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North American Summit Held in Mexico; Toned-Down Town Hall; Taliban Gains Upper Hand; Stock Market rally Stalls; Health Care Debate Still Hot During Congressional Recess; Poll Indicates Democrats Losing Popularity, Republicans Not Gaining Any; Summit of "The Three Amigos"
Aired August 10, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's get going. First this hour, President Obama south of the border. He is in Mexico for a North American summit. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is in Guadalahara. And Suzanne, last hour, you know, we talked about these leaders addressing the issue of illegal drugs. This hour, let's talk about the H1N1 virus. And how are these three countries cooperating on the virus, getting ready for the upcoming flu season?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, Tony, I have to tell you, I flied in -- I flew commercial, rather. And the first thing at customs, what happens is, you're greeted by a custom agent who has a bottle of Purell. And they squeeze it in your hands, and you have to get it on your hands before you actually get your luggage. That is the process here in Mexico.
The last trip that the president took, it was in Mexico City. I was with him in April. And that is when the whole thing just started to perolate. The president was not aware of it, nor was his entourage. One of his aides got the swine flu, got sick, but ended up being OK in the end. The president, we're told, was never exposed to the swine flu, but clearly, everybody was clueless back then.
A lot has changed since then.
Since then, the U.S. government and the Mexican government have been working closely, also with Canada, to share information, to talk about the number of vaccinations, what needs to be put out there in the public. There was a lot of concern and even some talk, Tony, before about possibly shutting down the border. That did not happen; it was not necessary.
That's the kind of thing that they want to come forward. After this summit, they're going to be releasing this kind of joint statement saying, look, we are going to continue to talk to one another, we're going to continue to cooperate. We are going to try to prevent a sense of panic that could take place in the fall. And they expect that things are going to get much deadlier because of this swine flu virus -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Suzanne, for those who weren't with us last hour, let's circle back to that discussion we had on the issue of illegal drugs, and maybe discuss for us, put it into context, why this is such a hot issue really at the top of the agenda for these leaders.
MALVEAUX: Well, this has been an ongoing situation where you had the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, three years ago, who said, I'm going to crack down on the drug cartels, I'm going to change things around. It got a lot better, actually, Tony.
But since he has taken office, things have started to turn recently, the drug cartel is getting a lot more powerful. You've had more than 11,000 people who have been killed since he's taken them on, and it has been a frightening situation. Just over the last six months or so, we've seen this spike in violence, so there is a lot of concern over what is happening.
The Mexican government was quite pleased when they heard President Obama come to Mexico City the first go-around. Also here this time saying, we do, the United States, share some responsibility in all of this chaos because of the appetite that Americans have for drugs, and also the flow of guns, illegal guns and cash that's going to these drug cartels that makes them so powerful.
That has been a relief to the Mexican government, but they say, we still more help from the United States, we still need more aid. And that is one of things that they've talked about in this summit today -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK.
Our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux traveling with the president in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
The leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States hold a joint news conference this hour, and you can see live coverage in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is scheduled for 12:30 Eastern, 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time.
You know, we have heard a lot of shouting at town hall meetings on health care during this make-or-break month in the debate, but the tension was toned down at the meeting that just wrapped up last hour in Missouri. It was sponsored by Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.
And our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is joining us now.
Brianna, some of these town halls have really gotten pretty hostile, pretty feisty. What did the senator experience today?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was civil, in a word, Tony. It was really civil.
And certainly, it had the potential to become unruly. I think Senator McCaskill was really aware of that as she tried to disarm some of the critics in the crowd, because here's the situation.
We are in southeastern Missouri. This is a rural conservative stronghold, and Senator McCaskill is a Democrat who supports that public option, that government-run insurance plan. So, we asked her as this town hall meeting broke up just about the tone of it and what she thought.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: This is Missouri manners at its best. People had really strong opinions in there, but I think we had a good, full discussion. I think I was able to hopefully correct some really bad misinformation that's out there. People are just getting information that is just flat wrong, and...
KEILAR: It seemed that was one of the things you were really doing, was confronting some of these charges head on. We were just talking about that live.
What did you think that was really important to say, this is true, this is not true, et cetera?
MCCASKILL: The most important thing, I have an 81-year-old mother that is incredibly important to me. And the notion that I would ever, or our government would ever do anything to cut short or dismiss the quality of life for our seniors, it's so offensive to me as an American. And I think it's -- as the AARP said, it's just a flat lie.
