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Hudson Plane Landing Tapes Released; Unemployment Soars; Saving the Stimulus; Layoffs and Health Care

Aired February 05, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The $700 billion bailout, it's your money, and right now they are looking at how that money has been spent. Trying to develop some more safeguards. Half the cash is gone, and there are few details on how the rescued companies actually spent it.

This hour, the Senate Banking Committee discusses more safeguards, and tighter oversight of the program. Also expected to come up, those huge bonuses and fancy corporate retreats, subsidized with your money. Lawmakers have a lot to consider, and some political land mines to avoid, as well.

What has been done, and what needs to be done, and what's likely to really happen? Christine Romans is part of the CNN Money team, and Colin Barr covers business and finance for fortune.com. Good to see both of you.

All right. Christine, let me begin with you because as this Senate committee tries to look at these safeguards, how do we watch the money? We know a lot that has gone wrong thus far, which is how some of this bailout money was misused or misspent.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Or in some cases, we don't know how it was used. I mean, that's what's really the issue here, the transparency, the lack of oversight overall, and also the lack of a real clear investment strategy, that's something this oversight panel is going to hear about. They are going to hear more about this in the Senate Banking Committee.

But remember, this was a financial system rescue plan that was born in chaos. It was chaotic in the fall of last year, and the Treasury Department was trying to figure out what they could do to try to stem that decline. And initially, they were going to buy toxic assets off the books of the banks and suddenly they turn around and they were injecting capital directly in them.

We know that about 360 banks have had capital injections, or have been promised capital injections from the Treasury. We know that $250 billion set aside for the banks, $40 billion more went to AIG. $25 billion extra to Citi, in addition to the money it got in that first chunk.

Also, some money to the auto industry, as well. $23 billion to the auto industry. These funds have gone out the door, but what we don't know is how they have been used in many cases, especially for the big banks. We just don't know how they have been used, and many people want some assurances that they're used for lending, that they're used to - to really free up the flow of credit.

And those were strings that Congress did not demand, the Treasury Department didn't ask for, and this administration has said that will not happen again, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so Colin, what do you want to see from Congress, how to assure to the taxpayers, the American taxpayers that this isn't going to happen again. In part, we'll at least know how federal money, bailout money, might be spent. Or allocated.

COLIN BARR, COVERS BUSINESS AND FINANCES FOR FORTUNE.COM: Right. I think the key is, they need to say up front what they're trying to accomplish. They never said in October when Paulson went before - in September and October when Paulson went up before Congress to get the money, they never said specifically what they wanted to use the money for.

The idea was always that you'll save the banking sector and you get the economy going again. But there are you know many moving parts in there, and there are two key issues. One is that you have to have the banks healthy enough that they want to make new loans. And so that means recapitalizing the banks. The banks have run low on capital, because they have made a bunch of bad bets on real estate. They've done a bunch of other things. Things that have not worked out for them, to say the least -

WHITFIELD: But actually more than just a verbal agreement, right? It almost sounds as though we're moving in the direction of some sort of contract.

BARR: Right. Well I think one of the things that we have to be careful about is we don't want to put too many strings on these things without an understanding of how it works. And a lot of people say that you have to absolutely make sure that the healthy banks are able to lend before you insist the people are, you know, signing off on any quotes for how much they lend.

WHITFIELD: All right. Colin, Christine, we're going to check back with you as we continue to monitor this Senate hearing, to find out exactly what maybe revealed, what kind of investigative measures will be made to try and figure out where TARP money is going, how to assure some sort of trail for the next doling out of funds that might be divied up.

All right. For full coverage of today's TARP hearings and more on America's money crisis, go to cnnmoney.com.

All right. President Obama ordering salary caps for top executives of bailed out firms. The new limit, $500,000 a year. Meanwhile, there may soon be a Senate vote on the massive stimulus bill. Insiders tell CNN that President Obama is privately predicting passage by the end of the week. That would be tomorrow. And he says for swift action, the situation is very much growing dire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: Make no mistake. A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe. And guarantee a longer recession, a less-robust recovery, and a more uncertain future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The Senate is schedule open debate on the stimulus package later on and today.

