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Auto Rescue Plan; Obama Stocking his Cabinet; Chrysler Hitting the Brakes

Aired December 19, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, December 19th. Here are the top stories we're following for you this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never seen ice like this in about three years.

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LEMON: Look at that. It is a major mess across the Midwest. And it is moving fast, moving east really fast. Good luck getting anywhere for the holidays.

And the president reveals a plan with GM and Chrysler on the road to recovery. But as they say in the car business, certain terms and conditions apply. As a matter of fact, right now we're waiting on the CEO of GM to come out right now and speak. He's going to do that in about one minute. This will be the first we've heard from the automakers, at least live.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, in for Tony Harris today.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And as we wait on Rick Wagoner, the CEO of GM, to come out and speak, we're going to give you some of the top stories and tell you exactly about this auto bailout the president announced this morning. The auto companies on the verge of collapse get a lifeline from the White House. We're expecting a live news conference, as I said, from General Motors, the CEO, about 30 seconds, a minute to 30 seconds from now.

But first, I want to give you the details.

President Bush made the announcement just a short time ago. That rescue plan calls for $13.4 billion in short-term financing for GM and Chrysler. Now, Ford is not included in that.

The loans are coming from the $700 billion financial bailout known as TARP, and the deal demands that automakers use the money to become viable. President Bush says it is important to keep the companies from collapsing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My economic advisers believe that such a collapse would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hard-working Americans far beyond the auto industry. It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis. It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession. And it would leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. President Bush making that announcement this morning.

There is Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, holding a press conference now. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

RICK WAGONER, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: ... who braved what's pretty tough weather.

On behalf of the entire GM team, I want to thank the administration for extending a financial bridge to the U.S. auto industry and to our nation's economy. This action will help to preserve many jobs and support the continued operation of GM and the many suppliers, dealers and small businesses across the country that depend on our company and our industry.

In addition to President Bush and the administration, I'd like to recognize and thank a number of other people who have worked so hard to lead to today's announcement, starting with Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW, who is have been tireless in the their leadership in this process; my colleagues at Ford and Chrysler, Alan Mulally and Bob Nardelli, who worked with us very closely to make the industry's case in Washington; and to the many members of Congress who have been engaged so proactively in this, especially our Michigan delegation, which has put in countless hours on our industry's behalf, as has our governor.

We thank all of those people.

Finally, I want to thank our GM employees for their amazingly hard work, some all last night, in fact, and their tremendous support as we work to guide GM through this challenging time.

Our focus now turns to fully and rapidly implementing the restructuring plan that we reviewed with Congress earlier this month in conjunction with all of our key partners. In many ways, our restructuring plan accelerates and expands the transformation that we've been driving in North America for the past several years, but it's really a blueprint for a new General Motors, one for our second 100 years. It's a plan that's dedicated to great products, world class quality and exciting design, to fully committing us to leading in energy-saving vehicles and technology, a company that's responsive to the needs of our customers and shareholders and focused on long- term sustainable success. We know we have a lot of work in front of us to accomplish this plan, and we look forward to working closely with the administration and appropriate government officials, our debt holders, unions, dealers, suppliers and other key stakeholders. It's our intention to be transparent as we execute our plan, and we will provide you regular updates on our progress.

Once again, we thank the administration for this important support for our industry at a very challenging time, and we look forward to proving what American ingenuity can achieve. Our goal is to reinvent our company and to once again make General Motors the global auto industry leader in technology, quality and design.

Our industry helped build this country. Today our mission is to help lead an economic recovery in America.

Thanks very much.

We'll now open it up to your questions. And I'm joined by my colleague, President and COO, Fritz Henderson, and Executive Vice President and CFO Ray Young.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

WAGONER: I would have to say because we had had a chance to lay out all of the issues, we had the opportunity over the last week to provide a lot of additional data to the people we were working with in the administration, primarily in the Treasury Department, but others. And I don't think it would be fair to say that it was very contentious.

