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A Long Road to Rescue; Republicans Grill President Obama; Stimulus Funding Second Runway in Tiny Alaskan Town

Aired January 29, 2010 - 13:58   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEC MIRAN, CNN SUPERVISING PRODUCER (on camera): I think we are approaching a cathedral now, we were out here yesterday. This looks like we're approaching.

Being diverted by a U.N. gentleman. It looks like heavy equipment there. We have to do what he says.

All right. So, now we are taking an alternate route to try to get to the cathedral. It is only a couple of blocks away, but it feels like it takes forever to get there when you are rushing to cover something like this.

Driver has put on his mask. Starting to smell some bodies. We haven't gotten to it (INAUDIBLE). It is pretty -- one thing the film cannot get to is the smell that is pretty bad.

So, now we are looking for Dave Russ, the guy I have worked with for more than 25 years at CNN.

Stay here. Stay here for a second. I go look. Stay here.

So, we haven't found him yet, but I am thinking maybe he is on the other side of the church. We don't have very good communications out here. And the radio signal is limited and the cell phones have not been dependable at all. So, that the best you can do in these situations is to sort of walk around and let your instincts carry you and wait until you can find -- no, absolutely. But they desperately need it. We are going to go live on TV showing the rescue effort. What do you need?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need - (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MIRAN: All right. So, the head of the search team has just given us permission to come in, and I have to grab the computer.

Okay. You stay here, yeah? Okay. Five minutes, I hope. But stay.

Hey, Neil (ph), where is Charlie?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around the back of there, I think. You can't go around there. I jumped in a car and went around.

MIRAN: How do I get there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I drive around and...

MIRAN: But what street are they on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.

MIRAN: It's computer (ph). The stuff is the right there.

So those are rescue, obviously, up there. They must have heard indications that there are people alive.

Where's my cameraman?

So, Dave, here's your computer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. He wants me to catch (ph) you in something.

MIRAN: OK. Let me ask him what he wants to do.

Rescue workers. Everybody be very quiet.

So, this gentleman, who is a Mexican rescue worker, says that the German workers are up there and they sent dogs in, Mexican rescue dogs who got a hit. And now they're trying to get the person out.

So you can see Anderson Cooper is reporting live via the phone.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: They are deep inside, very deep. They're about 20 meters, I was just told by the team here, and they are trying as fast as they can to rescue.

How long do you think they'll be up and running?

MIRAN: Ten minutes.

COOPER: Ten minutes we should be up and running.

MIRAN: In Shalah (ph).

So, anyway, we're trying to get it so that Anderson can hear Wolf Blitzer, or whoever he is going to be talking to.

Charlie is on with somebody in Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Atlanta, do you hear me?

MIRAN: You hearing it, Anderson?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Check his IFB now, please.

We're on Channel 3, right, Dave?

MIRAN: Yes. You got it?

COOPER: We got you, Teddy (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to put another battery on.

COOPER: Change the battery. If you've got to do it, do it now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may drop this.

COOPER: How much time do you have on the battery?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two minutes.

COOPER: OK. Then you need to change the battery. We may drop out. We've got to change the battery.

We're going to change the battery, so we may lose you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to change batteries. You're going to lose the signal for 20 seconds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, Mike, Mike...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't lose it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There. Now you should see it again. Hold on.

He's back. Now you should see it. You see it.

MIRAN: So, Charlie is coordinating this with the control room in Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have the picture? You still have IP?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no. Do you see -- do you have the picture of Anderson? Is the shot up?

COOPER: Do you see me? Do you see me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

COOPER: It's unbelievable. What's even more incredible is that there are two more people they believe are trapped in the rubble.

I want to bring over the team leader, Frank Schultz (ph).

Frank, can you come over here? It's OK. I know you're having a cigarette. It's been a long day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, amazing stuff. Wasn't it? And, you know, you've got to think, too, we had 11 crews down there at one point, too. Busy.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, 11 crews. A lot of them are coming back, they're returning, and we're sending others, they're rotating.

Michael Holmes, thank you so much.

HOLMES: Hey, good to see you.

LEMON: Good to see you as well.

I want to tell you -- you know, you saw that peace of Anderson Cooper. I want to remind you that Anderson Cooper has a special tonight, 11:00 p.m. "Saving Haiti," right here on CNN. Make sure you tune in.

And if you want to see more of Michael and our Back/Story team, make sure you check out CNN.com/backstory.

So, medical supplies are running low in Haiti, complicating efforts to treat 200,000 people in need of post-surgery care. And that has doctors and aid workers scrambling. The U.N. says this increases the potential for many more deaths due to infection and disease.

And then there's this back home -- the president speaking in front of a hostile crowd, taking questions. How did he do? You know if you were here watching CNN.

We're going to dig deeper with the best political team on television. Gloria Borger, our senior political analyst, standing by, as well as Brianna Keilar. We'll break it down for you. It's moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm sure you have seen it before, you know, the British prime minister's questions in parliament, in the House of Commons, and wish we would have that here, that same sort of exchange between the president and Congress. All right?

So, I hope that you were watching last hour right here on CNN, because President Obama fielded questions from House Republicans gathered in Baltimore, and they really did not hold back. We're going to replay just a little bit from Georgia Congressman Tom Price's question about health care and then Republican alternatives.

Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM PRICE (R), GEORGIA: What should we tell our constituents who know that Republicans have offered positive solutions to the challenges that Americans face, and yet continue to hear out of the administration that we have offered nothing? BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tom, look, I have to say that -- let's just take the health care debate. And it's probably not constructive for us to try to debate a particular bill. This isn't the venue to do it.

But if you say that we can offer coverage for all Americans and it won't cost a penny, that's just not true. You can't structure a bill where, suddenly, 30 million people have coverage and it costs nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's bring in now our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, and our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar. Brianna was inside of the room.

I'm sure you'll remember that for quite a while, Brianna.

Here's what I want to ask you. I want to talk to Gloria real quickly about -- you heard what Price said from Georgia. So, here's the thing -- if you are listening to the president, and you say, ah, maybe there is some room for some common ground, OK, that's one thing. But if you're listening, and you sort of do what he says, talks about tone and demonizing people, the thing may be to say, you know what? He's coming off as too preachy here.

Does that -- do you agree with that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that you could say that maybe he was too defensive. Some people might.

Look, you know, what Congressman Price was saying is, stop calling us the "party of no," because we've proposed ideas. And in return, the president said to them over the course of this discussion, look, stop calling my ideas Bolshevik just because we might disagree.

You know, you saw that anger, really, on both sides. It was sort of like a good political therapy session in many ways, because they were pretty raw out there. And, you know, the president's bottom line was, we have to stop doing this to each other.

Whether this is real or whether this is kabuki for our benefit, we still have to see.

LEMON: Yes.

Listen I wanted to bring in Brianna Keilar to talk about it.

Brianna, let's talk about the "Bolshevik" part of it.

He was talking about, you know, if you listen to the process here, you would think that the health care plan was some sort of Bolshevik plot. And he said basically it's a centrist plot, but because of what the Republicans are saying, or the way he believes they are twisting it, that is what it is coming off as. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, and Republicans were asking him, look, we have whole lot of ideas. And I have to tell you, of all of the different topics that they discussed, which were many, health care was the one that really kind of got, I think, the temperature in the room to go up.

So, Republicans saying, we have some ideas. And he was saying, we have incorporated them. And then he said, we need to work together if we are going to get anything done. And he said, basically, to Republicans -- and I thought he was very much on the offense with this -- saying, you have told people that I'm a guy who is doing crazy stuff who will mess up the country, and when you tell voters that, it's really hard for you to turn around and then say, you're going to work with me. He also said that both parties are guilty of demonizing the other.

LEMON: Yes.

KEILAR: But I think what's particularly interesting, Don, is Republicans, before he came to talk with them, I said, "What do you want to hear?" They said, we want an olive branch. And, you know, what? It's not so much about what we want to hear from him, is it's about we want him to do the listening when we talk about our concerns.

