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Michelle Obama Address HUD Staff; Will The Stimulus Bill Help The Housing Industry?; Judd Gregg Controversial Commerce Secretary Nominee
Aired February 04, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What gets people upset, and rightfully so, are executives being rewarded for failure.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Failure just won't pay like it used to; at least for executives of bailed-out companies.
And if you want to jolt the economy out of its funk, you've got to start at home. Some lawmakers debating the stimulus package say housing is the foundation for recovery.
Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
If you plan on buying a house or car, the Senate wants to help. The economic rescue package, senators are agonizing over, includes tax incentives for new car sales, and a vote today could double incentives for home buying. Even so, senators of both parties are desperate to trim the measures $900 billion price tag. But President Obama is warning them not to gut the political priorities that got him and so many other Democrats elected.
As for jobs, the White House now is giving state-by-state estimates of job creation over the next two years if the stimulus passes. Those range from $421,000 in California to $8,000 in Vermont and Wyoming.
We're all over the stimulus ruckus, and a whole lot more. CNN's Gerri Willis joins me this hour from New York. We'll also hear from Ali Velshi on best-case scenarios for job growth and pay cuts for fat cats. Earlier we showed GOP Senator Lamar Alexander standing next to a huge sign that basically said housing is the first problem that needs fixing. Let's talk about that aspect of the plan with CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis.
So, Gerri, what's in the stimulus bill for homeowners?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, Fredricka, what's in the stimulus bill, currently, for homeowners, what President Obama has said he wants to see in the stimulus package, is a lot of improvements for greening your home. Fixing up your home. Tax credits for consumers who actually put in insulation, improve their windows' efficiency, that kind of thing. And that has been available in the past. But that stuff sunseted last year, they want to reinstate that. There's also talk of rehabilitating some foreclosed properties. And tax credits for energy efficiency for public housing as well.
So, now, that drew a lot of fire, particularly from Republicans who say, a whole lot more needs to be done. They have their own wish list. You were kind of alluding to it earlier. One of the things they want to do is see that 30-year fixed rate mortgage interest rate cut between 4 percent and 4.5 percent. This would make a very big difference to a lot of folks out there. The program would be available to people who actually want to buy a new house, or maybe were only refinancing their existing mortgage. You'd have to be creditworthy. This wouldn't be available to people who are having money problems. But it would lower interest rates to the lows, you know, multi-decade lows, for folks who really want a new mortgage.
There's also talk of expanding the home buyer tax credit. One of the problems, we have all this inventory of homes out there, and selling those houses is a big problem, affording them another problem. So, if you give home buyers a tax credit of $7,500 that doesn't have to be repaid, that has been thought of as something that would make a lot of sense. But now Republicans doubling down, saying it needs to be $15,000, not $7,500, and available to anybody buying a house, not just first-time homebuyers.
I should also tell you that the criticism isn't just from Republicans. Senator Chris Dodd recently said he would like to see the stimulus package include a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. So stopping foreclosures in their tracks, while people got their breath, maybe they can get a new loan, maybe they could fix up their money problems, maybe even get a job. Of course, we've seen these foreclosures, voluntary moratorium on foreclosures, in the past by lenders. I have to tell you, sometimes you see those foreclosure numbers just spike afterwards.
So there is a big question about whether that really works. As you can see, people are frustrated with the stimulus package and what it's doing to solve the housing crisis. I actually talked to a few people about this over the weekend in the housing industry. They are very frustrated about the current stimulus package and its lack of options for people with problems with their mortgage - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Gerri, thanks so much.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
WHITFIELD: Perhaps you're among the millions of Americans who don't have a job. And you may not shed many tears for bank executives who will have to muddle through on $500,000 a year. CNN's Ali Velshi weighs in on both situations.
So, Ali, let's start with the pay caps. What gives?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, an announcement today out of the White House about pay salary caps for top executives who are with organizations typically banks that have received what the administration calls exceptional amounts of money. We're still trying to find out what they mean by exceptional. This may not affect a whole lot of people. Let me give you some sense of the background to it by telling you what President Obama had to say when he made the announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We're asking these firms to take responsibility, to recognize the nature of this crisis and their role in it. We believe what we've laid out should be viewed as fair, and embraced as basic common sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, what the rules that they're imposing say, is that if you have received exceptional amount of money from of the government, again, we don't know what that means, any new money that is received from the government, you will have to pay your senior executives no more than $500,000. You can pay more if you give them restricted stock. But that stock cannot be exercised, you can't do anything with it until after the government has been repaid its loan with interest.
