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House Debates Financial Rescue Plan; Southern States Still Suffering from Gas Shortages; Overseas Markets Tank; Helicopter Crash in Maryland Leaves 4 Dead
Aired September 29, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There is a deal on the table, but will the votes be there? This morning the House debates the financial rescue plan. Watching the lawmakers, angry constituents and anxious investors.
Plus tanks running dry. Tempers running short. Some southern cities still have gas shortages but why, some say, the problem could go on for several more days.
It's Monday, September 29th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Your money, their decision. House lawmakers ready to debate the $700 billion bailout plan. They are expected to vote within a few hours. So your -- wallet and the nation's financial system could actually be hanging in the balance yet again.
Rumblings from Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue now. President Bush speaks out and later this hour investors will be weighing in.
Are we in for another white knuckle ride on Wall Street? Well, unsettling signs from overseas, that's for sure.
At last check, London shares were down more than 2.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 4.3 percent and Japan's NIKKEI lost almost 1.3 percent.
So what does it all mean?
CNN's money team is in place to walk you through all of this. Kathleen Koch is at the White House, where President Bush just spoke a little bit earlier this morning. Christine Romans has the big picture in New York, and following the House debate now, CNN's Kate Bolduan.
Let's begin with you, Kate, on Capitol Hill. What are we expecting to happen today? Is it going to pass?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the question I wish I had the full answer to, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: But as we know on Capitol Hill you can never say exactly how things are going until the final vote is counted, but in short, they are optimistic. Debate on this bill is expected to begin within an hour, and that should be about three hours of debate over this bailout.
This comes after a very busy yesterday for principal negotiators and party leaders. They are trying to line up votes and win over support from colleagues that were possibly still holding out and pushing with some opposition against elements of this plan.
So what is in the plan? Well, we continue to talk about this, authorizing the $700 billion to the treasury, and authority to buy up troubled mortgage assets. But some key compromises that ended up coming out in this bill.
There's quite some strong oversight on the Treasury. There are two oversight boards, the congressional oversight board and this would also have a federal oversight board. Another aspect is cap or limit on executive compensation and the golden parachute we've talked so much about, in order to make sure the top executives of financial firms that get help from this bailout to make sure they also aren't getting help for their pockets at the same time.
Well, negotiators I've talked to and the key leaders who were really sitting down at table they -- they admit that it isn't a perfect bill for either party. There were a lot of compromises here but they say it's -- a perfect compromise and this needs to get passed because it needs to boost confidence for the market.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We deeply believe this is essential for dealing with people's retirement accounts, student loans, small businesses, all across this country of ours.
The credit is not flowing to them, and that's really the problem here. That's why I'm supporting this and why we spent 11 days pulling this together.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MINORITY WHIP: I think the alternative is what our members have to think about. Clearly this is going to have to be a bipartisan effort. We're working closely with the majority to see if we can't get this done and get it done for the country today, and it's not easy.
There's no question about that. But these aren't easy times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Not an easy job for Republican Congressman Roy Blunt, that you heard from right there. He's representing a group of House conservatives who are very much opposed to the bill, but a nod, too, the House conservatives in this final plan is the insurance plan the treasury will set up, basically ,to guarantee the mortgage assets rather than buy them up and hopefully -- as the negotiators say, hopefully conservatives will see that, will take some of the risk -- more risk away from taxpayers. COLLINS: Yes, so we should remember that this is just one more step. I think a lot of people thought that the deal was done...
BOLDUAN: Right.
COLLINS: ... because of the way everything came through on the weekend, but we are still waiting for the vote, obviously, today.
Kate Bolduan from Capitol Hill -- thank you, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
COLLINS: President Bush reaching out to Congress. Lawmakers feeling the heat from angry voters back home. It could be a volatile week of debate.
Kathleen Koch is at the White House now with more on this.
So Kathleen, this could stretch out for many more days?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And volatile, I think, Heidi, is an understatement. The president certainly has his work cut out for him on this one, as you've heard.
Many members of his own Republican Party have deep reservations about this measure. Most Americans have a lot of concerns about whether this is the right thing to do. So the president came out on the south drive earlier this morning, bringing to bear in his best presidential powers of persuasion.
He called this a, quote, "bold bill," that he (INAUDIBLE) keeps the financial crisis from spreading throughout the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's clear that the United States is serious about restoring confidence and stability in our financial system. I know many Americans are worried about the cost of the bill, and I understand their concern.
This bill commits up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars. That's a large amount of money as necessary to have an impact on our financial system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The president said that he understands that this will be a difficult vote for lawmakers. He made the case again that this bailout plan isn't just about Wall Street, but it's about Main Street, too, saying, quote, "A vote for this bill is a vote to prevent economic damage to you and your community."
