Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Stalemate Shuts Down U.S. Government; Obamacare Open Enrollment Starts; All 401 National Parks Closed; Road Rage Sparks Brutal Attack

Aired October 01, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for watching NEW DAY. Over to Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks, guys. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Much of our government is shut down. Lights out, doors closed, tops down, at least for now. So I'm going to start far away from Pennsylvania Avenue and begin from Main Street, in your town. Instead of hearing canned sound bites and words like brink, catastrophe, and revolt being spewed by our representative in Washington, I want to start off with the facts why you should be upset about the paralysis and petulance inside the beltway.

Fact number one, Congress will still get paid today. In fact, the average lawmaker will make $669 just today. That's nearly 3 1/2 times what most of us, the average American, will make. Fact number two, you're fed up with Congress. They've sunk to an all-time low. Only 10 percent of you say lawmakers are doing a good job. Just 10 percent. That's down from a high of 84 percent in the days after 9/11.

Fact number three, thousands of federal workers who often live paycheck to paycheck are left in the cold. This morning nearly 800,000 employees are on unpaid leave. They are among some two million Americans who are civilian federal employees. People like Vick Temple with the FAA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICK TEMPLE, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Just have to put -- best foot forward and just hope for the best but it's just ridiculous that you just have to go through this, this anxiety each time. So I feel sad about it. We expect more from our Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Or Jeff Little, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFF LITTLE, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: It's frustrating and it's -- you know, I feel like it's unfortunate that I don't think the story is really out there about the really important work that goes on in these buildings and how disruptive this is going to be at the work that we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Or Dee Alexander, a secretary with the Department of Agriculture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEE ALEXANDER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: My opinion is that if -- if we're not getting paid, I don't think Congress should get paid either because I think they need to kind of feel what we're feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There was one rare victory of common sense and decency. Our men and women who risk their lives in America's military will still get paid on time. That means the paychecks will keep coming for the 1.4 million people who are on active military duty. They have escaped the beltway bickering that has left millions of Americans embarrass by their elected leaders.

All right. Now to the grandstanding. It lasted well into this evening. Finally ending 18 minutes after midnight when debates sputtered to a close.

More now from Brianna Keilar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Overnight President Obama released a message to the troops.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress.

KEILAR: After signing a bill into law agreed upon by Congress in order to keep paying the military.

OBAMA: I'll keep working to get Congress to reopen our government and get you back to work as soon as possible.

KEILAR: As lawmakers work into the night in a heated floor debate --

REP. JOHN LARSON (D), CONNECTICUT: Do you stand with your country? Do you stand for your country? Or you want to take it down?

KEILAR: But failed to reach an agreement to keep the government funded.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The house has made its position known very clearly. KEILAR: This morning, national parks and museums are closed for business and hundreds of thousands of nonessential government employees are furloughed indefinitely.

House Republicans did not blink in their demand to push forward a new plan to tie government spending to a weakening of Obamacare, which begins open enrollment this morning.

President Obama blamed House Republicans on Monday night and reiterated this was, quote, "entirely preventable."

OBAMA: One faction of one party in one House of Congress, in one branch of government, doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election.

KEILAR: House Speaker John Boehner fired back.

BOEHNER: I talked to the president earlier tonight. I'm not going to negotiate. I'm not going to negotiate. We're not going to do this. Well, I would say to the president, this is not about me. It's not about Republicans here in Congress. It's about fairness for the American people.

KEILAR: After days of talking past each other, competing plans ping ponged from one chamber to the other, and now a government shutdown for the first time since 1996, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich ruled the House of Representatives and their standoff lasted for weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Now, in that case, Carol, folks look back and they say Republicans really lost that battle. When you're talking politically, that's very true. I think sort of in the long term. But it wasn't as cut and dry at the time. And so really what it is -- and I think what the White House expects and what the members of Congress expect is that everybody could be blamed for this.

