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American Morning
Health Care Bill Becomes a Law; Acorn Shutting Down; ACORN Shutting Down; Rebuilding Wall Street; The Other Smart: Emotional Intelligence; Netanyahu to Meet with Obama; Is your Airbag Safe?; What Health Care Means for You
Aired March 23, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and thanks for being with us on the Most News in the Morning. It's Tuesday. It's the 23rd of March. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here are the big stories we're breaking down in the next 15 minutes.
This morning, the stroke of a pen the Democrat's health care plan will be law of the land, but the fight isn't over. We're live in Washington. The Republicans are searching for a way to try to roll it back and the President must now sell it to the people.
JOHN ROBERTS: ACORN is closing its doors. The once powerful community organizing group is folding due to a lack of money. It comes six months after a scandal in which ACORN workers were secretly videotaped giving tips on avoiding taxes to conservative activist posting as a pimp and a prostitute. Carol Costello is working that story for us this morning.
CHETRY: And if you think you're smart, answer this, what's your EQ? It could be more important than your IQ when it comes to getting a good job. Special report, are you smart? Straight ahead.
ROBERTS: All of that coming up in the next 15 minutes. But first for President Obama and his fellow democrats it will be a moment to saver. In just a few hours time that the president will sign the landmark health care reform bill into law. CNN is reforming of our health care system like no one else can.
CHETRY: We have Brianna Keilar with us this morning, as well as Jill Dougherty live in Washington. And Jill, let's start with you, so we understand of course there was a big outdoor ceremony planned today. Massive turnout expected unfortunately the weather got in the way. They are expecting some rain. So, they are moving it inside. But what's going on today?
JILL DOUGHERTY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, inside to the east room of course is a lot of room in there but not quite enough for all of people who wanted to be there. There will be certainly legislators who supported this, all democrats. Then health care workers, doctors and nurses and also we understand Vickie Kennedy, widow of Senator Ted Kennedy who is such a profound in this health care is expected to be in that room as well.
Then, the president about an hour later after he signs the bill will go over to the Interior Department where they have a huge auditorium and have more in depth comments about health care reform and we're expecting quite a few grass roots activists over in that room. That could be more of a celebration. But certainly, this is not the final chapter as we all know. The reconciliation bill has to go to the Senate. And in fact, speaking of that last night, the president was here talking strategy with some senators, how they want to move that bill forward -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Just stand by because we want to bring in Brianna Keilar now. And Brianna once President Obama signs this bill, it's not over. There's another battle that looms ahead for the health care reform package. Break that down for us.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this big bill in front of me here, this gigantic bill is what President Obama is going to be signing into law. This is it right here. But this is the unfinished business. This is the changes bill that's only passed the House and would need to pass the Senate before President Obama can sign this into law.
So, the Senate needs to take this up, they would do that after President Obama signs this larger bill into law. And then if they pass it, democrats say they have the 51 votes, it goes to President Obama. But if there are some changes, then it would have to go back to the House.
And John, the first effort by republicans to really slow this down or even just squash it all together failed. They were talking to the Senate parliamentarian about the way that this would even go to the floor and the Senate parliamentarian basically ruled against them in the matter.
ROBERTS: So, what about on the democratic side of things? Do they only need to get 51 votes to pass this? Do they have those in place?
KEILAR: They say they did. They had a letter, Majority Leader Harry Reid has a letter signed by enough democrats to pass this through the process of reconciliation. Now, that was part of the deal with House democrats, was giving them that assurance that they could push this through the Senate.
ROBERTS: All right. Brianna Keilar for us this morning, along with Jill Dougherty, thanks so much, appreciate it.
CHETRY: And Senate republicans will going to have to wait to grill Attorney General Eric Holder over plans to shut down the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay. A hearing was set for today but Senate democrats didn't want to miss President Obama signing the health care bill into law. So, it was postponed until the last minute. Holder is traveling for the rest of the week and the Senate is out next week so it's unclear when this will actually be happening.
ROBERTS: And we now know who shouted baby killer during the health care debate on the House floor the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RANDY NEUGEBAUER (R), TEXAS: Baby killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Congressman Randy Neugebauer, but the Texas republican says, he shouted, "It's a baby killer," and was referring to an agreement reached over abortion measures in the bill not his democratic colleague Congressman Bart Stupak. Congressman Stupak staunched anti abortionist, switched his vote from no to yes after striking a deal with the white House which will guarantee federal money will not be used to fund abortions. As for Congressman Neugebauer, he has issued an apology and both men are talking about what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RANDY NEUGEBAUER (R), TEXAS: I just called Congressman Stupak today and I said I just want you to know that my remarks were not directed to you personally, they were about the policy that was unfolding.
REP. BART STUPAK (D), MICHIGAN: Well, he apologizes and said, it was not directed at me personally. And I told him, I said it must be other members so therefore you owe the House of Representatives, the members, rest of the members an apology. And we've got to keep proper decorum and demeanor on the floor. We're supposed to be professionals and I know emotions run high, but you have to keep yourself under control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Congressman Neugebauer also made headlines last summer when he backed the so-called birther bill which required presidential candidates to show proof that they were born in U.S. soil.
CHETRY: President Obama will be signing the health care reform bill and making a few remarks in the White House east room. That's at 11:15 Eastern this morning. And CNN will have live coverage. Or if you're away from your TV, you can also catch it at cnn.com/live.
ROBERTS: And what do you think about the health care reform bill. Share your thoughts and join the chat in our live blog at cnn.com/am fix. And we'll be sharing some of your comments a little later on in the show.
CHETRY: Say that five times fast.
ROBERTS: A little later on in the show. And new this morning, bombshell accusations against the doctor at the center of Michael Jackson's death investigation. Documents obtained by the associated press allege the Dr. Conrad Murray stopped performing CPR on the dying singer, so he could collect drug vials in the room. A witness told police that he saw Jackson lying lifeless with an IV attached to his leg. And Murray didn't tell him to call 911 until all of those vials had been stashed away.
Murray's attorneys claim prosecutors leaked that police report so that they could get a peek at the defense's strategy. The DA of course denies that. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Jackson died from an overdose of the powerful drug Propofol and two other said sedatives.
CHETRY: Planes may seem be up to speed with technology that you already have in your car. The Senate passing a $35 billion bill that would speed up the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system by replacing the current system which is World War II era radar with GPS. It could still take another four years. The new system is expected to relief airport traffic and delays by allowing planes to take more direct routes and also allowing them to fly closer to each other.
ROBERTS: And it's up, up in a way, commercial space travel, one step closer to reality. Virgin Galactic's Mother Ship and Rocket Plane conducted a successful maiden test flight yesterday in the Mojave Desert. British Billionaire Richard Branson planning to offer sub-orbital space flights for a song, $200 thousand a pop starting early next year, chip it twice the price. This company has already collected $45 million in fare deposits from 330 eager and willing passengers.
CHETRY: There you go. They got the money.
ROBERTS: Somebody's got the coins, right?
CHETRY: I guess so. All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour. Time to get check this morning's weather headlines Rob Marciano in Atlanta. Maybe you can do it as a story, Rob, videotape what it's like.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Now you're talking, give me that PR contact and let's get a $200,000 ride for free. Throw it on the CNN Web site and we're good to go, it will be fun.
Hey guys, a little bit of rainfall across the area last night on top of what you saw last week. So, we have some flooding issues. Here are some of the numbers as far as what we saw. Just under two inches for places in Connecticut, Jersey, also New York City seeing just over an inch and a third. So, some rain most of it has moved east of the throw way and through eastern parts of New England. So, one of three inches -- some spots. We do have flood warnings out for parts of Jersey, Western Connecticut, hustanic (ph) and flood stage there and even the Charles River in Boston.
A couple of storms we're looking at. The one across the northeast and the next one is heading into the Rocky Mountains and that would bring some snowstorm warnings in effect right now for Denver. We saw a snow last week and we saw 60s over the weekend and also snow again today. Spring, a wonderful time of year. John, Kiran right back to you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob. ROBERTS: All right, Rob, thanks.
Give tax tips to a pimp and then you go broke. Acorn says, it's closing up shop, while the CEO say, it was taken down by McCarthyism.
CHETRY: How the definition is smart is changing in the 21st century. A new way that kids are learning to compete against computers in the future.
ROBERTS: And why newer, smarter air bags may be too advanced for our own good. The surprising results of crash tests when the air bag deployed and the dummies were buckled up. Eight and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour. Welcome back to most news in the morning. This morning, a liberal committee organizing group Acorn is closing its doors after just six months after it was caught in an unforgettable sting operation.
ROBERTS: Acorn apparently going broke after all the bad press that they received last year when secretly made videotapes were made public. Carol Costello was following developments for us this morning. She's in Washington. Hi, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi John. Hi Kiran. No big surprise here, you actually could see this one coming but now is it official as of April 1. Acorn, the community organized, that group that once claimed 400,000 members will close its doors. It's a monumental collapse for a group founded 40 years, and mostly for registering low income voters although even that has been controversial as of late. Think Mickey Mouse but who can forget where it all started.
Let me take you back. It was last September, just an innocent pimp and his prostitute looking for some tax tips. The pimp really Conservative Activist James will keep with the hidden camera, here's what happened in Acorn's Baltimore Office when he told workers his girlfriend was a prostitute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You're going to have to say you're giving a gift from somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: OK. But, the money got to go in the bank.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm using the money that she's getting? Is that what you mean?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: OK. But you don't know where it's coming from.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I personally know where it's coming from.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Right but when the police ask you, you don't know where it's coming from is what we're trying to tell you.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We're looking out for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And of course, that effectively did Acorn in -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: So, that was one of many, right, Carol? In terms of some of the scandals.
COSTELLO: Yes, you know, I mentioned Mickey Mouse before you heard that. The greatest hits has also included some memorable moments in Baltimore and Brooklyn where they actually got advise on setting up a brafle (ph) and hiding the profits. One worker even suggested the young lady bypass the bank all together and hide her cash in a tin that was buried in the backyard. The workers as you can imagine were eventually fired.
There were no criminal charges filed. There were criminal charges but they were cleared of criminal charges, I should say. Congress quickly cut grants to Acorn though the census bureau also cut ties. And the IRS dropped Acorn from a tax assistance program. And of course, as you might imagine, private donations dried up.
On the eve of the big announcement, the group's CEO Bertha Lewis blamed partisan attacks, saying, the group faced, quote, "A series of well orchestrated relentless well funded right wing attacks that are unprecedented since the McCarthy era. Our effective work empowering African American and low income workers made us a target. The videos were manufactured, sensational story that led to rush to judgment and unconstitutional act by Congress. For Acorn as a national organization, our vindication on the facts doesn't necessarily pay the bills."
And so in the next week the group says it will close its remaining affiliates across the country and will try to pay off all outstanding debts and obligations.
ROBERTS: So, Carol, what happens to all of the supporters of Acorn, all of people who are working there?
COSTELLO: And there are still many supporters out there. And many places the local offices have already broken away though. In New York, many former workers started a new group, New York communities for change. That's what it's called. In California, Acorn is now alliance of Californians for community empowerment. And this break away groups insist that they have changed more than just their names. They say they have tougher ethics roles and much better management.
CHETRY: Yes, I mean, in some cases they said that there was just a lot of pressure on them to collect as many names as possible, you know, to go out there and that was sort of how, you know, continued to be employed. And so, some people have called for just changing the way that they are doing business in general.
COSTELLO: Right. Right. And that happened during voter registration drives in 2008. And that's where the Mickey Mouse came in because as you probably remember, somebody put Mickey Mouse as a registered voter on one of those lists that they were collecting.
ROBERTS: Yes.
COSTELLO: So that did ACORN in as well.
ROBERTS: A lot of members of a football team as I recall too.
COSTELLO: There were lots of controversy surrounding ACORN. But ACORN is no more because breakaway organizations who say they're independent of ACORN, they survive.
ROBERTS: Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks so much for that.
Next on the Most News in the Morning, Wall Street reform clears an important hurdle in Washington. Stephanie Elam "Minding Your Business" this morning. She's got the latest on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eighteen-and-a-half minutes after the hour. We have a great conversation going on our blog this morning over health care. It's CNN.com/amFIX. We'll read a couple of them
Of course, one of the things that a lot of people have been talking about is this mandate. They have to have health insurance or you get fined for it.
Chris writes, quote, "I'm so tired of people whining about the mandate. I'm having to purchase health insurance that it's unconstitutional. What's the difference between this and when you own a car you're mandated to purchase car insurance? Of course, people make the point that that's a state mandate and nobody is forcing you to get a car. But it's a different thing.
CHETRY: And a couple of other people, Bill -- Billy wrote in, "Congress sent a message to the American people, you're getting this like it or not. I say let's return to sender in the fall elections. Kamal (ph) writes, "I'm happy that we have a health bill even though it was a long time coming. In the past, it was rocky but a healthy nation is a strong and happy nation."
ROBERTS: And then Dan writes and finishes off this morning. "So if this is such a great health care bill, I think the president and his family, the vice president and his family and all politicians who supported it should be among the first to sign up."
Stephanie Elam "Minding Your Business" this morning. She joins us now. How are you?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. I'm talking about things on, what's going on down in the capitol, not necessarily health care but maybe Wall Street reform. Maybe it's been a little sick as we've seen over the last couple of years.
So we have something that doesn't normally happen the way it happened down in Washington. Sweeping regulatory reform, this coming to the Senate Banking Committee as headlined by Democratic Christopher Dodd, something you put forward. It came through a vote, 13-10. No discussion, no debate. They just voted on it and said put it through. We need to do something about Wall Street.
Kind of let's you know that this is something they see as key to what needs to happen here. Now, he's working with Republican Richard Shelby and they want to find a compromise across the aisle. The Republicans are saying they do believe this could get by bipartisan support. So Dodd already used some of the GOP suggested ideas.
So here's what they're saying needs to happen. The Fed should oversee consumer protection to ensure that customers are treated fairly on mortgages and on credit cards. They also want financial firms, banks to bolster their capital cushion so that they have more to fall back on if something were to go wrong. Also, new rules around too big to fail. They're saying that they would create a nine person advisory oversight council so that they could sound the alarm before a company got to the point where they could actually really affect the rest of the financial system. Think of AIG, think of Lehman Brothers there.
They also want to clarify these more complex financial products like derivatives, and so they'll be clearing the House that would clarify the value of these trades and they would make the rating agencies more responsible if they didn't take into account some of the information, some of the analysis out there about some of these companies and whether or not they were healthy or not.
And they're saying if they didn't take that into account with setting up their overall ratings which a lot of companies look at to say if this is stock worth investing in, then at that point they could be up for lawsuits which would be also changing things a lot. So no timeline on when the full Senate will actually take this into discussion but they are working on it. A very different way to go about it for sure. Just to say no discussion, no debate, passed. So now, it will go to the full Senate.
ROBERTS: All right. Stephanie Elam "Minding Your Business" this morning. Steph, thanks.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, when it comes to intelligence, forget IQ scores. How about an EQ score, your emotional intelligence. Alina Cho takes a look at why this could be just as important when it comes to measuring how smart you really are.
Twenty-two minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Emotions are a good thing, right? Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Your top stories six minutes away. First, though, an "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
You think you're pretty smart, don't worry about your IQ right now. Worry about your EQ.
ROBERTS: This week, we're taking an in-depth look at all aspects of intelligence, including emotional intelligence. Alina Cho joins us now with part two of her series, "Are You Smart."
Good morning to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody.
You know, we have all heard about IQ. That would be your intelligence quotient. But what about EQ? That's your emotional quotient?
Now a lot of smart minds are calling that EQ the other smart. They say it's so important to success that kids are actually being taught how to be emotionally smart in school.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Along with math and science --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so what you're going to do is put on your blindfolds.
CHO: This is part of the curriculum at Clarendon Hills Middle School near Chicago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When everyone has their blindfolds on, I'm going to have three people take off their blindfolds.
CHO: An exercise in boosting self-esteem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tap two people who you think can make you laugh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a different kind of enjoyment than a subject. CHO: It's more like a spirit lifter and it makes you feel good inside.
CHO: But what does that have to do with being smart?
ASHLEY MERRYMAN, CO-AUTHOR, "NURTURESHOCK": I think that's a horrible idea. Do you get graded then for being angry? I mean, what does that mean in terms of real life?
ROGER WEISSBERG, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: Emotional intelligence is a different way of being smart.
CHO: Roger Weissberg, professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago is the man behind the groundbreaking research on which the best selling book, "Emotional Intelligence" is based. The concept EQ is just as important as IQ. Weissberg says it turns out kids who get good social and emotional training score 11 percentage points higher on tests than kids who don't.
(on camera): Why? Why?
WEISSBERG: Well, I think there are a variety of reasons. They can overcome obstacles when they reach them. Some of this involves academic tenacity, teaching kids self-discipline and self-control.
CHO (voice-over): A learning process that starts in kindergarten. These are second graders role-playing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel proud because I just learned how to draw a dinosaur on computer lab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is great. Can you teach me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CHO (on camera): What is the real world benefit of this?
WEISSBERG: One real world benefit is kids behave better in school. Another real world benefit is they're less likely to fight. Another benefit is they're less likely to do drugs.
KATHLEEN JIRASEK, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER: I believe that this is the future. These children are our future. And so I believe by teaching them this, they will be the leaders.
CHO (voice-over): Research also shows great leaders tend to be funny and the best doctors are empathetic. But can emotional intelligence be taught? Should it be?
MERRYMAN: You're not telling me that you can't learn how to behave with your peers?
CHO (on camera): What you're saying is do we really need a class for this?
MERRYMAN: I don't think we need a class for this.
CHO (voice-over): Others argue getting along is just as important as getting good grades and that the really smart thrive at both.
WEISSBERG: This is not academics versus social and emotional development. That's a false choice. This is teaching kids to be socially, emotionally and academically skilled.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHO: Author Daniel Pink says logical thinking, that would be book smart thinking, still matters absolutely. But it matters less these days, he says, because the kinds of jobs that require linear thinking can be outsourced, even to a computer in some cases. So then what's more valuable are those abilities that are harder to outsource -- empathy, big picture thinking, creativity. So if being smart is a means to an end, getting to a good job, there is an argument, guys, to be made that emotional learning, emotional intelligence does count. But the question is, you know, what kind of knowledge do you value? And that's why the answer to the question what does it mean to be smart is so difficult to answer.
ROBERTS: Yes. What you say is key, it's all a matter of value.
CHO: That's right.
ROBERTS: To be able to be socially interactive and to listen to people and to be curious and ask questions is so important.
CHO: It is.
ROBERTS: But now, really, when you're measuring people academically, who cares about that?
CHO: That's absolutely right. And again, the question, what kind of knowledge do you value?
CHETRY: Right.
CHO: And some people say like you've heard me say in the piece that great leaders tend to be funny.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHO: Not cognitively smart but funny. So, you know, it's an important question but very, very hard to answer.
CHETRY: So, for all the teachers and the parents out there, can you teach it? Can you teach the emotional intelligence?
CHO: The smart minds say that you can. And there's actually a bill floating around in Congress right now that has bipartisan support that would set aside federal money for social and emotional learning. So it's quite possible, guys, that we will see this in the nation's schools in the coming years.
ROBERTS: I thought you're about to say that Congress has a bill out there to help measure it.
CHETRY: We're saying that's not going to see the light of day for a while.
ROBERTS: Study out of it so if it's just money it's probably a good thing.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina. ROBERTS: Alina, thanks so much.
Tomorrow morning, by the way, colleges now accepting YouTube videos instead of written essays from applicants leaving some people to wonder if this is an accurate way to measure a student's worth. "Are You Smart" part three tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, crossing the half hour right now. Boy, times have changed, haven't they, since we typed out those essays on the typewriter.
ROBERTS: You know, when I give speeches, one of the things that I do is I encourage people to write thank you notes to people because it's all text and video --
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: -- and whatever. It's just so nice to get a handwritten note.
CHETRY: I've actually noticed my handwriting has gotten way worse than it was when I was in school because we type everything.
ROBERTS: Of course, I'm so old that we used to chip them out on a stone tablet and you know --
CHETRY: That's right, then it would take years to get to the other city.
ROBERTS: There are some old traditions that are still good these days.
CHETRY: Amen to that.
Half past the hour right now.
ROBERTS: Of course, the producers in my ear are saying, shut up and get on with the top stories.
CHETRY: The top stories --
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) to that.
CHETRY: Well, in just a few hours President Obama is going to be signing the health care reform bill into law. A huge one for the democrats. But the president's critics aren't backing down. Republicans are now pledging a drag out fight as the Senate works to approve fixes in the bill. Meantime, the president will travel to Iowa City Thursday to try to sell the public on health care reform.
ROBERTS: A team of administration officials led by Secretary of state Hillary Clinton travels to Mexico today to meet with President Felipe Calderon. The talks are aimed at helping Mexico win the bloody drug war which is spilled across the border. Clinton will be joined by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. CHETRY: And 80 percent of Americans consider Israel an ally or a friend, according to a new CNN Opinion Research poll. It's the same percentage recorded in 2006. 12 percent consider Israel to be unfriendly towards the U.S., five percent consider the Jewish state "our enemy."
ROBERTS: Tonight, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet face to face in Washington. They will be trying to repair what some are calling the most serious crisis between the two countries in decades. Netanyahu continuing to make the case that Israeli has a right to develop disputed land in East Jerusalem. We're joined now by former U.S. ambassador. to Israel, Martin Indyk. He is also the director of the Savant Center of the for Middle East Policy at Brookings Institution and I'll bet, Mr. Ambassador, a man who has written his fair share of handwritten thank you notes.
MARTIN INDYK, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Always do it. Very good for maintenance.
ROBERTS: It's a very important thing to do. Mr. Ambassador, the meeting today between the president and the prime minister, what do you expect the tone will be after all of the rancor between the two countries over the past couple of weeks, all going back to that meeting that the prime minister had with vice president Biden when they announced that settlement expansion in East Jerusalem?
INDYK: I think it will be business like, the fact that it's a private meeting and is not covered with the usual press opportunities indicates that there's still some business to be done, some issues to be resolved when it comes to the issue that you refer to that caused embarrassment for vice president Biden. I think that they are a long way to putting that issue back in the box, notwithstanding Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement last night to APEC about building in Jerusalem. That in effect is not being contested.
It is not doing provocative things in Jerusalem that will create problems for the negotiations about to start. I think that part is being resolved. The big question now is how those negotiations will proceed.
ROBERTS: Right.
INDYK: And I hope the prime minister will share with the president his vision of how he wants to achieve an agreement. Because on that basis, they could perhaps now construct a new partnership.
ROBERTS: Yes. For the benefit of folks who weren't there at the conference, let's run a little bit of what Prime Minister Netanyahu said yesterday regarding those settlements, the construction in East Jerusalem. A very defiant tone that he struck last night saying "it's Israel's right to build there." Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL: The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement, it's our capital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mr. Ambassador, to hear him tell it sounds like a fairly firm position. But expand a little bit on what you said. Is it as firm as it appears?
INDYK: Well, it's both firm and besides the point. The administration as far as I understand has not been challenging Israel's right to build in Jerusalem. What it has been challenging is these announcements building in Arab suburbs of Jerusalem, demolitions of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem. It's those issues that are really contentious because they disrupt the negotiations. So he's taking a stand on the high ground that is actually not being contested by the administration.
ROBERTS: Although, you know, we have heard these statements from the administration, criticizing Israel's announcement of settlements at the same time that the vice president was over there. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state addressed APEC yesterday as well and was rebuked to some degree, not necessarily during her speech but in statements afterwards saying, "hey, if you dial it back a little bit here, remember the historic relationship between the United States and Israel. Did the administration overreact on that particular point do you think?
INDYK: No, I don't think so. I think that it was very important to have a moment of clarity in which the administration said enough is enough. We're not talking about building in suburbs of Jerusalem. We're talking about the day after announcement of proximity talks, the Israeli government, the ministry of interior announcing that they are going to do some new building. That building isn't actually going to take place for three years from now. So why do provocative things especially with the vice president in town? That's the big point.
And I think that by going public in such a clear-cut way, it has registered with every mid level clerk in the Ministry of Interior in Jerusalem and the Ministry of Housing and in the Jerusalem municipality. That they better be very careful about what they do and what they announce, because they can provoke a crisis in U.S.-Israel relations.
ROBERTS: All right.
INDYK: And I think it will be very helpful. It will be very helpful to the prime minister because he'll be able to say, and I think he's already doing some things to his government. Listen don't screw around with this because you're going to screw around with our most important ally.
ROBERTS: Well, one of the other important points that is being talked was talked about yesterday at APEC is what Iran is up to and there are both very strong statements from the United States from Hillary Clinton and from Benjamin Netanyahu who warning Iran, not to develop nuclear weapons. Of course, the big concern is that Israel may take it upon itself to go in there and attack those facilities, to try to put them out of business in Iran. What do you think about all of that? Is there a danger that Israel might in fact just do that?
INDYK: Well, there is because it sees the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons as existential. But I think that in contrast to what's happened in the peace process is a very good channel of communication at the highest levels between the United States and Israel over how to deal with what is seen as a common threat and that's something I think that can be used to build a better partnership going forward, that the United States and Israel should agree to deal with this problem with Iran but at the same time Israel needs to calm things down in its neighborhood if we are to succeed in the effort to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
ROBERTS: Former ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk from the Savant Center of Brookings. Thanks for joining us this morning. Good to talk to you. We appreciate your perspective.
INDYK: Thank you, John.
CHETRY: And so ahead, a CNN exclusive, new high tech air bags are supposed to save your life, but new information shows that the new bags may not be as good as the old ones. So what's going on? Allan Chernoff shows us ahead.
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ROBERTS: Oh, gosh, a handwritten thank you note. Isn't that nice. Even though they may not be sincere about that.
CHETRY: They sent me a text earlier saying, just kidding. No, teasing you. 40 minutes past the hour. New investigation raising some red flags over the safety of the air bags in newer cars. A story that you're going to want to hear before you get behind the wheel and drive to work this morning. Allan Chernoff has been asking some tough questions. He joins us this morning with a CNN exclusive.
Good to see you this morning, Allan. These are air bags -- the air bags that we have in today's cars are not the air bags of the past but they're supposed to be safer, you think?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You certainly would expect that. And they definitely are more advanced. But the Insurance Institutes for Highway Safety has just concluded a study with very surprising conclusions, it shows the newest generation of air bags is actually less effective in protecting drivers than older air bags.
We traveled to the institute's testing grounds, home of the crash test dummies, to learn about the latest air bag research.
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CHERNOFF (voice-over): During a crash, air bags should help save lives. How good a job did the air bag do here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this crash the air bag did a very good job.
CHERNOFF: As they always should. The latest generation of air bags are very smart, they can account for whether or not the driver is belted, how much he weighs, where he's seating on the seat and the speed of impact.
Those factors can make the air bag deploy differently. It's sophisticated computer technology that's been in all new car since 2004, designed to maximize our safety. But a new study finds that today's advanced air bags are not doing as good a job protecting belted drivers as older air bags.
ANN MCCARTT, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: The risk of death in the vehicles with these air bags went up, especially for belted drivers.
CHERNOFF: In fact, it's 21 percent higher for belted drivers than those using older air bags. But it's no higher for passengers in the front seat. And the risk of death has declined for unbelted drivers.
(on camera): What could explain the results?
One possibility is the fact that the automakers have to design air bags for unbelted drivers, in which case the air bag has to deploy with much more force, that may actual reduce the air bag's effectiveness for responsible belted drivers.
MCCARTT: The air bags are designed to accommodate the people who don't buckle up.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): In other words, the insurance institute argues the study indicates drivers who wear seat belts, the vast majority aren't getting the protection they should because federal regulators require the auto industry to worry about the relatively few drivers who don't bother to buckle up.
(on camera): So you're saying, people who are belted deserve the best protection --
PAUL ARBELAEZ, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: Absolutely.
CHERNOFF: And so the air bags should be designed with them in mind and maybe they won't be quite as much protection for the unbelted driver.
ARBELAEZ: That's absolutely right. If we optimize the system for belted occupants as a whole, there will be fewer serious injuries and fatalities.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): An air bag failed to save Brook Katz (ph) was wearing a seatbelt when she died in a crash. GREG KATZ, WIFE DIED IN A CAR CRASH: A step backwards is not doing us any good. I don't understand, you know, as technology improves why we're going in the opposite direction.
CHERNOFF: The study is surprising also to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets rules for air bag testing. "We do not have an explanation as to why the fatality rate for belted drivers went up," said NHTSA. NHTSA declined to appear on camera but said "it will continue to study the effectiveness and safety of air bags."
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CHERNOFF: It's important to note that seatbelts are the most important safety device in the vehicle. Even with these research results, you're still much safer if you're wearing your seat belt rather than just relying on the air bag. And that goes for everyone in the vehicle, sitting in the front or in the back.
CHETRY: It will be interesting to see though if this study sparks some changes in the way that things were done and the way that these airbags are made.
CHERNOFF: Well, the auto industry is saying that they are aware of this study, they are looking into it and evaluating the results. But don't expect any changes all too soon. By the way, these air bags, these new air bags, they've been in place in vehicles since 2004. So this is not brand-new technology. But it's much more advanced than the prior technology.
CHETRY: Congratulations, by the way, on your reporting on Gulf Stream International, the regional airline. You won a National Headliner Award for that. Great stuff.
CHERNOFF: Thank you.
CHETRY: Allan Chernoff, good to have you. Thanks.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, much more ahead.
Forty-five minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forty-seven minutes after the hour.
Just indulging my obsession this morning about on handwritten thank you notes. Annette (ph) from OshKosh writes, "John, you're so right about handwritten thank yous. I rarely get them anymore, but I taught my daughters, 23 and 19, you do not use a gift until you write a note.
They now do it without any prompting and response to these notes they send is so positive from those who receive them. They are so appreciated. Maybe in this emotional intelligence," which is what Alina was talking about, "going back to what we used to do might connect us all again."
CHETRY: OK, great. We --
ROBERTS: Good people there in Wisconsin.
CHETRY: We do. We make birthday cards for -- for my daughter's friends, and we write out those thank you notes, and there's a lot of them.
ROBERTS: Got to do it.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano, checking this morning's weather headlines. Do you write thank you notes, Rob? In -- in a form other than e-mail or text message?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Absolutely and -- but nobody can read them. It's -- my handwriting is absolutely horrible.
ROBERTS: A cryptic scroll of an axe murder?
MARCIANO: It is the thought that counts, as you're pointing out this morning.
ROBERTS: It is.
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys.
A couple of storms to talk about across the northeast and across parts of the Rocky Mountains. This one across the northeast has already dumped a fair amount of rainfall in areas that really don't really need the rain anymore. You got your fair share of flooding last week.
Danbury, Connecticut, 1.95 inches. (INAUDIBLE) flooding a little bit there. Sussex, New Jersey, and New York City and Central Park getting about an inch and a third. Most of the heavier rains have shifted off towards the east but the back side of this low will be slow to move through. That will trigger a couple of more lighter showers throughout the day today from Baltimore, D.C. up through New York. But eastern parts of New England, flood warnings and watches posted there also.
Six to 16 inches of snow expected near Denver and along the front (ph) range, higher elevations inland as well. We'll see heavier amounts than that, so that's good stuff for this as far as how it's going to pan out across the city itself. Everything kind of shadows the front rains there. It will be 39 degrees in Denver where it was just in the 60s a couple of days ago.
Anyway, Fayetteville, Arkansas, you want to be in the 60s. You should be at this time of year, right? Well, this is what it looked like two days ago, this iReport sent in. Not just a dusting of snow here but several inches. Thanks for sending this in, Scott, and he said, you know, a lot of the flowers in his yard were blooming until they were covered in white.
The winter that just doesn't want to go away, but I think, at least for the Deep South, this is the last we're going to see of this until next year -- John, Kiran.
We'll write thank you notes for that, I'm sure, once spring and summer arrives in earnest.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: It's a rather precarious limb that you've crawled out on out there, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes. Well, that's what we do. It's called job security.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob. All right.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
CHETRY: This morning's top stories just minutes away, including President Obama expected to sign health care into law this morning, but the fight still isn't over.
ROBERTS: At 10 minutes past the hour, new evidence that Toyota knew it had an acceleration problem almost a decade ago and the government may have been in on the secret.
CHETRY: Also, at 20 minutes past the hour, Google now turning its back on China, or you could say it is the other way around. But will that make things chilly with U.S./China relations?
Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. Hi.
ROBERTS: Hi.
CHETRY: Just writing you a note. Sorry. Just go on.
ROBERTS: So what do we got?
CHETRY: Well, we are talking about health care and we got a lot of people writing in to us.
This is very interesting because we've had a big divergence of opinion. We got a lot of people weighing in about how health care is going to affect them. That's why I just want to read you a couple more.
One of them is from Tracy (ph) who writes, "I'm so excited about the signing of this bill. I think it shows the end of the GOP fear mongering tactics that have worked so well for years. I think the Democrats have finally found a spine in President Obama. ROBERTS: Dennis (ph) writes this, to say, "Those that say this health care is illegal because it's a federally mandated program, which has never been done before, are wrong. Social Security is a federally mandated retirement program. You do not have a choice to opt out," which isn't wholly true.
For most of us, you can't opt out, but there is a -- an -- a little area for people religious reasons to opt out of Social Security. You don't pay in, you certainly don't collect back.
CHETRY: And real quick, Fritz (ph) wrote in, "This bill will not affect my insurance but I'm afraid that there may be many consequences we will not see for a few years. A lot of mad people about the bill and the way it was passed. I think we've not heard the last word and it could change the political landscape come November."
ROBERTS: There you go. So keep -- just keep those comments coming in. We want to read some more of them this morning. A lot of good discussion over health care.
CHETRY: Yes. Absolutely.
All right. Well, it's 55 minutes past the hour right now, and it's time for your "A.M. House Call," stories about your health.
We are talking health care reform, and it means a lot of different things for different people.
ROBERTS: And everyone is wondering what's next, even if you already have a job and already have insurance.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to sort everything out for you. Good morning, Doc. What do you got for us?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, you know, it's interesting because obviously everyone will be affected by this to some degree, even if you have health care insurance right now, you haven't been sick.
Let me just break this down for you, looking at some of the largest groups of people who are thinking about this. If you are currently insured through your employer -- this is the group that we're focusing on here, how will things change?
Well, first of all, this idea of no lifetime caps or discrimination, obviously, a very important one. No lifetime caps means if you have developed some sort of illness, after all, we're -- we are all potential patients at some point, you can't have a cap in terms of how much the insurance will pay, either annually or over your lifetime. And, eventually, by 2014, no discrimination so you can't be discriminated against buying a policy because of some sort of pre- existing condition.
Here's one you may not have known about, the flexible spending account limits. A lot of people use these flexible spending accounts. You put a little bit of money in, up to $5,000 in many plans, to help defray some of your health costs over the year. That cap is going to come down to about $2500, and some of which you can use the money for will also be limited. For example, you can't use it for over-the- counter medications after this is implemented.
There will be a tax increase for high-income earners. We've talked a lot about this, applying not only to earned income but also to non-earned income as well, money that you might through investments for example.
And finally, subsidized coverage. Ultimately, if you are in an employer-based plan right now but it's covering 60 percent or less of your insurance or it costs more than 9.5 percent of your overall income, you could qualify for some subsidized coverage.
So that's a little example of how things might apply to the vast majority of people who -- who fall into this category.
CHETRY: All right, you know, for people who are self-employed or there've been purchase policies on their own right now, how does that change?
GUPTA: Well, so, if you -- I mean, there's a couple of things that are sort of at play here, one being this -- this health exchange that people are talking about. Again, that comes about in -- in around four years, 2014.
Some of the same rules apply here. Again, no lifetime caps, and then this nondiscrimination for some sort of pre-existing condition. That's going to exist under the health exchanges as well.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that in the individual market, people who go out and buy health care insurance on their own, the premiums would go up by about 10 to 13 percent by -- by 2016, which makes a third point important, that there will be subsidized coverage within those health exchanges as well.
But, again, keep in mind that there is -- going to be a tax increase for high-income earners. They say around 3.8, 3.9 percent, both again on earned and unearned income, to help defray some of these costs as well, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And they consider that $200,000 if you're single and $250,000 or more for families. So, yes, there will be some of those changes.
GUPTA: That's right.
CHETRY: Sanjay, thanks a lot.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, how do you think this reform is going to impact you? We want to know. Share your stories with us right now. Go to our live blog at cnn.com/amfix and tell us your story.
Your top stories coming your way in just about two minutes. Stay with us.
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