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American Morning

Closed Door Crisis Talks; The Senate's Unfinished Business; The State of Black America; Computers In Control; "Crisis" Talk

Aired March 24, 2010 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And some users can't get service period.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a different kind of reconciliation in Washington, President Obama's closed door meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mid East experts calling it a quote,"A moment of truth," that any chance of negotiating a two state solution, Israeli/Palestinian state living side by side. First, Israel and the United States have things to hammer out.

Jill Dougherty is live at the White House for us this morning, and Jill, all of this comes at one of the most tense times between these two allies. How much is on the line here in terms of U.S./Israeli relations and the future?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it is quite serious, because after all for almost two weeks, both parties, countries that are friends and allies have been really at each other's throats about the issue of settlements in East Jerusalem. And now, just look at the meeting last night, 90 minutes with the president and Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister and the diplomatic body language was really bad.

There was no photo op, nobody came out to talk to reporters. There's not even a readout from the administration officials about what went on. If you hook at the meetings he had with other top officials, Vice President Biden and then before that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, almost the same thing, pretty much flying beneath the radar. So it would appear that this attempt to bring the relationship back on track is not going well and probably didn't succeed.

Another point, John, would be that defiant speech by Prime Minister Netanyahu when he spoke before APEC, the American Israel Political Action Committee in which he said basically, you know, we can go ahead with settlements in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our capital, not a settlement. This attempt does not look as if it's succeeding.

ROBERTS: We talk about these meetings and one of things that always comes to mind the atmospherics. Could it be they didn't let the press in for a photo op, they didn't have a readout of it because they knew the questions were going to be what's the state of the relationship and maybe by saying nothing they could get further ahead and wondering what you think about that. Also, some of the specific issues the two sides are stuck on. DOUGHERTY: That could be part of it, John, but you know you could also send signals to either side by not giving a photo op. I would say there's probably both of that going on. The U.S. is not happy and the main issue, one of the main issues as we said is settlements and that is what's called a final status issue in trying to bring these two parties together.

They can't even get to point where they are agreeing on whether the final status issues will be part of negotiations. And right before all of this started, the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to something, it was indirect talks, what they call proximity talks. One representative in (Ramoa), the Palestinians, another in Jerusalem with the U.S. envoy George Mitchell shovelled diplomacy back and forth -- so that's not exactly great progress and even that is in jeopardy.

ROBERTS: All right, Jill Dougherty for us this morning, Jill, thanks so much.

CHETRY: Well, this morning America wakes up with a law as close to you universal health care as we may ever see. President Obama signed the historic health care bill into law yesterday before a crowd of cheering supporters in the east room of the White House. At the ceremony, the president paid tribute to the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a champion of health care reform. And his son says his father would have been very proud. Left a handwritten note that says, Dad, the unfinished business is done.

ROBERTS: President Obama used a total of 22 pens just signing the health care bill into law and when he was done, he gave moment of them away as mementos, 19 went to members of his administration in Congress including Vice President Joe Biden . What do you think he said when he got the pen? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also got one. Two of them went to the archives and President Obama kept one for himself.

CHETRY: Signing with 22 different pens.

ROBERTS: It takes a lot, particularly when you're left handed.

While health care reform may now be law, make no mistake the fight is certainly not over. The Senate must still vote on what's being called a package of fixes to the law, the Reconciliation Bill. The Republicans can offer any number of amendments and they are and it's making things politically difficult for Democrats. For instance, one amendment would ban taxpayer funds from being used to buy erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. Another by Senator John McCain prohibits so-called sweetheart deals like $300 billion being dished out to Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: They are provisions that were not allowed or provided to every other state in America. That's what makes them a special deal. That's what makes Americans think the way we do business around here is not in their interest. It makes Americans believe that we are cutting these deals in order to secure votes.

SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU (D) LOUISIANA: This amendment is a stunt that really doesn't deserve the time that I'm going to give to explain the portion of it that refers to Louisiana. The reason I say it's a stunt because it's actually written for television or the internet. Not written for a serious debate here. It's beneath the senator from Arizona at one time was a candidate for president of this country.

