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FCC Plans to Boost Broadband Bandwidth; Chris Dodd Plans to Police Wall Street; Holding on to Young Talent

Aired March 16, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New hour, new rundown. Here's what I've got on the rundown this hour.

Reforming Wall Street. A top Democratic senator said the time is now, but some Republicans say hold on, not so fast. A sweeping financial overhaul is on the table. Are we really thinking this one out, or are we rushing headlong into another financial meltdown?

Plus, Richard Quest in Las Vegas. He's not gambling, he's going green. Richard is showing us a side of Vegas you've never seen before.

Do you know those massive buffets? They are literally turning into hog heaven. You're going to want to see that.

Plus, dropping Thomas Jefferson, praising Joseph McCarthy. Talk about revisionist history. If a Texas board gets its way, your kids' history book could be in for some major, major changes.

But first, the story I was telling you about just before the break. We're talking about broadband. Some major changes to broadband. The Federal Communications Commission issuing an idea that everybody, a big idea, that everybody in this country should have access to good, high-speed, fat-pipe Internet like this one by 2020. Ten megabytes per second coming into your house.

This may not be news to some of you. Some of you already have that kind of speed. Did you know there's a small portion of this country that doesn't have broadband access? They're still using dial-up. They can't get access to the internet. Imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have access to the Internet.

Let's bring Michael Powell into the conversation. He's the former chairman of the FCC under President George W. Bush. He was appointed to the FCC by President Bill Clinton, and he's an honorary co-chairman of Broadband for America, which is a group of companies coming together to try and -- and get more broadband out there in America.

And in that -- in that capacity, Mr. Powell, you wrote an article for "Forbes," sort of outlining the big deal about broadband. Why we need to care so much about something that like electricity, we don't really worry that much about. We don't think about. We just think it gets faster and better every year. Tell me the case for more broadband, better broadband, faster broadband.

MICHAEL POWELL, FORMER FCC CHAIRMAN: I think the first thing we have to come to grips with is that we've had a transformation in the economy, in the planet. We've gone from the industrial age to what we're calling the information age. And it's not assured that the United States is a great empire in the information age.

What's critical is that we have a digitally literate society that's fully connected to the infrastructure that makes that possible. So, as a matter of national policy, I think it's a high priority.

And I think a national broadband plan, if done right, and I commend the commission for what it's done, really helps set out a public policy framework that can allow greater stimulation and private investment in broadband and help take the United States to the place where it wants to be --

VELSHI: Why are we --

POWELL: And to show us -- Go ahead.

VELSHI: Why are we where we are? Why is the United States -- I was very surprised to see that on various studies we're 15th, 16th, 17th in the world in terms of our broadband speed? Why are we not -- in the top three?

POWELL: Well, it's interesting. I think a lot of people debate and dispute and wonder about the value of these rankings. But I think it's nearly universally agreed that the United States should do a lot better.

You know, we have a larger country with a more diverse population and a tougher geography to solve than many of those countries. And many of those rankings are per capita, where we have large households in the United States to connect to. But the short answer is we need to stimulate private investment to a greater degree than we have been able to do so far. And I think that public policy has not been properly harmonized to give the kind of stability and certainty. A lot of the market needs to move forward, and hopefully, that would be the result of that.

VELSHI: OK. What does that mean in the most basic of terms? What's going to have to happen? Because I know people who have much better broadband access than I have. I'm limited by the service that I have to whatever it is that I get. But some people can get better service, and we'd like people to get a lot more service. What has to happen, when you talk about this private initiative and investment? What is it that has to happen to make -- to get this small pipe that I've been showing people on TV into this big pipe?

POWELL: Well, a couple of things I think we need to take care of right away. And you mentioned it at the top of the hour. First of all, five percent of Americans don't even have the small pipe. And I think it is a matter of national imperative to provide assistance and program and support to get those folks online to have any kind of access to the Internet. And then I think to really increase speed -- I mean, it is fair to say, despite these international rankings, 95 percent of us have access to broadband.

VELSHI: Right.

POWELL: And private companies are investing stunning sums of money on an annual basis to increase the speeds. And at the end of this year, a lot of the people will have 50 to 100 megabytes.

Part of it is whether we have enough value. You know, a huge percentage of Americans who have access say they don't subscribe because they don't see the value to their lives. And I wonder whether we're doing a good enough job in terms of providing government services and other kinds of support services that would really show the indispensable nature of the infrastructure that allow people to subscribe to it.

