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Obama Introduces Another Key Cabinet Member; Unexploded Bomb Diffused in Mumbai; Big Three Auto Execs Make Return Trip to Hill

Aired December 03, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here are the headlines from CNN for this Wednesday, the third day of December.
G.M. tells Congress it will slim down to become a moneymaker once again but it needs immediate cash to survive past the end of the month.

President-elect Barack Obama adds another one-time rival to his cabinet, Governor Bill Richardson taking on a new role.

An unexploded bomb diffused at a Mumbai train station today. Indian police say the only surviving gunman from last week's terror attacks led them to it.

Well, the plans are in. The Big Three promising Congress they will slim down and build fuel-efficient cars in exchange for taxpayer loans, the UAW meeting today in considering concessions. Live coverage now from CNN's Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill.

And Kate, the original $25 billion request, well, it's grown. What's happening?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has grown. It's now more than $30 billion, $34 billion, to be exact, what the automakers are looking for. And that's a number that's definitely going to be under scrutiny and is being reviewed and really analyzed right now by lawmakers and their staff as we head into -- look forward to the hearings tomorrow and Friday. Something, too, that just came out just this past hour, Tony that we should remind our viewers of is the new CNN Opinion Research poll that came out to say that 61 percent of the American people that were polled opposed an auto industry bailout. That is a strong number that sends a strong signal, and it also shows a very tough job that automakers face as they head into the hearings tomorrow and Friday.

As one top Senate Democratic aide put it to me this morning, yes, Congress needs to sign on and get support in order to pass some kind of a bailout, if that comes to that, but the automakers need to make a persuasive case to the American public and win over the confidence of the American taxpayer before Congress moves forward. Now, lawmakers are very busy reviewing and looking at the proposals today, but congressional sources do tell CNN, Tony, that there are staff-level meetings going on. Representatives from all three auto companies are meeting with the staffs of the key committees as well as leadership briefing them on these proposals. So you see, there is work going on right now.

So while we say that, the path forward really is dependent on what comes out of these hearings tomorrow and Friday, people are very careful to not hedge their bets and not make too broad of a statement yet. While they have left a possibility open for holding a vote next week, they have not scheduled a vote, because they really want to see what comes out of these hearings. Because we know what happened after the last round of hearings, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. If history is prologue here, after these hearings the bailout will be up to $40 billion or something. All right Kate, as a matter of fact we're going to talk to our Bill Schneider in just a couple of minutes about the numbers from the new CNN poll that you just referenced.

But right now let's get to Alina Cho as she is reporting on some tough times for auto dealers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing people think when they come in, is that it's a fake ad. It's a normal car dealer ad, it's a gimmick, but it's not.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Buy one, get one free. The type of ad you normally see at a grocery store. But at a Dodge dealership in Miami.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been fielding phone calls and e-mail inquiries from every state in the country looking to get this buy one get one deal.

CHO: Desperate times, desperate measures. This year 700 car dealers shut their doors. That number is expected to top 900 by the end of the year, and the majority of those dealers sell American cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely a tough climate right now. A lot of people are saying it's a perfect storm of gas prices and financing and consumer confidence.

CHO: The biggest problem, the trickle down effect of the credit crunch. Can't get a loan. Can't buy a car. This Chrysler dealership in New York used to sell 150 cars a month. Today, they say it's half that. A year ago you might have had 15 to 20 salesmen on the floor. Today, it's what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight to 10. Salesmen actually just walk out because they're not making enough money to support their family.

CHO: They've even stopped bringing in new models, because the cars they have aren't moving.

JAMIE KRINSKY, CAR SALESMAN, MAJOR WORLD AUTHOR: Just you know, where you would see five people a day coming in to at least look at a car, per salesman, you're getting maybe one person a day or two people a day. CHO: So they're offering deals, too.

Tire package included.

Zero percent financing for 72 months, $7,500 rebates, even that's not enough. In the two hours we spent combing the lot, only one customer, who was just browsing. So could a buy one, get one free offer help this dealership?

You have to admit, it's pretty catchy.

MATT LEE, MAJOR WORLD AUTO: If it works for them, what can we do? Maybe we'll try it.

