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Spending Cuts Impact Now Felt; Compromise with Obama & Congress?; A Look at the Dark Side of Surrogacy

Aired March 09, 2013 - 15:59   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A look at our top stories right now.

Parts of the Massachusetts coast cleaning up today after a destructive winter storm. This one house you're about to see right there looks as if it will tip into the Atlantic Ocean at any moment. Another home already did. And authorities are now demolishing the house near it to limit the impact on nearby homes.

In Afghanistan, there's been a deadly explosion in the capital city of Kabul. Police say at least nine people were killed and 14 others injured when a suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated explosives. It happened near the Afghan defense ministry. Defense secretary Chuck Hagel was being briefed in a nearby building, but he wasn't hurt. The Taliban is claiming responsibility.

And former South African President Nelson Mandela is in the hospital again. But officials say there's no serious problem. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is in for a routine checkup, and getting some tests done. Mandela is 94 years old. In December, he got a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery.

And now to the U.S. economy, and new signs the recovery may be gaining momentum. Hiring picked up substantially in February, bringing unemployment down to 7.7 percent. That's the lowest it's been since December of 2008. The economy added 236,000 jobs last month. Almost double the amount it gained in January. And much more than experts had predicted.

And stocks are on a roll. The Dow closed at record highs for four consecutive days, ending the week up more than two percent.

Meanwhile, folks are starting to really feel the impact of those forced spending cuts. And especially hard hit are nearly two million families depending on unemployment insurance. As Emily Schmidt tells us, they are about to really feel the pain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next stop, Somerset.

EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tracy Mulvehill's commute through Philadelphia is the smooth part of navigating what's become a bumpy road.

TRACY MULVEHILL, UNEMPLOYED WORKER: Yes, very interesting journey.

SCHMIDT: She's on her way to volunteer with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, helping people without jobs look for the opportunity. She knows it can be hard to find.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doors are closing.

MULVEHILL: This is the first time I am on unemployment. It's scary, confusing. Yes. Hold on one moment. You know, I never thought I would be in this position.

SCHMIDT: Mulvehill says she worked for nearly three decades before a slowing economy cost her an office manager job and her part time cleaning job. She has looked for work since last March with only $730 of federal unemployment insurance every two weeks to barely cover a box full of bills.

MULVEHILL: My mortgage is $700. My car loan is $372.

SCHMIDT: Washington's forced spending cuts that went into effect last week means Tracy's checks will shrink too. It could cost 3.8 million jobless Americans around 10 percent of their benefits.

MULVEHILL: That's now $200 less income in this house, which I don't know how I'm really going to do it.

SCHMIDT: Economists disagree on how much the cuts will hurt.

GARY BURTLESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION LABOR ECONOMIST: Anything that slows down the economic recovery, that slows down the rate of overall employment growth, is going to hurt the chances that the long- term unemployed are going to find work.

CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE ECONOMIST: These extended unemployment benefits are a subsidy. We need to cut all subsidies in the federal government, frankly, if we're going to get this deficit down.

SCHMIDT: For now, Mulvehill splits her time between volunteering and keeping things running at home, hoping that next job isn't far away.

MULVEHILL: You know, this was the American dream, I thought. And I mean - and right now I'll do anything I can to keep all that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHMIDT: Tracy Mulvehill, I spoke with her this afternoon, she says she does have a new job lead. A church told her about an opening to work on its newsletter. It would mean a career change, but she is getting her resume ready, hoping maybe this is the one that would allow her to get back to work. WHITFIELD: All the best to Tracy. So mean time, you know, it's been a week now, eight days. The forced spending cuts going into effect. Any hope that the president and Congress will see eye-to-eye?

SCHMIDT: There's always hope. And optimists are pointing to the fact that President Obama has been talking more with Republicans, he had lunch with them, dinner with them. He is scheduled to meet with them, as well as democrats, on Capitol Hill a little later next week. But the question is, there might be bigger issues to have to deal with here. How to deal with entitlement reform, what to do about whether you raise taxes or not. And it's very likely that these cuts that we are seeing, including unemployment checks, are likely to hit before there's any grand compromise to be reached. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Emily Schmidt, thanks so much in Washington.

