NPR 2010-02-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

President Obama says the new federal budget proposal he has sent Congress today would bring down the massive budget deficit 1 steadily 2 over the next decade. But Mr. Obama says the budget includes measures to address his more immediate 3 concern: reducing the nation's high unemployment rate. “The budget includes new tax cuts for people who invest in small businesses, tax credits for small businesses that hire new workers, investments that will create jobs repairing roads and bridges, and tax breaks for retrofitting homes to save energy.” The president says the federal deficit which is projected to be nearly 1.6 trillion dollars, a record level, this fiscal 4 year would decline to 1.3 trillion in the next fiscal year which begins in October. That’s about the level he inherited when he took office last year.

The Commerce Department says consumer spending increased 0.2% in December; the personal income of Americans was up 0.4%. Daniel Cousin reports consumer spending accounts for about 2/3 of the economic activity in the US.

Personal incomes and spending are important measures of a strong economy. Both took a beating during the recession, but the latest numbers show the economy is slowly digging itself out of the downturn. But John Lonski, chief economist 5 with Moody’s Capital Markets Group, says consumers won’t be driving the recovery while unemployment hovers 6 at 10%. “As long as employment struggles to grow, it’s highly unlikely that consumer spending is going to expand at a pace that’s typical of an economic recovery.” There was also the latest setback 7 in the housing sector 8. New home sales took a big tumble in December. The gross domestic product grew a whopping 5.7% in the fourth quarter last year, but the experts say that won’t last and expect the pace to throttle 9 back to around 3% this year. For NPR News, I’m Daniel Cousin in Washington.

The US military has resumed medical evacuation flights from Haiti for the most critically wounded and sick earthquake survivors 10. From Port-au-Prince, NPR’s David Schaper reports that comes after the flights have been suspended for five days.

No one here knows exactly who gave the order to suspend military medical flights to the United States last week nor why. But doctors caring for the most critically ill and wounded victims of the devastating 11 earthquake at a field hospital at the Port-au-Prince airport say over the past few days a handful of patients have died while waiting for airlifts. On Sunday, they arranged for privately 12 funded medical evacuation flights to get at least a half dozen children to US hospitals for life-saving treatment that could not get here. The doctors say there are still at least 200 patients, many of them at outlying hospitals with severe burns, head trauma 13 and paralyzing spinal 14 injuries, who need medical airlift to the US, because no facility here in Haiti can provide the kind of complex treatment or surgeries they need. David Schaper, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.

This is NPR News from Washington.

The Canadian commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan says he’s poised 15 to launch an offensive aimed at crippling the insurgency 16 there by summer. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the general is counting on the US troop surge to help.

Brigadier General Daniel Ménard commands NATO’s Task Force Kandahar which includes American forces, and the coming influx 17 of the US troops will allow him to drastically change his tactics in the region. Ménard calls it a completely different ball game. While once he had small 50 to 100 member units dispersed 18 around Kandahar City, there will now be units of up to 800. Ménard says the next four months will be crucial in the battle against the Taliban, adding that with the number of troops and resources he has been given, he believes he can break the back of the insurgency this summer and more importantly show the local population there is no need to be threatened by the militants 19. Canada has about 2, 800 troops in Afghanistan, most of them around Kandahar. Ménard says he now has more US troops under his command in Canadian and the spring offensive will focus on the volatile 20 regions of Panjwaii and Arghandab, south of Kandahar City. For NPR News, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

Toyota says it’s ready to begin fixing accelerator pedals prone 21 to sticking in millions of recalled vehicles. The necessary parts are being shipped to dealerships. And the President and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales Jim Lentz says the company is eager to remedy the problem. “I think the key is that we have the fix that our dealers 22 are ready. Our, our dealers are going to be working weekends. Some dealers, as you understand, are going to be working 24/7 to be able to take care of the customers.” Lentz was on NBC’s “Today Show”. Toyota says the company has developed and tested a fix that involves reinforcing the gas pedal with a small steel bar.

Wall Street at this hour, the Dow up 113 points.

I’m Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.