So I actually think that's interesting, Fred. You get $500,000 in salary, but there's some motivation to actually turn this thing around, turn the business around and pay the government back. And then you've got stock that could actually -- that's a real bonus. That's the way a bonus should work.
WHITFIELD: Wow. That's pretty impressive. I can't say too many executives would grimace at that, because it's kind of win-win, isn't it?
VELSHI: Right. You really can win. You don't take a salary home of more than $500,000. I think it's interesting that, but again, the issue, Fred, we're working on this today is, we're not sure how many people this is going to affect right now. Because it has to be new money the government is giving you and you have to be an exceptional recipient of money. So it is not that there are hundreds of banks out there that have to face this. We'll drill down with those numbers and get back to you as soon as we have some detail as to exactly who is affect by this.
WHITFIELD: OK, there are two issues I would want you to expound on. Let's talk about jobs.
VELSHI: Yes.
WHITFIELD: City jobs, some who are looking towards some real encouragement from the stimulus plan.
VELSHI: Yes, there are -there's some sense of the fact that the spending parts of these bills will create jobs. And we've got estimates here from the White House about where those jobs will be created. You can see how it breaks down starting with California having the greatest number of jobs created, all the way down to Michigan, where we've seen nothing but lost jobs. Michigan has the highest unemployment in the country right now.
Now there is two ways of doing - creating jobs. There is one, is the direct stimulus which creates work; you know, those shovel-ready projects that we've talked about. The other ways that you give people tax breaks, or give businesses tax breaks, they use the money that they save to maybe build factories or open more stores. But it all depends on demand coming back. Right now, what you see, whether it's American companies or individuals, everybody's holding their money because they don't know what is coming in the next few months.
And ultimately that's preventing this economy from getting back on track. So everything the White House said is largely dependent on the fact that we somehow, we -- people start to feel confident and start spending again. That's when we'll really see jobs coming back. Fred, it's Wednesday afternoon, Friday morning we are going to get the jobs reports for January. It will be bad. We'll probably see more than half a million jobs lost again in January.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. That hurts. Ali Velshi, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
VELSHI: Yes, OK.
WHITFIELD: Mayors from across the country are actually in Washington, D.C., urging lawmakers to get a recovery bill passed ASAP. A new survey shows that more than eight out of 10 cities are in financial trouble. The mayor of Akron, Ohio, says Washington needs to realize that America needs help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR DONALD PLUSQUELLIC, AKRON, OHIO: It may be fun and games up here for senators to argue details and get down in the weeds. But just as mayors have to do in facing issues firsthand, when the snow hits, we've got to get it off the street. We've got to get the garbage picked up. We have to respond to police and fire. There are immediate needs in our society right now. The senators need to stop business as usual here in Washington and get to work on a bill that can be presented to get people back to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. More than 90 percent of the cities in the survey expect to have trouble meeting their needs this year.
President Obama's choice to head the Commerce Department is drawing fire from some trade and business groups. They point to Judd Gregg's record on outsourcing and free trade. Here now is CNN's Bill Tucker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Senator Judd Gregg is a controversial pick to lead the Commerce Department. Groups who believed President Obama would usher in a new trading policy are bitterly disappointed.
Global Trade Watch responded saying, quote, "Senator Gregg as Commerce secretary certainly is not the change we can believe in." The U.S. Business & Industry Council representing 1,850 small and medium- sized businesses calls the appointment "baffling".
ALAN TONELSON, U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: He is a free trade purist. Judd Gregg has never, ever met an outsourcing focus trade agreement that he hasn't loved. He's voted for all of them enthusiastically.
TUCKER: Our trade deficit through the end of November of last year, $630 billion. Other groups are disturbed as Gregg's staunch support of more guest workers. In 2000 he voted to raise the cap on the H1B visas. Then in 2007, he authored legislation that would have more than doubled the size of the H1B visa program to 150,000.
Gregg is also a strong proponent of outsourcing. In the opinion of many worker activists, it would be a serious mistake to ignore his stance on those issues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commerce plays a very important role in all of these kinds of issues. And is a big voice representing big business within the administration.
TUCKER: Gregg's trade and outsourcing views are contrary to statements by President Obama. But Gregg's appointment is consistent with others made by the president. Ron Kurt, the trade representative and the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, are strong NAFTA supporters, as well as Larry Summers, who leads the president's National Economic Council. And Economic Council member, Diana Farrell, is an outspoken proponent of outsourcing. Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Here now is a quick look at the day 16 of the Obama administration. Earlier the president revealed new salary limits for executives of bailed out companies; and met with Secretary of State Clinton, and Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Still ahead, the president is to sign the so-called SCHIP bill, that is, of course, insurance programs for low-income children, making sure they get the health care that they need.
All right. A pretty familiar sound these days in Kentucky. Trees or big limbs, heavy with ice, crashing to the ground, just like that; and in this case, just barely missing that car. CNN iReporter Craig Blanton (ph) caught the action from his home in Frankfurt. We'll update the wicked weather in the South.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Taking you straight to Washington right now. First Lady Michelle Obama continuing her listening tour through federal bureaucracy. She's at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Let's listen in. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELL OBAMA, FIRST LADY: I love you, too. That's one of the reasons why I'm here. And I want to thank Secretary Donovan for those kind remarks, that wonderful introduction. I am so pleased to be here.
I mean, my task here today is simple. I've been -- this is my second stop. I'm visiting -- trying to visit all the agencies here to say a few things. One, to say hello.
AUDIENCE: Hello!
I want to learn, listen, know what's going on, from you. But I also want to say thank you on behalf of my husband, my family, and this country.
(APPLAUSE)
Because what we do know, even though this is a brand-new administration, the folks working in this department, many of you have been here for decades, working hard on the issues that impact our communities. Say, yes.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
M. OBAMA: I can get an, "Amen" on that, right? And you have been doing outstanding work. And I want to thank you for the work that you've done, the work that you're going to do, and the work that has to be done in the months and years to come. That's my first task.
Because the truth is, is that everyone in this room is a public servant. And every day you carry out the nation's work without any fanfare oftentimes, attention, acknowledgement. You do it and get the job done because it's the right thing to do. And Barack and I and all the folks over in the West Wing and the East Wing, we're very proud of what you've done for this country. There's a lot more to do.
And in times like these, and we know times are hard right now. There's so many families who have lost their homes. And millions are struggling to keep up with their mortgages. You know this firsthand. You and your colleagues are going to be asked to do even more. That's for sure. It's of critical importance that we stem the tide of foreclosures. And find a way to keep people in their homes.
(APPLAUSE)
Because what we do know is that homeownership, at least as I know it, growing up on the south side of Chicago, has always been one of the building blocks for strong neighborhoods, for strong schools, and strong families; people who own their homes and take care of their homes that leads to the well-being of the entire community. It's critical. And the housing crisis has drastic consequences, not just on our economy, but on the very fiber of our communities all across this country.
So in addition to meeting you all here at these agencies, I'm taking time out, as well as Barack, to get to know the community that we're in. We're going to be visiting schools and neighborhoods throughout this area. Because Barack and I always believed that investing in the community that you live in, first and foremost, is critical. And for the people here in this agency, we are now your neighbors.
(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
So it's important to remember, not that you need any reminding, but the issues that you're working on every single day, in whatever way you were working on them, in whatever capacity, affects this community that we live in as well. They affect you, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors. And under Secretary Donovan's leadership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is going to play a critical role in implementing elements of the economic Recovery & Reinvestment Plan that will help our communities. This plan is important.
(APPLAUSE)
With these investments, it's important to remember we'll be able to strengthen the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. To help communities purchase foreclosed, or abandon properties and rehabilitate or resell or redevelop these homes, so that they don't contribute to community blight and force down the value of neighboring properties. This investment will allow us to put people to work, weatherizing at least 2 million low-income homes, which will also save working families, on average, $350 per year in heating costs.
It's important to remember that these investments will expand the availability of affordable housing by 15,000 units, and that is not insignificant. Which, coupled with other homeless programs here at HUD, will play an important role in preventing an increase in homelessness during these tough economic times. And I am very, very pleased that this stimulus plan is going to make much-need repairs to military family housing. So the quality -
(APPLAUSE)
So that the quality of troops' homes matches the quality and excellence of their service to this nation. So, there's a lot of work to do. And we have great leaders in Secretary Donovan, and in Barack Obama.
(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
But great leaders are only as great as the people who hold them up. So that's why it's important for us to come here now, before the hard work happens, to say thank you and to remind you that we need each and every one of you to recommit to the task at hand. To look at your work with a new level of passion, and vigor, and to know that everything you do every day is going to lead to stronger communities all over this nation. So I thank you again. We appreciate and value who you are as our neighbors, and our co-workers, and let's get to work. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. (CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: First Lady Michelle Obama there at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The second of her listening tour. Earlier in the week she was at the Department of Education. This time she says she's trying to reiterate to the people who work there at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to recommit to the task at hand. She says she's making these tours because she wants to get to know the -- the Obamas as a whole --want to get to know the community they are living in. Now she says now that they are neighbors at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, they all want to commit to the task at hand.