Now senior administration official tells me the president has been personally involved throughout and that right now the president is on the phone calling lawmakers, urging them to vote for this measure. The official said, quote, "Nobody is taking anything for granted on this but at the same time, he says, they are, quote, "pretty confident that they've got the votes in both the House and Senate -- Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. We'll be watching, obviously. CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House -- thanks, Kathleen.
KOCH: You bet.
COLLINS: Also this morning, another major bank changes hands now. And here with the details, Christine Romans.
Christine, good morning to you. OK, so we're talking about Wachovia here. Well, their banking operations are going to be taken over. They got up to $1 a share? Right?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's take a look at this for a second. This is starting to become like survival of the fittest in the banking sector.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: It really is. The FDIC says it and the treasury and the Fed together sort of stepped in and helped the banking operations of Wachovia be sold to Citigroup. So if you are a customer of Wachovia, your bank is no longer. It is owned now by Citigroup.
Now we're hearing from the FDIC chairman Sheila Bair there is no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual. So you can use your ATM machine at Wachovia.
But, listen, this was a -- this is a stock, as you point out that has gone from, I think, $10 a share last week to just 75 cents or something this morning. I mean this is -- investors have just pummeled this.
Part of the problem is that this was -- a bank with a lot of exposure to mortgage lending. And as we know, people are starting to default on their mortgage loans and they're starting to fall into foreclosure.
COLLINS: It's bad assets that we keep hearing about.
ROMANS: It's a -- and that's absolutely right. And so the exposure there is what really hurt Wachovia. So it's kind of a complicated deal. It's a little bit interesting. FDIC orchestrated the sale to Citigroup.
Citigroup is going to take the first 40 -- absorbed the first $42 billion in losses. Then the FDIC will absorb the losses beyond that, if there are in any, and then Citigroup is giving them preferred stock to the government. So it...
COLLINS: Got it.
ROMANS: This all -- it's really complicated.
COLLINS: I know.
ROMANS: And you know what? We have never seen stuff like this before. So I'm telling you, it's a new one every day for all of us here.
COLLINS: It really is. Quickly, who stands to gain from all of this?
ROMANS: Who stands to gain? Well, you can say that, I guess, the banking sector and Main Street gain, because you've got a weak bank that has now been absorbed and might have a chance to keep going here, but, you know, we're rewriting the rules here as we go.
I mean, honestly, to not have anymore bloodletting is what -- is the best we could hope for and the economy, as we know, is already going to be weak for probably some months to come.
So you know -- so here -- you know who gains? It's like, well, who loses the least is the best way to look at it.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. The lesser of the two evils.
All right, CNN's Christine Romans, thank you for that.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: For complete details now of the plan, we're talking about the financial bailout plan, and in-depth coverage of America's money crisis, you can always visit our financial Web site. There's an awful lot there to check out at CNNmoney.com.
A run of the mill storm. Residents of Maine used to nor'easters say Hurricane Kyle did not impress. No fierce winds, just a lot of rain. Kyle is now a tropical storm blowing into the Canadian Maritimes.
At its worse the storm knocked out power to more than 40,000 customers in Nova Scotia. Right now about 9,000 people there are still in the dark.
Reynolds Wolf is standing by now with the very latest on all this. We've got Kyle and Laura to talk about -- Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Well, what is left of Kyle continues to march its way into parts of New Brunswick. I will tell you, though, that, really, it really didn't give a whole lot of action to people in parts of Maine. Certainly some great news for them.
Still we're seeing some scattered showers in places like Providence back over to Boston with Red Sox splitting a doubleheader yesterday. Make your way to the north and you'll notice in New Brunswick, this is all that we have left at least on radar with Kyle. Now, as we go a little bit deeper into the Atlantic we've got the second story to talk about. Not a tropical storm, rather a subtropical storm. What is the difference, you might wonder? Well, the difference is mainly with the temperatures, this is a cold force system.
And I'll tell you something else, the center of circulation, instead of the band of storms, or say, thunderstorms around the center being closed, they extend about 100 miles average which makes just a little bit difference in terms of temperature and structure.
Meanwhile, the storm, thankfully -- I expected to threaten the U.S. at all, going to move a little bit deeper into the Atlantic as we get into Wednesday, into Thursday, and it will weaken gradually as it goes further north and interacts with cooler water.
Meanwhile, speaking of water, we can see a lot of it falling from the skies. We showed you the rainfall in places like Boston. But as we make our way back to the Midwest, I would certainly expect the possibilities some delays in places like, say, Chicago and maybe even into St. Louis.
We got one long land of storms that's going to drive through the western Great Lakes and into the Midwest. Nothing severe at this point but certainly enough to cause a little bit of a problem, I would say, in some of those airports.
