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American Morning
Obama Considering Sweeping Deficit Action; U.S. Healthcare Bill Passage; U.S. Soldiers Receive 160,000 Pounds of Mail; Chicago Public School Threats; Saving Las Vegas; U2 Tour Rakes in the Cash
Aired December 16, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Wednesday, the 16th of December. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning.
Good to have you with us. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
We have some big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes. First up, a CNN exclusive, new details of President Obama's unprecedented plan to tackle the deficit, sweeping tax hikes maybe on the table.
Our Ed Henry joining us with details.
ROBERTS: It is crunch time. Right now, Senate Democrats are reworking the health care bill to save it from going under. The president would like reform by the end of this year. But with Democrats still divided, is that even possible?
We'll break it down with Democratic strategist James Carville and former White House chief of staff, Andy Card.
CHETRY: Plus, for teens in the nation's toughest neighborhoods, a trip to school can sometimes turn into a fight for their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd be scared because I ignore people. When they turn to talk to me, I just keep walking. And that makes people so mad these days, people would do anything. I'd be feeling like they're going to pull out a gun and shoot me from the back. So when I keep walking, I always do like this, you know, keep looking back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It's part of our week-long look at teens and violence. Our T.J. Holmes walks the streets of Chicago South Side with two high school students to see up close the dangers they face. That's ahead in our A.M. original series, "Walk in My Shoes."
But we begin with a CNN exclusive: President Obama considering unprecedented steps to pay down a ballooning deficit. The Obama administration expects the 2010 federal deficit to be a record $1.5 trillion.
Now, CNN has learned that he is considering an executive order just to come up with ideas on how to pay it down, and they would include possible big tax increases. This comes as another enormous spending bill is sitting on his desk.
Our chief White House correspondent, Ed Henry, has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Documents obtained by CNN reveal the president is privately considering an executive order that would create an outside commission to weigh sweeping tax increases and deep spending cuts to programs like Medicare that affects millions of Americans -- all aimed the slashing the deficit, which the president has promised to tackle after the economic recovery takes hold.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm looking forward to working with the group of leaders that I just met today about how we can structure a plausible scenario to get to medium and long-term deficit reduction.
HENRY: The documents suggest a split within the administration. Some advisers arguing the commission should have a narrow mandate because it's too complicated to tackle reform of Social Security, taxes and Medicare all at once. But other advisers, according to the documents, believe there should be, quote, "everything on the table."
SEN. JUDD GREGG (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: We are on a path to bankruptcy as a nation and it's that simple.
HENRY: The White House is facing heavy pressure from senators threatening to block a large increase in the nation's debt ceiling unless the president signs on to their version of a deficit commission.
SEN. KENT CONRAD (R), NORTH DAKOTA: I believe a defining moment -- 27 senators, 12 Democrats, 15 Republicans, have signed on in just a matter of hours.
HENRY: The Senate version of the commission would give 10 Democrats and eight Republicans power to study the problem and then vote after the midterm elections on a reform package that could include dramatic tax hikes and spending cuts. If 14 of the 18 members approve the package, giving it a bipartisan nod, it would force an automatic up-or-down vote in both the House and Senate.
White House officials meanwhile are considering their own version of the commission with more Obama officials on the panel to give the president more control -- though the documents obtained by CNN warn that also brings political risk, quote, "the promise of greater say over the deliberations and final product of the commission, but the peril of being more deeply implicated in the event of failure."
(on camera): There's fear among some of the president's advisers that handing so much power to an outside commission could be dangerous. What if they recommend raising taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year? Breaking an Obama campaign promise.
But other advisers say that this bipartisan commission could give the president the political cover to make the tough decisions necessary to cut the deficit.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, "Time" magazine's Person of the Year was announced just minutes ago and it is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, even though he's been criticized at times for not doing enough and other times for having too much power. "Time" says it chose him for his leading role in stabilizing the financial system and for deciding to do whatever it takes to avoid another Great Depression. He always gave us the acronym TARP. And, of course, we thank him for that.
Christine Romans is here now with more on Ben Bernanke and the choice of him as the Person of the Year.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And "Time" calls him the most powerful nerd on the planet. And I never thought he was a nerd. So, I guess that's more about all of us -- all of us out there who cover him who've been watching this man who's been hailed as a depression scholar, who averted a second depression.
But now, the hard part comes, and even the fed, inside the halls and the walls of the fed, they have been doing deep and very serious discussions about how they're going to exit all of this money, all of these programs, all of this extraordinary effort to keep the economy afloat now comes the hard part and the scholars who look at financial crises, they say what happens next -- what Ben Bernanke and his team do next, that will really decide whether we've averted a second depression.
CHETRY: Yes. And there's a fascinating article about how, you know, it would appear that your problem would be solved, the banks paid back the money, but it ended up posing bigger problems because even though we've seen the banks have recovered, at least the big banks...
