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Working to Solve Health Care Problem; More Jakarta Bombings Details
Aired July 17, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In a bit of a surprise move, though, the AMA, American Medical Association, is endorsing the House democrats healthcare bill now. The doctors' group says the bill meets its goals of expanding coverage while providing patients with a choice of health plans. But the Congressional Budget Office has bad news for democrats. The CBO's director says their plans would raise medical costs. CNN's Dana Bash has the latest.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see -
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT ((voice-over): It was a democrat who asked the question. Will any of their health care plans actually reduce skyrocketing medical costs? The answer, no.
DOUGLAS ELEMENDORF, DIRECTOR, CONG. BUDGET OFFICE: And the legislation has been reported we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount and on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.
BASH: With that, the head of the Congressional Budget Office whose words carry enormous weight in Congress dealt democrats a devastating blow. Since President Obama repeatedly says curbing health care costs is essential goal of reform.
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve. We have to bend the costs on health care.
BASH: But CBO director Doug Elmendorf warned democrats plans would actually raise costs because many, including the president, are resisting what Elmendorf calls critical element to keeping medical spending down. Taxing employer provided healthcare benefits. It had been one of the ways the bipartisan group of senators planned to pay for health care reform. Now that it's off the table, they're having trouble making the numbers add up. And in a stunningly candid moment, the frustrated democratic finance chairman blamed the president.
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: Basically, the president is not helping us. With the tax exclusion off the table, still difficult to come up with revenue measures and other savings measures.
BASH: Because of the president's prodding to move faster, there had been hope for a bipartisan deal this week, but that's no longer in the cards.
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COLLINS: Dana Bash is joining us now live from Washington with more on this. So Dana, what is the CBO's director warning actually mean for democrats?
BASH: You know, we're trying to gauge that right now.
COLLINS: Yes.
BASH: It certainly isn't good, I'll tell you that much. You know, the leadership in terms of democrats and the White House, they're trying to downplay it. But let me just read you one quote from a senior democratic leadership aide. This aide said that this is a potentially devastating one-two punch. The punch being from the CBO director and talking about what Max Baucus said there. The source said it couldn't come at a worse time, a difficult time just got more difficult.
So, you know, you have this news, this bombshell, basically, dropped saying that these plans aren't going to do what President Obama wants them to do, which is to raise the cost of health care and you got two committees, as we speak, trying to grind through and get this done and you've got, already got conservative democrats. Let's just talk about the house side in particular, conservative democrats who are balking for the very reason that the CBO director gave credence to.
COLLINS: Yes.
BASH: So that is why it is definitely making it more difficult.
COLLINS: Well, I'm sure everybody is wondering too if it hurts their push for a deal this summer.
BASH: It could, it definitely could.
COLLINS: Yes.
BASH: It could already, let's just remember where this week began. The week began with President Obama really trying to muscle this through in a way that he hasn't done up until now saying, look, I want this done by this summer. And everybody said, OK, let's do it. But let's just, the senate side, in particular, that's where the action is ultimately going to be. That is where they're going to probably ultimately make the deal and they couldn't get the deal done, primarily, because they had to take this idea of taxing benefits off the table because the White House doesn't want it.
COLLINS: Yes.
BASH: So that has made their work a lot harder. That is just one example of how hard it is going to be to get that goal done. Getting this done by the August recess.
COLLINS: No question. All right. Thanks so much for that. Our update on healthcare reform. Dana Bash this morning. Thank you, Dana.
And part of the House democrats' plan, tax surcharges on Americans making more than $350,000 a year. On our blog this morning, we're asking if you think it's fair to tax the rich to pay for health care reform? Just go to cnn.com/heidi and post your comments there. We're going to be sharing some of them a little bit later on in the show.
Tens of thousands of people gather in Tehran, Iran, this morning to hear a plea from former President Rafsanjani. He said there is still doubt about the election and called for the release of jailed opposition demonstrators. The crowd greeted his appearance with chants of freedom. CNN's Reza Sayah is watching the developments from our Iran desk this morning. Interesting too because as we said before Reza, haven't seen Rafsanjani in quite some time.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's actually been a couple of months. But he showed up in public today and so did tens of thousands of people. Huge numbers according to witnesses and the video that's been coming in to the Iran desk and some of those crowds did clash with security forces, new video coming into the Iran desk, Let's go ahead and show it to you. Again, eyewitnesses estimating the tens of thousands of people showed up to hear Ayatollah Rafsanjani and there you see some of the clashes that took place before the sermons and after the sermons.
