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Government Shutdown Fallout; Rough Night For Air Travelers; Vigil For Rockslide Victims; Same-Sex Marriage Battle In Pennsylvania; Camera Records Chain Reaction Bus Crash; Walrus Come Ashore; Early Snags in Obamacare Launch

Aired October 02, 2013 - 06:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is six o'clock in the east, and it is Wednesday all over the country. It's the second day of October, and the second day of the government shutdown. While the parties are no closer to a deal, the Republican Party making closer to a deal with itself. We'll tell you about that.

We now know thousands of FAA safety regulators, the people charge with checking to make sure our planes are safe have been put on lead. So many are frustrated by Congressional constipation, but no group seems more articulate, concerned, and constructive about a solution than the one you're going to meet on NEW DAY today. Hear this all-important constituencies message to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN HARRIS, 4TH GRADER: I say you should act better and set an example for all of the children. You're going to have like babies when they can figure it out, how come you can't?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Hmm. Much more from this group of nine-year-olds.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Much more of that ahead.

And amid all of this, a key part of the president's new health care law went live on Tuesday, and it did not go completely smoothly. This was what many people found when they've tried to sign up online, an error page. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is traveling across the country to see how well it's working for Americans, and you'll want to hear their reaction.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Also, could Bill Gates be forced out of Microsoft, the company he founded decades ago? Some members of the board are calling for Gates to resign, but you know, this man will not be booted easily.

CUOMO: No. All right. Now, as we told you, it is day two of the government shutdown. We're looking for a reason to believe that it could end soon, and that's proving hard to find amid all the trash talk from both parties. But CNN will give you all the angles on the impact of the shutdown, and also, the debut of the law at the middle of it, the Affordable Care Act a.k.a. Obamacare. We begin with Brianna Keilar live at the White House. Good morning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris. Good morning to you. I thought -- Congressional constipation I think you said. That sort of has a ring to it here in Washington. But we've seen this sort of cycle going on now where the House passed as something the Senate dismantles it and it goes around in the cycle. We saw that for a fourth time last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): The impasse in Congress is no closer to being resolved this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion to table is agreed to.

KEILAR: But nearly 800,000 federal employees off their jobs for a second day, President Obama is blaming Tea Party Republicans for shutting down the government over their objections to Obamacare.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They demanded ransom just for doing their job.

KEILAR: He's urging Congress to act.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Allow the public servants who have been sent home to return to work.

KEILAR: Tuesday night, House Republicans tried to fund the government piecemeal, starting with veterans, national parks and the city of Washington, D.C.

REPRESENTATIVE PHIL GINGREY (R), GEORGIA: We're ready to talk. They have rejected that. We have to send that back every day.

KEILAR: Their first attempt failed, most Democrats voting no.

REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: This is a waste of time. It's not going any place.

KEILAR: What's worse, we're about to hit the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew again warned Congress that if it doesn't raise the U.S.' ability to pay its debt, it will default October 17th. GOP leaders blame Democrats for refusing to sit down and negotiate.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: My goodness, they won't even sit down and have a discussion.

KEILAR: President Obama said his signature program isn't up for discussion.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The affordable care act is still open for business and it is here to stay. KEILAR: Frustrated taxpayers made sure their voices were heard, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are tired of a Congress that can't govern this country. You guys are worthless!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And this shutdown now, we have just learned impacting President Obama's scheduled foreign trip. He was supposed to leave on Saturday for a four-stop trip in Asia. We've now just learned from the White House, Chris and Kate, that at least two of those stops have been canceled. That would have been obviously to the Philippines as well as to Malaysia. He also was scheduled to go to Indonesia and Brunei. So we will be waiting to see if those remain on the schedule, but as of right now, those two stops in Asia do remain on the schedule.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have ripple effects from the president's schedule. We'll see a ripple effect from the economy if this drags out any longer. Brianna Keilar, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for starting us off this morning.

The fallout for the government shutdown is becoming very clear. Many government service and agencies are hit hard and the shutdown that could end up costing furloughed workers about $1 billion a week in pay.

Rene Marsh is at the World War II Memorial, one of the sites that is supposed to be closed. Good morning, Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. You know, it's high drama here at the World War II Memorial just yesterday. You know, as lawmakers continue to play politics on Capitol Hill, families are dealing with the real-life consequences of this government shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): Day two of the government shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Furlough Congress!

