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Issues that the president -- president-elect was talking about most, going after isis. russia is actually a natural ally. >> kinda sorta. >> drug trafficking, issues around afghanistan, even iran, they're an important ally. the obama administration recognized that. in fact secretary kerry visited moscow quite a few times. so they are an important ally, they're a major power, they're a nuclear power, so you've got to deal with them. and third, i think, this is something that isn't well understood. if you view the world not through the lens of major global power dynamics, the challenge of russia...

Republican, co-sponsoring a deal with a republican. is that really an unwritten rule in the u.s. senate? >> it's not a rule. it does happen sometimes. i picked up on a little bit of that, but the truth is i have many more republican i want to work with because i worked with them. last cycle, i had a bill with scott brown. and i got a little pushback from some of my fellow democrats, you can't help him. i said, look, we're trying to pass legislation here. this is about governing. one of the problems you see in washington, it's all politics all the time. in fact, if you listen to the press confe...

Is if the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell could deliver 25 republicans votes in the senate, more than half his conference. 40 republicans voted for the fiscal cliff deal, five of those no longer in the senate. that's your ceiling. there's 35 senate republicans who have voted with mitch mcconnell before. would they vote with him again on a giant deal that gets us out of a cliff mess? can they get anywhere close to the number? mcconnell, who spoke to the president yesterday and reid, are now both racing the clock to sell the plan to lawmakers before the u.s. borrowing authority runs out...

Of the collins proposal, two-year delay on that so-called medical device tax, pacemaker tax. and then the second thing you talk about is the language about whether members of congress and their staffs should fall under the exchanges, which you said the difference here is only members of congress, not the staff. >> correct. and the white house would fall in, too. so it would be congress and the white house and i guess white house staff but not congressional staff. i'm saying that's from my quick memory. i didn't write this down, but that's my understanding. >> okay. and, look, we've heard from ...

Walter. amy and dante, i want to get a little quick news out of the way. ben, we know what we're about to hear from boehner officially, what this deal is. essentially the house is agreeing to the framework of the senate deal. their two health care addendums are different. this medical device tax suspension, not a full repeal, and the vitter amendment, sort of the congress should be treated the same into the exchanges but not the staff anymore, relief to a lot of low-paid staff people. we know how this is going to end. how's it going to end? >> it's going to end with the medical device tax comi...