Secondly, I think, the affordability issue is not just the price of the infrastructure. To get on the Internet, you have to have a computer, you have to have the kind of hardware and gadgetry, and you have to be digitally literate to really have a command with what you can do with the infrastructure. All of these things are things we can work on our system together on.

VELSHI: Well, I'm going to ask you one thing. Because I just upgraded my Internet speed about a week ago, because I've been trying to teleconference with my team here at CNN. And that's where I realized I didn't have enough upload bandwidth, and you know, all these numbers. And I did test and all that kind of thing.

What is the thing going to be that causes people to think they want more bandwidth? Is it just going to be the type of applications, or music videos? What is it that's going to cost most people to say, I'd subscribe to this. I'm prepared to pay a little bit more, but I want a lot more bandwidth?

POWELL: I think it's a great question. Because I think sometimes we get hung up on the speeds. I think the average consumer doesn't necessarily know what we're talking about when we say 4 megabits or 10 megabits. Speed is really relative to us. What's valuable is what can you do with it.

VELSHI: Right.

POWELL: And I think, number one, entertainment is often a driver. To have full-motion, high-quality video is a strong experience that many consumers subscribe to. But coincidentally, if you get that kind of high-quality video bandwidth, you can also send your MRIs to your doctor. You can also manage your energy efficiency more effectively.

So while there are playful uses of that increase capacity, there are really critical life-enhancing functions to that capability as well. And so I really think it's not only the content industry that has to produce more value to infrastructure to get better, but I'm a big fan of government 2.0, which is in your communities as a citizen, does your government provide easy functionality and access to get your car registered, to pay your taxes, to vote, to engage in the functions of citizenry. And I'd like to see the government in local and state communities put a lot more emphasis on that as well.

VELSHI: Well, you broadened our mind about the whole thing. That makes a lot more sense.

Michael Powell, what a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much.

POWELL: Thank you.

VELSHI: Michael Powell is the former chairman of the FCC, and is the honorary co-chairman of Broadband for America.

This is a topic we're going to be talking a lot about.

We're also going to be talking about these efforts on Capitol Hill to reform the financial system. When we come back, we're going to talk with Christine Romans my co-host on "YOUR MONEY," and Jessica Yellin, about these efforts that Chris Dodd has put forward, this massive overhaul to police Wall Street. Does it make sense? And will it work? When we come back.

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VELSHI: OK. At more than 1,300 pages, this is an ambitious bill. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd plans to police Wall Street. Well, those would be the most sweeping changes in financial rules since the Great Depression. The ultimate aim is to prevent another financial meltdown like the one we just went through.

Here are the nuts and bolts of it. The Federal Reserve would oversee consumer protection rules. There would be new rules aimed at preventing big financial firms from collapsing. Basically, this "Too Big to Fail" problem that we've had. There would be an early warning system for possible trouble. And shareholders in companies would get a say -- not a binding say, but a say -- on fat-cat salaries.

Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, wants to get this through committee next week. That's just one issue that Republicans are speaking out against. Why the hurry?

Joining us with their insight in Washington, our national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin. And in New York, my co-host for "YOUR MONEY," Christine Romans.

Welcome to both of you.

Jessica, let's start with you. You've been following this very, very closely. The response -- because we know what happens when people put big bills out there and say they want to get them done in a hurry. There are a lot of responses. Give me a sense of what you've -- what you've got.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You have Senator Dodd effectively slipped the baby on this one, Ali, and so everybody is unhappy a little bit. So, the Democrats on the left are very unhappy about where this consumer protection agency is located. They want it to be independent. They also think that there's not enough power over these banks to separate some of the risky practices they've been doing from some of the holdings of most Americans' bank accounts, basically. So they want more protections for the people.

And then the Republicans almost universally are saying it's altogether too much regulation, that what we need are more enforcement of our existing laws and better empowerment of our existing regulators. And they're very worried about the bill slowing down the growth of our economy right now. And so right now everybody is at odds trying to figure out if there's even a compromise to be brokered.

VELSHI: Right.

YELLIN: The politics are ugly.

VELSHI: Imagine that a concern about regulation slowing down the growth of the economy. Heard that one before, Christine?

