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American Morning
Obama Launches 2012 Campaign; The Best and Worst Airlines; Desperate Attempt to Save Northern Rock Hopper Penguins After Oil Spill; Charlie Sheen's 20-City Tour off to Bumpy Start; Continuing Search Efforts for Missing Bodies in Japan; The Threat of Campus Sex Assaults; Congress Compromise on Budget; Doomsday Bunkers Sell Like Crazy
Aired April 04, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not everyone was getting their mask on. Some were having problems, some people were passing out. It was not good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought we were going down. I really did. It seemed like we were dropping pretty fast. Just all unreal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Can you imagine? Terrifying moments for passengers on a Southwest Airline flight. Look at that piece of roof missing. That blew off in midair, 35,000 feet. Investigators found widespread cracking, that's their word, on the aging 737 300 jet, similar cracks on three more planes on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Monday, April 4th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: We have a lot to talk about this hour, including the latest on that Southwest -- it's going to -- they're grounding planes, canceling flights as they try to get to the bottom of this. But meanwhile, President Obama officially kicks off his reelection bid for 2012 today. He released a new campaign video. And when all the campaigning is said and done he's hoping to raise $1 billion for his campaign war chest.
VELSHI: Oil spill in the south Atlantic kills hundreds of helpless penguins and is threatening thousands more. We'll tell you about the desperate attempts to save the northern rock hopper penguins.
ROMANS: And Charlie Sheen's 20 city tour off to a bumpy start. He got booed off the stage in Motown. We'll tell you how it went this weekend in Chicago.
VELSHI: Up first, Southwest Airlines still inspecting 60 of its 73 737 300 jets to see if they have similar cracks to ones found on an airliner that had part of its roof ripped open midflight. Those cracks have already been found on three other planes. Earlier on "American Morning" former FAA chief of staff Michael Goldfarb told me age is a big problem for the 737 300s. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: Boeing stopped producing them in the 1990sm so they're old by definition. Southwest has 288 around of them. There's about 900 worldwide. And the 737-300, is especially subject to the constant short haul. The short hauls pressurize, depressurize. I think it was 37,000 cycles, a lot of cycles on this particular aircraft. So with that number of cycles and the constant landing and takeoffs, the planes are subject to metal fatigue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And Goldfarb says the technology used today to check for these cracks is not necessarily going to find all of them. It's going to be a bit of a problem to determine how many of these planes have this problem. The FAA, he says, wants to retire the 737-300 fleet. Southwest has canceled more than 100 flights today while emergency inspections are being completed. Kiran?
CHETRY: We want to tell people more about the 737-300 Boeing. It is the oldest aircraft in Southwest's stable, and has 171 of these. It represents nearly a third of the overall fleet and the average age, 19 years, more than half, 54 percent had major work done to the skin.
Let's take a look at something else. Out of those aircraft, again, they had a lot of work done to their skin. A lot of this is to prevent what they call metal fatigue.
Let's move on. Right now we're talking about the 79 which remain grounded. They did not have upgrades. This particular plane is going to turn 15 years old in June. The NTSB says the fatigue where the skin comes together, would not be easily seen by mechanics who you heard in Ali's interview, but an ultrasound, although cost prohibitive might be more effective. The last detection that could have detected these cracks was done in March of 2010.
July, 2009 is when you had a football sized hole, a flight from Nashville to Baltimore. The NTSB determined metal fatigue was the cause. Then two years ago, Southwest paid the FAA $7.5 million to settle complaints that it flew unsafe aircraft, federal officials citing the airline for not performing mandatory inspections for cracks in the fuselage.
Now also, I guess that's our last screen here, a majority of the 737s are flown by Southwest. According to Reuters, U.S. Airways flies 19 of the jets and an airline spokesman says periodic inspections have turned up no fatigue related problems.
VELSHI: As we heard from the FAA they may not be seen if they're not doing those kinds of investigations.
By the way, speaking about airplanes, investigators may be close to solving the mystery of Air France 447. An underwater team found parts of the missing plane yesterday. You'll remember that Air France jet took off from Brazil and disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm back in 2009. All of the 228 passengers were killed and most of their bodies were never found.
ROMANS: To Japan where efforts to plug a leak at the severely damaged nuclear reactor failing this morning, and now Japan says it has no choice but to dump more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean on purpose to prevent water with even higher levels of radiation from leaking out.
The utility company says a second effort to plug the leak in a reactor didn't work over the weekend. This is a new up close look at where the water is gushing out. Tokyo Electric says it may wrap all six of the plant's reactors in some sort of giant sheet or tarp to try to keep radiation from spreading. They're also installing a silt fence along a damaged seawall surrounding the plant to stop radioactive material from seeping out there.
The Japanese and U.S. militaries are right now launching a much more intense search for the missing -- 25,000 troops are out searching for bodies. Right now more than 12,000 people are confirmed dead, but there are nearly 16,000 people still missing almost a month now since an earthquake and tsunami leveled the coast.
The Japanese Red Cross has collected more than $1 billion, but the government says none of it has reached the victims yet. Many frustrated survivors are already saying Japan's government is paying too much attention to the nuclear crisis and not enough about survivors' needs.
VELSHI: Let's take you to Libya as the violence escalates there, so do the casualties, not just among rebel forces and government troops but civilians as well. Here's the latest. The U.S. has agreed to a NATO request and will continue participating in coalition air strikes against Libya for one more day.
Fighting on the ground, however, is intensifying. A bloody ambush sent the opposition retreating to the oil town -- from the oil town of El Brega on Sunday. Rebel leaders say they need to rearm.
According to witnesses in Misrata, pro-government forces shelled a medical clinic yesterday, killing one person and injuring 15 others. You're looking at a ship here. Hundreds wounded in Misrata have been picked up via hospital ship. They'll be taken to Turkey for treatment. CNN's Reza Sayah got on board the ship and spoke with some of the patients about the battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): "They're killing, violating our honor, robbing our homes, anything that is wrong, they're doing it. You can't imagine what's going on there. We were fighting with life weapons but they have so much more. Artillery, mortars, rocket- propelled grenades, that's how they were fighting back."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: British diplomats are on the ground in Libya, meeting with opposition leaders but no decision has been made yet about possibly arming them.
CHETRY: Now to those deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan brought on by the burning of a Koran by one congregation in Florida. One person was killed yesterday and more than a dozen others injured in Kandahar. So far 20 people have died in the last few days of protests.
Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning. This was exactly what top U.S. officials warned about back when this pastor threatened this in the summer. From Obama to General Petraeus, they said this has real-life consequences.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, Kiran. This comes now just a few months before the U.S. is scheduled to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the very fragile relationship between both sides is getting more fragile three days now of violence and protests across Afghanistan in response to the burning of the Koran by this Florida pastor, terry Jones, last month, everyone from president Obama on down condemning the action, General David Petraeus stepping in front of television cameras to make a very direct statement about the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. COMMANDER, AFGHANISTAN: We condemn the action of an individual in the United States who burned a holy Koran. That action was hateful, it was intolerant, and it was extremely disrespectful. And again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, I think people will recall terry Jones, the Florida pastor, made a huge presence on the world stage last year when he threatened to burn the Koran, sparking an all-out effort by the Obama administration at that time to stop him from doing it. He didn't do it, but last month, in March, he did go ahead and burn one of these holy books, catching the administration by surprise.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai now also, of course, stepping into this, making a number of statements over the last several days. The most recent one, he is asking that, quote, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the U.S. president condemn this action in very clear words to the public.
But behind the scenes, Kiran, there is growing concern that some of Karzai's statements, in fact, could be having the opposite effect, of fueling the protests and there is great concern that this could lead to direct attacks now on U.S. troops, just as they feel they are beginning to achieve success in this very long war.
CHETRY: It is a huge setback. The other problem is, I mean anybody who has said this has condemned it. Every one of our leaders has condemned this, but whether that message is getting where it needs to go in Afghanistan is a different story. Barbara Starr this morning, thanks so much.
STARR: Sure.
VELSHI: Dangerous storms are moving through the plains and the Midwest right now. High winds tore a part of a roof off a school in Oklahoma. Check that out. It was about 70 miles northeast of Tulsa. Now it wasn't a school day. The school kids -- school says no kids were around. No one was hurt. The cafeteria and a couple classrooms damaged. No classes for them.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROMANS: Up next, President Obama announces his 2012 re-election bid, and wait until you hear how much money he hopes to raise for his war chest.
VELSHI: And there has been an oil spill in the south Atlantic. We're going to tell you about the desperate attempt under way to keep thousands of -- tens of thousands of penguins from dying.
CHETRY: Also, he was booed off the stage last night in one town. Charlie Sheen though is hoping he can turn the jeers into cheers when he has -- what does he call it, "Torpedo of Truth" tour in Chicago, whether or not he'll be continuing to win or if he'll be hash-tag losing. It's 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fourteen minutes past the hour now.
A little less than a year after the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the company wants to start drilling again. A report by "The New York Times" says that BP has asked to continue work at 10 existing deep water production and development wells in July. In exchange, the company would agree to stricter safety standards and supervision. Last year's explosion caused more than 200 million gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf waters.
Well, half way between Argentina and Africa, on a chain of islands in the south Atlantic, there is now a desperate rescue attempt underway to save tens of thousands of penguins. Hundreds of endangered Northern Rockhopper penguins have already died because of an oil spill about 1,500 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa. A Maltese tanker ran aground three weeks ago, dumping thousands of it tons of heavy oil and diesel fuel.
And, again, you see the penguins there. Volunteers are working tirelessly to try to clean them of this oil and save their lives -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It's official -- President Obama will seek a second term in 2012. He just released a video confirming he will run again.
Kate Bolduan is standing by live at the White House.
He still has yet to file the paperwork, Kate, but we're told it may be coming today. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is a big start to a Monday here in Washington. You can be sure that CNN's political team is very excited waking up this morning. President Obama is now officially the first presidential candidate to announce, now the first official presidential candidate, for 2012. And he launched it, some say, in an understated way, with a video on his campaign Web site. Here's a little bit of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not leaving it up to chance. We're not leaving it up to "Oh, you know, the incumbent," that type of thing. This is an election that we have to win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And, unfortunately, President Obama is one person. He cannot -- plus he's got a job. You know, we're paying him to do a job, so we can't say, "Hey, could you just take some time off and come and get us all energized?" So, we've got to figure it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: On the president's campaign Web site, you'll find some familiar graphics and themes from 2008 have returned for the 2012 campaign.
While this is anything but surprising, I would say, this is important as the president, we're expecting, his campaign will file the official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission today. We expect this makes it official that the president and his campaign can open their campaign accounts and start raising money -- the ever-important campaign contributions.
And sources are telling CNN, Christine, that the campaign's goal is to surpass the record-breaking number that they raised in the 2008 campaign, $750 million, to something upwards of $1 billion this time around. So, no wonder they want to get a little bit of an early start to try to raise that kind of cash.
And also, not a surprise, in the bottom of the president's campaign Web site, it does say Obama/Biden. So, no surprises in terms of the president's running mate this time around.
ROMANS: We can assume that Biden will be the vice presidential running mate and that the home base will be in Chicago for the headquarters, right?
BOLDUAN: Yes. Like the 2008 campaign, they will be based in Chicago in a different building, but they will be headquartered there. And it all starts now.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much, Kate Bolduan -- Kiran and Ali.
VELSHI: All right. File this under not winning. Fans booing, blasting Charlie Sheen's stand-up comedy debut in Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (BOOS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Some fans who paid as much as 125 bucks for their ticket yelled "refund." Others just left. See those thumb's downs as they come out of the theater.
He may have pulled off a little bit of a comeback in Chicago. This is him getting off his bus before show number two. He got a bit of a standing ovation, although he's getting off the bus. I assume people were standing already.
Kareen Wynter was at the first show. Does she feel like a hash tag winner this morning? We're going to ask her next in the next hour.
CHETRY: Also up next on AMERICAN MORNING: if you want to fly hassle- free -- that's a joke, right? We'll tell you about the best airlines, you ranked them when it comes to service and quality.
Eighteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is proposing an interesting new way to help pay for Medicaid. She says childless Medicaid members who smoke should pay 50 bucks a year and recipients who are obese or diabetic would face similar penalties if they don't get into shape. Brewer says those on Medicaid must, quote, "take responsibility for their own health care." The fees are part of a broader plan to save the state $510 million.
ROMANS: Well, preventable diseases are a big part of costs for the government.
VELSHI: Absolutely.
ROMANS: She's doing something controversial but she's got some interesting statistics behind it.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, as a traveler, some of you, care a lot about where you go and you care about certain things when it comes to flying. You want your bags not to get lost. You want to be treated decently. You guys are real -- you know, you guys are real picky.
Well, there's a new report out there talking about the best and worst in customer service, and Carmen Wong Ulrich is minding your business.
We're talking about, you know, traveling the friendly or not so friendly skies. So, who's the top dog?
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really interesting. The survey results especially this morning are very interesting. We got a preview from "The Washington Times" of results from the 21st national airline quality rating survey which is going to be fully released this morning. Guess who's on top in terms of best customer service? Southwest -- lowest complaint rate of 16 airlines, and only one of four airlines to have fewer complaints this year. Delta -- the worst complaint rate, 65 percent higher than the industry average.
Now, complaints overall, are up 28 percent this year. But amazingly enough, only an average of only 1.2 complaints every 100,000 passengers. I would say that's pretty good.
ROMANS: Wow.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: If Southwest was number one before last Friday, when 100 flights are now taken out of the air and people are like stuck trying to figure out --
(CROSSTALK)
ULRICH: And here's the thing: the number one complaint, the reason why complaints are up this year, overbooked flights, not being able to get on the flight. That's the biggest complaint.
VELSHI: Right.
ULRICH: And baggage complaints, of course, down. But here's a part, a funny reason, fewer bags are being checked because you have to pay for it.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: Which is smart, though -- I mean, you know, it's forcing people to maybe rethink. I don't need seven sweaters, maybe I can get away with two, a long way for the weekend, I mean, you know?
ROMANS: Says Kiran.
CHETRY: You pare it down.
ROMANS: You travel -- do you ever check a bag?
VELSHI: I rarely do. When I go for a long trip, I check a bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See I do. I don't want to deal with it.
VELSHI: It takes a lot longer to load planes because everybody is trying to squeeze it in.
CHETRY: But see? The reason I have to check a bag is for hair spray. You don't have that problem. You're lucky.
ULRICH: I'm with you. Same thing. And the morning market check today: Dow up 57 points. Yesterday, NASDAQ up -- Friday, sorry, almost up nine. S&P down 6.5. And we're looking a little mixed on the futures, but overall positive.
ROMANS: And, guys, we're not prepared for this next story. Unfortunately, we should have Carmen bring us in four pillows because thousands of people around the world connect with their inner child over the weekend --
VELSHI: I love this.
ROMANS: -- beating the stuffing out of each other. More than 100 cities taking part in International Pillow Fight Day. Organizers used social networking sites to draw crowds to this annual event. Who knows it was annual. I never knew.
VELSHI: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Some of the money raised helps people -- the money is going to go to people hit by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But just a little bit of release, if you will.
VELSHI: Yes. Harmless release.
All right. It's a crime on our nation's campuses that happens far too often. Now, the government is trying to fix some schools that have this problem. We're going to have the details on the other side.
CHETRY: And unless Democrats and Republicans can hammer out an agreement, the government shuts down on Friday. We're going to talk to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Republican Congressman Tom Price about the prospects for a compromise -- coming up in the next hour.
VELSHI: Twenty-five minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: This just in, the French government minister says an underwater team has found bodies of the victims of the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 yesterday. You will remember the Air France jet took off from Brazil and disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm two years ago. All of the 228 passengers were killed.
We just heard that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute had found wreckage of the plane in the last couple of days. Now, we have learned that there were bodies found in that wreckage as well. So, we'll keep you up-to-date with that story as we get more on it.
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines canceling another 100 flights today while they complete emergency inspections on dozens of their 737-300 jets.
Look at that hole in the top of the plane. So far, they found small, but potentially dangerous cracks on three planes. Those cracks are similar to the ones blamed for blowing a big hole in the roof of this plane that you're looking at on Southwest on Friday, forcing an emergency decent and a landing in Yuma, Arizona.
A desperation move in Japan this morning. Officials say they're dumping over 11,000 tons of nuclear water into the ocean because they need room to store water with even higher levels of radiation. Meantime, more radioactive water is seeping through a hole at one of the badly damaged reactors, and efforts to plug it are not working.
In Libya, fierce fighting between rebel forces and government troops in the strategic oil town of al Brega this morning. Opposition troops have been forced to retreat to the east. Their leaders say they had to withdraw to rearm themselves. Meanwhile, the U.S. has agreed to a any NATO request and will continue participating in coalition airstrikes against Libya for another day.
ROMANS: It's a shocking reality at our nation's schools, reports of sexual assault. The Department of Education estimates nearly 20 percent of college women are victims at some point. They're crimes that are often under reported but the Obama administration is trying to change that.
Our Jason Carroll joins us live now with this -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's incredible when you see those numbers, right, 20 percent. It really puts it in perspective. You know, despite the best intentions of high schools and universities, young women continue to be sexually assaulted at disturbing rates.
So, today, for the first time, Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are issuing guidelines to U.S. public schools on how to deal with sexual violence. Education officials sent letters outlining the guidelines to 25,000 school superintendents, administrators and college presidents. They're being reminded they are required under federal civil rights laws to follow the guidelines.
The goal is to help schools improve prevention and how they respond to allegations of sexual assaults. Statistics show one in five women. That's one in five women in college are victims of sexual assault. In the nation's public high schools, over 4,000 reports of sexual assaults a year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSLYN ALI, ASST. SEC. OF CIVIL RIGHTS, DEPT. OF EDUCATION: We want to make sure that proper procedures are in place. We want to make sure that women understand their rights. We want to make sure that faculty are there to respond quickly and appropriately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Well, some of the guidelines include every school must adopt and publish procedures for victims to file sexual assault complaints. If a sexual assault has happened and the victim or victim's parents do not want to take action, the school still must investigate. Also, a criminal investigation by police does not relieve a school of its own investigation duties. The Department of Education expects schools to comply, but if they don't, federal officials will take action which could include cutting federal dollars.
The Department of Education hopes this new initiative will help change the culture surrounding sexual violence. They say these types of crimes are grossly underreported and say much of that has to do with victims feeling ashamed or feeling schools will not protect them if they do report a sexual assault.
CHETRY: You know playing into that feeling ashamed, is the whole alcohol factor where perhaps people are losing judgment because they're drinking or binge drinking, and the other question is how do you put forth a case if you - if some of the details are fuzzy.
CARROLL: Exactly. Alcohol is definitely one of the factors that feeds into the culture. They don't mention it there but they do mention the culture. The culture, you know, oftentimes, alcohol being involved in these situations, a lot of the parties on college campuses.
ROMANS: Binge drinking statistics and it's shocking at college.
CARROLL: That is well. But look no one said this was going to be easy. Sometimes when you're reporting cases of sexual assault it gets complicated. But still schools need to have procedures, they need to have guidelines in place in terms of knowing how to prevent and knowing how to respond.
CHETRY: And the threat of losing federal money probably is going to help.
CARROLL: It has some teeth.
CHETRY: Yes. Thanks, Jason.
CARROLL: All right.
CHETRY: It's crunch time. Congress deadlocked but they're working to try to beat this Friday deadline to avoid a government shutdown. What are the sticking points? We're going to get both sides. Up next we're going to be talking to democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and we're also going to be joined by House Republican Tom Price.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: There she is, Lady Liberty, New York City, 46 and cloudy we're told. Showers and 67 later today.
VELSHI: Do you think Lady Liberty ever says, "I wish I could be in Miami"?
CHETRY: No way. Lady Liberty loves it. She's made of copper.
VELSHI: That's it but we're not. Which is why we need Rob. To tell us what the weather is going to be like.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I tell you what, if Lady Liberty went to Miami she would have to shorten than skirt for sure.
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys. It's going to be warm across much of the East Coast today. Temperatures on the upswing, at least briefly. But this is - there is a big storm that is causing that warm-up and that's also going about to be causing some severe weather across much of the country, especially across mid-south in through parts of the lower Mississippi River Valley.
Meanwhile, we do already have some travel delays at Detroit because of thunderstorms through there. Ground stop until 8:30. And some delays out of Reagan National right now. We'll probably see some delays out of New York City as well. Winds will be on the increase out of the south. Good direction. That will give you your warm-up today.
Got a couple of severe thunderstorm watches that are in effect across the Midwest this morning and some thunderstorms that have turned into severe weather warnings across parts of Dallas and reports of 60-mile- an-hour winds with these and some transformers blowing out around parts of the city and probably some power outages because of that, and this is slowly moving off to the east.
Severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect for the next 15 minutes for the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area. Here's your line of thunderstorms moving across parts of Indiana and western parts of Ohio, all associated with that watch. Probably some gusty winds with that as well. Some rain, some snow, some sleet moving into through upstate New York and northern New England. This is the leading edge of that warm air. And New York and Philadelphia and D.C. will be warming up quite nicely this afternoon. We'll highlight those temperatures for you in a second.
Meanwhile in the next six to 12 hours, this is the bull's eye we think where thunderstorms could get really, really nasty. Eastern Arkansas and through parts of Mississippi and western Tennessee, tornadoes damaging winds and large hail a good possibility here. Moderate risk of severe weather posted by the storms prediction center and when they do that it means business.
Certainly cool air becoming and behind the system. There's the warm air push, ahead, 84 Atlanta, 79 Dallas for the cherry blossoms and 68 degrees in New York City for my three favorite morning anchors.
ROMANS: Come on.
MARCIANO: Between 6:00 and 9:00. Up there in New York.
VELSHI: 84 in Atlanta?
MARCIANO: Yes, baby.
ROMANS: Three morning anchors from 6:00 to 9:00, the way he qualified how much he loves us is really suspicious.
VELSHI: I'll take it. I'll take whatever.
MARCIANO: I'm all about the details. I have a lot of anchors down here in Atlanta.
CHETRY: Oh Rob.
MARCIANO: Very political.
ROMANS: I get it.
VELSHI: Thanks, Rob. Thank you.
ROMANS: A missing two-year-old is now safe at home thanks to the family dog. 22-month-old Tyler Jackobsson (ph) vanished from his home in South Carolina Friday night. Search crews including helicopters and a team of bloodhounds traced the entire neighborhood but it was the family dog who found the boy and kept him safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA HARR, NEIGHBOR: Since he belonged to them, he must have followed him the whole way, looking out for him. So that's very special.
EMILY DUROSE, NEIGHBOR: Just thinking that a dog would watch a baby over the night, is kind of like a movie instead of real life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Little Tyler was discovered behind a neighbor's house wearing only his t-shirt and a diaper. The dog stayed with him all night keeping him warm until help arrived.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: That's unbelievably amazing. Lucky.
VELSHI: Amazing.
Well, but that's how much - I mean, that's what great dogs do.
ROMANS: I know but to have your -
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: And toddlers walking out.
VELSHI: Happening more often than people think.
ROMANS: They're just - at 22 months old they can get wherever they want to go, oh.
VELSHI: Well, Congress is deadlocked, working to beat the Friday deadline to avoid a government shutdown which is going to have a great impact on a lot of people if it happens. Coming up next, we're going to talk to democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and House Republican Tom Price about what they are doing to try and avoid the shutdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: 42 minutes past the hour right now. There's a look at Washington, D.C., where it is 54 right now, but a little bit later could be pushing 80 degrees in the nation's capital.
And welcome back to "American Morning." Just four more days to a potential shutdown of the federal government. Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing, the amount of cuts needed in the new budget, but they don't agree when it comes to which programs to cut. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, number three in the Senate, joins us this morning. Thanks so much for being with us, senator.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, actually, there is a deal in principle, you say to cut $23 billion, which would bring an additional $23 billion, which would bring the cuts to $33 billion total.
SCHUMER: Right.
CHETRY: But House Speaker Boehner at least publicly saying that there is no agreement on that number. Has he said in private that 33 billion is acceptable?
SCHUMER: Well, his negotiators are working off that $33 billion number. Speaker Boehner has said, there's no problem, we have no problem with this, that there's no agreement on anything until there's an agreement on everything. So he's holding his fire until the whole agreement is reached. But we're making very good progress. To agree on the number, it's right in the middle, halfway between Democrats and Republicans. It's what the Senate leader, the House leadership, Republican leadership, had asked for before the Tea Party people in the Congress, in the House, moved it way over. So it's a reasonable number.
CHETRY: So they may not be agreeing to it because of pressure from the Tea Party?
SCHUMER: Well, the Tea Party is the only thing standing in the way of an agreement, Kiran. But, there's good news in a bunch of these fronts. First, as the American people have learned what the Tea Party stands for, no compromise, cuts in things like aid to help college students get to college who deserve to go to college because they have the grades or cuts in cancer research, they say "whoa," and the Tea Party has said no compromise. That's not how our system of government works.
CHETRY: So you -
SCHUMER: But the good news is here - the Republican leadership is already turning the page. They realized that they can't go along with the Tea Party and that the arguments that we've been making, both about the Tea Party being extreme and about where the budget should be, are going to carry the day. So they're beginning to focus on the longer term budget for 2012.
CHETRY: You are not backing down from calling them extreme and you're highlighting why you think they're sort of standing in the way of getting an agreement. But couldn't the opposite argument be made if it weren't for the 57 Tea Party members in Congress, we wouldn't be looking as many cuts, even Erskine Bowles says have to happen if we want to get our country on the right track.
SCHUMER: I think these citizens who formed the Tea Party and said the government has to cut, are having some effect. As they should. That's how our system works.
CHETRY: Right.
SCHUMER: But our system also works and there are many different values out there. So we want job growth, we want to get the economy growing. If you cut scientific research, which has been a linchpin and created millions of jobs in different industries, if you tell kids who deserve to go to college, we're not going to give you the kind of help to get to college you're hurting America. So the Tea Party has had input, no question about it. It's when the people in Congress misread that, some of their allies, and make it extreme.
CHETRY: There is still support for the Tea Party though. I mean, when you look at our latest poll and you have a third of Americans have a favorable opinion about them.
And in some ways they say look, they are forcing -- we have another poll that shows that there's basically a tie for third most important in terms of extremely important issues, cutting the deficit, 52 percent of people say that has to happen.
SCHUMER: Kiran, it's not we don't want to cut the deficit and they do. We both want to cut it. We want to cut it in a smart way with a sharp scalpel.
They want to just use a meat ax and cut everything and they're losing ground. That poll, your CNN poll, which showed 32 percent of the people like the Tea Party, showed 47 percent don't like the Tea Party.
CHETRY: It depends on which party you're talking about.
SCHUMER: No, no, 47 percent, as I understand it in your poll of a week or two ago, said they don't like the Tea Party, and those numbers are going up.
And that's because not because they want cuts. The American people want cuts. We want cuts, $33 billion is a lot of cuts. But you can't cut your seed corn as well. The kinds of things --
CHETRY: The bottom line, there's so much, and I mean, this isn't a fault of either party, but this is the system. There are so much that's untouchable in the budget. I mean, the social programs that make up a huge chunk of the budget and the interest on our debt, you're cutting around.
SCHUMER: This is a very good point.
CHETRY: You're cutting around the --
SCHUMER: We want to -- one of the things that I talked about, gave a speech about this a few weeks ago and now is right on the table, is not just to look at the 12 percent of the budget that's called domestic be discretionary.
CHETRY: Right.
SCHUMER: But to look for instance at the mandatory programs, agriculture, justice, banking areas, were off limits. If we put them on limits we can achieve the level of cuts people are demanding of us.
But not cut into the kinds of things that I mentioned before, the cancer research, safety inspection for food or for airplanes. Things like that. The American people don't want us to cut those. They want us to get rid of the waste across the board, wherever it is.
But they also are saying, be smart about it and don't cut the kind of things that we need to help keep America growing because if you look at your poll, budget cutting is number three. Jobs and the economy is number one.
CHETRY: And health care.
SCHUMER: Right. And Mark Zanedy a Republican economist said if we just did the HR 1, which was the Tea Party proposal.
CHETRY: He believes it would hinder job growth.
SCHUMER: It's 700,000. That's not what Americans want.
CHETRY: All right, well, it was great to get your point of view, Senator Charles Schumer. It's great to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.
SCHUMER: Nice to talk to you too. Thanks.
VELSHI: All right, let's bring in the other side on this congressional budget debate. The chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and a member of the Tea Party caucus, Congressman Tom Price of Georgia joins us now.
Congressman, thanks for being with us.
REP. TOM PRICE (R), GEORGIA: Hey, Ali. Great to be with you.
VELSHI: Senator Schumer says they want to use a scalpel to deal with this budget. You guys want to use a meat ax, right?
PRICE: Now the fact of the matter is, their scalpel would keep us on the path to bankruptcy that we're currently on. We believe and the American people understand that clearly that it's time to get on the path to prosperity.
And you need fundamental reform which is why our budget this week, that we will lay out, which is our vision for the future, will address the spending issues, will significantly change the way Washington does business.
The American people know and their families, they have to balance their budgets. Washington should do the same. We have to enact pro- growth policies so that we --
VELSHI: OK, hold on. Congressman Price, I appreciate -- I get where you're coming from. I think the American people know where the Tea Party is coming from.
Congressman Price, Congressman Price, we know where -- nobody in America doesn't know what the Tea Party stands for or the Democrats or the Republicans.
Let's speak specifically about keeping the government open after Friday. Are you, there have been people in the democratic party and republican party who say, that you guys are an impediment to getting a deal done. Are you?
PRICE: No. It's the Democrat in the Senate who haven't even done a budget, haven't addressed the issue of this continuing resolution this week. Look, we passed a bill 44, 45 days ago that cut $61 billion out of spending this year, 16 percent of the spending this year.
It had a number of other provisions that will significantly change the way Washington does business. The Senate hasn't even acted. So they're negotiating with themselves right now. What they need to do is act and sent something back to the House and then we've get together in a conference committee and move forward.
VELSHI: OK, you have $61 billion in there right now. If we listen to what Chuck Schumer said, we're at about $33 billion. He says there's some kind of a deal.
John Boehner not really saying that there is or isn't because I think he's a little worried that you folks on the Tea Party caucus of the Republican Party might not agree with it.
But somewhere between 33 and 61, are we going to get a deal and keep government open as of Friday?
PRICE: Well, it would be nice if the Senate acted. There's no doubt about it.
VELSHI: Could you find some happiness somewhere between 33 and 61 on this year's budget let alone what we have to do in the future?
PRICE: Well, in addition to the 61, there were a number of riders that bill and we ought to be negotiating about those as well.
VELSHI: Right. PRICE: But the Senate's got to act. But the vision that we'll put forward this week as the Republican conference of the House of Representatives -
VELSHI: Right.
PRICE: -- is what the American people want. That is to decrease the size of government, decrease spending at the federal level, increase the pro-growth policies and make certain that we put in place --
VELSHI: Got it. I guess, I'm asking you very specifically, if you get a number coming back from you from the Senate or whomever puts it forward and it is not a cut of $60 billion or $61 billion, will you work toward a deal that will not shutdown the U.S. government, which stops people from getting their tax refunds processed. It stops people from getting it back, which puts people out of work and costs the economy money?
PRICE: Absolutely. We're looking forward to moving forward positively. Nobody is interested on our side in shutting the government down. What we are interested in doing is making certain we're responsible and spending wisely at the federal level, which we haven't been for decades.
So what we need to do now is get together, come together, and arrive at that figure, see where we are on the other riders that we talked about and then put in place the budget that we're going to present this week, the decreases spending, increases the pro-growth policies and saves health and retirement security for the American people.
VELSHI: Whoever gave you those talking points should get a big, big raise today, Congressman, because you got them in about eight times. Good to talk to you. Thanks very much for being with us, Congressman Tom Price.
PRICE: Appreciate it.
CHETRY: All right. Good morning. That just shows you, I mean, the difficulty in coming -- I mean, everybody has a very, very clear point of view.
VELSHI: But they both did say, they are working toward something else. So I think they both said, something -- I don't know what it is -- something will cause them to get to a compromise, we hope.
CHETRY: Yes. We hope, but we'll shut down.
ROMANS: OK, this morning's top stories minutes away, including a dramatic development in the race to beat Alzheimer's. Researchers have discovered five new genes linked to that disease and it could be the first big step towards finding a cure.
CHETRY: Also just a heads up if you're checking your inbox this morning. There are some e-mails you may be getting from companies you normally trust, but you may want to look twice at what exactly that web address is after a breach of privacy at a big firm. VELSHI: And legendary film producer, Jerry Weintraub, visits AMERICAN MORNING to talk about a career spanning five decades and a new HBO documentary about his life that airs tonight. And a brand-new amazing sandwich. It's all straight ahead.
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ROMANS: Turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, earthquakes, tsunamis, a potential nuclear meltdown. They're disasters that have more Americans shelling out big bucks to buy doomsday shelters and these things certainly aren't your grandfather's bunker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a new contract today. The name of the project is "Surefire Survival Community."
ROMANS (voice-over): If you want to prepare for disaster, Brian Camden is your man. The 55-year-old civil engineer is the owner of Hardened structures. He's been in the business of building bomb shelters for 20 years and right now, that business is booming.
BRIAN CAMDEN, PRINCIPAL, HARDENED STRUCTURES: Right now, it's probably a new project every other week. Our biggest seller is a six- person prefabricated steel shelter that sells for about $38,000.
ROMANS: Demands for all kinds of survival supplies is up. There's the ordinary, like these 55 gallon barrels sold by Shelf Reliance for water storage.
And the extraordinary, like this order for a 900-ton steel arch, which can old 185 people and food for five years. This in the event there's, well, water everywhere.
CAMDEN: Obviously picked up with the earthquake in Japans. There's the unrest in the Middle East. I think the economy has a great deal to do with it.
ROMANS: Costco has seen a surge in sales of freeze-dried food, and the company's underground shelters have had inquiries jump by 400 percent since the earthquake in Japan.
(on camera): This isn't the first time there's been a boom in bunkers in the U.S. During the Cold War, there were no less than 200,000 bomb shelters across the country, many of them home shelters.
According to "The Wall Street Journal," an article from 1961, one Chicago company received 1,000 orders in just one week for fabricated steel shelters.
(voice-over): Now a days, Camden says he sees two types of clients.
CAMDEN: Some of the clients who feel like the threat is imminent, and then you have the other clients who are starting to prepare and move forward.
ROMANS: It's impossible to predict if the current demand for bomb shelters will last, but for now --
CAMDEN: A hardened structure by nature is basically asset production, and most people identify their family as their number one asset.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: That is an ark. Now if you do not want to buy an ark or --
VELSHI: I want to be on an ark with 185 people for five years.
ROMANS: I know, or $38,000 to put a bunker. I mean, this is what they're selling, $38,000 bunkers in your backyard. If you don't want to do that, how about just check in to make sure you have enough batteries for your flashlight.
CHETRY: There's a happy medium.
ROMANS: But all of these companies including Costco saying they are seeing sales are up for all of these things, including a year's supply of food, a big water drum for your basement. People are buying these things.
VELSHI: None of them live in Manhattan, obviously.
CHETRY: You can't even keep a six-pack of paper towels in your apartment there, but real cool, Christine. Good luck.
ROMANS: Thanks.
CHETRY: Top stories right after the break.
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