LEMON: OK.

KEILAR: He did a lot of talking. You know, he also did some listening, but there was a lot of disagreement. It was very much a game of chess between the two sides.

LEMON: It was. But, you know, I wasn't there, so we didn't hear the disagreement on television. And so, thanks for giving us that perspective inside of the room.

You said he wants an olive branch, but, again, Brianna, Gloria, pretty pointed questions.

Let's listen to Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, a representative there, of how he questioned the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: There's some things that have happened that I would appreciate your perspective on, because I can look you in the eye and tell you we have not been obstructionists. The Democrats have the House and Senate and the presidency.

And when you stood up before the American people multiple times and said you would broadcast the health care debates on C-SPAN, you didn't. I was disappointed, and I think a lot of Americans were disappointed.

You said you weren't going to allow lobbyists in the senior-most positions within your administration, and yet you did.

OBAMA: We've got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes, because it boxes us in, in ways that makes it difficult for us to work together because our constituents start believing us. They don't know sometimes this is just politics, what you guys, you know, or folks on my side do sometimes. So, just a tone of civility instead of slash and burn would be helpful.

LEMON: OK.

LEMON: OK. So, Gloria, here's a question. I asked you about this. At what risk to the president and, really, at what risk to the Republicans? Even though you have these questions and -- he may come off as sounding preachy or, as you said, overstating his point, correct? They may come off as being snarky just in the questioning.

BORGER: You know what? I think they both come off pretty well in this, because I think that Republicans were quite honest, as you just heard, in venting their frustration and saying to the president, look, you made some promises you didn't keep, and saying to the president, the House Democratic leadership is locking us out., we have ideas,. They're not being heard, and the Democrats and the president looks OK, because he is saying to them, OK, maybe we can agree on the smaller things. I might not be for across-the-board tax cuts, but I might be for some more targeted tax cuts.

But it's the civility and it's the tone that we have to change, and that's exactly the message that the Independent voters were giving to the Congress and the president last week. So, this kind of session I think is good for all of them.

LEMON: Gloria Borger, Brianna Keilar, I could talk to you about this all day, and I could sit and listen again, because never -- rarely, I should say -- do you see this much transparency and people asking questions, and then answering them in the way that they did in Washington.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I'm sure I'll see you tonight in "THE SITUATION ROOM," and then beyond, CNN prime, all the way up to "AC 360."

We're going to move on now to Alaska, and the town is called Ouzinkie, Alaska. It has fewer than 200 people living in it. Right? Doesn't have any stoplights. That's what I'm told. But it's about to get its second airstrip, and it's courtesy of the stimulus.

What's going on here? Is it worth it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. All week long, we have been having this "Stimulus Project" here on CNN where we have been digging into where all of that stimulus money went, specifically a portion of it that was designated to help the country go to create jobs and infrastructure, improve infrastructure.

I want to take to you now a town in Alaska. It's called Ouzinkie, Alaska, 243 miles southwest of Anchorage. No stoplights, I'm told, but they are about to get a second airstrip. What's going on? Is it worth it?

Our Ted Rowlands put on a parka and he went to check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A break in the weather allows pilot Wes Azowksi (ph) to fly us over Spruce Island, Alaska, and the village of Ouzinkie so we can see firsthand how the federal government is spending almost $15 million on a project many people are calling a waste of money. The money is being used for a new airstrip, despite the fact that less than 200 people live in Ouzinkie and they already have a runway which we're about to land on.

The state of Alaska claims this 2,000-foot airstrip we're landing on is too short and, therefore, unsafe, even though it's been in use for more than 30 years without a major accident. $14.7 million of stimulus money is paying for a new gravel airstrip about two miles away that will be about 1,000 feet longer.

The nearly 200 residents of Ouzinkie, Alaska, are mostly ulute (ph) natives of descendents of Russian fur traders. There's one general store here, a post office and a church. And now, thanks to taxpayers, they will have two airstrips.

