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Health Reform's Final Push; Remembering Peter Graves

Aired March 15, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The battle over health care reform, President Obama scrambling for support from Capitol Hill to the heartland. And today, he makes a sales pitch in Ohio. The biggest movement may be in his new found flexibility on Capitol Hill. Will President Obama clinch the critical votes to end the showdown?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe the Congress owes the American people a final up or down vote on health care reform.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: The time for talk is over. It's time to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Kate Bolduan joins us now from the White House with more. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kyra. Well, the debate has been long by any measure and the protests many, but it seems Democrats are finally ready to call for a vote laying it all on the line this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): White House heavy hitters made the Sunday talk show rounds with one simple message - this is the week for health care reform.

DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: I think people have come to the realization that this is the moment. And if we don't act now, there will be dire consequences for people all over this country.

BOLDUAN: The House of Representatives is expected to vote later this week on the Senate version of the Democratic bill that passed last December. After a contentious nine-month struggle, the White House is predicting victory.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will have the votes. And this time next week somebody will walk out this door and you'll be talking about not a proposal in the House but something that the president's ready to sign into law.

BOLDUAN: But House democrats need 216 votes to succeed. And they have yet to reach that magic number.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), MAJORITY WHIP: No, we don't have them as of this morning. But we have been working this thing all weekend. We'll be working it going into the week. I am also very confident that we'll get this done.

BOLDUAN: This partisan battle is far from over with mid-term elections coming up in November, the GOP is vowing to fight until the end.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: We're going to do everything we can to make it difficult for them, if not impossible to pass a bill.

BOLDUAN: If House Democrats can squeak out a victory, the Senate will then have to approve any changes through a process known as reconciliation, allowing the Senate to send a final bill to the president's desk with a simple majority, not the 60-vote supermajority that would otherwise be required to over come Republican opposition. Democrats call it an up or down vote. Republicans call the procedural maneuvering something else.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: There will be a price to be paid to jam a bill through the American people don't like using a sleazy process.

BOLDUAN: While Republicans say reconciliation will poison the well for future bipartisan efforts, Democrats seem willing to take that risk.

AXELROD: We're going to have 10 million more people without insurance coverage in the next 10 years. This is not the future the American people want. It's not the future they deserve. And that's worth the fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And while that fight is happening on Capitol Hill, President Obama is by no means sitting back to just watch it go on. He is heading, as you have been talking about, Kyra, to Ohio this afternoon to make another campaign-style pitch to sell health care reform. And you'll remember, he's already postponed his overseas trip by three days in order to ensure that he's here for negotiations, for arm twisting and this White House hopes also so he's here for a victory lap, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kate Bolduan, thanks so much. We're going to have live coverage of the president's remarks there in Ohio, as you mentioned. He's expected to speak just after 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We will carry his comments once he takes the stage.

At the bottom of the hour, a look at the health care debate through the eyes of a grieving widow. She and her insurance companies gave him the best care, now she asks, does the system work for those facing these life and death struggles? She'll explain her investigation. People in the northeast may be feeling cursed by now. First, record snow and now dealing with the aftermath of a wicked weekend rainstorm. We're talking heavy rain, more than six inches in some places, leading to floods and crazy drivers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just driving in the water. I have no idea why he'd go through something like that. It happens all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind's going fast. This rain stings but the waves look awesome. It's definitely worth being out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The storm is being blamed for at least seven deaths, most of them from falling trees. Those trees are going down easily because the ground is already soaked from record snow this winter. Power lines also taking a hit from the winds that gusted up to hurricane strength in some places. Hundreds of thousands of people had their power restored since the storm passed. Tens of thousands of others still waiting in the dark.

Rob Marciano, it hasn't stopped for you in weeks.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, you know, you go from a having a snowstorm, a blizzard and for some people a hurricane with snow and this would be a hurricane-like results. Not the structure of a hurricane, but see these kind of winds, gusting over 75 miles per hour in spots, in populated areas. And then seeing rainfall amounts like this. Elizabeth, New Jersey, seven inches of rain. North Bergen County, New Jersey seeing 5.1 inches. Central Park, seeing over four inches of rain. Brooklyn seeing three and half and change. And LaGuardia seeing at 3.1.

So, you know, a tremendous amount of rain. On top of that they had a lot of snow this past winter, so the ground is completely saturated and beginning to thaw. That's why you saw those decades-old trees just, you know, toppling over like matchsticks and taken out everything with them as well.

All right. Looking at across the northeast, more rain. As a matter of fact, I think we got a live shot off the Time-Warner Tower there, over Central Park. Not too shabby right now, but showers will be going on and off throughout the afternoon. And with that, the threat for - well, not seeing those rivers die down all that much. We do have flood warnings out for a good chunk of the smaller streams and rivers around New York and also around Boston.

Boston, you're going to get hit the hardest today with rainfall. Showers continue to spin in off the ocean below. It's actually still right here. So it hasn't really traversed much into the Atlantic. So today is going to be another day where we see rain obviously in spots and winds gusting to maybe 40 or 50 miles an hour with this.

Travel delays, you bet you. We have already seen a number of those. Let's see what's going on at La Guardia, still 2:45 delay. So, an hour delay in Philadelphia and 30-minute delays in Boston. So if you are traveling today, it's going to be a tough go of it. The other thing I want to point out because this will be an on-going story throughout the rest of this week, the flooding problems that will exist in Fargo, back through parts of the midwest as their snow melts or snow begins to melt and those rivers begin to rise. We could see flooding that rivals that which we saw last year. That's not what the folks need to hear right now. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Ever heard of Campbell number nine? Your daughter might have. They go with everything she has. Pediatricians are really letting Joe Camel and company have it over this.

And from "Mission Impossible" to "Airplane," Peter Graves could do it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this guy thought he was 99 percent dead, but now he says he's been brought back to life.

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PHILLIPS: You remember this violinist, (INAUDIBLE) right? Severely injured in Haiti's earthquake. We have some great news about his recovery.

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PHILLIPS: Some sad news from the entertainment world. Actor Peter Graves died over the weekend. He'll be remembered for TV's "Mission Impossible" but it's just one sparkle in a long and varied career.

CNN's John Roberts takes a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

("Mission Impossible" theme)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peter Graves was the original Jim Phelps on TV's "Mission Impossible" in the late '60s. While his six season run never made him a superstar, his spy gig gave him global appeal thanks to international syndication.

PETER GRAVES, ACTOR: Most actors in life are remembered most particularly for one or two roles. It doesn't bother me at all to be thought of as Jim Phelps or to be strongly identified with him.

ROBERTS: Graves reprised the role for the series revival in 1988. In real life he was the younger brother of "Gunsmoke" star James Arness. Graves was born March 18th, 1926 in Minneapolis. As a young man, he worked in radio and later served in the Army during World War II but didn't see any combat.

Graves was also a gifted musician, playing the clarinet and the saxophone. At the University of Minnesota, he met his calling - acting and his life-long love, wife Joan Andres. Together they had three daughters. Eventually Graves followed his big brother to Hollywood, first landing small roles on television.

He adopted his maternal grandfather's name as a way to distinguish himself from Arness. His big break came in the movie classic "Stalag 17." Graves played a Nazi spy living among American POWs. A string of other parts followed.

GRAVES: My career has taken different turns to do fine, very interesting things. So I'm lucky that way.

ROBERTS: Best known for playing authority figures, he was hesitant to parody himself in the film spoof "Airplane." At first turning down the role thinking it might end his career. He later changed his mind and audiences loved him as the zany pilot.

ANNOUNCER: Launched into weightlessness, these astronauts may look like they are having fun.

ROBERTS: Graves added new dimensions to his resume, hosting "Discover, the world of science" and "A & E's Biography." Unlike Mr. Phelps who got his mission instructions from a tape recording, Graves dictated his own script with a successful career that didn't self- destruct and lasted more than half a century.

John Roberts, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A new beginning for the British band, Genesis.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: We'll tell you which door this chart-busting song opened for them, and how they are still rocking on today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The 2010 U.S. census coming to a mailbox near you. Today the Census Bureau begins sending out its questionnaire forms. We're told that this year's form is one of the shortest in history with only 10 questions to answer. You're supposed to mail it back by April 1st. ESPN reporter Erin Andrews plans to address the court today as her stalker is sentenced. 48-year-old Michael Barrett pleaded guilty and has agreed to a 27-month prison sentence but Andrews was not on board with the plea bargain and wants Barrett to pay her around $335,000 in restitution.

It looks like soccer star David Beckham out of the World Cup. Beckham tore his Achilles tendon in a match in Milan, Italy. He was seen on crutches today heading out on a flight to Finland for surgery.

So did a cigarette ad target young girls? The tobacco company says no, but pediatricians say, hold on, not so fast. The numbers show a link between the ad and girls lighting up. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with that story. And of course, it has got a lot of parents pretty worried.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it does. Because you know, cigarette companies were supposed to stop advertising to underage smokes, underage boys, like in 1998 and now there are some concern that they didn't actually keep that pledge. Take a look at this ad. This ran around 2007 in various women's magazines like "Vogue," "Cosmopolitan" and even though I say women's magazines, certainly teenage girls wear it as well. So you can see Camel number nine cigarettes placed next to that's actually part of the ad there with the dress and the stilettos and it's telling women and girls, if you're a girl reading it, how to dress up.

And so what these researchers did was that they asked girls of a very specific question about cigarette ads both before and after this campaign. So take a look at this. The numbers are quite telling. They asked the question, what is the name of the cigarette brand of your favorite cigarette advertisement. That's the question.

In 2004, 10 percent of girls chose Camel. Then, the ad campaign was launched in 2007. In 2008, 22 percent of girls chose Camel. So the researchers came to the conclusion it looks like that ad campaign worked. Now we went to RJ Reynolds for a response. And here's what they had to say, they say - R.J. Reynolds adheres to numerous restrictions on how it markets its tobacco products and does not take any action to target youth. Camel number nine was developed in response to female adult smokers who are asking for a product that better reflected their taste preferences and style."

And Kyra, the reason why doctors care about this is that it's been shown that if a girl can name a brand in their favorite advertisement - if they can say, "oh, yes, my favorite advertisement was for Camel." They have much, much higher chance of starting to smoke in the next couple of years because it kind of registered in their head, you know, this is my brand. This is the brand I like.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. And just the ad itself. I mean, the pink Camel, the stiletto, totally trying to gear itself toward - I mean, it's so obvious it's trying to gear itself towards young girls.

COHEN: Well, what R.J. Reynolds says is we were gearing it towards adult females but I mean, we know. You know, a 16-year-old girl, that kind of thing appeals to them. The stilettos and the pink and all of that.

PHILLIPS: What ever happen to candy cigarettes?

COHEN: I'm telling you. They're looking better and better, aren't they?

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth, thanks so very much.

We want to know what you think. How did you start smoking? And how old were you? Tell us your story. Go to my blog, cnn.com/kyra and let me know how it began for you.

Months of debate, years in the making. Could this really be the decisive week for health care reform? President Obama scrambles to win the final critical votes. And a very personal look at health care. A woman looks back at her husband's death and asks this question - does the system work when the end of the life draws near?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVIE WONDER, SINGER/COMPOSER: What better way to really express god's love than to give something that is special to you to someone else who is in need? So that's why I did what I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Stevie Wonder sent one of his own keyboards to a Haitian musician who was severely injured in the earthquake. It was to help with his physical therapy. Coming up, wait until you see how well that therapy is going.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: The health care debate is entering its final stretch. Sound familiar? Yes, we thought so, too. But Democrats say this time they mean it. A vote will happen this week. So President Obama is on the road to stir up some public support once again.

CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian is in Cleveland, Ohio, to set the stage for us. Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, indeed, the president coming here to again in the final stages of health care reform pushing for health care reform. The president, I'm told by senior administration official, will be presenting his closing argument. You know, it's interesting. We have seen the president in the last few days hit the road, making this big push. But the reason he's here just outside Cleveland, Ohio, is because, according to a senior administration official, he wants to highlight the case of Natoma Canfield. She is the women who sent a letter to the president a few weeks ago, at least the president revealed that letter a few weeks ago when he walked into a meeting with insurance executives, read this letter.

She is a woman who is self-employed and has seen her premiums, insurance premiums skyrocket, and jumped by some 25 percent. So she had to drop her insurance. She had cancer 16 years ago and now the tragic story is that she has been diagnosed with leukemia.