All right. The bill already exceeded $900 billion in the Senate and passage may hinged on lawmakers making some spending cut. Live not to CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar, so would the Senate really vote on this by the end of the week?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's possible, Fred, democratic leaders are hopeful and there is a sign that perhaps things are moving in that direction. Something that CNN has just learned, a meeting taking place here shortly between a group of Democrats and Republicans about a key amendment that is seen by many as the best chance for a compromised amendment to really be a breakthrough in the Senate for this economic stimulus. The plan here, depending on who you talk to is to really cut a lot of spending as you mentioned between 50 and 100 billion of spending from the stimulus bill, spending the many centrists republicans and democrats feel just isn't going to be stimulative, isn't going to create jobs.

We have reported before that three centrists in the Senate, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, the two Republicans from Maine and Ben Nelson, democrat from Nebraska that they have been hashing out this compromised amendment but this going on here shortly is a meeting of a much bigger meeting between democrats and republicans, Fred. So of course, we're really keeping an eye on this, monitoring this, in case this is a pivotal moment in this discussion here in the Senate.

WHITFIELD: And what kinds of things would this amendment actually take out of the stimulus?

KEILAR: There's a note - we don't know exactly but we do know some of the things that are being tossed around. For instance, $6 billion for federal building renovations. One of the other things, $1 billion for the Census Bureau. So these are the things that are being contemplated.

And we heard - CNN heard from Senator Susan Collins of Maine that when she spoke with President Obama yesterday, as these three centrists did have meetings with him yesterday, he said looking at some of the things they came up with, some of these things are good. I agree with these cuts, some of these things I don't agree with.

So as this becomes more finalized, Fred, we're going to see exactly what stays and goes, but, again, a lot expected to go.

WHITFIELD: And if some of these compromises are not met, does that weaken the chances of some kind of finality? KEILAR: Well, the sense from centrists, from conservative democrats and moderate republicans is that some of these spending items, they have to go, because as it stands right now, this bill isn't going to get those 60 votes that it needs. That's why everyone is really keeping an eye on these discussions between these moderates.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill, thanks so much. Of course, we want to hear from you, as well. What's your reaction to the debates on Capitol Hill involving elements of the stimulus bill? E-mail us at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, and we'll read some of your comments later on this hour.

All right. The president has a long day ahead. Here's a look at some of his schedule. This hour, he receives his daily economic briefing. And then at noon eastern, the President is due to visit the Energy Department. Today, he is expected to call for higher efficiency standards for everyday products, like dishwashers and microwaves.

And tonight, he'll deliver remarks to House democrats, as they take part in an annual retreat in Virginia. House Republicans had a similar get-away, just last weekend.

All right. More bad news on the economic front. Today's report on the number of people out of work and relying on unemployment insurance until they find another job. The report shows new unemployment claims topped 626,000 last week. That's the highest level in more than 26 years. And the number of people still collecting unemployment is nearing five million now.

Let's take another look at the big board there. The Dow down 100 points. We'll continue to watch the numbers for you throughout the day. Clearly some reaction to the new jobless numbers, as well.

All right. The results are in. Winners are being announced in Iraq, a few days after successful elections were held across the country. The vote setting the stage for Iraq's next step.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now we continue to watch the activity on the Hill. You're looking actually at images of Christopher Dodd, member of the Senate banking, housing and urban hearing, which is now under way. They are trying to figure out, come up with a better way in which to follow the money, particularly the troubled assets relief program, or TARP money, as a result of much of the $700 billion in bailout money that was either misspent or somehow has eluded some record of how it's being spent.

Well, now at this senate hearing, they're trying to come up with a better way in which to watch and follow the money. Try to nail down some accountability.

All right. The ballots are counted in Iraq, and the first results from last weekend's elections are coming in right now. Those results point to a strong showing by Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's party. His party did specially well in Baghdad, Iraqi military forces are on alert for possible post-election violence in other parts of the country.

We're also following breaking news on the Al Qaeda front in the Middle East. CNN has learned that a growing number of Al Qaeda operatives have entered Yemen from Saudi Arabia over the past several weeks. U.S. and Yemeni officials tell us that those operatives have reestablished a network that could potentially threaten American and Saudi targets.

All right. Digging out in Ohio. The latest winter storm brought traffic to a crawl in so many places. Accidents are piling up, and businesses are opening just a little later, if at all. The same is happening with schools. Of course, that's not a problem for these kids in Pennsylvania.