We told them what we thought our needs were and why, and they provided us their sort of offer last night. And we -- Ray and Bob Osborne and Fritz and I spent some time going back and forth on some of the issues, but it was a pretty straightforward process, actually.

ROD MELONI, WDIV TV: Rick, Rod Meloni, WDIV TV Detroit.

Just wondering -- this is requiring you to basically reopen the national contract, and it's very specific about wanting work rules and also wages that are on par with Toyota, Honda, Nissan in this country. Very difficult issues for you that -- you've tried to negotiate this in the past.

What benchmarks are they using in terms of what the work rules and what the wages will be? And how difficult is this going to be for you to negotiate this with the UAW? Because it seems to me this is the fulcrum of the whole deal, is it not?

WAGONER: Well, no, there's a number of elements of the deal. You know, the bond exchange is another one that is going to take a significant amount of work. But we just got this stuff over the last 12 hours.

I would say we have a very good track record of working with our major unions, in particular the UAW, to address competitive challenges. The agreement sets out some targets which you've cited, and we're anxious to sit down and work with our UAW colleagues to a do our best to address those.

And in the end, what is the bottom line, to put forth a plan that proves the viability of the company. I'm confident we can do that, and we look forward to working with UAW leadership and getting their views on the best way to do that.

Yes?

Go ahead, Greg (ph).

QUESTION: Thank you very much.

You know, the Bush plans says that you have to be financial viable by March 31st. Their definition is that you have to achieve a positive net present value taking into account all costs, et cetera, going forward.

Now, I've already talked to several analysts who say it's going to be virtually impossible to achieve that goal by March 31st, and that it's only reasonable that you're going to be able to make significant progress with the Obama administration.

Your thoughts?

WAGONER: Well, I don't think it's impossible. We obviously have some big steps we have to take which, by the way, are in the term sheet, but also not so inconsistent. In fact, in most cases, consistent with a plan we've reviewed with Congress.

I think what we need to do is show we can get that stuff done on the required time frame, and then on the basis of that, we will develop future projections for the company. And I'm highly confident we'll be able to meet that test.

LEMON: Rick Wagoner, the CEO for GM, holding a press conference there, taking some reporters' questions now, but basically thanking the administration for this. Also saying he's willing to work with the administration, he wants transparency in the company, saying he's going to transform the company. And also said he is willing to work with the UAW, the United Auto Workers.

He wants to reinvent GM, he says, and make the American economy stronger. And he believes that GM can do that.

Why don't we go now to CNN's Kate Bolduan. She is working on this rescue money and where it comes from. A lot of strings attached to that.

And you heard Rick Wagoner say that, there are conditions this time. They believe that they can live up to these conditions. But by March, Kate, if they can't show that they're viable, then all of this goes away.

Tell us about those conditions. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really interesting. And you pointed out a good point.

He says the goal is to "reinvent our company." And that's a key point there, Don, because they're really going to have to.

I mean, you kind of summed up the figures here of what we're looking at, that President Bush announced this morning. It will be about $13.4 billion that will be available between December and January. That's for GM and Chrysler. And then $4 billion possibly available in February. We're told that will go only to GM, because they're more hard up for cash at this point.

It's going to be a three-year loan, but you talked about the key date, March 31st. That is the benchmark.

They don't need to show -- and we've been told this by administration officials, that they don't need to be absolutely profitable, turning a profit by that date. They need to show a clear path to viability by that date. If not, the money will be recalled. And that is a strict deadline that they're talking about.

The conditions that we're hearing, well, they're going to have to open up their books. They're going to have to be transparent and show the government their financials and show them what is going on, as well as get rid of some of the things we've heard a lot about over the last couple of weeks, limit executive compensation, as well as get rid of those corporate jets, Don, that we've heard a lot about that kind of got them into a sticky position a little while back.

Now, when President Bush made the announcement, his deputy chief of staff, Joel Kaplan, came to the White House briefing and really laid out, saying that while this loan -- while they're offering this loan, it's going to come with some very tough decisions.

Take a listen.

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JOEL KAPLAN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: The bottom line of what the president announced is that we're giving these companies and all their stakeholders, their unions, their creditors, their dealers, their suppliers, we're giving them an opportunity to restructure. But it's not an opportunity that they can afford to waste because it only lasts until March 31st. And we think this is the most effective and responsible way to address this challenge, protect the economy and protect the American taxpayers in the process.

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BOLDUAN: There again, talking about that March 31st deadline. And who is going to be the key here? They're not talking about a car czar anymore, Don. They're talking about a presidential designee.

Until the Bush administration leaves office, that will be Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. And then President-elect Barack Obama will make his own presidential designee to really decide if they're meeting the requirements for viability or not. If they don't and that loan is recalled, Don, we'll told -- Joel Kaplan went on to say the only reasonable step after that is bankruptcy. And that, of course, is exactly what they're trying to avoid here.

So clearly right now it's crunch time for these automakers.

LEMON: Bankruptcy, yes, they are trying to avoid that.

Kate Bolduan, we appreciate it. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

LEMON: Well, we've heard from the current administration. We're going to talk about the administration that's going to take over at the beginning of the year.

Let's get the auto rescue plan from President-elect Barack Obama, his perspective. Our Brianna Keilar joins us now from Chicago with that.

Brianna, what are you hearing from the administration-to-be, president-elect?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No official word from the Obama team at this point. But again, he is having a press conference today. And certainly, he's going to be fielding questions about this announcement today.

You know, generally speaking, though, we're going to expect him to be supportive. He has expressed that this is what he wants before.

In fact, if I can take you back to November 10th, when Obama made that historic visit to the White House and met with President Bush in the Oval Office, officials who were briefed on their conversation said that Obama pressed Bush on coming up with some plan, or really just supporting the automakers and the importance of doing that. So, you know, like the White House, lately we have heard President-elect Obama talk about the concern that letting automakers fail would just create a huge reverberation throughout the economy.

There's been some communications between the two teams on this, Don. And especially lately, we've been hearing Obama talk about short-term help and talking about accountability. Obviously those are very general terms, but they certainly fit in line with what we heard in this announcement from President Bush today -- Don.

LEMON: All right. That administration going to be in charge of the economy soon and really fixing it. Did he announce some cabinet choices? Or will he announce some today, Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. We're expecting him to make two cabinet level announcements today. Let me tell you first about the secretary of labor announcement.

We're expecting Congresswoman Hilda Solis, fourth-term congresswoman, Democrat from California. She is the first Latina on the House Energy and Congress Committee, as well as the first Latina who was elected to the California State Senate back in the mid 1990s.

Her record very much on board with Obama's in terms of getting green jobs started, especially in taking maybe people who have lost jobs in one sector and moving them into green jobs. She is, as well, someone who has been very critical of the Bush administration's labor policies. This -- when word came out that she was Obama's pick, there was a huge outpouring of support from unions.

And she's actually someone with personal perspective on that. Both of her parents were union members. Both of them immigrant laborers.

And then the other announcement we're expecting today, Don, that we spoke about yesterday was the announcement of Ray LaHood, a Republican congressman from Illinois, as secretary of transportation. He would join Bob Gates as the second Republican on the president- elect's cabinet appointees.

LEMON: Brianna Keilar, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

And CNN, of course, will bring you the president-elect's news conference from Chicago this afternoon, 2:15 Eastern. Chicago, president-elect's news conference.

Well, you know what? Everyone has been waiting to hear from embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Of course that's going to happen in Chicago as well.

Here is what we're hearing from the spokesman. A spokesman for the governor says he will make a statement this afternoon, 3:00 p.m. Eastern. 3:00 p.m. Eastern, we will hear from Rod Blagojevich.

The governor is being pressured to resign since his arrest on federal corruption charges. But not much else has been heard since then on what he's going to decide. We'll hear from them at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Winter storm warnings and watches in the Midwest and Northeast. Here is meteorologist Reynolds Wolf.

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LEMON: Let's talk about our top story now besides the weather. Worried autoworkers getting a lot of extra time off for the holidays.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think for anybody it's going to be a happy Christmas.

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LEMON: Some are wondering if they'll ever come back.

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LEMON: We spoke to Brianna keilar in Chicago just a short time ago. And at that point, the president-elect had not commented on the auto bailout. We're just getting this into the CNN NEWSROOM, so pardon me while I read it here, because it's just coming over.

President-elect Barack Obama says, "Today's actions are a necessary step to avoid a collapse in our auto industry that would have devastating consequences on the economy and our workers." He goes on to talk about the short assistance, and that the auto companies must bring all their stakeholders together, including labor, dealers, creditors and suppliers. He said it is a necessary choice -- a hard choice necessary to achieve long-term environment.

But then goes on a little bit to scold the auto industry here and warn them, and say, "The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it."

Again, that is President-elect Barack Obama responding to the auto bailout from Chicago.

Meantime, CNN, of course, will bring you the president-elect's press conference. He's holding a press conference at 2:15 Eastern today, where he is expected to announce his labor secretary and transportation secretary -- Hilda Solis for Labor and Ray LaHood for transportation.

2:15 live in the CNN NEWSROOM. We will bring that to you.

The CEO of Chrysler says the company is thankful for the rescue plan announced by the White House today. In a sign of how bad things are, Chrysler is shutting down all of its U.S. plants for at least a month, and that starts today. Workers hope it's only a month.

National Correspondent Gary Tuchman reports from Fenton, Missouri.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the workday is done at the Fenton, Missouri, Chrysler plant, the nearly 1,000 workers mostly all leave at once. There will be one more mad exodus after this one, and then Chrysler will shut all 30 of its North American plants until January 19th. At least that's what Chrysler employees hope happens.

(on camera): How many of you -- show of hands -- are confident that on January 19th, the plant will be reopened and everything will be good? How many are concerned that it may be closed for much longer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just bad economic times.

TUCHMAN (on camera): This factory has been in business for 42 years. There's an understandable obsession about whether it will make it to 43.

(voice-over): They make Dodge Ram trucks at this factory. Hundreds of the huge vehicles sit in a parking lot next to the plant. They're ready to go to the dealers, but the dealers these days aren't quite as ready for them and all other American vehicles.

For Jerry Dennison, who has been at Chrysler for 35 years, it's heartbreaking.

JERRY DENNISON, PRESIDENT UAW LOCAL 136: We're in dire straits.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

TUCHMAN: Denison (ph) is also the president of the local United Auto Workers Union. Briefing his workers about the situation was not easy.

DENNISON: I said, "Guys, right now, I hate to say it, we're dependent upon George Bush to get us these loans.

TUCHMAN: Normally these workers get two weeks off at full pay at the end of the year. For this year's extra two and a half weeks, they will still get the majority of their pay. So if they come back January 19th, most will be OK. But...

(on camera): What do you do if a plant closes down for your career?

GLEN KAGE, CHRYSLER EMPLOYEE: Well, I'm an electrician by trade, but the chances of a 50-year-old going back into the workforce are pretty slim. I don't even know. To be honest with you, I really don't know.

TUCHMAN: Tracy Goodman has a wife and two sons.

TRACY GOODMAN, CHRYSLER EMPLOYEE: It's not going to feel good at all. I mean, it's scary. I mean, you want to rejoice, be happy sitting around with your family. And the unknown, am I going to be able to provide for them next year? Am I going to be able to take care of them? You know, I mean, it's a scary feeling.

TUCHMAN: For these workers it will be a very different holiday season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think for anybody it's going to be a happy Christmas.

TUCHMAN: When the employees drive out of the plant lot on Friday, their Christmas vacation begins. They just wish they knew for sure when it ends.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Fenton, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Really unwanted vacation that long.

We have some important news about your credit cards this holiday season. Our Josh Levs has all the details of the changes that are on the way.

Josh, what are we looking at?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there, Don.