PAUL DELGADO, OUZINKIE RESIDENT: If I was in a village that didn't have a airstrip and hear this, they've got two of them, yes, I would be very mad.

ROWLANDS: Well, the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general decided to audit the project, calling Ouzinkie's second airstrip "questionable" for taxpayers. Watchdog groups argue spending $14.7 million on something that benefits fewer than 200 people, more than $70,000 per person is ridiculous.

(on camera): But the people behind the project, both here in Alaska and Washington, D.C., are defending it. In fact, they say that the Ouzinkie runway is a perfect way to use stimulus tax dollars.

CATHERINE LANG, FAA: The goal was, get the money out fast to projects that were project-ready, that could be mobilized, that could put America, all Americas in all 50 states, to work. This project achieved that goal with an investment of enduring value to both aviation and to the community.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): The FAA controls the purse strings for airport improvement projects. They say Ouzinkie's runway is part of a long-range plan to shore up rural airstrips in the state of Alaska, making aviation safer for villages that rely on flying for survival.

This map shows every highway in the entire state of Alaska. Not too many. Now look at the number of airstrips.

Frank Richards, an official with the Alaska Department of Transportation, says airports like Ouzinkie's provide far-flung communities with a crucial link to services they need. FRANK RICHARDS, ALASKA DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION: This project would have likely been funded within a one-or-two-year time frame.

ROWLANDS (on camera): So federal taxpayers were going to pay for this anyway within the next couple of years? This was going to happen?

RICHARDS: This was going to happen. That's correct.

ROWLANDS: And you don't think it's a waste of money?

RICHARDS: It's not a waste of money, no. Again, the citizens of Ouzinkie, like any other American, should be provided transportation, health care issues and access to the rest of America that folks in Iowa or folks in Kansas or folks in Maine afford right now.

ROWLANDS: Are you ripping off the American taxpayer with this project?

No, I am not. I'm taking a big risk.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Dana Pruhs' construction company was the low bidder for the project at $9.7 million. He says it's expensive to build in remote and rural Alaska.

(on camera): In fact, it's going to cost about $1 million to transport all this equipment on and off the island for this project.

(on camera): Labor is also expensive. Workers get tons of overtime to make up for the fact that construction has to halt during the brutal winter months. On top of that, the employees have to be fed and housed here.

(on camera): Does it make you angry when you hear that this project is supposedly a rip-off?

DANA PRUHS, PRUHS CONSTRUCTION: Well, sure it does. You know, we have hard-working American citizens doing a good job, spending the public money wisely, I believe. A good value and relationship to what it takes to do business, and to build things in Alaska.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Forty-six jobs were generated from the project, 10 to Ouzinkie residents. None of the jobs are permanent, but the money is trickling down. More than 120 companies are profiting directly from this project.

But the big winner is Ouzinkie, the Alaskan village with no stoplights that will soon have two airstrips.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Ted Rowlands joins us now from what appears to be a much warmer climate. Well, yes, it is, because he is in Los Angeles today.

I'm sure you're happy to be in a warmer place. So, really, how bad -- the question is, you know, couldn't they have repaired or even extended this existing airstrip? How bad was it? Could they have done that?

ROWLANDS: Yes, that's an obvious question here. The answer is simple, that once the federal government does anything, they do it their way.

Now, this existing airstrip is too close to an area -- a garbage dump, basically, which attracts birds, so they say basically said, if we're going to do anything, we can't do it here, we're going to have to relocate it. But it would have been much less in terms of the financial costs, maybe $1 million or $2 million, rather than the $15 million to do it there.

They said no way, if you're going to do this, we're going to do it right and make it safe for everybody. One thing that we should point out, that the existing runway is safe, but it doesn't provide access. They go days sometimes, up to a week, without being able to use the runway because of the weather conditions.

LEMON: Well, that's my question. So they're going to keep both runways? They're going to have two now? Are they going to keep both?

ROWLANDS: Well, the alternative would be to pay more money to get rid of an existing viable runway. So I would hope not. I would hope that they would keep both runways, because otherwise, taxpayers are going to have to pay to get rid of something that is already there.

And we talked to townspeople. I guarantee you they're going to keep that other one and they're going to use it.

It's closer to the village. They're going to use the existing runway and the new runway, which is about two miles away. The existing one is much more convenient, so when the weather is nice, I bet you they're going to land on that existing runway down the future.

LEMON: Can you bottom-line this for me, give me the costs here and the total number of jobs?

ROWLANDS: $14.7 million, that's the cost right now that they may add lights which will add more in the future. Total jobs, 46. All of those jobs though are temporary.

LEMON: Ted Rowlands really bringing it home when it comes to the stimulus. You look at all these numbers, and this makes it person.

Ted, we really appreciate your reporting. Thank you so much.

And we're going to talk much, much more on the stimulus and where your dollars went and where they're going. Is it working?

Jared Bernstein, the chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Biden, is going to join us in just a little bit. You'll want to stay tuned for that. And you know what? This week's hero as well. You're going to meet the hero making a huge difference in Haiti. Find out how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's get you right now to the ground in Haiti, and our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us now.

And Christiane, everyone is concerned -- a couple of things that people are concerned about. Obviously, you know, the rescue, getting people out. But people are also concerned about the orphans and that aid that is supposed to be getting to people. What is going on with that now? Is it getting to them?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a complex situation at the moment, because, of course, this rescue operation is now nearly two and a half weeks since the earthquake. The intense international airlift and the amazing amount of relief supplies that have already come in is virtually unprecedented, but there are still, two and a half weeks later, a bottleneck at the airport and that is having a very bad knock-on effect inside the worst affected areas -- in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and elsewhere.

In other words, people still are not getting enough food, they are not getting enough water, and critically, according to the U.N. and other medical organizations, not enough medicines to be able to treat all of the patients that are not just stuffing the insides of medical centers and hospitals, but also laid out in makeshift tents and operating theaters in the courtyards and the outside areas of the hospitals. There's an unprecedented amount of amputations, they need antibiotics, they need all the kinds of medicines in order to not just do these initial operations but to care of the postoperative situations. So this is still a very, very big problem.

Another big problem, of course, is shelter. You can see behind me that there is this little tent sort of village that we have been sitting in front of for the last two and a half weeks, but what they need here are these big tents that can be all all-weather tents. Right now, we have got lots of reports and the government's telling us and the U.N. and others are telling us that a lot of land is being prepared for new tents and new housing even, but it's not happened yet.

And therefore, the dense and unsanitary situations not to mention the danger is causing things like diarrhea, some are now talking about malaria, dengue fever. There are reports of criminal activity, of rape. And certainly the United States and UNICEF, the Children's Fund and other organizations are trying to put in place procedures to protect children and make sure they are not vulnerable to being trafficked.

LEMON: Christiane, I have been watching your reporting and in particular your show as well and some of our colleagues reporting talking about the aid, as you are, not being distributed, needing tents, needing shelter, what have you. I'm wondering -- and really the Haitian government in some way not really that present, we don't see the cameras here. Has there been talk about making changes to get aid to and shelter to these folks with a coordinated effort through the United Nations and the Haitian government?

AMANPOUR: Well, one of the things you hear all the time is this word coordination. There's various levels of complaints about it in that either the countries are not coordinating between each other or the big organizations are not coordinating with the government or between each other. There just seemed in general a lack of coordination, and that, obviously, is getting better each day.

And again, unprecedented turnout of relief. I mean, look, the United States has sent 20,000 troops here, Canada has sent -- it will be up to 2,000 troops or more to take care of places like Jacmel and Leogane which also took the brunt of the earthquake. But there is still not the pipeline that can just really get this stuff out of the airport and get it to the people.