In fact, I spoke to her sister a short time ago. And she told me that today she begins aggressive chemotherapy treatment. And so the president will be using her story again to highlight the plight of a lot of Americans who are dealing with a tough medical condition, have seen their premiums skyrocket and simply cannot afford insurance.

The president will be hammering away. That's why health care insurance reform is needed now, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Got it. And we're going to take it live, of course, Dan, as soon as the president begins his remarks in Ohio. He's expected to speak just after 1:00 Eastern. And we'll carry his comments when he takes to the stage.

Well, setting aside the political bickering, all of us can likely agree on one thing. We would spare no expense in extending the life of a loved one. That brings us to Amanda Bennett. When her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer she made sure he had the best care and newest medicines.

Terrence defied the odds, baffled the experts, and lived months longer than anyone expected. But here is a truly soul searching question, is there a tipping point between the emotions and pragmatism of adding mere moments to a medical battle that's already lost?

Amanda Bennett is the executive editor of "Bloomberg News" and she spent months scouring the medical bills and pondering the question, was the money well spent? Amanda, I'm curious why you wanted to write this article and investigate this. Because you had to go back and relive that painful death of your husband.

AMANDA BENNETT, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": And I became interested in thinking about this last summer when all the talk about death panels started to come up. And I realized my family had just recently been through an experience very like that and that I had a unique position where I could actually go back and look at every decision we made, everything we did, get every record and look and see whether or not we had made the right choices along the way.

PHILLIPS: And why did you not want to do that? Why did you - because you had gone through this painful experience. Insurance, for the most part, paid for everything and you were moving forward with your life. But why did you want to go back and do this? BENNETT: We were very, very lucky because, as you say, insurance did cover it, but there was a nagging question was had we done the right thing? Had we, gotten - in the course of getting him the best care had we pushed it too far? And I had some nagging questions and I wanted to see what the documents would show us about the decisions we made along the way.

PHILLIPS: OK. So tell me, as you started to research and investigate, slowly unfold for me the process of what you discovered in your husband's medical bills.

BENNETT: Well, one of the first things is it's really, really difficult to start talking about end-of-life decisions in many cases. In some cases, I guess, it may be clear for medical professionals, but we had, along the seven-year course of his cancer several end-of-life warnings, several moments in which the doctor said, "you know, he's probably only got three or four months to live." And we kept on fighting.

And at each moment, you know, it turned out he didn't have two or three more months to live. We pushed it for another year. We pushed it for another two years. And then finally at the very end where we were trying - we went for more and more experimental medications. And at the very end when we were trying the most experimental medication, you know, that was when it really did turn out to be the end.

But the question is, did we push it too far at the end? But then, if we had made the decision not to push it a couple years earlier would we have had a very different outcome? It was very difficult. At really, no moment did I actually ever believed he was going to die, even at the very end.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So, when -- as you went back over the bills - obviously, you will do anything you can to keep your fingers crossed and hope that your husband will live longer or beat this or survive. But when you went back over the bills, did you find that you were maybe charged more than you should have been? Were you surprised at what you were charged for certain things? Were there things you shouldn't have been charged for?

BENNETT: Yes. I found that the whole system was totally bizarre and very difficult to understand. We had an investigative editor, Chuck Babcock in my group, an experienced investigative editor who spent -- he and I spent six months going over the bills and still not convinced we actually understood everything about them.

We found, for example -- and it was very difficult to find out that the insurance company had been billed and my employer had paid for a dose of very expensive medication that should have been provided free on a trial. It's a very small mistake, but I think there were other mistakes that even we couldn't find after months and months of doing spreadsheets, laying things out together, calling people and asking them to explain it to us. It was very complicated, very confusing and I think riddled with mistakes and duplications. PHILLIPS: So, Amanda, why is it so important for us -- even if we've got insurance and things are being covered and all we want to do is focus on our loved one and our loved one's survival -- why do you feel it's really important to look over the medical bills and see what we are charged for, how much we're being charged, and try to get as much, you know, information as possible to what we are dealing with?

BENNETT: Well, and I would say one thing would be to make people aware of just how complicated and difficult the pricing is and be aware that the pricing isn't necessarily tied to the quality of care that you're getting.

And the other thing that I think absolutely shocked us is when I went back over the bills and the records -- I had never seen them all together before obviously -- but because I collected them, there were over 5,000 pages of documents. It took up the space of several reams of paper.

If you look at the -- a portion of medical care that is made up of paperwork, billing, administration, there is a Harvard study that shows it's almost a third of the total cost of medical care in the United States goes to paperwork and administration. And when I looked at the bills and the complicated way they were put together, that didn't surprise me at all, even though it's a striking number.

PHILLIPS: You bring up an interesting point that you can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it doesn't necessarily mean you're getting the best care. I mean, we've got to be an advocate on all levels of health care from the financials to the quality of care.

Amanda, it's pretty fascinating what you did. I appreciate your time.

BENNETT: Thank you very much for asking me here.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Preventing another economic meltdown. One senator's plan to change the way the nation's financial firms do business to benefit both country and customers. A depressed job market greets new college graduates, but which course of study proves most profitable? That's ahead along with a miserable day in weather for the Northeast. Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true. Plus, a real-life meltdown in the upper Midwest with the snow beginning to melt. The rivers are rising. We could see some flooding that rivals last year's. We'll talk about that plus this amazing storm that rocked the Northeast this weekend. Weather's coming up. CNN NEWSROOM will be coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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PHILLIPS: Well, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave a fresh crop of rockers tonight including the biggest thing to come out of Sweden since Volvo.

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PHILLIPS: Oh, no, no. Abba, thank you for the music. Our producer Eddie Williams getting all misty eyed right now. That's after we told him how to pronounce it properly.

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PHILLIPS: Even Eddie knew this guy. Genesis also getting inducted. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel, probably the most famous members of the band. Three more inductees tonight in New York. The Hollies. They came over with British invasion in the 1960s. Also, the stooges from Detroit. That was Iggy Pop's band. And record executive David Geffen's in. You probably have something in your collection with his name on it, right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the next two to three months, thousands of college graduates will join the labor force. But what they are going to find is one of the toughest job markets in decades. A new study shows certain majors pay off, literally. Stephanie Elam in New York with the details of the highest paid major. So, what tops the list?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUISNESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I can tell you this. There is definitely a noticeable theme. Engineering degrees make up eight of the top ten most highly paid majors.

Let's take a look at the list here. Petroleum engineering is number one with an average starting salary of $86,000, right out of college. There you go. $86,000. That is the person who comes up with ways to extract oil and gas from the earth.

Computer science actually is the only nonengineering major that's pretty much high up on the list. That field has an average starting salary of $61,000. Computer engineers are creators. They design everything from video games to machines that build cars. So, a lot of work out there for them, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Okay. So those fields pay well, but are there jobs available?

ELAM: Yes, that's the key thing, right? Especially coming out of college this year. The outlook for the engineering categories is pretty good. The Labor Department expects the field will actually boost hiring by 11 percent over the next eight years.

As for computer science, the outlook is definitely strong. It's expected to grow by more than 20 percent, but there is a one little caveat for this one. You're not going to be able to do it probably with just your degree from undergrad. Most of those jobs require that you have a Ph.D. So something to keep in mind. Maybe it's a good time to stay in school, anyway. The economy's shaky.

As for stocks, lots of flat-line dancing today. There's some concern that the U.S. could lose its top-notch credit rating. That would make it more expensive for the government to borrow money if that came to fruition. As you can see by the Board right there, like I said, not a lot going on. Off about four points, 10,620. NASDAQ off seven points at 2,360.

Maybe if you have someone about to go to college, Kyra, that you know, you may want to tell them to look at engineering jobs.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Influence the major. Thanks, Steph.

ELAM: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Health care reform received the most attention, but reforming financial regulation has been another key priority of the Obama administration from the beginning. In the Senate, it's been Christopher Dodd's last crusade. The Connecticut Democrat, who's not running for re-election, will unveil his financial reform bill later today. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is here with a look at what to expect from the new legislation. Hey, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey, Kyra. Finally. We are 18 months past the height of the financial crisis. We still have the same rules regulating our banks.

But take a look here. We're going to break down exactly what the bill from Democrat Christopher Dodd should include. Should being the operative word. This is coming from a lot of different sources.

First of all, one of the most important things, new rules for consumer protection. Clearly outlined rules that banks have to follow when drafting your mortgage, credit card rules, all of that. That's expected in this. It would be probably housed within the Fed, not an independent agency. There would also be a presidential appointment to lead that. That's critical here.

Another big thing that Senator Dodd says the most important part of this bill -- let's go to the next full screen so you can see what we're talking about -- is ending "too big to fail." Putting an end to institutions that can bring down the entire financial system. That's another thing that will get a lot of focus in the legislation.

Finally, there also may very well be -- and bankers aren't going to like this. Let's take you to the next graphic and show you what we're talking about -- is a tax on "too big to fail." Potentially having banks pay up front, Kyra, a lot of money so there is a fund so in case they have to be collapse and they have to be bailed out once again, they will have put forth the one to be bailed out rather than taxpayers coming to their aid, Kyra.

A lot of proposals in there and truly, truly, very, very a lot of conflicts over this when you don't have Democrats and Republicans coming together yet.

PHILLIPS: Senator Dodd is trying to garner bipartisan support but you have potential hurdles for this bill as well. HARLOW: You've got big hurdles. You've got Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, they were working together on this in recent weeks, but at the end of last week that Corker -- Dodd, rather -- came forward and said I'm going to go this alone. He's unveiling the legislation today at 2:00.

You have Republicans, all of them saying, you're pushing this forward too quickly, just like they argue Democrats are doing with health care. Then you have Democrats saying you have to push this forward quickly. If we don't see changes made soon, they're not going to be made at all.

But you do have some concessions here for Republicans. Let's look at what we are talking about in terms of concessions. You have the Fed probably as an even bigger regulator of the banks. That's critical. You also have the Fed likely getting much more power to regulate some of the biggest banks, and also some of the smaller banks get more attention. So, you see concessions made here for Republicans as well, Kyra.

But again, 2:00 today is when Senator Dodd will be unveiling all of this. I'm sure we'll hear the Republican backlash after that. I think, bottom line, you have midterm elections coming up in November and you don't -- on the Democrat or Republican side -- you don't want to go to constituents and look as though you are in favor of protecting banks and not consumers. So, I do think we'll see some convergence on this front. It's all yet to be worked out exactly how it will play out. We'll hear more this afternoon on it. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: You got it.

PHILLIPS: Drug-related violence of Juarez, Mexico hits closer to home. An American couple along with a Mexican man shot and killed over the weekend. All three had ties to the U.S. consulate in Juarez. The mayor tells CNN the Americans were targeted.

New questions surrounding last week's runaway Prius account. The story got national attention after the Califonia Highway Patrol had to help stop the runaway hybrid outside San Diego. Owner Jim Sikes said he stomped the brakes to no avail. The car hit speeds of 9t miles per hour. But federal investigators and Toyota technicians say they cannot replicate the scenario that Sikes described, casting new doubts of his account and what really happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER VALDES-DAPENDA, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: Maybe what was happening was not that his engine was overpowering the brakes, but his brakes were incapable of overpowering anything.

It is possible that he's a liar. It is also possible that he misunderstood what was happening with his car.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Sikes said he's sticking to the story.

Actor Charlie Sheen has a court date later today in Aspen, Colorado today stemming from his Christmas Day arrest on domestic violence charges. His wife said he threatened her with a knife while the couple was vacationing. Sheen denies the accusation.

Planning to head to the beach in the Northeast this summer? Bring your towels, cold drinks and oh, yes. Maybe bring your own sand. Beaches washing away.

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PHILLIPS: Just miserable in the Northeast right now, thanks to driving winds and heavy rains. All that now blamed for at least seven deaths. Take a look at what the winter severe storms have done to parts of the Massachusetts coastline. People are actually being warned about the risks now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM JOSLIN, NEWBERRY BUILDING COMMISSIONER: We have told them to get anything valuable, to move that out. You know, just be diligent and, you know, watching the weather. If they feel unsafe, you know, get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: More flooding possible in the Northeast today, right, Rob?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK.

PHILLIPS: A doctor said he might never play the violin again.

