NPR 2010-12-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack 1 Speer.

The White House is wrapping up its effort to get a nuclear arms treaty with Russia through Congress this year. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the latest big Republican gun to come to the White House's aid.

The White House keeps adding to its list of prominent Republicans who support the arms treaty known as New START. A few weeks ago, President Obama held an event with Republican former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker 2. Now, President George W. Bush's former Secretary of State Colin Powell has added his voice.

"I fully 3 support this treaty and I hope that the Senate will give its advice and consent to the ratification 4 of the treaty as soon as possible."

Senate Republicans have informed Majority Leader Harry 5 Reid that they will not allow votes on anything until Congress extends Bush-era tax cuts and passes spending bills to fund the government. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

The co-chairs of the Presidential Commission charged with coming up with ways to bring down the federal deficit 6 say the ball is now in Congress's court. The proposal, among other things, would raise the social security retirement 7 age, slash 8 spending for Medicare and some popular tax breaks, such as mortgage interest rate deductions 9 on a second home, and raise the gas tax. The Co-Chair Erskine Bowles said today the time for Washington dithering is over.

"We have started an adult conversation that will dominate the debate until the elected leadership here in Washington does something real."

While it will not balance the budget, it would cut the deficit to less than half a trillion dollars in the next four years. Two Senators, Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg, today put their support behind the plan.

More than 70 million people shopped online from their offices on Cyber Monday, boosting online sales by 16 percent this year. Danielle Karson reports retailers 12 raked in a huge chunk 13 of business.

With almost 90 percent of retailers posting some kind of Cyber Monday bargains, shoppers jumped on promotions 14 and online deals, shelling out an eye-popping billion dollars, making it the busiest online shopping day ever. John Long, a retail 11 analyst 15 at Kurt Solomon Associates, says for many retailers online sales have been their biggest growth engine.

"The convenience of online and the fact that more consumers than ever before are connected with fast connections to the Internet means that they are gonna be out there and shopping."

Online shoppers spend about 25 percent more than store shoppers. Analysts 16 say these blockbuster sales should be a good omen 17 for holiday shopping. It tells retailers that Americans are spending more freely, even if they are still holding out for bargains. For NPR News, I'm Danielle Karson in Washington.

New private employment survey has given the market a boost today. ADP Employer Services, which looks at non-government hiring, says companies added 93,000 workers to their payrolls 18 in November. Small business considered a crucial engine of the economy added its largest number of jobs in some three years. Those numbers helped send all of the stock market indexes up more than two percent today. The Dow was up 249 points to close at 11,255. The NASDAQ gained 15 points. The S&P 500 rose 25 points today.

This is NPR.

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was arraigned 19 today in Texas after being extradited from Utah to face trial on bigamy and sexual assault charges. Jeffs appeared in a West Texas courtroom today, where, according to the Texas's Attorney General's Office, he was not asked to enter a plea since he told the judge he needs time to find a lawyer. The 54-year-old Jeffs, who heads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is scheduled to go to trial next month. He faces charges stemming from a 2008 raid on a ranch 20 owned by the group where authorities seized more than 400 children to investigate possible abuse. Most were eventually returned.

Federal government will give five and a half of billion dollars to black farmers and American Indians to settle long-standing lawsuits 21. The settlement awaits President Obama's signature. NPR's Ted 10 Robbins reports.

The government is supposed to manage royalties 22 for timber, oil and gas and minerals taken from tribal 23 lands. But for much of the last 122 years, that management has been a mess. Interior Department records are missing; some Indians have even alleged 24 theft. What the Claims Settlement Act of 2010 does is resolve a long-standing class-action suit brought by Indians against the government, although $3.4 billion is a fraction of what tribes say is actually owed. The bill also gives a billion dollars to resolve Indian water-rights cases across the nation. And it gives more than a billion dollars to black farmers who sued the Agriculture Department for discriminatory lending practices. The Obama administration actively 25 supported the bill's passage. Ted Robbins, NPR News.

Mortgage applications fell last week as interest rates rose to their highest level since mid-August. The Mortgage Bankers Association says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.56 percent.

I'm Jack Speer, NPR News in Washington.