Remember, the days when you could just play in the snow. Without a care in the world. Ah, those were the days. Rob Marciano, did you grow up in a snowy place?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: I did. Very much snow.

WHITFIELD: Like the snow days?

MARCIANO: Loved the snow days. As a matter of fact, I put a little too much faith in the weather man calling for snow days and wouldn't do the homework, you know, and you know, and I found that the excuse of I didn't do my homework because the weatherman said it was going to snow didn't quite fly. So -

WHITFIELD: That happened to me many a time.

MARCIANO: Here I am, seeking my ultimate vengeance. All right. Frigid temperatures driving all the way down to Florida. This will be really the last day, tomorrow, too. And then we'll start to see a little bit of warm up. See this little surge of yellows here, some warm air in Denver, 65 for a high today. It will be 69 degrees in Dallas, 62 in Kansas City.

This will slowly push to the east, as we start to get a return flow around that nasty Arctic high that brings the colder air to the eastern half. All right. In Newark, 45 minute delays. La Guardia, 30-minute delays, San Francisco 30, Houston 30, San Francisco-L.A. will be a focal point for numerous lengthy delays as you go through the next couple of days as we go to the next couple of days, because that's where the action is going to be.

We don't see a lot of action on the radar scope. A lot of cold air, we mentioned that, and in some cases drastically blowing out temperature records, in Watertown, New York, below, minus 28, or something. They blew out the record by 10 degrees. Crazy stuff there. And this is going to be a pattern which may not only bring rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains across California, but may very well fire off some rare thunderstorms.

And some of them could be rough and tumble over the next couple days. So we'll watch that for sure. And including places like Henderson or Las Vegas. I believe we have a live tower cam? No. Come on, Antoinette, I thought you told me we had it. OK. She said no. She said no.

San Francisco to San Jose, Sacramento, some rain here, and this will be getting a little bit more extensive as we go through today and tomorrow. All right, later tomorrow, this forecast map highlights the fact that we've got warm air that will be sliding to the east. But the cold core low with the associated storminess, it's going to kind of sit there and spin.

And so those who are waking up with us in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, you've had a nice stretch of some nice weather here, and now it's time to pay the price.

WHITFIELD: Pay back.

MARCIANO: That's right. That's how it goes.

WHITFIELD: Oh, well, what goes around comes around, right?

MARCIANO: That's right.

WHITFIELD: Or at least everything is full circle and all that good stuff.

MARCIANO: Good karma back at you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rob, thanks so much.

MARCIANO: See you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Australia now. People are dealing with massive flooding in the northern part of that country. Thousands of homes are waterlogged, as you see right there. Emergency crews have come from across the Queensland area to help out in any way they can. Flood waters are covering an area more than twice the size of the state of Pennsylvania. Horrible situation there.

A prominent doctor critically wounded in a bombing right outside his Arkansas home. Authorities say it was no accident. A live update in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Remember that heroic splash landing of that U.S. Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River? Just last month. We understand that momentarily we're going to be actually hearing the audiotapes from that flight. The conversations taking place between the pilots and radio tower, and, of course, when we get that, we'll be able to bring that to you right away.

Meantime, another story we're following for you. An Arkansas doctor remains in critical condition this hour, after a bomb exploded in the driveway of his home. Federal authorities say it was no accident. Our Brooke Baldwin is following this developing story. Very bizarre.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very bizarre, talking about a story sort of sending shock waves through a very small Arkansas community. Here is what we know, this morning, Fred, we're talking about Dr. Trent Pierce. He is recovering at what they call the MED, that is the regional medical center in Memphis last night, and also overnight, he underwent multiple surgeries.

Friends and the chief of police have confirmed that he has lost one of his eyes. And doctors had to remove shrapnel, not only from his abdomen, but from his throat. So you can imagine now, about 24 hours later, friends and colleagues asking question number one, who could have done this, and why?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (voice-over): Dr. Trent Pierce, chairman of the Arkansas Medical Bard, family physician, father of two. And now badly injured. The possible target of an explosive attack, feet from his Arkansas home.

