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Massive Economic Recovery Plan Faces Crucial Test in the Senate; Sen. Shelby Blasts the Stimulus Bill; Former GE CEO Jack Welch Shares His Views on the Stimulus Plan; Obama Wants to Study the Iraq Question Before Removing Troops; Israelis to Elect New Government Tomorrow in an Extremely Tight Race.

Aired February 09, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFEID REPORTER: How will you see New York differently after this experience, captain?

CHELSEY SULLENBERGER, AIRLINE CAPTAIN: It's even more beautiful than I imagined.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't we get -- maybe ladies, you might to tell about how you feel about New York City afterwards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's share the wealth a little bit.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's Jillian? CNN?

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TONY HARRIS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, there you have it, the flight crew U.S. Airways 1549, first receiving the key to New York City from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and now answering some questions.

You can hear more from Captain Sullenberger and the entire crew flight 1549 right here tomorrow on CNN's "Larry King Live." That is tomorrow evening. It's their first prime time interview 9:00 p.m. eastern time.

All right, let's go. It is Monday, February 9th. And here are the big stories we're following this hour in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

The stimulus plan, it is either full speed ahead, or a sudden stall in the Senate today. Will Republicans throw up a procedural road blocks?

Air Force One on approach to South Bend, Indiana, right now. President Obama takes his case for the recovery package to the American people.

Affluent, suburban and stimulus ready, one small town mayor tells us how he'd spend his way back to a healthy economy.

Good morning, everyone, I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

All right, this massive economic recovery plan facing a crucial test vote in the Senate today. If it clears that hurdle, the Senate votes up or down on the plan tomorrow. Then the real hard work begins.

Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar, live from Capital Hill with the very latest.

Brianna, let's see, where do we start? How about you talk to us about this important vote cloture vote, a vote essentially to end the day's long debate on this bill.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And it's basically, Tony, a vote on that compromise that was struck after a week of negotiations last week to bring a few Republicans on board to get that support needed for these 60 votes.

This today, the reason we're paying so much attention to it, even though it's called a procedural vote, is because it will tell us if that deal was enough to garner enough support to move this ultimately, this economic stimulus bill out of the Senate. As you mentioned, the next step would be for the Senate and the House to hash out the differences they have because they both passed versions of the bill and they're not the same. Differences need to be reconciled.

So what they'll be looking at specifically the changes that had been made here in the Senate. Democrats having to give up about $100 billion in spending, including $40 billion in education spending, a big priority for them. And some tax cuts were added that make this more appealing for Republicans. One for buying a new car, others for homes.

If, in this hashing out process between the House and the Senate, some of these things if they happen to be thrown back in -- this is the big question, if some of these priorities are thrown back in, Democrats run the risk of alienating some of the centrist Republicans they got on board, really just a few of them, like Susan Collins of Maine.

This is what she said ability about that very possibility.

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SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R), MAINE: If the bill comes back from the conference committee with a lot of wasteful spending reinserted or if it comes back in excess of the $800 billion, it will not have my support. So I hope that my colleagues will follow the outlines of the compromise that we negotiated this week. That is important to me. I don't want to see a bloated overly expensive bill.

KEILAR: And if you do, there could be another standoff? COLLINS: There could. And that would not be good for our country. We need to get going to help turn the economy around and create jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So again, Tony, test vote today, which we're keeping a close eye on because it's so important. And then ultimately, another vote which we're expecting to be taking place tomorrow that would then move this economic stimulus bill finally out of the Senate.

HARRIS: Hey, Brianna, where is that test vote scheduled? Do we know yet?

KEILAR: Yeah, it is scheduled today for 5:30 eastern. We've got a few hours ahead of that and we'll be hearing more about why people are for this and against that in the interim.

HARRIS: Chew it over a little bit.

OK, on Capitol Hill, Brianna Keilar for us. Brianna, thank you.

One Republican critic warns the economic stimulus bill will lead to a financial disaster. Senator Richard Shelby blasts the bill in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." He sparred with Democratic Senator Charles Schumer over whether the plan would help an autoworker worried about losing his job.

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SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D), NEW YORK: We pump money into the economy. If we employ people in construction jobs, if we make sure that teachers, for instance, are not laid off, then there'll be more money in the economy. More people will buy cars. And the chances of this fine gentleman being laid off would decrease.

I'll tell you one thing for sure. To do nothing, to do nothing would certainly seal his fate. And that's why the American people, 65 percent to 70 percent of them, support president Obama's plan.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: So Senator Shelby, I want to talk a little bit more about the specifics. I want you to be as specific as you can in telling us what you think is wrong with this plan.

In the Senate bill, here are some of the provisions, $47 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits, $16.5 billion to increase food stamp benefits, $17 billion so there can be a one-time $300 payment to people receiving Social Security or supplemental social security incomes and veterans on pensions, and $4.7 billion for Homeland Security programs.

Are those specifics OK with you, Senator Shelby? Or are those among the provisions you think are unnecessary or unwarranted in this kind of bill? SEN. RICHARD SHELBY, (R), ALABAMA: Well, they've got merit to them. But I don't believe in this bill.

John, the bottom line is this bill, nearly $1 trillion before it's over with, is not going to turn over our economy that you mentioned earlier. The autoworker understands that. He's got a lot of sense. He knows that stimulus bills generally are not going to save his job. Are there some merits to some of this? Some of the infrastructure's good, but is it emergency? is it going to flip our economy? No.

What we need to do, John, we've got to attack our banking system. We've got to bring trust back to our banking system. I hope the administration -- and they're working on this. And Senator Schumer and I will be in the middle of this on the Banking Committee. But until we straighten out our banking system, until there's trust in our banking system, until there's investment there, this economy's going to continue to tank.

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HARRIS: OK, so let's talk about it, the plan to revive the banking system delayed by the Senate debate over the stimulus.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner was scheduled to unveil the next phase of a $700 billion financial bailout today. That announcement has been pushed back to tomorrow. Geithner is expected to outline the Obama administration's plan for the remaining $350 billion in bailout money. The Obama team promised to overhaul the rescue program known as the TARP.

A former top executive says getting the banks lending again is crucial to the economic recovery.

Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, shares his views on CNN's "State of the Union."

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JACK WELCH, FORMER CHAIRMAN, GENERAL ELECTRIC: If an economy doesn't have credit, we don't have a game. We've got to get credit flowing. I know people are angry with the TARP and other things, but we have to get the -- what we're doing with the stimulus plan is we're buying a new wardrobe for a patient who is lying in cardiac arrest. We got to take the operation, which are the banks, and get the blood flowing, and the blood in this case is credit, John. Credit is the most important thing we deal with for that man's job and for CEOs getting some visibility as to where they're going.

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HARRIS: Well, the president gets out of the Washington bubble as he hits the road as stimulus salesmen. Mr. Obama lands in South Bend, Indiana in a couple of minutes. Then it is on to nearby Elkhart to pitch the economic recovery package directly to ordinary Americans. CNN live coverage next hour. And tonight, the president talks to the nation. His first formal prime time news conference, live right here on CNN. Candidate Obama promised to get most U.S. troops out of Iraq and focus the military on Afghanistan. President Obama, though, wants to study his options.

CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has been talking with senior pentagon officials.

Barbara, good to see you. So we hear about delays in troops for both theaters. What's happening?

BARBARA STARR, CNN NEWS PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, sometimes Oval Office reality overtakes those promises back on the campaign trail over the last couple of years.

Let's start with Iraq very briefly as you say. Candidate Obama campaigned on a 16-month withdrawal plan. But two senior officials now confirm to CNN the U.S. military is not looking at just a 16-month option, but also 19 months and 23 months. The president wanting to hear more from the military about what is possible and what the risks would be of any decisions he would make risks to U.S. troops, risks to security in Iraq.

All with this, of course, so critical because you have to get troops out of Iraq so you can free up more troops to send them to Afghanistan. So we thought that last week all indications were that the administration was ready to announce that big troop movement to Afghanistan, as many as 15,000 additional troops. That too, like the Iraq decision, now delayed so that the president can be told more information, we are understanding, about what the situation is in Afghanistan. Top military commanders, the National Security Council, all working on an Afghan strategy review. By all accounts, officials say Mr. Obama wants to see more on that strategy review before he makes the final decision about sending the full load of additional troops to Afghanistan.

