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Selling Reform to Wall Street; Will Franklin Graham's Invitation to National Day of Prayer Event be Yanked?; Checking Citizenship

Aired April 22, 2010 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The big stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM for Thursday, April 22nd, the 40th Earth Day.

The president urging Wall Street to back new financial rules. His message for the heartbeat of American capitalism, live this hour.

A tremendous explosion at sea. Have you seen these pictures? Rescuers desperately trying to find 11 missing oil rig workers. Survivors reunite with families.

And the Reverend Franklin Graham may get uninvited to a government prayer event. He once called Islam evil.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Obama takes his push to financial reform to Wall Street's doorstep today. He delivers a speech in New York this hour.

The president will argue that what happens in the boardroom affects what happens around the kitchen table. According to prepared remarks he will say, "Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there was a family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business or save for retirement."

Let's bring in our Money team to talk about the financial reforms. Chief Business Correspondent, the man -- where's Ali? Let me see Ali. Ali Velshi is here. And Christine Romans in New York.

Ali, let me start with you.

What are you expecting to hear from the president later this hour?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's going to be tough.

HARRIS: Yes.

VELSHI: But he's going to look to not make enemies.

The bottom line is reform won't work unless everybody's at the table. I think he's learned some lessons from health care. But it is going to be targeted.

The audience for this speech is going to be the financial industry, to say, look, you guys have gone for a long time without new rules, we need to change the rules of the game because, clearly, they failed us. But we're going to change them in a way that doesn't stifle business. That's the opposition he's getting, that if you put too many rules in, it's going to stifle business.

That's going to hurt jobs, that's going to hurt people's incomes. He's going to say we can put rules in --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Wait a minute. Rules? Weren't we talking about Sarbanes-Oxley not that long ago and --

VELSHI: Yes, we've had little changes over the years, but we haven't had a real major change to regulation that came in after the Great Depression. And things have changed.

We're more innovative about the way we make money. And banks are more innovative and financial companies are. And what the administration is saying is, let us take a look at it and say something here looks unusual.

HARRIS: Yes.

VELSHI: Now, what the opposition to that is, is companies saying you guys don't have the bandwidth to understand what we're creating.

HARRIS: Whoa! You think -- yes.

VELSHI: You're just going to say no to things that you don't understand. And we're not going to be able to innovate and create and make lots of money.

HARRIS: Well, what we didn't understand, essentially, nearly, bankrupt the system.

VELSHI: Right. But what a lot of people will tell you is, for years, you made money off what you didn't understand. If it were just the old-fashioned way where you gave your money to a bank and they invested it very conservatively, we would be less well off.

HARRIS: Yes.

Hey, Christine, are we going to hear any of this language about fat cats on Wall Street today?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. No, and Ali is absolutely right, Tony, that the tone here is a little bit different.

You know, an official, a top money official to the president, told me earlier this week that they're going to go -- they've already been talking to the bankers this week. I mean, they've already kind of been here talking to them before this speech, and they're going to tell them, we're going to speak to them in a language they understand.

We're talking to them like bankers, like deal-makers. Look, we're on the winning side of this deal, you need to close out your position and move along here like this is a business deal that you are on the wrong end of because we have the wind at our back here. And that's -- I won't call it cocky, but I will say it's a more confident tone than I've heard from this administration for more than a year.

And I even said to this official -- I said, look, you know, I've been saying on TV that you guys lost the leverage of the financial crisis. At the heat of the crisis, you had this leverage to fix the financial system. And as more time passed and the stock market went up and banks kept making money and people were focused on health care and on stimulus and on other things, you lost this fire burning under financial reform. How are you going to get that fire back? And they think that they have that fire back now.

HARRIS: Ali, I'm John Q. Public. We need a culture change on Wall Street.

VELSHI: Yes.

HARRIS: You know what? I gave you my money, you Wall Streeters. You know what I wanted you to do? I wanted you to find a company for me to invest in. I wanted you to find the next great idea.

VELSHI: Right.

HARRIS: Innovation. And instead, what you -- well, you did that for a while. And then you what you did? You started coming up all of these little gimmicks and these bundles and these derivatives and you securitized this. I don't know what -- but you know what? What I wanted you to do was to take my dollar, find the next innovation and help build America.

VELSHI: And I think that's what a lot of people think. And I'll tell you, one of the criticisms of that is that if I have to design innovative systems that you understand and the SEC understands and the government understands, I'm going to miss my window of opportunity. So why don't I go to business in a place that doesn't govern me and doesn't ask those kinds of questions, and I can be innovative there?

That's not the right answer, but the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Create enough regulation that is fair and honest and we can foresee a major problem that almost crushes the economy. At the same time, leave enough room for somebody to come up with something that you and I are not going to come up with because they're smarter at money.

HARRIS: Right.

But Christine, I just want transparency. Am I asking for too much here? I just want -- we're going to get some transparency, it looks like, in legislation taking shape now on derivatives trading. Can I just get more transparency? What's the problem there? Slow down, take a beat. ROMANS: OK. So, transparency in an industry that is $450 trillion to $600 trillion. It's so big.

VELSHI: This is the derivatives market you're talking about.

ROMANS: This is the derivatives markets. And this isn't -- we already have exchange-traded derivatives. You know, these are like cattle futures and oil futures and these sorts of things.

There are a lot of these important derivatives contracts that are incredibly valuable to the economy and the growth of the economy that we can see. And then there are other things that we can't see.

And over the past few years, this has exploded into a market where it is derivatives of derivatives of derivatives. You know? I mean, things that are literally a piece of paper between two very rich people or rich entities saying here's our bet. And at the core of it, at the very bottom of it, it's a bet that depends on a lot of things that could actually affect the economy. And those are the things we can't see.

HARRIS: And all we're saying is close down the casino, all right? Or at least tell us what you're --

VELSHI: Well, do what we do with casinos. We don't close them down, we govern them.

There's a camera on top of every table. There's a pit boss there. So, if you've got rules, then play your slightly risky game, but let us see when your risky game doesn't just affect those two wealthy entities that Christine talked about, but actually could, like in the case of AIG or Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns, affect every last one of us and our ability to keep our job because our company couldn't get credit at the highest levels and had to lay us off. That's the problem.

ROMANS: And we have had chances to do this. We have had many chances to do this, and President Bill Clinton, for example, on ABC's "This Week" with Jake Tapper, he said, "I got bad advice from Robert Rubin and from Larry Summers about regulating derivatives." And that was a mistake. I have been covering derivatives since the late '90s.

VELSHI: In fact, her first job title was derivatives reporter.

HARRIS: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Derivatives reporter. And since I was a cub we have been talking about derivatives and are they -- could they be dangerous? Are they ticking time bombs? What are we going to do about them? And no one's ever done thing about them all this time.

So, I mean, it's another thing to remember, I think, Tony and Ali, that our policymakers don't always get it right either.

HARRIS: Yes, that's true.

ROMANS: And we won't know what the right mix is until somewhere down the road when it either it works or it doesn't.

HARRIS: Right.

VELSHI: That's the concern.

ROMANS: And that's another thing that's a little unnerving. I mean, it's -- yes.

HARRIS: I want you to take some of the risk out of this system. I want us to -- I want you to tell me as an investor what it is I'm getting into.

VELSHI: Take the worst risk, the most dangerous risk.

HARRIS: Yes. Tell me what the downside is here. Let's just have a little more transparency. I don't mind gambling a little bit.

VELSHI: Right.

HARRIS: I'm not super-sophisticated, but I --

VELSHI: But when you go to the casino, if you lose all your money, Tony, that's your problem.

HARRIS: I understand what I've done.

VELSHI: Don't make it my problem.

HARRIS: Exactly.

VELSHI: That's the issue.

HARRIS: Christine, appreciate it.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARRIS: Ali, as always, thank you, man.

VELSHI: All right.

HARRIS: Appreciate it.

The reforms pushed by the president would be the broadest financial overhaul since the 1930s.

Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Ed, it's good to see you. You look comfortable there.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I feel great.

HARRIS: You feel good there? All right.

