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Senate Finance Committee to Debate Public Health Insurance Option Amendment; Obama Faced with Choice of Strategy in Afghanistan; President to Make an Olympic Pitch for Chicago in Copenhagen; Big Paychecks at Nonprofits; Bad Background Checks: Digging Up Dirt That Isn't There; Florida's Gov. Crist Discusses 2012 Presidential Race
Aired September 29, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And that brings us up to the top of the hour now on this Tuesday, September 29th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. Here are the big stories we will be breaking down for you the next 15 minutes.
The most explosive issue in the health care debate could go boom today, Democrats getting ready to battle each other over the so-called public option, the government-run insurance plan. We're live in Washington tracking every development in this fast-breaking story.
CHETRY: Taking a hard look at the mission in Afghanistan. The president is taking to his national security team. They will be meeting today to talk about it. Will we see more U.S. troops on the ground there, how many, and how could that change the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda? We're live from the Pentagon with more.
ROBERTS: And they get paid to dig up dirt on you. But what happens when they goof? Today in our special series "Watching You 24/7," Gerri Willis shows us when data brokers dig up rap sheets on the wrong people.
We begin though in Washington where the health care debate is going to roar back onto center stage today. The Senate Finance Committee is set to take a new look at whether to create an insurance plan run by the government.
The so-called public option has generated more fireworks than just about anything in this debate, but today lawmakers will be challenged to step away from the talking points and take a stand for or against it.
Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington this morning, and, Jim, this really is Democrats throwing down a challenge to other Democrats.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The Republicans are out of this debate. We know where they stand on the public option.
And right now, this bill that is before the Senate Finance Committee, which in the minds of many people in Washington is the only game in town in health care, does not have a public option.
So Senators Chuck Schumer and Jay Rockefeller are expected to put amendments on the public option up for a vote when the Senate Finance Committee meets later this morning. The idea, as you said, is to get key Democrats who have wavered on the public option to show their cards.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a couple of public option amendments.
ACOSTA: The pressure is building on the Senate Finance Committee. Not only has the debate over health care reform gotten testy...
MAX BAUCUS, (D) CHAIRMAN, SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE: You're delaying, senator.
SEN. JON KYL, (R) ARIZONA: Mr. Chairman, I am not delaying! I'm making an extremely important point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last June I collapsed because of congenital heart problems.
ACOSTA: Even the committee's chairman, Max Baucus, has become the target of an ad sponsored by liberal reform supports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to ask, whose side are you on?
ACOSTA: Now two key members of that committee, Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer, plan to put their Democratic colleagues on the spot, offering amendments on whether to give the uninsured the choice of joining a government insurance program, the public option.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something to keep competition real in the marketplace. Otherwise the insurance companies will have them for lunch.
ACOSTA: The showdown pitting liberal versus centrist Democrats was put off last week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to take that up soon. It is an extremely important amendment.
ACOSTA: But the focus on public option has irked some Democrats who don't like the way the health care sausage is being made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the problem with this entire process. The administration did not come down with the specific proposal. So instead legislation boiled up through five different congressional committees, and now they are trying to be resolved.
ACOSTA: Don't tell that to the White House. Remember when the president said he would pass on making a trip to Denmark to sell Chicago's bid for the Olympics? BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I would make the case in Copenhagen in person if I wasn't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality affordable health care for every American.
ACOSTA: He is opting to go now.
QUESTION: Doesn't look like it is in better shape or is it...
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president believes health care is in better shape. I'm go on background as a senior administration officials with intimate knowledge of the press secretary's thinking and say, yes, we think health care is in a better place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: It will be an interesting place later this morning. It is unclear whether the public opening has the votes to pass the Senate Finance Committee. Either way, public option supporters will keep on fighting. There's still the option of putting the amendment up for a vote in front of the full Senate.
And John, yesterday we got word from Chuck Schumer's office that they think that this move in front of the Finance Committee has revitalized the debate around the public opening.
ROBERTS: Any idea, Jim, how many votes they do have, because there's never been widespread support for public option in the Senate?
ACOSTA: Well they are looking at handful of Democrats on this committee now. They do think that Max Baucus will vote against this. They do thing that Kent Conrad, who is the chairman of the budget committee and is a proponent of those cooperatives which is in the Baucus bill now will vote against it.
But there is a handful of centrist Democrats on this committee who haven't really shown their cards, as we have said. So that is why Chuck Schumer and Jay Rockefeller want this moment. They want to see this committee vote on the public option to set the stage possibly for another showdown if this ever gets to the full floor, a full vote on the Senate floor.