CHO (on camera): In the interest of full disclosure we should tell you that buy one get one free means buy the first Dodge truck at full retail, get the second one free excluding tax, tags and dealer fees. That will cost you about $3,000. Still a good deal, but as always, there is a catch.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And CNN is planning live coverage when the Big Three auto execs return to Capitol Hill tomorrow morning, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The CEOs will field questions from the Senate Banking Committee headed by Senator Chris Dodd.

Well, just a month after he was elected, Barack Obama has filled more than half of his cabinet. His latest pick announced just moments ago. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson for commerce secretary. The newest member of the Obama team has a hefty resume and he was considered a contender for the job of secretary of state. Suzanne Malveaux live from Washington with more on Bill Richardson as Obama's choice for commerce secretary.

Good to see you Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you Tony.

Talk about experience, Bill Richardson has been a governor, a congressman, a diplomat, a U.N. ambassador and energy secretary. He's negotiated with countries like North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Iraq, he's gotten hostages out, cease agreements in, ceasefires. So the big question today of course, why commerce secretary. It was widely viewed that he would be the logical pick for secretary of state. He wanted that job, but that big prize went to Senator Hillary Clinton. And Obama was asked why this shouldn't be seen, especially to the Hispanics who supported his candidacy, why this wasn't a consolation prize?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT-ELECT: Commerce secretary is a pretty good job. You know. It's a member of my key economic team that is going to be dealing with the most significant issue that America faces right now, and that is how do we put people back to work and rejuvenate the economy. Bill Richardson has been selected because he is the best person for that job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It's not surprising, Tony, that Obama was emphasizing the fact that he was an economic diplomat, he talked about the global crisis, economic crisis, trying to marry those two ideas, that as governor he acted as CEO of his state balancing budgets, increasing access to health care, that type of thing. Richardson's own bid for the Democratic nomination never really gained traction.

I had asked him about that before he dropped out of the race earlier in the campaign and he said that his weakness was that despite his accomplishments, he wasn't as high profile or as charismatic as some of the competitors in the Senate. After Richardson dropped out, too, Tony, there was a lot of suspense over who he was going to endorse. He's a very close friend of the Clintons. He and Bill Clinton even spent super bowl Sunday together before he shocked everybody and ended up endorsing Obama. It infuriated Bill Clinton but since then they have decided to put it aside and move on. So now you have a cabinet Tony made up of Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson.

HARRIS: That is something. All right, Suzanne Malveaux for us from Washington.

Suzanne, thank you.

A tension growing between two nuclear powers. Who was behind the attacks in Mumbai?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Nine minutes after the hour.

Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

A Florida family relives their nightmare experience during the Mumbai attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Pakistan, you've called on India to produce evidence of the complicity of any Pakistani group in the attacks.

If it's produced, what would you do?

ASIF ALI ZARDARI, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: I would do, my government would take action. Our government would take action, the Democratic government of Pakistan would take action against all the actors, and anybody who was involved.

KING: So you're firmly committed to getting at the root of this?

ZARDARI: Not just the root of this. I'm firmly committed to fighting terrorism per se. That's why we are fighting them every day, Larry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That was Pakistan's president in an exclusive interview with our Larry King. India today says the suspect in custody has revealed that militants spent the last three months training and planning in Pakistan. Pakistanis are outraged their country is being blamed.

This massive protest taking place today in Islamabad. Students chanting slogans against the United States and India, and burning the American and Israeli flags here. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in India trying to diffuse the tension. She says Pakistan has a special responsibility to help with the Mumbai investigation.

A vacation they won't forget. The passengers aboard this cruise ship shot by a Somali pirate over the weekend are now talking about their high seas adventure. The luxury liner outran two small boats of pirates off the coast of Yemen. The ship was not damaged and the passengers were not injured but everyone onboard has a story to tell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARILYN MACHUM, CANADIAN TOURIST: We went up for breakfast. We just sat down and the captain said there were suspicious boats following us. Would we all just go into the corridors and into our cabins?

