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Toyota's Problems Continue to Snowball; Mid-Atlantic About to Get Hit With Round Two of Snowstorms; Not Everyone Feels Confident in Toyota's Reassurances; Market Makes Positive Gains Thanks In Part to Industrial Sector; Stimulus Desk

Aired February 09, 2010 - 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: Here we go, time for your top-of-the- hour reset. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Across America, 155,000 Toyota drivers get the news -- the Prius and other hybrids recalled to fix a software glitch with the car's brakes.

It is lunchtime at the White House where the first lady is about to unveil a new campaign to fight childhood obesity.

And it is noon on the East Coast where many people are already knee-deep in snow, and here comes another blizzard.

Man, oh, man, let's get started.

Can it get any worse for the Mid-Atlantic? You bet it can. Another big winter storm bearing down on the region right now. In all, almost two dozen states from the Midwest to the Northeast are under winter storm watches or warnings of some kind.

Chad Myers is tracking it for us in the CNN Weather Center. And Reynolds Wolf is live in Washington. Reynolds, let's start with you. You know, you'd like road crews to have more time to do something more concrete with the snow from the weekend, but that's not going to happen. D.C. will look like Buffalo by this time tomorrow!

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You're right about this. We've had a little bit of snowfall here in the last couple of minutes but not snow falling from the sky, but rather, falling from the trees. They are doing tree repair over here or cleaning up some of the trees that have been knocked down, of course, by some of the heavy snow and ice.

And speaking of heavy snow and ice, we're actually going to turn around a little bit and head back in this direction and show you some of the snow and ice we've been dealing on the sidewalks. We have our CNN photojournalist with us Jeremy Harlan (ph) with us -- he's the guy behind the camera -- and we'll tiptoe through here.

The sidewalks are in pretty good shape, but you look at the streets, right in through here, Georgetown it's kind of -- well, you have some spots that are okay, but you still have the center divider where there's plenty of snow in some places. And then when you get on the sideroads, it's entirely different. I mean, see the variance. Over here you've got the slush and here it's pure snow as far as you can see, and beneath the thin veneer of snow, it's all ice. With the additional snowfall we expect in the forecast, that's the last thing we want to deal with, but it certainly looks as though that's what's coming.

Now, in terms of other forms of transportation, you've seen the streets. People are out and about. They've been advised not to, but come on, let's face it, people have cabin fever from this weekend and they are trying to see how things are going on in their community. If they are planning to go out and taking, say, Metro, the trains are good in terms of underground railroads. Those are actually working pretty well, still running about every 30 minutes. But everything that we happen to have above ground, well, some of those have been really hampered to say the least, with the additional snowfall in the forecast, of course, it will drop even more.

Air travel has been pretty good. We've seen planes take off from Reagan, but with the additional rough weather we anticipate, I'm sure it will come to a standstill. Just got to give it time. Let's send it back to you in the studio.

HARRIS: All right. Reynolds, appreciate it. Thank you.

And a man that knows something about Buffalo winters, Chad Myers in the CNN Severe Weather Center. I don't know, Chad, are we going to get the kind of blowing and drifting that you associate with, boy, the lake-effect events up in buffalo?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Yes, yes, and then some. That wide.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: How's that for you?

HARRIS: All right. Chad, appreciate it....

MYERS: Sure.

HARRIS: You've given us a lot to think about here.

Republicans at the White House this morning, giving the president a few ideas on how to solve some of the country's problems. Democratic leaders there, too, talking jobs and the deficit. This bipartisanship, just what President Obama asked for during his State of the Union speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My hope is this is not going to be a rare situation. We're going to be doing these on a regular basis, and I'm very thankful that everybody here has taken the time to come. I'm confident that if we move forward in the spirit of keeping in mind what's best for the American people, that we should be able to accomplish a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Hmm. A larger bipartisan meeting is set for later this month, focussing on health care. That one is supposed to be televised. We may hear more tomorrow night when vice president Joe Biden talks to Larry King at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

The list of recalled Toyota vehicles keeps getting longer. The automaker today announced it is recalling more than 400,000 hybrid models globally because of braking problems. The models include the popular 2010 Prius hybrid. Last week, Toyota acknowledged a problem with the anti-lock brakes caused by a software glitch. Today, the company president apologized to customers and vowed to win their trust back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AKIO TOYODA, TOYOTA PRESIDENT AND CEO (via translator): We have been inquiring (ph) about the safety and the quality of the Toyota cars, and we do apologize for the inconvenience and concerns that we have given to the public and customers. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Okay, the focus is on Toyota's troubles, but are the problems more widespread? And does Toyota really have a difficult one to handle here? All right, let's bring in Sarah Webster, automotive editor for the "Detroit Free Press." And Sarah, thank you for your time. It's been a long time.

SARAH WEBSTER, AUTOMOTOIVE EDITOR, "DETROIT FREE PRESS": Good to see you.

HARRIS: What's your thoughts on the latest recall of the 2010, the Prius hybrids and some Lexus models as well?

WEBSTER: Well, every day it seems as though Toyota's troubles seem to grow, and there's probably a really good reason for that. You know, perception plays such a large role in how people view the quality of their cars and trucks. When "Consumer Reports" does their recommended list, it's based on consumer surveys, so perception and how people feel about their cars plays a big part of this.

So, you're a consumer, you drive a Toyota and you hear all about this news, and suddenly the steering or the braking issue that, you know, maybe you thought was fine before, you get a little suspicious of your car. And so I think what we're seeing a little bit is people, the complaints about these cars are growing because people are more apt to report, I think, a problem with their Toyota now.

HARRIS: Right. And, Sarah, it comes down to really what you believe. To this issue of sudden, unintended acceleration, where do you stand on this? And where do the experts you talk to stand on this? Do they believe Toyota really knows what the problem is when Toyota's president says, believe me, our cars are safe? Do the people you talk to believe him? WEBSTER: I think that engineers and consumers we've talked to, they don't -- they don't have a high level of confidence in what Toyota has said. And part of that is, you know, the issue of, okay, first it's the floor mats, then it's the sticking pedals and people are hearing a lot about electronic interference...

HARRIS: Yes.

WEBSTER: ... And so, I think that people aren't for sure that what Toyota says is true, and probably the way they've handled this is playing a part in that. But acceleration, sudden acceleration, isn't an entirely new problem. Other automakers have experienced problems with this before. And it's a complicated issue. I mean, cars are very complicated, mechanical, computer-controlled devices these days.

HARRIS: Well, they didn't used to be. Now they've got all the computers in there, and now we're talking about electromagnetic interference with the cars' computer systems. Is that what you're hearing more and more as where we might find the problem here?

WEBSTER: Well, the automakers, all of the automakers, do an incredible amount of testing, in different weather conditions, in different types of -- they bombard these vehicles with signals and they try to get to the root of any interference, and, you know, they say they can't repeat this. They say it's not a problem.

But the truth is when you drive around today, everyone has a handheld, you know, there's cell towers everywhere. This is an issue that could be maybe better understood and better -- fail-safes could probably be built into the cars so if there is interference which, you know, maybe can't be prevented, at least the car knows how to react to it to keep the passengers and the driver safe.

HARRIS: Yes.

WEBSTER: Some people we talk to say brake override is one of the solutions to this. Brake override is essentially when you hit your brakes, the electronics -- the computer software in your car knows that your accelerator needs to stop. I mean, one of the horrifying things that's happened in the accidents that people heard about, people hit the brakes and the car keeps accelerating. That's a very frightening situation, and I'm not sure that people are going to have the wherewithal to hold down a button for three minutes or shift their car to neutral or do all the other things that Toyota is advising people to do in this situation., which is still extremely rare.

HARRIS: Hey, I got to sneak in another quick one here. That's a scary picture that you just painted, thanks for that, Sarah. Any evidence that what is today's problem for Toyota could be, say, Ford's problem tomorrow?

WEBSTER: Well, if you go back in history, most other auto makers have already dealt with unintended acceleration issues. I don't think quite on the scale of Toyota -- one of the things that is nagging Toyota is the cars are so popular. The Camry is the best-selling passenger car in America and this is the model you're talking about. So, you have a much more far-reaching issue.

I think the implications for Detroit's automakers are more on the positive side at the moment. Both GM and Ford posted substantial sales gains in january. That's the month where Toyota announced it would stop selling and make eight models until they kind of figured things out. So, for the short term, I think this benefits the domestic automakers.

HARRIS: OK. Sarah, good to talk to you.

WEBSTER: Good to talk to you.

HARRIS: I hadn't heard you on the record so far for this. It's good to have you on.

WEBSTER: Thank you.

HARRIS: Sarah Webster from the "Detroit Free Press."

Here's another question for you. Is Toyota doing enough to fix the acceleration problems? You'll want to see what Drew Griffin with our CNN special investigation unit uncovered.

And also ahead, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

And another reminder here, the New Orleans saints will have a victory parade later today. Here's the route through the city. And you can watch it live, right here, CNN. 6 p.m. Eastern time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Okay. You never know what you'll see in our "Random Moment of the Day." The Random Moment...

(MUSIC PLAYING)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARLENE BINNION, CLIENT, JOCKSTRAP MAID SERVICE: It might get uncomfortable when my husband comes home. I don't know what he'd think about this, but, if we can do this during the day while he's gone and just tell him the story, I think that will be fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, my! One male maid says he cleans his own home in his underwear, now he gets paid to do it. There you go, our "Random Moment of the Day!"

(MUSIC PLAYING) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Okay. Troubling fears about a massive Toyota recall. Right now dealers are busy installing a fix for millions of cars with potential acceleration problems, but according to some engineers CNN talked to, the fix may not fix anything. Here's CNN's special investigation's unit correspondent, Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a hastily called news conference and apology at 9:00 Friday night near Tokyo. The president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, saying he's sorry for the global recall but declaring, "Believe me, Toyota's cars are safe."

On the company's website, a clear explanation for the sudden acceleration problems -- stuck floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and a fix. It's all mechanical, the company says, and it's solved (ph). But is it?

SEAN KANE, SAFETY RESEARCH STRATEGIES: I would say unequivocally that Toyota's explanations do not account for the -- the share of unintended acceleration complaints that we've examined.

GRIFFIN: CNN talked with four leading experts in the field of sudden acceleration, car safety and automotive recalls.

Despite Toyota's statements, these experts independently conclude something very different. Toyota does not know what is causing the sudden acceleration in its cars, and, therefore, doesn't really know how to fix them. Why?

Sean Kane with Safety Research Strategies, an automotive safety consulting firm that has tracked the sudden acceleration complaints literally for years now, says follow the data.

KANE: We're seeing thousands of complaints from consumers that report very consistent types of problems across a number of years, makes and models. We're seeing these long duration on highway events, we're seeing short duration in parking lot events. There's a series of patterns that are emerging that cannot be explained.

GRIFFIN: Kane says electronics are the likely culprit, interference with the car's computer systems. Toyota insists that's just not true.

In a statement to CNN, the company says, "After many years of exhaustive testing by us and by other organizations, we have found no evidence of an electronic problem in our electronic throttle control systems that could have led to unwanted acceleration."

Inside the electronics lab at the University of Maryland's Clark School of Engineering, Professor Mike Pecht specializes in laboratory- controlled interference testing. PROF. MICHAEL PECHT, DEPT. OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, UNIV. OF MARYLAND: They need to continuously be testing these products. You just can't test one day and say, ah, there's the product, unless they can make sure that there's been no other changes, and it's -- and that's very difficult today.

GRIFFIN: And that, he says, may be the heart of Toyota's problem.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Professor, I realize you're trying to be careful and maybe reluctant to say some things, but the floor mats don't seem to be the problem. A mechanical fix in the gas pedal doesn't seem to be the problem. In fact, the problem seems to be that Toyota at this point in time does not know the problem, and, therefore, does not know how to fix it.

PECHT: I -- I think that -- I think that the evidence is pointing that way. I think the evidence is pointing that way, absolutely.

GRIFFIN: So any fix is not a fix.

PECHT: So -- so they're in a -- they're in a little bit of a -- a quandary. If they announce that the electronics is a problem, they're -- they're going to probably be in a -- in a lot of trouble because nobody is going to want to drive the car.

So I think, at this stage, they don't want to announce that there's an electronics problem.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): In its statement to us, Toyota's spokesperson said, quote, "It's very easy to look from outside in and say, no, there is no problem with the pedal. But this is the problem, and we are fixing it."

In fact, Toyota says two days NHTSA said it will take a fresh look into the general issue of electromagnetic interference in the auto industry as a whole, not just related to Toyota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right. A little back-and-forth here ...

GRIFFIN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... between us here. Toyota's taking a pretty firm position, you know, locking in on what they think...

