Obama Holds Cabinet Meeting; President Obama Makes Remarks at the Beginning of His Cabinet Meeting
BERMAN: Just moments ago, President Obama held a meeting with his cabinet. The first meeting of the second term at the White House. Let's listen in for a minute.</s>BERMAN: Those are statements by President Obama in his first cabinet meeting of the second term. I think the big news is probably the seating arrangement. President Obama sitting next to the new Secreatry of Defense Chuck Hagel, clearly showing his support for the new secretary after the tough confirmation battle he had in the Senate. The president also talked about the forced spending cuts, so that will be in discusstion today among he and his cabinet - how to manage their way through as best they can. Meantime, the president is filling out some more of his new Cabinet. Sylvia Mathews Burwell has been has been his pick for budget director. She would take over right in the middle of this ongoing battle between the president and congressional Republicans. She's the head of the Wal-Mart Foundation right now. Before that, she worked under President Clinton and was the deputy budget director. At the energy department, the president has tapped physicist Ernest Moniz from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, he headed up the school's energy program and he too served in the Clinton administration. And Gina McCarthy has been tapped to be the next administrator at the EPA. Right now she is assistant administrator. She once worked for Massachusetts governor, former governor, Mitt Romney. They join other nominees including Secretary of State John Kerry, Chuck Hagel with defense, and Jack Lew the new treasury secretary. The previous three have been confirmed already. Federal agencies are implementing those forced spending cuts you heart the president talking about. Here is a snapshot of what some of the impact will have on us. The supplementat nutritional program for woman infants and children, $333 million; the defense health program, medical and dental services for troop vets and their family, $2.8 billion cut. Student financial aid and student assistance, $157 million. The CDC, our people who fight our bugs and diseases and sicknesses, $289 million cut and TSA is taking a $396 million hit. Not just the agents at the airport, but they're cutting federal air marshals as well as cops on the planes. Some of the lesser known agencies include the Harry S. Truman Scholarship foundation, Marine Mammal Commission and the Northern Border Regional commission. Never heard of those? You're probably not alone. Coming up, a remarkable announcement. How doctors say they've cured a 2-year-old who was born with HIV. Stay with us. Then courtroom drama over who gets Martha Stewart's products. Why the biggest names in retail are really having a really pitched (ph) battle for her brand. Then, is it a smoking gun in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case? How an e-mail could tie the concert promoter to Jackson's doctor. And what this could tell us about Jackson's final days. All that coming up.