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Obama Talks Spending Cuts in VA; Blizzard Buries Plains States, Heads for Chicago
Aired February 26, 2013 - 13:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS SENT WITH PREVIOUS HALF HOUR)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. President wrapping up his speech in Newport News.
I want to bring in John King out of Washington, and Jessica Yellin.
A couple things that struck me. First, John, two things he said that he has offered to reform Medicare. Do we know if it's significant or substantial, those kinds of offers, first?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The president's referring to past proposals that he says is still on the table if Republicans come to the table and say, let's have that bigger conversation. And that's a fact. The president has, in the past, had proposals on the table with Republicans. What they're saying right now is, we just went through the fiscal cliff, Mr. President. We're looking at this $85 billion. If you want to stop this before Friday, show us you can do this with all spending cuts, no tax revenues. They don't want to give him tax revenues right now. And then they'll go back to the bigger conversation. So everybody's pulling out old things they've said in the past to say, here, I have a plan. You'll hear Republicans on Capitol Hill say we'll give the president the flexibility tomorrow to let federal agencies have the decision on how to do this. But then the president gives up his leverage.
I think the frustrating part -- if you listen to the president carefully, whether you supported him or not, Suzanne, is he's right when he says we keep going from crisis to crisis. And he has as much responsibility in that. Not blaming him for the decisions. But he has as much responsibility as does everybody in Congress, including the Republican-controlled House. And that's the part that leaves the country pretty disgusted. They've sent these people here. That's the -- divided government is the collective will of the American people. But every family, every business, everybody has to sit down at the table and make the decisions in the last five years and Washington does it in little pieces so they solve one crisis to just start another fire.
MALVEAUX: The second thing he said, look -- because he was trying to portray himself as reasonable in the talks. He says, look, I want to close the tax loopholes and deductions for the wealthiest people. That's all I want. Is that true?
KING: For the $85 billion, yes. He could get the $85 billion, the White House says, by taking away energy loopholes. The Shells and Exxons and Chevrons of the world get whatever deduction businessmen get for writing off private jets. The president says you can close loopholes and do modest cuts. That gets you to $85. We can go away with the sequester, a forced budget conversation, and move on to the next crisis, which is funding the government.
But Republicans say, Suzanne, is, OK, we raised taxes as part of the fiscal cliff. Now you want us -- that's raising taxes. It might be easy, less politically dicey raising taxes, but it's still raising taxes. We did it seven weeks ago. You want us do it today. Then, we move on to the big question, still unsolved, about the bigger deficit reduction issues, and you're going to ask us to raise taxes a third time. No thanks, Mr. President. That's our holy grail.
Taxes are the Republican Holy Grail. Entitlements are the Democrats' Holy Grail. Until they're willing to sit down together and actually do some serious business and take the pain equally or at least on a bipartisan basis --
MALVEAUX: Yes.
KING: -- we'll be back here every couple months talking about these crises.
MALVEAUX: Jess, I want to bring you in because we talked about he's not interested in the spin or the blame game. He says he's interested in solving problems. We know, you know, very much, this president that he is also very politically savvy. What do you make of that statement?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's part of the message strategy, isn't it? He says, you know, he is above the political fight. But he's waging a political fight.
Suzanne, this was a message that is -- really reflects the belief in the White House, I'd say, that this is a fight that will go on for many weeks. This is not the kind of speech the president would deliver if he thought this deal was going to get hammered out this week because it was so clearly partisan, it was such an aggressive attack, blaming Republicans for the stalemate and clearly setting up the blame if the cuts are triggered Friday, and saying it's because of house Republicans. That is not the kind of environment you create if you think you're on the verge of a deal.
So we know they're not. Clearly, the president doesn't think they are. And he is defining his side of the argument that we need balance. You've heard the terms before, to go ahead and prepare for a protracted fight. So get ready for this one. I'm afraid to say it will last a while -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: All right, Jess, John, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
We also want to talk about how it could take a lot longer to fly if the forced spending cuts go into effect. Plus, we're watching this big story. Millions of folks digging themselves out of a blizzard in parts of the country. We'll have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The White House is warning that air travel is going to be a real pain if these forced spending cuts actually go through on Friday. The transportation secretary, Republican Ray LaHood, is warning of airport delays up to 90 minutes. Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, says the average wait times at Customs is going to increase by as much as 50 percent. And expect to see even longer delays at the busiest airports. So we're talking Newark, Los Angeles, New York's JFK, where delays could actually double to four hours or more. This is all based on government employees being told that they have to take unpaid days off.
Travel already a mess, really, for millions throughout the plains states and the Midwest, dealing with their second blizzard in a week. From northern Texas to Illinois, roads are closed. Schools have been shut down in many cities. Several airports have come to a stand still at this point. This is what it looks like in northern, Oklahoma -- pure whiteout conditions. The storm dropping more than 15 inches of snow on Woodward on Monday, making it almost impossible for emergency vehicles to rescue people now stuck on the roads. One person died when the roof of his home partially collapsed. Wichita, Kansas, broke a snowfall record for the entire month of February in just six days. Schools have been closed here for four straight days. Most flights have been cancelled at the Kansas City International Airport. And piling snow has knocked out power to tens of thousands of people.
Ted Rowlands is at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
Ted, it's usually very, very busy. This is the second time in two weeks we have seen Chicago hit with a major snowstorm.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the storm is headed to Chicago. You can see it is raining -- snowing here, Suzanne. And it has been snowing for the better part of an hour now. And we already had 250 flights canceled at O'Hare. Another 50 flights canceled out of Midway, also out of Chicago.
But, quite frankly, most flights are still running. Look at the security line here. You're talking about what is coming potentially with security lines. Wouldn't you like to be in that one? Hardly anybody in it at all. Look at the big board here. And most of the flights are leaving, and, believe it or not, leaving on time. Of course, Chicago is pretty used to dealing with snow.
And the storm lot a little bit of its power. We are expecting more snow throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. And expecting we're going to have more delays and more cancellations. But for now, at least, things look pretty good, at least at O'Hare.
MALVEAUX: All right. Ted, thanks. Appreciate it as well. Coming up, many diet plans, but only one can actually help you prevent heart disease, and it is pretty easy. We're going to have that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: All right, get out the olive oil and the almonds. There is a new study that finds people who ate a Mediterranean Diet were 30 percent less likely to get heart disease than those who ate a low-fat diet. The study followed thousands of people in Spain over a five- year period. So what is a Mediterranean Diet? It is lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, olive oil and nuts. But you got to say goodbye to the red meat and the sweets.
When folks face tough times financially, man's best friend needs a little help too. More than 45,000 people across the country have signed up for this unique program, a food stamp program for their pets. Pet Food Stamps, which is donation-based, takes a look at a person's income and decides whether or not they qualify. Now, if they do, they receive free pet food for six months. Shelters across the country are hoping pet food stamps will help low-income families keep their pets and their dogs and cats out of overcrowded shelters.
Well, when Michelle Obama presented the Academy Award for best picture in the U.S., the first lady's gown was, of course, a huge hit. Was not the case in Iran. The Iranian news agency made some virtual alterations to her Oscar night wardrobe, adding sleeves, raising the neck line on the glittery gown before circulating the image in Iran. Presumably, it was a bit too revealing for their culture. But before announcing best picture winner, Mrs. Obama, she wore that dress to a White House dinner for the nation's governors and, of course, there were no complaints. It was a gorgeous gown.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now.