Listen, Christine, you were on "AMERICAN MORNING." You had Chris Dodd on the show this morning. And he was asked, why it has taken so long to come up with this bill, because he's been on the banking committee for so long. Listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), BANKING CHAIRMAN: I became chairman of the committee about 36 months ago, not years ago, frankly. And when we started holding hearings on this in January and February of 2007, these matters had already been going on for years. So I don't disagree that there should have been far more oversight, far more accountability, but my job as chairmanship began only not many months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: So he makes an interesting point, Christine. But the reality is he's been in the Senate for a long time. He's been on that committee. And he's just one of many people who had been around through a period, one might argue of deregulation, fewer rules for Wall Street.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Here's a thing. I think one of the reasons why so many Americans think our government is broken because they look at somebody who has been on the committee, the most powerful committee with oversight of the banking system, on that committee for 26 years, and he said, wait, I've only been running it for 36 months, and this is what I think we should do to clean it up.

I mean, the entire time Chris Dodd was sitting on that committee, and many, many others, not just Senator Chris Dodd, but there this bipartisanship push for record home ownership, for more lax lending standards, so more people could become homeowners and also to deregulate Wall Street. Wall Street, the big deregulation of Wall Street happened under a Democratic president in the late 1990s. Some of these rules we're talking about putting back into place were taken apart underneath a Democratic president.

So, look, many people realize that there was lot of illusion happening, people bought into the same kind of idea for many, many years, and now they are wondering, is Congress going to get it right this time.

And, Jessica, the politics of it, I think that's why people who are really worried about consumer protection get nervous, because they know that there's going to be horse-trading. There's going to be giving -- we're going to put it here if we can have this. Well, you can have this, but we want to have this. And who is really looking out for the consumer, especially if you don't get people who admit that, you know, we made some false assumptions. And this is what led us here, and now we've got to think differently.

VELSHI: Jessica, a few specific examples of some Republicans who are objecting to this. Tell us who is saying what.

YELLIN: Well, I want to give you the three big Republicans to follow on this. One is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He is the one who sort of helped get a sense of where the caucus, the Republicans are going in general. He has been very reluctant to support any of the direction Dodd has taken, and has helped organize Republicans to oppose health care in general. A lot of people think this will go in the same way.

Then there is Senator Richard Shelby, who is the chief Republican on the banking committee. Also strong opponent of the Dodd proposal. And then there's this other person, Senator Bob Corker. He also sits on the banking committee. He's a Republican. He is not one of the leaders here, but he has stepped out of his role as one of the new guys and said to Chris Dodd, look, I want to create a bipartisan bill. I want work with the Democrats. He tried to negotiate a deal. It fell apart. But there's a chance some people think there could be some wigging room getting Bob Corker over. Some people think it will never pan out. But that's where the game is still in play. A lot of moving pieces here, Ali.

VELSHI: I would say in 1,300 pages, I'm sure we can find some wiggle room in there.

YELLIN: Yes.

VELSHI: Thanks to both of you for covering this so well. Christine Romans, my co-host on "YOUR MONEY." You can see us Saturdays at 1:00 and Sundays at 3:00 Eastern. And Jessica Yellin, you can see her all over this network.

All right, when we come back, Tom Foreman back on the CNN Express. Just making me jealous on that bus I used to call home. He is in Montgomery, Alabama, a town that has learned to hold on to young talent. What is Montgomery's secret? Tom is going to tell you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Doesn't it just make you mad? You turn on the news and it's all about everybody messing up and everybody doing something wrong and getting into trouble. There's not enough good news that really matters. So CNN is investing a lot of resources, and I might say, some of its finest talent, in finding people who are building up America. People who are finding fantastic solutions to how we get out of this morass that we're in economically, psychologically, whatever you want to call them. People who are making a go of it. And what we're doing is we are sending the CNN Express across the country.

The latest stop for it is Montgomery, Alabama. Tom Foreman joins me now from Montgomery with a fantastic story from there.

First of all, Tom, as you know, every time I see you, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show, but there's just a little tinge of jealously that it's you and not me.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I understand that. And I'll tell you, Montgomery is a really interesting place, Ali. It's a great place. This is actually where I began my TV reporting career about 30 years ago, so I know these streets very well.

And I'll tell you this, where I'm standing right now is important in a historic sense in a very big way. I'm only a very short distance from where Jefferson Davis took the oath as the only president of the confederacy. And right behind me, I'm standing at the spot, where Rosa Parks boarded the bus --

VELSHI: Wow.