And so when you saw President Obama talking directly to the camera, trying to address military families, I think that might be a preview of what you're going to see. One of his tactics, when it comes to something like this, is really highlight the folks who are most affected by something like a shutdown and doing that, really, to put the pressure on House Republicans as this impasse continues.

COSTELLO: So what are they doing at the White House to try to -- to try to fix things? I mean, is anybody doing anything? Or will they still be grandstanding in the Senate and the House and talking about Obamacare? And will the government remain shut down while they do that?

KEILAR: Well, I think at this point -- and we haven't seen any change -- the White House is really sort of putting -- just trying to put the pressure on House Republicans. President Obama has made it clear that he has no intention of dismantling his signature health care reform program in any way. And when you talk with White House officials here, Carol, they look at what House Republicans have proposed and they say it's not serious. They think that it's ridiculous. And they sort of try to outline their thinking like this. House Republicans are talking about an extension of government funding for the next, what, 2 1/2 months and looking for a delay to a major essential part of Obamacare for a year.

So they don't really feel, one, that it's apples to apples and they don't really feel like they would be -- they would be giving up so much and not really getting a lot when we would see this fight go on again before the end of the year.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting live from the White House this morning. So all of this is over Obamacare. But guess what, Obamacare is up and running. Health care coverage available right now, well, at least for the last hour.

The Obamacare portal, healthcare.gov, now up and live allowing millions of uninsured Americans to get health coverage.

So how does it work?

CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta live in South Carolina where 20 percent, just 20 percent of that state -- actually 20 percent of that state is uninsured. That's what I meant today.

So, Sanjay, explain this to us.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, healthcare.gov is sort of the main portal. But, you know, look, and no one loves signing up for health care insurance. It can be confusing for anybody. But if you go to this site, which has just panned out, a couple of things you might find. One is that you can't get on. We've tried visiting a couple of them and they say that there's a lot of traffic, therefore people aren't able to get on right away.

Either a sign that a lot of people are interested or technical glitches, depending on your perspective. But once you get on, you have your choice of plans. That's what people are going to see. They're going to see everything from a bronze plan, which is the lowest premiums and the highest co-pays, to a platinum plan, which is the highest premiums, but the lowest co-pays.

The one thing, Carol, and I think this is sort of the crux of it. You fill out the three-page questionnaire. And one of the things you won't see on that questionnaire are questions about your health. That sounds a little bit counterintuitive. But the point is that they cannot discriminate on your premiums, charge you more because of pre- existing illness.

You don't even get those questions as part of that questionnaire. But again it looks like there's a lot of activity on the sites so far. So much so that some of them you can't even get on yet.

COSTELLO: OK. So a couple of questions that people often wonder about. When I get on these health care exchanges and I look through the insurance plans and I pick my bronze plan or my silver plan, can I pick my own doctor, too?

GUPTA: I think the best way -- I've looked into this. The best way to answer that is maybe. There are some doctors that are going to accept certain plans, but they'll be out of network on other plans. So you might want to sort of check ahead of time to see which plans your doctor might accept.

I will tell you, Carol -- and maybe this is obvious. Of the vast majority of people who we're talking about here are people who don't have doctors. They don't have insurance. And this is all a brand-new experience for them.

Now for people who go to the marketplace who already have insurance, they should check ahead of time to find out. Because that could influence how much they're paying in terms of co-pays and deductibles. So just figure out through your doctor is in the plan that you're picking.

COSTELLO: Got you. So on average, how much will this cost the uninsured?

GUPTA: So if you look at this number, you know, roughly 48 million uninsured. If you say people from that pool, people are going to the marketplace today -- we don't know how many will. But they're going to the marketplace today. The estimates are -- we're going to keep close tabs on this, but the estimates are that six out of 10 of them will pay $100 a month or a little bit less than that.

So, you know, that takes into account subsidies. That takes into account in some states that they've expanded Medicaid. That takes into account all those things. But also keep in mind, Carol, that if you don't do this, there is a penalty. This has been controversial, as you well know. The penalty in the first year is $95 or 1 percent of your income, whichever of those two numbers is greater.