MARSH: Outrage across the country already reaching a fever pitch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to work!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone is angry, I mean, angry.

LINDA LAUGHLIN, FURLOUGHED FEDERAL EMPLOYEE: I came here to work today. I'm not allowed to. I'm not essential. None of us are. I'm doing the walk of shame.

MARSH: More than 800,000 federal employees likely taking that same walk or drive.

NATASHA RODER, FURLOUGHED CENSUS BUREAU EMPLOYEE: This in my hand is a notice of furlough that all employees were given this morning.

MARSH: Natasha Roder is now a furloughed Census Bureau employee supporting a 5-year-old daughter.

(on camera): What do you tell your daughter, I guess, at this point?

RODER: She's too young to understand what's going on. I try not to -- at 5 years old you understand that finance is going to be a little difficult for mom and dad.

MARSH (voice-over): Also in jeopardy, hundreds of patients, including children with cancer who will have to wait until after the shutdown to start clinical trials with the National Institutes of Health. Our nation's capitol looking more like a ghost town.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Here at the Pentagon, a lot of empty hallways. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he's got the authority to bring back thousands of furloughed civilian workers who support the troops doing everything from purchasing the weapons to helping them with housing and key House Republicans agree. Now the question, will the White House sign off?

MARSH: A question these World War II veterans aren't waiting to be answered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going in, brother.

MARSH: Despite the government shutdown, these veterans didn't let their patriotism get shut out. Moving past the barricades to their marching song, these vets, some in wheelchairs, kept their plans of visiting the World War II Memorial on Tuesday. Meanwhile, thousands of preschoolers are at home instead of in classrooms.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm in a classroom at the Head Start Center in Brooksville, Florida, where 135 children from low- income families are provided with education, nutrition and even health care. Well, their families got this notification today, that because of the government shutdown, this facility is going to be closed as of Friday.

MARSH: Doors are potentially closing at service academy stadiums, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard suspending their football games this weekend if the government is still shutdown. An extended shutdown could jeopardize two Notre Dame football games that affect the team's chances of making it to a bowl game.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: All right, well, from the stadium to the pub, the beer industry also getting a hit as a result of the shutdown. Because the Tax and Trade Bureau has had to furlough workers, they've not been able to issue new permits to breweries, which are looking to open, another issue there, just another example of the impact to the economy -- Chris and Kate.

CUOMO: All right, the sirens only heightening the situation. Thank you very much for the reporting this morning.

There's a situation we want to tell you about breaking overnight. Jacksonville, International Airport shutdown for nearly five hours after police discovered two suspicious packages. Let's bring in Christine Romans. She has the developments. What do we know?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that the FBI is now involved and they are investigating still this morning. The Jacksonville Airport re-opened now, but for hundreds of air travelers trapped in planes on tarmacs or evacuated from the terminals, this was a night they will not forget.

Imagine the chaos. Two suspicious packages shutting down all of Jacksonville International last night. It started about 6:00 p.m., Chris, authorities discovered two packages. One was in a garage, one in the terminal. At least one of these two suspicious packages was potentially dangerous, police say. I want you to listen to what a police official said about the nature of one of those packages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a device that, you know, certainly had some destructive nature to the degree that it needed to be taken off site to be rendered safe, which is what we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Rendered safe, neutralized some degree of a destructive nature. They don't give us more specifics than that. Officials said they have no knowledge of any arrests. The "Florida Times Union" this morning reporting that witnesses saw two men being taken into custody. The airport re-opened at 11:00 p.m. There's a picture you can see someone took of a still photo of someone on the ground there with authorities over him.

The evacuation did have an impact on flight, you guys, some arriving aircraft were diverted and some passengers were taken from planes on the ground and then they were bussed to hotels this morning, as I said, the FBI is assisting in the investigation at this point. Shut down the airport from 6:00 to 11:00 last night. Two suspicious packages, one of them had to be destroyed.

BOLDUAN: This seems like a different situation than when we have a normal report of suspicious package.

ROMANS: We will follow it throughout the day and find out what the FBI will be saying about the investigation from here.

CUOMO: They're tight about these investigations. It matters that they knew when they needed to.

ROMANS: A lot of passengers wondering what was going on. That's what we can tell you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Christine.