FOREMAN: -- and started the Montgomery bus boycott. So really, the civil war, the civil rights movement, all centered right on the ground I'm standing here -- where I'm standing right now. Incredibly important place. But when you talk about this plan to move forward here, what's happening here that's making it work is that people are saying, we respect our history, but now let's look at our future, and our future is in younger professionals. People who can build our businesses and our community, and look what they are doing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): On a highway north of Montgomery in a building you'd hardly notice, Gerry Monroe is growing a heck of a business.

GERRY MONROE, ONLINE COMMERCE GROUP: Every day, you've got to make something happen. We see opportunities and because, you know, we develop everything ourselves, we just, you know, we start hammering all those ideas.

FOREMAN (on camera): How important do you think that is in a difficult time in the economy?

MONROE: It's critical.

FOREMAN (voice-over): His company, the Online Commerce Group, specializes in Internet sales of custom made cushion covers, drapes, pillows. But what it's really doing is fulfilling a dream Gerry has had since college of succeeding in his home state of Alabama.

FOREMAN (on camera): Is this good business?

MONROE: It is an absolute blast.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Keeping young talent from running away to the big cities is a serious matter, especially in hard times. The Chamber of Commerce formed this group called Emerge to foster leadership, success, and community among young professionals whom they know have different needs and wants from older workers.

HANNAH CHADEE, EMERGE MONTGOMERY: I think excitement, activities, night life, especially night life.

JASON GOODSON, EMERGE MONTGOMERY: Another issue that a lot of people don't really normally think about is education and things for kids.

ASHLEY BRANDLE, EMERGE MONTGOMERY: I want to be able to just really know that my voice is heard.

FOREMAN: So the city is expanding its entertainment venues, offering more activities, improving schools, and Mayor Todd Strange says it's all to keep young talent around.

MAYOR TODD STRANGE, (R) MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: All of those things taken together really do offer the opportunity. But we have just begun to fight.

FOREMAN: This is not all about the future. Gerry Monroe has found immediate rewards.

MONROE: We've got young people that don't have a lot of experience with business, but they have a tremendous amount of knowledge about the Internet, about technology. I mean, they've lived it.

FOREMAN (on camera): And about that community, how people communicate.

MONROE: Exactly.

FOREMAN (voice-over): By tapping that knowledge he's more than doubled his business every year since it started six years ago, creating 30 jobs, along with a reason and a way for that talent to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: And you heard the mayor say there, they've just started this fight. This is a realization here. You talk to young people all over this town. They'll tell you this town is not there yet. They haven't really created that really strong core that will make younger people all want to stay here, and not run off to Atlanta or Nashville or New Orleans. But they're starting, Ali, and that's part of their key to building up here.

VELSHI: All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on it over the years and see how it develops.

Tom, good to see you. We'll be visiting with you a lot on "Building Up America," on the CNN Express.

Tom Foreman in Montgomery, Alabama.

Let me give you a check of the top stories that we're working on here on CNN.

Interest rates are holding steady, near zero. The Federal Reserve made the announcement just moments ago. The Fed is pledging to keep them near zero for an extended period in order to feed the economic recovery. But as the economy improves, the Fed will need to start increasing interest rates to fend off inflation. You can still get a house for about 5 percent on a 30-year fixed mortgage.

A move to pass the health care bill through the House without a direct vote. Lawmakers are expected to vote this week on the $875 billion overhaul approved by the Senate. The problem is that the Democrats are struggling to find the 216 yes votes that they need. So Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, says they may vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill, passing the overhaul through a tactic known as the Self-executing Rule. Confused? Don't worry about it. A lot of us are.

Tiger Woods will play in the Masters. The golf great said today he will return to the links for next month's tournament. The announcement comes after a bizarre Thanksgiving weekend crash and a string of sex scandals that followed. Woods has won the Masters four times since 1997.

Well, who needs alarm clocks when you've got earthquakes waking you up? Today got off to a pretty shaky start in Southern California. Chad is watching it all. He goes off the radar for us when we come back.

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VELSHI: I'm here at the weather center with Chad. We are watching the story of flooding sort of all over the place right now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, a three-day event, literally.

VELSHI: Yes. Yes.

MYERS: I mean, this was New England, New York, all the way down -- you were in Philly, you said it was crazy.

VELSHI: Yes.

MYERS: Branches and sticks all over the place.

VELSHI: Lots of wind.

