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Health Reform for $829 Billion; U.S. Troops in Afghanistan; Suicide Blast in Afghanistan; Congressman Under Fire; "Smartest" U.S. Cities; Credit Card Companies Jacking Up Rates; Biden Takes More Vocal Role in Afghanistan Debate; Stay-at-Home Moms Look for Jobs; Distracted Driving Course

Aired October 08, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Health care price tag. Costs revealed on a compromise plan. What Americans will pay and save and how many will get covered?

Plus, bad timing. Moms plan to go back to work when the kids got older, but now they're blocked by the recession.

And bragging rights. A new survey rates the smartest cities. Where's your homeboy (ph)?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. It is Thursday, October 8th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

New this morning, a car bomber strikes in Afghanistan's capital. CNN's Atia Abawi is in Kabul for us this morning. And dozens are dead and wounded. The attack now adding urgency to the president's war strategy planning.

And Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr looks at the debate over sending more troops to Afghanistan. After a lot of talk, the White House is ready to discuss numbers.

Also, in Washington, Democrats have a new price tag for health reform and they say it could be a bargain. We'll hear the numbers and the naysayers.

The numbers are in. $829 billion over 10 years to overhaul health care. That's how much the Congressional Budget Office estimates a Senate Finance Committee proposal would cost. It's $70 billion less than some expected.

The CBO found the compromise plan still would leave about 25 million Americans or 6 percent uninsured. President Obama has said he wants all Americans to have access to affordable health care.

Our Brianna Keilar is on Capitol Hill for us this morning to talk a little bit more about these numbers.

So what does the committee do now, Brianna? And I imagine they'll be hearing a lot from both sides on this as to what these numbers actually mean.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, they still need to vote, Heidi. You know we went through that whole process of them going through this bill, which took a couple of weeks, but they still need to vote, and now that this number is in, we're expecting that to go ahead.

Sources are telling us, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next Tuesday it could go until. But Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, he says that he is confident that he will have the votes to pass this out of committee.

He certainly feels that way now since he got this estimate from that nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, really giving this plan a political boost, because these numbers show that this price tag over 10 years is really the lowest, by far, of all of the health care reform proposals going through Congress.

It shows a price tag of $829 billion over a decade. It shows an estimate of 94 percent of Americans being insured. And very importantly, it does not add to the deficit. Actually reduces it, according to the CBO. But remember, Heidi, one of the most controversial topics involving health care reform is how much it's going to cost.

And that is why we're not seeing a vote today. We didn't see one yesterday. Because there are members on this committee who really want to go over the CBO analysis with a fine tooth comb. And most importantly, that is Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. She is the one Republican that Democrats on this committee are hoping to win over when they vote on this.

COLLINS: Yes, we've actually heard a lot from her, and saying that she really was going to be looking at these numbers, as to which direction she would go. I wonder, though, I know in the very beginning, the White House said they wanted to keep this under $1 trillion. So they've done that, but then does everybody actually get covered? Is it enough money to spend to cover everyone that doesn't have insurance?

KEILAR: Well, and then President Obama had -- you know, the White House had put out a $900 billion figure. So, obviously, this falls under that. And this is the constant tug-of-war that happens, Heidi, because $900 billion we've seen on this Senate Finance Committee.

On one hand, you want to cover as many people as possible. On the other hand, you want it to be affordable. You want those subsidies that are going to help the middle and low-income Americans pay for health insurance, you want to make sure that they're enough -- this is what Democrats are saying -- make sure that they're enough that this can be affordable health insurance for everyone.

Well, the more subsidies you give, the higher the price tag goes.

COLLINS: Right.

KEILAR: And so there's sort of this fine line they're walking when they're dialing these numbers around. And the question is, will these numbers make the full Senate happy? And there certainly is a sense that the reason we're paying so much attention to this bill is it's seen as one that will garner, perhaps, more support than the other bills that are out there in the Senate. The other bill, I should say.

COLLINS: Right. Well, we will definitely be watching. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much for that.

Well, the president is also said to be reviewing the request for more troops, even though he has not yet announced a decision about a new strategy for the war, which is exactly what the president said he would not do.

CNN's Barbara Starr joining us now from the Pentagon with more on this issue.

So, Barbara, tell us a little bit more about that particular side of things. The president saying one thing and now we're still waiting to hear what the strategy is.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little peculiar, Heidi. You know, what we do know is that, as soon as tomorrow, the White House and the Pentagon may sit down and now start talking hard numbers of troops for Afghanistan.

So the question is, has the president flip-flopped because he did say he wanted to do strategy first, figure out what he wanted to do, resources second, figure out how many troops to send to do it. Now, he's already looking at the troop numbers.

So has he decided on a strategy? Has he flip-flopped? What is really going on inside the White House? All of that, still to be revealed to the troops and to the American public.

But what we do know is that last week the president asked for a copy of General McChrystal's troop request.

COLLINS: Right.

STARR: He wanted to look at it. So now he's got it, but what he doesn't have is the Pentagon's input on it. He doesn't have the comments from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and from General Petraeus. And without that, that's a serious change in the way business is done about sending troops to war.

Those are the men that usually weigh in and talk about what's doable and what's not. So this is a very peculiar arrangement.

COLLINS: Why does he not have their recommendations?

STARR: Well, because it hadn't come through here yet. Basically, you'll recall that Secretary Gates took that troop request, said that he was basically putting it in his top desk drawer until everybody was ready to deal with it.

What we know is, if they want to send a substantial number of additional troops in the tens of thousands, it's not likely they can get all that together before January. So no matter what the decision is, it's going to be some time before we see any troops moving.

And the bottom line is, are we still talking about tens of thousands of troops or a much narrower strategy to fight al Qaeda, mainly in Pakistan? And that would be a huge shift in the Obama administration's war strategy. Heidi?

COLLINS: Absolutely. All right. We're following that story very closely as well. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, this morning. Thanks so much.

And speaking of, let's turn to this morning's violence in Afghanistan's capital. At least 12 people died in a suicide bomb blast. Sixty were wounded. The car, packed with explosives, detonated near the gates of the Indian embassy.

CNN's Atia Abawi is in Kabul now with the very latest.

Atia, what more can you tell us about what happened here?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, what I can tell you is that the death toll has risen to 17 people killed, at least 63 people injured. This occurred in the early morning hours during rush hour. This is a time where you see many Afghans walking on the streets, driving on the streets, but this occurred in an area where it was already blocked off.

The road is blocked off, the Interior of Ministry is there, the Indian embassy, which already saw a very large attack in July of 2008, where 41 people were killed in a car bomb. So it was a heavily fortified area. The question remains is how this attacker was able to infiltrate the area.

Even President Karzai himself condemning the attack and wanting an investigation to see how this man was able to go in front of that Indian embassy, get a car in front of the Indian embassy, laden it with explosives, and detonate it.

Obviously, right now, the Afghans are wondering what exactly is going on. Kabul has been a fairly safe part of Afghanistan for these past eight years. It's been fairly immune to the violence that we've seen throughout the country. But in the last two months, we've already seen five suicide attacks in the capital itself. Heidi?

COLLINS: Why, Atia, the Indian embassy? Is there any indication as to why that was the target here?

ABAWI: Absolutely. When you talk to the average Afghan, in fact, we spoke to the shopkeepers down there, they were expecting this to happen again. As I mentioned, July 2008, Indian embassy was attacked.

There's no secret that the Indian government and the Pakistani government do not get along. There have been rivalries for decades and now the Afghan people feel that they're using the land of Afghanistan to actually go ahead with their battle.

As we all know, I don't want to go into a history lesson right now, but the Taliban have very close ties with Pakistan, so the Indians feel that it's really the Pakistanis that are attacking them with the Taliban.

Let's actually listen to what some of the shopkeepers had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There was an explosion, we were just sitting inside having tea when the explosion broke our windows. It was in the neighborhood of the Interior Ministry. Thanks to God's grace, no one in the store was injured. It was just our windows and goods that broke. Thank God no one was hurt in our store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If they would have wanted to fix it, they would have fixed it in the last seven years. What they've done in these last seven years, it's gone from bad to worse. It hasn't gotten better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABAWI: Well, that last shop owner was talking about the international forces in Afghanistan. He's saying that in the last seven years, things haven't gotten better, it's just gotten worse and they've brought more misery. But when I asked him how long he's been in Afghanistan, has he -- if he's been here for all the wars, he said, no.

He came back seven years ago when he thought that the country was safe enough. And right now, obviously, he's thinking that it's actually getting worse. Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. We're watching it as it develops day by day, hour by hour. Atia Abawi, thanks so much, live from Kabul, Afghanistan this morning.

So who's watching CNN? Well, apparently, some members of Congress. And after they saw our report on outrageous credit card bills and one family's struggle, they said, enough is enough.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And if you're watching CNN in the nation's heartland, you're probably dealing with some rainfall. Flash flooding happening around Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri.

Also, overseas, more earthquakes overnight last night and pestering typhoons in Asia. Lots to come when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Flooded roads and homes, thousands of evacuations, hundreds of canceled flights. Typhoon Melor tore across Japan today. Two people are dead and dozens are injured. Tokyo was pretty much spared, but the western region suffered widespread damage. Another string of earthquakes in the South Pacific. Four tremblers rattled Vanuatu, Vanuatu, in the 11 hours. The strongest at 7.8. A small tsunami wave was generated, but it wasn't big enough to cause too much damage. So far, no reports of damage or injuries at this point.

Rob Marciano is standing by now to talk a little bit more about that and other storm threats across the United States.

Hey, Rob. Good morning to you.

MARCIANO: Good morning. You know what, let's start off with the earthquakes that are happening.

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: As I counted last night, and just to give you some perspective here, this is -- this is Australia over here. So the Solomon Island is through here. And this is not really close to where the earthquakes were last week, but certainly all in that ring of fire.

Last I checked, from when these things started last night to just about an hour ago, 16 or 17 quakes, 5.0 or greater. So certainly very, very active over here. And as you may have mentioned, a couple of tsunami warnings were issued and then were allowed to be cancelled. So that's the good news there. But, obviously, it's been very, very active under the sea surface and also over the sea surface in this part of the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: OK. Hey, some great new equipment. That's good. Let's continue to use that. Thanks so much, Rob Marciano. We'll check back later on.

MARCIANO: OK.

COLLINS: Also, coming to the aid of our wounded warriors. A new facility that specializes in traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder. For one man who came into our living rooms for more than three decades, the price was right to help. Bob Barker joining us live to tell us why the project is so dear to him.

In the hot seat, why Republicans have tried three times to take the Ways and Means chairmanship away from Congressman Charlie Rangel. It's all ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Checking our top stories now. Even if North Korea comes back to nuclear disarmament talks, a South Korean official says sanctions should stay in place. Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said his government is willing to resume six-nation talks depending on the progress in negotiations with the United States. One bad thing to look forward to as the economy recovers, more flight delays. That's according to a Brookings Institution report out today. The study blames general backups on heavy traffic for short trips between big cities. The report also cites issues with an ill- equipped air traffic control system and calls for more high-speed intercity rail service.

Long lines and short tempers for thousands of people seeking federal housing assistance in Detroit. Applications for money from the homeless or those about to be homeless were being handed out. The deadline to submit the applications was originally yesterday.

Well, stress over that deadline led to scuffles and some injuries. And as you saw, massive lines. We'll have more on this story coming up in our next hour.

House Republicans are turning up the heat now on Congressman Charlie Rangel. He chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee which writes the tax laws. Well, Republicans want him to step down.

CNN's Brianna Keilar tells us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Republicans' third attempt in a year to bump the Democratic chairman of the House tax writing committee from his powerful perch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will be a 15-minute vote.

KEILAR: It failed, but they made their point. Keeping a spotlight on Charles Rangel's acknowledged failure to pay taxes on $75,000 he earned renting out his beach house in the Dominican Republic. And there are several other alleged ethics-related violations.

REP. JOHN CARTER (R), TEXAS: Representative Rangel acknowledged his failure to pay -- failure to publicly disclose at least $500,000 in cash assets, tens of thousands of dollars in investment income, and his ownership of two pieces of property in New Jersey.

KEILAR: Rangel has called some of the violations mistakes. As the ethics committee continues its year-long investigation, Rangel continues to defend his post on the committee that's instrumental in drafting legislation on important issues, like health care reform and climate change.

(On camera): Can you continue to serve as chairman with this ethics investigation?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D-NY), WAYS AND MEANS CHAIRMAN: Yes, I can. The way it works in the House is that when allegations are made and referred to the ethics committee, what is normally done is members wait until the ethics committee completes its investigation and its report.

KEILAR (voice-over): Rangel has the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

(On camera): Speaker Pelosi, do you still support Chairman Rangel?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Yes.

KEILAR (voice-over): And her deputy, Steny Hoyer, says Democrats are awaiting the ethics committee's finding.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MINORITY LEADER: Prior to that, any actions with reference to Chairman Rangel would be premature.

KEILAR: But as Republicans keep up their steady drumbeat against Rangel, political analyst Stephen Hess says he has become a liability for Democrats.

STEPHEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: These charges are serious and they keep adding more charges, so they're going to have to be met and dealt with and voted upon. They can't be swept under the table.

KEILAR (on camera): But just how big of a liability is Rangel for Democrats? Hess says he's a minor one and for now a manageable one, but it still provides Republicans with a political opportunity.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Do you live in one of America's smartest cities? Well, you're looking at one of them. We'll look at a list and what exactly defines a city as smart anyway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A new list is causing a lot of buzz online. The smartest cities in America. Which cities are on top and who decide this stuff anyways? Obviously, a really, really smart person.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Our Josh Levs is here to show us who's on the list, how they got on it, and all that good stuff.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- no, thank God. But it is interesting. And I like the conversation that it's triggering even if people disagree with it.

Let me show you. This is from DailyBeast.com, a lot of people talking about this right now. And this is the city that was named smartest. Raleigh, Durham. It's actually general metropolitan areas that they're talking about. Raleigh, Durham came in at number one. And at number two, they say the Bay Area, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose.

I have a graphic listing the top 10. Let's go straight to it. And if you take a look at who -- apparently which are the smartest cities, and again, metro areas, really. Raleigh, Durham, the Bay Area, then Boston, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Denver, Hartford, New Haven area. Then at seven, there's a tie. You've got Seattle, Tacoma, and also Washington, D.C.

COLLINS: Hey...

LEVS: Yes?

COLLINS: That far down the list, I don't even care anymore.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: Yes, it's like I'm done.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: So how do they decide?

LEVS: Well, I'll tell you. In fact, they have a whole bunch of criteria and I listed them for you. Let's go straight to that. We'll show you -- basically, they weighted these criteria differently. They look at how many residents have these different degrees. Whether they're bachelors or graduate degrees.

Nonfiction book sales, Heidi. Also, how many higher education institutions are there. And how many people are participating in elections. So clearly not everyone will agree this is the best way to decide the, you know, intelligence level of a city, but it does get you looking at these interesting aspects of a city. I find that really interesting.

COLLINS: All right. So should we talk about the dumbest cities?

LEVS: Yes. You know, they are -- some places are not too happy about being named the dumbest. Let's go down here. And they only looked at the top 55 with more than 1a million people.

Coming in last on the list was Fresno, California. And we can do one more over here. They say Las Vegas, actually, did not place very well when they weighted those factors. It was found way down at the bottom.

Here's how you can weigh in. Last graphic. Tell us what you think about this. Put it up on the blog, also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. Do you agree or disagree? How did your city do?

What do you think, Heidi? Give this any credence?

COLLINS: No.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: No.

LEVS: Yes, I didn't think so.

COLLINS: But I'll love to take the phone calls which I'm sure -- I think I hear the calls coming already.

LEVS: There's comments.

COLLINS: From Fresno and Vegas. All right, Josh, thanks so much. We'll talk back later.

LEVS: Thank you. You got it.

COLLINS: Your monthly credit card bill doubling, even tripling? What's going on with that? We've been following this story for a while here and we'll tell you now what Congress says they're going to do about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: On Wall Street, stocks took a break yesterday after a big two-day run up, but the rally is set to resume today as we hear the opening bell.

Stephanie Elam is in New York with a look at what to expect.

So things going to be hopefully to the positive today? We like that a lot better.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We do like that better. And I'm happy to say, Heidi, we were expecting a sharply higher open, and that's what we have right now.

Wall Street has been waiting around all week for the start of third quarter earnings season, and it's off to a surprisingly good start. Aluminum Alcoa reported $77 million profit, after three quarterly losses in a row. Sales to automakers picked up. And the company expects global aluminum demand to actually increase going forward.

Now also boosting sentiment, new jobless claims. They fell last week to the lowest level since January and continuing claims fell as well. More than half a million people filed for unemployment benefits. That's still a very high number, no doubt, but the drop of 33,000 last week is a sign that things are moving in the right direction. But, you know what, Heidi, that's not all. We also have some retailers to take a look at.

And some retailers like Limited and the Buckle are posting sales increases for September. Macy's and Wet Seal (ph) are still posting sales declines, but they're not as bad as expected. Overall, the numbers are weak, but just not as bad as we feared.

And as we said before, the recovery is going to be a bumpy one. And a clear sign of that is Dell's decision to close a plant in Winston, Salem, North Carolina. That's where they make desktop computers. 905 people will lose their jobs there. That's about one percent of Dell's workforce.

All right. Let's go ahead and show you how Wall Street is deciding to pokes on the positive, and show you the numbers. The Dow up 71 points, 9798 there. So up good, almost one percent. Up to three quarters of a percent. Nasdaq better by 15, 2125, and the S&P 500 is following suit. So right now, Heidi, things are looking pretty good.

COLLINS: All right. Hey, let's call it a day.

I like it.

ELAM: Yes. You know, it's just good right now.

COLLINS: Stephanie, thank you.

We'll check back next hour.

ELAM: Sounds good.

COLLINS: If you have a credit card, you might be feeling furious. Companies are hiking their rates before new rules take effect in February. We told you about one family's struggle earlier this week, and now some in Congress who saw this story have something to say about it. Next hour, lawmakers are holding a hearing to head off rate hikes.

We'll give you more now from CNN's Jessica Yellin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This week, CNN told you about Chuck and Jeanne Lane, a couple that's played by the rules, but their credit card company, like so many others, has jacked up their payments ahead of new regulations that go into effect next year.

CHUCK LANE, CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER: I'm calling to find out why my payment jumped from $370 to $911 this month.

YELLIN: Through no fault of their own, the Lanes' monthly minimum payment more than doubled. Now they will have to decide whether to pay the card or get surgery Jeanne needs and support Chuck's son in college.

(on camera): Do you have a message you would want to give to Congress?

LANE: I would like Congress to take a stand for the American people and stop credit card companies from making this kind of changes that do have major impacts in people's lives.

YELLIN (voice-over): Guess what? Congress is listening. Freshman Congresswoman Betsy Markey saw the story on CNN.

REP. BETSY MARKEY (D), COLORADO: It gave awareness to people like me, other members of Congress who saw that and were just outraged by the fact that credit card companies are just blatantly increasing rates solely because they know that, once the law takes effect, they are not going to be able to do this anymore. YELLIN: She and 17 other members have since written the banks, calling on them to stop raising rates and changing policies ahead of the new credit card bill. Bank of America had already announced it's freezing its rates for now, but Chase, the company that holds the Lanes' credit card, tells CNN they have no plans to do the same. And Wells Fargo, they are raising their interest rate 3 percent.

An industry representative says the card companies are just trying to protect themselves in a rocky economy.

SCOTT TALBOTT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE: The industry is not making changes to interest rates or lines of credit in anticipation of the new law. It's simply a reflection of the changing economic times.

YELLIN (on camera): Now, some members of Congress are pushing forward with a bill that would actually move up the date when these new consumer protections go into effect. But banks say they need more time. They say they have to update their computer programs to meet all these new regulations, and that will take months.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Something else you'll want to see, too. Stay-at-home moms trying to get back into the workforce, but it isn't that easy. You can hear one woman struggle and some advice coming up in about ten minutes.

The war in Afghanistan and a new insurgents attack this morning. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for this morning's suicide car bombing in the capital. At least 13 people are dead in the blast in Kabul. More than 60 people were wounded.

The attack comes as the White House gets ready to discuss numbers in a possible increase of U.S. troops. As early as tomorrow, President Obama's national security team will discuss a report from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal has reportedly called for 40,000 more U.S. troops.

The war in Afghanistan and a search for a long-term strategy. As the president consults with advisers and lawmakers, one voice is growing more prominent. That's the voice of Vice President Joe Biden.

CNN's Brian Todd explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Administration sources tell CNN of a forceful direct vice president in White House Situation Room meetings on Afghanistan. The sources say Joe Biden has pointedly challenged America's top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, over McChrystal's proposal to send up to 40,000 more U.S. troops there. By all accounts, Biden vehemently opposes that plan. Publicly, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs downplayed the disputes in describing a recent meeting.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Nobody raised their voice. Nobody -- there was just a sort of calm discussion about where we are.

TODD: But administration sources tell us in those meetings, Biden has intensely pushed his own proposal to keep U.S. troop levels where they are and to focus the mission more on rooting out Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters with Predator drones and Special Forces raids in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

CNN's senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, has also spoken with administration sources about the meetings.

(on camera): Has he changed the dynamics of this decision on Afghanistan?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Before you had the vice president weighing in, you had a lot of folks just assuming that whatever General McChrystal recommended was what the president was going to approve. After all, McChrystal is his guy.

Now, I think the conversation inside that room has really shifted, become a little bit more nuanced -- what do we need for counter-insurgency in different parts of Afghanistan?

TODD: (voice-over): Sources say Biden's gotten his own push back in the meetings from principals who said his ideas are problematic.

As a senator, Biden opposed the surge of troops in Iraq. But in the Balkans and elsewhere, he has favored the use of military force. Sources say with Afghanistan, Biden has become increasingly disillusioned with the government of President Hamid Karzai.

TODD (on camera): Administration sources say none of this is personal. It's not personal between Biden and Gen. McChrystal, and not personal between Biden and President Biden. The sources say that Biden has simply become increasingly concerned about committing more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to support a government that has not adequately addressed issues of corruption and mismanagement.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Days after this year's bloodiest battle for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the cruel reality hits home.

Fort Carson, Colorado learned that all eight of the war dead are from that base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. STEVE WOLLMAN, U.S. ARMY: As we mourn the loss of these great Americans, we remember their dedicated service and heroic actions as they fought alongside their comrades to preserve our freedoms.

MAJ. DANIEL CHANDLER, U.S. ARMY: Our soldiers over there, they're actually in very high spirits. They had -- were attacked and the unit fought bravely and in the end, they won the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Military officials also confirmed yesterday a ninth soldier was killed in a separate weekend incident in Afghanistan.

Checking our top stories now. A Senate Committee is looking at some of the dangers facing U.S. troops. And we're not talking about roadside bombs or attacks. These are things like chemicals in an Iraqi water treatment facility. Water contamination at Camp Lejeune and exposure to fumes from incinerators in Japan. We'll be following that story for you.

Also, looking at this now. Some tape that's coming to us a little while ago out of California. You're looking at a car that has slammed into some type of building there. Apparently, there was a person inside, and you can see all of the rescue crews there, trying to get that person out.

Now looking at the live pictures from there. I believe we were able to see just a couple of minutes ago that they did get the person out. We saw that person come out on a stretcher. We have no idea of the extent of injuries or how this all happened in the first place. We'll continue to follow that one as well.

The south pacific, a seismic hot spot. Four earthquakes hit near the island nation of Zenoah 2 in less than 11 hours. They were strong ones, but they only generated small waves, and tsunami warnings were actually canceled pretty quickly. We haven't gotten any reports of damages or injuries as of yet.

Tokyo breathing a sigh of relief after typhoon Melor blew through town. Areas of the north and west of the capital were hardest hit. The storm brought down power lines and caused hundreds of flight cancellations. Two people are dead. Dozens are injured.

Stay-at-home moms ready to get back to work. It's tough going in these tough times, as you may well know, but it's not helpless. Find out strategies for landing a job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Another sign of the weak economy. After only four years in operation, Dell is closing a North Carolina computer plant and putting more than 900 people out of work. This comes after state and local officials provided Dell a massive incentive package to move to the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB ORR, N.C. INSTITUTE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: We lured them here, but as soon as it's financially unsound for them to stay here, they're gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The plant near Winston, Salem, makes desktop computers, but Dell says the market is declining as customers move to laptops and handheld devices.

These are tough times for American families and millions of stay- at-home moms who always planned to return to work are forced to come back now. The trouble is, there aren't many jobs out there. But as CNN's Christine Romans reports, help is available.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Kathryn Gutowski, stay-at-home mother of four. Car pooling, laundry, homework, for 11 years she juggled it all.

KATHRYN GUTOWSKI, JOB SEEKER: I think anyone who's had four children under 7 knows a lot about juggling.

ROMANS: Before she was a mom, she was an attorney. And it's time, she says, to get back to work.

(on camera): One child in college and another going in college, and then two more a few years behind that. I mean, financially, it's probably important to have a job as well, right?

GUTOWSKI: Oh, it's very important. I mean, I think like most American families, you know the equity in our home, our college savings, our retirement savings have plummeted. And, you know, I've had the luxury of being home all these years and with my kids, but that's not a luxury I'm going to continue to have.

ROMANS (voice-over): She knew this day was coming. She kept her skills polished, her license up-to-date. She volunteered.

GUTOWSKI: I started to respond to job postings on the Internet. And I would send out a resume and I would hear absolutely nothing.

ROMANS: She looked for a job for a year before she found a program that pays law school for lawyer moms like her.

AMY GEWIRTZ, DIRECTOR, PACE LAW NEW DIRECTIONS: There is a concern right now because they've been out of the workforce, how am I going to manage the family/work life balance, how am I going to do it? And this gives them a way to get their toe in the water.

ROMANS: She landed an externship at a college law admissions office. Think of it as an internship primarily for stay-at-home moms. Companies as diverse as Goldman Sachs and Sarah Lee have similar programs called Returnships. But while Kathryn is trying to get back in, many working moms have no choice. They cannot take off time to raise their kids.

SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT, ECONOMIST, CENTER FOR WORK-LIFE POLICY: There's been a tremendous decrease this year in the number of professional women taking that kind of time off because they feel under the gun on the earnings front.

ROMANS: Kathryn says she would advice her daughters to keep one foot in the workforce when they have family.

GUDOWSKI: I would say do something, do something part-time, teach do something but never find yourself in the position where you've been completely out for ten years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Christine Romans joining us now from New York with more on this. So Christine it looks like women today have kind of less of a choice between staying at home and going to work.

ROMANS: It's interesting. And we'll have to see what the numbers bear out for this recession over the longer term, but you know 40 years ago or 30 years ago, Heidi, or maybe 40 year or a little bit more women didn't have a choice. They stayed home and raised the kids.

Then there was this period of time when women started to have had a choice between raising your kids or working in the workplace and doing both. And now some of these -- some of this data is showing that there are women who are in the workforce right now who are afraid to leave it.

They're afraid that if they try to get back in a few years, they won't be able to get back in. So they're hanging on and in a way, they have less of a choice. So, some women trying to get back in after a hiatus, other women too afraid to leave.

COLLINS: Yes, understood, all right, well, it's an interesting demo that I hadn't really thought of...

ROMANS: Yes.

COLLINS: But it makes perfect sense. Christine Romans, I sure do appreciate that.

ROMANS: Sure.

COLLINS: So if there's bad behavior you don't want your teens to do, you make them do a lot of it, right? Well, the answer is yes when it comes to this driving course. Take a look, young drivers learn just how dangerous distractions like texting can be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Rio de Janeiro train passengers are getting a free ride this morning after a chaotic commute yesterday. Problems with one train shut down service on a line for five hours. The driver of the disabled train actually walked-off locking the doors with irate passengers inside.

The passengers forced the doors open and got even angrier when they learned they wouldn't be reimbursed for their fares. Passengers showed their fury they damaged ticket machines, derailed gates, even setting one rail car on fire.

At least one person was injured in the disturbances. Buses were finally called to take stranded passengers into the city.

Rob Marciano, joining us now from the Severe Weather Center. Hey there Rob. We've got some storms moving in?

MARCIANO: Yes and you know these are going to last a while. The problem with this is not going to be winds like we saw yesterday across the northeast, but the heavy rain that will be sustained from Austin all the way to Indianapolis.

We've got a wide swath of area that is under a flash flood watch. In some cases we've got flash flood warnings and some of this rain is going to come down in a hurry in a short period of time. Kind of have a little bit of its raining effect going on just north of Oklahoma City, north of Tulsa and getting towards Indianapolis south of Kansas City.

So that's where the main moisture is right now and that's where we're seeing a lot of these warnings coming up across Missouri especially.

The latest one issued at 8:47 local time and that's in effect until 1:00 this afternoon. And as far as what the text is saying, the flood warnings are for Bakes County and Linn County, and Southern Henry County and basically the thunderstorms could produce anywhere from two to three inches in this. And that runoff is into the small streams. That typically we will be able to handle it or probably will not be able do that too well.

So generally speaking it's a very slow-moving front that's moving our way along this front. It's pretty cold air to the north this time of the year. I think that's where it's going to stay. The Northern Plains, Western Great Lakes, it'll be below average certainly for the next several days.

Meanwhile, the flow out ahead of the front will be above average, I think, from say the deep south, Florida especially, all the way up towards the northeast. As a matter of fact, Florida had temperatures yesterday that were into the 90s and record-breaking heat from Miami to Tallahassee.

San Francisco got some delays there, 45 minutes right now. New York, LaGuardia, 20 minute delays. That's nothing compared to yesterday and Teterboro also seeing a few delays of 25 minutes. So the main story weather-wise is certainly the flooding rains that are occurring right now...

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: ... across the center part of the country.

COLLINS: Yes, all right, well, we'll watch all of it carefully. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: We've got a lot going on this morning. Our CNN crews are of course ready to bring it to you. Let's check in with our correspondents now beginning with Elizabeth Cohen. Hey, good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Heidi, could a chemical in plastic be having an ill effect on babies still in their mother's wombs. I'll have that at the top of the hour.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans in New York. We're looking at the latest reform bill on health care from the senate and how much it will cost, who is included, and who is left out. We'll have that at the top of the hour.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Susan Lisovicz in New York. Shoppers may have fewer options for their holiday shopping this year. Mall vacancies are at multi-year highs, Heidi more on that in the next hour.

COLLINS: All right, very good, thanks guys. We'll check back later on.

Also, coming to the aid of our wounded warriors; a new facility that specializes in traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. For one man who came into our living rooms for more than three decades, the price was right to help. Bob Barker is joining us live to tell us why the project is so important to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: OK, let's say you've got chills and the cough, is it the flu or is it H1N1? Before you head to the doctor, fire up the computer. Microsoft has a new Web site that lets you assess your own condition.

Questions are based on key flu risk factors from the CDC. It's part of an effort to keep folks who are not sick from crowding emergency rooms.

Your parents don't want your teen drivers texting or eating or actually using cell phones while they're behind the wheel. But one driving course piles on the distractions and those young drivers can actually see the consequences.

Reporter Jacqueline Sit of our affiliate KWTV has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom's going to kill me but I have done it and then I was like, this is nuts, I can't do this anymore.

JACQUELINE SIT, KWTV-TV CORRESPONDENT: Bailey Wallace loves to TXT her BFFs behind the wheel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we ready to do that?

SPITZ: A crash course for the course of distractions...

BAILEY WALLACE, TEAM DRIVER: It is absolutely crazy.

SPITZ: This high school senior, along with a dozen other students, are driving in a closed course -- pushing the pedal to the metal while eating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little faster. Come on. We're going to be late.

SPITZ: Handling rowdy riders and texting behind the wheel.

WALLACE: I couldn't even get my password into the phone. I have a touch screen phone, you have to look at it. I couldn't even get my password into my phone to start a text message because of the guy sitting next to me sitting here going like this over and over again, and playing with my radio. It was -- there was no way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wakes you up.

SPITZ: Tyler Doctorman was another distracted driver.

TYLER DOCTORMAN, TEAM DRIVER: I'm not used to driving and texting. I'm not one used to having one hand on the wheel either. I was kind of like all over the place.

WALLACE: Missing three out of the four red lights was pretty good enough for me to say, don't do it.

SPITZ: All this is a push in putting down your phone and slamming the brakes on bad behavior.

WALLACE: There's so many things that can happen on their own without you having an influence on them, so why would you add to the problems? Why would you sit there and dig for the food in the back seat or text while you're driving? It can wait. It will wait until you're done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: After taking the course, the teens said they'd never text again while driving. Hopefully that is a lesson learned.