Friday, April 29, 2005

Reshaping Social Security
President Bush on Thursday called on Congress to consider his proposal for Social Security reform.

Robert Pozen, author and proponent of the "progressive indexing" plan that the president favors, and Gene Sperling, former national economic advisor to President Clinton, assess President Bush's proposal and what it would mean for current and future retirees.

Congress Approves New Budget
Congress this week approved a $2.6 trillion budget plan for 2006, which calls for new tax cuts and spending reductions in the next five years.

Vietnam 30 Years Later
Ian Williams of Independent Television News reports on the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam war.

Shields and Lowry
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and National Review editor Rich Lowry join Jim Lehrer to discuss the House ethics battle, President Bush's plan for Social Security and the GOP proposal to block filibusters for judicial nominees.

U.S.-South American Relations
In the wake of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to South America this week, Ariel Dorfman, novelist and professor at Duke University, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, discuss the regional tension.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Iraq's New Government

Problem Gamblers
Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles takes a look at some troubled gamblers.

Economic Snapshot
The Commerce Department released a report Thursday, which stated that the gross domestic product increased 3.1 percent from January to March, down from 3.8 percent the previous quarter.

Ray Suarez explores the state of the American economy with Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for Lasalle Bank in Chicago; Dawn McLaren, a research economist at the Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University; and Anirban Basu, CEO of Sage Policy Group.

Frozen in Time
Terence Smith visits the Bettmann Archive, one of the world's most renowned private collections of historical photographic and graphic images.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

House Ethics Battle
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Wednesday that he is prepared to retract controversial ethics rules passed earlier in the year aimed at shielding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, from a probe into the outside funding of some of his travels.

Ray Suarez speaks with Gebe Martinez of the Houston Chronicle about the day's events and Richard Cohen, co-editor of National Journal's Almanac of American Politics, about how the latest partisan wrangling fits into the broader ethics debate.

Newsmaker: Charles Duelfer
An 18-month investigation into Iraq's purported cachet of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) ended Monday when the CIA's top weapons inspector Charles Duelfer released a final report saying no WMDs were found. Margaret Warner speaks with Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, about his report and the flaws in America's intelligence on Iraq's WMD program.

Darfur Update
The African Union is seeking to bolster its presence in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur. Fred de Sam Lazaro of Minnesota's Twin Cities Public Television reports on the ongoing violence in Darfur.

Supreme Court Watch
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case stemming from the collapse of Enron. Several justices expressed their dismay with the way a jury was instructed before convicting accounting firm Arthur Andersen of obstructing justice.

Terence Smith speaks with Jan Crawford Greenburg of the Chicago Tribune about the day's arguments and which decisions are still pending from the court.

North to History
Jeffrey Brown looks at a British and American team's incredible 37-day journey to the North Pole.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Social Security: Solving the Problem

Margaret Warner speaks with the leaders of the Finance Committee, Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about the continuing debate over fixing Social Security.

Tom DeLay Under Fire
President Bush was joined by embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay at a Social Security event in their home state of Texas Tuesday. Afterward, the president praised DeLay and in a show of support gave the congressman a ride back to Washington on Air Force One. Kwame Holman gives an update on DeLay's ongoing ethics troubles.

Breaking the Pattern
Spencer Michels examines efforts to lower Hispanic dropout rates in schools around the country.

Wounds of War
Susan Dentzer reports on how families are caring for veterans seriously disabled in the Iraq war.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Judicial Wars

Gwen Ifill leads a discussion on the use of filibusters to block controversial judicial nominees with Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

The Troubled State of Human Spycraft
Margaret Warner looks at the current state of human spying as new national intelligence director John Negroponte begins his first full week on the job.

Venezuelan-U.S. Relations
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make her first trip to several Latin America countries on Tuesday in an effort to promote democracy and improve governance. Her visit coincides with the United States' growing concern with Venezuela and its alliance with Cuba and President Hugo Chavez's announcement that he was terminating a military exchange program with the United States.

Ray Suarez speaks with Arturo Valenzuela, professor of government and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University, and Miguel Diaz, a Latin American analyst who worked at the CIA in the early 1990s, about the growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela.