Transcripts For WETA PBS NewsHour 20130126 : comparemela.com

Business leaders, and others at the World Economic forum in davos, switzerland. Brown from mali, Lindsey Hilsum looks at tensions caused by Government Troops as they advance into islamist territory. Sreenivasan Spencer Michels has a story about trash and one citys crusade to eliminate all of it. Reporter San Francisco boasts that it recycles 80 of all garbage, and is aiming for zero waste. But some skeptics dont believe it. Brown plus, mark shields and david brooks analyze the weeks news. Thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. Support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And friends of the newshour. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan a federal Appeals Court rejected several recess appointments made by president obama last year, saying the moves were unconstitutional. The president appointed three people to the national labo Relations Board last january. The president argued he was justified in doing so because the senate was away for a 20day break. But republicans and business groups said the senate was still technically in session, if only for a few minutes every few days. The panel of three judges all appointed by republican president s said mr. Obama had done an inappropriate endrun around the senate. But white house spokesman jay carney took issue with the ruling. The decision is novel and unprecedented. It contradicts 150 years of practice by democratic and republican administrations. So we respectfully but strongly disagree with the rulings. Accord together Congressional Research service something likeke 280 plus intrasession recess appointments by, again, democratting and republican administrations dating back to 1867. Sreenivasan if the decision stands, it could invalidate hundreds of decisions made by the labor board. Moreover, the body would not have enough members to issue decisions, effectively shutting it down. The ruling also could spell trouble for richard cordray, the head of the Consumer Financial protection board. He was not part of this legal case, but he was appointed in the same manner on the same day. For more on all this, we turn Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times. Nice to be here. Steven, just back us up a little bit. What are some of these decisions, why are 9 decisions from the National Labor Relations Board so congressional . Employers and unions see the National Labor Relations Board as extremely important because there are often fights between the two about whether the union broke the law during a strike, whether the employer broke the law during a unionization, andnow the labor board has really gotten very involved in setting rules for employer os on social media, when can employers tell their employees what they can do in social media and what they cant. And basically the effect of todays ruling would nullify a lot of watching what nlb has done over the past year if the Supreme Court upholds it. So what were the problems that the judges in the District Court have . The judges the judges said that the recess, the recess appoint oments by president obama last january were illegal. The president said that the senate was actually out for a break. And that he was allowed to make these recess appointments. The senate said, the republicans in the senate said it was not a real break. That they were continuing to have pro forma sessions and they maintained it was illegal for the president to make these appointments. And today the three judge panel ruled that the president recess appointments during intrasessions were illegal. The court really said today that the president essentially can only make recess appointments once every two years between each congressional session. Between each congressional session, you know, after a two year congressional session ends and right before the next one begins, so this would greatly weaken a president s recess appointment powers. As jim carney was mentioning earlier in that sound bite, he said this has been practiced and precedent for a long time. So is the likelihood that this particular rule cog have an effect on all sorts of president ial appointments Going Forward . Absolutely. Some people pointed out that many federal judges are sitting on the bench now thanks to their reaes recess appointments. And as a result of todays ruling of the three judge panel of the federal Appeals Court and the district of columbia, those judges appointments could be nullified. And there are prisoners sitting if prison nowadays thinking wait t this is good news. Maybe my conviction, maybe my sentencing can be overturned because the judge who ordered my sentence was a recess appointment. So considering the magnitude of all this, the Supreme Court likely to take it up . I think so, hari. Its not absolutely clear but because this decision has so much import and because its the same question being heard now by several different circuit courts and thus there is a likelihood, a good chance there might be a conflict between the circuits, i think it points strongly to the Supreme Court hearing this case some day. And meanwhile, the labor board might really be in limbo for a year or two or three until the Supreme Court issues a decision. So lets talk for a second about Richard Corddry. He was confirmed in the same manner on