MYERS: Winds were 80 miles an hour. JFK, very few flights got in there over-the-weekend. VELSHI: Yes.

MYERS: And we still have flooding here. So let's go to a couple pieces of tape that are just coming in now. Let's go right to New Jersey, up in Passaic. Water just about -- like they say, water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Don't be touching this stuff. There's bad stuff in that bad water there. You know, this water just comes from everywhere, and things and things flow out of places that you don't want to be in or near that water. Plus there could be power lines around as well due to that wind.

Switching gears to Massachusetts. Get you up there to Bedford. Water everywhere again, out of the banks in some of these rivers. Up to 10 inches of rainfall fell in parts of Massachusetts and into Rhode Island.

And then we'll take you to one more piece of video, switching you to about 1,500 miles to the west where they are getting ready for what could be a very significant flood.

VELSHI: I heard you call it near epic.

MYERS: Absolutely. Last year was the record-setting flood.

VELSHI: Right. Right.

MYERS: This will be only three feet short of that. And remember how many days --

VELSHI: Sure.

MYERS: -- months, literally, they put sandbags --

VELSHI: Yes.

MYERS: -- higher and higher. And you know, you have to stay off the levees, you have to stay off those berms. You will get a ticket if you are walking on them, and you certainly don't want to be driving on those levees either.

VELSHI: All right. You'll keep us posted on that. Let's go "Off the Radar" now.

MYERS: "Off the Radar." The ground shook in California. Southern California, the Whittier section of the Elsinore fault -- now, there are a lot of faults across Southern California. Here's L.A., Long Beach. This is the San Andreas Fault, the big white one there, that's the one we're worried about. That's the one that's going to give us the 7.2 earthquake someday.

VELSHI: Right.

MYERS: That's the big one we always talk about. That wasn't today obviously. But we will still see and we have seen the shaking from this all the way here. I'll go up to L.A. I'll give you a better map. VELSHI: Wow.

MYERS: And that will put it into play. There have been shocks all over place from this.

Here's L.A., Long Beach, Santa Ana. And so, here's the 605.

VELSHI: Yes.

MYERS: And you can drive right up the 605, you would have felt the shaking. And there was a little bit of damage on some of the highways today, but they have temporary repairs and patches on those highways and things so far right are going to go OK for the afternoon rush hour. They are going to take some of those highways apart tonight, though. So, if you're driving home, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, you have a late shift, you may in --

VELSHI: From that part of the world, you are used to traffic and slow road.

MYERS: You want to think you're used to the shaking, but you never --

VELSHI: No, no. You are more used to the traffic than the shaking.

All right. Thanks very much, Chad.

Listen, when we come back, we're going to tell you about some clashes that broke out in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians around the reopening of an old synagogue. We'll talk about that when we come back.

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VELSHI: Well, tensions are often simmering in Jerusalem. But now, they are boiling over, as Hamas declares this a Palestinian day of rage. Protests spun into clashes, clashes into riots. Crowds came out against Israeli's controversial housing plans and the reopening of a synagogue in a disputed part of the city.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Jerusalem with more.

Paula, what's the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.

The Hamas group did call for a day of rage and it was close to that. We saw protests in many of the suburbs of Jerusalem, as you say, turning into clashes and there were injuries. Almost 100 Palestinians were injured, almost 50 of them were arrested, and about a dozen Israeli police were injured as well.

Now, this is the fifth day in a row that we have seen these kinds of clashes in and around Jerusalem. But from a personal point of view, today was more significant. We saw more people on the streets. We saw more anger on the streets, for a myriad of reasons -- as you say, a synagogue that was reopened, that was destroyed back in 1948, was reopened Monday night. That sparked tensions, but tensions were already incredibly high.

For a start, last week's announcement of 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem which also started that diplomatic spot with the U.S., that infuriated Palestinians who are really concerned that Israel is trying to make east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their future state, more Jewish.

So, at this point the clashes seemed to have calmed down. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. The thing is that tensions are very high still in Jerusalem. We know 3,000 Israeli police were on the streets today and we can see that there will be very heavy security as well tomorrow.

Back to you.

VELSHI: And no particular resolution in sight to this issue of those 1,600 houses in east Jerusalem. Here in the United States, obviously, we've heard about it a lot because the secretary of state criticized the Israeli prime minister. But bottom line is, they have not said that anything is going to change those -- the decision to build those new houses.

HANCOCKS: Nope, not at all, Ali. And what we have heard from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is that he said, for 42 years, Israeli governments have been building in east Jerusalem and he named all the presidents and prime ministers that have done that and he named the areas that he was going to continue building. And so, he's made it very perfectly clear that he does not intend to change the policy of building in east Jerusalem.

And, of course, this just makes tensions even higher. Now, we know that the senator, George Mitchell, the U.S. Middle East envoy, was supposed to come here today to start these indirect talks. That was postponed -- which is probably a good thing, to be honest, considering what I saw on the streets of east Jerusalem, no one was in any mood to talk about -- Ali.

VELSHI: Our Paula Hancocks, we'll stay on top of the story with you. Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem for us -- thank you.

All right. When we come back, we are going to go to another part of the world. We're going to go to Las Vegas. Richard Quest is in Las Vegas, and you're not going to believe what he found in a city that was already known for excess.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

VELSHI: If we've learned nothing else from Las Vegas, it is that nothing succeeds like excess. But now, Las Vegas is learning that lavish, heedless consumption 24/7 is a losing proposition. CNN's Richard Quest highlights one simple thing for Vegas and the planet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lifeblood of Vegas, the Strip at night. This is the sign of the city that draws 40 million visitors each year.

This, on the other hand, is the side of Vegas that few, if any, tourists will ever see. Underneath the sprawling Venetian and Palazzo hotel casinos, the excess from above in full view below. Seventy tons of waste, brought down daily, sorted, smashed, carted away. But one time, most of it would have ended up in the local landfill, but in just a few short years, the complex has converted itself into one of the valley's largest recyclers, and all with the help of one unlikely ally.

BOB COMBS, PIG FARMER: OK, we're headed over to look at the cooker. Here we go.

QUEST: Bob Combs, a small pig farmer, tons and tons of food waste, from many of the major casinos. It all ends up here, on Combs' 150- acre farm.

COMBS: Yes. We are going, all right?

QUEST: With his newly-built boiler, in just two hours, Combs can turn 10 tons of buffet leftovers into nutrient-rich pig feed. And just like that, bright-light city to the south, this is a 24/7 operation.

COMBS: I work everyday, yes. Pigs can outrun me now. Most of them can.

QUEST: His farm is a shrine to conservation. Even the pens themselves are made from recycled World War II landing mats.

In building the future Las Vegas, Sands' chief operating officer, Mike Levin, says Combs' message of sustainability makes sense, especially in the current economic climate. Levin points out, the recycling of food waste is just a small part of the Venetian and Palazzo's sustainability plan.

MIKE LEVIN, COO, SANDS CORPORATION: Massive buildings mean massive opportunities. And although one person can do his own or her own good for what's going on with sustainability, big properties like this can save an awful lot -- up to 100 millions of gallons of water a year, that's 1 billion gallons in 10 years; light savings, energy savings that amount to four, five times our investment.

QUEST: The key, says Levin, is to conserve -- while keeping the comforts visitors have come to expect, which mean efforts like Bob Combs' recycling pig farm stay out of view. The sustainable side of Las Vegas' future -- out of sight, but not out of mind.

Richard Quest, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: That guy can tell any story well. All right. Checking some top stories.

Thousands of people in the Northeast still have no power after a devastating weekend rainstorm flooded streets and knocked down trees. At least 11 people died in storm-related accidents.

In parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, folks are in a race against time as the swollen Red River is expected to crest on Saturday.

In Texas, two people were killed, more than a dozen injured, when a bus rolled over near Campbellton. It happened on Interstate 37, about 50 miles south of San Antonio. The bus with about 35 people on board was headed to Mexico. No word yet on the cause of the crash.

And Tiger Woods is returning to competitive golf at the Masters. After a four-month break because of a sex scandal, in a statement, he says he'll play at Augusta National next month. Woods dropped out of competition in December after a string of women revealed they had affairs with him.

All right, when we come back, there he is. Is he at the White House? Because I was trampsing around there yesterday looking for him. There he is. All right. He's at the White House.

Ed Henry, this is part of "The Ed Henry Segment" that we do every day at this time. He's our chief White House correspondent. He's got some inside scoop for us when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

VELSHI: There he is, our chief White House correspondent -- senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, where he should be at the White House. I was at the White House yesterday and I could find no evidence of you.

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What were you doing here, by the way?