Talk us to about these reforms that are being proposed here in legislation. Will the reforms prevent another crisis?

HENRY: That's a good question, because, you know, yesterday, Robert Gibbs was asked specifically, you know, would these reforms, if they're passed, will they have prevented what Goldman is accused of in this suit from the SEC? And Robert Gibbs basically said, "Well, I'd refer you to the SEC."

He didn't really have an answer because the administration doesn't really know ultimately where this is going to go. Nobody knows for sure whether all these reforms will work, and whether or not, if passed, they will prevent another crisis.

But I think the case this president is going to try to make here just a couple of miles from where I am, just a few minutes from now, as you noted, the president is going to try to say there needs to be balance. That he doesn't want to sort of stunt economic growth, but he also wants to make sure there are some new rules of the road.

Take a listen to how Valerie Jarrett, one of his top advisers, put it this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."

OK. So Valerie was basically saying, look, you need to have more transparency, you need to break up these big banks if need be. You can't have this "too big to fail" mentality that Ali and Christine were talking about -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

So, politically here, Ed, the president appears to be on solid ground taking on Wall Street. What is he looking for here politically, particularly when we're talking about the Senate and a vote on this potentially? Is he looking for, what, a 61 to maybe a 64-vote majority on this? Is he looking for something more than that, maybe 70 votes on this, the kind of bipartisan vote he had hoped for with health care?

HENRY: You're absolutely right to compare it to health care. They want that kind of an overwhelming vote.

And I can tell you, there are senior officials inside the White House, in the administration, telling me they think they're going to get there. They think that some of this Republican opposition is going to start melting because they think the Republicans have really been put on the defensive, looking like they're defending Wall Street. And when you talk to top White House aides, they say, look, if come this fall, the Republicans have blocked major Wall Street reform on the second anniversary of Lehman Brothers going down, the big meltdown, that's not going to put the Republicans in a strong position necessarily going into the midterm elections.

And so I've been given a heads up by top administration officials that the president is not going to be trashing Wall Street, if you will. He's previously called them fat cats over the bonuses and other issues, but right now this White House feels that they are this close to major victory on Wall Street reform. So they don't feel there's any need to beat up on Wall Street, no reason to sort of turn up the rhetoric. Instead, they're going to try to find some balance and say, look, we're not trying to stunt economic growth, but you guys have got to have some new rules of the road -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's what I need from our senior White House correspondent, some inside information.

Ed, good to see you. See you next hour.

HENRY: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: We will bring you live coverage of President Obama's remarks on Wall Street reform. That is coming up near the top of the hour. It's scheduled for 11:55 a.m. Eastern Time, 8:55 Pacific, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We want to hear from you on this issue, of course. What do you think about the proposed reform? Does it go far enough or is it even necessary? We'll give you the two extremes here.

Go to our blog, CNN.com/Tony. And if you would, leave us a comment. We will share some later in the newscast.

President Obama tailors remarks to Wall Street big shots this hour. We will tell you why a pizzeria owner worries his dough will fall.

Rob Marciano is tracking weather for us. The chance of stormy spring weather is rising in the Plains and the South.

We are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

You know, President Obama has painted Wall Street as the villain in the economic meltdown of 2008. When he speaks this hour, bankers and traders will be watching. So will the pizzeria owners. Even bad guys have to eat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY SORISI, OWNER, PIZZA ITALIA: Oh, yes, if Wall Street dies, I die. I might as well just walk out the door. If they're not making the money, I'm not making the money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wall Street is the heart of New York, and we need Wall Street because they employ thousands and thousands of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Wall Street's doing well, they don't want you to leave the desk. They buy lunch from you. The first thing that gets cut a lot, when things are bad, are the free lunches and the taxis and all of that.

SORISI: Tina (ph), you have Ross coming in at 1:30.

As far as my business is concerned, normal clients that I would see on a weekly basis, rather than seeing them every week, now I would see them once a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wall Street does well, everybody does well. That's where everybody depends on.

