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Every vote here in the senate and mitch mcconnell says it's time for president obama to lead. the threshold question is, can something pass the house of representatives? can john boehner put something on the floor that needs the majority of democrat support that will not get republican support and none to speak of that would allow taxes to go up for people making more than $250,000 or 400,000 as was in the president's last offer and the answer to that question remains very, very unlikely. so we are where we are. this ain't schoolhouse rock, that's for sure. it's not like the house passes a bil...

Nil. >> right. >> reporter: i will say this, i don't think all is lost. i don't think anybody is going to throw in the towel on this thing. there may be some wiggle room but there's also the possibility that we do go over the cliff on january 1st. here is the threshold question, i'm going to break this down as easily and simply as i can. >> you are aware i am dumb, so thank you. >> would john boehner, a republican speaker of the house, would any speaker of the house, put something on the floor that goes against dearly held party doctrine? in other words raising taxes, and not get a majority of...

Giving a short briefing there about the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations in washington, d.c. nbc's mike viqueira is standing by on capitol hill. mike, i guess the big head line to come out of this other than the old christmas adage about the ifs, ands, buts, is the fact it's tied mainly to negotiation? >> yeah, if you spend any time around here, andy, two things are going to happen to you as a reporter, you're going to be insulted by john boehner, and you're going to hear him say ifs ands and buts were nuts -- would you put something on the floor that didn't have a majority of republicans to ...

Is finding those responsible and bringing them to justice. in a year in which it wouldn't have been a presidential election that's what we would be doing and that's what we should be doing now. >> well, about that affair with paula broadwell, and the possibility of classified information being compromised, what did you learn about that? was that discussed at all? >> it really wasn't discussed at all. there was a threshold question at the outside -- outset of the hearing just to set the stage essentially that nothing to do with the reasons why he resigned had any impact on benghazi or there was...

Understanding there were threats against the ambassador prior to the attack in benghazi and this is something that even you can confirm. why didn't we protect him and keep him safe? >> that is i think the threshold question in all of this. there had been earlier threats in libya -- in tripoli, excuse me, that he had gone out on runs and they were going to try to hit him on a run so they cut the runs out for a period of time and then they went back to that. so they knew that he was in jeopardy. but the threshold question as i say is what was the ambassador doing 400-miles from his embassy, at n...