VELSHI: Yes. I was, you know, milling around, looking for a gift shop.

HENRY: Why are you sneaking around the White House? It's not like I come sneaking around Atlanta -- oh, wait, I did.

VELSHI: Yes, you see what I'm saying. Yes, I was looking around, but I got to tell you, you got -- you had a better thing of it here because you were able to get in and do what you needed to do. I was walking around the place. I said, I know Ed Henry, just let me in. No, it didn't work that way.

HENRY: Did it work? Or --

VELSHI: I was in. I was lost. I couldn't find the gift shop. I would have left something for you. But you had another visitor to the -- you had another visitor to the White House today, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine. What was that all about?

HENRY: That's right. Tim Kaine came in. He had lunch with the president. A lot of people wondering now that he's -- his term is up as governor of Virginia, maybe the president was offering him a job, special envoy or something like that, after his DNC tenure. Robert Gibbs said he didn't offer him anything but salt.

We'll see whether or not there's salt in the wounds, I guess, on Capitol Hill right now because health care is a big topic, and I asked Governor Kaine, he's chairman of the DNC, obviously -- you know, what about this procedure? It's really only in Washington where you can have what's being called an up-or-down vote on health care, which the president has been demanding. But now, because of some procedural issues on the Hill, Speaker Pelosi may set it up so that Democrats don't have to really vote on the Senate bill in the House side.

I pressed Governor Kaine on that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM KAINE, DNC CHAIRMAN: And the procedure they are complaining about is one that they use often.

HENRY: Sure.

KAINE: That's a, you know, rule of the House. So, you're going to see a lot of that over the next couple of days. It's just desperation.

HENRY: They have done that. They've used the procedure, the Republicans have, but they point out that just yesterday, the president again said there needs to be an up-or-down vote.

KAINE: Well, there is going to be. There is an up-or-down. I mean, there's going to be a vote.

HENRY: On the changes, but not the actual underlying bill.

KAINE: Well, but I think -- I think the changes -- look, it's an up- or-down vote that people will live with, you know, whether they vote yes or whether they vote no. Everybody knows what this vote is about. It's about -- is there a health care package or not.

And, you know -- and I think Democrats will be very comfortable voting yes, and then putting this system in place and being judged by how it does. And I think Republicans will be held to account for voting no, in standing with insurance companies rather than trying to solve these issues.

HENRY: But there's a perception --

(END VIDEO CLIP) HENRY: So, did you catch that, Governor Kaine when I pressed him said there will be an up or down -- well, a vote. It's not clear that it's really a direct up-or-down vote like the president has been promising the American people -- something I pressed Robert Gibbs about as well, and he was saying the same thing as Governor Kaine, you know, that basically everybody knows where these lawmakers stand. So, whether it's a procedural vote --

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: -- or a direct vote on the health care bill, we'll know. But then, if it is so clear, why don't the lawmakers just vote up or down.

VELSHI: Yes. It is -- it does become --

HENRY: I think that is -- we're going to see a lot of this.

VELSHI: It does seem to be a particular problem -- what was Brianna calling it, a self-extracting rule or a self-executing rule? She was describing in great deal. This is very complicated.

HENRY: Self-executing. Yes.

VELSHI: It's kind of -- you know, you wonder why people don't understand what goes on. Now, tell me about --

HENRY: Only in Washington can have a vote that's not a vote, I guess.

VELSHI: That's exactly right. Now, tell me about, you said something about salt -- did the president and Governor Kaine have lunch?

HENRY: Well, it's funny, because, you know, the president's been sort of joking, but it's also a serious topic about how his cholesterol has risen lately.

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: So, I thought, look, we got Governor Kaine. He just walked out to lunch with the president. The president has been saying, don't tell the first lady what I'm meeting. A lot of times, he'll joke with the media about. I put it to Governor Kaine, what did he have.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Give us a little secret of what he ordered while you were with him.

KAINE: What -- you know, salad with chicken.

HENRY: For both of you?

KAINE: Yes.

HENRY: Because he's been joking with us about his cholesterol being a little bit high and that his wife, the first lady wants to make sure -- KAINE: Well, someone's watching out for his health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: So, it looks like the president has made some adjustments. But the thing is, what I haven't gotten about this whole president joking about it, his diet, whatnot, the guy is about the skinniest guy in Washington.

VELSHI: Yes.

HENRY: So, obviously, he wants to make sure his cholesterol is down, but he's in pretty darn good shape.

