dan simon, living the collective dream in san francisco. cnn newsroom continues right now. hello, everyone, president obama is just about to land in columbus, ohio, to campaign for the jobs bill that republican leaders of congress are openly rejecting. barely 24 hours ago the president showed off his american jobs act and demanded congress pass it with, and i quote, no games, no politics, no delays. but then came the details of how the $447 billion package would be paid for. two words. tax hikes. and you could hear the opposition digging in. the biggest hike by far would be a cap on itemized deductions for high earners. the white house estimates that would raise $400 billion over four years. the bill would also close loopholes enjoyed by oil and gas companies, raising an estimated $40 billion. it would raise taxes on investment fund managers and scale back depreciation rules for corporate jets and suddenly republicans who had been promising to hear the president out had h
madison. poppy harlow is in new york talking about detroit s drastic plan to close city schools. we have this covered throughout the country. i want to start with you, kate, in madison. what are you finding? hey, as you mentioned teach yours unions, the teachers are heading back to class today but the union protests are continuing here at the state capitol. neither side of this gidget bbu debate are showing any signs of backing down. governor walker is warning of the potential of massive layoffs, 1500 workers in the near term if his budget repair bill is not passed. unions though, they say they re already offering concessions but really neither side is ready to compromise on the big issue, the issue of collective bargaining rights. at the same time the state senate and assembly are back in session today but with the 14 democratic state senators still out of town, the senate can t do anything. they are at a stand still and they cannot bring this measure or vote on this measure.
country i would say yes. there is no going back. there is a realization that there is no way that the central government in tripoli is going to be able to extend or reassert its authority in the eastern part of the country without an absolute blood bath. these people have made a division that they no longer want to live under the rule of moammar gadhafi and will fight tooth and nail to prevent any reassertion of his authority in their part of the country. on the ground inside libya, ben, we appreciate your perspective and being able to bring this story to us first hand. thank you, ben. well, class is back on today in wisconsin. that is madison, wisconsin, after protests shut down schools last week. but from wisconsin to ohio, tens of thousands of teachers and other public workers are continuing to fight plans to limit their bargaining power. our cnn s kate baldoun is in
they will have to close 70 more schools in detroit, alone. that will leave only 72 schools by 2014. that will also mean 60 students per high school class. now, the teachers are fighting back. they are gathering in lansing, michigan, at the state capitol today, fighting against these emergency financial managers just like robert bob, people that can make these drastic cuts and just to be clear here, this is not what he wants to see happen to detroit but he said it is the only way that you can close that gap of $327 million. that said, they are looking for alternate ways to get around this. they cannot declare bankruptcy for the school system. they are fighting, trying to find out what else they can do. thank you, poppy, kate, deb. well, he is out of rehab but charlie sheen is never far from the hollywood spotlight. our showbiz news is up next.
involveme involvement, it s certainly probably causing anxiety at the pentagon. what s the latest there? well, you know, kate, all weekend long officials have been looking at the situation. right now as we ve been reporting all morning it s the state department that s helping americans get out of egypt, but but if the situation deteriorates and there is violence directed against americans, the u.s. military is ready to step in and get involved in helping americans get out. we have a statement now from a very senior u.s. defense official who tells us the following, saying, quote, the u.s. is prepared to conduct non-combatant evacuation operations if necessary. although at this time it appears there is no violence directed against u.s. personnel. national authorities, the u.s. european command and u.s. central command are all reviewing options to be prepared if there are threats against u.s. citizens. so that will be the trip wire, if you will. defense secretary robert gates,