the same day as these members in the National Labor Relations Board is there a likelihood that he will be affected by this as well . Yes and no, its unclear. So yesterday president obama renominated mr. Corddry for full term. And when de that two years ago, originally congress basically signaled the republicans in the senate signaled we are not going to confirm mr. Corddry, so the president did this recess appointment. Now its unclear whether the republicans are going to allow its confirmation of corddry to go through. And you know, obama might have to really try to twist the arms of senate republicans. But thats not very easy. And he probably would not be able to do another recess appoint oment of corddry because according to this decision, its not the end of session for congress. So could this tie the administration down for a long time . I think the effect of this decision is that it might really tie the hands of this president and perhaps a future president. President to make recess appointments except that one window between congresses. And it really greatly increases the po wore of the senate to in ways block, you know, block appointments to tell president that an unless you deliver up an appointee, a nominee of someone that we can digest that we really like, someone that is much more moderate, were not going to let this go through. We should mention that this isnt happening in a vacuum there are layers and lay ares of politics involved in all this as well, right . There is tons of politics. The Obama Administration has been saying that we really need this power of recess appointments because over the past 2, 3, 4, 5, years, congress has gotten, the republicans in congress have gotten far more partisan. Theyve gotten much, much more aggressive about preventing confirmation of nlrb appointees and of judicial appointees. And im sure that many in the Obama Administration are really tremendously up set by this decision because it really might seriously block their ability to name the people that they feel under the constitution they have the right to nominate. All right, Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times, thanks so much for joining us. Nice to be here. Brown coming up location reports from two newshour correspondents Margaret Warner in jerusalem, and ray suarez in davos, switzerland. Plus, the advances against islamist rebels in mali; zero waste in San Francisco; and shields and brooks. But first, the other news of the day. Heres kwame holman. Holman president obama chose his longtime Foreign Policy advisor Denis Mcdonough to be the new white house chief of staff. Mr. Obama made the announcement this afternoon. He lauded mcdonough, and told him, i know youll always give it to me straight, as only a friend can. Mcdonough will take over from jack lew, whos been nominated to replace Timothy Geithner as the next treasury secretary. Today was geithners last day, after four years on the job. In a final interview, he said hes hopeful the economy will strengthen this year. The Defense Department has begun eliminating the jobs of all 46,000 temporary civilian employees at the pentagon. The announcement today said its a response to mandatory, across theboard spending cuts. Theyre scheduled to take effect march 1, unless Congress Comes up with alternative cuts. Without changes, hundreds of thousands of fulltime civilian employees will face furloughs and reduced paychecks by april. The government of syria called today for thousands of refugees to come home, including those opposed to the regime. Nearly 600,000 syrians have fled the civil war and gone to neighboring countries. Theres been a new surge this week. We have a report narrated by alex thomson of independent Television News. The children say they doublechecked their figures. They counted around 10,000 children in the overcrowded camps in jordan in just the past 24 hours, with the parents or gardens they recognized around 20,000 people in all. With the winter cold and conditions like this, in the camps, King Abdullah of jordan took the might of these people to the top today, to the World Economic summit in davous. Jordan is hosting almost 300,000. The weakest ref gos are struggling now just to survive this years harsh winter. More International Support is desperately needed. And its only going to get worse. Back there syria it is indeed getting worse. These people filmed getting out and leaving in the past 24 hours. Its partly fuel shortage, heating oil in particular. But its also this too, intense fighting during the past two weeks in the once densely Populated Areas stretching from southern damascus suburbs d dn to the border with jordan itself. Its not just jordan, of course. Syrian refugees now strung out across lebanon, iraq, Northern Syria and here over the frontier in turkey. Where toys were hand out today and the little boys seemed pleased enough with them. These girls, however, appeared to have the weary stare of young people who have known already far too much of what life can bring. Holman the u. S. Plans to send 10 million more in humanitarian aid to help feed refugees inside syria. The focus will be around aleppo in the north. There were clashes in egypt today as antigovernment rallies marked the second anniversary of the revolution. At least four people were shot and killed in the city of suez. The scene