VELSHI: Right. Yes, now that's good. A guy like me, I could sit and talk about eating better and you might actually see some important. But he's quite fit.

HENRY: Yes. I mean, there's --

VELSHI: What do you mean yes -- are you calling me fat?

HENRY: No, not you. I'm talking about the president, I'm saying yes to the presidential part.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent -- I can't hear you. I can't hear you.

When we come back, I'll be talking to Josh Levs, who has never called me fat. He's at the stimulus desk, a pretty skinny guy himself actually. We're going to talk about how much money has gone in to stimulating this economy, what it's done for you and me.

That's Josh Levs. He's the man of the future. Ed Henry -- gone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK0

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VELSHI: All right. Here's the thing. You've been working on the stimulus desk for a long time.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been camped out here.

VELSHI: I just want a straight answer: Is it working or not?

LEVS: Vast majority of economists say yes.

VELSHI: OK.

LEVS: All right. So, this is a study from "The Wall Street Journal," which I think you understand.

VELSHI: Yes. LEVS: They talked to some of the most respected economists in America. They talked to 54 of them, 36 said it's having some serious effects. They said it's mitigating job losses. They said, overall, it's improving the economy. In fact, of those 54 people, only six called it a net negative. Only six of those 54 economists said overall it's not helping.

VELSHI: And in fact, someone is able to -- they've actually come out with some numbers about what, let's say, when you look at jobs --

LEVS: Right.

VELSHI: -- what it might have been without the stimulus.

LEVS: This is what so interesting to me about the survey is they actually have a number. This is one that I'm going to show you here. Let's go to that, check this out.

So, right now, we know unemployment is 9.7 percent.

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: These economists on average believe that if it wasn't for the stimulus, it will be at 10.4 percent. Now, we're talking short term. I mean, look, yes, it is obviously putting people to work right now. It is also a legitimate concern to talk about the future --

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: And say we're talking on all the debt, right?

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: $362 billion we're paying interest, there will be long-term damage. So, ultimately, will it do more good than bad? We'll see years from now. But for right now, these folks are saying, yes, it's paying off. That's their theory for the moment anyway.

VELSHI: All right. I'm going to wait for your theory because you've been working -- I think you may know more about the stimulus than anyone I know.

LEVS: You know, I didn't know it was going to work out that way, but we're digging into the stimulus like crazy and people are going crazy about it. You know what, we can -- we are answering your questions.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: You can go ahead and tweet me. I'm at JoshLevsCNN. There you go. And that is at CNN.com/stimulus, that shows you --

VELSHI: Yes, that's excellent.

LEVS: Isn't it cool?

VELSHI: It shows you where the money has gone. LEVS: All the money this government has been spending, CNN.com/stimulus.

VELSHI: It is not just -- it's not just the stimulus amount. It's a whole bunch of other stuff. Oh, and there's Josh.

LEVS: And there's me. That's the most important thing.

VELSHI: For now on, we're promoting Josh on Twitter and Facebook. Because that other guy --

LEVS: It's silly. I got three tweets about my tie. Three.

VELSHI: Yes. I don't think Ed Henry got any.

LEVS: Of course, he did.

VELSHI: All right, Josh. Thanks a lot, buddy. Appreciate that.

All right. When I come back, I want to talk to you about an interesting move under foot in Texas to change the way history about America is written. Go hear about me -- about that when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it.

We talk a lot about education. If you have a high school student, have you ever looked at his or her history textbook? Well, you might want to take a look, because it could change in a big way soon. And by that, I mean the history in it could be changing and what your kid is learning could be changing.

If Texas gets its way, high school history and economics textbooks will have a definite conservative slant. Republicans got their way when the Texas board of education last week approved in a party-line vote a curriculum that includes some of these changes. Thomas Jefferson would no longer be included among writers influencing the nation's intellectual origins, a reduced scope for Latino history and culture, Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson cited as a role model for effective leadership. And there are many other conservative- slanted changes.

Now, why should you care what textbooks are used in Texas if you don't have a student in Texas? Because Texas is one of the largest buyer of textbooks in the country and the ones it buys are usually used by many public schools across the country. The process is done every 10 years. Republicans on the Texas board of education lost out last time -- well, they appear to have a much better chance this time around. We'll drill down deeper into this story tomorrow.

For now, I'm Ali Velshi.

"RICK'S LIST" is next.