at the white house specifically. Does the report go into that at all . Not really at all. I mean, basically i think one of the things that happened, there has been so much politicization of this attack and these socalled talking points and ambassador susan rice and whether she said there was a protest or not. The report found no protest leading up to the attack, but it really kind of is the first kind of sober look at what happened, the breakdowns in security and intelligence that led to an attack and it goes through an exkrushiating detail what happened that night, but really nothing about the aftermath and the politicization of it. So there will be a hearing now. What happens then . Well, closed door briefings start today. Classified briefings by ambassador Tom Pickering and admiral mike mullen who led the report. They will have a briefing with members of congress about the classified findings, and then tomorrow, secretary of state clintons deputies, dent secretary bill burns will testify in her stead, she is out for a few weeks because of illness, but i think they will get very tough questions about the poor leadership that some of these bureaus at the state department were exercising. Looks ridiculous. Awful, and terrible, terrible fallout from that. Elise labott, appreciate that. Lets turn back to the tragedy in newtown, connecticut. Four more funerals scheduled today. Vicky societo will be laid to r, and three children. Daniel barden, caroline previdi. Students will not return until after winter break at sandy hook. They are talking about bringing them back, and its not possible to do. And many parents supported that as well. They will be moving when they open the school to a completely different area, different school. Sandra endohas that, good morning. Good morning, soledad. A lot of students and parents we spoke to say the first day of school was anything but a regular day, despite the goal no make sure students in huetown return return to a sense of normalcy. A lot say there were somber moments in the classrooms yesterday, as well as emotions running high and a lot of kids said Police Officers, grief counselors and comfort dogs to help kids adjust. They say that most of the day was spent by faculty talking to the kids about what happened and also dealing with their feelings. Of course, again, the grief is just gripping this community. Four more funerals today. Three first graders and one heroic teacher will be laid to rest. As you mentioned, 6yearold caroline prcar preividi, 6yearold danell barden, and teacher vickie soto. There will be a tribute to newtown by neighboring community. Neighboring residents will be coming together with elected officials, they say in honor of the victims of this tragedy and they say it will be an uplifting event to try and raise the spare ritz of this town. Soledad. Sandra endofor us, thank you, sandra. I dont know how people bury children. How do you bury a 6yearold, 7yearold . It breaks your heart. The tragedy has the white house taking some of its first steps toward tougher gun laws and it comes as the nra is speaking out for the First Time Since the tragedy. Dan lothian at the white house this morning. Lets start with the white house before we get to what the nra is saying. Whats the latest there . Good morning, the latest development is later this morning, the president will announce hes tapping Vice President biden to head up an interagency effort to try and come up with policies in order to address gun violence. The president will be making announcement in the White House Briefing room. He will be joined by Vice President biden. We are told by white house aides that this will be more about the process, rather than laying out any policies, but nonetheless this comes one day after the white house started getting a bit more specific about what the president would support. Such as senator feinsteins effort to reinstate that ban on assault weapons. Also measures that would address the issue of mental health. All of this coming as the white house has been getting a lot more pressure to come up with some action points in the wake of the massive shooting. It seems to me that the nra is also feeling the pressure to come up with some action points in the wake of the shooting as well. Havent been clear on what they will do. But they have promised an announcement, right . Thats right. First of all, they have been relatively silent throughout the debate and came out with a statement yesterday, saying their membership was shocked and horrified by what took place, and they are also planning this press conference, which will take place on friday. They are calling this a major press conference, so well wait to find out what the details are as they roll out what potentially they could add to this debate to prevent another mass shooting. Dan lothian, thank you. Appreciate the update. John berman with a look at stories making news today. Good morning. Weather to worry about right now. Holiday travelers, be ware. A massive winter storm from colorado to upper great lakes, expected to cause dangerous blizzard or nearblizzard conditions. Cold and stormy in the northwest. Alexandra steele at the weather center, give us the lowdown. John we have Severe Weather and also all of the snow. And here is a look. Well watch this winter storm kind of dole out snow as it rolls out. It will move today. This morning, well see snow start in denver, colorado. Winding down, 1 to 3 inches, but then denver, colorado, omaha, kansas and then as we head from tonight into tomorrow, well move it in through iowa and into nebraska, and then to the upper midwest. 