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President Barack Obama Speaks Live About Education; Model for Health Care Reform; Deadly Attack in Iraq
Aired March 10, 2009 - 09:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Si se puede.
AUDIENCE: Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede!
OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you for the wonderful introduction, David. And thank you for the great work that you are doing each and every day. And I appreciate such a warm welcome. Some of you I've gotten a chance to know; many of you I'm meeting for the first time. But the spirit of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the desire to create jobs and provide opportunity to people who sometimes have been left out -- that's exactly what this administration is about. That's the essence of the American Dream. And so I'm very proud to have a chance to speak with all of you.
You know, every so often, throughout our history, a generation of Americans bears the responsibility of seeing this country through difficult times and protecting the dream of its founding for posterity. This is a responsibility that's fallen to our generation. Meeting it will require steering our nation's economy through a crisis unlike anything that we have seen in our time.
In the short term, that means jump-starting job creation and restarting lending, and restoring confidence in our markets and our financial system. But it also means taking steps that not only advance our recovery, but lay the foundation for lasting, shared prosperity.
I know there's some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time. And they forget that Lincoln helped lay down the transcontinental railroad and passed the Homestead Act and created the National Academy of Sciences in the midst of civil war. Likewise, President Roosevelt didn't have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war; he had to do both. President Kennedy didn't have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon. And we don't have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term.
America will not remain true to its highest ideals -- and America's place as a global economic leader will be put at risk -- unless we not only bring down the crushing cost of health care and transform the way we use energy, but also if we do -- if we don't do a far better job than we've been doing of educating our sons and daughters; unless we give them the knowledge and skills they need in this new and changing world.
For we know that economic progress and educational achievement have always gone hand in hand in America. The land-grant colleges and public high schools transformed the economy of an industrializing nation. The GI Bill generated a middle class that made America's economy unrivaled in the 20th century. Investments in math and science under President Eisenhower gave new opportunities to young scientists and engineers all across the country. It made possible somebody like a Sergei Brin to attend graduate school and found an upstart company called Google that would forever change our world.
The source of America's prosperity has never been merely how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people. This has never been more true than it is today. In a 21st-century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an Internet connection, where a child born in Dallas is now competing with a child in New Delhi, where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know -- education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it's a prerequisite for success.
That's why workers without a four-year degree have borne the brunt of recent layoffs, Latinos most of all. That's why, of the 30 fastest growing occupations in America, half require a Bachelor's degree or more. By 2016, four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training.
So let there be no doubt: The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens -- and my fellow Americans, we have everything we need to be that nation. We have the best universities, the most renowned scholars. We have innovative principals and passionate teachers and gifted students, and we have parents whose only priority is their child's education. We have a legacy of excellence, and an unwavering belief that our children should climb higher than we did.
And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we've let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us. Let me give you a few statistics. In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place. Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year-olds can read as well as they should. And year after year, a stubborn gap persists between how well white students are doing compared to their African American and Latino classmates. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, it's unsustainable for our democracy, it's unacceptable for our children -- and we can't afford to let it continue.
What's at stake is nothing less than the American Dream. It's what drew my father and so many of your fathers and mothers to our shores in pursuit of an education. It's what led Linda Brown and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez to bear the standard of all who were attending separate and unequal schools. It's what has led generations of Americans to take on that extra job, to sacrifice the small pleasures, to scrimp and save wherever they can, in hopes of putting away enough, just enough, to give their child the education that they never had. It's that most American of ideas, that with the right education, a child of any race, any faith, any station, can overcome whatever barriers stand in their way and fulfill their God-given potential.
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Of course, we've heard all this year after year after year after year -- and far too little has changed. Certainly it hasn't changed in too many overcrowded Latino schools; it hasn't changed in too many inner-city schools that are seeing dropout rates of over 50 percent. It's not changing not because we're lacking sound ideas or sensible plans -- in pockets of excellence across this country, we're seeing what children from all walks of life can and will achieve when we set high standards, have high expectations, when we do a good job of preparing them. Instead, it's because politics and ideology have too often trumped our progress that we're in the situation that we're in.
For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline. Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance. So what we get here in Washington is the same old debate about it's more money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo. There's been partisanship and petty bickering, but little recognition that we need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20th century if we're going to succeed in the 21st century.
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I think you'd all agree that the time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding us -- holding ourselves accountable is here. What's required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It's time to expect more from our students. It's time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It's time to demand results from government at every level. It's time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world.
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It's time to give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career. We've accepted failure for far too long. Enough is enough. America's entire education system must once more be the envy of the world -- and that's exactly what we intend to do.
That's exactly what the budget I'm submitting to Congress has begun to achieve. Now, at a time when we've inherited a trillion- dollar deficit, we will start by doing a little housekeeping, going through our books, cutting wasteful education programs. My outstanding Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who's here today -- stand up, Arne, so everybody can see you.
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I'm assuming you also saw my Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis.
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But Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works. And this will help free up resources for the first pillar of reforming our schools -- investing in early childhood initiatives.
This isn't just about keeping an eye on our children, it's about educating them. Studies show that children in early childhood education programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, more likely to hold a job, and more likely to earn more in that job. For every dollar we invest in these programs, we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime. That's why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I signed into law invests $5 billion in growing Early Head Start and Head Start, expanding access to quality child care for 150,000 more children from working families, and doing more for children with special needs. And that's why we are going to offer 55,000 first-time parents regular visits from trained nurses to help make sure their children are healthy and prepare them for school and for life.
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Even as we invest in early childhood education, let's raise the bar for early learning programs that are falling short. Now, today, some children are enrolled in excellent programs. Some children are enrolled in mediocre programs. And some are wasting away their most formative years in bad programs. That includes the one-fourth of all children who are Hispanic, and who will drive America's workforce of tomorrow, but who are less likely to have been enrolled in an early childhood education program than anyone else.
That's why I'm issuing a challenge to our states: Develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of your early learning programs; show us how you'll work to ensure that children are better prepared for success by the time they enter kindergarten. If you do, we will support you with an Early Learning Challenge Grant that I call on Congress to enact. That's how we will reward quality and incentivize excellence, and make a down payment on the success of the next generation.
So that's the first pillar of our education reform agenda. The second, we will end what has become a race to the bottom in our schools and instead spur a race to the top by encouraging better standards and assessments. Now, this is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It's not that their kids are any smarter than ours -- it's that they are being smarter about how to educate their children. They're spending less time teaching things that don't matter, and more time teaching things that do. They're preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for 8th graders is two full years behind top performing countries. That's a prescription for economic decline. And I refuse to accept that America's children cannot rise to this challenge. They can, and they must, and they will meet higher standards in our time.
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So let's challenge our states -- let's challenge our states to adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums to the 21st century. Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means 4th grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming -- and they're getting the same grade. Eight of our states are setting their standards so low that their students may end up on par with roughly the bottom 40 percent of the world.
That's inexcusable. That's why I'm calling on states that are setting their standards far below where they ought to be to stop low- balling expectations for our kids. The solution to low test scores is not lowering standards -- it's tougher, clearer standards.
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Standards like those in Massachusetts, where 8th graders are...
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... we have a Massachusetts contingent here.
(LAUGHTER)
In Massachusetts, 8th graders are now tying for first -- first in the whole world in science. Other forward-thinking states are moving in the same direction by coming together as part of a consortium. And more states need to do the same. And I'm calling on our nation's governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity.
That is what we'll help them do later this year -- that what we're going to help them do later this year when we finally make No Child Left Behind live up to its name by ensuring not only that teachers and principals get the funding that they need, but that the money is tied to results.
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And Arne Duncan will also back up this commitment to higher standards with a fund to invest in innovation in our school districts.
Of course, raising standards alone will not make much of a difference unless we provide teachers and principals with the information they need to make sure students are prepared to meet those standards. And far too few states have data systems like the one in Florida that keep track of a student's education from childhood through college. And far too few districts are emulating the example of Houston and Long Beach, and using data to track how much progress a student is making and where that student is struggling. That's a resource that can help us improve student achievement, and tell us which students had which teachers so we can assess what's working and what's not. That's why we're making a major investment in this area that we will cultivate a new culture of accountability in America's schools.
Now, to complete our race to the top requires the third pillar of reform -- recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers. From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it's the person standing at the front of the classroom. That's why our Recovery Act will ensure that hundreds of thousands of teachers and school personnel are not laid off -- because those Americans are not only doing jobs they can't afford to lose, they're rendering a service our nation cannot afford to lose, either.
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America's future depends on its teachers. And so today, I'm calling on a new generation of Americans to step forward and serve our country in our classrooms. If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation, if you want to make the most of your talents and dedication, if you want to make your mark with a legacy that will endure -- then join the teaching profession. America needs you. We need you in our suburbs. We need you in our small towns. We especially need you in our inner cities. We need you in classrooms all across our country.
And if you do your part, then we'll do ours. That's why we're taking steps to prepare teachers for their difficult responsibilities, and encourage them to stay in the profession. That's why we're creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they're needed most. That's why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects. It's why we're building on the promising work being done in places like South Carolina's Teachers Advancement Program, and making an unprecedented commitment to ensure that anyone entrusted with educating our children is doing the job as well as it can be done.
Now, here's what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable -#8211 in up to 150 more school districts. New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools. Teachers throughout a school will benefit from guidance and support to help them improve.
And just as we've given our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. And that means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. But let me be clear...
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Let me be clear -- the overwhelming number of teachers are doing an outstanding job under difficult circumstances. My sister is a teacher, so I know how tough teaching can be. But let me be clear: If a teacher is given a chance or two chances or three chances but still does not improve, there's no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children's teachers and the schools where they teach.
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Now, that leads me to the fourth part of America's education strategy #8211- promoting innovation and excellence in America's schools. One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. And these are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate -#8211 schools I supported as a state legislator and a United States senator.
But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they're preparing our students. That isn't good for our children, our economy, or our country. Of course, any expansion of charter schools must not result in the spread of mediocrity, but in the advancement of excellence. And that will require states adopting both a rigorous selection and review process to ensure that a charter school's autonomy is coupled with greater accountability #8211- as well as a strategy, like the one in Chicago, to close charter schools that are not working. Provided this greater accountability, I call on states to reform their charter rules, and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place.
Now, even as we foster innovation in where our children are learning, let's also foster innovation in when our children are learning. We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day. That calendar may have once made sense, but today it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children -- listen to this -- our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea -- every year. That's no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy. That's why I'm calling for us not only to expand effective after-school programs, but to rethink the school day to incorporate more time -#8211 whether during the summer or through expanded-day programs for children who need it.
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Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas. (LAUGHTER)
Not with Malia and Sasha...
(LAUGHTER)
.... not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom. If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America.
Of course, no matter how innovative our schools or how effective our teachers, America cannot succeed unless our students take responsibility for their own education. That means showing up for school on time, paying attention in class, seeking out extra tutoring if it's needed, staying out of trouble. To any student who's watching, I say this: Don't even think about dropping out of school. Don't even think about it.
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As I said a couple of weeks ago, dropping out is quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country, and it's not an option -- not anymore. Not when our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past 30 years. Not when high school dropouts earn about half as much as college graduates. Not when Latino students are dropping out faster than just about anyone else. It's time for all of us, no matter what our backgrounds, to come together and solve this epidemic.
Stemming the tide of dropouts will require turning around our low-performing schools. Just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit and Los Angeles and Philadelphia produce over 50 percent of America's dropouts. And yet there are too few proven strategies to transform these schools. And there are too few partners to get the job done.
So today, I'm issuing a challenge to educators and lawmakers, parents and teachers alike: Let us all make turning around our schools our collective responsibility as Americans. And that will require new investments in innovative ideas -- that's why my budget invests in developing new strategies to make sure at-risk students don't give up on their education; new efforts to give dropouts who want to return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to put those young men and women who have left school back on a pathway to graduation.
Now, the fifth part of America's education strategy is providing every American with a quality higher education -#8211 whether it's college or technical training. Never has a college degree been more important. Never has it been more expensive. And at a time when so many of our families are bearing enormous economic burdens, the rising cost of tuition threatens to shatter dreams. And that's why we will simplify federal college assistance forms so it doesn't take a Ph.D to apply for financial aid.
(APPLAUSE) That's why we're already taking steps to make college or technical training affordable. For the first time ever, Pell Grants will not be subject to the politics of the moment or the whim of the market #8211- they will be a commitment that Congress is required to uphold each and every year.
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Not only that; because rising costs mean Pell Grants cover less than half as much tuition as they did 30 years ago, we're raising the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 a year and indexing it above inflation. We're also providing a $2,500-a-year tuition tax credit for students from working families. And we're modernizing and expanding the Perkins Loan Program to make sure schools like UNLV don't get a tenth as many Perkins loans as schools like Harvard.
To help pay for all of this, we're putting students ahead of lenders by eliminating wasteful student loan subsidies that cost taxpayers billions each year. All in all, we are making college affordable for 7 million more students with a sweeping investment in our children's futures and America's success. And I call on Congress to join me and the American people by making these investments possible.
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This is how we will help meet our responsibility as a nation to open the doors of college to every American. But it will also be the responsibility of colleges and universities to control spiraling costs. We can't just keep on putting more money in and universities and colleges not doing their part to hold down tuitions. And it's the responsibility of our students to walk through the doors of opportunity.
In just a single generation, America has fallen from 2nd place to 11th place in the portion of students completing college. That is unfortunate, but it's by no means irreversible. With resolve and the right investments, we can retake the lead once more. And that's why, in my address to the nation the other week, I called on Americans to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training, with the goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. And to meet that goal, we are investing $2.5 billion to identify and support innovative initiatives across the country that achieve results in helping students persist and graduate.
So let's not stop at education with college. Let's recognize a 21st century reality: Learning doesn't end in our early 20s. Adults of all ages need opportunities to earn new degrees and new skills -- especially in the current economic environment. That means working with all our universities and schools, including community colleges -- a great and undervalued asset -- to prepare workers for good jobs in high-growth industries; and to improve access to job training not only for young people who are just starting their careers, but for older workers who need new skills to change careers. And that's going to be one of the key tasks that Secretary Solis is involved with, is making sure that lifelong learning is a reality and a possibility for more Americans.
It's through initiatives like these that we'll see more Americans earn a college degree, or receive advanced training, and pursue a successful career. And that's why I'm calling on Congress to work with me to enact these essential reforms, and to reauthorize the Workforce Reinvestment Act. That's how we will round out a complete and competitive education in the United States of America.
So here's the bottom line: Yes, we need more money; yes, we need more reform; yes, we need to hold ourselves more accountable for every dollar we spend. But there's one more ingredient I want to talk about. No government policy will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents -- because government, no matter how wise or efficient, cannot turn off the TV or put away the video games. Teachers, no matter how dedicated or effective, cannot make sure your child leaves for school on time and does their homework when they get back at night. These are things only a parent can do. These are things that our parents must do.
I say this not only as a father, but also as a son. When I was a child my mother and I lived overseas, and she didn't have the money to send me to the fancy international school where all the American kids went to school. So what she did was she supplemented my schooling with lessons from a correspondence course. And I can still picture her waking me up at 4:30 a.m., five days a week, to go over some lessons before I went to school. And whenever I'd complain and grumble and find some excuse and say, "Awww, I'm sleepy," she'd patiently repeat to me her most powerful defense. She'd say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
(LAUGHTER)
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And when you're a kid you don't think about the sacrifices they're making. She had to work; I just had to go to school. But she'd still wake up every day to make sure I was getting what I needed for my education. And it's because she did this day after day, week after week, because of all the other opportunities and breaks that I got along the way, all the sacrifices that my grandmother and my grandfather made along the way, that I can stand here today as President of the United States. It's because of the sacrifices --
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See, I want every child in this country to have the same chance that my mother gave me, that my teachers gave me, that my college professors gave me, that America gave me.
You know these stories; you've lived them, as well. All of you have a similar story to tell. You know, it's -- I want children like Yvonne Bojorquez to have that chance. Yvonne is a student at Village Academy High School in California. Now, Village Academy is a 21st century school where cutting edge technologies are used in the classroom, where college prep and career training are offered to all who seek it, and where the motto is "respect, responsibility, and results."
Now, a couple of months ago, Yvonne and her class made a video talking about the impact that our struggling economy was having on their lives. And some of them spoke about their parents being laid off, or their homes facing foreclosure, or their inability to focus on school with everything that was happening at home. And when it was her turn to speak, Yvonne said: "We've all been affected by this economic crisis. [We] are all college bound students; we're all businessmen, and doctors and lawyers and all this great stuff. And we have all this potential -- but the way things are going, we're not going to be able to [fulfill it]."
It was heartbreaking that a girl so full of promise was so full of worry that she and her class titled their video, "Is anybody listening?" So, today, there's something I want to say to Yvonne and her class at Village Academy: I am listening. We are listening. America is listening.
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And we will not rest until your parents can keep your jobs -- we will not rest until your parents can keep their jobs and your families can keep their homes, and you can focus on what you should be focusing on -- your own education; until you can become the businessmen, doctors, and lawyers of tomorrow, until you can reach out and grasp your dreams for the future.
For in the end, Yvonne's dream is a dream shared by all Americans. It's the founding promise of our nation: That we can make of our lives what we will; that all things are possible for all people; and that here in America, our best days lie ahead. I believe that. I truly believe if I do my part, and you, the American people, do yours, then we will emerge from this crisis a stronger nation, and pass the dream of our founding on to posterity, ever safer than before.
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Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
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HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Barack Obama talking about education reform in front of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This is the 19th annual legislative conference there, giving quite a few details about his plan to reform education across this country. And I'm bringing in a couple of stories about his own two daughters, as well.
So we will continue to follow that, and where the money goes. $634 billion over ten years is the bigger picture there. Here's a look now at the rest of the president's day. Just a few minutes ago, we saw him again talking about the first portion of his education reforms. And this afternoon, he will meet with members of the new democratic coalition. Then he's going to be meeting with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. And that will happen in the Oval Office.
What do Americans think of the Obama presidency so far? New poll numbers coming your way at the bottom of the hour.
Also on Capitol Hill, your tax dollars at work. With hundreds of millions of dollars in bailouts, and no end in sight, is this really the time for pork spending? That question being put to the test, as the Senate gets ready to approve a new spending bill.
CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is joining us now with more on that. So Brianna, are there enough votes now to pass this spending bill, because the last time around there were questions on that.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senate democratic leaders think that there will be enough when this vote comes up, expected later today. But it is expected to be a squeaker, barely expected to get past that 60-vote threshold, Heidi, and expected to get very little republican support.
Republicans hitting this spending bill for a couple of reasons. One, those earmarks that you mentioned. There's 8,500 of them in this spending bill. Do note, though, 40 percent of them are put in there by republicans. And because of that, some democrats say these cries from republicans are disingenuous. And then there is the other issue of the overall price tag, $410 billion.
COLLINS: Yes.
KEILAR: This is an eight percent spending increase and Heidi, some republicans really hitting on that but also some fiscally conservative democrats to say it's too much spending on the heels of that big stimulus bill.
COLLINS: Yes, I've been hearing a little bit about that. Some of the democrats that are completely in favor of this have been apparently surprised that they have had as much dissent from their own party too. So I wonder about all of it. Does that make getting Republicans on board for the final vote all that more crucial?
KEILAR: It certainly does, and that's one of the reasons why Senate Democratic leaders had to push back the timeline here and allow Republicans to propose some changes, to put some amendments forth that they voted on yesterday and they continue to vote on today. Keep in mind, though, Democrats don't want any of these Republican changes to be successful.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she doesn't want the Senate to change this bill that has already passed the House. And knowing that, Heidi, Republicans are taking this opportunity to force some tough votes out there, to force Democrats to take some votes on issues that, quite frankly, are politically awkward to say no to.
COLLINS: Yes. One of those tough votes you're talking about, too, is this proposal that would force Congress to vote on its annual pay raise every year. We've talked about it already a little bit here. Tell us more about that, what the chances are of this actually happening.
KEILAR: Well, this is being prepared by Louisiana Republican David Vitter. And the way it works right now is, Congress gets an automatic pay raise every year, a cost of living increase. And what Vitter's proposal would do is force Congress to vote each and every year to increase their pay raise. He says it's appropriate with the economy being what it is.
COLLINS: OK. And so, a lot of the other side of the coin, they're saying, oh, he's grandstanding and, what, we don't have time to make the vote every year? I'm not sure why it's a bad idea.
KEILAR: Well, to go on the record every year and say, yes, I want more money, it's politically awkward to say no to that. Vitter says it's important. But what you also have is the other side of the coin. Let's talk numbers here. This last pay increase was $4,700. That brought a lawmaker's salary to $174,000. Some people defend this cost of living increase. They say that without it, only wealthy Americans would be able to serve in Congress, because...
COLLINS: Independently wealthy, other than the money they're getting.
KEILAR: Independently wealthy because a member of Congress has to have a home in Washington as well as in their home district. And they incur quite a bit of costs to be a member.
COLLINS: Very interesting. All right. Our Brianna Keilar, congressional correspondent. Thanks so much, Brianna. We'll keep our eye on this one.
Checking out the Dow now, because, hey, whoa, look at that. This is actually kind of what was expected to happen today, just not quite sure to the extent of the numbers that we were expecting them to be to the positive side of things. Dow Jones industrial average is up about 250 points right now, resting at 6797. We, of course, are going to keep our eye on that. We really like to keep our eye on it when it's good, right?
Want to get also to the weather situation we've been talking about. In fact, pretty severe weather to talk about. Rob Marciano has the very latest now on what we can expect. Want to look, though, first, Rob, at what Mother Nature has already left behind because we've been talking about this for a while.
Obviously, flooding. We're looking at Ohio. A heavy rain may bring more flooding to the northern part of the state. Water is at the doorstep of many homes and businesses already, and the flooding has forced some of the people to actually evacuate and closed a whole lot of roads there.
Also, Rob, to Michigan. At least three dozen homes had to be evacuated in one town because of ice jams. These are massive mountains of ice caused from flooding. Tell us some more about that.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I mean, the sides of the shorelines of the Great Lakes have acquired this ice, which has actually mimicked the shape of the waves that can get rough during the winter months. And I guess the winds turned northeasterly last night and just took a lot of that shore ice and slammed it on shore more than it normally would, obviously, engulfing some of these homes. So obviously, quite unusual and surreal picture.
COLLINS: I've never seen anything like that before. In fact, the police there, I guess, said some of the homes had ice nearly 12 feet deep inside their homes. They don't know how to really resolve that. But it is the worst flooding I guess that they've had there in 30 years.
MARCIANO: Well, they've got that ice situation there. Also monitoring flooding that's coming in from Chicago. Some video now coming in, and when it gets good, we'll throw it up on the screen for you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Want to get to this story now. Truckloads of food aid are coming to Elkhart, Indiana this morning. It will help families devastated by the economy and unemployment. CNN's Susan Roesgen is joining us now live in Elkhart this morning. You know, Susan, we had the opportunity to speak with the mayor a little while ago here on the program. He is just saying, incredibly thankful for this aid. Now, the situation really, really dire there.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is bad here, Heidi. A lot of cold noses here today, but a lot of warm hearts, because they're expecting perhaps a couple thousand people to come get these baskets of food, food boxes and toiletries. In the food baskets, you've got macaroni and cheese, Corn Flakes, mayonnaise, lots of canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, the good kind, they assure me.
This is a huge food giveaway organized by Feed the Children. They've been doing this in different cities across its the country. We're here in this small parking lot. Normally Elkhart, Indiana calls itself "the RV capital of the world." This is where those gigantic RVs are made for retirees who still have money, who still have their stock funds. Those RVs can be between $40,000 and $100,000 each, and of course, as you might imagine, Heidi, the RV industry has just bottomed out. People either aren't buying these huge RVs, or they simply don't feel they can retire now. They have to keep working.
So, this is a place where so many people worked at the RV factories. Now, instead, what you have in the parking lot are 18- wheelers. This is where all of the food is going to be distributed off of pallets. What you have in the distance there is a group of motorcycle riders here in town. They are going to help load -- unload those boxes, unload the toiletries for the people who are going to come out here and get the items today.
Heidi, they had thought that they were going to have people just come and line up and get the food here. But one of the organizers told me there's a fine line between giving things away and taking away people's dignity. So, instead of having people line up out here in the cold and the rain, they're going to have people farm a line in their cars and come up.
They've had different churches give vouchers to different people, so they know about how many people they expect. Maybe a couple thousand people here today to come and get the food in this city which as the mayor told you earlier has 20 percent unemployment, which means just about everybody here knows somebody who is unemployed, if they themselves are not unemployed. Really tough situation out here, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, and that really puts it in perspective for us, too. Just wonder, I'm sure you've been milling around and talking to people. What's the mood? Because when we also spoke with Mayor Moore there, he said, you know, yes, it's really hard, and we very much appreciate this aid that's coming in. But we're going to pick it up, and we are going to have a turnaround here. And it's going to be OK at some point.
ROESGEN: Well, you know, if you're the mayor, you better be boosting your city. You've got to be a good cheerleader for the people here. Certainly, though, the volunteers, some of them that you see running out behind me, they're excited. This is a big thing, to help each other.
Some of the volunteers themselves will be getting some of this food. So it is a pretty big deal here, Heidi. And, again, the mayor said that he's trying to do something different here. He is sending letters to the heads of major corporations saying, come here to Elkhart. We've got a lot of people here.
COLLINS: Start your businesses here.
ROESGEN: We want to work. He's told me that he sent letters -- yes, he sent letters this week to Toyota, to Honda, to Borders bookstore, to a couple of different restaurant chains saying, come out here. We've got people who are eager to work. And today in this mall parking lot, it isn't so much work, it's just this volunteer effort to get some food, get some toiletries and get things that people need.
COLLINS: All right. Susan Roesgen for us live from Elkhart, Indiana this morning. Thank you, Susan.
The president working out a plan for your future health care. What will it look like? We're going to look at a possible model coming up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: What could your health care look like in the future? President Obama and his aides are working to craft a plan. And as our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reports, it could look a lot like a state plan already in use.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the term that a lot of people are talking about, of course, is universal health care. You don't have to go to France or to Canada to get an idea of what universal health care might look like. There's a model of it right here in this country we investigated.
(voice-over): Three years ago, when Republican Governor Mitt Romney signed the new law, more than half a million people in the state did not have health insurance. Today, fully 97 percent of the people living in Massachusetts are covered by the state's version of universal health care. Romney and his partner in the plan, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, are a political odd couple but powerful enough to get it done.
SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: It recognizes that there's a common responsibility for people in that state to get health care and to get coverage.
GUPTA: Everyone pitches in. Government: The state took more than $200 million from programs offering free care for the poor and used that money to help them buy insurance. Business: The law requires companies with more than 11 employees to offer health insurance. Individuals: If hYou don't have coverage through a job, the law says you must buy it on your own or pay a penalty. It's painful. It can be more than a thousand dollars a year. This aspect, pressure on the individual, was especially controversial. This man is a self-employed musician.
"MASSPIKE" MILES WHEELER, SELF-EMPLOYED MUSICIAN: That means that I'm going to have more bills, and that's going to be less food for my son. That's going to be, you know, less things that I'm used to having, because I am forced to pay health insurance.
GUPTA: But others were more positive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was better than I expected and less money than I expected.
GUPTA: Jon Kingsdale runs the universal health care program in Massachusetts. He warns, the biggest threat to universal health care is rising costs.
JON KINGSDALE, EXEC. DIR, MASS. HEALTH INSURANCE CONNECTOR: We are going to have to be in the single-digit rates of increase in premiums and the corresponding medical costs that they cover, if reform is to be sustainable.
GUPTA (on camera): So, it is worth talking about these costs just a little bit more when it comes to these numbers. In the first year of the plan, it costs $628 million in Massachusetts, the majority of the plan. That was about 20 percent more than they expected. You can see the numbers go up year after year.
A lot of people will say, look, that's just an example of how these costs are going to continue to spiral out of control. Other people say, no, the only reason these costs went up is because more and more people are enrolling for the plan, and they point to that 97 percent insured number. Remember this term, incremental universalism, sloping creeping toward universal health care. It does mean that Medicaid may be expanded. It does mean there might be mandates for employers.
One point of contention: Will someone be forced to buy health care if they can afford it and they don't have it right now. That is something the White House hasn't decided on. This plan it going to take greater shape over the months and years to come. We'll bring it to you as it comes to us.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: After 50 days in office, what do Americans think of the Obama presidency so far? New poll numbers next.
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COLLINS: Day 50 of the Obama administration. A lot of people wondering what everybody else thinks about his leadership so far. We have some new poll numbers for you. And here to lay them out for us, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Hi there, Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Heidi. Well, we are halfway through the honeymoon, and like nervous in-laws, we can call in and say, how's the honeymoon doing? And here's the answer. The answer is, it's going well. In January our polls of polls showed Obama getting a 64 percent job approval rating. February, his first full month in office, the polls average 66 percent.
They predictably dropped a little bit in March so far, but the average is still very high. Sixty-one percent say they approve of the job Barack Obama is doing. Do they think he'll be able to accomplish his goals? Several of them, yes. Will he be able to get the economy back on track? Sixty-six percent say yes.
Is he likely to reduce taxes for the middle class? Sixty-five, yes. What about his promise to create or save 3.5 million jobs? Again, over 60 percent say yes.
But there are a couple of things people don't quite believe, or at least most Americans don't believe he'll be able to accomplish. Will he be able to eliminate budget waste and fraud? Just under half say yes. What about his pledge to cut the deficit in half during his first term? Only a third of Americans think he can do that. So they think spending money he'll be pretty good at on useful and important projects, but saving money may be a lot tougher.
COLLINS: Yes. Hey, just out of curiosity, Bill, to put it into some context as far as that overall approval rating goes 50 days in, how does that compare to past presidents Bush or Clinton? SCHNEIDER; It's a little bit higher, actually. I checked. President Bush's job rating after 50 days, the recent President Bush, was just a little bit lower, 58 percent. Clinton was a little lower than that, 53 percent. The first President Bush, 56. So, Obama's a little bit better than the three preceding presidents, and he's about tied with Ronald Reagan, who was at 60 at this point in his presidency.
COLLINS: All right, Bill Schneider, sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COLLINS: And here's a look at the president's day. Just a few minutes ago, you probably saw him unveiling the first part of his education reforms. Then this afternoon, he'll meet with members of the new Democratic coalition. And then he'll meet with the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. That will happen in the Oval Office.
A meeting designed to mend fences end with death in Iraq. We are going to go live to Baghdad in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: To Iraq and what's being called the deadliest attack inside Baghdad this year. At least 33 people are dead, more wounded, after a suicide car bombing in the Abu Ghraib section of the city. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has been to the hospital where the victims were brought. Tell us what you know at this point, Nic. Any idea on who exactly was targeted here?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were able to talk to one of the victims in the attack, and he said he was just walking by on -- along the street when the bomb went off, and he was blown off of his feet. The next thing he knew, he was in hospital.
But what we have found out from security sources here is that this was a very carefully planned suicide car bombing attack. A meeting between Sunni tribal leaders from the area of the west of Baghdad have been meeting in a reconciliation meeting with the Shia- dominated government here. The bomber waited until they came out of the meeting, then detonated the explosives.
And then as the security forces, the army, who were out there to provide security for this meeting, as they came out to deal with the situation, gunmen opened up from surrounding buildings. So, among the 33 dead are two local journalists who'd gone out with the Iraqi army to cover this very important meeting, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, and this is the second attack now in three days, correct? I mean, there was the attack where I believe 30 people were killed just on Sunday.
ROBERTSON: That's right. I mean, this is coming as quite a shock for the people of Baghdad right now. They're kind of looking around them going, hey, what's happening? We knew the insurgents and militias were out there, but the attacks have been pretty low-level. Now, you have two very deadly attacks within a couple days of each other. And I think as just an indication of just how concerned city officials are, that they tried to put a ban on the media doing any reporting at the hospital where all of the casualties were being brought to today, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. And in the middle of it all, the 12,000 troops being withdrawn from Iraq, just announced yesterday. So we, of course, are watching this situation very closely, as usual. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. Thank you, Nic.
I'm Heidi Collins. Join us again tomorrow morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment with T.J. Holmes.
