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Interview With Rep. Phil Roe; Turmoil in Iran

Aired June 16, 2009 - 13:57   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's nice to see that lawmakers now are pushing forward on a story that we've pushed forward from the very start. They are asking why veterans clinics drop the ball. The V.A. did surprise inspections at more than 40 clinics nationwide and fewer than half were following proper procedures for colonoscopies and other noninvasive tests. Surprise, and a bad one at that.

This comes months after the V.A. said about 10,000 Veterans might have been exposed to HIV and other infections because the equipment at three clinics in the south wasn't properly sterilized. Now, fear. Well, we're looking at a much bigger problem.

So, how about an explanation. How would something as simple as a vital and properly sterilized equipment be a problem at so many clinics? Lawmakers are demanding answers. And today, the first of what could be several hearings by the House Veteran's Affairs Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEPHER BUYER (R), INDIANA: We also have the deep seeded concern that this doesn't just impact the V.A. health system. That this impacts the greater health systems in the country at large.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Congressman Phil Roe of Tennessee is the ranking Republican on the House Panels Oversight Subcommittee. He's also a doctor and a vet so he knows this story from several perspectives.

He joins us now live from D.C. And of you don't mind, sir, I just want to read straight from the inspector general's report that I actually had a chance to read before I talked to you.

It concluded, quote, "Facilities have not complied with management directives to ensure compliance with reprocessing of endoscopes, resulting in an risk of infectious disease to veterans. Reprocessing of endoscopes required a standardized, monitored approach to ensure that these instruments are safe for use in patient care. The failure of medical facilities to comply on such a large scale with repeated alerts and directives suggests fundamental defects in organizational structure."

Here is my question to you. Who failed our vets? It says a massive failure here with repeated alerts and directives. Who wasn't paying attention? REP. PHIL ROE (R), TENNESSEE: Well, first of all, I want to tell the veterans of this nation that the chances of getting an infection were very small.

This actually came up from self-reporting, the hospitals reporting that they saw a flaw in their procedure. And it's a system- wide failure. If you looked around the country, the V.A. -- this was discovered late last year in Murphysboro, Tennessee. And they self- reported this. And then instituted measured to help alleviate this problem.

What the IG did was -- the IG then inspected 42 hospitals around the country unannounced and found that less than 50 percent were either following procedure and/or didn't have a procedure, or weren't properly trained, I should say, in the procedure. So they failed on one of those two accounts.

And that's not acceptable. I think our veterans certainly deserve and have earned the best health care in the world. And what the chairman now decided -- Chairman Mitchell -- was that we would ask for another random survey in 90 days. We got assurances from Dr. Duncan at the V.A. today that these problems would be fixed.

REP. PHIL ROE, (R) TENNESSEE: -- the best health care in the world. What the chairman now decided, Chairman Mitchell, was that we would ask for another random survey in 90 days. We got assurances from Dr. Duncan at the V.A. today that these problems would be fixed.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And Congressman that all sounds great after the fact but this has been going on for years. So, did the V.A. realize, you know what, this is a continual ongoing problem. We better say something. Because they weren't transparent a number of years ago when these complaints were coming through. So who overall failed our veterans? Was it the secretary of Veteran Affairs at that time? Was it hospital administrators? Was it the techs that were giving these colonoscopies?

ROE: I think you bring up a good point. I think it was a system wide failure. I don't think you had mechanisms in place to make sure that these procedures are being followed. Let me say that the people on the ground, I know many of them from a personal standpoint are good people, they're trying, working hard but they didn't have the procedures in place to make sure that the scope, for instance, there are set procedures on how you sterilize this instrument between uses.

Those were not followed. And so when that's not done you have a system breakdown. Was it on the local level, well we found out that these procedures are really system wide. The question you ask, I can't answer, because it should not have happened. I said, look, this is not complicated. This is a fairly simple thing. I (INAUDIBLE) in the operating room almost daily. So this is not something hard to do around at hospitals. We do it all the time.

PHILLIPS: You are a doctor so you know how this process goes forward. So could you even think of a legitimate excuse to why somebody wouldn't sterilize this equipment and do the job properly? Does it take a lot of time? Is it expensive? Is there any justification at all to why this could be such a continued problem?

