And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Brown battle lines were drawn at either end of pennsylvania avenue today over the National Debt and government spending. The opening shots came from president obama at his white house News Conference. I thought it might make sense to take some questions this week as my first term comes to an end. Brown the questions were dominated by the looming debt ceiling fight. The president sternly warned republicans not to balk at raising the nations borrowing limit. They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the american economy. The financial well being of the American People is not leverage to be used. The full faith and credit of the United States of america is not a bargaining chip. And they better choose quickly because time is running short. Brown congress has until march to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a government default. Most republicans have insisted that with the government facing another trillion dollar deficit this year, any increase in Borrowing Authority must be tied to cuts in spending. The president flatly disagreed. I want to be clear about this. The debt ceiling is not a question of authorizing more spending. So while im willing to compromise and find Common Ground over how to reduce our deficits, america cannot afford another debate with this congress about whether or not they should pay the bills theyve already racked up. Brown the 2011 standoff between the president and republicans over the debt ceiling led the nation to the bryning of national default. Standard and poors even lowered its rating on u. S. Government bonds. Today, president obama said any repeat performance would be, quote, irresponsible. If the goal is to make sure that we are being responsible about our debt and our deficit, if thats the conversation were having, im happy to have that conversation. What i will not do is to have that negotiation with a gun at the head of the American People. Brown at the same time, the president rejected urgings by some democrats that he raised the debt ceiling on his own authority. Republicans were quick to answer the chief executives criticism. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said in a statement the president and his allies need to get serious about spending and the debt limit debate is the perfect time for it. And speaker of the house john boehner said the consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved. The spending and debt issues took most of the president s attention today, but he also turned to the issue of gun violence. After the shootings at an Elementary School in newtown connecticut, he appointed Vice President biden to come up with recommendations for action. The Vice President met with lawmakers today and with groups on both sides of the issue last week. Plans to submit proposals by tomorrow. President obama would not discuss specifics today. Instead he said this. Im confident that there are some steps that we can take that dont require legislation and that are within my authority as president. And where you get a step that has the opportunity to reduce the possibility of gun violence, then i want to go ahead and take it. Brown he conceded that a fight in congress is likely but he hopes that some compromise is is possible. The issue here is not whether or not we believe in the second amendment. The issue is are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in newtown cant walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children . In a shockingly rapid fashion. And surely we can do something about that. Brown also today the president took the opportunity to defend his efforts to work with congress on a host of issues, saying in essence its a twoway street. Most people who know me know im a pretty friendly guy. And i like a good party. When im over here at the congressional picnic and folks are coming up and taking pictures with their family, i promise you michelle and i are very nice to them. We have a wonderful time. But it doesnt prevent them from going under the floor of the house and, you know, blasting me for being a bigspending socialist. Brown the president said hell look for more Common Ground with the new congress. Hes just getting down to work this week. Woodruff this afternoon, treasury secretary tim geithner released a letter he sent to Speaker Boehner warning the u. S. Will run out of its Borrowing Authority between midfebruary and early march. More now on whats behind this brewing battle and the latest threats from both sides. Carol lee covers the white house for the wall street journal. And jake sherman reports about congress for politico. Welcome to you both. Carol lee, to you first. The president basically was repeating today what weve heard him say many times before, that he is not going to negotiate on this debt ceiling, that hes prepared to talk about spending but if he does, its not going to be around this. So why have the News Conference . Well, what happened was in recent days the discussion around the debt limit had really intensified basically on two fronts. You had what really concerned the white house was that the republicans were increasingly beating on this drum that they were going to use the debt limit fight to extract spending cuts. They were going to use it as leverage in some of these upcoming budget debates. On the flip side of that, there were some republicans who were just talking in a way that was very casual about what would happen if the u. S. Decided not to raise the debt limit and defaulted so some of its obligations. That raised alarm here at the white house. Then on the other side you had democrats who were pressuring the president to find a way to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling through executive power. What the president tried to do today was squash all of that and say theres only one solution to this. I will not negotiate over the debt ceiling. Congress has to do its job. Woodruff when it comes to the republicans jake sherman, youve been talking to some of the folks on the hill. They were digging in their heels just as much as the president was. What was their reaction . I think they have. They see this situation as three big issues the government funding issue. That runs dry at the end of march. The debt ceiling. And these automatic spending cuts that take hold at the beginning of march. They want to use these opportunities. They dont think its so bad to shut down the government or to default on the debt. They are even skeptical of the administrations estimates of when that will happen. So they see themselves really having very little leverage besides doing something which a lot of americans would consider extreme which is defaulting on the debt or shutting down the government. Now i think its virtually impossible that Speaker John Boehner will raise the debt ceiling without commensurate spending cuts. Hes way too far out on a limb on that prospect. So its going to be one of these huge battles its going to be something where one side has to blink first or the issues have to kind of meld together in a way that Speaker Boehner or president obama has a fig leaf in order to get this done. Woodruff jake, what about the president s argument today . He said this several times. He said this is not about were doing the debt ceiling in order to authorize more spending. He said it is about congress paying off the bills that its already incurred. That argument is the same one that white house used in 2011. It didnt sit well with House Republicans then. Theyve been saying for years whatever the reality is at the white house and whatever the president tries to say theyve been saying for years that the nation has a spending problem not a taxation problem. Its very difficult for them to reverse that. They see this as the popular option. One of their internal polls showed that 74 of americans believe in Speaker Boehners approach and not the president s. So theyre really not moving out of their corner. Theyre as far out as they can be on this. Woodruff carol lee, what is the white house preparing to do if republicans do what jake says theyre going to do which is just say no . Right now theyre saying that there isnt a planb on those terms. The treasury has created a plan that basically could do certain things if congress didnt raise the debt ceiling it would prioritize some of its payments or sell off some u. S. Assets or things. The white house never signed off on that. Frankly it wouldnt be in the president s interest to come up with a planb right now because that would just weaken his hand in these discussions. Jake is right when he says that were going to see a battle over the debt limit whether if white house wants this or not. Its likely to be a little bit uglier than what we saw in 2011 just because the republicans are coming off a bruising election. Theyre coming off a fiscal debate at the end of the year where they feel like they didnt get anything out of it because they didnt get the spending cuts they want. They have these two things coming up in terms of the budget negotiations. And you have these automatic spending cuts that are set to go into effect at the end of february. They feel like the debt ceiling is going to be. Is their leverage. They managed to usity fek tively in 2011 although if youre an economist you would say it wasnt effective and it ended up hurting the economy. Politically they felt a little like they had gained some of the things that they want even though ultimately it did have a negative effect on the party. This whole battle is just going to really heat up in the next few weeks. Woodruff speaking of the politics of this, jake, the president did say today if this happens he thinks both parties would be blamed but in fact in the polls are showing that it appears most people would blame republicans if this happened. Is that. How much is that even a factor among. In the thinking of republicans . In the wake of this press Conference Today i spoke to senior republican aides who made a simple point. They havent defaulted. They havent shut down the government. They havent done all these hugely cataclysmic things. Their numbers are still in toilet. Congress is at a 9 approval rating. Their point, some of these folks who want to default and want to do something dramatic, their point is, listen, weve tried the other options and our numbers are bad. Maybe this is the way to turn things around. Thats the way they see it. Youre right. President obama or the Treasury Department decides they cant send out Social Security checks, they cant pay the troops, things like that, that would be a huge loser for congress because congress seeps to get the blame when it battles president obama. Woodruff quickly, jake, the point the president made, hes prepared to negotiate around other spending, whether its a socalled sequester, this automatic spending cuts that are due about the same time that the debt ceiling comes up or about the budget overall. Thats not picking up any response from the republicans . It is. I mean, i dont think republicans have settled on a legislative centrality gee yet. Which is part of their problem at this point. They havent settled how theyll deal with these issues either in one pot which would seemingly make it easier for president obama to negotiate or whether theyll separate them out and deal with them individually over the next couple months. Theyre heading to a retreat in williams burg, virginia, this week. Where theyll take thes of their membership and figure that out. Woodruff very quickly, carol, at the end we know that the president commented on his governing style. The fact he doesnt do a lot of reaching out to republicans. The white house doesnt have a sense that this is a liability in anyway . Clearly not. Like he said, hes a nice guy. He hangs out with these members of congress when he can. Its just not his style. Frankly in his view he said he played golf with john boehner in 2011. It didnt get him anywhere anyway. Hes sort of like why bother. Woodruff okay. We did hear the president address that today. Carol lee, we thank you. Joining us from the white house. Brad sherman, we thank you. Thanks. You. Brown you can watch the president s press conference in full online on our web site. Still to come on the newshour, france fights islamist rebels in mali; an internet heros tragic end; cuba eases travel restrictions; and big money behind the inauguration. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan suicides in the ranks of the u. S. Military hit a record 349 last year. The Associated Press reported the figure was nearly 50 more than the previous year. Its also more than the 295 u. S. Combat deaths in afghanistan in 2012. Defense secretary leon panetta has called the problem of military suicide an epidemic. Afghan President Hamid karzai called today for a loya jirga or grand assembly to decide whether u. S. Troops should be immune from afghan laws. The u. S. Has said it needs sole legal jurisdiction over any troops who stay, after combat forces leave at the end of 2014. In a kabul speech, karzai said it would take about eight or nine months to come to a decision. It is a decision of the people of afghanistan. The National Assembly of elders of the people of afghanistan should decide whether to give the i am unity or not. If they give it, under which conditions they should do so. But the americans told us that if you do not give us the i am unity, we have to leave afghanistan for good. And wont have any relationship with you. Sreenivasan karzai said the u. S. Has agreed to his demands to respect afghan sovereignty. He discussed the issues with president obama in washington on friday. Mass protests were held in islamabad, pakistan, today demanding new election reforms. Thousands of supporters of an outspoken muslim cleric gathered in the capital amid heavy security. They called for an end to government inefficiency and corruption. To the south, there were funerals for many of the 86 shiites killed in last weeks bombings in quetta. Thousands of shiites had refused to bury the dead until the provincial government was dismissed. Syrian women now cite rape as a primary reason for fleeing their wartorn country. Thats according to a new report by the International Rescue committee. It says women report being sexually assaulted and raped, often in public and in front of family members. The i. R. C. Gathered the data by interviewing more than 240 women in refugee camps in jordan and lebanon. The u. N. Has registered more than 600,000 syrian refugees. In china, the people of beijing suffered through another day of severe smog, and for the first time government officials openly acknowledged the problem. The pollution was at its worst over the weekend, keeping beijings skyscrapers enveloped in a gray haze. Residents young and old wore masks to shield themselves from the pollutants. The smog is expected to linger through tomorrow. Leading cabinet ministers in france insisted today they will go ahead with a bill to legalize same sex marriage despite a mass weekend protest. Hundreds of thousands of people rallied yesterday at the eiffel tower in paris. They urged president Francois Hollande to withdraw the legislation, and called instead for a national debate. Current plans call for the French Parliament to take up the gay marriage measure later this month, and approve it by june. Former president george h. W. Bush has left a houston hospital, two months after being admitted with a heavy cough. Mr. Bush is 88, and the nations oldest living former president. He was hospitalized the day after thanksgiving, after suffering bronchitis. Later he was transferred to intensive care when a fever developed. The hospital said today mr. Bush will continue physical therapy to rebuild his strength. On wall street today, stocks ended the day with very Little Movement as investors waited for a slew of earnings reports later this week. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 19 points to close at 13,507. The nasdaq fell eight points to close above 3117. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to jeff. Brown and we turn to the west african nation of mali, where a war between radical islamists and Government Forces has been waged for nearly nine months. The militants gained control of the north some twothirds of the country last summer and imposed sharia law. The United States and other western countries have largely stayed out of the conflict despite worries of a wider threat to the region. That all changed friday when the french government launched air attacks after the fighters took over a village in government controlled territory. We begin with this report narrated by Jonathan Miller of independent news. Reporter three jihaddists groups now deemed to pose a clear and present danger to the capital and beyond, a threat to africa and europe. The military units i command will not stay which will be our military base but will go further north and combat the terrorist groups there in addition to the air strikes that we have undertaken in the past two days. Snrlt the operation already proving heavily dependent on those french air strikes. Aimed at destroying capability, disabling, dislodging, and denying sanctuary to the jihaddist groups who now occupy an area the size of france. The islam i haves are firing online counterpropaganda salv salvos. Theyre targeting muslim