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: Campaign Finance Overhaul; Scott Brown's Senate Visit; Speeding up Deliveries to Port-au-Prince

Aired January 21, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It is Thursday, January 21st, and the top stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

He is the new Republican in town, and today king of the hill. Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown says hello to his new colleagues.

The president's plans to prevent a repeat of too big to fail. He will announce new limits on bank size this hour.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Has anybody offered you any help with crowd control of these thousands of desperate people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no crowd control whatsoever. We are trying ourselves to control the crowd, but it's impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Boy. Haiti's homeless desperate to escape the ruins of Port-au-Prince, willing to work a dangerous journey.

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

Again, we begin with a landmark decision that dramatically reshapes the way federal elections are financed. The Supreme Court out with a ruling this morning giving corporations the right to spend freely in elections for president and Congress. It will also allow labor unions to get more involved in campaigns.

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining me now from New York.

And Jeffrey, good to see you.

First of all, this decision overturns, what, a 20-year-old rule prohibiting corporations from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads? Did you see this decision coming?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, certainly the court had signaled in the oral argument and the way they handled this case that they were looking in this direction, but it's really not just the 20-year-old ruling from 1990. It's more like 100 years of regulation of the way corporations are prohibited from being involved in the political process. It's really bigger than 20 years. It's more like 100 years of precedent being overturned.

HARRIS: Yes. Courts in the past, correct me here if I'm incorrect on this, have ruled that, essentially, money is speech, right? So is this consistent, this decision from the Supreme Court, consistent with those decisions?

TOOBIN: Yes, it is. It basically says money is speech and corporations are people, both of which are debatable propositions, but both of which seem to be, you know, popular at the Supreme Court at the moment.

Let me just say what the decision is, what the report said. It says that a corporation may make independent expenditures in support or in opposition to a candidate. So what that means is that Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, can put ads on television saying reelect Scott Brown in Massachusetts when he runs in 10 years, or Exxon can run an ad that says vote against President Obama when he runs for reelection in two years -- three years.

That's what -- that's the big change, because corporations had been prohibited from making independent expenditures directly for candidates. Now it's allowed.

HARRIS: OK.

The other issue, though, is not just the kind of ads that you described, but what's been described as electioneering. As I read this -- and it was at the heart of the case that went to the Supreme Court -- where you not only get ads, but you get, in the case of -- you get full-on documentaries. Some say attack documentaries.

TOOBIN: Right. The specific issue in this case was a documentary called "Hillary the Movie," which was a very critical documentary of Hillary Clinton when she was running for president by a group called Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit. And part of McCain-Feingold, which was the law at issue in this case, said that in the 30 days before an election, corporations, labor unions, nonprofits could not run these sorts of documentaries or political ads.

HARRIS: Right.

TOOBIN: And what the court said today is you can't make a rule that says corporations, labor unions, nonprofits are prohibited from engaging in this kind of speech, because that's free speech. That's what the court held today, and this documentary was what started the whole conversation.

HARRIS: So, if this ruling were in place during the campaign cycle, would the documentary have aired?

TOOBIN: Absolutely.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

TOOBIN: Absolutely. And Time Warner and Exxon and General Electric all would be allowed to directly support or oppose candidates.

Now, one issue that is not resolved here but certainly you're going to start to hear a lot about now is, can a corporation make a contribution to a campaign?

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: Can they give money to the reelection of President Obama or the Sarah Palin for president campaign?

HARRIS: Now, I assumed the answer to that was yes.

TOOBIN: Well, no. The answer is no, and it's been no for a hundred years.

HARRIS: Right.

TOOBIN: But this decision suggests that the court may be open to a challenge to that rule, allowing corporations to get even more involved in political campaigns. That's not addressed in this case, but that certainly is up for grabs now.

HARRIS: Boy.

Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, for us from New York.

Jeffrey, good to see you. Thank you, sir.

And fresh from his upset victory, the senator-elect from Massachusetts is making the rounds today in Washington, while Democrats scramble to regroup on health care. Scott Brown is meeting with his soon-to-be Senate colleagues.

Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar, live from Capitol Hill.

And Brianna, before meeting with his colleagues, the senator- elect met with reporters. What did he have to say. But maybe more importantly, where are you now?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now we are outside of Senator Paul Kirk's office. He, of course, is -- until Senator-Elect Brown takes his seat, he is the senator who's really holding the place for Senator Ted Kennedy.

And this is what basically Senator-Elect Brown has been dealing with all day, just scrums of reporters, cameras, still photographers. This is how much interest there is in exactly what he's doing in all of these meetings.

He's already met with Senator John McCain. He will be having lunch a little later with Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. And as I said right now, he's meeting with the Democrat that he will replace.

Even though a lot of people don't really know who Senator-Elect Brown is, everyone wants to know what he thinks about health care reform, because with his election, it really turns the tables on the balance of power in the Senate in the favor of Republicans, giving them that key 41st vote. So we really asked him as he came in the door, you know, "What do you see as the areas where you could work perhaps with Democrats?" And he said a lot, but maybe he didn't really say a whole lot, as you said that, if you know what I mean, Tony.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR-ELECT SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: I'd like to look at the bill, but I'm certainly not in favor of higher taxes, cutting Medicare half a trillion, affecting medical coverage for veterans, and basically having a one size fits all. So I know what I don't want.

Now I'm looking forward to reading the bills, as I have the others, and coming up with a plan. Because, you know, if it's something the president feels is important, I'm certainly willing to look at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He campaigned, of course, as the Republican, the first Republican in 32 years to be a senator from Massachusetts. He campaigned as someone who would be able to slow down the efforts and, quite frankly, Tony, stop the efforts of Democrats as they try to do a comprehensive overhaul of health care reform. And they, right now, in light of his election, are scrambling to figure out what the next steps are both here on the Senate side and also in the House of Representatives -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right.

In that scrum on Capitol Hill, Brianna Keilar for us.

Good to see you, Brianna. Thank you.

Independent voters are credited with launching Scott Brown to his stunning victory in Massachusetts.

Are you an Independent voter? Can you tell us why and what your core beliefs are?

Drop us a note at CNN.com/Tony, or find me on Twitter or Facebook. I will share some of your thoughts next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The Republican Senate win in Massachusetts is shining a spotlight on the challenges for President Obama as his push for health care reform continues. Now, next Wednesday night, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, CNN will have unmatched coverage and analysis of President Obama's State of the Union Address.

Nine days after Haiti's catastrophic earthquake, getting food, water and medicine where it is desperately needed is still a big problem. Here's what we know.

U.S. officials say the military will station aid officials in the airport control tower in Port-au-Prince. That's aimed at improving the flow of aid. Plus, Canadian troops plan to open another airfield south of the capital.

The never-ending process of disposing of bodies goes on. According to the European Commission, Haitian authorities say 80,000 people have been buried in mass graves. An estimated 200,000 are dead. Incredibly, rescues are still taking place. U.S. teams rescued a 5-year-old boy from the rubble of his collapsed home yesterday, and neighbors dug out an 11-year-old girl in another part of the city.

Man.

Let's get you now to the efforts to speed up deliveries.

There he is. I'm not sure he can hear us, though. CNN's Brian Todd is joining me live from Port-au-Prince.

And Brian, I believe there's a bit of a delay. I'm going to turn it over to you.

I'm not sure he can hear us.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, officials here at the airport in Port-au-Prince are very aware of the complaints from aid agencies and others that not enough aid flights have been able to land on this airport and not enough aid has been able to get off the tarmac quickly enough out into the communities. They are working to correct both the problem and the perception of that, and they tell us today that the flow of aid coming through here is much, much better.

They tell us now that more than 100 flights are coming through here now, as opposed to about 25 flights a day when this operation started. As a matter of fact, military officials just told me they're up to about 160 flights a day coming through here.

As you can see behind me, there is a swarm of activity, not just military flights coming in. You've got people trying to get out of Haiti, you've got people getting aid, you've got people getting hospital help on the tarmac here. This is acting as a hospital, a logistics hub, as well as an airport, so it's not easy to coordinate all of this.

One of the ways that they're trying to remedy one particular problem, which was that when a given plane would land, they would not know exactly what kind of aid was in it -- they had trouble identifying some of the aid. Now they have got aid workers up in the control tower that are able to communicate directly with the pilots, talk about what aid they have and where it should go.

