“Sen. John Cornyn volunteered for a second consecutive tour of duty as National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman to finish the job of reclaiming a GOP majority in 2012. In a 30-minute interview with Roll Call Thursday, the Texas Republican declined to predict the outcome of elections 23 months away. But he made clear only one result is acceptable heading into a cycle that has a favorable map for the GOP. Cornyn said it would be a ‘disappointment’ if Senate Republicans are still in the minority in 2013.”

BARBOUR: “Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour expressed concern on behalf of the state after India's Ambassador to the United States received a pat-down by airport security in Jackson last week,” WTOK writes.

BLOOMBERG: On NBC’s Meet the Press, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said, “no way, no how” will he run for president. Bloomberg also said Democrats should “suck it up” and pass the compromise tax bill.

CHRISTIE: On what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing with a fight on medical marijuana, the New York Post has this headline: “Pols take on 'dopey' Christie.”

PALIN: “Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) said Sunday that Sarah Palin can't win a nationwide run for the White House, and pointed to the fact that the former Alaska governor left mid-term as an impediment to her support,” The Hill reports. Whitman said, "I don't think she'll win nationwide. You've got to start competing for the center. And so far I haven't seen a lot of outreach on the part of Sarah Palin for that… If she were the Republican candidate she'd have to show me a lot more than I've seen thus far as far as an understanding of the depth and the complexity of the issues that we face. I mean, I don't know her personally. So I can't comment on that.”

More: "I mean, she was a governor. But the fact that she left office before even completing her first term is -- that's just not an attitude that I think is necessarily in the best interest of your constituents -- rather what's in your best interests."

PAUL: In a New York Times profile of Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- who the paper notes is one of the godfathers of the Tea Party movement -- the lawmaker said of the chances he’ll run for president in 2012: “‘I’d say it’s at least 50-50 that I’ll run again,’ he said, adding that he would look at where the economy is. (Aides add that it would depend a lot on what his wife, Carol, says.)”

PAWLENTY: Tim Pawlenty pens a Wall Street Journal op-ed making the case against public-employee unions. “The moral case for unions—protecting working families from exploitation—does not apply to public employment. Government employees today are among the most protected, well-paid employees in the country. Ironically, public-sector unions have become the exploiters, and working families once again need someone to stand up for them. If we're going to stop the government unions' silent coup, conservative reformers around the country must fight this challenge head on. The choice between big government and everyday Americans isn't a hard one.”

SANTORUM: The former Pennsylvania senator said over the weekend he’s “kicking the tires” on a possible 2012 White House bid, per WHYY: "You look at whether there’s support there on the ground for what your vision is. The kind of person you are. The kind of record you have. Your ability to communicate and motivate."

THUNE: Politico sets up a John Thune 2012 candidacy as bad for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, particularly when it comes to Iowa. Both men are from neighboring states. "I think that the advantage of being next to Iowa means you can start a little bit later," Thune said. More: “Pawlenty did 18 campaign events in Iowa in 2010 -- not just the Iowa State Fair, but fundraisers for numerous state senators, representatives, county Republican parties and conservative political action committees. His Iowa state PAC, which has a full-time staffer, handed out $82,000 and his federal PAC gave $19,500 to Iowa candidates.”

ALASKA: “A state judge has rejected losing Senate candidate Joe Miller's attempt to overturn Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in re-election victory, and Friday granted the Division of Election's request for dismissal of Miller's challenge,” the Juneau Empire writes. “Superior Court Judge William Carey found the state's write-in count valid, rejecting every one of Miller's claims.Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell called the ruling "decisive," and said it moved the state closer to having full representation in the U.S. Senate in January.”

We missed this Thursday, but here’s Stu Rothenberg’s end-of-the-year awards, including the most overhyped candidates (Linda McMahon, Alex Sink, etc.), candidates and personalities he’s sick of (Sarah Palin, FOX and MSNBC after 3 p.m., Eliot Spitzer), candidates who shouldn’t run again (Dino Rossi, Alan Grayon, Christine O’Donnell), Worst Hair (Rick Scott, himself, and Charlie Cook), most embarrassing primary loss (Rick Lazio), Biggest upset (Renee Ellmers, Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski, etc.), candidates we haven’t seen the last of (Christine O’Donnell, House candidates: Rodney Glassman, John Callahan, Julie Lassa), plus GOP rising stars in the House, the cockiest candidates, the candidates should start to worry about 2012, worst self-inflicted wounds (Rangel, Tom Ganley’s sex assault charge, Bob Etheridge’s caught on tape moment, etc.).

From NBC's Athena Jones: With the fate of a tax deal reached with Republicans still uncertain, President Obama brought out one of his party's biggest guns to help drum up support for the agreement: former President Bill Clinton.

The current president called on his predecessor in part to help convince angry Democrats -- especially in the House of Representatives -- to pull together to vote for a bill he believes will help spur economic growth and job creation and without which the economic recovery could falter.

"I thought, given the fact that he presided over as good an economy as we've seen in our lifetimes, that it might be useful for him to share some of his thoughts," Obama said in introducing Clinton.

Clinton's surprise appearance in the White House briefing room after a closed door meeting with the president was the latest salvo in a massive, week-long, multimedia blitz by the White House urging passage of the bill.

Officials have used television interviews, the Internet, speeches, and phone calls to press the plan.

"The agreement, taken as a whole, is I believe the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the largest number of Americans and to maximize the chances that the economic recovery will accelerate and create more jobs and to minimize chances that it will slip back," Clinton said, later adding that if he were in office right now, he would do what Obama has done.

Under the plan -- which has angered many Democrats, especially in the House -- the Bush-era tax rates would be extended for two years for people at all income levels and unemployment insurance would be extended for 13 months. The deal includes a one-year 2 percent reduction in payroll taxes, an extension of certain tax credits for working families and students and other tax incentives to support business expansion.

The Senate is set to move first. Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a procedural vote in the upper to begin debate on the agreement for Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Democrats got a good deal out of the compromise, because provisions like unemployment insurance and the American Opportunity Tax Credit were things that were "tremendously important." Earlier efforts to extend unemployment insurance were repeatedly blocked by Republicans this year.