WENDY ARMITAGE, NEW ZEALAND TOURIST: It was very minor. It was a surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ARMITAGE: And they did fire shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: President Bush reflects on his decisions about the war in Iraq and the faulty intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Very quickly we now we want to get to our Mallika Kapur, she is in Mumbai, India.

Mallika, good to talk to you. Weren't sure we would be able to get you but we're happy to have you. Just moments ago we saw pictures out of Pakistan of a massive anti-American, anti-India protest. I'm just sort of curious. What has been the scene, how would you describe the scene on the streets of Mumbai today? MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in Mumbai, we did see a huge rally. It was called a protest rally. We were expecting it to be fairly small, maybe about 1,000, 1,500 people, but I think everybody underestimated the strength and the scorn of the rally. There were at least 10,000 people who came out near the gateway-of- India, which is just south of the Taj Mahal Hotel.

They lit candles, they had placards, they wore T-shirts that said I love Mumbai and they shouted some pretty angry slogans. And slogans really had a very political tone. They were slogans praising India, saying long live our mother land, long live India, but there were also some pretty strong anti-Pakistan slogans. The sentiments there, a lot of anger against Pakistan for sure -- Tony.

HARRIS: Mallika, we're seeing some pictures of a vigil. What can you tell us about that vigil?

KAPUR: Well, the vigil in Mumbai, we did see some people gather in parts of the gateway of India around it to light candles in remembrance of all those who lost their lives. But the vigil really did take a very political tone. We did see a lot of people put the blame on Pakistan. They said how can you blame us, but blaming Pakistan when politicians are pointing the finger at Pakistan. A big part of the rally, the vigil turned political, and the crowds there were really denouncing Pakistan and blaming Pakistan for the attacks that took place last week.

HARRIS: OK, Mallika Kapur for us in Mumbai, India.

Mallika, good to see you. Thank you.

President Bush is talking about regrets. He recently told CNN he regrets certain remarks he made, such as, "bring them on" when he was talking about insurgent attacks in Iraq. Now a new twist for the president.

Our Josh Levs joins me now with that -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, you know it's interesting. In an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson the president said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said you know, the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn't just people in my administration, and, you know, that's not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC CORRESPONDENT: If the intelligence had been right, would there have been an Iraq war?

BUSH: If he had weapons of mass destruction, would there have been a war? Absolutely.

GIBSON: No. If you had known he didn't.

BUSH: Oh, I see what you're saying. You know, that's an interesting question, that is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Still a lot of talk about that today. This is the latest we're hearing on that front from the president. You know the interview he did last month with our Heidi Collins, still getting a lot of traffic right here at cnn.com. One of the things he told her, he regrets speaking in front of that "Mission Accomplished" banner back in 2003. And I encourage you to watch it, just go to cnn.com, you can't miss it. The whole video is up there and of course, Tony, we can expect more of these kinds of things from the president probably as he starts to tie up his administration.

HARRIS: Sort of tying up loose ends, feel a bit like legacy interviews here.

LEVS: And you know these aren't significant. Talking about regrets, especially something so huge as that.

HARRIS: All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.

Who's keeping track of your $700 billion? The first audit of the financial rescue program finds some problems.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: About three hours into the trading day now, and let's take a look at the big board. The Dow industrial 30 here, as you can see off session highs. Boy, we've been in triple-digit territory, but now we're still positive. That's the good news here, but just 40 points. Again, three hours into the trading day.

You know, most Americans are not onboard Detroit's bailout train. How about this? Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is here with some new CNN polling.

Bill, it's great to see you. Good to have you here in Atlanta with us. I'm curious. What are people saying about this, the people who would have to fork over the bucks for the bailout plan?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: They're saying, no. In increasing numbers. As Kate reported earlier, 61 percent of Americans now say they oppose a federal bailout of the auto industry, and that number, from different polls taken last month, that number actually has been growing from about 49 percent in early November, after the automakers testified in Congress, it was a little controversial, it grew to about 57. Now it's 61. So it's been growing.

HARRIS: Hey Bill, do Democrats and Republicans feel differently about this issue?

SCHNEIDER: Well some Democratic leaders do favor the bailout. When we asked Democrats and Republicans around the country, there is a difference, but even Democrats, 55 percent, you see that here. Even Democrats oppose the government bailout of the auto industry.

