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Stimulus: Senate Showdown; More Troops for Afghanistan; Interview With Vermont Governor Jim Douglas; Mini E Electric Car; Bailouts & Bonuses
Aired February 02, 2009 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes in the CNN NEWSROOM today, in today for Tony Harris.
Here are some of the headlines we're keeping an eye on, on this second day of February.
The plan to rescue the U.S. economy hitting the Senate today, hitting a few snags as well. Republicans want changes before they'll back the Democrats' stimulus bill.
Also, in Kentucky, they've got time to defrost. Not a lot of time though. More than 250,000 customers still without heat, still without power after a huge ice storm.
Also, prescription drugs for sale. Prescription not needed. The murky world of Internet pharmacies, a report from CNN's Special Investigations Unit, coming your way in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But we begin with that stimulus showdown that's moving to the Senate now. Debate on that massive economic recovery bill gets under way there today. Already, the Senate version is heftier than the plan approved by the House. That plan, of course, as you know, is already pretty hefty.
Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is carrying around a calculator, along with her reporter's notebook these days, on Capitol Hill.
What do we expect to happen? First day of this debate.
DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First day of this debate, and the first day of basically intense jockeying to figure out where the votes are on this. You know, T.J., we've talked a lot about the fact that this stimulus bill on the House side last week passed without any Republican votes. Well, this is going to be a very different dynamic on the Senate side, and that is primarily, as we've been talking to senators, the reason for that is because it doesn't look like at this point the Democrats may not have all of the votes they need, meaning 60 votes, to pass the bill that they have crafted, which is now $888 billion on the Senate side.
And that is primarily because you don't just have Republicans, but you also have Democrats saying that they simply think that there is too much in this bill that doesn't go to the core purpose. That is, stimulating the economy and creating jobs. But listen to what the Republican leader Mitch McConnell said about that. He had a press conference just in the last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I mean, most of my members believe that we could pass a very robust stimulus for less than the amount currently before us. We've been throwing figures around like it was paper money. We're already looking, before we even do this, at over a $1 trillion deficit for this year. We all agree that we need to do something, but I don't think we should just completely act like the amount is irrelevant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, with the Republican leadership in the Senate, what they want to do is really focus this in on addressing the housing crisis, which they say really needs to get fixed before anything else can happen with regard to stimulating the economy. And tax cuts.
But you know, that is one part of the Republican Party. There are others maybe more in the middle, even Republicans, including President Obama's former rival, John McCain, who say that there are some spending items that are appropriate, but that perhaps not the ones that go for doing some things that again don't stimulate the economy. So that's why Democrats in the Senate really are listening, we're told, and may even have a couple of their own amendments to try to answer some of the critics' calls.
For example, not enough money on infrastructure spending. We're told that $20 billion could be added to infrastructure spending. But then the key, T.J., for a lot of these senators is, OK, you're going to add to infrastructure. What are you going to take out of this in terms of taxpayer dollars that they don't think are going to do much to create jobs?
HOLMES: All right. What else in there do we know of? There's so much in there, it might be difficult for you to pull a couple of things out, but what is it that people don't like, some of the details about things in there? There are some things that we know people want added, but what are some of things, I guess, they just want taken out for sure?
BASH: We do have some examples, and these are examples that have been given to us by not just by Republicans, gain, but this is key here, some Democratic senators. And that's why their leadership and the white House, why they're listening. Let's give our viewers some examples of what's in this -- $400 million for HIV and STD prevention; $650 million for TV converter boxes; $345 million for Agriculture Department computers; $75 million for anti-smoking campaigns.
Now, you talk to Republicans, and again, even more importantly, some Democrats, and they say these are all perhaps wonderful programs, and they go for the greater good of society, but it doesn't belong in this package. So those are the kind of things that we're hearing from senators behind the scenes. They're working on trying to figure out how to get those things out. The question is whether or not they can convince the rest of the Senate to do that, and then whether or not the Obama administration is going to go for a measure without some of these programs.
HOLMES: All right. Well, get settled in. It sounds like this is going to be going for a while there in the Senate.
Dana, we appreciate you.
We will head over now to the White House, where Suzanne Malveaux is, keeping an eye on the president and his push to get this package through.
And Suzanne, it sounds like he has an awful lot of Republicans stopping by the house.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Democrats and Republicans, T.J. There is one person that he is -- hopes is on board with the economic stimulus package. That is Jim Douglas of Vermont.