in Cairos Tahrir square was reminiscent of the massive crowds who helped topple president hosni mubarak. Street battles with police broke out in cairo and elsewhere, and well more than 300 people were hurt. The protesters say the revolution was hijacked by islamists, who now control the government. Thousands of antiabortion protesters rallied in washington today against roe versus wade. The Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion was handed down 40 years ago this week. This years rally and march came in frigid temperatures. Protesters carried signs and chanted slogans on the steps of the Supreme Court. Abortion rights demonstrators staged a counterdemonstration there. Republican senator Saxby Chambliss of georgia will not run for a third term in 2014. In a statement today, chambliss said, this is about frustration. He said hes unhappy with president obamas direction and tired of partisan gridlock. Chambliss had angered tea party forces when he supported tax increases as part of a plan to tame the federal deficit. Wall street closed the week with another rally. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 70 points to close near 13,896. The nasdaq rose 19 points to close at 3,149. The s p 500 finished above 1,500 for the First Time Since 2007. For the week, the dow gained nearly 2 ; the nasdaq rose half a percent. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to jeff. Brown we turn to israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to build his coalition after tuesdays election. The contest saw a surprisingly strong showing from a centrist party led by a former television personality. Margaret warner is in jerusalem. I spoke with her a short time ago. So margaret, a few days after the election what kind of government seems to be taking shape . Jeff, im told that bebenetanyahu is trying to put together a very broad coalition, not relying just on the trawl religious and ultra conservative and Settler Movement crowd that is in his current government. So he is working with that surprise second place finisher to try to put together a very Big Coalition as well. A lot more votes than they really need. Would if the people theyre talking about join the government really span a range of viewpoints on everything from how to improve Economic Conditions for the middle class to say restarting peace talks with the principles. But it will take it could take a month to actually firm up. Tell us a little bit about that surprise second place finisher because it really was a surprise, did get inonn on the leadup. Warner it really was, he is 49 yearsyearold. It was only a year ago this month that he announced he was leaving journalism to enter politics yet he came up with 19 seats. That was only one less than netanyahu and his likud party gotten tirely on their own. So he is the hot new property here. He already was a celebrity. He is the sonf a holocaust survivor who ended up in the government here. But he had gone really quite his own direction. Hes been a Television Talk show host and a very popular columnist. He has written thrillers and childrens books and a play am and he has even act in a. So really it w so really was, a a said, st a yeargo thth he said he was leaving it all for politics. And his last column was something called where is the money . And that is where he let out, set up for his theo which is the burden to society has to be shared more equally. So margaret when you think about the implications of his coming government for any movement in the israelipalestinian struggle or relations with the u. S. I just wonder what you have seen in israel in terms of division. How divided does it feel politically and culturally . Well, it was just within israeli society, jeff, there is much Greater Division culturally than i even notice. I have been here for about six years. In the old divide used to be over how much and how to deal with the era of the palestinians, in particular and whether to give land for peace. The new divide is very cultural and it is between the ultraorthodox religious and also the pro settler nationalist movement which arent the same. But the ultraorthodox are growing as a portion of the population because they have more children. And what they call the seculars even though they are observant jews. But they are, they separate their politics from their religion. And you really see ton the streetsment i men in many neighborhoods, and certainly in tel aviv people dress just asasy do in the states. But there are a lot of neighborhoods and especially up here in jerusalem you see the orthodox everywhere and men in their black hats and curls behind their ears and the women whose hair really is as covered as women in many muslim countries. And so there is a lot of resentment, especially among secular israelis about the special privileges that the orthodox and the Settler Movement get. Everything from Greater Public spending, to the fact that the ultraorthodox with their young people say they are studying the torah are exempted from Compulsory National Military Service that every other young israeli, male or female has to serve. And that is really you know, the most striking divide that i see here in israel. Brown so margaret, give us a flavor for what is coming next week. What are yy reporting on. Warner jeff, we came here to look at the three big issues