on the broadcast tonight -- a super failure on the super committee debt deal. it came down to congress and they couldn't do it. tonight, how you may be paying for it. outrage. college kids pepper sprayed by police while they demonstrated peacefully. tonight, more fallout from the videotape that's been seen by millions. the crisis in cairo. more bloodshed where it all started. is the revolution coming apart? we're live there tonight with richard engel. and best friends. they served together over there in war time. now they are being reunited here back home. now they are being reunited here back home. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. like a nation of addicts, spending addicts, kicking the can down the road it was part of the deal that was cut back when the fight over the debt ceiling shut washington down and split it apart. instead, this so-called super committee of congress that was supposed to find $1.2 trillion in cuts to reduce the debt has failed. they couldn't do it and tonight the president went before cameras and the white house briefing room and pushed back hard. >> already some in congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. my message to them is simple. no. i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts -- domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off-ramps on this one. >> that was the president a short time ago this evening. now tonight the big questions

are -- what just happened? is this any way to govern? and what happens now? do automatic and potentially cruel budget cuts now go into effect? we want to begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell on the hill. one major poll puts congress's approval rating at 9%. let's not forget three governments just fell in europe over deficit issues. >> reporter: that was not enough to galvanize them to get behind this, brian, even though they are painfully aware of that. we asked them about the reaction to the public's outrage and that wasn't enough. this felt like a slow death for a plan that was supposed to help the country deal with the long-term debt. this super committee was given added power that's why it got the name to try to deal with this problem and instead with failure that means there are more real world consequences. >> are you closer to a deal, congressman? >> we're not making any comment.

>> reporter: a scene just like this doesn't happen in the halls of congress. but today it did. consider it the frenzy around what many see as another washington failure. members of the super committee say they tried for an 11th hour breakthrough. >> will there be a deal today? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: the super committee of six democrats and six republicans was born out of an earlier stalemate when the president and speaker boehner could not reach a debt reduction deal. congress gave the committee its mission -- to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion often years or else broad spending cuts would happen automatically. today's impasse feeds into the dismal view of congress. >> right now we are seeing both parties at or near their record lows in favorability. both parties leaders are seen as failures. >> reporter: both parties agree the crushing national debt is a real crisis. former senator alan simpson warneded the super committee that washington needs to wake up. >> if you spend more than you earn you lose your butt.

if you spend a buck and borrow 42 cents of it you got to be stupid. >> reporter: today's failure triggers budget cuts in 2013. a range of domestic programs from education to agriculture with smaller cuts to medicare. but the defense department faces a steep $550 billion cut that alarms defense secretary leon panetta. >> it's a ship without sailors. it's a brigade without bullets. it's an air wing without enough trained pilots. >> reporter: tonight republicans are drafting legislation to prevent those cuts to the defense department and pushing back against the president's veto threat. john mccain saying tonight he recommends the president have a conversation with secretary panetta to learn about the effects on the defense department. brian? >> so, kelly, let's step back. net-net, where does this all stand, this entire mess, as we speak tonight? >> reporter: it gives us a story line for the 2012 election year, brian.

they do have time to find cuts, to try to continue to look for compromise. in the wider political landscape that may be very difficult to do. it really will depend on how painful these automatic cuts are deemed to be and to see if they can come up with smaller packages. sometimes congress can do small things better than big things. brian? >> kelly o'donnell, with late scrambling on capitol hill as this all disintegrated. kelly, thanks. now to egypt where it was almost a year ago now when we arrived to see those huge crowds in tahrir square. the revolution ousted mubarak. the military was running things until elections. tonight we're at it again. there's the scene, more violence, more bloodshed in that same place and new questions about egypt's near future. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is right back there tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. last time they toppled a dictator in this square.

now they want his army to go. egyptians in tahrir square took on their army and police with stones and molotov cocktails. police fired burning choking clouds of tear gas. protesters tried to throw them right back. they toppled president hosni mubarak last february. now egyptians want to overthrow the army that took over for him and promised to bring democracy. the same people are in power. nothing has changed. they are worst than the past regime, this man said. but fighting police and soldiers with stones comes at a cost. the injured are brought to this makeshift infirmary here in the square where volunteers try and revive them. almost everyone is suffocating from tear gas. the injured often came in limp, sprawled out on carpets, some very young, treated with disinfectant and eye drops. the egyptian military is using

more than tear gas. at least 30 demonstrators have been killed since yesterday. this video has become a new icon. egyptian troops last night dragging what appeared to be a dead protester. for the united states this second revolt is a dilemma. washington backs egypt's pro democracy movement but also backs its old ally the egyptian military and arms it. the tear gas in tahrir is american-made. protesters told me so are other supposed crowd control devices. he's showing me one of the shotgun shells and it clearly says made in the usa. in the square demonstrators prayed in defiance some wearing gas masks calling for the army to step down. as you can see, brian, there are still tens of thousands of people here in tahrir square. they set up tents. they are spending the night. they will be using these tents

tomorrow when they plan to have a million man march in this city and once again the future of egypt and who controls it is at stake. >> so, richard, one way of asking it. last time we met there, you and i walked through there. it was a sunny afternoon. we met and talked to a lot of people. if we can go back and find those same people what have their lives been like. has it been suspended animation for them? >> reporter: they have put their faith in the egyptian army and the egyptian military to bring democracy here and bring a degree of prosperity. that was the deal that they made when president mubarak stepped down. the economy here is still in shambles. no tourists are coming. democracy didn't seem it was on the horizon and that's why they took to the streets again. >> richard engel in tahrir square in cairo. richard, thanks. one other note about the uprisings. saif gadhafi the fugitive son of moammar gadhafi, british educated, well dressed, often the spokesman for libya during the uprising, he was captured

over the weekend while trying to cross the border and get out of libya. libyan officials say they will ask for the death penalty for saif gadhafi. here in new york city a man the nypd is calling an al qaeda sympathizer is behind bars. 27-year-old jose pimental was arrested in his apartment over the weekend accused of plotting to blow up police cars, post offices, attack u.s. troops returning from war. police said he was almost finished building bombs out of cheap materials he bought at home depot among other places. nypd had him under surveillance for over a year. tonight there are some questions about why the feds, including the fbi, chose not to get involved in this case that the nypd insists was a serious threat. penn state has brought in a new and big name today to lead the investigation into how the university itself responded to the child sexual abuse allegations that led to the

arrest of former coach jerry sandusky and the firing of long time coach joe paterno. nbc's peter alexander has more tonight from penn state. >> reporter: while the penn state campus is largely emptied out ahead of the thanksgiving holiday the university community is filled with serious new questions about its board of trustees. even though the board itself will be under scrutiny today the trustees tapped former fbi director louie freeh to head their independent investigation. he said his inquiry will go back as far as 1975, two decades earlier than the grand jury report issued. >> if our investigation identifies any additional victims of sexual crimes against or exploitation of children, we will immediately report this to law enforcement authorities. >> board member kenneth fraser said freeh will be empowered to follow the investigation wherever it leads. >> no one -- no one is above scrutiny.

>> ron smith wrote the book "pay for play" examining challenges of reform in college sports. he's skeptical of board members' public comments they knew nothing. >> even if they knew they wouldn't say anything about protecting something that's very valuable to penn state which is the football program actually when it becomes known they are ruining it. >> they win this one for joe's staff. >> despite the football's team win saturday the first without joe paterno as head coach since 1965, sales of penn state paraphernalia have plummeteded. down an estimated 40% compared to the same period last year. and there's new anquish for one of jerry sandusky's alleged victims. the first young man to come forward identified as victim number one now 17 years old reportedly had to leave his high school in the middle of his senior year. his counselor said he was victimized again this time by angry classmates who bullied the boy blaming him for paterno's firing. the counselor says officials at

central mountain high school did not provide guidance to the boy's fellow students. we reached out to the school all day, brian, leaving several messages but got no response. >> peter alexander in state college tonight. thanks. we'll have more on this story tonight on rock center, bob costas will be back with us tonight a week after his interview with jerry sandusky. when we continue here on a monday night, they were sitting on a sidewalk on their campus in california peacefully protesting. what happened next was caught on camera. the outrage, the fallout tonight from the pepper spray incident on campus. and later, reuniting america's military men and women with their very best friends from the war zone.

we're back with those

astounding pictures from the student protest on the campus of the university of california-davis. the story spread via social media. the video shows police methodically spraying students with debilitating law enforcement grade thick pepper spray that's meant to cover like spray paint. now imagine those are your kids sitting on that sidewalk. it has turned that campus upside down as you might imagine. the fallout is far from over in this. nbc's kristen dahlgren live for us there tonight at uc-davis. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we're beginning to see those occupy tents popping back up. that video has gotten more than 1.4 million views sparking outrage around the world and calls for some serious changes on this campus. this is the video that spread shock across the internet. police in full riot gear pepper spraying students at point blank range as the protesters sat

arm's length making no moves. the demonstrators were protesting tuition that's doubled in the last seven years and for many on the quiet campus it was their first protest ever. >> the students that come here are bioscience majors. veterinarians, doctors, neurologists. >> reporter: thomas fowler shot the video when he thought the show of force was going too far. >> i was surprised. i didn't know davis police had riot gear to use. >> i should not feel unsafe on my own campus. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: this afternoon demonstrators were back on campus. many demanding the resignation of the school chancellor. >> i'm here to apologize. i really feel horrible for what happened on friday. >> reporter: maki haverfeld trains police on the use of force. >> i thought it was excessive because from what i was seeing there was still room to do other things. >> i see pepper spray as a tool for officers to use.

you hope and pray it's used correctly and within policy and that the after effects are not terrible. >> reporter: chief spicuzza and two officers identified in the video have been placed on administrative leave. but today even some professors say it's not just the police, but the university that failed its young students. >> we need to ask ourselves why it is that at the university of california police are armed with assault rifles in the first place. why do they carry chemical weapons? what on earth are they thinking? >> reporter: the faculty association has joined in the calls for the chancellor to resign. mean time the university is forming a task force to look into the incident and the university is asking the district attorney's office to look into this to see if any criminal charges should apply. >> kristen dahlgren on the campus of uc-davis. kristen, thanks. up next here this evening, a less than rousing welcome for first lady michelle obama.

on the presidential campaign tonight, an apparent surge for newt gingrich. if you have been following then you know. now leading in a new "usa today" gallup poll, putting him aed hae of mitt romney. gingrich is the sixth different republican to lead in the polls. over this past weekend, gingrich had a few choice words for the occupy wall street protesters. >> they take over a public park they didn't pay for to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for to beg for food they don't want to pay for to obstruct those who go to work to pay taxes to sustain bathrooms and the parks so they can explain that they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything. >> the most explosive quote from that gathering he said the

protesters need to get a job and take a bath. the nascar season is over. veteran driver tony stewart captured the cup after a thrilling race at homestead speedway down in florida but before the race there was controversy. there were boos when first lady michele obama was introduced as honorary grand marshal along with dr. jill biden. and a military veteran and his family. while nascar nation tends to be politically conservative and while the boos were louder in parts of the stands and the infield than on tv, nascar issueded a statement saying the vast majority at the race showed their support. teddy forstmann has died. he was worth well north of a billion dollars. he worked hard in his later years to give it away. he bought and sold companies including gulfstream jets, topps baseball cards and dr. pepper.

he coined the phrase barbarians at the gate at the dawn of the corporate takeover craze. ted forstmann was never boring. he briefly dated princess diana. his hero was nelson mandela. he adopted two sons from africa. never married himself. he died of brain cancer at the age of 71. while you may know a lot about the research about birth order and how it can affect your life thereafter, there is fascinating new research on birth spacing -- the interval between siblings and how it can affect things like intelligence and test scores. the thinking is the more space between kids can often mean more parental attention, more reading, more supervision, especially among lower income kids and that can mean higher academic achievement. we have linked to the study on our website tonight. that's nbcnightlynews.com. up next here this evening bringing home the dogs of war and reuniting them with the warriors who fell in love with them.

finally tonight here a touching reunion between some americans who fought for their country in afghanistan and some of the friends they made over there who remained by their side

through achievement and tragedy and loved them unconditionally. they have been reunited with them here thanks to a unique air lift and nbc's kevin tibbles has the story. >> reporter: a precious military airlift arrives at new york's kennedy airport. and soldiers spring not into battle but into cuddles. for this four-legged face licking invasion all the way from afghanistan has found a new home in america. gus was orphaned as a pup when his mother was shot. >> he warmed my heart when i was out there and helped me survive mentally. so i need to repay him and give him a home. >> reporter: finding these tail wagging morale boosters loving new homes is the idea of a british soldier who so far has helped dogs with adoption in the u.s., uk and australia. >> the chaos in afghanistan and serving there, just having the

dog for me was a way of spending just five minutes in normality. >> reporter: the dogs have their shots from the charity american dog rescue. >> there wasn't one of the soldiers, male or female, who didn't cry when they saw their dog. >> reporter: charlie made afghanistan survivable for specialist sheila schafer. she took this video when perpendiculthey were discovered. charlie the former afghan stray is charlie from iowa who gets to bark at the local cattle without fear. and who gets his belly rubbed regularly. charlie's contribution to morale in afghanistan will never be forgotten. >> a lot of times heroic is that they are saving our souls, they are saving us inside because a lot of soldiers get depressed being away from home and their own pets. >> reporter: repaying those who helped save lives in a war zone with the simplest of things, unconditional love.

kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. great story to end on here on this monday night. thank you for being here with us as we begin a new week. we hope to see you right back here tonight for rock center at 10:00, 9:00 central and "nightly news" tomorrow evening. 10:00, 9:00 central and "nightly news" tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now at 6:00, a community coming together. an emotional show of support for the family of a fallen marine. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre fwle and i'm raj maathai, a heavy-hearted homecoming but a touching show of community support. friends and family are gathering in danville to honor a young bay area machine killed in the line of duety. >> he