SORISI: It's a trickle-down effect. People that are making a lot of money like to spend a lot of money. And that's what we're here for. I'm here to serve those people that make a lot of money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At its height, yes, things were good. I was making a living, you know? Like I said, I wasn't wealthy, but I was making a living. That's all I want. That's all I ask.

SORISI: Wall Street is -- I think is going to make a comeback, of course. It has to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I've been here 17 years. I have to root for Wall Street. I want Wall Street to succeed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, if the nation's big banks had a near-death experience 19 months ago, today the miraculous comeback is upon us. The top six banks all say they made tons of money in the first quarter.

Together, earnings increased six-fold over the fourth quarter of 2009. A few individual numbers for you to consider here.

Wells Fargo today reported first-quarter profits of $2.5 billion. Earnings released earlier this month, Bank of America, $2.8 billion: JPMorgan Chase, $3.3 billion; Citibank, $4.4 billion.

After the president speaks next hour, we will get the view from Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California. He is raising questions about the Democrats' timing on the financial reform bill, linking it to last week's federal fraud charges against Goldman Sachs.

He has called Islam evil. Will that get evangelist Franklin Graham's invitation to National Day of Prayer events at the Pentagon yanked?

That story when we come back, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Making a commitment to fight global hunger and poverty. A big announcement coming this hour from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

He is joined by Bill Gates, along with the finance ministers of Canada, Spain and South Korea. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other senior government officials are also taking part. The announcement comes as finance ministers and central bankers from around the world gather for meetings in Washington.

Got to tell you, evangelist Franklin Graham may not get a chance to attend National Day of Prayer events at the Pentagon next month. The Army is considering whether to pull his invitation. It all stems from Graham's outspoken criticism of Islam.

More now from our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was this invitation to speak at the pentagon's May 6th national day of prayer ceremony that sparked the controversy. Army officials tell CNN they began to reconsider the invitation after realizing Reverend Franklin Graham made remarks like this in an interview with CNN's Campbell Brown.

REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, SON OF REV. BILLY GRAHAM: True Islam cannot be a practice in this country. You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries.

STARR: Graham later tried to temper his remarks, saying he had Muslim friends. But Graham has a long history of remarks that worried the military. Shortly after 9/11, he called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." The Army, which oversees the national day of prayer at the pentagon, was afraid if Graham spoke, insurgents would put his remarks on the internet and fuel tensions in the Islamic world.

Graham's supporters disagree.

REP. RANDY FORBES (R), VIRGINIA: What are they afraid that Franklin Graham's going to say? I think again we're getting to the part in the country where what I want to do is try to exclude everybody from speaking if I disagree with what they're going to say.

STARR (on camera): A watchdog group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, complained to Defense Secretary Robert Gates not only about Graham, but also about National Prayer Day, which it said had become a Christian fundamentalist event.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Is it a waste of time or a way to settle a controversy? The Arizona House passes a bill making presidential candidates fork over their birth certificates. It is a talker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

President Obama has just arrived in New York City for a speech on financial reform legislation. You will see the address live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, at 11:55 a.m. Eastern Time. The president will be speaking on the campus of Cooper Union, just about two miles from Wall Street. He is expected to urge Wall Street to support new financial regulations.

The U.S. says there are increased signs of a coming terrorist attack in New Delhi. The State Department is warning Americans in India to be cautious. The statement doesn't give specifics, but it points to markets as attractive targets for terrorists.

And 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, a Coast Guard air search resumed today for 11 workers. They're missing after their oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Survivors have arrived in Louisiana, where they have reunited with family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A couple of stories here we want to tell you about.

It is the strictest anti-immigration bill in the country. Arizona's governor is still looking at it. New Mexico's governor is urging her to veto it.

There have been several immigration rallies around the United States this week, and another is planned for later today in Phoenix against the bill, which basically makes it illegal to be illegal. It also pushes police to question anyone they have reason to suspect. Civil rights leaders and Mexican officials say that could result in racial profiling.

