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CNN Live At Daybreak
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's European Trip; President Bush's Budget and His Trip to Win Support For It
Aired February 08, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Pinching pennies and cutting corners -- how does the president's new budget affect America's American forces?
Plus, high scores headache -- tuition isn't the only cost. Even applying to college can wrack up the big bucks. Has higher education gotten too expensive?
And set to party in The Big Easy. We'll take you to the streets of New Orleans. It's Fat Tuesday, February 8.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
Now in the news, central Baghdad rocked by a deadly explosion this morning. It happened about three and a half hours ago. A hospital official says 18 are dead in what's believed to be a car bombing. It happened at an air field that's being used as a National Guard base.
We're expecting a major announcement from the Middle East this morning. Israeli and Palestinian leaders are meeting right now at a summit in Egypt. They plan to declare a cease-fire to end years of fighting. We'll bring you a live report from the summit at the bottom of the hour.
We're expecting a statement this hour, too, from the Vatican on the pope's health. The people will be in a Rome hospital for a few more days. He was rushed there a week ago with breathing problems. We'll bring you the latest details as we get them in.
Back here in the States, first the Red Sox, now Boston fans have another reason to cheer. They have welcomed home their Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. The players will parade through the streets today. Early TV ratings, Chad...
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes?
COSTELLO: ... suggest over 86 million viewers tuned into the game. That's actually down 4 percent from last year.
What city had the highest ratings, you ask, Chad? MYERS: I would say Philadelphia.
COSTELLO: Jacksonville did.
MYERS: Oh. That's funny.
But, you know, those ratings, you always have to take them with a grain of salt because there was one TV turned on where I was watching the game, but there was 14 people watching that one TV, because we were all sitting around, you know, in the same house having a little party, so.
COSTELLO: So pretty much the whole country was watching the Super Bowl.
MYERS: You have to really look at what's called the share, not the rating number, the share. What share of the audience? Was it 100 percent? Was everybody watching the Super Bowl? No. But was the share 50, 60, 70 percent? How many other channels were turned on watching the Puppy Bowl?
COSTELLO: Thank you, Professor Myers.
MYERS: The Puppy -- did you see the Puppy Bowl?
COSTELLO: No, I...
MYERS: We need to get video. We need to get video of that Puppy Bowl. It was on "Animal Planet." It was so cute. It was amazing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: The Puppy Bowl.
Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is nearing the end of her eight nation trip. After a two day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, Rice is in Rome today. She's holding talks with Italy's foreign minister and the Vatican's number two official. Rice expressed optimism for a new era of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There are places where the Palestinian security forces are quite capable of acting. And they need to act where they can act. When they arrest somebody, they need to hold them. When they see bomb making factories, they need to destroy them. When there are smuggling operations, they need to disrupt them. And those places that the Palestinians can act, they need to act.
The overall reform of their security forces and unification of their security forces is something that the international community can help them with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: After leaving Rome, Rice flies to France, the heart of European opposition to the war in Iraq. And Rice will give her first major foreign policy address as the top American diplomat in Paris. More on Rice's European travels from CNN's Andrea Koppel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During a quick stop in Rome, Secretary of State Rice was among friends. Italy is one of a handful of European countries that has troops in Iraq and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has offered unwavering support of President Bush, despite the fact Berlusconi has suffered support at home.
Not so in France, the next stop on Condoleezza Rice's whirlwind swing through Europe and the Middle East. Like Germany, France also strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has refused subsequent U.S. requests to send troops.
While she was national security adviser following the start of the Iraq war, Rice was widely quoted as saying the U.S. should forgive Russia, ignore Germany and punish France. Nevertheless, French officials say Rice will receive a warm welcome when she arrives in Paris later today. Rice, too, will try to reach out and win over some the Bush administration's toughest critics in her first major foreign policy address since she's become the United States' top diplomat.
A senior State Department official says her speech will focus on convincing Europe to sign onto a U.S. campaign to spread democracy around the world.
Her arrival in Paris comes on the same day Israel and the Palestinians are holding a summit in Egypt, where they're expected to declare a truce. Working toward Mideast peace is a top priority for France. Other positive developments include recent good elections in Iraq. France has already offered to train 1,500 Iraqi policemen outside of Iraq and the U.S. hopes it will agree to help train Iraqi civil servants, judges and new members of Iraq's interim parliament.
But there's still a number of potential flashpoints in U.S.- French relations, over prisoners being held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, climate change and Iran.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And CNN does plan live coverage of Rice's international policy address from Paris. That will come your way at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 Pacific time.
Turning now to domestic policy and President Bush's proposed budget for 2006, let's crunch some numbers now, shall we, in his $2.5 trillion budget plan. The president wants to eliminate or scale back 150 government programs. A dozen government agencies would also see cuts, including the Agriculture Department and the EPA. Also, there would be fewer planes, ships and subs for the Pentagon.