CHETRY (voice-over): Democrat senators are being urged to vote against the amendment otherwise, the bill has to go back to the House for yet another tough vote. So tell us what you think about health care reform or if there's another story that you see that you want to talk about. Join the live conversation on our blog, cnn.com/amfix and we'll read some of your comments on the air just a little later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The Pentagon is said to be considering a more humane enforcement of its don't ask-don't tell policy which prevents gays from serving openly in the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to announce changes to the controversial policy this week. Gates has supported President Obama's call for a repeal of don't ask- don't tell.

CHETRY: Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, could lose his license. The California Medical Board plans to ask a judge at a hearing next week to revoke Dr. Murray's license while he's being prosecuted in connection with Jackson's death. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The LA Coroner found Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication.

ROBERTS: Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. It's six-and-a-half minutes after the hour. Reynolds Wolf is in Atlanta for us this morning, and get out the boards if you live in Colorado.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm telling you what, you know, spring actually started this past weekend, about 1:30 or so on Saturday. Winter weather still looms large especially in parts of the Rockies from the central Rockies, some places could see 1 to 2 feet of snowfall. So if you're traveling today along parts of I-25, it's going to be rough for you.

Let's get right to the map, you see everything shaded in the blueish greens or reds, those are the advisories or warnings. Certainly rough weather there. A little farther to the southeast we'll see more rough weather entirely different flavor. The chance of strong thunderstorms in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex so we could see some major delays there by this afternoon at both Love Field and of course, DFW so be patient out there. There's your two big weather stories of the day. We've got more coming up right in just a few moments. Back to you in New York.

CHETRY: All right, Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much. Another sure sign of spring is an increase in pirate attacks. We're following an attack off the coast of Somalia that was thwarted by private security guards on the ship. We'll get a live report in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Ten minutes past the hour. We're following breaking news. A dramatic pirate battle off the coast of Somalia. Private guards on board the ship were able to defend the vessel before international forces swooped in to chase down the pirates. We're learning one pirate was killed. Our David McKenzie is live in Nairobi, Kenya with more on this. David, what's the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kiran, a very dramatic battle that happened sometime yesterday morning. This ship was Panamian flight carrier was on the way to Mogadishu when it came under attack by at least three pirate vessels. First time in my experience, the private security that was on board thwart the pirates using small arms and pushed them back not one but two pirate attacks on that vessel.

The EU forces were called in by distress signal and swooped by helicopter to the scene and sunk one of those pirate vessels and they managed to take three pirates in custody. One was killed by those private security. Very unusual and dramatic battle off the coast of Somalia.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CHETRY: David McKenzie for you. Thank you for that update.

ROBERTS: Also, this morning President Obama pick to lead the TSA says if you want to be safe, be more like Israel. Robert Harding told Congress that he wants U.S. Airport security to more closely resemble security at Israeli airports, especially the part where they engage passengers in conversations to try to identify terrorists. Israeli security has been criticized for profiling passengers.

CHETRY: TSA also considering installing devices in airports that can track your Smart phones and PDAs. TSA officials say the devices can tell them how long people are stuck at security check points and the information can be posted online to help passengers avoid long lines. As expected civil liberties group say the idea is certainly an invasion of privacy.

ROBERTS: You would think, and I could be wrong, by looking at the security line you might be able to tell how fast it's moving. Do you need to track people's cellphones?

CHETRY: Yes, I agree. It seems like a no brainer but then again --

ROBERTS: There you are. Still to come, the face-off between Google and China, it's heating up. We'll talk with Nick Thompson from Wired Magazine about what this is all about and where it goes next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 16 minutes past the hour.

We're following China's counteroffensive in its ongoing battle with Google. We're told internet searching on the mainland is pretty tough right now, controversial content being blocked and services reportedly spotty at best.

ROBERTS: It comes a day after Google rerouted users to an uncensored site in Hong Kong, but the cost of war between the company and the Chinese government has bigger implications in the business world abroad.

Here to help us connect all the information together, our friend Nick Thompson, Senior Editor of "Wired" magazine. Good to see you this morning.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, SENIOR EDITOR, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: Good to see you.

ROBERTS: Let's just quickly put up a graphic here so folks at home can understand what's going on in China. Some things are blocked, some things aren't blocked.

Not blocked, web and image searches, Gmail, news, advertisements. Partially blocked, Google Documents, Picasa -- the photo sharing website, Google Groups. Absolutely blocked YouTube, Blogger and Google Sites.