Clinton echoed that argument, thanking Republicans for "agreeing to include things that were important to" Obama, and saying he believed the American people were "heaving a sigh of relief" that the two parties might come together and agree on something. The former president spoke several times about the need for the two parties to work together, as they did in the 1990s when he presided over a divided government.

"The story line is how well we worked with the Republicans and all that, but you know, we played political Kabuki for a year, had two government shutdowns. We can't afford that now," Clinton said. "We have got to pull together and both sides are gonna have to eat some things they don't like, because we cannot afford to have the kind of impasse that we had last time over a long period of time."

From msnbc.com's Tom Curry: The tax cut-spending accord that President Obama announced Monday has been put into the form of legislation unveiled Thursday night by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. A summary of the bill is on Senate Finance Committee web site.

The bill would continue through the end of 2011 a variety of tax credits, deductions, and incentives that help taxpayers and industries across the nation.

Depending on your particular interest, there may be a provision in the bill that you'll like:

• Do you want to help rebuild parts of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina? Back in 2005, Congress authorized tax-exempt bonds to help rebuild areas hit by Katrina, but that tax break was to expire at the end of this year. The bill would allow the tax-exempt bonds to be issued through the end of next year. It also extends a tax credit for rehabilitating historic structures in "the Gulf Opportunity Zone" which includes parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
• Do you believe in mass transit as a way of reducing congestion and pollution? The bill continues a tax break for employer-provided transit and vanpool benefits. The nonpartisan staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this break is worth about $500 million a year to workers.
• Do you want to wash your laundry in an energy-efficient way? The bill maintains a tax break for U.S.-based manufacture of energy-efficient clothes washers and other appliances. The credit for the production of energy-efficient appliances is worth about $100 million a year to corporations.
• Do you want to help a school teacher? Elementary and secondary school teachers who pay out of their own pocket for books and supplies for their classrooms can deduct $250 worth of those expenses. This tax break is worth about $200 million a year to teachers.
• Do you want to buy a house in our nation's capitol? The bill continues through next year a $5,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers in the District of Columbia.

There are several other such provisions in the bill, benefiting interests from Midwest farmers (ethanol tax credits) to people investing in American Samoa.

Just last week the members of Obama's fiscal commission recommended eliminating such tax expenditures, or as co-chairman Alan Simpson calls them "tax earmarks."

"We don't use the phrase 'tax expenditures' any more – that's a fake," Simpson said. "Tax earmarks are spending by another name… and they just chip away revenue."

By eliminating tax preferences, "We can broaden the base, simplify the (tax) code, reduce (tax) rates, and pay the deficit down between $80 billion and $180 billion a year, every year," said commission co-chairman Erskine Bowles.

Commission member Sen. Kent Conrad, D- N.D., who is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the tax expenditures "really have run out of control."

Another member Sen. Dick Durbin, D- Ill., said, "I've been in Congress and around Congress for 29 years. We've never had this conversation. We have never put everything on the table and said, 'Now, what's important?' We just incrementally, year after year, make modifications in a tax code that most people never read or understand and think that it really doesn't have any impact."

Both Durbin and Conrad voted for the Bowles-Simpson deficit-cutting proposals.

In all, tax expenditures add up to $1.1 trillion a year in benefits to taxpayers – or putting it another way, $1.1 trillion in revenues the federal government would otherwise get. To put that number in perspective, the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2010 was $1.3 trillion.

Of course, the big tax "earmarks" are not the ones for energy-efficient clothes washers and rehabilitating historic buildings.

The two biggest are the long-standing tax breaks that benefit millions of Americans workers and homeowners: the deduction for interest paid on home mortgages, about $120 billion in 2011, and the tax-free status of employer-provided health insurance, worth $115 billion in 2011.

As one of us wrote earlier this week, frantic projections of President Barack Obama’s vulnerability don't quite give enough weight to some key poll numbers. While the president is still upside-down with swing voters, whites, and independents, his approval ratings remain strong among his core Democratic constituencies: young voters, blacks, liberal Democrats, and women.

This afternoon, the president is huddling with another leader who earned the ire of the liberal wing of the Democratic party and found himself the target of primary-challenge speculation: Bill Clinton.

So, we dusted off the record books and took a look at how some of the same core groups viewed Clinton in the months after the mid-90s midterm shellacking of the Democratic Party.

According to a NBC/WSJ poll taken in December 1994, Clinton enjoyed slightly better approval ratings overall than Obama does now, with 48 percent approving and 44 disapproving. (Obama is currently 47-47, according to the most recent NBC/WSJ survey.)

Obama’s rating with liberals, at least as of the latest pre-tax-cut-kerfuffle poll in November -- is even higher than Clinton’s; the former president won a thumbs up from 70 percent of liberals, while Obama gets a positive rating from 79 percent.

Obama’s approval among black voters is slightly higher than Clinton’s was as well. Ninety percent of blacks approve of how the nation’s first African American commander-in-chief is doing his job, while 81 percent approved of the man tongue-in-cheekily referred to as “the first black president" in '94.

Clinton clocked in with a net positive of 10 points among young voters; Obama is at +7. The two leaders also shared similar levels of enthusiasm among self-described Democrats.

While the data shows that both Clinton and Obama retained strong support from the Democratic base after their party ended up on the wrong side of a wave election, Clinton’s relative resilience with independents and whites makes Obama’s deficit with those groups seem striking.

Even after the 1994 Republican Revolution, Clinton kept a slight advantage among independent voters, with 44 percent approving and 42 percent disapproving. But last month, Obama was 10 points upside-down with indies, 41-51.

Among whites, Clinton’s approval was slightly underwater in 1994, 44 percent to 47 percent.

That number for Obama now? Minus 17 points.

A preview of The Week Ahead in politics: A vote on tax cuts -- maybe more, President Obama signs the healthy lunches bill, and honors the L.A. Lakers, plus, a new NBC-WSJ poll, and the Tribal Nations Conference at the White House. (Here's the full video.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Carrie Dann and Ken Strickland
Yup, folks. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, is trending on Twitter.

Sanders, currently in his fifth hour of speaking on the Senate floor against the Obama-crafted tax cut compromise with Republicans, is getting lots of web buzz from filibuster enthusiasts and progressives irked at the president for cutting the deal.

An independent who caucuses with Democrats, Sanders has threatened to speak out against the extension of cuts for the very wealthy – which he called “a moral outrage” earlier this week – for “as long as possible” on the Senate floor.

