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Bloody Civil War in the Ivory Coast; New Fighting in Libya; Your Tax Refund Could be Affected; Serial Killer in New York?; Investigation Into Nosy Apps; Alleged Libyan Rape Victim Speaks Out; Name That Snake

Aired April 05, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: We're coming up to the top of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday, April 5th.

We have some breaking news just to start with in what could be an even bloodier civil war in -- civil war than what's going on right now in Libya. This is in the West African nation of Ivory Coast. The sound of shelling, these are new pictures in to us right now.

NATO and French troops have joined the fight there, launching air strikes on the home of the long-time leader, Laurent Gbagbo, and also two of his military bases. Now, Gbagbo is reportedly seeking refuge at the residence of the French ambassador, trying to reportedly negotiate a surrender. Why is all of this happening? Well, because he refused to give up power to the man who won the Democratic elections.

Fighters loyal to the democratically elected president, Alassane Ouattara, now say they are close to actually capturing Gbagbo. We'll continue to follow the developments in Ivory Coast this morning and bring you the latest.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, breaking news also in Brega, Libya. Ben Wedeman is on the phone. Ben, there's new fighting there. These towns are so important, Brega, in particular. There's oil pipelines, oil facilities. The rebels are trying to gain control of some of this infrastructure so they can actually start to raise money to fund their opposition in the country.

What's the latest happening in Brega?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest is we are now in a very panicked general retreat by the opposition forces who have been coming under intense and almost constant artillery fire coming from the direction of Brega. They are firing rockets back in the opposite direction, but it doesn't seem to be anything compared to what the Gadhafi loyalists have.

They have long-range artillery. On this side they have sort of short- range artillery to stop the Gadhafi forces. As I said, what I'm seeing is a general retreat by the anti-Gadhafi forces away from Brega. And a good distance as well. At this point I would say we're 25 to 30 miles outside of Brega and they're still pushing back, rushing away from the front.

ROMANS: What is the significance, ben, if the rebels lose more ground in Brega and lose more control of the outskirts of this town? What is the significant for both the funding of the rebels and for the Gadhafi forces?

WEDEMAN: The fundamental weakness of the opposition forces in being able to dislodge the loyalists militarily. They just don't seem to be able to do it. And they've been trying now for well over weeks, more like two weeks, to regain Brega, but they just don't seem to be able to do it.

And this despite the fact that there's a no-fly zone, I understand this morning there was a NATO airstrike on a convoy of pro-Gadhafi fighters in Brega itself, but it just hasn't had the kind of impact people were expecting.

ROMANS: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. On the outskirts of Grega watching a full-blown pullback of the opposition there as that battle ensues. Thanks, Ben Wedeman.

VELSHI: To Washington where your tax refund and your bottom line could be on the line if Democrats and Republicans cannot get a budget deal done by Friday. They've got until Friday to stop a government shutdown. Now, the president is stepping in. Jim Acosta live in Washington with this. Jim, what's happening?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, there are new signs this morning that the government is, indeed, headed toward a shutdown at the end of the week. An aide to John Boehner told CNN the Republican leaders in the house are advising members to get ready for a shutdown because Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a budget for this year.

As you know, the government has been operating on stop-gap spending measures, these continuing resolutions for months now. Later this morning over at the White House, the president has invited Speaker Boehner, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and the two appropriation committee chairmen in House and Senate for negotiations. I heard from somebody inside Boehner's office that the speaker will, indeed, be there.

But keep in mind, a Democratic source on the hill told me yesterday that both sides are still very far apart on a deal, Ali, and if they can't work something out, the government will run out of money, technically speaking, at midnight Friday.

The shutdown would start Saturday. Meanwhile, we should mention that the house appropriations committee chairman Hall Rodgers has introduced a new one-week continuing resolution to keep the government running. That plan would cut $12 billion in spending, but it's not known at this point whether or not it would gain enough support at this point to get passed through both houses of Congress and get signed by the president. Ali?

VELSHI: It would give new meaning to the term punting. It is remarkable how they've been able to get two extensions to this so far. So our viewers are clear, we are dealing with three distinct issues here. One is the 2011 budget, the year that we are in, a budget that was never passed and that's what we're trying to deal with.

Then we're dealing with the fact that this government's credit limit is almost at its limit and that's going to be a problem. But what you're talking about with Paul Ryan, that's the 2012 budget. That's two problems down the road.

ACOSTA: That's right. We're playing toll booth government right now, Ali. They're basically throwing another quarter in the toll booth every couple weeks with the continuing resolutions to keep the government running.

That's a separate fight from what Paul Ryan is about to basically start later today. Republicans raising the stakes in this budget showdown. The budget committee chairman Paul Ryan is expected to unveil his proposal for the 2012 budget. That's next fiscal year. It's called his "plan for prosperity."

Here are some of the details, some of the highlights from that. We'll show you this on a full screen here. They're talking about overhauling Medicare. The plan would be converted into voucher program essentially. Medicaid would be essentially turned into a block grant program that the states would administer.

The Bush tax cuts would be extended permanently and defense and domestic spending cuts would take effect, bringing basically government spending down to 2008 levels.

So, just as this fight is still being worked out, still being waged up on Capitol Hill and at the White House over this current fiscal year budget, there's another budget fight looming, Ali, as you mentioned, just right around the corner.

VELSHI: Jim, thanks very much for that. Jim Acosta in Washington.

ROMANS: Ali, if Congress can't compromise on a budget deal by Friday, funding for the federal government gets cut off and that hasn't happened in 15 years. We have some experience about what it would look like. Last time they did it the feds closed 368 national parks and all of our national monuments and museums. Passport applications backed up. If you need to renew your passport you should do it now.

Cleanup work at 609 toxic waste sites stopped. Also in terms of U.S. troops, for those people fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, they could see their paychecks interrupted. They are federal -- it is federal dollars that go to pay them.

Here's what -- here you go. What stays open. Essential services like air traffic control and the national security system would stay on- line, anything that counts for national security. Also, federal workers who provide medical care, who handle hazardous waste, food inspectors, at our border, also border patrol folks, prison guard inmates, power distribution, all of these stays. Also people who Ali and Kiran, protect the financial system to keep that up and running. That's something that's incredibly critical in the past couple years. During two shutdowns in the 1990s, more than a million federal workers were sent home. In the last shutdown, the Social Security administration continued to mail checks so if you're worried about that, remember they have the authority to do so again.

Something interesting, last time around, sort of the 11th hour they realized they sent all of these lab workers home at government lab and health facilities and realized they had thousands of lab animals who were considered essential expenses for the U.S. government because they sent all these people home, and then you had all these labs that still had to run.

So there are some things that would continue to work, but we know from history there are mistakes that have happened but shutting down the government is a big deal. For more information about the possible impact of a government shutdown, head to CNNmoney.com.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Christine, thanks.

Meanwhile, we're also following extreme weather. The tornado threat that hit a lot of the southeast continues this morning, tearing across the southeast. High winds, they were dealing with rain, hail and possible twisters. Again, reports of damage, more than a dozen people injured across at least four states, also word of two deaths after a tree fell on a home, thousands of people without power.

(WEATHER BREAK)

VELSHI: The UConn huskies top dogs, as it were, in college basketball. They defeated the Butler bulldogs in Houston last night to win the NCAA championship.

ROMANS: The final score, UConn 53, Butler 41. The game was ugly and I guess that's being kind.

CHETRY: Yes. It was a little uneventful, low scoring, a battle of the defense. But Mark McKay was courtside at last night's game and joins us live in Houston. Not to take away from UConn, you know, they're champions, won 11 straight at the end of the season, but the game was a little underwhelming for basketball fans.

MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think, Kiran, we need something to look at and we were hoping for -- I think a lot of the pundits thought this would be in the 60s, but these teams struggled as you mentioned in the first half, 22-19 at half, Butler with a big three-pointer at the end of the first half.

We thought, OK, these teams are a little nervous on the big stage. Maybe they'll get their footing going in the second half. They really didn't, as they struggled. But a 22-3 run by Connecticut turned a six-point deficit into a 13-point lead and Connecticut never looked back from there.

But defense was the key, guys, in this game, as the Connecticut Huskies were able to hold the Butler Bulldogs to 18.8 percent shooting. That was the lowest in tournament history. Connecticut, national champions for the third time. You know, you win, you win ugly, still national champs.

CHETRY: The thing is they have good prospects for the next couple years. They had three freshmen starting and still won.

MCKAY: They did. And they have a coach who is now in rare air, guys. Jim Calhoun at 68 is not only the oldest coach to win a national championship, he's only the fifth coach in NCAA history to have three or more titles, only five guys have done it.

We have to wonder and asked him last night after the game, what's the prospect for you coming back? The Connecticut students were saying one more year. This was like a political convention here. They were saying one more year, one more year. They want him back. He says he's going to reassess things and he will decide once the season is done. Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies on top of the college basketball world, guys.

CHETRY: Nice.

VELSHI: Mark, thanks very much for that.

CHETRY: Thanks so much.

VELSHI: Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, do apps on your smartphone have too much access to your personal information? The government is looking into it and they're focusing on one very popular app.

CHETRY: Also, we're following this disturbing story and scary for people that live on Long Island, New York, where they found several bodies, and the question this morning, do they have a serial killer on their hands? And how do they catch him? It's 12 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour right now. And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Some in Long Island are wondering whether they're having a serial killer in their midst. A story that's scaring a lot of people that live there. Police are on the hunt for a possible serial killer after finding eight dead bodies along a local beach on Long Island and investigators are searching for more possible victims. Allan Chernoff is here to tell us what detectives have uncovered so far.

Hi, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, the police are quite certain that they are searching for a serial killer who preys upon prostitutes. They started this search back in December. They stopped it during the winter time and last week they resumed. The shocking news came yesterday that three more bodies had been discovered. This is a very desolate area, out on Long Island, between Gilgo Beach and Oak Beach. It's about 15 miles past Jones Beach. If any of you have ever been there, that's one of the most popular beaches in the New York area. But this is a very, very quiet area. Lots of grass, a very tough place for the police to search. You see the brambles over there. Apparently those canine dogs don't like getting scratched up by the bramble.

Anyway, yesterday, three bodies. Last week another body, and back in December, there were four bodies, so far eight victims. The four bodies in December had been identified and they were all young, white women, who had advertised their sexual services on Craigslist. The search, though, continues for Shannan Gilbert. This woman, missing since last May, she also had advertised as a prostitute on Craigslist. The bodies at the moment are at the Suffolk medical examiner. They'll be doing DNA analysis to determine if one of these bodies is that of Shannan Gilbert. The search may continue today. It all depends upon the weather. Rain is forecast and apparently these canines do not like to work in the rain and apparently can't even do so very effectively.

CHETRY: Right. Just quickly, do they have any leads on a suspect or is it, they don't know at all?

CHERNOFF: They're not sharing that much information. Apparently, Shannan Gilbert had last been seen in Oak Beach. She had visited a client there, was seen by a neighbor who came over. She came over to the neighbor. He called 911. Then apparently she ran off and was being followed by a car. That's the last report and that is all that we know right now.

CHETRY: Scary stuff. Allan Chernoff --

CHERNOFF: Just awful.

CHETRY: Thanks so much.

VELSHI: Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, how much is too much when it comes to your smartphone applications sharing your personal information? We've got details on a new federal investigation into apps that you might have on your phone right now.

ROMANS: And a stunning, stunning setback for the Obama administration. There will be no civilian trial for the suspected 9/11 mastermind.

It is 18 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Federal investigators are looking into whether some smartphone applications are a little bit too nosy. I'm pretty interested in this story. Alison Kosik joins us now. She's "Minding Your Business." Tell us about this.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There's a federal grand jury investigation looking into Pandora. You know that's the Internet radio sensation.

Too good to be true.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Right. Basically determines what you like the most and do and then just keeps playing it.

KOSIK: Exactly, exactly. So what the question is that federal prosecutors want to find out is what kind of information is Pandora gathering through those iPhone apps and the android apps when you download Pandora. But you have to remember when you go on to Pandora radio and you register, you're handing over your information, your e- mail, your gender, your name. So the question is, how is Pandora gathering this information and then possibly sharing it possibly illegally?

That is really the big question here. But, you know, you have to remember what the point of Pandora radio is. It wants to track you. It wants to know what kind of music you like to listen to, because the whole point of Pandora radio is to have that personalized music content and it's also a big thing for their business model. If you want Pandora radio to even stick around, it needs to be able to offer that targeted advertising to you, so not only does it need to know what kind of music you like to listen to, it needs to know what kind of ads it needs to target you just to stick around. But still, we've got folks looking into this, trying to figure out if what Pandora is doing is any different than any other app is doing.

VELSHI: Yes.

KOSIK: Yes, but you know, think about it. You download apps to play games.

VELSHI: Right.

KOSIK: -- to get sports scores, and when you download those apps, you're handing over your information. So how much is what Pandora is doing any different than what anyone else is doing?

VELSHI: Part of my response and both of my friends here seem to think that I'm nuts for not being more worried about this than I am.

CHETRY: No, it's not a matter of worried. I think it's almost are we expecting the unrealistic. I mean, it's inevitable that if you're allowing your information to go out there --

VELSHI: Right.

CHETRY: -- that they're going to have it and use it.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: Ali says he has no secrets.

VELSHI: Everybody has every piece of information they need. KOSIK: If you want these apps, you're going to have to register and hand over your information.

VELSHI: My deal is if you want to steal my credit, you've got to pay my bills.

CHETRY: It works both ways. You don't just get the credit, you have to actually pay the bills.

VELSHI: There you go.

KOSIK: All right. I have to pay bills.

Let's do a quick market check from yesterday. The Dow ended higher. S&P ended higher as well. Nasdaq slightly lower. It looks like investors are kind of sitting on the sidelines waiting for earnings season to begin on Monday.

ROMANS: All right.

KOSIK: So kind of quiet day, quiet week.

ROMANS: Thanks, Alison.

VELSHI: Good to see you here. Alison is often at the New York Stock Exchange for us.

CHETRY: And it's not a quiet week on Capitol Hill.

VELSHI: No, not at all.

CHETRY: They're trying to hammer out this budget. It's coming down to the wire because the government shutdown is looming. If they don't get a continuing resolution or some 2011 budget passed by Friday, the government literally shuts down.

Ahead, Democratic lawmaker, one of them and one Republican lawmaker, back-to-back with their ideas on how close they are to a deal and what needs to happen to get it done.

VELSHI: And Libya, a city under siege. Gadhafi's forces choking off Libya's third largest city. New shelling and calls for more backup from the rest of the world.

It's 24 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. U.S. warplanes are standing down in Libya. NATO now relying on European planes. Last night was the last night of U.S. bombing missions. Fighter jets attacked near the city of Brega as rebel fighters pushed back into the key oil port. But the opposition is saying they need more firepower from above.

Well, there may be no better example of that than in Misrata. Libya's third largest city in ruins now, being choked off by Gadhafi's forces. A doctor told CNN that Gadhafi's army shelled a clinic, killing at least one person and injuring 15 people.

And her story has riveted the world. A woman named Eman al-Obeidy who escaped Gadhafi's forces and burst into a hotel screaming to tell foreign journalists how she was gang raped by his troops. She was quickly muscled out of the room. A jacket was thrown over her head by undercover officials. But she did get her story out to the world when she called in to "AC 360" last night.

Joining us now is Zain Verjee live from London. Zain, this story has really captivated the world, as a sense of the brutality of the Gadhafi regime.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It really has, Ali. And it's so painful and difficult to listen to what she has to say but she is such a brave woman. She has been told she cannot leave Libya. She told reporters that she can't even leave her home because when she does, now she gets beaten. She spoke to Anderson Cooper about what happened to her. Just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You knew you were taking a great risk. Why was it so important for you to go into the hotel to try to talk to reporters?

VOICE OF EMAN AL-OBEIDY, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM (through translator): After all I went through, there is nothing else that constitutes a danger to my life. Our life was destroyed and our dignity tarnished. Our humanity has been taken from us.

COOPER: When you were in the hotel, you said look what the Gadhafi brigades have done to me. What was done to you?

AL-OBEIDY (through translator): They abducted me. Prior I showed to the journalists my hands and legs. I was bound and tied up. I was beaten and tortured. For two days, they violated my freedom without eating or drinking.

COOPER: How were you able to escape?

AL-OBEIDY (through translator): Among the kidnapped women, there was one girl who was no more than 16 and she untied me. And about 7:00 a.m., early in the morning, I was crying and she came to cover me and I begged her to untie me. She was so scared. But she untied my hands and feet and she refused to escape out of fear of them. She gave me her name and address and asked me to report everything to the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Eman al-Obeidy also said that she was warned not to talk to any journalists. She said even the phone that she was dialing Anderson on was tapped. All her movements are being watched. She is scared, she says, but she wants to get the story out.

VELSHI: Zain, we do know that she -- I mean she says she's been arrested again, she's been released. Do we know that she's free now?

VERJEE: She said that she is at home and is being watched carefully. She said that the guys that are monitoring all her movements, say "Don't you dare come out, you stay in there, don't talk to journalists and don't go anywhere." She says when she does venture outside her own home she gets beaten up. So it's a really difficult and dangerous situation for her right now and she's being told she can't leave Libya.

VELSHI: All right. Zain, thanks very much for that. We'll stay on top of that story as well.

ROMANS: The White House is scrambling to get a budget approved by Friday, otherwise the government will begin shutdown. Republican House budget chairman Paul Ryan is unveiling his budget proposal today. His plan would cut $6 trillion in 10 years. It calls for an overhaul of Medicare and deep cuts in Medicaid. It also proposes to make Bush-era tax cuts permanent.

Severe storms threaten to pummel the south. Tornado watch in effect from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas. The region was slammed by heavy winds, hail storms too last night. Funnel clouds ripped through Tennessee killing at least one person. Nearly 150,000 people in Georgia are still without power at this hour.

All-out civil war in the Ivory Coast. Laurent Gbagbo refuses to surrender the presidency. The presidency that he lost in the election. He's barricaded himself in the presidential palace. The U.N. and the French have launched helicopter attacks. U.N. backed president Alassane Ouattara is hoping to end this battle. He's confident his troops will capture Gbagbo today.

VELSHI: A major setback for the Obama administration, the White House announcing it's not going to prosecute high profile terror suspects in civilian courts. That means that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspected masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks will be tried instead by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here. Jeffrey, what does this mean? What does this mean for the defendants and the families who have waited nearly a decade for justice?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it does mean there will be a trial, but it will not be the civilian trial in lower Manhattan that Eric Holder, the attorney general, announced with such fanfare in November 2009. The trial will look a lot like a regular American trial. It will be open to the public, it will have defense lawyers, it will have the defense will be allowed to cross examine witnesses, but everyone in that courtroom will be in the military.

There will be military judge, there will be a military jury, and not the independent civilians that are the touchstone, the corner stone, of the American legal system.

CHETRY: And then there are people who are not happy with that. Some people who say that this is going to end up being a, "kangaroo court," because it's not out in the open and it's not in our civilian system. In fact, let's listen to a little bit about what former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, conspiracy theories in some ways, said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. GOV. JESSE VENTURA, MINNESOTA: You're satisfied with a military tribunal, which is different than a regular trial. It will be done behind closed doors. So we'll never hear the evidence, except what they want to tell us. And they'll just simply execute these guys and say "OK, we did our job."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Will we hear the evidence and are they more likely to get the death penalty under a military tribunal?

TOOBIN: Well, we will certainly hear the evidence. There is no difference in how public a military commission case is from a civilian federal trial. Neither one has cameras in the courtroom, but both will be open to journalists. So Jesse Ventura is completely wrong about that.

As for the likelihood of the death penalty, it's very likely he get the death penalty in either circumstance. Because even though it's true he was waterboarded and those confessions, those sorts - that kind of evidence is off limits, what people forget is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed publicly -

CHETRY: Right.

TOOBIN: - has confessed to his involvement in 9/11. So the government will not need to use the waterboarding evidence. They will simply talk about confessions that were broadcast on Al Jazeera. I don't think that's a legally problematic area.

VELSHI: But the standard in a military court is different from that in federal court.

TOOBIN: Not really. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the same. One legal twist that is not entirely settled here, and Eric Holder was asked about it at the press conference yesterday, and he couldn't answer it for sure is, what if KSM decides to plead guilty, can he get out of the death penalty that way?

I think the answer is no. They would certainly have a penalty phase where the jury weighs the issue of execution, even if he tries to plead guilty, but that legal issue is not settled. There haven't been very many military commissions. A lot of the rules are not -

ROMANS: So why we're not doing this in a public courtroom in lower Manhattan, and why if these trials are going to be so simpler except for the fact you're not going to have a civilian jury, why did the administration have to do it this way?

TOOBIN: Because when Holder made that announcement in November of '09, there was a political backlash that was across party lines. Not just the Republicans, but hard-core Democrats like Chuck Schumer said "We cannot afford the risk of having a civilian trial, of essentially a war-like act, in lower Manhattan. A lot of people disagree with that.

Eric Holder yesterday said "I think that trial would have been fine." Personally, I think a trial would not have been as disruptive. But, Eric Holder did not do the homework, did not get Mayor Bloomberg, the New York City police commissioner, on board in advance, so when he sprung this idea on them, they rebelled. They said we can't afford to do it. It will cost a billion dollars in security.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: You know, the 2012 campaign and one of the first things he said "I'm going to close Gitmo in a year." It was his first campaign promise. Is this going to hurt him politically in 2012?

TOOBIN: Well, you have to remember the group that is upset about this are liberals, are people to the left. Who are they going to vote for except Barack Obama? Yes, it may contribute to a certain lessening of enthusiasm, but it's a long time until the election of 2012. I don't see the people who are upset about this suddenly deciding to vote for Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty as a result of this. So yes, his base, President Obama's base, is offended by this, they thought the trial should take place the way the president promised for a long time.

I mean if you follow this campaign, closing Guantanamo was something Barack Obama said every single day on the campaign trail and at this rate, you know, Barack Obama is not going to close Guantanamo, maybe President Malia Obama is going to close Guantanamo because that's how long it's going to take.

VELSHI: Thanks very much.

CHETRY: Three days and counting before possible government shutdown even with the president stepping. He's holding a meeting today. Can the two parties get a budget deal done? We'll talk to a leading Democrat and Republican next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Back to the budget battle that's unfolding this morning in Washington. President Obama summoning congressional leaders to the White House in less than three hours, trying to cut a compromise deal on a spending plan to avoid a government shutdown.

Joining us this morning to discuss the differences between the Democrats and Republicans and how to bridge them, Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, vice chairman of the House Financial Services committee, and also Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the House budget committee.

I would like to begin with Congressman Hensarling who is involved in these negotiations, the Republican here. Let's talk a little bit about the president trying to have a turning point here, going to be talking to your colleagues later this morning, trying to get some sort of an agreement, get a deal going. Are we headed toward a government shutdown? In your view? How likely is this?

REP. JEB HENSARLING (R), TEXAS: Well, House Republicans passed not one bill, but two bills that fully funds the government, that keeps the government open and begins the process of helping create jobs and put us on a fiscally sustainable path. Unfortunately, Harry Reid and the Senate, who's now had five to six weeks, they've done nothing. And even my third grader knows that you have to have a bill in the House and a bill in the Senate and they come together and so far there's nothing in the Senate.

So, you know, the president coming in, better late than never, nobody wants to shut down the government, but we have to have a Senate bill and I'm afraid the Senate probably wants to have a shutdown. They think it's in their political best interest.

ROMANS: Are we going to have a shutdown on Friday? Do you think you guys can bridge this gap? I mean, it sounds insurmountable to me. I mean, are we going to have a shutdown?

HENSARLING: Well, I hope not. You have to ask Harry Reid that question. We're putting forth another temporary resolution to ensure that the troops get paid. But again the Senate hasn't taken it up. We passed the bill. The Democrats in the Senate haven't and the president has been AWOL.

ROMANS: Are you willing to accept less than $61 billion in cuts? Are you willing to meet some place in the middle?

HENSARLING: Well, we're not going to negotiate with ourselves. Again, the Democrats not only they don't have a bill, they don't have a plan. They've put nothing on the table.

ROMANS: I'll tell you something, Congressman -

So many Americans look at - hear us talking about this and they hear process, the bill on the table, like your third grader knows how it works, we all know how it works but when a poll from Pew Research shows that people don't know who to blame about this, they're concerned about a potential shutdown and they don't know who to blame, if the government shuts down, who do you blame the most, 39 percent said republicans, 36 percent said the Obama administration, 16 percent said both equally.

Isn't it - do you risk people see a government shutdown and they don't get your philosophical and ideological stand here, instead they just see Congress not doing its job?

HENSARLING: You talk about a stand, Here's the stand we've taken. We've put forth a bill to fund the government. The Democrats in the Senate haven't. I mean, those are just the facts. I think if the American people are armed with the facts, they will come, obviously, to the right conclusion. And what Republicans are trying to do in this budget is help create jobs. The anxiety about the debt, great debt, leads to great taxes which leads to great unemployment. If we want to create jobs today, we're going to have to put the nation on a fiscally sustainable path. So yes, do we have historic savings, absolutely. Are they Draconian? No. We fund the government at over 98 percent of last year's level.

ROMANS: Congressman, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. There's so many talking points on this subject that when we come to Friday, it will be quite interesting to see if both parties can get over their talking points and get in to figuring out how to make sure that bills get paid and we keep moving forward. Congressman Hensarling, thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it. Have a great day.

HENSARLING: Thank you.

CHETRY: There are two sides to this budget battle. We're hearing this morning that Democrats are preparing their own spending bill to counter the one being released today by Republicans. So let's bring in Maryland congressman Democrat Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the House budget committee. Thanks for being with us, congressman.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Good morning.

CHETRY: We just heard from your colleague, Congressman Hensarling, saying that your colleagues in the Senate have done nothing. They actually want a shutdown. Have you gotten any assurances from Senate Democratic leadership that they do want to get a deal done?

VAN HOLLEN: They're working very hard to avoid a shutdown and you just heard from Jeb Hensarling, when you asked him the question whether he was willing to move one inch off of their position, and he refused to answer the question. He basically said no. And so that has been the problem.

CHETRY: What is the sense you're getting that Republicans in the House under pressure from Tea Party members, really are going to move this toward a shutdown?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that's exactly right. Because what you have right now is the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party in the House, saying it's our way or it's a shutdown. You've got to get 100 percent of what we demanded or we're going to shut down the government. And that's exactly what is now fueling this drive toward a shutdown. I really hope that cooler heads will prevail because if you go to a shutdown, it will create all sorts of problems around the country. It is a terrible thing to do when the economy is still in fragile recovery. And I'm just hoping that cooler heads on the House Republican side will prevail. They will back off this idea that they've got to have every single demand or they'll shut it down.

CHETRY: See, when you hear their point of view, they're saying it's not every single demand. It's if we don't make these unpleasant cuts, that Democrats are not willing to accept, at some point we just run out of money. I mean they're arguing don't you have to say no at some point? VAN HOLLEN: Well, first of all, as you know, Democrats have put lots of these cuts on the table. Secondly, it's a question of what you're going to cut. They want to cut things like education funding, they want to cut cancer research at NIH. We've said you've got to broaden the field, you've got to look at some of the big subsidies to agriculture. You need to look at the subsidies to the oil and gas industry, taxpayer giveaways. I mean, look, gas prices are through the roof --

CHETRY: I know, but, you know that's a difficult issue because, you know, the gas companies and the oil companies will make the argument that those subsidies help them pump billions of dollars into our government. You know, they don't -- when they start building the infrastructure for oil they're not sure what oil prices will be.

I mean, so it is difficult, but the thing I want to ask you about is, at some point aren't you all going to be blamed if the government shut downs, veterans stop getting their checks? I mean --

VAN HOLLEN: This would be bad for everybody. There's no doubt about that. But you know, you kind of glossed over that last point, which is, as Jeb Hensarling said, they're trying to focus on a very, very narrow piece of the budget. They don't want to talk about cuts to things like subsidies for the oil companies.

And so if we're really going to have a conversation about reducing the deficit, you need everything on the table. And what they're saying is, we're going to only argue about this one little piece of the budget that deals with education funding, that deals with things like research into cancer cures and treatments and so they refuse to broaden the conversation and that is creating the problems.

But you heard what they said. He refused to say that they would budge one inch and that's the problem we've got. The Democrats have already come a long way, Democrats in the House and in the Senate, but they're demanding 100 percent.

CHETRY: All right. I wonder if at the end of the day, you know, the House GOP will not at least try to come to the table. We'll see what happens today --

VAN HOLLEN: I hope so.

CHETRY: -- when President Obama calls a lot of people to the White House to try to get a handle on this.

Congress Van Hollen, great to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

VELSHI: OK, still to come this morning, we are watching a line of severe weather up and down the east coast. It was pretty severe. Rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast after the break. He was without power along with a whole lot of people in Atlanta overnight. Is that heading your way. We'll find out. It's 74 minutes after the hour -- let's call it 47 minutes after the hour. (LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: That's a long hour.

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VELSHI: Normally at this time we would check the weather.

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VELSHI: All right. Here's a story you want to know. Fifty-five thousand pounds of frozen turkey burgers being recalled this morning because of possible -- you guessed it -- salmonella contamination. The recall involves Jennie-O turkey burgers that are sold exclusively at Sam's Club. They're being linked to salmonella cases in 10 states. They're packaged in cartons of 12, they're individually wrapped in one-third pound patties. The use-by date on the affected packages -- so when you go check -- is December 23rd, 2011. If you've got these Jennie-O burgers with an expiration date of December 23rd, 2011, don't eat them.

ROMANS: All right. Next on AMERICAN MORNING, name that cobra. New Yorkers sending in 30,000 possible names for the reptile that took over the Big Apple or a least the reptile house. Now, it is down to five names. We're going to tell you the finalists ahead.

CHETRY: And do you get the joke Mia, that's one of the names.

VELSHI: Mia is one of them.

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VELSHI: Welcome back. Time to play, Name that Cobra.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: I like the voice.

VELSHI: The Bronx Zoo and "New York Daily News" have received more than 33,000 nominations nor a name for the Egyptian cobra that escaped from its cage last week. It was found in the reptile house a few days later, not without giving us all lots to talk about, however.

CHETRY: These names are hilarious -- Agnes.

VELSHI: I don't understand that. It's Greek, though, for pure and holy.

CHETRY: Oh, OK. That's why. Amaunet is a goddess in the Egyptian religion.

VELSHI: Called the hidden one.

CHETRY: They got really - they did some Wikipedia and Googling to get that.

ROMANS: People are smart. All these people are very smart. They all have a meaning.

VELSHI: Cleopatra, that makes sense to me.

ROMANS: The last pharaoh of ancient Egypt, of course, rumored to have killed herself with an Egyptian cobra bite.

CHETRY: Subira.

VELSHI: It means patient.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Not an English patient, but an Egyptian --

VELSHI: You have patience.

CHETRY: Yes, you have patience.

And Mia.

VELSHI: I didn't get the Mia one.

CHETRY: I didn't either but now we do -- missing in action -- MIA -- Mia.

Now, I also thought of another one, Number Two, because she was the size of a pencil.

VELSHI: Oh.

ROMANS: We could call her Ticonderoga.

CHETRY: What?

ROMANS: Ticonderoga. Ticonderoga Number Two. Isn't that what it was is? The Ticonderoga Number 2, the pencil?

VELSHI: I don't know. I'm from Canada.

CHETRY: I can't remember. I thought mine was called something else.

VELSHI: All right. So, if you have any better suggestions, send them in to the "New York Daily."

ROMANS: Top stories are coming your way in two minutes.

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