But the budget would boost overall military spending by 4.8 percent. It would also expand Pell grants for low income college students and boost funding for high schools and community health clinics.
Now, keep in mind, the last time President Bush proposed cuts in his budget, only four of the 64 proposed cuts made it through Congress. So the president is hitting the road for a hard sell.
Let's head live to Washington and CNN Radio's Dick Uliano -- good morning, Dick.
I guess the first stop will be Detroit.
DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Carol.
President Bush heading to Detroit to promote his budget and his Social Security plan, by the way. He'll be speaking to the prestigious Detroit Economic Club.
But, Carol, you know, the real big sell begins today in the Congress. The president's representatives fanning out. Treasury Secretary John Snow and Budget Director Joshua Bolten are lead off witnesses at House and Senate hearings today, as the White House tries to convince Congress to go along with the president's budget.
And, by the way, the budget director, Bolten, is confident the budget will be approved by Congress. And remember, the president's party controls both bodies in Congress, the Senate and the House. So that's an advantage. But, Carol, the Democrats are vowing to fight this budget. They call it a phony budget. And there is expected to be a significant battle.
COSTELLO: Well, even some Republicans aren't so enthusiastic about it, are they? Especially those who serve on the Agriculture Committee, because the president wants to cut farm subsidies.
ULIANO: Exactly. All of these government programs have a sponsor or a supporter in Congress and that includes Republicans. You're right, there are cuts in health programs for poor people, cuts in the farm program, the subsidies paid to some of these big farms, cuts in veterans benefits, environment spending. And, yes, Republican -- the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, says it's going to cause -- the budget is going to cause a lot of angst.
So, yes, the president will get some opposition from some Republicans. And they also want to have input over these spending plans. Remember, it's Congress that controls the purse strings, so law makers want to make sure they have a say in where all of this money is going.
COSTELLO: We'll see what happens.
Dick Uliano reporting live from Washington this morning.
Thank you.
ULIANO: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It seems like we're talking about billions of dollars like we would a handful of pennies. The Department of Defense is slated for more than $400 billion in the new budget. But it's the money not being spent that may make the most news.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre sorts that out for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The centerpiece of the Pentagon spending plan is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's pet project to transform the military into a lighter, more mobile force.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I've noticed people have thought that when someone uses the words "agile," "lethal," "expeditionary," they think that means smaller. It doesn't. It isn't the size of the force that was wrong. It's the shape of the force and the capability of the force.
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld has already increased the size of the Army by some 30,000 troops using his emergency authority. And the Army is hinting it may want that change to be permanent as it reorganizes from 10 divisions into 43 independently deployable brigades.
The budget puts $4 billion into counter-terrorism and special operations, white slashing some big-ticket weapons systems, like the expensive F-22 Raptor fighter plane. A $10.5 billion cut in the F-22 acquisition program will reduce the number of planes bought from 277 to about 180. Ending production of the J model of the venerable C-130 cargo plane will save another $5 billion.
Both planes are built by Lockheed Martin, which says it may have to lay off workers at its Marietta, Georgia plant if Congress approves the cuts.
Missile defense will take a $1 billion hit, as spending drops to about $9 billion. And the Navy is cutting one carrier from its fleet of 12 aircraft carriers, but insists its new deployment plan will actually make the smaller fleet more able to respond to world crises.
(on camera): The Pentagon wants to give its military personnel a bigger pay raise than its civilian workers, 3.1 percent compared to 2.3 percent. But perhaps the hottest button issue is a proposal to spend nearly $2 billion for another round of base closings.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And as we told you at the top, President Bush will give the budget a big buildup during a visit to Detroit today.
CNN will carry his speech live beginning at 12:00 Eastern.
An interesting Associated Press wire just came over my computer just a second ago and I wanted to read it to, because it's interesting. This is from the Associated Press out of London.
It says: "The scientist who attracted the world's attention by cloning Dolly the sheep is about to take another major step for medical research, cloning human embryos and experimenting on them with the British government's permission. It's the second such license approved since Britain became the first country to legalize research cloning in 2001."
This is sure to make more news later today, so we thought we'd pass it along to you this morning.
Much more to come on DAYBREAK this hour.
Clearing the airwaves -- we'll tell you how a major cell phone company is trying to stop a safety hazard.
And is the cost of higher education too high for you? We'll give you some tips on surviving the campus crunch.
Also, smoke, fire and panic -- we'll bring you a harrowing account of a plane crash.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning, February 8.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: What a beautiful shot this morning. It has to be of Central Park.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
After four years of bloodshed, a big step in the Middle East peace efforts. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders are expected to announce a cease-fire agreement this morning. They've been meeting at a summit in Egypt.