They funnel it through the USAID, then through the U.N. World Food Program and other agencies to get it off the tarmac. But U.S. officials do acknowledge it's still not moving fast enough. They are working to try to correct the problem. A couple of things are affecting it.

Clearly, this is still the number one logistics hub here when you're moving aid through. The actual seaport is still not open. When that opens, that will ease some of the congestion here. But the aftershock yesterday really set that back quite a bit.

We're also told that Canadian officials are opening up a second air strip. All of that is going to help.

Tony, still, this is the main logistics hub. It is a real challenge to get all the flights in and out.

I mean, you can see behind me, you've got a caravan of vehicles here. These are officials just trying to get their goods or their personnel off the tarmac.

And, you know, you've got flights behind them waiting to load up and unload. So it is a real challenge here. It is in constant motion -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. We can see, Brian, at the Port-au-Prince airport, still plenty of bottlenecks out there, but it's good to see more of these planes getting on the ground and that caravan behind you moving out.

All right, Brian. Appreciate it. Thank you.

We will get more information on medical relief and supplies when our next guest joins us. Cassandra Nelson with Mercy Corps is on the ground in Haiti.

And Reynolds Wolf is tracking the massive rainmaker along the West Coast. Just how much rain will southern California get? We'll check with Reynolds in just a moment.

But first, the latest on the Dow. We are -- boy, yesterday was a big sell-off. We're in negative territory big-time today, a triple- digit sell-off, 167 points to the red right now.

We will find out what's going on with stocks with Susan Lisovicz.

And President Obama outlining his plan for financial reform later this hour. We will bring you his comments live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: With two million people now homeless in Haiti, more and more tent cities are popping up in the capital. Aid agencies are struggling to provide food, water and shelter. These pictures show one of the many displacement camps. They were taken by Mercy Corps spokeswoman Cassandra Nelson. We're going to talk to her in just a minute.

I think she's with us now.

Cassandra, are you there? All right. Terrific.

When we talked to you two days ago, you laid out a scenario of what you were facing. What's improved for you in that time in terms of you becoming more fully operational in getting clean drinking water to people?

CASSANDRA NELSON, MERCY CORPS SPOKESWOMAN: Well, the situation is definitely improving. Trucks now are really starting to roll that are filled with food items and water supplies, and getting out.

There still are a lot of challenges and impediments to the process. Fuel is still difficult to obtain, although, again, that is starting to change. And actually, one of the biggest problems that Mercy Corps is facing right now on the ground is simply getting around the city of Port-au-Prince and the areas around Port-au-Prince to actually get out and help the people.

The traffic here is terrible. I've sat in two-hour gridlocks, stuck there with trucks full of food and water that desperately needs to get out, but simply cannot move because the streets are so jam- packed with everything from security, to journalists, to Haitians that are trying to get out of the city and move. So it's very hard to move around. But things definitely are starting to move, and you see the trucks out on the road, and things are being delivered.

HARRIS: Well, the journalists have to move to the side of the road and let you guys through. But are you talking about a gridlock that is caused by simply too many vehicles trying to get through the area, or are you still talking about bottlenecks where roads just aren't open because they're destroyed?

NELSON: You know, a lot of the debris has been cleared. And so the problem actually is more that there are some places where trucks have moved in and they're starting to actually try and do some work.

I saw today some workers that were actually trying to pick up a lot of the downed electricity lines. I don't know what they were going to do with them. I think it was a safety issue, but they had their trucks parked along the side of the road, which basically caused complete backup.

Most of the streets here are very narrow. It's a two-car, you know, street at maximum. So when you've got one car that stops on the side of the road, it really just stops everything.

But also, the problem is there are just a huge number of vehicles out there. Everyone is trying to respond and, in some cases, it's almost, you know, overwhelming. It is overwhelming the infrastructure, the number of people and trucks and cars that are here trying to get out to help the people.

HARRIS: Are you able to get gas for the vehicles? I know that was a problem a couple of days ago.

NELSON: It still is remaining an issue. They are working to alleviate it.

Right now, Mercy Corps is -- we're buying our fuel out on the corner with everyone else pretty much. We're paying around 60 bucks a gallon in some cases. The black market is very steep. But the U.N. is setting up a fuel station for the humanitarian relief efforts, so I think that will really help things as soon as that gets opened up.