HARRIS: It's going to be a tough sell here. What's the public's big complaint about the bailout?

SCHNEIDER: That it will not treat taxpayers fairly. That the money will be wasted. They're looking at what happened with the financial bailout. 70 percent say they do not expect taxpayers to be treated fairly. When asked, will it help the U.S. economy? Most Americans are doubtful of that and in fact, we asked people, if all the automobile companies went bankrupt, would that affect you? Only a third of Americans expected it would affect them within the next year.

HARRIS: Really?

Bill, just while I got you here, I can't let you go without asking another political question. I know you've been watching President-elect Obama's selections for his cabinet. And these are people who have worn various hats in their political careers. And I don't know much about the inner workings of a cabinet meeting, but I'm wondering if, for example, Hillary Clinton would get an opportunity to talk about health policy, even though it is likely to be Tom Daschle's job there, in health and human services.

Do you believe these various people will in a cabinet meeting get an opportunity to talk about areas outside of their particular department?

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

HARRIS: You do?

SCHNEIDER: If the president doesn't listen to Hillary Clinton who has more experience in health care than anyone else in that cabinet, he'd be crazy.

HARRIS: Yes, definitely.

SCHNEIDER: I think he knows that and he will give her, her say. Probably Daschle will speak first, because that's his area of expertise. We don't have collective cabinet decision-making in this country the way they do in other countries, but given the vast experience of the people in that cabinet room, Bill Richardson, has been a U.N. ambassador, he's been an energy secretary, I think the president would be wise to and almost certainly will listen to their advice on a variety of subjects.

HARRIS: Bill, good to see you. Thank you, thanks for your time.

All right, we've got a news conference coming up shortly. The bipartisan commission on WMD is releasing some of its conclusions, some of its findings. We will take you to that news conference in just a couple of moments.

Of the $700 billion bailout, where was the money going and how is it being spent? The first audit of the financial rescue program finds a lack of oversight. Surprise, surprise. Christine Romans, of the CNN money team, live from New York with details.

And the person who is supposed to lead oversight hasn't been confirmed yet, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, I was going to say surprise, surprise. You stole my line. When we were talking about passing this bill, right? So many people kept saying how are you going to put together a $700 bailout and have any chance of oversight right away?

This is the kind of thing that usually would take -- well there is no usually. It would take years to put together the infrastructure. Well no surprise, the GAO did its first congressionally mandated audit of the process and found there was a general lack of oversight. They found they needed more people to staff it. They need better training. They need better facilities, they need better oversight in general to make sure that the banks are doing with the money what it is exactly the Treasury Department wants them to do.

The Treasury says it's in the middle of its own kind of compliance program, it's pushing forward on those. So show me the money, Tony. I keep bringing you this pie chart because I want everyone to know where your money is going. Half of the money is still left to be spent. The Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson can go to Congress and say, I need that money. He has not yet, but $350 billion is left to be spent. $250 billion has been earmarked to banks. Not all of it has been spent yet to banks, but it has been earmarked. $40 billion for AIG.

See that on the left, the blue, $20 billion to Citigroup, that's in addition to the $25 billion they got from the yellow part of the pie. $20 billion for consumer lending. There is $20 billion or so in change left to spend that the Treasury Department can spend without having to go to Congress. But if they're going to spend any more, if they're going to announce more big new programs they've got to go to Congress and ask for it.

For those people in Congress who are now saying we want better oversight well you know what? For weeks the people who were resisting this bailout in the first place, this financial rescue, money for a financial rescue. The people who were resisting that in the first place have said from the very beginning, how in the world are we ever going to be able to oversee something like this?

HARRIS: All right Christine, appreciate it. Thank you. I had another question, but quickly we need to get to a press conference now. Former senator Bob Graham speaking now, he is one of the commission chairs of the weapons of mass destruction commission. The Parson commission now discussing some of the commission findings.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BOB GRAHAM, WMD COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: ... of the urgency of this particular aspect of our war on terror. For the last three presidential elections, both Republican and Democratic candidates have identified as our nation's greatest security risk the worst people in the world getting access to the worst weapons in the world. Our charge by Congress was to assess our current policies. To prevent proliferation, make recommendations for the future.

Jim Talent, senator from Missouri, was the vice chair, and provided great leadership to our commission. Our commission members, Graham Alison, Robin Cleveland, Reggie Burma, Tim Romer -- Rademaker and Henry (INAUDIBLE) served our government in a variety of important positions, gave us an excellent range of insights and experience, which are all reflected in our final report.

I would like to talk briefly about our assessment of the threat and then Senator Talent will discuss some of our recommendations to try to reduce that threat.

It was our conclusion based on 250 interviews with academics, scientists, intelligence, military and political officials, that it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used some place in the world prior to the end of the year 2013. We also found that it was more likely that that weapon would be biological than nuclear.

We also found that our margin of safety has been diminishing. That is not because we have not been doing important things. In many areas, we have improved the security of the nation.

However, while that has been occurring, there have also been changes in the environment in which we are operating. Particularly as it relates to biological weapons, which have made them more accessible to potential terrorists. And our adversaries have not been awaiting our action.

They have been proceeding at a rapid pace. Al Qaeda, the most likely terrorist group to gain access to weapons of mass destruction, has reorganized itself in the last eight years into a more nimble and global organization. So our challenge is great.

The good news is that our challenge is not inevitable. There are things that can be done, of which will reduce the possibility of a weapon of mass destruction being used, especially against the interests of the United States of America. And our recommendations are designed as a road map to achieve that reduction in the level of risk and threat.

It has been a great honor to have served with Senator Talent and he will give the good news of some of the steps that are available to us to increase our national and global security.

JIM TALENT, WMD COMMISSION: I've enjoined very much working with Senator Graham. He's been an outstanding chairman of this. And we, from the beginning, set out to have a report, which, if possible, you know in the limits of people's honest convictions, was a unanimous report and where we were not only bipartisan, but really essentially non-partisan. Where we just pooled our abilities and our perspectives on these various issues and came up with recommendations that we thought really could be done and really would make a difference. And the chairman's been a great leader in that.

You've had time since the report was released to look at the recommendations. I'm not going to go into them in great length. There's three major areas, and then also the discussion of citizen input and citizen involvement.

But the first is bio. And one of the themes of this report, as the chairmen mentioned, is we're trying to raise the visibility in the mind of policy makers, and in the public as well, of the danger of this threat. It is -- the terrorists are organizationally sophisticated enough to get either the nuclear or bioweapons. But the bioweapon would be even easier for them to get and then to weaponize. And also for them to reload or to repeat.

In other words, if they get a nuclear weapon, it's likely they'd only get one, at least initially, because you have to come up with the nuclear material to do it. But if they isolate a pathogen and are able to weaponize it, there's no reason they wouldn't be able to make more than one weapon and attack more than once. And since you don't know necessarily that a biological attack is occurring, that's real possibility for them.

So we have a big focus on bio. We say to the government, look, you need to shift away -- not away from, but not just on consequence management, trying to deal with the effects of an attack, but to be more aggressive in trying to prevent it, in particular by building a culture of accountability and a partnership with the life science community, reforming how we regulate the high containment labs where they work on these kinds of pathogens and have a single agency responsible.

On the nuclear side, there's a number of important ...

HARRIS: All right. A threat assessments from the Weapons of Mass destruction Commission. Former Senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent, as you can see, leading the bipartisan commission. You'll recall the commission reported out yesterday that the United States can expect a terror attack using nuclear or, more likely, biological weapons before 2013.

If you would like to continue to watch this briefing, let's send you to cnn.com/live right now. And to the right of the screen, you can see that UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is holding a press conference and taking questions right now.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

RON GETTELFINGER, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS: ... As anybody wants. I think, let's just look at the facts. Some people would say this is immaterial, but these three vice-presidents standing here with me, every one of them, and our membership, was given awards for the outcome of the '05 negotiations and the '07 negotiations combined.

People called this a transformational agreement that would get the industry where it needed to be. General Motors' stock, born into those negotiations, and as I recall it, was somewhere around $20. The day we left those negotiations and they had their analysts call, that stock was over $42 a share.

Now what's happened? Are we going to blame the auto workers who are, by the way, 10 percent of the cost of an automobile. And that can be debated whether it's a percent more or less. But 10 percent of the cost of an automobile or are we going to take a look at what's happened to our economy, to the housing crunch, to the Wall Street bailout and the failures on Wall Street? You know? Those are the things that we need to look at.

And the only other thing -- the only other thing I would add to that is, I'm having a little problem myself understanding why there's a double standard here. But we accept it and we'll play by those rules.

QUESTION: Steve Harply (ph) (INAUDIBLE) News. Are you open to the idea of taking equity in the auto companies for wage and benefit concessions?

GETTELFINGER: Look, I don't want to talk about the specifics of the contract. Our vice-presidents are going to sit down with our staff, first of all. And as soon as we can get our elective bargains committees assembled, we'll involve them. We're going to make modifications. We are not opening the contract, if you will. We make modifications, which under our Constitution we have a rite to do. But then we take them back to the membership and that's -- I'll just leave that at that.

Hey, Chris. How you doing?

QUESTION: Good. How are you?

GETTELFINGER: Good!

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) that these companies in return for the loans are going to keep jobs in the United States?

GETTELFINGER: Well here's -- that's a point of concern to us. But we believe that with the loans and we support and will testify to such that there should be an oversight committee to insure that the investment is made here. And if you go to section 136, that $25 billion that is there for retooling because of advanced technology vehicles, there's a stipulation that that has to be done in the United States. So we're very hopeful. We would not ever supported using taxpayer dollars to take product out of the country.

QUESTION: Hey, Ron, over here. Hi.

GETTELFINGER: Hey. BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Brooke Baldwin with CNN.

My question is, I've talked to a lot of these auto workers and they also agree with the double standard. If Wall Street gets the $700 billion, that the American auto industry is owed some sort of bridge loan. But then at what point do you draw the line? There's a Cleveland school superintendent today asking for money, bailout money as well. Arnold Schwarzenegger described a fiscal emergency in California Monday. Where do we draw the line from getting federal funding from the government?

GETTELFINGER: Well, I'm not sure where you draw the line, but let's just look at this. Let's look at the backbone of our economy as Barack Obama describes it. Let's look at the millions of jobs that will be lost in this country if we lose this industry.

And let's don't forget this about the auto industry. I gave you some statistics here, but let's go real. Arsenal of democracy is what we would call at one time. And then, let's just fast forward it 9/11. The Big Three. The auto industry in this country was called on after 9/11 to keep the economy going.

General Motors rolled out a plan called "Keep America Rolling." Ford fell right in behind it, as did Chrysler. We helped the economy, help keep it going.

This industry is so important to our country and to our economy that I think this is an exception to the rule. But let's go to AIG or Bear Stearns or Citigroup. Nobody asked them for anything. No oversight. No anything. Look, here's the plan. You want the plan? Here it is. Overnight, bring it on. U.S. government gets equity in the companies? You got it. No dividends? There it is. I mean, so I think this is a big difference than company A out here raising their hand and saying, I need help.

But look, President-elect Barack Obama is working on a stimulus package. That's one of the ways we can not only help the industry, we can help the country. As soon as he gets in office, he's going to put out a stimulus. Nobody knows at this point in time how big it's going to be, but certainly that's what our economy needs.

He's talked about these trade agreements. Going back and revisiting them. We've got an $835 billion trade deficit in goods and services. There's not a person in this room would elect me to stand at this podium if I negotiated like that. I mean, we've got to get right here. We've got to all care.

And, by the way, I don't mind saying that we had a press conference at Solidarity House (ph) and it was the most somber I ever saw the media, because I think the media understand the importance of this industry. And America certainly does.

QUESTION: Back here (INAUDIBLE).

GETTELFINGER: Well, if they asked me to rebate the questions, and I refuse to. So now they're going to run a microphone around. I can hear you and you can hear me.

QUESTION: Given, you know, the global competition, you talked about the, you know, the economic situation we're in and the concessions you guys made in '07, going back to '05. Now you're going to have to do it again. What's happening to the UAW's ability to keep, you know, working class wages up and, you know, keep the kind of benefits and total compensation you guys have enjoyed for a long time. Is that going away given the environment we're in?

GETTELFINGER: You know, because of the economic crisis that we're in as a country right now, there's no question that we face some difficult challenges. And, behind honest, we've been saying for a long time, we're in a race to the bottom. A race to the bottom that workers in no country can win because there's always somebody else or somewhere else to go that pays less.

But the word concessions, I used to cringe at that word. But now, why hide from it? That's what we did. And actually we did it in '03, just to a much lesser degree. And in '05, there was major concessions. '07 was dramatic concession.

So to go to your point, for future workers, yes. There's no question about that. But we've also got a provision in the agreement to where people can move forward and crawl over the line once we get them there. But the important thing is to be able to secure these jobs. And we cannot do it as a UAW. It's got to be something that's done from a standpoint of this country. We don't have an industrial policy. It's amazing, but we don't have an industrial policy. And we're the most open market in the world. And it's eaten away at, not just us, but everybody.

QUESTION: Ron. Ron, hi. Joanne Muller (ph) with "Forbes." This might seem like a bizarre question, but I think we're kind of in bizarre times.

GETTELFINGER: Bring it on, Joanne.

QUESTION: Last time I checked, the UAW had about a billion dollars in a strike fund and some rainy day money as well. I don't remember the size of that fund. Is there any way that you can use those funds creatively here to help this situation, either these companies or the workers that are going to be affected?

GETTELFINGER: You know, we've got a constitution guidelines that talk about disparagements (ph) out of the strike fund and we're obligated to stay with that. But to go to your question about helping the companies and being competitive, I heard one of the news broadcasts this morning say that, you know, talking about the executive compensation that they gave up, that it really wouldn't matter to the companies.

To be honest with you right now, if a UAW membership went into these facilities and worked for nothing, according to our research department, it would not help the companies that much. So this is a big problem. And, again, I want to stress that this issue is not brought on by the companies. It certainly wasn't brought on by our union. And we're just in a major economic downturn that's rapidly spreading around the world.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) Thompson (ph) from the "Michigan Chronicle" newspaper.

Given the rush to bail out Wall Street, if Detroit is the seat of the automotive industry and it has to take so long to put the seat of the automotive industry through such a long cross-examination, does this suggest that Detroit has finally lost influence in Washington?

HARRIS: Oh, we just lost the picture. Any chance we'll get that back in a moment or two before we move on? OK, we're trying. Let me just sort of recap a bit. Maybe by the time I'm done with the recap, we will have the picture back from Detroit.

Oh, we lost the satellite. OK. You've been listening to a press conference from UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, taking questions there at the end of some prepared remarks. And the news conference actually coming on the heels of a meeting of UAW membership in Detroit, in which, clearly, health care, pensions and job banks on the table. Ron Gettelfinger getting the question if the UAW would open up the contracts with the Big Three. And you heard what he said, not opening the contracts with the Big Three, but that the executive board will offer modifications to members for their consideration. So that's where we stand right now. And if we get that signal back, we'll try to bring more of the question and answer portion of that news conference to you.

Before we take a quick break here, a program note. Coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM," Wolf Blitzer one-on-one with billionaire Bill Gates. The economic crisis. His thoughts on the bailout. And the new project he's pumping billions into. Bill Gates in "THE SITUATION ROOM," 4:00 Eastern, 1:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Her songs became the anthem of the civil rights movement. Folk singer Odetta, whose powerful voice moved audiences for half a century, has died at the age of 77. Classically trained, Odetta sang of race and poverty. She influenced Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, among others. During her career, Odetta was nominated for three Grammys and honored in 1999 with a National Medal of Arts. Odetta, an American folk legend, died from heart disease yesterday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the recession means tough times for people all across the country. Veronica De La Cruz is watching the web and our affiliates. She joins us now with a few stories she's been following.

Veronica, where do you want to start?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Tony.

