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Obama Administration Creating Task Force on Autos; The Last Seconds of Flight 3407; French and British Submarines Collide

Aired February 16, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Monday, February 16th, Presidents' Day. And here are the top stories we're following for you at this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It takes a team to build a car, and so it is with the auto industry bailout. Managing it will be a group effort with several backseat drivers.

When nuclear-armed submarines collide, Britain and France bump in the dark deep down in the Atlantic Ocean.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It was a bad beginning because it wasn't what we promised the American people.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is not change we can believe in. If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow. A funny thing happened on the way to the honeymoon. Republicans scowl and growl and ask, where's the bipartisanship, Mr. President?

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

All right, let's go.

The White House looking to put the wheels back on the auto industry. A senior administration official says the president is creating a task force to oversee the industry. This, as General Motors and Chrysler face tomorrow's deadline for showing Washington how they can repay all those billions of dollars in loans.

Our Suzanne Malveaux is in Chicago, where the first family spent the weekend.

Suzanne, good to see you.

What would this task force do, this task force led by the treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner? SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The task force, essentially, is going to be using a lot of different agencies, Tony. It's going to be led by Geithner, as well as top economic adviser Larry Summers, to work with these automakers, GM, as well as Chrysler, to come up with some kind of plan, this restructuring plan, in terms of how to, perhaps, cut down on labor costs, how to produce more cars, whatever it takes to be able to pay back the American people these loans, and we're talking about in the billions of dollars. So this is something that is very important to the administration. They want to make sure that these automakers are held accountable, specifically because -- especially because they are essentially going to be asking for more money down the road.

I want you to take a listen to one of the president's top advisers, David Axelrod, and how he envisions the next couple of weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We're going to need a major restructuring of these companies. How that restructuring comes is something that has to be determined, but it's going to be something that's going to require sacrifice, not just from the autoworkers, but also from creditors, from shareholders, and the executives who run the company. And everyone's going to have to get together here to build companies that can compete in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So Tony, what is he talking about? Essentially, GM and Chrysler, they've been shedding thousands of jobs. They're talking about closing dozens of plants and perhaps even producing millions of fewer cars over the next year or so.

So what is happening is the negotiations between the union that represents the autoworkers and management of these companies, and they're trying to figure out ways to cut costs, cut labor costs. And specifically, how do they offer health care costs to those who are going to retire over, say, the next couple of months or the next year or so? They're offering various retirement packages, these kinds of things. So it's very much intensive negotiations between these two sides.

The administration is actually getting involved in those negotiations. They have a restructuring, they say, an expert. His name is Ron Blume (ph), and he's been involved in actually negotiating between the union and steel workers and the airline industry. So he does have experience. He will be sitting down with those two sides and trying to work something out in the next couple of weeks -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us in Chicago.

Suzanne, great to see you. Thank you.

President Obama is getting out his pen and getting of town. Tomorrow, he will sign that massive $787 billion economic stimulus legislation passed Friday by Congress. He is heading west to do that, Denver, at an invitation-only event in the city's nature and science museum.

Why Denver? Good question. One reason, the president wants to sign the bill outside the politics of Washington and in an area hit hard by the recession. Another reason, says Colorado's governor, is to tout the renewable energy aspects of the bill.

After Denver, President Obama heads to Arizona. That is on Wednesday. He will be focusing on foreclosures and the housing crisis.

On Thursday, he will make his first international trip as president. He will be in Ottawa to meet with Canada's leader. He returns to the White House Thursday night.

Today is President Obama's 28th day in office, and CNN is tracking the first 100 days. What has he accomplished so far? In 25 minutes we will get the opinions of two long-time Washington journalists.

Illinois Senator Roland Burris, who has been in office only a few weeks, is fending off calls for a perjury investigation. Illinois lawmakers publicly questioning whether he purposely misled them during the impeachment trial of ousted Governor Rod Blagojevich when he failed to disclose that Blagojevich's brother had asked for campaign fund raising help. Burris says he didn't mention it because he was never asked about it.

Here's Burris during a news conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Make the distinction between no contact in reference to an appointment and no contact in reference to a Senate seat when the appointment was for the Senate seat. I just want to clarify, what's the difference...