“You can call what I am doing today whatever you want,” he said. “You can it call it a filibuster, you can call it a very long speech.”

He’s received assists from Sen. Mary Landrieu and Sen. Sherrod Brown, who have joined in the talk-a-thon to excoriate Republicans for demanding the extension of tax cuts for America’s highest earners.

As fun as the comparisons to the filibuster mounted by heroic do-gooder Sen. Jefferson Smith in the Jimmy Stewart-starring Mr. Smith Goes To Washington are, however, it’s worth pointing out that Sanders’ speech isn’t actually stopping any particular Senate business from happening today.

There are no votes scheduled today, nor are there other senators wishing to speak.

If it were a true filibuster, he would be blocking Republicans from conducting business or speaking. And those Republicans would be angry.

But Republican senators aren't even in the chamber today. Not one has been or the floor or sought time to talk on the floor.

Sanders is one of many senators whose objections will require a cloture vote to break the filibuster on Monday. And his roadblock of the bill would be in place whether he’d spoken for seven minutes or seven hours today.

Still, it makes for great CSPAN-2 viewing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Just in time for the holidays, there's another expletive-driven episode making the rounds on the blogosphere after an unnamed Democratic congressman expressed his distaste at the tax cut deal President Obama forged with Republicans.

At the conservative NRO, Jim Geraghty's take:

Yelling “you lie” earned [Rep. Joe] Wilson a deserved rebuke; we’ll see if dropping the F-bomb in reference to the president in a meeting of several hundred people earns any serious consequence for this unnamed lawmaker. My fear is no. Sure, it was a semi-private meeting, and I’m sure this isn’t the first F-bomb to be dropped on Capitol Hill — I’m sure we all remember the much-discussed exchange between former vice president Dick Cheney and Sen. Patrick Leahy. But this feels different, like another line has been crossed in standards of public behavior. Wasn’t any Democrat in that room offended by those words? Didn’t anybody object?

Once you start marinating in this nastiness, it starts to seep into how you think and speak, and perhaps you can’t turn it off. It is now defining the Left. Michael Moore. Bill Maher. Joy Behar. It didn’t just stay in the grassroots and celebrities; it came to the halls of Congress with Alan Grayson.

*******************
And now, finally, it comes full circle. Now they’re sneering at Obama. Their guy. The guy whom they adored, perhaps as much as any party has ever adored its leader, in 2007 and 2008. Now they say, “[F-word] him.”

Hey, pal, that’s the President of the United States. Show some respect.

(How did it come to the point where we have to be the ones to demand that?)

NRO's Jonah Goldberg compared the outburst to the "You Lie," episode, noting that some suggested Wilson's exclamation was racially motivated.

When Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “you lie!” — which he most certainly should not have done, everyone was convinced that racism was the only explanation. But when a Democrat shouts, admittedly in a different forum, F*** the president, no such speculation arises. That’s fine, I’m fairly sure that racism isn’t the culprit here. But I’m also sure that if this was a story about a Republican, Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich would bang out several columns insisting that racism told the whole story and Keith Olbermann would be busting out his Field Guide to North American Klansmen. Of course, Olbie’s now so mad at the president, he must be wondering if he’s a racist.

Conservative RedState blogger Erick Erickson tweeted, "I bet the Dem who said 'F--- the President' today supported censure of Joe Wilson for saying 'you lie.'"

In a later blog post, Erickson set the scene, demonstrating that despite Demcorats' unhappiness with the compromise, "the deal must now die."

In a rowdy meeting in which one Democratic Congressman said loudly 'F— the President,' the House Democrats turned Nancy Reagan and just said no.

On the left, Balloon Juice's John Cole simply called his post "Demoralized."

I don’t think I’ve ever been as demoralized, cynical, and disgusted with politics as I am right now. The whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. I really can not believe that we have a major party that is behaving the way the Republicans are, and even worse, I can’t believe they are being rewarded for this behavior. They were rewarded at the polls, the Democrats are in disarray, and the country is sort of just stalled. Nothing meaningful can be accomplished, and the Republicans and the media don’t care.

I’ve scanned the news for something interesting and uplifting to write about, and every headline I see just depresses me and makes me want to go back to bed or smash my computer and tv. And the worst thing is I don’t see anything changing. This is a structural problem, with the rich, the corporate masters, the media, and the money party pulling the strings. I’m not the sharpest tack, but I try to at least pay attention, and I find it hard to attain the information I need to make a good decision. I’m waffling back and forth on the tax deal because there really is nowhere to get a critical, unvarnished look at things. If I’m having this much trouble, how are other people who aren’t obsessed with things working these issues out.

And that is when I get more depressed. They probably aren’t. They’re just voting for their team. Sarah Palin shoots animals and hates the lieberals! One of us!

F--k it.

From NBC's Pete Williams
The first congressional hearing relating to WikiLeaks will come next week.

The House Judiciary Committee intends to hold a hearing on Thursday to look at how the espionage laws can be brought up to date, according to sources familiar with the committee's plan. The laws, enacted nearly a century ago, are widely considered inadequate to deal with disclosures of government secrets in the digital age.

As the Justice Department struggles with how to prosecute WikiLeaks, members of Congress from both parties have expressed interest in giving the government new authority to prosecute leaks.

As for indicting Julian Assange, a Justice Department official says legal action against him "is not imminent," despite a claim by his lawyer that something is about to happen. Even so, it's a safe bet that the government will find a way to charge him with something.

Prosecutors have several options, but there's a reason they're moving slowly, officials say. This is not a case the government wants to enter unless it's confident the prosecution is on solid ground. Losing this case, they say, would send a harmful message for protecting future secrets.

From NBC's Shawna Thomas
The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) said it best herself, "I think when you look at the record, members of the CBC…have supported 99.9% of the President's agenda." But today they held a press conference to say on the issue of President Obama's tax cut compromise, the "overwhelming majority" of the CBC "are opposed to the current tax plan."

"The vast majority of CBC members are opposed to the estate tax provision and to extending the Bush-era tax cuts to the wealthiest two percent of Americans," Lee said.

