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High Noon for Democrats; New Day at Duke

Aired January 04, 2007 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

For the next three hours, watch events happen live on this Thursday, the 4th of January.

Here's what's on the rundown.

High noon for Democrats -- the new Congress opens in three hours. A personal look at the king of the Hill, Harry Reid, the man who will run the Senate.

HARRIS: New day at Duke. With rape charges dismissed, the university invites to accused lacrosse players back to class.

COLLINS: And we're on the streets with Baghdad's children. Their futures die a little bit with each bomb. Kids with no tomorrow, in THE NEWSROOM.

A political power shift playing out in Washington today. The new Congress convenes with Democrats in control. Taking the helm in the Senate, Harry Reid, the soft-spoken but tough talking Nevada senator. CNN's Dana Bash has this exclusive interview with the incoming majority leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Visit the new Senate majority leader at home in Searchlight, Nevada and he'll play you some favorite songs on his iPod.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Neil Young, "Living With War." This is anti-Bush stuff.

Remember this?

BASH: Not exactly the give bipartisanship a chance message he's under pressure to send as his party takes power. But this is the same Harry Reid who's called George W. Bush a liar and a loser.

Though aides now warn him to bite his tongue, Reid says he can't forget that twice the president privately promised to work together and, in his view, didn't.

REID: He has not live up to what he told me he wanted to do. Now, the third time is a charm. I hope this works out. I'm going to do everything that I can to put the past behind me.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm from West Texas. He's from Nevada.

BASH: The president has reached out lately by playing up their shared Western roots, yet Reid's reflex is still to draw lines.

REID: Well, we're fairly well connected except I missed a few stops -- Kennebunkport and Yale. Other than that, we'd be perfect.

BASH: Whether he and the president can do business will set Washington's course.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will likely have enough votes to pass top Democratic priorities. But to make them law, Reid must navigate the Senate with a one vote majority -- deal and make deals with Republicans.

REID: Compromise is not weakness. Consensus building is a strength.

BASH: Reid's biggest challenge may be managing his own rank and file. Half a dozen Democrats are flirting with presidential campaigns, Iowa and New Hampshire on their minds when Reid needs help in Washington.

(on camera): You're going to have your hands full with a lot of candidates.

REID: But I'm used to that.

BASH (voice-over): He's clear about who he won't use as a model -- famous arm twisting majority leader, Lyndon Johnson.

REID: I'm not a big fan of Lyndon Johnson.

BASH (on camera): How come?

REID: Have you ever read anything about him?

BASH: I have.

REID: He was a crude, obnoxious. I thought he treated his family awful.

BASH: Reid knows he won't make history delivering speeches or snappy sound bites, wants to make his mark with fairness.

REID: I'm going to try to be as candid as I can be. But as of now, I have some responsibility for determining what goes on on the Senate floor legislation. And in that, I'm going to live by the golden rule. (END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now live from Capitol Hill -- and, Dana, as the 110th Congress convenes, what are senators doing at this very moment?

BASH: At this very moment, all 100 senators are filing into the old Senate chamber. This is an event that is not a typical event, but it's something that Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, decided that they wanted to do to set off this 110th Congress, they hope, on that bipartisan note that we keep hearing about.

What we are going to see is you see Senator Leahy there. He's the chairman -- incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Of course, Hillary Clinton arriving right now. That is a very interesting room, the old Senate chamber. It literally is the place where the Senate used to deliberate back in the 1800s.

In fact, in that room where the senators are going to meet before they officially convene later today, that's the place where people like Daniel Webster and Henry Clay debated very heady issues that really made a big difference historically in our time, like slavery and expanding the territories. That is the kind of history that is going to be surrounding these senators this morning a they file into that room.

It's been a little bit controversial, Heidi, because there are going to be no cameras in that room. All 100 senators are going to be there, but it's not officially an on the record, in session meeting. And some people -- there has been some editorials saying wait a minute, if you're going to meet all 100 senators, well, do it out in the open.

But, again, Harry Reid and others thought that this was the kind of thing that they needed in order to be behind closed doors without the cameras, without anybody being able to look in and to be able to really discuss with one another how they are going to try to move forward, they hope, at least at the beginning, they say, in some kind of bipartisan fashion, or at least set that kind of tone at the start.

COLLINS: Right. And after watching a really interesting piece on the incoming majority leader for the Senate, Harry Reid, I wonder, you know, there's been so much made of the Democrats' lofty goals for these early days of Congress, at least on the House side.

Are things looking different on the Senate side?

BASH: Really different. And I think that's an important thing to note as we go forward and talk about the Democrats' agenda in this 110th Congress. We have talked a lot about the 100 hours that the House Democrats are going to use to pass what they say were their top campaign promises.

Well, the Senate is going to be totally different. They are not going to try to move things along. In fact, they won't and they can't. Harry Reid, the incoming majority leader, said in a memo to his colleagues late yesterday that it's actually going to take a couple of months in order to do the things that they're talking about, like a minimum wage increase, like student loans, a cut in interest rates on that, like something that is going to be a lot -- pretty controversial, which is the idea of restricting federal funding for stem cell research.

What he has said is that the way Democrats want to restore faith in the way the Senate works is, from his point of view, use the Senate the way the founders intended it, which is a real place for debate and deliberation. For example, the very first issue they're going to talk about, lobbying reform, they're going to put it on the floor and just let the senators debate it. It could be on the floor for a couple of weeks.

It could pose some problems for them politically, in terms of expectations. But certainly it will take a while for any of this to get through the Senate -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, live from Capitol Hill today.

Dana, thank you for that.

BASH: Thank you.

COLLINS: And CNN is the place to watch history unfold today as the best political team on television provides you with insights you won't get anywhere else after you watch us in THE NEWSROOM.

Stay tuned for a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Wolf Blitzer leads our team for "Power Shift: The Democrats Take Control." That's at 11:45 this morning, only on CNN.

And still ahead in THE NEWSROOM, doing time on your dime. Congressional felons paid fat pensions in prison. It's ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And right now, let's take you to Denver, Colorado.

We're getting some pictures just in to CNN, as the investigation continues to unfold right now into the shooting death, the murder of Denver Broncos quarterback Darrent Williams. You can see that police on the ground there have surrounded -- we'll get a better look at this -- an SUV, a sport utility vehicle, that officers believe may have been involved in the shooting. This is a vehicle that the officers, in fact, have been looking for in this investigation.

And this abandoned vehicle is parked along a road. If you know the Denver area at all, in the Green Valley Ranch area. That's south of Denver's international airport.

Now, the license plate on this abandoned Chevy Tahoe matches the one that Denver police -- and there it is on the car hauler being taken away. And the license plate here apparently matches the one that Denver police had been looking for. The sides, we understand, the back and the front of the vehicle appear to have been burned, along with the inside, as the reporting tonight goes this morning. But the top of the vehicle there, you can see, is white. And that, of course, matches the description that was given to us by Denver authorities.

Reporters on the scene also say there are footprints in the snow indicating someone may have, again, may have run from that vehicle.

As you may recall, Darrent Williams, the quarterback for the Denver Broncos, was shot and killed in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day. He was riding in a Hummer stretch limousine at the time.

We will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest developments as we get them here in THE NEWSROOM.

Meantime, the president's plan for Iraq -- will thousands more troops get marching orders?

Live now to CNN's White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

Well, sources are telling us that the president is likely -- is expected to go ahead and sign that order for more U.S. troops to Iraq to try to secure Baghdad in what the president is calling "a new strategy regarding Iraq."

Now, sources out of the Pentagon put the number at anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000, perhaps leaning toward the lower number there. This is clearly an unpopular decision when he faces Democrats, of course, taking control, and even members of his own party. Not too many people who are pushing forward this idea of a U.S. troop surge.

Now, here's how we expect it's all going to unfold. According to those who are familiar with the president's deliberations, it is likely that he'll wrap up his consultations tomorrow and then Monday is when he'll put out, at least White House officials will put out courtesy calls to members of Congress to brief them on the president's plan, much of it, of course, already out in the public at this point.

And then Tuesday or Wednesday is when the president will address the nation and lay out his plan to the American people -- Tony.

HARRIS: Suzanne, what are you hearing -- on another note now -- about the imminent departure, it seems, of the director of National Intelligence?

MALVEAUX: Well, that's absolutely right. The director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, is kind of doing a job switch, if you will. He is leaving the intelligence community to become the deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now, the way it was described from one U.S. official -- I'll read it here. They say that Negroponte did a great job setting up the DNI and getting it off the ground, that this new position is a very important high level job. But really his passion and his past experience are in the diplomatic area. He brings a lot of that experience, of course, regarding Iraq.

And his history, very interesting, Tony, really at the center of this policy, this Iraq policy.

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: He used to be the ambassador to the U.N. He was the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. So it's going to be interesting to see how all of that unfolds and what kind of role he plays in the State Department.

We should let you know, the person likely to replace him is a former NSA director, Admiral Mike McConnell, who has a lot of intelligence experience himself.

So we're seeing a little bit of musical chairs here.

HARRIS: Yes, we really are.

OK, Suzanne Malveaux, an excellent conductor, following it all for us from the White House.

Suzanne, thank you.

COLLINS: Inside Iraq, explosions in Baghdad renewed hope for five kidnapped contractors and another arrest related to cell phone images of Saddam Hussein's last moments.

Our Arwa Damon is live now in the capital city -- there's certainly a lot going on there, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, that's right. There's always a lot going on here. But the Iraqi government has announced that now there are two guards in its custody, both of them detained, believed to be responsible for filming that highly controversial cell phone footage and distributing it via the Internet and to TV stations.

Now, they have only been identified by the Iraqi government as being employees of the Ministry of Justice. They were guards who were tasked with securing the facility where Saddam Hussein's execution took place.

There has been a lot of outrage surrounding the cell phone footage. When it first -- when the execution first took place, the Iraqi government was trying to put forward a stand that everything had gone smoothly. In fact, at that point in time, Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, had said that the execution had gone forward with no humiliation to Saddam Hussein before and after his death. Then we saw those cell phone footage -- that cell phone footage emerge and then we heard the audio. The audio that clearly shows Saddam Hussein being taunted by Shia chants in the moments before his death.

That has forced the Iraqi government to launch a rather awkward investigation into itself. It has forced them to confront the reality of what happened in that execution chamber.

And now we are hearing Iraq's national security adviser saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are disgusted by this. We are very irritated. We are going to leave no stone unturned to investigate this thoroughly and aggressively. I saw a couple of these cell phones around, but believe me, none of the Iraqi officials were carrying these cell phones. Those -- because those went through two checks -- well, three checks. And they were checked by the Americans in the green zone and then the guards and the American guards, as well, outside the building where the execution happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: The Iraqi government is vowing that the same mistakes will not be made in the upcoming executions of two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants.

Meanwhile, other footage also making headlines. We are hearing that there are new images of the five contractors -- four Americans, one Austrian, that were kidnapped in the vicinity of Basra back on November 16th. That footage was obtained by a reporter that works for McClatchys newspapers. And according to the newspaper, it was shot two weeks after the abduction.

In that footage, the five abducted contractors appear to be in good health. Four of them are seated. All five of them identify themselves and ask for help -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, wow! We haven't heard much about them in quite some time.

Arwa Damon, thank you for the update live from Baghdad.

HARRIS: Well, here they come, the new Congress. A female speaker, the first Muslim in the House, Democrats with the gavel, a history making day at the Capitol. We're covering it here in THE NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Extending an invitation -- Duke University offers to take back two lacrosse players accused in a rape case. That story also in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And mourning a life taken while questions about motive linger. We'll update a school shooting ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's take you back to Denver now. And we want to show you the latest pictures of what may be a real breakthrough -- may be a real breakthrough into the investigation into the shooting death of Denver Broncos' quarterback, Darrent Williams.

The vehicle that you see there on that hauler is a sport utility vehicle that has been sought by the Denver authorities in connection with this case.

Let's show you the license plate on that abandoned Chevy Tahoe. It was left abandoned just south of Denver's international airport. There it is. There's the license plate and the license plate number there.