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: We haven't seen the same with Main Street, foreclosures and up employment. So that's another -- you know, it's changing before they can get a handle on it.
ROMANS: And, Ben Bernanke, everything that we're talking about what he has done is completely outside of TARP. He has spent trillions of dollars outside of TARP on programs to push money into the economy to try to protect the financial system and that -- I mean, we talk about the $700 billion, oh, boy, everybody, there's so much more money than $700 billion.
CHETRY: What is it, $3 trillion?
ROMANS: I think it's $6 trillion. When you look at all of the programs, it's more than $6 trillion.
ROBERTS: Yes. All you got to do is look at the deficit and add it all up.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Christine Romans this morning -- Ben Bernanke, again, "Time" magazine's Person of the Year.
This morning, after months of talk, heated arguments, finger- pointing and dire warning, it's do or die for health care reform. Support for the bill is so fragile that changes to satisfy one senator may end up costing President Obama the support of another. So, yesterday, the president summoned Senate Democrats to the White House to let them know it's impossible to please everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The final bill won't include everything that everybody wants. No bill can do that. But what I told my former colleagues today is that we simply cannot allow differences over individual elements of this plan to prevent us from meeting our responsibility to solve a longstanding and urgent problem for the American people. They are waiting for us to act. They are counting on us to show leadership. And I don't intend to let them down and neither do the people standing next to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president says he is, quote, "cautiously optimistic" that Congress can get this done. The big question this morning, though: will a final bill actually make it to the president's desk? And if it does, will it be so watered down that no one will be happy? We'll break it down with Democratic strategist James Carville and former White House chief of staff, Andy Card.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, the White House is trying to explain how another pair of uninvited guests got in and got close to the president. They weren't exactly crashers, though. This time, there were two tourists from Georgia, Harvey and Paula Darden, and they were apparently let into an invitation-only Veterans Day breakfast. They met the president as well as the first lady.
The White House tells CNN they did it as a, quote, "nice gesture" for a couple that showed up a day early for their tour. They went through all the appropriate security screenings and they say that they were just expecting the tour and ended up in the White House East Room, felt a little out of place because he says he was the only man there without a coat and tie. It turns out he did belong just as much as anyone else because he's a vet.
ROBERTS: Yes. That was a nice gesture, wasn't it?
Well, developing right now, Iran claims to have had successfully test-fired a missile capable of reaching parts of Europe. Iranian state television broke the news this morning. It's a surface-to- surface missile. It's got a reported range of about 1,200 miles. That would put Israel and several American military bases within reach.
CHETRY: Well, it's another close call for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. According to reports out of Italy, a young man with mental problems reached the floor of the hospital where Berlusconi is recovering. Police in Milan questioned the 26-year-old who reportedly also had kitchen knives among other items in his bag.
Well, there is the picture of the prime minister after he suffered a broken nose and teeth in Sunday's attack by another man said to have mental problems in the past. This was at a public rally in Milan. The prime minister is expected to leave the hospital today.
ROBERTS: More than 100 activists were arrested for trying to break into a U.N. conference on global warming in Copenhagen. Police say protestors were trying to take over the conference and turn it into a people's assembly. One hundred and ninety-three nations are trying to hammer out a deal to combat global warming. President Obama is scheduled to appear at the summit on Friday.
CHETRY: And Washington City Council is voting to legalize same- sex marriage and D.C.'s mayor promising to sign that bill. The measure passed easily, 11 to two. But the bill still has to go to Capitol Hill because Congress has the final say over the district's laws. Gay marriage opponents say they will try to get lawmakers to overturn the measure.
ROBERTS: And the Coast Guard is trying to rescue an 80-year-old man who set sail from Houston 10 days ago and never returned. The unidentified man and his 34-foot sailboat were discovered yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico, 115 miles from the Texas mainland. Coast Guard officials launched a chopper and rescue planes yesterday after receiving a distress call from the vessel in the morning.
And there he is being hauled up to the helicopter.
CHETRY: Lucky guy.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, you can imagine you're out there in the middle of nowhere and your boat breaks down and the best thing you could ever see would be a Coast Guard helicopter.
The best thing you could see here in the Most News in the Morning, James Carville and Andy Card -- coming up next.
Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It is 12 minutes after the hour.
We have a blank screen in front of us, but it will soon be filled with cheery people.
Andy Card, former White House chief of staff, and James Carville, are joining us this morning to talk about what could be a defining week for President Obama on health care. The president says he is, quote, "cautiously optimistic" that the Senate can agree on reform, but DNC chairman, Howard Dean, says without a public option, the best thing that the Senate can do right now is to kill the bill.
There's James and his smiling face coming to us this morning from New Orleans.
James, good to see you.