GRIFFIN: Right, right.

HARRIS: ... the company thinks the problem is right now. And then you're talking to these analysts, these scientists, these experts, who are saying it could be a range of issues here.

GRIFFIN: Tony, across the world we're talking to them. We saw a couple of them, but we talked to these guys across the world. There was a problem with the mats. There was a problem with the pedals, in some cases. A bunch of cases, it's not explained. Toyota can't explain it, because they don't know what that problem is. These engineers don't know what the problem is. So, you have a problem you can't fix. That's a very tough situation for a car company to be in.

HARRIS: You also mentioned, and talked to, a couple of these people about this idea of electromagnetic interference.

GRIFFIN: Right, right.

HARRIS: And, yet, that's just one of the theories being...

GRIFFIN: Right.

HARRIS: ... floated as a potential problem here among the group that you talked to.

GRIFFIN: Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yes, interesting enough, Toyota is now opening the doors in to that realm of possibility.

HARRIS: Can you imagine?

GRIFFIN: The problem is, look at your car. It's got a computer board, all these moving parts, all these things interact. It may not be one little part in an electronic board, but it may be a bunch of parts kind of working all at one time to make this happen. How do you test for that?

HARRIS: Wow.

GRIFFIN: These guys don't really know, but they do know there is a problem that is not solved!

HARRIS: And to your view, Toyota in clear crisis mode as a company right now.

GRIFFIN: And that's a lot...

HARRIS: Yes.

GRIFFIN: ... we've been talking about this crisis management. This is what these engineers say is crisis management that Toyota is going to be sorry for down the road.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

GRIFFIN: ... because they could be in a position where, you know, that whole quality of the company that they built up, the reputation, is going to be tossed out the window because they're not handling the crisis correctly.

HARRIS: Drew, good reporting, thank you, sir.

Let's get you caught up on our top stories now.

Anger in Sri Lanka after the arrest of the country's most decorated former soldier. He lost his bid for president last month. He was arrested yesterday on charges of trying to overthrow the government, and he now faces a court-martial. His family calls it an abduction. Opposition groups are gearing up for protests.

The snowstorms battering the mid-Atlantic could delay the funeral of Congressman John Murtha. The longtime Pennsylvania Democrat died yesterday following complications from gallbladder surgery. A source close to the late congressman tells CNN doctors accidentally cut Murtha's intestine during surgery. The National Naval Medical Center is not revealing anything else about Murtha's death.

In New Orleans, a giant celebration. When those Saints go marching in. The city is welcoming its new Super Bowl champs home with a giant parade. That's happening later today. The Saints won their first-ever Super Bowl Sunday night, beating the Indianapolis Colts.

Another check of our top stories in 20 minutes.

Bracing for round two of the winter wallop. Our Chad Myers is tracking the storm grounding flights and directly affecting 20 states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: How about this? Check out these cool time-lapse pictures from the Washington, D.C., area of the most recent snowfall over the weekend. And now the Capitol, Chad Myers, is bracing for more snow. But you're telling us, this is going to be a real event, a little farther up the Eastern Seaboard. You're talking about New York and Mass as well?

MYERS: Yes. I believe that there's going to be a dry slot that comes into the Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, area.

HARRIS: Uh-huh.

MYERS: And that's hard to show you now, because it hasn't happened yet.

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: But as the storm winds up, there's enough cold air that gets literally drug out of Canada and comes in here that doesn't have any moisture with it, because it's so cold. And if you push that and you pull that dry air into it, you get a rain or a snow shield. Give you different colors. A snow shield that looks something like this, where the snow is all here, yet there's a hole in the middle.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: And the hole, thank goodness, is the doughnut hole where D.C. is this time.

So, my snow totals are not nearly as much for D.C. as we saw last time. Maybe five inches for D.C. If you get to Frederick and you get to Towson, you'll go up. By the time you get to Philadelphia, you might be 12. By the time you get to New York City, it might be more. And then it will wind up and get into the Cape and into Boston.

Delays, though, are fairly mild. Thirty-five minutes in Chicago. That's all I have for you right now. This storm has not really even started yet.

HARRIS: Got you.

MYERS: The bulk of this storm starts when the low itself, which is making light snow in Chicago, Milwaukee, Kalamazoo, 4 to 6 inches in Detroit. It's been a very dry winter for Detroit. More snow in D.C. than Detroit this year, which doesn't make any sense. But that's what happens.

