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Congress Begins Hearing on Toyota Safety Issues; Toyota's Deadly Defects; Building Up America; Credit & Money Advice; What's Hot; Haiti Sanitation Time Bomb

Aired February 23, 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: Let's get going here. Time for your top-of-the-hour reset. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It is noon on Capitol Hill, where a top Toyota executive faces lawmakers over his company's safety recalls.

Still in Washington, stalled healthcare legislation, one example of our broken government. Our panel weighs in, part of our weeklong series

It's 11:00 in Austin, where one Texas businesswoman thrives during the downturn by telling stuff you don't want.

So let's get started. Demanding answers about Toyota's deadly defects and the company's response. The House Energy and Commerce Committee opens the first congressional hearing into the auto giant's safety problems.

CNN congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar on Capitol hill for us and that noisy hallway. Good, good activity. We like that. Brianna. What have you heard so far?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot of questions from lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans. The big one that we've heard is what did Toyota know and when? And did Toyota really see the writing on the wall or were they just kind of in denial about the fact that maybe they had a really big problem on their hands?

At the same time, we also heard from the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton of Texas and he was cautioning against jumping to conclusions. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE BARTON (R), TEXAS: What we need to do, Mr. Chairman, you know, I don't believe that we should -- and I'm not saying that you're attempting to do this, that we should go on a witch hunt. We should actually try to find out, in the true and best sense of protecting the American people, if there's a problem, what it is. If there's a problem, what Toyota's going to do about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: And this is a concern of many lawmakers, because Tony, on the flip side of this, what you have is a lot of American jobs that are supplied by Toyota, tens of thousands of them.

And actually, some of the folks behind me here are from Toyota. A lot of them have gone to a nearby overflow room so that they can watch this hearing and they're here to send a message saying that they're comfortable with these cars and they really don't want there to be a witch hunt either as you heard in the words of Congressman Barton -- Tony.

HARRIS: Absolutely, got a quick follow up for you here Brianna, the big question is whether the problem goes beyond the floor mats we've talked about and the gas pedals and the actual problem might be with the computers?

KEILAR: This is a huge concern of some of these lawmakers. And this is what we're actually going to hear from some of the witnesses on the first panel. It might have to do with the computers in the cars. We've -- we've -- pardon me. James Lentz, the head of Toyota U.S. he came in a short time before the hearing began.

We got some video of that and we also obtained his testimony and he is going to say, we are confident that no problems exist with the electric throttle control system in our vehicles. That electronic throttle control being the computer, Tony, but I got to tell you, there are a lot of lawmakers who are skeptical and are worried that it could be a bigger problem than Toyota has admitted so far.

HARRIS: Including the chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Stupak, correct?

KEILAR: That's right, Congressman Stupak is concerned about it and he points to the testimony that we should be hearing after these opening statements wrap up, including from one man who is really going to press some of the assertions that Toyota has made about its computers in its cars and saying, actually there are the sort of loopholes in a way that could create the sudden accelerations and that Toyota is flat wrong is what we're expecting one expert to say.

HARRIS: Can't wait for that. Brianna, appreciate it, thank you.

Safety problems have forced some six million Toyotas to be recalled in the United States for these quick fixes. How big is the Toyota story? Well, a couple of numbers here for you to consider. The Japanese auto giant has more than 320,000 employees worldwide, 35,000 of them right here in the good old US of A, plus another 115,000 employed at U.S. dealerships, a big, big story.

And a few others that we are following for you. A few Republicans side with Democrats to advance a Senate jobs bill. The $15 billion measure is expected to get final approval maybe tomorrow. The package rewards businesses that hire with tax breaks. It also refunds highway construction projects. The five Republican crossovers, Massachusetts' Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio and Missouri's Kit Bond.

In Afghanistan, another deadly day, a bombing that killed 10 people in two separate attacks, one of them in Helmand province, where allied troops are carrying out a big operation against the Taliban. In that attack, the bomb hidden on a bicycle exploded in a bush station. Eight people were killed including a woman and a child. The other attack was in eastern Afghanistan, a bomb on a motorcycle exploded when a police convoy was passing through. Two people were killed.