The confirmation of a new homeland security chief could come as early as today. Nominee Michael Chertoff is expected to get the backing of the full Senate after already being approved in committee. In money news, Coke and Pepsi will each start using Splenda brand sweetener in at least one of their diet drinks. Coke plans to launch a new Diet Coke with Splenda, while Pepsi will reformulate its Pepsi One brand to include the popular sweetener, Splenda.
In culture, the rock band U2 is apologizing to fans for messing up exclusive access to tickets for their upcoming tour. Tickets for the shows were supposed to be available to their Web site subscribers first, but a security code problem ruined that plan.
In sports, after a five year absence, Andre Agassi is returning to the Davis Cup competition. Agassi will join Andy Roddick on the court for the first round matches against Croatia in March. The U.S. has not won the Davis Cup in 10 years -- Chad.
MYERS: He's looking good, though.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You know, Chad, I just read an e-mail about the Puppy Bowl from a viewer.
MYERS: Yes, oh I didn't hear -- I didn't read it.
Go ahead.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll read that later.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: We have to talk about this incredible British woman who sailed around the world in 71 days.
MYERS: Yes. Yes, she broke the record by herself.
COSTELLO: There she is. I guess that's a trimaran.
MYERS: It is. It's a multi hull and about 75 feet long. And she sailed it by herself. It's hard to sail a 30-foot boat by yourself. And she had this thing out there in the open ocean for 70 something days and beat the old record, 71 days and 14 hours, beating the old record by one day and eight hours and a few minutes.
COSTELLO: Yes. She made that -- it was a 26,000 mile journey. That's incredible, spending all that time by yourself. Look at all the boats around her.
MYERS: Yes, well, that's called a little flotilla now coming in. They weren't around her when she was out there in the middle of the ocean, trust me. She had a...
COSTELLO: I bet not.
MYERS: She did have a rescue boat around at times, but I'll tell you what, what an amazing woman to be able to do this. At times, Carol, for one day, in one 24 hour period, she sailed 501 miles. COSTELLO: Wow!
MYERS: You have to do the division there. That's about 22 miles per hour. And let me tell you, on a sail boat, that's flying. That is just screaming across the ocean. And obviously you can't do that unless the wind is blowing strong, too. And if the wind is blowing strong, the waves are probably going, so, man, she had quite the cruise.
COSTELLO: And lots of seasickness pills, we hope.
Anyway, somebody interviewed her on board that trimaran.
Here's a bit of what she had to say.
MYERS: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLEN MACARTHUR, AROUND THE WORLD SAILOR: It's great that I can finally switch my brain off and not have to concentrate on wind speed or boat speed or weather for the first time in over two months. And also, just to relax in the company of others, because that's something that I have missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And you were saying that, you know, you can't sleep very much, because you're really moving along at a fast clip. She slept, what, four hours a day?
MYERS: Well, yes.
COSTELLO: And never more than 30 minutes at a time.
MYERS: Right. You're sailing the entire time. You have to make sure you're still on course, even though there's an auto pilot on there. You have to make sure that the wind hasn't changed, that you're not sailing into a reef. I mean there's so much to see -- so much to go on. Typically, you'll take shifts if you're sailing with somebody else. One person is on watch, one person will sleep. But when you're on the boat all by yourself, you can't do that.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
Seventy-one days, 14 hours, 18 minutes. All around the world, 26,000 miles, and we'll keep tabs to see when Ellen finally steps off her trimaran.
MYERS: Hey, Carol?
COSTELLO: Uh-huh?
MYERS: It is www.teamellen.com if you want more on that.
COSTELLO: Very cool. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break.
We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": One of the things that happens is a lot of people have switched jobs quite a few times and they may have a 401K that they left at an old employer or an IRA that they started somewhere and they just haven't kept track up. I think it's a good time to kind of grab all of these accounts and bring them together, roll them all into one IRA or put the money into your current employer's 401K plan.
But basically the idea is to get all of your assets into one place so that you know what you're dealing with and you can manage them better and more efficiently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone.
I'm Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.
Nextel Communications is agreeing to a plan that will end interface from Nextel cell phones that disrupts public safety communications systems. The Federal Communications Commission will give Nextel part of a new broadcast spectrum but the company has to vacate its current spectrum and pay to reconfigure the airwaves that it currently uses. A spectrum refers to the frequencies at which electromagnetic waves travel.
Now, the problem is two transmitters using the same spectrum in the same place will cause interference. And the agreement is designed to avoid interference from Nextel cell phones that in some cases left police, fire and other emergency personnel unable to communicate.
Nextel competitor Verizon Communications, though, is taking issue with the plan, saying that it is equal to a handout.
So that's the latest on Nextel.