She says it is tough going. A lot of communities are counting on the work that the people there at the Department of Housing and Development are putting out. But they said even more will be asked of them.
You see there the most recent pictures as she's entered the room and had her speech there. And shaking hands now to the folks there at HUD.
Let's talk weather now. Can the weather get any worse? In Kentucky in particular? A week after a paralyzing ice storm, the state gets slammed again by heavy snow and brutally cold temperatures. In Louisville, near whiteout conditions as the storm passed through. And at last count, more than 200,000 people in Kentucky still without power after the ice storm. Around 3,700 are still in shelters. And it could be weeks before things actually get back to normal.
So much of the South is shivering as well today. Chad Myers joins us from the CNN Severe Weather Center.
I tell you, Chad, my fingers are still cold because of the cold this morning just getting to work. I know, boo-hoo.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. I have the largest fiddle in my hand right now, a violin for me. I put my kid in the car today, and without gloves on, for literally like 10 seconds. And my hands were cold and his hands were cold. I was like, I better go in and get the gloves.
You know, people out in Wausau, Wisconsin, they never think about going outside without gloves on.
WHITFIELD: And they don't complain, either! What is the matter with us.
MYERS: And they don't complain, because they're smart about it. Exactly.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
WHITFIELD: The Obama administration says the huge stimulus package now working its way through Congress will create millions of green jobs. But could a big chunk of them end up overseas? CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our energy fix from New York.
Hello to you, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi, there Fredricka.
Well, always a concern when we're talking about billions of dollars, that's what we're talking about in this stimulus plan, trying to put a lot of Americans back to work. Obviously some lawmakers, though, worried about the push for renewable energy could end up actually producing more jobs in Asia and in Europe than right here in the United States.
That is because right now, folks, most wind turbines and solar panels are made overseas. There's only one American company, that's General Electric, that is even in the world's top 15 suppliers of wind turbines. To try to encourage more domestic manufacturing, senate Democrats are backing a $2 billion tax break in the stimulus bill. What that would do is give roughly a 30 percent tax credit to any company, foreign or domestic, that builds an American plant that is geared toward renewable energy. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN, (D) NEW MEXICO: We have ignored this issue for a long time. It's time for us to begin to put an emphasis on it, begin to encourage companies to come here and produce the jobs involved with this transition of our economy from high carbon to low carbon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Let's take a look at wind power alone, for example. A recent study showed that for every additional mega watt of wind power that is used in this country, it creates nearly five full-time jobs. But right now three of those jobs aren't even in the U.S. Because they involve making those wind turbine components, most of that happens overseas, as I said.
But some say this renewable energy tax credits in this stimulus bill right now are not enough to create jobs. They say the bigger problem is financing for all of these big projects. That's just not there right now. They say you've got to make a direct investment into this rather than a tax credit. That's the way to go. So billions of dollars at stake here, Fred. Of course, they can't agree on how they should be spent.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, that's going to take a little bit more time then.
HARLOW: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Poppy, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
HARLOW: You're welcome. WHITFIELD: All right. So when will things get better on the jobs front? When will our economy as a whole improve? Just a few questions that you have already e-mailed us. But we want to hear more from you. If you have a question that you would like to ask President Obama, e-mail us at askthepresident@cnn.com. We'll make our daily visit to the new White House website. Send your questions in, and bring some of the answers to you, each afternoon, right here each the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I will tell you, in terms of what is alarming right now, is how fast the economy has been deteriorating. I think even two or three months ago, most economists would not have predicted us being in as bad of a situation as we are right now.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: It keeps a lot of Americans, right now, up at night. Does it keep you up at night?
OBAMA: It keeps me up at night and --
COOPER: Literally?
OBAMA: Literally. Because we've got a range of different problems, and there's no silver bullet. We'll just have to work our way through the problem. So number one, we've got to have a recovery package that puts people back to work, and ensures that states that are dealing with rising unemployment can deal with unemployment insurance, can provide health care for people who lost their jobs. So that's one set of problems.
Then you've got a banking system that has undergone close to a meltdown. And we've got to figure out how do we intelligently get credit flowing again so small businesses, and large businesses, can hire people and keep their doors open and sell their products. And, you know, part of the problem, unfortunately, is that the first round of TARP, I think, drew a lot of scorn. We learned, you know -- we've now learned that people are still getting huge bonuses despite the fact that they're getting taxpayer money, which I think infuriates the public. So we also have to set in place some rules of the road.