CHIEF ROBERT PAUDERT, WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS POLICE: This is a crime that it's a terrorist attack on Dr. Pierce, and we just don't know why someone would do this.

ANDERSON: ATF agents confirmed it was a bomb that exploded in or near Dr. Pierce's SUV, seriously injuring him early Wednesday morning in West Memphis.

STUART LOWERY, ATF: I will not comment on the components or materials associated with that, based on the status of the investigation. But we're confident that this is a criminal act.

ANDERSON: Neighbors say the blast could be heard as far as a mile away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very loud explosion. Very loud.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just unimaginable this could happen in a - a block from your house, in this little nice neighborhood.

ANDERSON: Also, unimaginable, according to friends and colleagues, the fact that this kind of crime could be directed at Dr. Pierce.

BILL TRICE, ARKANSAS MEDICAL BOARD ATTORNEY: For a man that has given his life treating patients, this is - there's no justification for this.

ANDERSON: Dr. Pierce was first appointed as the chair of the Arkansas State Medical Board in 1997. Police speculate, there might be a connection. His board grants licenses to physicians, and in some cases, is forced to discipline them. It's a process, according to one colleague, that can be contentious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep thinking, is there a decision that he has been involved with that someone was unhappy with? I don't think it was a random act. I think was intentionally directed at him. And we just need to find out who did it and why.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON: Just to reiterate, when I did talk to the chief of police again this morning, who, by the way, is also Dr. Pierce's patient, he reiterated to me that so far there is no motive. Authorities are not sure if this explosion was random, or if Dr. Pierce was, in fact, targeted. The ATF, police and FBI are investigating, Fred. But sad, sad and like you said, bizarre.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. It's incredible and right outside of his home.

ANDERSON: Feet from his home. The blast was so awful, he landed six feet away in his flower bed.

WHITFIELD: It's not that he went in the car and exploded. He was outside the vehicle so then there is the question of the whole timing.

ANDERSON: Where was it placed. Lots of questions.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. All right. Brooke, thanks so much.

ANDERSON: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

We are going to continue to bring you this story just now coming in. Remember this flight, U.S. Airways flight 1549. This is the Hudson River. This was just last month, a heroic landing.

Emergency landing of this flight after the pilot believes that that jet liner ran into a flock of birds. Well, now we understand that we have the audiotapes of the correspondence taking place between the pilots and the radio control tower. Let's listen in right now.

All right. You're looking at the images there. Apparently that audiotape is not quite ready. But we understand that it's pretty clear that the pilot was - let's listen in.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Departure, climbing, maintain 5,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right up to 1-5,000.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, that's the latest of that audiotape that you were able to hear there of Captain "Sully" there, as he was letting -

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3-6-arrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 3, 6 arrow 3, 37.

(END AUDIOTAPE) WHITFIELD: OK. As you continue to look at some of these images, very familiar images of flight 1549, we're trying to give you some kind of clear audio, representation here of the correspondence taking place between "Sully," the captain there, and radio control tower.

Apparently, the audio is kind of interspersed, it kind of pops up when we least expect it, but we also understand that on board that flight that day is passenger Brad Wentzel who is joining us on the phone with us right now.

Brad, very difficult to make out what we actually heard.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Government (inaudible) 260 contact departure, 12085.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2085, and 260, I'm heading. Good day.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Brad, if you're with me now, obviously it sounds like some direction as the pilot was trying to correspond with radio control tower about where this plane was.

VOICE OF BRAD WENTZEL: Yes, it sounds like somebody is pretty busy. That's what it sounds like.

WHITFIELD: You know, if you don't mind just kind of replaying for me your thoughts and feelings as you had a very clear understanding that this plane was getting ready to make an emergency landing.

WENTZEL: Yes, yeah. I fly twice a week, every week. And I was on my regular business routine coming home, and it was very obvious that this was not a recover situation. Immediately, after hearing the bang and smelling the fire, the bang was the biggest thing, the giant engines that are on each side of you, I mean you can imagine the sound of a missile hitting the plane is probably the equivalent of what we're dealing with at this point.

And, you know, we started - the plane started to shake. You could tell there was no boost in the engines, there was nothing pulling you forward, and you were just drifting.