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), who has led a CBC task force on drafting an alternative plan, came out earlier this week against extending all of the Bush-era tax cuts, but said the plan the CBC put together would be about half the cost of the president's proposal. The CBC plan gets to their number by nixing the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and modifying the estate tax. Scott said the CBC had reached a consensus on three areas:

- A 13-month extension on Emergency Unemployment Insurance Benefits plus additional assistance for the chronically unemployed
- A payroll tax holiday or equivalent payment with guarantees that Social Security will not be deprived of revenue.
- A two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for middle- and low-income families and an extension of provisions such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Credit.

Scott's biggest concern was how the president's plan is going to be paid for.

"Finally, we have a choice," Scott said. "If we are going to do a tax cut, somebody is going to eventually have to pay for it and you can't give everybody a tax cut like it's Oprah Winfrey or Santa Claus. You get a tax cut. You get a tax cut. And eventually somebody is going to have to pay for it."

Many in the CBC seem worried that when the Republicans take over the House next year, the way it will get paid for is by repealing health care or cutting back on education spending. Scott took it one step further, "We're on track to essentially extend them all. The idea that you're going to extend them into a presidential year and then cut them? We've already established the principle that failure to extend the tax cut constitutes a tax increase. And if we can't do that, if we can't cut them off now, what is the chance we're going to be able to do it… in the middle of a presidential, congressional election…The last presidential candidate running on a platform of increasing taxes was Walter Mondale. That was not a successful strategy."

But it wasn't clear how exactly they would get the bill changed. Lee said, "We're going to look at what takes place and determine our strategy as this evolves. Certainly there are a variety legislative strategies and options that we are considering but at this point we don't know exactly how this will play out."

Lee also said she'd like to see the President come to the Hill to talk to the House Democrats. "I'm sure the President would hear the same message that we delivered to Vice President Biden."

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who helped negotiate the compromise on the Bush tax cuts, was hospitalized this morning for a kidney stone.

Here's the Treasury Department's statement:

"Secretary Geithner was admitted to George Washington University Hospital this morning for treatment for a kidney stone. He will have a minor surgical procedure this afternoon to remove the kidney stone, and his physician expects that he will be discharged tomorrow with orders to rest this weekend. He has been told that he should be able to return to work on Monday."

Geithner was scheduled to be on the Sunday shows, but had to cancel those appearances.

Treasury spokesman Steve Adamske said, per AP, when Geithner was asked Friday morning how much pain he was in, Geithner replied, "As between this and doing the Sunday shows, it's a close call."

From NBC's Doug Adams
Former President Bill Clinton, husband of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, is out with a mass email to supporters of his wife's presidential campaign this morning. In an effort to raise funds to finish paying off the last of Hillary's debt from the 2008 campaign, Bill is urging contributions, and he is again raffling off... himself -- offering the chance to win a trip for two to New York City and spend the day with him. He ran a similar raffle last year.

The email is below:

Dear ,

There is nothing I enjoy more than good conversation with good people. Everyday, my life and work are enriched by the people I meet, and that's why I'm sending you this special invitation.

Hillary's campaign is so close to paying off the last of her debt, but she's not there yet. Will you consider helping her in this last phase by making a contribution to her campaign? If you enter by Thursday, December 16, you and a friend will have the chance to fly to New York to spend a day with me.

Last year, we flew one of Hillary's biggest supporters to New York to spend the day with me. It was such a good time that I'd like to do it again.

Click here to make a contribution and you will not only help pay down Hillary's campaign debt, but also be automatically entered to win a free trip for two to meet me in New York. <http://links.hillaryclinton.com/ctt?kn=6&m=3603597&r=NjI0ODc3NzM4OQS2&b=0&j=MjEyMTQwODMzS0&mt=1&rt=0>

From her advocacy for children and families, to her work on health care, to her current commitment representing our nation to the world, Hillary has made a deep and lasting difference for our future. I could not be more proud of her accomplishments and her work.

I know you share my pride in Hillary's achievements, and I know how much your continued support means to her. That's why I want to offer you this special opportunity.

Make a contribution of $5 or more today and you and your guest could be my guests in New York. Click here to contribute and be automatically entered to win. <http://links.hillaryclinton.com/ctt?kn=6&m=3603597&r=NjI0ODc3NzM4OQS2&b=0&j=MjEyMTQwODMzS0&mt=1&rt=0>

I've had the opportunity to talk to countless people over the course of my work and life, and I hope that I get the chance to meet you, too. Thank you for the wonderful support you've shown to both Hillary and me over the years. We wouldn't be where we are today without friends like you.

Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

Obama breaks away from Congress… Obama as Bush 41? (The one difference: Obama has a base that 41 never had)… Reid schedules first cloture vote on the tax deal for Monday at 3:00 pm ET… “Cluster” vs. “network” liberals… President eyes tax reform… DADT repeal blocked in the Senate… Gates says that means the policy is at “the mercy of the courts”… Obama meets today with Bill Clinton at 3:00 pm ET… T-Paw’s book tour… And Palin is off to Haiti.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Breaking away: As we’ve witnessed over the past two years -- and especially this past week -- Congress often seems like a dysfunctional place. And polls confirm that, with congressional approval ratings near 20% on a good day. That’s why presidents often want to keep their distance from the legislative branch. But to help pass his ambitious agenda (stimulus, health care), President Obama sometimes got his hands dirty in the congressional sausage making, having to twist arms and settle intra-party disputes. In short, he was acting more like a Senate majority leader than president. Yet when you step back from the events of the past week, you realize that the president might have laid the groundwork to accomplish this feat: break away from Congress. In rising above the partisans from both parties to cut the tax deal, as well as scolding liberal “purists” at his press conference, Obama no longer seemed like a de facto majority leader or party whip. He was, well, presidential.

*** Obama as Bush 41? There’s another way to look at Obama breaking away from Congress and Democratic liberals: that he’s Bush 41. As Jon Meacham wrote yesterday, “It was in 1990 that Mr. Bush broke one of the most celebrated promises in modern American politics -- ‘Read my lips: no new taxes,’ as he put it in 1988 -- in order to control federal spending. In the same way that Mr. Obama struck his deal to secure lower tax rates for the middle-class and win an extension of unemployment benefits, Mr. Bush gave on tax rates to get ‘pay as you go’ rules… It was the beginning of the fiscal discipline that helped create the budget surpluses of the 1990s.” The comparisons are obvious: Both men are/were pragmatists (in domestic and foreign policy), both have the Ivy League/New England grace, and both disappointed party activists.

