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President-elect Obama Continues Adding Cabinet Members; Waxman Unseats Dingell as Head of House Committee on Energy & Commerce
Aired November 20, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A fragile market on the edge of 8,000. Your investment's at stake. Everybody watching to see where the numbers go today.
Barack Obama choosing his team. The President-elect come in closer to putting a stamp on Washington.
And a young woman with an absolutely amazing medical story, living without a heart.
I'm Heidi Collins, today, Thursday, November 20th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Quickly taking a look at the big board now. Dow Jones industrial average down 136 points so far today. We are continuing to watch as you see there for yourself. Those numbers obviously well below the 8,000 mark as we mentioned. Well, a bailout stalls for the big three automakers. Is this roadblock a case of bailout fatigue? Let's get a breakdown now of how much your money has already been given out.
CNN's Christine Romans is in New York this morning.
So Christine, that very well may be a part of it. Everybody saying, what, another bailout?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Another bailout, where's my bailout? We hear it again and again. Heidi, people are just really questioning where all the taxpayer money is going. And we heard this morning that GMAC, the auto financing arm of GM. GMAC, the first consumer lender has asked to be turned into a bank holding company, has asked the fed to do that. and the company's GMAC has asked to get a piece of the T.A.R.P. pie. That is the troubled asset relief program. So another company lining up to try to get taxpayer monies in this bailout as it continues the $700 billion bailout.
Yesterday a lot of the concern on Wall Street was in the auto stocks. I mean look at Ford and GM this year. They are down very, very sharply. What that is telling you is that Wall Street essentially thinks these two companies are in distress and on the brink. It's exactly why their CEOs have gone to Washington to ask for help. But there is this feeling that maybe without the $700 billion bailout that we already passed, maybe they might even have slightly easier time to get more quick response from Congress.
People are just tired of the bailout talk and they're tired of adding to the bailout. And even though Neel Kashkari who runs that $700 billion bailout, even he is admitting that people are asking him about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEEL KASHKARI, INTERIM ASST. TREASURY SECRETARY: People around the country, businesses, communities are calling and saying, hey, we need help and we're going to apply for T.A.R.P. and if we took it and went to every individual who needs help, it's wouldn't be enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The goal of that $700 billion bailout, of course, was to stabilize the financial system and he says that's what they're using it for. And he acknowledged that a lot of people are saying, look, I'm in trouble, too. Where's my money? But a real feeling here that, you know, we have just grown tired of all of this bailout, haven't we?
COLLINS: Tapped out. Any good news though from this morning's new jobless claims numbers, Christine?
ROMANS: No, nothing from there. Unfortunately, what that's showing is that people are losing their jobs, bailout or no. The job losses are actually, you know, accelerating here. Jobless claims in this country jumped to a 16-year high. California, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York. That's where you're seeing the biggest increases, people losing their jobs and all kinds of different sectors.
And many economists are telling me it's just going to continue to get worse. We have more than four million people right now, Heidi, who are getting what we call continuing jobless claims. That means that they've been on the rolls for some time. They're getting checks week after week. And those numbers are expected to grow.
COLLINS: Yes, I was curious, the last time you put that list up, what's the main reason for those specific states?
ROMANS: Well, I'm thinking that New York and New Jersey is probably financial services. There's going to be a lot more. Tennessee, North Carolina, those are a lot of like the rubber industry, the wood industry, the manufacturing jobs. California, it's got the biggest economy. It's got this huge economy, frankly, fifth largest in the world. So it's likely - just simply that it's so big that's why it has the most.
COLLINS: OK. Understood. All right. CNN's Christine Romans.
Thank you, Christine.
Well, the nation's automakers return to Detroit empty handed. So the question, now what? CNN's Kate Bolduan is on Capitol Hill with more on this story.
Hi there, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Heidi. Well no one right now is ruling out the possibility of a last- minute deal before this session wraps up. But I have to tell you that the prospects of it happening are fading and fading fast. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he canceled the plan for a test vote on an auto industry bailout. That would have happened today. It is no longer happening. Why? Well Democrats, they recognize that they don't have enough support for that bill to push it through.
Democrats, Republicans remain divided. We've been talking about it for days with you - remain divided over where the money for this bailout, this emergency loan should come from. This, after you said, auto executives left Capitol Hill empty handed yesterday and possibly a little bruised. Listen here to a little bit of the House hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHAEL CAPUANO (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I need some assurances. My constituents need some assurances. That you're just going to blow this again. That you really did get the message. And the truth is all the things you've talked about today so far, what you've got, we're not sure we trust you. I'm not sure it really matters all that much. My fear is that you're going to take this money and continue the same stupid decisions you've made for 25 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Auto executives were pleading their case saying, listen, we're not the same big three of years past. We are restructuring but and trying to cut costs. But I have to tell you they didn't meet as you know Heidi, very much sympathy in the House hearing yesterday. Looking forward there is a compromise proposal that's trying to be working, being brokered by a bipartisan group of senators. I was told by one aide that the negotiators were late into the night.
It's not done. They're still working. It doesn't look, even if it had support here in the Senate, on the Senate side. It doesn't look like it's going to move very far in the House because the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't on board. And they may now, Heidi, we're just hearing, they may have come back for another session in December now. We just heard from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid mentioning that might be a possibility.
COLLINS: Boy, the thing that sticks in my mind is if all three of them really actually disappear, if you will, three million people losing their jobs in the first year, I think is what the report said there.
Kate Bolduan, thanks so much. We'll continue to watch that one closely.
A funny thing happened on the way to Capitol Hill that the auto execs really aren't laughing. We'll tell you how private luxury jets landed them in an embarrassing spotlight. Josh Levs will be coming up on that a little bit later on. A lot of activity for the president-elect transition team working to vet a couple new cabinet choices. Now CNN's Ed Henry is joining us live from Chicago this morning with the very latest.
Good morning to you, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.
You know one of many names that popped up now sources close to the transition telling CNN that Janet Napolitano, the governor of Arizona, is essentially President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be secretary of Homeland Security. She hails from Arizona. So obviously a border state, bordering Mexico. She's been very tough on illegal immigration.
That's part of the purview of the Homeland Security secretary. But also obviously the broader view for that secretary, very critical post, post-9/11, of course, in dealing with keeping the U.S. homeland safe. We saw that, reminded of that once again of course with yesterday's Al Qaeda audio tape that was blasting the president-elect in very inflammatory terms that that threat is still out there from Al Qaeda and other terror groups. A lot of critics have said the Department of Homeland Security is not running very efficiently. There's a massive bureaucracy. So the incoming secretary is going to have a bill challenge ahead.
The other name we're hearing about is Penny Pritzker, who as you know, was a major fundraiser for Barack Obama in this last campaign, a big time Chicago businesswoman and a billionaire. Her name popping up as the likely choice, at this point according to sources close to the transition for commerce secretary. One of those jobs that deal with the business community.
We'll have a role in dealing with the international financial crisis, not as large obviously as the Treasury secretary job. That's the big one that we're still waiting for and anticipating because given the international financial crisis, the Treasury secretary has taken on a vast new power as we've seen with Secretary Paulson right now, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes and I have to ask you, Ed, we've heard reporting about Hillary Clinton and this vetting process that she may be going through for secretary of state. And then also a possible new role in the Senate if she is not selected or decided not to take that position.
HENRY: You're right, Heidi. Sort of conflicting signals. On one hand you have former President Bill Clinton yesterday saying look he's doing everything and anything to smooth this in terms of the vetting process, answering any questions the Obama transition officials have about his charitable foundation, his presidential library, et cetera, all those potential conflicts we've been talking in recent days. That would seem to mean that maybe this is moving towards her getting the nomination to be secretary of state. But then you're right, other Democratic sources are saying, well wait a second, there's also a move in the U.S. Senate right now to create some sort of a special post for her, sort of undetermined right now. Then she comes back to the Senate, sort of give her a prominent role in an issue like health care, for example, that she's been very passionate about.
So that suggests, OK, either she is conflicted about whether or not to take this job if it's offered and maybe go back to the Senate or maybe it's just kind of a soft landing potentially for her to cushion the blow if she ends up not getting the job, to make sure she has a prominent role in the Senate. So some conflicting signals right now as this drama continues, Heidi.
COLLINS: The drama continues. You got that right.
All right. Ed Henry live from Chicago this morning. Thank you, Ed.
Rob Marciano clearing his throat, getting ready to get the forecast of all forecasts.
Hey there, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Could you hear that?
COLLINS: I did. I got to call you out when I can.
MARCIANO: You're the only one who is not sick in this newsroom. I don't know what kind of vitamins you're taking.
COLLINS: Now what's going to happen, huh?
MARCIANO: Remind me to give you a big hug and a kiss before you leave for the day.
COLLINS: Terrific.
MARCIANO: All right. Heidi, the big frozen thermometer on the map, so to speak. And that's probably why a lot of folks are starting to feel the brunt of wintry type of weather in the middle of November. So, even all the way down south in places like Tampa where the snowbird goes to get away from it. Live shot, I think. There we go. Temps in the 50s. There's downtown. Hurricane prone but you guys have done all right for several decades and looks like you put another hurricane season behind you. Good job. WFTS, our affiliate there. Temps will get up into the mid 60s with plenty of sunshine there.
All right. Record lows, check them out. Some of them in Florida, Melbourne, Florida 40 degrees. Gainesville, Florida 29. Lakeland, Florida, 37. And Sarasota, just to the southwest of Tampa, 39 degrees. That's closer to the coastline.
Daytime highs today, 34 in Denver after record highs the other day in the upper 70s. 40 degrees in New York. And 33 degrees in Chicago. So you see where the cold air is. And where the cold air goes against those Great Lakes which are relatively warm this year or this time of year, Ontario, and Erie, we're starting to see lake- effect snow band take shape. Well get more organized throughout the day as those stiff northwest winds will begin to kick in.
So lake effects snow warnings in for western P.A., upstate New York and northeastern parts of Ohio. Also included on that the western flank of the Appalachians and also the western shores of Michigan. We could see in some spots here one to two feet of snow across the U.P. and maybe across parts of West Virginia.
COLLINS: OK.
MARCIANO: So you stay healthy.
COLLINS: All right. You stay away from me. How about that?
MARCIANO: I've been told that before.
COLLINS: All right. Rob, thank you.
Lost in space. Shuttle astronauts lost their grip on a $100,000 bag of tools during their first space walk. They promise to keep a closer eye on things during today's planned walk. They are still making repairs and doing maintenance on the international space station. Space station turns ten today, in fact the first pieces launched into space exactly ten years ago. So it's fitting that our 10 astronauts on board right now.
Bittersweet surrender. Parents leave their troubled children at the hospital and walk away. It's legal, and some say it's a lifesaver. You'll hear one mom defend her decision.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An 8-year-old boy home for the holidays, even though he is accused of killing his father and another man. An Arizona judge has agreed to allow the boy to leave juvenile detention and spend Thanksgiving weekend with his mother. No guns or knives will be allowed at home and the boy will not be allowed to watch television or play video games. Police in St. John's say the boy confessed to shooting the death of his dad and his dad's co-worker who rented a room in the home. The boy also gave conflicting accounts of what happened.
Nebraska trying to tighten its controversial safe haven law. A final vote on a bill that will do that expected tomorrow. The law was designed to protect newborns from abandonment. Instead, the state hospitals have become legal dumping grounds for troubled teenagers. Now we hear from a parent who says it was her last hope.
Here's our Sean Callebs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A short trip through the doors of the Emanuel Medical Center E.R. in late September and Lavennia Coover surrendered custody of her 11-year-old son Skyler, protected by Nebraska's safe haven law.
LAVENNIA COOVER, SURRENDERED CUSTODY: That night I gave Skyler a kiss and a hug and I told him that I loved him and I went home.
CALLEBS: She went home alone. Coover says she didn't want to leave Skyler in the hands of the state but testified before Nebraska lawmakers that her son was violent, bipolar, and she couldn't control him.
COOVER: He would kick at my face. When I tried to wake me up, he would hit at me and cuss at me and throw things at me.
CALLEBS: Social worker Courtney Anderson who has handled many safe haven kids says, think about the child.
COURTNEY ANDERSON, SOCIAL WORKER: Some children have been begging their parents or guardians not to leave. They might not really understand why they're being left at the hospital but they know they are being left and the parent or guardian might be fleeing.
CALLEBS (on-camera): The safe haven law is designed to protect infants when stressed parents feel they just can't take care of them, allowing children to be dropped off safely at hospitals. Unlike other states, Nebraska's safe haven law did not include an age limit. Well no one here thought so many children would be dropped off so quickly. Nearly three dozen in just a few months. And not one of them an infant.
BRAD ASHFORD, NEBRASKA'S STATE SENATE: We didn't think that it would be used to the extent it was. We didn't anticipate children coming from other states.
CALLEBS: Social workers say many kids dropped off have serious mental health issues. A lot end up in me Nebraska's boys town, the state home for boys started by Father Flanagan nearly a century ago and featured in the famous Mickey Rooney-Spencer Tracy film. The executive director of boys town today says Nebraska's law has exposed a dirty little secret.
REV. STEVEN BOES, DIRECTOR, BOYS TOWN: I think it shows that what's going on is there are parents who are so desperate to get their kids help that they just don't know what to do.
CALLEBS: Lavennia Coover still doesn't know what to do, saying she has become a target.
COOVER: I have endured judgment and criticism ranging from these parents do not want the responsibility anymore, to how could anyone abandon their child, to being accused of neglect.
CALLEBS: Despite discovering Nebraska's dirty little secret, state lawmakers say they will change the safe haven law to allow abandoning only infants less than 30 days old. And families like Lavennia Coover and her son Skyler will have to fend for themselves.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Lincoln, Nebraska. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Same-sex marriages are now on hold in California. Couples are waiting for the state Supreme Court to hear challenges to proposition 8. The voter approved constitutional amended bans those unions. The justices say they'll look at what effect the amendment would have on some 18,000 same-sex marriages already sanctioned in California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: Something was legal in the state of California, as legal as my ability to get married to my wife. And that was simply stripped away and taken away by a simple majority vote. Leaving the courts with what? If you change the law, that's one thing, the courts adjudicate the constitutionality of the law but if you change the constitution, what role does the courts have now in terms of adjudicating whether or not that's constitutional.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Opponents argue voters alone do not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.
E-harmony has agreed to add same-sex dating to its online matching service. The new service will be called compatible partners and will be up and running by March 31st. The deal resulted from a complaint filed with the New Jersey attorney general's office.
Preparing for her birthday party after going 118 days without a heart. Meet a Florida teenager and doctors who kept her going with artificial pumps.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: If you are a smoker, listen up but don't light up. Today is the great American smokeout. For the 33rd straight year smokers are asked to sniff out their cigarettes, smokes and pipes just for the day. The thinking, this could become the first day of a smoke-free life.
Last hour we talked about ginkgo biloba, a lot of people take to it improve their memories but recent testing suggests it doesn't actually work.
So now we're asking medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen what brain experts actually do to help keep their own brain in shape.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right I asked these experts. I said, all right, you study brains all the time in light of this new study that ginkgo doesn't really do anything to stave off Alzheimer's, what do you do? And here are some things they told me, they said, for example, that they take antioxidants. Those are things like vitamins A, C and E. They said there's some proof or some indication that those work.
COLLINS: And blueberries.
COHEN: And blueberries. Absolutely. Anti-oxidants, right. Absolutely, also fish oil, either in a supplement form or just eat a lot of fish also seems to have an effect since staving off dementia. And brain games, playing brain games especially as you age and start having more senior moments, keep your brain active.
COLLINS: Yes. We often hear about that. The cross word puzzle and things. What are some of these specific brain games that they're playing?
COHEN: Right. Cross-word puzzles are one. Learning a new language is another. Some people play these computer games that are designed to keep your brain young. The key is to cross train. Don't just do one of them. If you just do cross word puzzles, one expert says it's like doing push-ups, your arms will get strong but not the other parts of your body are going to get strong. So do a bunch of different things.
COLLINS: And so when you do these brain games, and I imagine each one of them maybe works a different part of the game or is there a specific one that every time you go and do something like that it gets a workout?
COHEN: Right. Exactly. That's it. They all work different parts of the brain. So I'm going to show you two parts actually that are - the brain has various memory sensors but two of them are the cerebral cortex which is just literally the surface of the brain and then Alzheimer's disease, this atrophy. The surface atrophies. So you want to do things that are going to keep this area active.
And then also we have right in here, the hippocampus. This is one of the first areas of the brain to be effected in Alzheimer's. So especially as you get older and you feel like things are not just the way they used to be, you need to be doing these brain games. So we have more suggestions for brain games on cnn.com/health. It's all there in the empowered patient column.
COLLINS: All right. Excellent. And of course, watching CNN will help, too.
COHEN: Sure, if you think about what we're saying, don't just sit back. Think about what we're saying.
COLLINS: Engage.
COHEN: Engage, exactly.
COLLINS: All right. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate that.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
For nearly four months, can you believe that? Four months, 14- year-old D'zhana Simmons lived without a heart beating in her chest. Now doctors call her survival amazing. Details from Roy Ramos at Miami's affiliate WSVN. Actually we're going to get to that shortly and give you a little bit more information because apparently doctors there were saying that there was a 50/50 chance that all of these would work. So we'll tell you that story shortly.
For now though, wary on Wall Street. Boy, that's barely the word. An awful close yesterday, a new beginning today. Where's your money headed? Will tell you after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Stocks down again this morning as the labor market takes another hit. The number of people receiving jobless benefits has soared now to a 16-year high. For those out of work, help could be on the way. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor with the New York Stock Exchange with more details on this.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there Heidi.
That's right. Applications for jobless benefits rose to close to 550,000 last week. It was a rise from the previous week. And just to put it in perspective, a lot of economists consider anything close to 400,000, a recession signal. Yes, so that is worrisome.
Total number of people receiving benefits in the U.S. now tops 4 million. It shows that it's just taking longer for people to get work. And it's interesting to know when you -- less than half of the people who are estimated to be unemployed are actually receiving benefits. So, yes, it certainly weighs on the market and it certainly weighs on sentiments.
And even though the Dow, the Nasdaq, S&P 500, closed at five-year lows yesterday, we're seeing more selling today. Right now, the Dow is off 119 points. Nasdaq is down 18. And oil, oil is down $3. It actually had $50 a barrel earlier today. What a change that we have seen in the market in the last few months, Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy, that's for sure.
There's also talk about these jobless benefits and the possibility of them being extended. We're hearing from the White House on this one actually. How big of a difference would that make?
LISOVICZ: It would make a huge difference. Anyone who is out of a job would certainly know that in this particular market, yes, we're talking about ranges from jobless benefits that would be increased anywhere from 7 to 13 weeks. It varies state by state.
The House has already passed the bill. The Senate will vote today. And President Bush says he'll sign it. And that is a reversal for him. He had called this fiscal year responsible but there are many folks who say deficit spend is OK, just put out the fire, get what needs to be done and certainly the job market is position No. 1. No question about it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. CNN's Susan Lisovicz there on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Dow Jones Industrial Averages, as you see there for yourself, down about 105 points at this point.
Susan, thank you.
Outrage over auto executives and their private jets. When the heads of the big automakers flew to Washington to ask for taxpayer bailout money, they took their private jets. It is corporate policy. That's how the executives travel. Now, many of you have something to say about that.
Our Josh Levs has been reporting this story. He's monitoring your reactions.
So one day later, when they went home and they didn't get any of the money, at least so far, what are people saying?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, take a look at this. Let's zoom in on the board. I want you to see something, Heidi. This is kind of wild. This is our story that is up here, "Big Three Auto CEOs flew private jets to ask for taxpayer money." Look what happens when I scroll down. We have something called "sound off." All of this, these are all people we're hearing from.
And it just keeps going and going and going. At the very end you're going to see -- you can press to hear even more. It's amazing. We're hearing from so many people. I pulled out a few quotes just to give you a sense of what we're getting. Let's go to this first one here.
This is from Sandy Hallowell who says, "You know what -- no payment should be made to the CEOs if we have to bail them out. They refused to re-tool for better performing models or go green. It's time to say no to greed."
Next from Mike, "Government officials occasionally fly commercial, and surely their safety considerations are as high as these gentlemen's." That is a reference to the fact that the company's say they need to fly privately for safety. He says, "This is a missed PR opportunity on their part, pure and simple."
Next, John, "They just do not get it. America is fed up with the same old, same old. Change is coming."
But finally I'm going to show you this. There are a few sprinkled throughout who are defending them. They say -- this is Jamal -- he says, "I can't believe this is actually an issue. CEOs of multibillion dollar corporations are expected to ride public airlines? CNN, this is absolutely ridiculous."
Well no matter where you weigh in on this, let us know. Just click on sound off. It's in our story, you can't miss it -- cnn.com. Also, we're getting a lot of i-Reports about this as well. Send us your videos, your photos, your stories. Whatever you think about this we're going to keep the conversation going right there, Heidi -- cnn.com and ireport.com.
COLLINS: All right, Josh. Appreciate it, thank you. President-elect Barack Obama making a couple of cabinet choices. Sources tell us Arizona governor, Janet Napolitano, is the pick for Homeland Security secretary and Penny Pritzker for commerce. Both still have to be vetted of course by the transition team.
Meanwhile, Janet Napolitano was first elected as Arizona's governor in 2002, re-elected in 2006. She was the first woman to served as Arizona's attorney general. Napolitano also served as U.S. attorney for Arizona.
Penny Pritzker headed Barack Obama's wildly successful campaign fundraising efforts. She is also an accomplished businesswoman on the board of the Hyatt Corporation. Pritzker also runs a charitable foundation helping Chicago's public schools.
Change : it's what Barack Obama promised and it could come in many forms. That's why special interest groups are lining up for a seat at Obama's table.
CNN's Jim Acosta with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Barack Obama didn't get there all by himself. He had help from a slew of Democratic-leaning special interest groups that now want some changes of their own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: There has been a sleeping giant in America that has been dormant for far too long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: A group called America's Voice, which wants immigration reform, is running a web video touting Latino power. They're not losing sight of Mr. Obama's whopping 67 percent of the Hispanic vote.
PACO FABIAN, AMERICA'S VOICE: We've seen, you know, Latinos voting in record numbers and turning some states blue that were previously red.
ACOSTA (on camera): When you put out a video that says a sleeping giant is now awake. It's kind of saying, hey, guys, we expect something in return here.
FABIAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. As Latinos, we certainly expect policies that will be good for our families.
ACOSTA (voice-over): A seat at the Obama table is getting harder to come by, with organizations representing big business, unions and the young, just to name a few, all squeezing in with their hands out.
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: In order to fix our economic crisis and rebuild our middle class, we need to fix our health care system, too. ACOSTA: A leading group seeking universal health care is running an ad featuring the president-elect himself.
(on camera): Is it really politically possible? Harry Truman tried this.
RICHARD KIRSCH, HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW: So here's what I believe, and I tell myself this every day. If you had told me that a black guy named Barack Obama could be elected president, I would have said, no, that's not possible. I think it's possible we're going to get health care for everybody in this country, with the new president.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Mr. Obama's new chief of staff says they're listening. He just told a "Wall Street Journal" forum, "a big push on health care is in the works."
RAHM EMANUEL, CHIEF OF STAFF TO PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Things that we had postponed for too long that were long term are now immediate and must be dealt with.
ACOSTA: But with the enormous challenges facing the next president, not every special interest will be so lucky.
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think Senator Obama owes anything to anyone except the people who voted for him. And not everyone is going to get everything they want, certainly not right away.
ACOSTA (on camera): But not for a lack of trying. A number of groups pushing for a new fight on immigration reform plan to marching on the Capitol one day after Barack Obama's inaugural.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Head on over to Rob Marciano now with more of the weather forecast across the country.
And boy, do I even have to say it? It is cold.
MARCIANO: It is. Eastern third, really two-thirds of the country in a cold snap. And it's only doing to get worse here. So just be aware of that. Some travel delays, mostly because of some wind in spots. So if you are traveling today, be aware. New York, La Guardia, 45 minutes and on the increase. San Francisco, 50 minutes. And San Diego, ground stops there until 8:45. So a little bit of fog, a little bit of a marine push. And that's been good news for firefighters out West.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Great America smoke out today. So, in celebration of that here is a little picture for you, Heidi. Smoke them if you've got them my friends.
COLLINS: Whoa.
MARCIANO: How about that? If that's not lung cancer waiting to happen. That came from our friends at Google images. So we'd like to credit that picture. And I hope that person is breathing a little bit easier today.
COLLINS: I hope they're not wear anything hair spray. That would make it a little worse.
MARCIANO: As a disclaimer, my mom smoked three packs a day when she was pregnant with me and that's probably where I get most of my problems from.
COLLINS: Wow.
MARCIANO: So, this is a case in point, not to smoke when you're pregnant.
COLLINS: We're going to have to get her on the line and talk about that.
Do we even know if that picture is for real? Real, real, for real?
MARCIANO: I don't know. That's why I said it was from --
COLLINS: All right (INAUDIBLE). All right, Rob, thank you.
MARCIANO: All right.
COLLINS: More room for airlines. Three major airports expanding this morning, opening new runways to cut down on congestion.
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COLLINS: Looking for the latest models? Well take a look. The annual car show in Los Angeles. Not much flash and sparkle this year. Kind of a preview for the news media. The show opens tomorrow, but it will probably be less fun than usual. The nation's top car execs, as you know by now, has been in Washington pushing for a government loan.
Thousands of auto workers laid off, factories shut down. That doomsday threat looms right now over Detroit. But it's already happening in England.
CNN's Jim Boulden has the story of new beginnings and lessons learned.
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JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Britain's industrial heartland has spent years and billions of dollars to diversify away from auto making. The Midlands lost its last volume-produced car three years ago when MG Rover was bought. Rovers are now made in China.
(on camera): When the Rover car plants here closed in 2005, some 6,000 jobs were lost. But the local government had plans for this site, and they say that could create up to 10,000 jobs.
(voice-over): The proposed mix of retail and homes is not the only glimmer of hope for this site. The Chinese owners of Rover retained a few workers to make one iconic MG model. Mike Whitby, the de facto mayor of Birmingham says the key to lessening the impact of the closure of the Rover line in Longbridge was getting contingency plans and money in place before the collapse.
Another bit of advice for Detroit would be --
MIKE WHITBY, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND CITY COUNCIL: The next stage there is to re-train, re-skill, re-educate, so much so that 90 percent of all the people that were working in Longbridge in 2005 now have gainful employment. You have to give people hope.
BOULDEN: In its heyday some 50,000 people made vehicles in the Midlands. Today it's just a fraction. Jaguar and Landrover are still here, though their new Indian owner, Tata, might force either to downsize during the current economic woes.
The city of Coventry, near Birmingham, lost its massive Jaguar plant a few years ago, so it's much less effected by the current auto downturn.
TOM DONNELLY, COVENTRY UNIVERSITY: Things are markedly better than they ever were. The city council has been particularly good in effecting new, vibrant, more dynamic sectors like finance, medical technologies, and more small high-tech companies.
BOULDEN: This small factory, Machined Component Systems, used to rely heavily on making parts for the auto industry. We visited the plant back when Rover shut down. The owners vowed then they would thrive by making parts for the medical and energy sectors with the help of some government funding. It worked.
JIM GRAY, OWNER, MACHINED COMPONENT SYSTEMS: This is how we've done it. We've invested in new technology, new equipment, new (INAUDIBLE) equipment. We've invested in training, communications. So it's the combination of investment and support of the employees if I were fighting the fight today.
BOULDEN: To be sure, the workers here still make car parts. Twenty-three percent of the region's GDP comes from the auto sector. In fact, London's taxis are built in the region. What all the auto companies hear say will help them through these tough times -- extremely flexible contracts with the unions allowing them to stop and start the lines depending on demand.
Jim Boulden, CNN, Coventry, England.
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COLLINS: If one or more of the domestic automakers fail, the consequences could be many. One, you may not have thought about, lost technology. Could this kill the electric car, again? CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our Energy Fix from New York. Hi there, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi, Heidi.
Well it's a possibility. As you all know out there, the Big Three -- they are looking for money from Congress, but so far none has come their way. As a result, Nobel laureate Dr. Barton Richter, who I spoke with yesterday, says he fears that if the automakers fail the U.S. could lose critical technology to its overseas competitors. He points to GM's Chevy Volt. It's a plug-in hybrid. It is set to be released, as of now, in 2010.
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DR. BARTON RICHTER, CHMN., APS ENERGY EFFICIENCY STUDY GROUP: The Chevy Volt is a very important product. It's important not only to the auto industry, but it's important to our energy security. It's supposed to be a plug-in hybrid with a 40-mile electric range. If the entire vehicle fleet in the United States were all 40-mile plug-in hybrids our gasoline consumption would drop by 60 percent. That means there's a lot of oil that we don't have to import and there's a lot of money that we don't have to export.
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HARLOW: Impressive statistics, you heard it, 40 miles without using a single drop of gas. After that, it becomes a hybrid electric using just a small amount of gas. And Richter says the battery that's used in the Volt is different and better than what the competition has. He says it would be a true shame, Heidi, to pull the plug on GM before what he is calling a revolutionary product, set to hit the market in less than two years -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well a lot of people have probably seen that documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" GM had a plug-in nearly 10 years ago but then they got rid of it. So some people are, I'm sure, asking why bail them out now.
HARLOW: It's a great question.
We asked Dr. Richter that exact question. Here's what he had to say about GM's CEO and the company's EV1 electric car.
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RICHTER: Look, I talked to Rick Wagoner about the electric car. I told him not to get rid of it. They made the wrong decision. And I believe Rick Wagoner said last year, or earlier this year, that was one of the worst decisions he had ever made.
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HARLOW: Well that's not only the criticism of the Big Three automakers. For years they pushed big SUVs. GM makes the Hummer. They fought against raising fuel efficiency standards, making the current bailout request quite an uphill climb. By the way, the maker of that documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is coming out with a new film called, "Revenge of the Electric Car." But with automakers on the verge of collapse, the future of the electric car is in serious doubt.
And Heidi, this morning we saw oil prices fall below $50. That makes pushing this technology a lot harder -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, sometimes it does. That's for sure.
Poppy Harlow, sure appreciate it. Thanks.
HARLOW: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Airports expanding. This is the first flight taking off from the new runway as Dulles International Airport in Virginia. It happened this morning. Dulles is one of three major airports adding room today. Airline officials hoping to break up some of the congestion. The other airports are Chicago's O'Hare and Seattle's Sea-Tac.
Preparing for her birthday party after going 118 days without a heart. Meet a Florida teenager and the doctors who kept her going with artificial pumps.
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COLLINS: For nearly four months, 14-year-old D'zhana Simmons lived without a heart beating in her chest. Now, doctors call her survival amazing.
Details from Roy Ramos at Miami affiliate, WSVN.
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D'ZHANA SIMMONS, HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: I thank you for helping me.
ROY RAMOS, WSVN REPORTER: Tears run down the face of 14-year-old D'zhana Simmons while thanking the team of doctors at Holtz Children's Hospital on Jackson Memorial Medical Center that kept her alive with an artificial heart for close to four months after her body rejects a heart transplant.
DR. MARCO RICCI, TRANSPLANT SURGEON: We decided to remove her heart and implant two artificial pumps in order to bridge her over to a second heart transplant.
RAMOS: For a total of 118 days, D'zhana lived essentially without a heart, making her the first pediatric patient to survive with an artificial heart for that length of time.
SIMMONS: It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here. But now I know that I really was here and I did live without it. RAMOS: D'zhana received her second heart transplant in late October followed by a kidney transplant the day after. And according to the doctors, is doing well.
RICCI: She will be able to do most of the things that a girl of her age would do.
TWOLLA ANDERSON, MOTHER: I couldn't be any happier, to see her sitting here, able to walk and talk and do different things with different people. She's made a lot of friends here.
RAMOS: And while D'zhana does have a lot of friends at Holtz Children's Hospital with her birthday coming up this Saturday, I'm pretty sure she already has plans of her own.
SIMMONS: I'm going to Bayside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bayside. What are you going do do?
SIMMONS: Riding the water boats.
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COLLINS: Doctors say there is a 50/50 chance Simmons will need another heart transplant by the time she is 30 years old.
Want to get to some breaking news now just in here to the CNN NEWSROOM. Our Dana Bash is standing by at Capitol Hill about some news, some pretty big news, Dana, about the only chair actually being contested there on Capitol Hill.
What do we know about this time?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a very important bit of a development here on Capitol Hill. And it has to do with who is going to be the head of the very powerful House and Energy Commerce Committee. And that is now going to be Henry Waxman, the congressman from California.
And basically he has unseated -- unseated -- a very long-time congressman, John Dingell. John Dingell is known as the "Dean of the House." He has been the chairman of that committee for -- or at least he's been the head Democrat of that committee -- for nearly 30 years.
Now, this has been a very, very wrenching struggle inside the Democratic caucus. But I want to explain to our viewers why they should care. And here's why; this committee on the House side is extremely important in terms of the major issues that are going to be debated in the Obama administration -- health care, energy, climate change. And so this has been a real struggle as to which direction the Democrats will go.
John Dingell who, again, has been heading this committee and really wanted to hold onto it, has been heading it for nearly 30 years. He is known as somebody -- he's from the state of Michigan -- known as somebody who is very close, clearly, to the auto industry, somebody who is maybe not as liberal, if you will, as Henry Waxman, somebody who Nancy Pelosi has wrangled with over the issue of health care and also climate change.
Henry Waxman, who you see there on the right of your screen, is somebody who is seen as maybe more progressive on those key issues, health care, energy, climate change. So it is really going to affect how and whether Barack Obama can get certain things done that he says are his top priorities, like those issues that we were talking about. So again, it is kind of internal drama here in terms of the Democrats. These are two long-serving, very powerful Democrats. And it was quite wrenching for the Democratic Party on the House side, but it also is quite telling in terms of the direction that the United States Congress and, more importantly, Barack Obama, in terms of his agenda, can go on these very, very critical issues moving forward, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, real quickly before we let you go, Dana, this is going to have an impact, I'm certain, with the situation with the Big Three automakers.
BASH: It could. There's no question. That's a very good point. John Dingell is somebody who, like the rest of the Michigan delegation, has been very, very staunch in his defense of their interests. We're see that this week big time on Capitol Hill with all of the Michigan lawmakers trying to rally around the Big Three. John Dingell is somebody who has been seen as blocking the idea of raising fuel efficiency standards. It has been one of the reasons why he has clashed with Democratic leaders in the past.
That is just one aspect of the agenda on that committee that could change. And actually will change on the leadership of Henry Waxman, a more liberal Democrat from the state of California -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Understood. All right, Dana, sure appreciate it. Thank you. We'll be watching that story today for sure.
As we've mentioned, the nation's auto execs have been getting the cold shoulder on Capitol Hill. But is there an alternative to helping all those working the line in Detroit? A live report from Capitol Hill, top of the hour.
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