There you see security forces on motorcycles, witnesses telling CNN the security forces also using tear gas to disperse people after the sermon. A couple of chants that we hadn't heard before. By the way, that's Mehdi Karubi, one of the disgruntled candidates, opposition leaders who showed up to hear Hashemi Rafsanjani speak. A few chants that we haven't heard before. Death to Russia, Russia, shame on you, let go of your dominance of our country. Again these are slogans we haven't heard before. Russia, one country that has supported the Iranian elections and its aftermath.
Let's talk about this speech. What was Rafsanjani going to say? Was he going to support the opposition or was he going to support the regime? He did turn out to criticize Iran's leadership. He criticized the crackdown on the elections and he also went out in support of the people, the support of the opposition. Let's go ahead and show you some quotes from the speech delivered about 1:15 local time in Iran. "The lost trust of the people must be restored," said Rafsanjani. "This will not happen overnight. We must slowly create an atmosphere where everyone can say what they have in mind."
Let's go on to the next quote and this is something he got a big response over from thousands of people gathered outside of Tehran University. This is when he asked for all the protesters who were detained to be freed. "There is no need to have these numbers of people in prison, let them come back to their families. Let the enemy not laugh at us and criticize us." Again, he got a big response after that.
Let's show you who was at the ceremony. Many people anticipating this man to be there and, according to this picture coming into the Iran desk, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was there and we should tell you that this speech, this sermon was not broadcast on state-run television in Iran or outside, it was broadcast on radio and, again, he did criticize the leadership. He basically left the door open to the opposition to continue its movement.
At this hour, we've been talking to eyewitnesses, the crowds are getting thinner, but, still, pockets of protesters still out there and so are many, many security forces, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. As you would suspect. Reza Sayah for us this morning, the very latest out of Iran today. Appreciate it, Reza.
Meanwhile, a terrorist strike in the heart of a tourism district. Earlier this morning, suicide bombers hit two American luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia. We're talking about the Marriott and Ritz- Carlton there and right now, you are looking at some new video just coming to our NEWSROOM of the explosion from inside the J.W. Marriott. Now several Americans, we are understanding, are among the casualties. We'll just wait here and watch for a moment because we have not seen this as of yet. Once again, brand new video just coming in through the CNN NEWSROOM from inside the Marriott Hotel.
I can tell you , a couple of things about this. that Indonesian authorities have detained several witnesses now and others for questioning.
There you see the explosion just going off. Boy, right in the lobby there where obviously you would expect quite a few people to be. So clearly the plan was to get as many possible in all of this. We are understanding that six people were killed, along with two suspected bombers. Five of them were inside the Ritz-Carlton and then one inside the Marriott there where you just saw.
Let's go ahead and look at that video, once again, as we bring in CNN's Dan Rivers. He is live this morning on the scene now with the very latest. And Dan, I'm not sure if you can see this video or have seen it already. But it is pretty spectacular to watch the cameras inside the Marriott.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I haven't seen it. In fact, Heidi. But as you're describing it, that ties in with exactly what we know so far. The picture we're building up of a twin suicide attack. One in the Marriott behind me and one at the Ritz Carlton, just over the road there and it appears that they were targeting the busiest part of the hotel at the busiest time, right in the morning just before 8:00 when we know that certainly in the Ritz-Carlton, there is a regular Friday morning power breakfast that brings lots of leading businessmen in together. We don't know if that is the reason or the specific target or just the coincidence but chilling images nonetheless.
And t the moment, as you say, we got a confirmation of eight dead in total. We think that two of those were the suicide bombers and four of the bodies are unidentified and we know that a New Zealand man is confirmed as being among the dead. He died in the hospital. For the American casualties, one hospital is telling us five Americans were wounded. The "Associated Press" are reporting eight in total. No Americans killed, thankfully. But plenty of other nationalities caught up and injured in this, as well. As for who did it, no one knows yet. But we think it is already linked to Islamic terrorist in the region, a group called Jemaah Islamiyah.