ROE: The answer is no. It is not a complicated procedure. You have a couple of tubes and a scope that need to be thoroughly washed and sanitized and it's not difficult to do. You simply were not following the protocol that the company had laid forward in making these instruments between usages and so no, it's not difficult to do.

PHILLIPS: OK then so let me ask you this, if you don't mind. We have tried to get an interview more than a half dozen times with the secretary of Veterans Affairs but we keep getting denied on behalf of Shinseki. I guess I want to know, for something that you said should've never happened and is a very simple thing to do, will there be disciplinary action? If I'm a vet and going in to a hospital and I have to get this procedure, I want to know that that person isn't doing the procedure.

ROE: I suspect you are going to see disciplinary action. Again, that will be the secretary's call. Secondly, what you don't want to do is you don't want to make it so punitive that people won't step forward and say, hey, this is being done wrong. You want to fix the problem. We talked about today transparency. It's not just transparency. An apology is fine but we want to get this right. I mean I'm a veteran. If I go into the V.A. hospital in Tennessee, I want to know that the procedures they're doing to me are being done properly. That is not unreasonable. This is not rocket science. I can tell you having done it thousands of times. This is fairly simple to do.

PHILLIPS: I hope you don't mind me asking you this question, but you are a vet. You are a doctor. Would you go to a V.A. hospital for care and do you go to a V.A. hospital for care?

ROE: I don't but I would, yes the answer is, I would go to a V.A. hospital for care. The reason I don't is because my income level exceeds what they will allow me in for. But yes I have many friends. We have in our district a large veterans population, a large V.A. hospital and I can say to them and look this camera straight in the eye and say, yes, I think they are doing everything they can to make sure you have a safe and positive experience at the V.A.

But that is not to let anybody -- let me point this out now, that is not to let anybody off the hook. Apologies are fine. We have to get this right. You have to get it right as close as you can for 100 percent of veterans. You can't be, hey, it's OK, we messed up here. We have to try to get it right for every veteran that goes in there, so they have, and you pointed out, the confidence when they go in that their care is going to be done properly.

PHILLIPS: We are counting on you and other lawmakers to make sure that happens. We're counting on those inspections and we want our vets to be protected for sure. Congressman Phil Roe, sure appreciate your time today sir.

ROE: Thanks so much, thanks for having me on.

PHILLIPS: You bet. And if you're a vet and a patient at a V.A. clinic, I want to know. What's your experience been like? We are not out to trash the V.A. If you have had a good experience well we want to hear that too, let me know via Twitter at kyracnn or just jump on the blog, cnn.com/newsroom, we'll put some of your responses on the air.

Now to Iran and graphic proof of how much that nation is split over last week's election. On one side the rallies that Iran wants you to see. It was organized by the government to show support for reelected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now on the other side, the latest demonstration by supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who officially came in second in Friday's vote. Now in hopes of drowning out those pro Mousavi voices, Tehran is keeping foreign correspondents off the street but is also offering a partial recount from polling sites suspected of irregularities.

Mousavi says that's not enough. He wants a whole new election. Iranians are using technology to try to tell their stories to the world but it appears to be a bit of a struggle for some. On twitter, J.D. writes, "Cellphone, SMS, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, GPRS, are down." Earlier this person wrote, "Police going to houses and seizing satellite receivers." On Tweet he said, "They have blocked many instant messages as well wide communication blockage to hide the disaster that they are managing here." And from Iran09, "Cell net has gone down in many districts of Tehran. In my opinion, they are up to something huge again!" A reminder, these are raw comments from Twitter and CNN has not independently verified their claims.

Now I mentioned non Iranian media are being hamstrung by Iranian officials. But that didn't stop our Rezah Sayah from sending us this report from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Not good news coming out of Tehran for CNN and other members of the foreign media. The Iranian government banning CNN and other media outlets from covering and broadcasting images from the rallies, the demonstrations similar to the ones we've seen for the past four days after the controversial elections on Friday. The Iranian government has made no secret of it but they are not happy with the international media and they're coverage. Describing it as biased and one sided. Of course it has been the foreign media that has largely shown the pictures of what has been a violent and sometimes brutal crackdown against supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the disgruntled presidential candidate who's asking for a new vote.