There's no rationing of health care that's being proposed for our elderly. There's no, you know, just notion that people are batting about, that somehow elderly people are going to be dismissed and going to be told, you can't get health care. Hopefully, I was able to reassure people that, not in America, that's not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Senator McCaskill, though, got some pretty tough questions today, most of the questions coming from critics of the Democrats' health care reform push. She was asked if there's money in this reform package for abortion. She said absolutely not. She was asked if this is -- you know, she addressed some questions about this being a government takeover of health care, of it going to what's called a single payer system, socialized health care, and she said that's not going to happen, Tony.
And, you know, one of other things I think a lot of people have wondered about these town hall meetings is, who all is in these meetings? Are these people from the local surroundings?
I did ask a couple of people who are acquaintances of each other from this town, Kennnett, and one for health care reform, one against, at least the Democrats' plan. And they said that they recognized a lot of the faces in the crowd. Certainly, there were some they didn't recognize, but they said about two-thirds of the faces in the crowd they recognized as people from this immediate area.
HARRIS: You know, a quick question. You mentioned one for, one against the Democratic plan so far. But, is that same person who is against the Democratic plan, so far as we know it, in favor of health care?
KEILAR: He actually -- Tony, I'm sorry. Someone is talking in my ear. Can you repeat that question, Tony?
HARRIS: Yes. I'm wondering -- you were mentioning you were talking to two people, one who is in favor of health care reform and one who is against, at least a Democratic plan. But I'm wondering, with that person who was against the Democratic plan, is that person, generally speaking, ,in favor of health care reform?
KEILAR: I think that person, that one particular person, Tony, what they said to me was that they were just really suspicious of anything where they didn't have details. So, that I thought, was an example of someone who said, I don't really understand what's going on here and I'm not going to sign on to something that I don't understand. We heard that from some people who wanted to know if Senator McCaskill had read the bill.
Now, there were some other people that I spoke with who said that they want things to change, but they are just really, really gun shy about the government being involved in such a way. They say they look at the way the bank bailout went. The government has gotten so involved, and they really see it, Tony, as being the same kind of thing. And they say, "I look back historically" -- this is what one woman said -- "and I just think it's such a bad idea when the government gets involved."
We heard that from more than a few people.
HARRIS: That's good. Want to hear more of what the folks are seeing to you.
Brianna Keilar for us.
Brianna, thank you. Good stuff.
And let's take a look now at where health care reform stands right now in Congress.
Three House committees are working on separate versions of the legislation. Those three versions will have to be merged into one bill for the House, the entire House to vote on.
On the Senate side, two committees are working on reform plans. Those would also have to be merged into a bill to go before the full Senate.
Then negotiators work out differences between the House and Senate versions. If the final bill passes, it goes to President Obama for his signature.
So, there is a lot of hard legislative work to be done. Keep that in mind as you follow the debate and the reporting this month.
CNN is hitting the road to hear what you're saying about health care reform. Ali Velshi and the CNN Express will travel through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois, ending in Iowa.
Ali is with us live before he heads out on his health care road trip.
Ali, good to see you again.
Look, I wanted to have you back this hour because I think this is fantastic, that you in particular are doing this, because I think you have a real sense for how this health care reform debate can potentially impact the broader economy.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Look, we all want good quality health care, good access to health care. But, obviously, if money were no issue, we would all have that. Right? So, this is a financial issue.
And as we're pulling out of this financial crisis, as we're talking about the recession ending, there are many, many Americans who are very afraid that this is exactly the thing that will put us back into some kind of crisis. So, we need to understand what people are worried about so we can understand what we have to learn and what we have to communicate.
So, this is a two-way street. That's why it's so exciting, that we're getting out and we're getting into some of these towns that we wouldn't necessarily get to. Maybe there aren't town hall meetings there. Maybe people there are not getting access to their representatives.
So, we're going to go to Chattanooga. We're going to go to...
HARRIS: You've got Iowa.
VELSHI: Yes, we're going to go through Tennessee, through Kentucky, through southern Illinois, through Missouri, through Iowa, and this is what we're going to do it on. This is the CNN Express, which you've seen many, many times before.
HARRIS: Yes, let's see that baby. There you go.
VELSHI: It's hitting the road again. It is all packed and ready to go, it's all wired up. We can broadcast from here, we can broadcast from here while we're moving.