CUOMO: Christine Romans, appreciate it. A lot of news this morning so let's get right over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, here are your headlines at this hour, the pope meeting again today with eight cardinals from around the globe. They'll discuss reforms to the church and Vatican bureaucracy. Kicking off the meeting, the pope says he doesn't want a Vatican centric church, but one that reaches out to the poor, the young, the elderly and even nonbelievers.

Making news, a vigil was held last night in Colorado for the five people killed in a rockslide Monday. All of those victims were from a single family. Their bodies were recovered yesterday. The lone survivor, Gracie Johnson remains in the hospital. It's believed the recent heavy rain in Colorado may have played a role in causing that rockslide.

The battle over same-sex marriage is heating up in Pennsylvania. Tuesday lawmakers now say they plan to introduce a bill to legalize it in the keystone state. That announcement coming at the same time, a Montgomery clerk north of Philadelphia, is appealing a state court order to stop issuing licenses to gay couples. That will be heard by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Take a look at some video from inside Tacoma, Washington State. Trooper says the driver bumped into a pickup truck and rear ended another bus. As you can tell, there were cameras on both buses. Thankfully no children on board either bus. Neither driver was injured, but the female driver did receive a ticket for negligent driving. She could also be in trouble for not wearing her seat belt properly.

Scientists capturing this, can you tell what that is? It's a picture of thousands of walruses packed to a beach in north western Alaska. They've been coming ashore over the past three weeks because of sharp declines in Arctic sea ice. The National Marine Fishery Service put the number in this picture at about 10,000.

Back in 2011 though, scientists estimated that 30,000 walruses were laying on the beach near Alaska's Port Lay. One of the concerns they have, they work with villagers to keep hunters and even airplanes, even a polar bear, could spook them and cause a stampede. It actually can lead to the death of the younger ones that can't get out of the way.

BOLDUAN: That looks like pebbles on a beach.

PEREIRA: I thought it was first. You zoom in and realize walruses.

CUOMO: I'm no scientist, but I'm taking the over on 10,000.

PEREIRA: Is he making a betting game out of this?

CUOMO: Science says --

BOLDUAN: You know what time it is, it's time for Indra Petersons, keeping track of the latest forecast for us. Good morning, Indra. INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. I know guys are happy. It has been gorgeous outside. Temperatures today the same as they have been the last several days, 10, 15 degrees above normal. It will stay that way through Friday. Even though it's staying warm, we are going to be talking about some changes. All of that thanks to not just the high pressure being in place but notice what it behind it.

We are going to see a front making its way through from the Midwest to the northeast. As we go through tomorrow, look for the Midwest to start to see light showers, nothing major. By Friday, we're still seeing showers kind of making its way to the mid-Atlantic and northeast so we'll be monitoring that. It is hurricane season. We have something to watch.

Jerry is way out there in the Atlantic, but now we're watching something in the Caribbean, about a 30 percent chance for development. This is one of the few times I'll show you what all the models are saying. This is spaghetti plot. Some of them saying by the end of the weekend, we could be seeing this in the gulf.

I want to separate this into a couple models. Here's the European model. You can see about Saturday night, maybe we're talking about landfall, New Orleans, Biloxi weak, likely just a depression according to his model. We have another one that brings in stronger here.

Notice the timing of this. It will bring in Saturday afternoon but farther east into the panhandle of Florida. That could bring into a depression. Something we're clearly going to be watching as we go through the weekend. I think you jinxed it yesterday. Things are getting close.

BOLDUAN: I think you started it.

PETERSONS: Yes.

CUOMO: The down side of science.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Indra.

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, not the smoothest start for the new insurance exchanges. Online troubles meant many could not sign up or check out their options. We'll bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's in Kentucky this morning with what you need to know.

BOLDUAN: Also ahead, two bikers have been arrested, a third paralyzed and in a coma this morning after taking revenge on a driver who collided with him on a busy New York street. Could the driver also be facing charges here?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Well, there was a rocky start to the rollout of Obamacare, snarled web traffic and technical glitches marred the launch of those new insurance exchanges on Tuesday. Question is, are these early snags or a sign of more trouble ahead?

Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is on the CNN Express bus tour. He is currently in Lexington, Kentucky, joining us now.

Great to have you, Sanjay.

So, what do we know about this?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're saying they're going to get some of the glitches fixed. Of course, we want to see for ourselves what happens today. We are in Kentucky. It's an interesting state, Chris. You have a Democratic governor.