Despite the crackdown the Mousavi supporters are continuing to come out. They had another rally on Tuesday but so did supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There was a massive turnout in the famous square in mid-town Tehran. Supporters of the president condemning supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, describing them as hooligans who destroyed and vandalized parts of Tehran. Also CNN can report the arrest of a number of leading reformists, among them the former chief of staff, former reformist president. We can also report that the Mousavi camp according to one adviser has rejected the offer by the Guardian Council, Iran's highest legislative body, to recount part of the vote. Reza Sayah, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Iranian Americans are taking to the streets here in the U.S., California, D.C., Minnesota, just a few of the spots where they're making their voices heard. Most, if not all, support the opposition. Some mince no words calling President Ahmadinejad a dictator.

9/11 hijackers used fake driver's license to get on airplanes. We're going to tell you how a new security plan could gut requirements to keep that from happening again just to save money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The plan is supposed to make you and me safer while making it harder for the bad guys to forge ID's. But lawmakers are now looking at a less costly alternative. What some critics call Russian roulette. Jeanne Meserve looks at the pros and cons of so- called "Pass ID."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On September 11th, 2001, at least six hijackers used fraudulently obtained driver's licenses to board airplanes. But real ID, which tightened requirements for issuing licenses, brought howls of protests from some states who estimated it could cost $4 billion to implement. Monday, new legislation called "Pass ID" was introduced. It would be less expensive and give states more flexibility but critics say it gives the nation less security.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, (R) WISCONSIN: Basically we are going back to a system that was abused which resulted in the biggest domestic tragedy in the history of our country.

MESERVE: The new legislation would remove two problematic parts of real ID. A requirement that state's authenticate documents like birth certificates used to get a license and the creation of a national database to ensure that applicants don't hold multiple licenses in multiple states. Although the federal government pushed back deadlines and provided some funding for real ID, 11 states passed legislation prohibiting its implementation and a 12th is expected to follow suit, undermining its effectiveness.

DAVID QUAM, NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION: Under "Real ID" (INAUDIBLE) states refused to participate, you have Swiss cheese security.

MESERVE: When she was governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano signed legislation opting out of real ID, now secretary of Homeland Security, she is embracing the substitute, "Pass ID."

JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It will actually achieve the security goals of "Real ID" it's really a refinement, if you would, of "Real ID" but in a way the states will actually put into effect.

MESERVE (on camera): Civil liberties groups hate "Real ID" but they don't like the substitute, saying either one would make the driver's license a defacto national ID. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Nature's furry takes aim at the Midwest. A look at storm damage and the latest on where the wild weather could be headed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Some powerful destructive weather taking aim at the Midwest today. Missouri crews working to restore power in the town of Drexel, that's just about 60 miles south of Kansas City. Rain and high winds damaged the buildings and trees. No injuries reported. Fire chief says that is because people heeded the sirens and they hunkered down. They know how to handle it there in the Midwest.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: There are the troubling questions that keep you up at night especially when facing the financial option of last resort. "CNN Help Desk" answers your money questions straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's get straight to "The Help Desk." Donna Rosato is a senior writer with "Money" magazine and Stacey Bradford is a financial journalist. OK, we've got some tough ones here for you. The first one is from Lee. Lee says, "I lost $400,000 in the Madoff scam, including $116,000 from my IRA. I am 80 years old and live on Social Security and a pension. I have $100,000 in credit card bills which I am struggling to pay. If I file for bankruptcy, is my condo safe or does the line of credit on my condo put my home in jeopardy? Should I just wait to get money from SIPC or the IRS?" Of course SPIC is the regulators for the securities industry. Donna, this is such a sad story.