*** The big difference: But there’s one big difference: Bush 41 never had the natural and loyal base than Obama does now with African Americans, Latinos, and young voters. It's what cost Bush 41 in '92, and that loyal base Obama enjoys may be what saves him in 2012. We laugh anytime we read about Carter-Obama comparisons, because there aren't many. But because Carter was the last one-term Dem president, folks try to fit some analysis into that box. Some presidents are similar, despite carrying different party labels. The most striking similarities between Obama and Bush 41 aren't just on style but on foreign policy. Just ask, well, Israel.

*** Reid schedules first tax vote for Monday: Turning to the tax deal itself, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the compromise legislation last night. And NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports that Reid will call for a cloture vote on Monday to begin debate on the agreement. The vote -- which needs 60 to pass -- is expected at 3:00 pm ET and may be held open for a few hours if senators are traveling back from home states. But over in the House, the Democratic caucus yesterday voted (though it wasn’t binding) not to bring the legislation to the floor in that chamber. In an interview with NPR, however, Obama said he was optimistic the overall compromise “framework” would become law. “I think that the framework that we've put forward -- which says not only that people's taxes don't go up on Jan. 1, but also that we extend unemployment insurance for a year, that we make sure that key provisions like the college tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit are included -- that that framework is going to serve as the basis for compromise.”

*** “Cluster” vs. “network” liberals: While enough House Democrats -- along with congressional Republicans -- are expected to come around and vote for the agreement after Senate passage, make no mistake: Their frustrations and anger are real. According to Capitol Hill sources, these Dems are upset with the policy (especially regarding the concession over estate taxes) and the process (with the White House freezing them out from the final negotiations). But more than anything else, they see this tax-cut deal as the final straw in the Obama White House taking their votes for granted. In today’s New York Times, David Brooks has an interesting take on the Obama-vs.-House Dem divide. He says that House Dems are “cluster” liberals, who “view politics as a battle between implacable opponents. As a result, they believe victory is achieved through maximum unity.” On the other hand, he calls people like Obama and Ted Kennedy “network” liberals, who “believe progress is achieved by leaders savvy enough to build coalitions.” By the way, we're still wondering when more than the same five to 10 Democrats are going to go public in their opposition to Obama's compromise? Is the opposition being overhyped?

*** Obama eyes tax reform: As we wrote earlier this week, one way that Obama can avoid re-litigating the Bush tax cuts in 2012 (when they expire and when he runs for re-election) is to push for an overhaul of the tax code between now and then. And in his interview with NPR, he suggested he’s more than open to such a move. “The idea is simplifying the system, hopefully lowering rates, broadening the base - that's something that I think most economists think would help us propel economic growth. But it's a very complicated conversation,” Obama said. “So what I believe is, is that we've got to start that conversation next year. I think we can get some broad bipartisan agreement that it needs to be done. But it's going to require a lot of hard work to actually make it happen.” Real tax reform, as was proposed by the Bowles-Simpson debt commission, is one way to make this two-year extension of the Bush tax rates moot.

*** DADT repeal blocked: Senate Republicans yesterday filibustering the defense authorization bill -- which contained the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” -- was an unmistakable defeat for the Obama White House and the gay community. And it means that DADT is unlikely to be repealed any time soon, unless the courts decide to overturn the policy. The Washington Post: "With congressional options dwindling, the president could order the Justice Department to stop appealing federal court cases challenging the constitutionality of the law or use his powers as commander in chief to issue a stop-loss order halting military discharges and the removal of any gay troops in violation of the ban. His statement Thursday maintained a preference for legislative action." Supporters also will try to bring the repeal as a stand-alone measure, though the prospects for passage aren't likely. By the way, the man most responsible for the opposition to repeal – John McCain, who in 2006 signaled his willingness to end DADT if military leaders agreed – delivers a speech this morning at John Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies.

*** At the “mercy of the courts”? Defense Secretary Gates, who advocated for repeal, commented on the defeat while on a plane returning from an overseas trip, per NBC’s Courtney Kube. "I was disappointed in the Senate vote, but not surprised, as I indicated when we were on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln earlier in the week. I was not optimistic. The fact remains though that there is still roughly a week left in the lame duck session, so I would hope that the Congress would act to repeal ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell.’” More Gates: “If they are unable to do that, then, as I indicated in testimony, and talking with you all, my greatest worry will be that we are at the mercy of the courts and all of the lack of predictability that that entails."

*** Obama meets with Bubba: Think Bill Clinton will give President Obama some advice in dealing with a GOP-controlled Congress when the two men meet at the White House -- closed to the press -- at 3:00 pm ET?

*** T-Paw’s book tour: Next month, Tim Pawlenty’s book, “Courage to Stand,” will hit the stores, and an aide sends First Read his book-tour schedule: Washington, DC (1/13), Tampa, FL (1/14), Woodbury, MN (1/18), Dallas, TX (1/20), Dallas and Houston, TX (1/21), Manchester, NH (1/25), Burnsville/St. Cloud, MN (1/27), Cincinnati, OH (1/29), Ankeny, IA (1/30), and West Des Moines, IA (1/31).

*** Palin to Haiti: NBC’s Adam Verdugo reports that Sarah Palin is headed to Haiti this weekend with Rev. Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, according to aide Rebecca Mansour. Palin also publishes a Wall Street Journal op-ed endorsing Paul Ryan’s “roadmap” (which calls for turning Medicare into a voucher system and allowing workers under 55 to invest their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market).

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“In the face of strong opposition from members of his own party, President Obama says that he's confident lawmakers will eventually approve a tax cut deal he negotiated with congressional Republicans,” NPR writes of its interview with the president. Obama said, "Nobody -- Democrat or Republican -- wants to see people's paychecks smaller on Jan. 1 because Congress didn't act." Here’s the full transcript.

President Obama also made mention of reforming the tax code in the NPR interview. And here’s today’s New York Times: “President Obama is considering whether to push early next year for an overhaul of the income tax code to lower rates and raise revenues in what would be his first major effort to begin addressing the long-term growth of the national debt.”

