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American Morning
Obama Battles GOP on Stimulus; CIA Pick Faces Senators; Obama and Beyonce Slammed by Etta James; Al Qaeda Moving into Yemen; FBI Probing 1982 Tylenol Killings
Aired February 05, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: But meanwhile we want to get you up- to-date as we got a minute before the hour now. The top stories today. The Senate pose for a do or die vote on President Obama's stimulus plan. That vote could happen as early as today. The president does seem confident it will pass the Senate with a filibuster proof margin. He is though keeping up the pressure saying a failure to act would be an economic disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know that even if we do everything that we should, this crisis was years in the making, and will take more than weeks or months to turn things around. But make no mistake, a failure to act and act now will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery and a more uncertain future. Millions more jobs will be lost.
More businesses will be shut. More dreams will be deferred. And that is why I feel such a sense of urgency about the economic recovery and reinvestment plan that is before Congress today. With it, we can save or create more than three million jobs doing things that will strengthen our country for years to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The Senate also adding provision to the stimulus plan that could make it easier for millions of people to buy a home. It gives a tax credit of up to 15,000 to homebuyers in hopes of giving the sagging housing market a boost.
Also the Senate agreeing to soften a buy American provision in the stimulus plan, ensuring that it would respect existing U.S. trade agreements. The Buy American clause had called for only American made goods to be used in projects funded by the stimulus bill.
And the Senate isn't the only place where the need for economic stimulus is being debated. In fact on last night's "LARRY KING LIVE," Donald Trump called in to offer his opinion of the stimulus plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": If you were in the Senate, would you vote for the stimulus plan? VOICE OF DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESSMAN: Well, I'd vote for a stimulus plan. I'm not sure that all of the things in there are appropriate. Some of the little toys that they have are not really appropriate and they're a little surprising that they seem to want it, because the publicity on it's been terrible.
But I would certainly vote for a stimulus. But I would really vote for banks having to loan out the money, because they're not doing that, Larry.
KING: In your adult career, have you ever seen it worse?
TRUMP: No, this is the worst ever. This is the worst I've ever seen. 1990 was a bad period of time, but this is far worse. And this is worse on a -- you know, on a -- on a really global basis. You look -- I was watching a little while ago some of the shows. And I'm looking at different countries. Every country is bad. Now they're blaming us because of what happened.
You know, why not blame the United States?
But every country is in trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Trump also says that President Obama is absolutely right to limit the pay of executives that companies who are getting bailout money.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it appears that the Senate's work on the economic stimulus package is almost done. Democratic leaders are hoping for a vote as early as today. President Obama says failing to act could cause an economic catastrophe.
Our next guest might well agree, but he says the devil is in the details. Lawrence Mishel is president of the Economic Policy Institute, and joins us now from Washington.
Mr. Mishel, it's good to see you this morning. Do you agree with the president where if there isn't swift action taken and in a form that has magnitude that this economic crisis could become a catastrophe?
LAWRENCE MISHEL, PRESIDENT, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Absolutely. In fact, you can imagine this stimulus package being even bigger. We face unemployment rates of 10 percent to 11 percent if we do not do something really big, and even if we do this plan, we're likely to see unemployment higher than today two years from now.
ROBERTS: Yes. And in fact, you've got some statistics that we want to put up on the screen here. According to the Economic Policy Institute, without an adequate recovery package, you're predicting unemployment of 10.2 percent, 17.9 percent underemployment and an average loss to middle income families of $4,700 a year. My question is how quickly is that ball rolling downhill? MISHEL: Well, right now, we've lost almost 2 million jobs over the last four months. We're likely to lose another 5 million jobs over the next year and a half. We really need some stimulus, big economic recovery package. And what the president's plan does is actually pretty smart. Public investment in transit, transportation, energy alternatives, education, health, infrastructure, training. These are things that are going to create jobs and make us better off in the long run.
He's also has a lot of funding in there. Social supports for the unemployed, health care for the unemployed, boost of food stamps and low income supports, which we know when you pay that money out, it's going to get spent and create jobs.
ROBERTS: OK. So the big battle here is over tax cuts. Republicans want more, many Democrats want less. What's the economic realty of tax effects and their effect in boosting the economy?
MISHEL: Well, we should really break it down to tax cuts for individuals and tax cuts for businesses. The case for tax cuts for individuals is that you get people money and they are going to spend it and that will generate the demand for goods and services and create jobs. That's somewhat true, but actually less effective than spending because a higher demand of the government money that's put out in spending will generate jobs. People when they get tax cuts tend to save, pay down debt and that won't create jobs.
The worse part of this bill in my view, the least effective part is the 20 percent of it in the Senate bill, that's for business tax cuts. If you give money to businesses, just hand them over to cash and tax cuts, they are not going to invest and create jobs. They invest and create jobs when they see customers. The plan needs to create customers for businesses, then they will hold on to their employees, add employees and invest.
ROBERTS: And then there's one other big issue out there that's complaints that the plan is too long term as written. Allen Blinder, who is a fellow economist that actually participated in a conference call with you yesterday with you, said, quote, "My first worry is the spend-out rates. Stimulus is, after all, about shortening recessions. Given the choice, I'd prefer an $800 billion stimulus with $600 billion spent in the first 12 months to a $1 million stimulus with $300 billion spent in the first 12 months."
Your thoughts on that?
MISHEL: Well, I believe that we actually would be good to have a lot more money up front, but I think we are going to need the money that's there for some of the later years. Just remember, in 2011, we're going to have unemployment that could be a percentage point higher than it is today.
We are not going to see unemployment of 5 percent, 4 percent, for many, many years to come. So if we can invest, if some of the money is spent in those years, building things that we need, that are going to increase our long-term productivity, all for the better. But I would personally reduce drastically the business tax cuts and put a lot more infrastructure money in up front.
ROBERTS: Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, it's good to hear your analysis this morning. Thanks for joining us.
MISHEL: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it.
CHETRY: Well, President Obama says it's a down payment on his commitment for health care coverage for every American. Yesterday, signing a bill reauthorizing the State's Children Health Insurance Program, SCHIP as it was called, that extends health coverage to 4 million uninsured kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we failed to meet their basic needs. In a decent society, there are certain obligations that are not subject to tradeoffs or negotiations, and health care for our children is one of those obligations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And the money to pay for the program will come from an increase in the cigarette tax.
And again, a live picture right now. We are awaiting the beginning of the National Prayer Breakfast that's taking place. It's a yearly event that takes place on the first Thursday of February every year. President Obama is there, as well as first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife as well.
The keynote speaker this year is going to be Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain. This takes place at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue. It's taken place there since the '80s. And it really is hosted by members of Congress and organized on behalf of a big international movement to try to find common ground across religious political and social division. A lot of ideas being exchanged here. Meetings with people that can build relationships that might not otherwise meet up.
And so, again, we're waiting to -- for the opening remarks of the Prayer Breakfast, and, again, the president is in attendance today.
Meanwhile, he is also working hard behind the scenes and out in public warning lawmakers about what could happen if they don't quickly pass his economic stimulus plan. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Make no mistake, a failure to act and act now will turn crisis into a catastrophe, and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future. Millions more jobs --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And there are still Republican opposition in the Senate even with a vote expected as early as today.
Joining me now to talk about this the author of the article "Attack of the Zombie Republicans," Democratic strategist and contributor to theweek.com, Robert Shrum.
You know, you wrote a very interesting article basically saying a lot of the GOP arguments against the stimulus are petty. But the question is have GOP members gained some leverage over the past few days? Has Barack Obama found himself as president on the defense a little bit when it comes to selling the stimulus bill?
ROBERT SHRUM, CONTRIBUTOR, THEWEEK.COM: You know, this reminds me of the campaign where people would say, oh, this has happened, here is this event, Bill Ayers, somehow or another that's going to throw Obama off. And he just kept right on going. I think he is going to keep right on going.
I mean, this -- some of the moderate Republicans, he is going to make a deal with. He is going to compromise on some things. But in the spirit of the day, let me say I think there is more than a hope and a prayer that this stimulus bill is going to pass.
CHETRY: South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint was speaking yesterday expressing some grave concerns about the bill. Let's listen, and I'd like to get your thoughts on what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This bill is so bad, one of the worse, probably the worse bills that has ever been introduced in the United States Congress, and you can't fix it by tweaking around the edges. The best thing that could happen is President Obama to lead, to call a time-out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: His argument is it wasn't a bill crafted by the president who enjoys widespread popularity and support, but rather by those in the House like Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
SHRUM: You know, this is all a game they are playing. The fact is you got Mitt Romney out there saying the bill might cause hyperinflation when the threat is deflation. You have David Vitter, the senator from the D.C. Madam complaining about removing fish barriers, which actually is a way -- is only $20 million of the whole bill, but is a way to create a lot of jobs through the corps of engineers and do something about pollution.