All right. Here's another way those spending cuts are really hurting people. No more White House tours, at least for now. It's official as of today, in fact. One mom says her son's birthday wish was to tour the White House. And they're pretty disappointed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE COOPER, UPSET ABOUT TOUR CANCELLATION: I was pretty upset about it. Just because of the fact that I know how difficult sometimes it is to get a tour of the White House and to have it lined up and just to kind of coincide with his birthday. And for him to just turn eight and he had his own bucket list and on that bucket list was D.C., and, you know, the White House. And so it was a little bit, you know, upsetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: After the White House announced the suspension of tours, Republicans came up with their own idea about saving money. Have the president cancel all of his golf trips.

All right. It is a classic Washington filibuster and Rand Paul's stand on the floor of the Senate has caused quite a stir. Dana Bash explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I will speak until I can no longer speak.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rand Paul's nearly 13-hour talk fest ignited a war of words with one of his most prominent GOP colleagues.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms.

BASH: There McCain was quoting from the "Wall Street Journal." What he told the "Huffington Post" was all McCain. "It's always the wacko birds on the right and left that get the media mega phone." Paul responded on conservative ratio by taking the high road, calling McCain a war hero.

PAUL: You know, I treat Senator McCain with respect. I don't think I always get the same in return.

BASH: The back and forth illustrates several growing schisms inside the GOP. But it was Paul's push for answers on drones that took off on Twitter. More than 580,000 tweets with the #standwithrand.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I feel quite confident that the senator from Kentucky is not aware of the twitter verse that has been exploding.

BASH: And anyone watching C-span late into the night saw Republicans with ambitions for hiring office race to help Paul's filibuster.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: The senator from Kentucky deserves an answer.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I'm happy that we're here still working hard on this issue.

BASH: As for Paul, he has never tried to hide his ambition for the White House, even saying this to Hillary Clinton earlier this year.

PAUL: Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi, you did not read the cables from Ambassador Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post.

BASH: CNN was given details about Paul's plans in the works for a possible 2016 run. A source familiar with Paul's activities tells CNN he is building an informal finance committee, amassing an e-mail list of two million and counting and keeping in touch with grass roots activists that propelled his father, Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Conservative activists call him a formidable force for the 2016 presidential race.

KEITH APPELL, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: He's establishing a persona that we haven't seen very much in the Republican parties. Part of this new generation of leaders who is willing to take a principled stand, stand up to the Obama administration, and actually prevail. And not take any flack for it.

BASH (on camera): A GOP source familiar with Senator Paul's political movements tells me he has plans in the not-so-distant future to visit the critical presidential primary state of South Carolina and then perhaps New Hampshire and Iowa. There are signs that he is already heavily engaged in laying the ground work for a White House run, an aspiration those close to him say got him a lot of help with this week's surprisingly successful high-profile filibuster.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And perhaps things could be thawing between Democrats and Republicans in Washington. Why it took time away from the hill to melt some of that ice.

And Facebook is about to make some of the biggest changes ever. We'll show you how it will affect its one billion users.

Plus, she's a successful mixed martial arts fighter, revealing a very personal secret. Her story is the first known in the history of the sport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: There is still gridlock in Washington over the forced spending cuts, but a night out away from Capitol Hill could be the beginning of a thaw between Democrats and Republicans.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser explains why that might be popular with the rest of the country.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Fred. Is the cold war over here in Washington? This week, President Barack Obama took a bunch of Republican senators out to dinner at a trendy restaurant. The next day, he had a top House Republican over for lunch at the White House. Now regardless of the motives this new reaching out by both sides will probably play well with you at home.

Check this out. More than three quarters of people questioned in a CBS News poll out this past week said the president and Democrats in Congress should compromise rather than stick with their positions when it comes to fixing the country's fiscal mess. 73 percent said the same thing about Congressional Republicans.

As for the blame game over the forced spending cuts, well Americans are pointing fingers at both parties. 38 percent in that same poll say they blame Republicans for failing to avert the cuts. 33 percent say they point more fingers at the president and Congressional Democrats. And guess what? One in five said both sides are equally guilty.

