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Hours after Congress passed a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, the White House is continued its “outside game” of encouraging public support of President Obama’s policies – in this case, highlighting what the White House considers a victory in the fight over raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.

Campaign manager Jim Messina sent a mass email via BarackObama.com, the former campaign website, linking to the video in which President Obama touts the deal and urges supporters to stay involved during his second term.

“Just like four years ago, winning an election won’t bring about the change we seek on its own. It only gives us the chance to make that change,” he says in the three-minute video.

And subscribers to WhiteHouse.gov, the official website, got an email from senior adviser David Plouffe explaining “7 things you need to know about the tax deal.”

One big thing highlighted in that second email: that Obama kept his promises; the first two facts, about tax rates, start off that way.

“As the President promised, income taxes for middle-class families will stay low permanently,” says Fact #1.

Since the election, White House has put an emphasis on outreach over its key legislative priorities, after criticism during Obama’s first term that he didn’t do enough to keep the public informed.

The fiscal cliff outside game has included a social media offensive as well as events in Pennsylvania and Michigan that mimicked the president’s re-election rallies.  

Updated 11:15 p.m. ET: House Speaker John Boehner is giving some ground on Sandy funding and timing a vote.

The House will now hold a vote Friday on $9 billion in Sandy recovery funds, followed by another vote on $51 billion on Jan. 15th.

Congress did not hold a vote last night, enraging Tri-state-area members of Congress from both parties.

After a blitzing round of cable interviews, in which Republican Rep. Peter King (NY) blasted Boehner for not voting on the funding last night, he and other New York- and New Jersey-area members say their concerns have been addressed.

"Turning your back on people who are starving and freezing is not a Republican value," King had said this morning on CNN.

This afternoon, after a meeting with Boehner, King's tone changed.

"Whatever's done is done, and that's it," King said at an afternoon press conference on Capitol Hill, adding later, "The bottom line is we need the $60 billion." King later said he was satisfied with the response from House GOP leaders.

Boehner and Reps. Michael Grimm (NJ) and Chris Smith (NJ) also now say they will all support Boehner when he comes up for reelection for speaker tomorrow.

The move also came after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Boehner and House Republicans earlier in the day.

"Shame on you. Shame on Congress," Christie said in a televised news conference from Trenton, N.J. He called Congress' delay "disgraceful."

"It is why the American people hate Congress," Christie said, adding, "Unlike people in Congress, we have actual responsibilities."

The House will vote tomorrow to elect a Speaker of the House. While it is likely that Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) will be reelected, if 17 conservatives decide to vote against Boehner, it could lead to the first second ballot for speaker since 1923.

There are no indications Boehner will not be re-elected Speaker. While there will likely be members who vote against him, there is no real candidate that could garner enough votes to take Boehner down.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) leaves a House Republican Caucus meeting.

The 113th Congress will convene for the first time at noon Thursday, after which the House will vote to elect a speaker.

Members will be called by name alphabetically and asked for their vote. This vote is different than typical votes, which are done electronically during a set period of time. 

The next speaker needs a majority of all votes cast to be elected. They do not need a majority of the full membership of the House. The 113th has 434 members because Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s seat will be vacant.  

If all members were to vote, Boehner would need 218 votes, unless there are members who are absent for the vote or members who vote "present" (for no one).

Since 1913, the year the House reached the size of 435 members, there has only been one time that no candidate received the majority of the votes cast for speaker.  

That was in 1923, when nine ballots over three days were needed before Rep. Frederick Gillett (R-MA) was reelected to the position for a third term.

The speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, but in the history of the House of Representatives there has never been a speaker who was not a member.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) nominated Newt Gingrich this year during the Republican Conference meeting, but that nomination was not seconded, and Speaker Boehner was nominated by a voice vote (no objectors) to be the Republicans' nominee yet again.  Democrats chose to have Nancy Pelosi as their nominee for Speaker of the House.