COLLINS: All right. Dan Rivers on the scene for us there in Jakarta, Indonesia getting the very latest information out of there. Obviously, more and more just keeps coming in as the story develops. We appreciate that it, Dan. Thanks.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton is condemning the Jakarta attacks. She says the U.S. is ready to provide Indonesia any assistance it may need. Clinton is headed to India this hour for a week long visit to Southeast Asia. It is her first international trip since she broke her elbow last month. Yesterday Clinton scoffed at media reports that she had been sidelined by the White House in shaping U.S. foreign policy. As she put it, "I broke my elbow not my larynx." I love that.
The nation's first African-American president helps the nation's oldest civil rights organization mark it's centennial. President Obama says the pain of discrimination is still felt.
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COLLINS: The nation's first African-American president says the pain of discrimination is still felt by many minorities. Tough words in a wide-ranging speech to the NAACP. CNN's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux covered the president's address in New York last night on the 100th anniversary of the civil rights organization. Hi there, Suzanne. What else did he have to say?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Well, he started off by paying homage to the civil rights organization. The journey that led him to becoming the 44th president of the United States. He talked about the fact that things are bad for Americans, but for many African-Americans they're worse when it comes to health care or aids or jobs. And he did acknowledge and said the discrimination still does exist that there are institutional barriers but at the same time, Heidi, what he did is he also talked about the need for accountability for personal responsibility urging people to basically seize and claim their own destiny. This is a line that got a lot of support. It was inspiring also controversial, as well. Take a listen.
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OBAMA: We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African- American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades. That's not a reason to cut class. That's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you, your destiny is in your hands! You cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses!
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MALVEAUX: Heidi, very blunt statement. No excuses, essentially. The president of the NAACP then tells us however took issue with some reports suggesting that that was the focus, the highlight of the speech, the kind of tough love, if you will, saying that there were many other messages to institutional racism, to the problems that still exist and this was something that was 10 percent of the speech or so came in 23 minutes in the speech, but, clearly, a very powerful message to this community, one that has generated some support as well as some controversy in the past, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. All right. Suzanne Malveaux, sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
And you know, our reporters cover the stories developing every day in the black community. Now our Soledad O'Brien has been working on stories you will see only here on CNN when we present "Black in America 2," next week, July 22nd and 23rd, two nights, two primetime documentaries, all new stories right here on CNN.
Hey, Reynolds Wolf with some cooler weather, but severe storms.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I know. Got to take the good with the bad. The good certainly getting that cool down that we can expect in parts of the nation as temperatures are going to actually drop quite a bit as we get into Saturday, Sunday and Monday. By Monday morning, places like say Wisconsin, even Michigan and Minnesota could drop into the 30s and 40s for lows. But that's then.
Today what we're going to see is a chance of some strong storms developing along parts of the eastern seaboard. Some of these could be severe into the afternoon, that includes the nation's capital and back over to New York and perhaps into Boston. Boston right now, things are looking pretty good for the time being. You see a shot here. It was OK. Temperatures right now in the 70s, warming up to the 80s. Something else that we could see warm up will be some temperatures across parts of the central plains like say in Dallas. This is farther to the north on parts of i-35 and Oklahoma City. You could have not only warm temperatures, but also some scattered showers and storms.
We got some video of storm damage yesterday in Oklahoma. Let's show you that now if we can. It was a pretty intense in a few spots. You see the straight line winds causing some kind of damage and tearing up a lot of see telephone poles there, a little bit of roof damage to say the least. And before the day is out, we could see that erupt as I mentioned one more time. It is all forming right along this frontal boundary.
Let's go back to the weather computer. You'll notice as we pull back into parts of the Oklahoma panhandle and into portions of New Mexico, Colorado, back into Kansas, it's going to be that moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico combined with your daytime heating and then boundary, it's going to give you a chance of those strong storms, but, again, the cool down. That's going to be the good side of this. The other side of that boundary, the cool temperatures we were talking really beginning to filter into parts of the midwest as you move into the weekend.
All right. Heidi, you are up to speed. Let's send it back into you at the news desk.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
COLLINS: Doctors charging fees for missed appointments. It's a recent "Empower Me Friday" topic that got such a great response. We're following up on it and have some more of your comments.
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COLLINS: OK. So, a lot of you are fired up about this one. Doctors charging fees to patients who miss appointments. We got several hundred responses to those patients and doctors after an earlier segment that we did. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now with a follow-up in this week's "Empower Me Friday." So you managed to get doctors pretty upset with this one.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, that is putting it lightly. I have actually been demonized on doctor's list services. That's how much they hate me at this moment. And it's because we had someone write who says that he had with a weekly appointment with the dentist at 10:00 a.m. and after several weeks it changed to 11:00. He missed it and the doctor charged him $300.
