>> john: welcome to cbs evening news plus. i'm john dickerson. consumers are not confident about the economy. the largest 1-month drop in three and a half years was driven by concerns about inflation and the potential impact of tariffs. money watch correspondent kelly o'grady will help us

understand what this might mean. germany, the largest economy in europe and a key security force in the region, has new conservative leader and a rising far right anti-immigration party. cbs's holly williams is in berlin. and our in-depth focus tonight, a community that spent decades struggling to build generational wealth worries it may be lost in the latest wildfires. those stories and more right after our news headlines. ♪ ♪ getting out of d.o.g.e. elon musk's department conducting mass firings across the federal government sees mass resignations. 21 workers with technological expertise wrote in a letter that they refuse to "compromise government systems, jeopardize americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical services." we'll circle back. a southwest airlines jet and a business jet had a close call. apparently without

authorization, the jet crossed the runway. the southwest plane was forced to abort its landing at the last second, just 250 feet above the private plane. and the supreme court has thrown out the murder conviction of richard glossip, a 62-year-old oklahoma man convicted in the 1997 murder of his boss, a motel owner. the court ruled that glossip, who'd been on death row, did not receive a fair trial, because prosecutors withheld critical evidence including a box of materials that could have proven his innocence in the alleged murder-for-hire scheme. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we have been talking about it for weeks. the cost of so many everyday items just keeps going up. eggs, orange juice, soda, lettuce, the list goes on. while prices go up, consumer confidence often goes down. it's been doing that for the last few months, then this month it fell off a cliff. the consumer confidence index fell seven points, the steepest drop since december of 2021. money watch correspondent

kelly o'grady is here now to help me explain what this all means. kelly, what does this all mean? i want to get to the question of why we should care so much about consumer -- what about this number today? >> consumer confidence index measures how people feel about the economy. that means their income, the job market, business conditions. what this tells you today is they are feeling significantly less optimistic than they were before, and what was really driving this, if you dig into the data, is the potential impact of tariffs and inflation. this showed that consumers feel inflation is going to get to 6% within a year. that is well above the fed's 2% target. now, they may not be right, but that's how they feel. >> john: why do we care what consumers think? >> because how consumers think impacts how they spend, and how consumers spend drives two-thirds of economic activity. and we are already seeing this come into play. retail sales in january were down significantly.

we're already hearing from companies in their earnings, like walmart, that they are expecting potential slowing. maybe they hire less people if less people spend. maybe they lay off people. two quarters of gdp going down. that's a recession. we are not there, but it's possible. >> john: and i throttle down my factory that's making things because i think there are fewer purchasers there. we have also seen that credit card balances are high. record highs. what does that mean? >> that means people are not paying off their balances. it just keeps mounting. this is really a problem when it comes to lower income households because we are seeing evidence they are paying for everyday items with credit, and they are not paying it off. delinquincy rates are rising. dealing with the rates are rising. you and i both know credit card interest rates are crazy high. it's hard to get out of that debt. i take it back to that consumer

spending. if people are only spending in a cohort by putting it on their credit cards, that means it's going to dry up soon. >> john: thank you so much. that was great. "winning was easy, but governing is harder." that's a quote from the broadway play "hamilton," but it's probably what it feels like on capitol hill right now. speaker mike johnson is trying to unify his party around a budget bill but can only afford to lose two votes. conservatives want to see steeper cuts, moderates are worried it would end up hitting medicaid or other popular programs. we go now to congressional correspondent caitlin huey-burns. this is happening under our feet. give us an update about what's happening with the voting right now in the house. >> that's right, john. members are on the house floor. they're about to vote on this bill. and, as we speak, you have house republican leaders still whipping the votes. they went into tonight not knowing necessarily if they had the support. however, house speaker mike johnson was telling reporters as he was heading into

the chamber that he is a lot more confident that he was a few hours ago. a few things to happen today, the president has been on the phone with lawmakers trying to whip up support for this bill, this one big beautiful bill which he has called for. but this is a very fragile majority that republicans have. they really don't have much margin for error. you have some who oppose -- to think this will add to the deficit, others who want even deeper cuts to spending. this is a big task. vital matters is the president can issue lots of executive orders, but when it comes to the top priorities, congress has to fund them. if you wonder where congress has been the last few weeks, this is their moment to try and deliver. >> john: i want to tweeze out one thing that's been part of the conversation, which is changing the medicaid system, cuts to medicaid. where has that entered into the conversation, and why has that been an important part of the debate? >> john, this bill calls for