WHITFIELD: And as we're listening to, you know, this correspondence, difficult to make out exactly what's being said, but certainly the pilot, you know, and those in radio control tower sound very calm about all of it. Give me an idea what the demeanor was on board the plane.

WENTZEL: You know, as reiterated, this guy to me was the Tom Brady of flying planes. He was so calm, so cool. He - obviously, as you could tell by listening to him, this was a man who was focused and knew exactly what he was doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 749, climbing 5,000. WENTZEL: And I did get to meet him the other day. And --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maintain 1-5,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maintain 1-5,000. Gotcha, 1549.

WENTZEL: Just the demeanor of meeting this gentleman, you know why he was so calm, and it was amazing. He is a very focused human being.

At this point, as you can tell, he was very calm in that cockpit, or in the plane itself, and I believe everybody was the at their own moment of prayer, and there wasn't a whole lot of screaming and yelling. People were scared, but I - I feel that there's a sense of calmness that comes over you when you're facing death.

And I have gotten to experience that, and it's a very real thing to say goodbye to your wife and daughter in prayer, and wait for your end. And, you know, that's - that's what I'll play over in my mind when I go to sleep.

WHITFIELD: And about how many - how many minutes did this scene to --

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2760, climbing, maintain 0-1,000 -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1-000 thousand.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: About how many minutes did this seem to you know, elapse when you clearly got instructions from the flight crew that you know it's an emergency and minutes seem like hours to you, didn't it?

WENTZEL: It was - it was very slow and very surreal. And then --

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maintain 270.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1539, hit birds, foxtrot, turning back towards La Guardia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK You need to return. Turn left heading up 2-2-0 there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2-2-0.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, stop your departure, got emergency returning. It's 1529. Birds strike, he lost the whole engine. He lost the thrust and the engine and is returning immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Check. 1529. Which engine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He lost thrust in both engines, he said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got it.

UNDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Cactus 1529, couldn't get it to you. Do you want to try to land, 1013?

SULLENBERGER: We're unable. We may end up in the Hudson.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Johnny (ph) 2760, turn left (ph) zero (ph) at seven (ph) zero (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: (INAUDIBLE) 2760.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: All right, Cactus 1529, it's going to be less traffic to runway 31.

SULLENBERGER: Not able.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK, what do you need to land?

Cactus 1529, runway four is available. If you want to make less traffic at runway four.

(CROSSTALK)

SULLENBERG: I'm not sure we're can make (INAUDIBLE). What's to over our right? Anything over in New Jersey? Maybe Teterboro.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK, yes, off to your right side is Teterboro Airport. Do you want to try to go to Teterboro?

SULLENBERGER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Teterboro - Empire (ph, actually, LaGuardia departure got an emergency inbound. Cactus 1529 over the George Washington Bridge wants to go to our airport right now.

UNIDENTIFIED TETERBORO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Wants to go to our airport, check. Does he need assistance?

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Yes, it was a bird strike. Can I get him in for runway one?

UNIDENTIFIED TETERBORO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Runway run one, that's good.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Cactus 1529, turn right 280. You can land runway one at Teterboro.

SULLENBERGER: We can't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK, which runway would you like at Teterboro.

SULLENBERGER: We're going to be in the Hudson.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I'm sorry, say again, Cactus? Johnny (ph) 2760, contact New York 126.8.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Cactus - Cactus 1529, radar contact is lost. You also got Newark Airport up your two o'clock in about seven miles.

Eagle 54718, turn left tank (ph) 210.

EAGLE 54718: 210, 4718. I really think he said he was going in the Hudson.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Cactus 1529, you still on? Cactus 1529, if you can - you've got runway 29 available at Newark off your two o'clock in seven miles.

Eagle 54718 climb 810, 12,000.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Eagle 54718, I'm sorry, I missed that, say again?

EAGLE 54718: We're up to 12,000 (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK. Thank you. Eagle 54718, turn left 220.

EAGLE 54718: 220 (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: All right. If you're just now joining us, you're hearing for the first time the air traffic control tapes of the correspondence between the crew of Flight 1549 of that US Airways flight that had to make an emergency landing here in the Hudson River.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Yeah, it was the Cactus. He was just north of the George Washington Bridge when they had the bird strike.

