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Polanski Release on House Arrest; Mission to Afghanistan; Senate Showdown on Health Care

Aired December 04, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's some of the other stories we're following this hour.

The U.S. Senate back in session right now getting ready to resume debate on health care reform. The votes are expected on several more amendments. To let you know yesterday senators approved Democratic sponsored amendment to provide women with free or low cost mammograms and other preventive tests.

Deliberations under way in Italy today in the murder trial of American student Amanda Knox. She and her former boyfriend are accused in the stabbing death of a British exchange student who was Knox's roommate. Prosecutors seek a life sentence. Knox took the stand yesterday saying she's not an assassin.

It's back to the luxury chalet, at least for now, for director Roman Polanski. He was released from a Swiss jail today after posting a $4.5 million bond. Authorities there say the award-winning film director will remain under house arrest pending extradition to the United States. Polanski faces a 1970s statutory rape charge involving a then 13-year-old girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We cannot hang back and hope for the best when we've seen the kinds of job losses that we've seen over the last year. I am not interested in taking a wait and see approach when it comes to creating jobs. What I'm interested in is taking action right now to help businesses create jobs. Right now - in the near term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We have new jobless numbers to report this morning and the headline better than expected. The nation's unemployment rate has taken an unexpected dip from 10.2 percent to 10 percent even. Now, this marks the fewest jobs lost in a single month in two full years. That is significant because December of 2007 also viewed as the beginning of the recession.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues his focus on putting Americans to work one day after his White House jobs summit. He's on his way to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Once an icon of the so-called rust belt, it now showcases the power of thinking outside of the box and at the bottom of the hour we're going to check in with Felicia Taylor to see how Wall Street is responding to those latest unemployment numbers and boy, last time we checked, you can see it there up triple digits for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Much of the economy seems to be recovering a bit but the thing most vital to most households, the paycheck, remains out of reach for millions of Americans. CNN's Allan Chernoff looks at the employment puzzle and why it seems to be the toughest part of getting the economy back on track.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Getting companies to hire again is certainly the toughest part of the economic recovery. If we think in terms of a domino effect, it's easy to see why. More than a year ago our financial dominos began collapsing. First came the financial markets. When the financial markets went down, so did bank lending. That got business executives very worried. Their confidence collapsed and when the business leaders worried, what did they do? Cut expenses by laying people off.

Now, fortunately over the past few months we've begun to see the dominos coming back up. Certainly the financial markets are in good shape. Lending, it come back somewhat. As has confidence but the employment domino remains flat on its back. Now, what's happening here is that businesses see these two dominos and they're not so confident about them. What's happening is that the government has been pushing these up but certainly not the private sector.

(voice-over): Your federal tax dollars at work on a bridge expansion in Connecticut. A welcome contract for Waters Construction Company but the road in (INAUDIBLE) is not hiring any new workers.

MARIO SMITH, WATERS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY: I can say that I'm not laying off as much.

CHERNOFF: Waters Construction is laying off. Federal spending, Mario Smith says, simply hasn't accounted for that much new building especially considering the cutbacks that strapped towns and states are making.

(on camera): The economy seems to be picking up. Wouldn't that translate into more jobs for you?

SMITH: It might eventually. We can't turn construction on and off like a light switch.

CHERNOFF: Before hiring business managers want to have confidence that they can increase revenue to cover the cost of adding people to the payroll. Right now many businesses don't yet have that confidence.

SMITH: We lost the bid by $7,000.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): A confidence buster. Smith has just lost a contract competition even though he says his $3.5 million bid was rock bottom.

SMITH: Well, the profit margins are zero. CHERNOFF (on camera): So no profit?

SMITH: No profit. The best we can hope for is to cover enough costs to pay for the overhead costs in the office.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Waters is operating so lean that job superintendent Mike Archer, a civil engineer, is doing double duty. Allowing the company to avoid adding another worker to the payroll.

MIKE ARCHER, SUPERINTENDENT, WATERS CONSTRUCTION CO.: Even though I'm a superintendent, I'm out here working every day as part of our crew and then still doing the paperwork and the project management stuff.

CHERNOFF: Only the paving division of Waters is showing signs of a pickup. Thanks to some local projects. But until it wins more infrastructure spending contracts, Waters won't be hiring, keeping expenses low to help weather what it anticipates will be a tough winter.

(on camera): And there are thousands of companies just like waters construction that fear these dominoes could still collapse and that's why more companies are not yet hiring.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And we're keeping a close eye on President Obama's visit to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and his focus on jobs. We're going to have live coverage when he speaks coming up next hour. Once again, scheduled for 11:50 Eastern. 8:50 Pacific.

Three Secret Service officers are on administrative leave after a Virginia couple crashed last week's White House state dinner. The director of the Secret Service testified yesterday at a House Homeland Security Committee. Mark Sullivan took full responsibility for the security breach that allowed Tariq and Michaela Salahi to crash the dinner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK SULLIVAN, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: This is our fault and our fault alone. There's no other people to blame here. You know, look at me and blame me. This is our fault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The House panel plans to subpoena the Salahis after they failed to appeared at yesterday's hearing. The committee's top Republican also wants to hear from White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers.

NATO countries are signing on to President Obama's war strategy for Afghanistan. According to NATO secretary-general, it has announced about 25 countries have pledged another 7,000 troops and there could be more. Hillary Clinton is in Brussels pushing the strategy. This is what she told CNN's John Roberts about the additional troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: These include decisions by governments to keep troops that they were about to remove that they had sent only for the elections plus new additional commitments. For example, today we heard from the Italians and the Poles and the Slovakians and I'm probably forgetting some others but we had some really positive new commitments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The troop surge and a deadline to start pulling out of Afghanistan are under intense scrutiny by lawmakers back in Washington. CNN's Dana Bash takes a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tough questions for the president's national security team. Most not about the 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan but confusion over whether the July 2011 date to start withdrawing is a hard deadline.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: It is that date condition based or not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

BASH: That sounded definitive. But the date certain became less certain, when pressed by GOP senators, who call a deadline a dangerous signal to the enemy.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Will we withdraw our forces based on conditions on the ground? Or based on an arbitrary date?

ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We will be in a position in particularly uncontested areas, where we will be able to begin the transition.

MCCAIN: Let's suppose you're not?

GATES: I think we will be in a position then to evaluate whether or not we can begin the transition in July.

MCCAIN: Which is it? It's got to be one or the other? It's got to be the appropriate conditions or it's got to be an arbitrary date.

GATES: We will have a thorough review in December 2010. If it appears that the strategy is not working and that we are not going to be able to transition in 2011, then we will take a hard look at the strategy itself.

BASH: Later Secretary Gates admitted after that December 2010 assessment - GATES: The president always has the freedom to adjust his decisions.

BASH: Secretary Clinton signaled flexibility, too.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Have we locked ourselves into leaving, Secretary Clinton, in July of 2011?

CLINTON: I do not believe we have locked ourselves into leaving. But what we have done is to signal very clearly to all audiences that the United States is not interested in occupying Afghanistan.

BASH: But the defense secretary conceded the exit date is aimed in part at politics at home.

GATES: I think the other audience, frankly is the American people, who are weary of, after eight years of war, and to let them know this isn't going to go on for another 10 years.

BASH: That didn't convince some of the president's fellow Democrats at another hearing later in the House.

REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D), NEW YORK: My fear, as is the fear of so many others, is that we could easily get bogged down in an endless war.

ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS: This is not open- ended and we're are not going to escalate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now that was the first of two days of hearings where the president's war council was up here, Heidi. You heard in that piece much of the focus was on whether or not that July 2011 date is a hard and fast and concern from Republicans.

Yesterday there was another maybe four or five hours of testimony and the focus there really was from Democrats. Very, very tough on the administration. More about sending more troops. You heard from senators like Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez of New Jersey giving the panel a very tough time about questions about whether or not sending more troops is the right way to go and whether or not they can get a commitment that the troops that the president will send now that will be it.

At the end of the hearings in the Senate at least yesterday, they did get that commitment. But there's still so much skepticism about a host of issues with regard to this mission.

COLLINS: Yes. And we're talking about the Senate Foreign Relations committee obviously yesterday where we saw them appear once again. I guess, the question is there room for changing this strategy. I mean, if the president continues to hear from both sides of the aisle, obviously for very different reasons, is there a chance that the strategy will change again? BASH: It didn't sound like that. The way that it was presented certainly by the president's war council was that this as we know was decided after months of deliberations and that this is the way that they are going to go forward. We do know that there will be another assessment about a year from now, in December of 2010, where they are going to see if things change.

But one of the interesting things in yesterday's hearing, Heidi, and part of the skepticism was what Democrats especially really wanted to know is how are you going to know? What are benchmarks and the metrics that you have to determine whether or not the conditions will be ripe for troops to come home.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs gave some answers about the status of the government in various areas of Afghanistan but again in that area and also another very hot button issue which is Pakistan and Pakistan's involvement or lack of involvement in helping to get Al Qaeda. Certainly there did not seem to be a lot of reassurances that senators felt they got.

COLLINS: Yes. That's the thing everyone is talking, I guess, the conditions on the ground and whether or not they will dictate that date or they won't. Seems like it's been said both ways so everyone trying to sort of muddle through all of this.

BASH: You got it. It sure has.

COLLINS: All right. Dana Bash, sure do appreciate it. Thank you.

BASH: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, a new crackdown in Afghanistan. The first major offensive there since the U.S. troop surge was announced Tuesday. Military officials say about 900 U.S. and British troops and more than 150 Afghan soldiers are involved in the mission called "Operation Cobra's Anger." It began early this morning in Helmand province and officials say so far, several militants have been killed. Soldiers have been found some weapons caches. This is all happening right now. We'll have more on the new offensive coming your way shortly.

From high school to the battlefield, a soldier's story through the eyes of a new Army private.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, today is the last day to send holiday packages and letters to the military both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Want to make sure you knew that. We also want to let you know that you do have another week or so to send holiday mail to other U.S. military locations, other installation overseas.

That being said, this morning we did want you to get onto our blog and let us know a little bit more about what you would like to say to the troops. You can actually post your message there. Just go to cnn.com/heidi and we're going to read some of those coming up in about 30 minutes or so. So make sure you send out a message to our troops.

Meanwhile, I want to talk about troops who are heading off to the war zone. One of them is Will McLain. We're following him as he moves from high school graduate to U.S. Army private.

Our Jason Carroll reports on McLain's first 24 hours as an Army private.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tearful goodbyes as Will McClain's parents see their 18-year-old son leave home in Rosamond, California, for the first time.

BILL MCCLAIN, WILL MCCLAIN'S FATHER: She wasn't looking forward to this moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody understand that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

CARROLL: As McClain takes his first steps towards joining the Army, questions about his future begin to weigh on him.

WILL MCCLAIN, U.S. ARMY RECRUIT: The major, I want to know -- I want to know where I end up stationed at. You know you've got a four- year contract, but it's going to be like, are these four years going to be fun and enjoyable or will it be like, I hate my job.

CARROLL: For now, those answers will have to wait. First, there's registration at a nearby Army processing station in Los Angeles.

MCCLAIN: I'm anxious but I'm kind of glad it's starting finally. One of those days you don't think will come and then, bam, it's here.

CARROLL: This is where Will McClain finally becomes Private McClain.

MCCLAIN: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me god.

MCCLAIN: So help me god.

CARROLL: And 12 hours later, McClain is now more than 1,600 miles from home at an Army base in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri for several days of orientation.

(on camera): You look a little different. You shaved the goatee. How's it feel?

MCCLAIN: If feels weird. It's the first time in awhile. I expected them to come yelling on the bus, they did. I'm surprised I haven't had to do push-ups or anything yet. So that's a plus.

CARROLL: Well, it's coming.

MCCLAIN: I'm sure it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you do not have an electronic device, do not take an envelope.

CARROLL (voice-over): After turning in personal items for safekeeping, Will and the other privates are issued gear. Will finds his bunk and turns in for a short night.

Four hours later...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! Get up! Get up!

CARROLL: His morning begins on unfamiliar territory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? What is going on?!

CARROLL (on camera): I'm thinking of all these movies I've seen with the drill sergeant, and you pretty much fit that role.

SGT. JOSHUA SMITH, U.S. ARMY: I guess you would have to say that it's a type A personality.

CARROLL (voice-over): Will couldn't eat much in the three minutes he had to finish. That's not a problem for sergeant's eying his weight. He's 5'9", 228 pounds.

(on camera): You look at him, and your assessment is he's got a little weight to lose?

SGT. CHRYSTAL SCOTT, U.S. ARMY: Yes, sir.

CARROLL: You think you can get that off of him?

SCOTT: Yes sir. There are plenty of ways to get that off of him.

CARROLL (voice-over): There are just a few more tests, and then the regulation cut.

CARROLL (on camera): What'd you think?

MCCLAIN: That's short and I'm white.

CARROLL: But he still seems the same Will.

(on camera): Do you feel like a soldier yet?

MCCLAIN: Not yet. I haven't been through boot. I won't even claim to be a soldier until I'm done with boot.

CARROLL (voice-over): And that basic training comes next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: All right. And Jason is joining us now to talk a little bit more about this. What is Will's status now?

CARROLL: Well, he's in the middle of basic training. He's been there at Ft. Leonard Wood for about a week or so. A little bit more than that. He's got 13 weeks of basic training like all the others. About 200 others actually got off the bus with him that particular day.

So he's got his work cut out for him. You saw him there. He's got the drill sergeants really checking him out meaning they're saying he's a little heavy. He's got to drop a little bit of weight. But as you heard there, they say they can get that off of him.

COLLINS: I bet they can. How many others actually go through, Jason, what he's doing at Ft. Leonard?

CARROLL: You know, it's interesting, just at Fr. Leonard alone, about 30,000 of these new recruits come through every single year. So that sort of gives you a perspective of how many are actually coming through the system in terms of being trained. But hopefully with our goal, Heidi, as you know, what we want to do is we want to show all of our viewers what it's like for these soldiers who are going through this process.

You know such a big commitment to places like Afghanistan and what we want to do is give people more of a sense of what it's like going through that process of training.

COLLINS: Yes, it's a great idea. Hey, Jason, when do they have an opportunity to decide what they want to do in the Army or I imagine there's a bit of a skills assessment that takes place and then the Army perhaps suggests to them what they think they would be best at?

CARROLL: You know the system well, Heidi. You know, you're exactly right. That's exactly what happens. There is an assessment that goes through. And in Will's case, he's hoping to be a combat engineer. Now these are the men and women who are out there and basically what they do is they may set land mines or they might diffuse some of these land mines.

They're out there helping in the combat zone in terms of some of the gear and the mechanics that are out there. These are the support guys. The men and women who are out there helping the troops.

COLLINS: Yes. And very, very much needed. All right. Jason Carroll, I certainly enjoyed this. Thanks so much. We'll talk with you again next week for the third installment.

CARROLL: More to come.

COLLINS: I believe. Yes. Thanks again, Jason Carroll.

A big sendoff for the wreaths across America convoy. One of the country's longest annual veteran celebration. Now this weekend wreaths loaded onto tractor-trailer trucks will travel from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery. They'll be placed on the grave sites of troops who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The wreaths were donated by a wreath company in Harrington, Maine, and the people there say this annual event started by mistake in 1992.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORRILL WORCESTER, WREATH MAKER: We never made that mistake again on having too many wreaths. We had to make them from that point on. But we just - it just became something we loved to do and apparently a lot of other people feel the same way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The wreath caravan is expected to make 20 stops along a 750-mile journey and arrive in Arlington just a few days later.

Let's get over to Rob Marciano now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: I want to check our top stories right now.

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski began house arrest today at his luxury Swiss chalet. He was released from jail after posting $4.5 million bond. The 76-year-old Polanski is being allowed to serve house arrest pending his extradition to the U.S. in the 32-year-old statutory rape case that involved a teenage girl.

In Tennessee, a statutory rape case ends in outrage and three days in jail. 31-year-old Emily Zinkus was accused of sleeping with a neighbor when that neighbor was as young as 15 but before the boy could testify, a judge ordered Zincous to the three days in jail and one year probation. Zinkus is 31 years old and the wife of a prominent Memphis businessman.

The death toll has climbed now to 23 in a suicide bomb attack at a Somali graduation ceremony. Government ministers, medical students, doctors and journalists are among the dead. Witnesses say a male suicide bomber dressed in women's clothing carried out yesterday's attack. A powerful Islamic rebel group denies it was responsible.

Health care showdown in the Senate. Democrats and Republicans do battle over several contentious issues. A fight likely to rage on through the weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Republican and Democrats are in the Senate of course and are facing off big-time over what should or should not be included in the Democrats nearly trillion dollar health care plan. They expect to debate several amendments through the weekend and some of them including the public option provision and abortion funding are very controversial. Cost, of course, is another bone of contention. Republicans say the plan costs too much and gives government too much power. Democrats say the investment will reap dividends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Leader Reid's bill isn't just a health care bill, it's a job creation bill that will help make more physicians, more nurses, and others in the health care field. If you're going to bring more people to be covered by health care and to be brought into the health care system, it stands to reason that you need more health care professionals to treat them. The bill will meet that demand by creating more jobs in the health sector.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We know what the record says about small businesses in America. In the last 15 years, they have created nearly two-thirds of all of the new jobs. So in the midst of this recession, we need to give small businesses across America a helping hand. One of the things that we want to help them with is paying for health insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The Democratic side of things. Yesterday, senators approved a Democratic-sponsored amendment to provide women with low- cost mammograms. A Republican proposal to restore cuts in Medicare spending was defeated. Of course, we'll stay on top of that story for you.

President Obama on the road and on a mission. We'll tell you why he's headed to the so-called Rust Belt for lessons on job creation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUCNER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: New jobless numbers this morning, and they are more encouraging than expected. The nation's unemployment rate has taken an unexpected dip from 10.2 percent to 10 percent even.

Now, this marks the fewest jobs lost in a single month in the last two years. It's significant because December of 2007 also happens to mark the beginning of the recession.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues his focus on putting Americans to work one day after his White House jobs summit. He's in Allentown, Pennsylvania, this morning. Once an icon of the so-called Rust Belt, the president says it now showcases innovative businesses. We'll have live coverage when President Obama speaks next hour near Allentown. It's scheduled for 11:50 Eastern, 8:50 Pacific.

Want to take you to Wall Street now to dig a little bit deeper into those new job numbers. Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange with more details. Felicia, all morning we've been looking at the stock market, but of course that's the leading indicator and unemployment, job loss and those type of statistics are lagging indicators. How does it fit in?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's kind of interesting, Heidi. If you put it into context, as you mentioned, the nation's unemployment rate is at 10 percent, and frankly, not long ago, that would have sparked a major sell-off on Wall Street. But today, investors are cheering because basically it's a huge and surprising improvement from what was 10.2 percent, and most analysts expected the unemployment rate to remain at 10.2 percent. That's where the surprise came in.

We did indeed -- sparked a triple-digit rally, but 10 percent doesn't tell the whole story. What's still -- the bad part of all of this is underemployment rate. That's at 17.2 percent. That factors in people that basically have stopped looking for work because they're so dismayed with the job prospects or they have taken part-time jobs but they would want full-time work. That's the hope.

In real numbers, we have 31 million people that are still underemployed. Wall Street, though, focuses on the improving trend, and hopefully it will stick with it, the improving trend.

The Dow Industrials right now are up 117 points. That's a gain of more than 1 percent. The NASDAQ composite, though, is the one that's really holding onto the strong rally. That's up 1.2 percent, or a gain of about 36 points. So far this year, the Dow up nearly 20 percent. NASDAQ up 40 percent. Heidi?

COLLINS: Interesting. I'm trying to forget where we were before all of this began, but I guess a lot of people just want to know is it fair to say that the job market is at least starting to turn a corner or even too early for that?

TAYLOR: It's too early for that, and I'll tell you why. What we really need to see is job creation, and that's what President Obama is out there talking about today. And until that happens, the only thing that we can hope for is the numbers continue to stay low. If we can see numbers like this for the next few months, then that's a really good sign that the times, they are a' changing.

And analysts are expecting that we'll begin to see job creation in the first quarter of next year. But again, we have to wait and see for that to actually happen.

COLLINS: Yes. A lot of people very, very gun shy, understandably. Felicia Taylor, thank you.

So, the pace of job losses is slowing, but hiring has yet to pick up. How exactly do you create jobs? Stephanie Elam is in New York with more on this. Stephanie, there are lots of ideas but certainly no consensus on this.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, for sure, Heidi. This is the big debate. The big question, because there's a limit to how much the government can do.

But House Democrats are trying to complete work on a job creation bill this year. Problem is, they're running out of time. The year is almost up. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the unused T.A.R.P. funds that we saw out there, could be putting people to work building roads and building new bridges and help state and local governments keep firefighters and teachers on the job.

But many Republicans say leftover bailout money should be used to pay down the deficit and not for more government spending. Pelosi also says T.A.R.P. money could go to small business loans that could be the key for spurring job growth. Here's what the CEO of Google told us after attending yesterday's White House job summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC SCHMIDT, CEO, GOOGLE: There's no question the number one priority is to get banks lending to small businesses because small businesses create the majority of jobs in the United States. And the reason that banks are not lending to small businesses is because they are being prevented by regulations. There's every reason to believe the government with a relatively small number of changes can encourage this and help solve that logjam. That's the number one issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Now, Schmidt acknowledges the White House has made some efforts to help increase lending to small businesses, but the problem is he says it's just not enough at this point, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And a lot of people talking about the stimulus money. That was supposed to create jobs. Where are we at with that, and what else is the government planning to do to create more jobs?

ELAM: Yes. That's true. Another option that we did here discuss yesterday at the summit was a tax credit for businesses to help them expand their payroll. But the idea does have its skeptics. It would probably be worth 300 to 500 for every new hire. And that may not enough of an incentive for businesses to justify bringing on another full-time employee.

We'll watch to see if these ideas end up in the final jobs creation bill. More debate about this. But a lot of people want to know how it will help them. If you want to know more about this, Heidi, and for everyone else out there, go to CNNmoney.com and read this story.

COLLINS: OK, really quickly, Stephanie, a clarification. You see 300 to 500, but we had graphic that said 3,000 to 5,000.

ELAM: Okay. Yes. Yes, 3,000 to 5,000. Right. That would be the right thing. Graphics and speaking. We should get them together.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Thank you.

COLLINS: Very good. All right, Stephanie, thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Troops deploying from Fort Hood headed to Afghanistan to help others deal with combat stress. The same stress they're still dealing with after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A check of our top stories. Same cause, renewed energy. Supporters of gay marriage rallied outside New York's state Capitol last night, trying to send the message that same-sex marriage is not dead. This follows Wednesday's landslide vote in state Senate against legalizing gay marriages. Some supporters say this will become an issue in next year's legislative elections.

From your house to the White House, 'tis the season for celebration. Last night, President Obama and his family took place in the annual lighting of the national Christmas tree. It is gorgeous. It's the first family's first year doing the honors. Of course, music was part of the celebration. The group Celtic Women among those who performed. Love them.

If you want to reach out to U.S. troops on the front lines this holiday season, you got to do it quick. The U.S. postal service says today is the last day to send holiday letters and packages to our military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. You do have another week, though, to send holiday mail to other U.S. military installations.

That brings us to today's blog question. We were asking you, what you would like to tell U.S. troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. And to go ahead and send in some of your messages to CNN.com/heidi. We would share them with you just as soon as we got them. In fact, we did get quite a few.

Stephanie writes this: "Thank you for all you do here for us here in the United States. We pray for you everyday, praying everyone will be safe from harm and make it home. We love each and every one of you."

And Joan says, "I hope that all of the troops understand how we all appreciate them. I hope they find joy over the holiday by reflecting on the importance of what they're doing.

And from Curt: "I wish all of you the best during the holidays. We are all praying for you. I recently returned from Iraq, so I know what it feels like to be away from family."

Remember, as always, we do want to hear from you. We love what you have to say. Log on to CNN.com/heidi, and we'll try to post more of those greetings.

Meanwhile, an emotional deployment to tell you about now. Forty- three members of the Army's Reserve 467 medical detachments, Army Reserve combat stress unit, are leaving Fort Hood today for Afghanistan. Three members of that unit were shot at Fort Hood last month. Six others were seriously wounded.

The soldier charged in the shooting, Major Nidal Hasan, was also supposed to deploy with that unit. Joining me on the phone from Fort Hood to talk more about today's deployment, is Army Public Affairs' former chief Jay Adams. Jay, I know that you are now a civilian, so first off, we very much would like to let you know how much we appreciate your service. You retired in September. You also were at a dinner last night, part of the deployment ceremony for this unit. How does morale seem to you as you talk to these soldiers?

JAY ADAMS, U.S. ARMY, CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: I have to tell you, Heidi, it's absolutely amazing how well these soldiers have banded together and relied on each other to draw strength. Morale was very high last night, but really I would say there's more of a sense of resolve and determination. They feel an obligation to go out there and do their mission in honor of the comrades that they lost on November 5th.

COLLLINS: Yes. We're looking at that incredible picture right there of the gentleman holding the flag for the 467th, the medical detachment unit that we're talking about here. Jay, are they doing anything special to remember their fallen comrades in these awful shootings that happened at Fort Hood?

ADAMS: Certainly they will never forget their fallen comrades. But they and their sister unit, 1908 combat stress control unit, had bracelets made with the names of their fallen comrades on them. And they told me last night we're taking them with us into combat and we're going to do our mission in honor of the sacrifices that they have made.

And they have an absolutely critical mission. As you know, the president decided to send more forces into Afghanistan, so their mission is going to be incredibly important there until Afghanistan. And I tell you, to a soldier, they are ready to go there and they're ready to serve.

COLLINS: Yes. Specifically the 467th dealing with one of the issues that we have been talking about for a long time in these wars, and that's post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. I know that this detachment actually deals quite a bit with IEDs, correct?

ADAMS: They deal with the results of IEDs. What they bring to our Army overseas is a capacity to help soldiers deal with any kind of stress that they may have in their lives. Certainly there's a lot of stress from being in combat. Trauma from improvised explosive devices, indirect fire, direct fire.

But it can also be stresses from home. Family problems. Problems with their children. Anything that can distract a soldier from being able to do their duty, they are there to help them with that. Help them learn coping mechanisms, help them become more resilient and as a result be able to focus on their mission while they're deployed.

COLLINS: Yes, Jay, how are the six wounded from this unit doing now?

ADAMS: My understanding is they are actually doing quite well. Of course, some were wounded more seriously than others. Some will take some extensive rehab to get them back into the fight, as we say. But they are all doing quite well. They are doing quite well.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. We are thinking about this unit today as they deploy as we speak. Sure do appreciate your insight. Jay Adams, thanks so much.

ADAMS: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Just days after President Obama announced a troop surge for Afghanistan, a new crackdown to talk about on militants. We have it after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Let's head to Rob Marciano standing by in the Severe Weather Center because today we're talking about snow in some kind of weird places.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: What is this?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This other camera is having a heart attack over here. I don't know what kind of seizure it is having here. These robotic cameras here...

COLLINS: They're magic.

MARCIANO: No. Robert on the steady camera...

COLLINS: No kidding! Let's stay with him.

MARCIANO: Steady. Steady. All right. It's almost the weekend. And we're halfway to celebrating.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: When you start to get snow in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana the first week of December, all bets are off. There will be gremlins in all parts of the weather center for sure.

COLLINS: Yes. Yes. It makes things crazy for sure. I just want to know when we start watching Santa making his journey. Hopefully that will be soon.

MARCIANO: We are tweaking the Santa radar for sure.

COLLINS: Very good. All right, Rob. Thanks!

MARCIANO: All right. See ya.

COLLINS: Some say a food you might like to eat is linked to criminal activity, and that is hurting one U.S. industry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: There was a time when the shrimp industry was big business in the United States. Now, some shrimpers say they are being forced out of business because of international slave labor. CNN's Sean Callebs has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the kind of night just outside New Orleans that used to be a bonanza for shrimpers like Paul Willis.

PAUL WILLIS, NEW ORLEANS SHRIMPER: This pass, on an evening like this, 10 years ago would have had 300 vessels in here right now, ready to shrimp. You're going to see eight tonight. That's what's happened to this industry.

CALLEBS: Fuel cost and Mother Nature may be a never-ending battle, but Willis says his biggest foe is cheap shrimp pouring in from Asia.

WILLIS: Foreign industries are using cheap labor, slave labor, call it whatever you want. We can't compete.

CALLEBS: In fact, Willis says he's now forced to sell shrimp at the same price he did 15 years ago, and that's still not as cheap as the cut-rate Asian shrimp selling at $3 a pound, a price in which Willis says he wouldn't even break even.

CALLEBS (on camera): Consumers know when they're buying some seafood, like tuna, that it's dolphin safe. But human rights critics complain if you're buying something like shrimp, there's no label that it came slave-free.

LUIS CDEBACA, US AMBASSADOR ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: One of the oldest crimes in the world is alive and well in slavery.

CALLEBS (voice-over): Luis CdeBaca, the US ambassador on Human Trafficking, says the shrimp industry in Asia is one of the worst offenders. A three-year investigation by the AFL-CIO affiliated Solidarity Center and backed by the US State Department found several leading US retailers receive shrimp from plants in Thailand and Bangladesh where workers as young as eight are subject to sweatshop conditions.

CDEBACA: Men's bodies wash up routinely on the shores of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, where they've just been tossed overboard. And usually it's for asking for a fair wage, talking back to the boss, asking to be taken back to -- to -- to shore.

CALLEBS: However, not all critics agree with the report. The Aqua Culture Certification Council, an American agency that runs global certification of food safety, says the report is exaggerated and says since it came out, the industry has made a lot of improvement.

It's not only shrimp that may have links to a criminal past, but an inexpensive cotton shirt, coffee that's too cheap to be believed, and the chocolate in cookies.

Mark Horner is with Not for Sale, an organization partnering with American businesses to root out international slave labor.

MARK HORNER, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL DIRECTOR, NOT FOR SALE: What we originally thought was a $32 billion industry could be as much as a $150 billion industry, second only to the drug trade.

CALLEBS: He calls it the fastest growing crime in the world.

HORNER: I think the majority of the public doesn't want to bite into food that is filled with the blood of slaves.

CALLEBS: For Willis, the impact is all too real and he wants American consumers to ask the tough questions.

WILLIS: They've heard tales about why can they sell the shirt for five bucks if it's made in the U.S., it would cost 16? How can that be done?

CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins. CNN NEWSROOM continues with T.J. Holmes.