SEN. ROLAND BURRIS (D), ILLINOIS: OK. In our affidavit, which we submitted voluntarily, the first one, we were told that the impeachment committee was going to inquire us about the appointment, how I got appointed by the governor. And then we said in our affidavit that the only contact I had with anybody dealing with the governor was when the lawyer contacted me to talk to me about the appointment. So that's what that affidavit addressed.

That affidavit addressed the appointment. There was no contact with anybody in the governor's office about the appointment.

And then at the impeachment committee hearing, then Representative Jergin (ph) goes into all of these names. And this is key, and I hope the media, distinguished colleagues of the media, get this correct, because the answer was -- to all of those names -- was yes.

But now had he come back, like we did (INAUDIBLE), and said, "What about the other ones?" we would have -- I would have happily answered. But we went off in a different direction, and when we get the transcript, we see these names in here. And I advised the lawyer that I had contact with these people and we've got to submit the information that I had with them. That's what prompted us to voluntarily submit another affidavit, ,because we had not responded to those names.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh.

So does the state have a case against Senator Burris? CNN's Fredricka Whitfield put the question to our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Senator Burris has a political problem. I don't think he has a legal problem. I don't see any way that this situation regarding his testimony is going to lead to an indictment or even -- probably even an investigation.

What he is likely to be accused of is being cute in his testimony at the impeachment hearing, because it does seem like he downplayed the number of contacts he had with the people in the inner circle of Rod Blagojevich, the former governor. But in order to make a perjury prosecution, you have to make an explicitly false statement, a misleading statement, a vague statement, a circular statement. None of that can lead to a criminal prosecution. It has to be an absolutely false statement.

And I think Burris did a pretty good job in showing that his statement wasn't false, but -- so I think he's probably going to be in the clear on -- from a criminal perspective. However, voters may say, come on, you were being cute there, you were downplaying what -- your connections to the governor. So that remains a problem if he, in fact, runs for reelection in two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Senator Burris, we're just learning, will be issuing a live statement on this controversy later this hour. Jeffrey Toobin says Burris is right in responding to the accusations.

A midweek snowstorm may stall plane crash investigators in Buffalo. Here is what we know right now about Continental Flight 3407. Investigators at the crash site have recovered remains of just 15 of the 50 victims, and bad weather is expected to roll in Wednesday.

Investigators say the plane was on auto pilot until 26 seconds before it plunged into a house. Auto pilot is against airline policy during severe icing, but it is not yet clear if conditions amounted to severe.

The last seconds of Flight 3407 were nothing short of terrifying. Investigators say the plane pitched and lurched and then fell 800 feet in a mere five seconds. That would have pressed passengers into their seats with twice the usual force of gravity.

Here's more on the investigation with CNN's Ines Ferre in Clarence Center, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a frightening fall from the sky for everyone on board Flight 3407. Investigators now say the plane dropped 800 feet in five seconds just before it slammed into a house in a Buffalo suburb. Just 26 seconds before the crash, the plane went into violent jerking motions, pitching and rolling before banking a sharp 105 degrees to the right. Investigators also revealed that the plane had been running on auto pilot just before it crashed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In icing conditions, it might be best to disengage the auto pilot and fly that airplane manually so that you have the manual feel for what might be changing in your flight regime because of the ice.

FERRE: The National Transportation Safety Board says that in the past, it's advised against running on auto pilot in severe icing conditions, but the conditions that night were not specified as severe, and NTSB officials say it's the FAA that calls the shots when it comes to auto pilot regulations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this one situation, the FAA sees things a little differently than we do, because they see that for some reasons, that you may need to be flying with the auto pilot. Workload is one of those.

FERRE: Freezing temperatures and piles of wreckage have slowed attempts to find the remains of all 50 of the crash victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't help but think of the pain and suffering that all of the families are going through.

FERRE: While investigators do their work, a local resident made room for flowers at this makeshift memorial site outside a church just blocks away from where the plane went down.

(on camera): And the area around the crash site is restricted as investigators continue working through the wreckage. No word yet on when they'll reopen it.

Ines Ferre, CNN, Clarence Center, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: It could have been catastrophic, a collision between two nuclear subs armed with nuclear warheads. How did this happen?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: How about this? A mysterious fire ball in the skies over Texas. Look at the spot shadow there.

Authorities say they know what it wasn't, but they're not sure exactly what it was. The U.S. Strategic Command said the sighting is not connected to last Tuesday's collision of a U.S. and Russian satellite. Authorities launched a helicopter search after getting calls about the fireball, but the search turned up nothing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Britain and France confirmed today two of their submarines collided in the Atlantic earlier this month. Both subs are nuclear powered and were carrying nuclear warheads.

Phil Black is live in London following this bizarre story for us.

And Phil, among a number of questions I have for you, let me start with this one -- why are we just finding out about this now?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Tony. Perhaps as you can imagine, no one involved in this is exactly proud of it to begin with.

The British Ministry of Defense, behind me, from just where I'm standing now, refused to confirm that this had happened at all. The French Navy, well, they admitted that their submarine had been involved in a collision, but they said it was probably with a shipping container.

We now know that this collision did, in fact, take place. Both sides have made the embarrassing admission that their respective subs have, as they say, come into contact with each other, which basically means they crashed. They admit that it happened while on separate patrols on in the middle of the Atlantic. They say that they were traveling at slow speed and while submerged.

So an embarrassment, but this is significant because the fear is it could have been so much more than that. As you say, they're nuclear-powered, they were both carrying ballistic nuclear missiles, 16 in all. Each carry multiple nuclear warheads, as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: Phil, all right. Forgive me for the obvious here, but how could something like this happen?

BLACK: Well, this is the question. These submarines are designed to run quiet and deep and to avoid detection, so that they can at any time -- they do run on a constant war footing. Their job is to be ready to launch their nuclear payloads if the order comes down.

Now, while avoiding detection, they're also supposed to be listening out for other ships and submarines in the area. It appears that in this case, both submarines simply failed to detect the other. We don't know why that was. Perhaps that both were simply too successful at being stealthy themselves. But this is all what the respective authorities from both countries are very much now -- very keen to try and work out, just how this did happen -- Tony.

HARRIS: And one final quick one. Any damage to either of these subs?

BLACK: Indeed, both subs were damaged. We know for a fact that the French submarine suffered damage to its sonar nose cone. That's concerning, some experts say, because that's the pointy end of the boat, that's where a lot of the missiles and the torpedoes are kept that could have resulted in an explosion.

We know the British boat was damaged, as well, but we don't know just how badly. Both submarines have since limped back to their respective home ports.

HARRIS: All right. Phil Black in London for us.

Phil, appreciate it. Thank you.

Hillary Clinton says she wants to develop broader and deeper ties with Asian and Pacific nations. The U.S. secretary of state arrived in Tokyo today on her first trip abroad since taking office. She'll also visit Indonesia, South Korea, and China. Leading the agenda, the global economy, the environment, human rights, and regional security.

Clinton is breaking with tradition by traveling to Asia first. Recent predecessors have made Europe their first overseas stop.

In Pyongyang today, musicians performed, children sang, and magicians put on shows as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il turned 67 years old. The celebrations underscore an issue of growing international concern. Pyongyang today claimed it has the right to space development, a term used in the past to disguise a missile test as a satellite launch.

So you can't find a full-time job in this economy. What about the pros and cons of a part-time gig? Gerri Willis is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Out of a job and out of ideas. Maybe you should think about a part-time gig.

Let's bring in our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis. She has the pros and cons.

Gerri, good to see you. Is this idea -- is this a good move?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes, absolutely. Part-time jobs are a great move if you really need the work and you're unemployed right now, definitely.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: You know, the good news here is, anecdotally, we've been hearing more and more employers are more likely to offer part-time or telecommuting positions because it reduces their own labor costs. Now, the federal government doesn't track this, but we are finding more opportunity.

Here's what one expert had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SUTTON FELL, CEO, FLEXJOBS.COM: The job seekers who previously might not have explored telecommuting and work-from-home opportunities are starting to do so because the employment market is not as great. They might be looking out of the box for opportunities that -- whereas previously they may have looked at just full-time traditional jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: So part-time jobs, a good way for somebody to supplement their income, keep making contacts in the field, really get you out there -- Tony.

HARRIS: What companies, I'm just sort of curious, are hiring part-time workers now, Gerri?

WILLIS: Well, we found a lot. Let's take a look at this list.

Kaplan Test Prep, you know these guys. They help prepare students for, you know, college tests like the SAT, GMAT, GREs. Well, they are hiring 2,000 to 3,000 instructors this year to teach classes.