6 to 12 inches in omaha, in des moines, 6 to 12 inches of snow. 50mileperhour wind gusts, blizzard warnings there. The models pretty consistent. Guidance, we head through tonight, watching the snow push eastward. Compact, narrow line of snow with an incredible amount of wind. A very powerful system. In the next two days, well watch it move from colorado to the upper midwest, again, dolling out snow and a lot of wind as well. Well watch. Alexandra, thank you so much. 13 days until we reach the fiscal cliff. Some sign president obama and john boehner inching closer to a deal, the speaker is attempting an end runaround the white house, calling it plan b, trying to get the republicancontrolled house to pass his plan for tax hikes on families that make 1 million and up it will also add spending cuts to military and domestic programs. The white house rejecteded this. The president proposes tax increases on incomes 400,000 and up and 930 billion cut in spending. Rescue and recovery workers that labored in the World Trade Center at 9 11 have a higher risk of prostate and think reside cancers and multiple myeloma. No increase for others near the site. The study extensive, looking at nearly 56,000 people from 2003 to 2008. The woman at the center of the sex scandal that brought down David Petraeus will not face cyber stalking charges. The fbi learned that petraeus affair with broad well after finding out she sent harassing emails to jill kelley warning her to stay away from him. That story feels like so long ago. Sure does. Lets get to christine. An update on whats happening businesswise. Gun sales are up, gun stocks are down. Shares of smith wesson down 19 , and stearb and rugger, down 15 in the same period. Even cabelas which sells guns, also down. Look at the stocks from the beginning of the year. Smith wesson up 78 . Stearb and rugger up 28 . The fastest part of the sales . The black guns, military style weapons and bushmaster, maker of the ar15, a quarter billion in profit for the company last year. So gun sales up, gun stocks are down, investors taking a hard look at the industry and wondering if there is any new restrictions that could hurt the rich profit margins. U. S. Stock futures up. A big rally, dow up triple digits, and on track for one of the best years ever. Washington inching closer to the fiscal cliff. Fitch could downgrade the Credit Rating of the u. S. Biggest risk to the World Economy is the fiscal cliff. Im not going to say what i was going to say about my fine elected leaders in washington. They need to get their act together and pronto. Still ahead, well talk about the president and raising taxes on people making 250,000 or more. Remember that was originally on the table. The number up to 400,000, maybe to milwaukee a deal on the fiscal cliff. And well talk to chris van hollen, a member of the budget committee, coming up next. Her 6yearold son inside the school when a gunman started firing on children. Well talk to a woman whose best friends son didnt survive. Playmate of her son. What happened on that day, straight ahead. But we can still help you see your big picture. With the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelitys analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. All in one place. Im Meredith Stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Now get 200 free trades when you open an account. announcer when subaru owners look in the mirror, they see more than themselves. So we celebrate our yearend with the share the love event. Get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. By the end of this, our fifth year, our total can reach almost 25 million dollars. Its a nice reflection on us all. Now through january 2nd. Five days later, i had a massive heart attack. Bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. Now, im on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. Welcome back, everybody. With the nations attention elsewhere the past few days, the fiscal cliff skid, it has not stopped. John boehner offering plan b, raising taxes on those making more than 1 million. The president raised his threshold for those making more than 400,000. We want to get to chris van hollen, Ranking Member of the house budget committee. Nice to see you, thank you for talking with us. Soledad, good to see you. Thank you. Two things i want to talk about. The 400,000 number, an increase of what the president had on the table and i want to talk about the changed cpi. Walk me through in laymans terms what is chained cpi. Chained cpi is a change in the way you calculate the cost of living index for people on Social Security. There are lots of economists who say that its not currently an accurate measure. And they have proposed to going to chained cpi, when the price of beef goes up, people may switch to chicken. In technical terms, thats what it is, soledad. It would mean people on Social Security get less of an increase as a result of this. Each year. A particularly bad affect on people as they get older, on Social Security, which is why i have serious reservations about this proposal. At the very least, we need to correct these kinds of effects it has on lowincome people. But its a sign that the president is willing to accept some of the demands from house republicans. I dont like it, im reserving judgment on the final package, but this was one of the demands that Speaker Boehner made. People have said Social Security would not be on the table. Kind of creative math in my estimation. But changing Social Security. It looks like somebody who is 65yearold woman would over time, by age 90, lose 8 of her benefits. Losing money from Social Security benefits. It cant be read any other way than that, correct . Reduction in the currently projected benefit would be. And as you indicated, it gets especially hurtful for very old people, which is why it would be absolutely necessary to include a bumpup, to correct for that effect for people who are older if you decided to go down this road at all which is one that, again, republicans have demanded of the president. And if the president caves on it, then the president will be putting on the table, right . Not necessarily demanded of the president. The president is coming up with this part of the plan. As you indicated in the lead in, soledad. Were trying to avoid the fiscal cliff. And the president is bending over backward to do it. He obviously adjusted his number in terms of taxes from 250,000 and up to 400,000 and up. This is a chained cpi is something Speaker Boehner and the republicans demanded. Everybody says lets avoid going over the fiscal cliff. This is one of the demands that the republicans have made. I dont like it. Dont think the president prefers it. I know he doesnt. But everyone is trying to find a way to get to it except our republican colleagues. Even after the president put this on the table, they decided to walk away with plan b. The republicans say they may have a vote on plan b on thursday. It would raise taxes for those making 1 million and above. What does this mean . This is another effort by Speaker Boehner to minimize the impact on highincome earners, plan b would give millionaires a 24,000 tax break, relative to what the president is proposing now at 400,000. Another way to provide benefits and relief to very highincome individuals, and by leaving the cuts in place, it would mean that working americans, our kids education, programs for nutrition, for moms and kids, would take a big hit, even as they continue to protect the tax breaks for highincome individuals. And so as the president has indicated, its not the way well go. In the senate, they have been clear that thats not happening, not going to adopt a republican plan designed to, again, protect very wealthy people at the expense of the rest of the country. Let me ask you a question. As an elected official, and i know you like to blame the republicans, at the end of the day, the president ran on rates 250,000 and up and now hes put 400,000 on. And thats stepping away from something he ran on, and polls support that people support that 250,000. That chained cpi, very upsetting democrats to have a change on that. Some have run on that as well. Are you concerned that the backlash for you will be strong . Thats two big promises that seem to be broken by the democrats . Soledad, i dont like these particular changes. As you indicated, the president made clear his preference was asking people with 250,000 of income and up to pay the higher rate. He is now in response to republican demands moved that. I mean, i would say this is an indication of how far the president is willing to go. To meet some of the demands in order to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. The president has reduced the amount of revenue hes asked for from 1 1. 6 trillion to 1. 1. 2 trillion he has cuts on the table, including interest savings of 1 1. 2 trillion on to of a trillion cuts that we did as part of the budget control act. What people are seeing is the president willing to compromise in order to get things done and even as he tries to compromise, you have Speaker Boehner leaving the negotiating table and trying to do this plan b, designed to benefit very wealthy americans at the expense of the rest of the country. Even as the president has been moving your republican colleagues would say, sir, there are spending cuts that could be made that are not being made. But, again, the president has significantly increased soledad, his spending cut number on top of the trillion already been made. As you indicated, things like the chained cpi which republicans have demanded this things that people like me dont want to do and dont like it. You have to make adjustments if you even went down that road to protect the people youre talking about. Seniors and lower income individuals. This is an indication of how far the president has been willing to go to try and meet republicans halfway and then they run away from the negotiating table and try this other thing, because Speaker Boehner is not able to get the very extreme Tea Party Members of his caucus to go along. People out of mainstream are running the show and dictating terms in the house of representatives. Sounds like you are saying were going over the fiscal cliff. Well, were trying not to. We have to take a short break. When we come back, well tell you the story of ben wheeler, one of the 6 year olds whose life was taken during the newtown shooting. We talk with a family friend who remembers this little boy and talks about whether the town of newtown will ever be able to fully heal. That straight ahead. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre car