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Deal Reached on Payroll Tax Cut; Gingrich Lowers Expectations; Suicide Bombers Blast Damascus; Beaten Egyptian Woman Speaks; Best Buy Cancels Some Online Orders; Senate Passes Payroll Tax Cut Extension; Senate Passes Payroll Tax Cut Extension; Ex-Con Delivers Healthy Alternatives; Deal Reached on Payroll Tax Cut

Aired December 23, 2011 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys. Have a great holiday weekend.

Well, this morning we are beginning on Capitol Hill and a new countdown for the payroll tax cut. Instead of ticking toward the January 1st expiration, well, lawmakers are now within reach of an extension. Within the next hour or so, both the House and Senate are expected to pass the deal after Republicans caved to blistering public criticism.

Kate Bolduan on the Hill.

So, Kate, is it a done deal?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'd love to say, yes, absolutely, 100 percent a done deal. But I will say that I caution that nothing -- we never take anything for granted up here with Congress, especially this year, right, Kyra?

But in the next half an hour, we should see the Senate come into session and it could -- this deal could pass within maybe one or two minutes. It could be that short as both the Senate and the House are expected to pass this legislation. This payroll tax extension deal using a procedural move that basically allows them to pass legislation without having to call all of the members back into town.

So according to both Democratic and Republican leadership aides on the Senate side, they tell me that they do expect that things are moving towards a passage on the Senate side and then, of course, all eyes turn to the House where the House is expected to follow up with a vote and at the top of the next hour and, according to a House Republican leadership aide, leaders do expect that this -- that this bill will go through, which means that both the House and Senate, both chambers of Congress, will have passed this two-month extension.

But, again, we caution with this procedure it only requires one member to stand up in the chamber and object to stall this. So we're watching this very closely -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, then. It's going to be happening within this hour, probably the top of next hour, like you said.

Kate, we'll check back with you. Thanks so much.

And let's go ahead and break down this deal with our chief political correspondent Candy Crowley, shall we?

All right. Candy, great to see you on this Friday.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I know. Why are we working?

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly.

CROWLEY: How did this happen?

PHILLIPS: Because, you know, this is how it goes in our business, right? And just like those on the Hill, they're going to have to work something out. We're going to have to work, as well, and work our way through this.

So what did you think? Did Boehner cause or avoid more damage here, Candy?

CROWLEY: Yes. You know. I think -- I think both. But it really wasn't -- I mean I think it's wrong to blame Boehner, the Republicans made a huge tactical error. A huge politically tactical error. They keep saying we were right on the policy, but they were certainly wrong on the politics and we are, after all, in a political eve year.

And -- so, Boehner just simply didn't have the votes from his caucus to pass what the Senate passed which is why he originally said no, we're not going to pass this thing because it's going to be hard for small businesses, et cetera, et cetera. He tried to negotiate with the president and said, you know, send some people up to negotiate with us and the president said, nope. This is the deal.

He tried to get to negotiate with the Senate Democrats. Nope, this is the deal. So, in the end, it was that. The Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, hey, pass this thing. So they've lost their Senate colleagues and then their constituents got into it and said, what are you doing here?

So it wasn't John Boehner -- he didn't wake up one morning and said, you know, I think I'm going to hold this up for, you know, a small business, you know, procedural tweak. It was -- he was trying to satisfy enough people in his caucus to get the thing passed.

PHILLIPS: So let me ask you then.

CROWLEY: So, in the end, he did what he could.

PHILLIPS: All right. And it's an election year, as you mentioned. And we know tensions are high. Boehner caves. So does this actually show us how fractured the Republican Party really is? CROWLEY: Certainly shows us how difficult they are to herd for John Boehner. I mean that's for sure. But we've known that all year because this is not the first time that the speaker has agreed to something and come back only to find that they weren't following him. So this has definitely been a year of -- look, these are largely freshman folks that have -- it's the first time at the rodeo. They were elected by Tea Party types. They all, pretty much, we did a study a while back and I wish I can remember the percentage, but a large percentage of them have, you know, jobs they can go back to.