Lots of commentary today on the tax deal. Paul Krugman criticizes it. “I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to make my peace with the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal. President Obama did, after all, extract more concessions than most of us expected. Yet I remain deeply uneasy — not because I’m one of those “purists” Mr. Obama denounced on Tuesday but because this isn’t the end of the story. Specifically: Mr. Obama has bought the release of some hostages only by providing the G.O.P. with new hostages.”

David Brooks likes it. “The fact is, Obama and the Democrats have had an excellent week. The White House negotiators did an outstanding job for their side. With little leverage, they got not only the unemployment insurance, but also an Earned Income Tax Credit provision, a college scholarship provision and other Democratic goodies. With little leverage, they got a package that could win grudging praise from big-name liberal groups like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Center for American Progress. Moreover, Obama has put himself in a position to govern again.”

Charles Krauthammer also believes the Dems got a good deal – in fact, he believes Obama bested the GOP. “Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did. In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion 2009 stimulus package. It will pump a trillion borrowed Chinese dollars into the U.S. economy over the next two years - which just happen to be the two years of the run-up to the next presidential election. This is a defeat?”

National Journal’s Ron Brownstein writes that the tax deal is only Act 1 for Obama. “But more stimulus, while necessary as the economy continues to sputter, isn’t a sufficient strategy for long-term growth. Act 2 must include a serious effort to tame exploding federal deficits and debt, while reorienting both the tax code and Washington’s spending priorities from consumption to investment. This week’s deal ought to be measured not only on its immediate economic impact but on whether it makes such fundamental reform more likely.”

“Democratic and Republican Senate leaders made a dramatic bid last night to salvage President Obama’s tax package by adding an array of tax breaks, including ones for alternative energy projects, that could clear the way for passage next week,” the Boston Globe reports. “These changes, which had been included in previous congressional tax proposals, include such disparate items as extending tax credits for railroad maintenance, motor raceway improvements, economic development in American Samoa, and increasing the limit of rum excise tax revenue to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. All told, the package would cost about $855 billion, according to preliminary projections by the Joint Committee on Taxation. The dozens of extensions on business tax breaks, including those for alternative energy, would cost about $55 billion.”

A cloture vote on the tax bill is set for 3:00 pm ET Monday in the Senate, Roll Call reports.

Anger bubbled over in the Democrats’ caucus meeting, where they voted – though it’s non-binding -- against the tax compromise framework. When Rep. Shelly Berkley was defending the proposal, a member muttered, “F--- the president,” Roll Call reports.

“The House Democratic leadership is pushing back against complaints from several departing Members that a Caucus vote rejecting President Barack Obama’s tax cut deal occurred without their input,” Roll Call writes.

Sharpton vs. Weiner: The New York Daily News: “The Democrats' family feud went local Thursday when Rev. Al Sharpton accused Rep. Anthony Weiner of ignoring the needs of working people.” Sharpton said, "I'm against tax cuts for the rich too...but this is absolutely over the top to blame this on President Obama. The goal is to take care of working class people, not to attack the President." More: “Sharpton will use his nationally-syndicated radio show Thursday afternoon to urge Weiner to temper his razor-tongued rhetoric.” He invited Weiner to debate him on his show. "There will be pushback," Sharpton said.

Changing the Ways? Speaker-to-be John Boehner hired a lobbyist to be his policy director.

“Senate Republicans blocked a repeal of the ban on openly gay service members yesterday, potentially dooming any chance for overturning the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy this year,” the Boston Globe writes.

The New York Daily News takes a similar angle with its headline: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal blocked by Senate Republicans.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is calling for a block of the continuing resolution that would fund the government, deriding it as a “Trojan horse” to fund the health care overhaul, The Hill writes. He said that “is hardly the mandate from the November elections.”

“Three years after promoting a landmark immigration reform bill, [Sen. Lindsay] Graham is now joining hardliners in opposing a measure that would grant the same protections to children of illegal aliens” that he provided to a single child of an immigrant mother in 2007, creating a rare “private bill” on her behalf, McClatchy writes.

Roll Call on earmarks, or whatever you want to call them: “Operating under very tight budget constraints, Congress will keep federal spending flat next year — except for the wild horses of the West, who get an extra $12 million. … While that is technically true [that the bill doesn’t have earmarks in it], the bill does include money specifically aimed at addressing Members’ pet projects, from uranium mining to protecting presidential candidates to rounding up wild horses.”

Fed fight: Guess who’s in charge of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee… Ron Paul.

The Wall Street Journal notes that “at this point in 2006, five Republicans had made early filings to run for the White House in 2008. Today, none have declared for the 2012 contest.”

CHRISTIE: After facing criticism for his style, the New Jersey governor held a more muted town hall.

DANIELS: The Indiana governor is making a foray into education policy, pushing for school vouchers in his state.

HUCKABEE: Mike Huckabee signed copies of his books at a Sam’s Club in South Lakeland, Florida.

PALIN: “America by Heart," Palin's new memoir, has logged disappointing receipts since it officially went on sale late last month, publishing sources say. Although the book is second on the New York Times bestseller list this week (behind former president George W. Bush's memoir, "Decision Points”) its publisher, HarperCollins, hasn't ordered a second printing - a sign that sales haven't been overly brisk.

PAWLENTY: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will spend two days each in Iowa and New Hampshire during an upcoming tour to promote his forthcoming book, according to details put out Friday by his political action committee,” the Washington Post reports. His book “Courage to Stand” comes out Jan. 11. “After the book's release, Pawlenty begins his tour in New York with appearances on TV programs such as Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and ABC's "The View," and with a National Press Club speech in Washington. His multi-state tour includes late-January stops in early presidential voting states New Hampshire and Iowa. Pawlenty will also sign books in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas.”

Here are Pawlenty's book tour dates, per a release provided to First Read that’s going out later this morning from his PAC: It starts Jan. 13 at the National Press Club in DC; Jan. 14: Miami and Tampa, FL; Jan. 18: Woodbury, MN; Jan. 20: Dallas; Jan. 21: Dallas and Houston; Jan. 24: Concord and Manchester, NH; Jan. 25: Bedford, NH; Jan. 27: Burnsville and St. Cloud, MN; Jan. 29: Cincinnati; Jan. 30: Ankeny and Waukee, IA; Jan. 31: West Des Moines, IA.