The government here, as you know, and as you have been saying from the beginning was not just decapitated in personnel, but in its infrastructure and its buildings and its ability to respond. So the personnel -- the president, the prime minister, ministers -- are working out of a makeshift area. The police headquarters holding briefings, holding meetings, trying to do what they can, but it is a difficult place because this was a very fragile state and the infrastructure is not up to scratch.

But it is just very frustrating, because you see so much goodwill, including amongst the Haitians who are showing so much solidarity and helping each other and helping themselves. But all of this stuff that is landing and all of this personnel still needs to get out in a more coordinated logical coherent way.

LEMON: You bring up a very good point when you talk about the people, cause we are watching the video now of the Haitians that just starting singing. So there's a lot of goodwill among the people. And I think that, Christiane, they are keeping up the spirits despite all that has happened to them. It is good to see that.

Christiane, we have to move on, because we need to get out of here, there is another show behind me. But I want to thank you for that, your reporting as well as the rest of our colleagues.

And I want to remind our viewers that for more on Haiti, make sure watch Christiane Amanpour's show, it's at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, it's Sunday right here on CNN or you can go to CNN.com/Amanpour.

Our Chad Meyer is standing by to -- he's following a massive snowstorm. It is hitting the Midwest, it is moving east. It is going to get worse for big parts of our country?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Thank you, Chad Meyer. So, what about the jobs picture, right? What about all the stimulus money? What is going on in the country with that? Plus, we have your the top stories coming up right after the break.

Thank you, Chad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: What do you say we check your headlines for your top stories?

Do you have a recalled Toyota sitting in your driveway? The car company says that it has a fix for the sticky gas pedal problem that it's been having and millions of customers will be notified about and they say they're going to do it next week. Toyota says it's engineers have been working around the clock to fix the problem in eight U.S. models including the top-selling Camry. A lot of people have Camrys.

A failing health crisis, an ethics probe -- Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer is ready to retire. The republican said today he will not run for reelection in November because his wife has an incurable disease. So Buyer did not -- Buyer did not mention that he is in the spotlight because of a private college fund that he created in 2003 which has yet to award any scholarship.

Now, hire more workers, save more money -- that's a perfect world, right? Well, today President Obama unveiled a $33 billion plan to jumpstart hiring at small businesses. His proposal would give businesses a $5,000 credit for every new employee that comes on board this year. The total amount of credit would be capped at $500,000 to make sure small businesses benefit most in this program.

So, can building more highways build more jobs, right? The Stimulus Desk hits the road to find out. We're going to answer it, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, let's talk Stimulus Desk. Wait whose doing -- oh, wait a minute.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is going on?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I was just standing here yesterday or the day before. So Josh, we're talking...

LEVS: We're just switching roles.

LEMONS: ... economic recovery, really with the Stimulus Desk, we're tracking down dollars. What have for us right now? What have you been working on?

LEVS: We've got something fun for you. You know, we have been looking through all sorts of projects that are these binders representing 57,000 projects getting billions of dollars in total, and we stumbled on one that is really interesting. It's about heartbreak and it's going to answer the age-old question that began just a few years ago -- are breakups really like they were in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

(VIDEO CLIP, "FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL")

LEVS: Oh, man.

So, here is what it really is about. There actually is a project that is being done at the University of Texas -- and we have a screen for you here. It's $220,000 and they are looking into this idea of heartbreak, and they are studying romantic relationships and they're talking to us here about how many jobs it's going to create eventually. They say two so far, three more to come.

We got some music going with us here.

And Emily Rust is one of our producers here doing a lot of projects on our projects.

Keep the music. I like it.

Talk to us about this. What is this project all about and what are they doing with this money?

EMILY RUST, CNN STIMULUS DESK PRODUCER: Basically, they are looking at how breakups or falling in love can affect different people. You might notice that some of your friends can bounce right back after a breakup, others ones just take it so hard and spiral into depression. And what they are trying to figure out is why? What makes some people more susceptible to taking breakups much harder? It is something about themselves, their own character? Is it something about the relationship, that it was an intense relationship?

LEVS: I read this study. They're also looking at the hormone levels in the patients saliva and the saliva of the people they're working with.

