Page 2 - Sequester Spending Cuts News Today

Presidential ive got to ask you about another bit of news. were learning the president is returning part of his salary to help those impacted by the sequester spending cuts. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: thats right. president obama will be giving 5% of his salary back to the treasury every month. retroactive to march 1st. so im hearing that hes going to cut the first check this month. the white house saying that this is to show solidarity with the workers who will be furloughed,...

All right. so, how about that? if youre one of the millions of americans waiting on getting your tax return back the irs says it is slowly catching up with their work. last minute changes in tax rules delayed the irs. a little bit slow. they have got about 10 days of a backlog. so far the irs has processed more than 77 million returns. are yours among them? are they already in? the average refund is $2827. that is pretty good. down slightly from last year. bill: if you got a refund it is coming ...

Mr. obama said would solve everything and despite the modest sequester spending cuts. thus it is still an important document even if it has no chance of becoming law later this year. kelly odonnell, republicans understand, as well as democrats, that these budgets that are being relieved today really are more political statements than documents that actually have any chance of being signed into law, right? >> if they didnt take their sort of predictable positions they probably would be criticized...

>> the white house. >> reporter: we talked via skype to a sixth grade class from waverly, iowa, just told their white house tour next week has been canceled. how big a deal is it to go to the white house? >> its very important. theyll remember it for the rest of their lives. unfortunately, they might remember this is a sign of their government if they cant go. >> reporter: now theyve launched a facebook campaign. to get the white house open. the message -- >> all: the white house is our house. p...

Obviously one sided and it did feel like they were try too hard to discredit alexander. even areas herself didnt seem to be playing along with it at one point, shep. >> shepard: dominic in los angeles this afternoon, thanks. the homeland security says some lines are getting longer thanks to the manufactured budget crisis. airline executives say they are not seeing any unusual delays for now. the so-called sequester spending cuts kicked in over the weekend after the white house and congress once ...

Troopers -- prison on lock don after prisoners got into a brawl. officers were quickly able to break up the fight. 17 inmates hospital, two staff members hurt. visitations are canceled while the officials investigate what started that fight. our secretary of state handed mohammed morsi $250 million in aid. next up hell meet with mahmoud abbas in the saudi capital today. >>steve: you remember the white houses doomsday scenario if those sequester spending cuts took effect. look at that. presiden...

If congress allows this meat cleaver approach to take place it will jeopardize our military readiness to take place, border controls will see their hours reduced. fbi agents will be furloughed. federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go. air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks, which means more delays at airports across the country. thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off. >> president obama made it real today showing exactly what will b...

Government, and then the sequester spending cuts that have been delayed for 60 days. no one in the republican conference is talking about a default on our sovereign debt. but we do need to use these moments to address the spending explosion that weve seen in the last four years of the obama administration. >> are you saying you want to say debt ceiling, maybe set that aside and focus more on the other two? >> im saying the treasury has more than enough tax receipts every month to pay the interes...

Hows he going to keep those republicans happy? >> he does and hes going to be a lot tougher. were told he may even, as they say, shoot the hostage is the expression that one person used with us. that is has to be willing to go over a cliff, has to be willing to shut down the government, default on debt. in an interview with "the wall street journal" today, speaker boehner says that he thinks that the ultimate leverage with president obama is that republicans are very willing to let the automatic...

Minimum tax, which is patched every year, will be fixed permanently. several tax credits, including ones for children, college tuition and earned income, will be extended for five years. and long-term unemployment benefits will be extended for a year. now, the big issue not addressed, those sequester spending cuts, which are simply being delayed for two months. nbcs capitol hill correspondent kelly odonnell has more on how it went down. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, chris. this...