We can pull in when we think there's an interesting story. You know, people see this thing, and if you do see us anywhere across the country, if you're on the road, give us a honk. If you see this bus parked anywhere in the country, come and see us. There will be seven of us on this bus, we're traveling for six days. It's going to be a great, great time -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Here's the thing -- and I know you're on the Facebook. And you're also tweeting, right?
VELSHI: Yes. We're going to be tweeting. We're going to be tweeting at my address, at Ali Velshi. The bus has its own address at CNN Express. We're going to be talking to you about where we're going, what we're talking about, who we're meeting. It will be on CNN.com and, of course, it will be on CNN all week. We want to get a pulse, no pun intended, of the nation on health care.
HARRIS: Well, I just want folks to be able to find you so that they can come see you and talk to you.
VELSHI: And tell us what's on their mind. If you're nowhere near the bus, tell us what you're thinking. That's what this trip is all about.
HARRIS: Ali, terrific. Travel well, my friend.
VELSHI: We will. Thank you, my friend.
HARRIS: It is a make-or-break month for health care in many respects. Is your representative holding a town hall meeting? Are you going?
What would you tell your elected officials? Share it with us by logging on to CNN.com/Tony. We will read some of your comments on the air, right here on the program, in about 15 minutes or so.
The search for the final two victims of that tourist helicopter small plane collision over the Hudson River going on right now. Seven of the nine victims recovered.
Our Susan Candiotti is in Hoboken, New Jersey, watching from the shore.
And Susan, any new details on the search or the investigation?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, I'm keeping a close eye. That's why I keep checking back and forth to see whether there's anything in particular to point out to you. And taking a kick sweep around.
Nothing in particular stands out, but, of course, we can tell you that it's been, boy, about five hours now since divers have been back in the water. They have pinpointed -- and this part is new -- some wreckage from the small plane.
We knew they knew the location of it. And we know that the divers were down there. So, they did find something and they hope to be able to bring it up.
Whether it's too large to be able to bring up by hand or whether they will have to bring the crane in, we don't know yet. Of course, it's a fairly large chunk. They will bring in a crane as they did yesterday to bring up the helicopter debris, which was a big bunch of twisted metal.
And, you know, one of the other key things, Tony, that we're hearing again, and it happens every time you have, sadly, a crash like this, are there enough rules governing the pilots that take off day in and day out here along the Hudson River? A lot of sightseeing tours, for one thing.
They are supposed to be able to keep track of each other. It's a voluntary rule right now, or on a voluntary basis. The question is whether the FAA should impose more restrictions about that. And it's something that we asked the National transportation Safety Board chairman, Debbie Hersman, about earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH HERSMAN, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: This is a congested corridor, and so I think we're going to have to see what the investigation develops, on what the facts tell us, and then we will look to determine recommendations to prevent something like this from happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: So, part of the way they are trying to do that is to interview a number of eyewitnesses, talk to pilots who use this corridor a lot, talk to the air traffic control towers. And, of course, you're going to have a lot of politicians weighing in on both sides of this issue. Mayor Bloomberg has said time and again, he wants to keep this economy pumping by keeping these sightseeing tours in business.
HARRIS: Well, Susan, I want to -- hey, guys, let's pull that video up again of the helicopter coming out of the water.
Susan, were you there yesterday for this moment? And you described it so well. Look at that. And you talk about the twisted debris. That must have been quite a sight.
CANDIOTTI: It was quite a sight when you think about how that helicopter looked when it took off. You know, the conditions, Tony, were a day like this, bright and sunny. It was almost just like this.
Two experienced pilots. What went wrong?
And the other tragic thing about looking at that debris is that we knew that when they brought it up, we had been told that there were two victims bodies that had been trapped inside they had to extricate from that debris. It's just been very painful, obviously, for the victims' families in particular.
HARRIS: OK.
Susan Candiotti for us in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Susan, thank you.
The Taliban taking back control in parts of Afghanistan. Startling statements reportedly from the top U.S. commander there.
We will go live to Kabul. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A dozen U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan so far this month. It follows the deadliest month for American troops in that war.
Now the top U.S. commander there says the Taliban are gaining the upper hand. General Stanley McChrystal tells "The Wall Street Journal," "It's a very aggressive enemy right now. We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work."
CNN's Atia Abawi joins us live from Kabul.
And Atia, first of all, good to see you.
Why after all this time are things getting better for the Taliban and worse for the Afghan and foreign forces fighting them?
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the simple answer here, Tony -- there are many answers, but the simple one here is the government of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan don't trust their own government in many parts of the country, and they actually turn to the Taliban for protection. And when they see the coalition troops, they see them as backing the Afghan government.
And I was actually speaking to a former poppy farmer who told me that he actually has to turn to the Taliban to protect his land because he has the Afghan national police, a police officer who's there to protect him, actually coming up to him and saying, you're going to farm the land, but the profits of a certain percentage belong to me. So, then he turns to the Taliban for their protection. And that's just one story of millions -- Tony.
HARRIS: Wow.
One more quick one for you, Atia.
You know, we've heard for a while now that the drug trade is funding the Taliban. It's their currency. What are coalition forces doing to dismantle the drug economy in the country?
ABAWI: The coalition forces have been working for years right now to dismantle this drug profit. Afghanistan provides over 90 percent of the world's opium, opium venues to produce heroin. And the majority of that comes from Helmand Province.
Helmand is where we saw thousands of U.S. Marines pouring into last month, and that's also where we're seeing several dozens of civilian casualties. Last month being the deadliest month not only for U.S. soldiers, but also for coalition troops. But they are still fighting that battle.
CNN just obtained a copy from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the drug trade in Afghanistan, and they are stating that the drug money, over $7,500 (ph) million, goes to the insurgency. And right now, they have 50 major drug traffickers in their kill or capture list.
The interesting thing to see, Tony, in the coming months will be if they can actually capture these drug barons, because some of them are related to the Afghan government.
HARRIS: Very interesting.
All right. Atia Abawi for us in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Atia, thank you.
Iraq reeling today from a string of coordinated bombings. Eight different explosions in all killing at least 48 people, wounding more than 230 others. Most of the blasts were in Baghdad, but the deadliest attacks happened in a village near Mosul. Two truck bombs detonated in an area disputed between Kurds and Arabs. The attacks, along with five on Friday that killed 50 people, are raising fears that sectarian violence is again on the rise.
And an investigation into a deadly shooting is under way in Baghdad's Green Zone. An Iraqi military spokesman says a British security contractor faces charges in the killings of two co-workers yesterday. We're told the suspect will be charged with premeditated under Iraqi law. That means he could face the death penalty if convicted. The security firm ArmorGroup Iraq says it is working closely with Iraqi authorities to investigate.
Think you've got problems with flooding? Wait until you see this. It is coming down. Literally. We'll tell you all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Once again, these pictures from just moments ago.
Let me know if these are live or pictures from -- oh, these are live pictures. OK.
The room where the news conference will be taking place in just a couple of minutes. And just moments ago we saw the leaders of the three nations, President Obama, Mexican President Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrive -- there they are -- arrive on location for the news conference which is scheduled to get under way in just a couple of minutes.
It looks like the president signing some autographs there.
When that news conference begins, we will of course take you back to Guadalajara.
More patients than every before. We will take you, and this will be amazing to see. We're going to take you to a free clinic that was actually inundated with thousands of uninsured people in need of basic medical and dental care. Just something to think about as you listen to the health care reform debate this month. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Once again, live pictures from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Thirty minutes after the hour. Welcome back, everyone. to the CNN NEWSROOM.
Any moment now, we expect to see President Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper step to the microphones.
Here's our plan, at least. We are going to try to time this so that we get to President Obama's remarks as soon as he begins. We anticipate that Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president, will begin the news conference. But we're going to try to time this to we get you right to the president's conference. Again, a news conference scheduled to begin any moment now.
All summer long, investors have been cheering a wave of reports showing the economy is stabilizing, but today stocks are stuck in neutral. Is the rally on hold? Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange.
Well, according to what you showed us last hour, yes, it's on hold a bit.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Actually, the losses have gotten a little bit worse since we spoke about an hour ago. The rally is on hold at least for right now.
But, as you mentioned, the recent ride has been pretty fantastic, frankly.
HARRIS: Yes.
TAYLOR: Let's take a look at the chart from the beginning of year. The DOW is at its highest level of this year, you can see on chart we had a little bit of a dip earlier on, and then things have been pretty much to the upside.
Since March 9th it has soared 43 percent. We've seen rising home prices, increased sales. We had some good news on the job front last week, all of that playing a part in this.
