the tax breaks i propose we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. tax cuts for cooperate jet

owners. >> and in libya, they are playing politics over the war powers act. >> this suddenly becomes the -- >> reporter: but one topic where the president was more guard and offense, was his evolving stance on gay marriage. >> i'll keep giving you the same answer until i give you a different one, all right? and that won't be today. >> reporter: but the president's ramped up rhetoric against congress didn't go over well at the other end of pennsylvania avenue. >> now is the time to make the tough choices. that's why they're called leaders.

i've been here, i've been doing afghanistan and bin laden and the greek crisis and you stay here and let's get it done. >> reporter: so what he was referring to, brian, is this issue that in the last couple of weeks, the house run by republicans and the senate republican by democrats, one week they're here and the next week they're not. senate democrats are now thinking about cutting short that holiday, basically based on the president's criticism earlier this afternoon. >> chuck, here's the question, does this work? what does it do for the people? the president himself talked about it today, the americans who are hurting every day and hoping for a result to make their lives better. >> reporter: well, look, the problem is this issue with the house republicans. the leadership on the senate republicans and the house republicans and the white house are pretty close to a deal, but what can they sell to the house republican caucus, that new conservative, the tea party caucus and right now they don't think they can sell anything that even remotely looks like a tax hike on anybody.

that's why while senate republicans are close to agreeing on some things like getting rid of those oil subsidies, or that corporate jets loophole, they're not going to act on anything, brian, until the house votes, until john boehner can sell that deal, and right now, a lot of people don't think he can sell that deal, so now you're hearing talk of short-term deals, maybe six months at a time. the white house did get a victory today, earlier today, a federal appeals court in ohio upheld the most controversial portion of the obama health care law, the mandate that all americans must buy health insurance. it's now the fourth federal court to find the law constitutional. two other courts said congress exceeded its powers, the issue will almost certainly wind up being decided by the supreme court. overseas this was a make or

break day in greece, where the parliament held a key vote to deal with that nation's dire financial situation, one that's having a ripple effect, as you may know, around the world. the vote, again, brought thousands of protesters into the streets, venting their anger at the cuts for greece to get bailout money so it can pay its bills, another day of a lot of violence there. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera is there. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. more than 100 people were injured including 38 police officers. this after the greek parliament voted in those tough new austerity measures, what they had to go in order to get a loan under the european union and avoid drups. -- bankruptcy. protesters took aim at police and set fire to the finance ministry, but they couldn't stop the passage of $40 billion of tax hikes and budget cuts. >> we cannot stand them, we cannot pay, we are not going to pay. >> reporter: when it was over, more than 100 were injured including 38 police officers.

unrest is expected to continue as the government struggles to impose the five-year austerity plan, opposed by 80% of the population, according to a recent poll. the president argued the suffering was necessary to avoid the country's collapse. support from two opposition lawmakers assured passage. but even a new $17 billion loan may not be enough to avoid financial meltdown. >> lots of people are not convinced that this can resolve the situation. i think our european partners need to prove that this was a viable way how. >> chancellor andrea merkel of germany, grease's -- greece's biggest creditor held the vote out as a really good piece of good news. but thousands on the streets of athens disagree. tomorrow there is a second vote, this is where they decide how to implement the bill.

it wi they hope to raise several billion dollars by selling off the water company, the utility company and some of the country's beaches. brian? >> michelle, i know it's been a long day there inhaling tear gas and reporting on the violence. we appreciate your reporting here tonight. just as we were on the air last night, there was breaking news out of kabul, the capital of afghanistan where a couple of suicide bombers attacked the intercontinental hotel, a well known landmark there, after a six-hour standoff with taliban security. u.s. choppers fired at the roof, killing the taliban gunman who had taken refuge there. a big fire broke out in the process. 21 people killed, including civilians, our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is stateside just briefly and with us in the studio tonight. we have all stayed in this hotel in our travels there, as i said, a well known landmark, but what does this say about the afghans securing their country during all this talk of u.s. pullout?