But, Tony, as we are seeing, the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse every day. Over the weekend, General David Petraeus called it a downward spiral in security -- Tony?

HARRIS: So with that kind of sobering analysis, the question becomes, how can we delay?

STARR: That is the question. It is becoming very concerning to a lot of commanders from General Petraeus on down.

You know, back in November, General McKiernan, who is the top commander on the ground inside Afghanistan, said he desperately -- that was his word -- desperately needed more troops. General Petraeus is talking about not just sending more troops but, like everyone else in the administration, more reconstruction, more aid, trying to bring some stability to Afghanistan, but very tough to do that unless you can get a handle on security.

Attacks in Afghanistan, Tony, are up 30 percent to 40 percent this year over last year. It's not looking good. HARRIS: OK. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, appreciate it. Thank you.

Live pictures now of South Bend Regional Airport. There you see Air Force One, landing. The president stops there, lands there at South Bend Regional Airport and then will join the motorcade for about the -- I guess it's about a 30-minute trip to Elkhart and the Concord Community High School. The president will be engaged in a town hall meeting there next hour.

Why do we do this? We'll probably be able to sneak in a quick break and maybe we can get the president deplaning.

In the meantime, overseas elections and how they affect the administration's foreign policy. That, when we come back.

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ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello again, I'm Rob Marciano.

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MARCIANO: "CNN NEWSROOM" will be right back.

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HARRIS: Once again, live pictures, Air Force One, on the ground, South Bend Regional Airport. The president to deplane shortly, and hop into his presidential limousine. The motorcade to take him -- I guess, it's about a half-hour troop -- to Concord Community High School. And there the president will be met by about 1,700 residents of Elkhart, Indiana. And the president will make brief remarks and then open the floor for questions. This is a town hall meeting. The president likely to get an earful from the residents of a town that has hit really hard with layoffs.

And the truth of the matter is that Elkhart's life blood is manufacturing, and particularly manufacturing R.V.s. But you have to think about it with gas prices really spiking, last summer, the bottleneck, R.V.s just aren't moving, just sitting in the lots there. The layoffs have followed.

So we will squeeze this picture here and the president to deplane shortly for a half hour trip for Concord Community High School.

Let's sneak in some other news now.

Australia's prime minister is calling it mass murder. Investigators say, they believe arsonists started some of the deadly wildfires now racing through the southeastern part of the country. At least 166 people have been killed. That number expected to rise. More than 800 homes have burned.

CNN's Hugh Williams has more from Whittlesea, this is a small town in Victoria, Australia.

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HUGH WILLIAMS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The mood is growing increasingly somber as people gather to watch national coverage of the bush fires and watch the death toll climb almost every hour. What people are trying to understand is how so many victims died. And one of the answers is the sheer speed at which this fire storm traveled. Witnesses reported tornadoes exploding all around them and flames traveling at over 100 kilometers per hour.

Police say many of the deaths were the result of people making last-minute decisions to evacuate. Bodies have been found inside cars, strewn across roads, in burnt houses, and even lying in the streets.

Police have established crime scenes in all of the regions where bodies were found and say anyone convicted of arson will face stiff penalties.

Hugh Williams, CNN, Whittlesea, Australia.

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HARRIS: With the war in Gaza as the backdrop, Israelis go to the polls tomorrow to pick a new governing body in what has become an extremely tight race.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Jerusalem.

Ben, good to see you. Give us sort of the state of the race, the snapshot the day before Israelis go to the polls.

BEN WIDEMAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, it's an increasingly tight race. The two front runners are Binyamin Netanyahu, who is Likud Party, a rightist party, against the Kadima Party, led by Tzipi Livni. That's a centrist party. And she is currently Israel's foreign minister. They are close. They are almost neck and neck.

And as you mentioned, this comes less than a month after the end of that 22-day Gaza operation by the Israeli military.

What is surprising is how apathetic people are here to this election. You have to remember that this is -- the last election took place less than three years ago. There's a good deal of political fatigue here, made worse by the fact that this Gaza war was obviously one that gripped people for a very long time.

Now, coming in third and fourth are also important parties. There's the Yisreal Beiteinu Party led by Avigdor Liebermam. He's very much a hard-liner, especially when it comes to relations with the Palestinians. Coming in fourth place is the Labour Party led by the current defense administrator Ehud Barak.

Now, the polls will open tomorrow and we expect results sometime after midnight local time. But in Israel, the winner in the election doesn't necessarily become the head of the government. In fact, it's up to the president of Israel to decide what party is in the best position to lead the next government. It may be weeks before we know who leads the next government of Israel -- Tony?

HARRIS: Well, just a quick follow-up. Is it -- do we have any idea what impact the fighting in Gaza has had on the race?

WEDEMAN: It does seem to have pushed the Israelis dramatically to the right. That's why, for instance, we're seeing Liebermam, who is a real hard liner on the Palestinian question. His popularity has gone up. And therefore, most people don't seem to be utterly disillusioned, for instance, with the idea of territorial compromise, which really is that basis to the peace process.

So it does appear that, at least Palestinians are bracing for a tough time when this new government, whoever leads it, is formed.

HARRIS: Ben Wedeman for us. Ben, appreciate it, thank you.

Very quickly, you can see the president in his presidential limousine, the beast, on his way to Elkhart. This is about a 30- minute trip for the presidential motorcade. And they will be -- they will end up, eventually at Concord Community High School where the president will address members of the Elkhart community. The president leaving the South Bend Regional Airport.

Layoffs and job cuts, we've been talking about it for so long now. Hundreds and thousands of people are out of work. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis tells us where you should look to get a new job. She's next.

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HARRIS: You want to talk about a sign of the times, a very long line of people looking for work at a job fair in Seattle over the weekend. The photos taken by iReporter Leah Lansbury Austin, who says she quit her high-paying job months ago. But now, can't even land an interview. That line wraps around Quest Field Stadium. Some people waiting an hour in the freezing cold. But according to Austin, there were few employers inside, and most wanted people to apply online.

Day after day, layoff after layoff -- let's try to change things up and talk about who is hiring. Did you know the federal government is the biggest employer out there?

Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis joining us from New York.

Gerri, great to see you. Let's see if we can make this as easy as possible. Maybe you can direct this to a web site that will be helpful.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: The federal government hires each and every year. And if you want to know the official government web site, it's usajobs.gov. That's where you want to go if you want to see government jobs.

You can see right here on the home page, the government is hiring for more than 37,000 positions. You can search right here on the homepage for jobs.

Let's just type in engineers and I'll show you how many jobs are available. It's amazing. You can get a sense of what kind of government jobs are available. You can see right here there are plenty out here. The best way to use this website, Tony, first you want to drill down, get some research, some information. So hit that tab info center on the upper left. Now, here you can see, if you scroll down a little bit on the left, there's something called higher process. You see that?

HARRIS: Yeah, I do. I do.

WILLIS: Now, getting a government job is different from getting a government-sector job. You have to fill out different forms. That section will help you understand how to do it.

But I also want to show you at the bottom of this page something called top occupations in demand. This will give you another sense of what's out there in the government. There's 19,000 management analysts jobs out there, going right now available from the federal government all across the country. And you can also search other ways, as well, top locations that are hiring.

Now we've gotten baseline information. Let's think about if we're going to conduct a real search for a job, how to do that. We'll go to the search jobs tab, and here you can see you can search by keyword, location, salary.

And Tony, you probably think those federal jobs don't pay a lot of money, but we want to show you how much they do pay. We conducted a search for a six figure salaries. Look at this. You can find jobs for $180,000, $120,000. Some of these jobs are really high paying. And remember, any job that you can find in the private sector, you can typically find in the public sector, as well.

Just to finish this out, if you're using this website to its best advantage, you would go up to my USA jobs tab. Click on that right there. And here you can create a profile, information about yourself that you put on this web site. And you can show your resume online so that people who are hiring in the government can actually get familiar with you. And then the web site kicks back, e-mails about jobs opening up in federal government. So if you have a specific kind of job you're looking for, you'll get these e-mails to your e-mail inbox describing what's available, where.

So as you can see, there are lots of ways to use this web site. I've got to tell you, you want to know who is hiring more and more folks each and every year. Guess what? It's Uncle Sam.

HARRIS: I love it. We need to give folks your e-mail address, as well, so they can send their questions to you.

WILLIS: Gerri@CNN.com. We want to hear from you. Are you finding a job? Are you looking for a job? What kind of success are you having? Let us know.

HARRIS: Thank you, Gerri.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HARRIS: And as the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, we have some advice and answers. Check out our special report, "America's Money Crisis, at CNNmoney.com.

And this just into the "CNN NEWSROOM." We're going to work and get some additional details on this. But we're getting word that all of the airports in Paris, and I guess the major airport, of course, would be Charles de Gaulle, are closing right now, actually shutting down. the reason, because of a strong storm -- a little cryptic the information -- but a strong storm sweeping in off the Atlantic with very high winds and rains forcing the closure, the shutting down the Paris airport. OK, we'll check in with Rob in a couple of minutes and find out what this is all about, coming back in the NEWSROOM.

But still to come, the stimulus bill, while the House and Senate debate it, many governors and mayors are butting heads to find out which city gets how much money.

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HARRIS: The president holds a question-and-answer session on the stimulus package next hour. Live coverage straight ahead on CNN. It's happening in Elkhart, Indiana, a town with an unemployment rate that is twice the national number.

White House correspondent Dan Lothian joining us now from Elkhart. Dan, good to see you. So the president goes to a hard-hit state. A city he didn't carry in the general election, but a city that could really use some help now.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He didn't carry the city, but this was an area that he did visit twice on the campaign trail. Most recently in August he was there. And as you mentioned, it is a town that has been hard-hit by tough economic times, the unemployment rate over the past year rising from 4.7 percent to more than 15 percent.

And the reason for that is because this is a region that really is tied to the RV industry, and there have been a lot of jobs that have been cut back in that area, as you know, Tony, with rising fuel prices and also the credit crunch and then families really trying to save money and not going on vacations. This is an area that has really been impacted.

So, you've had a number of these RV companies shut down. A number of them have announced recently that they're planning on additional layoffs. So, this is a really difficult region, and that's why the president decided to come here. Wanted to get away from Washington, from the debate up on Capitol Hill about the stimulus plan and get out here, as Robert Gibbs said, his press secretary, to hear from the American people.

But one of the big problems is, at least according to a White House official, is that the money from that stimulus plan would not really help folks who've been impacted in the RV industry. It's really for infrastructure.

So those folks might have to be retrained to sort of move into another sector, into the infrastructure sector, in order to get employment here. But a lot of folks expected to turn out for this event. The president's first big trip outside of Washington since becoming president. We're told that some 1,700 tickets were handed out, and they went at about 45 minutes, Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. And it seems to me, Dan, that the president will obviously use this as another opportunity to push -- push pretty hard -- on Congress to get the deal done, correct?

LOTHIAN: It really is.

HARRIS: Yes.

LOTHIAN: I mean, this is the president's bully pulpit, if you will, a chance for him to, yes, talk to the folks out there who could use this money, but also make this case that Congress needs to act and to act quickly. We've been hearing the rhetoric ramped up over the past week.

And that is something you'll continue to hear, not only hear today, but also as he heads to Ft. Myers, Florida, tomorrow, that same message. Congress needs to act quickly because, as the president believes, if Congress doesn't act, there will only be additional job losses and more people put out of work, more people will lose their homes. And the president believing that if Congress acts on this bill that it could save or create more than 3 million jobs -- Tony.

HARRIS: Our White House correspondent Dan Lothian in Elkhart, Indiana for us. Dan, good to see you. Thank you.

And tomorrow, the president holds a second town hall in Ft. Myers, Florida. Fifteen hundred tickets were handed out this morning. But get this, people started lining up for tickets Sunday, spending the night in lawn chairs, as you can see here, and blankets. One lady said if people can camp out at Best Buy for the new video game, why can't we do it for Mr. President?

The president holds his first formal prime time news conference tonight. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper and John King lead the best political team on television. CNN live coverage 8 Eastern and full wrap-up on Anderson Cooper 360, that's at 10 Eastern.

You know, it has already been a tough year for the American auto industry, and we're only six weeks into it. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange for the latest problems facing General Motors, along with how the market is faring so far. Good to see you, Susan. Good morning.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. It's been a tough year for both the automakers and the stock market. Today, we're going to focus on the largest, the Big Three. General Motors, GM reportedly in talks to take back a large portion of auto parts maker Delphi. "The Wall Street Journal" says the deal would allow GM to qualify for further government bailout assistance.

Lawmakers have already doled out nearly $14 billion to GM as a separate entity. Delphi is not eligible for the funds. However, the company, along with other major suppliers, has said the entire supply chain needs several billion dollars to avoid immediate collapse. GM may also be considering shutting down more auto assembly plants beyond the nine closures.

It's already announced GM shares right now are up nearly one point. The broader market not doing anything after those triple- digits gains. Perhaps we're still waiting on Washington. Looks like nothing's going to happen today. We're not going to get a stimulus. We're not going to get Geithner's plan. Dow is down 1.

HARRIS: Pretty flat?

LISOVICZ: Nasdaq's flat.

HARRIS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: And sometimes that's not a bad thing, Tony.

HARRIS: Right. Well, I've got to ask you, Susan. You know, talking about the auto industry again, perhaps the worst outcome of all would be bankruptcy for GM, and some people are saying that may not be that far off.

LISOVICZ: Well, I mean, considering, you know, the lack of credit, the declines in consumer spending, the fierce competition, yes, that's not a real reach. Bloomberg News is reporting that both GM and Chrysler may be forced into bankruptcy in order to assure Uncle Sam that the government is repaid for the billions of dollars in bailout funding it gave the pair.

Essentially, lawmakers want taxpayers to get first in line, to be the first in line to get their money back ahead of the carmakers' prior creditors. Federal officials do reserve the authority to force companies into bankruptcy as a condition of receiving further government aid. Automakers understandably not enthusiastic about that option, saying that previously when reorganizing under Chapter 11, potential buyers go elsewhere.

Neither GM, by the way, nor Chrysler commenting on the report. Different story with airlines when you sometimes don't have those choices. We've seen it many times. You know, fliers will still fly. But, you know, with the autos, different situation.

HARRIS: OK, Susan. Appreciate it. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Let's stay with the automotive industry for a bit. Nissan, the latest automaker to join the job-cutting bandwagon. The company will lay off 20,000 workers by March of next year. Nissan is projecting a loss for 2008 in the $3 billion range. That's more than expected, and its first loss in 14 years. The automaker is eliminating bonuses for its board of directors until there is a turnaround.

While the price of crude tumbles, you're paying more to fill up your tank. Gas prices creeping toward $2 a gallon according to the Lundberg Survey. They rose nearly 6 1/2 cents over the past two weeks. The nationwide average is about $1.92 for a gallon of regular. Keep smiling. Last year you were shelling out $2.94 a gallon.

Most of the Republicans on Capitol Hill are opposed to the president's economic stimulus package. But it is not that way among Republicans everywhere. In one spot, Carmel, Indiana, the Republican mayor there says please, please bring on the stimulus. Here's CNN's chief national correspondent, John King.

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JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Carmel, Indiana, is comfortable and conservative. A small upscale city that backed John McCain last November but whose Republican mayor is at the moment rooting for Barack Obama.

MAYOR JIM BRAINARD (R), CARMEL, IND.: The government should be should be investing in infrastructure. That's what government is meant to do. It creates long-term value. And I think the stimulus plan is a good one.

KING: Sixty years ago, this was a farm community of 1,500. Now it is 80,000, affluent, but not immune to the credit crunch and housing crisis.

BRAINARD: We had overbuilding, but not nearly the extent that I've seen in other places. We've had roughly an 8 percent drop in our housing value. Again, that's not good, but it's not nearly as bad as other places in the country.

KING: Work on an ambitious new city center is under way. There is not enough of this work in Carmel and across America. Indiana's unemployment rate is more than 8 percent, construction among the industries hurting most.

DAVE RICHTER, PRESIDENT, UNITED CONSULTING: It's basically fear. It's caution.

KING: Dave Richter's design firm has plans for dozens of new transportation projects, but most are on hold.

RICHTER: The economy's bad, and so many thousands and tens of thousands of people are getting laid off, everybody gets scared. Nobody is very comfortable with spending a lot of money and putting new things on the books.

KING: Amanda Newman knows the economy is bad because her business, reconsignment shops, is booming. AMANDA NEWMAN, OWNER, CARMEL CONSIGNMENT: It's a lot of new people. A lot of new people that have never even considered shopping secondhand. It may be a wealthy community, but, you know, we're just regular people, and a lot of people have been hit pretty hard. It's a little scary.

KING: Jim Brainard sees stimulus money as the road back, and like every mayor, has a wish list: $428 million worth of projects, new roads, a parking garage, fire trucks and more.

(on camera): Central Park Aquatic Center, construction of additional water slide and wave pool. There are people out there who would say, come on, Mr. Mayor, how does that create jobs?

BRAINARD: Well, someone who has to construct that amenity.

KING (voice-over): A Republican mayor with a budget squeeze sees things very differently from most Republicans in Congress. And also differently from governors who say they should control most of the money.

BRAINARD: Mayors know how to get things done. They have to deal with constituents every day of the year, and if the money were to come directly to the cities, we'll have shovels in the grounds within weeks.

KING: He knows many in his conservative community are skeptical and of big spending. But this Republican mayor is, at the moment, an enthusiastic pitchman for the new Democratic president.

BRAINARD: This isn't a bill that's going to put doctors and lawyers and Wall Street brokers to work, but rather a bill that's going to put people who are hurting the most to work. We just have to get some money out in the economy. We've got to get people working. And we need the confidence and spirit as much as anything.

KING: John King, CNN, Carmel, Indiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And quickly we're going to get to Rob Marciano in the Severe Weather Center. And Rob, we received this bulletin just a short time ago about, I guess, a pretty massive storm bringing a lot of rain -- well, let me be quiet because you pulled it up. It's right there behind you. It looks like in Paris.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we don't have as good as imagery when it comes to the international satellite pictures. We're a little bit handcuffed with that. But we managed to pull this one out, which shows that classic comma-shaped cloud signature of what is a mature cyclone. We've been watching this develop over the weekend over a frontal wave that's been traversing across the Pacific, and it's really wound up now.

And it could very well strengthen as it heads toward the British isles and through Paris. So, the center of the storm is here, and they're shutting these down as precaution because winds could easily get over 70 to 75 miles an hour. So, we could see hurricane winds, at least gusts in through the Paris area, through the English Channel and certainly the British isles as this thing comes on board for them during the overnight hours in through the morning hours.

So this would affect conceivably redeye flights that are leaving from the U.S. and would typically land there at 7, 8, 9, 10:00 in the morning. So, certainly want to call ahead if you have plans to travel overseas tonight. This is going to be a doozie, and it could do some damage, not only to plans but just to structures and in general when you talk about winds that could be 70, 80 miles an hour.

HARRIS: Appreciate it.

MARCIANO: So, tough news for them.

HARRIS: Yes. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right, man.

HARRIS: All right. Do we have a live shot of the high school yet in Elkhart? There we go. We're within 30 minutes of President Obama arriving, a scheduled town hall meeting there. Let me see, what's the high school here? Concord Community High School in Elkhart, Indiana. We will bring you the event live.

And another reminder, the president's first national news conference is tonight at 8 Eastern, and you will see that event right here live on CNN.

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HARRIS: Boy, take a look at this. A newly built luxury hotel in China goes up in flames. Pretty dramatic stuff here. Fire engulfed the 40-story Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing today. Our iReporters on the scene. So let's take a trip to CNN.com's iReport desk and check in with Tyson Wheatley. And Tyson, once again, our iReporters helping us tell the story of this hotel fire in Beijing. What are you getting?

TYSON WHEATLEY, PRODUCER, CNN.COM: Hey, Tony. Well, I mean, we're getting some incredible images. I mean, let's go ahead and start taking a look at these first images.

And as CNN was first learning of this hotel, our iReporters on the ground, sharing these eyewitness accounts and these incredible images.

HARRIS: Whoa!

WHEATLEY: You know, at this point, no official word on what has caused the fire of this structure. The good news, of course, at this time, there are no reports of injuries. It appears as if the 40-story Mandarin Hotel was unoccupied at the time.

And that's really incredible considering how massive this fire was. You can see from these images how intense those flames actually got. You know, Tony, this was happening, of course, in the final hours of the Chinese Lunar New Year as people throughout the city were setting off fireworks.

And a lot of folks were in the city watching them and including Cameron Hammond, who managed to capture this video, this video I'm just about to show you, once he realized something was very wrong. Let's listen to the sound he got.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the Mandarin Oriental. Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: All right. You know, you can hear in the background fireworks going off left and right. You know, for Cameron, he thought, you know, he thought at first that this was actually part of the show for a while before realizing something was terribly wrong.

I've got another video I want to show you. And, you know, as we know, fireworks are going off left and right. Let's go ahead and take a listen -- let's actually take a listen to this next video.

(VIDEO CLIP -- IREPORT)

WHEATLEY: So, Tony, these come to us from Mark Polatajko, you know, as the fire was just getting started. You can see -- you can hear and you can see fireworks shooting left and right.

HARRIS: That is crazy.

WHEATLEY: Yes, totally crazy. You know? I mean, I think that -- you know, Mark tells us he and some friends were watching this, and they thought to themselves they could hear some explosions coming from the building. They thought for a minute there the building was going to come crashing down. A totally frightening experience for them. You know, we know at this point firefighters were actually able to contain the fire.

HARRIS: Wow.

WHEATLEY: Too early to tell what the total damage of this building is going to be at this point, but obviously a major fire. So --

HARRIS: Well, we just can't thank the iReporters enough. They really do help us tell these big stories. And it had to be confusing. You see the fireworks, and in the backdrop you see the fire at the building. How confusing must that have been for the iReporters? But they stayed on it for us and sent us some amazing images. Tyson, good stuff.

WHEATLEY: All right. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Appreciate it. Tyson Wheatley for us at our dot com operation. Once again, this is Concord Community High School in Elkhart, Indiana. Just another quick reminder for you, the president is there in Elkhart. He is scheduled to speak at this town hall meeting in about ten, maybe 15 minutes or so. We will bring it to you live.

And again, another reminder for you to stay with us tonight as the president holds his first primetime news conference right here, 8 eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Just last hour, the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 got a special honor in New York: keys to the city from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That caps off a weekend of festivities and a big interview from the pilot who pulled off that emergency Hudson River landing. On "60 Minutes" yesterday, he talked about his reaction once he knew everyone was safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. CHESLEY SULLENBERGER, PILOT, US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549: After bugging people for hours, I finally got the word that it was official. That the count was one-five-five.

KATIE COURIC, "60 MINUTES": All survived.

SULLENBERGER: Yes, 155.

COURIC: What did you say when you heard that?

SULLENBERGER; I don't rember saying anything, but I rember feeling the most intense feeling of relief that I ever felt in my life. I felt like the weight of the universe had been lifted off my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And you can hear more from Captain Chesley Sullenberger and the entire crew of Flight 1549 right here tomorrow on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." It is their first primetime interview.

His craggy face is on the penny and the $5 bill, and starting today, you will see it on four new stamps marking the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was born February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. The new stamps mark Lincoln's path to the White House from rail splitter, to lawyer, to politician and president.

And you'll want to be right here on Thursday, February 12, as CNN celebrates the Lincoln bicentennial with daylong coverage, "From Lincoln to Obama," beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern.

Your money, your job. It is what President Obama plans to talk about in his town hall meeting. We are moments away, and we will bring you the event live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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