HARRIS: OK. Have you gotten the -- I think it was five water filtration systems and, what, three or four desalinization systems that you were bringing in that you've been waiting for?

NELSON: We're still waiting for those, they have not arrived. We are expecting them literally any day now. We're hoping tomorrow.

In the interim, Mercy Corps is out fixing wells that have been damaged in the earthquake, looking to fix anything we can, as well as assessing all the water points in the city, trying to determine where the water filtration systems are most needed. But they are definitely on the way and we are, you know, doing our best to be ready for them.

HARRIS: Fingers crossed. Yes. Yes.

Cassandra, one last one for you. How long before you believe you are fully operational?

NELSON: Well, I mean, Mercy Corps is very much operational now. We're out distributing food in hospitals today. As I said, we have a team that goes out and examines and tries to fix broken wells, so we're definitely operational.

The team is growing because there are needs that we're going to start addressing next week, as we think they're appropriate. We're bringing in a child psychosocial expert to start developing some programming for children who have been traumatized by the earthquake. That's something we hope to be launching in the coming days, as the time is appropriate.

HARRIS: OK.

NELSON: Right now, water and food and shelter really are the top priorities. So we're focused there now, but preparing for the future.

HARRIS: Well, Cassandra, let's talk again on Monday. I know I'm monopolizing a bit of your time. I hope you don't mind, but let's talk on Monday and find out where you are after the weekend. Is that all right?

NELSON: That sounds great. So hopefully we'll have great progress to report.

HARRIS: Yes, fingers crossed here.

Cassandra Nelson is with Mercy Corps.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

And Friday night, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta report live from Haiti, as Wyclef Jean and George Clooney host "Hope for Haiti Now." The global telethon airs right here on CNN this Friday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And don't miss the "Hope for Haiti" telethon. Again, 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

Now, with more rescue supplies and crews coming in, families have more hope their loved ones will be found alive. And our Josh Levs will have more on the missing in Haiti later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's get you caught up now on our top stories.

President Obama proposing new restrictions on banks this hour, specifically limits on bank size and the risk investments they can trade.

Live coverage when the president speaks from the White House. That's about 20 minutes away.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards now admitting what he had denied for almost two years -- he fathered a daughter with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter.

And NBC announced this morning it has finalized a divorce with Conan O'Brien. That clears the way for Jay Leno to return as host of "The Tonight Show." O'Brien's exit deal will reportedly cost the network more than, boy, listen to this, $44 million.

So, it could be days before hundreds of people in southern California can go back home. The region pounded by yet another Pacific storm. And with mudslides threatening whole neighborhoods, evacuation orders have gone out.

CNN's Rob Marciano is in one of the danger zones near Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): The water is overwhelming. I-reports show streets that look more like lakes. And a path for golf carts turned into a raging river. The weight of the water, punching holes in roofs, uprooting trees, and stopping traffic dead in its tracks. For all this the fear is the worst is still to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's best to get out of the way. MARCIANO: The biggest concern is here in the foothills of L.A., the area devastated by last year's station fire, which scorched vegetation, leaving behind bare hills vulnerable to mudslides.

And so the goal Wednesday was to get people out, police swarming the area to enforce mandatory evacuations. Most people were listening, grabbing what they could and hoping that months of preparation would pay off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've had more geologists and fire people up here, and they're all really nervous about that hillside.

MARCIANO: The fear is small streams like this could turn into deadly debris floes. This neighborhood in Glendale is typical of a threat, with homes pressed right up against hillsides. Some have already gotten hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happened so quickly, within five minutes. So by the time I looked out the window, I r an out, started putting shifting sandbags, and then I realized that wasn't going to do the job.

MARCIANO: Debris basins like this are supposed to stop the floes, but many are filling up, and once floe gets going, the rushing water picks up soil and rock, destroying everything in its path.

SGT. TOM LORENZ, GLENDALE POLICE: If that debris starts coming down, this here is the floe, if you're up in these areas, there's no way the fire department or the police department is going to be able to get up here to help you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let's do this -- let's go to the movies, the independent film festival every artist and production company attends.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The Sundance Film Festival kicks off today. In addition to the movie screenings and premieres, the human drama unfolding in Haiti is in focus at this year's festival.

Entertainment Correspondent Brooke Anderson joins us from Park City, Utah.

