NPR 2010-12-08

President Obama is standing 1 by his decision to give the GOP what it wanted - Bush-era tax cut extensions for the wealthiest Americans. Confronted with criticism from members of his own party, the president called the last-minute briefing with White House reporters today to explain that if he hadn't compromised, middle-class families would've also seen their tax cuts go away at the end of the month. The president said the Republican leadership just wouldn't budge 2.

"This is their holy grail, these tax cuts for the wealthy. This is -- seems to be their central economic doctrine 3. And so, unless we had 60 votes in the Senate at any given time, it would be very hard for us to move this forward.”

Before the briefing, a group of congressional GOP leaders said the president made the right decision. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said tax cuts for those making more than 250,000 dollars a year will go a long way to creating jobs.

"The best thing we can do right now to make it easier and cheaper to create private sector 4 jobs is not to raise taxes on people who create jobs and on the American working people.”

But critics say this deal will cost taxpayers 5 tens of billions of dollars without any guarantee enough jobs will be created to bring down the unemployment rate. And they say it's a fight President Obama and his party will have to again face when cuts are due to expire in two years.

Investigative hearings into the BP Gulf 6 oil spill are underway in Huston, on the Deepwater Horizon accident to be specific. NPR's Jeff Brady says this is the sixth public hearing into the Deepwater Horizon case jointly 7 conducted by US Coast Guard and the Department of the Interior.

While investigators 8 have conducted exhaustive questioning of witnesses, they haven't made public any of their preliminary conclusions like the president's spill commission has. During hearings this week, the panel will question mudloggers. They are responsible for alerting rig workers when gas levels in drilling mud are too high. The Coast Guard and Interior Department are expected to hold one more set of hearings, and the agencies are still waiting for forensic 9 test results on a key piece of evidence. That's the blowout preventer that failed to stop the Macondo well from spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. When a final report is issued, the agencies are expected to conclude what caused the explosion and what could be done to prevent a similar accident in the future. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

Oil prices topped 90 dollars a barrel today for the first time in more than two years. The jump is sending fuel prices higher. Analysts 10 say costs may reach a national average of three dollars a gallon before Christmas.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 28 points at 11,391.

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A British judge is denying bail 11 to WikiLeaks founder 12 Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition 13 to Sweden, where he faces sex crimes charges. Assange, who denies the allegations, appeared in court after he surrendered to authorities this morning. The Swedish charges surfaced after Assange's group released large amounts of classified information without US authorization 14. The latest involves diplomatic cables. US and other governments condemn 15 the leaks as irresponsible, but Assange's supporters say the public has a right to know.

Jamie and Frank McCourt have argued for more than a year in divorce court about whether one or both of them owns the Los Angeles Dodgers 16. NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates reports a new ruling has settled that question but opened others.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon ruled on Tuesday morning that the marital 17 property agreement the McCourts signed "is not valid 18 or enforceable". That means the Dodgers may be considered part of the couple’s mutual 19 assets, which almost certainly means more court time. As each McCourt had indicated they would appeal if the ruling went against their interests. The next question: Will the team have to be sold in an effort to divide the McCourts' assets fairly? Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

The chief of the International Monetary 20 Fund is urging the European Union to address the bloc's debt crisis collectively instead of focusing on individual member nations. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is in Greece to address that country’s ongoing 21 debt crisis, spoke 22 a day after eurozone nations decided 23 not to take any new emergency measures.

The latest from Wall Street, the Dow was up a fraction of a point.