Second year, $325 or 2 percent of your income. The numbers just keep going up in terms of penalties. But you've got to do it or you face those penalties -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sanjay, you're in for a long day because we have a lot of questions and you'll be on the air, I think, for hours more today.

Thank you, Sanjay. I know you're in Kentucky tomorrow to answer questions that people have about Obamacare. And you check out "SANJAY GUPTA MD" every Saturday right here on CNN.

Sanjay, many thanks to you.

OK. So now that you have a sense of how to sign up for insurance, let's talk about potential problems. And yes, as you heard Sanjay say, there have been problems.

Gary Lauer is the CEO of e-health. His company is now enrolling uninsured individuals over the Internet in 36 states. And of course that starts today.

Good morning.

GARY LAUER, CEO, EHEALTH: Good morning, how are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good. So you heard Sanjay say, he's tried to get on healthcare.gov. And sometimes he can't. He doesn't know if that's because there are glitches or it's because so many people are trying to sign on.

LAUER: Yes. I don't know as well. You know, this is a complex decision process for people. Building these e-commerce sites like healthcare.gov is not easy. I can tell you that because we're a Silicon Valley company, we've built this over the last 15 years. So I'm not surprised. You know, we see -- we saw 20 million Americans last year come to us. And it just give you a flavor for the kind of interest that there is in health insurance and getting coverage.

So I wouldn't be surprised that over the next several days and weeks, we do see some turbulence, and you know, things don't run as smoothly as some people would like to see them run.

COSTELLO: Well, according to the "Wall Street Journal," there have been technical challenges. Put simply, for example, people in D.C. could not calculate tax break money to help pay for their insurance plans. So how pervasive were those problems previous to today and are they continuing today?

LAUER: Well, it's a great question. And whether they're continuing at the moment, I don't know. But, you know, it's very complex to go into the Treasury Department --

COSTELLO: Well, that's kind of scary when you say you don't know.

LAUER: I don't know. I don't run the government site. You know, we were a private sector company. And we've been doing this for years and years and I can tell you with us, you know, it works and it works quite smoothly. I think it's going to take some time for -- it may take for government to get this to work again the way that people would like to see.

You know, government has never been great at enrolling people. If you look at the uninsured, as Sanjay was saying, 47, 48 million, it's estimated that over 10 million of them right now are Medicaid eligible, but not enrolled. So, you know, I think this is all fine for government to do this but relying on government only may be a mistake.

I think we need some of the good parts of the private sector working with government here to get people enrolled. Because Obamacare either succeeds or fails based on enrollment.

COSTELLO: OK. So help us understand. So you're a private company and you run some exchanges in a certain number of states and the government runs a certain number of exchanges in a certain number of states. Explain -- help people understand that. LAUER: Well, actually, we run an exchange in all 50 states. And we have in the past and we are today and we will tomorrow. Thirty-six states, the federal government is running an exchange because the states, as required by Obamacare, have not built their own exchanges to this point. And those states working with the federal government, we are also enrolling lower income subsidy eligible people.

In 14 states, and I don't want this to sound too complicated, that are building their own exchanges today we not enrolling subsidy eligible individuals but anybody else who's not subsidy eligible. And it's really interesting because through the history of our company, over 40 percent of individuals we've insured were previously uninsured and many of them in their subsidy eligible ranges.

So I've argued for some time, bring the best of the private and the public sector together for the greater common good, which is to get 32 million people enrolled in coverage. That's the objective of Obamacare.

And even more importantly, Carol, we need younger people, people between the ages of 18 and 34 years of age. Because, frankly, as a group they're healthier. They don't use health insurance as much. And they help to offset some of the expense that people in my age group encounter, using health insurance so --

COSTELLO: So -- so when you're --

LAUER: Really important, we've got -- really important, we've got a number of entities working on this, not just government.

COSTELLO: OK. So in your estimation, how will today go? When people go to their computer and they sign on to healthcare.gov, what will their experience be like overall?