When this storm gets into the ocean, it will grab the energy from the Atlantic current. Although the temperature of the water is only 42, that's energy it will use to dump snow -- 10 to 20 inches, anywhere right across farther north than the big dump last time. I am worried, though, about some of the weight of the snow on the buildings.

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: We will go through it at 2:00. What do you need to do if your roof starts to crack? You've got a big flat roof in Baltimore, like most of them downtown, what happens when water starts to come through? We'll tell you about that.

HARRIS: Can't wait. All right, Chad, thank you, sir.

How is stimulus money being spent in your state? Our Josh Levs is digging deeper and answering your questions on the Stimulus Desk. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Okay. The Dow surging up. Stephanie Elam joining me live now with more from the New York Stock Exchange. And, Stephanie -- hi, Stephanie. You're there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, how you doing?

HARRIS: I'm not sure we got the order right in this block. But you're there, you're ready, I know that. So, are we seeing a little pop to the market today?

ELAM: I may not be talking stimulus, but I can tell you there's a stimulant for the Dow right now, how about that? I'll try to make it work altogether.

A lot of things happening today. First, we're seeing a bit of a relief rally today. Remember, the Dow tumbled 100 points yesterday? Well, it's not doing that today. In fact, last time we were hearing 99, 99, now we're at 10,113. Because we're up 205 points.

Investors are still focused on debt problems in Europe, especially Greece. But now there's a hope that resolution of some sort could be in the works for Greece. The president of the European Central Bank is leaving a meeting in Australia early so he can make it to a meeting with other European leaders later this week. If they come up with a rescue plan, it could alleviate fears that a new credit crunch in your Europe would be on the spread.

So, now, we've also got to take a look at some strong corporate earnings here at home. Coca-Cola shares getting a boost from a jump in earnings. But it's the industrial sector that is really leading the charge. Caterpillar shares are up 6 percent, 3M, Honeywell, Deere & Company, U.S. Steel, all up 2 percent to 5 percent. Morgan Stanley is optimistic about the industrial sector because demand is coming back and costs have improved.

So, Tony, maybe they just like when you're on the air and the markets just rally, and it's better. Because it happened yesterday, too, didn't it?

HARRIS: It did happen yesterday. Alright, I'll take all the credit, just no blame.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Fair enough!

HARRIS: Alright. Appreciate it, thank you.

ELAM: Sure.

Some of you are wondering how much stimulus money is going to your state in relation to others. We have Josh digging in to that at our Stimulus Desk. Josh, what are you finding?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: See, Tony, we do have stimulus information for you.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: You knew it was coming?

HARRIS: I need it.

LEVS: You do need it. Actually, you'll like this a lot. This is really interesting.

We've been opening the lines now for several days and asking you all to send in your questions, and so many people are asking how much stimulus money their states are getting and how many jobs are being created inside the states. So, I'll show you the computer behind me, let's take that. I'll show you where on CNN you can find out all the specifics in your state.

This is our map right here, and you can click on any state you want and it will give you all the latest information. You can see as I move around, it opens up a little box. That little box has the numbers on it. I know it's tiny on your screen. But Tony is a Baltimore guy, so let's go to Maryland. Funds awarded, $4.6 million. Jobs created, 6,760, and all of this you can find right here at CNN.com/stimulus for the latest. What we've been doing, Tony, is looking in to as many specific projects as we can and asking questions like, how long do these jobs last? What will these jobs do exactly? What are they all about?

And I have one for you now. It's interesting. Just outside Phoenix, let's zoom in there, and I'll tell you about this because we don't usually get to talk about really cool, funky animals when we're talking about the Stimulus Desk here.This is a wetlands project that's being created just outside of Phoenix.

And we're going to go back to the computer behind me because we were just sent some photos of this project here. Let's take this computer. What this is about here is this is a multimillion dollar project. I'll give you the numbers in a second. We've got some pictures for you here.

This is called the Tres Rios Wetlands Projects. It's where these three rivers meet. And it's interesting, Tony, this began with cleaned-up wastewater basically and after some time, they found that it was becoming a wetland. That animals were coming along, creating habitat there and able to live there. So now they're expanding it pretty big time. $14.7 million being put into this project. And they say it's creating 192 jobs at this point so far.

And I love some of these figures. They are over 300,000 aquatic and terrestrial plants are being installed. And 1.3 million cubic yards of earth are being moved. And they're expanding this from what was 10 acres to now 500 acres, this wetlands project just out of Phoenix.

And, Tony, it's a real good example for us here, when we say to you what we say every time, what do you think should be funded by stimulus money? There's no question it's good to have a wetlands, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: What should, should not get stimulus money. How many jobs make sense for that kind of spending. That's, you know, for all you to decide there.

HARRIS: We've got a little eco biosphere there in the Phoenix area. I love it.

LEVS: Didn't see it coming.

HARRIS: Didn't see it coming.

LEVS: And let me show everyone how you can send your questions to us. It's -- we've got it going at the blog. We've got a whole discussion there, cnn.com/josh. Also FaceBook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. And, of course, to really get to the NEWSROOM blog, instead of /Josh, you can just do cnn.com/tony, which is always the best way to go, right, Tony?

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I know I owe you a lot of money for that.

All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

LEVS: You got it.

HARRIS: The problem creating jobs and fixing health care. The search for a solution came at a bipartisan meeting at the White House. How did it go? We are live from the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The first lady, Michelle Obama, announcing a new government campaign to fight childhood obesity. Let's listen in for a minute.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: With cameras and lights and it's because of what you helped me start at the White House garden. So I am so proud of you all. And I hope you're doing well in sixth grade. I know it gets harder. Homework's tougher. But, you know, you can do it.

I want to also recognize the cabinet members here. Some of my good friends and partners in crime. Secretaries Vilsack, Sebelius, Duncan, Salazar, Donovan. I did leave anybody -- Solis, you! As well as Surgeon General Benjamin, who has just been a tremendous support in this. I want to thank them all for their excellent work, their leadership. You all are doing a phenomenal job. And, again, we wouldn't be able to do this without you.

I also want to thank some of our other guests, Senators Harkin and Gillibrand. It's good to see you all. Thank you for your leadership. Representatives DeLauro, Christensen and Fudge, thank you for being here and the work that you have done to get us to this point.

I want to thank Tiki (ph), good MC. Pretty sharp. Good on your feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

OBAMA: Yes. Yes. He's still upset because he's shorter than me. It's OK, Tiki. That was the first thing he said. He was -- literally he's like, "I didn't know you were so tall." I was like, "Yeah, I know. I know." It's OK. But thank you. Thank you for your work, your passion. Thank you for braving the weather to be here. We're glad to have you on board.

Dr. Judith Palfrey (ph), thank you for your wonderful work, as well as Will Allen (ph). Wonderful words. And we're going to get on it. Mayors Johnston (ph) and Curditoni (ph), you guys are doing a terrific job and you represent all of what we can do together. Thank you so much for being here. And thank you all for coming today and braving this weather and risking getting stuck here. Thank you for the work that you do every day to help our kids lead active and healthy lives.

And one final congratulations is in order. I hear that the Watkins Hornets -- are some of the Hornets here?

KIDS: Yes.

OBAMA: All right, stand up, because I know you're bored. They're just -- they're just barely hanging in. But we want you here because this is really about all of you. We've got other kids, but these guys are the national football champions, right? Congratulations, you guys. You guys can sit. We're almost done. Hang in there. Just think, you could be in school.

But we're -- we're all here today because we care deeply about the health and well-being of not just these kids up here, but for all kids like them all across the country. And clearly we're determined to finally take on one of the most serious threats to their future, and that's the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today. And, obviously, it's an issue of great concern to me, not just as a first lady, but as a mother.

And as Tiki said, often we talk about this issue, we begin by citing sobering statistics like the ones we've heard today. And we can't say enough, because we have to drill this in, that over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in this country have tripled. That nearly one-third of children in America are now overweight or obese. That's one in three of our children.

But the truth is, that these numbers don't paint the full picture. And it's important to say this. The words "overweight" and "obese," those words don't tell the full story, because this isn't about inches and pounds, and it's not about how our kids look. It has nothing to do with that. It's about how our kids feel. And it's about how they feel about themselves. It's about the impact that we're seeing that this issue is having on every aspect of their lives.

Pediatricians, like Dr. Palfrey, all over this country are seeing kids with high blood pressure, high cholesterol. More and more kids with type ii diabetes. And as we all know, that used to only be a disease of adults. Our teachers, talking to a lot of them, they are telling me how they're seeing the bullying, the teasing. Our school counselors see the depression and the low self-esteem. Coaches are seeing kids struggling to keep up. Or worse yet, sitting on the sidelines unable to engage.

Our military leaders report that obesity is now one of the most common disqualifies for military service. Economic experts tell us that we are spending outrageous amounts of money treating obesity- related conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. And then public health experts, as Tiki said, tell us that the current generation is actually on track to having a shorter life span than their parents. And none of us wants this future for our kids. HARRIS: And there you have First Lady Michelle Obama announcing a new government campaign to fight childhood obesity. And the truth here is that more often than not obese children become obese adults. And obese Americans have the U.S. health care system in a real stranglehold.

A little fact checking here. Take a look at a few statistics here. The Centers for Disease Control says obesity adds $147 billion a year to the country's health care bill. That's 6 percent of total health care expenditures. Put another way, $486 for every man, woman, and child. The CDC says obese people pay to be overweight absolutely pay to be overweight typically $1,429 a year more than for health care than a person of average size.

And a quick programming note here. First Lady Michelle Obama will be Larry King's guest tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

You know we've been watching a meeting at the White House, Republicans and Democrats today. The invitation was extended during the president's State of the Union speech. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, is covering that for us.

And, Suzanne, before we get to that meeting at the White House, maybe you could talk a little bit more about the first lady's childhood obesity initiative.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, sure, Tony.

It really is kind of a culmination of a lot of different things that the first lady has been pushing. First and foremost, living a healthy lifestyle. Physical activity. This first family is very athletic. Also taking good care of yourself with (ph) nutrition. You know, from the moment she got here, she planted a garden here at the White House. They even have bees that make honey here at the White House. Something that a lot of people don't know about. So really promoting this idea of healthy eating, healthy living.

And childhood obesity, obvious, as she had mentioned, a very serious, serious problem in this country. A serious problem here in Washington, D.C. And so that is something that's rather noncontroversial that she is taking on as her own signature issue as the first lady.

HARRIS: And, Suzanne, what might be a little more controversial heading down the road here is this effort at bipartisanship. We saw an initial effort at it this morning at the White House. And maybe you could fill us in on what you know of the meeting.

MALVEAUX: Well, sure. I had a chance to talk to the Republicans who left this meeting afterwards, Senator Mitch McConnell, as well as Congressman John Boehner, how did this all go, what did they think about it. Well, Senator McConnell was quite optimistic when he talked about the possibility of a bipartisan jobs bill that the president is pushing, but he said he definitely wanted to make the president aware that there are things that he's focusing on, on opening trade for other countries -- with other countries, rather, and talking about tax credits for small businesses, as well as nuclear energy. The president, earlier today, said this was going to be an opportunity for him, not only to try to find common ground, but also to listen to Republicans. And here's how he put it, Tony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Part of what we'd like to see is the ability of Congress to move forward in a more bipartisan fashion on some of the key challenges that this country is facing right now. I think it's fair to say that the American people are frustrated with the lack of progress on some key issues. And although the parties are not going to agree on every single item, there should be some areas where we can agree. And we can get some things done, even as we have vigorous debates on some of those issues that we don't agree on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: OK. So what they don't agree on here? Obviously, we're looking at February 25th as a possible moment for Republicans and Democrats to get together with the president, this live televised summit, health care summit, that the president was talking about.

Well, I had a chance to ask the Republican leadership, are they going to participate in this? What do they think is going to be accomplished by holding this summit? Because they have already criticized the president saying, look, he should scrap this health care reform legislation as it exists. They should start over because otherwise they believe that they may be wasting their time with this president. This is how Senator McConnell put it to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: What we need to do is start over, go step by step on a truly bipartisan basis and try to reach an agreement. My members are open to doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, Tony, whether or not they're actually going to participate, I asked Congressman Boehner that very question. He said they have not yet decided. That they would like to.

HARRIS: Whoa.

MALVEAUX: I also asked him, does he believe that this president is sincere is trying to be bipartisan. And he said, well, we're just going to have to see on that. So there is some skepticism from Republicans here. That is not surprising. But, obviously, both sides here trying to weigh in and getting some leverage, if you will, before that February 25th meeting to see what they get out of health care reform.

