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Last 2 Major Investment Banks Shift to Commercial Services; Presidential Candidates Take on Economic Crisis; New Concerns over North Korea's Nuclear Weapons

Aired September 22, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Beyond the bailout, from Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, all eyes are on the bottom line. President Bush calls on Congress to hurry up and pass the $700 billion rescue plan. Under the proposal, the Treasury Department would buy up bad mortgages and banks should then be more willing to lend money. Some partisan debate already getting started. It's the end of an era, though, on Wall Street. The last two major investment banks have officially shifted into commercial services. Last night the Feds approved the request of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. We'll look at what that means to them and to you.
So how are investors reacting. A live look at Wall Street now. Big board showing Dow Jones industrial average down about 110 points at the very moment.

Of course, we are covering all the angles with the CNN Money team. Christine Romans is breaking it down for us. What does it all mean to you and to your wallet. Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill where of course the negotiations have begun over this huge bailout. And CNN's Susan Lisovicz on Wall Street where the markets opened just a little while ago about 30 minutes or so.

Let's begin with you Susan in the New York Stock Exchange, down triple digits.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Heidi, there's a quote that I read this morning. It said the world that has changed. And that is putting it mildly. Things are developing fast and furious. And there's a lot of details that we just simply don't know.

$700 billion is a big, big number. And even the weekend, the weekend for investors to think about it apparently isn't enough. So you're seeing a selloff at the open. Given what we saw last week, I guess we could call it a modest selloff, even though it's triple digits. As far as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which will now become bank holding companies, have far more supervision. They won't be able to take as much risk. Morgan Stanley shares are sharply higher. Goldman Sachs trading to the downside.

And also we should mention a big mover today is Microsoft. $40 billion buy-back program from Microsoft. It's shares are up three and a half percent. And oil is up $3.50. This effort to bolster the financial industry could of course help the economy, could help demands for oil, and its shares, its price, rather, is sharply higher -- Heidi. COLLINS: All right. Susan, thank you for that.

Billions of dollars, lots of fine print, too. It's not easy to wrap your mind around the details of the rescue plan. Here to walk us through this is CNN's Christine Romans.

Take it away, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well frankly, people, Heidi, want more details. This is a three-page proposal that came out of the White House. And we know just a few things. We know that they're asking for $700 billion to mop up these toxic dead instruments from the banks. We know that they've asked to raise our debt ceiling to do that to $11.315 trillion, which is a whole heck of a lot of money. And we're used to a heck lot of money when we talk about the debt ceilings.

There's a lot of unknowns. How will they buy it? What will the pricing mechanism be? This is all the little devils of the details that the street wants to know about. At the same time, you have Democrats as Brianna has been reporting, that have other things that they would like to put in here as well.

So let's talk about the economy without a bailout. Because this is the reason why everyone agrees something has got to be done pretty quick. Companies can't make payroll or pay their bills, that leads to job losses. There's a big concern that could happen, you know, accelerate pretty quickly here and even -- you know, we've already been seeing job losses. Consumers and small businesses can't get loans. Corporate profits fall. That hurts government revenue. Housing prices would continue to fall. Property taxes would decline, and then funding drops for schools and local services. And pretty much all the way down the food chain in America you would feel the effects of this.

So that is what the government, Washington, both the White House and Congress are trying to avert here. They're trying to avert some kind of massive, massive impact on the economy from the fact that these banks are broken -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Christine Romans following all these numbers and trying to explain this humongous bailout for us. Appreciate that, Christine.

We have everybody out there today, of course. President George --

ROMANS: I'm honored to be called Susan.

COLLINS: Thank you, Christine.

President Bush to Congress says this, shelve the politics and pass the bailout plan. But Democrats say, not so fast. It's the politics of money. And CNN's Brianna Keilar is here now with the very latest on that angle.

Good morning to you, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Yes, we just heard President Bush in a statement saying that he appreciates Congress resisting the urge to tack on unrelated provisions to this rescue package. So you see there some gentle prodding from President Bush. And that's because while Democrats say they're fine with the price tag on the package, they're fine with the strategy of having the government take these bad mortgage-backed securities off the hands of financial institutions, they want to see more. They want to see among other things independent oversight of this process so they see where the money is going.

They also want to see the government getting involved in refinancing individual homeowners. Those homeowners who are a danger right now of possibly going into foreclosure with their homes. And they also want to limit executive pay. What they don't want to see is corporations giving huge salaries to their CEOs when those corporations being buoyed by $700 billion of taxpayer money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: If you're the CEO and the top people who made these decisions that are requiring the taxpayers to put money at risk. And We don't think we're going to spend $700 billion ultimately. But we're putting it at risk before we know how much we'll recover. And you're telling us have you made those decisions that require this taxpayer money, we can't limit the outside compensation you're getting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saying that he understands some of the concerns of Democrats, but he is pushing quick and clean passage of the Bush administration's proposal, and then basically saying, following it up with other legislation to solve some of the other problems affecting the U.S. economy, but really not trying to solve it all here in one swoop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: First, stabilizing the markets. That is only part of it. Once we stabilize the market, we need to ask ourselves, how did we get here? And what do we do about it so we don't get here again?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And as the negotiations continue, so do the hearings. We're expecting to see Secretary Paulson before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching closely. CNN's Brianna Keilar, thank you, Brianna. So how safe is your money? If that's a question you've been asking, which I'm sure you have, Gerri Willis is going to join us a little bit later in the show with some answers. Getting a jump start on the November election. Some voters have already been there, done that. Most states now allow any registered voter to vote early. Either in person or by absentee ballot. Nearly a third of the electorate is expected to be on board. None of the votes will be counted until election day.

Presidential politics, the candidates taking their economic messages deep into battleground states today. Senator John McCain at a live event for you hoping to make Pennsylvania a red state in this election. He's holding a town hall, which is exactly what we're looking at in Scranton this hour. And later today he'll team up with running mate Sarah Palin for a stop just outside of Philly. Wisconsin, another state that could go either way. And Senator Barack Obama is holding a lunchtime rally in Green Bay. His wife Michelle covering the basis in Madison.

Running mate Senator Joe Biden in Baltimore where he is expected to address the National Guard Association. That will happen next hour. All the latest campaign news is at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. It's all right there at CNNPolitics.com.

Six children in federal custody taken from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The compound in Arkansas was raided on Saturday night on suspicion the children there have been abused. Here's what Tony Alamo has told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF TONY ALAMO, TONY ALAMO CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: They will not find any pornography there. There is none. There never was any. And there's child abuse, child pornography or anything like that, they're barking up the wrong tree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: For now the children are in the custody of the Department of Human Services.

Opening statements under way in Atlanta in a long delayed murder trial of accused court house shooter Ryan Nichols. He's charged with gunning down four people, three of them at the federal courthouse in March of 2005. This is surveillance video of Nichols right after the shooting. His defense team conceived Nichols pulled the trigger, but he couldn't tell right from wrong at the time. He's pleading not by reason of insanity. Some court observers say the trial could last until Christmas.

Massive blasts killed dozens of people, but high ranking officials not among the dead in Pakistan. How were they saved?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New information to tell you about. Saturday's bomb blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, and why that hotel may have been targeted by terrorists. It could have something to do with who was expected to be there. Our Reza Sayah is in Islamabad now and is joining us to tell us more.

Reza, we are talking about some pretty high profile guests of this particular hotel.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. This is a new and somewhat unusual information in this investigation into this massive truck bombing that rocked the federal capitol of Islamabad on Saturday night. Let's walk you through what we have.

Earlier today in very dramatic fashion we had the head of Pakistan's interior ministry come out and say that on Saturday night, the night of the bombing, Pakistan's newly elected president Asif Ali Zardari along with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and another list of high ranking officials were actually supposed to die at the Marriott, the site of the suicide truck bombing.

Now, obviously, this raises a lot of questions. He also said that earlier in the day there was an abrupt change of plans. That they moved the location of the dinner, a kilometer away to the prime minister's house. If indeed that is true, this suggests that perhaps the bomber was not targeting the Marriott, and instead targeting the high ranking officials.

You also have to ask, did government officials know that something was about to go down in the Marriott on Saturday night? CNN did some digging, and we gathered some information that puts the Interior Ministry's statement into question. We spoke to the hotel owner, and he's saying, no, they were never scheduled to host the president, prime minister, or any other high ranking official on Saturday night.

And we also spoke with a Pakistani senator who said he was invited to the dinner, and it had always been scheduled at the Prime Minister's house. So some conflicting information that adds to an already confusing situation. In the meantime, the investigation continues into the suicide bombing. Of course, yesterday we had that dramatic video of the truck bomb smashing into the steel gate of the Marriott and minutes later blowing up.

No one has claimed responsibility for this massive attack, but analysts say based on the magnitude of this explosion, it has all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda. Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Reza Sayah coming to us live from Islamabad this morning.

Thank you for that, Reza.

And new concerns this morning as well about North Korea's nuclear program. The United Nations nuclear agency says Pyongyang has asked for seal to be removed from its main nuclear reactor. North Korea says it only wants to carry out tests, that will not involve nuclear materials but international watchdogs fear the communist nation could be inches towards the threat of relaunching its nuclear program. There's also concern of political instability there amidst reports leader Kim Jong-il, has suffered a stroke. Talks are reportedly underway to form a new coalition government in Israel. The foreign minister Tzipi Livni at the helm. She was chosen to lead the country's ruling party after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert officially resigned yesterday. He will remain interim prime minister until his successor is chosen.

President Bush delivers his farewell address to the U.N. tomorrow. The United Nations General Assembly meeting all week in New York. Among the concerns, the financial crisis here in the United States and its rippling effect around the world.

Speaking of, protect your money and your peace of mind. Gerri Willis will tell us about the safety nets in the economy just in case you slip.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly we want to check out the big board for you there. Down about 150 points today, resting at 11,237 for the Dow Jones industrial average. All of these on the heels of more and more financial news. Most immediately, that $700 billion federal bailout in Washington, D.C. this week. Hoping for a vote on that. We'll see what happens.

Given all the turmoil going on in the financial markets lately, we are all wondering about our own safety nets, of course. Is your money at risk? Personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here now with your financial checklist.

All right. So how do we get started? What's maybe the first thing that we should be doing?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi there, Heidi.

Well, the first thing you do is take stocks of your accounts. Figure out what you have in each of your accounts including savings, checking, CDs, joint accounts. That's because your money will be protected up to certain limits by the FDIC if the bank fails. Now just this weekend, there was another bank failure. Ameribank of West Virginia and that's the 12th bank failure this year. To protect your money, make sure you're within the insurance limits.

Now let's take a look at some of them. Here are the FDIC coverage limits. For individual accounts it's $100,000. For joint accounts, $200,000. For retirement accounts, $250,000. Now, you can actually have more money than this at one bank as long as you divide up your funds in various ownership categories. You should know, credit unions are also insured up to the same limits.

Now, if you have a brokerage account you're protected in case of bankruptcy. The broker goes into bankruptcy, that is, up to half a million dollars for securities. So there's back up out there, Heidi. I just want people to understand that we have these problems with banks what they're coverage is here.

COLLINS: Yes, that's a great point, Gerri. What about money markets? A lot of people wondering if they're safer now.

WILLIS: Yes. The money market accounts just last week we saw big troubles with money market. The good news here is that the government has said we're going to stand behind money markets for the rest of the year. This is very good news for small investors. Because we all rely on these accounts for our money that we use in emergencies.

Now, here's what you need to do though. If you remain concerned about your money market account, check what it holds. And you can do this by looking at the prospectus or calling the company itself. The safest money market accounts are ones that invest in treasuries. Not corporate debt, but treasuries. That's what you want to look for.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. And other people wondering about insurance accounts, too. I know they're thinking about AIG and all of this.

WILLIS: Well, here's what you need to know about that. If you had an AIG insurance policy, maybe you had an annuity, the good news here is it doesn't matter what happens to the parent company. These insurance companies act on their own. They're separately capitalized. They have their own businesses, and they're actually in very good shape. So you're going to be OK. You don't have to worry about that. But I know that folks out there have been very concerned about AIG. A lot of these annuities are sold to older Americans. The good news here is you're going to get the money you're due because the federal government is standing behind it. Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis. Gerri, thank you.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

COLLINS: You're stuck in rush hour traffic. Would you shot a few extra bucks to hop into a less crowded lane? Well, many metro areas are creating that option and facing a lot of criticism for it.

CNN's John Zarrella explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Watch this. A three-car simultaneous swerve between the pylons. An asphalt version of an Olympic slalom. Negotiating Miami's new high occupancy toll lanes, hot lanes for short has been an adventure.

CHRIS CRABTREE, COMMUTER: The joys of starting out with a new process and some change.