A hearing on defense spending, funding just wrapped up on Capitol Hill. Senator John McCain is the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee. He sees progress in Afghanistan and wants the troops get the resources they need to do the job. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Now, we have the right mission and the right leadership in place in Afghanistan. The additional 30,000 troops ordered by the president are beginning to arrive and the burden on the institutional army is high. It's incumbent on you to field the best trained and equipped force in the world and it is incumbent on us in Congress to approve resources sufficient to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And more now on our top story. Congress demanding answers from Toyota about its safety defects. Today the company's U.S. president testifies on Capitol Hill. Tomorrow the big chief, Mr. Toyoda himself, will face the House panel. CNN's Kyung Lah reports from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's called the prince, Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, took a job most saw as inevitable. His promise that he took over the financially struggling company last June, restore the Toyota way. The youngest president in the company's history is instead facing a historic crisis.

Eight million cars recalled around the world and this first major test of his leadership say many analysts, he bungled the company's early response. After the recalls began, it took two weeks for Toyota to finally hold a news conference and then only after mounting pressure and a direct invitation from Washington is he now going to testify before lawmakers. "I'm pleased to go," says Toyoda. "What I want to stress most is our cooperation and determining the causes and our firm's stance on safety."

Japan's transport minister piled on the pressure saying he's glad Toyota finally decided to go. It's a pity that we heard he was going and he wasn't going and now he is going to the U.S.

KEITH HENRY, JAPAN ANALYST: He's been under pressure his whole life because he's the grandson of the founder of an icon. LAH: Japan watcher Keith Henry believes Toyota can handle the hot seat but notes he is notoriously publicity shy, so private there are no public family photos. Toyoda will be in the spotlight, making his case to an American audience.

HENRY: In the U.S., it's -- it's a different yardstick that we're going to assess him by. And it will be a test as to not only Mr. Toyoda but Toyota as a corporation.

LAH: In a sign that he is growing into his public role, Toyoda surprised customers in Japan by showing up at a dealership, to apologize for the Prius recall, a humble move by the scion of Japan's most powerful company. Toyoda acknowledged at a recent news conference that he is not perfect. "I too have to make constant improvement," he said.

He will now quickly have to learn how to handle U.S. lawmakers, in a situation most Japanese corporate heads never experience, being grilled in a very public setting. These hearing will also carefully be watched here in Japan. Even embattled, Akio Toyoda does remain one of this nation's favorite sons.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And of course we'll bring you live coverage of Akio Toyoda's appearance before Congress tomorrow right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You know, as part of our examination of broken government, we are looking at health care. Why isn't the system working? Is there any way to fix it? First, though, our random moment in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, it may be a growing problem long hidden from the public, known only to fans who dare fill arenas and stadiums. We're talking about carnivorous teen mascots, one shocking display left our Rob Marciano shocked, bewildered and dismayed. It's our "Random Moment of the Day."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB MARCIANO, MAS METEOROLOGIST: Speaking of coming down south, we go to Toronto. This off of YouTube . It was an NBA game between the Raptors and the Nets and this is what happened during the halftime show. Cheerleaders dance and the mascot ate one of the cheerleaders. Absolutely devoured her whole, continued to jump up and down. Nobody's stopping this animal, this beast! Walking off with this poor, unsuspecting young lady and getting away with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: One of those moments where I really have to remember I have babies to feed. When mascots attack, today's random moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Rhonda Smith is testifying on Capitol Hill right now. Let's just get there.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

RHONDA SMITH, LEXUS CRASH SURVIVOR: -- continues to accelerate. To make a long story short, I put the car into all available gears, including neutral, but then I put it in reverse and it remains in reverse as the car speeds to over 100 miles per hour down the interstate. I placed both feet on the brake after I firmly engaged the emergency brake and nothing slows the car. I figure the car was going to go its maximum speed and I was going to have to put the car into the upcoming guardrail in order to prevent killing anyone else. And I prayed for God to help me.

I called my husband on the Bluetooth phone system. I knew -- I'm sorry. I knew he could not help me, but I wanted to hear his voice one more time. After six miles, God intervened as the car came very slowly to a stop. I pulled it to the left median. With the car stopped and both feet still on the brake, the motor still revved up and down. At 35 miles an hour, it would not shut off. Finally at 33 miles per hour I was able to turn the engine off. Thank you.

After my husband arrived, he found nothing unusual about the accelerator or the floor mats. But the strange thing was that the dash lights and the radio were still on. After the wrecker arrived, we gave the vehicle fob (ph) to the wrecker driver. When he hooked the car and prepared to winch it onto the roll back, he asked my husband to put the car in neutral so he could start the winch. The driver was standing 20 to 25 feet away at the roll back controls. Without thinking, my husband sat down in the car without the key fob and was able to shift the car into neutral, which he shouldn't have been able to do. But when he did that, the car actually tried to start itself.

We have a notarized statement from Tommy Clayton, the wrecker driver, attesting to this. Toyota said they would inspect our Lexus and contact us. After 10 days, we still had not received a call back. We called again and got the same assurances. Toyota promised us they would look in to our complaints several more times over the next few weeks. When we finally forced Toyota to respond in writing, we received a five-sentence analysis stating, and I quote, when properly maintained, the brakes will always override the accelerator.

Well, we know that's a lie. And we were outraged that Toyota would suggest in that statement also that the brakes had to not properly be maintained in order for that to happen. And the car had less than 3,000 miles on it. Once again, we contacted our dealer and expressed our disgust with Toyota's handling. They recommended that we contact NCDS, which is the National Center for Dispute Settlement and ask for an arbitration hearing. Our NCDS hearing was a total farce. The representative for Lexus was Mr. Leonard St. Amannd (ph), their Tennessee district field technician. Mr. St. Amannd, although an hour away in Kingsport, did not show his face and he attended via speakerphone. He insisted that he could not recreate the incident and that I had more than likely caused this problem by standing on the brakes while spinning the tires.

Well, of course, we were furious that Toyota called us liars the second time. NCDS denied our claim for a total refund of our purchase price for this (INAUDIBLE) car, which is all we were asking for. In mid-March, 2007, we turned to NHTSA for help. Mr. Steve Chan and Mr. D. Scott Young (ph) (INAUDIBLE) responded. Mr. Young took over our claim and seemed to be receptive of our concerns that sudden, unintended acceleration in Lexus vehicles could cause serious injury and we told him possibly death at that time that somebody was really going to get hurt. We furnished pictures of the car and documentation of what had transpired since October of 2006. On April 11th, 2007, Mr. Young drove to Knoxville, Tennessee and drove to Sevierville to inspect the car. My husband will address that in a moment.

Since neither Toyota or NHTSA took us seriously, we tried to alert the public through the news media back then. We contacted numerous news agencies, a lot that are probably here today. And we tried all types of media, only to have one local station take an interest in our claim that Toyota and NHTSA were ignoring the deadly problem, only one local station, (INAUDIBLE) TV channel 6 in Knoxville, did the story, which aired in 2007. We repeated our strong belief that the problem was somewhere in the electronics. After the Sanitee (ph), California, crash that killed a California highway patrolman and his family, (INAUDIBLE) TV did a second story on Toyota's sudden, unintended acceleration. This was broadcast in February of 2010, showing our original interview and a current interview.

We've never wavered from our belief that our problem was the electronics, not wandering floor mats. We forwarded this 2010 video to Toyota and NHTSA and received no response. In early 2008, we reluctantly let go of our mission to persuade Toyota and NHTSA to deal with the problem because the effort was too traumatizing. But we're here today because for the first time, we feel our story has been given more than a token attention. Unfortunately, it took almost four years and injuries and lives lost to prompt Congress to take up this important issue.