Also raising a ruckus in Arizona, a bill that requires any presidential candidate who wants to be on the ballot in Arizona to provide a birth certificate. That includes President Obama, should he run for re-election. And that generated some heat on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECIL ASH (R), ARIZONA STATE HOUSE: I think there's been a lot of controversy over the issue. It's created a division among a lot of people in the United States. And for better or worse, many people don't believe he's a U.S. citizen. They believe he has divided loyalties, I suppose you could say.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Right, but those people are wrong. I mean, he is a U.S. citizen.

ASH: Well, you're telling me that he's wrong. I've never investigated that. If he is, then he has nothing to fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look at all of the work that we've done to debunk the fact that he's a Muslim, and you still have people running around saying, oh, no, he's actually a Muslim. So, look, let's just be honest. There are some stupid Americans, OK, who want to believe nonsense. Let's just go ahead and say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. The bill barely passed the Arizona House yesterday. The vote was 31-29. It is now before the state Senate.

Boy, I've got to tell you, a cold front is clashing right now with warm air, and you know that usually spells trouble. And that could be the case today in the nation's midsection.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: When we come back, our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash on the likelihood of financial reform legislation getting through Congress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, while we wait for the president, let's look at the bill that would re-write the Wall Street rule book.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is with us now. Dana, great to see you.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You, too.

HARRIS: So, let's do a bit of a reset here. The House has passed its version here, but Democrats and Republicans in the Senate still need to agree on the content of their bills. Can the president get this reform bill through Congress?

BASH: What is so interesting about this, Tony, is that right now, even as we speak, there are earnest bipartisan negotiations going on on this bill, and the plan right now is for the Democratic leaders to hold a vote to start debate on the Senate floor on Monday. Unclear, whether or not there could be some kind of bipartisan breakthrough by then or maybe it would take a little bit longer, but the headline is that unlike health care which you and I talked about every day almost for a year about the partisan divide on that, it's -- it doesn't seem to be happening right now.

I just hung up with a Republican source who said that he talked to these negotiators who are talking Democrats and Republicans, as we speak, and they say, this is real. They are really checking the box and checking things off on issues.

HARRIS: How about this? How about this development? OK. There's always another side to this, but so what are the banks, the big, financial firms doing to sort of prevent this train from gaining even more momentum here, Dana?

BASH: Well, the banks and really all sides that have interest in this, and we're talking about billions and billions of dollars of interest have done something that many people do for many issues. They have hired lobbyists, a lot of lobbyists. And, you know, yesterday, we were at a committee hearing where they actually passed sort of a version or part of the larger attempt to reform Wall Street and that was this committee voted to have new, tough limits on Wall Street and specifically those controversial derivative trades, but when we went there, we did see many of those lobbyists who were there hired by all of those people who have vested interests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Who's waiting in this long line to get into a key Senate committee meeting on financial reform? A lot of lobbyists.

BASH (on-camera): The reason for the line is inside this room, senators are working on details of legislation that would, for the first time, establish oversight on the financial derivatives market. We're talking about hundreds of trillions of dollars in deals, the kind that led to the panic that helped cause the near-collapse of the financial industry.

SEN. BLANCHE LINCOLN (D) ARKANSAS: Within a decade, this market exploded to $600 trillion in national value. We must bring transparency and accountability to this market.

BASH (on-camera): In the back of legal committee, and what they're doing is pouring over this legislation line by line and that's why you have this. Lobbyists. They're here watching very carefully. The lobbyists here representing some of the big banks on Wall Street who reap billions of dollars in profits from this mostly unregulated derivatives trading, but it's not just them. There are also lobbyists here representing farmers, manufacturers, and businesses who want to preserve their bottom line. They say that bottom line is helped by derivatives trading.

BASH (voice-over): that's why this lobbyist representing an agro business is here.

BASH (on-camera): Do you want to make sure the bid doesn't go too far?

JON HIXSON, LOBBYIST, CARGILL INC.: We need a balanced bill that adds transparency and does a lot of the good things, but again, still allows U.S. manufacturers to be competitive.

BASH: You're a lobbyist?

DOROTHY COLEMAN, LOBBYIST, NATIONAL ASSOC. OF MANUFACTURERS: I am.