WHITFIELD: You hear them talking about everything that's transpired after letting the air traffic control know there was a bird strike. And then you hear the - the conversation going back and forth about the options of landing this plane, because both engines are out. And, of course, you're very familiar with the images there.

UNIDENTIFIED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Eagle 54718, contact (INAUDIBLE) 412.7425.

EAGLE 54718: 2475, (INAUDIBLE) 718.

WHITFIELD: All right. The engines are out. You're looking at the images of what eventually transpired, this making a splash-landing there on the Hudson river. All passengers and crew escaped any injury. But we are for the first time hearing this - these air traffic control tapes, and we're also learning that there has been some confirmation within the past 24 hours to that indeed there was some... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come up behind him for a 180?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's good.

WHITFIELD: ... there were indeed remnants of birds found in the engines as they continue to carry out their investigation.

We're bringing you these images that you are very familiar with seeing last month. File images, still images, as well as video. But what you are hearing for the first time are the audio takes of this air traffic control conversation between Captain Sullenberger and as well as air traffic control there. And, of course, when we try to truncate these sound bites for you so you can get a more comprehensive tick tock of what transpired that day, we'll be able bring it to you. But again, we're just now getting this feed in and we're bringing it to you right away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... climb and maintain 15,000.

UNDENTIFIED PILOT: 5,000 for (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: All right. So also that day, passenger Brad Wentzell was on board. He's still with me on the phone here.

Brad, what's it like for you when you hear this conversation back and forth?

BRAD WENTZELL, U.S. AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549 SURVIVOR (via telephone): It's very real. It's reliving something experienced that - that changed your life. It's amazing to hear the focus of the pilot, and as I said, I've met him recently, and he's a very serious man. And a very - I'm glad that particular day that a very serious man flew my plane.

WHIFIELD: So calculated, so calm throughout. And, you know, we all feel like we've since gotten to know Sully a little bit more. And he's certainly, as his wife would describe him, to be a real pilot's pilot. And calm was his demeanor indeed. He simply said, you know, he and the rest of the crew were simply doing their jobs.

Brad Wentzell, thanks so much for being with us as you recount your emotions and what you were feeling this day of that splash landing there in the Hudson River, and thanks for playing along with us as we received those audiotapes for the first time as well.

You'll be hearing much more of those audiotapes throughout the day here on CNN.

All right, billions of dollars, countless questions. How did rescued companies spend your bailout money? Right now lawmakers are demanding safeguards on how the rest of the money will be spent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Your money in the headlines, and up for debate right now, the Senate Banking Committee is looking at the $700 billion bailout package that was passed just last year. Half the cash is gone and there are few details on how the rescued companies actually spent it. So, lawmakers want more safeguards.

And unemployment lines grow longer. A short time ago, we learned that initial jobless claims have risen to a 26-year high. Continuing unemployment benefits reached a new record of nearly 4.8 million people.

And right now, an emotional push for the stimulus package. Unemployed workers will join democratic Senators to underscore the urgency for the measure.

So earlier this hour, we asked you your thoughts about the debates over the stimulus bill and our Josh Levs has been going through all of your responses.

So what are people saying, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've got a lot. As you can imagine, people are very excited for the opportunity to weigh in on this one. So let's just get right into the board. I don't want to waste your time with me yapping.

Here's the first one, Roland Westra writes this: "Twenty-two mayors and half our governors are in Washington with their hands out. They should be at home making the difficult decisions to cut waste and improve efficiency."

Here is another one: "We had a majority vote for President Obama and the Congress is in democratic hands. Yet after 30 years of failed conservative policies, we're listening to Republicans on this package. They created this hole and yet they seem to think as the minority deserve more than they've given," from Melanie.

"I believe they need to do away with NAFTA, which started all this mess with companies going overseas and across the border. Then do away with all of the extras or 'pork' in this package, " thanks to Chris for that one.

Now here's from Jeff B. in Texas: "Here's an idea to stimulate the economy quickly - make the banks who received cash from the government give loans to customers for four or 4.5 percent. Allowing Americans to refinance their homes with lower rates would put a lot of extra money into the economy."

I think we got time for a couple more here. "It's a terrible idea for the government try to fix the economy with spending that will ultimately cost four to five times what the private sector could create just as many jobs with," from Mark.