SANTORUM: The Washington Post sizes up the former senator and presidential longshot’s chances: “The GOP has a tradition of anointing the next person in line. With more than a dozen other names being mentioned, Santorum is nowhere near the front. The last time he was on a ballot, in a 2006 bid for a third Senate term in Pennsylvania, he lost by 18 percentage points…Then there's the fact that the Republican establishment may not be in the driver's seat this time. And the other fact that Santorum was a tea party kind of guy before there was a tea party.”

THUNE: John Thune says no START. He writes on National Review’s Web site: “New START misses one opportunity after another to maintain a stable nuclear relationship between our two countries. To remedy this will require significant time on the floor of the Senate. Trying to force it through without ample time for debate and amendments would amount to a Christmas gift to the Russians.”

IOWA: “Matt Strawn’s likely to be re-elected chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, leaving the party in a strong position to build on its 2010 successes into the 2012 cycle,” the Des Moines Register reports. “Strawn did the groundwork to help rebuild the party after the 2008 caucuses. He traveled the state extensively, meeting with county chairs. He made early voting a priority, and saw performance increase by 83 percent compared to 2006.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE: “New Hampshire’s Democratic National Committeeman says that ‘talk is terrific’ about a primary challenge to President Barack Obama, but no one is signing up for a challenge or renting campaign office space and, as a whole, that is fine with him.”

SOUTH CAROLINA: The Washington Examiner sums up South Carolina’s opinion of Sarah Palin: “Conservatives in the state like Palin. They agree with her on most issues. They are inclined to defend her when she is unfairly attacked, which is often. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're convinced she should be president.”

ALASKA: NRSC Chairman John Cornyn: “We just have to be patient and wait for the judge to decide,” said Cornyn, a former judge, yesterday per Roll Call. “I understand that could be as early as [Thursday], and I hope it doesn’t go on much longer because I think the people of Alaska deserve to have a Senator when we reconvene again in January, and not still have that up in the air.”

Some liberals see President Obama’s concession to Republicans on the Bush tax cuts as the latest in a series of failures: the public option, card check legislation, the list goes on. But how much is his agreement to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years really hurting his 2012 chances? Plus, Mark and Domenico discuss the strategy behind Obama’s passing an extension now, so that Democrats can campaign against it in two years.

Special thanks to Mixed Bag and Salt Grass for the questions!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Don’t forget to submit questions for the Boiler Room segments next week. Write questions below, post them on our Facebook page, or tweet it, to @NBCFirstRead or @mmurraypolitics or @DomenicoNBC.

Edited by Ali Weinberg. Video was shot by Alexandra Moe and Ali Weinberg.

From NBC's Athena Jones
He may have avoided being caught on camera in the act, but President Obama has publicly acknowledged his struggle to quit smoking. So when the Surgeon General's 30th tobacco-related report was released this morning, it was a good bet that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would be asked about the issue.

"I have not seen or witnessed evidence of any smoking in probably nine months," Gibbs said today when asked how hard the president had been working to stop the deadly habit. "This is not something that he's proud of. He knows that it's not good for him. He knows that it's -- he doesn't like children to know about it, obviously, including his. I think he has worked extremely hard."

Today's Surgeon General's report, entitled "How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease," notes that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke, that second-hand tobacco smoke can cause vascular problems linked to heart attacks and strokes, and that the danger from tobacco smoke is immediate.

Gibbs said he believed the president continued to chew nicotine replacement gum to curb his cravings.

"I think he would tell you, even when in the midst of the tax agreement and the START deal and all the other things that accumulate, that even where he might have once found some comfort in that he's pushed it away," he said. "He understands its dangers and I think has done a lot of extraordinary work to wrestle with that habit as millions of Americans have."

When asked whether not having witnessed the president smoking means he had quit, Gibbs responded "For that nine months, yes," but added that the president would be the first to admit that quitting is "a struggle."

"He's stubborn," Gibbs went on, when asked how Obama managed to curb his smoking, sparking laughter in the press room. "This is something that he's thought about for a while. This is something he's aware is not something that's in doing (sic) in his best interests or his health."

So has the president really kicked the habit? That may be unknowable for those who don't actually live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but the press secretary is a longtime aide and friend to the president and spends a great deal of time with him.

*** UPDATE *** 4:45 PM ET: In a press conference after the vote, Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins announced that they will introduce a stand-alone bill to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and that Senate Majority Leader Reid has promised to support it. Reid told Lieberman that he will bring the legislation up for a vote before the end of the lame duck session, the Connecticut lawmaker said.

"We're not going to give up," Lieberman said. "We're going to keep fighting until the last possible minute in the session."

Collins said that she was "very disappointed" that Reid "walked away from negotiations" and brought the bill up for a vote before an agreement on the process of the debate had been reached and the 60 votes needed to move forward were assured.

If the Senate approves the standalone measure, the House would have to approve it as well.

4:08 pm ET: A key procedural vote on the bill containing a repeal of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy failed Thursday, likely dealing a final blow to advocates who hoped to overturn the 17-year old ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military during this session of Congress.

Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the Defense Authorization bill for debate on the floor. The vote failed, 57-40.

Ultimately, Majority Leader Harry Reid called for the vote without having reached a procedural agreement with moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who supports repeal but wanted greater openness for the process of amending and passing the bill. Collins voted aye on the measure, but other Republicans who support repeal but had voiced similar procedural concerns -- Sens. Scott Brown and Lisa Murkowski -- voted no.

One Democrat, newly-elected Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, broke with his party to vote no.

The result means that repeal of the ban, enacted in 1993, is unlikely to be changed by Congress anytime soon. The policy is also currently being considered in court proceedings.

Supporters of repeal, including Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have warned that a failure of congressional action could mean a hasty and disorderly implementation of a change if the courts overturn the policy first.

Opponents of repeal say that a change in policy during wartime could disrupt the effectiveness and safety of troops in combat. A recent survey showed that troops serving in combat and members of the Marine Corps were more likely than other servicemembers to voice concerns about the consequences of repeal.

In remarks shortly before the vote, Reid blamed Republicans – but not Collins – for blocking the massive defense measure from coming to the floor.

"It's quite clear that they're trying to run out the clock," Reid said of GOP opponents before calling for the vote.

Reid went out of his way to praise Collins for trying to reach an arrangement that would have paved the way for Democrats to win the 60 votes they need to advance the measure containing the DADT language. "She's tried," Reid said.