Now it seems the president's approval rating has taken a little bit of a hit because of the cuts. But his numbers still tower over those of Congress. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Paul.

In Vatican City, we're seeing signs that the Roman Catholic cardinals are preparing to select a new pope. The papal ring and seal belonging to Benedict XVI were destroyed a short time ago. The next pope will get a new Fisherman's ring with a seal, and his name on it after he is elected. A chimney was also installed today on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. It's where the 115 cardinals will gather Tuesday for the start of the conclave. People from all over the world will be waiting for white smoke to emerge from that chimney. That will signify that a new pope has been chosen.

A woman paid to have a baby for a couple is asked to have an abortion after an ultrasound finds abnormalities. Well, the surrogate refuses and she flees. Coming up next, a look at the dark side of surrogacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A woman hired to give birth for another couple receives an unbelievable offer. Have an abortion because the baby, as it turns out, had serious medical problems. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen spoke with the surrogate mother about her decision to have the baby anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crystal Kelly was thrilled when a couple hired her to be their surrogate and carry their baby. The husband and wife were ecstatic too. Finally, they would have the child they had been longing for.

CRYSTAL KELLY, SURROGATE MOTHER: She said pray for a little girl. I want a little girl.

COHEN (on camera): And she got a little girl.

KELLY: She got a little girl.

COHEN: Was it the little girl she wanted?

KELLY: No, it wasn't.

COHEN (voice-over): Ultrasounds halfway through Kelly's pregnancy showed the baby girl growing inside her had severe heart defects, a brain abnormality and other medical problems.

KELLY: They said she had a less than 25 percent chance of being able to have a normal life.

COHEN: Inside Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, the parents, heartbroken, asked Kelly to have an abortion.

KELLY: I refused. I couldn't do it. I was the one who is feeling her kick and squirm. I knew she had a fighting spirit and I wanted to fight for her.

COHEN: But the parents pleaded with Kelly. Genetically, this was their baby. She was just carrying her.

KELLY: They said they didn't want to bring a baby into the world only for that child to suffer. They said that I should try to be god- like and have mercy on the child and let her go.

COHEN (on camera): And what did you say?

KELLY: I told them that it wasn't their decision to play god. COHEN: Strong convictions, but would she betray them for the right price? Kelly was a single mom. Money was tight. Through the surrogacy agency, the parents said they would pay her $10,000 to have an abortion.

(on camera): And when you saw that $10,000 figure, did you think, maybe I'll do it.

KELLY: In a weak moment, I asked her to tell them that for $15,000 I would consider going forward with the termination.

COHEN (voice-over): The parents refused her request. And Kelly says she quickly regretted asking for the extra money anyways. Deep down, she knew she could never abort under any circumstance. Once again, they were at a standoff. CNN reached out to the parents. They didn't respond to repeated calls or e-mails and we're not naming them.

Legally, they couldn't force Kelly do have an abortion. So they proposed, "if you have this baby, we'll give her up, and she'll become a ward of the state."

KELLY: I'm not going to let her become one of those forgotten, disabled kids that gets lost in the system.

COHEN: Kelly made a bold decision, informing the parents at the last second she left the state. Pregnant with their baby.

KELLY: Packed up my van with everything that I could carry, threw my kids in the car. And we drove. For two days to Michigan.

COHEN: Under Michigan law, Kelly will be the baby's mother.

(on camera): You were making a decision for a baby that was not genetically yours.

KELLY: I can't tell you how many people told me that I was bad, that I was wrong, that I should go have an abortion, that I would be damn to hell.

COHEN: She spent the final months of her pregnancy in Michigan and gave birth last June. And here's the baby today. She's eight months old. To protect her privacy, we're not naming her or the family Kelly found to adopt her. Along with her cleft lip and palate and the misshapened ear, she has severe brain and heart problems. She'll need several risky surgeries to survive. But in many other ways, she has developed like other babies. She smiles, babbles and grabs for toys.

(on camera): Some people would say why bring a child in this world who you know is going to have such huge medical problems?

KELLY: And I say that it's not fair to not give them a chance to overcome them.

COHEN: What if she doesn't walk, though, what if she doesn't talk? KELLY: She is still a happy little girl who is going to bring joy into the lives of everyone who knows her.