COLLINS: $300.
COHEN: Yes.
COLLINS: What is the deal with that?
COHEN: The deal with that is doctors can do that and I sort of offered advice to this patient, if you really feel like you've been treated unfairly, you can just leave this dentist and not pay and that got doctors really angry. Let's hear a couple of comments.
We're actually going to read you a couple of the comments. "How irresponsible of you," that would be me, "in reporting this story. I am appalled. When a patient does not show, it costs me money." That's from a doctor, obviously. Here's another one, "you make it sound like doctors are doing something inappropriate. I completely disagree, when you make a reservation at a hotel or restaurant they require a credit card deposit."
Here's a third one, "it costs hundreds of dollars an hour to run a dental office. Every working hour needs to be maximized to cover costs." So, what these doctors were making the argument -
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: You know, it costs us a lot of money and when someone doesn't show up, it's money out of our pockets, why shouldn't we charge them? That was their point. COLLINS: Yes. But I mean the other side of the coin is - I mean, patients are outraged, too. Some of them, you know, they're doing exactly what they think they should be doing. This guy who missed the appointment, did he - we don't know if he knew that he had changed it.
COHEN: It had been at 10:00, it had been at 11:00 every morning and then changed to 10:00 and he had just sort of goofed. And he's been seeing this guy for years and years and never missed an appointment and he thought why couldn't they just cut me some slack here and the doctor said, no, 300 bucks, please.
COLLINS: That whole good customer thing, I guess -
COHEN: Right. Right.
COLLINS: Doesn't come in.
This is another one, too. This guy says, I love this. "Can a patient who schedules a 2:00 appointment and isn't seen until 3:00 or later then charge the doctor? People take time from their work and may not get paid." This is what patients say.
COHEN: That's what patients want to know. We got that question in various forms from many people. If my doctor keeps me waiting and I lose money because I can't work, sitting in the waiting room for hours, can I charge the doctor? No. That's the answer.
COLLINS: Well, of course not.
COHEN: The answer is no. So, you know, sorry to tell everyone this but the answer is no. It's a nice idea but yes, the answer is no.
COLLINS: So is there anything at all that patients can do?
COHEN: There are some things you can do. If your doctor habitually keeps you waiting. If every appointment, you're waiting for a long time, here's some strategies to try. Don't stay silent for too long. If you're waiting 15 minutes, even just 15 minutes, go up and say, hey, it's been 15 minutes, what's going on. Don't just let it fester.
Also, you can stage a revolt. This is one patient I know who is also a doctor. Her gynecologist was making people wait for huge amounts of time, all the patients in the waiting room got together and wrote letters to this doctor saying, hey, you're keeping us waiting a lot, what's going on and the doctor changed her ways because so many people wrote to her.
Also, be a smart scheduler. Get the first appointment in the morning or the first appointment after lunch and you're less likely to have wait.
COLLINS: Yes, that's very good.
All right. Well, people need to be able how to contact you. So - COHEN: That's right. Every Friday we answer your questions about how to get the best medical care and how to be an empowered patient. So send me your questions. Empoweredpartient@cnn.com and maybe we'll answer your question on Friday next week.
COLLINS: And very quickly, can I just say that my least favorite is when you go to the pediatrician and you have the small children and the people who are supposed to understand children keep you waiting half hour, 45, an hour.
COHEN: Yes, that is annoying. There is no question. Your child screaming.
COLLINS: I just have to get that out. Thank you for the therapeutic moment.
COHEN: OK. You are so welcome.
COLLINS: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. "Empower Me Friday."
And also, terrorists, should the U.S. kill them before they can kill Americans? In Washington, new claims ignite a passionate debate.
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ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Let's get back now to that breaking story out of Jakarta, Indonesia this morning. We are just getting a response right now from President Obama on the deadly hotel blasts. The president is condemning the attacks and says, "The U.S. stands by Indonesia in this difficult time."
At least six people are dead. More than fifty others hurt when bombs exploded today at the J.W. Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels. Authorities believe two suicide bombers had checked into the Marriott early today carried out those attacks. They also are believed dead. The blasts are drawing condemnation from governments across the world, including the United States.
