president obama and his family are vacationing in warm and sunny hawaii. they re spending the next 16 days there. time for a little r&r after what s been a rather tough year for the president. everything from the obamacare website problems to the government shutdown to getting a new budget passed. athena jones is traveling with the president and is joining us from a beautiful hawaii. good to see you. this is a working vacation for him and for you. reporter: good morning, fred. that s right. it will be a working vacation for the president. the white house would say every vacation is a working vacation. the president is expected to spend some time looking closely at these 46 recommendations for changing the nsa surveillance programs. those are recommendations that came in a final review of that program that came out this week, so he ll be looking at that, but also fit in time for some sun and some surf, going to beaches,
for one bride, nothing was going to stop her from walking down the aisle. not even her paralysis. when she was in 17 she was in a car accident. she lost her best friend and all feeling from the waist down. back broken, spinal cord severed. the former softball player and gymnast spent years in rehab all the while with one promise to herself. she vowed that one day she would walk down the aisle on her wedding. and on saturday, she did just that. you are looking at her. stevie and her groom, jared van osdale live from their honeymoon in beautiful hawaii. congratulations to both of you. can i get a quick honeymoon highlight so far, please? yeah. we spent the day just driving around the island in a convertible. we forgot to put sunscreen on. so we re both toasted pretty good. me more than her. spf, you two. i m so happy. i truly am happy for you.
holidays in beautiful hawaii where reports now surfaced where he is looking to strike a smaller fiscal deal that would extend tax cuts for the middle class but not tackling any spending cuts. chief white house correspondent ed henry is live in honolulu with more. ed, for the first time, people like joe lieberman are saying i really think we ll go over the cliff. what do you hear? reporter: it s a real possibility, you re right. we re a week out. people on both sides have been talking this thing to death. it might need a christmas miracle at this point to avoid going off the cliff. the president scaled back plan basically would extend unemmoment benefits for two million people who will lose them a week after christmas if there is no deal. he also wants to extend tax cuts for 98% of americans. you heard him talk about that again and again. that level of $250,000 or less. the republicans have not afreed to that on the hill
fund-raisers but it is the republicans who are to blame hold on, hold on. could you just scrollรง back to those friends the president is being golfing with? yes. if i m not mistaken, that s russian president dmitry medvedev. and they were meeting in hawaii not to play 18 holes but in the president s own words, to shape a common response so we can move iran to follow its international obligations when it comes to its nuclear program. relaxing in beautiful hawaii, mr. hannity? let s try to get the facts right. the president on his revisit to the tropics, tackles an ever-rising china. is this a chevy volt? [ stu ] yeah. it s electric. i don t think so. it s got a gas tank right here. electric tank, right over here.
heard. well leaders met in hawaii on sunday, but this was no vacation. their focus talking trade and jump starting the world economy. and in thailand, we visit an area known for its temples and tourism as it begins to emerge from all that water. that s just ahead. captions by vitac www.vitac.com well, it was an idyllic setting, palm trees, blue sky and light a breeze. but they tackled some heated issues on sunday. u.s. president barack obama hosted it, making a push for a free trade zone across the pacific. so far, 12 countries have shown interest but not china, which clashed with the u.s. on several issues. president obama took up one sticking point after the summit wrapped up. take a listen. most economists estimate that the r&d is devalued by 20, 25%. that means our exports to china are that much more expensive and their imports into the united states are that much cheaper. now, there s been slight improvement over the last year. partly because of u.s. pressure