And you have two senators, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, both Republicans. They're not here. They're in Washington trying to get the government restarted hopefully. But you get an idea of a state divided certainly.

And they were dealing with some of the same things. They had about 3,000, roughly 3,000 completed applications yesterday and they suffered from some of the same glitches.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): The doors flung open on the new marketplace where millions of Americans should be able to sign up for health insurance. Within minutes, thud. The site started going down, overwhelmed they say by heavy traffic.

New York state, internal service error. Washington state, same thing.

The federal Web site is handling signups for 36 states, including Pennsylvania, where 25-year-old Lauren Hartley tried to sign up.

LAUREN HARTLEY, LAW STUDENT: And then on the third page, it asks for security questions but the page just wasn't populated. There's some sort of technical glitch and it wasn't working.

GUPTA: By midday, both the president and his critics were weighing in.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like every new law, every new product rollout, there are going to be glitches in the signup process along the way that we will fix. I've been saying this from the start. And we're going to be speeding things up in the next few hours to handle all this demand that exceeds anything that we had expected.

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: In a system that's full of glitches, I think that's the word most frequently being used today, glitches means it's not working. I don't think those glitches get any better over the next few weeks.

HOWARD STOVALL, BUSINESS OWNER: What's going to go on this one now?

GUPTA: In Lexington, Kentucky, 62-year-old Howard Stovall runs a business making signs. STOVALL: Healthcare cost, obviously, like everybody, has been going up every year. This year, if we do nothing and keep the same plan, it will be about a 30 percent increase.

GUPTA: He's got high hopes for Obamacare.

STOVALL: We're expecting to have a lot more variety in what's available to us and what's available to our employees.

GUPTA: It's 3:00. And he takes a crack to see what he can buy for his workers and for himself.

STOVALL: This was the site, click on the individual's plan. So yes, I have an error. It says we can call customer service but I think we'd probably get a busy signal right now.

We have been at it for a while here. I'm still very hopeful long term but we haven't gotten any real information yet. We've gotten errors and road blocks and some confusing requests to download software.

GUPTA: He wasn't alone. In fact, in South Carolina, on day one, I talked to nearly 100 people. Of those who told me they tried to sign up, not one succeeded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: You know, so obviously this didn't go as people hoped it would, people who were getting the system up and running. Again, here in Kentucky about 3,000 people were able to actually register. We heard from the federal government 3 million people accessed the site but it was a much smaller amount, thousands only that were able to get through the process all around the country.

So, keep in mind, though, this was day one and this is open enrollment that last six months. There's a lot of attention on it. It will probably taper off. You have six months to sign up -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. You know, tech is what it is, the expertise of neither of us. Let me ask you about something that's certainly within your strength.

What are people saying to you, Sanjay, about what their real fears are about this going forward? What are the most common concerns?

GUPTA: Well, you know, there was a lot of people approaching us and wanting to have a lot of questions about this. I will tell you that the sentiment was for the most part, a lot of people hadn't focused on this issue at all until yesterday.

Not atypical. People start to focus on it when it becomes something bigger in the news. They wanted to know if it applied to them, if they had insurance to their employer what was going to happen, would their costs go up, number two. And for people who didn't have insurance, how difficult was it going to be to get on the marketplaces and actually obtain insurance. We found ourselves answering a lot of questions for people, you know, because we had read the bill and put this information to them. But there are still a lot of concerns.

And again, in a state like this, Chris, this is a Democratically- governed state. These two Republican senators, people are very conflicted in a place like this.

CUOMO: The issue is certainly done that. There's so much unknown, it will only continue until it starts to suss itself out over time, assuming it gets fully implemented.

GUPTA: That's right.

CUOMO: I hope you're dealing better with the crowds gathering around the Sanjay Gupta magical rock tour bus and all the things they're throwing at you and people grabbing your hair. I hope it's better today.

GUPTA: You can see the problems that we might have with that sort of thing, Chris.

CUOMO: I mean, with you there, absolutely.

GUPTA: I don't want to exaggerate.

CUOMO: I know you don't. Let me do that.

Sanjay, thank you very much.

GUPTA: I have no doubt you'll jump right in and throw me underneath that bus.

CUOMO: No way, number one fan, pal. Number one fan.

BOLDUAN: Sanjay, you need to come back in studio so you can give it right back to him.

