beard but we all would have feared that beard. >> what about the red thong? never mind. >> don't want to go there. do not want to go there. see you at 6:00. do not go there. >> couri ht, fall from gr >> house has resolved that representative charles rangel of new york be censured. >> couric: i'm katie couric. also tonight, wikileaks founder julian assange still on the run. as sweden's highest court upholds his arrest warrant, his supporters threaten that pay- back will be a flood of new information. in focus, the battle over taxes from president to president to president to president, it's an american tradition. and a vietnam vet gives this country's returning war heroes the welcome home he never got. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this

is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. it was painful for him and for everyone watching. veteran congressman charles rangel was censured today by the house of representatives despite his last-minute plea for a lesser punishment for financial misconduct. censure is a formal condemnation and the new york democrat is the first house member to be censured since 1983, one of 23 in the history of the nation. congressional correspondent nancy cordes was there. >> the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, kindly appear in the well. >> reporter: it was a shaken speaker pelosi who read the resolution censuring her longtime ally, 80-year-old charles rangel, as he stood in the well of the house. >> council and the committee found no evidence at all of corruption. >> by a large.

>> the censure >> if expulsion is the equivalent of the death penalty, then censure is life imprisonment. >> reporter: last month a house panel found the former ways and means chair guilty of 11 violations including failing to report hundreds of thousands in assets, improperly using rent- controlled apartments in new york, and failing to pay taxes on his villa in the dominican republic for 17 years. >> it brought discredit to the house when this member with great responsibility for tax policy did not fully pay his taxes for many years. >> reporter: several members, democrats and republicans, pleaded that the punishment be downgraded to a reprimand, the kind of slap on the wrist congressman joe wilson received after shouting, "you lie" during a presidential address last year. >> and i ask you to consider a dozen factors-- his age, 80 years of age, combat military services three year as a volunteer, bronze star, purple heart. >> reporter: perhaps seeking sympathy rangel also invoked his 60-year-old war record. >> i was wounded and had no

thoughts i would be able to survive. >> reporter: the last time a censure was issued was 27 years ago to jerry studds of massachusetts from engaging in sexual relations with teenage congressional pages. >> i brought it on myself, but i still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness. >> reporter: if there is a silver lining for mr. rangel, it's that this two-and-a-half year ordeal is now over. there are no criminal charges against him and he easily won reelection last month. katie. >> couric: nancy cordes on capitol hill. thank you, nancy. now turning to wikileaks. the web site posted even more sensitive documents today including more eye-opening diplomatic cables. in these, u.s. diplomats complain of overwhelming corruption in afghanistan. they claim nearly every afghan government official is skimming money from american-funded projects. meanwhile, wikileaks founder

julian assange is still in hiding tonight but authorities may be ready to swoop in and arrest him. elizabeth palmer has the latest. >> reporter: the legal net is tightening around julian assange. today, sweden's highest court turned down his appeal which means an international warrant for his arrest in a sexual assault case is valid, although he hasn't yet been contacted by authorities. >> he has obviously read, like everybody else, about the allegations that are in the media. he's read about interpol notices he's read about warrants but nobody's actually been in touch with him or any of his legal team. >> reporter: british police, who would carry out the arrests, say they haven't yet because the warrant wasn't correctly filed. julian assange is one of the most reviled, or depending on your point of view, revered men on earth. tonight, he's in hiding somewhere in or around london, and we're told working hard to keep the wikileaks site up and

running. the site's come under multiple cyber attacks from hackers in the past few days. but assange and his team stayed one step ahead and they have a backup plan. supporters of wikileaks around the world are downloading a file the site calls an insurance policy. the file's encrypted with a code so strong it's unbreakable, even by governments. but if anything happens to assange or the web site, a key will go out to unlock that file and there would be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies. >> what most folks are speculating is that the insurance file contains unreleased information that would be especially embarrassing to the u.s. government if it were released. >> reporter: in other words, the arrest warrant may eventually stop assange but not the spread of even more, wiki-secrets.

elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. >> couric: back in washington, it appears a compromise may be in the works on extending those bush tax cuts, but first the majority of democrats in the lame duck house fired one parting shot today with a purely symbolic vote to deny a cut to the highest income earners. here's our chief white house correspondent chip reid. >> the motion is adopted. >> reporter: on a mostly party line vote, house democrats today passed president obama's plan to extend the bush-era tax cuts only for couples making less than $250,000 a year and individuals making less than $200,000. but the plan has no chance in the senate. some republicans called the vote a political charade. republican speaker-to-be john boehner was more blunt. >> it's chicken crap-- all right? >> reporter: the real action on capitol hill is behind closed doors where administration officials are meeting with republicans to find a compromise. if they fail, all tax rates will rise in january. on another burning issue,

involving trillions of dollars, the president's bipartisan debt commission votes tomorrow on a plan to cut deficits by $3.9 trillion over the next nine years with a combination of painful spending cuts and tax hikes. of the commission's 18 members, nine have said they'll vote yes, four no, and five are undecided, making it unlikely they'll get the 14 votes it takes to send the plan to congress. boehner, using more of his colorful language, made light of the entire plan when asked if he would bring it up next year. >> if ands and buts were candy and nuts every day would be christmas. >> reporter: back on the tax cuts, sources say the most likely compromise is extending all of the cuts for two or three years but today the white house said any reports that a deal is near are premature and inaccurate. katie. >> couric: chip reid reporting from the white house tonight. thank you, chip. so how did the bush tax cuts come to be in the first place? we'll have a look back at how we got here a little bit later in the program.

with the national debt close to $14 trillion, extending those tax cuts is one of the tough choices facing congress right now. another is whether to raise taxes on gasoline. gas now averages $2.86 a gallon, that includes about 18.5 cents in federal taxes. the president's debt commission is proposing an additional tax that would raise the price another 15 cents. in this economy, drivers are hurting, but as cbs news correspondent bill whitaker in los angeles reports: so are the roads. >> reporter: the challenge-- how to maintain america's deteriorating freeways, bridges, and transit systems without driving the federal deficit further into the ditch? the country's interstates and urban transit are supported by a federal gas tax adding 18 cents a gallon to gas many americans find too high already. >> it's just getting really expensive. >> reporter: the gas tax raised $30 billion last year, but the government spent almost $38

billion on highway construction and maintenance. congress had to pump in $7 billion adding to the deficit. why the shortfall? when the tax was revved up in 1956, americans were driving gas guzzlers. today, we're more fuel efficient with hybrids on the road, electric cars in showrooms, and in this recession, americans are driving less, 14.7 billion fewer miles than in 2006. brandi hall used to drive 100 miles round trip to work. because of high gas prices, she now takes the train. >> i did the calculations and i save probably between $200, $300 a month. >> reporter: it's all good for the environment, but buying less gas means fewer tax dollars for highways and transit. there are three choices and they're tough. one: do nothing and continue deficit spending. or two: sharply cut funding putting our infrastructure at risk. or three: as presidential

deficit commission proposes, raise the gas tax another 15 cents a gallon to fund our transportation needs. >> don't raise the gas. come on! >> reporter: if we don't, expect highway funds to fall $34 billion short over the next six years, 2.3% of the current federal deficit. bill whitaker, cbs news, los angeles. >> couric: if you'd like to weigh in on the tough choices facing the country, you can go to cbsnews.com. let us know if you think the gas tax should be raised or not. here's what some of you have told us about other tough choices. you're 60-40 in favor of cutting the f-35 stealth fighter. by two-to-one you favor extending jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, and more than 70% of you say leave medicare alone. coming up next on the "cbs evening news," the story behind the bush tax cuts. we'll put it in focus when we come back.

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thank you for calling usa pmy name peggy. peggy, yes, i'd like to redeem my reward points for a gift card. tell points please? 250,000. calculating... ooh! answer: five fifty! 550 bucks?! 5 dollar, 50 cents. minus redeeming charge. leaving 50 cents. say what? happy time! what kind of program is this? want better rewards? switch to discover. america's number 1 cash rewards program. it pays to discover. >> couric: ever since the colonists dumped tea into boston harbor, americans have been fighting over taxes. so the battle going on right now over extending those bush tax cuts is in keeping with the proud tradition, and tonight we put it all in focus. >> the president is going to have a big fight over tax cuts during their administration. >> couric: from the man who gave us reagan-nomics.

>> our bill calls for a 5% reduction in the income tax rates.... >> couric: who in 1981 cut tax rates by a whopping 23% at a cost to the government of over $750 billion. >> ronald reagan started with a boom. a tax cut for everyone. but then over the course of his two terms, he raised taxes more times than he cut them. >> you got to tell the truth. >> couric: to the first president bush, whose famous promise... >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> couric: ...was broken 14 months later. >> bush had to go back on that pledge, he had to raise taxes. that hurt him with republicans, which went on to hurt him in the general election. >> then he gave us the second biggest tax increase in american history. >> couric: when bill clinton took office in 1993, he faced a $300 billion deficit. he cut government spending by $247 billion and raised taxes on top earners.

that move and later tax cuts resulted in a budget surplus by 1998. in 2000, there was still a $230 billion surplus. george w. bush campaigned on giving some of that money back to the people. >> the younger bush went around telling people, "look, i'm more like ronald reagan than my father." and at the time the budget was in surplus, so the tax cut didn't seem like such a bad idea. >> the people of america have been overcharged. and on their behalf, i'm here asking for a refund. >> the democrats were calling it an abomination. they were calling it unfair. >> couric: unfair because, they argued, the cuts favored the rich. >> if you're a millionaire under the bush tax cut, you get a $46,000 tax cut, more than enough to pay for this lexus. but if you're a typical working

person, you get $227, and that's enough to buy this muffler. >> there were about a dozen democrats who in the end voted for the president's tax cut plan, there was a lot of pressure. >> couric: in a rare memorial day session, the senate passed bush's $1.3 trillion tax cut plan, lowering tax rates 3% to 5% in all income brackets, phasing out the estate tax, reducing the marriage penalty, and doubling the per-child credit to $1,000. >> the first broad tax relief in a generation. >> couric: the end result was bipartisan. but democratic support came with one condition-- that the tax cuts expire in ten years. calls for more cuts followed in 2003. president bush proposed reducing taxes on capital gains and dividends, but these were

costlier times. >> by 2003, we were fighting two wars in iraq and afghanistan, spending was on the rise, and even some republicans opposed-- this round of tax cuts. >> couric: on may 23, 2003, vice president dick cheney cast the deciding vote, breaking a 50-50 tie, pushing forward a second round of cuts with the provision that they, too, expire at the end of 2010. >> are you prepared to take the oath, senator? >> i am. >> when obama first came to office, he did not understand, nobody understood, how bad things were. >> by the time i took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. >> couric: and while those annual deficits added up to a now skyrocketing $14 trillion debt, the economic climate got even worse.

the administration believed a devastating recession and high unemployment demanded immediate attention. >> so what the president decided right up front was that the number one priority was to stimulate growth quickly. >> the stimulus package was supposed to lead us to a robust recovery. that hasn't happened. the issue here is if you don't extend the tax cuts, will that damage the hope of the recovery strengthen? >> couric: most degree tax cuts will remain for the middle class. at issue is whether those cuts will stay put for higher earners. if they expire, couples making between $200,000 and $500,000 a year can expect to pay $700 to $1,000 more in federal taxes annually. if all the bush tax cuts end for the top 2% of earners, $700 billion will be added to government coffers, helping to ease the debt. if all the cuts stay in place, the deficit will soar by $3.7

trillion over ten years. >> this election has just changed the political calculation here, and it's probably going to be impossible for the president to get his way. >> couric: is compromise a possibility? it depends on who you ask. >> there must be some sensible common ground. >> we're looking forward to the conversation with the white house over extending all of the current rates and i remain optimistic. >> couric: one democratic proposal says let the tax cuts expire for those making over $1 million, but a senior white house official told us that's not really in play. so to be continued. she felt lost...

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woman: really? appraiser: it's just beautiful, thank you so much for bringing it in. woman: unbelievable anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. >> couric: israel is boothing a huge fire spreading through the kormanle forest and reportedly >> couric: israel is battling a huge fire spreading through the carmel forest and reportedly heading toward haifa where there's a large oil refinery. at least 40 prison guards were killed while racing to rescue inmates from the fire zone. their bus caught fire and they burned to death. israel has appealed for international help and at least 20 fire-dousing planes are on their way from other countries in the area. in this country, 200 drivers were stranded by a snowstorm overnight along a stretch of i- 90 near buffalo. tonight, they're still working to free snow-bound drivers. elaine quijano is in west seneca which got almost three feet of snow. >> reporter: police say the last of the motorists trapped on this stretch of highway behind me here will be evacuated by tonight, but dozens of other motorists in cars and trucks are

still stuck at this hour. authorities worked all night trying to keep snow-bound motorists warm and hydrated. they brought food and fuel. no injuries were reported. many of the motorists, including this college basketball team, are still trapped tonight. this mess started when a jackknifed tractor trailer blocked the road. drivers in both directions were trapped by heavy snowfall that made it impossible to move. right now, the snow is still falling, and it is expected to continue falling through tomorrow. parts of interstate 90 remain closed at this time. elaine quijano, cbs news, west seneca, new york. no, cbs news, west seneca, new york. not wash. power wash. ok. whoa. [ female announcer ] life comes with headaches and that's when people reach for excedrin. excedrin starts relieving headaches faster than extra strength tylenol and advil. the deck looks great. oh, we just washed it.

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[ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. parents are under arrest. next on cbs 5 >> couric: in afghanistan and iraq tonight, american service men and women are risking their lives for their country. when their deployments are up, a fellow veteran has made it his mission to give them a hero's welcome home. mark strassmann has tonight's "american spirit." >> reporter: night or day on the tarmac, walt peters waits in welcome... >> time for budweiser and mamma, now. >> reporter: ...and greets returning soldiers. >> thank you for your service. welcome home. >> reporter: his face is the first face these setting foot again at hunter army airfield near savannah. >> good job. everybody has a gift for something. i'm hoping that my gift is giving back something to my

country. welcome home. >> reporter: since 2004, peters estimates he has greeted or sent off 90,000 soldiers. now 66 and nearly blind, he can't see them, but in them he can see himself, 40 years younger. sergeant walt peters served three tours in vietnam, and in that divisive war, came home to scorn. >> i've had rotten tomatoes thrown at me. it was my hell. by giving a soldier a flag and shaking his hand, that's my heaven. simple as that. >> welcome home. >> reporter: 297 soldiers came home this time, members of the third combat aviation brigade, back from afghanistan. peters and other red cross volunteers offered all of them a u.s. flag and another taste of america-- hot coffee. >> that's okay. >> reporter: to sergeant jean yarbrough, the best cup ever. >> even though it's not espresso

but it's got some the love in it. >> we wanted to give you the heroes' welcome home because you are my hero, girl. >> reporter: inside the hangar, families waited. >> there are some excited families here, right? >> reporter: and peters got ready to step aside for this moment. their soldier was home, safe at last. >> as long as i can breathe and walk, i'm going to be here with these soldiers. >> give me one more hug? >> reporter: to peters, it's the homecoming they deserve... >> daddy! >> reporter: ...the one he always wanted. mark strassmann, cbs news, savannah, georgia. >> couric: and that's the "cbs evening news." i'm katie couric. thanks for watching. i'll see you tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com shot and killed on his second birthday. why two parents are under arrest tonight. complaints about bogus bills and dangerous ways. tonight a major decision on the fate of smartmeters. and they were convicted for leaving the bay bridge by police order. so will they have to pay? good evening, i'm allen martin. >> i'm dana king. today was his second birthday. tonight a little boy is dead shot in the head in a tragic accident. the shooting happened this morning inside an apartment in the east bay. mike sugerman is in antioch where the parents are under arrest tonight. mike. >> reporter: how much sorrow can one family bear? violence seems to be following them