They are not career politicians for the most part. And therefore they don't have that same kind of let's win this one for Boehner. They have held fast and they've won mostly. You know, the president has backed down, the Democrats have backed down. So this -- you know, this exposes it, the bad side of it.

Because up to now Boehner has had a pretty good year in backing down some of the stuff that made it hard for his Tea Party constituency to come along with him in that caucus. So, you know, yes, it exposed this fracture, but it's been there all along.

PHILLIPS: Well, and it's not the last money issue to be on the table, as well.

All right, as you know, Candy is our anchor of "STATE OF THE UNION." Who's on your program this Sunday?

CROWLEY: We're going to talk to Richard Lugar, longtime in the U.S. Senate. He's facing a Tea Party challenge actually back at home for his re-election bid. We're going to get -- he's also a very well known expert on foreign affairs. We want to talk to him about Korea, et cetera, as well as the Tea Party.

And we're also going to have something -- I'm going to promote here which is so much fun for us. We did this thing "Getting to Know" which we put on our Web site every week and it's kind of these little chats about the personal lives of some of the newsmakers that we interview.

And so we've sort of taken a best of for this year and we're going to show our TV viewers some of the stuff that we've had on the Web. It's fun stuff.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, little church, little turkey, little presents and little Candy Crowley. Sounds like the perfect Christmas Sunday.

CROWLEY: I mean who could want for more than that?

PHILLIPS: And happy Christmas with the grandbaby, too. Great to see you, Candy.

CROWLEY: Thanks and you with your guys.

PHILLIPS: Amen. Well, this morning a new glimpse into what American voters are thinking as the nation inches towards the 2012 elections and our latest CNN/ORC poll we asked Americans what the most important issue is facing this country. Well, 57 percent said chose the economy from our list. The national deficit and health care came in a distant second and third.

The poll then asked people to focus specifically on the economy and more than half chose unemployment and 27 percent said the deficit.

Well, believe it or not, just a couple of weeks ago that Newt Gingrich had a double-digit lead in the GOP polls. He's not only lost that, but maybe a bit of his bluster, as well.

Political editor Paul Steinhauser joining us now.

So is Newt lowering his expectations? What do you think?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Maybe, because, you know in this crazy political game sometimes beating expectations is better than actually winning a contest. So if you lower expectations, Kyra, and then beat them, maybe that's a good thing.

As you mentioned, yes, Gingrich, he was the frontrunner nationally out in Iowa but those numbers are starting to come back to earth. In fact we're just, what, 11 days away from Iowa now and his numbers there are slipping. So take a listen to what he said yesterday on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're coming together very fast in Iowa and I expect we'll be very, very competitive. My goal is to be in the top three or four. And you can't tell because it's very bunched right now in the sheer weight of money. To be in the top three or four, I'd love to win. But to be on top three or four, probably to be the top two in New Hampshire, and then to win South Carolina and Florida and from that point on, I think it becomes a bit pretty easy race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Yes, so, definitely lower expectations in Iowa, but maybe not that modest. You heard him say, well, one or two in New Hampshire and he thinks he's going to win South Carolina and Florida. Stay tuned -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Stay tuned. And three candidates not going to be on the ballot in another state contest. What happened?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. This is Virginia. Virginia holds their primary on March 6th. And it's Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman who are still in the game by then. They're not going to be on the ballot in Virginia. Why? You need 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot there. So it's a pretty high amount. None of those threes got that. So they're not going to be there on March 6th if they're still in the race -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, thanks.

And for all the latest political news, just go to our Web site CNNPolitics.com.

Well, as you know, one of the busiest travel days of the entire year is today, tomorrow, also Sunday. It's kind of like the busiest weekend, right, Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Really, really busy times. It looks like some parts of the nation are going to get a kind of a let up in terms of the rough weather, especially here in Atlanta where yesterday it was just raining horse shoes and hand grenades. Today a little bit better in parts of Atlanta and in parts of the southeast, but in parts of the northeast and still out west, we still have rain, snow and a lot of wind to deal with.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WOLF: That is the latest we got for you, back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Reynolds.

Coming up, trapped in a car for nine days. Find out how an Arizona woman survived being snowed in for more than a week.

And also a deadly suicide bombing at security offices in Damascus. We've got a live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Checking stories that are making news "Cross Country" now.

In northern Arizona, a college student has been found safe after being trapped in her car for nine days. Two U.S. Forest Service employees patrolling on snowmobiles found her Wednesday. She survived on two candy bars and melted snow.

And in Orlando, Florida, SeaWorld's largest killer whale is sick. It's the same whale that killed a SeaWorld trainer in February of last year. Our affiliate says that park veterinarians have moved the whale to a medical pool to keep a close eye on him.

And in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, dozens of Christmas trees are being given away for free. The company is Trees on the Move and it didn't want low-income families to miss out on the Christmas spirit. So it's taking donations for local charities as well in exchange for the trees.

Well, two suicide car bombs have exploded in the Syrian capital of Damascus. State-run media now reporting that bombers targeted the offices of two of Syria's security branches.

Our Mohammed Jamjoom is live in Cairo with the latest. What do you know, Mohammed?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, details still emerging as reported on Syrian state television these bombings were carried out earlier today. Syrian state television also saying that members of an advance team of the Arab League -- these are team members that came in to try to set the ground for an observatory mission that's coming in next week to try to end the violence in Syria -- that they've also witnessed the scene of the attack.

Now no death toll, no casualty toll at this stage, although Syrian state television saying that numerous people were injured and killed in these attacks. And they're saying these attacks bear the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Opposition figures in Syria saying the Bashar al-Assad regime is lying, suggesting it's awfully convenient that these attacks come just one day after these members of the Arab League have arrived, that it really fits the narrative that the Bashar al-Assad regime has been trying to say that they're fighting terrorism there and not trying to talk about the crackdown that's been going on against peaceful protesters.

In the meantime, there have been protests going on in several provinces and cities across Syria. That's according to opposition figures. We've heard of one in Idlib in which protesters have been carrying signs mocking what they call the protocol of blood, that's the protocol that was signed by the Arab League and the Syrian government for observers to go in, to try to halt the violence.

The protesters and activists there say they believe this is just a stalling tactic by the Assad regime, and that the president of Syria does not plan to stop his brutal crackdown any time soon -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: We've been watching these protests for months now across the Middle East and back to Cairo where you are.

You actually talked to that female activist that was brutally beaten in Tahrir Square. How did that interview go? How did that interview go?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it was quite shocking to see the state that Azza Hilal Suleiman was in. When we first went to so her in the hospital when we tracked her down, she was writhing in agony and too much pain to talk to us.

The next day, we went back and although she's still suffering from a lot of pain from these injuries she sustained to her head, she was very much willing to open up and tell us about her ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM (voice-over): Today, Azza Hilal Suleiman is feeling better. And despite the severe beating she sustained just days ago, she's eager to talk.

"There's no justice," she says. "I don't know how long we'll go without justice. We didn't ask for anything more than to be free in our own country. We've been oppressed by the military, by the supreme council and by the police."

Azza has reason to be angry. During a crackdown in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the 48-year-old activist was rushed by riot police. Seen here in a red jacket, Azza was trying to help a wounded woman when she was pushed to the ground, then began the merciless barrage. She sustained multiple blows to the head, suffered two fractures to the skull.

"I don't know how much longer they'll continue to kill us," she says. "How much longer will they continue to kill us?"

Azza isn't sure how long it will take for her to recover, but her condition today is visibly better than a day earlier. Then, she couldn't even talk to us. Wailing in agony and crying for help.

Today, Azza wonders what will happen to her homeland. And even though her late father was a general in Egypt's army, she can't fathom the tactic security forces are currently using against protesters.

"My family isn't like the men in the military now," she says. "My family was very decent and pure. What's happening in the military now is dirty, humans without conscious or mercy or humanity. What right do they have to do this to people?"

Despite the pain she endures and the uncertainty she feels, Azza remains defiant.

