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Health Care Reform, Act Two

Aired March 30, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Can you imagine even contemplating suicide in the second grade? That's what disturbs me the most. You know?

HARRIS: No, can't comprehend it, but we know it happens in this country way too often, what happened at Hadley High School. We're going to talk about that in some detail this hour.

PHILLIPS: Good.

HARRIS: Kyra, you have a great day.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Tony. You, too.

HARRIS: And come on back to Atlanta, and soon.

PHILLIPS: OK.

HARRIS: The big stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM for this Tuesday, March 30th. The

Obama officials are predicting companies are on the verge of a hiring spree. Did you hear that? A hiring spree. That word from a top Obama official.

We focus health care, a booming industry for new jobs.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have good insurance, and we haven't even sat back and thought about, well, gosh, if we suddenly had to pay for all of this tomorrow, how much would it cost? But if we did, yes, it would be devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The new health care law's sudden impact. One family says it was headed for budget-busting changes. Not anymore.

And what happened at South Hadley High? Nine teens are facing criminal charges today. A Massachusetts D.A. says they bullied a girl to death. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Health care reform, act two. President Obama's about to sign the final part of his signature domestic issue into law. We are awaiting the signing ceremony and the president's remarks at Northern Virginia Community College. That's in Alexandria. We will bring that to you live as soon as it begins.

White House Correspondent now Suzanne Malveaux joining us.

Suzanne, give us a preview of what the president is likely to say this morning. I'm wondering, will it sound familiar to everyone who was with us at about this time last week?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is going to sound somewhat familiar, but there are some major fixes as well to health care reform. So it's going to sound a little bit different as well.

One of the things that he's going to focus on is clearly the education component of this. We are going see Dr. Jill Biden -- she is the second lady. Of course, she's going to be introducing the president. And Tony, she not only has a Bachelor's degree, but she has got two Masters degrees and a doctorate.

They're there at the community college because that is the place where she works. And she's going to be talking about the focus of community colleges and how they're going to benefit from this overhaul.

There are some major things that are happening here, a major overhaul in the way student loans are actually distributed. It's no longer going to happen through private banks or private financial institutions, but strictly the federal government.

And the Obama administration is making the case here, is that they're going save some money. They're going to free up about $68 billion worth of subsidies that would go to those private banks. Now they're going to be able to use that money for increasing, say, like, Pell Grants for the neediest students to go to college, increase funds for community colleges, as well as historically black colleges. These are the kinds of major changes that are happening on the education front.

On the other front, when it comes to health care and some of the fixes from that legislation from last week, some of the changes are extending the subsidies for lower and middle income families to help them afford health care insurance, because it's going to be mandated for everybody. They're going cut down on some of those fines, those fees for people if they don't buy health care insurance, and they're going to increase the fines and fees for big companies that don't supply health care insurance. So it really is meant to try to address some of the concerns that those House Democrats had when it came to the problems they had the first go-round. HARRIS: OK. Suzanne, let's do a little polling here. We have got recent polls that show the country really divided about this health care law. Some saying it should be repealed, correct?

MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. This is very interesting, the polling numbers that just came out yesterday.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, now you asked the question as to the legislation and the Republicans' call to repeal this law, 47 percent -- 47 percent say that they want Congress to repeal most of the major provisions of this law, go back and change this, start all over. But there's 50 percent that say, look, you know what? We think this is fine, we don't need to repeal this. As a matter of fact, maybe we should go back to Congress and see if the government can do more.

So, definitely, the country is still very much divided over this issue.

The second thing here is, how has it affected the president's own approval rating, his overall job? Fifty-one percent of Americans say they approve of the job that the president is doing, and that's up five percent from before the whole health care reform legislation was passed. And then 48 percent disapprove.

So, once again, you have a higher approval than disapproval, but you have a country that is largely divided over how this president is doing, even with this major accomplishment, this major domestic initiative that he has pushed through.

HARRIS: OK. Suzanne, we have a second health care party taking shape.

As you can see on the screen, we will get to the president. There's Dr. Jill Biden now about to introduce the president. When the president makes his remarks -- I think that's our plan -- we will go to the president's remarks.

A little of that sound from that room, please. A little bit. A little bit.

OK. All right. What you would expect -- applause.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, once again, we are standing by to hear remarks from the president as he signs the bill that closes the loop on health care reform, the health care reform fixes legislation. That's scheduled to happen any moment now. Dr. Jill Biden is introducing the president right now.

I think there's an opportunity for us to sneak in a few more stories before we get to the president and the signing ceremony.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: And let's get you to the president now.

(APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you, Alexandria. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Please, have a seat.

Thank you, Dr. Biden, for that outstanding introduction and for putting up with Joe.

(LAUGHTER)

I want to also thank Dr. Biden for being one of the thousands of instructors all across the country who make such a difference in the lives of students each and every day.

So we are very proud of you for that.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank President Templin (ph) and the entire NOVA Community College family for hosting us here today.

You can applaud for that.

(APPLAUSE)

On stage we've got a couple of my outstanding Cabinet members, Secretaries Sebelius and Secretary Arnie Duncan. Please give them a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

In the audience we've got Secretary Salazar of Interior, Secretary Donovan of HUG and Ambassador Ron Kirk, our U.S. trade representative. Please give them a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

To all the outstanding members of Congress who made this day possible, and I'm going to mainly single out the amazing speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

(APPLAUSE)

Today, we mark an important milestone on the road to health insurance reform and higher education reform.

But more broadly, this day affirms our ability to overcome the challenges of our politics and meet the challenges of our time.

When I took office, one of the questions we needed to answer was whether it was still possible to make government responsive to the needs of everyday people, middle-class Americans, the backbone of this country, or whether the special interests and their lobbyists would continue to hold sway like they've done so many times before.

And that's a test we met one week ago, when health insurance reform became the law of the land in the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

And it's a test we met later in the week when Congress passed higher education reforms that will have a tremendous impact on working families and America's future.

That's two major victories in one week that will improve the lives of our people for generations to come.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I've said before, and I've repeated this week, the health insurance reform bill I signed won't fix every problem in our health care system in one fell swoop, but it does represent some of the toughest insurance reforms in history. It represents a major step forward toward giving Americans with insurance and those without a sense of security when it comes to their health care. It enshrines the principle that when you get sick you've got a society there, a community that is going to help you get back on your feet.

It represents meaningful progress for the American people.

And today, I am signing a bill that will make a number of improvements to these core reforms, will increase the size of tax credits to help middle class families and small businesses pay for their health insurance.

(APPLAUSE)

We're going to offer $250 to seniors who fall in the Medicare coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole" to help them pay for prescriptions and that's a first step toward closing that gap completely.

(APPLAUSE)

We'll make a significant new investment in community health centers all across America that can provide high-quality primary care to people who need it most.

(APPLAUSE)

And we'll strengthen efforts to combat waste and fraud and abuse to make sure your dollars aren't lining the pockets of insurance companies when they should be making your health care better.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, the debate on health care reform is one that's gone on for generations, and I'm glad -- I'm gratified -- that we were able to get it done last week. But what's gotten overlooked amid all the hoopla, all the drama of last week is what happened in education, when a great battle pitting the interests of the banks and financial institutions against the interests of students finally came to an end. You see, for almost --

(APPLAUSE)

-- for almost two decades, we've been trying to fix a sweetheart deal in federal law that essentially gave billions of dollars to banks to act as unnecessary middlemen in administering student loans. So those were billions of dollars that could have been spent helping more of our students attend and complete college, that could have been spent advancing the dreams of our children, that could have been spent easing the burden of tuition on middle-class families.

Instead, that money was spent padding student lenders' profits.

Now, it probably won't surprise you to learn that the big banks and financial institutions hired a army of lobbyists to protect the status quo. In fact, Sallie Mae, America's biggest student lender, spent more than $3 million on lobbying last year alone.

But I didn't stand with the banks and the financial industries in this fight, that's not why I came to Washington, and neither did any of the members of Congress who are here today. We stood with you. We stood with America's students.