In 2006 and '7 we hoped that our efforts might spare others the unnecessary terror and pain (INAUDIBLE) of such an incident. And it pains our hearts deeply to realize that we failed, but this failure is surely shared by Toyota and NHTSA today. In your view, they've demonstrated an uncaring attitude and disregard for life. The results have been tragic. And today, I must say, shame on you, Toyota, for being so greedy. And shame on you, NHTSA, for not doing your job.

It's our hope that this testimony will help all of Toyota's customers in a way that Toyota has not yet done to this day. Once again, I'd like to thank this committee for taking the time to listen to our story. It's about time we were heard. And I hope that Toyota and NHTSA will be held accountable for the poor decisions that have caused some people their lives. We'd also like to ask this committee to set a higher standard for NHTSA to be held more accountable in the future. And I thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith, your opening --

HARRIS: Whoa. How strong was that?

There you heard from Rhonda Smith just detailing her frustration in dealing with Toyota and dealing with NHTSA. Shame on Toyota for being so greedy. Shame on NHTSA for not doing its job. We will, of course, bring you live coverage of Akio Toyoda's appearance before Congress. That is tomorrow.

You hear it, you see it, you feel it, anger at the government in every corner of the country. All week here in the CNN NEWSROOM we are looking at our broken government and trying to figure out how to fix it. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll looks at trust and the folks in Washington don't fare very well.

Twenty six percent say they trust the Federal government always or most of the time, 33 percent say that about their state government and 52 percent their local government. When asked whether they trust the government in Washington to do what's right, 2 percent say always, 24 percent most of the time, 69 percent some of the time and 5 percent say never.

The country's broken health care system, one of the big reasons a lot of Americans think the government is stuck in neutral. So, how do you fix the mess? With us from Washington, now, Jay Newton Small with "Time" magazine. Jay, good to see you. Thanks for your time and CNN political editor, Mark Preston. Mark, I'm going to start with you. Why don't we have a single bill to be voted on by the House and Senate?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Tony, let me give you three quick reasons why that's the case. First of all, there's been a lot of discussion about whether President Obama has been personally involved in the negotiations. He suggested that he wanted health care reform when he gave his address to Congress shortly after being sworn in. However, he never was personally involved on Capitol Hill. That frustrated a lot of Democrats. You know, some would say that the case is, because he was so, you know, so sidetracked by the economic crisis, by the fact that the housing collapse and there was so much going on.

And what hasn't been discussed, however, Tony, is the fact that his health czar, his nominee for the HHS Department, Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader had to withdraw his nomination. Tom Daschle would have been the person, Tony, that could have shepherded this bill through the Senate. And we do know that really the trouble with his health care bill has been in the Senate.

HARRIS: And Jay Newton small, let's move forward here. Why are you so critical of this session coming up on Thursday? You know, I kind of want to hear the ideas and I want to kind of tar and feather the people who are stonewalling. How useful is this going to be?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, TIME.COM: You know, that's sort of what it is. It's a show. It's a tar and feathering. It's an argument. But it's not actually anything in terms of legislation. It's not actually going to produce a bill. Really, a lot of Republicans are very upset with the president that he introduced his own bill just days before the summit and most of them are saying, hey, we're about to present our ideas to you. Why aren't you going to listen to them? How are you going to incorporate them if you've already got your deal, if you've already got your bill? And so the summit really seems more like stage, more like theater than anything else right now and we're going to be watching them debate and we're going to be hearing their cases for their ideas of health care reform. But, in fact, I mean, the president's pretty much with the offer he gave us yesterday, seems like he's pretty much already decided what path he wants to --

HARRIS: Does that mean to you that he's not open just because he outlines a plan? Does that say to you he's not -- I know it says this to Republicans, but does it say to you that he's not open to you want my ideas on the table? Here's a plan and bring yours on Thursday.