Regulators are changing the rules. And I'll explain how the new rules could actually work in your favor.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The plan I'm announcing today will be drawn from the financial rescue package congress approved earlier this fall. The terms of the loans will require auto companies to demonstrate how they would become viable. They must pay back all their loans to the government and show that their firms can earn a profit and achieve a positive net worth.

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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That was President Bush announcing earlier today that the rescue plan for the automakers does come with some strings attached to it. All told, the government is pumping up to $17.4 billion into the auto industry. How is it being divvied up? That's the question. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to break it all down for us. Hi Susan, break it down, but I have another question for you after this as well.

SUSAN LISOVICZ: Ok, Don. We'll start with how the money is being divided. The bulk of it's going to GM because GM is in the weakest position. Previously warning that without a rescue plan it would go belly-up before the end of this year. GM will get just over $9 billion right now. Chrysler will get $4 billion. In February GM could get another $4 billion if congress releases the final installment from T.A.R.P. But the automakers have to prove they have a plan for long-term viability by the end of March or they could be paying all that money back. In the meantime, GM shares are up nearly 14 percent. Ford is not getting anything, but Ford is welcoming this news because it would be affected if one or both of these companies did go under. Ford shares are up better than 5. The Dow is up as you see 102 points. The NASDAQ is up 29 or nearly 2 percent. So a nice rally on the back of this news, Don.

LEMON: You know, this is what I want to ask you because, yes, it's interesting how it's going to be divvied up. But mostly, though, this is about jobs. What it comes down to is jobs, saving jobs, right?

LISOVICZ: No question about it. President Bush, I mean basically was holding his nose as he said this because, you know, in ordinary times, yes, they would be on their own. This is the free market, right? But we're in the midst of a deep recession and a financial crisis, the likes that we have not seen since the great depression. The economy has already lost two million jobs this year. So yes, you'd see a lot of jobs, not just at GM and Ford and Chrysler. Ford says a GM or a Chrysler failure could jeopardize millions of jobs. We're seeing a huge rally, for instance, in auto suppliers today because they would be affected. As for GM, it says the rescue plan helps to preserve jobs at dealers, suppliers and small businesses. It's a trickle-down effect. If people theoretically can keep their jobs, they'll pay their mortgages, they'll spend their money, all helping the broader economy in the process. Auto workers at GM and Chrysler are going to have to agree to some wage reductions to get the government's money. Of course, there's going to be a cap on executive pay and corporate jets, you can wave them good-bye as part of this deal, Don.

LEMON: Yeah, you know, I was talking with some of the people in the meeting, and we were saying what if you go to the bank and say I need money and you're driving a Bentley to the bank, the guy is going to go, well sell your Bentley? You know what I mean?

LISOVICZ: It's kind of obvious.

LEMON: I need money and you drive a Bentley to the bank. Sell your car and you'll have some money.

LISOVICZ: I think they learned that lesson a few weeks ago.

LEMON: Absolutely. Thank you very much.

Let's get more about this bailout. The White House comes to the rescue of a struggling auto industry but the billions of dollars in short-term loans. Ford, GM and Chrysler, of course they come with conditions this time. Keith Hennessy is the assistant to the president for economic policy and the director of the national economic council. He joins us now to talk about this rescue plan. Before we start talking about this, you're going to give them the money, at least a portion of the money. They have to show that they're viable by March, right?

KEITH HENNESEY, DIR., NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: That's correct.

LEMON: What happens if they take this money and spend it, don't show they're viable by March. What do you do?

HENNESEY: Well, at that point the loan would be recalled, we would have gotten conditions on whatever of their unsecured assets we can beforehand. So we're then a creditor who is in line to try to get some of those funds back. Some of the funds are at risk. But we think that there's a good shot at getting those funds back. At that point the firms would have no other option, we believe, but to go into a chapter 11 restructuring.

LEMON: So you'd have to wait in line behind everyone else to get the money back as well?

HENNESEY: No. The terms of the loan are that we came in at the highest possible position that we could given the prior commitments that they had made.

LEMON: Ok. I would imagine the Bush administration at least is hopeful that it is possible for these automakers to show that they're viable and to actually become viable at least by March 31st. Do you think that this is a realistic goal for them by March to do that?