Turning to stocks, it looks like a pretty flat start for today's session. The markets remained little changed at the close yesterday. Now that the January jobs report, the Federal Reserve meeting and the Q4 profit reporting season are all winding down, it looks like investors are waiting for a catalyst in order to get some direction. We're not sure what that catalyst will be. Tonight, after the close of trading, networking gear giant Cisco Systems reports profits for the fourth quarter. We are expecting $0.22 a share. Wall Street expecting $0.22 a share in profits. That's a little bit of a gain over last year.
And that is the latest business news.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Paying for college -- it's something that all parents worry about. Well, brace yourself. The expense starts before college.
"USA Today" reporting just applying and choosing a school can set you back a few thousand bucks.
Here to talk about that, Ellen McGirt of "Money" magazine.
It is insane. For the average kid to go to college at an average college, how much does it cost these days?
ELLEN MCGIRT, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: You know, there's a lot of new -- there's a lot of information out there that makes it sound like it's going to be six figures by the time you're done. But truly, for a public school, a good public school, $11,000 is where it tops out. And half of all kids are going to school and spending about $6,000 a year.
Now, it's still a lot of money, especially if you've got more than one kid, but it's still a manageable goal if you've got some planning and some strategies.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll talk about that in a bit.
MCGIRT: Some good news.
COSTELLO: Some good news. We'll talk about the good news in a bit.
MCGIRT: OK.
COSTELLO: But I wanted to talk about these college application costs, because that's really our focus today.
MCGIRT: OK.
COSTELLO: The typical application fee, $50 to $75 each. So let's say you apply to six schools. That's like $300.
MCGIRT: No, and that's real money and that absolutely has to factor into your thinking long before you even begin. And that's one of the reasons why you need to talk to your kids early and often about their plans, their goals, but your own finances, too, because it can come as a big surprise to everybody when you start tapping into their babysitting money to pay for these kinds of things.
COSTELLO: Oh, exactly.
So, how many colleges should you really apply to? I mean is there a set number that you shouldn't allow your kid to go over?
MCGIRT: You know, you shouldn't let it be driven by a budget, but I know that it can catch up with you at the end and you're tempted to tap into things like retirement savings or home equity to pay for the thousands of dollars it's going to cost you to apply. But you should -- six to eight schools was certainly the advice that was given when we were kids. And that's real money. So starting early is essential, especially if you have more than one child.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about the SAT tests, because they've suddenly become expensive, as well.
MCGIRT: Right.
COSTELLO: $17 to register plus $8 per test, because sometimes you want to take more than one if you didn't do well the first time.
MCGIRT: That's right. And there's prep courses and then there's tutoring. That's -- back to financial planning, you know, that's the "Money" magazine way. If you sign up for a Coverdale savings account, which is like an IRA for savings, you can sock away up to $2,000 tax deferred. These costs are qualified by the IRS. So you actually are shaving a significant amount off your true costs.
Planning really does help.
COSTELLO: Well, and I didn't realize this, because they added a writing test to the ACT test. And now the test costs more to take, which doesn't make any sense to me. It's $42.
MCGIRT: It's a real business, isn't it? Everyone's got their hands out these days.
COSTELLO: Well, at some point you think to yourself are they just ripping us off and taking advantage?
MCGIRT: You know, that certainly is something to think about at 3:00 a.m. as worried parents are wondering how they're going to survive this. But on the other hand, back in the day you could leave high school and get a good job and buy a home and live your life and that's just not true anymore. We really need a college education and sometimes a graduate degree to be competitive in today's world. So strategy and planning. I'm sorry. I'm boring today.
COSTELLO: OK, so -- I know. I know. That's OK, Ellen. We understand.
Back to the college application costs. So you send your scores to the university off of your SAT or your ACT...
MCGIRT: That's right. That's right. COSTELLO: The first four are free and then after that, $7 for each additional...
MCGIRT: Transcript.
COSTELLO: Right.
MCGIRT: Right. Report. Yes. No, that's right. That's, again, back to planning. If you know where you need to go and you're making the best match for yourself with a school that really meets your academic needs and goals, you can shave down the number of times you need to tap into this and the number of applications you need to make.
But investing a little time with an educational counselor or your own guidance counselor, or just with other people with similar talents as yours, would really make a difference.
You have to be a detective these days if you want to save some dough.
COSTELLO: Yes.
And we added up all the costs we just talked about.
MCGIRT: Good lord (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COSTELLO: Just to apply, $808. That's the minimum.
MCGIRT: Oh.
COSTELLO: Ellen McGirt from "Money" magazine.
Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MCGIRT: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Still to come, she survived the impact when a plane slammed into a building last week. Coming up in the last half hour of DAYBREAK, we will hear from the flight attendant on board this doomed takeoff.