Meanwhile, we got a shot for you in Boston. Let's go to that right now. Here's how things are looking, beautiful cloudy skies. You see the skyline in the city. You can also see right in the middle of the picture, part of the Charles River, a beautiful day there.
Looks like it will be much better as we get to the afternoon with a little more sunshine moving in to all of New England.
That's a look at your forecast, Heidi. Let's send it back to you.
COLLINS: All right, Reynolds. Thank you.
WOLF: Any time.
COLLINS: Some people are driving mad. In fact, they're resorting to some pretty extreme stuff, as gas shortages rip southern cities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT PICART, ATLANTA IREPORTER: This is -- Sunday, September 28th, and I'm in this crazy line, 2:30 in the afternoon, Marietta, Georgia, Atlanta. Know, I moved to this city because I thought it would be great, and here I am an hour into getting gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: Well, you can see how frustrated some people are getting, obviously. That was Robert Pickart. He's originally from Toronto but he lives in Kennesaw, Georgia, which is north of Atlanta.
He says he and his wife took two cars to a friend's soccer game, which is a little bit further south in Marietta where he was waiting in that line, which I passed, too. That's the area where I live.
And boy, I'll tell you what, at least 10 gas stations, he says, were all empty. Many saw the backup of traffic, at which, my estimation was about two miles long. He thought there was an accident and then realized it was just a gas station with gas.
So, meanwhile, think about this. Gas prices are falling again nationwide. AAA reports the average price of a gallon of regular leaded, about $3.64. The average price now down for straight 12 days.
So that is the good news. The bad news, though, more of this. Drivers in some southern cities like Atlanta, gas really, really hard to find now. People are being driven to drastic measures.
In fact, our Rusty Dornin is at an Atlanta gas station now this morning.
So, Rusty, how do things look to you?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been sort of an ebb and flow here, Heidi. This line is actually very short here at Marietta. But you were talking about gas $3.60 gallon.
Here it is $4.60 a gallon.
COLLINS: Yes.
DORNIN: Basically because that's what they can get from drivers now. And as you know, it is catch as catch can, trying to find gas in the Atlanta area and from the southeast, basically, from Nashville all the way over to Charlotte.
This station has it all coned off, as you can see, trying to organize people so we don't have the fights that have been emerging in some of the areas. This gas station got about half the load.
4,500 gallons of gas. It's supposed to last until noon. And when we first got here we saw a lot of postal service trucks lined up here to get gas. They're having problems as well, and while rain, sleet and snow may be no problem for the post office, no gas, that's a problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN (on camera): Have you had any of the postal employees run out of gas?
KEVIN PHILLIPS, USPS MANAGER: Here and there, yes. And it's been really difficult. So not only the folks with vehicles but the employees being able to come to work in the morning and get to work in the morning because a lot of them are running into delays trying to find fuel because a lot of them, you know, live a ways away from the stations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: All right. We're here with James Doyle, who is filling up his truck.
James, how much of a problem have you had finding gas in the area?
JAMES DOYLE, MOTORIST: It's impossible to find gas where I'm from, up in Cummings. There's no gas...
DORNIN: You're about 40 miles north of Atlanta?
DOYLE: Right.
DORNIN: Have you run out or come close?
DOYLE: I've come pretty close, yes. I have friends who were out. I'm filling up some containers now to bring some gas back up to them.
DORNIN: Now how long -- what's the longest you've waited in line?
DOYLE: 30 minutes. But I refused to wait. I have friends who have waited for two hours, I will not do it.
DORNIN: So how are you planning your strategy? I mean a lot of people -- I mean I know I got up early on the morning on Saturday, figuring how to go to my local station, sure enough, I had, you know, an hour later, it was closed.
How are you planning your strategy?
DOYLE: I'm driving less. I'm driving less. I think most people are.
DORNIN: And how about paying? You're paying $4.16 a gallon for gas.
DOYLE: Well, it's been more expensive so it's certainly been cheaper than it has been relatively speaking, but it's just a matter of getting it now. So I'm surprised it's as low it is considering how little there seems to be.
DORNIN: James Doyle, thank you very much, filling up his SUV.
Definitely a problem for southeast drivers. AAA is saying this could last until Columbus Day. One fuel distributor I spoke to did say there is more gas coming into the system but you still have a bit of a panic mode and people are, obviously -- they're coming in, also they're also filling up gas cans... COLLINS: Yes.
DORNIN: ... which isn't helping the problem, and the tankers are not delivering their full loads to the gas stations. So they're running out of fuel in four, five hours -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, it's really an interesting story, because there's are just two sides to it. We had the initial supply issue because of the hurricane and then the attitude and the emotion after it.
Everybody is seemingly filling up every chance they get more often than they normally would because they're afraid that they're going to run out of gas. So we'll have to obviously follow this one.
Rusty, sure do appreciate that. Rusty Dornin in Atlanta this morning.
Hurricane Gustav and Ike, the one-two punch, leaves the Gulf Coast fishing industry treading water.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY GRIFFIN, MARINA OWNER IN LAFITTE, LA.: It's sad when two hurricanes come back to back and you know, wind will mess up your house and then flooding might damage your boat, and -- and damage your ability to go out and catch fish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Some commercial fishermen whose boats are still in one piece are staying off the water worried about all of the storm debris.
Analysts estimate the industry could lose between $150 and 200 million and that, of course, will mean higher prices for the rest of us.
A solemn occasion shaken by bombings. Is there a positive sign after the violence? Live report from Baghdad.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Kidnapped tourist rescued. Great news for the families of 11 Europeans, eight Egyptians kidnapped from a remote area in Southern Egypt. They are all safe this morning and now headed to Cairo.
Egypt's prime minister says they were not hurt. Another source says no ransom was paid. The tourists were apparently captured and taken to nearby Sudan 10 days ago.
Expect to get some more details about the rescue at a news conference coming up later today.
A car stuffed with explosives went off this morning in northern Lebanon. It's a target -- its target, a busload of soldiers that are headed for Beirut. At least four soldiers are now dead. It is the second deadliest attack on Lebanese troops in less than two months. Recently Tripoli has been rocked by fighting between pro-government forces and pro-Syrian gunmen.
Bloody Sunday in Baghdad. Dozens of explosions rock Iraq's capital as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close. The government reporting at least 35 people killed, more than 111 wounded in just that one day.
Despite that, the U.S. commander in Baghdad says Ramadan violence is down sharply from last year. Our Cal Perry is in Baghdad now with the very latest.
So what does this say then, Cal, about the surge and the violence? And it's interesting to look at the violence compared to last year's holy month.
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely. And, Heidi, I think it speaks to the fragility of the situation here on the ground and those security gains that Iraqis has enjoyed in the past few months.
And that's not my word fragile, that's the word that General Petraeus used before leaving Iraq. He said Iraq is still, quote, "a fragile situation."
Now I had the chance to sit down with General Lloyd Austin. He's the number two top commander here in Iraq and the U.S. military. Here's what he had to say about the current situation in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, COMMANDER, MULTI NATIONAL CORPS-IRAQ: This is a very interesting environment. And as you know, things can change almost overnight. And we, we're focused on guarding against those things that could cause, cause elements to shift in the environment that could lead -- lead to increased levels of violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: So things can change overnight. That was his key statement to me, and I couldn't help but notice during the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, we kept hearing the same line over and over again.
The surge has been a success. Well, the surge has been a success so far, Heidi, but I think yesterday's attacks certainly speak to that.
COLLINS: And you talk about things changing on a dime. I remember hearing an awful lot, and we don't hear about it as often now, about foreign fighters, Cal? I'm understanding that some of them are returning to Iran now?
PERRY: Absolutely. And we heard this in the debate as well, when the debate shifted to Iran, we heard John McCain say two things. Number one, that Iran is still planting high explosives devices, they're providing those high explosives for IEDs that are killing troops.
And he also said that Shia fighters are being trained in Iran and are now returning to Iraq. The U.S. military has been passing out fliers in part of Baghdad warning residents. Here they are, these fliers and they say in Arabic, welcome back. We've been waiting for you.
This is a major concern amongst commanders here on the ground. These fighters coming back and perhaps bringing back the violence to the levels that we've seen before. All of this comes during the holy month of Ramadan. We've seen an uptick of violence in the past week or so.
So it really begs the question, is this violence directed at time as during these celebrations or is Iraq sliding back into its old form where we're going to see more daily violence? Is it sliding back into the way things used to be or is this just a one-time sort of kind of attack, Heidi?
COLLINS: I guess the only way to know is, obviously, continue following it and keep asking those questions. Sure do appreciate that.
CNN's Cal Perry live from Baghdad this morning.
U.S. Navy ships are gathering near a Ukrainian cargo ship off the coast of Somalia. Now the ship was seized last week by pirates. The ship was loaded with Soviet aero tanks and weapons. A Russian frigates also on its way to the area.
The pirates have lowered their ransom demand from $35 million to $20 million.
Jury selection begins this morning in the trial of five men suspected of planning an armed attack on Fort Dix. The suspect face life in prison if they are convicted. The case is important because it represents prosecuting suspects before a crime actually happens.
Defense lawyers say there was no plot. They say the government paid an informant to get their clients to talk about one.
One of them will have to sign check starting in January. What the candidates are saying about the financial rescue plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right. The opening bell on Wall Street for this Monday, September 29th. Certainly a lot of people waiting and wondering what's going to be happening on Wall Street today, because, as you well know, the House is voting today on that $700 billion bailout package, but will it do anything to calm investors?
Want to get over to Susan Lisovicz on the New York Stock Exchange now for a preview of today's trading.
Good morning to you, Susan. SUSAN LISOVICZ CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the party's over on Wall Street. Well, Wall Street has known the party's over for a year now when it first became clear about how entwined the global financial industry is with the excess of the housing sector.
So we're looking at a big sell-off at the opening following sharp declines in Asia and Europe. Even Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says it will take weeks to unclog the credit market. And you know what? It's 9:30, and the opening bell has not rung.
COLLINS: Has not rung. I was going to say...
LISOVICZ: Have not rung.
COLLINS: I've never heard it. Did you?
LISOVICZ: Didn't hear it. There was an announcement. And I think trading has begun. Trading has begun.
COLLINS: Maybe it's broken.
LISOVICZ: For the first time -- here we are worried about whether the financial sector is going to break, and...
COLLINS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Well, trading has begun without an opening bell. And that, too, is historic. We did see sharp sell-offs in Europe and Asia, and we are seeing a sell-off at the open here.
You know, Heidi, even Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says it will take weeks to unclog the credit market, and we can determine the lack of confidence. We can see it by the stampede in the U.S. treasuries. They are among the safest of investments.
Of course, the package hasn't passed yet. We're hoping that we'll get some movement there today. Also, we should say that the fallout in the financial industry continues at breathtaking speed.
The latest casualty announced just in the past hour, Wachovia. Citi is buying its banking organizations. As part of the deal, Citi will absorb losses of up to $42 billion. Citi is trading, right now it's down 2 percent, Wachovia shares have been halted.
Also, you know, this is just not restricted to the U.S., Heidi. The financial giant Fortis withdrawn a $16 billion life line by Belgian, Dutch and Luxemburg government. And a British mortgage lender became the second bank in the UK to be taken over by that government over the past year.
So all of this -- oh, and by the way. We're looking at oil prices. What are they doing? Down more than 5 bucks. It's the concern about the continuing -- this new expression -- demand destruction. What it really means is that we don't want as much oil. We're not using it because the economy is slowing down. So the Dow is off 121 points in the first two minutes of trading. NASDAQ is down 35 points or 1.5 percent, Heidi.
Another turbulent day on Wall Street.
COLLINS: Yes. Hey, find out about that bell for us, and let me know, will you?
LISOVICZ: I will. I heard the announcement and I thought, wow.
COLLINS: Who knows?
LISOVICZ: That's just another thing just to shake everybody up here.
COLLINS: Yes, hopefully, it's not an indication of anything more.
All right, CNN's Susan Lisovicz, we'll talk with you again later.
LISOVICZ: You can count on it.
COLLINS: And as you heard Susan mention, when Wall Street sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. That old saying proving true this morning as markets tank from Asia to Europe.
CNN's Adrian Finighan is in London this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN FINIGHAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Here in London, the market's taking a pretty dim view of the $700 billion bailout plan. It's not, as they'd hoped, like Henry Paulson's original idea, a get out of jail free card.
This is going to be very much a compromised deal and people here are worried about just how much more pain financial institutions will take. Is it going to help free up liquidity in the banking system?
Also, weighing on people's minds, the effective naturalization of two more financial institutions, the small Bradford & Bingley mortgage lender in the United Kingdom, which had to be bailed out by the British government, and the much larger financial services group, Fortis, which had to be bailed out by the governments of Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.
People want to know how many nor financial institutions are going to find themselves in trouble in the weeks and months ahead.
Three stories make the front pages of the "Financial Times" here in London today and, not surprisingly, Bradford & Bingley taking into to public ownership. Fortis facing state-sponsored rescue scheme and that $700 billion bailout, payback provision, in U.S. bailout plan, says "The Financial Times." As I said, people pretty concerned still about what the future holds and store.
Adrian Finighan, for CNN, in the city of London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Well, a deal is on the table to rescue America's troubled financial system. Both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have had a say in it. In fact, it's one of the main things the two presidential candidates have been talking about lately.
CNN's Dana Bash is following the McCain campaign.
Good morning to you, Dana. Has John McCain said if he'll vote for this bailout? Is it an obvious answer to the question or not?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not necessarily obvious, you know, because he hasn't formally said, Heidi, whether he will vote for this bill, and as his advisers say, they're still reading the fine print.
Then McCain has -- does have some time since the Senate won't vote until at least Wednesday, or maybe even Thursday. But, you know, the reality is, it's impossible to imagine that he will vote no now -- now especially that leaders on all sides of this have signed on including the House Republican leadership who McCain insisted he needed to come back here, Heidi, to help.
COLLINS: Yes, and obviously, he heads back on the trail today. So a lot of people are probably wondering, is he going to be trying to take credit for the bailout agreement?
I don't -- really heard him do much of that in the debate on Friday. I figured he was going to do that, he would have talked more about it on Friday?
BASH: Right. And you know he actually has been very careful to say he's going to leave it up to history to judge whether or not his presence here in Washington helped or hurt.
But the reality is, all weekend long McCain aides were furiously trying to shake that history. They were making the case to me and I'm sure reporters all around town that McCain came back to Washington, he listened to the concerns of House Republicans and the gave them a voice in making clear to his fellow Republicans -- McCain's fellow Republicans in the Senate -- that as far as he was concerned there was no deal without the House.
In fact, listen to what the leader of the House Republicans John Boehner said about really McCain getting credit and the fact that he should get credit for that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: He has been making calls to members in support of this bill. And I think I've made clear to many of you that if it were not for John McCain supporting me at the White House when I said, whoa, whoa, time out. They run over me like a freight train. And I'm grateful for his support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now others have quite a different take. Democrats, and even some Senate Republicans, say McCain's decision to come back to Washington and all of the politics and drama it infused into the process actually delayed the deal getting done, but, Heidi, politically, McCain aides are hoping that all's well that ends well and that they are definitely eager for him to get back on the trail today.
He's going to go to Ohio and then to Iowa and they're ready to move on. Big time.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's Dana Bash, thanks so much, Dana.
Senator Obama expected in Denver, Colorado a little bit later today. Yesterday he was stumping for votes in Detroit, Michigan, and appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation." In fact, we're going to talk a little bit later with Bob Schieffer about that interview.
He mentioned the bailout debate, of course, and the urgent need to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is probably the most serious financial crisis we've faced since the Great Depression, and what we can't do is do nothing.
What I absolutely insist on, though, is that the same sense of urgency that we have about Wall Street, we have about folks on Main Street who have been struggling for a long time.
Ultimately, I believe that we have to get something done, and so if I feel that those are meaningful provisions, that provide some constraints on how the treasury operates and this is not going to be welfare for Wall Street, then my inclination is to support it because I think Main Street is now at stake.
This could affect every sector of the economy. The credit crisis continues or worsens then suddenly small business people can't make their payroll. You have large businesses who can't sell corporate debt which could bring the entire economy to a grinding halt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That interview conducted by Bob Schieffer. As I mentioned, the longtime newsman and host of "Face the Nation" is going to be joining us here in the NEWSROOM. He, in fact, will be moderating the third and final debate between Senators Obama and McCain.
It will be interesting to hear his perspective as he has covered many a presidential election.
The vice presidential candidates getting busy and ready for their one and only face to face debate. It's just four days away, in fact. A match-up between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin eagerly anticipated by both political observers and voters, especially those people who are still undecided at this point.
The debate between the two running mates is set for Thursday in St. Louis, and CNN, of course, will bring it to you live.
Reynolds Wolf standing by now in the weather center. We've got some information on Kyle, who didn't turn into much, but Laura, who's still thinking about it.
WOLF: Yes, Laura, though, thankfully, is not going to be a direct threat to us. That's the great news.
COLLINS: Good.
WOLF: Kyle -- although Kyle is now part of history, it did bring some (INAUDIBLE) departs the main coastline, brought some scattered showers. And then right now speaking of rainfall, we're seeing some just near Boston, much that is moving out to sea.
Meanwhile, (INAUDIBLE) a step away from the -- from the wall for just a moment, put this into motion. I want you to take a look at this next system up. The next one we're going to take a quick look at is going to be Laura.
Laura is still deep in the Atlantic. Well, first, we're going to sit in and take a look at Boston. Then we're going to zoom off towards the Atlantic. There we go. So Tropical Storm Laura, winds currently at 60 gusting to 70 miles an hour.
There's great news for this storm. This storm not expected to affect the U.S. It's expected really to affect anyone except shipping channels in the north Atlantic.
Meanwhile it has been a loud morning in parts of the U.S. especially across parts of the central plains and into the Midwest. Right near the Mississippi river, we've had some scattered showers and storms. These are going to drive their way into the Great Lakes later on today.
Chicago, delays there, before long, St. Louis certainly the same story. But it's going to be this area of low pressure and this trailing cold front that could bring some scattered showers to places like, say, Cleveland, maybe even over to Columbus, Ohio.
Meanwhile, back over parts of the Great Plains, high pressure have been building into the Rockies. Cooler conditions for the Great Plains. Fire threat, very dry conditions, very low humidity for you in northern California into parts of Oregon.
And in terms of temperatures today, and parts of the southeast, you can expect high temperatures to climb into the mid to low 80s in spots like Atlanta.
Soon as that (INAUDIBLE) becomes on through, though, which, of course, is in right over parts of the Great Lakes and into the Midwest, you're going to notice temperatures, you're going to cool down in places like Atlanta. But today the high 85 for Nashville. Three degrees shy of 90, 90 degrees in Dallas, up by the stock yards.
San Francisco 69 degrees up by pier 39. Seattle, a warm day for us at the Space Eagle. Relatively speaking warm, with 79 degrees. 86 in Salt Lake City. New York with 75 and Boston 69 degrees. Tampa with 87.
That is a quick look at your forecast across the nation. You're ready to rock 'n' roll. You're prepared. Let's send it back to you, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Reynolds, thanks.
WOLF: Anytime.
COLLINS: And when Reynolds or other forecasters are warning us about storms, pay attention, if will you. These people in Taiwan -- I bet wish they had. Look at all the winds from the latest typhoon. Blew them right off their feet. Cars were even upended.
At least two people are, in fact, now dead. Dozens of villages flooded and tens of thousands of people are without electricity. IReporter Neil Moore sends this video from Taipei. The typhoon is the fourth and most powerful to hit Taiwan this year.
If you have any iReports you want to share with, just go ahead and click on ireport.com.
The older you are, the more you feel every twist and turn on Wall Street, but making the right choices now can keep those retirement years golden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly now, I want to tell you about three things we are watching closely. As always, watching the Dow Jones Industrial Averages now down triple digits by 182 points, resting just for 11,000. Just 15 minutes into the trading day.
We are also watching the House debate. This is on the $700 billion bailout package. A lot of people may have thought because of the news over the weekend, you know, a plan had been agreed on.
Doesn't mean the vote has happened yet. So our notes are telling us that they do expect to take that vote around noon today. We will stay on top of that story for you.
Meanwhile, here's another shot that we are watching. This is a gas station -- there's Rusty Dornin walking through the shot there. She is helping us to follow this story in the Atlanta area, and certainly has stretched outside the state of Georgia. Potential gas shortage, but is that really what's going on or are people filling up more and more frequently than they normally do because they think that there's a gas shortage? Obviously on the heels of the hurricanes interrupting those supply chains there. So we'll stay on top of that story. All three of them, in fact, for you here.
Meanwhile, investing in the markets. These are scary times no matter how old you are. But if you are nearing retirement, the choices you make could become more crucial than ever.
CNN's Christine Romans has advice that's "Right On Your Money."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice over): The instability in the economy likely has folks within 10 to 20 years of retirement worried, especially if they haven't started saving. It is never too late to start saving for retirement.
HILARY KRAMER, AOL MONEY COACH: If you're in your 50s you need to think about the fact that retirement is close. It's in the near future. So you don't want to be as aggressive and you want to look add see where you're invested in terms of asset classes -- cash, stock, bonds, and liquid assets.
ROMANS: If you've not been contradicting regularly to an IRA or a 401(k), consider making catch-up contributions.
KRAMER: When it comes to your IRA contribution, make sure you that put the maximum amount in that you can. Take advantage of that opportunity. Even if you're 52 and in 7 1/2 years from now you're going to be able to start taking withdrawals from that IRA, go ahead and do the maximum. Don't pay the taxes today.
ROMANS: But even if you have been saving for 20 or more years, remember, consistency is key.
KRAMER: Stay consistent always with your contributions. Where you want to make changes is -- if you've been aggressive, let's say, and been very concentrated in the stock market and equities, go for more diversification. Start to bring it down a notch so that here in the final inning you don't lose any money.
ROMANS: That's this week's "Right On Your Money."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Car on the tracks. Train on the move. What happened? Next in a North Carolina town.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A train bears down, a car is its path, and now two people are dead. An investigation under way into this crash in Pembroke, North Carolina. It's not clear whether the crossing irons were working.
The man and the woman who were killed are the only ones inside of the pickup truck. No one aboard the train was injured.
Federal safety investigators at the scene of a deadly medical helicopter crash in Maryland. The chopper went down trying to transport victims of a traffic accident.
Reporter Phyllis Armstrong of affiliate WUSA has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHYLLIS ARMSTRONG, WUSA REPORTER (voice over): A 16-year-old driver returned to the scene of a wreck that put two teenage girls in a medevac helicopter.
JUSTIN BOTTORF, CAR CRASH VICTIM: I was looking over in the other lane, I saw the headlights go back and forth as if they were getting sideways and getting out of control.
ARMSTRONG: Justin Bottorf's yellow Honda collided with the blue car that went out of control and crossed a (INAUDIBLE) on small wood drive.
BOTTORF: They hit the tree and they bounced off the tree so hard and it spun around and it hit me in my driver's door and then spun me around.
ARMSTRONG: 17-year-old Ashlee Younger and her 18-year-old friend Jordan Welles were critically injured and were being transported by the state police helicopter when it went down.
CHERI DOUGLAS, EMT'S AUNT: I will miss her laughs, I will miss her hugs, I will miss everything.
ARMSTRONG: Cheri Douglas' niece EMT Tonya Mallord was with the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department and rushed to the car crash. The 39-year-old volunteer got into the Maryland state police helicopter transporting the injured teen.
DOUGLAS: I just wanted to see if, like I said, the other people passing, I'm sorry for their families.
CHIEF DAN STEVENS, WALDORF VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: Everybody was at that scene. And even the ones that weren't there are taking this pretty hard.
ARMSTRONG: The flags at Station 12 were lowered to half staff for Mallord and to Maryland state police employees. The 59-year-old helicopter pilot Steven Bunker died at the scene.
COL. TERRENCE SHERIDAN, STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: He was a state police corporal, retired in 1998 and returned to service as a civilian pilot.
ARMSTRONG: Also killed, state police medic, 34-year-old Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy.
SHERIDAN: Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy was appointed to the Maryland state police four years ago. He had been in the aviation command as a flight medic since April of 2007.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The Maryland accident marks the eighth fatal medical helicopter crash in the last year nationwide.
The Chinese toxic milk scare spreading to chocolate. Cadbury is recalling all of its candy products made in China. They are sold in Hong Kong, Taiwan and also Australia. A spokesman says preliminary tests showed they contained trace amounts of melamine. The chemical turned up earlier in Chinese-made baby formula.
No need for American chocoholics to worry. Cadbury chocolates sold in the U.S. are made by Hershey.
Prosecutors change course in the corruption trial of Senator Ted Stevens. They've decided not to put their star witness on the stand today as planned. Instead Justice Department lawyers say they will call for witnesses from an Alaska oil pipeline contractor.
They say the company provided free renovations on the senator's home. The longtime Alaska lawmaker is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about those renovations.
Endorsements in their sermons. A group of ministers came out for a candidate Sunday. It may have put their church's tax exempt status in danger.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom Simpson explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to stand up to the IRS...
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Some Christian ministers across the country delivered not only sermons on Sundays, but also blatant challenges to federal tax law.
REV. PAUL BLAIR, FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH: We don't answer to the IRS. We answer to God.
FINNSTROM: It is illegal for nonprofit groups like churches to publicly support political candidates. But Sunday ringing endorsements from ministers like Paul Blair in Oklahoma who supports John McCain...
PASTOR PAUL BLAIR, FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH: You donate $1.
FINNSTROM: And Wylie Drake in California.
REV. WILEY DRAKE, FIRST SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH: According to my bible and in my opinion, there's no way in the world a Christian could vote for Barack Hussein Obama.
There is a man that believes everything we believe in the bible. And his name is Allen Keys. And he's running for president of the United States.
FINNSTROM: The ministers are among 33 religious leaders now aligning with a conservative legal group, Alliance Defense Fund. The group's goal, eliminate those regulations on churches. The risk, they could possibly lose their tax-exempt status.
ED MACCAFERY, USC LAW PROFESSOR: Not just religious organizations, but all charitable educational institutions are not allowed to specifically endorse a candidate.
FINNSTROM: Legal professor Ed MacCaffery says the law aims to prevent an unfair political advantage. The use of tax deductible donations to help candidates. In this case the advantage would go to the conservative right.
MACCAFERY: If the churches want to say we don't want any part of the tax exempt status, we don't want to entangle ourselves with the realm of Caesar, they can say whatever they want. But can they have their cake and eat it, too?
DRAKE: I am sick and tired of the government telling me what I can do and what I can't do.
FINNSTROM: Drake says he's not technically violating the law since he expressed his views, not the church's (INAUDIBLE).
(On camera): But those endorsements are triggering strong backlash from within the religious community itself.
REV. ED BACON, ALL SAINTS CHURCH: It's dangerous, it's misguided, it's wrong.
FINNSTROM (voice over): The Reverend Ed Bacon believes aligning with a candidate or party undercuts the church's separation from state and its independence to critique.
BACON: There is a bright line between educating the people of a faith community about their core values and the implications of those values in public policy, and stopping short of aligning yourself with a party.
FINNSTROM: Bacon and about 180 other religious leaders are protesting pulpit endorsements through various pledges, sermons, and even a letter asking the IRS to investigate.
If agents weren't already taking a look...
DRAKE: Now, IRS, listen up. I know you're here.
FINNSTROM: Sunday's call was loud and clear.
Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: He's moderating one of the next presidential debates so what did Bob Schieffer learned from the first one. We're going to be talking with him here in the studio. But before that, rocker Bruce Springsteen making some news today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