(APPLAUSE)

And together we finally won that battle.

I don't have to tell folks here at NOVA why this victory matters. In the 21st century, when the success of every American hinges more than ever on the quality of their education and when America's success as a nation rests more than ever on an educated workforce that is second to none, we can't afford to waste billions of dollars on giveaways to banks.

We need to invest that money in our students. We need to invest in our community colleges. We need to invest in the future of this country. We need to meet the goal I set last year and graduate more of our students than any other nation by the year 2020.

And through the extraordinary leadership of Education Secretary Arnie Duncan that's what the reforms I'm signing today will help us do.

(APPLAUSE)

By cutting out the middleman, we'll save American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years. $68 billion. That's real money.

(LAUGHTER)

Real savings that we'll re-invest to help improve the quality of higher education and make it more affordable.

Now, we've already taken a number of steps, through the Recovery Act and through my budget, to significantly increase the support provided to young people attending colleges and universities all across the country. And I just -- President Templin handed me a sheet just as I walked in. Just in case you were wondering whether this makes a difference, so far this year -- and the year isn't over -- right here at NOVA, Pell Grant recipients increased by 41 percent over last year --

(APPLAUSE)

-- the total dollar amount of Pell Grants increased by 59 percent, the number of federally guaranteed loans increased by 43percent, and loan awards increased by 68 percent.

(APPLAUSE)

That's right here at this one community college because of the steps that we had already taken.

(APPLAUSE)

So using the $68 billion that we're saving that had been going to the banks, here's what we're going to be able to do.

First, we will re-invest a portion of those savings to upgrade our community colleges, which are one of the great undervalued assets in our education system.

(APPLAUSE)

Community colleges like NOVA are incredibly important because they serve a varied group of learners, from recent high school grads seeking a pathway to a college degree, to adults seeking training for the jobs of tomorrow.

By forging private sector partnerships, community colleges can offer students the education and training they need to find a good job when they graduate, and it helps offer businesses the assurance they need that graduates will be ready for the job that they're hired to do.

And because community colleges like NOVA are so essential to a competitive workforce, I've asked your outstanding professor, Dr. Jill Biden, who does not have enough to do, to host -- to host a summit on community colleges at the White House this fall. And we're going to bring everybody together from educators to students --

(APPLAUSE)

-- experts, to business leaders --

(APPLAUSE)

-- we are going to bring everybody together to share innovative ideas about how we can help students earn degrees and credentials and to forge private sector partnerships so we can better prepare America's workforce and America's workers to succeed in the 21 century.

Now, to help open the doors of higher education to more students, we'll also reinvest part of that $68 billion in savings in Pell Grants, one of the most popular forms of financial aid. Pell Grants once covered more than three-quarters of the cost of going to college. But now, because the cost of college has skyrocketed, the amount Pell Grants cover is about one-third.

Today, students hoping to attend college on a Pell Grant are going to be able to feel more secure because not only are we going to offer over 800,000 additional Pell awards over the next 10 years, we're also going to raise the amount they're worth to almost $6,000 so that inflation does not erode the value of your grant.

(APPLAUSE)

And we'll put the entire Pell Grant program on firmer footing for years to come. Altogether, we are more than doubling the amount of Pell Grant funding that was available when I took office. It's one of the most significant investments in higher education since the GI bill.

(APPLAUSE)

Third, we're going to restore a measure of fairness to how students repay their loans.

Today, two out of every three students graduates with help from a loan and often they take on a mountain of debt as a result.

Here in Virginia, the typical students carries almost $20,000 in debt. Across the country, the average student graduates with over $23,000 in debt.

I know what that's like. Michelle and I had big debts coming out of school, debts we weren't able to fully repay until just a few years before I started running for office.

Today we're making it easier for responsible students to pay off their loans. Right now, if you're a borrower you don't -- you have to spend more than 15 percent of your income on loans, but starting in 2014 you won't have to pay more than 10 percent of your income in repaying your student loans.

(APPLAUSE)

That will make a meaningful difference for over 1 million more students.