But the surge could leave stocks a little bit vulnerable to a pull back. It makes sense. People take some profits.
So one analyst, though, says the emphasis will now be on road ahead. Basically investors really want to know the economy is going to stay stabilized and that corporate profits headed in the right direction.
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, we've been talking about this today, says the worst is past, but the real recovery is at least two years away. So we're not out of this at all.
On Wednesday, though, we're going to get the Fed's take on the economy that will have to do with interest rates. Expectations are they won't do anything and leave interest rates exactly where they are right now.
But in the meantime there are positive signs. Freddie Mac swung to a second quarter profit. The mortgage giant says it doesn't need any more government aid. That's a big surprise. Freddie's shares are soaring, 80 percent. But they still trade at just $1.35 a share.
Fannie Mae is up 35 percent.
And Priceline says that it is actually making money too. Second quarter earnings jumped 24 percent. And why? People are traveling, evidently, which is a surprise to me. Leisure travel is strong because of all the discounts that are being offered right now. Priceline's shares for its part are up 13 percent.
But overall the market is still trading to the downside. The DOW Industrial is now off about two-fifths of one percent, the NASDAQ is off about a half a percent, and the S&P is in about the same range percentagewise -- Tony?
HARRIS: You know, Felicia, like you, I've been really surprised at how well leisure travel has held up during the recession. It really has though. That's the simple truth of it.
TAYLOR: Absolutely. It's crazy. I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago, and the airport, I'm telling you, was packed, absolutely packed with people.
HARRIS: We'll, that's a good thing.
All right, Felicia, appreciate it. Thank you.
And toned downtown hall meeting on health care reform during this make or break month of August. Lots of questions but no shouting at the meeting that just wrapped up a short time ago in Kennett, Missouri. Senator Claire McCaskill responded to a wide range of concerns of what the legislation will include and how much it will cost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: There is nothing in the bill that funds Planned Parenthood, there's not one dime for any abortions, there's nothing in the bill that mandates any kind of abortion coverage. That's just simply not true.
And finally, how are we going to pay for it? That's one of hard things. I won't vote for a bill that's not deficit neutral. I won't vote for a bill that is not deficit neutral.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK, but questions persist about whether the outrage expressed at some health care town halls is being orchestrated. The Senate's top Republican says those complaints are an attack on citizens. The Senate's second ranking Democrat says the rowdy meetings violate the democratic process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), MAJORITY WHIP: Town meetings are not bean bag. I've had hundreds and sometimes folks get upset. And that's part of America, part of our process. But this is clearly being orchestrated, and these folks have instructions. They come down from a Texas lobbyist.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: I think attacking citizens in our country for expressing their opinions about an issue of this magnitude may indicate weakness in their position on the merits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The Republican Party says it is not behind any coordinated effort, but some conservative groups have encouraged people to show up at the meetings.
Rarely has anger at Congress boiled this hot. Let's talk to CNN's Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser. He's in Washington. Paul, it's good to see you.
Let's get to polling here. Does our new CNN polling tell us anything about these town hall outbursts that's helpful?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It sure does, Tony. Take a look at this number. It was conducted about a week ago, CNN, the independent research corporation national poll -- who's more motivated, Tony, to go out to attend these health care town halls?
You can see here, the answer is opponents of the president's plan, 48 percent of them said they would attend most likely a town hall. Only 37 percent of those that support the president said they would be likely to attend a town hall. So it seems, Tony, the motivation is more on the opponents' side.
HARRIS: Yes. And this health care debate could actually have a pretty big impact on next year's congressional elections. What does the poll show about which party Americans want running congress?
STEINHAUSER: You are absolutely right, how the senators and the reps, how vote they vote this year could impact their reelections next year. And all 435 seats in the House and over a third of the Senate are up for grabs next year.
Check these numbers out. These are brands new, Tony. We just released them for you today -- 44 percent of Americans say it would be better if the Democrats control congress, 34 percent say Republicans. That 10-point margin, Tony, is down from 15 points earlier this year. Also, we asked about favorability, do you have a more favorable opinion of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. You can see here, 52 percent say they give Democrats a thumbs up, only 41 percent say the Republican.
Tony, though, that's a six-point drop for the Democrats earlier this year. But the Democrats' demise, I guess, in the polls is not -- we don't see a gain by the Republicans here, Tony.
HARRIS: All right, Paul Steinhauser with the latest polling information. Paul, appreciate it, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HARRIS: Beyond Capitol Hill and beyond the town hall meetings there are real people suffering, no health care or poor options. Tomorrow Remote Area Medical, a volunteer-based group, will host a free medical and dental clinic near downtown Los Angeles, and the turnout is expected to be huge just like it was in Wise, Virginia.
We told you that story a few weeks ago, but because this is such an enormous issue, we wanted to show it again. Here's Dana Wachter from CNN affiliate WJHL.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA WACHTER, WJHL CORRESPONDENT: Before dawn Friday morning, hundreds of people wait for their number to be called.
DARLENE BECK, PATIENT: I got here about 9:00 last night and I'm 790.
WACHTER: For many camping out was necessary. By sunrise tickets were gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At midnight and over a thousand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last year at midnight we were 300.
WACHTER: Optician Chris Hall worked with RAND for 12 years.
CHRIS HALL, OPTICIAN: I'm seeing a growth, seeing each clinic becoming larger.
WACHTER: And without these clinics --
BECK: Wouldn't get what I need. Be without.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't be getting glasses.
WACHTER (on camera): It's not your typical doctor's office here, with tents and trailers spread out around a fairground. But this weekend about 1,600 patients each day will be served. At least 1,100 pairs of glasses will be given out, 28 pairs of dentures will be fit, and over 3,000 teeth will be taken out right here behind me.
WACHTER (voice-over): Volunteers give their time and supplies.
SCOTT MILLER, DENTIST: A set of dentures in my practice is $2,500. That's a pretty good sum of free work when you consider the labs donating their part too.
WACHTER: Because people need it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It blows my mind how many people are here who really don't have medical care.
WACHTER: And so volunteers share what they can.
PATIENT: That feeling when you're driving home from wherever it is knowing you just turned out a thousand pair of glasses and that's a thousand people seeing sharper than they were earlier.
WACHTER: Even if they have to wait all weekend.
In Wise, Virginia, Dana Watchter, 11 Connects News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And to learn more about tomorrow free clinic in the Los Angeles area, or find out how you can help Remote Area Medical, just go to ramusa.org.
Live pictures now. Let's go back to Guadalajara, Mexico, the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon now opening up the news conference there. President Obama is there and Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper is there as well.
What we're going to do here is get you back to the news conference when President Obama begins to speak.
You've got questions, plenty of questions about health care reform. And earlier I threw some of your questions to our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The first comes from Jake who writes, "I am retired and have Blue Cross insurance along with Medicare. Will I lose the Medicare with the new plan? Will I still have to pay $200 and $167 for Medicare a month? Can I cancel my Blue Cross?"
ELIZABETH COHEN, SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Blue cross.
You know what, if there's one group of people who need to worry the least about health care reform, it's probably the elderly. And the reason for that is that the elderly already have Medicare. They already have government-sponsored health insurance.
Reform is about helping people under the age of 65. So he really doesn't have to worry about his Medicare.
And, as I understand this question from Jake, what he's saying that he's chosen on top of Medicare, he's decided he needs a private plan as well to supplement Medicare which a lot of seniors do. And so he's asking should he cancel it?
I would say no. Whatever he feels he needs now he'll feel he needs now to supplement his Medicare, he's going to feel he needs after health care reform.
HARRIS: Nice. Time for one more?
COHEN: Sure.
HARRIS: From Lydia from Pittsburgh, who writes, "Will current access to specialists, tests, and doctor choice available through PPO plans be reduced or eliminated under the proposed plan?"
COHEN: All right, this is the mother of all health care reform questions. When you see people going ballistic at these meeting, which is not at the one we just saw, but at the earlier ones, this is really what they are saying.
They are saying, look, I have private health care insurance. I'm happy. I don't want anyone to make any changes that will take away my choice of doctors or hospitals or my ability to get treatments.
There are two sides to this. What President Obama and the Democrats who are behind him would say, if you're happy, health care reform will not change anything for you. If you like the way things are now, nothing is going to change.
Republicans and some Democrats would say, look, the minute you put out a public policy, in other words, a government-sponsored health insurance like Medicare for the rest of us, private health care companies will not be able to compete. Employers will go with the government sponsored insurance, and things will change.
HARRIS: Exactly.
COHEN: You know, none of us has a crystal ball. You don't know what's going to happen.
Now, it is also possible -- let's say that did happen. Let's say all of us sudden all of us had government-sponsored insurance. Well, maybe you would have just as many choices and doctor options as you do now. You don't hear people in Medicare screaming about that. People in Medicare seem for the most part pretty happy with the choices they have.
So I think that's important to keep in mind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: There you go. Your questions answered by our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
So what if you could take your health care questions straight to the Obama administration? Well, you can. In the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, communications director for the White House office of health reform, Linda Douglas, is answering your tweets, emails all at the 1:00 eastern hour with Kyra Phillips.
And once again, let's take you to Guadalajara, Mexico. Mexican President Felipe Calderon -- as the news conference gets under way, we'll time this so we get you back to the president's comments. It should be happening in just a couple of minutes.
In the meantime, more than 650,000 Americans using up their unemployment benefits by next month, 1.5 million by the end of the year. See a problem here? We'll get our Poppy Harlow to break it down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And once again waiting for President Obama to make his comment and to answer questions at the news conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, this so called "Three Amigos" summit.
There you see, it looks like President Calderon has passed the torch over to Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada. So the president, it looks like, will be the last to speak. But we are following this for you, and when the president does make his remarks we will take you there to Guadalajara live right here in the "Newsroom."
The pace of job losses is slowing, but the next bubble in the recession could be about to burst. Unemployment benefits are running out for hundreds of thousands of Americans. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has the breakdown from New York. This one could be tough, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi, there, Tony.
You know, we focused so much on the unemployment rate and that number, and we got a little bit of welcome news on Friday that the unemployment rate has fallen. But folks, it's still at 9.4 percent.
And what about those people whose unemployment benefits are drying up? We know 650,000 that will be the case by next month, 1.5 million by the end of the year. That's according to the National Employment Law Project. Their benefits will run out, even with the extensions.
What you need to know is that the benefits vary state by state. We used to see the standard 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. That has changed due to the stimulus package, the extensions.
It's as long as 79 weeks in some states like Michigan where you have the highest unemployment. You've got 15.2 percent unemployment, you have 79 weeks of unemployment benefits.
Look at Alabama, which kind of falls in the middle. Down here you have 59 weeks of unemployment benefits. That state has 10.1 percent unemployment. And then a state like Utah that is really riding out this recession, according to the numbers, relatively well -- 5.7 percent unemployment in Utah. You've got 46 weeks of unemployment benefits there.
So it really varies, Tony, state to state. We've seen some pressure on some lawmakers to pass another extension, so more unemployment benefits. But with those job losses slowing a little bit, there's some opposition to that idea as well.
But what you need to know is in your state, what is the maximum amount of unemployment you're entitled to -- Tony?
HARRIS: Well, a quick one for you here. Tens of thousands of people have already used up their benefits, I'm just wondering how they are getting by.
HARLOW: They are struggling. It's a safety net, and when it breaks, they don't anything left. There's a gallery I want to point you to putting on CNNmoney.com putting a face on this entire crisis.
First of all, let's show you Mary Ortega. She's from Pennsylvania, she's 42 years old. I talked to her on the phone this morning. She told me she lost her retail job in May of 2008. Her benefits ran out last month, Tony. So she doesn't have any right now.
And she told me she may be eligible for additional unemployment benefits. She just filed for that extension. She's waiting to find out.
In the meantime she's gotten a part-time job at local malls. But she hasn't heard from 80 percent of the jobs she has applied for.
And then there's Patrick. Patrick Irwin is 40-years old. He was a writer. His benefits ran out last month. He lost his job all the way back in December. He applied to Target and number of other retailers. Target, Tony, told him he was overqualified so they couldn't hire him.
And he said, and I'll quote you here, "It's like someone pressed the erase button on my entire working career. I feel powerless."
We'll try to bring real people on here and talk to them and show you how they are dealing with this.
HARRIS: I tell you, I have been there in those shoes, and it puts a lot of pressure on a household. I just want to tell you.
All right, Poppy, appreciate it. Thank you.
HARLOW: Thank you.
HARRIS: Once again, let's take you to Guadalajara, Mexico. We're waiting for President Obama to make his comments. You're listening to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Mexican President Felipe Calderon just a couple of minutes ago opened the news conference
Again, we're waiting for President Obama to make his comments. And when he does, we'll take you back to Mexico.
Still to come in the newsroom, taking emotion to an artificial level -- a machine teaches men to smile?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's bust the break and get you to Guadalajara, Mexico for President Obama.