Now, their requirements, you have to have taken the test and scored well, and you have to be able to engage students. But the pay is pretty good, about $20 to $25 an hour, maybe more, maybe less. To apply, go to kaptest.com.

Another company here, Aramark. It operates 10 staffing centers around the country to support events. They recruit seasonal hourly employees to support these things, and they're going to hire 500 people, for example, to do a rodeo show in Houston, Texas.

Right. You get the point here.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: They're also hiring staff for Major League Baseball in Atlanta...

HARRIS: OK.

WILLIS: ... Boston, Baltimore, New York. Go to aramark.com.

And finally, Fetch Pet Care. I know you've been waiting for this one, Tony.

HARRIS: What is this?

WILLIS: Professional pets -- don't laugh. We could all be doing this in like a matter of weeks.

HARRIS: Isn't that the truth?

WILLIS: Professional pet sitting, dog walking service, they are hiring 1,500 part-time pet sitters in 37 states. So it's not just one place, it's all over the country. You give dog walks, doggie day care. You've got to be over 21, you can't be a kid. You've got to be over 21.

Go to fetchpetcare.com for info.

These are the kind of jobs though that fill the gap. You know, if you're looking for that full-time work, it gives you something to do maybe in between.

HARRIS: You know, there's also an opportunity, it seems to me, to be a bit strategic here. You would love to get yourself a part- time job that carries with it the potential for full-time employment; right?

WILLIS: Precisely so. You know, and that's really a great strategy because it's so hard to land a full-time job right now, getting a part-time job gets your foot in the door; right? Get your foot in the door, other employers see you, maybe your current employer decides I can't do without you. And really get your name out there, you really start meeting people. And you should really devote as much time to it as you can, as much as you would a normal 9:00 to 5:00 job to really cement your reputation.

And I want to say here, Tony, starting at 1:00 p.m. and throughout the afternoon, I'll be answering questions for viewers.

HARRIS: Oh, terrific.

WILLIS: Your questions about the stimulus package. Send me an e-mail at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. You can see the email address right there -- cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.

HARRIS: Awesome. Terrific tips, as always. Good to see you, Gerri. Thank you.

WILLIS: Thank you.

HARRIS: As the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, CNNMoney.com has some advice for you, some answers. Check out our special report -- and we update this all the time -- "America's Money Crisis." Again, that's at CNNMoney.com.

One of America's biggest critics planning on sticking around a while. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez winning a key vote. Details and a live report from Caracas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama getting ready to sign off on that massive economic stimulus plan. The president will sign the bill into law tomorrow in Denver. The package totals $787 billion in spending and tax cuts. It includes $27 billion for states to build and repair roads and bridges. That is less than half of the $64 billion state officials say they can use.

President Obama pledged to change the tone in Washington. Maybe easier said than done. Republicans are complaining the stimulus bill was rammed through with little input from their side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed. I know bipartisanship when I see it. I've participated in it. I've gone back home and gotten primary opponents because I wanted to be bipartisan. There's nothing about this process that's been bipartisan.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA; It's a bad beginning because it wasn't what we promised the American people. What President Obama promised the American people that we would sit down together. Look, I appreciate the fact that the president came over, talked to Republicans. That's not how you negotiate a result, you sit down together in a room with competing proposals. Almost all of our proposals went down on a party-line vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Twenty-eight days into the Obama presidency, so much for the honeymoon. Let's talk to Bob Franken. He's a former CNN congressional correspondent and now writes a nationally syndicated column. Bob, good to see you. It's been a while, my friend.

BOB FRANKEN, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: And also with us is Emily Heil, a reporter for the Capitol Hill newspaper "Roll Call."

EMILY HEIL, REPORTER, "ROLL CALL": Great to be here, Tony.

HARRIS: All right, Bob, let's start with you. What do you make of the complaints from Republicans? You just heard them there. Is it all sour grapes at this point? Didn't the president sit down with the House and Senate Republicans? Didn't they have their say? Republican senators got to offer up amendments to the stimulus bill. Or is there a real strategy at work in all of this complaining?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, I think that the strategy is a pretty simple one. The Republicans have to prove to the world that they're not ready to roll over and play dead just because they were steamrollered by the Democrats in the last election. As a matter of fact, their only hope in the minds of many to resurrect is to set up an opposition, a very vocal one and one that does not tagged (ph) by many people of being too cooperative.