We're also going to give students and incentive to do what's right. If you pay your loans on time, you'll only have to pay them off for 20 years. And you'll only have to pay them off for 10 years if you repay them with service to your community and to our country, as a teacher or a nurse or a member of our armed forces.

(APPLAUSE)

Finally, we'll reinvest some of the $68 billion in savings to strengthen our historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions.

(APPLAUSE)

These are institutions that have struggled more than most in these tough economic times.

The reforms in this bill are significant, but they're just part of a broader effort to strengthen our entire higher education system. We're putting college tuition tax credits in the pockets of millions of students from working families to help them pay for college. We've taken steps to simplify the federal college assistance form, called the FASA (ph), because it shouldn't take a Ph.D. to apply for financial aid.

(APPLAUSE)

And we're helping ensure that America's high school graduates are ready for college.

All of this is paid for. We're redirecting money that was poorly spent to make sure we're making investments in our future.

Now, this won't solve all of our problems in higher education. We continue to expect colleges and universities to do their part to hold down tuition increases. That has to happen. We've got to work on that.

(APPLAUSE)

We also need to take greater initiative, not only to help more college -- more students enter college, we gotta make sure that we see more students successfully earn a college degree.

But what we've done over the past year represents enormous progress, so I'll close by saying this.

For a long time our student loan system has worked for banks and financial institutions. Today we're finally making our student loan system work for students and our families.

But we're also doing something more. From the moment I was sworn into office, I've spoken about the urgent need for us to lay a new foundation for our economy and for our future. And two pillars of that foundation are health care and education, and each has long suffered from problems that we chose to kick down the road.

With the bill I signed last week we finally undertook meaningful reform of the health care system. With this bill and other steps we pursued over the last year we are finally undertaking meaningful reform in our higher education system. So this week we can rightly say the foundation on which America's future will be built is stronger than it was one year ago. And --

(APPLAUSE)

And so, at the end of this extraordinary week, I want to acknowledge some of the people who made it possible. There isn't time to single out every -- everyone who's here, outstanding members of Congress, but I want to make sure I once again say this would not have happened had it not been for the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi --

(APPLAUSE)

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid --

(APPLAUSE)

-- Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Steny Hoyer -- all provided outstanding leadership that our nation needed.

(APPLAUSE)

On health care, Max Baucus, Chris Dodd, Henry Waxman, Charlie Rangel and so many others offered invaluable expertise throughout the year. Congressman George Miller, Jim Clyburn, Dale Kildee, Ruben Hinojosa led the way in the House on education reforms that I signed today.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator Tom Harkin's dedication ensured that the Senate would include these reforms in this bill. Virginia's own, Bobby Scott, and an outstanding freshman, Tom Perriello, helped to make this thing possible. We are grateful to them.

Now, courage is an essential ingredient in any landmark legislation, particularly when the attacks are as fierce and unrelenting and inaccurate as they have been over the past year.

I just want to commend members of Congress who had the courage to do what's right, and to say a special thank you to all the newer members.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, the past couple of years have brought one challenge after another, and you've risen to the moment each time. I could not be prouder of the work that all of you have done, and it would not have happened had it not been for the incredible persistence and stick-to-itiveness of all the folks in the audience here today.

Ultimately, Congress responds to the voices that they're hearing in their communities, and so many of you have written letters and come to meetings and let people know of the ordinary struggles that people are going through each and every day. You're what provided members of Congress with the courage that they needed to do what was right. And so on behalf of all of us who are serving in Washington, we want to thank you, the American people, for your outstanding leadership.

And with that, I'm going to sign this bill. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: You heard the president talking about the education provisions included in the health care law. I want to focus on that a little bit while the president signs.

The administration cutting out the banks in the student loan process. The president says $68 billion will be saved in the coming years. The Congressional budget office says $61 billion will be saved over 10 years. And critics say by cutting out private lenders, you're doing two things. First, you're eliminating office for students looking for loans and secondly, eliminating jobs, specifically jobs at loan servicing companies.

