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D-Day for Budget; Obama Not Wildly Optimistic; What We've Learned From the Shutdown in '95; Fallout from a Shutdown; The Government Shutdown's Price Tag; Bracing for a Shutdown; And Her Name Was "Mia"
Aired April 08, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on this AMERICAN MORNING, the president wants an answer, do we have a budget deal or don't we? The federal government could be shutting down in 18 hours and for thousands of federal workers, tens of thousands of them and our troops overseas, paychecks are hanging in the balance.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And just what they didn't need in northern Japan, another quake, a big one. Knocking out power, destroying roads, three people were killed and workers at the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant were forced to head for shelter.
VELSHI: Would you consider letting someone use your home as a billboard to advertise their business? Well, before you say no, what if they paid you for the trouble by picking up your mortgage payments?
CHETRY: Nice.
Also the cobra that vanished from the Bronx Zoo, they've picked a name on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi. D-day for the budget battle. The government runs out of money at midnight. Millions of Americans could feel the fallout. The president and congressional leaders under pressure to come together today.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Your jobs, your tax returns, your home loans, all in limbo if Congress doesn't cut a deal. And for our military, it's a fight now to get paid later. We're cutting through the sound bites and talking points to see how the showdown will affect you at home on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Friday, April the 8th. A day that could be just any Friday, or it could go down in infamy.
CHETRY: I know. Especially if they can't come to an agreement. Christine, by the way, taking a well-deserved day off. Thanks for being with us this morning.
You know, we're talking about the budget shutdown this morning. The president is saying he wants answers from congressional leaders by this morning after another emergency late-night meeting ended without a budget.
VELSHI: The countdown now down to just 18 hours before 800,000 government employees go without work, before our military starts writing IOUs to our troops. Brianna Keilar live for us in Washington.
Brianna, since we last talked, two meetings at the White House. What's really changed?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Broadly speaking, nothing. Right? We've heard from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker John Boehner and they are saying progress, but no deal. And this is after four meetings with the president in 48 hours. We heard from Senate Majority Leader Reid yesterday saying he's now putting the prospects of a government shutdown at about 50/50.
So what is the hang-up here? Well, it remains hot button policy issues, not the actual number of spending cuts as much. We're talking about hot button policy issues that have created a partisan divide, specifically some demands that House Republicans want and say are very important. One of those demands has to do with the Environmental Protection Agency, saying to the agency, no, you cannot regulate greenhouse gas emissions and another one has to do with their desire to defund Planned Parenthood, take away all federal funds for Planned Parenthood for the rest of the budget year. Republicans say this is to make sure that no federal dollars go towards abortions. Democrats and folks at Planned Parenthood say this is bad, that federal dollars don't go towards abortions and you're actually going to be stopping some of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides for women's health.
So, at this point, guys, this possibility of a government shutdown looming much larger than yesterday. I'd say that's really the thing that's changed in the last 24 hours.
CHETRY: As it starts to seem like more and more of a reality, are they actually preparing on Capitol Hill for a shutdown?
KEILAR: They are. And this is something that really struck me yesterday. I had been talking to staffers. I've been talking to pages. I've been talking to people in the cafeteria and saying hey, what happens if there's a government shutdown? And all of them were saying, you know, we don't know, which in a way is kind of crazy when you think about it. We're potentially a day out and they didn't really know.
Well, yesterday, we saw the first furlough notices go out starting on the Senate side. Basically some employees getting a letter that either said you're essential in the case of a government shutdown and you'll be staying or you're nonessential. And also privately, a lot of offices of members of Congress and senators are having meetings to kind of sort that out to say who would stay and who would go but doing it privately because they don't want to be seen as kind of rooting on the possibility of a shutdown. They just really want to be logistically prepared for it -- Ali and Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Brianna Keilar, we'll check in with you throughout the day as new developments happen by the minute. Thanks.
VELSHI: And one of the developments is that the president has changed his schedule for the day. He strangely had a trip planned to Indiana. He has now cancelled that trip. He was going to talk about clean energy.
CHETRY: Yes. He's holding out hope that the government can keep running. Here's what he said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not yet prepared to express wild optimism. But I think we are further along today than we were yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So Ed Henry joins us with the White House point of view. We heard from Brianna Keilar. Both sides talking about how this affects real people, but the political implications are there as well.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you cannot deny that, Kiran. And think about how this week has turned for this president.
It started on Monday with him officially filing the paperwork to run for re-election. Democrats feeling like they were riding high. And despite some of the economic pain still out there, they still feel good about the president's re-election chances.
Now the week is ending on Friday with a potential for a government shutdown that could have vast political implications. Last time this happened in the mid '90s, it was politically radioactive. Nobody quite knows how it will play out, so what a turn of events. And that's why in part when the president came out last night, he made it very clear to leaders in both parties that he's putting a deadline on them. He wants to see this done early this morning. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I said to the speaker and what I've said to Harry Reid is because the machinery of the shutdown is necessarily starting to move, I expect an answer in the morning. And my hope is that I'll be able to announce to the American people some time relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted, that a deal has been completed, that has very meaningful cuts in a wide variety of categories that helps us move in the direction of living within our means, but preserves our investments in things like education and innovation, research, that are going to be important for our long-term competitiveness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, interesting, you do not hear the president beating up on Republicans in any of his public comments. He's being very careful, still reaching out, trying to show cooperation. But I can tell you, there are senior people who say that will change rapidly if this government shuts down and you're going to see this White House make a very quick turn and try to blame Republicans and say that the White House tried everything to try to get this done and that it was the Tea Party on the right, pressuring Speaker Boehner, to not have a deal -- Ali, Kiran.
VELSHI: Just to be clear about this, we are not -- we're getting closer on the numbers between the two sides but the ideological divide, which is what Harry Reid said last night is where this might end up. This might be a shutdown brought on by ideology because of Planned Parenthood, because of the Environmental Protection Agency and other things like that?
HENRY: Right. Yes, because the spending cuts are not far off, somewhere around $33 billion to $40 billion as you're hearing Brianna talk.
These numbers are not that far off. And what's frustrating, when you talk to senior people in the White House, they say look, when you look at what happened last time in the mid-'90s, the stock market also took a hit because the markets were rattled. And they think right now in the middle of, you know, still somewhat fragile recovery, as you know better than anyone, this is the last thing that this U.S. economy needs right now, and so there's real concern here and I think that's why the president was pushing the deadline for early today so this doesn't go down to midnight. They try to get this done and finished early as possible, but they're not there yet.
VELSHI: All right, Ed. It's going to be a long day for all of us and especially you. Thanks very much. We'll check in with you in a little while. Ed Henry at the White House.
CHETRY: Yes. Put on another pot of coffee for Ed.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Thanks.
Another earthquake hit Japan. They're calling this an aftershock but it was still pretty big, 7.1 magnitude. It hit in the area near Sendai. We heard about that because that was the largest city affected by the major quake that hit. Here's some pictures of what it was like.
Three people ended up being killed, 130 injured. One woman died when a power to her oxygen that she needed was cut off. The earthquake triggered a tsunami warning that was then lifted 90 minutes later. But you can see from these pictures just how dramatic the shaking was. Buildings shook, they said, 200 miles away in Tokyo.
No reports though of new damage at the Daiichi plant as they still work to try to fix the nuclear crisis unfolding there. Workers were evacuated to a shelter for some time. Cooling systems in several of the facilities' reactors were shut down and they came back on-line again. Contaminated water also spilled from spent fuel pools that Tokyo Electric says that there are no immediate signs of any serious new damage.
VELSHI: That aftershock, by the way, sending oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high. Yesterday afternoon, oil topped $110, now trading at $111.52. So far this year, oil prices have surged 20 percent and you have seen that in the price of gasoline which has gone up even higher than that.
In Libya, forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have opposition fighters on the run again. Look at these pictures. Opposition fighters leaving. The rebels forced to retreat from Ajdabiya in eastern Libya. Meanwhile, NATO officials are refusing to apologize for an air strike on a rebel convoy near Brega yesterday that killed four people.
CHETRY: Lawmakers are having a very tough time in Washington State, not just Washington, D.C.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: Here they can't get a budget passed because protesters keep interrupting them. More than a dozen people were arrested yesterday at the state capitol in Olympia. Some of them trying to storm the government's office -- governor's office chanting "less us in." Others had to be escorted from the gallery after shutting down the legislature for 30 minutes. That labor groups are angry about millions of dollars in proposed cuts to state funded health services.
And in Fargo, North Dakota, they're preparing for the worst from the rising Red River. Spring runoff pushes this river well above flood stage and it's expected to crest this weekend at around 40 feet and stay there through the beginning of the week. Meantime, they're continuing to sandbag in Fargo and also across the river in Minnesota as well.
VELSHI: Rob's here to give us the weather from across the nation. Rob, what's it looking like?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. We got some rain that's moving into the Midwest. Of course, any additional rainfall would exacerbate the flooding situation there. But they've been set up for this for the past couple of months with all that snowpack that we've had and they seem to be pretty confident, even though we're not going to set records likely, but get into major flood stage here as we go through over the weekend period.
All right. Here's your rainfall from Chicago back to Detroit. Cleveland, Chicago already seeing about a third of an inch of rain. Most of the heavier rains have moved east into the lower hand of Michigan. In Detroit, you'll be wet pretty much throughout the day today. Rainfall is moving into the northeast. D.C. to Baltimore and through Philly, this will be light for the most part and some of this will stretch its way into New York City but it shouldn't be a huge deal there.