RUST: Right, so if they notice someone with a breakup, test that, find out what it is.

LEVS: All right, I know we got to go, but there's something else I got to do first. Which is -- you know, we have been looking at a lot of research projects throughout the week -- come for a little walk with me -- and we do want to point out that while there are some fun ones, there are also some really serious ones that include looking at major diseases, things like that. And the White House has actually weighed in on this, Don. We're going to go really quickly over to our Steve Russ (ph), because he has a statement now from the White House about a lot of the research projects being funded.

Talk to us. What do they have?

STEVE RUSS, CNN STIMULUS DESK PRODUCER: Yes, they like to point out that these projects like this get a lot of a attention, because they are very interesting and they want to note that it is about one percent of the total stimulus money. That when you look at the big picture, they say that this all came in one big grant, it wasn't like they were parsing out a lot of these individually, they all came on peer-reviewed projects, about 1 percent of the total project.

And they like to point out that there are jobs created from these. That when you look at it, you may go, why is this stimulus related? They say that, basically for every one of the NIH, the National Institute of Health grants that go out there, seven jobs were created. They talk about a 225 return, $2.25 return, every dollar spent on these projects.

So that's their take. That's why they...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: And Josh, I want to tell you, I hate to rush you guys along, but I'm getting told that the White House is listening right now, and it is very busy this guy is very busy.

LEVS: I have a lot going on here.

LEMON: No, you are, but this guy is busy so we got to get to him real quick.

Listen, Jared Bernstein is the chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and we will talk to him after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hey, I want to get right now to Jared Bernstein, he is the chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and they have been paying close attention to our Stimulus Project here at CNN.

So listen, this is very current, happened just a short time ago, the president really defended the economy and the stimulus today talking to republican leaders in Baltimore and mentioning the GDP up 6 percent today. How much does that really have to do with the stimulus, though?

JARED BERNSTEIN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER TO VP JOSEPH BIDEN: Well, that is a great point, Don, because the GDP growth which is about 5.7 percent, so it came in just under 6.0 percent.

Let's look at that in some historical context. You know, when we got here back in the first quarter of this year when we took office, GDP was contracting at a truly alarming rate of 6 percent. We just found out that for the last quarter of last year, for the fourth quarter, GDP expanded almost 6 percent. An independent analyst form the Congressional Budget Office to all the independent forecasters who do that, assign 2 to 4 percentage points of the increase, so as much as two-thirds of that increase, to the Recovery Act. So that's what the president was referring to today. LEMON: OK, here's interesting -- I've got to challenge you on this a little bit. You know, the White House always says, even the president says it and his supporters, you can't expect it to turn, you know, right away, we inherited this from the republicans. But yet and still, even in this short amount of time, you are taking credit for the growth that's -- even the little bit of growth, even 6 percent. So what gives here?

BERNSTEIN: Sure. What the president really is talking about that is his key and therefore our key number one agenda which is jobs. Now, first of all, let me correct one thing that you said. Six percent growth in GDP is not a little bit of GDP, that's a lot of GDP growth.

LEMON: Listen, we get it.

The thing is that you talk about growth -- and the what the important thing, most people -- you are seeing growth in numbers, but that does not trickling down to my neighbor who lost his house a couple of weeks ago or who had to sell his truck because he can't pay his bills or lost his company, so what does that 6 percent mean to him? It is just a number.

BERNSTEIN: So that's the point. That is the point. That's that -- until that GDP growth maps on to robust job growth every month such that the guy you were just talking about and millions of other Americans had the opportunities that this president absolutely expects for them, we are nowhere near out of the woods.

However, it is the case that you don't get from a contraction of GDP of 6 percent of losing jobs at the rate of 700,000 per month to the kind of robust growth we seek without passing through a period like this one where the economy expands, where job loss is one-tenth the rate that is was when we got here.

Now, any job loss is unacceptable. We obviously have to do a lot better, but we are making progress toward that goal and we are a lot closer to that now then when we were. And one reason, one very strong reason is the impact of the Recovery Act.