HARRIS: Well, now, a little bit of news there. Pretty significant. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. Will the Republicans show on the 25th? All right, Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

It's horrific enough to lose a child, but imagine hearing the news of his death from a blip on a social media page. Details on how that happened ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's do this. Let's take a look at some of the stories making a pretty big impact on the Internet right now. It's what you're talking about. Ines Ferre is joining me to walk us through this.

What about this story? This is horrible.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Of this family -- well, you explain it.

FERRE: It's unbelievable. Imagine losing a loved one and finding out about it on FaceBook. It's just a nightmare for the Vorlis (ph) family on Australia. Their twin daughters logged on to FaceBook to check their birthday messages. Instead they found a rest in peace posts for their younger brother, Bobby. He had died in a fatal car crash, along with two friends, the day before and no one had notified them. Sydney police say they couldn't identify the boy and so they couldn't notify the parents. It's just unbelievable.

Also, Google taking another giant step into the social media scene. Their popular e-mail service, gmail users will now be able to soon post status updates like, I'm sitting next to Tony Harris.

HARRIS: Nice.

FERRE: That kind of thing. Yes, it could be another move aimed at cutting into market share dominated right now by Twitter and FaceBook. And we're expecting that big announcement any minute now.

And on our cnn.com . . .

HARRIS: Awesome.

FERRE: The New Orleans Sainting returning home in triumph. The 2010 Super Bowl champions arrived in style, applauded by their adoring city. Today, the city welcomes them home with a giant parade. Stay with CNN, of course, for complete coverage. Live reports all afternoon. The parade begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Who dat!

HARRIS: Who dat. Who dat nation. Very nice. Good stuff, Ines.

FERRE: Thank you.

HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thank you.

The case of the American missionaries arrested in Haiti could have some unintended consequences for children who desperately need help. We will show you why. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Buried alive for almost four weeks. A 28-year-old man was rescued yesterday from the rubble of a collapsed marketplace in Haiti. Doctors say Evan Muncy (ph) is extremely emaciated, dehydrated and has open wounds. He is believed to have gotten water somehow during the 27 days he was trapped. People are calling the rescue a miracle.

New information about the Americans facing kidnapping charges for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti. A police officer tells CNN, the group made an earlier attempt at taking even more children. The officer says he stopped the 10 Baptists missionaries late last month as they tried to bus 40 children from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. The story is now affecting mercy flight of injured children out of Haiti. Here's that discussion from CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES ROBLES, "MIAMI HERALD": Apparently pilots who took kids to Miami landed and were confronted with -- bombarded with questions by customs. Well, who's that kid? Who's his father? Well, that's his father. How do you know it's his father? Well, he told me so. Well, can you prove it? And so the pilots are put in a very difficult position and they were, frankly, after the arrest of the Americans, unwilling to do it anymore.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: And these are pilots who were volunteering their time in many cases and trying to help as much as they can and have been making multiple flights. But now the number of flights has actually dropped dramatically to get sick kids out.

ROBLES: Absolutely. The pilots were contracted mostly by Miami Children's Hospital.

COOPER: OK.

ROBLES: I get the sense that they were kind of the smartest pilots. So the smartest pilots, who knew what questions to asked, were the ones that stopped taking the kids.

COOPER: I see.

ROBLES: So you had a child die last week. You had a little girl who was promised a flight on Monday, got gangrene by Thursday and on Friday lost her leg.

COOPER: Sanjay, what's the -- I mean is there an answer here?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting because at first they sort of had these guidelines that if there was a threat of loss of life, loss of limb or eyesight, that it would make it easier for the child to be transported.

But then they sort of backed off and said, you know, limb and eyesight, can that -- can those issues be taken care of in Haiti, as we've been talking about. That sort of left this question of somebody who's at risk of losing their life. I mean, maybe their blood pressure's not stable. Maybe they're very, very sick and simply transporting them from Haiti to a different country, the transit alone may be too long. So, you know, it's really sort of an untenable situation trying to take these patients who are near death, because now they qualify, and seeing if they can be saved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Yes, yes, when the Saints go marching in! It promises to be a big old celebration. New Orleans is throwing a parade for its Super Bowl champs today. Stay with CNN for complete coverage. Live reports all afternoon. The parade begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. And you can watch it right here on CNN!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi!