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we begin with the escalating battle over tax cuts. the senate began debate on a reworked plan last night and plans to vote on it monday. but, angry house democrats defied the president, pledging to prevent the measure from reaching the floor. terrell brown is in washington with more on this. terrell, how serious are the democrats about blocking this? >> reporter: house democrats mean business here, betty. not only did they reject the proposal, they won't even schedule a vote, democrats argue that tax relief for the rich needs to be scaled back. the new tax cut proposal is already up ...

politics. we'll be talking about this one detail in detail in just a moment. you may have heard that the senate will take up the vote for the bill. the national defense act. it passed every year for 48 years. senate republicans' filibuster meant that it may not pass this year. most of the attention the bill received is because a portion of it would allow the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell. repeal passed the house months ago. today it came up for a snap vote in the senate. after all this fighting and the report from the military. would there finally be a deal on don't ask, don't ...

plus, what exactly is going on here? a well-known man is the face of a watch company even after that face has been beaten and bloodied. we'll explain. but first to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. senate democratic leaders are moving forward with a vote on president obama's tax deal with republicans despite something of a rebellion within their own party. majority leader harry reid says he hopes to bring the measure to the floor today or tomorrow. a sign he is close to having the 60-vote filibuster proof majority he'll need to push forward with his measure...

you don't like the president's decision? i say go for it. but then the question, what's the alternative? specifically, what could president obama have done? what could he do as of this moment to get what he and the progressives want? to end the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. should he really have waited out the republicans till next year? should he do it now when they will control the house of representatives, that's what happened in the election, and by the way, in the latest counts, the democrats dissented based upon those votes last saturday when the democrats lost five members on...

serious? let's get to kelly o'donnell, nbc news capitol hill correspondent. so we see something of a democratic revolt on the house side. how real is this, kelly, that house democrats refuse to bring this deal to the floor? >> reporter: well, there are a limited number of things that house democrats can do to get their message across. they've met with the vice president who essentially said, take it or leave it. that wasn't satisfactory. so today they met privately and they decided that as a group, they would urge the speaker not to bring this measure to the floor, not putting it up ...