The Fight is On - ABC News Terms like Civil War have been thrown around now for a while, but the fight between establishment Republicans and the Tea Party is very real and both sides are ready to throw down. Speaker John Boehner has stayed away from directly criticizing those in his caucus who have tried to undermine him, but not anymore. For two days in a row Boehner criticized tea partiers and other outside conservative groups critical of the budget deal. On Thursday he lashed out saying they are "misleading" their followers and have "lost all credibility." Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Chairman, is also hitting back telling ABC "you have to make some common ground decisions to get things done." So, what does the other side think? They think they know what's best for the rest of the country and they want us to just sit down and shut up," Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told ABC News Thursday. And in two op-eds today at Breitbart both Rand Paul and Sarah Palin are fighting back with Paul, a possible 2016 candidate, calling it a "charade" and Palin warning "we'll be watching." As for Ryan he isn't worried about how the deal may affect his presidential prospects. Much more on The Fight in today's Note: "People always say, "Well this could hurt you with your future ambitions,"" Ryan told ABC's JEFF ZELENY. He said it was short-sighted for other potential Republican presidential candidates to assail the agreement, "My job is not to cloud my judgment with personal ambition. It's in the back of my mind." http://abcn.ws/1bzrajj Passing the budget agreement, Ryan told ABC's JEFF ZELENY, was the biggest sign yet that Republicans have learned at least one political lesson from the government shutdown: No more shutdowns next year. "You know you have to, you have to make some common ground decisions to get things done." http://abcn.ws/1bzrajj House Speaker John Boehner, whose strategies have been repeatedly thwarted by Tea Party revolts in recent years, was blunt Thursday when asked whether he thought the ultra-conservatives should get in line. The speaker then lashed out at Tea Party activists. "Well, frankly, I think they're misleading their followers," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters. And frankly, I just think that they've lost all credibility," Boehner said. ABC's ABBY PHILLIP notes, Boehner's frustration is perhaps matched by the fury among tea party conservatives who believe they have been betrayed by conservative leaders in Washington. They think they know what's best for the rest of the country and they want us to just sit down and shut up," Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told ABC News. http://abcn.ws/1fo2Cin and WATCH Boehner's comments here in an ABC News Digital Special Report: http://abcn.ws/1jUksfB TEA PARTY RESPONSE: "It's just another example of D.C. elitism. They think they know what's best for the rest of the country and they want us to just sit down and shut up," Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told ABC NEWS" ABBY PHILLIP. "There can be no reconciliation between those who seek power for power's sake and those who seek to serve in order to restore our Republic." http://abcn.ws/1bAymzd NO DRAMA, NOT EXACTLY: The House voted to pass the bipartisan budget agreement, 332-94, ABC's JOHN PARKINSON reports. While Boehner's defense of the deal has ruffled feathers at the edge of his conference, just 62 Republicans ended up voting in opposition to the bill. Thirty-two Democrats, many of whom felt spurned that the deal excluded an extension to unemployment benefits, voted against the deal as well. The deal was supported by 169 Republicans and 163 Democrats - a healthy majority within each party's ranks in the House. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he will bring theS deal to the floor for a vote next week. The House budget deal offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is a charade. And it is worse than the status quo, which is already an unacceptable level of spending and debt...This is not a budget "deal." It is a surrender. It is a cave in. It is a shame," SEN. RAND PAUL tells BREITBART. http://bit.ly/19m64sy No one can argue with the fact that Paul Ryan's compromise budget bill raises taxes and increases spending...2014 is just around the corner. If any member of Congress thinks raising taxes and increasing wasteful spending is a winning strategy to run on, then by all means they should vote for the Ryan budget. We'll be watching," SARAH PALIN says to BREITBART. http://bit.ly/1dwAFTv WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN, "A POSITIVE STEP FORWARD": "The bipartisan agreement passed by the House today represents a positive step forward for the nation and our economy. The President called on Congress to work together on a budget that grows our economy faster, creates more jobs and makes the investments needed to strengthen the middle class, rather than continue reckless across the board cuts that stifle growth. This bill does not include everything the President called for. But it marks an important moment of bipartisan cooperation and shows Washington can and should stop governing by crisis and both sides can work together to get things done. What explains the Republican establishment's newfound bravery when it comes to tangling with the tea party? Two big things, according to THE WASHINGTON POST'S CHRIS CILLIZZA 1) The tea party is at historic lows in terms of public opinion. In new Gallup polling, just 30 percent of people view the movement favorably; even one in three self-identified conservatives say the dislike the tea party. Condemning unpopular things is, you guessed it, popular. 2) There's safety in numbers. McConnell threw the first stone. But now that other prominent figures within the party are coming forward to say, essentially, enough is enough, it's now become less politically risky to add your voice to that chorus. http://wapo.st/ISPtli The House on Thursday approved a bipartisan budget accord and a Pentagon policy bill that would strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault, THE NEW YORK TIMES" JONATHAN WEISMAN and JEREMY W. PETERS report. But as it wrapped up its business for the year, it left unfinished a major piece of domestic policy - the farm bill - making it likely that Congress will not deal with it until January. Republicans and Democrats hope the budget pact... will act as a truce in the spending battles that have paralyzed Congress for nearly three years, and leaders in both parties sought to marginalize hard-line conservatives opposed to any compromise. The defense measure would, in addition to strengthening protections for military victims of sexual assault, leave open the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, over President Obama's objections. The provisions to stem the growing number of sexual assault cases in the military are the most expansive in years. They would include new rules to prevent commanding officers from overturning sexual assault verdicts. But an agreement remained elusive on the farm bill, the subject of continuing disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over spending for food stamps and expanding crop insurance for farmers, among other issues. All the House could pass on Thursday was a simple one-month extension of the current law, which Senate Democrats oppose because they think it will distract from the completion of a new bill. http://nyti.ms/19GNRlP A presidential advisory committee charged with examining the operations of the National Security Agency has concluded that a program to collect data on every phone call made in the United States should continue, though under broad new restraints that would be intended to increase privacy protections, according to officials with knowledge of the report's contents, THE NEW YORK TIMES" DAVID E. SANGER reports. The committee's report, the officials said, also argues in favor of codifying and publicly announcing the steps the United States will take to protect the privacy of foreign citizens whose telephone records, Internet communications or movements are collected by the N.S.A. But it is unclear how far that effort would go, and intelligence officials have argued strenuously that they should be under few restrictions when tapping the communications of non-Americans abroad, who do not have constitutional protections under the Fourth Amendment. http://nyti.ms/1fblhgr ABC'S ANN COMPTON reports The White House says the surveillance recommendations have not been delivered to the White House, but they are still expected by Sunday, December 15th. President Obama is certain to preserve - but also rein in - the broad NSA surveillance called Prism tracking billions of phone calls Secretary of State John Kerry was back in Jerusalem and Ramallah overnight for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports, returning less than a week after his last visit to follow up on meetings about security plans under a Palestinian statehood deal. Kerry will then travel to Vietnam and the Philippines, where he'll survey typhoon relief efforts. It's been constructive. It's always complicated," Kerry said before meeting with Netanyahu today. ABC's JEFF ZELENY: What explains the overwhelming House vote on the budget deal? It's the most telling sign yet that House Republicans learned a lesson from the government shutdown and are eager to avoid a repeat episode. Speaker John Boehner and his team were pushing for a big margin and they got one: 332 to 94. Call it a course correction from the House action this fall that led to the 16-day shutdown. But with Tea Party and outside conservative groups still strongly opposed to the deal, will any House Republicans get new primary challengers now, after Senate Republicans spend next week bashing this deal? ABC'S CHRIS GOOD: The State Dept. had set an aggressive, nine-month timeline for reaching a deal on Palestinian statehood, but a senior administration official traveling with John Kerry to the region acknowledged that a preliminary, framework agreement is more likely: "We don't expect that there would be a final status agreement, a treaty, by April 29th. So obviously, if we had a framework agreement at some point between now and then ... we hope to get that done as soon as possible, you'd have to extend the deadline in order to allow for negotiation of the actual final status agreement. ABC's RICK KLEIN: The last big vote of 2013 might be the most consequential in 2014. That holds true not just in Republican primaries - though the stark warning, from Sarah Palin on down, that "we'll be watching," suggests that it will matter there quite a bit. Of the seven House Republicans seeking Senate seats next year, six voted "no" on the budget deal. There's also importance in the precedence: This was the moment House Speaker John Boehner declared independence from the outside groups that have had outsized influence on the Hill. Of course, in most issue areas, House Republican leaders" interests align rather well with the groups that can claim some responsibility for delivering them to and keeping them in power. But now that it's been done once, Boehner will come under tremendous pressure to again represent the broader interests of the Republican Party, rather than the voices pushing the GOP consistently rightward. Immigration, anyone? THIS WEEK ON "THIS WEEK": As hotspots flare across the globe, from North Korea to Iran to Syria, ABC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz travels to Vietnam with Secretary of State John Kerry, only on "This Week" Sunday. And our powerhouse roundtable tackles the battle over the budget and all the week's politics, with ABC News" Cokie Roberts, University of California, Berkeley professor and former Clinton Labor secretary Robert Reich, former House speaker and CNN "Crossfire" co-host Newt Gingrich, and Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro. Plus, New York Times investigative reporter Andrea Elliott discusses "Invisible Child," her compelling five-part portrait of Dasani, one of New York City's 22,000 homeless children. Be sure to use #ThisWeek when you tweet about the program. Tune in Sunday: http://abcnews.go.com/thisweek "This Week" Quiz - Dan Pfeiffer: http://abcn.ws/18G8LEM When Mitt Romney lost the election to President Obama last year, Ann Romney turned to her love of cooking to help get her mind off politics. Now, one year later, the wife of the former Republican presidential candidate has published a cookbook, "The Romney Family Table," in which she shares some of her favorite family recipes and stories. And during an interview with "The Fine Print," with ABC's JEFF ZELENY, Romney demonstrated how to prepare some of her favorite Christmas cookies at D.C. hotspot, Fiola. "It's all about love," Romney said when asked why she wrote the book. "I mean cooking for me is about love and maybe it was a cathartic healing thing for me to do after a campaign, you know, because it's pretty bruising." http://yhoo.it/19GFQ0p In a downtown Washington bar and lounge Thursday night, the more than 450 Hillary Clinton supporters who gathered for the pro-Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary D.C. kickoff event could hardly wait for 2016.The pro-Clinton super PAC, founded by longtime Clinton supporters, including Iowa and Virginia backers, has been ratcheting up its activities since coming into existence shortly after Clinton left her post as secretary of state in February. The process has involved bringing old Clinton supporters and fundraisers into the fold, as well as investing former Obama staff in the effort of building a Hillary Clinton grassroots base that can match or perhaps exceed the one President Obama's campaign put together in 2008 and 2012.The campaign itself is at least another year away from starting, but you almost wouldn't know it. http://abcn.ws/1dbh76O Secretary of State John Kerry is in the Middle East, trying to maintain Israeli/Palestinian peace talks during a rare snowstorm for the region, ABC'S CHRIS GOOD reports. In Ramallah yesterday, the heaviest snowfall in 50 years forced him to cut short a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, so Kerry could get back to Israeli territory (where he's staying) before the border closed. State Dept. spokesman Glen Johnson recounted some help from a Palestinian snow plow: "Kerry's Diplomatic Security team shuffled the staff into a caravan of four-wheel drive Chevy Suburbans, but in the blinding snow, their path home was cleared only by a Palestinian front-end loader. The driver held open his driver's-side door with his left hand, stuck his head out to see, and used his right hand to steer all the way from Ramallah to the Israeli border - pushing aside the snow as he went. Israeli police picked up the group on the other side and brought it home. One soldier saved the life of another, keeping his comrade calm after he had been shot and paralyzed during a firefight. It came during some of the worst fighting American troops had seen in the Iraq war. Ten years had gone by since the two had seen each other. Tomas Young was just 24 years old when he was paralyzed from the chest down by a sniper's bullet in 2004, less than a week after he arrived in Iraq. Robert Miltenberger, the 38-year-old staff sergeant, kept Young alive, but also calm in battle by telling him a compassionate lie. Young was medevaced out of Iraq shortly after being wounded. Young and Miltenberger would not see each other again until ABC News recently brought them together, along with their wives, for a reunion in Portland, Ore. Read about their reunion http://abcn.ws/1b1PwSN and watch NIGHTLINE tonight to see the story from ABC's MARTHA RADDATZ. The Senate has worked continuously since 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ notes which adds up to over 42 straight hours. Republicans did not back down Thursday, spending hours speaking about everything from their displeasure with the rules change to the failures of Obamacare. "We're wasting all this time post-cloture." http://abcn.ws/1bzrajj Press Secretary Jay Carney got an earful Thursday from a frustrated White House press corps, as reporters revolted against what they described as limited access to President Obama, reports ABC's MARY BRUCE. And you know, we're obviously going to continue to do that." http://abcn.ws/1e8GICn Vice President Joe Biden has been known to provide fodder for the late-night shows with a well-timed gaffe or two, but at an awards ceremony last night, it was a furry blue Muppet who was the comic relief, ABC's MATT LAROTONDA reports. When Grover, in a skit before the ceremony, spotted Biden with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the audience, he couldn't help making a comment on the current state partisan politics. Sitting together? Grover said. Awkward. But the night's star was Biden, who was honored by an array of dignitaries for his contributions to international diplomacy. http://abcn.ws/1kFAjw9 In a nod to the challenges that many Americans are facing in the transition to new health plans under the Affordable Care Act, the White House Thursday announced some modest steps to provide relief for particularly at-risk consumers, ABC'S DEVIN DWYER reports. No immediate fix, however, for Americans outside that plan. http://abcn.ws/1j18DWZ They say I did a good job and should enter the public arena again ... the number of inquiries have increased in the past few months," said Fossella...For his part, Grimm shot back in a statement provided to ABC News, saying, "As an independent voice for Staten Island and Brooklyn, my job is to fight for what's best for my district. "Baseless rumors will not keep me from focusing on my work in Congress and fighting for the people I proudly represent," he added. http://abcn.ws/1dasDiI ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ reports, the complaint alleges that between November 2010 and March 2011, Loskarn purchased child porn from a video company in Toronto, Canada, which mailed DVDs to his home. In October 2013, the U.S. Postal Inspector Service "identified Loskarn's residential IP address on the Gnutella peer-to-peer network offering files with names that are consistent with child pornography broadcasting as a download candidate," according to the complaint. http://abcn.ws/Jjy3j4 ABC's ALYSSA NEWCOMB notes, the photograph of Oreck, who wore a long-sleeve shirt and tie, was apparently taken in a 230-degree room at the Finnish Sauna Society in Helsinki. http://abcn.ws/1byMS79 It was a catchy political pitch and a chance to calm nerves about his dramatic and complicated plan to bring historic change to America's health insurance system. "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," President Barack Obama said - many times - of his landmark new law. But the promise was impossible to keep. So this fall, as cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama's breezy assurances were wrong. Boiling down the complicated health care law to a soundbite proved treacherous, even for its promoter-in-chief. Obama and his team made matters worse, suggesting they had been misunderstood all along. The stunning political uproar led to this: a rare presidential apology. For all of these reasons, POLITIFACT has named "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," the Lie of the Year for 2013. Readers in a separate online poll overwhelmingly agreed with the choice. For four of the past five years, PolitiFact's Lie of the Year has revolved around the health care law, which has been subject to more erroneous attacks than any other piece of legislation PolitiFact has fact-checked. http://bit.ly/1bIzuBy ABC's LUIS MARTINEZ writes, that seizure prompted an end of U.S non-lethal assistance to rebels in that part of Syria to prevent it from getting into the hands of extremist rebels. At a Pentagon news conference, Hagel said "we continue to support General Idris and the moderate opposition, and we are going to continue to help in the humanitarian area, which we have been doing consistently." http://abcn.ws/JjduTO North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un Executed His "Worse Than a Dog" Uncle The North Korean official publicly purged by Kim Jong-un was set up by his own wife and has since been executed, according to experts and the North Korean state news agency, ABC'S JOOHEE CHO reports. The news agency said the country was outraged by the allegations that Jang betrayed the trust of Kim Jong-un and his later father Kim Jong-il, referred to as "peerlessly great men." "Against the backdrop of these shouts rocking the country, a special military tribunal... was held on December 12 against traitor for all ages Jang Song Thaek," KCNA reported in a story that was headlined "Traitor Jang Song Thaek Executed." Jang's execution was announced as fresh details emerged about Kim's surprising public purging of his uncle from a top position which indicate it was a family affair with his aunt and brother, armed with a pistol, taking part in the arrests of ranking officials. http://abcn.ws/1kDXKWH Huckabee says he may make another run for GOP presidential nod by THE WASHINGTON POST'S KAREN TUMULTY Add another name to the list of potential GOP presidential contenders for 2016. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee - the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, who took a pass on the 2012 presidential race - says he might be willing to give it another try. In an interview Thursday night, Huckabee said he is receiving encouragement to run "from places where I never got it before." That includes "business, people some would maybe call the establishment," he added. Both groups were adversaries in his 2008 bid, which caught fire in Iowa, but sputtered in later contests where he lacked money and organization...Although Huckabee enjoys strong support among conservative Christians, he sounded a much broader message. What is driving him, he said, is "a sense in which I really believe the key to a Republican victory is an ability to communicate a message that speaks across a broader spectrum. One of our failures is the ability to speak to African-Americans, to speak to Hispanics, to speak to working class people - more than just speaking to the board room, speaking to the people who go in and clean up after the meeting." http://wapo.st/18IzCjx Chris Van Hollen Hopes Budget Deal Boosts Immigration Reform by The HUFFINGTON POST'S JON WARD. Chris Van Hollen paused several beats, and took a deep breath. "I have to say, unfortunately, there are not many highlights" from the last year, he said Thursday. The Maryland congressman, one of the top Democratic leaders in the House, was stumped. In fact, let me think about a highlight. Hmmmm. What would be a highlight of the last year? Finally, seated in his Capitol Hill office, Van Hollen settled on an answer. Look, at the beginning of the year we avoided what was called the fiscal cliff. You know, the agreement I think it was satisfactory. We might have been able to do better," he said. And that about sums it up. The only semi-positive thing Van Hollen could name was passed on the first day of the year after an ugly and contentious process. Van Hollen, in his 10th year as a congressman and a leading candidate to be speaker of the House someday, did not mince words about why 2013 has been a downer. What would be the low point? Well it wasn't a congressional action. It was the very rocky rollout of the Web-based exchanges in the ACA," he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act. http://huff.to/1dbizpM DNC Video: Chris Christie's Bridge Scandal Explained Watch the Video Here @MarthaRaddatz: Getting ready for @gma this morning from Vietnam pic.twitter.com/EcDJTqoMA8 @leffron831: Incredible story 10 yrs in the making on @Nightline: Two Soldiers, Scarred by the Same Battle, Reunite http://abcn.ws/1b1PwSN @betsy_klein: Christmas came early: Beyonce Surprises Fans With New Album on iTunes http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/12/beyonce-surprises-fans-with-new-album-on-itunes/#.UqsGV6nV-Nw.twitter ... via @abc @moorehn: Good piece on WH cutting out news photographers" access RT @andrewmendelson: Obama's Orwellian Image Control http://nyti.ms/1h0BwOE @AlecMacGillis: Naming names, one year after #Newtown and eight months after The Vote: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115913/newtown-anniversary-six-politicians-who-opposed-gun-control ...