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American Morning
Pregnant Women in Peril in America; Wiring the Wrong America; Paula Deen's Recipe for Success; Toxic Flights: How Safe is the Air on Board?; Flight Toxins; Slaughtered at the Polls for Dems?
Aired March 12, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. I'm Jim Acosta in for John Roberts. How are you? Thanks for having me back. Thanks for having me in this week.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It is great to see you this morning.
ACOSTA: It's great to see you.
CHETRY: On this Friday --
ACOSTA: It is Friday.
CHETRY: March 12th.
ACOSTA: Yes, absolutely. Good thing.
CHETRY: That's a good thing. We have some top stories to tell you about this morning.
The clock is ticking on President Obama's latest health care deadline, which is now March 18th.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: House leaders doing everything they can to make sure they have the yes votes needed to move the bill forward. We're digging deeper on the Democrats final push and whether or not this timeline by the White House is a good thing or not.
ACOSTA: It's going to be tough, Kiran.
And a battle for broadband access -- some say the government's $7.2 billion stimulus project for a high speed Internet has run amuck. The money was supposed to help communities cut off from basic services, so why is $1 million going to a resort town? That is coming up.
CHETRY: Also, we collected samples from a trans-Atlantic flight and put it in the toxicity test. Allen Chernoff has our special investigation.
ACOSTA: We begin with health care. And after a yearlong debate Democrats believe the end is in sight. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has put Republicans on notice that they will use reconciliation to avoid a filibuster and force an up or down wrote on health care reform.
But before that Democrats have to get a bill through the House, and right now they are not even sure they have the votes. President Obama's March 18th deadline for House passage does not appear likely now and it may not get done before House and Senate lawmakers leave for Easter break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Americans are not in any rush to pass this or any other 2,700-page bill that poses as reform but actually raises the cost of health care. And members of Congress shouldn't be deceived by the theatrical attempts to create a sense of urgency about the legislation.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: We will take up the bill when we are ready to take up the bill, but it is not something that we want to drag out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Suzanne Malveaux is following developments for us and is live at the White House this morning. Suzanne, you heard Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi teeing it up there, talking about whether or not we are going to see this health care deadline met by members of Congress. That's going to be a tall order, though.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, some people think of it as the movie "Groundhog's Day." The deadlines are coming and going here. But clearly the people I speak to at the White House the president is trying to gain some momentum here and a sense of urgency. They believe if they set these deadlines at the very least they can keep the momentum going.
But it's going to be a very tough sell here. Look at the calendar here, and there are some key deadlines. March 18th, that's the goal of the White House, the president to try to complete part one, to get the House to complete the Senate version of health care reform. It very much looks like that will slip.
The next key deadline is March 28th. That is when they will go on Easter recess. So the hope is, if they can try and get this done at least before the president leaves for Indonesia and Australia, if that slips, maybe before the Easter recess, that break.
We have seen this before, and this is something that is very consistent and White House strategy because they feel like nothing will get done unless the press pushes lawmakers before deadlines that have come and gone.
That was the August recess as well as the end of last year, and that's why we even saw the Senate get that version of health care reform passed on Christmas Eve. Since this has come about, there has been numerous meetings between the president, his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as well as the Democratic leadership, and the message to the administration has been just back off a little and give us more time here. This is not helpful, the March 18th deadline.
Not surprising Jim, we have seen some flexibility from the administration. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our hope is to get this done as soon as possible. If it takes a couple extra days after a year, it takes a couple extra days.
QUESTION: Are you backing off the 18th?
GIBBS: No, I am saying the president wants, as does everybody here, wants to get this done as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Jim, it's going to be a tough sell because obviously what has to happen is 37 House Democrats who said no the first go around to the Senate bill legislation, and they are essentially going to have to change and say yes.
And there are very tough decisions and issues that have to be dealt with, namely language dealing with abortion, how that is restricted, and also immigration reform. Those are the kinds of things lawmakers are discussing now.
But Jim, it's far from certain whether or not this will get done in the weeks to come, and a senior administration official says we do not want to deal with this in May. We will be moving on.
ACOSTA: We have seen this movie before. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you for joining us from the White House.
CHETRY: Pregnant women in America are facing a health care crisis that is causing hundreds of preventable deaths every year. It's the finding of a new study by Amnesty International which lays much of the blame on the federal government and a lack of good health care in some communities.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to break down the study for us. And Elizabeth, first of all, just put it in perspective, as you did in the last hour, just how many women in the U.S. are dying each year from pregnancy-related causes?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it's hard to get a really good raw number, x number of women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth related causes, because they keep it a little bit approximate.
But let's take a look at how it's done according to statistics from the CDC. In 1987 6.6 women died per 100,000 births, and in 2006 it was 13.3 per 100,000.
Look at that last line, because this is really important. The U.S. government has set out a goal of having four deaths per 100,000 births. And so as you can see, that is a very different number than what is up there.
What is particularly disturbing are racial differences. When you look at white women you are seeing 9.5 deaths for 100,000 births, and then black women, 32.7. That's very, very disturbing.
But there is one thing that I want to make clear here, Kiran -- the raw numbers are low. In other words, dying from childbirth or from being pregnant is a rare thing in the United States. But it does happen, and experts say it happens more than it should, and what is particularly disturbing is that those numbers are on the rise, Kiran.
CHETRY: What do they say is contributing to the increase?
COHEN: There are a couple different factors going on. One of them is more and more women in childbearing age are obese, and when you are obese you have more like to have diabetes or heart disease, which makes you more likely to die.
A second thing is that the C-section rate has sky-rocketed since the 1980s, and with a C-section comes a higher risk of a blood clot or other fatal complications.
Another thing that is going on here is that there are more uninsured women than in the 1980s. and when you are uninsured it's tough to get good prenatal care. And so when you don't get good prenatal care, you are more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth.
CHETRY: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning, thanks.
ACOSTA: Also new this morning, up to $657 million could be going to ground zero workers who got sick after 9/11. It's part of a settlement involving New York City and 10,000 people who say they were affected by dust after the World Trade Center towers fell.
It still has to be approved by a judge and workers, some of who still aren't sure they like the settlement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNY SPECT, FORMER NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER AND FIRST RESPONDER: My wait-and-see attitude comes from the fact that we have been pushing members of Congress to pass the September 11th Healthy Compensation Act which would have led to $5.4 billion for compensation.
So I am just wondering now whether the city wanted to settle this because it appears the new Healthy Compensation Act was going to go forward. My question to the city is why didn't they settle these law suits earlier than they have now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: And most of the money, we should say, would come out of a $1 billion federal grant. Kiran?
CHETRY: The wife of the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in serious condition after her minivan was rear-ended. The crash broke her neck, her back, her nose. Her daughter was also in the car and not seriously injured. The trucker was charged with reckless driving.
ACOSTA: And the ACLU is suing a Mississippi school to force them to reinstate its high school prom. The dance was cancelled after a female student asked to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The student, Constance McMillen, says many of her classmates are blaming her for the controversy.
CHETRY: A federal appeals court upheld the words "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance for schools in western states, holding that the language does not endorse religion and is a patriotic exercise. The lawsuit was brought by a group of atheist group parents in California. They argue that they words interfere with their child's upbringing.
The parents say they are still planning to bring that case to the Supreme Court.
ACOSTA: Sarah Palin and her husband Todd are being called to testify in the case against a Tennessee man that hacked into her e- mail account. He allegedly figured out her password and read her e- mails and created a new password. He faces felonies that include identity theft and wire and computer fraud.
CHETRY: Tiger Woods could return to gold by April. Reports say that Woods is planning to come back for the Masters at Augusta National. His last tournament was in mid-November, and less than two weeks later he got in an accident that forced him to admit he cheated on his wife.
ACOSTA: And it's not quite spring, but you have to spring forward this weekend. Daylight-savings time begins Sunday morning. So that means before you go to bed Saturday night, you want to push your clock ahead one hour. I think it's fall back and spring forward, just in case anybody is confused about that.
CHETRY: I always view it as a lost hour of sleep, especially with the children.
ACOSTA: It is.
CHETRY: It's 10 minutes past the hour.
(WEATHER BREAK)
ACOSTA: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, waiting to be wired -- communities across the national are hoping to get high speed Internet courtesy of Uncle Sam. We will show you who is getting it and who is not and who says that is not fair. CHETRY: Also at 7:25, flying, considered one of the safest ways to travel, but how safe is the air that you are breathing on your flight? We uncovered some startling evidence that could affect your health. It's part two of our series on toxic flights.
ACOSTA: And men of war, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg hosts the president and first family for the premiere of "The Pacific." We'll have a closer look at the epic series that is getting great reviews that shows the grit of marines during World War II.
It is 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Fifteen minutes past the hour right now.
Across the country there is fierce competition to get money for high-speed Internet. There are 2,200 companies that applied for a federal stimulus fund that actually pays for broadband access, and it's $7.2 billion. It's designed to help people in rural areas of the country.
ACOSTA: Right. People who feel like they're lost in a dead zone. We all know what that's like. This proves there are plenty especially in the west. The government is set to pick who gets the second and final wave of the grants, but not without criticism from some House Republicans who say the money for broadband is not going to those areas that need it most.
CNN's Mary Snow has a surprising look at which communities will be wired and which ones don't. And, Mary, this goes to that issue of the stimulus and not everybody is happy with the way it's been implemented.
CHETRY: Yes. Absolutely.
ACOSTA: Here's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In southeastern Minnesota, it's this sound that worries residents about being left behind, dialup. Concerns about not having high-speed Internet connections even stretches to this weather siren that warns the small town of Minneiska of tornadoes. David Priest is city clerk.
DAVID PRIEST, CITY CLERK, MINNEISKA, MN: The equipment that we have here is dated back to the '70s, '80s, maybe early '80s.
SNOW: Minneiska leaders say broadband could enable them to cable alerts directly into people's homes. And that's why they turned to Gary Evans, the CEO of Hiawatha Broadband.
GARY EVANS, CEO, HIAWATHA BROADBAND: That's really what broadband connectivity means to rural America. It means survival. SNOW: Evans serves a string of communities including the Prairie Island Indian Community next to a nuclear power plant. Residents have appealed to him for broadband saying they feel safer with faster connectivity. For these reasons, Evans thought he was a strong contender for broadband grants being giving out by the government. And we shocked when his application for nearly $6 million was rejected by two government agencies.
EVANS: They're real people with real needs that could be solved by technology. And we let them down.
SNOW: The Department of Commerce told Evans his application didn't score high enough and told us in a statement, "It didn't have the resources to debrief every applicant." A second agency, the Department of Agriculture, rejected Hiawatha because the company didn't put up enough of its own money.
(on camera): Minnesota may have lost out, but the ski resort community here in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, is about to gain. Vacation home properties surrounding this resorts are about to benefit from a nearly $1 million broadband grant courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
(voice-over): At the heart of the community, the Mount Washington resort that's undergone a $50 million renovation. Real estate developer Charles Adams plans to build 900 vacation homes surrounding it.
CHARLES ADAMS, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER: You can see the ski area. You can see the Mount Washington hotel.
SNOW: And says he was the one who encouraged Bretton Woods Telephone Company to apply for the government money, seeing broadband is key.
ADAMS: People even though they may be taking the weekend are constantly connected. They're connected to family. They're connected to work.
SNOW: So why did Bretton Woods in New Hampshire get government help and Hiawatha in Minnesota didn't?
We asked Jonathan Adelstein who's in charge of the broadband grants being distributed at the Department of Agriculture.
JONATHAN ADELSTEIN, ADMINISTRATOR, USDA RURAL UTILITIES SERVICES: It's not a question of which was more worthy. Both of them may be very worthy. Only one of the applications in this case was submitted to us properly in the way that was eligible.
SNOW: Adelstein says Hiawatha was turned down because it planned to fund only 20 percent of its project. The government required companies to pay half, a requirement Bretton Woods met. But it turns out Hiawatha was hardly alone. So many rural communities were rejected. The government is now dropping the 50 percent money rule for a second round of grants.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now, government officials tell us they were forced to make some tough decisions given the shear volume of applicants, some 2,200. And even with $7.2 billion, there just isn't enough stimulus money for all these projects. The agency did already fund 168 of them, but there's more than $5 billion yet to be distributed in another round. Those deadlines are fast approaching. They're due later this month.
ACOSTA: All right.
CHETRY: Very important to some of these communities, though. Vital.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
SNOW: As we saw, some of them are relying on it form emergency services.
CHETRY: Right. Mary Snow, thanks.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Mary.
Broadband connectivity is considered a global economic indicator. Aside from the public safety benefits Mary mentioned, broadband access in rural communities can also spur economic growth, improve health care, help people with disabilities, allow farmers to improve their productivity, even help the environment. But a recent survey showed 46 percent of homes in rural areas do not have access to broadband, and even those who could not get it many can't. Many say it's either too expensive or simply they just don't need it. And we'll have more on that as we go along here.
It is 19 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- three minutes past the hour. Time for "Minding Your Business." Christine Romans joins us this morning with a special treat, because we all love to eat.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: You love to cook. And you're talking about Paula Deen, who sort of was able to make it into a one-woman enterprise.
ROMANS: Really, and this Paula Deen, who you may know, she's the bell of southern cooking. The queen of butter if you will. I mean, I cooked with her at the Food Network this week. And I have to tell you she has an instructive story for anyone who is down and out in this economy.
And she feels keenly, keenly aware of all the people out there with the economy just isn't working for them. And I asked her, look, this is a woman who had $200 in her pocket in 1989, recently divorced, two kids. She's afraid to go out of the house. She had no job, and she had to invent herself. She says there's a personal renaissance out there for everyone. And I asked her, OK, so take the Paula Deen story and tell me how does that translate for all of you out there?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: For someone who is really starting over right now, what is your message for what you have done? How does it relate to them?
PAULA DEEN, CELEBRITY CHEF: You know you kind of have to reinvent yourselves, girls and guys. You know, you have to keep things fresh.
I did start this little lunch business called "The Bag Lady." And every week I would try to introduce a new recipe out there for folks to try. You know, I try to keep it interesting. But you know, my boys sold that food. They were so sweet walking in to those office buildings. Y'all, the women just loved them. They just loved them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They loved the food.
DEEN: They did. They loved the food. But you know, I'm living proof, girls, that you can take control of your life at any age, take responsibility for yourself, give it a little thought, and stick to what you know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And she says you can make money doing what you know, and that she is living proof of this. And she looks around at the wreckage of the economy and says she sees families that are coming together that are cooking together at home. She sees this nesting trend. That's why she is so popular.
She sees people picking up magazines and learning how to cook together. We cooked hamburgers with her two sons there. And you know, she corrected her two sons, and she said -- one of her sons is Jamie -- she said, Jamie, you make this hamburger better. You take a stick of butter, you cut it up. And then news flash. Paula Deen wants to put butter in her food, in her hamburger. But you know -- yes. Butter does make it better, but it makes a life-long relationship with your cardiologists, too, right?
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: She's so adorable and I just love it. Her two sons are there --
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: -- where they're chopping there, basil and parsley next to their mom. That could be you down the road.
ROMANS: It could be. Maybe.
ACOSTA: She's divorced. ROMANS: But there's a money message here as well. There really is, and she gets that. There is a money message here. And the money message is, you can save money, you can be at home, but you could also do what you love to do and make money doing it. And that's what she's doing.
CHETRY: Rock on. She's great.
ACOSTA: She is great. And our family went down to her restaurant down in Savannah. I have to say it was awesome.
ROMANS: Yes.
ACOSTA: I needed a three-hour nap after I was finished eating in the restaurant.
ROMANS: You know, you watch "YOUR MONEY" this weekend, Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00. Ali and I, you're going to be able to see all these recipes and all the other stuff that she has. There's a long interview, so you'll be able to see it this weekend. More of Paula Deen. And I asked her about her Twitter, you know. I said I'll tweet this. She said yes. What is my tweeter number? But she has a lot of followers on Twitter, too, so we'll tweet is as well -- the recipes.
CHETRY: That's good.
ACOSTA: Butter makes it better.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is 7:27. Top stories only a few minutes away, but first, an "A.M. Original," something you'll only see right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
For most of us, fear of flying means we're afraid of the plane, not making it on time. But a CNN investigation suggests we should be more concerned about the air we're breathing inside the cabin and that being toxic.
CHETRY: Well, serious stuff. Well, Allan Chernoff has been looking into the so-called fume events and he's here with the second part of his investigation.
You have actually tested the air onboard a flight.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely for very good reason, you know. We've been talking about how toxic fumes from engine oil can actually seep in to the cabins' air supply system because that air comes through the engines. So how do we know that the air onboard our flight is actually safe?
We collected samples on board a transcontinental flight. I'm not going to mention the airline because this is really an issue that affects all airlines. Even though I was well aware of the risk, I have to say our results were surprising.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Could the air onboard your next flight be toxic? Ventilation air comes through the engine, so an oil leak can result in engine oil mist containing neurotoxins that seep into the cabin.
(on camera): So we're going to test the air onboard this flight. And I'm turning the air monitor on. For 90 minutes, it's going to sample the air.
Toxins in the air would leave residue on services of the cabin, so I'm swabbing here to bring samples back to the laboratory so we can determine if indeed there have been any toxins in the air here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's have a look.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Toxicologist Chris Van Netten at the University of British Columbia has studied air quality onboard planes for years.
CHRIS VAN NETTEN, TOXICOLOGIST, UNIV. OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: We'll take this out very carefully.
CHERNOFF: Van Netten places the air filter and alcohol swabs into test tubes. His research associate Tim Ma (ph) adds solvent to extract whatever chemicals or samples captured. They also analyze some of producer Laura Dolan's (ph) hair to see if it collected toxins from her seat back cushion.
Tim runs the resulting chemicals through a mass vecrometer (ph), a device that measures molecular weight and chemical composition.
The finding? Our swabs of the air cabin surface do contain the neurotoxin Tricresyl Phosphate, known as TCP, which is in engine oil.
VAN NETTEN: It's the pattern that really nails it down to the actual engine oil. This is the pattern that you find in engine oil and this is the pattern you find in the swab sample that you took from the aircraft.
CHERNOFF: Tim Ma has analyzed surface swabs from 40 different flights and says he almost always finds TCP.
(on camera): And on virtually all of them? Do you find it?
TIM MA, UNIV. OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: Pretty much so, yes.
The waves (ph) are at significant levels, but -- CHERNOFF (voice-over): Significant but not large. But the biggest amount we found, 44 billionth of a gram, not enough to have any health consequences. Our air samples do not show any traces of TCP. That means toxic residue has collected on the surface of the cabin from either a prior fume event or from gradual continual accumulation of toxins.
VAN NETTEN: There is a fair amount of remnant material floating around in the ventilation system. This comes out on a regular basis. And that's what you are measuring.
CHERNOFF (on camera): So even if the flight you are on hasn't had a fume event, there are toxic fumes in that ventilation system and it's coming out?
VAN NETTEN: That's the case.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Van Netten explains his research shows when engines are shut down, some oil can leak overnight. When a plane starts up in the morning, a mist of oil can spread through the cabin.
(on camera): So you don't want to be the first person on the plane in the morning when you turn it on.
VAN NETTEN: That's the pilots, the pilots are the ones that turn on the engine.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Laura's hair shows traces of TCP as well, though only one trillionth of a gram.
(on camera): The whole hair probably picked it up from the seat, right. That would say to us when you get off that plane, you should take a shower, right?
VAN NETTEN: Well, you should take a shower anyways.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Of course. The two leading aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, which both use the same ventilation system, they acknowledge fume events can occur, but they say the system provides good and safe cabin air quality. Now again, Chris Van Netten says the amount of toxins we found on the cabin interior are not going to cause health problems, the people at greatest risks are those who actually work onboard the plane, pilots and flight attendants.
Van Netten says that crews should be equipped with air monitors so they can measure toxicity levels especially in the event of a fume event.
CHETRY: Good piece. Thanks so much, Allan.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Allan. It is 32 minutes after the hour. And that means it's time for this morning's top stories. A deadly suicide attack in Pakistan is one of those stories. Police say the two bombers set themselves off in the city of Lahore, killing at least 39 people. More than 100 others are being treated for injuries. And officials say the target was Army vehicles. This is the fourth attack in Pakistan this week.
CHETRY: A second child has died from a meningitis outbreak at an elementary school in Oklahoma. Four other students are being examined for possible symptoms to help contain the rare blood infection. Parents, teachers and staffers are being treated with antibiotics and the school was also closed today.
ACOSTA: And President Obama and House Democrats are working to nail down a final health care bill by March 18th. But that deadline may have to move back again. Right now, Democrats just don't have the votes needed to pass the bill. Last night on "Campbell Brown," CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen discussed the political impact if Democrats come up empty-handed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It clearly means if they don't get it done, the Democratic base will be demoralized and they will have a hard time getting their voters out, and that's been the fear, the Democrats have felt all along. On the other hand, if they do pass it, of course, there is the danger of it will immobilize the other side even more. So this is -- this is (INAUDIBLE) and Democrats at some point you've got to not consult the polls but consult your conscience about what's best for the country, and that's the big thing for the Democrats now as they go forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, those words from our own David Gergen falling in line with another warning from a former Obama insider, Steve Hildebrand. He helped to get President Obama in the White House, but on a one-on-one with our Ed Henry, he said that if Democrats don't' deliver real political reform in D.C., they can get, "slaughtered in this year's mid term elections."
ACOSTA: We wanted to talk a bit more about that. So joining us live from Sioux Falls, South Dakota this morning, former Obama campaign adviser, Steve Hildebrand. Steve, thanks for getting up early this morning. And slaughtered, people have been hanging on that word all week this week, Steve, is it really that serious?
STEVE HILDEBRAND, FMR. OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, I think it is. I think we face tough re-elections within the climate anyway, especially, you know, the party in power tends to not perform all that well during the mid-term elections, and that's obviously the Democrats. But what -- I don't think a lot of people are sensing -- you know, I live out here in South Dakota, and it's not unique here. It's this way everywhere in the country.
Voters, I've never seen them this angry. I've never felt them this angry. This is different than 1994 when Democrats were thrown out. I think it's different than 2008 when President Obama was elected. We've lost a lot of jobs in this country. People are scared. We're not through with this challenging economy. And what voters see every day is a Washington that doesn't work.
And their biggest concern with Washington is the overriding power of money and politics, and if we don't get money out of politics, voters will continue to be disenchanted with Washington.
ACOSTA: Wow.
CHETRY: It is interesting that you say that, because on top of all that anger that you are referring to especially about the uncertainty of the job market, and people losing their homes, foreclosures and on and on. Of course, we know the economy, there has been a string of scandals that we have been dealing with, the Democrats have been dealing with actually. And that we've been covering. For congressional Democrats, what can they do to try and sort of try to maintain or get back on the higher ground in this situation?
HILDEBRAND: Sure, great question. Democrats in 2006 and 2008 campaigned heavily for reform of government, fixing Washington. They campaigned against Republicans in their culture of corruption as we described it. President Obama, of course, campaigned for change saying that we need to fix Washington first.
So, I think we need to go back to the fundamentals. We need to get money out of politics. We need serious lobbying reform, that you know, provides for better disclosure, accountability and it gets rid of this 20 percent rule that says you can lobby Congress and not report anything and no one will know about it as long as you don't go beyond the 20 percent threshold.
ACOSTA: Right.
HILDEBRAND: You know, that's crazy.
ACOSTA: And Steve, before --
HILDEBRAND: I need to --
ACOSTA: Go ahead.
HILDEBRAND: I think we need to, you know, tighten ethics rules. I think we need to improve upon the code of conduct that politicians, elected officials in Congress operate under, and I think something that is really just important is we need to stop allowing Congress to police it's own bad behavior. We need an outside entity that governs ethics of members of Congress and the Senate --
ACOSTA: But you know, before they --
HILDEBRAND: I don't how we do that --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Yes, before they get to all of that --
HILDEBRAND: I just don't think we are ever going to -- ACOSTA: Right.
HILDEBRAND: I just don't think we are ever going to police the behavior there.
ACOSTA: Right. But before they get to all of that, I mean, obviously the reforms could be coming down the pike, but they have to get to health care reform first, which is obviously the big issue that's going to be coming up next week and it's really getting down to crunch time. And the phrase that I keep hearing with respect to, you know, whether or not the Democrats are going to have the votes for this is if we don't hang together, we will hang separately.
And you are a Democratic strategist, Steve, and you watched the president in Iowa selling health care reform. What is the price that is going to be paid by Democrats if they don't hang together and pass health care reform, you think?
HILDEBRAND: Well, first, I think it's important to recognize that President Obama and the Democrats have not given up on this very, very important fight. They know this is critical. Not to their politics, but to the people of this country. 31 million Americans being covered, and people who currently have health insurance will no longer have the threat of being dropped because of an illness. Pre- existing conditions will no longer be an acceptable reason for insurance companies to deny coverage.
And I think really important is the Congressional Budget Office releasing their study that the Senate Democrats' bill, the Obama bill for all intents and purposes, would save $118 billion. It would cut the deficit by $118 billion over 10 years. That's very important. This is a deficit reduction, job creation and life-saving bill that I think is vitally important for Congress to pass it. And I am confident that both the Senate and the House will take it up very quickly.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Steve, we have to take a quick break, but we want to ask you a couple other questions when we come right back. So we're going to continue the conversation.
HILDEBRAND: Sure.
CHETRY: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour.
HILDEBRAND: Thank you.
CHETRY: We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Forty-two minutes past the hour. We are continuing the conversation right now with Steve Hildebrand, who is the former deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama , helped to get him into the White House. You were, of course, one of his top advisers, Steve. And one of the things we're wondering about is why are you speaking out so publicly right now about your concerns? Is it fodder in some cases for opponents of the White House when you use terms like slaughtered?
HILDEBRAND: Well, I think there is a real sense that Democrats are in trouble this fall and you know, it's March, we got until November to get things together. I think I am speaking out because I am as frustrated as a lot of people with Washington.
You know, CNN, you all did a long series on broken government, and there is no question that the place is a big challenge, and there is too much partisanship. There is not enough focus on helping regular people out here in America. There is way too much focus on raising money and getting re-elected. That is a real problem that needs to be addressed. And I think more Americans need to speak up. They need to get on the phone to their members and demand that we clean up this system, so that we can get things done.
ACOSTA: And Steve, I mean, you point out some of the flaws in Washington, and the fact that lobbying reform may be needed, and may be needed in a dire way. But the question that I have is, I mean, you were there with the president during the campaign, and you saw the affect that he had on people with -- remember the crowds, you remember those crowds all too well. Tens of thousands of people.
And now many of those folks in his own base are disillusioned. And I'm just curious, I mean, can you tell us where you think he went wrong? Where did the White House go wrong? What did they do wrong?
HILDEBRAND: Well, you know, I am not inside the White House, and so I tried to --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: But you are seeing it from the outside. What do you see from the outside, Steve?
HILDEBRAND: Well, you know, look, this president showed up day one with more challenges than any president in American history. So I think that's really important to recognize. I think he did an incredible job of preventing financial collapse. You know, this is going to be the first president who gets this health care reform done which I am confident we will get done.
ACOSTA: Yes, but Steve, I hope you don't mind me saying these sounds like Democratic talking points a little bit. I guess, I'm just curious --
HILDEBRAND: No, no, no. Let me --
ACOSTA: I mean, can you -- can you --
HILDEBRAND: Sure. Let me finish (ph).
ACOSTA: -- pinpoint something where you think that they -- they went off -- off track a little bit, with the train -- the horn of the train sounding in the background -- I mean where does this go off track just a little bit?
HILDEBRAND: Welcome to South Dakota.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
HILDEBRAND: I -- I think that the president has every ability to pull this together in a very significant way. While I -- I think he's done a great job, I do think that we need to have a serious focus on cleaning up the ethical and political and -- and big money out of Washington.
ACOSTA: Do you think he made a mistake bringing the industry into the health care debate? Do you think cutting those deals with the pharmaceutical industry, bringing the health insurance industry into -- into the process in the early stages, do you think those were mistakes?
HILDEBRAND: I don't -- no, I -- I don't because I think --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: What about some of those deals that were cut on -- on Capitol Hill? The president and the White House were silent.
HILDEBRAND: I think any of the -- I think any of the deals that were made with senators are -- are problematic. You know, to give Ben Nelson what he wants so that he can -- he would vote for health care reform, I don't like that and I don't think the American people should have to put up with that kind of kind of business as usual in Washington.
I do think that the president has done a great job getting -- lobbying reform put together for administration. The problem is down the street, in the -- in the capital where it's running rampant.
But I know this president is very committed to --
ACOSTA: Is he fighting hard enough?
HILDEBRAND: And --
ACOSTA: Is he -- is he --
HILDEBRAND: I do think he's fighting hard enough.
ACOSTA: You think he's just finding his voice now? Some are saying that. He's just finding his voice now on -- on some of these key issues.
HILDEBRAND: Look -- look, pundits -- pundits and political operatives and a lot of elected officials told him to give up on health care a long time ago. Barack Obama knows it's the right thing to do and he is very persistent and wants to get this done because the American people need it, because we'll save money, because we'll create jobs and more people will have security around health care.
That's a fundamental principle that is -- is just critical to him, and -- and he should be applauded for going. So I do think he is fighting hard.
CHETRY: All right. Steve, it was great talking to you this morning. As we said, thanks for getting up with us.
Steve Hildebrand, former Obama Deputy Campaign Manager.
HILDEBRAND: Sure. Thank you.
CHETRY: Weighing in from the outside. Thanks.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Steve.
CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: What a beautiful shot this morning of the sun coming up this morning. What a perfect song. You cannot find (ph) better.
ACOSTA: Gorgeous -- gorgeous sun rise there in Big D, Dallas, Texas, 47 degrees. It's going to be 63 degrees later today.
And it is time for this morning's weather headlines, and Rob Marciano is standing by in Atlanta. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Jim. Good morning, Kiran.
Talking about this severe weather across the southeast again today. It's the third day in a row we're seeing this severe thunderstorm. Watch out for another hour or two with this line that just moved through Birmingham and Huntsville with some vigor.
And now it's still kind of holding together, this little cell just moving south of Aniston, rolling to the east, northeast at about 35, 40 miles an hour. So Atlanta metro will get clipped later on in about the midday hour.
Speaking of getting clipped, Florida got hit hard yesterday. Check out some of this video coming out of Polk and Pinellas County. Citrus County also got hit hard. A couple of tornadoes touching down there, damage done. About 40 people had to be evacuated because these homes obviously unlivable.
Still about 5,000 people in Pinellas County without power due to these storms. Today, not quite as severe, but certainly a fair amount of rain as you see here in the radar from Tampa, now sliding down to about West Palm Beach. It may get as far south as Miami before the day is done, but severe weather will continue to be a threat as it rolls up into Tennessee and Kentucky. This whole system kind of rolls up the East Coast and it strengthens, with big time winds going to be cranking across parts of the tri-state area, beginning tonight and lasting right through Sunday morning. Not only the strong winds but the heavy rain and in interior sections that heavy rain will be on top of a snow pack that is still melting and it might be melting rapidly. So flooding is going to be an issue for a good swath of the northeast corridor.
That's the latest from here. Jim and Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks so much.
We're going to take a quick break. Fifty-one minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The city of New York has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits filed by the first responders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The cost to settle those claims could be $657 million.
Anthony Johnson of CNN affiliate WABC joins us live from Ground Zero this morning. Hi, Anthony.
ANTHONY JOHNSON, WABC CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Yes, that settlement is going to be looked at by a judge a little bit later on this afternoon, and of course a lot of people have been waiting to get that money. Finally it looks like it has come through.
But there's also something else in place here, and that's talking about the development. The developer and the port authority that owns the property -- the World Trade Center property, trying to hammer out all of the development, trying to figure out just how many buildings are going to be down here.
Construction workers came down here very early this morning. They are at work on the Freedom Tower. You might be able to see it right behind me.
They're trying to figure out just how much work they will eventually do down here at ground zero.
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JOHNSON (voice-over): The settlement covers 10,000 men and women who say their health was ruined by working at Ground Zero in a toxic environment. The plaintiffs would share up to $657 million. The money will come from a billion-dollar insurance fund established by Congress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 52 years old and tell me I got lungs of a 90-year-old man. JOHNSON: In addition to approval from the judge, the settlement must be agreed to by 95 percent of the plaintiffs. One third of the settlement money will go to the lawyers for the plaintiffs, legal fees for defending the city and its contractors already have topped $200 million.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do we want them?
CROWD: Now.
JOHNSON: It's the lack of money for new construction that haunts the second set of negotiations. Eight years of delays and false starts put an angry edge on Tuesday's protest by construction workers?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want the red tape stopped. We need the economy to get going.
JOHNSON: The port authority and developer Larry Silverstein have been bargaining through the night to meet today's deadline for an agreement on what to build. They also disagree on how to pay for anything.
CHRIS WARD, PORT AUTHORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: What we're not willing to do is do a complete public bailout of private infrastructure.
JOHNSON: City leaders say it's time to deal.
CHRISTINE QUINN, NYC COUNCIL SPEAKER: Lock yourself in a room, put a couple of NYPD guys or gals outside of the door, have you guys waiting down here and tell them not to come out until they've got some good news!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNSON: Now Silverstein and the port authority, they've been dealing all night long, trying to wheel and deal, trying to come up with some kind of settlement here with the development. We're still waiting to see exactly what is taking place.
If they do not come up with a deal, what will happen, the whole matter will be turned over to an arbitrator. That arbitrator could take months, even years to come up with a final deal.
CHETRY: Wow.
JOHNSON: Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: If that's the case, (INAUDIBLE) going to have to keep waiting. That's unbelievable for many of those people suffering.
Anthony, thanks so much. ACOSTA: And stick around. Your top stories are coming your way in two minutes. Be right back.
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