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, MONEY MAGAZINE: It is very heartbreaking. Usually anybody who is filing for bankruptcy that really should be an option of last resort. But if this person's age is 80 years old, you probably don't have to worry so much about applying for credit and the damage that a bankruptcy filing will do. They shouldn't have to worry so much about that. Now there are two kinds of bankruptcy filings you can do as an individual, there is chapter 13, which you have to file and you would be able to keep your house even if it has a mortgage or a line of credit on it. But you have to have a repayment plan, which means you would still be on the hook for the credit card debt. You could file for chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would release you from all your debts but you would have to liquidate all your assets, so his home could be on the line. It may be up to the local judge as well but it would be a risk. WILLIS: This is a pretty technical matter that you definitely want to take up with a financial adviser. But Lee, good luck. Let's get to the next question.

Greg asks, "What do you do when your mortgage company refuses to offer any help for adjusting your loan? After several calls and letters, they finally answered after three months to say, no way. Is there a commission or a board I can notify?" Stacy, I have had this question a million times, also really frustrating to hear this.

STACEY BRADFORD, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: What I found that a lot of people think that they qualify for home loan modification when, in fact, they don't. Just because your home has lost money and you owe more on it, so you are under water, that doesn't mean that you just get to a new loan. But if this person truly feels that they would qualify, let's say they've had a hardship, they've lost a job, then they should go on the website, hopenow.com and on that website, they will find a home loan counselor who can help them out and they are great at making sure these applications go through the banks very smoothly.

WILLIS: All right, "Making Home Affordable" another great website. You may be eligible for help. "The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers, send me an e-mail to Gerri@cnn.com or logon to cnn.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions. And "The Help Desk," well it's every where. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

PHILLIPS: Take a look at this picture. Do you see anything kind of, I don't know, unusual about the last president on the bottom right? It is the face of controversy right now in one state. We are going to ask the public servant who represents people of all races why a staffer still has a job after this went out in an e-mail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well today they're asking why more Veterans clinics dropped the ball. The V.A. did surprise inspections at more than 40 clinics nationwide last month. Fewer than half were following proper procedures for colonoscopies and other noninvasive tests. Surprise, and a bad one at that. This comes months after the V.A. said about 10,000 veterans might have been exposed to HIV and other infections because the equipment at three clinics in the south were not properly sterilized. Now, fear, we are looking at a much bigger problem. We have been all over this story since the very beginning and with numerous attempts to get an interview with the secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, just moments ago we got this statement.

"My number one priority is the well-being of our nation's Veterans and achieving the highest standard for safety is non- negotiable." It is unacceptable that any of our Veterans may have been exposed to harm as a result of an endoscopic procedure. When we discovered this problem, stemming back to 2003, I initiated an internal national review process to evaluate the standard of health care for our Veterans. I also directed the inspector general to identify the depth of the problem and issue a report. I was deeply troubled to see the inspector general's conclusion that V.A. directives were not being followed. We are taking appropriate disciplinary actions in implementing a new policy requiring each director to verify in writing compliance with V.A.'s standing operating procedures. Our department will use the knowledge gained from these events to further improve our quality and safety standards for Veterans."

We are following another day of election upheaval in Iran. The government has organized a vast rally to counter yesterday's rally by opponents of the reelected president. It's barring foreign journalists from reporting outside their own bureaus or hotel rooms. That's forcing all of us including the U.S. State Department to rely even more on citizen's reports via online networking sites and CNN iReports. Case in point, Tehran's Freedom Square yesterday, a crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands turned out to support the candidate who officially came in second in Friday's election. Police didn't intervene but as night fell and the crowd broke up, shots rang out. You are about to hear a phone conversation between our Anderson Cooper and a woman who was actually there and be warned, you will see some pretty graphic pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I know you have witnessed personally outbreaks of violence. Describe for our viewers what you have seen.

RANA, WITNESS TO MONDAY'S PROTEST IN TEHRAN (via telephone): Yesterday, we started marching towards Albany Square or Freedom Square, at around 3:30. It was a very peaceful protest. We just raised our hands. We raised our hands with the peace sign. It was relatively quiet. Nobody really did anything or said anything. Then, afterwards, when everybody had circled the square and they were heading home and the crowd was disbursing, people started to hear gun shots. I could hear gun shots coming from the right hand of the square. People were terrified because the gunshots would not stop and then they were all looking in one direction. I started looking in that direction also. We could see that the gunshots were coming from a remote building. The people said that it was from security officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: State-run media says that protesters attacked a military post and seven people were killed. So what happens if Iran's government feels its losing total control. Some in the Obama administration believe if that happens, the government may resort to some type of military action. Here is CNN's pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the street. The U.S. worries this tense political situation could become a broader security crisis. An organization opposed to the current regime says if the Iranian leadership feels seriously threatened, it could possibly try to divert the people's attention.

