Congress passes a fiscal cliff compromise. The house late last night passed the senate bill that avoids the spends cuts and tax hike set to take effect later this year. Weve set up more fiscal cliffs. Were going to look back on this night and regret it. President obama urged them not to fight politics with the nations debt limit. I will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that theyve already racked up. Wall street is ready to rally this morning after the latenight budget breakthrough in washington. Asian markets got a big boost over news of the agramt. Horng congresss hang seng gained nearly 3 . Sandy hook Elementary Students are about to head back to class three weeks after a shooting. Classes return to a repurposed school. An open house is set for today. A Shell Oil Rig has run aground off the coast of alaska. No oil is leaking. All members have been evacuated. They captured photos of justin bean eers car. But he wasnt driving, and he wasnt in the car at all. What a hit he says ill take care of business. All that a soldiers Surprise Homecoming at the rose parade in california. Oh, thats beautiful. Makes me cry. And all that matters. Members of congress are for russ after the house went home without voegt on a leaf bill for victims of hurricane sandy. Absolutely defensive. On cbs this morning. The annual polar bare plunge on coney island to help raise money for Recovery Efforts from hurricane sandy. I lost my house. Im going in on new years day. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. Im Norah Odonnell along with anthony mason. Charlie and gayle are off. No one in washington or in the country seems to be happy about that final outcome. Late last night the house joined the senate in passing a bill that raises taxes for people earned more than 400,000 a year and families earned more than 450,000. The bill also extended longterm jobless benefits for a year and puts any significant spending cuts on hold until later in 2013. Nancy cordes is on capitol hill. Nancy, good morning. Reporter good morning, anthony. Well, if this was high school, youd say they turned in the assignment a little bit late. It was kind of a rush job, but at least they got it done. The house passed the bill with room to spare late last night. The votes were about 21. Democratic in favor of the bill. But that still qualifies as a big bipartisan victory around here. The ayes are 257, the nays are 167. Reporter with that vote, the long contentious effort to prevent a middleclass tax hike came to an end tuesday, though few on either side felt like celebrating. Reminds me of the jokes they used to have on lenox avenue where somebody stopped hitting you in the head with a hammer youre supposed to say thanks so much for the relief. The bill before us is not so much the grand bargain that i and i think most of my cog leagues had hoped we would have been able to achieve. Reporter still its a milestone. Permanent tax relief for the middle class, more than 98 of american taxpayers, more than 97 of americas small businesses. Reporter the bill also permanently prevents the alternative minimum tax from hitting the middle class. Were witnessing something that theres been a great hunger among the American People for and that is to see finally democrats and republicans working together for the good of the united states. Reporter shortly after the bill passed, the president made a point of recognizing republican leaders. In particular, i want to thank the work that was done by my extraordinary Vice President joe biden as well as leader harry reid, Speaker Boehner, nancy pelosi, and mitch mcconnell. Reporter but many House Republicans were angry that this deal worked out by the white house and the senate did not include serious spending cuts. Im unwilling to gag down a bill that theyve sent over here thats not acceptable. Reporter but in the end they did not have the votes to change it and everyone acknowledged that this deal sets the stage for a big showdown over spending with a vote to raise the debt ceiling coming sometime in the next two months. The problem is weve set up three more fiscal cliffs. Reporter one thing this bill bill really doesnt address is the sequester, the acrosstheboard indiscriminate spending cuts for defense and nondefense agencies. They pushed the cuts off for two months so youre going to see them fighting right away about how to replace the sequester with more sensible cuts once and for all. Nancy cordes. Thanks, nancy. Shortly after the house vote president obama got on a plane to resume his christmas vacation in hawaii, but first he complained to reporters about how hard it was to reach a deal and insisted it wont happen again when the debt ceiling battle comes around. I will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that theyve already cracked up through the laws that they passed. The one thing that i think hopefully in the knew year well focus on is see if we can put a package like this together with a little less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. Major garrett is in the press room where the president made that announcement a few hours ago. Major, good morning. Good morning. What was the reaction from the white house once the deal passioned . Reporter there were many reactions. I would say it was relief, triumph and a sense of disorder. Let me take these in order. There was genuine relief because there were hours of very profound anxiety here yesterday that the house would not pass it. Let me tell you, there really was not an alternative plan. If they amended it or sent it back or killed it slightly. So the president stood slightly powerful. They started to feel this was going to happen. So relief was a dominant reaction. Also a sense of triumph, the tax debate. For the first time gets the republicans and the democrats to vote for higher income tax rates. A year ago they said they would never vote nr any higher taxes and higher income tax rates and they have. And also without touching the entitlements in any way. Thats the triumph. As stated, its not final. There are more debates to come. He stood his ground and won out. The spending cuts and the extension of the tax cuts. What do you think the white house learned from this whole episode . Reporter well, first of all, that necessity is the mother of invention. This deal needed to get done and everybody had to participate and the president learned things can change very quickly. For weeks and weeks and weeks mitch mcconnell, the Senate Republican leader had nothing to do with it. Suddenly he became the key player. Similarly Vice President biden stepped off the sidelines and became the number one negotiator. The president learn thad that combination can work in the future and they gain add new appreciation for Speaker Boehner. Though they doubted him in the past they saw he was able to put the deal through last night and avoid the fiscal cliff both for him, senate democrats, and the white house. Mayjor gary yerett, thank yo rep from ohio Steve Latourette said they must have been drunk. He joins us this morning. Good morning. I have to ask you. This was a tax cut for most of the middle class and yet no spending cuts. How could you vote for that . Well, because its that choice. If there was no deal, taxes would have gone up on every american and the speakers stated objective was always to spare as many people in the country as he could from a tax increase but at the end of the day we got whooped. I would also say we put simpsonbowles the grand bargain on the floor last spring. I got a grand total of 38 votes on the big deal. And 38 votes even in a math challenged person like myself is not what you need to win. I know you were joking when you accused some of the senators that they must have been drunk when they voted for this. But i have to tell you. Youve left the country with a huge hangover because now youve got about 4 trillion added to the debt and again no spending cuts. Again, what is wrong with congress . Its outrageous. No one will make the difficult decisions necessary to get this thing done. This is a problem that requires a 4 trillion to 6 trillion fix. Quite frankly, the president wont make the move and weve been slow to the dance. And about the senators being drunk since you mentioned it twice, my wife has yelled at me and told me to say nothing good happens after midnight on new years eve. You made the point. There were no hard decisions made. You havent dealt with the debt ceiling, you havent dealt with spending cuts. I mean isnt this legislation by procrastination . Its worse than that because you know even if you take the president s numbers on what the extra revenue is, its about 660 billion over ten years which is 60 billion a year. It not only cuts spending but increases it and were borrowing a trillion. You dont have to be a math professor to figure out we all know the president was going to get his way. He campaigned on raising taxes, he wanted to, he wins. Now we have to face up to the fact that its not on the revenue side. You really have to come to grips with some of these programs that have been around since the Great Depression and figure out how to make them viable and sustainable in 2012 13. Two quick questions. Wouldnt you have been better off with the deal that boehner first came up with . At least you would have gotten spending cuts. No. The president was never serious about spending cuts. Thats 300 billion over ten years. Thats a joke as well. This required a big deal on taxes, on spending, and everybodys afraid to make the deal. Congressman, a lot of people are in a rally because they canceled the plans for a leaf package on victims of Superstorm Sandy. Why the reversal . I called them chuckle heads and ill call them chuckle heads again. The same jettisons on plan b on this tax discussion a week ago said this 60 billion isnt paid for and because its not paid for, were not going to do anything about it. I guess they dont have tvs in their homes and they havent seen the suffering on Staten Island and the coastal new jersey. That doesnt make any sense to me. An emergency is an emergency. These are americans who are suffering. We should have had the vote. And, you know, i talked to the speaker in the cloakroom last night at 11 00. He says hes going to take care of it. I hope he does because this is another exam pl of people not getting it. A lastminute agreement is likely to perk up wall street when stock markets reopen this morning. Markets are already gaining ground overseas but Rebecca Jarvis says the relief may not last all that long. Good morning. The bearer of good news. What do you think the markets are going to think about this . They like the certainty. Really over the last year there were a number of businesses saying i cant figure out my hiring decisions. Of course, we, the people of america, we drive the kmep economy. 70 is what we spent and paying taxes is going to eat into that. But theres the flip side. The 4 trillion in deficit addition that this deal puts on the table and the fact that it hasnt addressed the spending cuts. There were 1,200 spending programs under the automatic spending that were going to get cut and we still dont know about it. Thats what i wonder. So many ceos who had pushed for grand bargain, comprehensive tax reform which would have pushed for reduction of corporate taxes. Now we just have the deficit will continue to grow. Why would the market rebound on that news when this isnt a great deal . The market isnt always rational. What weve seen is it reacts. If we think were getting a good deal, it goes hire. If we dont, it dont lower. Thats going to be a huge driver of where the economy goes next. Rebecca jarvis. Thanks, rebecca. To find out specifically what the fiscal cliff will mean for your taxes go to our website cbsnews. Com. Here in new York Hillary Clinton is still in the hospital, but doctors say shes making progression with a blood clot inside her skull. What are they saying about secretary clintons status right now . Reporter good morning to you, norah. The secretary is still undergoing treatment for that blood clot. The spokesperson says he will share new information when theres something to update. When she was hospitalized on sunday, that same spokesperson said she would be monitored by doctors for 48 hours. Were now beyond that window. But doctors tell cbs that it typically takes more than two days to establish the proper dose of blood thirner and weeks, sometimes even months to dissolve the clot. The entire treatment can take as long as six months but it does not require a hospital stay. Wow. Thats incredible. Is there any talk when she might return to d. C. . Its unclear. But as you know, secretary clinton only had a few more weeks in office. She was expected to leave once her replacement was confirmed by senate but theres no word on when those will begin to make john kerry the next secretary of state. In the meantime, secretary clinton is not expected to travel but were told shes still working from her recovery bed. And students from Newtown Sandy Hook Elementary School go back to class tomorrow. Its been nearly three weeks since a gunman killed 20 first graders and six staffers at sandy hook elementary. Theyll not return to that school. Theyre going to go to a school nearby. Backpacks have been removed and grief counselors will be in the hallway. Calmer weather may allow the coast guard to inspect the oil rig that ran agrounded on monday. They say theres no signs that its leaking. High winds and rough seas are hampering efforts to get to the sea. Reporter the ground on a rocky shoreline, shells 290 million drill barge is at the mercy of the merciness wave, some close to 15 feet hiechl although all were evacuated all the kulluk, what remains is more than 150 gallons of fuel and oil stored in its hull and that has captain paul meyler worried. Were take this as a very big deal. Any time you have a rivering that this presents, we have to take this as a big deal. Reporter for now its holding, but as a precaution, as many as 500 people from an al a alphabet soup of state and federal agencies are staging up and down the coast to help clean up any leak or spill. Theres always a threat. Its nestled on the rocks and there are still heavy seas. Thats why were moving with all the response equipment. Reporter the kulluk doesnt have its own propulsion. It was being towed and broke free in the storm. One of the last untapped regions in the u. S. But that exploration has been opposed by environmentalists in that its no match for even the most robust equipment. That fear is being tested in one of the most remote parts of alaskas frigid waters. For cbs this morning im lee cowan, los angeles. Time now to show you this mornings headlines from news around the world. The terrorist offered three kilos of gold worth 160,000. Ambassador gerald firesteins 94yearold mother says she hopes he has nurt security. The pittsburgh postgazette says the governor plans to sue over sanctions against penn state. The sanctions imposed because of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Britains telegraph reports that williams helicopter was searching for a man. They had to turn back due to the high winds. It was part of a major policy statement he made on new years day. Some analysts see it as kims effo she attended one of new york citys top private schools. He went to hall vard. Now theyre accused of collecting bombmaking tools including a powerful explosive its extremely potent which is one of the reasons why its so appealing for terrorists. This morning well look at the charges against the couple. And the faa ordered inspections for dozens of older airliners three years after southwest 747 landed with a hole in a roof. Well ask Peter Greenberg if any planes out there are too old to fly on cbs this morning. This cold season, nasal congestion wont stop me. I made the clear choice. Claritind. 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There you are in the blue trunks, is that right . That would be me. Trained for months for that. Also here in new york, theres this very unusual criminal case thats bringing back memories of the 1970s. A man and a woman from privileged backgrounds were arrested over the week. Police found bombmaking materials inside their apartment. Seth doane has more. They have pedigrees you would expect from children of new yorks elite. Morgan gliedman reportedly went to the pretty tijs dallman school and the art skl in chicago. Her boyfriend aaron greene is to