Looking at another storm moving into the west coast, boy, California, all the way down to the Mexican border, continues to see very active weather for this time of year with rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains. Meantime, heating up across parts of the south. Ninety-one in Dallas. It will be almost 80 degrees again here in Atlanta.
Guys, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: Coming up next, the government shutdown we're talking a lot about. One employer, though, business private sector is saying that hundreds of his employees could have to stay home.
VELSHI: And that was then, this is now. What have we learned from the last time the government shut down during the Clinton years? They butted heads on things. They got personal. How are things different now? Kiran is going to take an important look back to see what we can learn from it.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Live shot this morning of our nation's capitol in the nation's capital. And this is, of course, where a lot of attention is going to be focused today because the countdown is on to a government shutdown.
Now this isn't the first time it's happened. We wanted to sort of take a look back at what happened in 1995, that was then, and what happened now.
First, we want to look at the major players. And we'll start with 1995. President Clinton, first term, led by -- he was taking on the GOP-led speaker, Newt Gingrich in the House. So the two of them going back and forth.
Today, of course, it's a little different, except that President Obama, first-term Democratic president, and he also is facing off with the GOP-led House, Speaker John Boehner, Congressman Eric Cantor, as well as Tea Party Republicans who want major cuts to spending.
So we take a look at what the sticking points are. What were they then?
Well, some of them are similar, actually. Funding for education, a big one. Medicare, environment, public health, not so different today when you look at what their sticking points are. Funding for abortion providers and a big sticking point over the Clean Air Act when it comes to EPA regulations. So again, some of the same points.
Well, what happened? The consequences of 1995? They actually shut down back then. Clinton vetoed the budget that Congress sent him. This time, though, they can't even get Congress to pass the budget.
When we take a look at the consequences right now, November, 1995, five days in November, they were shut down. Lasted for five days. The second time it was even a bigger trouble, this was from December -- this was from December 15th all the way to January 6th. That lasted 21 days.
Today, if they can't reach an agreement, the government will shut down at midnight. It puts 800,000 government workers, tax returns, and also some loans in limbo.
What about the political consequences? Well, Republicans were definitely blamed back in 1995. And President Clinton was able to use that as a springboard for his re-election. He was re-elected then in 996.
Take a look at today. Are there winners and losers? Well, one thing that we do know, Ali, is that the majority of the public says they would like to see compromise over a shutdown.
VELSHI: A pretty substantial majority right now, 33 percent say hold out at no costs according to a new poll from Gallup. Fifty-eight percent, Kiran, say find some kind of deal, don't let the government shut down.
If the government shuts down, Congress and White House, by the way, employees, they still get their paychecks. That is not the case for hundreds of thousands of government workers and possibly tens of thousands of government contractors.
Tony Jimenez joins us live from Washington this morning. He's got a company called MicroTech. It provides I.T. support to agencies like the IRS, the Defense Department and Social Security Administration.
Tony, thanks for joining us. Give me a sense, I mean, do you provide workers to the government who work for -- who end up working for the government or are you providing services to them? How does your company relate to the government?
TONY JIMENEZ, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MICROTECH: Well, we provide a combination of services. We provide goods, we provide services, we provide technical solutions, but we do have a lot of people that are going to be impacted. Primarily because they're in there performing in jobs that the government desperately needs to have done in order for the government to function properly.
VELSHI: Now, give me a sense of numbers of how many employees you have, how many who are working for the government right now have been deemed essential or nonessential? In other words, how many people come to work on Monday if there's a government shutdown?
JIMENEZ: That's the concern is we don't know. The government hasn't been real clear on who's staying and who's going, and it's a mixed signal, as it is with most of the folks that I've talked to who support the federal government.
What we're finding is that the government honestly doesn't know. They've gone to great lengths to identify those folks that work for the government that provide -- SGS employees provide support and services, but they haven't been real clear on which of their government contractors are going to be coming to work on Monday if there's a shutdown and which ones aren't.
VELSHI: So on a very practical level, what is your work going to involve today in trying to figure this out?
JIMENEZ: Reaching out to the government and hoping that they finally decide it in the event, but it doesn't seem that -- that it's a high priority.
Right now, obviously, as it should be, the priority is getting the budget passed, but obviously the concern I have is that I can't tell my employees what to expect. I can assure them that we're -- we're going to be there as a quality company and that we've got good cash flow and we'll be able to hopefully weather this and that we're going to minimize it as much as possible using our profits and, obviously, our credit line and -- and the amount of cash that we've got on hand.
But if it goes on for an extended period of time, I don't care how good you are, you're going to be impacted significantly and it's going to hurt the people who work for you.
VELSHI: And you're talking -- you're saying if it lasts a long time and hopefully nobody thinks it's going to last a month or -- or as long as that if there were a shutdown, but you might lose 200 to 300 people?
JIMENEZ: You just don't know what people are going to do. I mean, right now, we're anticipating that we may have as many as 100 people that wouldn't be deemed essential, which is normally about a 25 percent, and we're hoping that it wouldn't be more than that. We're hoping, obviously, it will be less than that.
But what I'm most concerned about is the fact that they're going to get a bad taste in their mouth. This is not a good thing and working for the federal government is already, you know, it's a significant change for many of my employees because they've never worked in support of the federal government prior to (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: So the bad taste, Tony, means that I.T. professionals who work for you and they're harder to find than -- than people in other areas of work, might say, I want to go work for a company that doesn't depend on the federal government so that we don't have these kinds of risks?
JIMENEZ: Well, you're hoping that's the case. I mean, this doesn't happen very often.
VELSHI: Sure.
JIMENEZ: But the big concern is that the economy is finally coming back and I just can't imagine anything worse than asking businesses to bear the blunt of this poor decision making and the fact that our government can't compromise.
It's going to impact my workers and I don't care if it's an hour, if it's a day, if it's two days, a week, a month, my people are going to be impacted because many of them rely on their paychecks, because many of them are -- are single parents, many of them, their spouses have been unemployed or they've been unemployed and now they're coming back to work. And I just can't think of anything that is going to impact people worse than a government shutdown.
VELSHI: Right. Tony, an important discussion because a lot of people think that this -- we've been talking about military. We've been talking a lot about government employees, your employees are -- are private sector employees who may be directly affected by the shutdown.
Tony, let's hope it doesn't happen. But good to talk to you. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: Great. Thank you.
CHETRY: So as we continue to discuss this and, I guess, this possibility looms more and more likely, the price of a government shutdown, what would it actually cost to turn out the lights? End up costing the government more than it saves?
Well, we're going to have Stephanie Elam join us to break it down.
Twenty minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We're getting a lot of questions this morning from people saying, why are we discussing what the shutdown is going to cost taxpayers? Isn't it a cost-saving measure? Is this supposed to save money if the government shut downs?
CHETRY: Yes. People think, OK, if you're not paying all these workers, and if you don't -- if you're not running your bills, you're not operating, wouldn't you save money? Well, not necessarily the case.
Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning. Hi.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
CHETRY: Good morning. You look very nice and chipper and well rested.
ELAM: Amazing --
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: And then for some reason, I came back and I channeled Ali Velshi --
VELSHI: And you look like me, yes --
ELAM: In middle of the night.
VELSHI: -- in a good way. In a better way.
ELAM: In a better way, good. Thank you.
VELSHI: Yes.
ELAM: With hair. But, yes. A little but chocolaty-er.
But let's take a look at what this means for the government, I was on a beach, what can I say? And they're not on a beach, though, down in D.C. Because this is a big headache and it's going to cost people a lot of money. You would think it's going to save money but it wouldn't.
Let's just take, for example, a construction project. Let's say the government has a construction project going on. Well, here's the thing, you're going to shut down. Well, you don't know how long you're going to be shut down for you have to shut it down properly. You've got to secure the site, make sure all of your tools and equipment, earth movers are all okay, right? And you do that.
But then it costs money to rent that operation back up. And the longer the shutdown drags on, the bigger the costs associated with that are going to be.
Then there's another issue. Let's talk about federal workers. For these people out there, these Americans who are out there working, doing their job, to not be getting a paycheck is going to be nerve- racking. And some of these essential workers, they're automatically going to get paid once the shutdown is over.
But now for the other workers, those 800,000 or so people out there who have jobs, who are not essential, what's going to happen with them? Now, every time the government shut down before this, they've gotten back pay. It's not guaranteed that that will happen this time, but that's something to keep in mind.
But here's the thing, they're not working but the work is piling up, which means overtime when they do get back to work and that will cost taxpayers money as well.
And the other thing to think about here is, just the fact that the government is going to be collecting less revenue, less bonds are going to be collected, less fees. For an example here, let's say you go to a national park. Well, you pay to get into those parks.
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: None of that is going to be collected. All the little money that's spent at the little shops, none of that is going to be collected. We have a figure here, the $32 million spent in national parks on an average day in the United States.
VELSHI: And there's an associated tourism with that, too, that wouldn't -- may not happen.
ELAM: And we're going to talk about that.
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: And coming up in a couple hours, we're going to talk about that on AMERICAN MORNING to talk about, well, you know what, it's not just the government, what else is happening --
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: -- behind us. But there's another issue, a smaller one, but morale, you tell someone they're non-essential worker --
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: -- and then they come back to work and it's supposed to be like, let's go. Gung-ho. Let's get back to that. So there's a lot of cost.
CHETRY: If a term (INAUDIBLE) it does seem a little loaded.
VELSHI: It does seem a little loaded.
ELAM: Yes.
CHETRY: So 21 days it was shut down in 1995.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And that's December to January. Did they -- I mean, they must have lost a ton of money.
ELAM: Yes. Well, there are estimates that it's, you know, putting it in the millions of dollars that you're talking about, but there's no real good way to actually quantify. The White House has not come out with a number either. So there's no -- it's not easy --
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: -- to say how much it costs, because it gets fuzzy on the ends there. But needless to say, it's a lot of money for taxpayers here.
VELSHI: Stephanie, good to see you back.
ELAM: Good to see you, too. Thank you. VELSHI: Thanks for dressing like me.
ELAM: Any time, Ali Velshi. Actually not any time, just today.
CHETRY: Well, how about this one. A free mortgage -- they'll pay your mortgage, if you agree to one thing. And that is -- they basically paint your house.
VELSHI: It's a big cash.
CHETRY: It's a big ad. Unless you don't care, right?
There it is, Ad Zuki is offering to pay people's mortgages if they paint their home and turn it into basically a billboard and the home must stay painted. Well, the company said it's already gotten more than 1,000 applications.
VELSHI: Times are still tough out there when it comes to houses and mortgages.
Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Tea Party Republicans want to see deep spending cuts or they say no deal on the budget.
We're going to hear from a freshman member of the Tea Party Caucus. He's a Republican who caucuses with the rest of the Republicans who support the Tea Party.
Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Half past the hour right now.
Hundreds of thousands of people wondering are they going to get a paycheck. Congressional aides working through the night trying to come up with a budget deal before this midnight deadline that would shut down the federal government. President Obama is demanding answers this morning after talks broke down again last night.
VELSHI: Toyota says it's going to resume production at all 18 of its factories in Japan between April 18th, but only until April 27th. They'll be -- that's when -- that's how long it's going to take them to start up all again, and they'll be operating at reduced capacity. Work was suspended at the plants after the March 18th earthquake and tsunami.
CHETRY: Also, NATO this morning refusing to apologize for a friendly fire strike on a rebel convoy. Four people killed yesterday when aircraft fired on the rebel formation between Brega and Ajdabiya in eastern Libya. Forces -- NATO forces -- according to officials they may have hit rebel tanks but say that the situation on the ground is fluid and that they had no information that opposition fighters were using tanks.
VELSHI: Striking a deal with Democrats may be just the beginning for the Republican leadership in Congress. The question then becomes: how to deal with those Tea Party Republicans who have been pushing for deeper cuts in federal spending.
CHETRY: Florida Republican Allen West is a freshman in the Congress. He is also a member of the Tea Party Caucus and he joins us this morning from Washington.
Welcome.
REP. ALLEN WEST (R), FLORIDA: How are you doing?
CHETRY: Great.
Just an overview, everyone seems to be saying this morning that it's really down to two sticking points on social issues, not the budget, whether it's the EPA or making sure that there's no federal funding of abortion. Is this about cutting the budget or is this about social issues now?
WEST: It's not about social issues. What it really is about reducing the size and scope of the federal government, because as we continue to grow and expand the government outside really what the constitutional mandates are, we're going to have more spending. The problem here in Washington, D.C. is spending and it is not about revenues.
And if you go back to the month of February, which is the shortest month of the year, we had a record deficit spending month of $223 billion. We're basically spending $4 billion a day. And I think when you go back and when you look at what happened with the 111th Congress, one of the main reasons we're here is because we did not have a budget that was produced.
And even the CBO this past week really talked about us heading towards a fiscal Armageddon. So, if we don't start getting serious about the spending in Washington, D.C., where we're talking about a $1.65 trillion deficit in this year, we're not going to have a future for our children and grandchildren.
VELSHI: Representative West, there are also economists who are saying that in the event that there's a shutdown that does last weeks, it could actually affect our recovery, could actually cost a lot of jobs. Are you worried that taking this hard line after getting the billions of dollars in cuts that have been agreed to at this point, might actually hurt more than it helps?
WEST: Well, the bottom line is this: you're talking about my stance of $61 billion.
VELSHI: Right.
WEST: And when you have a deficit that is expected to be $1.65 trillion, I really think that's a raindrop in the ocean.
No one is talking about Charles Schumer who, obviously, needs to understand how to control the mute button. This whole thing about a government shutdown was his strategy. You know, I came here to Washington, D.C., focused on fiscal responsibility. You're talking about the next two weeks. I'm talking about the future of our country.
CHETRY: Right. I know, but, listen, you guys are pretty -- you guys won by all intents and purposes, when you're looking -- I mean, what they are agreeing to, the Democrats as well, accounts for the largest one-year cut in a budget. I mean, so you guys have, obviously, made a dent and made some serious some progress, why take it to the next level, and possibly have the government shutdown?
WEST: Well, once again, it is not me talking about a government shutdown. I think $61 billion of cuts in spending is very reasonable when you look at the situation we're facing. And if we cannot show the American people that we're willing to make that simple effort, and I'm talking about a bipartisan effort, then how can they trust us to go forward to make sure that we ensure the fiscal responsibility and fiscal future of this republic?
VELSHI: Let's take a look, Congressman, at a poll that shows that 66 percent of people would like -- would like you to compromise, 30 percent. This is Republicans and independents, by the way. Thirty percent would like you to stick to your positions.
Now, you've mentioned the $61 billion number, which is what you want to get to -- depending on who you talk to, between $30 billion and $40 billion at cuts.
Is there a number you need to agree to keep the government open?
WEST: Well, the number that I need was a number of H.R. 1 and for 47 days, we sent H.R. 1 over there and we have not seen a planned come back from the Senate. So, this is not about Allen West trying to do something for the government. This is about people being responsibility.
VELSHI: I understand -- Congressman, I understand what you're saying. I'm asking you, is there a number that is going to get you to the table to cast a ballot and say keep this government or pass a budget or pass an amendment? Is there a figure you can deal with today?
WEST: And the number that I told you was $61 billion because we have to get on the road, fiscal --
VELSHI: So, you're not going to compromise, regardless of the fact that Republicans and independents are asking by two-thirds for a compromise, you won't do that?
WEST: Well, you know, it's very interesting that you're asking me to compromise, but how many times did you have Democrat Congressmen from the 111th Congress asking them to compromise on the fiscal irresponsibility that they showed and especially over the past three years?
CHETRY: Well, listen, Michele Bachmann, who heads the Tea Party Caucus, last night told John King, this is her quote. She said, a shutdown would be a quote, "admission of failure and that it was time to be practical and time to get the job done." Does it seem even the Tea Party Caucus leader is saying, "Let's just take what we got, which is pretty good, and see what we can work with next year"?
WEST: Well, I guess, you know, I believe in a standard. I believe that sometimes you have to have principle. And also, you must understand that, you know, it's not Allen West who is shutting down the government.
CHETRY: No, I'm not saying that. But are you disappointed that Michele Bachmann took that stance and said, you know what, it would be a failure if the government shutdown actually, let's try to work this out?
WEST: And there really is a failure in leadership that we have this enormous debt. We have this deficit that we have. So, there's a conglomeration of failures that brought us to this point.
VELSHI: Congressman West, I want to go back to something you and I have been talking about for the last few minutes. I quite haven't gotten an answer for you. You guys came in with $100 billion. When you -- when you pro-rate the cuts to where the budget is now, you end up at $61 billion. That is no compromise. That is what you asked for in the beginning.
So, you're saying that you -- we're not asking anyone else to compromise, if you stick to $61 billion, that says that you are not prepared to compromise. Are we not clear on that?
WEST: This what is we're clear on: $14.3 trillion debt in this country, record deficits of $1.4 trillion to --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I just -- I've got that information. You have it and the country has it. I'm asking you, you're sticking to what you guys first said?
WEST: This is the line I'm telling you, it's about time you have principle leaders in the United States of America that will stand and say, it's about time that we turn around the fiscal situation in this country, and that's what I'm doing. If you don't agree with it, that's fine. This is where I stand.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I'm just asking what your compromise position would be.
CHETRY: So, it doesn't really -- you're talking strictly numbers. You're not talking about the EPA issue, the rider, when it comes to federal funding of abortion?
WEST: Once again, once again, when you look at these issues, we're talking about the expansion of government. We're talking about how the EPA has taken cap and trade which could not be legislated and they're doing a lot of regulatory burdens upon our small businesses and country.
So, you know, I think that when you look at this in a historical context, you can be a sort of Neville Chamberlain or you can be a Winston Churchill. I choose to be a Churchill and I think sometimes compromise can lead us down the road to a perdition.
VELSHI: If John Boehner does cut a deal, will you vote for it?
WEST: I'll have to see what that deal is, sir.
VELSHI: Would you possibly vote for it if it doesn't have $61 billion in cuts?
WEST: It would be hard for me to support it.
VELSHI: OK. Keep in touch with us through the day if there are developments. We'll visit with you again.
Representative Allen West, Republican of Florida, who does caucus with the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives.
It's 38 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: If you are not a customer of AT&T or Verizon, you'll soon have more access to the mobile Internet. The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, is now requiring the two wireless giants to offer roaming rates to competitors at fair and reasonable prices. The hope is that these new rules will help the small regional carriers which some of you may run your service on --
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: -- better compete with the biggest wireless phone companies. So, you can actually have a small regional carrier, but get coverage anywhere.
CHETRY: Cool. All right. Well, three weeks before the royal wedding in London and --
VELSHI: Are you going?
CHETRY: Yes. We're going.
VELSHI: Nice.
CHETRY: All of us, not all of us. You're staying here holding down the fort.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: Bonnets (ph) and the pomp and circumstance.
Prince William's best man is stranded at the North Pole.
Now, Zain Verjee joins us from London.
OK. We talk about this before, Zain, about Harry wanting to go on this Arctic expedition, right, I believe with soldiers. And everyone said, why would he chance it, why would he go so close to the royal wedding? Now, he's not going to be able to get back?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's only going to be delayed by 48 hours, we think. And anyway, he's saying that it's good he's out there. He doesn't have to worry about dealing with all the wedding preps and, you know, stuff like that.
But what's happened is he's in the Arctic and he's stuck on an ice cap. The plane was supposed to get there, it couldn't land. So, they're going to wait a little bit longer. Hopefully, he'll be here.
It's still three weeks out. So, he'll probably be here on time. He's doing this charity work for wounded soldiers. So, he's doing some good stuff out there. Hope he makes it back.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Did he have a backup? Does he have a backup best man?
VERJEE: No backup. He's it.
VELSHI: All right. Will and Kate, once they're husband and wife, what's the living arrangement? There's something unusual about this, too?
VERJEE: Yes. Three's company basically. Harry lives at this place called Clarence House. And so, the idea is, is that Will and Kate will crash with him and spend, you know, a little bit of time there before they figure out where they want to stay. They've got three options: Buckingham Palace, Saint James's Palace or Kensington Palace.
CHETRY: What a tough life. They have to choose between three palaces.
VELSHI: Well, this is Clarence House. That's pretty impressive. It's not like shacking up at somebody's Upper East Side apartment that's 800 square feet.
VERJEE: Right. Exactly. Apparently, the rooms at Clarence House aren't that big or that great, so we hear. But Kate's been there often. You know, she likes it there. She gets along with Harry.
And he's going to be out anyway a lot because he flies with the army, likes to fly his apache helicopters. So, he won't be around most of the week.
CHETRY: Here's two ways to read that. He's going to be out a lot.
VELSHI: I'm not here. You guys can crash at my place. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
VERJEE: Yes, right.
CHETRY: All right, Zain.
VELSHI: Good to see you, Zain.
CHETRY: Good to see you.
VERJEE: You, too, guys.
CHETRY: And you can watch Zain every morning 5:00 a.m. She comes on before we do. "WORLD ONE," right here on CNN.
VELSHI: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: He was furloughed back in 1995 when the government shut down. Now, he's a freshman Republican in Congress saying cut it or shut it.
Forty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day. Brace for a shutdown.
The federal government set to close up shop at midnight. The president demanding an answer from congressional leaders by this morning after another round of budget talks broke off without a deal.
A powerful 7.1 magnitude aftershock has shaken northern Japan. Three people were killed. More than 130 injured. No serious new damage has been found at the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima.
Another setback for Libyan rebels. Pro-Gadhafi forces chasing opposition fighters out of Ajdabiya in Eastern Libya. Meantime, NATO says allied aircraft may have mistakenly bombed a rebel convoy but refuses to apologize for it.
There are sandbagging along the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota. Melting snow and ice have pushed the river beyond flood stage. It's expected to crest around a near record 40 feet by Sunday.
And the sponsor of the presidential birther bill is meeting with Donald Trump this morning in New York. Arizona Republican Carl Seel wants to require all presidential candidates to prove they were born in the United States. Trump, again, questioning President Obama's place of birth.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI (on-camera): You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. Let's check in with Rob Marciano. Forty- seven minutes past the hour this morning. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
CHETRY: Anything cool?
MARCIANO: Yes. You know, a little bit of cool rain for spots for some folks, but this storm that's coming through isn't all that bad for the northeast, but it's going to cause maybe some severe weather across parts of the Midwest, south of the Great Lakes. Right now, a little tongue of moisture trying to get towards Philadelphia and to New York. Just a threat of seeing some light showers here.
Most of the significant precip is down across parts of the Baltimore and then back through Toledo. Heading into Detroit, we had significant rainfall last night. About a third of an inch or so in through Chicago, and this is moving across the lower hand of Michigan and now will pile up a little bit of rainfall. California, still, for this time of year to get this much rainfall across parts of SoCal. They're still getting some showers in San Diego, and this system is pulling into the Rocky Mountains.
So, you'll see some delays today if you are traveling out west to San Francisco or Vegas because of the wind and the rain that's out there. And temperatures are going to be on the rise, I think, as we go through the next couple of days, especially just south of this front which, for the most part, remain stationary. Temps will be 10, maybe 15 degrees above average. Ninety-one degrees expected in Dallas, 86 degrees in New Orleans, and 79 degrees in Atlanta.
Should point this out, around 83 degrees. There's a couple of showers just trying to get across the Tennessee Valley that may pop up to be a thunderstorm, but most of the action, I think, will stay north of Augusta, Georgia, but the warm-up is going to be significant, not only across parts of Georgia, but across parts of Texas, 91 degrees expected at least tomorrow. Eighty-nine degrees In Little Rock.
And the storm track remains well to the north. So, that means that the moisture will stay up in through this area as well. So, after a fairly significant well wet couple of weeks across parts of the southeast, we'll start to see things dry out, and it's encouraging at least, guys, to get a little bit of that brighter orange on the weather map too. I know you're not seeing much of it.
VELSHI: Send me some of that. Yes.
MARCIANO: But, you know, just picture that in your head. You know, the glorious sunshine, the warm spring.
VELSHI: Oh, it's all the way up into Canada. It's just missing us. What do you call what was happen in Philadelphia, a ton of moisture?
MARCIANO: Yes, I figure you'd point that out. The danger of adlibbing, yes, there's a little bit of moisture rolling through.
VELSHI: I'm just a little concerned because if there is a government shutdown, I'll be reporting from Philadelphia on the weekend, and the last thing I need is a ton of moisture.
MARCIANO: Don't we all.
VELSHI: Yes. Thanks, Rob.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you, guys, in the next hour.
CHETRY: So, they made this Twitter account for the lost Bronx Zoo cobra, 238,000 followers.
VELSHI: Now, they -- we don't know who made this.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: Somebody, not the zoo.
CHETRY: Yes, this is not the zoo, but I'm sure the zoo is very pleased because it got them a ton of play. Now, there's a book deal and the Bronx Zoo cobra has a name. Out of 33,000 entries, the zoo in the "New York Daily News" picked Mia, which is --
VELSHI: I didn't get it when I first saw it. Excellent. Missing in action.
CHETRY: Missing in action, but it's cute because Mia, she's also a little tiny snake now. I don't know how cute it's going to be when she's enormous, you know, deadly cobra. But she's, right now, still the size of a pencil. She slithered out of her cage at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. The search for the poisonous snake captivated the nation. She turned up a few days later in the reptile house. But, Mia had another idea for her name. She tweeted, "So the vote is in. They want to name me Mia, but in my heart, I'll always know that my true name is Mrs. Justin Bieber.
VELSHI: She's got a sense of humor. Did you say there's a book deal?
CHETRY: That --
VELSHI: The snake is going to write a book?
CHETRY: I don't know. I think that also might be a tongue in cheek thing with the guy who's doing the Twitter account, but hey, milk it while you got it, right?
VELSHI: Exactly. All right. We're keeping an eye on the budget battle in Washington all morning. Also ahead, education and crisis. Teachers abandoning the classroom. Why are so many young teachers bailing and costing the school system billions of dollars? Fifty minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The deadline for a federal government shutdown is just about 17 hours away now. The message this morning from both sides, pretty much the same as it was 24 hours ago, some progress, but no deal.
CHETRY: Yes. And for one GOP congressman who's a freshman, this must feel like deja vu all over again because he was a federal prosecutor back in 1995 when the government shut down, and operations were grounded. Jim Acosta had a chance to talk to him, and he joins us live from Washington. Hi, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran and Ali. That's right. With the clock ticking down to a shutdown, we had a chance to get to know freshman Congressman Trey Gowdey. The Republican from South Carolina understands government shutdowns all too well as a federal prosecutor down in South Carolina. He was furloughed during the shutdown of 1995, but that doesn't mean he's going to buck his party in the showdown with Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Is this deja vu all over again for you?
REP. TREY GOWDY, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: A little bit. I'm in a little different place in life than I was in 1994 and 1995. I was the father of a two-year-old child with a wife who didn't work outside the home and the threat of a shutdown, it hits you at the basic level. Are you going to be able to provide for your family? Are you going to be able to meet your familial needs?
ACOSTA: Let me ask you, so, having been through that, are you prepared to furlough 800,000 federal employees?
GOWDY: It's hard. The human part of this is hard, and we can never forget it.
ACOSTA: If you're sensitive to it, why not buck your party and say, no, we can't shut the government down?
GOWDY: Well, we can't keep the government going by ourselves. The Democrats did not pass a budget in 2010. And if they had, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
ACOSTA: Why should these federal employees not get paid, but you get paid?
GOWDY: Well, I will -- I can only speak for myself. I'm not -- I don't think that I can forgo my salary by law, but I can certainly donate it to great price (ph), the safe home to the salvation army which is what I will do. ACOSTA: You're going to donate your salary.
GOWDY: Every single cent of it.
ACOSTA: During --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And we're hearing more and more of that up on Capitol Hill because they know exactly the stakes and what's happening right now. And not only is Congressman Gowdy volunteering any pay he receives during a shutdown to charity, he would also support a bill to provide back wages to federal employees who are furloughed.
Ali and Kiran, they had to do that back in the 1990s, and they'll have to do it all over again if they want to keep 800,000 federal employees from getting pretty mad at them.
VELSHI: And that and a number of other things including lost revenue are pointing us to the idea, we don't have any estimates or numbers yet, but that we may not save money by shutting down the government.
ACOSTA: It's likely to cost more. That's exactly right.
VELSHI: All right. Good to see you, Jim. Thank you.
ACOSTA: Good to see you.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to take a quick break. We have much more ahead, so hope to stick with us. We'll be back. It's 57 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