Plus, victims speak out after a emotional the latest of a defrocked priest comes to a verdict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired February 8, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Pinching pennies and cutting corners -- how does the president's new budget affect America's American forces?
Plus, high scores headache -- tuition isn't the only cost. Even applying to college can wrack up the big bucks. Has higher education gotten too expensive?
And set to party in The Big Easy. We'll take you to the streets of New Orleans. It's Fat Tuesday, February 8.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
Now in the news, central Baghdad rocked by a deadly explosion this morning. It happened about three and a half hours ago. A hospital official says 18 are dead in what's believed to be a car bombing. It happened at an air field that's being used as a National Guard base.
We're expecting a major announcement from the Middle East this morning. Israeli and Palestinian leaders are meeting right now at a summit in Egypt. They plan to declare a cease-fire to end years of fighting. We'll bring you a live report from the summit at the bottom of the hour.
We're expecting a statement this hour, too, from the Vatican on the pope's health. The people will be in a Rome hospital for a few more days. He was rushed there a week ago with breathing problems. We'll bring you the latest details as we get them in.
Back here in the States, first the Red Sox, now Boston fans have another reason to cheer. They have welcomed home their Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. The players will parade through the streets today. Early TV ratings, Chad...
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes?
COSTELLO: ... suggest over 86 million viewers tuned into the game. That's actually down 4 percent from last year.
What city had the highest ratings, you ask, Chad? MYERS: I would say Philadelphia.
COSTELLO: Jacksonville did.
MYERS: Oh. That's funny.
But, you know, those ratings, you always have to take them with a grain of salt because there was one TV turned on where I was watching the game, but there was 14 people watching that one TV, because we were all sitting around, you know, in the same house having a little party, so.
COSTELLO: So pretty much the whole country was watching the Super Bowl.
MYERS: You have to really look at what's called the share, not the rating number, the share. What share of the audience? Was it 100 percent? Was everybody watching the Super Bowl? No. But was the share 50, 60, 70 percent? How many other channels were turned on watching the Puppy Bowl?
COSTELLO: Thank you, Professor Myers.
MYERS: The Puppy -- did you see the Puppy Bowl?
COSTELLO: No, I...
MYERS: We need to get video. We need to get video of that Puppy Bowl. It was on "Animal Planet." It was so cute. It was amazing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: The Puppy Bowl.
Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is nearing the end of her eight nation trip. After a two day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, Rice is in Rome today. She's holding talks with Italy's foreign minister and the Vatican's number two official. Rice expressed optimism for a new era of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There are places where the Palestinian security forces are quite capable of acting. And they need to act where they can act. When they arrest somebody, they need to hold them. When they see bomb making factories, they need to destroy them. When there are smuggling operations, they need to disrupt them. And those places that the Palestinians can act, they need to act.
The overall reform of their security forces and unification of their security forces is something that the international community can help them with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: After leaving Rome, Rice flies to France, the heart of European opposition to the war in Iraq. And Rice will give her first major foreign policy address as the top American diplomat in Paris. More on Rice's European travels from CNN's Andrea Koppel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During a quick stop in Rome, Secretary of State Rice was among friends. Italy is one of a handful of European countries that has troops in Iraq and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has offered unwavering support of President Bush, despite the fact Berlusconi has suffered support at home.
Not so in France, the next stop on Condoleezza Rice's whirlwind swing through Europe and the Middle East. Like Germany, France also strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has refused subsequent U.S. requests to send troops.
While she was national security adviser following the start of the Iraq war, Rice was widely quoted as saying the U.S. should forgive Russia, ignore Germany and punish France. Nevertheless, French officials say Rice will receive a warm welcome when she arrives in Paris later today. Rice, too, will try to reach out and win over some the Bush administration's toughest critics in her first major foreign policy address since she's become the United States' top diplomat.
A senior State Department official says her speech will focus on convincing Europe to sign onto a U.S. campaign to spread democracy around the world.
Her arrival in Paris comes on the same day Israel and the Palestinians are holding a summit in Egypt, where they're expected to declare a truce. Working toward Mideast peace is a top priority for France. Other positive developments include recent good elections in Iraq. France has already offered to train 1,500 Iraqi policemen outside of Iraq and the U.S. hopes it will agree to help train Iraqi civil servants, judges and new members of Iraq's interim parliament.
But there's still a number of potential flashpoints in U.S.- French relations, over prisoners being held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, climate change and Iran.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And CNN does plan live coverage of Rice's international policy address from Paris. That will come your way at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 Pacific time.
Turning now to domestic policy and President Bush's proposed budget for 2006, let's crunch some numbers now, shall we, in his $2.5 trillion budget plan. The president wants to eliminate or scale back 150 government programs. A dozen government agencies would also see cuts, including the Agriculture Department and the EPA. Also, there would be fewer planes, ships and subs for the Pentagon.
