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American Morning
Senate Reaches Agreement on Health Care Plan; TSA Security Secrets Posted Online; Monster December Winter Storm for Several U.S. States; Cash for... Caulkers; Afghanistan Wants You; Financial Bailout Report Card; Helping Students in Need; Helping Students In Need; Nobel Trip; Lady's Gaga for the Queen
Aired December 09, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A good Wednesday morning to you. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning on this Wednesday, December the 9th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you back.
ROBERTS: Good to be back.
CHETRY: You've been traveling the world. I'm Kiran Chetry, and a lot of big stories this morning we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
One is that Senate Democrats say they have reached an agreement on health care reform. They just don't want to discuss it quite yet, not until they find out how much it will cost. We do know the deal offers no government-run public option. We'll tell you what it does contain and also what the White House is saying about it in a moment.
ROBERTS: In what is being called the biggest security breach since 9/11, the TSA's playbook on airport security was posted online for all to see, talking about among many other things the limitations of x-ray machines. How in the heck did this happen? Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is looking for answers and accountability.
CHETRY: And it's got misery written all over. It's a powerful storm system bringing deep snow, chilling winds and heavy rains to much of the nation. There are flash flood watches here in New York, blizzard warnings in Iowa and this system could be headed your way. We're live in the weather center with details.
Also this morning, a big AMERICAN MORNING exclusive to tell you about. Former Vice President Al Gore will be joining us live in our next hour. He'll be talking about his new book "Our Choice," offering his solutions to stopping global warming. And we'll also get his reaction to what's being called climate-gate, those hacked e-mails that some say call into question the very science behind global warming.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning though with Senate Democrats coming together on health care reform. Well, coming together sort of.
Majority Leader Harry Reid announcing late last night that there is an agreement in place, but he's offering no details, not until he finds out how much it's going to cost. We do know that the plan does not offer a public insurance option and because of that, we're already seeing signs of splintering in the Democratic ranks.
Our Brianna Keilar is live in Washington for us this morning. What do we know about the deal so far, Brianna? And what's the White House saying about it?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The White House -- a spokesman for the White House, John, calling this great progress, commending Democrats on finding common ground. And the details here, they aren't official, but we are expecting this alternative to the government-run option to be part private insurance, part nonprofit and part government oversight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We can't disclose the details of what we've done, but believe me we've got something that's good.
KEILAR (voice-over): If it's specifics you're looking for, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the so-called gang of ten senators who negotiated the deal aren't prepared to offer any, not until the Congressional Budget Office puts a price tag on the plan.
REID: We want to know the score before we start giving all the details even to our own members.
KEILAR: Two Democratic sources tell CNN the agreement replaces a public government-run insurance option with a private not-for-profit option. It would overseen by the federal office of Personnel Management, the same group that manages the current health plan for federal employees.
There is a mechanism in the agreement that triggers a more traditional government-run plan if the nonprofit option fails, but the compromise could be a deal-breaker for Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold. He said last night he would not support replacing the public option with a purely private approach because it wouldn't provide enough competition for insurance companies to keep their rates down.
Sources also tell CNN the deal would allow Americans 55 and older to buy into Medicare. But when reporters press for details late last night, the majority leader was less than subtle about keeping his colleagues silent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The end in sight. Well, I guess --
REID: The answer is yes. OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Now the question now is, will this compromise work out among ten Senate Democrats be enough to satisfy the entire Senate Democratic caucus, delivering those 60 votes that are needed to pass this bill? And also, will liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives, some of whom are insisting on a strong government-run insurance plan, might they refuse to support it, John?
ROBERTS: A long way from passage it would seem. Brianna Keilar for us this morning.
KEILAR: Certainly.
ROBERTS: Brianna, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Three minutes past the hour. Also new this morning, America's top commander in Afghanistan says he is confident that the president's plan to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan will win the war.
General Stanley McChrystal testified in the first of three days of hearings on Capitol Hill yesterday. He told lawmakers he's, quote, "comfortable with the entire plan" and said capturing Osama bin Laden is the key to destroying Al Qaeda's terror network.
ROBERTS: Former Vice President Dick Cheney blasting the Obama administration's decision to try the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind in Lower Manhattan near Ground Zero. Cheney telling FOX News the move is, quote, "a huge mistake" and will make Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a hero with radical Muslims," and, quote, "as important or more important than Osama bin Laden."
CHETRY: Also developing this morning, a potential how-to guide for terrorists accidentally leaked by the TSA. Somehow its airport screening manual was posting online for all to see. The TSA said that it removed the report, but is it too late?
Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington looking for answers this morning. Some strong reaction already pouring in on the story. But, Jeanne, first of all, how did this happen?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little bit of a complicated here. The Transportation Security Administration is trying to minimize the impact of the security breach, calling the document outdated, unclassified and unimplemented. But that is not stopping critics and Congress and elsewhere from blasting the agency for allowing what is essentially a checkpoint playbook to be made public. The fear is, of course, that it gives terrorists the detailed information they need to evade airport security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY INSPECTOR GENERAL: This is the most serious security breach that TSA has been involved in since 9/11 and since TSA's inception in 2002. It is really incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MESERVE: The 93-page manual laying out instructions to airports screeners reveals details like the limitations of x-ray machines and that certain orthopedic devices don't need to be checked for explosive residue. It was posted online to assist government contractors with the sensitive parts redacted, but they weren't properly protected. People familiar with the computer program were able to restore it and did.
In a statement, the TSA says, "TSA takes this matter very seriously" and took swift action when this was discovered. TSA is confident that screening procedures currently in place remain strong."
Though the TSA took the report down when it learned of the breach, it's still available in full on the Internet on non- governmental Web sites. The TSA is reviewing the matter and you can bet watchdogs in Congress are going to look at this too to try to figure out how this could have happened and how much damage has really been done -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. And so we just -- we heard just a moment ago from Clark Kent Ervin, who is the former Homeland Security inspector general calling it the most significant breach since 9/11, and yet Homeland Security and TSA sort of playing it down a little bit. Where does -- you know, where do other analysts fall in terms of how big of a breach this may be?
MESERVE: Well, there's a real split on opinion on this. Clark Kent Ervin certainly has credentials. He's saying this is very serious. But there are some other people, some of them non- governmental or former governmental people who say this manual could have been obtained elsewhere. It's distributed to airlines and others. There were other ways that someone who wanted to evade security could get hold of it.
The bottom line is, though, this is the sort of information that just should not be out there in the public domain. This is another black eye for the TSA. It's had a lot of them recently.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: Other stories new this morning, the White House party crashers, remember them? Well, they're pleading the fifth. Michaele and Tareq Salahi's lawyer says the couple will invoke their fifth amendment right and refuse to testify if subpoenaed by the House Homeland Security Committee.
The panel is investigating how the Salahis got into the state dinner without being on the guest list. The couple could also face criminal charges. The committee is expected to issue subpoenas today.
CHETRY: And the results are in from a national math test of fourth and eighth graders. And the report shows an overall increase in average scores in public schools since 2003. More than a quarter million students from 18 school districts including large cities like Boston, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., took this test. Overall, the results show there is still a significant gap between white, black, and Hispanic students. Minority students in urban areas continue to consistently rank well below the national average.
ROBERTS: And if you are a frequent flier, this probably won't surprise you. Fewer flights are arriving on time these days. The latest government reports says the 19 biggest U.S. carriers had an on- time arrival rate of 77 percent in October. That is down 10 percent from the previous month and also 10 percent lower than this time last year. Alaska Airlines recorded the industry's best on-time performance in October, Northwest had the worst.
CHETRY: Well, speaking of on-time arrivals, today may not be the day to put that to the test. It looks like this wintry mess that you're looking at across much of the nation is already meaning delays at some major airports. Chicago's O'Hare, and this is a live look right now at Worcester, Massachusetts. They're getting a pretty heavy wintry mix right now, as well. Also, we have West Madison, Wisconsin, and we can see there as well that travelers will be in for some headaches there. We see a snowplow trying to make its way out on the streets there.
So this is a large, large storm, blizzard-like conditions in some areas, flash flooding warnings in others. Our Rob Marciano is tracking all of it for us at the extreme weather center, and we'll tell you whether or not it's going to hit your area.
Eight and a half minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Eleven minutes past the hour. We check our top stories this morning. In a stunning revelation from TV journalist Bryant Gumbel (ph), the host of HBO's "Real Sport," he says he's recovering from lung cancer. He revealed his condition to a shocked Kelly Ripa yesterday while sitting in for Regis Philbin.
Gumbel says two months ago doctors took out a malignant tumor and also part of his lung. Gumbel says he only told Ripa to explain why he couldn't dance with her during a segment on the show. Gumbel admits that he used to smoke three packs a day but quit more than 30 years ago. He said he's meeting with his surgeon and oncologist next week.
ROBERTS: Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is a giant step closer to filling Ted Kennedy's vacant Senate seat. Coakley defeated three Democratic opponents in Tuesday's primary. State Senator Scott Brown won the Republican race. Coakley will be heavily favored when the two face off in a special election on January the 19th to finish out the late Ted Kennedy's term. If Coakley wins, she will become the state's first woman senator.