Even after we get that done, we still have to get a financial regulatory system in place that assures this crisis never happens again. And we've got to do this in the context of a world economy that is declining, because in some ways the Europeans are actually doing at least as badly as we are. You've even seen China, which has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last two decades, starting to decline. So trying to do all those things on parallel tracks at a time when people are scared, and legitimately so, I think is going to be a big challenge. I think we're up to the challenge, but it's going to take some time. And I think the American people recognize that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All this, and Wall Street now has two new reports on the labor market and one is pretty dismal. It's all leading up to Friday when we get the biggest employment report of all.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the details on that.
And you already alluded last hour that it's probably not going to be good.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, but we've seen that for all of 2008, unfortunately, Fred. You know, when the president was just talking about how everybody's just sort of taken aback at how quickly the U.S. economy is deteriorating, well, you see it in the jobs reports. You see it in the job cuts. And today is no different.
Payroll services from ADP estimates 522,000 private sector jobs were lost last month. And outplacement firm, Challenger Gray and Christmas says the number of planed cuts announced in January rose to a seven-year high. The retail sector hit the hardest. Of course, coming after a holiday shopping season that was one of the worst in decades. Today retailer Pier 1 says that if it can't negotiate lower rent, it will close 125 stores. And for every one of those stores, there are people and there are incomes and families that are deeply affected, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. So where is the hiring? We know the federal government is a place where there is some hiring. But where else?
LISOVICZ: There are some places. The Challenger report says actually 11 industries did announce hiring plans. Yes, you were right, number one is the government, followed by the computer and entertainment categories. But hiring there, of course, not expected to offset the losses. We are expecting half a million losses on Friday, and we are expecting the unemployment rate to rise to 7.5 percent from 7.2 percent in December.
What is not rising are stocks. We have had a rally, but it hasn't been able to hold. Let's check it out. Right now, the blue chips are down 133 points or one and two-thirds percent. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, is off 5.5 percent or a third of a percent - Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: All right, in between the listening tours that the first lady has been conducting and then the television interviews for the president, the two actually ducked out of the White House after what was admittedly a pretty tough day yesterday, with the collapse of Tom Daschle's cabinet nomination. Well, they paid a surprise visit yesterday to a Washington school, where the second-graders had plenty of questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) B. OBAMA: Hello, everybody.
CHILDREN: Hello, Mr. President!
B. OBAMA: Hi, guys. Thank you for having us here. Does everybody know who this is?
CHILDREN: Yes.
B. OBAMA: Who is that?
CHILDREN: Michelle.
(LAUGHTER)
B. OBAMA: The first lady.
(LAUGHTER)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: It doesn't pay much.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That's pretty nice treat there. Well, the field trip may be designed to underscore a promise made by the first couple. The Obamas insist that they won't get caught up in the Washington bubble. And as you heard, Michelle Obama, the first lady, say a little bit earlier, they want to be a part of the community of Washington, D.C.
All right. So what went wrong with the presidential team's vetting of three high-level administration nominees? We'll look inside the process.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. President Obama telling the American people that the buck stops with him. Shortly after Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services yesterday, Mr. Obama sat down at the White House with CNN's Anderson Cooper and took the blame for the fiasco.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "ANDERSON COOPER 360")
B. OBAMA: I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics. And I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards: one for powerful people and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Do you feel you've lost some of that moral high ground which you set for yourself on day one with...
B. OBAMA: Well, you know, I think this was a mistake. I think I screwed up. And I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. It's going to be tough to find someone to perhaps fill Tom Daschle's shoes. The former Senate majority leader was widely admired on Capitol Hill and has deep expertise in healthcare issues. That said, some names already are being batted about as possible options. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibilius; Howard Dean, a physician and former governor who just stepped down as the National Democratic Party chairman; and three current governors, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Ted Strickland of Ohio, and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
All right. We want to take you straight to the White House there where you see they're all getting poised and ready for the regular daily briefing by the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs. A lot of issues on hand. Obviously, the stimulus package, and what is and isn't happening in the Senate as it pertains to that.
We also know that the president later on today perhaps might even be signing the SCHIP bill, and that will mean extending health care benefits to roughly four million uninsured children. A lot of questions will be directed in that area.
And then a lot of questions, of course, the day after Tom Daschle has stepped down or at least withdrew his nomination. The search continues for someone to fill his shoes.