But the budget would boost overall military spending by 4.8 percent. It would also expand Pell grants for low income college students and boost funding for high schools and community health clinics.
Now, keep in mind, the last time President Bush proposed cuts in his budget, only four of the 64 proposed cuts made it through Congress. So the president is hitting the road for a hard sell.
Let's head live to Washington and CNN Radio's Dick Uliano -- good morning, Dick.
I guess the first stop will be Detroit.
DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Carol.
President Bush heading to Detroit to promote his budget and his Social Security plan, by the way. He'll be speaking to the prestigious Detroit Economic Club.
But, Carol, you know, the real big sell begins today in the Congress. The president's representatives fanning out. Treasury Secretary John Snow and Budget Director Joshua Bolten are lead off witnesses at House and Senate hearings today, as the White House tries to convince Congress to go along with the president's budget.
And, by the way, the budget director, Bolten, is confident the budget will be approved by Congress. And remember, the president's party controls both bodies in Congress, the Senate and the House. So that's an advantage. But, Carol, the Democrats are vowing to fight this budget. They call it a phony budget. And there is expected to be a significant battle.
COSTELLO: Well, even some Republicans aren't so enthusiastic about it, are they? Especially those who serve on the Agriculture Committee, because the president wants to cut farm subsidies.
ULIANO: Exactly. All of these government programs have a sponsor or a supporter in Congress and that includes Republicans. You're right, there are cuts in health programs for poor people, cuts in the farm program, the subsidies paid to some of these big farms, cuts in veterans benefits, environment spending. And, yes, Republican -- the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, says it's going to cause -- the budget is going to cause a lot of angst.
So, yes, the president will get some opposition from some Republicans. And they also want to have input over these spending plans. Remember, it's Congress that controls the purse strings, so law makers want to make sure they have a say in where all of this money is going.
COSTELLO: We'll see what happens.
Dick Uliano reporting live from Washington this morning.
Thank you.
ULIANO: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It seems like we're talking about billions of dollars like we would a handful of pennies. The Department of Defense is slated for more than $400 billion in the new budget. But it's the money not being spent that may make the most news.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre sorts that out for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The centerpiece of the Pentagon spending plan is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's pet project to transform the military into a lighter, more mobile force.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I've noticed people have thought that when someone uses the words "agile," "lethal," "expeditionary," they think that means smaller. It doesn't. It isn't the size of the force that was wrong. It's the shape of the force and the capability of the force.
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld has already increased the size of the Army by some 30,000 troops using his emergency authority. And the Army is hinting it may want that change to be permanent as it reorganizes from 10 divisions into 43 independently deployable brigades.
The budget puts $4 billion into counter-terrorism and special operations, white slashing some big-ticket weapons systems, like the expensive F-22 Raptor fighter plane. A $10.5 billion cut in the F-22 acquisition program will reduce the number of planes bought from 277 to about 180. Ending production of the J model of the venerable C-130 cargo plane will save another $5 billion.
Both planes are built by Lockheed Martin, which says it may have to lay off workers at its Marietta, Georgia plant if Congress approves the cuts.
Missile defense will take a $1 billion hit, as spending drops to about $9 billion. And the Navy is cutting one carrier from its fleet of 12 aircraft carriers, but insists its new deployment plan will actually make the smaller fleet more able to respond to world crises.
(on camera): The Pentagon wants to give its military personnel a bigger pay raise than its civilian workers, 3.1 percent compared to 2.3 percent. But perhaps the hottest button issue is a proposal to spend nearly $2 billion for another round of base closings.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And as we told you at the top, President Bush will give the budget a big buildup during a visit to Detroit today.
CNN will carry his speech live beginning at 12:00 Eastern.
An interesting Associated Press wire just came over my computer just a second ago and I wanted to read it to, because it's interesting. This is from the Associated Press out of London.
It says: "The scientist who attracted the world's attention by cloning Dolly the sheep is about to take another major step for medical research, cloning human embryos and experimenting on them with the British government's permission. It's the second such license approved since Britain became the first country to legalize research cloning in 2001."
This is sure to make more news later today, so we thought we'd pass it along to you this morning.
Much more to come on DAYBREAK this hour.
Clearing the airwaves -- we'll tell you how a major cell phone company is trying to stop a safety hazard.
And is the cost of higher education too high for you? We'll give you some tips on surviving the campus crunch.
Also, smoke, fire and panic -- we'll bring you a harrowing account of a plane crash.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning, February 8.
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COSTELLO: What a beautiful shot this morning. It has to be of Central Park.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
After four years of bloodshed, a big step in the Middle East peace efforts. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders are expected to announce a cease-fire agreement this morning. They've been meeting at a summit in Egypt.