Hit squads and assassination plots. How far can the U.S. go in hunting down terrorists? That question is fueling new debate and new concerns in Washington. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr takes a closer look.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: Someone started all this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the movie "The Bourne Ultimatum," Matt Damon plays an agent in the exotic world of a CIA assassin. But does it really exist? Leon Panetta just shut down an agency program reportedly aimed at killing al Qaeda terrorists. Congress may not have been informed.
SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: That's a serious breach. Look, you can't gloss over it.
STARR: But experts say nobody should claim to be surprised that the U.S. is hunting down terrorists.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: We have seen a range of al Qaeda leaders that have been assassinated since September 11th in Afghanistan, in Pakistan and a range of other places.
STARR: Indeed, CIA drones flying over Pakistan have killed dozens of suspected terrorists in recent years, but Jones says one of the diciest missions -- U.S. troops secretly on the ground in Pakistan in 2008 trading gunfire with al Qaeda.
JONES: There was a special operations force, direct action engagement in Waziristan. It was for a very short period of time.
STARR: Other hits, Somalia, 2007. Air Force AC-130 gunships launched strikes into southern Somalia, but failed to kill their al Qaeda targets.
Iraq, 2006, the U.S. military hunts down and kills Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. 2003, Saddam Hussein's sons are killed.
Yemen, 2002, a CIA drone kills an al Qaeda operative, the U.S. says was involved in the bombing of the "U.S. Cole." But whether it's the CIA or U.S. troops on the trigger, there are rules to be followed.
JONES: The United States cannot, ipso facto, kill individuals in foreign countries. I mean, they're generally with foreign fighters. There has to be a determination that this individual and general is plotting and does threaten the homeland of the United States.
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COLLINS: Our Barbara Starr is now joining us from the Pentagon with the very latest on this. Barbara, we know the CIA pulled the plug on the program they were thinking about making active. Why?
STARR: Well, nobody really knows, Heidi. But what it turns out is, these assassination or hunt and kill programs are a lot tougher than they look in the movies.
One problem is, of course, you really have to have the permission of the host government where you're going to operate because if you don't and you're found out, it's a diplomatic disaster that really can reverberate around the world. And, you know, you can't send in a bunch of tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed military personnel into a country that doesn't have a lot of tall, blonde hair, blue-eyed people. They tend to stand out. So, it's easier said than done, but it's being done. That's perhaps the reality check that we really wanted to take a look at.
Heidi? COLLINS: Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent. Thanks for that. We appreciate it.
I have to get back to this story that we've been following here about an explosion that happened in Chicago. We have just a little bit of information for you. Apparently, it happened around 9:00 a.m. Central time, so obviously 10:00 Eastern. And apparently, it was a factory explosion. Inside this factory, four or five people are unaccounted for, but have -- were unaccounted for, pardon me, and now have been found.
So, that is great news. We understand that the building did collapse, however. So, we are continuing to get more information on this story and we, of course, will bring it to you just as soon as we get that information. But there's a map for you. Western side of Chicago. Again, we'll stay on top of this one just as soon as we have more information, we'll get it out.
It's the last trading day of what's been a huge week of gains on Wall Street. And though the upbeat corporate earnings reports continue to roll in, the market is off to kind of a sluggish start today. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to explain why, why, why we couldn't have five straight days of the good news.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, you know -- I don't want to jinx it, but the Dow is on the plus side right now.
COLLINS: A little bit.
LISOVICZ: That's right. We'll take it and, you know, maybe a little bit of positive mo early in the session. Think of the numbers we've seen leading up to today. The Dow rallied more than 560 points, or nearly 70 -- nearly 7 percent. Let me not get ahead of myself.
The NASDAQ and S&P 500 are also up by that amount. And really what we're hearing from corporate America is that things are stabilizing. Lots of concerns about consumer behavior in the second half, still. But that things -- we're seeing a floor, and that's encouraging.
Let's start with the financial sector. Bank of America posting quarterly profits of more than $3 billion, better than Street expected. The CEO, Ken Lewis, warns of more weakness ahead for the global economy. Think about it. B of A is a huge credit card business, so it's vulnerable to a rising jobless rate.
Citigroup, another troubled financial company. Its profits topped $4 billion, also beating the Street's forecast. Of course, here it was largely the sale of the Smith Barney division. But these banks, the two of them, have received $90 billion in TARP. So, it's encouraging that their bottom line is on the plus side.
