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Senate Finance Committee Expected to Approve Geithner's Nomination; Obama's DNI Nominee to Testify Before Senate

Aired January 22, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Heidi Collins, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Happening now on Capitol Hill, a vote about to get under way for Timothy Geithner, President Obama's nominee to become Treasury Secretary. The Senate finance committee is expected to approve him, despite questions about payroll taxes that he initially did not pay.

Also this hour, on Capitol Hill, questions for the man picked to lead the nation's intelligence community. Retired Admiral Dennis Blair will testify before the Senate intelligence committee. If confirmed, he would lead 16 intelligence agencies through a strategic shift under the Obama administration.

Well, it's day three now for the Barack Obama presidency. His cabinet takes shape, his priorities become clearer. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux now has a view from the very front row. She is joining us with a closer look. So, yes, day three, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, it's day three. There is a lot going on. Barack Obama is privately meeting with his economic team once again today. He is also going to be meeting with senior staff to talk to them and kind of lay out the land, if you will, and what they hope to accomplish. But the real news of the day is going to what he does later, and that is the three executive orders that he's going to be issuing.

One of them to close Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year or so. Now, you know that this is going to take some time, obviously. He is putting this forward. This is something that the former president, President Bush, had said he wanted to do, but never followed through with it.

This is something that is symbolically significant for President Obama to do just within days of taking the oath. This is a real signal here that he is splitting from the Bush administration the way things used to be. But it is going to take some time, months, even perhaps up to a year, as he has acknowledged within his own executive order. A lot of legal questions, where these detainees are going to go, whether or not other countries will actually accept them. And they won't be tortured in other places.

Speaking of torture, Heidi, also, that's another executive order that we're going to see. Basically, banning torture. It's so-called enhanced interrogation techniques that CIA and - military CIA agents and others in the intelligence field used, separate from the military, for particular cases that they thought were important, important enough to use those -- at least on three occasions, from former Vice- President Cheney saying, at least on three occasions those techniques were used.

One of them being waterboarding. Barack Obama, the president, now making it very clear that he believes that that is torture, and that that is not going to be allowed. And then finally, another executive order, just taking a look at the policies when it comes to how detainees are treated, how they are prosecuted, all of these things on his plate. And we're going to see that just hours away, Heidi.

COLLINS: OK. And I'm so curious Suzanne when we talk about these executive orders and sort of the process there, the time frame. Because as you mentioned and as we spoke just a little while ago with the former Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers about Guantanamo and his executive order to close the facility, still so many questions about where those detainees will go. If you put an executive order into place, what happens if there isn't quite a plan just yet for those 200 or so detainees?

MALVEAUX: It has to be worked out. You can't do anything right away, here. Obviously, there are some world leaders who have already come forward. European leaders who have said, look, we are actually willing to take some of these detainees. That is not something that happened with former President Bush. It was basically frozen. It was on hold, they didn't have any place to put these folks.

Well, that is changed. So there is some flexibility, some movement there, some leaders who have at least expressed a willingness to work with President Obama and his administration in taking them off their hands. But that is what's going to take time. There are legal questions, obviously, Barbara Starr knowing that the Pentagon, the military issues that involved in this. It's going to take a while.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. We appreciate that. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux outside the White House. Thank you, Suzanne.

And the Obama administration has scheduled his first press briefing now. We're going to be carrying that live for you right here in the NEWSROOM. The time, 12:45 Eastern, 9:45 Pacific.

Hillary Clinton ready for her next challenge, sworn in as secretary of state. A short delay with her confirmation, ended with debate in a Senate in a near unanimous vote in her favor. But a short time ago, Clinton did arrive to a warm welcome and cheers for her first day at the State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is going to be a challenging time. And it will require 21st-century tools and solutions to meet our problems and seize our opportunities. I'm going to be asking a lot of you. I want you to think outside the proverbial box. I want you to give me the best advice you can. I want you to understand there is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate. And the kind of dialogue that will make us better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: This afternoon, Hillary Clinton welcomes President Barack Obama to the office. They're going to both address their staffers there at the state department. Well, there may be no cabinet post more important right now, though, than Treasury secretary. Who will deal with all of the crises of the troubled economy? But, that job remains empty at this point, as President Obama's nominee faces tough questions and a key vote this hour. CNN's Kate Baldwin is on Capitol Hill with more on that. Timothy Geithner, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Heidi. Yes, it seems President Obama's pick for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, had a clear strategy, a clear plan going into his confirmation hearing yesterday, before the Senate financing committee, simply to apologize, apologize, apologize about the issue of neglecting to pay payroll taxes to the amount of $34,000 between 2001 and 2004. This from the man who will be overseeing the IRS. Listen to a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes. But they were unintentional. I should have been more careful. I take full responsibility for them. I have gone back and corrected these errors, and paid what I owed. I want to apologize to the committee for putting you in the position of having to spend so much time on these issues, when there is so much pressing business before the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Pressing business, like the potential of $825 billion stimulus package. What to do with the TARP program, as well as what plans the Obama administration has to try to turn around this economy, that clearly is the issue, number one. Those issues, however, seem to all be trumped and take a back seat to this tax issue, as Timothy Geithner even mentioned. He said he apologized that it was kind of overshadowing the other business that the country faces.

All of this, however, it doesn't seem as derailing, at least at this point, his road to confirmation, even some of his biggest - his biggest critics said it will look like he will be confirmed. The guidance I have from the committee is that the vote in the Senate finance committee could come within the hour, and then it needs to head to the Senate floor, Heidi, like other nominations.

The only guidance we have right now, however, is as soon as possible. And I'm sure President Obama feels the very same way, because he needs his Treasury secretary now.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. All right. CNN's Kate Bolduan, sure do appreciate it, from Capitol Hill this morning.

In fact, we're going to have much more on Timothy Geithner in just a few minutes. We're going to be talking with a senior writer from "Fortune" magazine who has been following the story very closely. And if he is confirmed, more about the role that he will play in President Obama's economic recovery plan.

Caroline Kennedy, no longer on the short list for New York's vacant Senate seat. She cited "personal reasons" for the decision to pull her name out of consideration. She faced criticism about her experience after expressing her interest in Hillary Clinton's vacant seat.

New York Governor David Paterson never officially put his support behind any of the potential candidates. New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo is considered one of the front runners.

We now check out the big board for you. Down to the negative there, triple digits, 160 points or so, resting at 8068 for the Dow Jones industrial averages. Much better day it was yesterday, at least at the close. So we'll keep our eyes on those numbers, as well. And more news affecting your wallet this morning.

Startling new numbers, in fact. And new measures of just how feeble the economy really is. Christine Romans is part of the CNN Money team and she's joining us now from New York. These numbers certainly didn't help things very much, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. You know, any kind of jobless claims figure for the week that's above 400,000 is a sign of weakness, really, in the economy. You want to see it in the 300,000. It's a dynamic labor market. Make no mistake. There are always people getting new jobs and filing for unemployment. But these numbers now are really painting a picture that has economists worried. 589,000 people last week lined up for the first time to get an unemployment check.

And the people who are continuing to get checks every week has now topped 4.6 million. So we have a situation here when an awful lot of folks are out of work, and they are getting unemployment benefits to try to get by. Keep in mind, those unemployment benefits, they don't match your old salary, your old pay, and so people are trying to find other ways to cobble together to get through.

And quite frankly, the food banks are saying they're seeing an increase of about 30 percent in the number of people lining up to get food bank benefits, as well. So the job cuts keep piling up here from all different kinds of fields and all different kinds of corners of the economy. Microsoft this morning, the most recent company to announce it will be cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. 1400 of those positions we're told will be happening today.

So there will be people at Microsoft losing their jobs today. Williams Sonoma 1,400. Intel cutting up to 6,000 jobs. United Airlines yesterday, announced another 1,000 job cuts. Anything that is touching the consumer is something that's already seeing jobs cut. And now other things, technology. Even companies that haven't really had a whole lot of jobs and downturns are starting to cut jobs here.

Paul Volcker, the former Fed chief said in the Timothy Geithner hearing, Heidi, he said that this is a serious recession with no end in sight.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: Two things here. You got a financial crisis that just keeps dragging on and that spilling into the broader economy, and now the broader economy is picking up to the down side in the first quarter.

COLLINS: Yes, and it's an important distinction to make and we can continue doing that here. The difference between the financial side of things -

ROMANS: That's right.

COLLINS: And the economic side of things.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

COLLINS: So we will do that. Thanks so much, Christine Romans. Appreciate it. Our money team today.

Icy cold. Overnight temperatures have been falling into the 20s in parts of Florida. And growers are keeping an eye on their crops. Before some in the Orlando area are turning on their sprinklers to wet their fruit, hoping to insulate it from the cold. Reynolds Wolf standing by. There are some frozen strawberries for you there, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, which any other time, frozen strawberries sounds great to drink, does it? It's fantastic. I mean, you know -

COLLINS: Absolutely, it doesn't sound that bad now.

WOLF: Exactly. Maybe coffee would you be a better choice during for the morning hours, before the weekend, yes, we bring these frozen strawberries back. Seriously though, this is dangerous times. This is dangerous times for growers in parts of Florida. They need the warmer conditions right now. You got certainly cold conditions and we have some freeze warnings that are in effect for much of the area.

Temperatures though in the cities where we have all of that cement, and all that metal, things are considerably warmer. Miami with 34 degrees, and Orlando, we got 48 and 42 in Jacksonville. What is interesting about the weather pattern across the nation is that we have a little bit of a pendulum swinging. Conditions are very cool in Florida, but farther out into the west, some places like Colorado where you would normally expect conditions well to be significantly cooler, we have record highs yesterday.

Take a look at Denver with a record high of 71 degrees. And Pueblo, Colorado 75 and 80s in Phoenix, Arizona and Blythe with 80 degrees. Take a look at the shot that we have from the Mile High City. And here it is. Looks pretty good out there.

As far as you can see, great look of the range there, and of course the downtown area looks splendid, going out for a walk today, you're going to be just happy with those conditions and expect winter to return fairly soon though. This is not going to be something that will last for a very long time.

For the rest of the nation, even further back on to the west, the Golden state of California, not at all gold today, a lot of rainfall. It's the time of year when you have those winter storms that come on through. Winter storms really mean a different thing in the high sierra. Obviously, a snowstorm there, but along the coast, from St. Louis, Obispo, southward to places like say Santa Barbara and even into Orange County, you're going to be dealing with some heavy rainfall.

Eventually, you might have issues with some mudslides. Certainly something to watch in that part of the world. In terms of your high temperatures, again, well, happy times for you in Denver. High temperatures going to 70 degrees. Enjoy it while you can. Music city of Nashville with 54. 35 in Chicago, 29 in Minneapolis.

For Boston and New York, temperatures mainly into the 30s. Tampa with 62. And San Francisco, hold on to the umbrellas, because you'll need them. 54 degrees will be your expected high. Heidi, you're up to speed.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Reynolds, certainly do appreciate that. Thanks.

WOLF: You bet.

COLLINS: Experts say women may not be getting the attention they need at a critical time. Simple steps to saving your own life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Most people know to get help immediately if they have symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke. But a new study indicates women's heart complaints may not be taken as seriously when they dial 911. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now to talk a little bit more about this. First, we should reiterate the study and exactly what it says.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We talked about this last week but what the study found was that when women are dealing with emergency services, they are 53 percent more likely to experience delays. Now when they call the ambulance, the ambulance gets there just as quickly as it does for men.

It's something about when the ambulance is there with the woman who says that she is having a heart attack, they don't get her to the hospital as quickly as they get men there. Possibly because some emergency workers maybe still think of heart attacks like a male thing. COLLINS: Which we have been reporting for so long. We talked about this before and it's still surprising, especially coming from someone like a paramedic or an EMS worker who you would think would be really clued in on heart attacks being the number one risk.

COHEN: Right. Well, I was surprised, too, but I talked to the emergency doctors and nurses, and they said that still that mind-set sometimes is there. Plus, women do often have heart attack symptoms that are different than men. So whereas a man may be more likely to feel kind of that crushing pain and say -- point to his chest and say pain, pain, pain, whereas a woman might have likely have nausea or vomiting, which is sort of sometimes -

COLLINS: It can be anything.

COHEN: Right. Exactly. Pregnancy.

COLLINS: Right. No. This is no joke, because you really have to make it clear, and timing is of the essence. I mean, you have to do what? You just tell them - listen - I'm not pregnant, and I have never had these feelings before.

COHEN: Right. One doctor said kind of what you said, time is muscle. The more that time goes by, the more of your heart muscle gets damaged. So let's take a look at what you should do. If it you feel like emergency workers aren't taking you seriously, or even if they are, don't downplay your symptoms. The doctors I talked to that they felt that women were more likely to be like oh, I'm OK, don't worry. Don't downplay it.

Just tell it like it is. Also, be specific about your pain. Don't just say, "I don't feel well," say, "I am feeling pain in my chest that is radiating down my arm." If that's indeed how you're feeling. And the third thing that you need to do is to be very specific that this is abnormal for you.

For example, if a woman has intense nausea, which can be a sign of a heart attack, she should say, I never feel like this.

COLLINS: rights.

COHEN: This is not normal for me. Or else they might just think, oh, it's stomach flu.

COLLINS: Yes. OK. Understood. All right. Very important for us to be vocal, certainly.

COHEN: Absolutely. Absolutely true.

COLLINS: Very good. Empowered patients we are. Thanks so much, CNN medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Meanwhile, this going on for you right now. And is he the man for the job, Timothy Geithner, live pictures for you, answer the tough questions, some of them yesterday. But does President Obama's choice for top money man have what it takes to change the direction of the economy? More in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly now, I want to get back to some of these live pictures that we have and are able to bring to you. This is the Senate judiciary committee. We know that President Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, the vote will be happening today, the vote to confirm him. This now, the committee vote, and it will go on for the final vote for his confirmation, obviously.

Once again, giving you some of these live pictures that we want to go and listen in just a little bit of this, before the vote takes place. Senator Nelson now, of Florida.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: I don't think that there was the specificity that should have been forthcoming. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but my attitude is conditioned on the fact of the meeting that we had with Larry Summers, which was a private meeting, and there was a lack of specificity there. And I think that this is a time that there has to be the exchange.

Now, between the two branches of government. Now, the nominee said that he firmly believes, and he represents that the administration firmly believes, and knowing the president and the vice president as we do, I think they do believe that in the separation of powers, that if we're going to confront an economic crisis like we have, that the - the legislative branch has to be in a constant dialogue, so that we can be a partner in solving this.

The marker I want to place down is that I would urge the secretary and all of the people that are engaging in trying to find a solution to have a free flow of ideas with us in the Senate and specifically this committee. I just want to note what the nominee said yesterday. And you were very kind to allow me to sit in, Mr. Chairman, even though I was not officially a member of the committee, as of yesterday.

This is what he said. "Our expectation is, our hope is, that we will be able to come forward relatively quickly with a comprehensive plan. I don't want to provide any specific details today." Well, that's what I thought should have been provided yesterday. And so I will take the nominee at his word that, "he will come forward relatively quickly with a comprehensive plan." Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Senator. Senator Bunning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

COLLINS: All right, once again, I just want to remind you here what we are looking at. This is the senate judiciary committee, and they are making some statements before they actually go to taking that vote. On the committee vote for the confirmation of President Barack Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner. So there may be even more tough questions facing Geithner, though, if he is confirmed. As we said, the Senate judiciary committee meeting right now to vote on that nomination. We will continue to bring you some of those live pictures, should we need to do that. But we're also bringing in Colin Barr. He is a senior writer for fortune.com. He is joining us from New York this morning.

So Colin, I know you have been following this story very closely. It is a fascinating one, given the complexity of the economy and the difficulty and needing that someone, the brainiac, to try to help with this recovery plan, and then also talking so seriously about restoring trust in the government, in the economic situation, and also in those who oversee it.

With these questions, that he was facing yesterday, and now with the vote that comes before the committee, is he going to be confirmed?

COLIN BARR, SENIOR WRITER, FORTUNE.COM: It looks like he's going to be confirmed. The way it looks is that a lot of senators have very serious questions about the taxes and their constituents are very angry about the notion that someone who will be leading the IRS has had some tax issues in the past. But it appears that the gravity of the financial situation is such that Mr. Geithner will be confirmed.

COLLINS: But here's the disconnect for me. I understand clearly, and I know that there are plenty of people out there who say, really, you know, the problems that this country is seeing by way of economic troubles is much, much bigger, much more complex than $42,000 or $34,000. Whatever the tax was that he ended up not paying until a later date, and knowing of his nomination for this position.

But part of that, at least that we have been talking about with all of our economic experts is restoring this trust. Is that going to be possible with this particular nominee?

BARR: That's an interesting question. A number of senators have spoken to that issue, and they say that one of the things we need to do is restore confidence in our financial system, and in our institutions in general. And the question is whether you believe something that Geithner himself says with a bad mistake, but an honest mistake, and, you know, something that he did unintentionally is enough to overshadow his obvious qualifications. And moreover, to set the process back of setting up a new Treasury secretary. There's a sense that you need to have economic leadership, very strong economic leadership right now.

COLLINS: Right now. Right.

BARR: Right now. And so Senator Reid, for instance said yesterday that we need to have Geithner confirmed as soon as possible, so that we can move forward. So it seems that the rush to take action on the policy front is over -- is outweighing, rather, the sense that maybe Geithner has made this mistake and can't be trusted.

COLLINS: In fact, let's go ahead and listen in just a moment to some of that question and answer session that took place yesterday on Capitol Hill. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: If I got a letter of audit from the IRS, first of all, my knees would be shaking and I would be scared to death, and I would try to figure out what I did wrong if they concluded I did something wrong. It would be a big deal in my life. And I assume that you took this seriously, and it was a big deal in your life, as well, right?

GEITHNER: Absolutely.

KYL: And when you found out what you had done wrong, it is incomprehensible to me that you didn't immediately realize that you had done it wrong for the entire time that you had been at the IMF.

GEITHNER: Senator, as I said before, I took the audit very seriously. I hired an accountant to go back and help me figure out what I had done wrong and how to correct it. I paid what the IRS said I owed.

KYL: I understand that. But I'm asking about your state of mind. When you were - when you first became aware of the fact that you had an additional liability as a result of this audit, and you found out why you had had that additional liability, it screams credulity that it didn't immediately occur to you that you had that liability for the whole time that you were at IMF.

GEITHNER: Senator, as I said, if I thought about it more at the time, I would have asked a lot more questions, I would have handled it differently. And I regret not having done so. And this is my mistake and its my responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The exchange there between committee member Senator John Kyl, and then obviously Timothy Geithner answering some of those questions to the best of his ability.

Does it even matter? I mean, we're moving forward regardless of what he knew or didn't know by way of filling out his taxes correctly while working at the International Monetary Fund. He'll be confirmed later today, it seems fairly clear that that's the case. It seems that Senator Kyl was trying to press the issue of just when did Geithner realize that he - that he should have been paying back taxes, not just for 2003 and 2004 -

COLLINS: Right.

BARR: But also for 2001, 2002. And I believe that Mr. - that Senator Kyl ended up calling Mr. Geithner's story implausible. But it does seem that despite the reservation of Senator Kyl and Senator Bunning in particular that most of the senators have come to the view that we need to move forward, and we need to have someone in place who can help President Obama draw up his economic plans.

COLLINS: I've been listening on the monitor here. We did hear Senator Jon Kyl say that he would be voting no, probably no surprise. But we'll continue to watch that vote a little bit later on today. Colin Barr, we sure do appreciate it. Senior writer from fortunemagazine.com.

BARR: Thank you.

COLLINS: President Obama calls it an economic recovery plan, others a stimulus plan. And lawmakers getting a crack at it already. This is the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Live pictures once again for you. These lawmakers will debate the part of the plan that would give most workers a tax credit, and for some, extra money to help pay for college.

The war on terror, and a U.S. detention center that drew criticism from around the world. Today, Barack Obama makes it one of his first priorities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Barack Obama takes the presidential oath again. You may remember that during Tuesday's official swearing in, Chief Justice John Roberts bungled some of the wording. The White House says just to be safe, the two men repeated the process last night without any problems.

On the president's agenda today, though, ordering the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within one year. That is according to a senior administration official and Congressional aide. They say he will sign two other executive orders today. Those will ban the use of torture and review the treatment of terror suspects.

So, is President Obama charting a new course in the war on terror? CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joining us now with a closer look. Hi there, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi. Well, this all basically is President Obama living up to the campaign promises he made as candidate Obama, repeatedly saying during the campaign that he would should down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which currently houses about 250 men suspected and charged, some of them, with being involved in terrorism.

So, what are the steps now? With his executive order, he will call for Guantanamo Bay to be shut down within one year. But how do you really do that? First, they're going to try and send as many of these people back to their home countries as they can. Those who cannot be sent back, they will have to find some facility in the United States to house them, some type of prison or detention facility.

They will have to come up with some sort of legal proceeding now, because they are reviewing this whole process of military commissions that they had down at Gitmo. A new process for them to be held accountable. And they will have to find a way forward on all of this.

But one thing is clear, really. It's going to take some time, and they are trying to turn the page, both here in the United States, and abroad, where much of this period of history, if you will, has been looked on very badly by the Islamic world -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Quickly, Barbara, just remind us, if you would, is there going to be any change by way of following through with whatever legal process each one of these detainees still has to go through? I mean, we know about the prison. We know about the military side of it. But now, of course, there is a legal side.

STARR: And, you know, that's going to really be the issue. And in fact, the Pentagon -- officials have talked about this problem now for some months. They're going to try and find a way to sit down and work it out with the Justice Department and take a look at how to do this.

Because the issue has been, these people have been kept at Guantanamo Bay so they would be outside the U.S. judicial process by not being in the United States. You bring them to the United States, they then get all of the rights and procedures to move through the U.S. criminal court system.

All of that now to be worked out, and that appears to be what will happen. They estimate about 60 people or so at Guantanamo Bay will not be released back to their home countries. These are the so- called worst of the worst. Those are the ones they're going to have to focus on.

COLLINS: And I'm sure issues of cost for that, if they do go through the U.S. legal system, will not be popular for some people, as well. A lot more to talk about on this front. Sure do appreciate that. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

The president's actions on Guantanamo come seven years after the first prisoners arrived from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our Josh Levs is here to tell us about Guantanamo Bay and specifically the U.S. Naval prison. Hey there, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey there. Well, we're going to start off with some Google Earth imagery, because I want to take everyone and kind of zoom all the way in. You could see where we're talking about.

You're going down here to Cuba. And what we're going to do is then go to the southern section of Cuba, which is where this installation is, this naval base that you're going to keep hearing about and have been hearing about for so long. This whole section here pretty much is the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo, but the part we're talking about right now is where the prisoners have been held.

The prison, that is here. And one of the most -- of the six camps, perhaps the most famous one is right here, Camp Delta, and you've been hearing a lot about Camp Delta. Now, we have some video. You're seeing a little bit there. Let's go to it.

You can see -- get some sense of what it's like. The cells are about eight feet long by seven feet wide, eight feet high. The thing is, no one is allowed in the base without U.S. permission. So, the video that we've seen is either from the Defense Department or often screened by the Defense Department.

Now, there are about -- we have some numbers for you here. Let me show you. Two hundred fifty detainees now, as you were hearing. But that's actually a lot fewer than there were before. At its peak, 750 at one point. Five have died in U.S. custody.

And Heidi, you mentioned earlier, seven years, the first detainees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, arrived this month, January, back in 2002. Obviously, since then the prison has been a tremendous source of controversy. A lot of questions raised about the treatment of the detainees there.

COLLINS: Yes. Well, the history, though, is important in all of this, too.

LEVS: Yes, it is.

COLLINS: The U.S., at least as of late, we're hearing a little bit differently about that now. So, more news I'm sure to come. But regarding the diplomatic relations with Cuba...

LEVS: Right.

COLLINS: Why a base there?

LEVS: Yes. Why have a base there throughout all of this? That's because it goes way back, actually more than a century, really, as you trace this. Cuba originally leased that area to the United States, all the way back in 1903. And what happened was, this is how we got here.

In 1934, Cuba and the U.S. signed what was called a perpetual lease, and it can only be broken by mutual consent. So, both Cuba and the United States have to say they don't want to it to happen anymore.

The U.S. has been sending checks now for about $4,085 a year. Fidel Castro called those illegal. The Cuban government to this day does not cash the checks that the United States sends for it. So, it is still a place that the U.S. uses. Cuba calls it illegal, but unless the U.S. doesn't want it, you don't have mutual consent to get rid of it. Hence, it's still America's.

COLLINS: All right, Josh, we'll be following this story I think for quite some time. Going to take a while to resolve all of that. Josh Levs, thank you.

LEVS: Thanks a lot.

COLLINS: The first press briefing, though, from the new administration is happening about two hours from now. We're going to have live coverage of that for you, right here in the NEWSROOM, happening once again 12:45 Eastern, 9:45 Pacific.

Thousands of Microsoft workers are waking up this morning to find out they are out of a job. And Microsoft isn't the only company announcing big layoffs today. Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more details here. Hi, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Microsoft shocked Wall Street in more ways than one this morning. First of all, we were expecting quarterly results after the closing bell. Came out before the opening bell. We could deal with that kind of surprise. What we really weren't prepared for was the fact that the software giant is cutting 5,000 jobs or 5.5 percent of its workforce. Fourteen hundred pink slips will go out today.

This after Microsoft announced that its quarterly profits fell 11 percent, yes, and Wall Street was disappointed by that, too. That certainly missed estimates. The company says, "Economic activity slowed beyond our expectations." That's a quote. And that the company is planning for economic uncertainty to continue, hence the cutbacks.

Microsoft is affecting the broader market because it is a member of the elite 30 companies that make up the Dow Industrials. Its shares right now are down 8 percent. The blue chips are down, meanwhile, 199 points.

But Microsoft doesn't trade here. It actually trades at the Nasdaq, so it's really hurting the tech index. Right now the Nasdaq is down 46 points. Let me give you a bright spot today, Heidi. Apple shares are up 6 percent. It beat on revenue and profits. Consumers are still buying, or at least in the last quarter were still buying iPhones and iPods -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. We want to get lost in the music if we can, in any way, shape or form. We are getting used to layoffs, though, from auto companies and retailers, but not so much tech companies. Why is this significant? Does this give us sort of a bigger perspective of things?

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, a couple reasons. One of course, obviously, you know, Microsoft shows that even the richest, biggest companies aren't immune to the downturn. I think when you talk about tech companies, it not only shows consumer preferences, but also capital investment. Remember, I mean, companies upgrading to different systems, things like that. So really showing both corporate and consumer changes.

But we're seeing the trickle-down effect, because remember, if you're seeing a slowdown in PCs, it would affect a chip maker like, say, Intel. Intel says it's cutting up to 6,000 jobs and cutting several plants. We're also seeing chemical maker today Huntsman cutting more than 1,000 jobs. And retailer Williams-Sonoma -- you know it for its home furnishings -- it's cutting 1,400 jobs. So, we are seeing more job cuts, as expected, in the wake of this ongoing recession -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Unfortunately. All right, Susan Lisovicz, sure do appreciate that. Thanks. We now know who is up for an Oscar. You might have seen the nominations live just a couple of hours ago right here on CNN. We'll fill you in on the details and even chat with a nominee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A whole lot going on today. In fact, want to take you directly to Capitol Hill. There are many confirmation hearings and votes taking place today. Questions for man picked to lead the nation's intelligence community. We're looking at retired Admiral Dennis Blair, who is testifying now before the Senate Intelligence Committee. If eventually confirmed, he would lead 16 intelligence agencies through a strategic shift under the Obama administration. Obviously, the president's nominee for national intelligence director.

Also on Capitol Hill, waiting for a vote now on Timothy Geithner, President Obama's nominee to become treasury secretary. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve him, despite questions about payroll taxes that he initially did not pay. In fact, we want to go ahead and listen in to some of that discussion right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (in progress): ... zero impact, the best I can tell, except increase the deficit by about $160 billion. The other attempts that have been made to deal with this flagging economy, which basically have led me to the conclusion that notwithstanding the good will and best efforts of some of the smartest people in the country, and perhaps on the planet, they really don't know what to do.

Which I think ought to give us some humility and an extreme note of caution about what we embrace and how fast we pass legislation not knowing how the money will be used, and particularly whether it will have the desired effect, whether it will merely add to the deficit, whether it will merely add to our financial problems that are very severe, indeed.

So, I'm gratified to be here, and I will support this nomination. I look forward to working with Mr. Geithner and the administration to get the economy moving again and create jobs, keep taxes low, and expand the opportunity here at home.

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Senator. Senator Roberts, you're next.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: Were you going to talk about the history of the committee and Bob Dole being audited?

(LAUGHTER)

BAUCUS: Well, if you wanted to leave and come back again, we will.

ROBERTS: No, I know once I leave what happens. Conrad bolts the door. I had charts out there I was going to bring in, but Senator Conrad wouldn't let me do that, because he is the chart master of the Senate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of the universe.

ROBERTS: I think you'd probably like me to get to my statement. I would like to say that I'm not going to split the shingle on the tax issue anymore. I think Senator Bunning and Senator Enzi pretty well summed that up, and I share their views. And I'm a little puzzled by some on the committee who said they really appreciated the answers by Mr. Geithner, who I think has displayed a considerable grasp of economic issues, there is no question about that, but it was general background, and it was discussion. It wasn't specific in terms of answers to specific questions by people on the committee.

Namely, Senator Grassley, who asked very specific question, and they were not answered. Senator Kyl, who asked very specific questions, Senator Bunning, who asked very specific questions. I asked a few questions, but by that time, the chairman was worried about time, so he got out his lizzie board (ph) and gavel, and that was the end of that.

I thought that -- I thought Mr. Geithner was a very good witness from the standpoint of being a person who could not be in a position to providing specific answers, because he is waiting on marching orders from Mr. Summers and also the transition team. And I think most of the nominees are in that position.

And that's unfortunate, because I think this committee needed to really get at the specific questions mentioned by the senators that I have mentioned and others on the other side. I would like to identify myself with the remarks made by Senator Cornyn, the new member of the committee, who pretty well summed up my views. And so I would associate myself with those remarks. And I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

BAUCUS: Thank you, Senator. Senator Conrad, you're next.

SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: North Dakota. How many --

BAUCUS: (INAUDIBLE)

CONRAD: OK.

BAUCUS: We're stretching our -- brains to see how fast we can go.

CONRAD: OK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I want to apologize for not being able to be here yesterday, but we had a hearing in the budget committee at the exact same time on our short- and long-term fiscal challenges, and for that reason, I could not attend. One of the things we talked about yesterday was the --

COLLINS: All right. Just wanted to give you a little bit of a taste now of what is happening live for you there on Capitol Hill, Senate Finance Committee, regarding the confirmation, the vote that is yet to come on President Obama's nominee for treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner. We will continue to follow that and let you know as soon as that vote happens -- the committee vote, I should be clear. Then it will go on to a full committee for final confirmation.

Meanwhile, talk weather for a moment. They're freezing in Florida, and as California gets some rain, we're watching it from our weather center. Your forecast, coming up in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: OK. So, check this out for a minute. Looks like sand, right? But it's not. It's snow on the beach in North Carolina. Freezing temperatures, snow or ice actually stretched across much of the state. Moving to the Midwest now, sculptures of frozen vegetables are turning a lot of heads in Wausau. And three friends made the unique sculptures for an art museum. They say it takes a day and a half to two days to do something like that. Did you know that, Reynolds Wolf?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I see where you're going. I see how you're working this. You're starting off in places along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, then to the Midwest. Now we're going all the way out to the West Coast. Heidi, you've spent time on the West Coast before, haven't you?

COLLINS: I have.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Yes, and I'm blaming my really poor and deteriorating golf game on you, because it's just been too cold, you know?

WOLF: You know, just bring it on. Pile it on. These shoulders are big. I can take it.

COLLINS: Reynolds, thank you.

WOLF: You bet.

COLLINS: The first press briefing from the new Obama administration less than two hours away now. We're going to have it for you live, right here in the NEWSROOM, 12:45 Eastern, 9:45 Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, describes parts of Gaza as a wasteland. We want to let you know, beginning tomorrow, other journalists will be able to see themselves. Israel reopening a border crossing in the north of Gaza. No one except Israeli troops and aid workers was allowed into the Palestinian territory during the three-week Israeli offensive.

Three death sentences handed down today in China's tainted-milk scandal, and the former chairwoman of the San Lu Dairy received life in prison. The four dairy executives have pleaded guilty to producing fake or substandard products. At least six infants were killed, and nearly 3,000 others sickened by melamine-tainted dairy products. The melamine had been added to the products so they would appear to have a higher protein level.

Well, that's all for now. I'm Heidi Collins. We'll continue our coverage today with Tony Harris.