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Obama Attempting to Sway Republicans on Stimulus; Storm Moves East; Obama Talks to the Muslim World; Castaways From Myanmar Left to Die by Thailand

Aired January 27, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Seeking support for his stimulus plan. President Obama reaches out to Republicans today and we are live on Capitol Hill.

And winter's long arm. Storm stretches from Texas to New England. We'll tell you who is getting snow and who is getting the ice.

It is Tuesday, January 27th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Obama heads to the Hill. He'll lobby Republicans who are increasingly squeamish about his massive stimulus plan. The White House says he'll also listen to their wish lists -- more tax cuts and less spending.

Day eight of the Obama administration and the new president is stressing urgency to halt the economy's tailspin. Just after his noon arrival, President Obama will meet with Republican leaders in the House and then the next hour, he meets with their counterparts in the Senate.

And then, questions and answers. The White House holds its daily briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

CNN correspondents are, of course, in place to bring you all of the angles of the story. In fact, Christine Romans will break down the stimulus plan. What does your $825 billion actually buy and Suzanne Malveaux has the view from the White House.

So let's go ahead and begin there. Good morning to you, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, President Obama has done this before. You might recall that the bailout plan, that package, $700 billion, he quietly reached out to House Republicans and ended up getting some support along the way.

That is certainly what he is hoping today to actually go to their home turf on the Hill to meet with Senate Republicans, as well as House Republicans, and aides are saying what he is doing here is he's trying to give them a little leeway here. Obviously, they -- what -- they believe that they're going to get the stimulus package either way, Democrats on both sides. The chambers are going to give him what he wants but he wants more than that. He wants Republicans to come on board here, a real bipartisan effort to show that there is some support.

So what are they willing to give up? Well, Obama aides say that he is quietly talking to Democrats about what Republicans are complaining about, that this is too big, $825 billion, there's not enough tax cuts and that potentially some of this money is not going to create jobs, which is the big goal here.

And so one of the things that Democrats are looking at, at possibly taking out of the legislation is that $200 million for contraceptives, for family planning, for poor -- for families.

COLLINS: Right.

MALVEAUX: That might be taken out. Another thing that we're going to see today as well that Barack Obama is offering the Republicans is take a look at what my Treasury secretary is doing, Tim Geithner. One of his first acts as Treasury secretary is lay down some new rules when it comes to special interest impact, lobbyist impact, on who gets the bailout money and where that money goes.

So these are the kinds of things that he is going to be talking about with Republicans making sure that they understand what he is willing to offer -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Sure. Just curious, Suzanne, if there is any indication as to where that $200 million that would have possibly gone for the contraceptives, it was taken out where it could go, where it would reallocated?

MALVEAUX: No sense of where that actually is going to go. But what the Republicans want is they actually want to shrink the size of the economic stimulus package. They don't, they don't think $825 billion is really a reasonable figure. And they also want more accountability.

So the kinds of questions that Republicans are going to be asking the president is what can you take out of this? They're looking at renovation projects for the mall, money for the National Endowment, for the arts. These kinds of things that they want pulled out of that bill -- Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. Understood. We will be watching closely alongside you. Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House this morning.

Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.

COLLINS: And as you know, it is the morning after bloody Monday. More than 71,000 job cuts were announced just yesterday, as companies continue struggling with the economy. Today, more American families are hit. Corning which makes the glass used in flat screen TVs says it will eliminate about 13 percent of its jobs by the end of the year. That is some 3,500 workers losing their paychecks. The company also slashing more than 1,400 temporary jobs.

Jobs, the lifeblood, of course, of the economy and a big focus of the Obama stimulus plan. So here to give us some specifics now is CNN's Christine Romans.

And good morning to you, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

And Weyerhaeuser, there are forest product company laying off some 220 workers, we've just heard, and closing a couple of mills. Current extraordinarily weak market conditions is the kind of language you're hearing from CEOs and, frankly, from the president of the United States.

The president yesterday standing up and ticking off company by company who were laying off workers. It's very rare to see a president up there singling out companies with layoffs but he was using it as another reason why we need to pass his stimulus.

A lot of critics, though, would point out that passing the stimulus right away, of course, wouldn't reverse these job losses. But stopping the bleeding is what they are looking to do.

So what is in it? It's 600-plus pages of -- stimulus, of tax cuts and spending, all kinds of different things in there. What's in it? Well, they're trying to create jobs, some three million to four million jobs. That's a big part of this stimulus. Tax cuts is one way to do that, infrastructure spending, education, some 142 billion dollars in education spending, and health care, $20 billion for high tech modernization of health care records, and also $87 billion for Medicaid and some other things.

Now, the jobs component of this, it would come, in part, from those tax cuts and all of that spending and some specific jobs programs. The Obama administration, the White House says they hope to create 678,000 construction jobs, an awful lot of manufacturing and retail jobs, education/health, tourism, government, others in here, too. I mean mining jobs, all kinds of different things that they're hoping to do three million to four million jobs over the course of the next couple of years.

Now Suzanne pointed out some of those things that the Republicans and opponents of the bill are really, really concerned about, spending that they say doesn't necessarily stimulate the economy.

There's a great debate right now...

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: ... among economists of all stripes and nonpartisan academic economists who are saying, you know, we don't know exactly what the right mix is, but this is a very, very, very big, big spending plan and they want to get it through with as little pork as possible and with as much actually stimulative spending as they can. There's going to be a great deal of debate about what that mix really is and -- I don't know if anybody -- I don't know if everybody can be happy in the end, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, very, very likely not going to be even remotely possible but got to find something, that's for sure.

CNN's Christine Romans, sure do appreciate that.

ROMANS: Sure.

COLLINS: And also, want to let you know we're going to be talking a lot more about this today. Will the stimulus package become a done deal? If so will it actually do what it is supposed to? A business expert is going to be joining us to give us some of his best guesses in just a few minutes.

The Obama administration has a new Cabinet member today. Timothy Geithner took his oath last night as secretary of the treasury. The Senate confirmed him despite concerns that he initially failed to pay his payroll taxes and Geithner says he'll waste no time in confronting the nation's growing financial crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: In the world we confront today, Treasury has to be and Treasury will be a source of bold initiative. We are at a moment of maximum challenge for our economy and for our country.

And our agenda, Mr. President, is to move quickly to help you do what the country asks you to do -- to launch the programs that will bring economic recovery sooner, to make our economy more productive and more just in the opportunities it provides our citizens, to restore trust in our financial system with fundamental reform, to make our tax system better at rewarding work and investment, to restore confidence in America's economic leadership around the world.

I pledge all of my ability to help you meet that challenge and to restore to all Americans the promise of a better future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Some time today, Geithner is expected to unveil new lobbying rules as well. The goal, limiting the effects of special interest groups on the government's financial rescue plan.

As you know Wall Street opens at the bottom of the hour. And it may be big day for buyers. Early signs pointing out to a positive start. Overseas markets are mixed. Japan's Nikkei surged nearly 5 percent overnight and trading in Europe has been down slightly throughout the morning.

So we'll keep our eye on those numbers as well.

Slow down. A winter storm making driving containing dangerous in parts of the Midwest and the south. The storm is being blamed for at least five traffic deaths and thousands of power outages. Many school districts and colleges have canceled classes for today. Oklahoma's governor has called a state of emergency due to icing conditions.

Getting to be a very serious situation in lots of parts of the country, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's a peaceful sight except if you're trying to get around the White House and the Capitol building. Obviously white buildings and you got he white on top of that. It just looks very clean there.

COLLINS: It does, for now, until it starts to turn around...

(CROSSTALK)

MARCIANO: We'll continue right through tonight. Here's the accumulation, by the way, Heidi. The heaviest amounts, as is typical, will be away from the bigger cities but D.C. to Philly, even New York, could see several inches of snow before it's all done.

COLLINS: All right. Everybody's got to be careful. Rob, thank you. We will get an update later on in the show.

MARCIANO: Sounds good.

COLLINS: Appreciate it.

MARCIANO: All right.

COLLINS: And speaking of weather, we're not sure quite yet if this is weather-related, but look at that. A FedEx plane crashed at the Lubbock, Texas airport this morning. Two crew members on the plane, both of them, walked off and are believed to have minor injuries.

These are live pictures for you now coming in from our affiliate KLBK. No word on why the plane went off the runway, but part of it did catch on fire. Of course, as you can probably even tell from those pictures, there's been quite a bit of ice in the Lubbock area today.

His first formal TV interview. President Barack Obama skips the U.S. networks, directing his message overseas to the Muslim world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve. Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. It will take time, perhaps many years, but we can rebuild that lost trust and confidence. We can restore opportunity and prosperity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: President Obama getting his team ready to push his economic stimulus plan. New Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner comes in just as Congress prepares to debate the issue.

Mr. Obama wants to see an $825 billion stimulus plan on his desk next month. But he doesn't have a shot at working out. Here in the studios to talk about it a little bit more, Jeffrey Rosensweig, he's a business professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Nice to have you back, Jeffrey. Overall thoughts on the Obama plan. Surely, you have thought this through by way of trouble spots and then also ideas that look like they're really going to be successful.

JEFFREY ROSENSWEIG, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I think it's a good plan. One thing is he understands the urgency of something -- getting something going. The other thing is that he feeds in some tax cuts which are good in that they can happen more quickly than some of the spending plans.

Some things are shovel-ready, but, you know, you don't rebuild the entire infrastructure in a few weeks whereas you can get the tax cuts going. But, ultimately, he understands that we need to create jobs directly and that means government spending. The Republicans want such large tax cuts, they don't have to be spent if people get a tax cut.

COLLINS: Well, it's a good point. And it's what we're talking about in the break.

ROSENSWEIG: That's right.

COLLINS: When we're talking about these job cuts, we're at 71,000 over basically a time period of 24 hours.

ROSENSWEIG: Twenty-four hours.

COLLINS: That these many people have lost their jobs.

ROSENSWEIG: Yes.

COLLINS: You give these massive tax cuts and you're saying there's, there's no guarantee that that money that people are saving then goes back into the economy?

ROSENSWEIG: That's right. People get a tax cut, they can do three things. They can buy a U.S. product, which would ultimately create jobs here, they can save it, or they can buy, for instance, Chinese products or Mexican products and nothing against those countries, but it wouldn't create jobs here. COLLINS: And that's what happened with the stimulus check?

ROSENSWEIG: The stimulus check was something like $168 billion...

COLLINS: Yes.

ROSENSWEIG: ... and we can feel no impact that we measure as economists and, of course, we're in much worse shape now than we were then.

COLLINS: Yes. And I want to read you something that "The Washington Post" says when you talk about the timing of all this and injecting this money in quickly. "The Washington Post" says this. It's on the screen now for everybody.

"The Congressional Budget Office says $526 billion," which is about 65 percent of this overall package, $825 billion, "would be spent by September 2010."

OK, good, bad, takes too long?

ROSENSWEIG: That's right. It's some of both. It takes too long in terms of we've got to get this money spent really as soon as possible. On the other hand, the faster we try to spend it, the more pork there will be, the less accountability. You know we have some projects identified that are probably good to get started on but if you try to spend the money too quickly, you won't.

But you know, maybe they talk too much about things like infrastructure. I mean why don't we increase food stamps? Why don't we give some money to states that if it's targeted, for instance, to go to community colleges? Since a lot of people are afraid of losing their jobs, they should at least pick up a college degree.

So when the economy does better, they have a job. So there are some things we can get spending on very quickly. We can extend the amount of time people can have unemployment insurance.

COLLINS: But when you talk about food stamps or unemployment insurance, don't -- programs like that then sort of create their own problems or own issues within the economy?

ROSENSWEIG: Well, some of them would, but, for instance, let's say you increase food stamps. One thing you never hear is people talk about the poor anymore, as you know. We're always talking about the middle class and the middle class are getting hurt. My own neighbors are, you know, feel it.

But you know, we have a lot of poor people. And one thing I like about food stamps is, one thing we know that our people buy our own agricultural products. U.S. farmers are the best in the world. So it's something that would stimulate our economy more than create problems.

With the unemployment insurance, you realize if you've been unemployed for 26 weeks you stop getting benefits? Well, that's one thing when there's jobs out there but if there aren't many jobs out there, people are really hurting.

COLLINS: Yes, some of those start with the big three, the automobile industry.

ROSENSWEIG: Definitely. Definitely.

COLLINS: And their plan for people who have lost their jobs.

ROSENSWEIG: Yes, (INAUDIBLE). That's right.

COLLINS: Or who are already retired.

ROSENSWEIG: That's right. That's right.

COLLINS: So, what do we take away on a day like this when we know the president is meeting with Republicans, who says he wants bipartisan support?

ROSENSWEIG: Yes.

COLLINS: As consumers, you know, you and me.

ROSENSWEIG: Yes.

COLLINS: What do we think about this?

ROSENSWEIG: I think we take away that the plan will come out and will be a compromise, there will be some tax cuts, they'll will hit pretty quickly, but that the president will hold firm. And I think he does, that a lot of it will be spending and there has to be some direct job creation.

If we learn two things in the Great Depression, one is you cannot let the money supply contract. What the Federal Reserve is doing is a good thing, expanding the money supply, making money available. And of course, they meet today and I think they'll talk about continuing to do that.

But the other thing is you need to get people working directly. You don't know if people are going to save tax cuts. You have to give a feeling out there that the government will create jobs and hopefully that will multiply out to the private sector.

COLLINS: Yes. Keynesian economics, something like that?

ROSENSWEIG: There is something to it.

COLLINS: A couple of articles written about that today. Very good.

ROSENSWEIG: Yes, exactly. There's something to it at least in the time of massive recession when the private sector isn't creating the jobs themselves, the government may have to be the stimulus and then we hope -- ultimately, most of us believe in the private sector. COLLINS: Right.

ROSENSWEIG: But sometimes it needs the stimulus of government. And that was the great insight of Keynes.

COLLINS: Yes. Understood. Well, we could talk to you all day long, but sadly, on TV, we don't get to do that.

ROSENSWEIG: Another day, Heidi.

COLLINS: But Jeffrey Rosensweig, thanks so much, from Emory University. Sure do appreciate it your time.

ROSENSWEIG: Thank you.

COLLINS: This morning we answer your job hunt questions so get ready for this, everybody. If you need advice on strategy, your resume or next interview, we're going to be laying out a road map to your next job and take your e-mail questions. That's going to happen in the 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour so just go ahead and e-mail us. Any question you'd like answered, CNNNewsroom@CNN.com.

President Barack Obama's direct message reaching out to the Muslim world. But how is that message being received?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: President Barack Obama's first formal TV interview done not with a U.S. broadcast network. Instead, speaking directly with the Muslim world on Al-Arabiya.

CNN's Stan Grant joining us now live from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Stan, good morning to you.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Heidi. This was an interview that was loaded with symbolism, isn't it? If you look at the past week, the first week of President Obama's presidency, he has reached out to Arab world, speaking to Arab leaders and, of course, appointing an envoy, George Mitchell, to actually come here and try to broker a peace between Israelis and Palestinians and choosing Al Arabiya for his first interview.

Al Arabiya is seen as a very moderate network and the message from President Obama, one, friendship, that the United States is not the enemy of the Muslim world. And President Obama also stressing his own personal intimate connections to the Islamic world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: What I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is, is that regardless of your faith, and America is a country of Muslim, Jews, Christians, nonbelievers, regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams. And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.

My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We, sometimes, make mistakes. We have not been perfect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now President Obama, of course, spent time in Indonesia as a child growing up. That's the largest Muslim country in the world. He also stressed during the interview that he has personal members of his family who are Muslims. So he said that he understands the Islamic world and that underscored his message of friendship that he is pushing here.

The reaction, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive. We're speaking earlier to Al Arabiya and looking on their Web site. Most of the comments are saying this is a very positive start, a strong -- a strong interview, a refreshing change another one said. But there have been some dissenting voices. One criticism I did read on the Web site saying that President Obama should not forget to speak and listen to Hamas, of course, in Gaza -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Stan Grant, sure do appreciate that. Stan, thank you.

President Obama prepares to go toe-to-toe now with some of his Capitol Hill critics. Can he win them over before his economic plan comes to a vote?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The opening bell just about to ring on Wall Street this morning. And investors stock can extend Monday's modest gains. There's the opening bell for you now.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange is looking at how the trading day is shaping up.

Good morning to you, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And we're off! We're looking at some positive momentum at the open following yesterday's modest gains. The employment front remains the focus and we're hearing of even more layoffs this morning, after yesterday's bloody Monday, during which companies announced more than 70,000 job cuts.

Corning cutting 3,500 jobs with 13 percent of its work force by the end of the year. The company which makes glass for LCD screens expect to save up to $200 million a year with the cuts. Corning will also launch an early retirement program and suspend married-based pay increase for salary of employees. Late yesterday, Texas Instruments said it's slashing 3,400 positions this year due to slumping demand for its products. The ship maker says about half will be layoffs. The remainder will be through voluntary retirements and departures.

We have earnings to tell you about. American Express saw it's profits drop nearly 80 percent in the last quarter. Card users cut spending by 10 percent. Fellow Dow stocks Dupont reporting a loss of nearly $630 million. Investors are also mulling reports from Verizon, Bristol Myers and Delta Airlines.

And we have something to tell you about the housing market that came out at the top of the hour. The S&P Case-Shiller home price index, something closely watched here on Wall Street, shows a record drop in home prices tumbling more than 18 percent in November.

Yesterday, you may recall, we saw a big jump in existing home sales in December, precipitated by the plunge in home prices. We are not seeing a plunge in the first minute of trading. I'm happy to say. The Dow Industrial is right now up 26 points or a 0.03 percent. The Nasdaq is up 0.03 percent as well.

Netflix shares are up 10.50 percent, Heidi. Listen up. The online DVD rental service posted a 45 percent increase in its quarterly profits. The company also ended the year with more than 25 percent increase in subscribers. Growth at Netflix coming at a time when taking a family of four to a movie theater approaches 40 bucks and that is before the trip to the snack bar, which would easily double it, maybe even triple it.

COLLINS: Yes. I know. Believe me, I've been there. And there is not that great of a deal for a matinee anymore, either, in my opinion. All right. Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Appreciate it. We'll watch the numbers.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: And also, we're watching this. Heading Tuesday fill, President Obama is set to meet with Republican leaders today. He's trying to sell them on his massive stimulus plan. Republicans say the $825 billion price tag is too high and the plan needs a lot more tax cuts. Day eight of the Obama administration. Here is what is in store.

Just after his noon arrival on Capitol Hill now, President Obama will meet with Republican leaders in the House. The next hour, he meets with their counterparts in the Senate. And then, questions and answers. The White House holds its daily briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Back to Capitol Hill now, and our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar this morning.

So, Brianna, what do Republicans want to hear exactly from the president today? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the bigger question, Heidi, is what are they expecting to hear from him? Wouldn't we like to know if President Obama is coming here to The Hill to cut a deal? Well we're hearing from Republicans, as well as Democrats, that that's not necessarily the expectation. What it seems, according to Republicans that we've spoken with, is that this is really a chance, again, to have a discussion with President Obama and to talk about some of those issues that you just mentioned that they have with the economic stimulus package.

They feel that there's too much spending. They think that some of the kinds of spending in the bill, they don't like it. For instance, some of the money, a lot of money that we've seen for improvements to the National Mall here in Washington. Money to increase broad band Internet access in rural areas. Republicans aren't a fan of some of these ideas, and what they'd like to see instead is more tax cuts, especially for businesses.

Now according to a senior House Democratic aide that I spoke with, he said that Republicans are going to get some things, basically some carrots to win over some of their support, but the question is when is that going to come, Heidi? Because there is a vote tomorrow. And I spoke also with a senior Republican House aide who said the thought is that it may not come in time for the vote tomorrow. So then what's the point? When is it going to come?

Well, the House has their vote tomorrow. Then this goes to the Senate. They make changes. Then the House and the Senate have to have a powwow. They make some more changes. They come to an agreement on one bill that they both have to vote on. In the sense from Democratic and Republican aides that I've spoken to is that some of those changes may come in that process, but not in time for tomorrow's vote, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Well, if that doesn't happen, then I guess they just take another vote? What? I mean, any indication as to how long this could go?

KEILAR: Well, you hear Democrats sticking to the deadline. And Republicans saying, you know, they expect it to stand by mid-February. The question is how much support can they get? What do Democrats have to give on to get some of that Republican support? And just to give you a sense of this vote tomorrow in the House, one of these Republican -- one of the senior Republican House aides that I spoke with said there is really not going to be any Republican support, very negligible Republican support. Even this aide saying it could be in the single digits as far as the Republican members of the House to go for it.

COLLINS: Wow. All right. Well, we're watching closely and we will chat with you a little bit later on if there is any more information regarding this. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much, live from Capitol Hill this morning.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a new playbook for lobbyists, hoping to steer money from the financial rescue program. Administration officials tell CNN Geithner will unveil new rules limiting the influence of special interest groups over the bailout program. The Associated Press reports officials will have to submit a report to Congress detailing the review process for awarding bailout money, and no bank will be considered unless it is recommended by the program's primary bank regulator.

There is surely a lot to grasp as the president and lawmakers work on a financial rescue plan. Starting tonight, our own Lou Dobbs will go through these recovery proposals line-by-line, item-by-item, working to separate the pork from the truly helpful. Loose line item veto beginning tonight at 7:00 Eastern. Make sure you don't miss that.

And now you are looking at live pictures of Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Capitol Hill today. He is appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee and is expected to answer questions about Obama administration's strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also the decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. After the Senate session, Gates goes over to the House Armed Services Committee. We'll keep an eye on that for you.

Day two now of Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial starts in less than two hours. The state Senate expected to hear excerpts on the federal wiretaps that led to the Illinois Governor's arrest. Blagojevich says he is skipping the trial because state Senate rules won't allow him to call witnesses. Instead, he hit the rounds on TV. And that included a primetime seat with our own Larry King who asked him about one part of the allegations when he used colorful language talking about President Barack Obama's Senate seat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": What do you think Fitz -- and what were you saying when Fitzgerald quotes you as saying that this job, the Senate job, is bleeping golden -- which would sound like it could be a lot of money?

ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: Well...

KING: What did he mean -- what did you mean by bleeping golden?

BLAGOJEVICH: I haven't heard the tapes so I -- I...

KING: But, you would remember saying something like -- that's something you'd remember saying.

BLAGOJEVICH: Well, let me -- let me again say that there's a full context to all these conversations. I wish we could have all those tapes made public tomorrow so that I can show the state Senate that I've done nothing wrong and that they shouldn't throw me out of office for mere allegations they don't give me a chance to bring witnesses or evidence to disprove...

KING: I know. But you can't comment on one thing?

BLAGOJEVICH: I can say that -- I can say this. If this was about me, I could have made myself a U.S. senator the day after President Obama was elected and none of this would have happened. And I'd be comfortably in the U.S. Senate with the whole gang over there, you know, being part of an effort to change America and improve things.

But I wasn't thinking of me by myself. I thought of a whole bunch -- a variety of factors. And a lot of people had all kinds of ideas. And they were suggesting things to me. And I considered a variety of different options.

Ultimately, I reached a decision. And at some point, that will be known. And it's going to show -- it's going to show a governor who was caring about the people of Illinois.

And I can't go into details, because again, as the Supreme Court says, I can't talk about a pending case...

KING: And you can't tell me what the two words bleeping golden meant?

BLAGOJEVICH: Let me say this. Had I known somebody was listening, I wouldn't have used language like that.

KING: Right.

BLAGOJEVICH: And to those who might be offended, I apologize. But, then again, I -- I didn't know you were listening.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Join Larry King tonight for special guest, former President Jimmy Carter. Also award-winning actor Mickey Rourke talks about his movie "The Wrestler." "LARRY KING LIVE" comes your way 9:00 Eastern.

In about three hours from now, Kirsten Gillibrand will be sworn by Vice President Joe Biden as the newest member of the Senate. New York Governor David Patterson appointed her to the post after Caroline Kennedy withdrew from contention for personal reasons. Gillibrand fills the seat vacated by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who became, as you know, secretary of state.

Severe weather taking a toll on drivers in parts of the south and Midwest. We're going to show you the damage in Oklahoma City.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: More on that ice we've been telling you about. Ice storms, in fact. The slammed parts of the south and the Midwest. Icy roads continue to cause accidents like this across Oklahoma City. This bus packed with students, veered off the roadway and go stuck in a ditch. No one was hurt. The storm is blamed, though, for five traffic related deaths.

The system that is icing over Oklahoma is right now bringing snow to other areas, even as far east as the Mid-Atlantic states. Reporter Sara Lee now from our Washington affiliate WJLA joining us live from Forestville, Maryland.

So, Sarah, obviously we see the snow flurries but hard to see the ice in shots like this.

SARAH LEE, WJLA CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is not a lot of snow when you look at other parts of the country right now. But this is the first major winter event for the Washington, D.C. area. Again, we are in Forestville, Maryland, at a salt and sand dome. And earlier it was just a beehive of activity out here with the trucks getting ready before sunrise. The front-loaders getting everyone filled up.

Right now, we're seeing the trucks coming back in slowly as they are replenishing their loads, getting salt and sand mixture back into the back of those trucks to be spread on the roadways. At this salt dome, this is one of four in where we are, Prince George's County, Maryland. We are east of the nation's capital, say about 20 minutes or so.

This salt and sand supply has not been touched all winter long. About 25,000 tons inside just one of these domes. And so these crews are not yet winter weary. They're ready to go. They've been making the rounds since about 4:00 this morning.

Here in Prince George's County, they've done about 1,800 miles of roadway to cover. That is county maintain. That works out to about 5,000 miles when you account for all of the lanes. But, again, they've been going since 4:00 this morning. They're ready -- they're prepared to do 12-hour rotating shifts here in Washington, D.C. And anything that Mother Nature could throw this way because this storm system, meteorologists are saying, could take us well into night and freeze over so they have a lot more work to do in the morning.

Reporting live from Forestville, this is Sarah Lee, reporting for CNN.

COLLINS: All right. Sarah, thanks so much. Always good to get a live look there.

Meanwhile, Rob Marciano, our meteorologist, standing by in the weather center to give sort of the picture of things all across the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right, Rob, we know you're watching it. A big, big storm there. All right. We'll keep our eye on it. Thank you.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: Taking a look now at what's happening on Wall Street right now. Dow Jones Industrials Averages about -- what are we -- 15 minutes into the trading day, we are to the positive by double digits as you see there and above that 8,000 mark. So we'll continue to watch those numbers as we usually do. Nasdaq up about -- it looks like about 16, 15 or 16 points as well there. Lower right-hand side of your screen.

Congress will get a chance this morning to ask key securities regulators how a $50 billion Ponzi scheme could have gone on right under their noses. A Senate Committee is scheduled to hold hearings next hour on the Bernie Madoff case calling for testimony from top officials in the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. has been widely criticized for an apparent lack of vigilance while money manager, Madoff, was running the alleged scheme.

Meanwhile, Madoff's home in Palm Beach got a bit of a makeover this weekend. Some ticked off trust fund kids who say they got permission from their parents decorated the mansion with rolls of toilet paper. Take a look at that. The teens called the Palm Beach Newsroom to claim responsibility for the prank. They say they lost their trust funds because of Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.

Tough times on the job front. But this morning, we are trying to answer some of your questions. Need advice on strategy, your resume or your next interview? Well, we will lay out a road map to your next job and take your e-mail questions beginning in the 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour so you can e-mail us with those questions right there on your screen, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.

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COLLINS: President Barack Obama making a point reaching out to people in the Muslim world with his first formal TV interview after the inauguration. In his interview with Al Arabiya, Mr. Obama talked about the need for frank discussions and for all sides to understand each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world. That the language we use has to be language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In the largest one.

OBAMA: In the largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith, and America is a country of Muslim, Jews, Christians, nonbelievers. Regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams. And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.

We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that, I think, is going to be an important task.

But ultimately, people are going to judge me not by my words, but by my actions. And my administration's actions. And I think that what you will see over the next several years is that I'm not going to agree with everything that some Muslim leader may say or what's on a television station in the Arab world. But I think that what you'll see is somebody who is listening, who is respectful, and who is trying to promote the interests, not just of the United States, but also ordinary people who right now are suffering from poverty and the like of opportunity. I want to make sure that I'm speaking to them as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: President Barack Obama is sending former Senator George Mitchell on a peace mission to the Middle East. It's his first trip as Middle East envoy. A spokesman says Mitchell will work actively and aggressively to seek lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians during his eight-day trip.

Dumped at sea. Hundreds of refugees turned away, left floating in the currents with little hope.

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COLLINS: An update now on a story we were telling you about just yesterday. Unwelcome refugees in Thailand. Dozens more arrived by boat this morning from neighboring Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma. These are new pictures from the Thai police showing some of the injuries suffered by the refugees at the hands of Myanmar's military. But these refugees may not be staying long. One source in Thailand's military telling CNN they are enforcing a deadly "dump at sea" policy. More now from CNN's Dan Rivers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN BANGKOK CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is no joyride. These people are not being towed out to sea for fun. They're being towed out to sea and then abandoned. These photos evidence, provided exclusively to CNN by someone in an operation allegedly run by Thailand's military to tow unwanted refugees out to sea with rice and water, but without paddles or engines, never to be seen again.

Why would Thailand do that, and who are these people? They are wanted Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority who fled the repression of Myanmar, formerly Burma, seeking freedom in Thailand. But instead these photos show dozens of refugees detained on a Thai beach under armed guard. The photos provided to CNN has three different tourists in Thailand voice concern about how they saw Thai authorities treating these migrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever someone raised their head or sat up, they would strike them with a whip.

RIVERS: We traveled to a remote stretch of the Thai coast near the vacation island Phuket to investigate reports the Thai military had been secretly detaining Rohingya refugees here before towing them out to sea and leaving them to drift. This island is uninhabited, part of a national park. This man says he helped the army guard the refugees for a night.

"We treated them well," he says. "We gave them food and whatever they asked for."

(on camera): There seems a lot of evidence that a large number of Rohingya refugees were, indeed, camped out here at Koh Sae Daeng. All around there were discarded shoes and clothes as several camp fires that looked fairly fresh here as well as food wrapping. How did they get here?

On a nearby island, we find one of the distinctive Rohingya boats abandoned on the shore. We traveled to another island where villagers told us about some Rohingya refugees were living in the jungle. That night a village defense force took us on patrol. Then villages caught one of the migrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, brother.

RIVERS: He was clearly distressed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please.

RIVERS: And for three hours, we tried to piece together his story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All men?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dead?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dead.

RIVERS: He was taken back to the port.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Navy ship.

RIVERS: Through broken English, sign language and drawings, he told us his name was Ichbal Hussein (ph) and he was on one of six refugee boats, which arrived in December. He says they were toad back out to sea in January, five boats sunk. His, he said, made it back to shore. The Thai government says it's investigating, promising a report to the prime minister this week. This man was lucky. The people on these boats have not been seen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)