The confirmation of a new homeland security chief could come as early as today. Nominee Michael Chertoff is expected to get the backing of the full Senate after already being approved in committee. In money news, Coke and Pepsi will each start using Splenda brand sweetener in at least one of their diet drinks. Coke plans to launch a new Diet Coke with Splenda, while Pepsi will reformulate its Pepsi One brand to include the popular sweetener, Splenda.
In culture, the rock band U2 is apologizing to fans for messing up exclusive access to tickets for their upcoming tour. Tickets for the shows were supposed to be available to their Web site subscribers first, but a security code problem ruined that plan.
In sports, after a five year absence, Andre Agassi is returning to the Davis Cup competition. Agassi will join Andy Roddick on the court for the first round matches against Croatia in March. The U.S. has not won the Davis Cup in 10 years -- Chad.
MYERS: He's looking good, though.
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COSTELLO: You know, Chad, I just read an e-mail about the Puppy Bowl from a viewer.
MYERS: Yes, oh I didn't hear -- I didn't read it.
Go ahead.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll read that later.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: We have to talk about this incredible British woman who sailed around the world in 71 days.
MYERS: Yes. Yes, she broke the record by herself.
COSTELLO: There she is. I guess that's a trimaran.
MYERS: It is. It's a multi hull and about 75 feet long. And she sailed it by herself. It's hard to sail a 30-foot boat by yourself. And she had this thing out there in the open ocean for 70 something days and beat the old record, 71 days and 14 hours, beating the old record by one day and eight hours and a few minutes.
COSTELLO: Yes. She made that -- it was a 26,000 mile journey. That's incredible, spending all that time by yourself. Look at all the boats around her.
MYERS: Yes, well, that's called a little flotilla now coming in. They weren't around her when she was out there in the middle of the ocean, trust me. She had a...
COSTELLO: I bet not.
MYERS: She did have a rescue boat around at times, but I'll tell you what, what an amazing woman to be able to do this. At times, Carol, for one day, in one 24 hour period, she sailed 501 miles. COSTELLO: Wow!
MYERS: You have to do the division there. That's about 22 miles per hour. And let me tell you, on a sail boat, that's flying. That is just screaming across the ocean. And obviously you can't do that unless the wind is blowing strong, too. And if the wind is blowing strong, the waves are probably going, so, man, she had quite the cruise.
COSTELLO: And lots of seasickness pills, we hope.
Anyway, somebody interviewed her on board that trimaran.
Here's a bit of what she had to say.
MYERS: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLEN MACARTHUR, AROUND THE WORLD SAILOR: It's great that I can finally switch my brain off and not have to concentrate on wind speed or boat speed or weather for the first time in over two months. And also, just to relax in the company of others, because that's something that I have missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And you were saying that, you know, you can't sleep very much, because you're really moving along at a fast clip. She slept, what, four hours a day?
MYERS: Well, yes.
COSTELLO: And never more than 30 minutes at a time.
MYERS: Right. You're sailing the entire time. You have to make sure you're still on course, even though there's an auto pilot on there. You have to make sure that the wind hasn't changed, that you're not sailing into a reef. I mean there's so much to see -- so much to go on. Typically, you'll take shifts if you're sailing with somebody else. One person is on watch, one person will sleep. But when you're on the boat all by yourself, you can't do that.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
Seventy-one days, 14 hours, 18 minutes. All around the world, 26,000 miles, and we'll keep tabs to see when Ellen finally steps off her trimaran.
MYERS: Hey, Carol?
COSTELLO: Uh-huh?
MYERS: It is www.teamellen.com if you want more on that.
COSTELLO: Very cool. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break.
We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.
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WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": One of the things that happens is a lot of people have switched jobs quite a few times and they may have a 401K that they left at an old employer or an IRA that they started somewhere and they just haven't kept track up. I think it's a good time to kind of grab all of these accounts and bring them together, roll them all into one IRA or put the money into your current employer's 401K plan.
But basically the idea is to get all of your assets into one place so that you know what you're dealing with and you can manage them better and more efficiently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone.
I'm Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.
Nextel Communications is agreeing to a plan that will end interface from Nextel cell phones that disrupts public safety communications systems. The Federal Communications Commission will give Nextel part of a new broadcast spectrum but the company has to vacate its current spectrum and pay to reconfigure the airwaves that it currently uses. A spectrum refers to the frequencies at which electromagnetic waves travel.
Now, the problem is two transmitters using the same spectrum in the same place will cause interference. And the agreement is designed to avoid interference from Nextel cell phones that in some cases left police, fire and other emergency personnel unable to communicate.
Nextel competitor Verizon Communications, though, is taking issue with the plan, saying that it is equal to a handout.
So that's the latest on Nextel.