So, what -- what's this fight all about? Is -- is this Google kind of leading the charge here to say we have a way of doing business and we're not going to change the way we do business because of you, China.

THOMPSON: That's what they're saying. They've -- Google has always been uncomfortable in China. They've always said, we don't like censoring. It's against the ethos of the company, but we'll do it because this is such a big market and we're bringing information to the people.

Then, two months ago -- well, actually, probably nine months ago, China started blocking YouTube. That frustrated Google.

Two months ago, we learned last night, China hacked. We didn't know what the hack was about. Now we know that the hack was trying to get into the Gmail accounts of political dissidents in mainland China and abroad, and that to Google was just outrageous.

So then Google started to fight back and say, all right. We're not going to censor results. Can we find a compromise? China said no. If you're here, you have to censor, so Google said we're out of here.

And Google is doing this -- I think they just got fed up, and in particular I think Sergey Brin -- that's what everybody's reporting, got very fed up. CHETRY: Sergey Brin?

THOMPSON: Sergey Brin -- sorry -- is the -- one of the founders of Google, and he grew up in Soviet Russia, where of course there was lots of censorship as a young child, and he said that had a big effect on him.

Of course there are some benefits to Google. It makes the company look good. It makes it look like an attractive place to work to young, Silicon Valley coders. You know, this is the company that stood up to China.

CHETRY: Right.

THOMPSON: It also probably had some benefits with antitrust cops in the United States who are looking to see how Google is behaving, and Google is saying we really are a public trust, just trying to get the most information to the most people.

But it has huge business consequences. So I think Google is doing this mostly because they believe it's part of their job to make the world a better place, and they don't want to cooperate any more with China's censorship.

CHETRY: Let's show another -- and this is interesting. We had our Beijing bureau actually do a few searches on controversial topics for China.

THOMPSON: (INAUDIBLE).

CHETRY: And when they searched the "Dalai Lama" -- you see them typing it in here, and then they -- it says Safari can't open the page. So that one was totally blocked.

They searched "human rights" next, and it loaded, but the interesting thing is no -- when -- when they actually clicked on it, no search results came up. Also for Tiananmen Square, Tiananmen Massacre, completely blocked.

So we know that Google is very popular with academics --

THOMPSON: Yes.

CHETRY: -- and students in China as well. Tell us more about the implications for Google if this fight continues and ultimately they are booted from the country.

THOMPSON: Well, Google can't be entirely booted. They have all sorts of services like Android, which is an open source platform, which means it's something that Google built that any phone maker can use in their phone. So you -- actually, you can't boot it.

So there's things from Google that will be in the country. There'll be Chinese companies that want to buy ads from Google to run on Google.com in the United States. So Google will have some presence. But I think what's going to happen is that Google is going to gradually be kicked out, right? So Android can't be forced out, but we noticed the other day that some Chinese handset makers decide -- are starting to think, well, maybe they wouldn't use Android.

And I think a lot of people are going to be afraid of Google products, a lot of Chinese companies are going to be afraid of Google products, particularly companies that are close to the state. So --

ROBERTS: Because that will bring them to the attention of the authorities.

THOMPSON: Bring them to the attention of authorities or Google is sort of a brand they have to be wary of.

ROBERTS: And -- and China, is firing the latest shot in this. The -- the main newspaper in China today carrying a headline accusing Google of, quite, "colluting (ph) with U.S. spies," so the gloves are off here.

THOMPSON: Well -- no, absolutely. And when this initially happened, China said, you know, Google is a tool of the American Imperialist. So this is --

China's reaction hasn't been to make this about Google. They've been able to blow it into something larger, which has lots of implications for American foreign policy and for the other companies that are operating there.

So China made a -- made a very deliberate choice to escalate this into something more than just a struggle between two, you know, two entities.

CHETRY: Well, we need China and China needs us in terms of the economies. Of course they're tightly, tightly linked.

THOMPSON: Absolutely.

CHETRY: And there was an interesting survey that came up from American companies who do business in China. Thirty-eight percent of them say they feel more and more unwelcome.

Are things -- is this Google fight going to spread to other companies that do business in China?

THOMPSON: Well, I think it's spreading. They were seeing the fight over (INAUDIBLE), so, you know, executive accused of spying and corruption, and they have -- they've actually pled guilty, which made less in attentions (ph).

But there are lots of stories in the news today about foreign companies having trouble in China. There's a lot of news about -- concerns about the exchange rates.

I mean, my guess, actually, and -- my guess is things maybe stopped escalating now. They've been escalating sort of steadily for the last couple of months, and I think it's in everybody's interest that they temper down a little bit.

ROBERTS: Well, we'll be watching to see where all of this goes because some people say it's the beginning of -- of China saying thanks for the help, now we're going to do it on our own.

THOMPSON: Yes. We'll see.

ROBERTS: Nick Thompson, great to see you this morning.

THOMPSON: Thanks very much.

ROBERTS: Thank you so much.

Next up on the Most News in the Morning, is the party over? Some Republicans now thinking of moving away from the Tea Party Movement.

Our Carol Costello with an "A.M. Original," coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, the Republican Party and the Tea Party, officially there's no link between the two. But a new Quinnipian poll found that 74 percent of Tea Partiers also call themselves -- saying they identify with Republicans or independents who lean Republican.

ROBERTS: So, on the surface they may seem like the perfect political pair, but we've seen some racist overtones from a small number of Tea Party protesters and that has some Republicans really uneasy.

Our Carol Costello is live in D.C. this morning with an "A.M. Original." Good morning to you, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran.

So the question this morning, should Republicans just not associate themselves with Tea Partiers?

Well, there's problems with that. Republicans are walking a tight rope when it comes to the Tea Party Movement. On the one hand, it needs its passion. On the other hand, it doesn't need the controversy, especially if it's racially tinged.

So what should the Tea -- what should the Party do -- the Republican Party, continue to make nice or go its own way?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): It may be just a few bad apples in a sea of demonstrators, but the message they're sending resonates, and not in a good way.

While Republican Party leaders say they don't condone such behavior, Newsweek.com's Katie Connolly writes, "They encourage the sort of anger that boils over into such foul insults." Have the Tea Party protests, she wonders, become "loud, mad and dangerous" for the Republicans?"

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST AND TEA PARTY MEMBER: The children of America are in crisis.

COSTELLO: Lenny McAllister says he's a proud Tea Party member and a Conservative Republican.

MCALLISTER: We have to speak out against this stuff because it does not fit into our principles, morals or values. At the same time, we cannot alienate the most active aspects of the Conservative base at this time.

COSTELLO: He's calling on Conservatives to help the Republican Party walk that tight rope in a way they did not back in 2009 when Republican National Chairman Michael Steele denounced Rush Limbaugh's incendiary talk.

MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh -- his -- his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it's incendiary --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Republican Party.

COSTELLO: Steele found so little support after that, he ended up apologizing to Limbaugh.

Steele and other Republican leaders did condemn those who shouted racial slurs at black lawmakers this past weekend but rejected the notion that its association with the Tea Party is dangerous, "because at its core it's about shared Conservative values, limited government, lower taxes and individual freedom."

Some Republicans say the real danger for their Party is not saying this loudly enough.

PRINCELLA SMITH (R), ARKANSAS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Good government in America.

COSTELLO: Princella Smith is running for Congress in Arkansas.

SMITH: I'm a small town girl, and so what's I'm espousing are small town, every day American principles, and I've gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from Republicans and Tea Partiers.

COSTELLO: Smith, who spoke at the Republican National Convention, is one of some 30 African-American Republicans running for Congress, one of the biggest rosters ever. And something, says Smith, that if more widely known would help drown out any fringe element that tries to associate itself with Conservatives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: McAllister, who is a popular Tea Party speaker, says the real danger for the Republican Party and the Tea Party Movement is in not discouraging these fringe elements. So when they see someone using these movements to further, you know, a racist agenda, they should shout them down and dis-invite them from the Party -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: It seems to me a case of -- sort of, you know, a couple of bad apples spoiling the whole thing. This is a movement that tends to sort of be self-policing. Is it a possibility that some of these groups could just look -- you know, take a look at these folks and say, look, we really don't want you with us because we don't like what you represent, get them out of it and then regroup and go on?

COSTELLO: That's what McAllister is suggesting. You know, when Tea Partiers see some of these people holding some of these objectionable signs, they should say, look, you're not furthering our agenda, you're hurting our agenda. So put the signs away and, you know, you're not invited to the Party any more.

They should really make those feelings known and make them known strongly.

CHETRY: We're going to be talking more about this, by the way, Carol, with David Frum, who called this whole situation of health care passing, this health care reform bill passing into law, Waterloo but not for Democrats, for Republicans. Leslie Sanchez, the GOP Strategist, strongly disagrees.

So we're going to get their take on where the GOP goes from here.

It was great to talk to you. And, as always, people can weigh in on the blog, about Carol's story, cnn.com/amfix. Carol, thanks.

COSTELLO: Sure.

CHETRY: Well, right now we're crossing the half hour. Time for this morning's top stories.

During a tense time between two strong allies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with President Obama at the White House. They're trying to fix a rift that started when Israel announced the decision to build new housing on disputed lands in mostly Arab East Jerusalem.

It came as a shock to Vice President Biden, who was in the country to jump start new talks with the Palestinians.

President Obama will soon hit the road to sell the new health care reform law even as the Senate works to fix it. Right now Republicans are offering a number of amendments to the reconciliation bill that could make things politically difficult for Democrats, including one amendment that would prohibit taxpayer dollars from being spent on Viagra for sex offenders.

And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is promising to expand America's anti-drug efforts in Mexico. Clinton visited Mexico yesterday along -- Mexico City yesterday along with Defense Chief Robert Gates and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano. She says the U.S. will continue to send security aid to fight the drug cartels. And also plans to expand programs to help Mexico's social and economic development -- John.

ROBERTS: Well, if you're looking for work in this economy, plenty of experienced, educated professionals are out there pounding the pavement right along with you. And if you happen to be black, your odds of securing a job are a lot slimmer.

According to a new National Urban League report, the unemployment rate for African-American is almost twice as high as it is for whites in this country.

Joining us now live from Los Angeles to talk more about this is Judi Redman. She hasn't had a full-time job in three years despite having three degrees, including two from U.C. Berkeley, and sending out 10 resumes a day.

Marc Morial is with us from Washington. He is the president of the National Urban League.

Great to see both of you.

Marc, let start with you.

MARC MORIAL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: Hey.

ROBERTS: To show that statistic again for unemployment, and also, some of the other things that you found in your quality report.

Unemployment, 14.8 percent for African-Americans, 8.5 percent for whites; 24.7 African-Americans living below the poverty line in total, versus 8.6 percent for whites; 47.4 percent of African- Americans own homes, 75 percent of whites do; 45 percent of African- Americans complete college, 73 percent of whites do.

And look at this, I thought this was fascinating -- 44.8 percent of African-American households have a computer at home, 64.6 percent of White Households do. And the numbers, we should say, also, Marc, track similarly for Hispanics. It's the first time that you included them.

What's responsibility for that wide disparity?

MORIAL: Well, you've got long-term historic discrimination and a legacy of slavery and segregation. But if you look at those numbers, you certainly would probably mark progress since the 1960s. What's important now is for the nation to embrace the idea why closing the gaps is not only good for African-Americans but also good for the nation at large. When we have unemployed people, we also have people who could be contributing to the overall economy.

That's why we strongly support a robust jobs initiative by the president and the Congress. Our report includes six recommendations in that regard, and we're going to be pushing that report over the next several months.

ROBERTS: And, Marc, let's bring in Judi Redman.

Judi, thanks for getting up early. I know how early is there in Los Angeles. We said you haven't had a full-time job in the last three years. You do have three college degrees, though, including a couple from U.C. Berkeley, a long resume, a lot of volunteer service.

Why are you having so much trouble finding a full-time job?

JUDI REDMAN, LOOKING FOR FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT: Basically, I think it's because I'm overeducated -- which is a very sad thing. I -- my parents worked hard to get me the best education possible. I got it and now, they don't want to pay me for what I deserve to be paid, even though I'm willing to work for much less --

ROBERTS: Wow.

REDMAN: -- just to have a job.

ROBERTS: So, what do people say? You know, we said that you sent out 10 resumes a day. What are you hearing back from prospective employers?

REDMAN: Nothing.

ROBERTS: Just nothing?

REDMAN: Absolutely nothing. The phones are not ringing.

There's no -- one of my -- one of the things I do hear is -- I have an issue with transportation, I don't have a car. I can't afford a car. I can't afford like gas, let alone a car and maintenance.

So, they say can you come for the job interview and be here within an hour, it's like. No, it takes three hours on a bus. If I have a job I will get there an hour early and be on time. Unfortunately, I can't get there for that interview within an hour.

ROBERTS: Marc, from what --

REDMAN: I think it's discriminatory.

ROBERTS: Marc, from what you know -- you know, what you found in this report, how common is Judi's story? And is it discriminatory or is it situational?

MORIAL: Well, let me say this. Judy's story is common in this economy. We asked people last week as a part of our preparation for today's report to load up their personal stories. And we found many stories of people throughout the economy, people with master's degrees and people with no degrees, who, in fact, were looking for work.

What I would offer to Judi is an opportunity to go to the Los Angeles Urban League where we have a once-stop job center to see if the Los Angeles Urban League can help.

And we want people out there to know that the Urban League in 100 communities across the country helps people connect with jobs. While we can't promise that we'll find them a job or an opportunity to enhance their skills, we can try to work with them.

There's a lot of competition -- I think six people looking for every job opening in the country. But there are people out there -- organizations like ours -- that are on the front lines in communities, working to connect people with jobs.

ROBERTS: And, also, potentially, maybe somebody who's watching the program this morning will see Judi and she her vast experience and her depth of education, and her bright smile this morning and say, hey --

MORIAL: Judi is going to -- Judi is going to get a lot of calls this morning.

ROBERTS: I'm sure she will.

MORIAL: Judi is he no doubt wants to work and is qualified. And we want to encourage people out there --

ROBERTS: Yes.

MORIAL: -- that while the economy is tough and bleak, to keep on fighting. Contact your local Urban League, your local one-stop shop. There are opportunities out there. It isn't what we needed to do. We want Congress and the president to certainly take further steps now that the health care discussion is over to rebuild the economy and create jobs.

ROBERTS: Marc, let me get one more question to Judi before we have to go.

Judi, you've been, as we said, without a full-time job for three years. You're on your third unemployment insurance extension. The economy is coming back, but the jobs aren't coming back at the pace that, you know, past recessions have recovered at.

How much longer can you hang on?

REDMAN: Needless to say, I am very nervous. I don't know how long I can hang on, maybe a month. I'm very familiar with the Urban League and, in fact, they are like -- their office --

ROBERTS: Yes.

REDMAN: -- is about six blocks from my home. And I do search their Web site. And I'm hopeful. I have to be.

ROBERTS: All right. Well, get down there and pay a personal visit. It's always good to show up in person with these things.

Judi Redman and Marc Morial, great to see you this morning.

MORIAL: Thanks, John.

ROBERTS: Thanks for dropping by.

Official release of that report is coming out a little bit later on this morning. So, we'd be watching for that -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks.

Well, coming up on the Most News in the Morning, we're going to tell you why some are saying that the president's latest plan to prevent foreclosures doesn't go far enough. Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" -- next.

Thirty-seven minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now to the top of the hour. Time for "Minding Your Business." And Stephanie Elam, in for Christine Romans this morning.

And Wednesday just isn't Wednesday unless you can say the word SIG TARP.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: I don't know where you're going with that. I was like --

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Inspector General of the --

CHETRY: Yes, Troubled Asset Relief Program who is talking about whether or not any of this foreclosure help from the government is actually having an impact.

ROBERTS: It's almost Shakespearean, SIG TARP.

ELAM: SIG TARP. It's like the only person in the world is going to have that title ever, probably. It's like, you know, the Silicon Valley days.

ROBERTS: Hopefully. We're very hopeful.

ELAM: Hopefully. That's true.

Well, let's take a look at the $75 billion plan here that was supposed to help all this people through this modification program for the foreclosures.

What's happening here is that Neil Barofsky, Mr. SIG TARP, is basically saying that it's going to help as little as 1.5 million to 2 million people. And that's about half of the Obama administration's target when this plan was launched in February of 2009. He's saying that it set meaningless and unclear goals and that he believes the program is going to fall short of its goals as well.

He said the implementation was mismanaged because it put people in trial modifications without getting the proper documentation, so it can never move forward from there. And he's saying, now, that there's a lot of people who are at risk of re-defaulting on their mortgage, so they're still going to lose their homes, which obviously is a huge problem.

Now, if you take a look through February, 169,000 permanent modifications have been done. There have been 1.3 million people, though, who are put in these trial modifications that may go nowhere. And then the Treasury says that 40 percent are expected to re-default and that's because the program, according to the SIG TARP, is that it's not going to actually factor into the total borrower debt. And because of that, that's part of the issue here.

So, what, he's saying, needs to happen --

CHETRY: He's saying it's a mismanaged program.

ELAM: It's a mismanaged program and he's saying this is what needs to happen. You need clarity about what the program is trying to do. You need to make sure that the servicers are allowed to find different ways of looking at all of the documentation of the people to make sure that they have the right income verification there.

And also, they need to work to minimize these re-defaults for people. All of that, he says, because it's been done so poorly, it's going to spread out the mortgage crisis, this whole foreclosure crisis, and so something needs to be done so these people can get out of the pain and move forward here.

So, Treasury, though, is saying it shouldn't be based upon success -- their success should not be based on permanent modifications. That's one of the things that they're saying. But, obviously, there's issues.

ROBERTS: Thank you for this morning's SIG TARP update.

ELAM: You are so welcome, sir.

ROBERTS: They got an Enron play running on Broadway. Maybe we can have a SIG TARP play.

CHETRY: There you go. He has a lot to complain about, Mr. Neil Barofsky.

ELAM: And he's letting people know it.

CHETRY: Yes. All right. Well, thanks, Stephanie.

Many of the survivors of January's huge earthquake in Haiti had to have legs amputated to survive or -- in some cases, to even get pulled from the rubble, they had to undergo amputations.

ROBERTS: Yes. In quake-ravaged city like Port-au-Prince, it could be almost impossible to get around in a regular wheelchair. But can you imagine? We found the one inventor with an ingenious solution to that problem. It's today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMOS WINTER, LFC INVENTOR: My name is Amos Winter. I'm the inventor of the Leverage Freedom Chair also known as the LFC.

In the developing world, most people with disabilities have to rely on their own power to travel from point A to point B. You may have to go off-road, long distances. Using a conventional wheelchair with push rims is pretty much impossible. So, what's required is something that you can travel long distances on rough terrain efficiently with just using your arms.

The way this works is you have two levers that you propel yourself with. So, to go through mud or go through sand, you grab high on the levers to produce a lot of leverage, and as you slide your hand down, you create a greater rotational velocity which makes the chair go faster.

You can take it an LFC to a rural village. And if there's a guy who knows how to fix bicycles, he knows how to fix the LFC.

We recently received $50,000 to take this next version of the LFC to Guatemala starting this summer to make 30 trial chairs which will be tested for a full year. So, ideally, after that year, we'll get the feedback from the users. We'll refine the design so it's ready for large scale production and then we'll have a model that we can distribute to any workshop and they can make it anywhere in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Now, that's pretty great.

CHETRY: Amazing stuff.

Well, it's 44 minutes past the hour right now. We're going to have Reynolds Wolf joining us in just a moment with the forecast for travel after the break.

And then in 10 minutes time, there he goes again. Joe Biden drops the "F" bomb in yesterday's health care signing ceremony. Jeanne Moos takes a look at some of the vice president's other unscripted moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Lovely picture this morning of the sun coming up over New York City. It's 42 degrees right now, a little bit cloud in the sky, but later on today, it's going to be very nice, 61 degrees. Nice and sunny.

CHETRY: There you go. We like to hear that. Meanwhile, it's not so nice in other parts of the country right now. Forty-eight minutes past the hour. We get a check on the weather headlines. Reynolds Wolf is in Atlanta this morning in for Rob. Good to see you, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, back at you guys. It appears that in parts of the Central Rockies and the Sangrita Crystal Mountains (ph) winter will never end. It just keeps going and going. Today, some places in Missouri, you see behind me in the shaded in this greenish color. This red has preview watches and warnings, that's what later on today. You could have up to a foot of snowfall, some places even more in the highest elevations, but for people who are driving on parts of I-25 and even I-35, you're going to have some issues.

I-35 through parts of Oklahoma south into Dallas Fort Worth, it's not going to be snow, but on that side, I think, it's going to be possibly some heavy rainfall and maybe even some severe thunderstorms. That area, that bull's-eye is where we could have some delays. Big- time delays also possible in parts of the northeast with breezy conditions and back towards Maine.

Nice and dry for you in the Southeast and Southwest. It looks pretty good for most part, but we see another round of showers and storms coming in parts of Northern California, but the big storms as I mentioned will be in parts of Texas and then the heavy snowfall back into four corners.

More updates on that coming up throughout the morning, and of course, throughout the rest of the day. Let's kick it back to you in New York.

CHETRY: Reynolds, thanks.

WOLF: Sure.

Meanwhile, your top stories are just a couple of minutes away including computers on wheels. Now, some experts are saying that a simple glitch could actually send your car on a runaway ride. No matter what Toyota says to have fair (ph) with the report you don't want to miss.

ROBERTS: Five minutes after, a major test for President Obama during a tense moment between the United States and Israel. What happened behind closed doors with the Israeli Prime Minister?

CHETRY: And at 7:25, because they are more than just a T scorer (ph), students are now selling themselves on YouTube to get into college. How the idea of who's smart is changing. Alina Cho with an AM Original. Those stories and much more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fifty-two minutes after the hour. It is time for the Moos News in the Morning. Republicans may be the ones cursing health care reform.

CHETRY: Yes, but it was Vice President Joe Biden who punctuated yesterday's historic signing ceremony with a signature slip of the tongue. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the big hugs and the big smiles, the thrill of health care victory had everyone fired up. Joe Biden was fired up all right, lavishing praise on the president.

UNKNOWN MALE: I've gotten to know you well enough, you want me to stop because I'm embarrassing you.

UNKNOWN MALE: D minus 10.

MOOS: Actually, he's about to embarrass him by dropping a bomb.

UNKNOWN MALE: Three, two, one.

MOOS: Pardon me?

UNKNOWN MALE: This is a big (EXPLETIVE WORD) deal.

MOOS: From Joe Biden's lips to the media's ears.

UNKNOWN MALE: He has always had difficulty putting a sock in it.

MOOS: Another excuse for us to trod out the VP's previous bloopers. The tiny urge, the guy in the wheelchair.

UNKNOWN MALE: Stand up. Jack (ph) have to see you.

MOOS: The other day when he referred to the Irish prime minister's mother.

UNKNOWN MALE: God rest her soul and -- although, she's -- right, your mom is still alive. It was your dad who passed. God bless her soul.

MOOS: Bless his soul for providing us with fodder.

UNKNOWN MALE: Who gives a (EXPLETIVE WORD)

MOOS: This isn't the first time a mic has picked up the VP dropping the "F" bomb. But hey, the previous VP, Dick Cheney used it in anger, telling Senator Patrick Leahy to you know what himself.

UNKNOWN MALE: Do you have any regrets?

UNKNOWN MALE: No, I said it.

MOOS: If the White House regretted Vice President Biden's remark about health care, they weren't letting on. Press Secretary Gibbs tweeted, then yes, Mr. VP, you're right.

The Vice President's pal (ph) was such a big, freaking deal that within two hours of his utterance it was already blazened on t-shirts. The guy really known for salty language is Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who wouldn't tell on the president when he talked to 60 minutes --

RAHM EMANUEL, PRESIDENTIAL CHIEF OF STAFF: But I do not curse in the Oval Office.

KATIE COURIC, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Does he curse?

MOOS: On the day of triumph, once again, the curse of Biden strikes the form of an actual curse.

UNKNOWN MALE: This is a big (EXPLETIVE WORD) deal.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos --

UNKNOWN MALE: This is a big (EXPLETIVE WORD) deal.

MOOS: CNN --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Joe.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: It was just poetry to watch. He goes -- I don't want to embarrass you, then ten seconds later, he did.

ROBERTS: You got to love him, you know.

CHETRY: You do, but I mean, the President is so controlled, and it's just hilarious to see the two of them together, because he knew the second he said it that the mic was still open, and he says --

ROBERTS: It's like Joe Biden walks around with a big pin bursting the bubble.

CHETRY: And not intentionally, of course.

ROBERTS: What was going through his mind do you think when he --

CHETRY: I don't know if much was. He was just very excited.

ROBERTS: Certainly, he seemed to be. Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us. Fifty-five and a half minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)