ROBERTS: When have you two committee chairmen against it, the odds are usually not great. Jim Acosta this morning. Jim, thanks so much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: And turning to Afghanistan now. The president's top commander on the ground, General Stanley McChrystal, is recommending thousands of troops be sent in. But before the White House makes that call, the president will sit down with his national security team five times over the next two weeks.
So what can troops do to turn the tide and what exactly would the mission be, and how has the Taliban threat gotten bigger? For some answers now we bring in our Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon.
A lot of questions on the table today as they try to figure out what the best move forward is for Afghanistan -- Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. The meetings begin today, and they will go on for several days trying to figure out the way ahead.
But that led us to ask the question, as the U.S. plots its strategy, what about the Taliban's strategy? Who are the key players on the other side? What is their strategy against the U.S.?
So we wanted to take a look at a couple of things. And we have a picture to show you that just about sums up what the U.S. is facing.
One of the key insurgent leaders in southern Afghanistan is a man whose picture we will show you. This is Mullah Abdullah Zakir. Take a good look. He is the man now to said to be Taliban's operations chief across much of southern Afghanistan, that red zone you see there, across Helmand and Kandahar, the new heartland of the insurgency.
This is the man the U.S. wants to get. Astoundingly, Kiran, he was once held at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. did not realize what a key player he was. They leased him. He is now back in the battle.
And Zakir is not alone. The U.S. is also hunting key warlords, men we don't really know but the U.S. knows well. Men who operate close to the Pakistan border. That is the area Pakistan, the new Taliban renewed safe haven.
General McChrystal says, Kiran that in Pakistan this winter once again, the Taliban leaders are expected to meet and set their strategy for the coming year - Kiran.
CHETRY: So you are talking about the influence of Pakistan. Is that also where the insurgency is getting its money?
STARR: Some of it, yes. But we looked into that a bit. As always, the U.S. commanders say the insurgency is getting money from the opium crop and from criminal activity.
But there is also a new wrinkle. They are talking a lot, they believe the insurgents are getting money from what they call "Persian Gulf donors." They are not saying Persian Gulf governments, but donors in the Persian Gulf sending money to the Taliban, sending money to al Qaeda.
That is a flow of funds that is not going to dry up any time soon, and it is a key factor.
As President Obama sits with his leadership, his commanders, the secretary and key generals, to discuss the way ahead for the U.S., all of this being factored in, the new safe haven and the new flow of money, will U.S. troops, will more U.S. troops be enough to deal with all of that? The likelihood is not.
There will have to be more assistance, more aid, more reconstruction and more of that so-called counterinsurgency fight - Kiran.
CHETRY: Barbara Starr for us and a lot of questions this morning as to what the best solution is for Afghanistan. We will be talking about that a little bit later as well. We will see you in the 8:00 hour. Thanks, Barbara.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, the Secret Service says it is taking the threat serious. They are investigating a poll that was posted on Facebook with the question, should Obama be killed? Four choices were given -- no, maybe, yes, and yes if he cuts my health care.
Facebook officials say the poll was taken down just as soon as they were alerted to it. The poll was created using a third party application that was not connected to the social networking site.
CHETRY: There are new storms brewing in the Pacific and they're threatening to complicate relief efforts in the Philippines. The government says at least 240 people have died after a tropical storm tore through the region over the weekend dumping more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours.
Dozens of people are still missing in Manila and surrounding areas, and emergency officials say right now nearly 2 million homes are underwater.
ROBERTS: And check this out. It was shot from British naval helicopter which is making sure that this boat will never be used for smuggling drugs ever again. The Royal Navy sunk the boat after arresting the alleged smugglers and seizing 5.5 tons of cocaine worth an estimated $380 million. It was the Royal Navy's largest ever drug bust.
CHETRY: Coming up in just a few days, the president will be traveling in Denmark. He's making a personal pitch for the 2016 Olympics to come to Chicago.
And of course, any move the president makes isn't without controversy. Some are saying it is a waste of time. Some are saying it is inappropriate. Others are saying it is very, very important to our country. So we are going to be breaking it down with two reporters who have firsthand knowledge of what's going on, coming up.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: That's the sound they are hoping to hear in Chicago in 2016 for the Summer Olympics. And in just a few days President Obama will be traveling to Denmark to make that pitch in person.
It's the first time ever that a U.S. president has gotten this involved in an Olympic bid, and, of course, we can't forget the pile on his desk about other issues that keeps getting bigger.
Joining from us Chicago now is Rick Pearson, political reporter for the "Chicago Tribune." And also from Washington we have Ken Vogel, senior reporter for the politico. Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning.
RICK PEARSON, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Good morning.
KEN VOGEL, SENIOR REPORTER, "POLITICO": It's a pleasure.
CHETRY: Ken, let's start with you and ask how much weight does President Obama carry with him as the president of the United States as he makes this pitch to the IOC?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He carries a lot of weight, Kiran. In fact, I talked to a number of IOC members who said that if Obama weren't the president they wouldn't even consider giving the Olympics to Chicago in 2016.
That said, it has almost become a requirement nowadays for heads of state of competing countries of finalists to go and make a personal pitch to the IOC. So if he didn't go, it probably could have hurt Chicago's bid. If he does go, it will probably help. The question is whether it is enough to bring home the Olympics.
CHETRY: It's very interesting Rick, because public support in Chicago for people -- for the 2016 games to come there, has dropped since February, in February when the "Chicago Tribune" asked 61 percent of people said they favor it. Now just 47 percent favor it. What's changed?
PEARSON: You know, a lot of things changed since then. You've got an economy both at the state and city level with an unemployment rate of around 10 percent. You have a lot of unhappiness over issues of high taxation. Mayor Daley, mayor for two decades, is not very popular these days over parking meter fees that were imposed.
There's just a lot of discontent about the economy and the political situation in Chicago right now.
CHETRY: And so does he risk, then, with ending up with egg on his face, Ken, if this doesn't happen for Chicago?
VOGEL: Certainly he does. If had goes and does not bring home the Olympics, it is going to be kind of a blow for him on the international stage where he is immensely popular, which is really the reason why they think it will help the bid for him to go.
And if he does bring it home, there's going to be risk as well. We just heard from Rick about how the Olympics are not particularly popular, or at least as popular as they were.
Additionally, the Olympics have kind of become a magnet for controversy. We saw in the last U.S. Olympics in Salt Lake City had a lot of controversy surrounding it, and that was in Utah, not a state known for political corruption and scandal, which Illinois, of course, is.
So it would clearly be the Obama Olympics, whether Obama likes it or no. And if it's a success, then it will probably reflect well.
CHETRY: Right.
VOGEL: If it's a failure or there's controversy around it, it will probably reflect on him as well.
CHETRY: Now, Rick, you said that your gut, though, is telling you that if there wasn't a really good chance that they were going to get it, he wouldn't go.
PEARSON: Yes. I know Robert Gibbs has been saying that they have no advanced information. But, you know, when it does come to vote counting in Chicago, there's -- there is some special expertise here. And I would think that given the fact that the president really needs some kind of a victory right now, I mean, kind of the way that the whole health care issue is standing muddled, the questions about Afghanistan and the direction there, to make this trip where he's actually going to be spending more time in the air than on the ground in Copenhagen. I think they have to have a feeling that this will turn the trip.
CHETRY: It will be interesting. These critics are not being shy about, Ken, about hitting the president for flying to Denmark. I want to take you to listen to what Republican Senator from Missouri, Kit Bond, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KIT BOND (R), MISSOURI: I think it's baffling that the president has time to travel to Copenhagen, to be on Letterman and every channel except the Food Network. And yet, he doesn't have time to talk with and listen to his top general. He's got a lot of responsibilities, but his number one responsibility is his commander in chief. Keep our country safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There are others like former Governor Mitt Romney who also ran the Olympics, who say it's a good thing that he's going. So how politicized, Ken, is this going to get?
VOGEL: Oh, it's going to be very politicized. Again, if he goes and he doesn't get it, he's going to be criticized for sort of risking political capital. If he goes and he does get it, he's going to be criticized for spending time that he should otherwise be spending, pushing some of his primary agenda items.
So, as Michelle Obama said, when she was talking about her effort to go, she, of course, was tapped even before the president said that he was going to go to Copenhagen, you're darned if you do. You're darned if you don't. So he expects criticism. They're prepared for it. They pushed back against it, but it will be really intriguing to see what happens here in Copenhagen on Friday. CHETRY: And then, it will also be intriguing to see if Chicago does get it, Rick, how the city will handle it. Is Chicago prepared?
PEARSON: Well, Chicago is prepared. The real question will be such issues as transparency and as Ken mentioned, you know, with the issue of corruption that's revolved around the state and also the city. You know, a lot of people want to see how this mayor, this administration, which is really relied on pinstripe patronage and contracts that help friends, when you start looking at all the largesse coming in from an Olympic game standpoint, billions of dollars in contracts, just how those will be awarded.
CHETRY: All right. We'll have to wait and see. But it certainly is interesting that the president is making this firsthand pitch to in Denmark to the IOC.
Rick Pearson, as well as Ken Vogel, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks.
VOGEL: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. Last hour, we talked about how the big Wall Street bonuses are on their way back. Well, you know, there's a lot of money to be made in the nonprofit area as well. And very few CEOs of nonprofits are feeling the pinch of the recession. She'll tell you exactly what's going on with that coming up.
Eighteen minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour now. Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business." And she's got (INAUDIBLE) on CEO pay if you belong to a nonprofit, whether or not they're being impacted by the recession.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And they're not. The bottom line is they're not. The organizations are because we saw charitable giving decline for the first time last year since 1987, but we saw the pay of the CEOs of nonprofits rise seven percent.
That's right. The pay rose seven percent in the middle of a brutal recession. Medium pay, $361,538. That's according to the chronicle of philanthropy.
In fact, two-thirds of nonprofits said they kept their CEO pay either steady or they actually raised their CEO pay. A couple of the reasons there is because they had to downsize the executive teams and so the CEOs are apparently doing more work than used to or she used to. But clearly not feeling the pain and the pinch of the charity world.
The top earning nonprofit CEO goes to a nonprofit hospital. James Mongan, Partners Healthcare Systems, $2.7 million. Other high- earning nonprofit CEOs, the Museum of Modern Art, more than $2 million. The Metropolitan Opera Association, $1.4 million. New York University -- you've got a trend here, it's all New York. New York University, $1.2 million. That is a lot of money.
But when we're talking about nonprofits, we're talking about the big famous charities. We're talking about nonprofit hospitals, we're talking about museums. And these -- these big -- this doesn't seem very nonprofit when you're making that kind of money, but the recession did not hurt the big charity world, that is for sure.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, some people finding it harder to get donation.
ROMANS: Yes, exactly. That's what -- that's may be why they're paid more because it's harder to get the money from you and me.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: $30 billion you were talking about for the Wall Street bonuses. It still looks paltry, right?
ROMANS: But it tells me there are people out there in all walks of life still making money. They are making money.
CHETRY: That's true. And what is your numeral for us this hour?
ROMANS: My numeral is $830,000. And this is -- this is the median pay for -- I'll let you guess what industry.
$830,000 is the median CEO for...
ROBERTS: Hospitals industry.
ROMANS: Nonprofit hospitals. Nonprofit hospitals. That's right. Nonprofit hospitals. I mean -- that's a lot of money.
CHETRY: That's the profit.
ROMANS: I'm telling you right now -- yes, I know, it's nonprofit except if you are the CEO who is working for a profit. That's right.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans this morning "Minding Your Business."
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, all this week, during the special series "Watching You 24/7," about just who has your information, who knows what about you based on what you buy and when you've applied for credit. And why they could have the story all wrong.
It's 24 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The bitter (ph) broker business is a multibillion- dollar industry that makes its money digging up dirt on people.
CHETRY: Yes. But what happens if a company hired to do a background check on you makes a mistake? In our special series "Watching You 24/7," our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, is here with the story of wrap sheets on the wrong people. This is quite a nightmare.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It is. It's an absolute nightmare.
The information collected by data brokers is more important than ever as millions of Americans get into the job market and look for work. Employers rely on reports from data brokers which track everything from past due loans to police records to determine whether their hiring decisions are sound. It sounds simple but as one Georgia family found the info isn't always right.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the good stuff.
WILLIS (voice-over): A job offer with good benefits. A dream for this woman's husband that suddenly turned into a nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he did the drug test and, of course, that was fine. And all we needed was the background check and that was supposed to turn out fine.
WILLIS: But his background check revealed two felony convictions. And like that, the job offer was gone. She wants her identity hidden to avoid further problems for her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we just were in shock.
WILLIS: In shock because the records belonged to another man with the same name and same birthday as her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did they put these two together? You know, how could they miss this?
WILLIS: The report came from ChoicePoint, one of the nation's largest commercial data brokers. Part of a multibillion dollar industry that sells your personal information obtained from public and private records to employers and law enforcement.
Privacy advocate Lillie Coney says most people have no clue what's in these databases. They can include incorrect or outdated information.
LILLIE CONEY, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: And let's say it was an arrest that was based on faulty information and it was resolved and there was no trial, no conviction. They still have that original arrest record that may be in the database somewhere that is being passed along repeatedly to people outside of your knowledge.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I think most of us don't know how exposed we are.
WILLIS: Senator Patrick Leahy has introduced legislation to make those databases more accessible and more secure.
LEAHY: I want to know what's in my records and I want to know how to stop misinformation in my records and today people cannot do that with surety.
WILLIS: For its part, ChoicePoint says that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act individuals may obtain copies of previously prepared reports about them, as well as public record information used for such reports and correct such information as appropriate. The company says those corrections typically take two weeks. Time -- this woman says her husband didn't have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I called the Department of Justice and the FBI.
WILLIS: And her congressman, who was able to get ChoicePoint to quickly correct the mistake. Her husband got the job but she's still concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because this will happen again. If my husband ever has to have a background check or maybe if he ever changes jobs, that record is out there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIS: So an employer should tell you if their decision not to hire you is based on information contained in the background check. If they do, get a copy of the report. It's your right to have it - guys.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, Gerri.
And also, one of the questions that a lot of people have is how do you even know, and how do you know if this has happened to you in this report?
WILLIS: Well, you can ask for a copy of these, as I said before. You can also order the ChoicePoint report for free at their Web site, Choicepoint.com. It usually takes a couple of weeks to get your report. Scan it for errors then and contact the company if you find problems.
And while you're at it, get your annual credit report at annualcreditreport.com. You might as well check this, too, because more and more employers are actually looking at your credit report, too.
ROBERTS: Creditreport.com, it's not the guys in the band with the guitar...
WILLIS: Free credit report. Yes, don't be singing the song. Yes, we don't want to go there. Annualcreditreport.com is the place to go. ROBERTS: Gerri, thanks so much.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
CHETRY: All right. So, what do you think? We want you to sound off on this bad background checks. Go to CNN.com/amFIX and weigh in.
And tomorrow, on "Watching You 24/7," can you -- can what you say online have police on high alert and watching you?
Well, maybe in a fusion center. They are all over the country. We'll show you what goes on tomorrow on "Watching you 24/7" right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour, it's 7:30 Eastern. We're tracking several developing stories this morning.
The Secret Service is investigating a poll from Facebook as a threat to the president. Someone added the poll using an application that isn't owned by Facebook, it was a third party application. The poll asks voters if President Obama should be killed. Yes. Shocking. Facebook pulled it down just as soon as the poll was discovered. Possible answers were yes, no, maybe, and if he cuts my health care.
CHETRY: Also, the man at the center of a cross-country terrorism investigation. Najibullah Zazi will be in front of a judge in Brooklyn in just a few hours. He is facing charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. Investigators have identified three other men that they think were helping Zazi. But the feds are not giving any more information.
ROBERTS: Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski will file a motion today in a Swiss court to be released from prison. That's according to his attorney. The district court in Los Angeles is working with the Department of Justice to have him extradited. Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor, that was back in 1077 and then left the country.
Several fellow directors have signed a petition calling for him to be released, including Woody Allen, David Lynch, and Martin Scorsese.
All over the past several months we've heard a lot from President Obama's critics. Now, one, Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, is already predicting the president will lose the White House when he runs for re-election in 2012. Here is what Governor Crist had to say on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: The people decided they wanted to change. They got one. Jimmy Carter. Four years later, they took care of business. Ronald Reagan. It may happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: Why does Governor Crist think that will happen? Let's ask him personally. Joining us live from Tallahassee is Florida's Governor Charlie Crist. Governor, good to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
So what's the basis for the statement that President Obama could lose in 2012 by a Carter-like margin, and just to remind people, 1980, Ronald Reagan won 44 states.
CRIST: Ronald Reagan did pretty well. Well, anything can happen, as you know. And what I said Friday is that may happen again. What I think has occurred is that in 1976, the people wanted a change. Remember, we were coming off of the Nixon years and Gerald Ford had taken over. Yet, people, I think, really concluded they wanted something different. They wanted change.
I think the same thing sort of happened last year in America. John McCain was a great candidate and a dear friend. But it seemed like there was just this movement for change that people wanted. And the president, President Obama, certainly tapped into that in a very smart way. And ended up winning the election. But I think that, you know, what change we got may not necessarily be the change that America wants.
What I mean by that is that, you know, every day you get up and the government has taken over some other industry, whether it's the auto industry or the banks or whatever it might be. And I think that the change that's coming about is a little too fast, a little too furious. And I think that what America wants is free enterprise, entrepreneurship and the opportunity to make a wage and make a living and to have individual freedom. And that's what I think Americans want and truly hold dear.
ROBERTS: Well, back in February, Governor, you very much supported President Obama's stimulus package and, in fact, you stood with him at an event there in Florida. Now, you're saying people don't want this change this kind of way. Are you trying to have it both ways here?
CRIST: No, not at all. As it relates to the stimulus, we needed the money. And that was Florida taxpayers money that was sent to Washington. And I think Florida taxpayers deserve to have that money spent in Florida. By the way, that saved us about 26,000 teachers from being fired in Florida. That's important education in our state.
So I think what the truth is that it kept going and going and going. And government got bigger and bigger and bigger. I mean, look what we are talking about with health care now. And there are concerns that we have about the direction of this administration. I don't think they are insincere. I think they are doing what they think is right. I just don't think that it is what America thinks is right. America has woken up.
ROBERTS: Let me ask you if I could about a couple of points that you just made. First of all, on the stimulus, you're running into a lot of trouble with your support of the stimulus from your Republican Senate primary challenger, Marco Rubio, who accuses you of caving in to big government spending, saying you support "trillions in reckless spending and borrowing money from China." What do you say to that?
CRIST: Well, not at all. That's not the case at all. What we are trying to do is maintain Florida's economy. You know, we had a global meltdown in the economy as we all know which happened about this time last year. And as a result of that, we have to do what's right and what's prudent and what's smart. We have to protect our fellow Floridians. That's my job as governor.
I have to look out for the people and protect them. And I wanted to make sure that Florida got her fair share as it came to this monies and we got back what came back to Florida. That has helped our state. It has made Florida in a better position. We cut taxes in Florida.
When I got elected governor I had the privilege of signing the largest single tax cut in the history of Florida. About a $25 billion tax cut over five years beginning in '07, primarily directed to property taxes. Well, regrettably some local governments lift their millage (ph) and that's frustrating. But in Tallahassee we are trying do what's right and fight for the people. We also cut about $8 billion from our budget.
ROBERTS: On the...
CRIST: That's prudent and that's smart and that's right.
ROBERTS: On the subject of health care, Governor, you are against a public opening nationally yet in Florida, you've touted the success of a government-run taxpayer subsidized health care program for children called Kid Care. What's the difference between what you are doing there in Florida and what Democrats want to do nationally?
CRIST: Well, that's for children. You know, it is a program that I inherited.
ROBERTS: Governor, what's the difference if it is between - what's the difference if it is - for children or for anybody who doesn't need health insurance? I mean, obviously you want - you want to get children health care but don't other people who are uninsured deserve to have a shot at the same thing?
CRIST: Of course they do. And that's what we have done in Florida. We developed an innovative program that is private sector center. It's called cover Florida Health Care. I would invite my fellow Floridians to go to coverfloridahealthcare.com. No government mandates, no taxpayer dollars, we reduced the cost of health care in Florida for the uninsured and those that have been displaced from their jobs.
And from an average of $900 a month for health care coverage to as low as $24 for sort of a bare bones plan, if you will, to about an average of $150 a month which will have coverage for catastrophic care. Florida is doing it, I believe, the right way and in a smart way. ROBERTS: But critics have covered Florida such as Congressman Kendrick Meeks say that you have signed up 3,700 people for Cover Florida at the same time that 3,560 people are losing their health care coverage every week. So there is a real disparity there between how many people you have signed up and how many people are losing health care.
CRIST: Well, the more people learn about it, I think the more will sign up. It is now over 4,000, as a matter of fact. I think what's important to bear in mind is you want to try to do what's right for the people. We saw that there was a problem early on as it relates to the uninsured. We had almost four million Floridians that were uninsured and didn't have health care coverage at all.
We came up with a plan that was private sector centered, that has no government mandate, and no taxpayer dollars. And provides lower, less expensive coverage for the people who need it the very most. That's what I think Washington ought to look at. It's the right thing to do.
ROBERTS: Governor Charlie Crist, it's good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.
CRIST: Thank you, John. Great to be with you.
CHETRY: All right. We are going to take a quick break. When we come back we will show you something pretty cool. If you have an iPhone and you are a news junky, we got something for you. It's CNN new iPhone application. We will show you how it works coming up. 37 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: "Sweet Home Chicago" could be the future home of the 2016 summer Olympics and we will find out soon. Meanwhile right now it is cloudy, it's 49. But a little bit later, sunny and summery 57.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We are taking journalism to a whole new level today, especially if you are a news junky and have a new iPhone, it's a new app, you know, an application, app, that includes live video, you can personalize your tools and you can upload iReports. It's a $1.99 at the Apple Store right now.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's really easy to get. Let's take a look because this has so many incredible features. This is an iPhone simulator. Your experience with your iPhone is going to be a little bit different. But this is what it looks like when you hit the CNN iPhone application, and you get your headlines there.
But if you take a look here, you can actually flip it on its side and just like, you know, if it were your iPhone, go through pictures here or if it was one of those Touch iPods, you can pull up articles. Now I'm lost, how do I get back to where I was? You can pull up articles and like this one for example. And you hit on that. And it gives you the article. It tells you what's going on in terms of $41 million in drugs seized in Colombia. You can go to the whole article. Puts it back into large format there. You got pictures, you got video, you got all of the various formats that you need to read news live on your iPhone.
CHETRY: The other cool thing is the personalization tool where you hit my CNN and it basically comes up and you can personalize it. I wasn't supposed to talk about that one. I was supposed to go to iReport. OK. Let me go right back again. Sorry about that. But you can personalize your own weather, your own traffic, everything.
ROBERTS: It's all brand-new. Hit the iReport there.
CHETRY: The cool thing is - oh, now it went - OK. Let me hit iReport one more time. I'm sure it is much easier. So you have your local assignment and take a shot of the Statue of Liberty. Let's say you want to take part in that. You go to submit. And you can figure out how to send - you go to your assignment and you hit submit. And then you can actually - well, this is your photo album here. See, I have a Blackberry.
ROBERTS: Brand new.
CHETRY: This is still - I'm still learning. But anyway, assignments, Statue of Liberty, you take some pictures. You submit your iReport right through here. Pretty cool. Let me figure out how it works.
ROBERTS: We're going to have a little tutorial section over the next few minutes here. But this is a very cool application. There are so many things that you can do on this as well. So bear with us. As we try to work our way through it this morning. And we will try to get all that to you. Just as soon as we can. Just $1.99. Don't forget.
CHETRY: Pretty cool. Meanwhile, you can find out more about this by going to cnn.com/iphone or you can visit the Apple Store to get yours.
ROBERTS: All right. Conan O'Brien takes a fall, a little more serious than the one we just did. But he is back. He banged his head and we'll tell you how he's doing. Coming right up. Stay with us.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": People have been asking me all weekend - people were asking me how bad it was. Folks, I'll be honest with you - I hit my head so hard that for five seconds I actually understood the plot of "Lost." I...
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CHETRY: Yes, but he went on - at least he tried to recover. Conan O'Brien was back last night after Friday's show had to be halted after he suffered that concussion, and he showed what happened. This is the fall. He was doing a bit with "Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher.
ROBERTS: Oh, wow! Kind of like us there, trying to describe the iPhone application. Conan actually tried to keep the show going. He says he went to his dressing room to change for the next segment, interview with "Family Guy" creator Seth McFarlane, but his producer was noticing that he was having trouble. That's when Conan says the show's nurse checked him out. They sent him to the hospital. He says he doesn't remember any of that, but that certainly didn't stop him from making more jokes.
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O'BRIEN: ... got injured. I was doing a stunt with Teri Hatcher, and I couldn't help but notice I got a lot of media attention for it. Everywhere. Yes. So, folks, tune in tomorrow when Eva Longoria pushes me down an elevator shaft.
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CHETRY: He's trying to be a good sport, but, man, you saw - when you see it in slow motion, he really...
ROBERTS: He did.
CHETRY: ... smacked his head.
ROBERTS: He cracked his head pretty hard. Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather across the country today. He's at the weather center in Atlanta. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That looked like it hurt - very much so. But, you know, he tried to get some style points, I think, by sliding to the finish line. Ouch!
Hey, guys. Chilly air across parts of northeast - actually, eastern half of the country, and we talked, told you about this yesterday. This front all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, so everybody enjoying drier and cooler weather. But if you lived across, say, the Great Lakes, it's not so nice - it's not so dry, and it's definitely a little bit more nasty than - than you would like.
Temperatures here in the 50s but also winds are an issue. We've got winds that are gusting to 20 or so miles an hour in spots. Cleveland looking at 28 miles an hour gust - a Pontiac, 13 to 15-mile- an-hour gust, and temperatures are chilly as well. So be aware of that rain in Buffalo also. You had - the last couple of falls, seems like you've had some nasty weather coming your way.
Seventy for the high in D.C., 57 degrees in Chicago. At best you'll touch 70 degrees in New York, but 72, dry temperature in Atlanta. That is chilly for this time of year. All right, guys, we will see you in about an hour. CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks so much. Well, still ahead, we're talking about snoring, and when you have sleep apnea, you do a lot of snoring. You really don't get a good night's sleep. Now there's a new research about whether or not some weight loss will actually help end the apnea, thus leading to a better night's sleep.
Forty-eight minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-one minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. If you're guzzling the coffee right now, you wake up, you're tired all the time, it may just have something to do with your waistline.
Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here talking about sleep apnea this morning and some simple fixes for it. And Elizabeth, one of them appears seems to be - like the fix for many things that we talk about - lose weight.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't it amazing how useful losing weight, Kiran, is? It's just incredible. Good for your heart, good for all sort of things, including a good night's sleep.
What they did in this study is they watched people who weighed, let's say around 220 pounds. When they lost just 10 percent of their weight, so just 22 pounds, their sleep apnea, for many of them, just went away.
Sleep apnea is terrible. What happens is while you're sleeping, you snore loudly and you have a hard time getting air. So it's kind of like trying to suck air through a straw. Some of these people were gasping. They actually weren't getting oxygen for several seconds at a time throughout the night. When you don't get oxygen, that's obviously bad for your brain and your heart.
So, again, what they found is that when folks lost just 10 percent of their weight, most of the time their apnea went away.
CHETRY: You know, how do people know whether or not they're just a typical snorer, they occasionally snore, or whether they actually have sleep apnea?
COHEN: Right, not all snoring is a sign that something is terribly wrong, but if the person who sleeping next to you is complaining, that's a sign that things could be bad. That's a sign that you could be having sleep apneas during the night. Another sign of course is if you're tired the next day or you have headaches when you wake up, that's another sign that your snoring needs medical attention.
CHETRY: All right. Got you. Now, if you lose weight, does it actually help snoring in general or only if it's apnea related?
COHEN: Oh, no. It can help snoring in general. So, I mean, losing weight is always a good thing. It can help snoring, it can help with your sleep apnea, and you know what Kiran? There are some other things you can do to help get rid of sleep apnea in addition to losing weight if you're overweight. For example, something you can do is you can stop sleeping on your back. Gravity's working against you. Everything's kind of plugging up your airway. Don't smoke, don't drink, and there are some mouthpieces that can help people who have sleep apnea.
CHETRY: Good advice - good tips. Everybody's looking for a better night's sleep, so we can all understand that. Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Thanks so much. John.
ROBERTS: Major league drug bust to tell you about. Forty-one million dollars in cash seized. Where was it stored? We'll tell you.
And how did they find it? Boom! Look at it come rolling out of there. Fifty-three minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It is safe to say that this converted fishing boat that you're about to see will not be used for smuggling drugs again. The royal navy sunk the boat after arresting the alleged smugglers and seizing 5 1/2 tons of cocaine worth an estimated $380 million. It was the largest drug bust that the royal navy has ever been involved in.
CHETRY: And drug authorities hit the jackpot, seizing more than $41 million in cold, hard cash, the money packed neatly in sacks of fertilizer chemicals and then hidden in shipping containers at Mexican and Colombian ports. Our Elaine Quijano with why this is a major blow to the crime cartels.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the shipping port of Buenaventura, Colombia this month, authorities hit a mother lode of smuggled cash. Wrapped in plastic and hidden inside shipping containers were meticulously labeled blocks of $20 bills...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven hundred thousand.
QUIJANO: ... each block worth $700,000. Officials seized $11.2 million that day alone, and that week in Colombia and Mexico, seized more than $41 million in all.
JOHN MORTON, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: You're looking at the profits of crime. That's what this is.
QUIJANO: John Morton with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the smugglers packed the cash in ammonium sulfate - a sophisticated attempt to disguise it.
Why ammonium sulfate? What's the significance of that? MORTON: When it is packed in very large containers, it's extremely difficult to probe, it's extremely difficult to x-ray, and so it's a very good means of concealing currency.
QUIJANO: Officials call this one of the largest bulk cash container seizures ever recorded, and credit unprecedented cooperation among the US, Colombia and Mexico. They believe this haul represents a big victory against international organized crime.
MORTON: We were able to not just get the first shipment, we got the second shipment, the third shipment, the fourth shipment, the fifth shipment, and we did it in two countries at the same time.
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QUIJANO: As for arrests, ICE officials say they're still investigating along with the Mexican and Colombian governments and they're not giving details about how they first learned of the cash or what criminal group might be responsible for it -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: See that's the part we want to know about that they're not giving the information about. But boy, it's just amazing to see them stacked up like that.
ROBERTS: Those cubes of money.
CHETRY: Yes. Welcome once again...
ROBERTS: I'll take two cubes with my coffee.
CHETRY: That's all I need (ph), right?