President Obama did address the health care reform law at the top of his remarks, as the signing process goes on right now. Forecasts, boy, listen to this, have the health care industry adding more than 3 million new workers by 2018, and that's not all. The president's treasury secretary is predicting the overall economy may soon be seeing sustained job creation.

Let's bring in Christine Romans now. She is part of the CNN Money Team, the fabulous money team out of New York.

Christine, good to see you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

HARRIS: Walk us through, as the president signs the changes legislation to health care into law, the optimism that we're seeing from some economists, we talked about that yesterday, and now the treasury secretary?

ROMANS: Well, Friday, we should get the latest jobs report, Tony, that, as we reported yesterday, is expected to show maybe 150, 170, 190, maybe 200,000 jobs created. That's the turning point we were talking about and the treasury secretary saying basically the same thing. At some point you get to the tipping point where you start to see sustained jobs creation.

Where will that job creation come? We've already seen it in health care, Tony. We've already seen, even as there was blood letting in many other industries over the past year, you saw education jobs, government jobs and health care jobs adding positions. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics over the next 10 years forecast hundreds of thousands of these jobs to be created.

Tony, look at these numbers over the next ten years. Half a million more nurses, almost half a million home health aides, maybe you need a training or certificate for that. Home care aides, personal aides and slightly less needed for that jobs, very entry level those jobs are. Nursing aides, orderlies, physicians and surgeons, need 144,000 of those.

OK, but we made this point yesterday, Tony, some of them are paid very, very well. Some of them are paid not very well and you've got maybe 800,000 jobs maybe that will created that will be paid 19 or $20,000 a year those home health. They're not replacing those manufacturing jobs that paid so well.

HARRIS: Those are what we call entry level then. You get in at 19,000 and you work your way through the system if you're committed to health care, right? That's a way to look at it.

ROMANS: It is, but some labor economists say there's not a lot of upside in some of those jobs. Those are entry-level jobs that you're working a long time. Are there advancement? Is there training?

But you look at some of the other one, physical therapy assistants, physical therapists, RNs. You know, a lot of RNs have an Associate degree, a big half of them have a Bachelor's degree or higher.

The president's talking about education reform. There will be debt relief for some of these nurses, right? Future nurses on their student loans, they're trying to make sure that people don't go into some of these fields, public service fields, if they're going to be hit by all kind of student debt.

So it goes together there, but Tony, we've talked about health care. It's a huge dynamic and diverse industry. I have interviewed construction workers and carpenters who were going back to physical therapy school. There's stimulus money available for some training in that as well. People are trying to retrain and use their current skills in health care, but you have to be careful because you're right. You want to get a ladder job, you want to get a job that's going to have a ladder that you can climb. Ladder jobs.

HARRIS: Let me write that down -- ladder jobs.

ROMANS: They have those in the trades, too. Electricians, plumbers, things that you can get apprenticeships and further training, on-the-job training where you can climb up the ladder. You know what I'll do for you? I'm going to pull together some statistics and things you don't need a degree, you don't need to spend a lot of money of education but you can make a pretty decent living. Those ladder jobs, and we'll do that for you later in the week.

HARRIS: OK, and how about this? One other thing if you wouldn't mind, would you ask the folks that you're in contact because you're one of the leaders of the Money Team, whether we're at risk here of creating, you know how we feel about bubbles in this economy, a health care bubble. Just a thought. Just a thought.

There was a lot of activity in health care right now. There are a lot of people looking for opportunities there. There seems to be a lot of money that will be coming into that system. I'm just curious if there is a chance that we might be on the verge of creating something of a health care --

ROMANS: But wouldn't the fundamentals be that we've got all these people ageing and using the health care and so there is demand?

HARRIS: Just a thought.

ROMANS: We'll check it out.

HARRIS: You're the money expert. I just ask crazy questions.

All right, Christine, see you next hour. Thank you.

ROMANS: Bye.

HARRIS: We will hear more about the student loan provision in this health care law next hour. How about this? Education Secretary Arnie Duncan joins the big show so keep it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. President Obama's top domestic priority, health care reform, is a done deal. So what has he turned his attention to now?

Let's play the game here. So you're the president, what would you tackle next? (A) jobs and the economy, (B) the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, focused attention here is what we're talking about, (C) immigration, or (D) financial industry reform. You've been weighing in with your thoughts and comments. Let's get a couple on the air here.

Brian says, "Financial reform. The president should jump on this before the democrats lose seats in Congress this November. The republicans do not have nor have they ever had the will to clamp down on the worst abuses of Wall Street."

Travis writes, "I don't want to be that guy, but what about number five! The environment! We have huge issues we haven't even begun to discuss, issues harder to understand, but more dangerous than most! The change in the environment will not only be disaster to our economy, but to our national safety as well."

And Egberto says, "Actually, I think the president needs to tackle all of the above now. Too much was neglected over the last 30 years and he needs to prove that government matters, can solve real problems, and is necessary."

We want to hear from you. Let's hear this conversation going. If you would, send us your comments to my blog page, here it is, CNN.com/Tony. Health care reform is a done deal, as we mentioned just a moment ago, but the debate certainly continues and if you think the entire affair has been one big circus, well you are not alone. Listen to these comments from one of our repeat iReporters. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESIRE GROVER, IREPORTER: Democrats want you to trust them more than republicans. Republicans want you to trust them more than democrats. When in reality neither one of them can be trusted. You see, they are more concerned with pleasing big business than they are concerned with pleasing us -- we, the people. Yet, for some strange reason, we, the people, hang on to their every word as if their words would somehow make things better when in fact, it is their every word that keeps us in the dark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. Rock it, work it.

You know, the more information you put out there about yourself, the more likely it is someone can get it. How to keep personal information private, that's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right, 3.3 million people recently had their student loan personal information stolen. Ines Ferre is here with some tips on keeping something like that from happening to you.

Help us out here, Ines.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you know, there may not have been anything that these folks could have done to keep their identity under wraps, but there are steps you can do to protect your privacy as best you can.

So let's start by talking taxes since we're fast approaching the April 15th deadline. OK, you want to check with the Better Business Bureau to determine the credibility of your tax preparer before you entrust them with access to your personal information.

And this is important, if you receive a phone call or an e-mail from someone claiming to be an IRS representative, hang up or hit the delete button. That's because it's probably a scam. The IRS doesn't call or e-mail taxpayers. If it has any questions, the IRS will send you a letter, and you can also search "identity theft" at IRS.gov for more information, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, it will. Yes, it will send you a letter.

We mentioned the identity thefts that actually came to light last week were of student loan applicants. Let's take a moment here and talk about college. Now, according to some estimates I think that you passed along to me, nearly half of students half of students have had their grades posted by their Social Security number?

FERRE: Yes, and it's really a bad idea. When you go to the security office to get your student I.D. card, be sure to ask the school not to use your Social Security number as your college I.D. In fact, Tony, one of our producers went to a college that posted grades by Social Security number and at first the students were able to get their administrators to post just part of the Social Security number and after enough pressure from students, the university changed this policy to offer student I.D. in lieu of those Social Security numbers. So you can make a difference here.

HARRIS: And last but not least here, the social networking sites for a second. You know, I'm on them, you're on them, and you're better on them than I am.

FERRE: No, you're better.

HARRIS: But, you know, some of these pages are places where a lot of information, unfortunately, is lifted, isn't that true?

FERRE: Yes. And really if you stop and think about how much personal information is posted on your page, it's amazing -- your full name, your date of birth, phone number, some people put their full address. So you want to take the time to set restrictions on your profile so only your trusted friends can view your information. And if you're accessing Facebook, MySpace or Twitter from a public computer, make sure you delete the cookies on your browser before you log off.

And as always, if you've got a question about your house, your job, your savings, your debt send them to us at top tips on CNN.com. We'll answer those questions every Friday morning.

HARRIS: So you're back on what's trending on the Internet and we're figuring out ways to work in some Lady Ga Ga. All right, Ines, see you next hour.

FERRE: Always. Bye.

HARRIS: Let's get you caught up top stories.

Got to tell you, parts of the northeast are bracing for more rain. There are concerns about possible flooding, especially in Rhode Island right now. State officials say they could be in for high waters at historic levels, the worst flooding in some 50 years.

And listen to this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JODI EVANS, CO-FOUNDER, CODEPINK: Look what you did. You outed a CIA officer. You lied to take us to war. You ruined the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Karl Rove goes toe to toe with hecklers. The former adviser to President George W. Bush getting a bit more than he bargained for at a book signing last night in Beverly Hills when anti-war activists kept interrupting him. He left without sign anything books. Say hello to my little friends! That was horrible, wasn't it? That was horrible. I'm not going to do it again. Some underage thespians actually put the movie "Scarface" on stage. Did this really happen in an elementary school?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, you know it's not the most obvious choice for a children's school play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Say hello to my little friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Yes. "Scarface," it has gone viral, this clip. A huge hit on YouTube, of course. The kid substituted popcorn for cocaine and said, fudge instead of the stronger other word, you know the word. This supposedly happened in an elementary school classroom, but "The New York Post" and a lot of other entertainment outlets are questioning that. CNN is reaching out to the person who posted the video and we are still waiting to hear back.

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HARRIS: OK. Here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

A ninth arrest among self-described "Christian Warriors." Authorities say they were planning to kill law enforcement officers. We hear from neighbors stunned that the group is operating right in their community.

And real impact of health care reform. One family, two young adults, children with significant medical issues. Now the new health care law is helping them.

Plus, more about the student loan provision in this health care law, next hour. Education Secretary Arne Duncan joins me live. So keep it right there in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Hard to believe. Bullied to death, literally. Authorities in Massachusetts say a 15-year-old killed herself after being subjected to months of verbal and physical abuse. Now, nine of her schoolmates are being charged.

Our Alina Cho is on the story.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony.

Phoebe Prince and her family had just moved to Massachusetts from Ireland in the past year, and some believe that part of the reason she was abused was because she was new and because she was from another country. Prosecutors say she took her own life following an especially torturous day in which she was verbally harassed and threatened with physical abuse.

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ELIZABETH SCHEIBEL, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The harassment reported to have occurred that day in the school's library appears to have been conducted in the presence of a faculty member and several students, but went unreported to school administrators until after Phoebe's death.

CHO (voice-over): Phoebe Prince was just 15 years old when she hanged herself in the stairway in the building where she lived with her parents -- South Hadley, Massachusetts, about 100 miles from Boston.

Prosecutors say it wasn't an accident. That she was driven to suicide by relentless abuse.

SCHEIBEL: The events of January 14th were not isolated. Rather, they were the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally abusive, assaultive behavior, and threats of physical harm towards Phoebe on school grounds by several South Hadley High School students.

CHO: Nine students were indicted, three will be prosecuted as adults. Among them, 17-year-old Sean Mulveyhill facing charges of statutory rape and a violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. Eighteen-year-old Austin Renaud also faces statutory rape charges. And 17-year-old Kayla Narey, she'll answer to criminal harassment and civil rights charges.

Phoebe and her family had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland. Students say the torment she endured was harsh -- books routinely knocked out of her hands, her face scribbled out of photographs on school walls, threatening text messages constantly sent to her cell phone.

The DA says the alleged bullying --

SCHEIBEL: Appears to have been motivated by the group's displeasure with Phoebe's brief dating relationship with a male student that had ended some six weeks previous.

CHO: At South Hadley High School, students were stunned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until you guys came around, I had no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they need to be prosecuted. You know, it's not right at all.

CHO (on camera): Do you think they should face charges?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had anything to do with it, they should.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHO: Phoebe Prince isn't the first student in the area to commit suicide in recent months. Last year, an 11-year-old boy subjected to harassment also killed himself. After that suicide, the Massachusetts legislature stepped up work on an anti-bullying law, Tony. But so far, that bill has not passed -- Tony.

HARRIS: Boy, all right. Alina, appreciate it. Thank you.