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Toyota CEO to Face Congress for Questioning; Military Contractor Under Fire From Congress; Broken Government: Congress Cushy Pension; Congress' Cushy Pension; The New Normal; NAACP Honoring Van Jones; Billboard Campaign Sparks Race Debate; Breaking Down Earmarks

Aired February 24, 2010 - 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: Good Wednesday morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It is the 24th of February. I'm John Roberts.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans in for Kiran Chetry. Here are the big stories we're going to be telling you about in the next 15 minutes or so.

From the driver's seat to the hot seat, the chief of Toyota will talk to Congress today about when the company knew its cars could take off suddenly without warning, and we're not in Japan anymore. Brianna Keilar has a look at why these questions could be different than anyone he's ever faced before.

ROBERTS: Whether you're traveling, whether you're having to get up to go to school, or whether you're even just commuting into work, you're going to want to hear about this. Two powerful winter snowstorms targeting the northeast right now. They could bring several cities to a standstill by the weekend. Our Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center this morning tracking a pair of systems that are packing an enormous one-two punch.

ROMANS: Here we go again. And just about 18 percent of private workers have a pension plan. That share falls every year. But when it comes to Congress, almost every lawmaker has a pretty nice little pension plan and you're footing the bill. Is the system broken? If so how do we fix it? We'll get some answers as part of our broken government series.

ROBERTS: All right. It's time for Mr. Toyoda to talk. Today, the company's top guy will answer questions on Capitol Hill after his chief of sales in the United States sat and listened to a woman relive her runaway ride in a Lexus yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RHONDA SMITH, FORMER LEXUS OWNER: I placed both feet on the brake after I firmly engaged the emergency brake and nothing slows the car. I figured the car was going to go its maximum speed and I was going to have to put the car into the upcoming guardrail in order to prevent killing anyone else. And I prayed for God to help me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Brianna Keilar is live for us in Washington this morning. Compelling testimony yesterday, Brianna. What's on tap for today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It'll be an exciting day. I think yesterday really builds towards today. And Congress taking the CEO of the big company to task, John. This is the kind of environment that's commonplace here in the U.S. These congressional hearings, as you know, they're almost a contact sport. Contrast that with Japan, where even pointed questions like the ones that Mr. Toyoda will get today are considered disrespectful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): When Akio Toyoda goes before the House Oversight Committee, he'll face a tough crowd. This is what happened to the last guy who testified, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You gave lame excuses then. I believe you're giving --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just stinks to the high heaven what happened here. And I don't like the --

KEILAR: They don't call it the hot seat for nothing. Lawmakers want answers and promises.

(on camera): What do you want to hear from Akio Toyoda?

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: I want to hear one, a commitment to change.

KEILAR (voice-over): Darrell Issa is the top Republican on the committee. He says Toyota must be held accountable. But as the former head of an electronics manufacturer, he's familiar with Japanese business culture, where diplomacy and deference are paramount, the exact opposite of a congressional hearing.

ISSA: Congress is famous for rude questions, so I expect there will be some rude questions.

KEILAR: Issa worries some lawmakers might go too far.

(on camera): You sound a little worried about how your committee is going to behave?

ISSA: I don't want to be embarrassed on behalf of the American people by us not focusing to the important part, did government do its job, did industry do its job and if they didn't are they going to do it going forward?

KEILAR (voice-over): And if Mr. Toyoda is skewered by the committee or if he performs poorly, experts say Japan-U.S. relations could be strained. VICTOR CHA, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTL. STUDIES: If you have a situation in which these hearings go extremely poorly and it gets splashed across the front pages of major newspapers and media in the United States and in Japan, I think you could have something that leads to a little bit of a difficult, uncomfortable relationship between the two countries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: So maybe some uncomfortable situations today, but Mr. Toyoda did receive his MBA studying here in the U.S. and Victor Cha, that expert that we spoke with, he thinks that Toyoda should be able to walk the line between these cultures, John.

ROBERTS: All right. So he's going to be walking the line between the cultures. He's also fluent in English, yet he's going to insists on speaking Japanese and then have it translated. What's the reason for that?

KEILAR: This is really interesting, and presumably with the people that I speak with it's because, quite frankly, he doesn't want to mess up. So this will give him a chance to hear the question twice. Once in English, once in Japanese. But it's also going to put, I think, a damper on some of those sharp exchanges because the translator will sort of serve as a buffer there.

And also one of the things talking to some lawmakers, this could draw out the translation -- it certainly going to draw out the amount of time this takes and one lawmaker wondered aloud if it isn't going to annoy some of the people on this panel. We'll see today.

ROBERTS: And again, if you have an English question translated into Japanese, a Japanese answer translated back in English, there's a potential for something to get lost in translation somewhere along the lines.

KEILAR: Exactly. Yes. And that's part of the concern.

ROBERTS: Yes, we'll see. OK, Brianna Keilar for us this morning. Brianna, thanks.

Later on this morning, by the way, we're going to talk with Rhonda Smith. You saw her testifying on Capitol Hill that she thought she was going to die in her Lexus. We've got her stopping by at 7:30 Eastern right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

ROMANS: All right. The northeast bracing for back-to-back winter storm that could leave some cities paralyzed by Friday. We've seen this movie before. More on that in a moment.

ROBERTS: We don't like it the first time.

ROMANS: That's right, or the second first.

Take a look at Abilene, Texas. Right now, they're digging out nearly four inches of snow. It's a lot for that part of the country. Most of the Lone Star state getting at least a dusting with over 100 flights cancelled yesterday at Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

ROBERTS: But all are on the northeast right now where they're preparing for a serious pounding over the next couple of days. Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us this morning.

Rob, we've got a lot of flight delays this morning because of the rain and the wind that we have been experiencing and now these back- to-back snow events. How bad is it going to be?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it really completely depends where you live because a difference of 50 miles will make the difference in your forecast. It's one of those deals where we've got three things that are coming together and it's timing out to explode pretty much right off the New England coastline.

This being so strong, though, it will bring in a fair amount of warm air. So that means that the rain/snow line is going to be critical especially for the larger cities.

All right. Let's talk about today first. We've got heavy rain across parts of the south-northeast and heavy snow across the northern part of the northeast. So winter storm warnings are still in effect for upstate but tomorrow we're looking at winter storm watches that are in effect from Washington, D.C. up to New York City and I think the hardest hit areas are going to be in upstate New York, especially west of the Hudson. Everywhere east of that, warm air is going to wrap around and be engulfed in this thing and yet will limit the amount of snow that the folks get.

But anywhere from eastern Pennsylvania up to northwestern parts of upstate New York could see one to two feet of snow. I think New York, D.C. and Philly will likely see five to 10 inches by the time it changes from rain over to snow. One thing that most everybody will get out of this is a lot of wind. So power outages are going to be a big problem as well as flight delays, John, to say the least over the next 48 hours. We'll run it down in more details in about 30 minutes.

ROBERTS: So looking at your map there, Rob, there's a lot of white over Pennsylvania and New Jersey but there's a nice little bit of green there over New York City and Long Island, Connecticut, and a lot of eastern Massachusetts. Does that mean that they're likely not going to get any snow?

MARCIANO: Well, I wouldn't say not going to get any snow. This is a computer model, and we'll fine tune the actual forecast. I think New York will get, you know, four to eight inches of snow. It will be a wet snow after it changes over from rain, so it's going to be one of these things where it goes from rain over to snow. So the amount of snow is a difficult forecast. And one that shouldn't be focused on is the impacts of this storm and that will be wind and likely some power outages on a widespread area.

ROBERTS: We have to get out the old (INAUDIBLE) in Allentown. My goodness, looks like they're expecting a lot.

Thanks, Rob. We'll check back with you a little later on. ROMANS: All right. The military contractor formerly known as Blackwater under fire from Congress, accused of playing fast and loose with rules in Afghanistan and with almost no government oversight. At a Senate committee hearing in a few hours, company executives will be called to answer allegations which include hundreds of missing weapons signed out, believe it or not, by a character from South Park. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is following this story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Private mercenaries are running around Afghanistan with no accountability. Taking weapons, shooting civilians, that's the picture being painted by a congressional investigation.

SEN. CARL LEVIN, CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: What you need is oversight. And hopefully this hearing is going to lead to dramatically better oversight.

LAWRENCE: Last spring, CNN brought you an exclusive interview with one of the contractors now charged with murdering two Afghan civilians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I got out of the vehicle, I had no weapon in my hands.

LAWRENCE: This investigation alleges a series of problems that nobody caught led up to that shooting. It goes back more than two years. It involves Blackwater, which now calls itself Xe, and the company it created to get work in Afghanistan called Paravant (ph).

Congressional investigators say a Blackwater employee took more than 300 AK-47s from a storage bunker, guns set aside for Afghan police. Both the company and the Defense Department admit there's no paperwork to document it. Three hundred assault rifles, no receipt.

When a new rule required Afghan officers to sign for any weapons, Blackwater takes another 200 rifles out of the bunker. Who signs for it? Eric Cartman.

There's a South Park character by that name, but Blackwater told investigators no Eric Cartman has ever worked for the company. And Blackwater admits, quote, "contractors should not have been armed without the proper approvals."

Later that year, one contractor accidentally shoots another trainer in the head, partially paralyzing him. The company reports it to the military as the reckless use of an unauthorized weapon. But Senator Carl Levin says the right people never read it.

LEVIN: If that shooting back in December of '08 had been investigated, it would have been discovered that Paravant (ph), Paravant (ph) personnel were using weapons unsafely, improperly, inadequate supervision.

LAWRENCE: Flash forward to May of last year. On a dark, dusty road in Kabul, Blackwater contractors with unauthorized weapons opened fire on Afghan civilians they saw as a threat. The incident cost the U.S. military goodwill among some Afghans and sparked a diplomatic incident.

LEVIN: Reckless behavior by Paravant (ph) contractors helped set the stage. Government oversight failed. And thirdly, Blackwater broke the rules relating to weapons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Even the military's investigating officer admits the contractors were poorly supervised in this incident and the Army has to take partial responsibility for that. But there's a real question over exactly who is supposed to supervise these contractors? A new proposal would create one central agency that would sort of oversee them all -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Chris Lawrence. Thanks so much, Chris, for that report.

ROBERTS: Also new this morning, a student in Littleton, Colorado, is in critical condition this morning after being shot outside his middle school. It happened just three miles from Columbine High School. That was the site of one of the nation's deadliest school shootings.

Police say a man shot two students yesterday with a high-powered rifle. A math teacher tackled the suspect as he was trying to chamber another round. The suspect is scheduled to be in court later on today.

ROMANS: The first of 150 new full-body scanners will be installed at Boston's Logan International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare over the next weeks. A homeland security official telling "The Associated Press" the rest of the machines should be in place in airports across the country before July. It's all part of new security protocols put in place after the attempted Christmas Day bombing. Critics call the machines invasive because they generate a nude-like image.

ROBERTS: And former Vice President Dick Cheney still recovering in a Washington hospital this morning. Tests show the former vice president did have a mild heart attack on Monday. That would make it his fifth heart attack since 1978. Cheney's spokesman says he is feeling fine and could be sent home as early as today.

ROMANS: All right. Still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, we're continuing our series on "Broken Government." This morning millions of Americans seeing their retirement savings disappear, but lawmakers in Congress, they're sitting pretty. Lisa Sylvester digging deeper next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fourteen and a half minutes now after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Many Americans are wondering how they'll ever retire in this recession. Members of Congress don't have those same worries. They'll be collecting fat pensions at taxpayers' expense.

ROMANS: They're really nice pension. As part of our week-long series "Broken Government," we're taking a hard look at the congressional pension system and the fix, Congress would have to cut their own benefits. Here's Lisa Sylvester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Dobosz worked for more than 35 years in the auto industry. He was promised a pension when he retired.

But after his former company, auto parts manufacturer Delphi, went bankrupt, Dobosz found out his pension, taken over by the Federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, was being cut by 30 percent.

PAUL DOBOSZ, FORMER DELPHI EMPLOYEE: I felt betrayed. I felt betrayed mostly because I'd put 37 years in with a company, following the rules, doing everything I should, and then, all of a sudden, I found out that for the rest of my life, things would be changed.

Come on. Let's go.

SYLVESTER: Like many Americans, Dobosz is worried about how is he going to cover his bills in retirement.

But one group doesn't have any worries, and that's members of Congress. They can draw on their pension beginning at age 50. Depending on the years of service they can get as much as 80 percent of their final salary. There are costs of living adjustments added on, and they're still eligible to receive Social Security.

According to an analysis by the National Taxpayers Union, Senator Chris Dodd will have a starting pension of $125,500 every year starting next year when he retires. Senator Byron Dorgan, counting his years in the House and Senate, stands to get more than $116,000, Senator Gregg an average of $63,000, Senators Bond and Bunning both taking away $58,900 in annual pensions.

PETE SEPP, NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: Unlike even state and local pension plans, the Federal Congressional Pension System is simply a direct line into the taxpayer's wallet. There's no investments that need to be made, no fund balances that get worried about. Whatever the liability is for a given year, taxpayers cough up the money for it.

SYLVESTER: We called the senators to get a response, but our calls were not returned.

The Congressional Retirement System was reformed in 1984 to make the system less generous and more in line with that of other federal workers. Still, Representative Howard Coble says the system is broken. He has tried repeatedly to reform the pension program, which he says hasn't won him many friends on Capitol Hill.

REP. HOWARD COBLE (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Well, it's too lavish. It's too generous when you compare it with pensions across the country.

I -- I elected to refuse the pension on the ground that taxpayers are subsidizing my salary now, and I figure when I leave they've taken good care of me. Let me, to do (ph) the best I can, once I leave after the service in the Congress has been accomplished.

SYLVESTER (on camera): And, amazingly, up until recently, even if a Congressional member committed a crime they could still get their pension. But a 2007 law barred members convicted of felonies from receiving their pensions.

Still, there are a number of members, like Congressman William Jefferson, his corruption offenses took place before that year, and he will still receive a pension paid for by the taxpayer.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: And that's how it works, folks.

Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, President Obama says he wants to double U.S. exports in the next five years. So what's the plan and how can America even compete with cheap foreign labor?

ROBERTS: Yes, and particularly when we have offshored so much of our manufacturing and so many of our jobs.

Coming up tonight at 8:00 Eastern on "CAMPBELL BROWN", a number of President Obama's nominees are still being held up by Congress. Are these vacancies contributing to our broken government?

ROMANS: Then later on "ANDERSON COOPER 360", Toyota has a lot of high powered friends in Washington and CNN looks at how that could impact the Toyota investigations.

Up next on the Most News in the Morning, consumer confidence is down, layoffs are up, the number of banks on the brink is growing. Is this the new normal?

We're "Minding Your Business".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-one and a half minutes after the hour. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business", and Christine Romans -- oh! You're over here.

ROMANS: Here I am.

ROBERTS: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business". You're doing double duty today. ROMANS: I am.

ROBERTS: All over the place. You're also going to be with Ali Velshi later on today?

ROMANS: That's right, doing "Broken Government."

Look, there's a lot of great stuff. Interesting things happening.

ROBERTS: So Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is going to be testifying on the Hill today.

ROMANS: That's right, and we're going to get his prescription or a weather forecast for what's going to happen with the -- with the overall economy.

A lot of questions for Ben Bernanke, the chief among them, when will this economy be back to normal, and what is normal? That means your job, your home, even your bank.

Let's take a look at where we stand. The National Association for Business Economics predicts job growth is finally on its way, forecasting more than 100,000 jobs per month will be added in 2010.

But in the new normal -- that's our economy -- nothing is ever as it seems. Just yesterday we found out that mass layoffs rose last month for the first time since August. Those are cases where more than 50 people lose their job from a single employer. More than 180,000 folks fell victim to mass layoffs in January.

We also saw consumer confidence tumble unexpectedly. It's a -- a key forward-looking reading that shows consumers are still very nervous.

Now, how about your house? Your biggest asset, most likely, or it was once your biggest asset. Nearly one out of every four mortgages is under water. Let me say that again -- nearly one out of every four residential mortgages is underwater, meaning --

ROBERTS: That's amazing.

ROMANS: It means you owe more than the home is actually worth. I mean, these foreclosures are most likely going to continue to weigh on lenders and borrowers alike.

And speaking of lenders, banks still in trouble. Nearly one out of every 11 banks is at risk of going under, according to the FDA. That's the problem bank list. A hundred and forty banks were shut down last year and the number of bank failures is expected to grow again in 2010.

So one area where a comeback seems to be in full effect, Wall Street. Bonuses up 17 percent in 2009, more than $20 billion -- with a "B" -- paid as a result of the rebound in the financial services sector. ROBERTS: You almost choked on that. It came real close.

ROMANS: I don't know if I'm choking, laughing or crying.

So where do we stand? It's a recovery, but it's choppy at best. Lots of questions for Bernanke as he discusses the economy in front of Congress over the next day or two.

Larry Summers recently said -- he said it's a statistical recovery, but a human recession. I think that's --

ROBERTS: That's a good way of putting it.

ROMANS: That pretty much writes off 2010 (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: You know, we talk a lot -- we talk a lot too about, you know, residential home foreclosures, but we haven't talked much about commercial property foreclosures, and they are on the rise as well.

ROMANS: Yes. Tick, tick, tick. A lot of people say that's a time bomb.

At least we know sort of the volume of this. Banks are preparing for -- for what the commercial real estate problems we'll likely see later this year or next year.

ROBERTS: Let's hope the new normal doesn't last too long.

Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, a CNN exclusive, forced to resign under a cloud of controversy, President Obama's former green jobs czar now being honored by the NAACP.

Our Suzanne Malveaux with the new controversy that this choice is bound to create.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Van Jones is back in the spotlight. You might remember him. He was President Obama's green jobs czar -- not for very long, though. He resigned under pressure last fall, but he's about to make headlines yet again.

Let's go to our Suzanne Malveaux. She's live at the White House this morning with a CNN exclusive. So what's this all about, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Van Jones may have left the White House under a cloud, but the NAACP is saying that is not his whole story. They consider him to be a pioneer when it comes to civil rights, to the environment, so much so that they are honoring him one of their most prestigious awards, that is an NAACP Image Award that is happening tomorrow.

Now, I had a chance to talk to the president of the NAACP who says look, he understands this may cause controversy and debate, but it is something that they're ready for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): It was just last September Van Jones resigned under a firestorm of criticism, saying he was the victim of a vicious smear campaign based on lies and distortions.

The NAACP agrees. That's why its president, Ben Jealous, is giving Jones one of the civil rights organization's highest honors, an NAACP Image Award.

MALVEAUX (on camera): Out of a host of African-Americans who are very well accomplished, with stellar images, why pick Van Jones?

BEN JEALOUS, NAACP PRESIDENT: Van Jones is one of the few new voices out there with new ideas for new jobs. He's done more in the past several years to change the way we think about job creation than anybody that we could find.

MALVEAUX: You know this is going to make some people go nuts. Do you care?

JEALOUS: Not really. What should be controversial is that we pushed one of the greatest minds off to the side in this country when we needed his ideas most.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): The controversy came less than six months into Jones' stint as President Obama's green jobs czar. Republicans and conservative commentators pointed to a vulgar phrase he used to describe the GOP before he came to the White House at an event captured on YouTube.

VAN JONES, FORMER GREEN JOBS CZAR: Well, the answer to that is they're (bleep)-holes.

MALVEAUX: Then his critics revealed a petition Jones signed in 2004 questioning whether Bush administration officials may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen perhaps as a pretext for war.

Jones said that petition never reflected his views, but the damage had been done. Jones resigned under a cloud that the NAACP wants lifted.

JEALOUS: We have a young black guy born in rural Tennessee, who, before the age of 40, has been named one of the 100 best minds by "Time Magazine", in the (ph) entire world.

MALVEAUX (on camera): Are you picking him in part because he's controversial, because he'll create attention, create debate?

JEALOUS: You know, I think one thing that we're sensitive to is that this country has a shameful history of taking people who've done great things, casting, creating distractions, discrediting them for things deep in their past and not letting the country realize their full value in the present.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And that is certainly what the NAACP is hoping to do to realize Van Jones' value moving forward. Some of the other people who have gotten Image Awards in the past included Jesse Jackson, Condoleezza Rice, President Bill Clinton.

And if you want to hear more and learn more about the reasoning behind the NAACP Ben Jealous' decision, there's an op-ed in CNN.com. You can go to that to get more information, more details, the back story, if you will, of this story -- John.

ROBERTS: We'll check it all out. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning -- Suzanne, thank so much.

ROMANS: All right. It's 30 minutes after the hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.

Toyota's chief facing questions on Capitol Hill today. He's expected to admit that his company veered off from its "safety first" philosophy. At 7:30 Eastern, we'll speak to the woman who relived her runaway ride in a Lexus. Yesterday, on the Hill, she told lawmakers about it. She called it a near-death experience.

Before you head to work, you get the kids off to school this morning, two powerful winter storm are bearing down on the northeast right now. The first one is targeting parts of New York and New England today. By Friday, blizzard conditions could paralyze much of the region. Rob Marciano is tracking both systems for you in the extreme weather center, and what it means for your morning commute.

And we're taking a look at your taxpayer dollars at work as part of our week long series "Broken Government." This morning, we're breaking down how earmarks get passed and eventually funds lawmakers' pet projects -- John.

ROBERTS: A controversial billboard campaign that sparked a debate over abortion and race. The billboard feature a picture of a black infant with a message, "Black children are an endangered species." Some 80 billboards are now up in the Atlanta area. The groups behind them say abortion clinics target black women and are, in effect, threatening the African-American population.

Joining us now from Atlanta is Catherine Davis. She is the director of minority outreach at Georgia Right to Life, which co- sponsored the billboards. And from Shreveport, Louisiana, this morning: Dr. Artis Cash. He's the founder of Shreveport Chapter of National Action Network.

Good to see you both of you.

Catherine Davis, let's start with you. Why did you see the need for this campaign?

CATHERINE DAVIS, DIRECTOR OF MINORITY OUTREACH, GEORGIA RIGHT TO LIFE: The numbers of abortions that are happening in Georgia and around the country are startling. It's absolutely stunning.

In 2008, the most recent figures that we have from the state of Georgia, over 18,901 of the 32,000 abortions that were done were done on black women. So, we want to alert the community and awaken the community to the devastating impact that abortion is having on our community.

ROBERTS: Those figures that you cite from 2008 would seem to be in line with the CDC findings -- Centers for Disease Control findings -- from 2006 which found 57.4 percent of abortions in Georgia were performed on black women, even though African-Americans only make up 30 percent of the population.

Dr. Cash, your reaction to this?

ARTIS CASH, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: Well, first of all, I thank you for having me and then, also, let me say this: that at a time when we have such an exemplary woman in the White House, a mother as well as a grandmother, and then a family, for this organization that this young lady works for, for this organization to demoralize and criminalize the African-American female is just uncalled for.

At the National Action Network, we tend to go to try to solve the problem. The problem is character. Reverend Sharpton has tried diligently to bring character back into our communities. It's interesting -- these numbers depict a high rate of abortions in Atlanta area. But now, if you look at the numbers on the reverse side, we see that there are so many children that are being born out of wedlock --

ROBERTS: Yes.

CASH: -- and that number is staggering.

So, I don't know how this group could come in and now change our agenda when we have an agenda. Our agenda is that double-digit unemployment that exists in the black community.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: But let me Ms. Davis -- let me have Ms. Davis respond to some of what you said, Dr. Cash, that you are criminalizing black women, Ms. Davis, and as well, that this is a matter more of character than anything. It is true what Dr. Cash says too that in the black community, across the country, according to Centers for Disease Control, 71.6 percent of births are to unmarried women.

DAVIS: Well, that is getting away from the topic, I think. The question is: is abortion having an adverse impact on the black community? And if it is, why?

And those -- I mean, I understand that there are social justice issues that need to be addressed, but we're not demonizing black women. What we're saying is that the abortion industry has targeted specifically the black community. It is a racial agenda, and I'm not sure what agenda Mr. Cash is referring to, but if we are being undermine from a racial perspective, should we not do something about it?

Is there any truth to what we are saying that the black community is being targeted by the abortion industry? I think so. And that is the issue that we are addressing.

ROBERTS: But what do you say about that, Dr. Cash? Do you -- have you seen any evidence that the black community is being targeted by abortion providers and is there a racial agenda at work here?

CASH: Yes, it is. And I'm just shocked that this young lady would even allow herself to be used in this manner, because here we are, we're changing route to Rowena and now, we are trying to change the face of abortion and trying to make the black female feel like that they have really sunk just -- sunk down to a level that is intolerable.

I want you to know that there are so many young mothers in our church and other places that are going and having children.

DAVIS: I'm sorry.

CASH: They are not aborting babies. That's not a major theme in churches.

DAVIS: I'm sorry.

CASH: And I don't know where this lady came up with this kind of logic from. Her numbers are skewed.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Go ahead, Ms. Davis. Where do you come up with that logic?

DAVIS: Those are not my numbers. Those are the state of Georgia's numbers.

And in no way am I attacking my sisters. I am black. My people are dying. Our people are dying. Why can't you see that rather than buying into this racist agenda that is controlling the birth rate of the black community? Don't you realize that over 18,870,000 black babies have died by abortion?

We would be 59 million stronger if we just had those 18 million. And yet, your organization or any of the other organizations are not pointing the finger where it belongs. We are creating a social justice agenda of failure.

ROBERTS: Dr. Cash --

DAVIS: It is failing. And it begins with sanctity of life in the womb.

ROBERTS: Dr. Cash, if I read your last answer correctly, you said, yes, you do believe that the black community is being targeted by abortion providers. Does that not require some kind of response, some sort of action?

CASH: Well, what happens is this, John, and I don't know -- I guess, we are on two different pages. But you have to understand that our agenda is that we're going to build character. Reverend Sharpton has constantly been going around the country in different chapters saying we need to be of character.

Now, if our social economic situation has changed, don't you realize, young lady, that there would not be any abortion? The only reason why abortion comes about in our community is because of the blight that exists in our community. We're not aborters of babies.

In fact, don't you think it's interesting -- at one time, they had us on birth control and putting sisters on birth control trying to make sure they wouldn't have babies? And they are now, all of a sudden, now, we come up with a new agenda and this agenda -- like I said, I find it so interesting we get an African-American president and now, we throw a black baby on the front of a billboard and we, as black people, don't like our laundry aired that way and not put up in the air so people can take a look at it.

ROBERTS: One --

CASH: And this sister been black a long time and she know that.

ROBERTS: One more response from Ms. David if I could because we are just about out of time. What do you say about the idea, about the criticism, Ms. Davis, that you're going about the problem completely backwards, that what you need to do is address the lack of education, the poverty among the black community, other issues like that --

CASH: Yes.

ROBERTS: -- and that abortion is really an end product of all that?

DAVIS: Abortion, to say that the answer to our social justice issues is to kill the baby is just intellectually, politically and socially insulting. We are being targeted by the abortion industry.

And if we don't protect the baby in the womb, then there is no protection to those that are born. A dead child doesn't need education. A dead child can't rise politically because it's dead. A dead child can't rise economically because it's dead.

If we don't stop aborting our children and killing them before they have life, we won't be here to worry about it.

ROBERTS: Catherine Davis --

DAVIS: We need to address the issue.

CASH: Maybe we're saying the same thing.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: OK. Well, Catherine Davis and Dr. Artis Cash, we real appreciate you both being with us this morning.

CASH: Yes.

ROBERTS: We're going to keep following this story.

DAVIS: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: Very important one. We thank you for being with us this morning.

CASH: Thank you.

ROBERTS: All right.

DAVIS: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Forty minutes after the hour. Stay with us.

CASH: God bless.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: All this week, we're taking a look at what many call is our broken government, whether you call them earmarks or just plain pork, or maybe you want to call them bacon. They are the life blood of politics in Washington. The pet projects that fund millions to lawmakers' constituents back home.

ROMANS: Our chief business correspondent Ali Velshi is manning CNN's earmarks desk. And this morning, he's going to break down for us how these earmarks actually get passed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

I bet you've been up all night wondering how earmarks actually happen, how do they get into the law. Well, I'm going to tell you, it's not unlike the way any bill gets into law.

It starts with an idea in a local district -- maybe it's an interest group, maybe it's another politician. Somebody wants a congressman or a senator to fund something. So they ask this person to sponsor this earmark. The congressman then submits a request, a written request for money.

I have to tell you, we've seen these requests. They are not remarkably detailed. Well, what happens is it goes -- this request goes to a committee. The committee then assigns it to a subcommittee. As you know there's lots of committee, lots of subcommittees.

The subcommittee decides whether or not to go ahead with this request. Sometimes they'll say yes, sometimes they'll say no and sometimes they only honor a part of the request. So, it may go in for $1 million and only a quarter million may get funded.

Finally, the committee marks it all up and it goes into a bill. But guess what? The earmarks and the details about them aren't in the actual bill. They're in something called a joint explanatory statement, which is yet one more layer that makes this not the most transparent process.

OK. So what happens is: after that, it becomes like any normal bill. There's a House bill. It gets voted on.

Let's say it gets passed. Now, that earmark is there. Then there's a Senate bill. It may have similar earmarks, may have other ones. They come together in committee. It's a unifying of the two bills. If they make it through there, the Senate votes on it, and ultimately, the president signs it.

And that is how an earmark becomes the law -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Ali Velshi for us this morning -- the wizard of the earmark desk.

ROMANS: I know. The earmark, and he's not saying whether they're good or bad. It's just this is how earmarks happen and sometimes you don't know -- you don't know if your senator or congressman has supported something or whether he's traded or she's traded for something else. That's what really gets me.

ROBERTS: That's I think with earmarks. It's been one person's pet project, one person's waste is another one's essential project back home, although, the bridge to nowhere.

(LAUGHING)

ROBERTS: Might have been.

ROMANS: Yes. There are a few examples that you really came up with you.

ROBERTS: There's a couple of bit. Some of the ones that people think are outrageous. Other people say, no, we absolutely need this.

ROMANS: That's true. All right. Also, tomorrow morning in AMERICAN MORNING, President Obama says he wants to double U.S. exports in the next five years. That's a really tall order. So, what's the plan, and how can America even compete with chief foreign labor?

ROBERTS: Tonight at 8 o'clock Eastern at on Campbell Brown, a number of President Obama's nominees are being held up by Congress. Are these vacancies contributing to our broken government?

ROMANS: And then later on Anderson Cooper 360, Toyota has a lot of high powered friends in Washington and CNN looks at how that might impact the Toyota investigations.

ROBERTS: I just thought of an earmark that was actually had some interest to you.

ROMANS: Oh, that's right.

ROBERTS: Remember the odor --

ROMANS: The swine order odor.

ROBERTS: The odor mitigation feed lots in Iowa.

ROMANS: I think there were these big pork places in Iowa, and I was saying that, you know, this is like environmental poison, basically --

ROBERTS: Yes.

ROMANS: And it was really important for people who live in Iowa.

ROBERTS: And so many people were laughing at that, thinking that it was just --.

ROMANS: I know, and I was pounding on the desk saying, wait, wait, wait.

ROBERTS: It depends on your perspective.

ROMANS: I once liked this.

ROBERTS: Forty-six and a half minutes after the hour. One-two punch taking aim at the northeast. Rob will have that and this morning's travel forecast right after the break.

ROMANS: And in 10 minutes, Jeanne Moos and the complaints about toll takers on the New Jersey turnpike. You're not going to believe this story. Stick around. Forty-six minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Looks nice in Washington right now but that's not going to last. Thirty-seven degrees and a little bit of sunshine later on today. It's going to start raining. The temperature will get up to 45 degrees then it will start to go down again and from snow moving in. Rob Marciano actually got the details for you. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. He's in the Weather Center in Atlanta. Hi, Rob.

ROMANS: Good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine. This is an interesting scenario setting up. You know, we had three major snowstorms so far this winter and this will be the fourth one, but it's completely different setting up wise. We have one, two, and kind of three things that are going to be coming together and looks like they will do so right over the New York metropolitan area. The timing of this is going to be the key and how these guys get along will be the extent of the party.

Meanwhile, today though, if you are traveling with the leftover snow and rainstorm from yesterday, we have problems and we will have problems in New York and D.C. and Atlanta and in Chicago as well. Look at the snowfall amounts in Texas. Some of these record breaking Waco seeing 3.1 inches of snow, so the Southern part of the storm certainly very active. We are seeing a little bit of mixed precipitation down across the Deep South. Meridian, Mississippi reporting some light snow at this hour, and this is heading up towards Alabama and through Atlanta.

We don't expect a ton of accumulation with this. Matter of fact, there's not a whole lot of advisories out that gets into the Carolinas that probably begin to see a couple of inches of snow. All right. This is the upper level part, kind of the mamalow (ph) of the storm that is going to eject some energy over the Delmarva Peninsula and that will develop the surface low that will crank up. This is the old one that is bumping up quite a bit of snow across parts of upstate Northern New England, and that will wind down later today and tonight. Tomorrow, though, we expect to see five to ten inches across the D.C. and New York corridor, 10 to 20 upstate and inland.

Wind is going to be a huge issue with this. We could see hurricane force winds, and I have to be honest with you, the amount of snow that D.C. and New York gets that the confidence is fairly low and that's because it's going to start as rain, go over to snow. How long that warm air sticks around is going to be a huge question, but the wind and how this thing winds up is certainly going to be impressive, so batten down the hatches certainly tomorrow night and into Friday -- John and Christine.

ROBERTS: Using my powers of deduction here, Rob. I'm detecting a pattern in our weather here. How long is this expected to last?

MARCIANO: As far as the winter weather is concerned?

ROMANS: Until spring.

ROBERTS: It's just that the El Nino driver storm after storm after storm.

MARCIANO: I don't see a huge ends in sight. It has to do with El Nino, and also what's going on in the North Atlantic. This arctic constellation is really put a road block out there and has secured all the storms of the northeast and midatlantic and that has been the main problem and probably will continue for the next week, maybe week and a half.

ROMANS: I hope we just get stuff to sled in not junk, you know what I mean. Then it's just hard work.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob and talk to you again soon.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

ROBERTS: Fifty-two minutes after the hour. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Time now for the Moost News in the Morning. A lot could go wrong on your drive to work and back home especially if you hit a tollbooth along the way.

ROBERTS: Sometimes, it's the toll booth worker or sometimes it's the person behind the wheel. You know, the one with the out of state tag that makes you wonder why more people don't just get the EZ pass. Here's our Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The next time you go through a toll imagine getting your change back plus saliva.

UNKNOWN MALE: Patron claims the collector spit on his fingers before counting his change and handing it to him.

MOOS: In that case, keep the change.

The smoking gun website has obtained 550 complaints about toll takers on the New Jersey turnpike.

Like this one short in sleet (ph).

UNKNOWN MALE: Right. Patron dropped the dime. TC, toll collector called him (EXPLETIVE WORD)

MOOS: These are from motorists so mad they bother to call in their complaints, sometimes mundane.

UNKNOWN MALE: And says that they got the wrong change because he was busy on his cell phone ordering a pizza with extra pepperoni.

MOOS: Sometimes, unbelievable.

UNKNOWN MALE: The collector then sprayed him with some type of aerosol spray.

MOOS: For one female motorist, an innocent chat about driving while sleepy turn into a proposition from the toll taker.

UNKNOWN MALE: I have a way of keeping women awake, you know, if you're tired if you're interested and he offers to flash her.

MOOS: Some women complain about being asked out on dates.

Then we know of couples who met driving through tollbooths on the Massachusetts turnpike.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: It's the eye.

MOOS: Couples who met then married. This trucker used to ask his fellow truckers for help to finding his favorite toll taker. UNKNOWN MALE: I've shown somebody ahead to find out what booth she was worked on that day so I got the right booth.

MOOS: As for the wrong thing to do.

UNKNOWN MALE: Pennies are like the worst thing you can do to a toll collector.

MOOS: Drivers trying to pay in pennies found collectors throwing the penny back at them.

We found one online comedian paying a 75-cent toll in pennies.

Though, the toll taker took it well.

And then there's the driver who pays with $100 bill.

UNKNOWN MALE: The toll collector decides they are going to give them all their change in singles, and they said, I can see that you have 20s, and the person said, you want quarters?

MOOS (on-camera): All right. We're going to pay with a nice crisp $100 bill.

MOOS (voice-over): Pay at the Queens Midtown Tunnel. We got no attitude.

Can I have three 20s, a 10 and some singles?

UNKNOWN MALE: Sure.

MOOS: It's like a bank.

The director of New Jersey's Department of Transportation had this to say about the complaints.

JAMES SIMPSON, DIRECTOR, NEW JERSEY, DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION: If I find out it happens and it could be corroborated, I will personally rip the toll taker out of the lane.

MOOS: We know one guy who used to drive the jersey turnpike.

Better not try throwing pennies at him.

Jeanne Moos, CNN--

UNKNOWN MALE: Would you take a postage stamp? 39 cents.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)