Search engine giant Google sought profits of nearly $1.5 billion. Google says it has more clicks, but people are spending less. We also saw positive results from IMB, General Electric, and Mattel. And we're seeing positive results for the Dow. At the moment, blue chips are up 17 points. NASDAQ seeing a little bit of pressure going into today's session. It is riding a seven- session win streak. I want to mention one thing that has been buried with all these earnings numbers. We have nice housing starts, Heidi Collins. Housing starts up for the second month in a row, building permits up strongly -- better than expected. So, little bit of stabilization in the housing sector also a good thing.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. We'll be following that one very closely.
Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome. You, too.
COLLINS: As you fill up your tank, think about this. Exactly one year ago today, you were paying the highest price for gasoline ever recorded. How much have prices come down since then, and will they keep heading lower?
Allison Costic has our "Energy Fix" from New York this morning. Hey, there, Allison.
ALLISON COSTIC, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Heidi. Who can forget? On July 17, 2008, the nationwide average for a gallon of gas hit $4.11. It's the highest price ever recorded by AAA.
Today the average price is $2.48, a drop of nearly 40 cents from that all-time record. So, the question is, how much more money is that in your pocket? We went ahead and did some back-of-the-envelope calculations. So, assume you drive 13,000 miles a year and get 23 miles per gallon. The difference translates into savings of more than $900 a year. Not too shabby, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. I love those back-of-the-envelope calculations.
COSTIC: Me, too.
COLLINS: That's a fair chunk of change, though. Everyone is wondering what is next, and are the prices going to continue to go down?
COSTIC: Well, analysts we talked with expect that gas prices will fall a bit more. They could dip below $2 in some markets. But, they don't expect to see last year's lows again when gas was around $1.60, $1.70 per gallon.
This summer, the national average got as high as $2.69 on June 21, but it lost steam as more Americans stayed home during the traditional driving season. Prices have now fallen for the past 26 straight days, and we could see prices slip even more if oil continues to decline. Crude hit an eight-month high of more than $73 a barrel on June 30, but it's come down more than $10 a barrel since then.
But, Heidi, let's not forget, it's hurricane season. There are a lot of gasoline refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. So, if a big storm threatens like Hurricane Ike did last year, we could see gas prices spike again. I'll tell you what, that no one sees it getting even close to the record high that caused so much pain a year ago, Heidi.
COLLINS: That is it good news. We sure do appreciate it. Allison Costic. Thank you.
COSTIC: Sure.
COLLINS: A special CNN investigation. Foreign exchange students getting a memorable experience in Pennsylvania. Some may want to forget they were ever there.
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COLLINS: Part of the House Democrats' plan, we're talking health care reform, is these tax surcharges on Americans making more than $350,000 a year. So, on our blog this morning, we are asking if you think that's fair to go ahead and tax the wealthy in order to pay for health care reform. Let's go ahead and get to some of these responses because you wouldn't believe how many we have been getting. Just 130 or so in the last few minutes.
Let's go to the first one. Says this. "Yes, entirely fair. The divide between rich and poor has widened in a staggering way. It's one of the problems."
And then this one. "As a successful small business owner that works ten hours a day and employs 30 people, I feel I am penalized for my success by these outrageous surcharges. I guess one way to make up for the extra taxes I have to pay is for me to lay off a few people. Is that how we boost our economy?"
And the last one we want to show you here, quickly. "Goodly percentage of the uber-wealthy got that money by uber-overcharging the system for health-related services and products." And at the very bottom there, it says, "The whole system needs to be rebuilt from the ground up."
We appreciate your responses today on whether or not the wealthy should be taxed for health care reform. We're right back here in a moment in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Foreign exchange students come to the U.S. looking for a special experience. But in the case of some students in Scranton, Pennsylvania, they got a lot less than they bargained for. CNN Special Investigation Unit's correspondent Drew Griffin has their story.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Tanzanian Musa Mpulki was told he would be living with a prescreened, loving family. He ended up in a second-floor apartment with a 72-year-old man and hardly any food. (on camera): You're the guy that passed out at track?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Carlos Villarreal came here from Colombia for a year in high school. It cost his family $13,000.
CARLOW VILLARREAL, FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENT: I ended up in a house living with a couple of ex-convicts with low amounts of food, which I lost a lot of body weight and in an unsafe environment.