He is the Republican governor. He is also the vice chair of the National Governors Association. And essentially, he wants this governor to help him out, to reach out to fellow Republican senators and to say, look, this is a good idea, this is a sound idea.
This is something that these two gentlemen are working on together, but obviously it is a lesson learned from the last go-round, when the House Democrats largely crafted the legislation on their own. The president stepped in and personally got involved, but kind of late.
Well, now, the president, from jump, is going to be meeting with Democrats later this morning to talk about some of the things that Dana Bash was saying, pulling out some of those programs, but also listening to Republicans and considering some of their ideas. He is downplaying, T.J., the differences.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's still some differences between Democrats and Republicans on the Hill, between the white House and some of the products that's been discussed on the Hill. But what we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward swiftly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, T.J., you hard the president say modest differences, obviously trying to downplay this. We just heard from Senator Mitch McConnell saying that these figures, really very much like paper money. So they're going to have to get down to the nitty-gritty here and really figure out how much this whole thing is going to cost.
One thing, T.J., that the president does support is this idea of credit for people who are just buying homes for the first time, to double that amount from $7,500 to $15,000. It's a Republican idea. It's something that he believes will help homeowners, and that is really one of the push that you have from the Republican Party -- make this bill something that people can really advantage, take advantage of when it comes to losing their homes and keeping their homes -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. One thing here real quickly. This is a governor he's meeting with, this Republican from a small state. How much pull and influence do we know that this governor has, Governor Douglas, in trying to convince these, quite frankly, very powerful members of the Senate?
MALVEAUX: Well, he's from a small state, but he's also the vice chair of the National Governors Association. So he has a big job, he has a lot of pull, a lot of influence.
He's also somebody who is very much considered a bipartisan figure. So this is someone that people are going to listen to. But you bring up a good point. A lot of Republicans on the Senate side here, they still need some convincing -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We will ask the governor just how much pull he has coming up, Suzanne. Thank you.
But we're going to have the Vermont governor, Jim Douglas. He'll be here with us in the NEWSROOM this hour to talk about that stimulus plan and talk to us about what he talked to the president about. That interview coming you way in just a few minutes.
We will also hear from the first lady today. Michelle Obama, she's making remarks as she visits the Education Department. That happens around 3:00 Eastern Time. We will have that for you live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Also, last hour, the president told reporters that he absolutely backs his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Tom Daschle has a closed-door meeting with the Senate Finance Committee later today. The former Democratic Senate leader will explain why he failed to pay more than $120,000 in income taxes. Daschle calls the lapses embarrassing and an honest mistake.
It does look like, however, that we will be getting a new attorney general very soon. The full Senate is expected to vote today on the nomination of Eric Holder as attorney general. The Judiciary Committee voted last week to recommend confirmation. If confirmed, as expected here, Holder will become the nation's first African-American to hold that post.
Also, the Republican Party got a new leader. You might have seen this over the weekend. Some are calling him the man of Steele. We'll have a profile of the first black national chairman of the GOP.
Let's turn to Kentucky now, looking for some relief after last weeks' overwhelming ice storm. At least 16 deaths blamed on the storm. The National Guard is spread out across the state removing fallen trees, checking houses, and giving out food and water as well. Tens of thousands of people are still without electricity. Authorities expect the crisis could leave some without power for a couple more weeks.
Well, what happened to that stiff upper lip? Four inches of snow have practically shut down London today. Heathrow is closed, for the most part. Most of the tube off line as well, and London's double-decker buses have been parked for the day.
GPS navigator Tom Toms (ph) says traffic jams across Britain, when added together, are 1,000 miles long. That's almost twice the length of the main island.
Let's turn to some weather here now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, coming up, he met with the president just moments ago. He's going to meet with me, here in the CNN NEWSROOM, coming up. The Vermont governor telling us about his meeting with the president.
Also, a pharmacy that's eerily quiet. No customers to be seen, yet it manages to stay in business. How does this happen?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, committing more troops to the war in Afghanistan, President Obama getting specific details about the military's plan today from the defense secretary.
Head now to CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.
And Barbara, could he possibly sign off on a plan today?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., he could. It's not very clear that he will, though.
Of course, any new president, the first time they make that critical decision to send young American troops into harm's way, it's so significant, and that is why we are told Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided the best thing to do was to sit down with the president directly and lay the plan out for him. Gates will be in the Oval Office this afternoon, and we expect the conversation to take place then.