Good to see you, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too, Tony.

Yes, the festival kicks off today. It runs through January 31st. It's the 26th Sundance Film Festival, and the festival is calling it Cinematic Rebellion. Close to 200 films will be featured here out of almost 10,000 submissions, so it's really quite an honor for those independent filmmakers who are chosen to showcase their work here.

And this year, the festival has appointed a brand new director to really shake things up, so to speak. His name is John Cooper and he's joining me right now.

Hey, John, you and founder Robert Redford, in just a few short hours, will officially kick off the festival with a press conference. Is your adrenaline pumping right now?

JOHN COOPER, DIRECTOR, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL: Yes, I'm shaking both from the cold and from excitement.

ANDERSON: Right, right. It's pretty cold out here. And as Tony said when he was introducing us, everyone's minds are also on Haiti and the victims and those suffering there.

COOPER: Yes.

ANDERSON: you guys are actually encouraging people to stop and to donate to the relief fund and you're doing that through a text messaging campaign, yes?

COOPER: Yes, we are. You can find that on our website. You text to "Sun Haiti" and you can put any amount you want to donate.

And this is something that's very close to our hearts as well because we had a filmmaker here a couple of years ago that runs the only cinema school in Haiti. He's been there kind of making a go of it. He was here a couple of years ago and he already has kids out on the street filming. It's really that kind of idea of they know that catch it on film and in the media and that will help them.

ANDERSON: Documenting what's happening.

COOPER: Yes.

ANDERSON: And that number to text is 27138. Hopefully you guys will raise a lot of much needed money.

And I want to talk about the tone of the films being featured here, because you've got light-hearted, you've got offbeat but you've also got more serious films.

You've got "The Oath" which is a documentary about two brothers- in-law and their associations with al Qaeda. One was actually Osama bin Laden's bodyguard at one point, one was his driver.

You've also got "Countdown to Zero" it's a movie about the threat of nuclear annihilation and the effort to eradicate all nuclear missiles.

COOPER: Yes, a wakeup call.

ANDERSON: A wakeup call. Why was it important to you as a director to include those serious films and make them timely?

COOPER: I think it's always been important to us. That's been part of our legacy and a part of our rich history. We always believe that films can change lives and they can change people's perspectives. And there's something different about when a film tells a story and we see these issues told in story form, I think it has quite a different effect on the audiences. And some, hopefully, will even encourage people to take action, and that's part of what we're about as well.

You know, we've always kept documentaries at the festival right next to the feature films in importance. We have a competition for both. And we have some really incredible films. And also a film from the Middle East called "Son of Babylon" which is shot in Iraq. Which, you know, we have very brave filmmakers come to this festival.

ANDERSON: Films with a message, that's what I've seen in my years covering the Sundance Film Festival.

John Cooper, thank you so much. Good luck.

COOPER: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Tony, he's working to get the festival back to its roots. It's really been a challenge recently with the -- you know, the commercialization that they have been fighting over the years.

HARRIS: Sure, sure. That's terrific, and the best of luck to them. Good to see you, Brooke, thank you. Brooke Anderson for us.

ANDERSON: Good to see you too.

HARRIS: Too big to fail. A thing of the past for U.S. banks? We preview the president's plan for financial reform with our CNN Money Team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, we have been hearing from big banks all week, and today we get earnings from a company that has set itself apart even during the worst of the financial crisis. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with the results from Goldman Sachs.

Hang on, fasten your seat belts. Susan, how much money did Goldman make?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is an eye-opener, I will say that, Tony. Goldman Sachs earned $13 billion last year.

And just to put that in perspective, not only is it a record, if you put the earnings of the top five banks after Goldman together, it still wouldn't get to that point. Goldman also made a record on revenue as well.

What was the biggest contributor to Goldman's bottom line? Well, obviously the stock market did pretty darn well last year with this remarkable rally, but the single biggest contributing factor was the fact that Goldman scaled back its compensation for its employees amid this public outcry.

Nonetheless, Goldman still set aside $16 billion on salaries and bonuses last year. That's up 50 percent from the year before. That works out to about $500,000 per employee.

It's good to be Goldman, Tony.

HARRIS: Can I get a job? Look, a lot of banks, including Goldman, have been trying to clean up their image, Susan. But let's face it, that's difficult to do when you have such huge bonus pools to divvy up.