GRIFFIN: There was a drug bust on this street the week Carlos moved in. His host? A local reverend, who according to the local prosecutor, also houses his drug-dealing grandson.
(on camera): Did you starve him? Were you not feeding him?
REVEREND AL SMITH, FORMER STUDENT'S HOST: (Expletive) Do you think I would have a kid and not feed him? I have two of my own. He ate. I bought -- get that camera off me, would you, please?
VILLARREAL: We signed up for a family that was going to transport us from our homes to school, that was going to feed us three times a day and, basically, that was going to be a family.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): This Norwegian girl, who doesn't want us to show her face, found herself in a sort of flop house and took pictures of the dog droppings all over the floor.
(on camera): Mother and daughter slept on the couch and you slept on the bed, and there was this man who stayed somewhere else in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the apartment. A three-bedroom apartment.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Health officials in Scranton actually condemned part of the house, and county officials say the girl and four other students were taken out of their host homes. What happened to these guests of the U.S. is now a criminal investigation.
ANDREW JARBOLA, JR., DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LACKAWANNA COUNTY: They expected to get a certain degree of quality of life for the money that they provided, and obviously weren't. That's one possible crime that we'd be looking at, as well.
GRIFFIN: This is the local placement agent who placed youngsters in the homes of ex-cons and rooming houses and was paid $400 per student. She kicked a local television station out of her home, and so far has not responded to calls and door knocks from CNN.
She worked for Aspect, the San Francisco firm that takes in millions of dollars bringing students here with a State Department approval. While local prosecutors are looking at charges against Aspect and its placement director in Scranton, there is a much bigger question going on in Washington. SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: It's inexcusable that our government didn't do a better job of oversight, and it's inexcusable that this foundation hasn't done the job to provide basic protection for children.
GRIFFIN: Aspect gave conflicting responses to CNN. While calling the Scranton situation deplorable, it also said based on its investigation in talks with county officials, no student was abused, malnourished or dehydrated. That, county officials repeatedly told CNN, is just not true.
Aspect said it fired its local agent, and two other of its officers have resigned. But that was after the fact. CNN has learned Aspect knew about the problems in Scranton way back in October, when a student sent photos and an e-mail pleading for help. And the State Department, which spends $34 million a year on exchange programs? Well, it knew, too.
CASEY: I'm the father of four daughters, okay? I would never want my daughter, nor would any parent want their son or daughter, exposed to these kind of conditions...
GRIFFIN: Senator Casey says e-mails show the state Department knew about the problems here since last October and did nothing for months. And then the State Department allowed Aspect, the agency that placed the students in these homes, to investigate itself.
P.J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, says that was a mistake.
P.J. CROWLEY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: I think a large respect -- because we put too much emphasis on the program agents to police themselves. We recognize that has not worked properly.
GRIFFIN: Danielle Grishalda (ph), who has been tracking exchange student abuse for years, says the typical scenario is kids complain, the State Department does nothing. And agencies around the country keep recruiting students.
DANIELLE GRIJALVA, COMMITTEE FOR SAFETY OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENTS: It's self-regulated, unmonitored, underreported. Students becoming raped, placed in the homes of convicted felons, placed in the homes of registered sex offenders, come to the United States and lose 20, 30, 40 pounds...
GRIFFIN: Musa Mpulki says despite the living conditions, he's loved his time in the U.S.
MUSA MPULKI, EXCHANGE STUDENT: All the people are good.
GRIFFIN: He plans to come back. But next time, he says, not to a home where he needs to wonder where his next meal is coming from.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: Boy, oh, boy. What a story. Drew Griffin joining me now to talk more about this. First off, the State Department going to do anything about this?
GRIFFIN: They've already sanctioned the company involved here, Aspect. But they are going to do something about it. We got an e- mail from them yesterday. They said that the Department of State is taking a close look, both externally and internally, at the oversight of these programs, ways they can improve and protect against terrible incidents like in Scranton.
But in addition, they're going to have an audit system set up. You wonder why this wasn't already set up in advance, and an 800 number for students to use if they feel threatened or maltreated. And they're also going to try to send staff out to these U.S.-government funded programs to check on these kids.
But, again, this kind of abuse, we're finding out, has been going on for years, the State Department has known about it and the bureaucrats who have gotten those complaints have rally done nothing.
COLLINS: Wow, that's amazing. Does Aspect handle any foreign exchange students going overseas from the United States, or only those coming in?
GRIFFIN: As far as we know, just those coming in. They're actually part of both state and U.S. Department of State programs and other just for-profit or, you know, individual programs that bring students in. Altogether, 30,000 students a year are coming into the United States. So, it's a big deal when you have them paying $13,000 each.
COLLINS: Yes. The other ones, we should say, handling things properly, we hope.
GRIFFIN: Well, as far as we know.
COLLINS: Drew Griffin, I know you'll do more reporting on that. Let us know what you find out on that. Appreciate it.
Want to get back to these live pictures now. We're getting new pictures in on this story I mentioned to you just a few minutes ago. Out of Chicago, talking about the west side here. This factory that has exploded. They knocked down the fire. You can see some pictures on the left. Live pictures on the right of rescue crews on the scene.
According to the Chicago Fire Department, at least two people have been injured. And just a few moments ago, we were watching them take care of someone who was in a stretcher there. They were literally hosing that individual down and sort of scrubbing his body because this is, we are being told, a level two Haz Mat situation.
So, not quite sure at this point what factory this is, but, obviously, they are concerned about some hazardous materials there. So, we'll continue to follow that. Once again, this happened about 9:00 a.m. Central time. Ten a.m. Eastern, and according to the fire department there in Chicago, at least two people have been injured. We'll bring you the latest just as soon as we hear it here.
Affirmative action. Is it time to do away with it or is it still necessary? We'll take a closer look at that very debate.
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COLLINS: In Washington, the definition of hate crimes may soon expand, and with it, the number of people who would be protected. The Senate has passed the bill that would include people attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender.
Right now, the law defines hate crimes as those carried out on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. It was enacted in response to the 1968 assassination of martin Luther King, Jr. If passed, this would be the single biggest expansion since then.
With an African-American man in the White House and a Hispanic woman looking like she is well on track for the Supreme Court, some people wonder, is it time to do away with affirmative action? CNN's Carol Costello looks at the debate.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born at the height of the civil rights movement, affirmative action helped minority students like Sonia Sotomayor get into elite schools like Princeton.
SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. My test scores were not comparable to that of my colleagues at Princeton or Yale.
COSTELLO: Keep in mind, back then, only 12 percent of law school students nationwide were women. And only 7 percent were minorities. Today, the numbers have changed dramatically. Almost half of law school students are women, and 23 percent are minority.
And minorities and women overall seem to be acceling. America boasts a black president, a woman secretary of state and the list goes on and on and on.
(on camera): I'm just saying.
(voice-over): Time to say no to affirmative action?
KEN BLACKWELL, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: For us to operate on -- under the nomenclature of affirmative action, to operate on racial preferences and quotas is idiotic and counterproductive.
COSTELLO: It's a sentiment echoed by Clarence Thomas, who wrote in his memoir of his Yale law degree, "I graduated from one of America's top law schools, but racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value."
And we found plenty of other Americans who agreed with him. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't see the point in it any more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's have it go away.
UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: I think it's time to consider ending it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it's relevant any more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is always some group that would need it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe affirmative action should have never been in place in the first place.
COSTELLO: But others say, not so fast. Yes, we have a black president, but there is just one black senator and two Hispanics.
CATHY AREU, CATALINA MAGAZINE: The day that we have a nominee for the Supreme Court and we don't bring up the word Latina or woman, I think that's a great day. I think we'll just say, here's our new nominee, we're going to ask her questions. Then we won't need affirmative action.
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COLLINS: "Black in America 2." CNN presents this groundbreaking series July 22 and 23. Two nights, two primetime documentaries. All new stories right here on CNN.
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COLLINS: Quickly before we go, want to get this out to you, just getting it in the CNN NEWSROOM. In response to the two blasts at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta, Indonesia where six people were killed, we are learning that the security at some New York City hotels, namely the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton there in New York, has been increased.
We are learning there is no direct threat, but because an overseas liaison from the New York police department was there at the Marriott in Jakarta when that explosion happened there, reacting to it and increasing their security. We will be listening for comments coming from the police commissioner Ray Kelly any moment here. We'll make sure to stay on top of that story for you, of course.
For now, I'm Heidi Collins. Live coverage from the scene of that deadly bombing is coming up next here in the CNN NEWSROOM with T.J. Holmes.