All those questions will be darted about there in the White House press room. You see the podium at the bottom. Which is empty right now, but soon to be filled by Robert Gibbs, the spokesperson for the White House.
We already know that the Obamas have already had a very full plate today. Michelle Obama, the first lady, has been darting around Washington all week long. Today, she made a stop at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And there she laid out a plan just like she did at the Department of Education earlier in the week, saying that we are part of the community - the Obamas are - and we want everyone to reinvest in their duties. And a big thank you going out to the people at HUD, just as she did at the Department of Education.
We also note the president had met earlier today with Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, trying to lay the law on reducing the kind of compensation that executives are seeing, particularly when those companies have enjoyed some sort of a federal bailout money.
A lot more questions are becoming the way of Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesperson momentarily when he takes to the podium as it pertains to those issues. But first and foremost, most likely to be the economic stimulus plan what is and isn't happening on Capitol Hill as it pertains to that.
All right. Here's some more food for thought for you. If you plan on buying a house or a car, well, the Senate says it certainly does want to help. The economic rescue package senators are agonizing over right now includes tax incentives for new car sales. And a vote today could double incentives for home buying as well. Even so, Senators of both parties are desperate to trim the measures, the $900 billion price tag. But President Obama is telling them not to gut the political priorities that got him and so many other Democrats elected.
And as for jobs, the White House is now giving state-by-state estimates of job creation over the next two years if this stimulus passes. Those range from 421,000 jobs in California to 8,000 in Vermont as well as Wyoming.
All right. Lots on tap for the White House. Lots of questions to be coming to the way of Robert Gibbs, the spokesperson, as soon as he's able to get into that room right there. It's the day after Tom Daschle withdrawing his nomination. Also, as I just mentioned, the stimulus plan is being massaged and reworked there on Capitol Hill. It has nearly tripled from its original amount of roughly $300 billion to nearly $900 billion. And many in the Senate, particularly Republicans, are saying we want to trim this quite a bit. But of course, there's going to be a lot of back-and-forth.
The president making a commitment he wants this to be a bipartisan approach. He has reached out to the Republicans on the Hill, not just by going to the Hill on his own, but also inviting members on both sides to the White House to talk about the stimulus plan. But we saw the House, overwhelmingly Democrat, support; no support from Republicans. He's hoping that perhaps the Senate vote might reflect something different.
But again, the president saying that he doesn't want it to be gutted just for the sake of what may be, by some estimations, partisanship. Nor does he say he wants to jeopardize any particular programs or promises just for the sake of trimming those numbers. Momentarily that press conference will take place. It was scheduled for 2:30, but I guess the guess is that Robert Gibbs and perhaps others are huddling to talk a little bit more about some of the expected questions to be coming their way.
We'll have much more in the newsroom right after this.
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WHITFIELD: Momentarily the daily White House briefing is to get under way. You see in the upper right of the screen, our chief White House correspondent Ed Henry, is poised at the ready.
We know, Ed, a lot of questions will come Robert Gibbs' way to the day after Tom Daschle and the search for the next secretary of Health and Human Services secretary designate. And perhaps, the SCHIP which passed in the House, but we know that the president has to sign it and he eagerly awaits that bill.
ED HENRY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Fred. Certainly there will be more likely about Tom Daschle, but moving forward about who his replacement will be as the designate for Health and Human Services secretary. And the broader fight that the president wants to launch for health care reform, who is going to lead that fight.
But I think the more immediate battle, obviously, is the stimulus bill, as you mentioned. The president, in fact, just now, right now, is behind closed doors with Senate Democrats here in Washington trying to push forward and get all of them onboard. He doesn't have all Democrats onboard, especially conservative Democrats. One of those conservative Democrats, Ben Nelson of Nebraska is going to be here at the White House in a little while along with moderate Republican Susan Collins. Two key lawmakers that the president wants to win over. Specifically, they're concerned with about $50 billion in spending that they want to shave off of this bill.
He earlier today had moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snow, also of Maine, here. She came out of her meeting with the president saying she felt like he listened to her concerns. She presented some potential changes to the legislation. But essentially there were no commitments, either from the president to take out some of the spending or commitments from Olympia Snow to support the current legislation. So, clearly he still has a lot more lobbying to do, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. You know, the day after Tom Daschle, and the day after President Obama did a number of interviews with all the television network anchors, and he really did take the blame. He said in so many different ways, I screwed up. You know, a lot of questions I imagine will be coming to Robert Gibbs' way about why the president feels that he is completely accountable for, I guess, the oversight, if you will, of Tom Daschle's record.