LISOVICZ: Well, OK, a couple things there.

First of all, Goldman is not giving cash bonuses to its top 30 bankers. Instead it's offering stock, which they must hold for five years or more, because one of the big recurring themes on Wall Street is that these short-term gains ultimately work out horribly in the long term for everyone.

It also took $500 million out for charity.

Bye, Tony.

HARRIS: Let's split the screen, let's get to President Obama now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... as we have dealt with a broad array of very difficult economic challenges.

Now, over the past two years, more than 7 million Americans have lost their jobs in the deepest recession our country has known in generations. Rarely does a day go by that I don't hear from folks who are hurting.

And every day, we are working to put our economy back on track and put America back to work. But even as we dig our way out of this deep hole, it's important that we not lose sight of what led us into this mess in the first place.

This economic crisis began as a financial crisis, when banks and financial institutions took huge, reckless risks in pursuit of quick profits and massive bonuses.

When the dust settled, and this binge of irresponsibility was over, several of the world's oldest and largest financial institutions had collapsed or were on the verge of doing so. Markets plummeted, credit dried up, and jobs were vanishing by the hundreds of thousands each month. We were on the precipice of a second Great Depression.

To avoid this calamity, the American people, who were already struggling in their own right, were forced to rescue financial firms facing crisis largely of their own creation. And that rescue, undertaken by the previous administration, was deeply offensive, but it was a necessary thing to do. And it succeeded in stabilizing the financial system and helping to avert that depression.

Since that time, over the past year, my administration has recovered most of what the federal government provided to banks. And last week I proposed a fee to be paid by the largest financial firms in order to recover every last dime.

But that's not all we have to do. We have to enact common-sense reforms that will protect American taxpayers and the American economy from future crises as well. For, while the financial system is far stronger today than it was one year ago, it's still operating under the same rules that led to its near-collapse.

These are rules that allowed firms to act contrary to the interests of customers, to conceal their exposure to debt through complex financial dealings, to benefit from taxpayer-insured deposits, while making speculative investments; and to take on risks so vast that they pose threats to the entire system.

That's why we are seeking reform to protect consumers.

We intend to close loopholes that allowed big financial firms to trade risky financial products like credit default swaps and other derivatives without oversight, to identify system-wide risks that could cause a meltdown, to strengthen capital and liquidity requirements to make the system more stable, and to ensure that the failure of any large firm does not take the entire economy down with it.

Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail.

Now, limits on the risks major financial firms can take are central to the reforms that I have proposed. They are central to the legislation that has passed the House, under the leadership of Chairman Barney Frank, and that we're working to pass in the Senate, under the leadership of Chairman Chris Dodd.

As part of these efforts, today I'm proposing two additional reforms that I believe will strengthen the financial system while preventing future crises.

First, we should no longer allow banks to stray too far from their central mission of serving their customers. In recent years, too many financial firms have put taxpayer money at risk by operating hedge funds and private equity funds and making riskier investments to reap a quick reward.

And these firms have taken these risks while benefiting from special financial privileges that are reserved only for banks.

Our government provides deposit insurance and other safeguards and guarantees to firms that operate things. We do so because a stable and reliable banking system promotes sustained growth, and because we learned how dangerous the failure of that system can be during the Great Depression.

But these privileges were not created to bestow banks operating hedge funds or private equity funds with an unfair advantage.

When banks benefit from the safety net that taxpayers provide, which includes lower cost capital, it is not appropriate for them to turn around and use that cheap money to trade for profit. And that is especially true when this kind of trading often puts banks in direct conflict with their customers' interests.

The fact is, these kinds of trading operations can create enormous and costly risks, endangering the entire bank if things go wrong. We simply cannot accept a system in which hedge funds or private equity firms inside banks can place huge, risky bets that are subsidized by taxpayers and that could pose a conflict of interest. And we cannot accept a system in which shareholders make money on these operations if the bank wins, but taxpayers foot the bill if the bank loses.

It's for these reasons that I'm proposing a simple and common- sense reform, which we're calling the Volcker Rule, after this tall guy behind me. Banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds or proprietary trading operations for their own profit unrelated to serving their customers.

