Transcripts For WETA PBS NewsHour 20121207 : vimarsana.com

WETA PBS NewsHour December 7, 2012

Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Th 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. Woodruff with 25 days left until the yearend fiscal cliff, and just 19 days until christmas, president obama warned lawmakers today not to add to the holiday pressures americans already feel, by letting the political stalemate drag on. But he also again insisted there would be no deal unless tax rates went up on the wealthy. The closer it gets to the brink, the more stressed were going to be. Woodruff president obama made the short trip to Northern Virginia today to underline his plan to avert the fiscal cliff. At the home of what the white house called a typical middle class family, mr. Obama said hes optimistic that agreement can be reached, but again drew a hard line for republicans in congress. Everybodys is going to have to share in some sacrifice. But it starts with folks who are in the best position to sacrifice. Who are in the best position to step up. Just to be clear im not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rate from going up, the top 2 from going up. Woodruff the president phoned House Speaker john boehner yesterday, their first direct talk in almost a week. But today white house spokesman jay carney wouldnt share details of the call. We believe its in the interest of achieving an agreement not to do that. Reporter treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday the white house was absolutely willing to go over the cliff if republicans held firm in their opposition to raising rates on the wealthy. But it was the administrations other demand to give the President Authority over the nations debt ceiling that roiled tempers on capitol hill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell tried yesterday to force a vote on the issue, assuming republicans would prevail. Look, the only way we ever cut spending around here is by using the debate over the debt limit to do it. Now the president wants to remove that spur to cut altogether. It gets in the way of his spending plans. I assure you, its not going to happen. Reporter but when majority leader harry reid took him up on the offer today, mcconnell backed down. What we have here is a case i told everyone that we are willing to have that vote, up or down vote, and now the gop leader objects to his own idea. Woodruff meantime, republicans learned today the party was losing one of their most outspoken voices on fiscal issues. Twoterm South Carolina senator jim demint announced that he will resign in january. To become the next president of the Heritage Foundation a conservative washington think tank. In a stament, demint said, a tea party favorite, demint had blasted the House Republicans proposal to raise r earlier in the week. South carolinas other senator Lindsey Graham lamented the loss of his colleague and friend. He really did strongly and passionately advocate for his position and did it very effectively, jim made the Republican Party quite frankly look inward and do some self evaluation, conservatism is an asset not a liability. Woodruff the other side of capitol hill was largely quiet today, with the house not in session, and most members gone home for the weekends recess. Brown still to come on the newshour egypts political turmoil; trims to social programs to solve the fiscal crisis; Sea Level Rise in a virginia city; diplomatic movement on syria and a path to High School Graduation. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the death toll from a typhoon in the southern philippines climbed to more than 370 today. Nearly 400 others are still missing since the storm hit tuesday. Rescue workers in the hardest hit Compostela Valley provincede battled surging flood waters again today, to reach survivors. Most of their homes were demolished, along with just about everything else. translated since i was born, this has never happened here. When i came back here yesterday, i cried because of what i saw. You can see our hills, everything is gone. 100 of the crops are gone. Sreenivasan the typhoon is now swirling over the south china sea. Its expected to break up by the weekend. Washington state is now the first state in the nation where Recreational Use of marijuana, by adults, is legal. The new law was approved by voters last month, and took effect at midnight. In seattle, about 100 people marked the occasion by smoking joints beneath the citys iconic space needle. Technically, doing that in public remains against the law. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law. But the Justice Department has not said if it will try to block the Washington State law or a similar statute in colorado. Samesex marriage also became legal in Washington State today, and in maryland. Gay and lesbian couples in both states began picking up marriage licenses. Those in Washington State have to wait three days to be married. Samesex weddings in maryland will begin on january first. Maine will legalize the practice on december 29. The three states are the first to approve samesex marriage by popular vote. In economic news, new jobless claims fell sharply last week, after a temporary spike in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. And on wall street, stocks managed modest gains today. The Dow Jones Industrial average added 39 points to close at 1,374. The nasdaq rose 15 points to close at 2,989. The u. S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill normalizing trade relations with russia. But the measure also contained provisions to punish russian officials accused of human rights offenses a move the russian government has denounced. The house passed the legislation last month. President obama has pledged to sign it into law. It was all smiles today for the duchess of cambridge, as she left a london hospital. The former Kate Middleton was discharged after being treated for severe morning sickness. The duchess emerged with her husband, prince william, three days after being admitted. The hospital stay prompted royal officials to announce her pregnancy to the public. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to jeff. Brown and to egypt. Within the last 24 hours the country has seen the worst violence since president Mohamed Morsi was elected in june. Seven people were killed and more than 600 hurt during overnight clashes in cairo outside the president ial palace. We have a report from Jonathan Rugman of independent television news. Reporter last year, they ousted a dictator. Last night, they turned against one another. Religious and secular egyptians fighting outside the palace of their first freelyelected president. After riot police gave up keeping the two warring sides apart. Seven people were killed and hundreds were injured. Both sides were armed with clubs, but eyewitnesses said the first gunfire came from president morsis supporters. The president s opponents let off fireworks. But they say they wont back down until the president gives up sweeping new powers or resigns. This morning, the army moved in. Not to mount a military coup, but to defend a president they would once have jailed for his political views. The commander of these troops said these tanks were just to keep rival factions apart. But if mr. Morsi can trigger a political crisis in less than six months, then his presidency may prove shortlived. Last month, he was the hero of the hour. Americas new point man in the middle east. Brokering a ceasefire between israel and gaza. Since then hes granted himself unlimited power. And rushed through a draft constitution branded by liberals and christians as a betrayal of egypts transition to democracy. Morsis Muslim Brotherhood had 70 years in egypts political wilderness to prepare for government. Though his supporters point out that his religiouslyworded constitution will easily pass in a referendum set for later this month. translated why are they always afraid of the ballot box . Whenever there is an election or a referendum theyre afraid of the ballot box. It is because they know the people are not on their side. Reporter Tahrir Square was far from full today. Egypts had its revolution and that, for many, will suffice. Yet the president s opponents say another may now be required. translated we didnt have a revolution just to return to the era of mubarak and worse. translated Mohamed Morsi has divided the nation. We want him to fall. Along with the Muslim Brotherhood because they are traitors. Reporter last night, Muslim Brotherhood offices were set on fire outside cairo. And crowds with these demands are now gathering again outside his palace. Sreenivasan three more officials announced their resignation in wake of the violence. Late today, in a televised speech, president morsi called for a comprehensive and productive dialogue. But he also accused some of the opposition of serving the old mubarak regime. And he insisted a referendum on the constitution would go ahead on december 15. Margaret warner takes the story from there. Warner for more on the clashes and the response by president morsi, im joined now by michele dunne. She previously served in the state department and the National Security council staff. Shes now the director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the middle east at the atlantic council. Welcome back. How serious a crisis is this for this new Egyptian Government and for president morsi himself . Its a Pivotal Moment in the history of egypt after this revolution were seeing extreme polarization between islamists and nonislamist forces and between parts of the government that that contain people who were there during the mubarak regime. There are a number of senior judges. So theres a lot at stake centering on this debate over the constitution and whether it should go to a public vote. Warner the islamists and secularists have been at loggerheads for over a year. Why has it hit such a at least it looks like a crisis point now, with this kind of violence between the two camps. There have been a couple things that have happened in the past couple weeks. With this november 22 decree president mopls did seize extraordinary powers. Basically hes trying to prevent the judiciary from dissolving the constituent assembly that was drafting the constitution and so forth and he said the judiciary could not annul his decrees so hes put himself above the judiciary and he has legislative powers since the parliament was dissolved so all this power in the hands of one person then hes forcing ahead this constitution that is still controversial. A lot of people are unhappy with it. Warner youve known people, youve been in touch with people from the Muslim Brotherhood and people around president morsi since beforeeehe revolution and i think you met some of them who are here with washington. How did they explain him acting in the way that you just described which has led some to say hes as autocratic as mubarak . Well, what their side of the story is is that the judiciary they believe was about to dissolve the constituent assembly and basically set the whole