NBC Nightly News - 2009-02-26 - 1 of 2

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] On the broadcast tonight, the new

[0:02] agenda. It involves a lot of money and

[0:05] the president's plan to move the nation

[0:06] in a new direction. And he's got a fight

[0:08] on his hands. Stop the presses for all

[0:11] the bad news in the papers these days.

[0:14] Real bad news tonight for the

[0:16] newspapers. A big one is closing during

[0:18] a bad time for business. Where the jobs

[0:21] are, things are bad, but not everywhere.

[0:23] We found some businesses that are

[0:25] booming. And the face in the mirror.

[0:28] Sometimes all it takes is for kids to

[0:30] see themselves a little differently.

[0:32] Nightly News begins now.

[0:38] >> From NBC News World Headquarters in New

[0:41] York, this is NBC Nightly News with

[0:44] Brian Williams.

[0:45] >> Good evening. The numbers we're about to

[0:47] show you are too big for most of us to

[0:49] wrap our heads around, but this is the

[0:51] cost of our new reality in this country.

[0:54] Beginning with President Obama's

[0:56] proposed budget, $3.55

[0:59] trillion, federal deficit, $1.75

[1:04] trillion. To help pay for all of it, tax

[1:06] hikes of almost a trillion dollar. And

[1:09] how about this one? We learned today

[1:11] General Motors lost almost $ 31 billion

[1:15] last year. That's the equivalent of

[1:17] burning a$1,000 bill every minute. That

[1:21] is the problem the president has set out

[1:24] to fix. Now they get to fight over it

[1:26] all in Washington. We begin here tonight

[1:28] with White House correspondent Savannah

[1:30] Guthrie. Savannah, good evening.

[1:32] >> Brian, good evening. The president's

[1:34] budget signals major policy shifts in

[1:36] health care, education, and energy. And

[1:39] it hits wealthy Americans with big tax

[1:41] hikes.

[1:44] >> The president's budget director handd

[1:46] delivered it today. A 140page budget

[1:49] overview with a big bottom line. $3.5

[1:53] trillion in spending next year, a budget

[1:55] deficit of 1.75 trillion this year. More

[1:59] than numbers, the president says it's a

[2:01] blueprint for where he wants to take the

[2:03] country.

[2:04] >> This budget is an honest accounting of

[2:06] where we are and where we intend to go.

[2:08] The budget calls for $635 billion over

[2:12] 10 years as a down payment on healthc

[2:14] care reform, paid for in part by cuts in

[2:17] Medicare spending. On energy, the

[2:19] president wants to raise billions by

[2:21] charging companies for their carbon

[2:23] emissions. And in education, a huge

[2:26] increase in the Pell Grant program for

[2:28] college tuition and more government

[2:30] lending to students.

[2:31] >> Is it too much? And I sure hope not. We

[2:34] face very large uh problems that need to

[2:37] be addressed.

[2:38] >> But the president's plans must get

[2:40] through Congress where today the old

[2:42] battle lines were redrawn.

[2:45] >> Where's the restraint in spending?

[2:48] You know, this budget doubles the debt

[2:49] of the federal government in 5 years.

[2:51] >> The era of big government is back and

[2:54] Democrats are asking you to pay for it.

[2:57] The president promises to cut the

[2:58] deficit in half by the end of his first

[3:01] term. In part by raising taxes on the

[3:04] wealthiest Americans who will see higher

[3:06] income tax rates and less in the way of

[3:08] deductions. All told, the budget

[3:11] anticipates raising nearly a trillion

[3:13] dollars over 10 years from wealthy

[3:15] taxpayers.

[3:16] >> That's what he campaigned on. Uh

[3:19] instituting fairness in in more fairness

[3:22] in our system. Uh I think that's what

[3:24] he's done. The White House says this

[3:26] budget is more honest than previous ones

[3:28] because it accounts for natural

[3:29] disasters and war spending, but it

[3:32] assumes the economy will begin to turn

[3:34] around this year and grow robustly by

[3:37] 2011. A forecast advisor say is not too

[3:40] rosy. We certainly are are somewhat more

[3:43] optimistic, but certainly nothing out of

[3:46] the ballpark.

[3:48] Well, with Wall Street still in crisis,

[3:50] the administration has budgeted for up

[3:52] to $750 billion in more potential

[3:56] bailouts, but they hope they'll never

[3:57] have to use that. Brian.

[3:59] >> All right. Hey, Savannah. Thanks,

[4:00] Savannah Guthrie from the White House

[4:01] tonight. Now, to those GM losses we

[4:03] talked about earlier, $31 billion. Our

[4:06] man in Detroit, Phil Leau, who covers

[4:08] the car business for CNBC, is actually

[4:10] tonight our man at the White House with

[4:12] more on this. Phil, it's hard to believe

[4:14] one company can lose that much money.

[4:16] And Brian, when you talk about General

[4:18] Motors, the reason we're here is because

[4:20] the top executives from General Motors,

[4:21] the CEO, CFO, and president were here in

[4:24] Washington meeting with President

[4:26] Obama's auto task force. The meeting

[4:28] lasted several hours and