NEWTON-SMALL: I mean, but the way he laid it out, the way he picked and chose from the Democratic ideas, it really looks, at least to people on Capitol Hill, like this is their plan for pushing a bill through reconciliation, through the sort of budgetary parliamentary process and really relying just on a Democratic bill, although they're going to have a lot of problems and Republicans today were saying, look, if this is what you are going to do, we're going to be there with hundreds of amendments and we're going to block it as much as we can. So it's still as acrimonious as ever

HARRIS: I'm going to try to be more optimistic than Jay is, with you here, Mark. Here's the thing, however you propose this, there is a playbook to defeat it. Isn't it at least encouraging that health care reform is not dead and buried, that there will be discussions moving forward?

PRESTON: Look, I think I have to side with Jay, though, with the fact that what's going to happen on Thursday, though, Tony, is really going to be a dog-and-pony show. And it really shows you how important it is to have the bully pulpit of the White House. He basically has pressured congressional Republicans to come down and deliver on their ideas and in the end --

HARRIS: And many will say it's about time.

PRESTON: Sure and that's fine. As far as the discussions going on, absolutely, it's good that we're having these discussions. Some would argue that it's good that the health care bill didn't actually get passed because the way that our government is set up is that it allows the minority to have some power in Congress, especially when there's a president who's trying to push things through. So, some would argue, Tony, that the government isn't broken, so to speak and that this is how our government's supposed to work.

HARRIS: Jay, how do we get the 100 percenters out of the room? How do we keep the 100 percenters from breaking the system and getting us absolutely rock, solid stalled where we get nothing out of this? Not every idea is a great idea. NEWTON-SMALL: No, absolutely true. And I think part of the president's problem, as Mark was saying earlier, that he hasn't been engaged all year, is that a lot of Democrats took his non-engagement to be sort of an invitation to draw lines in the sand and said well, look, I'm not going to vote for this bill unless "X" or I'm not going to vote for this bill unless "Y" and there are so many different lines drawn in the sand that it became impossible to pass the bill.

So, in this sense sitting down and having a big public airing of all these problems and saying here's where we want to go. Here's what I am finally endorsing now as president and I'm going to lobby for this and I'm going to work for this, it is a good thing and it's a very good thing for the bill and hopefully it will be sort of the first sign that they might actually get something through in the near future. But, you know, it's a first step and there's a long ways to go in finding agreement amongst all these groups.

HARRIS: Yes. Jay, did we get something done on health care?

NEWTON-SMALL: You know, I was really pessimistic last week and the week before, I am a little bit more optimistic now. We'll see. But it's just going to be really tough and I don't see a way of doing it nicely, let's put it that way. I don't see a way of holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" and saying yes we all need universal health care. I think it's going to be a really acrimonious process.

HARRIS: Mark, does the president get something done here with this Congress?

PRESTON: Politically he gets a lot done. The fact is, he's able to hold this and I think congressional Democrats are glad that he's actually holding these meetings. I think we will see something modestly done. Congressional Republicans can't look like they are the party of no on everything. They have to look like they are working with the president on some issues. They'll I think find some common ground, but certainly not what we expected, Tony.

Jay Newton-Small, appreciate it. Good meeting you. Good to have you on the program, Mark as always a pleasure.

So the true test of President Obama's health care reform plan will be Thursday when Democrats and Republicans come together for that televised health care summit. What do you think? We really want your voice to be part of the program here. Will anything be accomplished? Send us your comments at cnn.com/Tony.

Broken government, the right and left and everyone in between, agree on one thing, the government is broken. All this week, CNN digs deep into the mess to find out what can be done to clean it up. No more politics. It is time for answers. I love this, "Broken Government" all this week right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Three hours into the trading day now and at this time, you know, we always like to direct you to cnnmoney.com, if you want the latest financial news and analysis from our terrific money team, just go to cnnmoney.com.

To the New York Stock Exchange now for a look at the big board. Where are we three hours in to this doggone trading day? We're still in negative territory, down 89 points. Let me see. Last check here, NASDAQ was down 35, so a down day so far all around.

