reporter: just two days before he meets with congressional leaders, the president took a tougher tone on budget talks. in his news conference, he pushed hard for an immediate extension of tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 a year. and by the way, that means every american, including the wealthiest americans get a tax cut. it means that 98% of all americans, and 97% of all small businesses won t see their taxes go up a single dime. the senate has already passed a law like this. democrats in the house are ready to pass a law like this and i hope republicans in the house come on board too. reporter: republicans said again they would be willing to raise more tax revenue by closing loopholes or limiting deductions. but those revenues had to be matched with cuts in entitlement programs. until you make our entitlement programs fit the future demographic of country, the demographics of our country, you can t possibly solve our long term debt and deficit problems.
congressional leaders, the president took a tougher tone on budget talks. in his news conference, he pushed hard for an immediate extension of tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 a year. and by the way, that means every american, including the wealthiest americans get a tax cut. it means that 98% of all americans, and 97% of all small businesses won t see their taxes go up a single dime. the senate has already passed a law like this. democrats in the house are ready to pass a law like this and i hope republicans in the house come on board too. reporter: republicans said again they would be willing to raise more tax revenue by closing loopholes or limiting deductions. but those revenues had to be matched with cuts in entitlement programs. until you make our entitlement programs fit the future demographic of country, the demographics of our country, you can t possibly solve our long term debt and deficit problems. reporter: the president did rule out some id
president obama and congress to agree on avoiding a combination of higher taxes and government spending cuts, the president today said he won t extend tax cuts for people who don t need them. that hard line came during a white house press conference just as a negotiations with republican leaders get underway to avoid the fiscal cliff. as darren gersh reports from washington, even before republicans and democrats sit down to talk on friday, both sides are laying down markers. reporter: just two days before he meets with congressional leaders, the president took a tougher tone on budget talks. in his news conference, he pushed hard for an immediate extension of tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 a year. and by the way, that means every american, including the wealthiest americans get a tax cut. it means that 98% of all americans, and 97% of all small businesses won t see their taxes go up a single dime. the senate has already passed a law like this. democrats i
tom: with 47 days left for president obama and congress to agree on avoiding a combination of higher taxes and government spending cuts, the president today said he won t extend tax cuts for people who don t need them. that hard line came during a white house press conference just as a negotiations with republican leaders get underway to avoid the fiscal cliff. as darren gersh reports from washington, even before republicans and democrats sit down to talk on friday, both sides are laying down markers. reporter: just two days before he meets with congressional leaders, the president took a tougher tone on budget talks. in his news conference, he pushed hard for an immediate extension of tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 a year. and by the way, that means every american, inuding the wealthiest americans get a tax cut. it means that 98% of all americans, and 97% of all small businesses won t see their taxes go up a single dime. the senate has already passed a
will bring justice to the families of the men who died when the deepwater horizon exploded. perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the deaths of the 11 men on board the deepwater horizon could have been avoided. the explosion of the rig was a disaster that resulted from b.p. s culture of privileging profit over prudence. reporter: b.p. has agreed to plead guilty to 11 counts of felony manslaughter and one felony count of lying to congress. in addition, two b.p. supervisors on the deepwater rig have been charged with 23 counts of manslaughter. another b.p. executive was charged with lying to congress. b.p. will also pay a record- setting $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties. thrown in with the criminal charges is a civil settlement with the securities and exchange commission. b.p. will pay more than half a billion dollars to settle charges it lied to investors, telling them the macondo spill was one-tenth it s actual size. b.p. executives made numerous public sta