ZARRELLA: For 12 years Chris Crabtree has been driving interstate 95 to work in downtown Miami, 45 miles each way, two hours a day, spent in motorist misery. Now he has a choice, sit in rush hour gridlock or pay a toll and ride the hot lane and maybe keep his sanity. CRABTREE: I'm in the car almost two hours a day, you know, if I can save an extra 15, 20, 30 minutes on either end, you know it adds up over time.

ZARRELLA: Miami is joining a growing list of places converting their most congested stretches of highways into pay ways where the toll fluctuates based on traffic volume. Some sarcastically dub them Lexus lane, just for the rich who can afford a "Driving Miss Daisy" ride, rather than a driving-you-crazy ride.

ART LEAHY, ORANGE CO., FLA. TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY: They're buying time. They're buying speed.

ZARRELLA: But Art Leahy who overseas the California hot lanes says most people there use the lane out of necessity and not every day.

LEAHY: Some of them are gardeners, they need to get home for their children. We find people who do have expensive cars in the free lanes because they choose not to pay a toll.

ZARRELLA: Ten bucks for 10 miles during some peak travel time. And when they first open there's clearly a learning curve like once you're in the lane, you can't get out. Now you can try.

JOAN JONES, COMMUTER: I noticed one of the cars cut through the barricade and the trooper went right behind them.

ZARRELLA: That will cost a lot more than the toll.

(on-camera): In Miami, the toll will fluctuate from 25 cents to $2.50. Now there are ways to avoid paying it. Just don't get on it. Or if you're in a registered three-person carpool, it's free.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: A night of rising stars. The Emmys shine on both broadcast and cable shows. We've got the winners.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Battleground Pennsylvania, the presidential campaign all about issue #1 the government's financial rescue plan. Republican Senator John McCain talking about it this morning at a town hall event in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And we'll bring the event to you live just as soon as he steps to the microphones there.

The financial bailout is dominating presidential politics. Senator Barack Obama calls the bailout a concept, not a plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principle of transparency and fairness and reform. We can't allow this to happen again. They have run this government - they have run this economy into the ground. We've got to make sure that we lift it back up, but we have to have some rules in place to make sure it doesn't happen again.

First, there must be no blank checks when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money. Second, taxpayers shouldn't be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street while they're going out the door. Third, taxpayers should be protected. And should be able to recoup some of this investment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Obama will hold a lunchtime rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, today. We'll look for that event around 1:00 Eastern.

Gas prices down nationwide for a fifth straight day. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded just under $3.74 a gallon, according to AAA. That's more than 37 cents below the record. High pump price recorded just two months ago.

The gas prices aren't the big problem in the south right now, although it's actually finding the gas. Many stations have run out due to post-hurricane supply shortages. A pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast refineries to a number of states have been forced to go to reserve in recent days. More refineries that closed before Ike hit are going back online. Experts say that will help with the supply problem.

Surprise problem, that's a supply problem. Need an energy fix? Well, how about getting one from a major city to another major city for just a dollar. It's the latest trend in the bus business. CNN'S money.com Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.

Hi there, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN MONEY.COM: Good morning, Heidi. Well you know, these days people want to be in the cheap seats because of gas prices. That's prompting a big change in the bus industry. Discounters like Bolt Bus, Megabus, they're popping up all over the place. This is interesting. They come complete with a marketing gimmick to reel in drivers who don't want to pay to fill their tank up. The hook is a bus ride for as little as one buck. They offer one-buck tickets on every ride. Just one per ride though. Megabus offers one cheap seat on each run as well. And many times they offer more, prices do go up just gradually from there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HALL, GENERAL MANAGER, BOLT BUS: The average fare today is probably about $17 or $18 on average. Which, you can't hardly take a cab ride across the city or get a hamburger for lunch for $18 anymore. So, I think it's a great value.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: Yes. It certainly is with prices these days. Bolt Bus travels between Philly, New York, Boston and D.C. Mega Bus takes you to all to the cities and also Toronto and 18 places, Heidi, across the Midwest.

COLLINS: Wow. That sounds pretty cool. What do you have to do to get the $1 fare?

HARLOW: Yes. You have to be on top of this. The tickets sell on each company's Web site. The $1 fares, they go pretty fast these days with the gas prices we're seeing.

Today oil's up, 3.50, so around $108 a barrel. So, even more of an incentive. You want to get on that web site early. You're also going to have better luck if you pick the off peak days and times. And Bolt Bus says -- this is crazy -- their demand has been so high, the company turned a profit in just two months after they opened. Mega Bus says it's seen an 80 percent year over year growth in ridership on many of its routes. Another bonus, one of those buses can take 30 or more cars off the road.

So, we want to hear from all of you. Have you taken one of these? Did you get the dollar seat? Let us know on ireport.com/energyfix -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Poppy Harlow, thank you.

In fact, you can follow your fortunes at CNNmoney.com. We've got all the days market news and numbers, expert analysis, too and a lot more. So, make sure you check that out.

Meanwhile, life is slowly getting back to normal along the upper Texas Gulf Coast. More than 1,600 people who evacuated ahead of hurricane Ike, are on the road again, this time heading home.

And in Houston, like it or not, kids are back in school. All along the coast, power is being restored and businesses are re- opening. Cell phone service also improving, but Galveston, still off limits until at least Wednesday. In fact, there's some of the pictures for you. The kids going back to school. Nice Star Wars backpack there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: When the weather becomes the news, remember to send us your iReports. Just go to ireport.com. Or, type ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone. But of course, please stay safe.

Also want to let you know we are watching Scranton, Pennsylvania, this morning as Senator John McCain will be holding a town hall meeting. Obviously going to be talking -- we believe anyway -- about the financial crisis and the $700 billion federal bailout. So, we will bring that event to you live when it happens.

First day for a financial crisis. Changes in the works in Washington and on Wall Street. How investors are feeling right now. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quick reminder now. We are awaiting Senator John McCain to make his way to the podium there, for the town hall meeting. People have gather there had in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We expect that he'll be talking about the $700 billion federal bailout plan. So, we'll bring some of those comments to you live, just as soon as he gets to the microphones there.

The federal corruption trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens gets under way this morning in Washington. Stevens is expected to be in the courtroom for jury selection. The 84-year-old Republican is up for re-election and has asked for a speedy trial. Stevens is fighting a seven count indictment. He's accused of lying on Senate disclosure forms about more than $250,000 worth of repair work on his home. It was paid for by an oil services contractor who has admitted bribing state lawmakers. But, Stevens is not accused of taking bribes. He faces five years in prison on each of the counts. But Stevens says he is innocent. He is asking voters to hold out judgment until the evidence is in.

In Las Vegas the O.J. Simpson trial moves into its second week. Today, the defense team will get a chance to question collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio. Simpson is accused of armed robbery and a kidnapping in an alleged attempt to steal sports memorabilia from a casino hotel room.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: We have been waiting for the Republican nominee for president, Senator John McCain to take to the podium there. Town Hall meeting happening in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Saying his thank-yous and listening to the crowd's cheers for now.

But, the reason we want to go to him today is of course, is because we believe he'll be talking more about what Susan was just mentioning, this huge federal bailout. The $700 billion.

Let's go ahead and listen now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ... Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you all for being here this morning. That's a great welcome.

And I'd like to also say as all of you know, he's here, our friend our colleague and great senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter is here. I know that Arlen is here. Thank you, Arlen. Great senator, great lawmaker. And I also found a couple more. That great Irish senator from the state of Connecticut, Joe Lieberman.

(APPLAUSE)

At least he claims it. A lot of us do. And also senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, who is a good friend, good friend also.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank you Shamus Boyle, a great job he does as president of this organization. Ned McGinley, Joe Roach, Danny O'Connell, Neil (INAUDIBLE) and Jack O'connell. Its seems every name has an 'O' in the beginning of the --

So, I want to say and I hope the entire team from the office is here today with us. Looking forward to meeting Dwight Shrewd. I wanted to make him my running mate before I decided on Sarah Palin. Great, great, great person.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, I don't know why it is that -- and I'm sure you know, but I still don't know why it is. There's only one ethnic joke can be told in politics and that's Irish jokes. And I don't know why that is. But it's just is the case. So, here's the joke.

There's a bar in Philadelphia, empty. One guy down at either end of the bar. Finally, one guy get up, goes down, sits next to the guy next to him in the bar and says, where are you from? He says, I'm from Ireland. He says, really? He says, I'm from Ireland, too. He says, oh, let me buy you a drink. He says no, let me buy you a drink. Buying each other drinks back and forth. The guy says, well where you from in Ireland? He says, I'm from Dublin. He says, no. He said, I'm from Dublin, too. Really? Back and forth. Finally, the guy says, where did you go to high school? He said, I went to St. Mary's. He said you couldn't have gone to St. Mary's. He said, I went to St. Mary's. Wow. Buying each other drinks, a lot of commotion. A guy walks in the bar, sees all the commotion down there and says to the bartender, he says, what's going on down there? The bartender said, it's just the O'Reilly twins getting drunk again.

(LAUGHTER)

And before I go much further I'd to also like to point out what we know and that is the contribution of Irish-Americans in literally every war this nation has been engaged in.

(APPLAUSE)

And I see here with me these guys with hats on. And could I ask our veterans to stand and so we can say thank you for all your service. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. We're honored. We're honored.

(APPLAUSE)

When you look at the contributions that Irish-Americans have made in every war, including the one we're in today, it's remarkable. It's remarkable. And it's a great and proud heritage. And I want to talk to you about a couple of issues today. And first I'd like to say, thank you for honoring me, the Irish-American presidential forum has been held since 1984. And since its inception, there has been a lack of Republicans. While my affections for Democrats and Independent is deep and wide, I'm proud to be the first Republican to appear before the forum.

(APPLAUSE)

And you're very kind to invite someone with a name like McCain, a Scotch-Irish descendent, whose family came to the New World a number of generations ago. My wife's maiden name is Hensley, by the way. But, anyway, I try to get back to Ireland, as often as possible.

And I's like to begin by talking to you about some of the issues that are concern to Irish-Americans. But, before I do, I's like to take a couple of minutes to talk about an issue that concerns us all. And that's the economic crisis we've all been following. On Friday, I laid out a plan for addressing this crisis. At its heart, my plan is about keeping people in their homes and safeguarding the life savings of all Americans by protecting our financial system in capital markets. Those are priorities. Keep people in their homes and protect their savings. We must do that.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator Obama has declined to put forth a plan of his own in a time of crisis when leadership is needed. Senator Obama has simply not provided it. And the truth is that we don't have time to wait for Senator Obama's input for our nation to act. I think it's clear that Congress must act and act quickly. I laid out my plan and my priorities last Friday. I spoke to Secretary Paulson about it over the weekend. And I've been looking at the plan that the administration has put forth. I urge Congress to study this proposal carefully as they consider the remedy for this crisis.

As for me, I'm greatly concerned about the plan that gives a single individual the unprecedented power to spend one trillion dollars without any meaningful accountability. Never before in the history of our nation has so much power and money been concentrated in the hands of one person. A person I admire and respect a great deal, Secretary Paulson. This arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable. And when we're talking about a trillion dollars of taxpayer money, "trust me" just didn't good enough. We'll not --

(APPLAUSE)

We won't solve a problem caused by poor oversight with a plan that has no oversight. And part of the reason we're facing in crisis is an antiquated regulatory system of uncoordinated agencies that just haven't been doing their job.

I believe we need a high level of oversight board to impose accountability and establish concrete criteria for who gets help and who doesn't. They must ensure that throughout this crisis, the government is a careful steward of the taxpayers' dollars.

(APPLAUSE)

This oversight board should be bipartisan and have qualified citizens who have no agenda but the protection of taxpayers in the financial markets. People like Warren Buffet, who supports my opponent. Governor Mitt Romney, or maybe Michael Bloomberg, an Independent, to oversee this. The firms we help need accountability, too. We can't have taxpayers footing the bill for bloated golden parachutes like see in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy with the top executives --

(APPLAUSE)

My friends, the top executives are asking for $2.5 billion in bonuses after they ran the company into the ground. The senior executives of any firm that's bailed out by the Treasury should not be making more money than the highest paid government official. We should have that criteria.

(APPLAUSE)

And let's have some transparency in this process. Let's have transparency. The American people have the right to know which firms will be helped, what selection will be based on and how much that help will cost. The details of the process and the transaction itself should be made available online for public scrutiny.

(APPLAUSE)

And as Congress examines this package, I would encourage all members to set aside the pressures of Washington and Wall Street. As we determine what to do, we need to put our country first and focus what's best for mainstream. It's the excess and greed of Washington and Wall Street that got us in this situation to start with. We must help keep people in their homes. We must protect American savings and we must keep students with loans in school.

What we need --

(APPLAUSE)

-- What we need in any reform is accountability for Wall Street, accountability for government, and a commitment to protecting peoples' homes and life savings and restoring our financial markets. Times are tough. Times are tough for our economy, and I expect more tough economic news before the election.

My commitment to the American people is to fix the Wall Street mess, reform Washington, and most importantly, enact a pro-growth agenda to create jobs for Americans and get this country back on track. That's what I promise you.

(APPLAUSE)

Now there's a couple of things we could learn from the Irish in that regard. A commitment to low business taxes and free trade has made it the home of choices for businesses around Europe and the world. I believe that both these policies are important examples. And if I'm elected president, my agenda will include increasing trade between the United States and Ireland, along with a successfully completed recent discussions on visas for the benefits of all of our citizens.

(APPLAUSE)

Finally, let me say that if you look around the world today, it's easy to see problems and challenges almost everywhere. Our country is in the midst of two wars. Our economy is in turmoil. A number of regions around the globe are unstable or unfriendly. You saw the blowing up of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad just in the last couple of days. But events in other places are inspirational, and that's certainly true of Northern Ireland. Many of those who saw decades of fighting in that proud and beautiful land thought that the day might never come when talk took the place of tanks and ballots the place of bullets. That day is gone in Northern Ireland, and we're all, Irish and American alike, better off for it.

And so --

(APPLAUSE)

-- when in May of last year the world saw images of a devolved government in Belfast restored under the leadership of Ian Paisley and Mark McGinnis it captured a political courage the previous generation could scarcely have imagine. Now there remains hard work ahead.

As you know, there is still a big problem about the police and the administration of justice. We know that that's the last hurdle, though, really the last major hurdle. I am remaining committed to do everything I can to get us through that last hurdle. It is an honor --

(APPLAUSE)

-- it's an honor for the United States to be trusted as an honest broker by both parties to the Good Friday Agreement. If I'm elected president I'll continue America's leadership role. I am committed, as I know the American people are committed, to furthering the bonds of cooperation that have been forged in Northern Ireland's peace process. As a demonstration of the commitment, I will continue the practice begun by President Clinton of appointing a U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.

(APPLAUSE)

I know that Senator Obama has questioned whether that appointment is need. I would urge him to reconsider. I want to assure you that if I'm elected president there will be no weakening in America's commitment to peace in Northern Ireland, and I'll maintain the special U.S. envoy. The people of Northern Ireland want the same things that we as Americans want -- the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their children.

I'd like to talk about one more issue with you that has been important to the people in this audience and this leadership of our Irish/American organizations throughout America, and that's the issue of immigration. My friends, I just want to remind you of a bit of history. I knew that if I took on the issue of illegal immigration it was going to hurt me in my own party because I knew that I had to reach across the aisle to Ted Kennedy, and we had to work together for comprehensive immigration reform because we cannot have a continuing situation where there are 12 million people in this country illegally in broken borders. But we also have to have a temporary worker program.

(APPLAUSE)

So -- so we came up with a comprehensive plan, and we worked, and we worked, and we brought it to the floor of the Senate twice. And we came very close. And it didn't make me the most popular member of my own party. And it almost cost me the nomination of my party. But I believe we have to have a commitment because it's a national security issue as well as economic issue as well as a humanitarian issue that we enact comprehensive immigration reform. The three major parts of that --

(APPLAUSE)

-- the three major parts of that are having our borders secured. And we must secure our borders not just from illegal immigration --

(APPLAUSE)

-- but also because we have to stop the flow of illegal drugs that are flowing across our southern border as well.

COLLINS: There you have a portion of Senator John McCain in Scranton, Pennsylvania, talking about a lot of different issues. Obviously right now talking about immigration. Earlier, though, mentioning the $700 billion federal bailout.

So, as he addresses that town hall, want to remind you as well that the other candidate, Senator Barack Obama, will be in Green Bay, Wisconsin, talking today. That's going to happen about 1:00 Eastern time.

First day for financial crisis changes in the worth (ph) in Washington and on Wall Street. A live look now at the numbers for you. Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 130 points.

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COLLINS: Yes, it's supposed to look just like that. That really is a pink fire truck. At the moment it's in Concord, New Hampshire, just one of the stops on a nationwide tour to raise awareness about breast cancer. Nice idea.

I'm Heidi Collins. Join me again tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

For now, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris now.