Is Toyota fixing the right problems? Some critics aren't so sure. A CNN special investigation, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Growing fears about the acceleration problem affecting some Toyota models. Earlier this morning, Congressman Bart Stupak told CNN cameras he worries the so-called fix won't really fix anything. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BART STUPAK (D), CHAIRMAN, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: We still feel there's an electronic problem here that has not been addressed. As someone said, there's a gremlin in this electronic system which are making these cars accelerate unexpectedly and, unfortunately, its resulted in some serious accidents and deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, we've also been hearing that from some engineers. CNN's special investigations unit correspondent, Drew Griffin, has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 problem, stuck floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and a fix. It's all mechanical, the company says, and it's solved. But is it?

SEAN KANE, SAFETY RESEARCH STRATEGIST: 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 recall. 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 it 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 culprits. Interference with the car's computer system. 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.

MICHAEL PECHT, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: They need to continuously be testing these products. You just can't test one day and say, oh, there's the product, unless they can make sure that there's been no other changes. And that's very difficult today.

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

(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 pedals 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 quandary. If they announce that the electronics is a problem, they're going to probably be in a lot of trouble, because nobody's going to want to drive the car. So I think, at this stage, they don't want to announce that there have been electronics problem.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): In its statement to us, a Toyota 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, NHTSA said it will take a fresh look into the general issue of electromagnetic interference into the auto industry as a whole, not just related to Toyota.

Drew Griffin, CNN, College Park, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Really provocative stuff there.

We will bring you live coverage of Akio Toyoda's appearance before Congress. That is tomorrow, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

For an in-depth look into the Toyota recall, just go to cnn.com/Toyota. There you can find out if your car has been recalled and what to do about it. It all comes to you from the worldwide leader in news.

As we search for those who are building up America during these difficult times, we found a woman who is turning other people's furniture into a living.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Angry Toyota dealers take their case to Washington. They are complaining that Toyota's being treated unfairly by the U.S. government. Some of them say it's because the government has invested billions in General Motors and Chrysler. The Toyota dealers say other automakers have also had recalls in the last year.

A bright spot on the housing market's bumpy road to recovery. Across the country, home prices rose for the seventh straight month in December. The home price index is up more than 3 percent from May, when it hit bottom, but it is still 30 percent below its peak in May of 2006.

And just last hour, former New Jersey Nets star, Jayson Williams, was sentenced in the 2002 shooting death of his limo driver. Williams has been ordered to serve up to five years in prison. Williams addressed the courtroom earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYSON WILLIAMS, FORMER NBA PLAYER: To the Mr. Christofi family and friends, I sincerely apologize for my actions that caused his death. Not a day passes that I wish I could not bring Mr. Christofi back. Although I do not clearly remember all my actions of that dreadful day, I completely accept the eyewitness statement as my accurate -- and I'm embarrassed and deeply, deeply sorry for my choices and actions after Mr. Christofi's death. I pray that today brings you some comfort.

To my family, please forgive me for the pain that I've caused to you, my children. You deserve a better father, son, brother than I have been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh.

The CNN Express on the road, finding people building up America in these difficult times. Our Tom Foreman made a stop at a small business in Texas.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what we're talking about today in building up America, you might call the business of bad times. The simple truth is, there are good businesses out there that really thrive when everybody is watching their nickels.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA GAYNOR, DESIGN IT WITH CONSIGNMENT: I would imagine if you were really creative, you could make a bunk bed out of it.

FOREMAN (voice-over): If there is one thing Lisa Gaynor knows, it is this.

GAYNOR : There's a story behind everything.

FOREMAN: And hers is about foresight, opportunity, and building up when everything seemed headed down.

About 10 years ago, Lisa's family moved back to her home state of Texas. Her husband, a consultant, traveled for work and she had a good job with a big corporation in Austin. But, then came bad news. Lisa was let go.

GAYNOR: Really knocked the wind out of my sails and I was -- I had no idea what to go. That was my identity. That was who I was.