LEMON: OK. I have to tell you that I did interview someone yesterday, it was the gentleman that the president talked about in his speech, the windows guy...

BERNSTEIN: Tom from Philadelphia.

LEMON: Yes, from Philadelphia, his name is Allan Leavin (ph). And he started the company, his dad started the country and he and his wife now run it. But he said he would not have been able to have 30 percent growth, that's what he says, if it were not for the stimulus plus the tax credits that's been given because of the stimulus. So I will give you that one.

But let's talk about this, there are little projects or big projects where a big chunk of the stimulus money go, like we are doing one yesterday that happened in Simi Valley, California, that went to Boeing, a lot of cash. But it seems like no one is watching to see exactly where that money is going to go, if it's going to go to the exact project that it was intended to. So what are the safeguards here? Who is going there to check that from the administration?

BERNSTEIN: You know, there I have got to take issue with your assessment. I would argue that this Recovery Act has been implemented with more accountability, transparency and care than any program like this in the history of government. And every single direct recipient is available a mouse click away at recovery.gov.

And I would argue that many of the stories that you did this week -- and I appreciate putting a face on these stories, you mentioned the window manufacturer in Philadelphia -- those stories come to you in large part because of the care with which independent inspector generals are tracking these dollars.

And by the way, we have over 50,000 projects out there. This is a big project across every state in the nation. And we have heard about less than 200 of those 50,000 that we took down right away because of the errors involved in them. So the minute we hear about a problem, we are jumping on it.

I am not saying that the thing is operating perfectly without any problems. What I am saying is because of the transparency, when we hear about a problem, we go after it.

LEMON: Jared Bernstein, chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. And you know, careful, we're going to fact check what you said of course. And then, if it's right, then we'll say it; if it's not, you know, we're here.

BERNSTEIN: Please do.

LEMON: All right. Jared, thank you so much, have a great weekend.

BERNSTEIN: Sure.

LEMON: Gluttony, greed, lust -- well, you know the rest. We went looking for the most sinful place on the planet, the most sinful people. Do you think it is where you are? Where is it? We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know it is almost time for this very young and striking gentleman to take over right now, Rick Sanchez.

(LAUGHTER)

I knew that would get you.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: How are you, Don?

LEMON: I'm doing well. How are you?

SANCHEZ: So good to see you.

This place is beautiful. I've never been to this place. We're inside the Grammy Museum here next to the Staples Center. They have invited me here to do a social panel tonight with many of the big celebrities, stars and entertainers. And I have been looking around this place, it is pretty amazing.

Remember that famous dress that Jennifer Lopez wore and for a week we in the media were all trying to figure out how is it possible that thing stayed on? Well, I'm looking at it. It is right over here, it's only about 10 feet away from me here. I'm going to give you the low down on that thing. Remember that everybody was talking about double-sided tape this, that, the other thing? One of the stories that we spent way too much time on.

LEMON: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Well, we're doing a lot of show out here today, two hours we're going to be doing that social media thing. And by the way, there's breaking news on Scott Roeder and we're all over it again today.

LEMON: Well, Rick, I want to give you as much time for your show as possible, so I'm going to take it away just for a few seconds and we'll get back to you, my friend. Best of luck, enjoy L.A.

It is time for "X-Y-Z of It All". So it looks like Australians are doing a whole lot more than throwing a shrimp on the barbie, turns out they are naughty down under, really naughty. The British magazine "Focus" is out with a study of people in 35 nations, and guess what? Australians came up most likely to commit one of the seven deadly sins.

And when it comes down to breaking down the sins, here it is. The U.S. -- this is where we rank -- first in gluttony. South Korea topped lust, Mexico was greed, Iceland had slot and pride, and South Africa was wrath.

So how on earth do you do this study? Well, for sloth they looked at the number of days people took off from work and along with other factors. And as for lust, you don't want to know.

I'm Don Lemon. Here's "RICK'S LIST."