HENNESEY: We think it's a realistic goal if all of the stakeholders involved, if management, if labor, if the dealers and the suppliers are all willing to make hard choices. This is clearly very difficult for them to do, and there's a lot of time pressure on them now. What the president has said is we're willing to provide you with a three-month loan for you to make those decisions and that's it. After that, if you haven't reached agreement, your option is going to be bankruptcy filing. And at that point we hope that it would be an orderly bankruptcy process so that the firm would have the greatest possible chance to emerge from bankruptcy and succeed again.

LEMON: Here is the interesting thing here, Mr. Hennessy, because for the auto industry really to become profitable again, it's going to take more than the American people to go out and buy these cars. And if the automakers do indeed go bankrupt -- let's just say that there's some possible restructuring of the auto industry -- that means the sales of cars to people in especially Asia, like India and China, America will lose out on those profits from people who are now -- just now becoming car owners and car drivers in those countries.

HENNESEY: That's correct. These are worldwide companies. They have business all around the world. Our focus is on basically providing them with some breathing room now to make those choices. They're going to have to make the choices so that they can continue to sell product here in America and around the world.

LEMON: I was going to say, millions and millions of people, these potential car owners are going to come online outside the United States. That may be the only way at least, or probably the best way for the auto industry to survive, is to take advantage of that, which would mean, if you're going to be in Europe and Asia, smaller cars, more efficient cars. You don't see many big SUVs on the road there. Do you agree with that?

HENNESEY: Well, they have higher gas taxes, for instance, in Europe. My understanding is that they do tend to drive smaller vehicles. Obviously these companies are making whatever product mix decisions they think are appropriate for the markets that they're selling in. Americans have typically leaned more towards trucks and bigger vehicles. Some of that changed recently over the past year as gas prices went up and started to move toward smaller cars. Those are all decisions for the firms to make about how to best sell their products. Clearly they're going to need to sell more vehicles, they're also going to need to cut costs. They're going to have to do both of those things to become viable.

LEMON: Let's hope they're listening and let's hope it works.

HENNESEY: Let's hope so.

LEMON: Keith Hennessey, happy holidays to you. Thank you.

HENNESEY: Thanks Don.

LEMON: A winter blast of snow and ice moving across much of the country. How is going to affect your holiday travel?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to look at some other money matters. You know what? It's really not good. These are the headlines. Polaroid is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company says it will continue to ship products to retailers while it restructures its finances. AAA is reporting gas prices are averaging $1.67 for regular unleaded. That is actually good news. Five months ago the price was more than $4.00 a gallon.

Federal regulators have approved new consumer friendly rules for credit card companies. That's scheduled to take effect in 2010. On the subject of credit cards, the credit card crackdown is designed to protect customers. Our Josh Levs here to explain the new rules and how those rules might benefit you, you, me, all of us, right?

JOSH LEVS: It's a little bit of potential good news. I know you're looking for the good news. The first thing we have to emphasize here is that these new rules don't take effect until July 2010. Please do not rush to make any changes right now. They could make a real difference in the end. Here is a list of some major points that are changing thanks to our fine folks at cnnmoney.com. I want to start off with this one, one of the biggest things we're going to see, an end to double-cycle billing. That is where those companies average your balance across two bills to determine your interest. Next, no more raising interest on your pre-existing balance. So if you have a balance, you're going to pay the interest that you already knew you were going to have to pay unless your payment is more than 30 days late. Then they can raise interest on that debt.

A couple more here. This is a big one, too. Payments will be applied to higher rate balances first. Finally, this universal defaults will be history. You might not know that term. That's the policy that allowed lenders to increase your interest if you missed a payment on a different card. Those are some of the big changes taking place here. Obviously I'll tell everyone, you can get more details at cnnmoney.com. We encourage you to take a look at that before you go and try to make any changes on your own debt.

LEMON: Cnnmoney.com. That's a great website, seriously. I've been there. Haven't you?

LEVS: Yes.