COHEN: When you see her now, how does that feel?

KELLY: It gives me a lot of joy. And I know that every single thing that I did was worth it.

COHEN (voice-over): Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And she is a successful mixed martial arts fighter, revealing a very personal secret. Her story is the first known in the history of the sport. Why she is talking now.

But first, here's Sanjay Gupta with a look at what he's working on for his show.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to believe that swaddling a baby has actually become controversial. So we decided to call in one of our favorite guest, Dr. Harvey (INAUDIBLE) to talk about this and also how to properly swaddle. We got all that at the bottom of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Take a look at this. A major interstate will be shut down in Cleveland all weekend long after this pretty frightening accident. A dump truck smashed into a pedestrian bridge over I-90, and then it flipped over. Police say the truck was riding with its trailer up and couldn't clear the bridge. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

And here's a look at what's trending online. The first known transgender athlete in mixed martial arts is making headlines. Fallon Fox kept her medical history private until (INAUDIBLE) to "Sports Illustrated" that she was born a man. Earlier today, Fox told our Brianna Keilar why she chose to share her secret.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FALLON FOX, TRANSGENDER MMA FIGHTER: I didn't plan on coming out. There was a reporter that contacted me and was digging. Apparently he was told rumors that I was transgender. A transsexual is the terminology that I like to use. So I pretty much had no choice, because he was digging around, asking people about me. So if it wasn't for that, I would have preferred to keep my personal medical history to myself. Because that's what - it's a matter of - it's about my personal medical history. And I don't think that anybody should have to reveal their personal medical history if they don't feel that they want to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And a boat carrying $1 million worth of marijuana was found near a beach by Vanderburg Air Force base. Large balls of pot wrapped in plastic was found buried in the sand according along the beach, according to our affiliate, KEYT. Police are now looking for a number of suspects.

An asteroid the size of a city block is zipping past earth today. But there is no danger of it actually hitting our planet. The asteroid is already observable in the night sky, even with amateur telescopes.

All right. Now let's talk about social media. If you added everyone on Facebook as a friend, you would have about a billion friends, right? And now all Facebook users are about to see some pretty big changes. The company is going to revamp its news feed, the main page people look at. Alison Kosik looks at why the company decided it was time for a change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bigger photos, your choice of feeds and more consistent look across desktop and mobile. Facebook is getting a makeover. The social network unveiled the update at an event in (INAUDIBLE) Thursday afternoon.

MARK ZUCKERBERG CEO FACEBOOK: We believe the best personalized newspaper should have a broad diversity of content. It should have high-quality public content from world-renowned sources and it should also have socially and locally relevant updates from family, friends and the people around you.

KOSIK: The updates are meant to give users more control over their feeds and the information in them. Members don't always take well to changes, but what started out as outrage on Twitter turned to excitement. The response may be a good sign after separate studies found two-thirds of users have taken breaks for weeks at a time, and had become more sensitive about who sees their information. Despite having more than 600 million active users, the company has only lost value since going public.

Facebook debuted in May at $38 a share. Tumbled almost immediately, and hasn't fully recovered. Compare that to LinkedIn, which has almost doubled in value since its debut.

KEN SENA, EVERCORE PARTNERS: I think that it caught investors by surprise to think that Facebook didn't necessarily have a clear monetization path when they went public, not just in terms of advertising but also the payment side, virtual goods and so forth.

KOSIK: Founder Mark Zuckerberg says recent numbers have been better than expected and is confident about expanding Facebook's audience. But one of the company's biggest challenges has been how to make money off its mobile users, a group growing by the hour. Just last month, the number of people checking Facebook on mobile devices topped the number checking the site on the web.

SENA: I think it's important for them to be able to sort of, you know, evolve the experience from something where they're trying to push and create demand to one where they're trying to satisfy demand for their existing user base.

KOSIK: Revenue concerns aside, Facebook still has a lot going for it. It's unique, it's ubiquitous and it's only nine years old.

Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. That's incredible. Just nine years old.

That's going to do it for me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with my colleague, Don Lemon.

But first, rescuing the American health care system. "SANJAY GUPTA M.D." starts right now.