FOREMAN: With nothing else to do, Lisa started decorating her new home by shopping in consignment shops. But few had the nicer items she wanted. She had seen high-end consignment shops in other cities and she thought this could be a good time to open one here. And lately, that's proven particularly true.

GAYNOR: People are having to be smarter with their money and they're having to make different choices. So, historically, only 10 percent of the consumer population is really aware of or open to the idea of consignment shopping. And I think what the recession has done is change that.

Can I help you find anything?

FOREMAN: She had never owned a business before, but with the encouragement of local business groups and friends, Lisa launched Design It With Consignment.

GAYNOR: I sell things that are owned by other people or have been previously owned by other people. It doesn't mean antique. It doesn't mean used. It doesn't mean beat up.

FOREMAN: It does mean bargains.

GAYNOR: Retailed for $13,000 and we've got it for $3,500. We've got this for, what, $800? Even if it was thousands of dollars just a few years ago, these things now sell for, like, $300.

FOREMAN: Most items sell for 50 percent to 75 percent less than they did new.

GAYNOR: Lots of sold signs. I like that.

FOREMAN: And the recession that has taken so many jobs has been turned into an opportunity for Lisa and her five employees.

GAYNOR: Ironically, it had been a boost to my business. We were just reviewing numbers and we have gone up 30 percent over the last two years.

FOREMAN: It's hard work. She's at it six days a week, but it is working.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: In fact, it is working so well, she's considering more than doubling the size of her shop -- Tony.

HARRIS: Love it. Rebuilding America. Love the series. Tom Foreman for us. Thanks, Tom.

What is the best way to rebuild your credit? Our "Help Desk" team will have some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. We are going to head over to the CNN "Help Desk." And today we have advice on how to clean up your credit and repair that score. Here's personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Time now for "The Help Desk" where we get you answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, John Simons is the senior personal finance editor at "Black Enterprise" magazine. Jacquette Timmons is a financial advisor and author.

All right, guys, let's get to the first question. Charles from Colorado asks, "I'm repairing my credit and wonder if it's better to pay a creditor on my credit report in full or reach a settlement amount? Which benefits my credit score more? And once it's satisfied, is it removed from my report or just updated as paid by the creditor?"

Jacquette, people really care about these cleaning up your credit programs. What do you recommend?

JACQUETTE TIMMONS, FINANCIAL ADVISER: I recommend, if you have the resources and the cash flow, to pay the creditor that's on your credit report. Because if you do a settlement, that means you're charging it off and that actually defeats the goal that the person has in terms of repairing their credit.

And then in terms of how long it stays on your credit report, seven to 10 years.

WILLIS: A long time.

TIMMONS: Yes.

WILLIS: Great answer. OK.

Thomas asks, "I know I can pay much more than the minimum on my credit cards. Every month I put aside $500 toward savings and have $5,000 saved and should be getting at least $2,000 after filing my taxes." Oh, a lot of money. "Would you recommend I put all this money toward clearing my $7,000 debt?" -- John.

JOHN SIMONS, SR. PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR, "BLACK ENTERPRISE": Actually, I would recommend that he continue to do what he's doing. Paying his credit card bills on time and paying the minimums while building an emergency savings fund of about six to nine months worth of living expenses. In his case, he's getting $2,000 back from the IRS. He should really think about changing his withholdings so that he's not giving the government an interest-free loan over the course of the year.

WILLIS: Great advice. Guys, great job. Thanks for your help today.

"The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers. Send me an e- mail to gerri@cnn.com. We might just answer that question right here next week. You can also pick up the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: I need you to reach out to the program. I need you to talk to me directly. A couple ways that you can do that. First of all, cnn.com/tony takes you directly to this, bam, our blog page. If you'd like to send us your thoughts on Facebook, here's what you do, TonyHarrisCNN and post your comments here.

Here's my Twitter address, TonyHarrisCNN. One other way for you to contact us directly, talk to the show, call us, pick up the phone, 1-877-742-5760. Let's have more of your views, more of your thoughts on the program, CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's do this. Let's take a look at some of the stories generating buzz on the Internet, what you're searching, what you're talking about. Ines Ferre joining me again to talk us through it.

What are you finding, lady?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of buzz on the Internet, Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

FERRE: The Dalai Lama is now officially on Twitter. In just two days, @DalaiLama has attracted some 55,000 followers. Last year, an imposter of the Tibetan spiritual leader set up an account which attracted tens of thousands of followers and it was shut down. But the hoax folks forced the creation of a verified Twitter account, if you'll recall.

And this one is from Facebook. The website could help actress Betty White land a hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live." The fan group page is called "Betty White to Host SNL, please." It has more than 400,000 fans and "SNL" bookers are reportedly considering her for a multi-host episode (ph). White turned 88 in January.

HARRIS: Oh my goodness.

FERRE: And, Tony, I really think that we need to set up one for you.

HARRIS: For "Saturday Night Live"?

FERRE: Yes. Yes, of course.

HARRIS: Are you insane?

FERRE: I know you have your Facebook page with like over, you know, 1,000 fans and stuff.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. I'm trying. I'm trying.

FERRE: Yes, yes, Tony Harris for "SNL," please.

HARRIS: Right.

FERRE: OK. And now this one from cnn.com. A queen-sized bed for a king-sized dog. Check out George, the world's tallest dog. He measures 3'7". The Great Dane is the "Guinness World Record's" tallest dog ever. His food is propped up high, Tony, 18 inches off the ground.

HARRIS: Are you kidding me. That's not a special effect? That's a real dog?

FERRE: That is a real dog. That dog could sit at your table. I mean that dog is -- it's beautiful, George.

HARRIS: Would eat me out of house and home is what would happen.

Ines, that's what's hot. Appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you.

FERRE: You too. You too.

HARRIS: Haiti's earthquake survivors living now in tent slums, ground zero for the country's next crisis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Haiti on the brink of another catastrophe. That warning from experts rushing to resolve sanitation problems in the capital. CNN's David McKenzie takes us through the maze of tents and shacks and what was the national football stadium, now a ticking time bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dominick (ph), what does it mean day to day for people to live in these conditions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think you have to remember, I mean, many of these people lived in homes. You know, they had access to water. They had access to latrines. And now they're basically living in slums. Overcrowded slums. Whether it's a reasonable access to water, but absolutely no access to proper sanitation.

MCKENZIE: When you see this, and the situation people are living in, if it isn't a real concerted effort that you could face an epidemic as it were?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're facing potentially a huge public health crisis in Port-au-Prince in particular.

MCKENZIE: This is the dump of the camp. You know, when you see this, what is the health hazard that this presents?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is one of about five, you know, that have already (ph) spread up around this camp. And the problem is, you know, there are children who live right close to it. There are children playing here every day. There are flies. There are latrines up there that the flies are going into, coming back on to here and then landing on people's food. And the truth is, do you want your child playing in that? No, you don't. They're going to get sick. It's guaranteed.

MCKENZIE: Dominick, you want people to leave the camps but, you know, we've seen just people coming in day to day all the time. It seems like the opposite is happening of what needs to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, where do they go? You know, I mean, we've already seen a lot of people have left Port-au-Prince and gone to the countryside. And many people originated from there. But, you know, you can't have 700,000 to 1 million people moving outside of Port-au-Prince. This is where they live. This is where they want to stay. The challenge is, they don't want to move, but yet they don't want to stay in these kind of conditions.

So how do you resolve that? You know, the government has planned -- it's pretty much on the table at the minute, to build camps to move people out. But so far, those plans have yet to turn into reality. And, really, time is running out.

MCKENZIE: People at home are seeing the situation and kind of lost interest in some ways in Haiti. What can they do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People need to be following this story, because the challenges change. It was search and rescue for the first week. Getting people out. It was dealing then, getting people into sites. The problem hasn't ended. The problem is just changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Just changing. If you are looking for ways to help Haiti, just log on to our website. There you will find the latest information on organizations on the front lines of the relief effort.