economists, independent economists across the board, both here in america and around the world. it would be terrible folly to play games with this. secretary tim get near spoke to congress earlier this month telling them the first deadline is scheduled for mid-may. without a deal, a default can come as early as july. while the nation tries to reduce that deficit, the white house is pushing to end billions of subsidies for oil companies. yesterday carney called the industry executives, quote, crazy. speaker boehner, by the way, also revealed he may be open to cutting some subsidies. everybody everybody wants to go after the oil companies. frankly, they ve got some part of this to blame. would you be in favor of seeing some subsidies going to big oil at time of record profits certainly something we ought to be looking at. doing away with subsidies? we re at a time when the federal government is short on
downing pan am flight 103 and other terrorist attacks. industry executives, american fecials, state department documents, found that while many of those businesses absolutely did not, some companies, including some based here in the u.s., caved and made payments to continue doing business in libya. sources would not go on the record with company names. jenna: you can understand why, based on that accusation. a lot of other american companies, though, they ve been encouraged to do business in libya over the last couple of years. what can you tell us about that? this was the policy a couple of years ago, jenna. after that settlement agreement on the over the pan am bombs was reached the u.s. commerce department began encouraging u.s. companies to go to business in libya, among them, boeing, raytheon, conocophillips, occidental petroleum, caterpillar, halliburton, state department documents show occidental petroleum in 2008, based in california, paid libya a $1 billion signing bonus a
nuclear power could unravel. it is going to be non-stop for several hours here up on the hill, and then we re running 24 hours a day right now. reporter: flint, a former top senate aide turned lobbyist, is taking industry executives to closed door meetings all over capitol hill. all we re doing is sharing information. we ve got a set of frequently asked questions about the situation in japan. reporter: this briefing drew 150 congressional staffers. cnn was allowed inside only after it was over. we think that we ve got procedures in place that make us prepared if something like that were to happen in the united states. reporter: flint is careful not to sound like he s pressuring lawmakers at such a sensitive time, but there is no question he s trying to hold on to bipartisan support for nuclear power that has been building over the years. yet already some powerful backers of nuclear energy are wavering. it would be irresponsible not to step back and learn some lessons, if
there. but as far as bottom line, things are bad in japan, but not in the united states. nothing to worry about here on the west coast. nuclear energy has long been a political hot potato. dana bash looks at how the disaster in japan will impact the nuclear industry lobbying on capitol hill. reporter: there s a reason alex flint is moving so fast to get to capitol hill. he s a top lobbyist for the nuclear energy industry, walking the halls of congress, trying to reassure lawmakers watching japan. he s worried that support for u.s. nuclear power could unravel. we re running 24 hours a day right now. reporter: flint, a former top senate aid turned lobbyist is taking industry executives to closed door meetings all over capitol hill. we re sharing information. we ve got a set of freequently
meantime defense secretary robert gates announced today that he plans to resign end of next year. he says his decision will give president obama enough to time to find a replacement before the president gets ready to run for a second term. and president obama is out raising cash for his party, the first of a three-day swing through the united states. just minutes ago he spoke with industry executives about his plan for the economy. when new batteries to store solar power come off the line, i want to see printed on the side made in america. when new technologies are developed and new industries are formed, i want them made right here in america, that s what we re fighting for. nbc news chief white house correspondent chuck todd traveling with the president. he joins us just outside of milwaukee. so mixing a little policy with politics. he is a little bit, he actually just finished up a