The Pentagon has pretty much settled now on which three brigades, about 15,000 troops, it wants to send to Afghanistan. Gates wants all these combat forces there by the end of this summer, early fall. Security is deteriorating in that country every day, so there's a lot of time pressure to get all of this moving.
He will sit down, he will explain it all to the president. Gates could sign the orders himself, basically. He can sign the deployment orders, but again, two weeks into a new, young presidency, the idea is to sit down with the new commander in chief, make sure he's on board with all the details -- T.J. HOLMES: All right. Some of those details coming his way today.
Barbara Starr for us from the Pentagon.
Thank you so much.
We will now head back across to the White House and the search for a bipartisan economic stimulus package.
Joining me now, the Vermont governor, Jim Douglas, who is just coming out of a meeting with the president.
Sir, thank you for giving us some time.
You and I were kind of joking during the commercial break. I was asking if you left with a check, but you said you're sure the check is in the mail.
In all seriousness there, are you sure that the money is on the way? It's just a matter of Congress and the White House working this thing out?
GOV. JIM DOUGLAS (R), VERMONT: Well, I certainly hope it will be on the way in the not-too-distant future, because this is a serious recession in which the nation finds itself. Perhaps the deepest and longest since the end of the Second World War. And as a practical matter, a lot of the states around the country are facing some serious budget shortfalls.
At a time of economic recession, the need for Medicaid and other safety net services is even greater. And we don't want to raise taxes on people who are having a tough time paying their bills. So I hope the Congress and the administration, everyone in both parties, can work it out.
HOLMES: And, sir, of course, as you know, not a single Republican in the House supported this president's bill. You're a Republican, and you are in support of his plan as it is right now.
So is the difference between you, as a Republican, and those Republicans, is just that you have a different perspective and you have different priorities? You are a state governor and you want the money, and they just see it as they are being stewards of the entire country, where you're just looking out for your state?
DOUGLAS: Well, I'm an American taxpayer, and I certainly share their concern about the fiscal responsibility that needs to be brought to Washington, D.C. And eventually, I know the president and others will focus on that. But now we're in tough shape.
We've got people, our friends and neighbors, who are losing their jobs, factories being closed. We have to get America moving again. You know, if I were writing the bill or if you were, T.J., it might not read exactly the way it does now, but we have to find some common ground and pass the essence of a recovery plan, and get the money out to the people and the states. HOLMES: Is your state -- I believe several states might be doing this; I'll ask you about yours specifically -- actually planning your budgets for next year and coming years based on potential money that you expect to come from the stimulus plan?
DOUGLAS: I have. I've anticipated a conservative amount to come from the recovery package for Medicaid in particular. If that doesn't come, well, we'll certainly make the adjustments, but it will be serious Draconian budget cuts, and that isn't right at a time when the American people are really hurting. We're not asking for a handout from the federal government, we're doing heavy lifting at the state level. But we need a good partnership, especially in these challenging times.
HOLMES: So what do you think of the congressional Republicans who are -- and many in the Senate as well, as we're seeing with this debate -- who are against this plan, who think it is bad for the country? But you're OK with the plan. I know you said things would be different, but they're saying this is bad for the country. Can you kind of take a position that, I don't know, what could be good for your state might be bad for the country?
DOUGLAS: Well, I don't think so, because the president and members of Congress and governors have the same constituents. It's the American people who are hurting.
I think we need to find some common ground. We need to pass a bill that works. I think the Republicans have raised some legitimate questions, but we have to work them through and find something on which we can all agree.
And time is of the essence. If we're going to stimulate the economy, we have to get the money out as quickly as we can.
HOLMES: All right. Well, again, Governor Jim Douglas, Republican from Vermont.
Sir, we appreciate you stepping out from that meeting and talking to us here. And really, you, like many folks in the country, hope the check is in the mail.
Thank you for being with us, sir.
DOUGLAS: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right.
We'll turn now to this peanut butter recall. It continues to expand. You might need to check that pantry of yours, because this thing is expanding to now affect a popular grocery store.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Got some new video to show you here.
Would you believe it's another shoe-throwing incident? This time, the target China's prime minister. Take a look.
OK. The shoe-thrower in this particular incident had some pretty bad aim, apparently. You heard that little thud there. That was the shoe actually connecting with something there on the stage. This was in Great Britain.
But CNN's Phil Black is live for us from London.
Phil, it looks like this show-throwing at world leaders is catching on.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is catching on indeed, T.J. The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, has been in London for a couple of days now, principally for economic talks with the British government. But this afternoon, he was speaking to university students at Cambridge University. This is not an unusual thing for international leaders to do when they come here.