And listen to this, "I would like to know whether or not the president will consider taking suggestions/ideas from the public on what they would like to see in this bill. We as taxpayers have ideas and would like to express our concerns as well," from L. Acton in Louisville.

Actually, I think I have an answer for you on that one. Let's go over here. I pulled this up, whitehouse.gov/contact is inviting you to send in your ideas, your responses and what you think about any of the bills, including the stimulus bill; whitehouse.gov/contact.

But, Fred, I certainly cannot promise the White House will act on what those ideas are. But at least there is a form where people can send those indirectly.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, at least there is a forum. There you go.

Thanks a lot, Josh. Appreciate it.

All right, a situation so many people find themselves in: losing your job. Well, now what happens if you need to go to the doctor? What you need to know about layoffs and health insurance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, lots of maneuvering going on Capitol Hill as it relates to the stimulus bill. Our Dana Bash, senior congressional correspondent, joins us now with the very latest.

You have information on a meeting that just took place?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A meeting is taking place as we speak, Fredricka. In fact, look behind me. What's going on behind these closed doors very well could determine the fate of this economic stimulus bill. Because what's going on is a group of Democrats and Republicans are getting together to figure out if they can forge a compromise on an idea to cut spending. And, you know, we have been reporting about this for days. The idea that there are centeriest Senators - Democrats and Republicans who think that there's just too much spending in here that doesn't create jobs.

So what they're doing behind these doors - we've seen about eight senators, four Republicans and four Democrats go in so far - is they're trying to come up with an amendment to actually line by line figure out what programs and how much money they're talking about pulling out. If they can come up with some kind of idea and some kind of compromise, that could really push things along and potentially make this happen for Barack Obama - Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, it seems as though they are having this meeting, trying to perhaps meet this deadline of President Obama saying he wants this settled upon by week's end.

BASH: That's right. In fact, Susan Collins, you know, she is a republican from Maine, she has been at the center of this. She met with President Obama yesterday at the White House. She just came in here, and I talked to her. And she said, you know, she actually went through some specific spending programs with the president himself. She said, you know, what about this one? And she wouldn't tell us which ones, but the president said, yes, OK, I could go for cutting that program. What about that one? No, that's not going to happen. So she took the information she got from the president himself and worked with the democrat, Ben Nelson - she's been working with on a bipartisan basis for about a week now. And they worked very into the night to figure out, OK, based on that conversation, what can we do to cut, to slash, to scrub spending, as they've been talking about, in a way that the White House and democratic leaders will accept. In a way that we can get passed into Congress.

Excuse me. I'm seeing people come by here. I thought they were coming into the room. Forgive me.

In a way they can get past on the floor of the Senate. And that's what they're doing behind these closed doors. You see staffers coming out. There are again, about eight senators so far here. Democrats and Republicans trying to figure out if what they talked about last night is something that they can agree on in terms of a package of spending cuts that will allow many of these senators to bite the bullet, frankly, and vote for a very, very, very large spending program that some of these - some of their constituents think is still going to be too big. But many of these senators, most of these senators think it's critically important to stimulate into the economy.

WHITFIELD: When that meeting is over, Dana, and we know those eight Senators can't get out of that door unless they stop and talk to you first.

BASH: Exactly. And there probably will be more senators coming in. We'll let you know.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Dana Bash, thanks so much. We appreciate it on Capitol Hill there.

All right, lawmakers not just worried about the stimulus package, but they're also taking a closer look now at food safety today. Live pictures right now from Capitol Hill. The Senate Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing on tainted peanut butter from the Peanut Corporation of America. Five hundred fifty people have gotten sick already and eight people have actually died. Lawmakers are expected to hear from the mother of one of the victims.

All right, some of the tainted peanut butter may have made its way into relief packages intended for Kentucky and Arkansas storm victims. FEMA says some emergency food kits may have packets of peanut butter from the suspected peanut plant in Georgia. They are telling people to throw out the peanut butter.

All right. Every day, more and more people are losing their jobs. And if you're one of them, or even if you fear being laid off, you have some important decisions to make about health insurance. Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us from New York now.

So, Elizabeth, very tough scenario here. You get laid off. You have, say, maybe a month left on health insurance. Do you start making, you know, some of those doctors' appointments, trying to squeeze if all in as best you can? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's what a lot of people are doing, Fredricka, and the reason we're writing in empowered patient column is that is not necessarily a good idea. But you can imagine...