After all, if this does work, Barack Obama and his administration are going to get the credit. If it doesn't work, they need to be in a position to say, I told you so.

HARRIS: And Emily, what is the bet here? That the stimulus package won't work? HEIL: Well, that it'll take a long time to work, if it does. You know, even President Obama is saying this is going to take a couple of years. Things are going to get worse before they get any better. And even if the stimulus package does work, the economy starts to improve, I think Republicans feel that they can still campaign on this idea that this stimulus package, even if it works has racked up some pretty big debt.

And that's something that Republicans traditionally have been against, and they can point to that and say, OK, yes, maybe it worked, but what about this debt? I think Republicans are sort of in the middle of an identity crisis. And the one thing they figured out that they're definitely against is big government spending. And that's what this bill represented, and that's why they all opposed it, and that's why they're going to campaign against it no matter what the result is.

HARRIS: So bob, has the -- I don't know, and I'm just asking the question, I'm curious, has the Republican base gotten bigger, or can the base potentially grow by virtue of this bill's passage and the outrage voiced by Republicans? What do you think?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, I think what the Republicans' fundamental interest here is hoping that the Democrats don't succeed. Let's put it on the table. A success of this administration is going to be really something of a debacle for the Republican Party.

Now, they wouldn't say that. In fact, they'd probably deny it. But there's certainly a little bit of truth to that. I should point out, by the way, that this bill is going to be signed in Denver, which of course is close to downhill skiing, and I'm not sure that's the metaphor the president would probably want. But it's going to be interesting to see if that downhill course for the economy can be turned around.

HARRIS: So, Emily, it's fortunate, they say, no one remembers how you won, only that you won. Was there anything more the president could have possibly done to get more Republican support for this stimulus package?

HEIL: Sure. He could have gone with a total tax cut package and maybe, maybe Republicans would have gotten on board. But we'll see. I think they were against the stimulus spending, they wanted the tax cuts, and they weren't willing to accept a package that had both.

In the end, the president got what he wanted. He got the stimulus package through Congress, although it doesn't feel like a celebration for him right now, I'm sure. This is not how he wanted to be spending the first 30 days of his administration. This was not where he wanted to spend this kind of capital. But it's done, and I think we're going to have to -- and the American people will be judging President Obama on whether this plan actually works, whether it does the things that he said it's going to do.

HARRIS: That is so perfect, Emily. It segueways me perfectly to the next question. All right, so, the fourth week of the new administration. Bob, let me start with you. How is the president doing? Let's start with the stimulus package.

FRANKEN: Well, the stimulus package is a slam-dunk victory for him. He got pretty much what he wanted. He got it in what amounts to record time. It is probably the most huge piece of legislation that has ever come across, and he's operated in ways that would make Franklin Delano Roosevelt envious. Having said that, I think that the next thing the Barack Obama administration should do is hire a headhunter to help them come up with some of these Cabinet choices.

HARRIS: That was my next point. Emily, to you, how is the president doing with these Cabinet choices?

HEIL: Yes, maybe he should go to craigslist or something, I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

HEIL: These problems that he's had with these appointments, I think, are a distraction to what he's been trying to do more broadly in the economy and with the stimulus package. I think they amount to sort of cracks in the veneer. I mean, I don't think they're serious blows, but there's certainly been things that he's had to deal with along the way.

And they certainly seem to represent cracks in the veneer of accountability and competence. And I that think people are wondering, well, what happened with the vetting? Why didn't you know these things ahead of time?

But certainly I think people are willing to forgive him. He's operating with a 60 percent-plus, you know, approval rating. So, people are seeming to be willing to overlook these things, and they don't seem to be major setbacks at this point.

HARRIS: Let me sneak one quick one in here. Bob, how's he doing -- how's the president doing with his attempts to bring more bipartisanship to Washington?

FRANKEN: Well, I think that we have to be very wary of bipartisanship, first of all. We thrive on a competition of ideas in the United States, so you want to have this tension. On the other hand, he's still working at including these people, making friends, and this is a very slow process. But you're not going to see the Republicans just say yes, you're the man, we don't even want to be in opposition anymore. They are here to be the opposition on the hope that they can make the Democrats the opposition one day.

