Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she wants to "reward work" but does not understand why current tax rates should be extended to everyone. Pelosi says the Democrats are being "held hostage" to pay a "King's ransom" to get middle class tax rates extended. Pelosi said Obama has "pulled us back" from the recession that Bush left. "Obama

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) talks about the envy by the Democrats on extending the current tax rates. Hensarling talks about the "class warfare rhetoric" put on by the Democrats and where that has gotten us.

"There is no such thing as a temporary tax cut, I hope the White House is listening. They're [Republicans] about to spring the trap," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) said on the House floor Thursday night.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY): "They have done extremely well, to give them 'more money' is not -- when we're borrowing it -- is not the kind of priority we need to set."

Sarah Palin responds to criticism that having a reality show does not make her presidential material. Sarah Palin touts that her show received the highest premier ratings in TLC's history.

After Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) conceded that he did not have 60 votes to move the earmark-filled omnibus bill forward, the Senate's most junior member, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) asks if the GOP just won.

Al Sharpton said he had a "fruitful" conversation with the FCC on censoring Rush Limbaugh. Sharpton says the FCC will hold public hearings where Limbaugh (or one of his representatives) will have to attend and defend some of his "racist" statements. Sharpton says the FCC will "shape policy" based on these hearings.

"Only in Washington, D.C. can people keep what they have today and not pay taxes does it cost the government money. Think about that," Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio) said on the House floor tonight.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: "We're witnessing, this is the hijacking of our country right in front of our eyes, with some Republican participation. The election results were clear. If we were a woman and the Congress were a man we're in the middle of being raped. We said "no" in November. And we're paying for it. We're paying to get raped. We said "no"

"That's our job, that's what we're supposed to do," Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said about appropriating earmarks.

"That was an important election, I think for life on this planet," MSNBC's Chris Matthews told Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware).

"Lets just chew up the time of the United States Senate keeping everybody up all night reading a bill rather than working on it," Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said sarcastically of the idea of reading the entire omnibus bill before passing it.

"Democrats are trying to behave as though the election didn't occur," Newt Gingrich told Human Events.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) touts his one-page continuing resolution that would "simply continue the government through February 18th." "I would hope that it would make sense on a bipartisan basis, this one-page continuing resolution on Feb 18th as an alternative to this 2,000-page monstrosity that spends a half a billion dollars a page," McConn

Ed Rendell (D-PA) says President Obama is proving that he can govern.

"I want to be clear: this continues to be a very difficult endeavor, but I can report that, thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals," President Obama said at a press conference today.

Is Obama energizing opponents by demonizing them? Karl Rove discusses. "This is not a guy that has demonstrated that he is able to pull people together," Rove said.

"I'm saying to the Tea Partiers this morning, 'grab your pitchforks let's stand up against this, it can be stopped,'" Sen. John McCain told FOX News this morning. McCain said he supports the complete reading of the omnibus bill on the Senate floor prior to a vote.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough quotes Harry Reid and says Republicans, specifically Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), are being "sanctimonious" about the possibility of being in session during Christmas. "They need to shut their mouths, they are embarrassing themselves," Scarborough said.

"Right now, you've got the Senate Republicans holding the middle class tax cuts hostage to the wealthy," Rep. Chris van Hollen (D-MD) said on MSNBC this morning.

"You know, trying to predict what's going to happen in the Senate is like trying to predict what's going to happen in the 1970s Politburo," Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said on C-SPAN. (source: The Hill)

"This is a tough call ... but at the end of the day, the deal that will come to the floor of the House today is a bad deal," Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told CNN this morning. Pence believes the two year extension of tax cuts only insures uncertainty and is not a foundation for economic growth.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine on opposition to the tax compromise from Democrats.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says under President Bush there was "no coherent strategy" and "no clearly defined mission" in Afghanistan.

Charles Krauthammer: "The problem is it's a revisiting of what happened with Gingrich and Clinton. Clinton was way down, he'd lost the midterm election, and it revived him. People are not going to go through all the reasoning of the difference between omnibus and continuing resolution in explaining what happened. The blame will

Rep. Rush Holt explains how the tax cut compromise will affect Social Security.

The president urged 20 CEOs to spend trillions they have in reserve.

Bill O'Reilly argues that the passage of the tax deal by the Senate is "good news" for the American people.