Turning to stocks, it looks like a pretty flat start for today's session. The markets remained little changed at the close yesterday. Now that the January jobs report, the Federal Reserve meeting and the Q4 profit reporting season are all winding down, it looks like investors are waiting for a catalyst in order to get some direction. We're not sure what that catalyst will be. Tonight, after the close of trading, networking gear giant Cisco Systems reports profits for the fourth quarter. We are expecting $0.22 a share. Wall Street expecting $0.22 a share in profits. That's a little bit of a gain over last year.
And that is the latest business news.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
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COSTELLO: Paying for college -- it's something that all parents worry about. Well, brace yourself. The expense starts before college.
"USA Today" reporting just applying and choosing a school can set you back a few thousand bucks.
Here to talk about that, Ellen McGirt of "Money" magazine.
It is insane. For the average kid to go to college at an average college, how much does it cost these days?
ELLEN MCGIRT, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: You know, there's a lot of new -- there's a lot of information out there that makes it sound like it's going to be six figures by the time you're done. But truly, for a public school, a good public school, $11,000 is where it tops out. And half of all kids are going to school and spending about $6,000 a year.
Now, it's still a lot of money, especially if you've got more than one kid, but it's still a manageable goal if you've got some planning and some strategies.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll talk about that in a bit.
MCGIRT: Some good news.
COSTELLO: Some good news. We'll talk about the good news in a bit.
MCGIRT: OK.
COSTELLO: But I wanted to talk about these college application costs, because that's really our focus today.
MCGIRT: OK.
COSTELLO: The typical application fee, $50 to $75 each. So let's say you apply to six schools. That's like $300.
MCGIRT: No, and that's real money and that absolutely has to factor into your thinking long before you even begin. And that's one of the reasons why you need to talk to your kids early and often about their plans, their goals, but your own finances, too, because it can come as a big surprise to everybody when you start tapping into their babysitting money to pay for these kinds of things.
COSTELLO: Oh, exactly.
So, how many colleges should you really apply to? I mean is there a set number that you shouldn't allow your kid to go over?
MCGIRT: You know, you shouldn't let it be driven by a budget, but I know that it can catch up with you at the end and you're tempted to tap into things like retirement savings or home equity to pay for the thousands of dollars it's going to cost you to apply. But you should -- six to eight schools was certainly the advice that was given when we were kids. And that's real money. So starting early is essential, especially if you have more than one child.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about the SAT tests, because they've suddenly become expensive, as well.
MCGIRT: Right.
COSTELLO: $17 to register plus $8 per test, because sometimes you want to take more than one if you didn't do well the first time.
MCGIRT: That's right. And there's prep courses and then there's tutoring. That's -- back to financial planning, you know, that's the "Money" magazine way. If you sign up for a Coverdale savings account, which is like an IRA for savings, you can sock away up to $2,000 tax deferred. These costs are qualified by the IRS. So you actually are shaving a significant amount off your true costs.
Planning really does help.
COSTELLO: Well, and I didn't realize this, because they added a writing test to the ACT test. And now the test costs more to take, which doesn't make any sense to me. It's $42.
MCGIRT: It's a real business, isn't it? Everyone's got their hands out these days.
COSTELLO: Well, at some point you think to yourself are they just ripping us off and taking advantage?
MCGIRT: You know, that certainly is something to think about at 3:00 a.m. as worried parents are wondering how they're going to survive this. But on the other hand, back in the day you could leave high school and get a good job and buy a home and live your life and that's just not true anymore. We really need a college education and sometimes a graduate degree to be competitive in today's world. So strategy and planning. I'm sorry. I'm boring today.
COSTELLO: OK, so -- I know. I know. That's OK, Ellen. We understand.
Back to the college application costs. So you send your scores to the university off of your SAT or your ACT...
MCGIRT: That's right. That's right. COSTELLO: The first four are free and then after that, $7 for each additional...
MCGIRT: Transcript.
COSTELLO: Right.
MCGIRT: Right. Report. Yes. No, that's right. That's, again, back to planning. If you know where you need to go and you're making the best match for yourself with a school that really meets your academic needs and goals, you can shave down the number of times you need to tap into this and the number of applications you need to make.
But investing a little time with an educational counselor or your own guidance counselor, or just with other people with similar talents as yours, would really make a difference.
You have to be a detective these days if you want to save some dough.
COSTELLO: Yes.
And we added up all the costs we just talked about.
MCGIRT: Good lord (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COSTELLO: Just to apply, $808. That's the minimum.
MCGIRT: Oh.
COSTELLO: Ellen McGirt from "Money" magazine.
Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MCGIRT: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Still to come, she survived the impact when a plane slammed into a building last week. Coming up in the last half hour of DAYBREAK, we will hear from the flight attendant on board this doomed takeoff.
Plus, victims speak out after a emotional the latest of a defrocked priest comes to a verdict.
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