TRITA PARSI, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICA COUNCIL: If the internal battles are getting a little bit too intense that the revolutionary guards may actually prefer to have an external enemy in some sort of a confrontation.

STARR: U.S. military commanders in the Persian Gulf have been told to be on guard. Don't let an encounter with Iranian forces escalate. It's happened before.

Last year, U.S. war ships came close to firing on Iranian revolutionary guard boats that were acting aggressively. In 2007, British naval personnel were captured and held for days before being released in a public showing by President Ahmadinejad.

Other concerns, Iran's meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan and its development of long-range ballistic missiles that could threaten Europe. But, the core issue remains, Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. is working with other countries to pressure Iran to give up its nuclear weapons efforts regardless of who is president of the Islamic Republic.

IAN KELLY, ACTING ASST SECY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: These get to the very heart of this administration's priorities in terms of nonproliferation concerns, about the possibility of an arms race in that part of the world.

RICHARD HAASS, AUTHOR, WAR OF NECESSITY, WAR OF CHOICE: The best thing we can do is keep our eye on the ball of what Iran does: Support for terrorism, their nuclear program, whoever is the Iranian government. What we care about is what they do.

STARR: U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran is run by the clerics, not whoever is sitting in the president's chair and that means Iran's support for terrorism and it's continued nuclear weapons program may continue.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: President Obama says the U.S. cannot be seen as meddling in Iran's politics, but he says, the whole world is concerned.

And remarks that you may have seen live here on CNN, Mr. Obama also said, he's seen signs of hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past and that there are people who want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So, what to do with North Korea and it's nukes, that was topic No. 1 when President Obama held talks with South Korea's president at the White House, today. They agree on at least two things, North Korea must not become a nuclear power and it'll take an international effort to make sure it doesn't happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We will not find security or respect through threats and illegal weapons. That united international front has been on full display since North Korea's ballistic missile test in April and was further galvanized by its recent nuclear test.

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that called for strong steps to block North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Now, we must pursue a sustained and robust effort to implement this resolution together with our international partners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One key part of the U.N. sanctions mentioned, stopping North Korean ships on the high seas if they are suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear materials. "New York Times" says that U.S. Navy ships will ask if they can search any ships intercepted. If refused, they are following them to the next port. The plans stopped short of forced inspection. North Korea says, doing that would be an act of war.

Iran's cracking down, but Iranians with computers and camcorders and courage are opening up. We're bringing you their online reports faster than ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in Tennessee, the chairman of the state's Democratic Party, among others, wants a lawmaker's aide fired for sending out an offensive e-mail about President Obama. Here it is. This went out from a state computer to other staff members of GOP senators. There, you see the 44th president, two big eyes, peeping over a black background. Sherri Goforth sent it out and has apologized and said it was sent by accident. Her boss, State Senator Diane Black, says this is a policy violation and that she gave Goforth a verbal and written warning. The Democratic legislators say that this e-mail is racist and they want aide fired. State Senator Diane Black joins me now live from Nashville.

Senator, I appreciate you joining me. I guess the question is out there, why not fire her?

DIANE BLACK (R), TENNESSEE STATE SENATOR: Well, first, I want to be sure that everyone understands that the communication was sent without my knowledge and it absolutely does not represent the beliefs or opinions of my office and so I want to be very clear about that. When I did find out about the communication that was sent out, I immediately called the H.R. department and through their advice did what they told me needed to be done when there was a violation of an e-mail policy by the state. And so, therefore, as you have already stated, Miss Goforth did get a verbal reprimand as well as a very strongly worded reprimand written and it was put in her file that if this should ever occur again, that she should be immediately terminated.

PHILLIPS: Do you see she did anything wrong, just considering that this is 2009, that issues of racism are very sensitive and we have an African-American president that has broken a lot of barriers and, you know, these types of e-mails and conversations and this type of racial tone is like going back in time. Do you think this is somebody that really should be on your staff for you as a lawmaker?

BLACK: Well, this was an inappropriate e-mail. I have already said that and I will continue to say that. As I have said before, it does not represent the beliefs or opinions of my office and we did follow policy. Now, this is an employee who has had a stellar record. She's been with the state government for more than 20 years and she has served the districts that she served, not just my district but obviously she's worked for other legislators, and there has never been anything in her record at all. She has a stellar record and we follow policy. And that's what you do when someone breaks the rules, you follow policy.

Now obviously, she regrets that she sent out the e-mail and it doesn't matter whether the -- how the e-mail was sent, it was inappropriate. I will not have that kind of communication coming from my office, it would be inappropriate whether this were someone that is the president of the United States or someone who is a lower ranking official. It doesn't matter, it's inappropriate. We did follow the policy and that's exactly what I intend on doing is following the policy that was advised by the H.R. department.

PHILLIPS: And your fellow lawmakers have been reacting, Democratic representative, Johnny Shaw, who is African-American, says, "It's racism and no one has any business being in state government that is a racist such as this. She should be fired."

And then House minority leader, Gary Odom, came forward saying, "The e-mail was outrageous" and he'd like to know if such behavior at the Capitol is more common than just a very isolated circumstance.

So, what do you say to white and black lawmakers, your fellow lawmakers, that are taking issue with this?

BLACK: Well, I can once again only speak to what we've done in our office. And I believe that we have followed the policy. I will continue to say that to people that if there had been a different policy, I would have followed the policy that was given to me by the H.R. department for any employee when there is a breach in the use of -- incorrect use of the e-mail site here at the state.

Many of my legislators on both sides of the aisle, both black and white, know Diane Black and they know that I am somebody who works with people from all sides of the aisle, all walks of life. And this is, again, not indicative of anything that I would like to have coming out of my office and I did take action that needed to be taken following the policy of the state.

PHILLIPS: All right, and let me just ask you, if you don't mind, since I have you and we can talk about the state of Tennessee. I mean, this is not the first time that the state of Tennessee and the Republican Party there has been criticized for these sort of racial comments or mailings, just going back to February, 2008, the state republican party removed the then candidate, Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, from a news release that was put out. Also, this photo of Obama in traditional African garment, that was removed from a press release, as well. Then, you have the general election, there in Tennessee, when the Republican Party sent out a direct mailing with black lawmaker with Nathan Vaughn, also Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi's heads on black birds or crows. And now we see your aides circulating this e-mail. I mean, a lot of people are saying, gosh, it's like we're going back to the 1960s. I mean, is this really progress for Tennessee and you know, is this mature debate?

BLACK: Well, I cannot speak to those other issues. I will tell you that this e-mail did not come from the Republican Party. That is something that people have indicated that may have been. I can tell you absolutely it did not. It came from an independent source outside of the capital. It was inappropriate and I will continue to say that it was inappropriate.

I don't want to speak to what else may have happened in other places. I wasn't involved in those. I was involved in this situation. I can tell you very clearly that Diane Black has served her constituents from every walk of life and I'm also a nurse and have worked in nursing for over 40 years and obviously, I've worked with people from all walks of life. I regret that this happened in my office and when it did, I took action and I feel very comfortable with the action that I took with the advice from our H.R. department.

PHILLIPS: And just to let you know, just to button this up, we did go on one of the affiliate Web site, there, one of our affiliates, WKRN, and you are receiving a bit of support from some of your constituents, one saying, "Come on, people, it was having to do with a white president there, this was not be an issue, but since one of them is a Democrat, black making an issue of this, needs to lighten up. Heck if we all got fired for sending e-mails that does not fit everyone's belief, we'd all be out of a job."

And then, someone else writes, "Look at how the press, celebrities and Democrats, made fun of "W" for all eight years, no one was fired. So now there's Democrat in the office and the rules suddenly have change." So, it's interesting the perspective coming through. And I do appreciate your transparency, Senator, coming out and talking to us about this. As you can imagine, there were a lot of people that were extremely appalled by the e-mail.