>> reporter: it says the afghans can't even secure the capital and that's where they have the most control. so as the u.s. is talking about drawing down forces, i think the u.s. is going to have to accept being there longer or accept more attacks like the one we saw in kabul because if nato troops and u.s. troops aren't there, this is what's going to happen. >> gadhafi continues to hang on, especially where in the middle east. he's hanging on a couple of rebel advances recently and then last night, i saw the news out of cairo where you and i were last, covering the explosion of happiness then violence then happiness as part of arab spring, more violence in tahrir square behind where we were. >> more violence today, two days of clashes, this is the worst violence since the revolution itself. and the people, the revolutionaries are back out in the streets, clashing with the security forces, about 100 people hospitalized between today and yesterday because they're skeptical that the military, which is seen as a custodian of power here,

overseeing the transition to a post revolutionary phase. they're skeptical that the military is serious. they want to see faster action, they wants to see more action taken against gadhafi and his cronies, so this is an expression of their doubt and frustration. >> i know you're headed back to the region this time tomorrow night, so who knows where we'll talk to you next, richard engel. >> back in this country, the fda panel rejected the controversial drug avastin as a treatment for end-stage breast cancer. this is the second time the fda has said that avastin is not safe for breast cancer treatment. avastin is still approved to treat other forms of cancer, but this means that insurance won't pay for it as a breast cancer treatment.

opponents are saying that the fda is taking away one of their few options for treatment. a final decision by the full fda is due in just a few months. back to the story in this country we have been following off week, that big fire in new mexico that's been moving in on the los alamos nuclear weapons lab. janet shanlian is there and has been covering it for us. janet, good evening. >> reporter: firefighters are making some progress out here, but the winds are picking up once again and that is a problem. today fire teams became much more aggressive about setting preventative fires around the rim of the lab. that is deliberately burning trees and brush in order to rob the wildfires of their fuel. they're also tackling this from the air, helicopters are dropping water and the epa has supplied a radiation detecting plane. they've also tested the air here from the ground and so far the results indicate nothing is coming from the lab. the lab is still closed, the town is still closed. and today the fire chief doug tucker told me that while he's

shooting for saturday or sunday, it seems very likely that they will not lift that mandatory evacuation order until after the holiday weekend. and as long as this community is closed, it seems likely the lab will remain closed as well. brian? >> a very dicey situation. janet, great work out there again today. janet shanlian at los alamos. when we come back tonight, 29 men are gone forever, and whose job was it to protect them as they mined coal to make our electricity? tonight what we have learned about safety and honesty after one of the worst mining disasters ever. and later, making a difference for cancer patients by planting seeds of hope.

every time you turn on the lights, when you turn on this television, there's a good chance that the electricity comes in part from coal. though we don't think of it, when we flip the switch often tiles, coal is dug out of the ground by humans. they don't get rich doing it, in fact they often get sick because of it. the disasterupt e thper big e anch mine in west virginia last year, was one of those crises that captured the whole world's attention. when it was over, 29 miners were dead and today federal investigators say they found the company running the mine, massey energy was keeping two sets of safety records, one for the people working in the mine, another to mislead federal

inspectors who came to check on the operation. our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: 14 months after the worst u.s. mining disaster in 40 years, government investigators today said mine operator massey energy had been misleading safety inspectors. >> this explosion could and should have been prevented by the mine operators. >> reporter: the mine safety and health administration revealed several examples of the company keeping two sets of records, one set that detailed safety problems at the mine, the other a clean set for federal inspectors who would visit. on the day of the explosion, one report listed excessive coal dust problems and equipment that needed cleaning. the book kept for inspectors reported very few problems. and, says the government, the mine culture discouraged miners from speaking up. >> miners who were worried about conditions in the mine would not complain due to fear of retributions. >> reporter: today alpha natural resources which just bought

massey energy told nbc news, we support any effort that will lead to a full understanding of the circumstances that precipitated this tragic explosion. just last month, the governor's special investigators said company negligence likely caused the explosion. >> there was inadequate and badly maintained equipment that was decades old. >> federal investigators believe a buildup of highly explosives coal dust and poorly maintained equipment triggered the blast, rejecting the company's suggestion that naturally occurring methane gas was likely the cause. in the months leading up to the explosion, massey energy racked up hundreds of safety violations and many miners told investigators they had to tip off company managers whenever federal inspectors showed up above ground. federal inspectors are also under fire for not catching the safety hazards. meanwhile former ceo don blankenship refused to talk to investigators. he retired last year with an $86

million package, while the company offered each of the miner's families $3 million. up next here tonight, unusual reason departed air traffic slowed to a crawl at one of the nation's busiest airports.

every once in a while people need to be cut down to size, reminded they are merely one living thing in the larger circle of life, and that's exactly what happened at kennedy airport in new york as a group of turtles brought everything to a screeching halt on the primary runway. they were just doing their thing, walking up from nearby jamaica bay, a passel of diamondbacked paraffins looking to nest. they stopped operations for 15 minutes and were gently relocated. this is what it sounded like at the towers. >> american 1009, there's a report of a turtle on the run way, do you want to have it removed first? >> sure. >> american 1009 cancel takeoff

clearance, hold your position. >> holding position, i was wondering what those things were. >> thank you american 1009, on behalf of turtle lovers everywhere. about 150 turtles in all, they were just trying to get from the bay to the local beach to lay their eggs. tsa had a few questions for them. here's a view of abby road that you haven't seen, here's a rehearsal walk through for the famous abby road. more of her photos came out today including the very modest christmas tree in the modest mccartney home in liverpool, remember, still post war england, note the queen on the black and white tv. there's also one of paul in a robe on a fence. they can all be seen as part of a gallery exhibit, "linda mccartney: life in photographs." george ballas has died, a long time resident of houston, texas. he was most famous for an idea he had while sitting in a car wash one day. he looked up and saw those spinning bristles and thought, i

bet that same principle can be used for lawn trimming. he went home and got some fishing line and invented the weed eater. he launched it in 1971 and his tv commercials convinced all of us we needed one. it was just another chapter in an interesting life. ballas was a bombardier, went to work in the states at the arthur murray and fred astair dance studios, became something of a world class dancer. his son and grandson have gone on to appear on "dancing with the stars." george ballas was 85 years old. up next here tonight an inspiration that took root and is making a difference for breast cancer patients.

as too many americans already know all too well, battling cancer can be exhausting for the body and the spirit and it's not always easy to figure out ways to help make things better. but outside boston, an idea has quite literally taken root and it's making a difference for people going through a tough time. the story tonight. >> reporter: between the shovels and the soil are the seeds of something much bigger than yard work.

this is hope in bloom, a massachusetts nonprofit that builds free gardens for breast cancer patients. four years ago gardening enthusiast lost a close friends to the disease. >> i didn't know what to do with the grief and i realized they could make it better for somebody else. >> reporter: since then the group has grown to more than 800 volunteers, working solely with donated cash and materials. their mission is simple, to bring all of nature's tranquility and healing power to those who need it most. today that's new mom rebecca burn, she was diagnosed breast cancer just three months into her pregnancy. >> when there's a time when you're supposed to be celebrating being pregnant -- sorry -- you know, being excited about being pregnant, i was scared and not even enjoying my pregnancy. >> reporter: after giving birth to a healthy baby girl, she immediately had a mastectomy.

>> she's a miracle baby. >> reporter: over the years, the group has created 100 outdoor sanctuaries, all filled with more than just flowers. >> every plant that was strategically planted with love, there was just this divine sense that came from my garden. >> reporter: back at the burns' home, rebecca is getting her first glimpse of the new backyard. >> oh, my goodness. >> wow. it's going to be a place that i can remember the struggle that went through this last year, but also see the future. >> we plant hope. you know, hope grows in these gardens. >> reporter: planting hope, blooming into happiness and healing. >> thank you so much. >> that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

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