Between 1943 and 1995, only the nominated Republican and Democrat received votes, but before that, it was customary for members of other groups within parties would garner votes as well. 

Since 1913, the speaker has been elected without a majority of the whole House, but with the majority of those voting, only four times: 

-- 1917 (65th Congress) -- "Champ" Clark (D-MO) was elected with 217 votes; 
-- 1923 (68th Congress) -- Frederick Gillett (R-MA) was elected with 215 votes;
-- 1943 (78th Congress) -- Sam Rayburn (D-TX) was elected with 217 votes;
-- 1997 (105th Congress) -- Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was elected with 216 votes

Recent speaker votes:

-- 2011 (Jan. 5th): Boehner 241, Pelosi 173, Shuler 11, Lewis (GA) 2 Costa 1, Cardoza 1, Cooper 1, Kaptur 1, Hoyer 1, Present 1 
-- 2009 (Jan. 6th): Pelosi 255, Boehner 174
-- 2007 (Jan. 4th): Pelosi 233, Boehner 202
-- 2005 (Jan. 4th): Hastert 226, Pelosi 199, Murtha 1, Present 1 

Boehner not at risk of losing speakership - Cantor playing the long game .... All this sets up an even bigger fight - triple jeopardy in just a couple months ... the "debacle" for the Republican Party ... a tax hike or tax cut? ... Simpson-Bowles see "missed opportunity" ... You want him to do what to himself? ... Bill goes to Hawaii ... Outrage over Sandy funding ... and what about guns?

ANALYSIS: Some are making a lot of the vote split between House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. But the reality is less Machiavellian politics and more long-term maneuvering.

What it showed more than anything isn’t some deep rift within the conference or that Boehner’s speakership is in jeopardy. It isn’t a coup against Boehner. It shows that Boehner sees the light at the end of the tunnel of his career and would prefer to be more of a pragmatist and deal maker – but his conference won’t allow him to be that. That pragmatic streak is in the minority of the House GOP.

Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, on the other hand, are going to be around for a while, and if they want to be leaders of the conference in the House, perhaps even speaker, and want to have any political clout, they have to stand with the influential conservative base.

Cantor has stood with Boehner through much of this fight and others in the past year, and that’s because he cannot alienate Boehner allies. Many establishment conservative will still be around – and be a significant voting bloc – when Boehner retires, whenever that will be.

The big campaign for speaker -- at some point -- could come between Cantor and Paul Ryan, who might -- or might not -- run for president in 2016. Ryan, by the way, voted yes last night, unlike Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), widely thought to be eyeing a 2016 bid.

The roll call… Boomark it! GOP primary opportunists will comb this list. It’s going to be their TARP to run on.

What now? Dates to watch…

TRIPLE JEOPARDY (H/T NBC’s Mike Viqueira for the headline and Essa Yip for the dates)
Late Feb/early March – Debt ceiling
March 1 - Sequester
March 27 – Budget resolution

(*Note to pithy catch-phrase writers, please refrain from using “March Madness” for the next fiscal showdown. New Year’s was already ruined with talks of rocky abysses, can we preserve what is a sacred time for some of us?)

'Debacle for the Republican Party'... Chuck Todd on TODAY:

“What’s coming in March with what they’ve done, and, by the way, they’ve done this to themselves now multiple times. I mean, this is the story, this 112^th Congress does leave us today, and some would say finally leaves us, because this is the story of this Congress. Every major decision that they came up with, and it began with a threat of a government shut down just two months into this Congress. And then of course we had the debt ceiling showdown, then it culminated with this fiscal cliff and all we’ve done is created what’s coming in March, and Matt, what’s coming in March? Take all the fights we had separately and put them in one fight. And put them all expiring at the same time – debt ceiling, funding the entire federal government (that expires), and then this. …

“The relationship between House Speaker John Boehner and the White House is terrible. Let’s not pretend they can get anything done, and yet you still have to get something through the House. Perhaps this renewed relationship between the White House, Joe Biden, in particular, and Mitch McConnell is a way to get some things done, but it is going to dominate this thing, and one thing to look back here and to figure this out, Republicans have to figure out what they want. If you look back on it, Matt, this was a debacle for the Republican Party. I mean, yesterday we almost had the Republican leadership in the House almost completely undermine the Republican leadership in the Senate. It looked like they threatened to scuttle the whole thing, and they ended up helping Barack Obama raise taxes more than any Republican Party in a generation has helped anybody raise taxes, and they got nothing for it. … The Republican Party has to figure out what it wants to be, first, before they sit down at the negotiating table. And then they’ve got to figure out who’s going to do the negotiating for them. Is it Mitch McConnell? Is it John Boehner? Who runs the Republican Party? I think that’s unclear out of all of this. … Until the Republican Party figures is sort of unified in what it wants to do, it’s not going to be an effective negotiating force against the president.”

A tax hike or a tax cut? Which is it? Grover Norquist tweeted last night: “The Bush tax cuts lapsed at midnight last night. Every R voting for Senate bill is cutting taxes and keeping his/her pledge.”

Thought exercise though: How would it be a tax increase on Dec. 31 but a tax cut on Jan. 1, even if it was the same piece of legislation? That’s more of a question perhaps for Heritage, et al.

Simpson-Bowles see “missed opportunity”… Simpson and Bowles write in a statement from “Fix the Debt” that last night was a “missed opportunity.” Full statement:

“The deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long term fiscal problems, but it is a small step forward in our efforts to reduce the federal deficit.  It follows on the $1 trillion reduction in spending that was done in last year’s Budget Control Act. While both steps advance the efforts to put our fiscal house in order, neither one nor the combination of the two come close to solving our Nation's debt and deficit problems. Our leaders must now have the courage to reform our tax code and entitlement programs such that we stabilize our debt and put it on a downward path as a percent of the economy. Washington missed this magic moment to do something big to reduce the deficit, reform our tax code, and fix our entitlement programs. We have all known for over a year that this fiscal cliff was coming.  In fact Washington politicians set it up to force themselves to seriously deal with our Nation’s long term fiscal problems. Yet even after taking the Country to the brink of economic disaster, Washington still could not forge a common sense bipartisan consensus on a plan that stabilizes the debt.

“It is now more critical than ever that policymakers return to negotiations that will build on the terms of this agreement and the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act. These future negotiations will need to make the far more difficult reforms that bring spending further under control, make our entitlement programs sustainable and solvent, and reform our tax code to both promote growth and produce revenue.  We take some encouragement from the statements by the President and leaders in Congress that they recognize more work needs to be done.  In order to reach an agreement, it will be absolutely necessary for both sides to move beyond their comfort zone and reach a principled agreement on a comprehensive plan which puts the debt on a clear downward path relative to the economy.”

Gentlemen, language, please… Politico’s provocative lede: “House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday. It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a ‘dictatorship’ in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal. ‘Go f— yourself,’ Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present. Reid, a bit startled, replied: ‘What are you talking about?’ Boehner repeated: ‘Go f— yourself.’

“The harsh exchange just a few steps from the Oval Office — which Boehner later bragged about to fellow Republicans — was only one episode in nearly two months of high-stakes negotiations laced with distrust, miscommunication, false starts and yelling matches as Washington struggled to ward off $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts.”

CHASER: "I can't tell him to do that. That. He can't do that to himself. You're crazy. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden." -- Clint Eastwood, Aug. 30, 2012, during RNC Convention speech.

Step back… For all the drama and ugliness of sausage making, step back and realize there were two votes on major legislation yesterday 20 hours apart.

Fly-by signing… The bill will be flown out to Hawaii for President Obama to sign.

Sandy funding… Notice, by the way, that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut lawmakers were irate last night that, despite what they say were promises made by GOP leadership, Sandy funding wasn’t considered after the fiscal-cliff vote. Rep. Peter King, a Republican, is making the cable rounds today. NBC’s Frank Thorp has the details.

And what about guns? National Journal… National Journal notes that pro-gun Democrats could pave the way for new gun measures. From the story: Pennsylvania Sen. Bob "Casey’s introspection isn’t a unique tale among normally pro-gun Democrats. Across Capitol Hill, lawmakers ranging from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky are acknowledging that last week’s tragedy has, at least for now, left them open to reconsidering measures they once staunchly opposed.”

Message will matter, says Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), an avid hunter and Vietnam vet: “Well, we can start by not calling it ‘gun control.’”

But sticking point: “Not all Democrats are conceding that gun-control measures need to be taken. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a longtime advocate of gun owners, isn’t making a decision right away on where he stands, despite being hounded with questions about it. He said he needs to hear from his constituents before he can decide on whether to vote for an assault-weapons ban or other gun laws that could be considered in the Senate.”

Updated 10:40 a.m. -- Just as the fiscal-cliff negotiations are drawing to a close, a fresh controversy is brewing in the House of Representatives after Republican leadership decided they will not vote during the 112th Congress on a bill to provide supplemental aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Both Republicans and Democrats lashed out at Republican leadership for what one Republican called a "personal betrayal," after it was decided that the bill would not be considered until the 113th Congress, which convenes at noon Thursday.

"For the Speaker to just walk out is inexcusable," Rep. Peter King (R-NY-Long Island) told reporters. "It's wrong, and I'm saying that as a member of the Republican Party."

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said in a short statement: "The Speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month." 

That assurance was not enough for the members of districts affected by Sandy.

"I feel it is a personal betrayal," Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY-Staten Island) said. "But I think more importantly, when you parse out all the politics, the people of this country that have been devastated are looking at this as a betrayal by the Congress and by the nation, and that is just untenable and unforgivable."

A bipartisan group of eight lawmakers gathered after protesting the move on the House floor after the House vote late Tuesday night to pass a bill to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." That bill passed 257-167. 

The House had originally planned to consider a two-step bill that would start with $27 billion in supplemental aid, but also include an amendment worth an additional $33 billion. The bill had been split to allow conservative Republicans to vote for a base level of additional aid, but not the entire package, which many Republicans said did not entirely go to those affected by Sandy.

The Senate passed a bill on Dec. 28 by a vote of 61-33 that would provide $60.2 billion in additional aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy. During that vote 12 Republicans voted for the measure, but only after a replacement amendment that would have stripped $35 billion from the bill failed to pass.

"It passed the Senate in a bipartisan way," Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) said. "And again, to me, this is a real betrayal, a betrayal of the leadership of the Republican Party."

According to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), he had been speaking with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on a regular basis about when the bill would be coming to the floor for a vote. 

Cantor, whose office schedules what bills come to the floor and when, told Hoyer that he was "99.9 percent confident" that the bill would be considered after the fiscal-cliff legislation was considered.

"I urge the Speaker to reconsider and bring this bill to the floor," Hoyer said. "Do not walk away from these millions of people; do not walk away from these states that have been damaged."

An aide for Cantor said that the majority leader "is committed to ensuring the urgent needs of New York and New Jersey residents are met, and he has been working tirelessly toward that goal."

But even after these conversations between Cantor and other members of the House, it's unclear why Republican leadership decided not to consider the bill before the 112th Congress came to a close. 

FEMA told lawmakers in December they have enough emergency funds to take them through the spring, but the members protesting the change Tuesday night said the supplemental bill includes key funds for programs that go past the emergency phase of the Superstorm Sandy response.

An emotional King went so far Wednesday to urge residents of New York and New Jersey to halt donations to his own party in the House as a result of the chamber's inaction. 

"I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds," he said on Fox News. "Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace.”

The House is in session Wednesday, beginning at 10:00 am ET, but according to aides, no legislation is scheduled to be considered.  The 112th Congress must adjourn by 11:59 am ET Thursday, so the 113th Congress can gavel in at noon on that day.

Any legislation that passed either the House or Senate has to be re-passed once the new Congress is sworn in.

NBC's Carrie Dann contributed to this report.

Updated at 12:32 a.m. ET: An agreement to stave off the harshest and most immediate consequences of the fiscal cliff won approval in the House late Tuesday. President Barack Obama signed the law on Wednesday night, the battle over which foreshadowed more fights with Congress over spending.

Following a day of hectic wrangling on Capitol Hill — where the prospects for passing the bipartisan, Senate legislation regarding the fiscal cliff hung in the balance for much of New Year's Day — the House voted 257 to 167 to pass the belated compromise measure over the objections of many conservative Republicans.

The legislation takes steps toward resolving the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that took effect at midnight on Jan. 1. It preserves tax rates as they were at the end of 2012, except for those individuals earning more than $400,000 and households earning over $450,000. It also allows taxes on capital gains and dividends to go up, and extends benefits of the unemployed. Additionally, the Senate bill delays the onset of the "sequester" — the swift, automatic spending cuts — for two months. 

Fiscal cliff compromise leaves few satisfied

"Thanks to the votes of Democrats and Republicans in Congress I will sign a law that raises the taxes on the wealthiest of Americans," Obama said in remarks at the White House Tuesday, "while preventing a middle-class tax hike."

The House vote laid bare some of the internal ideological divisions to plague the GOP over the past two years. More Republican congressmen (151) voted against the Senate bill than for it (85), meaning that Democrats' support was needed to advance the final deal. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took the rare step of casting a vote, and did so in favor of the legislation. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the former Republican vice presidential nominee, also supported the package. But Boehner's top two lieutenants, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., each opposed the deal.

"Now the focus turns to spending," Boehner said in a statement following the House vote. "The American people re-elected a Republican majority in the House, and we will use it in 2013 to hold the president accountable for the ‘balanced’ approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."

While the last-minute action on Capitol Hill essentially mitigates much of the risk posed to the U.S. economic recovery by the fiscal cliff, it hardly brings resolution to the bitter and often intractable fight in Washington over taxes and spending. The first half of 2013 will feature battles in Congress over raising the debt limit, continuing basic government funding and the expiration of this two-month delay in the sequester. 

Bipartisan outrage after House skips vote on $60 billion Sandy aid bill

Obama nodded to those looming fights in his remarks Tuesday evening, renewing his call for "balance" in any solution in the coming year to address deficits and debts. But the president also sternly warned Congress against using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, as Republicans had in summer of 2011.

"While I'll negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether to pay the bills they have racked up," Obama said.

PhotoBlog: Deal done, Obama heads back to Hawaii with a weary wink

The fiscal cliff itself was the product of discord in Congress resolving those very issues. And the difficulty in attaining even this less ambitious piece of legislation — versus the kind of "grand bargain" Obama had first sought in talks with Republicans — offered a cautionary tale for the 113th Congress, in which the House and the Senate remain controlled by the same parties as during the past two years. 

Squabbling
And even for much of Tuesday, House approval of the fiscal legislation — which was negotiated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden — was far from certain. GOP leaders were forced to cajole conservatives who complained the fallback deal contained insufficient spending cuts. Only after it became clear that Republicans wouldn't have the votes to amend the Senate proposal — which the upper chamber said it wouldn't even consider — did House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, bring the bill to the floor. 

The squabbling was familiar to any observers of Congress during the past two years. This divide almost resulted in a government shutdown and a default on the national debt in 2011. It again threatened Tuesday to allow the painful, across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts to play out just as the U.S. economic recovery showed signs of accelerating.

PhotoBlog: See images of Congress working overtime to avoid fiscal cliff

And this deal just approved by Congress in the waning hours of 2013's first day all but ensures that much of the coming year will be dominated by similar battles in Washington. Republicans are hopeful they might be able to extract more spending cuts and entitlement reforms with the government up against other deadlines, like the one needed this spring to authorize more government borrowing. 

That could complicate Obama's already-ambitious second term agenda. The president said just this past Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he will seek comprehensive immigration reform legislation and new laws to address gun violence.

House Speaker John Boehner, when asked about the way forward after Plan B went down to defeat, said, "God only knows."

Today, in the opening prayer at the start of the House session at noon ET, the House chaplain made a rare appeal to the heavens for compromise.

"May an imperfect compromise, when viewed from the perspective of our differences, not be undermined by a desire for political victory," House Chaplain Patrick Conroy implored.

Here's what he said in full: 

"Let us pray. Eternal God, we give you thanks for giving us another day, a new year. The political struggles of the past year have revealed the divisions that exist in our nation. There are many American citizens who are angry, frustrated, and anxious for the future. This day is a day of history. Send your spirit upon the members of the people’s house. May an imperfect compromise when viewed from the perspective of our differences not be undermined by a desire for political victory. This is difficult for all. Give each member the grace and courage to forge a constructive solution for the greater good of the nation and all Americans. Help us to trust that no matter what, you will not abandon us. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. Amen."

After Plan B, Boehner pointed at the president and the Senate to get something done. "Now, it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff," he said then in a statement.

Now, it is up to Boehner whether he puts the bill, which passed the Senate 89-8, on the floor for a vote.

Updated at 2:15 a.m. ET -- An agreement in principle to avert broad tax increases and spending cuts passed in the Senate early Tuesday morning, with an overwhelming vote of 89-8.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote before Wednesday.

The interim New Year's Eve tax deal negotiated by Biden and Senate Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky would raise income taxes on single earners with annual incomes above $400,000 and married couples with incomes above $450,000.

It also blocks spending cuts for two months, extends unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, prevents a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients and prevents a spike in milk prices.

As of mid-afternoon Monday, the sticking point involved the "sequester," the cuts to spending – about $100 billion to start in 2013 -- that were mandated by the Budget Control Act which President Barack Obama signed into law last year. Republicans have signaled they might let the sequester take effect unless it was offset by other spending cuts; the GOP has also said it might accept a delay, but only for a few months.

The Obama administration, however, was pushing for a longer delay in implementing the sequester. Otherwise, the president said, replacing those automatic cuts must be "balanced" — shorthand for a combination of new taxes and other spending cuts.

Obama tried to push talks over the finish line earlier in the afternoon with a statement from the White House.

"Today, it appears that an agreement to prevent this New Year's tax hike is within sight," the president said at the White House on Monday. "But it's not done."

In the absence of a broader agreement to resolve the sequester, McConnell appeared in the Senate floor to request a vote only on the tax element of the fiscal cliff.

"Let's pass the tax relief portion now," he said. "Let's take what's been agreed to and keep moving."

But it's not clear that Democrats, who were led in negotiations by Vice President Joe Biden, would agree to de-link the tax debate from other fights over the sequester and extending expiring unemployment benefits past Dec. 31.

House Republicans were careful to note that it was still possible for them to add votes late on New Year's Eve. But they also argued that there was no Senate-passed legislation on which they could schedule a vote, making the prospect of avoiding the cliff all the less likely.

Democratic and Republican sources in the House told NBC News that a final vote on any deal would now most likely wait until afternoon on New Year's Day, or even on Jan. 2.

Though Congress could still conceivably act after New Year's to preserve existing tax rates — thereby limiting any lasting effect on consumers — their inability to reach an agreement until the very last minute could still threaten to rattle the economy and markets.

The House did act late Sunday, though, to clear the way for emergency consideration of Senate legislation if leaders are able to reach an agreement. The House Rules Committee convened with the purpose of dispensing with a rule instilled by Republicans in the early days of 2011 to require that legislation be posted online for a full 72 hours before a vote in the House. GOP leaders had sought that rule to showcase their own transparency, and in reaction to actions by the previous Democratic majority to quickly pass legislation during the health care reform battles of 2010.