Want to go ahead and start with this story from our affiliate KNBC in Kansas. Tony, a Fort Riley soldier won't leave the military because he doesn't think he'll be able to secure a job in this economy. Spent 14 months patrolling the streets in Baghdad but has decided to reenlist in favor of a more stable financial situation. Both he and his wife understand the dangers involved, Tony, but they find it hard to pass up what it means as long as he continues to serve. It means free housing, free insurance, free medical. And both he and his wife have two kids with a baby on the way.

Now Pentagon officials acknowledge that tough economic times usually mean good news for the military. In fact, they just finished their strongest recruiting year in the past four years.

All right, Tony, want to gets you to some news now from our affiliate WTBS in Tennessee, where the government says 443,000 people are now on food stamps. That number is up almost 10 percent since January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELVIN MEEKS, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: You come in to our lobby in the morning and take a look at the lobby and you see folks that are just -- some of it's standing room only some days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: People from all walks of life are applying for food stamps. Many for the first time because they simply cannot find a job.

And on the web right now, the "Huffington Post" is asking you to share your stories on how the financial crisis might be affecting you. They've entitled this post, "The Meltdown Will Be Blogged." They're inviting people to blog about their situation, whether it means losing a job, not being able to get a loan or becoming homeless for the first time. Arianna Huffington writes, "blogging is clearly not the answer, but it's a wonderful survival tool. A way to connect to others, a way to stay on top of how others are coping, a way to reach out, a way to stay sane."

But, of course, you can always do that with us as well. Just log on to Facebook, search Veronica De La Cruz in the CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris. And, of course, you can follow us on Twitter at veronicadlcruz. Of course, we want to know how the recession is effecting you. So let us know.

HARRIS: Yes. We're going to try to find some cheer here this holiday season. It's Christmastime. Come on now.

DE LA CRUZ: Let's do that. I know.

HARRIS: Got you, Kyra? You're onboard the love train?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm here with cheer!

HARRIS: Come on now. PHILLIPS: How can you not go wrong? You've got Veronica. You've got me. You're surrounded by cheer. I like that.

HARRIS: You are awesome. It's all point of view and perspective, isn't it?

PHILLIPS: Think positive.

HARRIS: Although this next story isn't going to help much. A singing Santa hitting a sour note here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BRUMFIELD, OWNS SINGING SANTA: A friend of ours had found it and we said, oh, we've got to have it because it's Christmas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I'm not stacking the show, I'm just reading it. Complaints in the key of Santa. Christmastime in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Oh, man, really? OK. Some scrooge has issued noise complaints against Santa. To much holiday cheer. Can you be serious about this?

The story now from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Joscelyn Moes with affiliate WFMZ.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a song to get you into the holiday spirit?

JOSCELYN MOES, WFMZ REPORTER (voice over): Santa Claus has come to town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, jingle bell, jingle bells

CHRIS BRUMFIELD, OWNS SINGING SANTA: A friend of ours had found it and we said, oh, we've got to have it because it's Christmas.

MOES: Now every Christmas, Chris Brumfield puts the mechanical singing Santa out from front of his Bethlehem home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He sings and we push (ph) him around and around and around.

MOES: For all to see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A beautiful sight

MOES: And hear.

BRUMFIELD: They're from me, tunes to everybody. MOES: But not everybody likes the jolly old elf. In fact, some want to silence . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wish you a merry Christmas

MOES: Santa.

BRUMFIELD: Someone has taken offense to him.

MOES: They've even called the cops on the man in the big red suit. But Chris says he and Kris Kringle aren't guilty of anything but spreading ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, ho, ho.

MOES: Holiday cheer. Many agree, calling it a festive addition to the neighborhood.

JOSE ESPINAL, NEIGHBOR: The way things are going right now, you know, with everybody's whereabouts and the economy, there's got to be something to cheer you up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the most wonderful time of the year.

MOES: Although Santa can sing louder, Chris says he tries to keep the Christmas spirit up by keeping the volume level down.

He also says you won't hear Santa belting out any holiday classics after 8:00 or 9:00 at night. Chris just hopes he isn't forced to switch of Santa for good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jingle all the way.

MOES: He says that would make for one long "Silent Night."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -- it's December in the Christmas city. I mean, what could be more appropriate?

MOES: in Bethlehem, Joscelyn Moes...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a great holiday season.

MOES: ... 69 news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)