BLACK: Absolutely. And I regret it happened. I was appalled by the e-mail and as I said many times over, I am sorry that it happened, but I want people to know that that is not reflective of my office, neither is it reflective of my personal opinions or beliefs.

PHILLIPS: Senator Diane Black, appreciate your time.

BLACK: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Real quickly, want to get to the New York Stock Exchange, check out the Dow Industrials, right now, for a quick market check. The Dow is down 83 points.

Call it the latest sob story from GM. General Motors selling off its beleaguered Saab unit to a Swedish carmaker that makes million dollar sports cars. The full price tag is hush-hush, but it's contingent on $600 million in funding from the European Investment Bank. General Motors filed bankruptcy protection earlier this month. It's shedding its weaker brand in attempt to reemerge better poised to stay afloat.

And there is encouraging numbers from the housing market, today. Have we turned the corner or is it too soon to pop over the bubbly. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has the breakdown from New York.

Hey, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there Kyra, yes, the headlines go down the housing numbers that we got this morning, new home construction in this country up 17 percent in May. That's the most improvement we have seen in three months. The forward-looking indicator that we all look at, those building permits, also up four percent.

But the question here, are we bottoming out and some top economists in this country tell us no, there is still further to fall. I spoke with a Yale economist, his name is Robert Shiller, and he works on that Case-Shiller Home Price Index that we get every few months. He says the housing market prices, across the country, still have further to fall. Recovery might be somewhat of a pipedream. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SHILLER, PROF ECONOMICS, YALE UNIV: There's still a lot of people who are in the mode of thinking that home prices are just in a temporary glitch and they are going to go back up. I am sure there are people, I've met them, who think that this is the time to buy single family homes. I'm just doubting that they're right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, maybe not the time to buy in his opinion. Also, a well-known economist, Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr. Doom," he predicted this housing crisis. As you know Kyra, back in 2006. He, too, says, we have further to fall. So some good headline numbers, Kyra, but a lot of skeptics still out there.

PHILLIPS: But in April, home sales rose. So if sales are ticking up, why aren't prices? HARLOW: Well, it's the foreclosures. People are taking advantage of the foreclosures, 45 percent of the homes sold in April were foreclosures or they were short sales. Detroit is a prime example. House prices continue to fall, but investors come in, they're picking up what they can at these bargain basement prices. One good headline out of this, though, the American Bankers Association, Kyra, said today, they think home prices are going to tick up modestly next year. So, a good headline, but a lot of questions out there -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Poppy, thanks.

HARLOW: Sure.

PHILLIPS: So, how much does it cost every time you send a text? That's what some senators are trying to find out this hour and they want to know why the cost is increasing. The committee will examine the state of competition in the wireless market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Because of the new restrictions on foreign correspondents in Iran. CNN is relaxing our usual vetting process of information now that we get via e-mail, Tweets or iReports. And our CNN's David Mattingly has been keeping tabs on those for us, joining me now with the latest.

David, we should probably mention, too, we won't be using the names of the people who are sending these online reports, correct? Because I have been receiving a lot of e-mails and Tweets that folks are concerned about their safety.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra, we're showing you the videos that are posted on some of these social networking sites, but we are not showing you the names of the people who are posting them. We are also going through here, we've got people standing by watching what's on FaceBook, watching on what's on MySpace, watching what's coming up on Twitter. And surprisingly, the State Department is doing the same thing. We learned that the State Department has approached all these social networking sites, hoping that they will stay open and operating, so that Iranians can communicate with each other and with the outside world so long as the international media has these restrictions imposed against them.

One way you'll notice this is when you go to the Twitter home page. What are you doing? Normally, Twitter will shut down for maintenance, but they say we're not going to do that this time. You hit that, and said that down time has been rescheduled. They're going to stay open so that a flow of information is unimpeded from Iran, so the outside world can see what people are saying and sending out to their friends, as this news restriction is in place.

We do have a couple of videos that we culled off of FaceBook to show you. Now again, normally, we don't do this and we can't really vet and describe actually verify where these videos came from, but we can show you this is a man who appears to have been injured during a demonstration, in Freedom Square, in Tehran. This was posted yesterday. You can see as they pull his shirt off that he was wounded in the side, perhaps a gunshot, perhaps a knife wound. We don't know.

Another video we need to show you indicative of possibly some of the violence that's going on there, is of a shooting that occurred. This also posted yesterday. This was at a pro Moussavi rally. A man in a window, see, he pulls out a gun, right there, and appears to fire in the direction of the crowd that is out there. No one knows who that gunman is. There's no information with this video. We don't know exactly when it was taken, who shot it, things like that.

But there, you also saw a Molotov cocktail that was shown a little later in the video, all of this captured by someone on their phone in the middle of one of these demonstrations. We're going to continue to be looking for this information, all these very small windows in what's going on in a very big story in Iran -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, David Mattingly, sure appreciate it.

"Team Sanchez" has turned into "Team Holmes" for the day. T.J., I know you're going to continue the coverage from Iran.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, we will, for sure. It's "Team Holmes" today, as you say, because Sanchez is at a Twitter conference. Is that right? It's called 140 Character Conference. Who knew, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: He's a character, all right.

HOLMES: He is a character.

PHILLIPS: He's 141.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: That "Team Sanchez" is laughing right now. But yes, we will be talking about Iran, but we're examining the possibility, just the possibility, that what if Ahmadinejad did win this thing. What if the majority of people in Iran do, in fact, prefer him over Moussavi? We will examine that with a man who certainly believes it's possible and it's even likely and he has numbers to back it up.

Also, we've been watching demonstrations and protests over in Iran, but there have been some here in the U.S., as well. One expected to happen today here in Atlanta, where we are. We're going to be talking to one student who plans on participating in that.

And also, Kyra, Obama maybe should be more like bush. Someone has made that assertion and we're going to have a debate about that and see maybe if there is anything to that. That's all coming up in the next hour. "Team Sanchez," still, just Holmes in the chair today, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, "Team Holmes," we'll be watching.

HOLMES: All right. PHILLIPS: Iran's cracking down, but Iranians with computers, camcorders and courage are opening up. We're bringing you their online reports faster than ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we've seen some cracks in the system. Not what you really want to hear from the man in charge of keeping your next flight safe, but the FAA says it is fixing those air safety cracks, rewriting the rules for all those regional carriers after a string of crashes. Our Allan Chernoff reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tragedy at regional airlines is all too common. The past six fatal airline accidents in the U.S. have been at regional or charter airlines.

RANDY BABBITT, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: And some of the things I have heard and seen recently about the regional airline industry just aren't acceptable in this day and age.

CHERNOFF: Indeed, this former captain at a regional airline, who asked to remain anonymous, told CNN some FAA inspectors regularly ignored safety problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say it probably was some kind of secret relationship, to be quite honest. I mean, the FAA knew exactly what was going on, never did anything about it, so clearly, they had some sort of unspoken bond. Otherwise, you would think that they would be doing more of their job.

CHERNOFF: The transportation secretary says such problems belong to past administrations.

RAY LAHOOD, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: That will not happen under the administration of Ray LaHood and Randy Babbitt.

BABBITT: No, I -- I concur.

CHERNOFF: Some FAA inspectors, like Christopher Monteleon, who repeatedly complained of alleged safety problems at Colgan Air, claim they faced reprisals.

Last year, more than 30 FAA whistle-blowers had complaints pending against the agency.

(on camera): They say there is a cultural problem within the FAA that opposes reporting of safety issues.

LAHOOD: They will not be shoved under a rug, they will not be put aside. The complaints that you're talking about were under previous administrations. We will pay attention to any kind of complaint or accusation or any kind of concern that is expressed by an employee of the FAA. We're both committed to that. It's a new day at the FAA. And it's a new day at DOT. Our No. 1 priority will be safety. CHERNOFF (voice-over): Industry executives met Monday at an FAA safety summit, but some regional carriers were not present, including Gulfstream International, which had trained and employed the pilot who in February crashed the Colgan plane near Buffalo.

(on camera): They say that they were not invited to today's summit.

BABBITT: There were a lot of carriers that weren't invited to the summit.

CHERNOFF: Allen Chernoff, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll see you back here, tomorrow. T.J. Holmes in for Rick Sanchez, today.