If financial firms want to trade for profit, that's something they're free to do. Indeed, doing so responsibly is a good thing for the markets and the economy. But these firms should not be allowed to run these hedge funds and private equities funds while running a bank backed by the American people.

In addition, as part of our efforts to protect against future crises, I'm also proposing that we prevent the further consolidation of our financial system.

There has long been a deposit cap in place to guard against too much risk being concentrated in a single bank. The same principle should apply to wider forms of funding employed by large financial institutions in today's economy.

The American people will not be served by a financial system that comprises just a few massive firms. That's not good for consumers, it's not good for the economy.

And through this policy, that is an outcome we will avoid.

And my message to members of Congress of both parties is that we have to get this done.

And my message to leaders of the financial industry is to work with us and not against us on needed reforms.

I welcome constructive input from folks in the financial sector. But what we've seen so far, in recent weeks, is an army of industry lobbyists from Wall Street descending on Capitol Hill to try and block basic and common-sense rules of the road that would protect our economy and the American people.

So if these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have.

And my resolve is only strengthened when I see a return to old practices at some of the very firms fighting reform, and when I see soaring profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms claiming that they can't lend more to small businesses, they can't keep credit card rates low, they can't pay a fee to refund taxpayers for the bailout without passing on the cost to shareholders or customers -- and that's the claims they're making.

It's exactly this kind of irresponsibility that makes clear reform is necessary.

Now, we've come through a terrible crisis. The American people have paid a very high price. We simply cannot return to business as usual. That's why we're going to ensure that Wall Street pays back the American people for the bailout. That's why we're going to rein in the excess and abuse that nearly brought down our financial system. That's why we're going to pass these reforms into law.

Thank you very much, everybody.

HARRIS: All right, there you have it. The president talking about the greed and irresponsibility of big financial firms that led to the financial meltdown, the crisis.

At that very moment, we learned that big financial firm Goldman Sachs earned $13 billion last year. A record annual profit for Goldman Sachs. Why? Because of trading, you heard the president talk about trading. Trading, trading, trading, bets, risky bets. So the president is proposing new rules. One of the proposals, banks can't own hedge funds.

We will break this down with Christine Romans from the CNN Money Team and the co-host of "YOUR MONEY."

You know what, Christine, we're going to talk a little bit about your money -- your money, my money, everyone's money -- next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: All right. We just heard more people are filing first- time unemployment claims, 36,000 more than last month, and not a surprise to most Americans when asked by CNN Opinion Research pollsters. Fifty-six percent said unemployment was the most important economic issue of the day, the growing deficit was second. You see the order here, followed by the mortgage crisis, inflation and taxes. And more than two-thirds of them told us there is a lot more bad economic news out there than good.

President Obama announcing plans to limit bank size and risk- taking. CNN's Christine Romans details the proposals.

What did you hear there, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I heard a president who's trying to reboot this entire regulatory discussion.

And this is a story of leverage, too much leverage, too much risk-taking for a lot of these big players, the financial whizzes over the past 10, 15 years. But many say the president has lost some of his own leverage. He had a lot of leverage late last year to make some of these reforms, but a lot of time passing here.

I heard him say if these guys want a fight, then it's a fight I'm ready to have. That really appeals to the populous hate-the-banks mentality out there right now. People are looking at these banks, some of them coming back to health and saying, wait a second, Wall Street is doing well, Main Street is not, how is that fair.

What the president is trying to do here, no more mega banks. Rewind the tape, limit the size, the complexity, the trading operations, the risk taking of these folks. You know, this is something that the previous democratic administration had new rules that it passed with a republican-controlled Congress, I will point out, that helped the banks get bigger and bigger and bigger and more complex. Now we're rewinding the tape to trying to go back a little bit.

HARRIS: How do you go from something close to a depression to, in Goldman's case, making $13 billion last year? How do you do that, Christine?

ROMANS: But Bank of America and Citi are still suffering badly. So, it's not every bank is coming here to health. You know, it's Goldman and its secret sauce, I'm afraid, that's exactly what it is. I mean, they made a ton of money trading and they took advantage of the government programs and the government help. I mean, the point was we wanted to get Wall Street back on its feet. Well, they got back on their feet. I mean, they're the most profitable bank in Wall Street history and they're just -- I think what is really interesting is Paul Volcker. Paul Volcker, many people thought he'd been sidelined, he's been talking about these things for a year. He was kind of on the back burner and now he's right front and center again. I think it's an interesting political development.