And Andy Card there in Washington. Do we have you, Mr. Card, are you with us?
ANDY CARD, FMR. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I hope so. I can see you on my screen.
ROBERTS: All right. Terrific.
CARD: Yes.
ROBERTS: Yes, we had a little technical problem there in Washington, surprise, surprise.
Let me ask you, we're going to talk about health care, but let me ask the two of you -- first of all, this report that Ed Henry had just a moment ago, and I hope that you heard it, that the president may sign an executive order striking an outside commission to look into how to pay down the deficit, spending cuts and massive tax increases.
James, what do you think is coming down the pike here?
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think that they're getting ready to come out with a budget I think sometime in February and look at what happened to the euro. You pick up the paper this morning and it's starting to lose value. And I think they're getting concerned that a lot of people who are buying our debt want to know that we're going to do something to bend the curve, or whatever the jargon is that they use.
So I wouldn't be surprised -- I'm not surprised that they're trying to take some action here.
ROBERTS: Andy Card, what do you think might be coming down the pike?
CARD: Well, I actually believe Washington, D.C. needs a serious dose of discipline. And I do think these efforts started in the Senate with Senator Conrad and Judd Gregg, actually, will introduce some discipline in what the president is doing. He's saying, "I've got my discipline plan." But Washington desperately needs some discipline, they've got to get away from funding wants and focusing on funding only needs and putting the wants aside. Spending is out of control and they need the discipline.
ROBERTS: All right. Let's dovetail over here to health care. And as we said, James, at the beginning of this, Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said, he hates the Senate plan, scrap it. You know, use the House plan as a template.
How upset is the left about what's going on in the Senate?
CARVILLE: Well, I think people would have preferred the House plan, but, you know, the thing is, is that Howard Dean, Dr. Dean, he lives in one universe, Senator Reid lives in a universe of 60. If he doesn't get 60, he doesn't get anything -- and he's got a really tough job here and he's trying to get it done. He might get it done.
Let's see where this thing ends up right now. But 59 don't get you a Popsicle in the Senate.
ROBERTS: Mr. Card, just in terms what Republicans could and could not support, Joe Lieberman got out there yesterday and seemed to effectively kill this idea of expanding Medicare, allowing people 55 to 64 to buy in. Is there anything in this bill that Republicans could buy into?
CARD: It doesn't look very promising to me, but President Obama desperately needs a victory. And he's willing almost to do anything to get a victory. I think there are going to be a lot of senators holding their nose over the next few days. And he will -- he's just looking to pass health care reform and get to a process that is invisible to the American public, and that's a conference committee. And I think that's very dangerous, and I don't think Republicans are going to rally around any of the health care solutions that are out there right now.
ROBERTS: You know, people in the house, James, have said that there's got to be a public option in here. Senator Reid tried to get a public option. He could not. The Medicare buy in was a compromise. Now that's gone as well. People who want this public option, is there any kind of a guarantee in the Senate bill that people who desperately need health insurance are going to be able to get it under this bill?
CARVILLE: Well, first of all, there's not going to be a public option because they don't have the votes. It can't be any simpler than that. Now, what they're able to work out -- Senator Reid is a very clever and a very smart guy. Let's see what they work out, what they vote on.
By the way, there have always been conference committees on every piece of legislation that passed and they have to vote on the report of the conference committee right out in the open. There's nothing unusual about that. But, you know, these things have a way of working themselves out at the end of this process. But it's a gruesome process and Senator Lieberman was for expanding Medicare in 2004 and now he seems to be against it. Maybe there's something that they can work out. I'm sure that a lot of people are staying up late trying to figure this thing out.
ROBERTS: Andy, Senator John McCain had praise for Senator Lieberman for standing up for his principles, but at the same time with this compromise, Senator Lieberman may have given the Democrats the 60votes they need to block a filibuster and therefore, there might not be anything that Republicans can do to stop the momentum of this bill in the Senate.
CARD: I'm troubled by the whole policy around this health care debate. It hasn't been as transparent, the debate has not been as transparent as we wanted. The policy is not really suited, well suited for America's economy. I think they're rushing to do something that they shouldn't rush to do. It's too important. But I think Senator Lieberman is probably going to hold his nose and find a way to move the process along. I am terribly concerned that the conference committee will be so invisible and so dangerous that the American people will be fed a bill of goods later on.
ROBERTS: All right. Go ahead, James, final thought.
CARVILLE: My final thought is, the Republicans say don't do anything on health care, there's no problem with that. Don't do anything about climate change, there is no problem with that. Don't do anything about Wall Street, they all voted against kind of - there's no problem with that. We don't have a problem in health care, we don't have a problem in climate, we don't have a problem in Wall Street, everything's fine. It's wonderful. Let's just stay the status quo right where we are. That's what people want.
CARD: James, what we need is extra discipline in Washington. We have to restore the foundation of this country so we can be competitive. And that's not -- we're not focusing on the real foundation of the economy right now.
ROBERTS: All right, we'll continue to follow this and see where it goes. All right. James Carville, Andy Card, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks.
CARD: Good to see you, James. Say hi to Mary.
CARVILLE: All right. Good to see you. Will do.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, well it's another political hot potato of sorts, what to do with the prisoners and terrorist suspects now at Guantanamo Bay that are going to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay. Some of them slated to come right here on U.S. soil. In a moment we're going to be speaking to one congressman who is not happy with the plan to bring some of them to a facility in his county. We'll talk to him about why. Some of the locals say, hey, it means job, but are they also at more risk for a terror threat. 18 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. For more than 180,000 troops stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, a package from home is really the next best thing to being there.
ROBERTS: Especially, this time of year. A CNN exclusive, Barbara Starr takes us inside a massive post office in Afghanistan where soldiers are working around the clock to deliver cards, letters and presents to America's homesick troops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here on Bagram Airbase, we found the largest military postal facility in Afghanistan. This location is now processing about 160,000 pounds of mail each day from the United States or from places around the world coming to the troops here in Afghanistan. And that's about double the normal amount of mail coming into this facility every day because, of course, it is the holiday season.
The troops here at this postal facility are working 24/7 to try and get the mail out to the troops in those remote operating bases all over Afghanistan. Actually there's 21 military postal facilities across this country trying to move the mail to the troops by the holiday season. You know in this modern world there's e-mail, there's Facebook and there's Twitter, but nothing really beats a package from home whether it's a box of cookies from mom or a box of photographs from the family of maybe new children that have been born while the troops are over here in the war zone. And this place is only going to get busier in the next 12 months with 30,000 additional troops headed to Afghanistan by the next holiday season. They expect to be even busier than they are right now.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Coming up on 23 minutes after the hour. T.J. Holmes continues his special series, "Walk in my Shoes". He does exactly that, he walk to and from school with a couple of students in Chicago. You won't believe what they have to say about just getting to and from classes. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. If you're getting your kids ready for school right now, do you ever worry that they are going to get back and get to school and get back from school safely?
ROBERTS: For some teens in rough neighborhoods, that can be an everyday threat. And we want to you see their struggle firsthand. Our T.J. Holmes took the trip with two students on Chicago's south side and he's here now with day 3 of our AM Original Series, "Walk in my Shoes". This is a real eye opening experience. T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is because so many of us, we just can't imagine it. You think about -- school can be tough anyway. I mean, kids can be mean, you have little clicks and all this stuff, but to have to worry about that, that's no big deal for a lot of these kids we ran into in Chicago. The biggest deal for them day in, day out is walking out their front door and trying to get safely to school and then walking out the door at the end of the day, and try to make it back home safely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): This takes you where?
ERIC NIMELY, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENT: This takes me to the L.
HOLMES (voice-over): It's not yet 7:00 A.M. and 17-year old Eric Nimely is facing his first test of the day. Getting safely to school on Chicago's south side.
NIMELY: Everybody get on the bus and sometimes coming home they're fighting, you know, stuff like that on the bus.
HOLMES (on camera): You actually switched routes to school because it got so bad?
NIMELY: Yes.
HOLMES (voice-over): To walk in Eric's shoes is to get a glimpse into a world where getting to school is all about survival.
HOLMES (on camera): How would you describe that neighborhood for somebody who doesn't know it?
NIMELY: Rough.
HOLMES (voice-over): Like 95% of the city's public school students, Eric is responsible for getting to school on his own. He says he tries to travel with friends to avoid trouble.
NIMELY: If you don't have any friends, I'm not saying you're going to on get picked on, but it's like a group of guys turning the corner and you're walking, if nobody know who you are, I mean, like they'll say something to you.
CHARLES ANDERSON, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: We definitely want to try to protect them from violence.
HOLMES (voice-over): Charles Anderson, assistant principal at Eric's Team Englewood High School, says it's not uncommon for kids to get jumped, robbed or worse in the tough neighborhoods of Chicago where during the last school year 49 public school students were killed.
HOLMES (on camera): You're almost securing a perimeter around a few blocks around this school. ANDERSON: Yes, we are, but it's worth it if we can get a kid to feel comfortable to come to school and then we can help them to focus on their education.
HOLMES (voice-over): Principal Peggy Coralis Bird says it's hard for her teachers to break through that tough exterior kids have to keep up.
PRINCIPAL PEGGY CORALIS BIRD, PRINCIPAL, TEAM ENGLEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: It's a very hard thing to drop that wall and maybe not be so tough or on guard in school. So we have to break down a lot of that.
HOLMES: But as difficult as mornings can be, students say the afternoon journey home, is even worse.
AMBER WARD, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENT: So you would be walking down the street, people jumps out of cars. That's what the clowns do.
HOLMES: It's 6:00 at night when 16-year old Amber Ward heads home from Manley High School on Chicago's West Side.
WARD: I'd be scared because I ignore people. When they try to talk to me, I just keep walking. And it makes people so mad, people will do anything. I'd be feeling like they're going to pull out a gun and shoot me from the back, so when I keep walking I always do like this, you know, keep looking back.
HOLMES: For amber, it's a 3 1/2 block walk to the bus stop where we wait 15 minutes.
WARD: I like to sit in the back so I can see everything ahead of me.
HOLMES: And along with sitting in the back so she can spot danger better, once off the bus, she tries to keep an eye out for who might be hiding in the dark on the side streets.
HOLMES (on camera): We just passed a dark alley. And here we are now coming up on a corner. A couple guys just standing there doing who knows what. What do you think when you walk past a group like that and you're walking down the street by yourself? It's dark. Ain't a lot of street lights out here.
WARD: I'm so used to seeing it. I mean, I'm used to guys standing on the corner. See that? That's what I'm talking about. This is crazy.
HOLMES: And you're just used to it.
WARD: I'm used to it.
HOLMES (voice-over): Along the way, Amber points out a drug house.
HOLMES (on camera): What is going on with that house, now? WARD: It's abandoned, so a lot of people just be out there selling drugs, playing dice, doing what they do.
HOLMES (voice-over): And Amber's final rule of the road. Walk fast.
WARD: If I would have been by myself, I guarantee you I would have been at Jackson. I guarantee you.
HOLMES: It's only when Amber catches sight of her house, 45 minutes after she left school, she knows she's back in safe territory.
HOLMES (on camera): That is a successful day, right? You made it.
WARD: Yes, I made it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: So no matter what happens at school during the day, once she sees her front door, then she has to say it was good day. That's a success for these kids.
And we've been talking during the series this week about violence as well at a lot of schools among the school children.
Well, tomorrow in part four, here, we're going to examine the teenage brain and how doctors say there is a clear reason for why kids act out the way they do. They essentially have a gas pedal and no brake. You're starting to develop at that age and your brain, those emotional sensors that allow you control and to slow down, those develop a lot slower than the part to the allow to you reacts emotionally.
So sounds it's almost simple stuff, but you take that and put these kids in some of these gang-infested, volatile environments, that is what causes so many of the explosions of violence we see sometimes.
CHETRY: A lot of reaction to the story, and a lot of times, with myself included when you see the stuff, we say there has to be a solution. Can't there be volunteer groups to help walk these kids home, maybe they get paid a nominal amount of money? Can't there be more done within the community, the police, and the school to make sure they're getting back and forth safely?
HOLMES: It is almost fair to say in Chicago they tried just about everything. They have tried so much. But unless you change the environment itself -- yes, you can get them to and from school safely, but if they are still walking past the same drug-infested neighborhoods, what have you really changed? The neighborhood, the environment, hasn't changed one bit.
There are some volunteer programs, some programs in the schools that have shown some results in getting kids' self-esteem up and keeping kids out of trouble. But still, that trek, that journey, what happens outside a couple of blocks even away from the school, they're able to protect sometimes a few blocks around the school, but once the kid gets out of range from the school, it's out of the school district's hands.
ROBERTS: Pretty troubling when an accomplishment is just getting to and from school.
HOLMES: Some of us can't even fathom that. It was an afterthought, of course -- just hop on my bike and take off, or hop the bus. It's just amazing what these kids go through.
ROBERTS: It's been a great series of reports. Looking forward to tomorrow. Thanks T.J.
HOLMES: Thanks guys.
CHETRY: T.J., thank you.
Meanwhile we're checking our top stories. Iran taunting the west yet again with a new missile launch. According to its state run television, Tehran claims it successfully tested an upgraded version of a surface to surface weapon with a range of more than 1,200 miles.
That means the high speed missile could reach Israel, most Arab states, as well as parts of Europe.
ROBERTS: President Obama has reportedly written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. He is trying to convince him to participate in nuclear disarmament talks. A State Department official telling the AP that the letter was personally delivered last week by the president envoy to North Korea Steven Bosworth.
CHETRY: And a French manufacturer now recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of its H1N1 vaccine, the swine flu shot, because it's not as strong as it should be. The vaccine in particular is the one for children under the age of three.
The CDC says it's no safety concern and children who have already received it do not need to be revaccinated, but as our Elizabeth Cohen pointed out, you can check on our Web site CNNhealth.com and get some of those serial numbers for those vaccines. Double check with your pediatrician just to be sure.
Well, it is now 33 minutes past the hour. You'd expect an uproar when a town finds out that dozens of Guantanamo Bay prisoners could be transferred to a prison own backyard. But that's not the case in Thomson, Illinois, where the prevailing attitude seems to be "Bring it on."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK MCGINNIS, THOMSON BUSINESS OWNER: I love this idea. I love it. Open it up. Bring in some workers.
DAVE RICKETTS, RESIDENT: Been kind of rough here the last few years. And this would be awful good for the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The transfer of about 100 Gitmo prisoners to the Thomson prison could bring a lot of new jobs and also a much needed jolt to the local economy. But it could also bring a new kind of threat.
Joining me now, Representative Donald Manzullo. He is the Republican who represents the Thomson district. Good morning, Congressman, nice to see you this morning.
REP. DONALD MANZULLO, (R) ILLINOIS: Good morning, Kiran, how are you today?
CHETRY: Great, thanks.
Well, you've heard those people that we just heard from this talking about how they think it would be just fine if the --
MANZULLO: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But you're against it. Explain why.
MANZULLO: That's not what they said. They said it would be great if the prison were open.
That prison was built several years ago at a cost of $140 million and the people of that area fully anticipated and expected that that prison would open with state of Illinois prisoners.
The state of Illinois based upon the economic analysis set forth by the White House would have more than enough revenues in increased sales tax and increased income tax in order to open up that prison as a standalone without having to worry about the Gitmo detainees coming in.
So the people want more. I've always been opening up the facility for its intended purpose, or we've been this contact with the Department of Corrections for years saying if you're not going to operate it as an Illinois facility, at least lease to the federal government to open it up as a prison.
CHETRY: Let's be clear...
MANZULLO: So we're all for economic development taking place there.
CHETRY: Let's just be clear for a minute, because the people that we spoke with that we just showed were specifically asked about it. In fact, one of the quotes from one woman, she's a 43-year-old waitress, she said "It doesn't bother me that there will be terrorists there. Murderers are here. Terrorists are murders. What's the difference in it brings people into the community, I'm fine with it."
MANZULLO: There's a big difference. First of all, nobody in that facility will ever get out. We're not worried about people escaping.
But I share the sentiment of Governor Sebelius of Kansas, Senator Jim Webb and Senator Joe Lieberman. When Governor Sebelius, who is now at the head of the HHS, was asked to bring the prisoners to -- the terrorists to Leavenworth, she wrote a letter successfully to President Obama and said, look at, we don't want these people here because they will essentially create a magnet or a lightning rod to bring in their like kind from all over the world, thus creating a threat to the community as a whole even though they would not be able to escape.
What we've been trying to do, and the seminal question that I've been asking over and over and over again is this -- if the reason for Gitmo being closed is that it serves as a focal point of hatred towards the United States, and this is what the White House said yesterday in their communique, that it's hated so much it's used as a recruiting tool, if Gitmo is moved to the United States, which it is -- it's not being closed, it's being moved, will that hatred transfer to Thomson, Illinois, which is surrounded by melon fields, hey, corn, and soy bean, as opposed to Gitmo which is surrounded by water and sharks.
CHETRY: I understand what you're saying.
MANZULLO: But that's the seminal issue. And the closest I've got to an answer...
CHETRY: But the difference is that supporters of closing it argue that they're being held indefinitely wrought a trial or without the hope of getting one.
MANZULLO: That's a different issue.
CHETRY: In this situation they would be getting lawyers and they would be getting to perhaps get ready for either a civilian or military trial.
But I want to ask you --
MANZULLO: Kiran, just a second. That's not correct. The people that will be sent to Gitmo, from Gitmo from the state of Illinois by the federal government would not get either a trial in the federal courts or a military tribunal.
Of the 215 people at Gitmo now, approximately 40 are ready for those types of trial, 90 are ready to be sent to their homeland, or they're so dangerous their homeland won't take them.
So that a big distinction as to who they are. It's important because these are the most incorrigible of the incorrigible. They would serve as a magnet, and that's what Governor Sebelius was worried about.
CHETRY: I understand your concerns absolutely. One of the things, though, is that there are other blueprints for this taking place relatively successfully. Take for example the super max facility now in Florence, Colorado.
MANZULLO: No, again that's not --
CHETRY: Let me just finish. They have Musawi there. He was convicted of inspiring a terrorist attack. They have the shoe bomber. They've have Ramsey Yusef. They've handled a very large number of dangerous prisoners and they say they have had no harm to the local communities. What's the difference?
MANZULLO: Here's the difference. There are about 340 so-called international domestic terrorists according to the Harvey Lapen, who is the head of Bureau of Prisons. DOF and other people say there are about 217.
And of all those people, most are already mainstream with the federal prisoners. That leaves about 120, with 30 to 40 in Super-max, in Marion, Illinois and in Terre Haute, Indiana.
But among that 120, you probably have 10 to 15 that have international ties. So that's the distinction. This is comparing apples to oranges.
Sure, no one will break out, but you don't have that sense of magnet because of Gitmo being moved from Gitmo Bay to a place in this country. You cannot compare those two.
In fact, there's an article in the "Washington Post" on November 29th dealing with a person who is detained at Gitmo from Yemen, and his brother said that we thought when President Obama was going to close Gitmo that the people would be released.
He said but if these people are sent to the United States in a prison there, it will make the people of Yemen even hate the Americans even more and even increase the level of violence. That's the issue.
CHETRY: I know you feel passionately about the situation.
MANZULLO: I'm speaking factually. It's important to realize that you cannot compare people who are incarcerated in this country today with the people that will be coming in from Gitmo. It's apples and oranges.
CHETRY: Well, again, we don't have time to argue all of the points of this, but I appreciate your point of view, and thanks for coming on this morning.
MANZULLO: Thank you.
CHETRY: Congressman Manzullo.
ROBERTS: The city center in Las Vegas officially opens today. it's an enormous development. Will it be the economic jolt that Las Vegas needs, or will it be an enormous and very expensive white elephant? We'll find out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in Morning.
They are going to put their money where their mouth is. Even for Las Vegas, this is a pretty big gamble. It's an $8.5 billion facility known as City Center, and it opens its doors to the world today.
ROBERTS: It features a resort, casino, hotels, restaurants, condos, sensational shopping. The complex said to be the most expensive privately funded project in U.S. history.
A CNN exclusive now. Dan Simon joining us live from Las Vegas. And Dan, in the down economy, City Center really is a high stakes roll of the dice. This is big even by Vegas standards.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right about that. Good morning, John. You would think that this may not be the right time to open up a brand new mega resort-casino, but they feel like now is the correct time. And plus it's a major economic stimulus for the city of Las Vegas, which really need it.
And when you think about City Center and you think about all the other resorts ever built in Las Vegas, the City Center dwarfs all of them by comparison, which is pretty amazing when you think about that.
Joining us to talk more about City Center is the chairman of the board and CEO of MGM Mirage Mr. Jim Murren. Thank you very much for joining us.
JIM MURREN, CHAIRMAN, CEO MGM MIRAGE: Thank you. Thanks for being here.
SIMON: Obviously you had a very bumpy road. At one point you almost lost your financing for this project. But here you are. What's going through your mind?
MURREN: It's an immense sense of pride and gratitude that we're here, because it has been a very, very difficult road. We have had trouble with financing, trouble with our partner. The economy was knocking us down, and of course the banks wouldn't lend.
It was a perfect storm of so many problems, and yet we put it all together back in April, kept building. And here we are today opening up what is the most spectacular project we think we've even been involved in.
SIMON: Regardless of your taste might be, it is objectively spectacular. As we said, nobody's ever built anything like this.
But I want to ask you now really what the skeptics are saying. They're saying now may not be the right time to open up a 6,000 plus room place, that the rates will go down, and that you're having a hard time filling the rooms. Why open this place now?
MURREN: Well, first off, I can't think of a better time...
SIMON: Yes. MURREN: ... from the standpoint of here we are coming out of a recession, an economy that here that's been so battered by high unemployment, housing has been tremendously bad. And here we are, we've created 12,000 jobs in a community that so desperately needs it.
So number one I think it's a great time. And number two, well, look at what we've created here. The people are going to come to Las Vegas because of this. More people will come, probably millions more next year.
We'll have no problem filling these rooms because Las Vegas is a great value. And that's what's great about Las Vegas. And whatever price point you like, whether you're on the luxury end or more value conscious, we've created a great environment for you and I think therefore it's a good time.
SIMON: You're the CEO but I know you personally came up with this idea. Did you say to yourself that you wanted to build the biggest resort ever in the history of Las Vegas? What were you going for here?
MURREN: What we were going -- it' not the biggest that wasn't the concept. People have changed in Las Vegas and people that come here have changed. You can't tell people what to do. You have to create an environment that they love for whatever they want to do. They have to have that diversity.
What we want to do here is create so many non-gaming environments. If you want to walk down a boulevard and look at beautiful art or going to a -- you want to see Elvis, we brought Elvis back. You want to see more restaurants within a couple steps of high quality, what we tried to do here was have a new Las Vegas. What we think is even a better Las Vegas in terms of diversity, excitement, energy, technology and I think we've accomplished that.
SIMON: Jim Murren, the CEO of MGM Mirage, thanks very much for joining us.
MURREN: Thank you, thank you.
SIMON: John, $8.5 billion when you put that number in perspective, you can build, say, five brand new Yankee Stadiums and still have $1 billion left. Pretty incredible.
ROBERTS: It is; it really is incredible. All right, Dan, thanks for that inside look this morning.
Cold temperatures moving in to the northeast and all kinds of rain down in the south; Rob Marciano is tracking it all for us this morning. He joins us from the Weather Center coming up right after the break.
Thirteen minutes to the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Hey, here's the good news. It's sunny in New York. Here's the bad news. It's only 28 degrees later on today. Partly cloudy, which means it will warm up just a little bit to a high of 34.
Rob Marciano is tracking the weather across the country. We got cold temperatures in the northeast, all kinds of wet weather down in the south and southwest. What's it looking like Rob across the country?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, cold where you are and definitely blustery wind chills outside of those 23 degree temperatures. We'll feel a little bit colder than that, but not drastically cold, at least for this time of the year.
Good news for New Orleans and southern Louisiana the rain at least taking a break for today and most of them have shifted down to the south. Some of the totals pretty impressive, 5.71 for yesterday alone in New Orleans and then a smattering throughout the country.
But the bigger news really is for the month of December, they've already shattered their all-time record at the airport and we're just barely halfway through.
All right, some snows across parts of the Great Lakes. This will be moderate lake-effect snow showers, six to 12 inches in spots, 20s for temperatures and without the wind chill again, right around 30 degrees in Newark right now and with that wind chill feeling more like at least 20 or in the teens.
The wind will definitely bring down the airports as far as travel delays at the typical spots. San Francisco with low clouds and rain right now they're reporting an hour delay.
All right, this chunk of cold air will mostly slide to the east as opposed to staying down -- just driving down to the south; teens, 20s and 30s over the next couple of days. As a matter, temps are already beginning to rebound in Dallas, 53 degrees there, 43 degrees for a high temperature expected in Kansas City; 26 still chilly in Chicago and 36 without the wind as measured in the shade in New York City.
John and Kiran back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Rob thanks so much.
Meanwhile, you can guess the top grossing concert tour of the year? You know it already. So we'll tell you when we get back.
Fifty-two minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up now at 55 minutes after the hour.
Let's fast forward to stories that will be making news later on other today. At 2:00 p.m. Eastern, Congress demanding answers about another major security blunder. There will be a hearing today to find out how the TSA let a top secret airport screening manual end up on line for anyone who had the wherewithal who wanted to see it see it. All you had to do is just a couple of key strokes and the electronic redactions disappeared. Some experts call it a how-to guide for potential terrorists.
We might get a better idea why a northwest airlines flight overshot Minneapolis by a little bit -- 100 miles back in October. Federal safety officials are expected to release 400 pages of interviews with Flight 188 pilots and flight attendants. The plane carrying 144 passengers was out of contact with anyone on the ground for well over an hour. Oops.
And tonight at 9:00 eastern, stars of the film "Avatar" will be arriving for the U.S. premiere in Los Angeles. The event, by the way, is going to be streamed live on the Internet; kind of like Smurfs that have grown up with all of those blue people. It's James Cameron's first movie since "Titanic". It opens in theaters this Friday. A lot of people looking forward to that.
CHETRY: I know. I know. It got a pretty good review. 3 1/2 stars from the "New York Post" but we'll see. Cost a ton of money, right -- $300 million. He had to actually invent a 3d camera to even shoot some of the scenes.
ROBERTS: James Cameron is a great director. He's done a lot of terrific movies.
CHETRY: He does say so himself. Well, we'll check it out.
Meanwhile, in a year when all the talk was about the recession, one Irish rock band did all right. Billboard says that the first half of U2's 360 tour actually grossed $311 million, selling more than 3 million tickets. But the kicker is the show -- and you saw it -- is so elaborate and took so much equipment et cetera to even haul it around that they're barely breaking even. But they say that they're picking things up next summer for the second half.
Also Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour was second. It brought in $222 million.
ROBERTS: Just the stages and there are three of them for the U2 tour cost $120 million.
CHETRY: What were you saying about loading it all, how they even got that from city to city?
ROBERTS: Well, there's three. So they leap frog over each other. And I think each one takes, it's either -- I can't remember -- I know the guy who's producing it, I think it was either 40 or 60 trucks per unit. So they're all driving around the country like that.
CHETRY: And you said they're hoping to break even or actually exceed.
ROBERTS: The way that the finances went for the tour, it's not designed to start making money until next year. So this year and I guess all of this year was just a write-off. This just pays the expenses. Then next year they start to make some money. But they're going to make some pretty good going.
CHETRY: Oh yes.
ROBERTS: No question about it.
CHETRY: And for Madonna, half of her budget went to personal trainers to get those biceps. The rest of it was pure profit.
ROBERTS: She's a good lesson to all of us that just because you're 50, you don't have to be flabby. 57 minutes after the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, that's going to do it for us. We welcome you to continue the conversation on today's stories by heading to our blog, cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: That is going to wrap it up for us. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.
Meantime the news continues on CNN with Heidi Collins in the "CNN NEWSROOM".