HENRY: Sure. From a strategy standpoint, clearly it could be effective for the president himself to take some responsibility as he did in those interviews and essentially try to move on by saying, look, I screwed up. He didn't even say, "we screwed up." He said, "I screwed up." That can be an effective political weapon in trying to turn the page, accept some responsibility. And as you can tell, there's a lot more focus today on the stimulus bill than on Tom Daschle. It sort of let the air out of the balloon, if you will. Once someone steps down from a post like that, when they're under a lot of pressure, all of a sudden all the air is out of the story once they actually step down. That's why he's focused now on the stimulus bill.
But also, you heard earlier the announcement from the president trying to back up that talk last week about cracking down on excessive compensation on Wall Street. They actually came out with an actual plan to try and crack down on some of those fat bonuses on Wall Street. But there are still a lot of the details to be worked out. So you can bet in this briefing there will be a lot of questions exactly how the White House plans to enforce all of this. It's one thing to sort of lay it on the table of what you want to do, but to actually enforce it, that's going to be a whole other question, obviously.
WHITFIELD: I Imagine there will still be questions while he, Daschle, may have stepped down, that may have kind of let the air out, so to speak. We're talking about three now designates who have stepped down because of something that was not necessarily noticed by those who were doing the vetting. So there have to be some questions, I imagine, to Gibbs today about the vetting process. Is the Obama Administration re-examining how it is vetting candidates.
HENRY: Absolutely. It is still an ongoing question. It was a question we pressed yesterday, but Robert Gibbs did not want to answer it, because once you start getting in the weeds of the vetting process, are there other potential nominees that have tax troubles. It just adds more fuel to the fire. It keeps the story alive. And you heard Robert Gibbs several times yesterday say, look, I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking in the rear-view mirror. That doesn't mean the press will stop asking the question, but it means that clearly this White House wants to try and move on.
And I think whether they're able to move on or not will depend in large part on whether this vetting process can start being more effective. You'll remember in the early part of the presidential transition, certainly, it seemed like it was running very smoothly. But ever since that Bill Richardson bump in the road, it's clear that there have now been, as you mentioned, a series of these problems, not just on taxes, but the Richardson case, that grand jury investigation in New Mexico where it appears that the presidential transition at that point, they weren't exactly yet in office, didn't really have all the facts.
And so, when we pressed yesterday and asked Robert Gibbs sort of what went wrong, he didn't want to get into the weeds on that, number one. And then number two, when we pressed on what changes, if any, they'll make to that vetting process to make it stronger, he really would not engage on that, and kept saying the president is happy with the process. And again, tried to move on.
So, it's sort of a back-and-forth, obviously, as it is with a lot of White House press secretaries where they're trying to turn the page on what was a very negative story. And so they try to do that by having Robert Gibbs say, again, I'm not going to look in the rear-view mirror. And then have the president himself go out with the network anchors yesterday and basically say, look, I screwed up. Try to take some blame, take some responsibility to try and move forward. And so that's what they're going to try and do. It doesn't mean we'll stop asking the questions, though, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and those interviews were actually scheduled having nothing to do with the timing of the Tom Daschle debacle.
But I wonder, you've been covering the White House for awhile now. Just if you can, kind of compare your notes on the transparency issue. This president says that he and he wants his administration to be very transparent. We've seen a lot of president in these 16 days. And he and his administration, or at least people working with him, have been very forthright on many levels. Can you make comparisons on how this stacks up with other administrations when it is in the beginning stages?
HENRY: Well, sure, you're right. I mean, the president has made it clear he wants to have the most open, transparent administration in history. His staff says they want to back that up. There have been some questions, though, about, for example, the lobbying executive order that he signed on the first full day in office that suggested he was really going to be tightening restrictions. We've since seen in a couple of cases some exemptions that are trying to get to that, raising questions about how open and transparent they want to be.
The president did have that - have those series of interviews last night. You're right, that was supposed to be about the economy. It wasn't supposed to be about Tom Daschle. So, politically, it was bad timing for the White House to put the president out there in the middle of this firestorm. But he certainly did make himself to the media in that case, about ten minutes or so for each network. And so that, by extension, he certainly was available to the American people.
But he himself, the president, has not been taken any questions, frankly, at a lot of the public events that we've seen. You know, when he announced his commerce secretary, for example, yesterday. In some cases you would have seen President Bush take a question or two during the presidential transition. Whenever there was a personnel announcement, the president would take a few questions from the media.