CUOMO: The guy's got his own bus tour.

GUPTA: I know, I can't even see you right now.

BOLDUAN: I know, exactly, exactly.

CUOMO: No, no, nothing but love for you, doc. Thanks for being with us this morning.

GUPTA: You can join me anytime you'd like.

CUOMO: Yes, it's all right. Button down.

The guy's got his own bus tour, he wins.

All right. So, what do you think? Sanjay is putting the information out there, traveling around America. Tweet us with the #newday, so we can keep the conversation going. BOLDUAN: Yes, if you have questions about the shutdown or health care law, tweet us.

CUOMO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, we heard the politicians but what do the children think about the government shutdown? Chris Cuomo talked to some fourth graders who say basically -- don't those people in Washington know how to share? Is it so hard?

CUOMO: It was interesting hearing. We all say it's about the next generation. So ,we hear what they say. Some really great kids.

Also, new arrests in the disturbing incident caught on camera. The bikers, two of them in custody, a third paralyzed and in a coma. It raises an interesting question. This family that's being cast as victims may they also face charges? We'll give you the latest, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: All right. Welcome back to NEW DAY: It's Wednesday, October 2nd.

Coming up in the show, out of the mouths of babes. We all know the expression. It really can be true.

So, the next generation that lawmakers say they care so much, they are not pleased, they see things in the situation that we need to remember. We sat down with a group of fourth graders, 9-year-olds, asked them about the shutdown, asked them what they thought should be happening. You'll want to see what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: We don't agree on, Jocelyn.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: You should at least give the effort to agree with somebody instead of acting like a bunch of babies. You should act like adults, because you are and agree with people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, listen up. That's ahead, obviously.

Plus, this is ahead. She danced her way to fame, saying good-bye to her job. The resignation video went viral online. That was some good moves. Well, the company she left is giving their side of the story and they say it's actually a pretty good place to work.

CUOMO: She's on to apologize for stealing your moves.

A lot of news right now, let's get to Michaela. PEREIRA: It's all about the arms, right?

CUOMO: It is, a lot of arms.

PEREIRA: All right. Let's take a look at the headlines right now.

Day two of the federal government shutdown, there is no end in site, 800,000 furloughed federal workers feeling the squeeze. While both parties play the blame game. A GOP plan to re-open parts of the government dismissed by the Democrats. President Obama calling this a Republican shutdown, making it clear to the GOP that Obamacare is, quote, "here to stay."

Jacksonville International Airport back open for business. It was evacuated because of reports of suspicious packages. Details are vague but the Jacksonville sheriff's office says a device was found but that it posed no threat. The all-clear signal came late last night. The evacuation forced some flights to be diverted and passengers to be pulled off planes and taken to hotels.

Out of prisons this morning, a Louisiana man who spent more than four decades in solitary confinement. Herman Wallace is terminally ill. He had been convicted of murder and was one of the so-called Angola 3, who tried to point out injustices at the prison. The conviction was thrown out because of issues with his jury.

Some cold murder cases really heating up. This elderly couple in Missouri, Gerald and Alice Uden (ph) are under arrest. Gerald is accused of killing his ex-wife and her two children back in 1980. Alice accused of killing her husband around 1975. His remains were just recently found.

Those killings happened in Wyoming. Investigators say they've been keeping an eye on the couple for years but just now had enough evidence to charge them.

Cue up some Batman music. A 7-year-old from California had his dream come true. He spent Monday as a professional crime fighter in Orange County. Alex Lolanoa (ph) got help from the Anaheim Police Department and the Make a Wish Foundation. He is battling leukemia.

Alex's favorite superhero, Batman, sidekick Robin, and I am so pleased to say, because often times Batman gets all the credit. Right here, it's Robin that's the real hero.

BOLDUAN: He has a good costume.

PEREIRA: Great costume.

BOLDUAN: That was -- that was not a made at home costume. If it was --

PEREIRA: Mother sewed it very well. Exactly.

BOLDUAN: That was a good costume. Anything, Superman?

CUOMO: Nothing.

BOLDUAN: OK. Science!

CUOMO: Science!

BOLDUAN: Let's move now to our political gut check.

The bitter standoff that led to a government shutdown may just be a warm-up act, folks, for a much bigger battle in a couple of weeks when the nation comes up against the debt ceiling once again.

Let's get straight to CNN's chief national correspondent John King for more on this.