political transition back months so that they could not pass the new constitution, old new parliamentary elections and what they feel is that elements of the old mubarak regime are trying to force morsis presidency to fail. And to keep the political transition from progressing and that morsi ha had to take extraordinary action to prevent that from happening. But the other side of the story is that what morsi is now doing is forcing a popular vote which undoubtedly would approve this draft constitution and then there will be parliamentary elections but it will be difficult to amend the constitution in the future. That takes twothirds of the parliament and nonislamists know theyre not going to have that. Warner how do you interpret his televised speech tonight . We dont have all the words, he read them in arabic but was he extending any olive branch by saying lets have a dialogue starting saturday or is he taking a hard line . I watched morsis speech and he offered a very small crumb, i would say, to the opposition. He said that the part of the november 22 decree in which he basically gives himself any power necessary to protect the revolution has been misunderstood and he would be all right with canceling that part of it. And he invited them a dialogue with them with him. However the dialogue is to be on saturday which is when voting outside of egypt among expats would start and he insisted that voting has to go ahead on the referendum. I doubt that will be acceptable to the opposition. Is. Warner which they havent really said except one group. What should we look for next. Protests are planned for tomorrow by the opposition, is that right . There will be more protests. We saw today the torching of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in cairo and i think unfortunately theres going to be more violence. Now, its possible there will also be more concessions. Already, for example, the Justice Minister whos part of morsis government hinted that opposition leaders, if they come to this dialogue perhaps they can discuss defering the constitutional referendum. So it may be that there will be more concessions from morsis side to avert more violence. And briefly who has clout or power to shape these events . The u. S. . Secretary of state clinton has said the right things about the need for dialogue and the need for a constitution that protects the rights of all egyptians and an inclusive process and so forth. Now, morsis advisors heard this but i think whats happening on the streets of cairo and the officials from members of the Egyptian Government probably speaks louder right now. Warner michele dunne, thanks so much. It was my pleasure, margaret. Woodruff now, to our continuing series of conversations about whats at stake in the battle over taxes, Government Spending and debt. Last night, we heard from republican senator bob corker. Tonight, we get a different perspective on the question of socalled entitlements. Many lawmakers and economists have argued its essential to make big changes to medicare and Social Security. Among those ideas are raising the eligibility age; means testing for wealthy recipients; cuts in spending and benefits and a bigger role for private competition in health care. Max richtman has been arguing against making many of these changes as part of this fight. Hes the president of an advocacy group, the National Committee to preserve Social Security and medicare. He joins us now. Welcome. Thank you for inviting me. First of all, why shouldnt Social Security and medicare be part of the entire group of Government Spending programs that are being looked at to get to deal with the deficits . Well, before i answer that i was very interested in the way you characterized these programs as entitlements. Socalled, you said, entitlements. And we think that a better term would be earned benefits. You know, i counted the letters in the word entitlement. There are 11 letters. Often people refer to entitlement as a fourletter word and its a derogatory, derisive characterization. These are earned benefits. People pay for them while theyre working, Social Security part a medicare, the hospital part. 25 of the premium for part b. So i wish we would switch from entitlements to earned benefits, first of all. Now answer your question, Social Security has not added a penny to the federal debt, to the deficits every year. It has a surplus. It has a surplus of 2. 7 trillion. So why are we in such a rush to change a program that does not have is not bankrupt, has a surplus, has 22 years of solvency before it does have a serious problem and has not contributed to the federal debt . And we can talk about these programs separately. We know that Social Security is considered to be in sounder shape than is medicare which is viewed as potentially running out of funds in the next few years, whereas Social Security but lets take them one at a time. When it comes to Social Security you have the simpsonbowles Deficit Reduction Commission saying that if you dont deal with these programs you just cant be serious about getting your arms around this countrys huge debt and deficit crisis. Well, i go back to where i started. This program didnt add to the debt, hasnt contributed to the debt. Were not saying were not a group that has our heads in the sand and is committed to never doing anything. Social security is a dynamic program. It has changed over time. It will continue to change. But lets look at Social Security for its own sake. You know, the last time Social S

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