CHETRY: And the White House is delivering its pitch to Congress for the federal government to regulate and oversee all of the country's subway and light rail systems. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the move is necessary pointing to a series of deadly accidents including the one, you may remember, in D.C. when two metro trains collided in June. Nine people were killed in that tragedy. Federal officials say that the plan could triple or quadruple the number of transit safety monitors across the country.
We still have 12 days technically on the calendar until it's officially winter, but this morning a large part of the U.S. is being hit by snow, high winds ice and rain.
ROBERTS: Well, to give you an idea of just how big this storm system is, right now the clouds stretch from Mississippi all the way up to Massachusetts. This late autumn storm, yes, it's still autumn, shutting down schools, coating roads and putting a deep-freeze on air travel today. A lot of delays out there.
Rob Marciano is tracking all the extreme weather. He's in the weather center in Atlanta.
Good morning, sir.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran. You're right about this one.
It is a large one for sure. Every year in December it seems like we get a storm that either hits California hard or hits Colorado hard or hits the plains hard. This one has hit all three. It has come early, and it's a big one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope everyone has a lot of hot cocoa in their cupboards right now.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Folks in Chicago bracing for the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's Chicago. It's December. And you expect it.
MARCIANO: The Windy City getting walloped today by freezing cold and more snow. Hundreds of flights already delayed or straight-up canceled. This storm is a monster. By tomorrow night, all but the deepest of the south will have gotten a taste of it. For the east, that means stocking up on the essentials before it's too late. As for the Midwest, cue the snowplow. The damage is mostly done. The storm causing whiteout conditions throughout the Midwest, making for some slow going. And for those who ignored the warnings, plenty of fender benders and spinouts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in a ditch once, blew a tire, had to get pulled out.
MARCIANO: In some cases, much worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The unfortunate part is that they end up in a ditch or (INAUDIBLE), and we're not going to be able to help out much.
MARCIANO: And problems lingering around for the country. In California, farmers waiting to see what the unusually cold temperatures did to the important citrus crop. And in New Mexico where winds topped out at 100 miles an hour, they're just worried about trying to keep a roof over their heads.
If you look closely at the security camera, you can see a gust lift the roof off a business and drop it right on the street.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Tremendous winds all around this system, and it is not mostly done. I got a little ahead of myself. Actually, there's nine -- parts of nine states that are under a blizzard warning right now. Fifteen inches so far in Madison, Wisconsin. Des Moines seeing over a foot. Rockport, Missouri seeing over a foot as well. So this storm not only has a cold side but a warm severe side.
A couple of tornado watches down across the south in effect for the next couple of hours. The northeast you're getting it right now. Some wet snow along the I-95 corridor, but it looks like most of the accumulating snow will be north and west of the I-95 corridor, but we could see 8 to 10 inches in some parts of northern New England and upstate New York.
As far as travel delays are concerned today, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, snow and wind, Boston, New York, D.C, Philly, at least an hour because of rain and wind and just plain old wind once the rains move out across parts of Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta. This thing now finally making inroads to the Great Lakes but it will be another day, day and a half, John and Kiran, before we get rid of it entirely, and it's a doozy, a full-on blizzard and still into the first week of December.
Back to you guys.
ROBERTS: And -- and given the fact, Rob, that there's an El Nino out there, can we expect that we're going to see a lot more of this in the winter?
MARCIANO: You know, El Nino will certainly bring some storms to the West Coast. This has -- it has that bit of signature, but as far as what happens on the East Coast, a lot of that has to do with what's going on in the Northern Atlantic and that oscillation and things there at least point to not so much this kind of track.
This sort of track keeps things obviously a little bit warmer for you folks, but we'll as the winter progresses. We're just getting started. I'm sure there'll have more than one nor'easter to bring you guys snow across parts of (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Oh, yes. Well, the kids are celebrating, that's for sure, because a lot of school districts are saying either two-hour delay or stay home today and grab a sled.
Rob Marciano, thanks.
ROBERTS: I remember 1996 I think we had 21 nor'easters in a single season. It was just incredible.
CHETRY: I -- I remember that as well because trying to make your way across campus, forget it. You're slipping on the ice constantly. It was some fun times, though.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. Sure.
CHETRY: Well, hey, you remember Cash for Clunkers, right? What about Cash for Caulkers? As a homeowner, you may get...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
CBS pulling the plug on "As the World Turns" after 54 years. The show will air its final episode next September.
"As the World Turns" was the last remaining daytime soap opera that was made by Proctor and Gamble, the company who coined the phrase "soap operas." Some of the shows famous alumni include James Earl Jones, Meg Ryan and Marisa Tomei.
Just a few months ago, CBS ended "The Guiding Light" after 72 years.
CHETRY: Who knew that was a pathway to becoming an Oscar winner someday?
ROBERTS: I -- I guess daytime talk is taking over from the soap operas.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And reality shows are much cheaper to produce, I think. Reality shows, and -- and people are watching stuff on demand.
I mean, the whole daytime economics is so interesting.
CHETRY: Much cheaper (ph) than the soap operas, though, right?
ROMANS: Yes, well, they've been doing them now on handheld cameras, trying to cut costs and stuff. But when "Guiding Light" left, a lot of people said, wow, that really said -- after 72 years. I mean, it started on the radio, you know?
I mean, this was a real kind of mass culture genre...
CHETRY: My grandmother used to call them "her stories". "I have to listen to my stories today."
ROMANS: I know. I -- I watched "The Price Is Right" right into all the CBS News when I was a little girl. Sorry, mom.
CHETRY: That's all right.
So you're talking about -- we talked about Cash for Clunkers, which was a successful program, the government trying to get, you know, to get auto sales going again and do something for the economy at the same time. How about Cash for Caulkers?
ROMANS: Cash for Caulkers. That's right. Now, think of this. This could be $24,000. You go out and you buy insurance -- insurance. You go and buy insulation, you buy windows, you buy a -- a dishwasher to replace the leaky, you feel inefficient dishwasher that you have. You could spend up to $24,000 and you could get half of that back.
That's what the president is proposing in these Cash for Caulkers rebates. It would be rebates for homeowners for their own home efficiency progress and -- projects and also for companies in the renewable energy and efficiency field. So this could be manufacturers and industrial companies that are -- are going green or are green.
So here's how it works. This is what you would get, a 50 percent rebate on appliances and installation and up to $12,000 per household.
I'm not kidding. This could be a lot of money going into the economy for a couple of reasons. There are many people who have money and who own a home who aren't in trouble who have been very cautious over the past couple of years. This could be something that causes them to go out there and do a big upgrade.
CHETRY: Is there an income cap on this or can anyone do it?
ROMANS: Kiran, at this point, there are no income caps. At this point -- and remember, this is just a proposal. The president didn't have a lot of details, but this is what the people who've been advising the president have been telling us about the -- about the plans.
We don't know if it would be a tax rebate or if you have to put all the money up up-front. All that remains to be worked out. But the hope -- even Dow -- the company Dow -- said this would help their (INAUDIBLE) from installation sales, their sealant sales. You think about all the different things out there.
I mean, if you had a leaky dishwasher, a washer and drier that you want to replace...
CHETRY: Yes, I do.
ROMANS: Right. This would be half of it, half of the money back. I mean, that could be a -- that could really cause people -- maybe $10 billion. We don't know how much it would cost taxpayers yet, but maybe a $10 billion program.
ROBERTS: I spent $10 to weather-strip the door to my apartment the other day. Does that count?
ROMANS: That would count.
CHETRY: You can get $5 back, John.
ROMANS: Keep your receipt. I'll find out if you can submit it.
ROBERTS: You got a Numeral this morning?
ROMANS: I do. It's 20 percent.
So there's two kinds of savings.
CHETRY: Give us a hint (ph).
ROMANS: There's the savings that you get back from the rebate, and then there's another savings from the more fuel-efficient home.
CHETRY: Oh, your energy bills, 20 percent of your energy bills?
ROMANS: Yes. It would be a 20 percent savings on your annual energy bill. It could be a 20 percent savings on your annual energy bills.
ROBERTS: Wow! That could be big.
ROMANS: So, plugging up all the holes and trying to be more energy efficient. It could be real money for people. Real money for people.
ROBERTS: Get out there with your little can of spray foam, huh?
ROMANS: I know. I should have brought a caulking gun, you know? Those are so cool.
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: You probably got a holster for it, too.
Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning. Thanks so much.
They are an integral, crucial should we say, part of the plan for the United States to eventually pull out of Afghanistan. Afghan forces, the army, the military. We need to get recruits. Are they out there? And -- and how well can they be trained up? What is the potential here?
Our Atia Abawi with a CNN "A.M. Exclusive" for you coming right up.
It's 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
When they stand up, we can stand down. You heard that in Iraq where a national security force is now taking hold. And now, in Afghanistan.
Yesterday General Stanley McChrystal told Congress that training tens of thousands of additional capable Afghan soldiers is crucial to American success in Afghanistan. But the biggest fight with the enemy may be for the people's loyalty.
Our Atia Abawi is live for us. She's in Kabul, Afghanistan this morning with this AM Original. Good morning, Atia.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Well, the clock is ticking on President Obama's plan to start handing over greater responsibilities to the Afghan forces. The plan is to actually increase the Afghan National Army, up to 134,000 troops by October of 2010, when we actually went on the streets of Kabul with the army recruiters to see what kind of progress they're making.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABAWI (voice-over): Cold, desperate and hungry -- the perfect recruits. Recruits that the Taliban want, but these men are being drafted by another group.
Every morning the Afghan National Army, known as the ANA, heads to the streets of Kabul looking for potential soldiers. Some are willing.
"We want to be of service, spend our time working in Afghanistan," says Korm Omad (ph), "so we don't have to wander around in other countries like Iran or Pakistan looking for work."
But others are not so interested. "They wouldn't give me a good enough salary to join the army," Nakeeb (ph) says. "My job is better than being a soldier. At least I wouldn't be harassed here."
The government recently increased the pay of soldiers and police by 40 percent, enticing men who are struggling to provide for their families. Soldiers can make as much as $250 a month if they are in the heat of battle, in the hot spots of the Afghan war. It's not going to make them rich, but at least it's steady money, although less than what some Taliban groups will pay.
The ANA is doing everything it can to enlist, going to the streets and the airwaves. But it's a long way to this from this.
ABAWI (on camera): Despite the disheveled an unkempt appearance, doctors say that these men are fit to fight. Out of the 1,500 who have come through this processing center in the last couple of days, only 25 were rejected on medical grounds.
ABAWI (voice-over): These men are going through a life-changing experience. Most of them can't read or write, let alone understand what they're doing today with the physicals, biometrics and paperwork.
The question remains -- is this more about quantity rather than quality?
President Obama has stated that he expects the ANA numbers to grow up to 134,000 by the fall of 2010, taking some of the burden off the international forces in the country. And Afghan commanders say they will do just that, not because the Americans want them to, but because eventually they want to take charge of their own land.
"This was something that was started by our forefathers," Colonel Hakim (ph) says. "We have to protect our own country."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABAWI: The highest paid private in the battlefield here in Afghanistan gets around $250 a month, and that comes after a pay raise.
Let's compare that to the other groups. General Stanley McChrystal yesterday testified that some Taliban groups are paying their fighters at least $300 a month, and there's private security companies here paying $500 a month.
Now, the question that remains is if you're a starving Afghan desperate to feed his family, what option will you choose? John.
ROBERTS: More battle for wallets than hearts and minds.
Atia Abawi for us in Kabul this morning. Atia, great report. Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Coming up on half past the hour right now, a look at your top stories.
Congressional investigators say the Food and Drug Administration has failed to follow recommendations to improve the way it monitors the safety of prescription drugs. Those recommendations were made three years ago after the FDA was forced to pull the painkiller Vioxx off of the market for links to heart attacks and strokes.
A government report says the FDA still relies too heavily on scientists who approve drugs instead of those who monitor their side effects.
ROBERTS: Iran threatening a tougher crackdown against protestors, tens of thousands of students taking parts in demonstrators since Monday. Police and pro-government militias storming crowds, firing tear gas. More than 200 people were arrest in Tehran. Iran's top prosecutor says further unrest will not be tolerated.
CHETRY: And a steady stream of immigrants giving many of the nation's cities a population boost, a new study by the Brookings Institution says that keeping the numbers in places like L.A. and New York from falling as more native-born Americans move inland looking for jobs and more affordable housing. It could also keep states like California, Illinois and New York from losing a seat in the House of Representatives.
Well it's been more than a year since President Bush signed off on the $700 billion federal bailout known TARP. It was a risky investment. The big banks that were starting to pay taxpayers back, but what about Main Street's problems? We're still dealing with double digit unemployment and one in eight homes in some stage of foreclosure. Also the small businesses, these are the places that hire, they're caught in a lending crunch. Joining me now to talk more about all of this, Elizabeth Warren -- she is the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP, also a professor at Harvard Law School and her panel will be releasing their latest report about TARP today -- Elizabeth thanks for being with us.
ELIZABETH WARREN, CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PANEL FOR T.A.R.P.: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: So you're going to be appearing before Congress to talk about TARP today. What do you plan to tell Congress regarding whether or not this program has been a success?
WARREN: Well, we're going to start out with the fact that the program in one sense has been a huge success. Remember where we were a little over a year ago. The economy seemed to be hurdling toward the abyss, depression looked like it was in our future and TARP was an important part of a strong government response, along with the Fed, along with the FDIC, and along with the stimulus package.
It held up a big sign to America and to the rest of the world that said, in effect, we are not going to let our economy collapse. Things calmed down. The markets stopped plunging. People got some confidence and so we began to stabilize. So in that sense TARP gets a real thumbs-up. Now the problem of course is that TARP was not designed solely to pump up a bunch of large financial institutions. That was supposed to be done in order to deal with other problems in the economy...
CHETRY: Right.
WARREN: ... with foreclosures, with lack of credit to small businesses.
CHETRY: And let me ask you a little bit about that because the report out today from your panel suggests that while TARP has been good for Wall Street not necessarily for Main Street, that just five percent of TARP money has actually gone to help small business and consumer lending, so why the lag in those areas?
WARREN: You know, we evidently got very, very good at shoveling hundreds of billions of dollars into large financial institutions, pretty much on a no-questions-asked basis. But when it came to putting money on Main Street, when it came to dealing with mortgage foreclosures and small business lending, boy, it was hard to turn loose at the nickels. And it just quite frankly just hasn't happened in anything like the way it happened for Wall Street.
CHETRY: And that's the question a lot of people have. There are a few articles that are out today questioning whether or not it sends the message that too big to fail means you can keep doing what you're doing at these big banks and the government will bail you out. However, if you're one of these smaller banks and you're in competition and you have with the big banks, plus you have all this exposure to the homeowner situation and to the credit crunch, we're going to let you fail. A hundred and thirty banks so far this week, some of the small regional banks that are responsible for lending to small businesses, out of luck. What can we do to change that or what message are you going to send today about how that should change?
WARREN: Yes. Well, first thing we want to do is exactly what you said, and that is highlight that we're all standing around celebrating, Bank of America is going to pay back, other large institutions have paid back the money. And sure, it's good to get the money back. But what they're not giving us back is the implicit guarantee. That is, if they get into trouble in the future, what most investors believe is that the taxpayer will be forced to rush back in and rescue them. And that causes real problems in the economy.
It makes it cheaper for them to attract investments and it makes them take on riskier investments than they otherwise would. So what this really means is that what's going on, on Capitol Hill, what we call regulatory reform...
CHETRY: Right.
WARREN: ... building the failure part of the system, what I think of as the bankruptcy part of the system, it's called resolution authority, building that part of the system, the system that will put us in a position where we can credibly say, if you mess up badly enough, you can be liquidated.
CHETRY: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But you know what, a lot of people have the question why didn't we do this when we -- when they were much more willing to listen because they needed taxpayer money to remain viable to even be a business? Now we're trying to say it after the fact.
WARREN: It is the right question. There is a deep eye-ringing (ph) in the fact that we pumped billions of dollars into these large financial institutions and they are now spending substantial amounts of money lobbying Congress to make sure that the rules are not changed. We seem to have a perfect circle here that always benefits the large financial institutions and not the American family.
CHETRY: I know you're going to talk about that a little bit later today when you go before that -- the congressional committee, but also I want to touch on the rising foreclosures. You mentioned them as well. You said that we could see as many as 13 million foreclosures, yet under TARP lenders modified 10,000 mortgages, 13 million foreclosures possibly in our future, 10,000 mortgages. Why hasn't this huge problem been tackled more effectively?
WARREN: Well, we've been raising concerns about the foreclosure portion of the TARP plan almost from the beginning, and our deepest concerns are that the program itself is just misdesigned. That it can't scale up, that it doesn't have the kind of scope it needs, and that it doesn't provide permanent solutions to the problems but just kicks the can on down the road.
We have a program right now to deal with foreclosures that largely is directed toward the subprimes that were going into default about a year ago. So it's a program to fix the problem as it existed back then and not a program to deal with the problem as it exists now.
CHETRY: Right.
WARREN: And that is frankly we didn't get ahead of the problem, the mortgage foreclosure problem back then and get it stopped so what it's done is it's ballooned. And it's gone out into prime mortgages. It's gone all the way across the country, and it keeps getting larger. And the government response is simply not big enough, not fast enough.
CHETRY: Right and so real quick before we let you go, there's talk of possibly expanding TARP, taking it to 2010 with the purpose of using it to help homeowners and to free up credit for small businesses. Do you know anything about that, about whether or not the administration is going to push to continue it?
WARREN: Well I think that that will be an announcement that will be coming soon, whether or not Treasury is going to do that, but, you know, if they do make this announcement, that gives us a good moment to pause and evaluate TARP. If we make the decision, if the secretary of the Treasury makes the decision to go forward, it can't be TARP as usual. It needs to be that we back up and get some real focus on the programs that will help Main Street. Without that, we should not be spending TARP money.
CHETRY: All right, Elizabeth Warren, great insight this morning, Congressional Oversight Panel chair. Thanks for being with us.
WARREN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Told you a difficult story on Thanksgiving Day about a school where a lot of students were coming in, they didn't have enough clothes to wear. They didn't have enough food to eat. Well CNN viewers make a difference. Wait until you hear what's going on there now.
And coming up in less than a half an hour's time, former Vice President Al Gore, he's headed to the Copenhagen Climate Conference next week, but first of all he stops by here on the "Most News in the Morning" to tell us what he thinks will happen during the climate conference and what about all of those e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit, Climategate, what kind of an impact will that have on public perception of the science? Al Gore coming up right up, it's 39 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Forty-two minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning". We have an "A.M." follow-up for you now. Back on Thanksgiving we told you about one school in Las Vegas that needed some help. Too many kids were showing up for class hungry, wearing old, worn-out clothing. Well that story had a huge impact on many of you.
ROBERTS: The school has had all kinds of offers for help and donations since we first aired this emotional story. We're going to tell you about the generosity in a minute, but first another look at Dan Simon's report.
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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are chefs from some of the fanciest hotels in Las Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
SIMON: But today they are serving breakfast at Whitney Elementary, part of a nonprofit initiative to eliminate malnutrition and hunger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what do we say when we're very grateful and very fortunate?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Thank you!
SIMON: School principal sherry Gahn (ph) says it's a healthy and memorable meal for students who don't have much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which one?
SIMON: That's because the school estimates that as many as 85 percent of the 600 or so students are homeless, living in cheap motels with friends or in shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Literally, my every waking moment I think about, what else do I need to do?
SIMON: When Gahn (ph) arrived here seven years ago, she says children were devouring ketchup packets to fill empty stomachs. Clearly they weren't getting enough food, so she set out to do something about it, a mission that came from personal pain.
SHERRIE GAHN, PRINCIPAL, WHITNEY ELEMENTARY: And I was raised in poverty. My mother went to a local organization at one point. My mother actually asked for food and clothes, and they turned us down. And I saw how devastated she was.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get your food honey.
SIMON: Gahn vowed her families at Whitney would never be turned down. She twisted arms and begged for donations, opening a one of a kind school supply closet, part food bank, part clothing supply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got some pants, some shirts, some new shoes, and some new socks.
SIMON (on camera): A lot of these kids come from such challenging circumstances that there's no money at home to even celebrate birthdays. So once a month the school throws a giant birthday party for all the kids who had birthdays that month. There's pizza. There's cake, and even some presents to take home.
(voice-over): Hairstylists donate haircuts. And dentists donate dental care. When a family comes up short for something like a utility bill, the school, through donations, can help with that, too.
SHIRLEY HERNANDEZ, STUDENT'S GRANDMOTHER: Last year we didn't have Christmas. They gave us Christmas. This year we're going to hardly have Christmas, but they're going to give us Christmas. They've helped us a lot and so I got to donate my time here to, you know, to show how much I appreciate the people here.
SIMON: And that's what Gahn expects, that parents give something back by volunteering.
(on camera): At the end of the day, what is it that you wish for these children?
GAHN: I want them to have that sense of norm that a lot of families grow up in America having, that they don't get.
SIMON: On this morning they do get attention from the city's best chefs, for many it will be the best meal they've had in a while. For Sherrie Gahn, it's another small victory for her students.
Dan Simon, CNN, Las Vegas.
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ROBERTS: Well we wanted to see what has happened since that first aired back on Thanksgiving Day, so we contacted Sherrie Gahn. Apparently people have really dug deep on this one. Parents have received so far $74,150. That one woman alone that we profiled received more than $6,600, so.
CHETRY: Just amazing.
ROBERTS: People coming through.
CHETRY: A lot of people here just said, this is America? I mean, it's hard to imagine 85% of those students in their are homeless, but anyway, our Dan Simon did an incredible piece on that, and we'll keep you updated as we head throughout the holiday season as well. A lot of generous people out there as well, so thank you.
And still ahead -- we have an a.m. exclusive. Former Vice President (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Al Gore is going to be joining us live. He has a new book out, "Our Choice." It is almost a follow-up, if you will, to "An Inconvenient Truth." He talks about solutions to our climate problems, and we're also going to talk to him about ClimateGate as well as what he hopes comes out of Copenhagen. We'll be back in just a moment. Forty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty-nine minutes past the hour. Time to fast forward through the stories we're following today on CNN.
President Obama is headed to Oslo tonight to receive his noble peace prize. Before he leaves, he has a full schedule of events at the White House including a Bipartisan meeting with Congressional leaders.
It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since Bernard Madoff was arrested, but today, a senate subcommittee is going to be holding its third hearing, investigating his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Witnesses will include one of Madoff's victims and also officials from the securitie and exchange commission.
And Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will be going before the senate judiciary committee today for an oversight hearing this morning, but we'll be watching to see if she gets questions about the leaked TSA airport screening manual that's being called a potential how-to guide for terrorists. As we know, that story broke yesterday, but a lot of questions as to how this made it on the internet and what the implications are for the TSA.
ROBERTS: I guess they tried to electronically redact sections of it, and when people copied and pasted it, suddenly, the reductions showed back up, and it goes to show that sometimes the old method is the best if they had taken a sharpy and just kind of crossed it out and then scanned it, would have been fine.
These days, it seems like cell phones can do just about everything, take photos, e-mails, playing music, but how about one that can read printed words out loud? That technology being marketed to people who are blind. Our Gary Tuchman takes us to the "Edge of Discovery."
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Blind since birth, but that doesn't stop Jim Gashel from reading just about anything he can get his hands on. How does he do it? Jim uses a powerful cell phone rigged up to read. Yes, read. A book, a dinner menu, the money in his pocket.
JIM GASHEL, VP, K-NFB READING TECHNOLOGY: If I'm in a hotel room, and I need to know the difference between the conditioner and the shampoo or the conditioner and the mouthwash, no problem.
TUCHMAN: It's called the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader.
GASHEL: I now think of myself as a person who can read print, and I never did that before.
TUCHMAN: The Reader has been out for almost two years, a new version has just been released that can recognize the colors of James' clothes.
And even translates Spanish to English.
It doesn't recognize objects yet, but Jim says it's coming soon. He works for the company.
GASHEL: We call this technology life changing, and it really is. In the future, we will be recognizing things. It's small things that add up to a lot.
TUCHMAN: So while the Reader's price tag of as little as $1400 may sound expensive to some, to others it's priceless. Gary Tuchman, CNN.
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ROBERTS: Wow, pretty amazing stuff.
CHETRY: It is.
ROBERTS: Former Vice President Al Gore is in the house. He joins us live in about ten minutes time, so actually not more like 15, so stay with us. We'll be talking to him about the Copenhagen climate conference which he's attending next week and as well as ClimateGate. All of those e-mails that were hacked out of that research unit in England. Vice President Al Gore coming up in just a few minutes. Stay with us. It's 52 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Talk about your odd couples, Lady Gaga and Queen Elizabeth, the pop star met the British monarch the other day, and Jeanne Moos got her particular take on this royal culture clash.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Lady Gaga meets the queen, what's a girl to wear? How about that white latex number from the bad romance video. No, quite even seen a queen or that red gartery looking outfit, but the queen would see too much of Lady Gaga or the revolving thing, but that could bump the queen. Wonder what Madonna wore. Hmm. Classy black. That settles it.
MADONNA: Latex and fishnets.
MOOS: Watch the queen give Lady Gaga the once-over. Lady Gaga curtsies. They maintained eye contact, which can be tricky when you're looking into eyes painted like a panda's, but at least Lady Gaga didn't get down on the floor and crawl or fall. As she did recently performing in Montreal, and to think that Michelle Obama got flak from some who thought she was too casually dressed when she met the queen and for touching her royal highness.
MOOS (on-camera): Lady Gaga didn't play it safe. She stuck her neck out, literally.
MOOS (voice-over): On her web site, you can see the Elizabethen collar she wore when she performed at the royal variety show benefit, just like the collar Elizabeth the first wore. Queens are nothing new for Lady Gaga. They impersonate her all the time. When she performed at the human rights campaign, she even got a shout-out from the President.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a privilege to be here tonight to open for Lady Gaga.
MOOS: Now here she is with the queen. It's like someone from star wars meeting someone from earth, read one post. She looks like a tube of lipstick said another. She opted not to wear her famous bird nest headgear some mocked as alien wear.
At least she didn't dare to wear her fire-shooting bosom. That could have left the queen with third-degree burns.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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ROBERTS: You now, I'll admit that there's something strangely fascinating about her.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: But, I mean, it's all image and marketing.
CHETRY: Of course it is, but they say it's forced other performers to up their game when they're performing live because, I mean, she puts on quite a show.
ROBERTS: It's almost hearkening back to the days of theatrical rock, you know, when Queen was doing it and kiss and David Bowie and all of that.
CHETRY: All of that.
ROBERTS: Everything old is new again and making tons of money.
CHETRY: Right, and you know what, it reminds me of -- when Pope John Paul II met with those break dancers; the break dancers were performing in front of him? That made for an interesting juxtaposition there. Don't know quite what to make of that.
ROBERTS: What is a pope to make of that?
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING exclusive. We have Vide President Al Gore joining us live. He has a new book out about climate change solutions. It's called "Our Choice". We're going to talk to him, about that, a little bit about the ClimateGate scandal and also and what he hopes comes out of the Copenhagen conference. We'll be back. Two minutes before the top of the hour.
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