WHITFIELD: Really?

COHEN: Absolutely. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, and many of them are told, all right, you have another month of health insurance. So you say, OK, let's cram in all of the medical tests we can get. There's a problem. One of those tests might reveal that you have some condition or disease that you didn't know about. And once that is in your medical record, you could have a really tough time getting insurance later on. Maybe you'll get it, but maybe it will be incredibly expensive. So that really is something to keep in mind. Do I really want to find out everything I have at this particular point in my life?

WHITFIELD: Wow. OK. That's pretty alarming to hear that. So you want to put that off, but then how do you maybe take advantage, if you can, of the insurance that you have, or whatever you have in the interim?

COHEN: Right. You have to make decisions. So what you have to do is, you have to think, all right, if I go get my teeth cleaned, that's not going to reveal anything. That's probably safe. If it I go get immunizations, nothing is going to be revealed there. But, for example, some people might have a mother and an aunt with breast cancer and might think to themselves, well, I want to get genetic testing. Well, no, maybe you don't, because if it is revealed that you have a breast cancer gene, you could be in it big trouble trying to find insurance again.

Here are some "dos." Let's put it this way - do fill all of your prescriptions. While you still have insurance, get those prescriptions filled. Even if it's not time to fill them, just go in and talk to the pharmacist. It's probably something that can be worked out.

Also, do negotiate fees with doctors. While you still have insurance, this is the time to say, Doctor Smith, I've really enjoyed you being my doctor. Next month, I'm not going to have insurance. Can I come see you for a flat rate? We talked to one family, the pediatrician is still seeing the daughters even though there is no more health insurance for $40. The family just pays $40 per office visit and that's it. And this woman said I never dreamed I could negotiate a rate with a doctor, but that's exactly what she did.

And for more tips, you can go to cnn.com/health. More hints. What do you do when you're about to be laid off. What do you do when you're in waning days of health insurance.

WHITFIELD: All right, Elizabeth Cohen join us from New York today. Thanks so much, appreciate it.

A college student takes a stand for the environment. What he did to stop oil drilling and the trouble that he's now in.

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WHITFIELD: All right. At the Republican National Convention last summer, we heard the chant, "Drill, baby, drill." But the Obama Administration is putting brakes on plans to drill for more oil and gas. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our energy fix from New York.

Hello to you, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fred.

Well, this is a high-profile reversal of the Bush Administration and its policy. The Interior Department is cancelling leases that would have allowed drilling on more than 100,000 acres of federal land in Utah. It is saying the Bush Administration rushed the December auction of these land leases without doing proper environmental review. And the land, it could still be open to drilling down the road, but the Obama Administration says before that happens, more study is need.

Of course, in the meantime, oil and gas industry, well, those people aren't very happy about this. The industry saying, scrapping these leases will mean higher energy costs, Fredricka, and job losses. Something no one wants to hear about, in the wake, especially of today's jobs reports. So that's their argument.

WHITFIELD: Well, certainly the energy industry not so happy about this, but environmental groups, they must be.

HARLOW: They're cheering somewhere. They're very happy. Environmentalists have for a long time been fiercely opposing this, because a lot of this land is close to two national parks in Utah. Several groups had sued to try to stop the sale, and a college student in Utah actually went further. He snuck into the auction, and won 13 plots of land even though he had no intention of paying the $1.8 million that he bid for that land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM DECHRISTOPHER, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: I sat there and I thought, if worse came to worse, if I took this action and I ended up in if prison, would I be able to live with that? And I said, yes. And if, on the other hand, I saw this opportunity to make a difference and to not only set aside some land, but to keep some oil in the ground so that we have a better chance for a livable future and I turn down that chance, would I be able to live with that? And I decided that, no, no, I wouldn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Even though those leases have now been scrapped, that man still faces criminal charges.

But this move by the Obama Administration, what it shows us, Fredricka, is a clear shift in thinking when it comes at least to that chant, "Drill, baby, drill."

WHITFIELD: Poppy Harlow, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Join us tomorrow morning starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. For now, the "CNN NEWSROOM" continues with Don Lemon.