LEMON: Thank you very much, Josh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK WAGONER, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: On behalf of the entire GM team, I want to thank the administration for extending a financial bridge to the U.S. auto industry and to our nation's economy. This action will help to preserve many jobs and support the continued operation of GM and the many suppliers, dealers and small businesses across the country that depend on our company and our industry.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Rick Wagoner, the CEO of GM. If you were watching CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour at 11 a.m. eastern, you saw him make those comments live. Also taking some questions from people there, reporters in the audience who really had some tough questions for him about how they're going to spend this money, how they're going to show that they're viable. Questions that consumers want to know as well, taxpayers, for sure.

Veronica de la Cruz has been watching reaction to this rescue plan on the web this morning. A lot of those people on the web, of course, Veronica are taxpayers, they're consumers, they want to know. They own American cars and they have stock in the economy and they want to know. FaceBook, Twitter, Myspace, all of those sites. What are people saying there?

DE LA CRUZ: Social media in general, Don. Reaction to this rescue plan has been pretty mixed. We're going to go ahead and take a look at twitter right now. A user called (INAUDIBLE) says there's a reason these companies are going under. It's not the government's job to give our money away to failing businesses even if it is a loan. The government is not a bank. It is not their money to loan it is ours and it should have been put to a vote. And then (INAUDIBLE) she is happy with the rescue plan. She writes, "I never thought I'd say this, thank you, Mr. President." And then Heath says, "A good sum of money should be used to help consumers with car financing with strong incentives for buying American. That would be a win-win." And then Merritt sends this note via FaceBook and Merritt says, "The loan makes sense. It's more thought out than the handout to the banks, it comes with strict binders and targets. I'm sure Milton Friedman may be rolling over in his grave right now, but this is a good thing for all of us, especially those in the auto industry."

The last one from John Sullivan in Boston who also writes this via FaceBook, he says, "Even if the automakers get back on their feet, you need customers to buy your products to sustain and survive. As it stands right now, a huge number of Americans are out of work and they simply cannot afford to buy a new car. The banks aren't lending and the automakers cannot be in a position to self-finance. Where is the money going to come from to finance these cars?" If you to would like to get in touch with us through FaceBook go ahead and search Veronica de la Cruz in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris too. You can of course follow us on Twitter as well. You can find me at Veronicadlcruz. I know that you're on twitter as well, donlemoncnn, right?

LEMON: Yeah, I am, I am, donlemoncnn. You know I'd love to chat with you, especially it's a Friday, we can have fun. But I need to get to this very serious story Veronica. Thank you very much for that.

We're talking about that deadly bridge collapse at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Speaking now is the trauma surgeon who saw some of the people coming in, Dr. Jeffrey Salamone. Let's take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is everybody ready?

LEMON: Dr. Salamone obviously preparing for that press conference now about what happened. We're hearing it's mostly construction workers, so let's listen now.

DR. JEFFREY SALAMONE, TRAUMA SURGEON, GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: I'm one of the deputy chiefs of surgery for the Emery Department of Surgery here at Grady and one of the attending trauma surgeons. So we were notified about 9:30 this morning of a structural collapse up in Buckhead, Piedmont Avenue and there were 17 injuries involved. We have received 16 patients here at Grady Memorial Hospital. They are currently all undergoing evaluation. We have identified four patients who will need to go to ICU beds. Two of them appear to be critical. Probably everybody is going to an ICU bed would be qualified as critical, but two more critical than the other two. We're still in the process of evaluating the other 12. The injuries range from several with very serious brain injuries, because a number of people fell there are a number of people with spine injuries that we've confirmed. A number of other people with back pain that we're still in the process of x-raying. And then arms and legs, so extremity injuries. So brain, spine and extremity injuries at this point in time. We've identified one patient with a liver injury. He's going to be going to an ICU as well.

(INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

SALAMONE: That's a wonderful question. During the daytime here -- let me tell you immediately what happened. We stopped elective surgery. All of the available members from the surgery department met forces down in the ER with emergency medicine and then members of the orthopedics department also came down as well because we anticipated extremity fractures. So we were able to handle these 16 patients without calling anybody in. We stopped the elective stuff and focused on the emergencies and mobilized everybody down to a central point. Again, it's the departments of surgery, emergency medicine and orthopedics are focused on this. There are very few patients -- no patients who required emergency surgery. But we had four attending surgeons for trauma fellows and a number of surgery residents down here within a matter of minutes.

QUESTION: Dr. Salamone, would you describe what it's like in there? What it was like as this thing unfolded for you?

SALAMONE: Well, it's chaotic, because there are a large number of people, and we're trying to always get a --

LEMON: -- in the Atlanta area. Basically what happened, about an hour or two ago, a bridge collapsed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. You heard the surgeon there, Dr. Jeffrey Salamone of Grady Memorial Hospital holding that press conference. You heard him talking about the injuries. Mostly they believe it was construction workers that were injured when this bridge collapsed. One person killed in this. We're told, these numbers keep changing. At least 17 people were injured. He talked about 12 people being there right now, and then moving one person who had a liver injury to another facility that could treat that. The injuries he said, brain injuries, back injuries, arms, legs, extremities and also spine injuries and they were treating those. Again, one person was in trauma surgery and, again, one person killed in this. If you look at this bridge, just horrific. Anytime of the year that it happens, especially now when people are being close to their families and now one family, at least, is dealing with a death. Several other families dealing with injured family members as well. We'll continue to update you on this developing story happening in Atlanta, the Botanical Garden, as we get more information on that.

In the meantime, two big stories we're following here today in the CNN NEWSROOM, the auto bailout, new information on that and the weather. If you're trying to travel, you need to be watching CNN because we have some information you need to know.

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LEMON: Look at that, Seattle slammed by snow. An i-Report from Kaywood Hopkins, as much as six inches fell in some parts of the city. Schools were closed. Many businesses as well, and Seattle is full of hills, so can you imagine all the fender benders. If you think this is bad, you should see Spokane. They've got almost 24 inches of snow in a 36-hour period. Wow. And, folks, it's not over yet. More snow expected this weekend. We can call this a weather mess, especially for the northeast and the Midwest, and for travel, right Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's appropriate, absolutely. I think so, Don. Right now one of the biggest things we're dealing with, it's not just the weather but how the weather is affecting many people. In fact, millions of travelers are going to be coming to a screeching halt in a few spots. Some of those places, Newark, New Jersey, you see some delays there, Teterboro, Chicago, at O'Hare you have about a 2 1/2 hour delay that's probably gone to stretch out a bit. In New York, you have La Guardia and JFK. New York, JFK, take a look at that, nearly 3 1/2 hour delay. Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit you have some issues. One special case that will be Milwaukee, we're at Mitchell Airport, Mitchell International, they normally handle about 200 flights a day. They've not had a flight take off or land since 6:00 this morning local time. I would not expect that to change anytime in the near future.

What's happening, this storm system is going to continue to march its way across the Great Lakes and it's got a beat on parts of the northeast. If you happen to be in New York you're going to see the snow begin to develop especially into the afternoon hours. Boston, I would certainly anticipate, really beginning to build overnight and into tomorrow. Some locations around Boston could get up to a foot of snowfall. So Don no question, it's going to be a huge weather day. Meteorologist Chad Myers is going to begin, steer you clear the rest of the way and it's going to be a busy afternoon.

LEMON: Get some rest because you're going to be busy tomorrow, sir.

WOLF: Always the case. LEMON: Thank you very much.

Ever see a homeless person and wonder what you might do to help? One man thought something outside of the box that we truly found inspiring. CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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LEMON: Hello everyone, it's the top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tony Harris off today. Here are the headlines from CNN for Friday, December 19th.

General Motors and Chrysler getting a jump-start from the White House. Reaction from Detroit on the new auto rescue plan that was announced today.

Also, crank up the old snow plow and grab your shovel. A cold, snowy blast hitting parts of the nation and it is moving east. Your early holiday travel plans could take a big hit.