But in fairness, last night, after not taking questions of the commerce secretary announcement, he did do that series of interviews. So, he certainly took some questions. So it's a balancing act, obviously, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Ed Henry, thank you so much, senior White House correspondent. We're going to check back with you momentarily and especially when this press conference begins. We're going to take a short break right now.
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WHITFIELD: All right, on to the White House now, and Robert Gibbs.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon.
What's that?
(OFF-MIKE)
Is that your first question? All right.
I don't want you to burn your - I don't want to use up all your good questions first.
Let me start by giving you guys just a quick readout from the president's meeting this morning with Secretary Clinton and with Senator Mitchell. The president had a good meeting with Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell late this morning. Senator Mitchell gave an initial readout of his trip to the region which included stops in Cairo, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Amman, Riyadh, Paris and London. He's now developing a specific set of next steps, and the president looks forward to hearing more about that. And Senator Mitchell said yesterday he remains convinced that patience and persistent American diplomacy can help advance the ball in these efforts. The president shares that view and looks forward to continuing to work closely with Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell.
And with that...
QUESTION: Thank you.
Two completely unrelated questions. One on Judd Gregg, apparently a former longtime aide of his is involved in the Abramoff scandal. I was wondering if that came up in the vetting and how it was viewed here.
And then secondly, I wanted - I noticed in the president's remarks this morning that he talked about his election, and it was kind of a subtle reference to the, I won, comment that we talked about that came up in a private meeting he had. And the reports on the meeting the other night with the democratic leadership sounded like he was a little bit tougher. Is he getting a little bit more aggressive in this rhetoric on the stimulus?
GIBBS: Let me take your first question.
I don't know about the vetting. I know that the secretary designate is not a target or subject of any of the investigation about an employee that I think left his office in 2004. And I would direct you to them for additional statements on that. I don't know if it was in the - in that. I would, again, I think I would - this obviously is somebody who's left his employment quite some time ago.
In terms of your second question, I think the president understand - we've seen more statistics, more layoffs - that our failure to act, our failure to take action that is bold enough to meet the challenges that our economy faces, will simply result in far greater job loss for the American people. Without a significant stimulus, over the next three years our administration estimates we could lose an additional five million jobs. Some economists as recently as a couple of weeks ago, Mark Zandi, his estimate, without a significant stimulus, would result over the next three years in the loss an additional loss of nearly six and a half million jobs. The president understands, and the American people expect us to take decisive and bold action to meet those challenges.
Secondly, and I think he said this in his remarks today, doing - continuing the policies that got us where we are today are a recipe for getting us where we need to be tomorrow.
QUESTION: Does he feel the need to ramp up the rhetoric? Why is that?
GIBBS: I think he understands that the challenges are great. The expectations by the American people, that we act in a way that helps the economy, and puts people back to work, weigh on him. And I assume others in this town greatly each and every day.
Our failure to do something in size and scope commensurate with the challenges that we have, we'll find ourselves worse off than where we are now. We have to take those bold steps. I think that, and the president believes, that we're closer in agreement than we probably are in disagreement. As I've said here, many of the complaints, some of the complaints have been about very narrow sections of this legislation. The president met today with, and continues to meet with democrats and republicans here.
I'm not entirely sure what that music is. But we appreciate that as well.
The - continue to reach out to find the necessary consensus to bring the two sides together. Again, that's our challenge based on the size and the scope of the problems that we have. But more importantly, that's what Americans expect us to do. To stop the meaningless back-and-forth and instead get something for the American people that creates jobs, puts people back to work, puts money in their pockets, and creates lasting long-term economic growth for this country. To do anything less would be to fail the American people.
Jeff?
QUESTION: Robert, two questions on a related issue.
GIBBS: Extra. You get extra for that.
QUESTION: First, on the executive pay announcement today. Is there any concern in the administration that this might backfire. That banks or other companies that actually should be asking for money, or need the money, would avoid asking because they don't want to follow these rules?
And the second question, the president mentioned that Secretary Geithner will be announcing details next week on further financial regulation. Can you give us a flavor for what we can expect? Specifically, I mean, can we...
GIBBS: (OFF-MIKE)
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: .. can we I mean, is it a done deal? Or are there things he will be negotiating with Congress on? Will there be numbers?
GIBBS: Well, yes, let me take the second one first.
Again, I'm not going to get ahead of Secretary Geithner on this. Obviously we're going to outline a series of proposals, and principles and ideas that no doubt will be we will continue to work with members of Congress about. I think you heard me say any number of times what a lot of those principles will be.