Republicans' move to sidestep their own rule underscores the urgency of fiscal cliff talks in the final hours of 2012. There were few ironclad assurances, though, that any Senate agreement would necessarily win the support of the House.

The lurching nature of legislating has been characteristic of the Congress during the last two years, and that's a phenomenon that may well continue into the next Congress, when Democrats will continue to retain control of the Senate, and Republicans will hold a slightly slimmer grasp on the House.

Gallup has released its list of "Most Admired Woman and Most Admired Man" living anywhere in the world, and for the 11th year in a row, Hillary Clinton tops the list of women, while Barack Obama is the most admired man for the fifth year in a row. 

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a speech "Frontlines and Frontiers: Making Human Rights a Human Reality" at Dublin City University in Ireland in this file photo from Dec. 6, 2012.

First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Condoleezza Rice are next behind Clinton.

Behind Obama are Nelson Mandela, Mitt Romney, Billy Graham, George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI. 

The "Most Admired Man" poll began in 1946 and was expanded to include "Most Admired Woman" in 1948.  

Clinton has topped the list 17 times in the last 20 years, starting in 1993. Eleanor Roosevelt comes in second as the most "Most Admired Woman," a designation she gained 13 times. 

Dwight Eisenhower was the "Most Admired Man" 12 times, the most for any man, followed by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who each had eight first-place finishes.

The results are based on a Gallup poll taken from Dec 19 to 22nd.

UPDATED 11: 40 AM ET: There is an emerging deal to avert the fiscal cliff, led by negotiations between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, but the key sticking point remains the sequester and deficit reduction, aides say.

Biden and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell exchanged phone calls until about midnight last night and aides continued beyond that, aides tell NBC News. Democratic Leader Harry Reid left Capitol Hill in the evening Sunday and was not directly involved last night.

Aides say the Vice President and McConnell spoke at 12:45 am and again at 6:30 am this morning. GOP sources say the inclusion of the vice president has made a favorable difference in the talks, given his understanding of legislation and his personal relationships.
Two senior aides to McConnell continued with White House representatives overnight and again today.

GOP aides say they expect their party to likely defer its biggest fight over deficit reduction when the debt-ceiling debate takes center stage in the new year. Republicans say given the time left, there is limited, if no chance, to secure specific detailed alternative spending cuts right now.  

Republicans would like to see the "sequester" across the board cuts kept in place to drive down the deficit, but Democrats are resisting that and offer a two-year delay.

But Democrats caution that the "emerging deal" which "creates another cliff in three months probably would not have the votes to pass the two chambers." That is a reference to the looming fights over the debt ceiling and the overall government budget deadline in March.

Democrats also argue the new revenue generated by tax increases, especially if reduced from the Democrats' earlier targets, should be used to cover the costs of delaying the automatic spending cuts for two years and protecting the long-term jobless with extended benefits. 

Cuts that would go into effect as a result of the sequester would be deep and across the board. The discretionary cuts were signed into law in an effort law to compel Washington to address the long-term deficit. So far, the parties have been unable to agree on replacement cuts that would be targeted and therefore less arbitrary.

The most recent Democratic offer on taxes, presented on Saturday night, is setting the new income threshold at $450,000, sources say. That represents an increase over the president's original $250,000 threshold for higher rates and Obama's later offer to Boehner of $400,000.

Senior Republicans say the GOP is looking for a figure at about $550,000, down from House Speaker John Boehner's $1 million and retaining current estate tax rates. That could mean, say various members, a split-the-difference deal at $500,000.

Significant progress has been made on the income tax threshold and estates taxes, but the figures will not be set in stone until all details are resolved, including unemployment benefits, preventing a scheduled cut to medical provider's Medicare payments (know as the Doc Fix), and a fix to remove millions of middle class taxpayers from the "alternative minimum tax."

The taxes being discussed, by the way, would be made permanent and not given a "sunset provision" in law, which is unusual. There would be no expiration date like the one that forced this debate.