If we go back now to the vehicle on the highway being taken into custody for processing, the sides, the back and the front of the vehicle appear to have been burned.

Witnesses accts of having seen the vehicle close up -- along the inside, the top of that vehicle there, that is the vehicle in question right there. Reporters on the scene of where it was abandoned, on a road in the Green Valley Ranch area -- this is south of Denver -- described seeing footprints in the snow indicating someone may have -- again, may have run from the vehicle.

We will continue to follow developments in this story and bring you the latest as soon as we can.

COLLINS: Two Duke University lacrosse players can come back to school. The rape charges against them dropped.

CNN's David Mattingly has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Duke University is allowing three lacrosse players accused of sexual offense to return as students in good standing for the spring semester. Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligman were placed on administrative leave after their indictment for assaulting a stripper at a team party last year.

But Duke's president said Wednesday in a statement: "The circumstances in this case have changed substantially and it is appropriate that the students have an opportunity to continue their education."

Last month, the Durham D.A. dropped rape charges against Finnerty, Seligman and a third player, Dave Evans, who graduated in May, after the woman said she couldn't recall details of the alleged attack. An attorney for Collin Finnerty says Duke's offer is a vindication.

WADE SMITH, ATTORNEY FOR COLLIN FINNERTY: I think it helps the legal side of this case because I think it's an announcement to the world that this important institution has confidence in these boys and would like to have them come back.

MATTINGLY: Wade Smith says his client hasn't decided whether to accept Duke's offer to return.

SMITH: I am sure that Collin loves Duke and would want to come back at some point. But we'll just have to wait and see. All of the circumstances surrounding this case would bear upon a decision to return. And the most important, of course, is the fact that the case is still pending.

MATTINGLY: Finnerty, Seligman and Evans are still charged with sexual offense and kidnapping. But Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has been heavily criticized for his handling of the case.

Nifong was sworn in this week for a second term in office and says he'll do his talking in court.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: David Mattingly joining us now live in Durham -- David, it's just incredible to watch this case go forward, if that's the correct word.

What is the next step?

We know that Nifong has, as you just said, going to, you know, be re-elected for four years. He's got four years to go still.

MATTINGLY: That's right. Well, next we expect to hear defense attorneys arguing that the D.A. improperly conducted lineups when their clients were identified in this case. If they are successful in convincing a judge to throw this kind of evidence out of court, it would be another huge blow to the prosecution's case.

COLLINS: Why were the students kicked out when they are presumed innocent?

I mean this was prior to, you know, the developments with the DNA and all of that.

MATTINGLY: The university calls this a balancing act. Because of the nature of the crime, a violent crime, and the seriousness of these allegations they felt it was best, even though the students were presumed innocent, that they be separated from the student body.

Now that those rape charges are off the table, though, they feel it's very proper for them to come back here and resume what they call their careers as students here in good standing.

That also means they can go back to the lacrosse team if they want to do that.

COLLINS: Wow!

Quickly, before we let you go, David, any idea when a decision will be made as to whether or not Nifong will stay on this case?

MATTINGLY: Nifong said when he went back into office that he intends to stay with this cases. If he leaves this case, it may not be by his own decision. We'll just have to see there. But he has indicated that he wants to stay with this case.

COLLINS: David Mattingly live from Durham, North Carolina.

David, thank you.

HARRIS: Just 17 years old, Samnang Kok had an 18-month-old son. Now that boy will grow up without his dad. Kok was shot and killed at his Tacoma, Washington high school yesterday. Some students returned to school last night for a vigil. Police have arrested a fellow student in the case. That teen has been booked for investigation of first degree murder.

Police say the shooter and the victim knew each other, but detectives are not sure about a motive. The shooting took place inside the school just before classes were to begin.

COLLINS: Doing time on your dime -- you won't believe this story. Congressional felons paid fat pensions in prison, ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: But first, his life hung in the balance and the blow in the Senate was in question. It still is.

Ahead in THE NEWSROOM, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta updates us on the health of Senator Tim Johnson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Congress back in session with one senator absent, Senator Tim Johnson. He suffered stroke-like symptoms last month and underwent surgery. His doctor is now reporting tonight some progress.

We want to check in with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent here at CNN, for an update -- Sanjay, great to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

HARRIS: First of all, the update from the doctor, Johnson's doctor at George Washington University Hospital, is that an angiogram was performed yesterday and revealed no evidence of residual malformation.

Tell us about this condition...

GUPTA: Sure.

HARRIS: ... and what that news really means.

GUPTA: Well, you know, the original problem here was the senator's brain.

HARRIS: That's a great place to start. Great.

GUPTA: Yes. He had a cluster of arteries and veins. That was his malformation, this arteriovenous malformation. And it was occurring in a specific part of the brain that's responsible for his speech and for his strength on the right side of the brain.

When they performed that operation that we talked so much about...

HARRIS: Yes?

GUPTA: ... they did two things. One is they got rid of the blood that had formed around this malformation, and then they took out the source of the bleeding itself.

I want to show you on this brain model, if I can, real quick, this was the area of the brain that we're talking about here. This is the area of the brain that is responsible for speech and for strength on the right side of the body. So what they're saying is the problem is gone in terms of the actual cause of the bleeding. But the damage to that part of the brain is what everyone's waiting to see how he recovers from that.

HARRIS: Yes. All right, so this idea of no evidence of residual malformation, is there a chance that we might get sort of a rebundling of this problem again?

GUPTA: It's a good question. And this is something that's been studied a lot in the world of neurosurgery. And the answer is probably not.

HARRIS: OK.

GUPTA: He should be cured of this arteriovenous malformation as long as they got it all...

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: ... this it sounds like they did. So that's the important thing.

HARRIS: OK, well, help us with this. In the initial day or so after this event, December 13th, there was a sense that there would be a kind of a -- not a -- I don't want to say a quick recovery, but that the first 24 to 48 hours were significant.

But put that time frame into real perspective for us.

GUPTA: Yes, I heard the same thing, Tony. And I think it was a little bit confusing for some people. But I think that within the first 24 to 48 hours after an operation like this, what doctors are really looking for is is someone going to survive this.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: Is someone going to actually live through this or not? After that, you start talking about recovery. And when people say how is he going to recover, what they're really asking, is he going to be able to understand speech, is he going to be able to speak again, is he going to be able to move his right side again?

And those things are measured in months.

HARRIS: Wow!

GUPTA: And I've seen people, Tony, have up to 18 months of recovery after something like this. So it could be a long, long process in terms of his recovery.

HARRIS: And there was reporting tonight that after the surgery there was fluid in the lungs.

How much of a concern is that?

GUPTA: Not uncommon. Typically, after someone has an operation and is in the hospital sort of on their back for a time, they may develop some pneumonia, develop some infection in the lungs. That is not that unusual and pretty easily treated.

But he is back on the breathing machine, as well.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: So that makes it harder for him to obviously assess his speech and those sorts of things.

HARRIS: We're going to get some legislation, a bill, out of this 110th Congress addressing stem cell research.

Give us a general overview.

And I guess the big question is what will the bill likely look like and what's the president's likely reaction?

GUPTA: A huge issue.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: Two things, probably, that are going to be really important for the bill. One is it's going to expand federal funding. There really is no federal funding for stem cell research except for some stem cell lines that were created before a certain date.

This is going to talk about expanding federal funding for all sorts of different stem cell lines and to ethnic cleansing researchers to come into these labs and start working on stem cell research for the treatment that we've heard about, sort of for things like Parkinson's Disease, spinal cord injury and that sort of thing.

The other thing it's going to do is it's going to send up incentive programs to start to allow the states to build stem cell centers of excellence, if you will, so they can start doing some of this research at both the private and the public level.

HARRIS: Interesting, but the president is pretty much on record as saying that he is against this kind of expansion.

GUPTA: This is -- the first time this passed both houses of Congress, it was the only piece of legislation he vetoed in six years.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: And that could happen again.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: I mean he could veto it again. It's going to be interesting. But there's certainly a lot of emphasis behind this lately. The Democrats have talked about this being one of the issues in the first 100 hours.

HARRIS: Sanjay, great to see you.

Thanks for your time this morning.

GUPTA: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thanks.

HARRIS: 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, 6:30 Pacific, you are in the NEWSROOM. Good morning once again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. A big day in Washington today. In fact a political power shift playing out. The new Congress convenes today with Democrats in control. With the power shift comes new leadership, Nancy Pelosi will be sworn in as House speaker. She is the first woman to hold that position. And on the Senate side, Harry Reid takes over majority leader. The Democrats have laid out plans for speedy votes on several issues. Among the top agenda items, increasing the minimum wage and enacting tougher rules on lobbying.

Democrats in control of Congress cannot control Iraq policy, but funding, that's another matter.

CNN's Brian Todd explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just before one of the deadliest months in Iraq for U.S. troops, millions of American voters told Democratic candidates we're counting on you to change the course of this war. Now as the majority in Congress, Democrats seemingly have an important piece of leverage over the president to do that -- leverage backed up by the Constitution.

STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: The power of the purse is the Democrats' main lever here. They can't force the president to change policy. All they can do is tell him that he can't spend any money.

TODD: Then why do we hear this from top Democrats?

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: No one is going to cut off funding to the troops that I know of.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), INCOMING SPEAKER: As long as our men and women in uniform are in harm's way, Democrats will not be cutting off any funds to keep them safe.

TODD: Comments that earn a scolding from one of the most liberal of Democrats who also ran on an antiwar platform.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: We have to realize it is not credible to simultaneously say that you oppose the war in Iraq and continue to fund it.

TODD: But analysts say for Democrats, it's not that simple.

KEN RUDIN, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Democrats have the problem of having to balance the fact that their constituency wants the U.S. out of Iraq, and as soon as possible. Balance that with the fear that Democrats have not always been tough enough for some people on issues like national security.

TODD: In order to avoid being painted as cutting off money for troops in arm's way, the Democrats are going another route, pressuring the Bush administration to put all of the money for the war into the regular budget, rather than emergency bills where they've been channeling much of the funds and where there's less oversight.

REP. JOHN SPRATT (D), INCOMING BUDGET CHAIRMAN: This is an enormously expensive engagement. Somebody's got to keep a tab on this. Somebody's got to ask for justification.

TODD: Will the White House go along?

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will move toward making expenditures in Iraq and in the war in general, including Afghanistan, as transparent as possible.

(on camera): If the White House doesn't do that or doesn't follow other Democratic plans for changing course in Iraq, there's already talk that the Democrats will use other leverage, like blocking the president's judicial nominations. When I asked incoming House Budget chairman John Sprat if he'd go along with moves like that, he said he didn't want to respond to a hypothetical.

Brian Todd, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: CNN is the place to watch history unfold today as the best political team on television provides you with insights you won't get anywhere else. After you watch us in the NEWSROOM, stay tuned for a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf Blitzer leads our team for "Power Shift: The Democrats Take Control." That's at 11:45 this morning, only on CNN.

Will the commander in chief order thousands more troops to Iraq? We've got new word on the president's plan. To the White House, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Also, a blizzard of food, hay for livestock, staples for isolated ranchers still stuck in the snow out West.

COLLINS: And stolen childhood: For Iraq's young it is a bleak present and sometimes a hopeless future. Our Cal Perry has a sobering talk with teens. You are in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: There's word that the nation's intelligence chief is changing jobs. A senior administration and State Department official says John Negroponte is resigning as director of national intelligence to become deputy secretary of state. Negroponte is the first-ever director of national intelligence, a post-created in the wake of the September 11th attacks. He was confirmed less than two years ago to oversee all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies. The expected job shift comes as the president prepares a strategy shift in Iraq. Sources say President Bush is likely to order anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 more troops to Iraq. Though the source noted that the president has not yet signed off on a plan, we're told President Bush likely will announce his strategy to the nation next week in a televised address.

COLLINS: Another day, another Iraqi security guard detained. He's being questioned about the release of that cell phone video of Saddam Hussein's execution. Two guards detained now, and Iraq's national security adviser says he expects at least two more arrests. Making the video public, he says, was a move to sabotage national unity. It incited anger among some Sunnis and opened Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to harsh worldwide criticism.

New hope for five contractors held by kidnappers in Iraq since mid-November. A videotape shows the four Americans and an Austrian apparently in pretty good shape. They all worked for a Kuwaiti-based security company. A newspaper reporter got the first look at the tape last week. It was apparently made two weeks ago.

They're paying their debt to society, but you're paying their pension. Huh?

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on congressional felons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an unwritten law that says crime doesn't pay. But don't tell that to these guys.

Every single one of these former members of Congress either pleaded guilty to or was convicted of at least one serious crime. Yet, every one of them is estimated to be receiving that dollar amount next to their picture every year, their congressional pension based on their years in office, you, the taxpayers, paying the pension of crooks.

(on camera): Even if they take you out of Washington in handcuffs and throw you in prison, Congress still gets its pension.

(voice-over): Case in point, Randall "Duke" Cunningham -- he pleaded guilty to using his congressional office to accept bribes, kickbacks, money from the contractors he was voting to give government business.

Cunningham right now is sitting in this federal prison in North Carolina, and getting his government pension, an estimated $64,000 a year, sent to a congressional felon sitting in the can.

JOHN BERTHOUD, NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: Cunningham has to be the classic example.

GRIFFIN: John Berthoud is president of the National Taxpayers Union. It's a watchdog lobbying group, mostly interested in cutting the size of government, cutting waste and cutting taxes.

Because federal pensions are secret, all of the figures you've seen in this report are estimates based on the Taxpayers Union's calculations. Berthoud can think of no better example of government waste than sending $64,000 a year to Duke Cunningham.

BERTHOUD: But all of us are still paying this guy $64,000 a year, roughly, while he sits in prison. You know, I think the vast majority of Americans think that that is really, really wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congressman, what are you going to tell the judge today?

GRIFFIN: And Cunningham is hardly alone.

JAMES TRAFICANT, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: I'm not going to admit to crimes I did not do.

GRIFFIN: James Traficant, the Ohio congressman convicted of bribery and sentenced to eight years, is collecting an estimated $40,000 a year sitting in this federal prison in Minnesota.

Traficant and Cunningham didn't respond to our letters, and former Minnesota congressman Dave Durenberger didn't want to talk to us either.

DAVE DURENBERGER, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: The Department of Justice has charged me...

GRIFFIN: He pleaded guilty to fraud in 1995, did a year's probation and paid a fine. Now we pay him an estimated pension of $86,000 a year.

(on camera) And who among the convicted felons of Congress is getting the most out of his retirement? That would be the guy who lives in this Chicago building and owns this car. Take a look at the license plate. Retired member of Congress. That big "R" stands for the big guy, Chairman Daniel Rostenkowski, usually not shy about talking to the media, except when it comes to his estimated $126,000 a year taxpayer funded pension.

(voice-over) The former chairman of the powerful ways and means committee told us on the phone he has nothing to say. And in fact, Rostenkowski, who was sent to prison for mail fraud, may have good reason not to answer his door.

Just a month ago, the state of Illinois used its felony conviction clause to take away the pension of former governor George Ryan, who was convicted and sentenced to 6 1/2 years for mail fraud, money laundering and extortion. But that's state law.

Under federal law, the only grounds for stripping a congressman of his pension is if he's convicted of treason. The National Taxpayers Union for years has been calling for a tougher conviction clause.

A simple change says Taxpayers Union president Berthoud, if you are convicted of any felony while in office, you forfeit your right to get paid.

BERTHOUD: It's hard unless maybe, you're a member of Congress or a former member of Congress, for anybody to understand how on earth you could ask taxpayers to pay pensions for people like that.

GRIFFIN: Now two dozen watchdog groups have joined the campaign, sending this letter to the incoming Democrats who vowed to drain the swamp, asking them to at least drain the felons from the swamp.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: What -- Drew Griffin joins us now. Outrage.

GRIFFIN: Tony is so mad right now.

HARRIS: This is room and board, a taxpayer's expense.

GRIFFIN: Three hots and a cot.