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PHILLIPS: But Romel Joseph is proving them wrong. We told you the amazing story about the earthquake survivor from Haiti. We now have a new chapter that's even better.

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PHILLIPS: We first told you about Romel Joseph right after the earthquake hit Haiti. The blind violinist was trapped for hours in the rubble of his music school. But he was rescued and flown to a Miami hospital for treatment. Doctors were not sure whether he would ever play the violin again.

However, Romel was certain that he would. He said he just need a keyboard to help with his therapy. Well, we heard that request and we reached out to Stevie Wonder to see if he could help out. The music legend not only responded, he answered Romel's prayers with one of his own keyboards.

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STEVIE WONDER, SINGER/SONGWRITER: What better way to really express God's love than to give something that is special to you to someone else who is in need? So, that's why I did what I did.

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PHILLIPS: I think Stevie's keyboard helped out a lot. John Zarrella has been covering Romel's story for us. He has a heartwarming follow up to the story. Hey, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. You know, Romel looked good as he got out of the hospital on Saturday. He was trapped for 18 hours. We're going back what, about two months now. He was trapped under the rubble of his music school in Haiti, in Port-au- Prince for 18 hours. During that time, in order to stay alert, in order to keep himself alive, Romel recited in his head every concerto he had ever played. Remember, he's an accomplished violinist.

And again, on Saturday he was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital. Looked really good, better every time we see him. He was smiling. They brought him out in a wheelchair. You can see that there. He's going to go and stay with a friend of his for the next month or so while he continues his rehab rehabilitation.

Now that rehabilitation, the physical therapy is continuing. He's going to have that physical therapy on an outpatient basis. You see him there working with the walker. He can walk a little bit now. A lot of physical therapy, smiling a lot. He's getting stronger all the time. Still more surgeries to come. They have to remove the pins from his legs yet.

But, again, he's getting better and better. As we mentioned he wanted the keyboard. He mentioned that to us on a visit, Kyra, saying he couldn't move his hands because they were in the cast, at least he could move his fingers using the keyboard. As you mentioned, Stevie Wonder, as great as he is, heard the call and said, "Romel, we're going to get you a keyboard" and sent one of his own. Romel says it's really been helpful.

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ROMEL JOSEPH, HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR AND VIOLINIST: When you play scales on the keyboard, you move this way. The violin, you move that way. So, it's a different type of exercise, and the doctor said keep using them because when the fingers heal, when they remove the pins, it will be easier for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, Romel said when he got to the hospital, Jackson Memorial, he was 99 percent dead. Now he says he feels like he's 85 percent alive.

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JOSEPH: I didn't think I would be alive. I thought my time was up. But my time is not up yet. So God will provide and show me how to fulfill my dreams.

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ZARRELLA: I've got a feeling, Kyra, that Romel has a lot of good music left in him and he's going to continue to play in the future. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: We'll follow that first concert all the way. Thanks so much, John.

Well, is a tobacco company targeting young girls? The company says, no way. So, we're asking, what prompted you to start smoking? We'll read some of your responses in two minutes.

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PHILLIPS: Finding a job in today's market is definitely not easy. We'll show you what people in one state are facing and how they are coping. Tony Harris will have that in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Today's blog question, we asked what caused you to start smoking. And here's what some of you had to say.

Lance. "Looking cool and being around other smokers caused me to start."

Samantha said, "I started smoking when all my friends were smoking in college. I was 20. My roommate was from England, was so hip and had lots of friends. In order to be in as far as gossip and the important conversations, well, I had to go down for the smoke breaks."

And LilaRose said, "I started smoking in the late 1950s at age 18. I smoked because my friends smoked. My mom said nice girls don't smoke, but she never told me it was unhealthy."

Remember, we want to hear from you. For more, log onto CNN.com/kyra. Tony, did you smoke in the boy's room?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Took a hit once, tried to inhale, nearly coughed up a lung. Figured the odds were -- I have one, two, lungs. Did the math and said, no, I don't like my trances of a transplant. Gave up smoking. Was that more of an answer than you really wanted, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Maybe! You know, always full disclosure with you.

HARRIS: That's it! That's it, Kyra. It's good to see you, lady. Welcome back. PHILLIPS: Thank you.

HARRIS: And have a great day.