HARRIS: Well, we've got to run your Goldman Sachs piece, people need to understand how that financial house operates and the secret sauce that you just referred to. I think we'll try to get it on next hour.

Appreciate it, Christine, thank you.

ROMANS: Great.

HARRIS: How about this? The Labor Department reported a jump in jobless claims last week -- 36,000 more Americans are out of work. So where can you find a job? Just logon to CNNMoney.com and see the best 100 companies to work for.

We're back in a moment.

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HARRIS: OK. Here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

Hard to imagine, have to report it, there has been another aftershock in Port-au-Prince. The magnitude, we don't know just yet. We're working on it, we'll let you know as soon as we do.

In the meantime, thousands of Haitians are gathering at the port in Port-au-Prince hoping to get away from the chaos, but they could face new danger.

Plus, the Supreme Court lifts longtime restrictions on corporate funding of campaigns for president and Congress. We will tell you how this could have an immediate impact.

That and more straight ahead in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: OK, feeding Haiti. Volunteers from the Dominican Republic delivering food, water, and clothes. This iReport comes from Chris Hales of Near Shore Call Center Services. His company organized a trip last weekend, another is planned this weekend. Chris describes the scenes of destruction as, quoting here, unimaginable.

Every day we see another amazing rescue, each one raising hope for so many people still waiting to hear something about their loved ones. Josh is here, he's been keeping track of the desperate searches.

Josh, what are you finding?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, I've been hearing since the day the quake happened, I've been hearing from people all over the world all the time, who are trying desperately to find their loved ones, trying to get help for their loved ones, and they are using the Internet in some cases to do it.

I am going to tell you the story now of this man right here, Brendan Beck, who is a U.S. aid worker who just happened to arrive in the country on day of the quake. He was going to work on a water project. His mother is joining us now.

Sally, are you there? Sally, you with us? Sally, can you hear me?

SALLY BALDWIN, SON TRAPPED UNDER RUBBLE (via telephone): Yes, I can hear you.

LEVS: Sally, thanks so much for joining us here. This is what I'm going to do, I'm going to show our viewers some photos of your son, Brendan Beck, and I want you to tell us about him and what brought him here and when the last time is you heard from him. BALDWIN: Brendan has always been a very giving, serving person. He was working with USAT (ph) AID to go to Captian (ph). They were evaluating the infrastructure there. He was a member of the Peace Corps, he's been a Big Brother, and knows no strangers. He's just a really fun loving, adventurous person.

LEVS: And I understand he just happened to arrive there and he was at the Hotel Montana, we have some video from that. The last time you heard from him he was at the Hotel Montana before the quake, is that right?

BALDWIN: Yes, he had sent a broadcast e-mail to the family about 11 minutes before the earthquake hit to tell us that he had arrived safely.

LEVS: Sally, people all over the world are thinking of you and others in the similar situation. What do you do to get through the day when you see pictures like that from the Hotel Montana? What do you do to get through the day? What do you tell yourself? What do you hold onto?

BALDWIN: The hope that he'll be found and watching information on Facebook and the people that they're bringing out. And you keep hoping that one of those will be your son.

LEVS: Well, Sally, so many people are thinking of you and of so many others. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm going to tell our viewers, I know that you are also planning a trip to Washington tomorrow to push lawmakers to do all they can to unearth everything that's there at the Hotel Montana.

Sally, thank you for joining us.

BALDWIN: Bye-bye.

LEVS: Bye-bye.

And, Tony, take a look at this. Before I toss it back to you, look at this. I mean, you know we have gotten so many, so many submissions to iReport, people looking for their loved ones. So much so that look what we have set up now. I mean, this is name after name after name, thousands of people all over the world desperately searching for their loved ones. Once in awhile we get to highlight it with a "found" which feels really good, but not as often as any of us would want.

HARRIS: That is a better way to handle that. That looks a lot better. You know, I reported just a moment ago, Josh, of another aftershock there in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. Two aftershocks, one measuring 4.9. Still such a difficult situation.

LEVS: And our weather folks just saying it could happen for months.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

LEVS: It's awful, it could happen for months.

HARRIS: All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.