The fundamental reality as my colleagues at the Wagner School at NYU would tell you is you're never going to get a perfect piece of legislation, but in this kind of situation, you have to act.
Back in the 1930s, they said to Harry Hopkins who was Roosevelt's top adviser on this, look, if we just took more time, if we called a time-out, we'd have a better bill in the long term. And his answer was people don't eat in the long term.
Well, we can't save this economy just for the long term. We have to start saving it now, or the president is right, we're going to have a very, very deep recession that may become a depression. And I just wish with the Republicans that politics would stop at the edge of the depression.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we're going to hear varying points of views, but you have a very interesting one for sure.
Robert Shrum, Democratic strategist and contributor to theweek.com, thank you.
ROBERTS: It's 10-1/2 minutes after the hour now. Back to live pictures of the Hilton in Washington, D.C. where the annual Prayer Breakfast is getting under way.
Senator Obama -- I knew it. I knew I was going to do it. President Obama will be speaking here in just a few minutes today. His keynote speaker by the way is Tony Blair. And we are following all of the action for you this morning.
And it's on -- the battle of the divas. Why legendary singer Etta James wants to take on Beyonce. We'll have all of that for you just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the president's pick to run the CIA takes the hot seat today in the Senate. He is former White House Chief-of-Staff Leon Panetta. A man who knows the Washington game, but some critics say he doesn't have the right experience for the spy game. Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is following this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: Leon Panetta, the agency will have a director who has my complete trust and substantial clout.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clout developed over decades in Washington. First as a member of Congress with a stint as chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee. In the Clinton administration, Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget before becoming White House chief-of- staff. But there is something missing. Something important for the director of the CIA. Firsthand experience with intelligence and foreign policy.
ROBERT GRENIER, FORMER CIA OFFICIAL: This is somebody who really doesn't know very much about the game as it's currently being played. And I think that is a particular deficit at this period of time because the CIA is not just being called upon to inform policy, the CIA is carrying out policy right now, particularly in the terrorism field. MESERVE: It is, of course, a dangerous world with the U.S. facing two wars, terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and rogue regimes. The tools for dealing with these threats are changing. President Obama has announced the prison at Guantanamo Bay will be closed. CIA enhanced interrogation discontinued. They are changes Panetta has long advocated.
A former deputy director of the CIA believes Panetta is a good pick, a quick study with exceptional management and political skills.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR CIA: While in the best of all possible worlds, it's good to have someone with experience. I think what Panetta brings here is a combination of judgment, experience, temperament and an understanding of Washington that will serve him well in the job.
MESERVE: McLaughlin points out that George H.W. Bush took the reigns at the CIA in the mid-70s with no previous intelligence experience. Now, the agency's headquarters are named for him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The Panetta confirmation hearings this afternoon are not expected to be a cake walk. They are sure to be some tough questions, but unless some new information comes to light, he is expected to win confirmation and take the helm at the CIA -- Kiran.
CHETRY: He is also keeping the number two guy, Capos (ph), right, who is quite respected among the rank and file in the CIA?
MESERVE: That's right, he is. Certainly, there will be a lot of continuity elsewhere in the organization. One of the points that John McLaughlin made in this interview is that part of the trip will be to bring those key lieutenants in and learn from them about this agency, which at this point is unfamiliar to Mr. Panetta.
CHETRY: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: We're keeping a close eye on the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. And the president expected to speak very soon. We will bring that to you just as soon as he comes up to the podium.
Meantime, we all saw Beyonce singing "At Last" at one of President Obama's inaugural balls last month. Well, now, the woman who made that song famous is furious. And she's not just angry at Beyonce, Etta James has got some choice words for the new president, too. Wait until you hear what she said. 16 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: It was as Nat King Cole might say an unforgettable moment from inauguration night captured by ABC's cameras. Beyonce serenading President Obama and the first lady with the classic song "At Last." But this morning, proof that fairy tales don't last forever. Beyonce and the president now getting slammed by the star who made that song famous.
Alina Cho joins us now with that Etta James unplugged and some might say unhinged.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I've heard a lot of crazy stories. This is a wild one, John. Good morning.
You know, we are talking about the legendary singer Etta James. She is best known for her bluesy performance of the song "At Last." But this morning, she is taking heat for a tape that was posted on the celebrity Web site tmz.com.
It was reportedly James' voice captured during a concert she gave last week in Seattle. In between songs, the 71-year-old singer reportedly takes dead aim at Beyonce and her inauguration night performance of the song she made famous. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ETTA JAMES, SINGER: I can't stand Beyonce. She has no business up there singing. Singing up there on a big old president day going to be singing my song that I've been singing forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ouch!
CHO: Ouch!
Now, you know what? You may remember that Beyonce and James are really far from strangers. Beyonce actually played James in the movie "Cadillac Records" that released last year. The two even posed for photographs and, frankly, they look like friends there, you know?
ROBERTS: Guess not.
CHO: Yes. Now as for the tough talk at that Seattle concert, well, it wasn't reserved just for Beyonce. James also had some choice words for President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES: You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears? Yeah, wait a minute, he ain't my president. He may be yours, he ain't my president.
But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song she gonna get her (EXPLETIVE DELETED) whipped. The Great Beyonce.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You've just got to ask yourself, what the...?
CHO: Yes, what could have set her off? By the way, we are CNN, so we wanted to air the G-rated version of that, you know. It's not clear what set her off, frankly.
Published reports out this morning say that James experienced some setbacks after gastric bypass surgery. Her son is also quoted as saying his mom was actually moved by Beyonce's performance on inauguration night. I guess things have changed.
Now, we have reached out to everyone involved in the story, including the White House, which smartly is not commenting on this. And also no word from either Beyonce or Etta James's people.
But, you know, this isn't the first time that Beyonce has gotten into trouble with another diva. You know, back in February at the Grammys, she introduced Tina Turner as the queen. Well, the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, didn't like that. And as you know she made that known. But, you know, I mean --
ROBERTS: Then she wore that hat on inauguration.
CHO: Listen, hate to inject -- that's right. Hate to inject opinion in this, but I mean, but it was a beautiful performance. I mean, she was moved to tears, Beyonce and anyone. One woman's opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: I almost think that she was telling a joke when she is talking about the president with the big ears. And people -- you must have heard jaws hit the floor, but then they all cheered for her when she dissed Beyonce.
CHO: What else are you going to do?
ROBERTS: Crazy stuff. Alina, thanks very much.
CHO: Yes, crazy stuff.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: That's why Beyonce sang "I'm a Survivor." She's going to make it. She doesn't care what they say.
Well, still ahead. Dick Cheney's terror warning. What triggered his criticism against President Obama? Former v.p. in a wide-ranging interview. When we have the audio, we're going to hear more about what he had to say at 22 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Turning now to details just uncovered by CNN. Officials here in the U.S. and in Yemen say that al Qaeda operatives have crossed into Yemen from Saudi Arabia and are establishing a renewed network which could target American, as well as Saudi targets.
CNN correspondent Barbara Starr is on top of the story. She joins us now live. Barbara, what else are you learning this morning?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, we've talked to a number of officials, both U.S. and Yemeni, who are now confirming they have details that a number of al Qaeda operatives in recent weeks have crossed this very remote border region from Saudi Arabia into Yemen. There is significant new concern in Washington. When you look at the map that this region is becoming a new al Qaeda renewed safe haven.
A U.S. official telling CNN, quote, "There are strong indications of heightened activity by al Qaeda in Yemen, planning, coordination, and communication, he says. A belief that al Qaeda is now planning from Yemen new attacks in the region, attacks possibly against U.S. interests. Also oil infrastructure, shipping infrastructure, a major concern.
Yemen is always a concern because the government there has a lot of trouble cracking down on militants. But a Yemeni official also now confirms to CNN their border guard has gone on high alert. A thousand Yemeni troops now on high alert trying to stop this flow across that northern border -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We'll keep following this. We'll check in with you later. Thanks, Barbara.
STARR: Sure.
ROBERTS: It's 26 1/2 minutes after the hour now, and here are this morning's top stories. A do or die vote on President Obama's huge stimulus plan could happen as soon as today. Almost $1 trillion and millions of jobs hang in the balance. The president is urging Congress to act now to avoid an economic catastrophe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I urge members of Congress to act without delay. No plan is perfect. And all of us together, Democrats and Republicans, should work to make it stronger. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential. Let's show people all over our country who are looking for leadership, who are desperate for leadership right now that in difficult times we're equal to the task. Let's give America's families the support they need to weather this crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Sources tell us the president is confident his economic recovery plan will pass in the Senate by the end of the week.
Phone lines jammed in D.C. with people who want their say on where their money is going. Capitol Hill operators say they have been overloaded with complaints about the stimulus package causing a lot of busy signals over the past couple of weeks. At least one person called the bill, quote, "A joke."
President Obama will make his first trip outside of Washington today. It's going to be his first flight aboard Air Force One as president. He is headed to Williamsburg, Virginia, to speak at the House Democrats Issues Conference. He has flown in the 747 once before that brought him from Chicago to Washington, but it was not called Air Force One when he was aboard it. This will be the first time on the 747. There it is. Beautiful, big, blue bird is Air Force One.
Governor Sarah Palin firing back at actress Ashley Judd. Judd was featured in an ad attacking the governor for supporting aerial wolf hunting. The group claims that Palin has proposed a $150 bounty for each dead wolf. Palin says the ads are funded by an extreme fringe group that's twisting the truth. Aerial hunting is allowed to protect moose and caribou populations.
Turning now to a fast-developing story. A real-life cold case reopened after 25 years. The FBI is again investigating a man who is already served 12 years behind bars in connection with the 1982 Tylenol poisoning case.
Our Carol Costello was tracking developments for us this morning.
Carol, the obvious question is why are they reopening this case?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, John, the FBI is not saying much about this. Only that tips they received last year on the 25th anniversary of the killings and new technology have prompted them to gather possible new evidence.
It's hard to believe it's been 26 years since seven people were poisoned after taking extra-strength Tylenol laced with cyanide. This is what went down yesterday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a neighborhood there.
In an apartment owned by James Lewis, the very same man who tried to extort $1 million from Johnson & Johnson, Tylenol's parent company. In his extortion note, he had a phrase in there that said to stop the killing. That's why he wanted this million dollars.
Now, reportedly, the FBI removed several boxes from his apartment and an old Macintosh computer. This man, James Lewis, was never charged with the murders, but as I said he was charged with extortion. He served 12 years in prison. He was released in 1995. He has since created a Web site that envisions a futuristic society where all things are free. On that Web site, there is a link labeled Tylenol. Click on to that link and it takes you to this message. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF JAMES LEWIS, TYLENOL KILLINGS SUSPECT: Many enjoy twisting and contorting what I say into something ominous and dreadful which I do not intend. That my friends is the curse of being labeled the Tylenol Man. Be that as it may, I cannot change human proclivities. I shan't try. Listen as you like.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Make of that what you will. The 1980s Tylenol killings were all in the Chicago area. Lewis eventually moved to Boston after his release from prison. He lives there in that apartment with his wife. No one was ever charged for these murders. Although one investigator was quoted at the time as saying that Lewis was considered a prime suspect, and I suspect he is still considered a prime suspect.
There was one silver lining if you want to put it that way that came out of this tragedy, John. Johnson & Johnson revolutionized the way over-the-counter drugs were packaged by making them virtually tamper-proof. So this sort of thing can never happen again.
ROBERTS: You got to wonder though, after this long, 1982 to now, what evidence might be left?
COSTELLO: I know. At one time, I mean, they have tens of thousands of pages of (INAUDIBLE) evidence. They had at one time hundreds of suspects, but it all came down to this one man and they just can't pin it on him but apparently they are still trying.
ROBERTS: Wow, we'll see if they come up with anything. Carol Costello for us this morning from Washington. Carol, thanks so much for that.
COSTELLO: Sure.
ROBERTS: And it's the bad academic news keeps on coming. Here is news about Toyota. It's shutting down all but one of its assembly lines across Japan today. It's an effort to slow production with shrinking demand and here in the United States and across the world. The Japanese company, now the world's biggest carmaker is planning 10 ore of these idle days over the next two months. It has been such a terrible six months for automobile manufacturers around the world.
CHETRY: All right. And right now, 32 minutes after the hour. We bring in Christine Romans right now. We are learning more news about unemployment numbers this morning. The Department of Labor out with its release. What do you got?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORREPONDENT: Initial jobless claims of 626,000 for the week ending January 31st. That is a lot of people lining up for unemployment benefits. 626,000. That's an increase of 35,000 from the week before. Look, a lot of companies in the beginning of the year started these mass layoffs and you're starting to see it in the unemployment benefits.
Also, people who lost their job last year were taking severance or were still on the books, but waiting to start to file for unemployment benefits at the beginning of this year and now they are really starting to come into play here. So you got people who might have lost their job late last year and also people who are newly losing their jobs. 626,000 is a lot of folks.
Last year there were about 350,000 or 360,000 people every week filing for unemployment benefit and now you got 300,000 more than that. Last week, it's really a sign of a distressed labor market. And what we can't tell from these numbers, these numbers are every week, these weekly unemployment benefits. What we can't tell is this the worse, is this the bottom? Is this the worse behind us?
Are we now, you know, kind of throwing in the towel in the labor market, and it's going to get better? There is just no way to tell. So these high frequency economic reports every week are very alarming to economists because they are showing consistently a trend that is deteriorating and they are showing things really getting worse from the end of last year and then into the beginning of this year. 98 percent of cities say that their jobless rates are rising. That's a lot --
CHETRY: You've been reporting on all of the companies announcing layoffs in one way, shape or form. So, of course, probably, it's not unexpected that we see these. What about any type of help for expanding or extending unemployment benefits?
That's in the stimulus bill. And that's a very good point, Kiran. $25 more for every jobless check is in the stimulus bill. So people who have lost their job would get a little bit more in every paycheck and that is something that economists say would go quickly into the economy as we pointed out many, many times.
Also, there is a move to extend unemployment benefits. Again, extend them so they can get them a little bit longer. There is also a move for people who get jobless benefits to immediately be able to get Medicaid, I believe. So there's a lot of different provisions in there because it's very clear Washington realizes there are a lot of people who need it. A 26-year high, folks.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable. Thanks, Christine.
CHETRY: Still ahead, more details about alarming predictions coming from terror attacks from our former Vice President Dick Cheney. We're going to talk to Mike Allan of Politico who sat down with Cheney. Find out exactly what was on the Vice-President's mind.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do everything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's Vice President Dick Cheney taking a shot at the Obama administration. In an interview with Politico, Mr. Cheney also continued to defend Bush administration policies and issued a dire warning for the commander in chief.
Mike Allen is the chief political correspondent of Politico and he joins us now from Washington. So when you guys had a chance to sit down with him, you talked to him for about 90 minutes. He also talked about the fact that he felt there is a high probability that there will be an attempt to launch either a nuclear or a biological attack here in the United States. Was that more of a defense of his policies or some sort of information or intelligence that he had?
MIKE ALLEN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Well, Kiran, what is interesting is it's a little of both. It drew on the amazing knowledge that he has from having worked in Congress, four administrations, eight years of the latest briefings and his belief that the policies that the Bush administration put in place, some of which are being slowly undone by Obama, helped prevent an attack.
Kiran, he seemed at ease. He seemed happy to have someone else running the world for a while and he is out of his wheelchair since the last time you last saw him down here in the freezing cold in the inauguration. He is looking hale and hearty. He is thin. He told me he is easting a lot of fish.
CHETRY: All right. That's good. He hurt himself. He was in a wheelchair because he hurt his back moving boxes. Well he also continued the us versus them language. It's very interesting Barack Obama talked about words mattering, not using terms like war on terror when Anderson had a chance to interview him. But this is what former Vice President Cheney said. It's protecting the country is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business. These are evil people. And we're not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek."
So again, sort of a knock at the reconciliation or the different tone that this administration is trying to strike.
ALLEN: Well, Kiran, I think that's a good read of it. The vice president thinks that most of us, the current administration included, are naive and he contends that if you know everything that he knows, that you would be concerned about this. He told us he is worried about people who are - who are going to coddle these terrorists.
CHETRY: Right.
ALLEN: And that's the very interesting world that you have. I think one of the most interesting points that President Obama has made since he came into office is he rejected the Bush idea that this extraordinary threat requires extraordinary preventive measures. President Obama said no. We can protect the country using the principles the country has in the past.
CHETRY: All right. Well, I want to get to that.
ALLEN: Right.
CHETRY: I want to get to that because he did defend some of those policies enhanced interrogation techniques. Let's listen to what he said about that.
ALLEN: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: If it hadn't been for what we did with respect to terrorist surveillance program or enhanced interrogation techniques for high value detainee and the Patriot Act and so forth that we would have been attacked again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And you said that he seemed confident that documents will eventually be released that will show that waterboarding and other tough policies he promoted were directly responsible for preventing attacks. That's fascinating.
ALLEN: Yes, Kiran. And we asked him, is the next attack likely to be yours? A danger of a 9/11-style attack, a spectacular. I'd come to think that greater risk now because we have such a better communications, such a better window into what terrorists are doing. You know, you hear now that maybe the bigger threat is some random dude in America, or attacks on our interests overseas but the vice president, based on his intelligence, he knows more than anyone except Bob Woodward, I think, based on all the different jobs he's had, he says the threat of a 9/11 type attack is the same as it was before 9/11.
Kiran, he says that he sees a high probability that someone will try it, that the new danger is someone who is armed with more than, as he put it, an airline ticket and a box cutter. Someone who has a nuclear or biological weapon, gets it into an American city and detonates it. I asked him, how are you worried about getting in? Should you be more worried about the ports and borders? And he talked about any of those ways of doing it. He said the important thing is to watch countries that could get this material. So get at its source before someone tries to bring it in.
CHETRY: Mike Allen, chief political correspondent for the Politico. Fascinating interview. People can read more about it on your web site. Thanks for being with us.
ALLEN: Thanks, Kiran. He also told us that he has a Kindle, an electronic reader, but no blackberry.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Mike.
ROBERTS: All right. We're keeping a close eye on the Hilton in Washington this morning. That's the scene of the Annual Prayer Breakfast. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the microphones right now, giving the keynote address. We are waiting for President Obama to appear and that should be in just a few minutes' time. We will make sure that you don't miss a moment of that. It's 42 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-five minutes after the hour. British Prime Minister Tony Blair giving the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning in Washington. President Obama will be speaking in just a few minutes' time and we will bring that to you live just as soon as it happens.
In the meantime, how is this for a view? That's what you see when you look at out our front windows here at the Time-Warner. You wouldn't want to be out there tough. It's only 15 degrees and the wind chill making it a lot colder than that. As we take that and squeeze it all back, we bring up Rob from Atlanta. We heard where it's not that much warmer. Good morning, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Thanks so much.
Forty-seven minutes now after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Who calls the cops on the cop? When the guy busted calls for backup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm being dragged out of my car. This is ridiculous. Help!
CHETRY: You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Welcome back and we're joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta as we dive right in to Sanjay's mailbag. Hey, Sanjay -
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CHETRY: Our first question is from Georgia, but she's in Alabama. She writes, what causes altitude sickness and the best way to treat it?
GUPTA: Hey, Georgia from Alabama, thanks for asking. You know, altitude sickness is simply caused when your body is demanding more oxygen than can be provided. And you start to get sick and it often happens when people get at altitude, which is why the name. People can be hiking. He can be a -- mountain climbing something.
In full disclosure, we got it when we were in Peru a few months ago. About 14,000 feet in the mountains there. One of the ways -- I actually felt worse than I look, if you can believe that. One of the ways to treat that is with oxygen as I'm getting there.
And you can also use coca leaves, which is something that they give locally in Peru. And you can also try giving a diuretic, something known as Diamox, even before you go there. The Diamox, I can tell you, really helps because I've used it in the past. Then you almost have no symptoms. But in this particular case, almost everyone in our crew, Kiran, got pretty sick on this particular shoot.
CHETRY: Wow, you talk about that headache, too. Well, let's ask about because you know, everyone knows how fit you are. Patricia in Virginia wants to know "what workouts you do for physical training and how you stay looking so good."
GUPTA: Oh, well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. You know, I think the biggest key, and we've talked about this a lot on AMERICAN MORNING, is to make it a priority of some sort, to really schedule and work as much like you schedule anything else in your day and to not let it be the first thing that slips off the map.
Having said that, I think as you get a little bit older, late 30s and early 40s where I am now, you got to start adding more weight- lifting in your exercise routine as well. If you're a runner or you did mainly aerobic activity most of your life, you start to lose muscle mass naturally around this time in your life. So you got to try and add some weight-lifting as well, particularly upper-body training. That's going to help both men and women.
So, good luck and thanks for the compliment.
CHETRY: All right. And if you have a question for Dr. Gupta, we want to hear from you. Go to cnn.com/americanmorning. E-mail or send us your question in an iReport.
Sanjay, thanks.
ROBERTS: Keeping an eye this morning on the National Prayer Breakfast. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair still talking. President Obama comes up right after him. So we'll cut in as soon as we get there. We'll be back right after this. It's 52 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Some really drastic jobless numbers coming out just moments ago. Our Christine Romans "Minding your Business" with more on that. This is serious stuff today.
ROMANS: This is serious stuff, John. That's a great way to put it -- 626,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the very first time last week. You know, that's a full 300,000 more that had done it the same week a year ago.
And we know the job situation has deteriorated sharply since the end of the year. You now have almost 4.8 million people who are continuing to get unemployment benefits. There are 11 million people in this country who are out of work. I mean, it's a tough situation here right now.
One thing I really want to get through here, if you just lost your job, it's very, very important that your employer say it is without cause termination. It's legalese. But remember this without cause termination because you cannot collect unemployment benefits if you are let go because of misconduct.
So you still need to remember not to be taking risks with your job and remember that if you lose the job there are some things that you can do to make sure that you can qualify for unemployment benefits and to even maybe stretch out your time on the payroll of where you're working.
You can you ask the employer to keep you on the books for another three or four weeks. You can say I'm working on an important project, let me wrap it up. Let me, at the end of this month, why don't you let me go? Try to stretch it a few weeks. Maybe they'll say know but it can't hurt to ask.
I talked to a lot of employment attorneys who said try to stay on the books as long as you can, ask for maybe co-benefits or ask for something. They can say no but you're not going to get it if you don't ask for it. And a lot of people on this position.
The stimulus bill if it goes through will allow $25 more per jobless check. So you'll get a little bit more and extend those benefits. So there is some help in the stimulus plan as it is for the growing ranks of the unemployed in this country.
CHETRY: What do they say, it's a 26-year -- this is the worst it's been in more than a quarter century?
ROMANS: Yes. People looking back at the early '80s. That's where they are going. They are reaching back to the early '80s the last time they saw something like this.
ROBERTS: It is. We heard from Lawrence Michelle from the Economic Policy Institute interview a while ago. He is expecting before things get better, particularly if the stimulus package does not pass quickly enough, that there could be another four or five million more people added to the rolls of the unemployed.
ROMANS: Yes. It's a difficult situation. And the president wants to save or create three to four million jobs. But look at this, in one week 626,000 people filed for unemployment benefits. Three to four million jobs, put that in perspective, that's how many people are out of work every week in this country right now.
CHETRY: So when we take a look at targeting the stimulus bill toward getting people to work soon, how, you know, what are economists telling you about why they want to see this go and where we're going to get the biggest bang in terms of helping people back to work?
ROMANS: I call this the strange intersection of economics in politics because it depends. Different economists have different kind of feelings about what works best. There's a lot of studies out there.
Mark Zandi, someone I really admire at moodieseconomy.com with some of those pretty, you know, really looked at tax cuts and also at jobless benefits, an extension of food stamps and the like. He says that's a really good way to get money directly into the economy quite quickly. That is part of this bill. It didn't make it last year, you know, when they tried to have $168 billion stimulus that President Bush signed and didn't make it then.
ROBERTS: Right. Hey, thanks very much, Christine, for all of that.
ROMANS: Sure. ROBERTS: Terrible tragedy with all those people out of work. We want to take you back now to the Hilton in Washington, where it's the Annual Prayer Breakfast. We just heard from British Prime Minister Tony Blair there. Vice President Joe Biden beside him. President Obama will be speaking in just a moment's time here. We'll hear from the master of ceremonies and probably say good-bye from here because he is going to be introducing the president.
CHETRY: That's right. And one of the things that's happening also today is that he is going to be signing an executive order when he comes back from this prayer breakfast, forming this White House office of faith-based but also neighborhood partnerships.
Very interesting, who he is picking to head it up is a 26-year- old Pentecostal minister by the name of Joshua Dubois, who actually headed religious outreach for Barack Obama's campaign for president. And also for his Senate office as well. So, this is a day where we are focusing on faith issues, at least the president is.
ROBERTS: Yes. And this guy is a real superstar. You know, as you said, he was in charge of his faith-based outreach program during the campaign and managed to bring some Christian conservatives into the fold as well. President Obama, as a candidate, did better with Christian conservatives than his predecessor John Kerry did in 2004.
And according to David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, who we talked to yesterday, he did it simply through an aggressive outreach program to just get out there and say, this is what we're all about and we'd like you to support us here.
So this young fellow Dubois, 26 years old now and running this big office. And he came from a very small Pentecostal church, in a small town in Massachusetts, where he was just the associate pastor as well.
CHETRY: It's very interesting as we talked about the intersection of course, of politics and faith as well and a lot of religious groups, catholic community as well, saying let's get this stimulus passed. Let's hear from Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: Yes. We'll say goodbye and turn it over to the president of the United States, and "NEWSROOM" will follow.