over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending, and there is a question of, okay, well, where will those cuts come from? now, this exact bill is just a framework, a blueprint. it doesn't say cut medicaid, but it does direct the energy and commerce committee to find over $800 billion in spending cuts. what does that committee oversee? in oversees medicaid, and there are some lawmakers who say, look, you have to touch medicaid in some form. now, i asked speaker johnson today, can you rule out cutting medicaid? and he said that they want to take a look at fraud and abuse within medicaid, so that doesn't rule out looking at spending on that. it all depends on what happens after this vote. >> john: and is there $800 billion in fraud and abuse? that's a big number. caitlin huey-burns on the hill for us, thank you so much. a vigil for pope francis continues outside the vatican as he remains in critical condition

with double pneumonia. today the vatican said francis met with vatican officials on monday and approved decrees for two new saints and put five other people on the path to sainthood. the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in germany's east helped propel the far right alternative for germany party to its biggest gains in the national election that was held this past sunday. cbs's holly williams reports from berlin, that has left some german voters nervous about a return to a dark past. >> reporter: the afd contained on promises of closer ties with russia and the mass deportation of immigrants. the supporters believe germany has let in too many, too quickly. a series of violent attacks by asylum-seekers has fueled their frustration. but at a protest outside the afd's election party, we spoke

to germans who are outraged by what they say is racism, like james, a software programmer. >> we know what happened in germany in the '30s, and it feels a bit like this is happening again. >> reporter: we found a very different view in saxony, the afd heartland. it was part of communist east germany until 1990, and its economy still lags behind the country's west. annette is a retired teacher who told us she supports mass deportations because too many migrants are young men who disgruntled, but one of the disgru used a nazi slogan at campaign events. german intelligence has put the party under surveillance for expected extremism, and

germany's mainstream parties have vowed not to form a coalition with the afd. despite that, in germany this month vice president j.d. vance met with the party's leader, and elon musk has gone further, publicly endorsing the afd. >> i think you are really the best one for germany. >> the pressure is now on germany's mainstream parties to negotiate a coalition. if they cannot govern together successfully, that could further drives up support for the afd. holly williams, cbs news, berlin. >> john: now here are three things to know. tesla's stock took a hit today on news that its sales in europe were down 45% last month compared to a year ago. part of the reason may be an impending upgrade to newer models, as consumer often delay purchases in anticipation of that, but also increased competition from china, and elon musk's strong opinions on

european politics and immigration may also be a factor. swing and a miss. this season's flu vaccine may have been a poor match to the predominant strain of the virus that caused many infections this winter. that is according to preliminary data from the cdc. it's estimated that up to 910,000 flu patients have had to be treated in hospitals since october, putting this season on track to be the most severe and at least a decade. and while scientists believe the planet mars has mostly been desert for billions of years, a new study suggests it was once home to an ancient ocean. this illustration shows where that ocean may have been. scientists say soil and rock evidence suggests the massive ocean on mars had waves and sandy beaches. coming up on cbs evening news plus, we go in-depth on the devastating loss of not just mes, but of famil

>> john: the southern california wildfires took more than people's homes and treasured memories. for many families, generational wealth grown over decades and inspired by the hopes of those who traveled west during the great migration was lost, too. cbs's elise preston reports on the fear some families will never be made whole again.

>> reporter: gone in altadena, not just individual dreams, but entire legacies, and for one extended family, the benns, parents, children, grandchildren, cousins, 20 homes all in the same bloodline destroyed. >> i lost everything. >> reporter: we met oscar benn and his daughter, lauren. >> there's nothing to dig from the rubble. so i'm grateful that we have our lives. i am grateful for this daughter of mine. >> reporter: the benn family fled the jim crow south in the 1950s, settling in altadena and building generational wealth. >> altadena represents and epitomized the gains that were made during the civil rights movement, particularly in housing. it was one area where

homeownership was really possible. >> reporter: paul ong says altadena's black community boomed during the great migration when l.a.'s black population more than tripled. but, in recent years, altadena's home prices have skyrocketed. ong fears that, after the fire, generational wealth could be lost to gentrification. >> we have seen this before after hurricane katrina. more than 100,000 black people are permanently displaced. >> right. altadena is a litmus test about how committed we are to racial justice. >> there is no plan to sell, absolutely not. we've gotten calls. plenty. >> you've gotten calls already? does that anger you? >> it is incredibly angering to know that, amidst our tragedy, there is hope for someone else's pocket. >> reporter: as the benns mourn the loss of a community. >> my middle school is gone, our post office is gone. places of a great routine of life are absolutely wiped off the face of the earth.

>> reporter: there is an uneasy feeling of what's next. >> even if our home is rebuilt, our neighborhood has to, too. our city. >> if altadena changes, will you walk away from the land that's been in your family for generations? >> no. we have earned that land. >> reporter: for this family of accomplished musicians, a desire to start recovering and rebuilding is firmly rooted in faith. elise preston, cbs news, altadena, california. >> john: when we come back, we will examine american elementary school students' academic scorecards, and wh adults may need a makeup exam, as well.

i guess what i'm looking for from you is, i mean, i know how the fire affected me, and there's always a constant fear that who's to say something like that won't happen again? that's fair. we committed to underground, 10,000 miles of electric line. you look back at where we were 10 years ago and we are in a completely different place today, and it's because of how we need to care for our communities and our customers. i hope that's true. [joe] that's my commitment. [ambient noise]

>> john: you might have seen the recent reports on the academic progress academic progress of american students. two major reports releasing the last month show the nation's fourth and eighth graders overall have declined in math and reading since 2019. but, surprisingly,adults aren't doing much better. to help us understand why, for tonight's interview, nat malkus, the deputy director of education policy at the american enterprise institute. i want to start with the new numbers that have come out recently, measuring the status of education and how it has come back or not come back relative to the pandemic. the first was the naep scores, national assessment of education progress scores, and education recovery scorecard. when you look at those two sets of data, what is your reaction? put that in context for us. >> the open question was, are we going to rebound or are the scores going to be flat? they are pretty disappointing.

it looks as though in math students have shown a little bit of improvement in fourth grade. they were pretty much flat in eighth grade. reading is where we really took a hit. students fell again in 2022. after the pandemic they fell further, and the scores are pretty grim. >> john: what do you think some of the causal factors are for these numbers? >> the high point in most scores came in 2013-2015. since then we have seen a slide, and we have seen a number of markers of that slide. so while the average scores have gone down a bit, really the scores that have fallen are in the lower half of scorers. lower scoreres, their scores have fallen consistently by large amounts. the higher scorers, on the upper end, they've been pretty much been treading water.

so to understand the causes, you really have to peg this on, well, why is the bottom falling out and the top is sort of staying there? some people will point to the fading effects of the no child left behind federal legislation, or the advent of the common core. other folks will clearly point to, well, it's the screens, that is when the advent of phones really grew and has continued to grow. but the ability to pin these down to one thing is pretty difficult. >> john: now, you also have found something interesting in adult test scores. we usually think of school-age children, but what are you seeing in those adult test scores? >> the lone study we have that looks at how the nation's adults are faring on numeracy and literacy skills just came out a month ago, and alarmingly we are seeing a similar pattern. that is, the scores fell for adults in both literacy and numeracy, but there is more. the adults on the upper end of the spectrum are treading water.

their scores didn't change much. those on the bottom half, they dropped like a rock. and this raises serious questions. when we are looking at student test scores, is it the students in the schools? but when we see that the adults are reflecting similar patterns, maybe it's all of us. >> john: the trump administration has canceled 170 contracts with the institute of education sciences, part of the department of education. how will that affect, do you think, education or some of these questions we are trying to get the answers to? >> i'll tell you right out of the gate, it seems a little bit ham-fisted. i think some of the basic research data that we depend on the federal government to collect is going to be interrupted, and i would certainly prefer that, if the administration is going to bring some reforms to ies and the department of education, which i think could be needed, i much prefer they use a scalpel and not a bulldozer.

>> john: nate malkus, senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, thank you so much. >> you bet. >> john: up next, some thoughts on elon musk'

>> john: to shrink the bureaucracy, act like the bureaucracy. this appears to be the goal of elon musk's surprise email that asked federal workers, what did you do last week? they were supposed to offer five bullet points or be fired. this is a bureaucratic question focusing on quantifiable outputs over innovative thinking at the point of a gun.

whether it's truly bureaucratic depends on the worldview of the employer. the responses could have been used as a vehicle for employee growth. but, in this case, the vehicle is a tesla to the exits. you're either a passenger or hood ornament. musk, in letters and tweets, and by brandishing what he calls a chainsaw for the bureaucracy, has made his dim opinion of these employees clear. another way to act like a bureaucracy is to pretend subjective evaluations are based on objective measurements. many workers were told they were laid off for poor performance, even though they had positive performance reviews. white house chief economist kevin hassett was asked about this. >> i've never seen a person who was laid off for poor performance say that they were performing poorly. >> john: this treats an employee's attempt to defend their performance as all the proof needed that their performance is poor. not the sign of a sunny workplace, but the sign of a morose arbitrary culture where the coffee mugs read "the

beatings will stop once morale improves." this approach may shrink the ranks, but then what? what gets the federal works who remain out of bed in the morning? the promise of achieving another bullet point? the hope of more insulting emails? who will inspire a workforce worthy of the taxpayers who pay for it? what five actions were taken the last week to achieve that? and that's tonight's cbs evening news plus. i am john dickerson in new york. good night. ♪ >right right now on cbs news bay area. woken up in the middle of the night. >> the real banging and smashing of the radios and forklifts happens all day long until 5:00, 6:00 p.m. >> neighbors show us why they have a beef with the meatpacking business next door. >> why do you think they're singling you out?

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