"I don't know what will happen tomorrow," she says. "But I know that we will not remain silent. We won't abandon our rights. We won't leave this country in the devastated condition it's in."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM: Kyra, we contacted the military about Azza's case. Now, Colonel Islam Jaffar the military's morals department told CNN the Egyptian military department isn't aware of Azza's case, but will look into it. If she comes from a military family then she reserved the right to be transferred to a military hospital, even if her father is deceased."

Now, separately, there's been so much outrage, especially on the part of women rights activist here in Egypt about the mistreatment of women at the hands of the security forces here There was a statement put out earlier in the week by the ruling military council, the supreme council of the armed forces.

It read, "The ruling supreme council of the armed forces has since expressed great regret to the great women of Egypt for the violations that took place earlier over the mistreatment of women protesters and reiterated its respect and appreciation for Egyptian women and their right in protesting and their active position participation in the political life."

That's not really holding a lot of water with the Egyptian women activists that we've spoken with. In fact, if you look behind me, Tahrir Square today full of activists, many of them women rights activists. They have come out to protest these beatings that have happened, the abuse that's been suffered by so many women the past week at the hands of riot police here in Cairo -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Such an important story had to stay with and Mohammed, you're doing it. Thanks so much.

Well, coming up, a sign of the times -- churches around the country canceling their Christmas Day services. Wait until you hear the reason. One pastor joins me live to explain.

And later, the one and only Charlie Sheen. He is winning ways gave us plenty to talk about this year. We'll recap some of the most memorable celeb moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, for millions of Americans, there are few routines as deeply rooted as going to church on Sunday. But this Sunday, their faith faces a new challenge, because it's Christmas Day. And a lot of churches are actually cancelling Sunday services.

Really? Christmas morning, no church?

Ron McDowell is the pastor of North Metro Church in Atlanta suburb there in Marietta.

And, Rob, you know, we were looking at some of the places that are actually open on Christmas Day. Family Dollar Stores, Walgreen's, CVS, but a church closing on one of the holiest days. I mean, we're talking about Jesus' birthday. Why?

ROB MCDOWELL, PASTOR, NORTH METRO CHURCH: Well, you know, we did this back in 2005. We just saw and talked with a number of people that it would give them an opportunity just to be with their families and we have so many volunteers who give so much week-in and week-out and we just saw what a good opportunity to just say, you know what, let's just do church at home. Let's just spend more time with family.

And specifically in Atlanta, it's just -- it's fast paced and everyone is going, going and this is one day where we could say, you know, we're not -- it's not that we're making much of God on this day, we're having three services on Saturday and they're going to be usually very highly attended. On this day, let's hit pause and just be with each other's families.

PHILLIPS: As you can imagine as soon as the word got out, we found so many comments in response to the articles that came out in the papers. And I just want to get your response. I mean, a lot of people saying things like this.

This came from Steven Rollins. "It's truly sad to see the ignorance of my fellow believers. It was Jesus who said that Sunday was made for man, not men made for Sunday."

Another comment from Alan Byrd (ph). "Do you really need a whole day to open presents? Are your church services so long and there's not time to open presents and attend church services? Are we the lazy nation that can't figure out how to do two things on the same day?"

And a final thought here coming from another person on Twitter. "It's so sad to see that churchgoers know no better and what's worse in that, their pastors aren't teaching them correctly. What is the Fourth Commandment? Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy."

What do you say to folks that are pretty bothered that they can't come to church on this day?

MCDOWELL: Yes. Well, you know, I wouldn't say it's that they can't come to church just a number of churches that aren't open that day. We're just -- we're having church, we're just not having it on that specific day.

And so, you know -- I mean, here's one thing we know. We don't know to be right in this. I mean, I don't think this is an issue of being right and wrong, and -- but we don't need to be right.

And this, you know, the leadership of the church, we just feel that, you know, as talking with our congregation specifically. Last time we did this, it was very well received. So many of our families travel or they just want more time together and what a great opportunity just to be the church, because sometimes, you know, I think people think that being the church or going is just simply going to church.

I think there's -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Final question, Rob. Then on Sunday, how will you celebrate Jesus' birth?

MCDOWELL: Well, my family has a tradition. My wife and girls, we actually bake a lot of cookies and we go out to places where people do work -- gas stations, hotels and restaurants and we just try to bless them and give out cookies and just tell them merry Christmas and God loves them.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's the way Jesus represented his life, right? Giving back to others. What an interesting controversy, needless to say.

Rob McDowell, thanks for joining me this morning.

MCDOWELL: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, coming up, today's trouble spots, as holiday travel ramps up, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

The House is expected to pass a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. It could happen today. As you know, yesterday, Speaker John Boehner agreed to a plan to break the deadlock over the measure.

Disgraced politician John Edwards wants to delay his conspiracy trial because of an unexpected medical issue. It was supposed to start January 30th. Attorneys want 60 more days.

And New Zealand is rocked by a series of powerful earthquakes near an area still recovering from a strong quake in February. Two injuries reported. The airport in Christchurch is now closed.

Well, severe weather is jeopardizing plenty of holiday travel plans on the day before Christmas Eve. Let's go ahead and check in with Holly Firfer. She's at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson Airport.

So, Holly, what's the deal this morning?

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's not too bad this morning. You know, what a difference a day makes. The security lines are long, but they're moving. They take 10 to 20 minutes on average. And it doesn't seem too busy.

But yesterday, totally different story. We had some severe weather that came through here, some thunderstorms that actually shut the airport down for about three hours. That affected 5,200 flights and some could not take off, some couldn't land. And it left a lot of people stranded at the airport overnight.

We talked to a couple of those people early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm supposed to be celebrating Christmas in just like two hours with my family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, my wife is driving over from Tulsa to pick me up because the first two flights out this morning are both full they said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIRFER: And I got to tell you, Kyra, it's not just the people that were stuck at the airport overnight that were affected. You know, a lot of planes got diverted and people had to spend the night else where.

And this morning, when I was walking to the airport, I saw this girl. She was wearing this beautiful, you know, little black dress. She had the heels on and the makeup, and it was about 5:35 this morning and I said, well, you look good.

She said, my boyfriend was supposed to come in last night, he got diverted and now he's coming in this morning and I still wanted to look. And she all got all dolled up and came to get him this morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, I hope they're having a good time.

Holly Firfer, we'll continue to check in with you. Good to see you, Holly.

Well, it's going to be a blue Christmas for a lot of Best Buy customers. The retailer is canceling some online orders.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

So, Alison, what happened?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A big oopsie, that's what happened. Best Buy actually ran out of some products, Kyra. Now, if you want to know if you are the one affected, it could be you if you shopped online on Best Buy during Black Friday weekend and weekend after.

As you can imagine, people are pretty darn upset because here's why -- Best Buy is telling these people now, their orders are out of stock and only two days before Christmas. Good luck going shopping for all that stuff before then. Well, what Best Buy has done at this point is apologized and it's giving affected customers gift cards.

And let's say this wouldn't necessarily hurt Best Buy's bottom line but could turn some of these customers into ex-customers. You know, they may not come back again. There goes the old loyalty -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. How about a quick check of the markets before we head out.

KOSIK: Seeing some green arrows. The Dow is up 31 points. This is after we got some economic data, some numbers on how much people made and missed expectations. We got a separate report on durable goods. That was mixed. So, these mixed reports not weighing on the markets, not just yet. And then, again, we're only a minute into the trading day -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll talk, again. Thanks, Alison.

Well, a winning year for Charlie Sheen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Every great movement begins with one man, and I guess that's me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: But he's not the only celebrity who kept us talking whether it was good or bad this year. We're going to recap come of the biggest celebrity headlines, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And this just in to CNN:

The Senate is now adopting a unanimous consent resolution on the payroll tax bill. The next vote that we're looking for, of course, is from the House which will try to pass its own unanimous consent resolution. That should happen about 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

We will check in on that live. After that, of course, we'll go back to the Senate for final passage. We'll have much more on this at the top of the hour.

We're also waiting for Harry Reid. He's expected to speak in just about 12 minutes, I'm being told. We'll bring that to you, as well.

All right, let's talk Hollywood headlines now, shall we? Lindsay, Kim, Charlie -- they all kept us talking this year and it wasn't all good.

CNN entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter recapped some of the biggest celebrity headlines of 2011.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, Charlie.

SHEEN: All right, guys. Thank you. Thanks for the gift.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No, Charlie, thank you for making 2011 a winning year in celebrity news.

SHEEN: You're awesome.

WYNTER: He put on an awesome display of erratic behavior.

SHEEN: Keep that in mind, phones are built by trolls.

WYNTER: On the web and in interviews most memorably with ABC News.

SHEEN: It's like winning. Can't is the cancer of happen.

WYNTER: Maggie Furlong of HuffPost TV remembers being stunned.

MAGGIE FURLONG, WEST COAST EDITOR, HUFFPOST TV: He was spewing just this absolute crazy, awesome, just nonsense to anyone who would listen.

WYNTER: He insisted he was not addicted to drugs.

SHEEN: I blinked and I cured my brain.

Sheen's verbal spree came in the midst of an epic feud with his bosses at "Two and a Half Men" -- a dispute that eventually got him fired.

By refusing to bow to his employers or convention, he turned himself into something of a folk hero, at least in his own mind.

SHEEN: Every great movement begins with one man and I guess that's me.

WYNTER: But his act began to wear thin when he brought it on the road.

The tour he called his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" earned as many boos as cheers.

(BOOS)

WYNTER: In the fall, "Two and a Half Men" officially killed off Sheen's character.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charlie lived life to its fullest.

WYNTER: Rebuilding the show around Ashton Kutcher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can't be that bad.

ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR: It could be. You don't know.

WYNTER (on camera): Ashton Kutcher soon found himself in the headlines, but for other reasons. A tabloid declared his marriage to Demi Moore was on the rocks. And, sure enough, in November, she revealed it was over.

(voice-over): Photos of Demi seemed to show the toll it was taking on her.

FURLONG: She just seemed so frail, so upset, so heartbroken.

WYNTER: Losing streak didn't end with Ashton and Demi.

In August, Kim Kardashian tied the knot with NBA player Kris Humphries in a fairy tale ceremony seen by millions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The groom was pretty dapper himself.

WYNTER: But just 72 days later, Kardashian announced the marriage was over, leaving some of her fans feeling the whole thing had been a publicity stunt.

FURLONG: People are really upset. They really do feel duped. And you can't really blame them.

WYNTER: Lindsay Lohan spent much of her year walking in and out of court with occasional side trips to the county jail. In January, she was accused of stealing a necklace from a jewelry store. She compounded her problems by failing to keep up with court-ordered community service.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You needed to get off the stick

WYNTER: That earned her a stern rebuke from a judge who ridiculed Lohan from the bench.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, she is supposed to be an actress, from what I hear.

WYNTER: But by year's end, Lohan was back on track with her community service and she had even landed work in the pages of "Playboy".

SHEEN: Everybody wins!

WYNTER: Between the Charlies, the Lindsays, the Kims and all the rest, it was a banner year for the famous says Maggie Furlong.

FURLONG: Celebrities really brought their A-game in 2011. Can we get a break in 2012?

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: You're going to hear from one of the biggest celebrities in the world, J-Lo. She talks with our Alina Cho for our Christmas special, "Big Stars, Big Giving." See how a health scare with one of her twins actually inspired her to give back.

And a little reminder. We are waiting to hear from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Also, waiting for the House to vote. That should be the top of the 10:00 hour on your payroll tax.

Also, offering healthy alternatives where few exist in America's so-called food deserts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of being able to go in the store and always getting chips and cookies and things of that nature, we're trying to provide them with alternative ways of eating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Meet an ex-convict who is giving back to his community, one bite at a time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories across country now.

This Atlanta area woman hopes that these Christmas lights outside her home will actually land her a job. As you can see the lights spell out her one wish for Christmas -- a job in H.R. Lindsay Cox (ph) says that she's received messages on her LinkedIn page as far away as Italy.

In Minnesota, one man says he'll never buy from Best Buy, again. He says that the retailer kept telling him that a computer that he bought on Cyber Monday was on back order. He was finally notified just days before Christmas it wouldn't be available at all. Best Buy has apologized to many of its online customers, and blames the inconvenience on overwhelming demand.

All right. Let's get straight to Senator Harry Reid responding now to your payroll tax bill.

(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE - IN PROGRESS)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: No one in the Senate has been more protective of federal employees than Senator Cardin. When we were doing the negotiations for a long-term deal, one place people were looking is to do some real difficult things to federal employees. I know that Ben will be fair, but not punitive.

Nevada has had unemployment very, very high for a long time, but a state that's been hit really hard by unemployment has also -- is also Rhode Island. And no one in the Senate has been more protective of the unemployed than Jack Reed. He will be my third confrere.

The fourth confrere will be Bob Casey. Bob Casey is chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and this is his bill. The payroll tax holiday extension is Bob Casey's legislation.

I have talked to each of them and they're going to work expeditiously to come up with a long-term arrangement on the payroll tax, on unemployment, of course, and on the doc fix. I have great confidence in them.

I also want to say that most everything we do around here is based on trust. That's how we get things done. And I want everyone to understand how much I appreciate Mitch McConnell sticking by the arrangement, the agreement that we made. I have told him that personally, and I say that to all of you.

When we come back next month, we have a lot of important things to do. I've already talked about the payroll tax package. We have to do that. We can pay for it in many different ways. We have to be somewhat inventive.

During these past few days, I had many calls from my caucus members about ideas they have that would protect the people that need the extra few bucks each month but also save money in the long run.

Unemployment, we have to figure out a way to extend that. This is the first time that we paid for unemployment tax extension, which I did not favor. But a significant number of my own caucus did. So, it's something we had to do. And we're going to continue to fight for the long-term unemployed.

I would hope that we can do something to do something final to get rid of this SGR, this doc fix, so that doctors who take care of the senior citizens don't have to worry every few months as to whether they're not going to get paid the following month.

So those are the -- those are some of the things we certainly have to do.

A couple of other things that are paramount in my mind. The FAA reauthorization, we have to get this done. We've got a short-term extension. This involves the employment of couple hundred thousand new people. Couple of hundred thousand. We made many offers to the House and we have to get this done and forget about all the extraneous stuff and deal with FAA.

The same applies to the very good bill that was reported out of the Environmental Public Works Committee. Very conservative Jim Inhofe and quite progressive Barbara Boxer have come up with an arrangement to extend this for two years, a very, very good bill. I would hope that my colleagues don't play any games with this bill. It is important.

It will, we -- we the short-term extension saved the jobs of more than a million people doing our highway construction. The two-year bill will create new jobs and not just save the jobs. So those are a few things that we have to do.

I hope this Congress has had a very good learning experience especially those who are newer to this body. Everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. That isn't the way things need to be.

People wonder why the approval rating as Congress so low. I don't wonder. It seems that everything we've done this last year has been a knockdown-drag out fight. There is no reason to do that. And if there were not -- and if there were a message received from this last thing we've been through, I would hope, especially, I repeat that new members of the House will understand that legislation is the art of compromise. Consensus building; not trying to push your way through on issues that you don't have the support of the American people.

I repeat what I said earlier. This institution relies on the trust and goodwill to get work done. The American people need this institution to work effectively. We have enormous challenges facing our great country. I indicated earlier that it is certainly true. We have a new year coming very, very quickly.

The working families that we've helped for a couple of months. That's not enough. They sent us to Washington to find ways to make their life a little easier and give them the tools they need to try to get ahead. They didn't send us here to wage partisan battles or settle ideological scores.

So, I say to my colleagues, it is New Year's. Let's put those games aside and make it -- and make it our top priority. Our top priority is not for political advantage, but to get things done. If we are able to get things done, there is -- there is lots of credit to go around to everybody. But conversely, if we don't get things done, there is criticism that spills off on everyone. Let's show the American people that despite our differences we can tackle the big challenges that stand before us. The stakes are really too high for us to do anything else.

We have to take questions. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, in looking forward to 2012. There are 21 Democratic seats in the Senate up for election. How is this tax cut extension communicate to voters in those seats that are up for election?

REID: Well, I think that has been pretty well done by all of you in the last week or ten days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Republicans on taxes, how does this set you up for what's going to probably be a battle in February when you talk about extending this payroll tax for a full year and how does it set you up for the tough negotiations over the Bush tax cuts in December of next year?

REID: Well, I think the first thing we'll do rather than worry about the Bush tax cuts being extended, which I'm not worried about that at this stage. We have work at hand, I've gone over some of the things that are on -- on my mind, but Senator McConnell and I have talked. One of the things we want to try to do is get our appropriation bills done at a reasonable time rather than -- not worry about this (INAUDIBLE), which was very difficult this time.

As I've indicated, tried to this morning, I would hope this experience that everyone has had is an experience that are going to make us better legislators.

PHILLIPS: Save money in the long run and protect those who need the cash right now. You're listening to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid there. The Senate passing the payroll tax cut extension as you know the top of the 10:00 hour Eastern Time. The House also expected to pass it's this two months extension. And we'll carry it live.

Quick break. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: All right. We're following lots of developments the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Kate Bolduan on the Hill -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kyra. One chamber down, one to go after this bruising battle over extending the payroll tax cut. The House is set to take it up at the top of the next hour. We'll bring that to you.

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Holly Firfer in Atlanta, at the nation's busiest airport. We'll let you know how things are going on this heavy holiday travel day in the next hour.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Admit it, do you shop online while at work. But guess how much time people are actually spending shopping while working? I'm going to have details coming up.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys. Thanks.

Also next hour their engagement video went viral. Now the happy couple is married and they join me in studio for an update.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Want to let you know we are waiting for that House vote on the payroll tax cut deal. It's expected at the top of the hour, just minutes away. We will take that live.

Well, sometimes what people need in the way of help is not so extraordinary. They just need an opportunity. That's what D.C. Central Kitchen is all about, helping people who are having a hard time convert their lives through food.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shall return. This should be enough. We're in Washington, D.C. Early on in my life I get it out of watching too many adventure movies.

Robbing banks. That was a thrill. I was running from the feds. We just would rob whatever bank we could. Finally they caught up with us. They gave me 20 years. When I did get out things were different. I just didn't feel as though I was a part of society. Thanks to D.C. Central Kitchen for opportunities that they gave me.

They actually changed my life. So I began my transformation.

BRIAN MACNAIR, D.C. CENTRAL KITCHEN: The thing that's unique about D.C. Central Kitchen, it is a community kitchen. We make 5,000 meals everyday and they go out to breakfast meals on the street. All the city shelters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We're in business.

MCNAIR: And with that meal goes the message that back at home in our kitchen is a 14-week program that will get men and women back on their feet with a culinary job training program. And they leave with jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I begin the day. I come in and I get my route sheet. I got two, four, six.

MACNAIR: Healthy Corners is an interesting program. I think since the last five years there has been a big focus on healthier meals for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm making a significant difference in the community by providing these items.

MACNAIR: There's been an interest in getting this healthy product into the corner stores that are in the food deserts all around D.C. Food desert is an area where they do not have access to good, local product.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of going in the store always getting chips and cookies and things of that nature, we're trying to provide them with alternative ways of eating.

MACNAIR: Bo's been a friend of mine for a long time. I remember him coming through as a student. And he's been through every aspect of the kitchen. Bo worked in catering, Bo worked in production line. We thought he was the perfect candidate to really take on Healthy Corners because he knows the community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what it's all about, fresh product.

MACNAIR: When you're around someone long enough who's changing their life and you see that change and they're becoming a better person, it makes you want to do the same in your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And be sure to watch CNN's "GIVING IN FOCUS" special at 4:30 Eastern Christmas Day hosted by our Tom Foreman.