HARRIS: And Emily, last thought from you on this?

HEIL: Well, I think Bob's absolutely right. And one thing I've been really struck with is just the amount of communication between the White House and Congress. That's something completely new. As someone who covers the Capitol, I've noticed that you've just seen so much more interaction between the White House and Congress on this. There have been meetings back and forth. There's a trail being beaten between, you know, the two right along Pennsylvania Avenue in a way that we haven't seen in years.

HARRIS: That's good stuff. Good stuff. Emily, thank you so much. Bob, great to see you again.

FRANKEN: Tony, good to see you again.

HEIL: Glad to be here.

HARRIS: Thank you both so much.

Eighty billion of the stimulus package is going to schools K through 12. In 15 minutes, we will look at what some of this money can or can't do for your child's school.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been one of Washington's biggest critics, and he could be around for a long time to come. He is declaring victory in a vote allowing him to run for a third six- year term. Our Morgan Neill is in Caracas. Morgan, good to see you. Was this a mandate by the people or something else?

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Chavez certainly looking at it as a mandate. Right after this decision was announced, he called this a victory for all Venezuelans, not just those who voted with him. After a really hard-fought campaign that saw campaign ads plastered across the country, last night, late, the results came in. And it didn't take long for President Chavez to start celebrating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEILL (voice-over): Just minutes after the results were announced, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his place on the "People's Balcony," Miraflores Palace, and proclaimed victory.

HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (speaking through translator): Victory, victory, popular victory. This is a clear victory for the people, a clear victory for the revolution.

NEILL: With 54 percent of the vote in favor so far, Venezuela passed a referendum putting an end to term limits and making it possible for President Chavez to run for reelection indefinitely.

CHAVEZ (speaking through translator): Today, we open wide the gates to the future. Venezuela will not return to its past of indignity.

NEILL: Mr. Chavez read out a message from his close ally, Fidel Castro.

CHAVEZ (speaking through translator): Here's a message from Fidel that just arrived when the president was announcing that the yes was ahead of the no. "Dear Hugo, Congratulations to your government for the victory because the magnitude is impossible to measure."

NEILL: The vote clears the way for Chavez to run for a new six- year term in 2012. But the victory wasn't a landslide, and with 46 percent of the vote against and a third of the population not voting, the road forward won't be easy. Opposition leader and mayor of Chacao Leopoldo Lopez said President Chavez used the resources of the state to win the vote.

LEOPOLDO LOPEZ, OPPOSITION LEADER: Today was a contest between David and Goliath, and Goliath won. Goliath is the state. We were running against the state, with all of the financial resources, the limited resources, media, all the institutions, and of course, economic and financial resources.

NEILL: Meantime, the president's supporters went on celebrating late into the night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEILL (on camera): So what now? With an election coming up in 2012 and a precandidate already announced, that being President Hugo Chavez, for Chavez, this will mean a lot of confidence for him to press ahead with what he calls his Bolivarian revolution. And for the opposition, this essentially means they have to find a way to define themselves as something other than those who are opposed to President Chavez -- Tony.

HARRIS: Very interesting. All right, Morgan Neill for us in Caracas, Venezuela. Morgan, thank you.

The Pakistan government reaches a deal with Taliban militants, and the deal is likely to raise U.S. concerns. Pakistan says it will allow strict Islamic law known as Sharia to be implemented in parts of the North West Frontier province. The deal came after talks between provincial officials and Taliban representatives.

Pakistan is trying to hold off Taliban militants, have been making significant advances inside the country. The U.S. has warned that the agreements allow the Taliban to regroup and rearm.

A suspected U.S. missile strike today killed at least 15 people in western Pakistan. That is according to a Pakistani official. The apparent target was a militant hideout. Residents say they heard two unmanned drones overhead before the attack near the Afghan border. No comment from the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

A whole lot of money. We're talking $787 billion here. So what's in it for you?

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HARRIS: So, put away your sunscreen. A winter storm is bringing heavy rain and snow to our friends in southern California. Heavy snow has shut down a portion of Interstate 5 in the mountains north of Los Angeles, and forecasters say it could be the biggest storm of the season, with water spouts and small tornadoes a possibility. The rains have also raised fears of mudslides in areas raked by wildfires last year. Rob, do we pretty much have it right there, and will this system be around, say, into tomorrow? ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It'll be around tomorrow, and then it will start to pull up. Problem is, Tony, it's been with the West Coast really since the beginning of the weekend. So, it's been sitting and spinning, the low has, and then it's been tapping energy from the jet stream, which has been grabbing some moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. And then first order of business is to dump it into the valleys as rain and then it hits those mountains, which are perpendicular to the flow, and that squeezes it out as snow.

And it is certainly cold enough to see snowfall anywhere above 2,000 or 3,000 feet. Winds also. We've seen winds gusting over 50 miles an hour yesterday. Similar numbers expected today. One to two feet or more snow expected. Winter storm warnings posted. You could see three feet or more in places above 5,000 feet, so I-80 over Donner Summit may have a problem, as well. And there are flood advisories and flash-flood watches out.

And here's the radar. It is painted with a lot of blues, yellows and even some oranges. The whites, of course, are the snow. As you mentioned, the grapevine there, I-5, shut down in spots because of that snow. You just go north from Los Angeles just a little bit and you get it.

You head into Los Angeles toward Santa Monica, Long Beach and Huntington Beach, these are heavy rain showers, some of which probably have some claps of thunder and some strokes of lightning, so a little convection, rare convection coming into California.

San Jose, Stockton, San Francisco. Let's go live to the Bay Area and show you a live shot there. I'm assuming it's not sunny. Temperatures are in the upper 40s, it's cloudy -- yes, KGO, there it is, Transamerica and the whole skyline. Raindrops on the lens.

And, boy, they're trying to squeeze out the final round of Pebble Beach AT&T deal out there. Couldn't do it yesterday. I'm not sure they're going to be able to do it (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: You get all of those celebrities out of the way, maybe you could get some play.

MARCIANO: Easy now, easy now, it's all for TV. (INAUDIBLE), Tony.

HARRIS: Thanks, Rob.

From the Sunday talk shows to the CNN iReport mailbox, the stimulus bill is really provoking some hot responses. All right, let's gear up the fast-moving speed machine here. Let's take a trip to CNN.com's iReport desk to check in. Tyson's Corner and Tyson Wheatley. Tyson, good to see you, sir.

TYSON WHEATLEY, CNN.COM PRODUCER: Hey, Tony.

HARRIS: What are you hearing? What are you getting in the mailbox there? WHEATLEY: You know, we're getting a lot of reaction to this massive stimulus bill, and on ireport.com a lot of opinions. Let's kick it off, with Anelia Dimitrova. And she interviewed an owner of a -- meat locker owner in Orran (ph), Iowa. That's a mouthful, sorry.

HARRIS: OK. OK.

WHEATLEY: And he told her that the bad economy is basically hurting local farmers there, and it's now affecting his own store. And he says a stimulus plan sounds great. He just wishes he knew what was in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so much hogwash, I want to see what the meat and potatoes is of it. You know, they're just going on -- they haven't gotten to that for the public that I've seen (INAUDIBLE). And that's what matters to us. It's been passed. Now I'd like to see what it is. I hope it's going to help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY; So tony, a lot of criticism this weekend on President Obama's performance here, particularly from top Republican lawmakers. So, what are our viewers saying? Well, here's a strong opinion from Chuck Burkhart of Winber (ph), Pennsylvania. He says he expects the president basically to be perfect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK BURKHART, IREPORTER: How about letting the American people decide what should be in this stimulus bill, not your cronies in the House that want to put everything they can think of. There's so much fat and pork in this bill that needs to be stripped out. We can't let it go through at $800 billion.

A lot of it will be wasted. You said yourself it's not going to be perfect. Well, I'm asking you, please, Mr. President, make the bill perfect. We need something done right. You promised change, bring change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: All right, Tony, one more opinion I want to share with you. This from Maggie Kortchmar of Connecticut. She basically comes to Obama's defense here. She says, hey, America, this spending bill is exactly what you elected Obama to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE KORTCHMAR, IREPORTER: We want the president to do the people's work. You get it, senators? You get it? That's what we want. That's why we voted for him.

We knew he was going to do this. We knew he was going to make these big changes, and he was going to be demanding. And we knew government was going to spend more money. We knew he was going to redirect that money into areas that will heal this country, that will feed this country and that will care for our country's health and well-being.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: And Tony, as always, we want to hear from our viewers. So tell us your thoughts, share your thoughts on this massive stimulus plan by going to ireport.com.

HARRIS: The public square. Yes, the public soap box. IReport. All right, Tyson, good to see you. See you tomorrow, sir.

WHEATLEY: Take care, Tony.

HARRIS: And billions of stimulus dollars for struggling schools, a smart investment or a lesson in wasteful government spending?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, a big chunk of the president's stimulus package goes to education, and it comes just as many cash-strapped school districts are facing some painful cuts. Our Kate Bolduan reports on what stimulus dollars could mean for them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new secretary of education, Arne Duncan, toured an Arlington, Virginia high school, to make the pitch for why education dollars matter in the stimulus package.

ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION; There's nothing more important we can do than create facilities that our students need to learn and reach their full potential.

BOLDUAN: About $80 billion of the total $787 billion package goes toward K-12 public education. We went to Arlington school Superintendant Rob Smith to find out what that money means to his district.

(on camera): What in this school, as an example, could you use with stimulus -- do with stimulus dollars?

ROB SMITH, SUPT., ARLINGTON COUNTY SCHOOLS: We know we need to do some work with the roof system. We know we need to put in a sprinkler system, and we know we need to rework the entire heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system. And that's the work that needs to be done. We know what we need to do, so we're ready to spend the money.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Smith says even without considering construction costs, Arlington schools are facing an $11 to $18 million budget shortfall this year. And they're looking at cutting everything from school books, to buses, to staff, to make ends meet. Education leaders say school districts across the country are making the same painful decisions.

ANNE BRYANT, EXEC. DIR., NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION: Our school boards tell us that they are facing shortages in terms of teacher layoffs, cutting programs. It's not just, you know, nice to do programs. It's the very core of teaching. It's the very core of raising student achievement.

BOLDUAN: And the very core of the argument for education stimulus dollars. But some experts, like Frederick Hess of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute says without reform, any additional funding is throwing good money at a broken system.

FREDERICK HESS, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Unfortunately, what we see in this package is what we've done for 40 years in education, which is more of everything. More technology, no guarantees that we're even going to think about how to use it to increase productivity.

BOLDUAN: Smith disagrees. He says long-term change can't begin if they don't survive the short term.

(on camera): Arlington public schools, like districts across the country, is still waiting to hear how much money it might get from the stimulus. This is one of the district's 34 schools you can be sure is fighting for its own piece of the pie.

Kate Bolduan, Arlington, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Looking for a friend, or maybe you just want to expand your social lives? Slip into some "find a friend"-ware. Huh?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, we can help you find a friend. A flashy sweatshirt that brings strangers with common interests together. The story from WLDZ affiliate reporter Kara Madaszewski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA MATUSZEWSKI, WLBZ REPORTER (voice-over): Every day we probably pass by dozens of people who have similar interests, but we have no idea. We might smile or nod at them, but rarely do we stop to start a conversation with a complete stranger. Tim Howe and Catherine Amotto are hoping the device they're demonstrating will change that. Designer Sean Collins explains.

SEAN COLLINS, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MAINE: It's more of like an ice-breaker so you can get into a conversation with somebody you'd normally just pass in the hallway, you wouldn't know about.

MATUSZEWSKI: Nine students in a new-media class last semester designed the device. The idea is simple. People fill out a survey based on their likes and dislikes. Their answers are put on to a computer chip board. That chip board is then sewn into a sweatshirt with LED lights on it and a wireless transmitter. When someone with similar interests comes near, the lights turn on.

COLLINS: I think this is a good thing to actually bring into maybe orientation, freshman orientation. Everybody gets like a sweatshirt or a shirt, and you walk around and you find people that have common interests, and it would really just help people to get to know other people and break out of their social norm.

MATUSZEWSKI: Professor Mike Scott pitched the idea to the class, but the students say from there he became just a sounding board. The head of the new-media department says what's great about the friend- finder is that the students can see what they're learning in the classroom can be taken into real life.

PROF. MIKE SCOTT, UNIVERSITY OF MAINE: We really push students from really the very first year to think about actual implementation and prototyping and building and getting their hands dirty, so to speak.

MATUSZEWSKI: So, who knows? Maybe someday soon we'll all be wearing these sweatshirts and meeting and talking to even more people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)