>>> in the past few hours, the house has decided to end the furlough that caused thousands of flights. it passed overwhelmingly. it allows the faa to shrift money from other accounts and bring staffing levels of air traffic controllers back to normal. the white house press secretary jay carney called the measure a quote, band-aid solution. but said president obama will sign it.
>> how is it fair or right or just that these kids on head start get their cuts, that these cuts go into effect and the defense department and it's tough luck. when a bunch of business travelers belly ache because their flights are delayed because of the furloughs, that they get one of the fastest pieces of legislation to move through washington in recent memory. why doesn't the president take a stand? you could have flown in members of congress who need flights home also. but the fact is the delays are -- they are a problem for not just business travelers and members of congress . but for many americans. and that's a real negative consequence of the sequester. your point is excellent. and we call on congress to show as much concern for others who are being harmed.
>> joining me now live, transportation reporter and white house reporter, thank you all for joining me. that is a heck of a question. that is the question on this friday that you're hearing over and over on blogs and when you talk to folks. when one group somehow escapes the sequester and then we talk about head start programs. we did a piece on families in the midwest suffering because the head start program in their state had been affected. meals on wheels. the list goes on and on. is that an appropriate answer from mr. carney to that question? that is on the minds of americans today.
>> i think what happened today is the starkest illustration of that inequity that exists, the sequester and til pact of it and how congress is responding to it. clearly you saw a lot of democrats today come out and say, i really hope congress works this hard and this fast when the head start cuts are being felt, meals on wheels, folks who are disabled are really facing the brunt. and a lot of the cuts as well with you it is not as widely felt. and it is a pretty valid criticism. i think that's been sort of the misstep from the white house 's perspective in terms of how they've handled this. the cuts have kicked in so gradually and incemetekr incrementally. the furloughs at the airports was viewed as one of the highest impact cuts floufl that that has been taken out of the equation with what congress did today, it may take away some of the impetus to deal with things more broadly as they come up.
>> politico has an article saying democrats blinked first on aviation cuts. it says while travelers may be relieved splrk democrats worry about saving the faa while letting other domestic programs suffer. it is that squeaky wheel thing. i'll bring in the gun debate. the nra even its own membership supporting background checks . the power of the press conferences that were held i guess by wayne lapierre and the pressure they were able to put on some republicans and democrats certainly, we saw that effort derailed. here we are again. 4-year-olds cannot go and write their letters and demand that their members of congress act on their benefit. but business travelers got the attention of those in your town. i call it your town now because everyone is bin laden at d.c.
>> i'm not sure it is business travelers as much as members of congress lou have to get out of town every week themselves get to get on their flights really, really quickly to get back and forth to washington . that i think probably had as much of an impact as anything else in terms of getting members to act as quickly.
>> is that the case? the transportation reporter, was it congress being inconvenienced? or was it truly air travelers ?
>> well, we heard a lot from air travelers during the week. because it added something like 1,000 delays nationwide. but i think part of what helped the political dynamic in washington was that even among conservative republicans, they were very nervous about having small air traffic control towers closed in their communities. they were hearing from their residents about flight delays. so there was great urgency to fix it on both sides of the aisle.
>> i want to play a little of what senator john mccain and bob cork he both today, their response to what happened. we should mention this was as they were boarding flights to get out of washington , d.c. let me play it.
>> i think everybody on both sides of the aisle knew that the white house was purposefully trying to inconvenience people to try to force us to a different place as it relates to spending.
>> it is a failure of congress , frankly, and the president to join together to prevent these really unnecessary hardships on the american public.
>> so again you see the airport background there. how much of a role did the airlines play in all of this?
>> the airlines had resisted these cuts strenuously. they filed a lawsuit last friday to try to stop the furloughs. that case had not been heard and i guess now becomes moot. but the airlines had resisted this. they said it would bring an important facet of the economy to a halt. so they fought it strongly.
>> the president said he will sign this bill. what do we believe will happen next?
>> we'll have to wait for the next sort of issue to pop up with sequestration. this will obviously the furloughs will be averted. but like democrats have been saying all yesterday, all day, is that these cuts are still going to go into effect. hit people pretty broadly. i think the national parks this summer may be the next sort of focal point for more widespread attention. but again, this is coming. these cuts are kicking in sort of so gradually and incrementally that it is hard to see what the next sort of big tension point is that forces congress to act short of going with this gang in the senate, the group of republicans trying to work with the white house , maybe on larger deficit deal. in many ways, the white house what they view as their best hope, dealing with this for the long term. this issue will pop back up at the end of the fiscal year. even if they're dealing with it piecemeal until then.
>> great pleasure have you gone
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