Now, wherever this leader has traveled to over the last few days, human rights protesters, particularly those supporting the territory of Tibet, have been following him closely. We've seen some passionate protests. Today, another example of that.
As he was speaking to these university students, it appears that there was -- and we've got two camera angles that we can look at here. One of them is a tighter shot, where you can hear the disruption in the crowd.
We're told that some people in the room interrupted the premier's speech, called him a "dictator" and a "liar." And it was while that this particular protester was being dealt with in some way, he managed to fling his shoe in the premier's direction.
Now, we unfortunately don't see the shoe in flight, but we do see the premier's reaction. He stops, he pauses while the interruption is taking place, and he does appear to sort of notice the shoe. But there's no obvious duck or dive there. It appears that, as you say, the shoe-thrower on this particular occasion wasn't as good a shot as perhaps the guy who was aiming for George Bush in Iraq.
HOLMES: All right. Well, I guess the Chinese leader there didn't get a chance to show off his bob and weaving skills. A good thing he didn't. We're kind of making light of this, but still a serious offense there.
Phil Black for us from London.
Thank you so much.
Meanwhile, giving responsibility for Iraq back to the Iraqis, that is President Obama's plan. He discussed this in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: We're going to roll out in a very formal fashion what our intentions are in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan. But in conversations that I've had with the Joint Chiefs, with people, the commanders on the ground, I think that we have a sense, now that the Iraqis just had a very significant election with no significant violence there, that we are in a position to start putting more responsibility on the Iraqis. And that's good news for not only the troops in the field, but their families who are carrying an enormous burden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The election, you heard him mention there, actually drew half of Iraq's voters. Voter turnout was around 51 percent. Seven and a half million people cast ballots in the weekend vote, according to the country's election commission. That is in stark contrast to the 2005 elections. The voter turnout was higher there, 54 percent in provincial elections and around 70 percent during national elections at that time, and that was at a time when the violence and intimidation was high for people at the polls.
Preliminary results are expected from this weekend's election. We expect to get those later in the week.
Well, a lot of people are cutting back these days, but a lot of folks on Wall Street, big corporations, they're not cutting back. They're taking bonuses while their companies are going south. Should the CEOs be taking a pay cut?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As always, keeping an eye on Wall Street, keeping an eye on your money. The Dow down about 60 points. It's been floating around 60 points down for the past couple of hours since trading started. But again, this comes after some disappointing numbers today about consumer spending. Consumers aren't spending.
All right. So you want an electric car? Well, a lot of people want them. They're hitting the roads, hundreds of them, this month. And people are shelling out some pretty big bucks for the privilege of driving one of these things.
CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.
So everybody wants an electric car. That's the new thing now; huh?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Some folks do, but you have to have a lot of money to get one. And we're in a recession. Gas prices are way down, but some people are still shelling out 850 bucks a month to lease an electric car.
We're talking about BMW's new zero emission, all-electric Mini E. Now, there are only about 450 of them -- you see them right there -- out on the road right now. It's part of a one-year pilot program in L.A., New York and New Jersey.
BMW, though, says it got more than 1,800 applications for these cars. They brought one to us here at CNN in New York. I hopped in and tried to take one for a spin. At first, I ran into a little trouble, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: I'm about to do something I've never done. I'm going to drive an electric car. Here I am trying to back up and it's not working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: It didn't work the first time. We did get it started on the second try. I have to admit, though, T.J., it felt a lot like driving bumper cars. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: When you take your foot off the accelerator, it comes to a complete stop. It doesn't ease like a normal car. Other than that, though, it's just -- it's just quiet.
We're at about 95 percent charged right now. This car will go about 150 miles on average in a single charge. Right now we're pretty fully charged. But again, you want to keep your eye on that gauge because if you run out of power, it's not like you can just go to the gas station.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: No, if you run out of power, you literally stop in the middle of the road. And, of course, the falling gas prices make these cars a little bit less attractive, economically speaking. But the company says they will still save you some cash. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM MCDOWELL, VICE PRESIDENT, MINI USA: I would guess if gasoline ever returned to 80 cents a gallon to $1, at that point probably the electric mini would cost as much to drive per mile as the gas mini. But until we're at that point, the electric mini is less expensive in terms of its fuel cost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. Now the Mini E takes about two-and-a-half hours to charge if you use a special wall box. This is installed in customer's garages. A regular outlet, you can use that to charge one but, T.J., it will take 24 hours. And most folks don't have that. So the beginning process is here, but it's still pretty expensive.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: $850 a month?
HARLOW: A month. I know.
HOLMES: How does that pay off? You can get a car for $200, $300. You're still not going to spend that much that it's going to save you money in gas?
HARLOW: They -- you know what, they hope -- obviously this is a pilot program -- so as they produce more, they get less and less expensive. But some folks -- I mean 1,800 folks wanted these. So there's some people out there with that kind of cash.
HOLMES: All right. Forgive my skepticism. Sorry about that, Poppy. All right. Good to see you. Thank you so much.
HARLOW: You too.
HOLMES: We'll turn to that peanut butter scare that's been gripping this country the past couple weeks now. And one of the country's biggest supermarket chains has joined the widening recall of foods made with peanut butter products -- peanut products, I should say. Kroger pulling cookies and cakes in 31 states where it operates stores under various names. The FDA has accused Peanut Corporation of America, that's the company, of knowingly selling peanut butter and paste contaminated with salmonella. The outbreak has sickened more than 500 people and has been linked to eight deaths.
Another food recall to tell you about now involving, what is this, enoki. These are mushrooms that may be contaminated with listeria. These are long, thin, white mushrooms often used in Asian dishes. The recall involves those produced by Phillips Mushroom Farms in Pennsylvania and sold between January 13th and January the 30th. Listeria can cause flu-like systems. No illnesses just yet have been reported according to Phillips Mushroom Farms.
Now to your money. Their bonuses. Doesn't sound right, does it? Should CEOs take a pay cut when their companies accept taxpayer bailout? Washington weighing in now and some big changes may be on the way. Christine Romans for us in New York.
And this is the one thing that probably outrages people most than anything during these tough economic times is to hear these companies might be tanking, the average guy is losing money and these CEOs are still getting big salaries and sometimes big bonuses.
ROMANS: Right. And, you know, T.J. this is America. I mean this is a country that rewards performance and rewards success and people who create jobs and create wealth, hey, they should be allowed to get as much money as they want, as many perks as they want. But when you have to go to the United States government looking for a handout to save your industry, when your industry is what took the world economy to the brink, well, then you should expect Washington to weigh in about how you're going to use those taxpayer moneys.
The center of gravity for American business shifting from Wall Street to Washington because of those big bonuses that have been paid out because those bonuses paid out in a year when many of these Wall Street firms were rescued with tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds.
President Obama has lashed out against shameful greed of Wall Street twice in two days. And now Senator Claire McCaskill, on Friday, she actually wants to introduce legislation that would cap the pay of Wall Street executives at $400,000. That's what the president of the United States makes. Cap their pay if they take bailouts or loans from the United States government.
A lot of people saying that Wall Street has been tone deaf. But Claire McCaskill went one step further.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, (D) MISSOURI: We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meanwhile, Citigroup trying to avoid another PR disaster. Citigroup has taken $45 billion of taxpayer money and now its former CEO, Sandy Weill, says that he is giving up access to Citi's private jets, its corporate aircraft. He retired, you might remember, in 2006. He had a tenure, very lucrative consulting and retirement agreement with this company. He has ended that consulting agreement.
You know, Citigroup is in a position where everything it does is under the microphone. It's taken a whole lot of American taxpayer money and so any kind of indication of largeess (ph) is going to be scrutinized here because there is a feeling, rightly or wrongly, the feeling that that's taxpayer money that they had to take and taxpayers do not like the idea of that going for bonuses or perks for former CEOs or anything of the like.
Those are the Wall Street bonuses. $18.4 billion last year. This is according to the office of the comptroller in New York. $18.4 billion. It was down dramatically, as you can see, from the year before. But it's still, T.J., the sixth largest bonus pool on record. So it's the same amount of bonuses as 2004. Imagine what a different world it was on Wall Street in 2004. A lot of people think that it's just deplorable, shameful, the president said, that that kind of bonus money was handed out in a year where it was Wall Street, many say, the bad bets on mortgages that have helped bring the economy to the brink.
HOLMES: Wow. And to just roll that video anytime somebody on the Senate floor is calling somebody an idiot, that's just . . .
ROMANS: She really was fired up. I mean very fired up. So we'll see if she gets her way with those limit.
HOLMES: Yes, she's not the only one, but she had a big microphone in front of her, so we heard her loud and clear.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: All right, Christine, thank you so much.
Well, the first black president and now the first black national chairman in the history of the Republican Party. Michael Steele is his name. Here's a little background on him. He's the former lieutenant governor of Maryland. He's the former corporate finance attorney who received his law degree from Georgetown in 1991. He was born at Andrews Air Force Base in '58, raised in D.C., and spent three years in seminary training for the priesthood. Steele is chairman of GOPAC. That's the Republican Political Action Committee. And he's a member of the NAACP commission on election reform.
Let's bring in deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
Paul, we just ran through some of his resume there. But what are some of those other things besides that resume he's bringing to this job that -- to tell people that he is going to be able to do a good and effective job?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: He brings an effective communicator. He's known as somebody who's very comfortable on TV, T.J. He does a lot of television. And he's an effective communicator. And that is important because one of his jobs right now is to be a salesman. A salesman for the Republican Party.
Video there on Friday when he won. An historic election. It was in the room. It was very energetic.
He also, as you can see, he's African-American. The first black man to run the party. And that is important, T.J., because of outreach. This party, the Republicans, they did not do well in November at all with minorities, especially African-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics and Asian Americans. They also didn't do well with younger voters. They didn't do well with female voters, independents and moderates. So it's all about outreach here.
Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: I want hip hop Republicans. I want Frank Sinatra Republicans. That's how it is out there. That's the reality that we have to face. And my job is to do everything in my power to make sure that we not only confront that reality in an honest way, but then engage the people of this country in a way that they want to be a part of what we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And that is a tall order because they have a long way to go to reach out to these people.
T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Hip-hop Republicans. I wonder if we're going to be hearing that thrown around a little more.
Just here real quickly, no matter who the RNC would have elected, a heck of a challenge ahead for this party in a lot of ways looking for a face, looking for a voice, a national leader. What is the Republican Party, what is he facing right now in the immediate future?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, they've got a couple other things. Besides the outreach to all these voters who they didn't do well with, a, they fell behind the Democrats when it came to using the Internet to raise money and to bring new voters in. So they need to catch up there. And they also need to reenergize the base. And I think you're seeing that now with a lot of Republicans in Congress voting against the stimulus plan. They want to get back to being fiscal conservatives.
T.J., what they really don't' want to become is just a regional party that does well in the south and the west. They've got their work cut out for them. And he's on the job and ready to go.
T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, always good to see you, my friend. Thank you so much.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, millions of Americans living on food stamps. Certainly not easy. One of our own is giving it a shot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Let's take a look here at these folks camping out. What do you imagine they're camping out for? They're not lined up for tickets to anything. They're looking for a job. This is in Miami. About a thousand people have been waiting -- some for days even -- hoping for a chance to simply apply for a job to be a Miami firefighter. Starting salary there, $47,000. The city is only taking the first 750 applications. They had originally said they were only going to take 500. The openings number? Only at 35. That many folks looking for 35 job openings.
Well, those in Miami won't want to -- might want to apply for a job with Uncle Sam. The economic stimulus package being crafted in Congress could create hundreds of thousands of government jobs. The White House report says those positions would be at state and local levels.
You think you could eat on $6 a day? More and more Americans are having to turn to food stamps. Our Sean Callebs in New Orleans.
Sean, we hear this number, $6 a day. It sounds tough. But you are learning about it in ways a lot of folks don't.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we're talking about food stamps. People -- and this is the maximum amount. I'm going to try and live on food stamps for the month of February. It breaks down to actually $6.25 a day. And we're not doing this as a lark or something for fun. Look, there are a lot of people in this country hurting. Thirty-one million people need food stamps to put food on the table every month. In Louisiana, one out of six people. And a big part of the stimulus package is actually finding more money to help people on the food stamp program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARKESHA DARENSBOURG: Green beans are four for three.
CALLEBS, (voice over): You may not realize how much you spend at the grocery store until you're in dire straits. Thirty-one million Americans need food stamps to make ends meet. In Louisiana, for instance, one person out of six receives government help in keeping food on the table. Louisiana officials know it's humbling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done everything we can to remove that stigma. We don't feel there's such a stigma. In times of need, you just have to seek help.
CALLEBS: Here, and in other states, food stamps have been replaced by this less obstructive government debit card. To better understand this life, I'm going to spend February living on the maximum amount one person can get for food stamps.
Never have I had to pay so much attention to every single thing that goes in the basket. I have $176 to live on the entire month. That's all 28 days. Break that down, it's about $6.25 a day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I buy it in a bag like that.
CALLEBS: Arkesha Darensbourg and her three children depend on food stamps off and on. She says it's tough to make ends meet, but she's going to show me how to stretch a dollar.
DARENSBOURG: You have to squeeze in a lot of things. You can't get name brand items. You have to get store brands.
CALLEBS: The challenge is eating healthy and eating enough.
There's 32 ounces here and there's 16 here. I'll get two of these. That's 30 cents each. That's not that great, is it?
DARENSBOURG: No. What about -- do you eat mac and cheese?
CALLEBS: I guess I'm going to. Big time.
DARENSBOURG: It's 89 cents.
CALLEBS: OK. I like that. That's in my window.
DARENSBOURG: You think you're getting a good deal, two for this, two for that. In reality, you're really not.
CALLEBS: Because it adds up quickly.
DARENSBOURG: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have $105.13 left.
CALLEBS: That's right, just $105 and change for the rest of the month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: And it goes fast. Here is the Louisiana purchase card. The debit card one gets on food stamps here in Louisiana. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm not actually using food stamps. It would be fraud. So I've bought a card from a local grocery store and I'm going to have $176 on it, down to $105 now.
T.J., here's some items I bought. You know, some peanut butter. A lot of potatoes, rice, spaghetti. Some stuff I can take to work for lunch. Gambelia. Breakfast cereal. We met with a nutritionist before I did all this and she said, look, you really should eat some carbohydrates for every meal. It will give you a lot of energy. I can tell you one thing I notice quickly, I didn't buy enough fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm day two into this thing. I'm already hungry. And I'm down to two fresh bananas. So I don't know what I'm going to do for fresh fruit.
HOLMES: So you've got -- I think you said you're down to $105 now. So that stuff behind you there needs to last you for how long? When will you be going grocery shopping again I guess is what I'm asking?
CALLEBS: Hopefully not for 10 to 12 days. During that spot I was kind of trying to figure out what I'm going to eat, how I'm going to partition it all out. I think I'm going to make it OK. I've got the chicken and some lean ground beef in the freezer. I've got some eggs, some yogurt, milk, iced tea, and we got this stuff to make lemonade. But, you know, it's going to be tough. I mean it's only 11:46 here local time. I ate about three hours ago and I'm starving. So it's tough for people who live on food stamps.
HOLMES: It is tough. But my goodness, like you said, you are actually going through this.
Sean, we appreciate you. Thank you so much. Look forward to checking back in with you and seeing how you're handling this. Thanks so much.
CALLEBS: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: You can also follow Sean's food stamp challenge on his blog he's keeping up with. There it is, "living on food stamps." That's his blog at cnn.com.
Turning out to California now where the governor there, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and legislative leaders are huddling today over that state's $42 billion deficit. Lawmakers missed an end of January deadline and are deadlocked now over how to balance the budget. Some government workers may be forced to take unpaid furloughs beginning Friday. And the state may have to delay payments to vendors and refunds to taxpayers. So they could be doling out IOUs instead of cash.
Well, gas prices heading higher for the fifth day in a row, but just a penny. But, still, a penny's a penny. That's according to AAA. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded now at $1.88. Premium selling at $2.07 on the average.
Well, a sleepy little pharmacy to tell you about, now with no apparent customers. But looks may be deceiving.
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HOLMES: All right. Take a look at this. From one of our i-Reporters. What would that be like, seeing that go down the street as you're driving into work. What you're seeing is that U.S. Airways plane that landed in the Hudson River, minus its wings, though. It was moved to a New Jersey marina this weekend with the help of a police escort. Just look how the truck driver navigates the streets. The video was sent to us by one of our i-Reporters who was stuck in traffic as that big plane moved by.
While the crash is still being investigated, you can hear what it was like for some of the folks who were on board. The pilot and the crew. Yes, Sully, who we've heard so much about, and the pilot and crew that we saw last night at the Super Bowl being honored. They'll be talking to CNN's Larry King and taking your calls in their first primetime interview. That's next Monday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Well, recreational use of prescription drugs is on the rise, now second only to marijuana. That's according to the White House office of drug policy. One of the biggest reasons, illegal Internet pharmacies. Officials say as many as 800,000 are in operation and stopping them has been almost impossible. CNN's special investigative correspondent Drew Griffin here with us now.
Eight hundred thousand?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Yes, it makes it real easy. How easy? I mean, take a look at this. This is what we bought. This is Xanax, right? With no prescription. We bought it over the Internet. No problem.
HOLMES: This is the real stuff then?
GRIFFIN: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: This is the real deal.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Yes. This is it.
And then what we decided to do, T.J., was follow it back. Follow those mouse clicks back to where the purchase was processed. The drugs come from India. But the Internet site that made the sale? Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN, (voice over): Sit outside the PharmNet Pharmacy in Frisco, Texas, all day, like we did, and you will likely not see a single customer walk through that door. So how does PharmNet stay in business? It may have a lot to do with these. Xanax is a controlled substance. Illegal without a prescription. But for this Internet user, it was no problem at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just clicked on one of the results on the first page. And I went to buy Xanax without a prescription. GRIFFIN: Xanax is an anti-anxiety/anti-depressant drug. It's addictive and can lead to, among other things, suicidal thoughts and coma. But there was no doctor involved in purchasing these. Just a website owned by this man.
Mr. Brubaker (ph).
STEVEN (ph) BRUBAKER: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Hi. It's Drew Griffin with CNN.
BRUBAKER: Hi. How are you?
GRIFFIN: Good. Want to talk to you about your Internet pharmacy business and apparently what you're doing is selling controlled substances over the Internet without prescriptions.
BRUBAKER: Excuse me?
GRIFFIN: Steven Brubaker has run at least nine websites devoted to Internet drug sales. According to registration records, five used the same post office box. Only one, PharmNet.com, is legally registered by the state of Texas. In our short exchange before locking himself inside his store, he denied knowing anything about what appeared to be his very own websites.
BRUBAKER: I've never heard of those websites.
GRIFFIN: Have you heard of -- you've never heard of those websites.
BRUBAKER: Well, I have my own website.
GRIFFIN: I mean, come on. Can we ask you about this? You apparently . . .
Greg Nieto just retired from the Food and Drug Administration's office of criminal investigations. He says the Internet has made illegal, online sales so easy, so widespread, that dangerous activity actually seems legal.
I thought it was against the law to do this.
GREG NIETO, FORMER FDA SPECIAL AGENT: It is against the law. The fact of the matter is, our laws are based on citizens voluntarily complying with the law, instead of a vast majority of citizens violating the law.
GRIFFIN: Nieto says investigators routinely find small pharmacies fighting for survival, which have become fulfillment houses for overseas Internet drug sellers. In this case, Xanax was shipped from India in a pouch labeled documents. The pills came in sheets, not a bottle. This is smuggling and is almost impossible to stop. Even more difficult, evidence can disappear with the click of a computer mouse.
Back in Frisco, we also tried to talk to Steven Brubaker about his pharmacy business over the phone.
GRIFFIN: So are you saying that you do not sell drugs over the Internet without prescriptions?
He told us he had to check his websites and would get back to us in an hour. So we waited. Greg Nieto says as soon as pharmacies like these know someone is watching, they immediately take down the sites, then say they must have been hacked. An hour later, Steven Brubaker said he wasn't coming out after all, but did want to tell us one more thing.
You're saying that you've been hacked into before and this could be something other than your doing?
Shortly after that conversation, this website used to purchase this Xanax disappeared, and the registration on another of Brubaker's websites was changed from his name to anonymous.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And that's what make it's so difficult when any law enforcement agency tries to actually go after these Internet drug sites. T.J., they can just disappear with the click of a mouse.
HOLMES: So is that it, essentially? I mean if something illegal was going on there, like a click -- like you said, those few changes, is that it? Is the evidence gone?
GRIFFIN: It disappears. And a lot -- you have these local law enforcement agencies trying to deal with this. They're a -- you know, they've got other things -- fish to fry. On a national level, it would take a real army of intrepid investigators to stop it. And a lot of this stuff is going offshore anyway. I mean these drugs that we bought, they came from India. Well, you know, what local cop is going to send a detective to India to figure this one out?
HOLMES: Wow. All right. (INAUDIBLE). Thank you. Drew Griffin with an interesting report there. Thank you so much for that. Always good work you guys are doing down there in the investigative unit. Thank you.
Well, she has some harsh words for Wall Street. Senator Claire McCaskill in the next hour.
And the first lady will deliver remarks. It's coming up in about two hours. That will be here in the NEWSROOM as well. Live right here on CNN. Stick with us.
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HOLMES: Is it OK for me to hand this show off to you now?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I think I'm --
HOLMES: You got it together.
PHILLIPS: I was running a little behind today. It's a little warm in here too.
HOLMES: Glad you could make it, though.
PHILLIPS: Thank you. Good to see you.
HOLMES: Enjoy. Good luck.