LAUER: Well, you know, again, I haven't been on healthcare.gov this morning. But I hope they're going to have a decent experience. I think people at this point are just trying to evaluate and understand, gave a little information and knowledge. This is not like buying a new flat screen TV or something that's exciting, a new piece of apparel.

It's a very considered purchase. It's confusing and complex. In fact, you had asked Sanjay earlier about doctors. At eHealth, for example, we ask you, who is your physician? And we'll show you all the plan that physician. So there's a lot that goes into this.

I hope it's smooth. I think the real question is what does this look like two or three months from now? Has it worked? Has it been effective? Have we gotten people enrolled? To me, that's where we begin to see whether this is going to work and whether the legislation is going to begin to succeed. But it's all based around enrollment, not building great government exchanges. We've got to get people into the ranks of having insurance.

Not only is it a good thing for Obamacare but morally it's been a good thing. I'm critical of government. I want everything to get people enrolled in a reliable way to be at work here.

COSTELLO: OK. Gary Lauer, CEO of e-Health, thanks so much for joining me this morning.

LAUER: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Defunding Obamacare was one of the key sticking points that led to a partial government shutdown. What we see today, and now, the impact is being felt by some 800,000 federal workers who are being furloughed today.

And that price tag is pretty steep. Their absence is going to cost our economy about $1 billion in lost pay every week.

CNN's Erin McPike is in Washington with that side of the story. Good morning, Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

We talked to a number of federal workers over the past couple of days about how this will affect them. And many of them say they work paycheck to paycheck.

So, as you can imagine, there is very intense frustration over this. One man just told us this morning that he's really worried about being able to pay child support. We talked to another woman this morning who works for the Smithsonian and this is what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very disruptive. We're in the middle of mounting a major exhibition, that includes construction, shipments are coming in. We've ended up having to exempt employees that are involved with that show. A lot of them are very worried, you know. One just bought a house. Worried how she's going to make the mortgage payment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: So, when politicians say this will be worse for the economy, there are some examples of why. Not being able to make a mortgage payment.

Now, also, Carol, I was at the national zoo yesterday as well and talking to some of its employees there, who said they were supposed to call a number this morning to figure out whether or not they were to report to work. They will have to come later this week to the front gates of the zoo to collect their paychecks for having worked last week, Carol.

So, some very serious confusion and frustration around here today.

COSTELLO: All right. Erin McPike reporting live from Washington this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Poppy Harlow has been talking to another group shut down by the government standoff.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. Good morning, everyone.

We're going to take you to Liberty Island. All the nation's national parks are shuttered today. That means tens of thousands of workers with not paycheck.

And they're angry today. Their story, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hope you weren't planning a visit to the national park today because they're all closed. No visit to places like the Statue of Liberty.

CNN's Poppy Harlow is live in New York's Battery Park, where visitors usually board a ferry to head over to Liberty Island, but not today.

HARLOW: No. A lot of disappointed tourists and, frankly, a lot of angry workers because the Statue of Liberty is shuttered, 401 national parks are closed.

These parks bring in $450,000 in revenue to the U.S. government -- money we need every single day. Now, none of that money is coming in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW (voice-over): Liberty Island was slammed by Superstorm Sandy, closed for eight months. Now another shutdown.

(on camera): What does it mean for you to visit the Statue of Liberty?

STACY GARCIA, TOURIST FROM TEXAS: Freedom, liberty. That's why I'm in American. So, to hear that the government is shutting down, it's like, what have we come to?

HARLOW (voice-over): Stacy Garcia is among the last visitors to the island.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome aboard, Statue Cruises Lady Liberty.

HARLOW (on camera): So, along with the government comes the closure of all the nation's national parks and that include Lady Liberty. So, for folks coming to New York to see the iconic statue of Liberty, this maybe their last chance, and who knows how long.

LASLOW, TOURIST: It's going to be awful. It's also going to damage the economy in ways that nobody has bothered to calculate yet. It's just mindless.

HARLOW (voice-over): With more than 280 million visitors a year from Yellowstone to Yosemite, to the Grand Canyon, more than 400 national parks are now closed. RICHARD SIEGERT, TOURIST FROM INDIANA: I'm not going to let Congress, you know, make me miss the Statue of Liberty, which is so important to me as a retired history teacher.

HARLOW: Tourists turned away. More than 21,000 national parks employees furloughed and thousands more like cleanup crews and concession stands workers all left without jobs.

VICTORIA DUNCAN, EMPLOYEE ON LIBERTY ISLAND: I have to find another job if, like, they are not paying us while we are laid off or file for unemployment but it's still not going to be enough. It's hard. Even to think about it is hard to think about.

HARLOW: Quinn Agard says he needs this job just to get by and he doesn't have a plan B.

(on camera): Do you have a message for Washington?

QUINN AGARD, EMPLOYEE ON LIBERTY ISLAND: Things like that could have a big impact on the people that aren't in the limelight, you know, the people who work in hourly positions and spots. This whole island will be shutdown. So, that's a ton of different positions that people won't be working and won't be getting paid for.

HARLOW (voice-over): Liberty Island sees up to 4 million visitors a year, 20,000 a day in peak season at $17 per ticket per adults, that's big money.

DAVE LUCHINGER, STATUE OF LIBERTY SUPERINTENDENT: Even more than the money, it's the fact that there are folks that, you know, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a lot of folks.

HARLOW: An opportunity that means a lot for so many like Stacy Garcia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And, Carol, here is what's unclear -- whether these federal government workers, like the park rangers, are going to get paid or not once the federal government gets things together and get things up and running. That's yet to be seen. But what we do know is workers, we just showed you like Quinn and like Victoria, concession stand workers that have these hourly jobs are not going to get paid.

So, every single day that Washington is fighting about this, they're not going to be working on Liberty Island and they're definitely, they told me, not going to get a paycheck. They have rent and bills like we all do here. So, this is really weighing on them.

COSTELLO: Well, it's so ironic that because of our government, people can't see a symbol of our government. Poppy Harlow --

HARLOW: Yes, it is.

COSTELLO: Just amazing. Not amazing in a good way either. Poppy Harlow, many thanks to you. Still to come in NEWSROOM: road rage erupting on a New York highway. Motorcyclists attack a driver after he hits the brakes. We have word of an arrest this morning. All the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We'll have more on the government shutdown. But, first, a check of other stories making news this morning.

A 28-year-old motorcyclist has been arrested in connection with a road rage incident that surfaced online. I'm sure you've seen it by now. It happened Sunday on New York City's west side highway. One member of a motorcycle group slows down in front of an SUV, which police say accidentally hits the bike, breaks the guy's arm. Dozens of angry bikers surrounded the SUV. They're already in the city here.

Police say they dented the vehicle and slashed the tires. The driver took off, hitting three bikers, breaking the legs of one of them. The motorcyclists pursue him, stopped the SUV, and one biker tries to open the door and pull the driver out. You see him there.

All of this happening in front of the driver's wife and his 2-year-old daughter. The driver gets away again, exiting the highway slowly, due to damaged tires. The bikers catch up at a red light where the police say driver is then dragged out and slashed in the face. He was treated at a nearby hospital. Police are using the video taken by a biker's helmet cam as they investigate the case.

Most of the classes at the University of California-Berkeley will meet today after an explosion on the campus. The blast was linked to a power system failure. One person was hurt and 20 others were trapped on elevators. The university blames the explosion on copper wire thieves. Eleven buildings are still without power.

In money news, Amazon plans to hire 70,000 full-time workers for the holiday season, that's 20,000 more than last year, the workers will helping staff more than 40 fulfillment centers across the country.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: This "I quit" video has now gone viral. Marina Schifrin used to work for a company producing videos for the web. She had a beef with her boss, who said she only cared about quantity not quality.

So, Marina made a video of herself in the empty office to Kanye West's "Gone." The subtitles make her case. Now, she's -- gone.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: for some lawmakers in Washington -- is beating President Obama more important that doing the work of the people? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)