Collins said on the Senate floor that she was "perplexed and frustrated" that the bill would fall victim to "politics."

"I just do not understand why we can't proceed on a path... that will allow us to get the 60 votes to proceed," she said.

NBC's Ken Strickland contributed

President Obama made a lot of campaign promises while running for president - but has he kept them? One First Read reader asks if or how Obama has changed Washington since he has taken office. Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss.

A special thanks to Anon Monster! for submitting this question via First Read!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And, we have a new IBR open!

Don't forget to submit questions for the Boiler Room segments next week. Write questions below, post them on our Facebook page, or tweet it, to @NBCFirstRead or @mmurraypolitics or @DomenicoNBC.

Edited by Alexandra Moe. Video was shot by Alexandra Moe and Ali Weinberg.

Although House Democrats rejected the president’s compromise on the tax cuts Thursday by an unbinding voice vote, those who signed a letter voicing their concerns have one thing in common: Compared to many of their other colleagues, their jobs are pretty safe.

The 53 Democrats who signed on to a letter by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., calling the tax proposal "fiscally irresponsibile" and "grossly unfair" won their 2010 midterm re-election contests by an average of 29.5 points, according to an NBC analysis.

Four of the signatories -- Reps. Kanjorski, Grayson, Oberstar, and Shea-Porter -- lost their re-election bids.

Of the other 50, however, only seven even faced a single-digit race against their GOP opponent.

About a third of the signers (16) hail from either New York or California.

"America is wading into fiscal quicksand. Borrowing nearly a trillion dollars to finance tax cuts that disproportionately favor millionaires and billionaires threatens our ability to create jobs, grow the middle class and protect seniors," the letter reads. "Digging the country deeper into debt to pay for misguided tax policy is irresponsible and simply doesn't make sense."

From NBC's Athena Jones and Mark Murray
At today's meeting of the President's Export Council, President Obama predicted passage of the U.S.-South Korea trade pact that was reached last week.

Although he noted the agreement would boost American exports by $11 billion annually and support more than 70,000 U.S. jobs, he also warned the group that there remained a great deal of wariness among many parties in the United States when it comes to trade deals.

"On the Korea free trade agreement, I think we're gonna get this thing passed," Obama said. "But, I tell you, even as hard as we worked on this, as good as it is for American businesses, American workers, there's still just a lot of suspicion about trade deals. And so thinking about how we can better talk about trade, market trade that's' gonna be a major challenge I think this group needs to engage in."

The Korean trade accord has support from both political parties and from groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the United Auto Workers union.

But the main labor federation, the AFL-CIO, today came out in opposition to the trade agreement. Said AFL President Richard Trumka:

For more than a decade, the labor movement, environmental groups, development advocates and others have advocated for a new trade policy that is part of a more coordinated and coherent national economic strategy. The proposed U.S.-Korea trade deal does not live up to that model and does not contribute to a sustainable global future. We believe we must move towards a more democratic, sustainable and fair global economy with broadly shared prosperity for working people around the world. Reaching that goal will require deep-seated reforms in current trade policy, as well as in our own domestic labor laws and other policies.

We welcome the tremendous efforts by the Obama administration and particularly Ambassador Ron Kirk and his team to address the urgent concerns of autoworkers and auto companies with respect to market access, safeguard provisions and some non-tariff barriers. Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin and Ranking Member Dave Camp also pressed hard for key improvements in the auto provisions, and we appreciate their strong efforts. These newly negotiated provisions will give some much needed breathing room to the auto industry, and we appreciate the hard bargaining that was necessary to win these important changes.

However, the labor movement’s concerns about the Korea trade deal go beyond the auto assembly sector to a more fundamental question about what a fairer and more balanced trade policy should look like.

From NBC's Athena Jones
President Obama, with the help of business leaders, kept up the pressure on members of Congress to pass a tax deal reached with Republicans that would extend Bush-era tax rates for all income levels for two years and extend unemployment insurance for 13 months, along with other measures.

The president used a meeting of his Export Council to act on the agreement, which he believes is essential to the economy's continued recovery.

"Every economist that I've talked to, or that I've read over the last couple of days, acknowledges that this agreement would boost economic growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs," Obama said.

"If this framework fails, the reverse is true: Americans would see it in smaller paychecks that would have the effect of fewer jobs."

White House officials across the board -- from economic advisers like Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee, to senior adviser David Axelrod and Vice President Biden -- have been working hard to get the agreement passed. And the president's comments today came moments before the House Democratic Caucus voted to reject the president's tax compromise, a move that left in question what form the bill would take when it came to the House floor.

The White House released a statement after the news that seemed aimed at reducing any concern that the deal would not be passed.

"The House and Senate are working through the normal process of bringing a bill forward, and we are confident that the major components of the tax framework that we fought for will remain in the final package brought to the floor and ultimately passed by Congress," read the statement by Deputy Communications Director Jen Psaki.

Full court press
After the Export Council meeting, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told reporters the tax deal would help American companies grow, invest and create more jobs, and would be a boon to the middle class.

"The tax benefit to middle Americans is absolutely substantial," Locke said. "Much more money in their pockets than simply with the continuation of the Bush tax cuts, because the reductions in the payroll tax will mean substantially more dollars in the pockets of Americans, giving them economic security."

Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, who co-chairs the Export Council, said the tax deal was essential to providing certainty for companies and individuals and that it would be "very disappointing if it didn't pass," while UPS CEO Scott David noted that the provision that allows companies to deduct investments in 2011 would lead his company to invest "an awful lot more money."

"I think that this tax proposal will help continue the recovery, and I think it's vital to continuing the recovery," Davis said. "I also think, you know, for retail sales to continue, this payroll tax rebate is something that's gonna be very helpful to the consumer next year, so I think this would be a major setback if we don't take it up and approve that this year."

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Senate leadership says it's close to being ready for a vote on the president's tax cut deal. The "framework" had to be turned into actual legislative language, a written bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that is completed.

Majority Leader Harry Reid also says he will decide shortly if he will go forward with the Defense Authorization bill which contains the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Things are still unfolding, but Reid indicated a Saturday vote is possible for "cloture" to bring the Defense bill to the floor for the start of debate on that issue.