HARRIS: They say they're stacking chips while they're doing time in the can. All right, so the new speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has come in and said, look, we're going to clean things up. Has she had any kind of response at all to your report or this issue? I mean, she's been in Congress a long time.

GRIFFIN: She got the letter from taxpayers union November 28th. We have been after her for two-and-a-half weeks, and she has been too busy to grant us an interview,. But after we ran the story last night on Anderson Cooper's show, we did hear from them -- actually we heard from them before, and they were mad because we didn't talk about what they were trying to do.

And this is the statement. Can I read it to you? HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes, sure.

GRIFFIN: "In a Democratic proposal offered as an alternative to Republican legislation last year, Miss Pelosi supported language that would strip sitting members of Congress of their pension should they be convicted of a felony. Proposals to effect will considered by the relevant committees of the jurisdiction in the 110th Congress."

Doesn't sound like it's on the to-do list right now.

HARRIS: Yes, it's not on the front burner. How difficult a fix is this?

GRIFFIN: Tony, they have a law. If you're convicted of treason, you don't get your pension, so it would be an easy fix just to add language onto that law, you know. If you're convicted of treason or a felony, but you have to want to do it.

HARRIS: Exactly. And I wonder how they have avoided doing it all this time. But how many people are we talking about here?

GRIFFIN: The taxpayers union says about 20 lawmakers over the past 25 years have been convicted and have received congressional benefits

HARRIS: One-hundred hours, easy fix, you want to knock off a couple of easy things, add this to the list, right?

GRIFFIN: Call them up, Tony

HARRIS: All right, Drew. Appreciate it.

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(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Still to come, stolen childhood for Iraq's young. It is a bleak present and a future, well, it is uncertain. Our Cal Perry has a sobering talk with teens ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: They are the future of Iraq, but many see no hope in that future.

CNN's Cal Perry talks with the boys of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So, Abraham, yes? And your last name?

ABRAHAM, IRAQI YOUTH: I don't have any last name. My name is Abraham (INAUDIBLE).

PERRY: Yes, I understand. And you're how old? ABRAHAM: 16.

PERRY: 16. When you were 12 years old, the Americans came to Baghdad, yes?

ABRAHAM: Yes.

PERRY: What do you remember about that day?

ABRAHAM: I don't remember anything, because I -- yesterday I see like boy is killed, another boy. Here is no good.

PERRY: Here is no good. Since the Americans came, no good?

ABRAHAM: No good.

PERRY: Let me ask you this. Before the -- before America, during Saddam, better or worse?

ABRAHAM: Saddam was good.

PERRY: You were sad to see Saddam die?

ABRAHAM: Yes.

PERRY: Are you Sunni or Shia?

ABRAHAM: It's not your problem.

PERRY: It's not your problem. It doesn't matter.

ABRAHAM: The only thing, Muslim.

PERRY: Muslim. Iraqi.

ABRAHAM: (INAUDIBLE)

PERRY: Iraqi. Has that been lost in all of this?

ABRAHAM: Yes. (INAUDIBLE)

PERRY: But before? Didn't matter.

ABRAHAM: No.

PERRY: Do you remember life under Saddam or do you remember only war?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I remember that was nice.

PERRY: You remember life under Saddam, he was nice. Raise your hand if you've lost a member of your family since the war began. So, almost everyone here has lost family in this war.

(CROSSTALK)

PERRY: Everyone

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone.

PERRY: What is the future for Iraq?

ABRAHAM: It's not nice. It's no good.

PERRY: It's not good.

ABRAHAM: No, no.

PERRY: Do you think there's hope?

ABRAHAM: No, nothing there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Our Cal Perry, Baghdad bureau chief there in Baghdad.

From the situation in Iraq to the situation here with Congress, in America. Here they come, the new Congress. A female speaker, live shot there, Capitol Hill. The first Muslim in the house. Democrats with the gavel. A history-making day at the Capitol. We are covering it in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And baby in a hurry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden, just like out of nowhere it went from seven minutes down to two minutes to, to, what, like seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A special delivery in a hurry. Baby makes a rush-hour entrance on a busy highway. Details in the NEWSROOM.

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