BASH: Lobbyists, as you know, don't have the best, maybe, reputation in this country and certainly at a time when people are pretty angry at Washington. What do you want people to know about your job as a lobbyist?

COLEMAN: Well, I think first of all, I'm an advocate for manufacturing. And my efforts, really, are trying to educate members of Congress and their staff on the impact of legislation on the manufacturing sector. BASH (voice-over): And what about the lobbyists from Wall Street banks and big financial firms concerned about new regulation? Well, we found several, but they didn't want to talk to us on the record until we tried this approach.

BASH (on-camera): I'm Dana Bash with CNN. How are you?

BASH (voice-over): He is a Washington lobbyist. Who does he represent?

BASH (on-camera): Any big banks?

JAKE SEHER, LOBBYIST, VENABLE: No.

BASH: Any financial firms at all?

SEHER: Several financial firms but no big banks. We are following this development. This is a very important issue here, and it has great implications for any number of institutions, not just on Wall Street but across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (on-camera): Later, we did talk to an official representing Wall Street banks who said, look, they are pushing back hard against several provisions just in that bill that passed committee yesterday that would make it much harder for them to reap the billions in profits that those banks reap, but one interesting thing that might tell us about the future here in terms of where people stand on various sides. There was a Republican, Tony, Charles Grassley of Iowa.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: Who actually voted with Democrats in the committee yesterday on this derivatives issue, and so, you know, people are saying, wait a minute, maybe this is an indication that when we're talking about the broader attempt to reform Wall Street and to make it more transparent and to make sure that none of those bailouts happen again which all sides say is the fundamental goal here, that maybe there really can be bipartisanship, but I'll just tell you one quick thing. We were talking earlier in the show about the tone that the president is going to have.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: Democratic leaders are going to have a press conference shortly after the president speaks, and my understanding is that they're going to still be very tough, not really on Wall Street, but on Republicans. So, even though we're talking about all this bipartisanship, one lesson that Democrats tell me that they learned. In fact, Harry Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, told me that they've learned is define or be defined, and so, we're still going to hear some pretty tough talk about Republicans being in the pocket of Wall Street even as behind the scenes. There actually is genuine bipartisan negotiations going on and how to fix this issue. HARRIS: OK. Look, I know folks are going to be screaming at me from the control room, but I've got to ask you this. First of all, I love that piece you putting us in the room watching the lobbyists go over the legislation as it's being crafted line by line, and to Jake -- come on, Jake, we just want a little transparency, come on, for the American people. Tell us who you're working for, and Dorothy, come on the program and talk to us about --

BASH: She'd be happy to come.

HARRIS: She would be? She would?

BASH: Oh, listen. She'd be happy to come on. She was very, very happy because she works for the National Association of Manufacturers. I'm sure if she's listening, she's probably going to call right now.

HARRIS: Yes, I love it, I love it, I love it.

BASH: He has something called attorney-client privilege or, you know, confidentiality which, you know, you understand.

HARRIS: Yes, I get it. I get it.

BASH: He doesn't work for one of those companies. He's a higher gun.

HARRIS: One more quick point here, is there a chance that the president could get -- and you were talking about health care, the kind of non-partisan, bipartisan support for this legislation that gets passage at beyond, say, 60, 61, but maybe he gets 70 votes in the Senate?

BASH: It all depends on how well these talks go that are going on right now and will for the next several days, probably even through the weekend. It really just hinges on that. You know, I think that Republican leaders realize that several of their members, pretty much regardless, are likely to go and vote with the Democrats.

So, that is why that they're trying to get a broader bill, because Mitch McConnell was just on the Senate floor a short while ago saying, look, I voted for a bailout, and I promised my constituents I wouldn't do that again. Politically, heading into this election year, both sides including Republicans want to go home and tell their constituents, I did something to make sure that you're not going to bailout Wall Street again.

HARRIS: Terrific stuff. Dana, appreciate it. Thank you.

BASH: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Man, I love that.

And a reminder, President Obama's speech from the Cooper Union School in Manhattan comes in just a couple of minutes. 11:55 Eastern time is the schedule. Live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. After the president speaks next hour, we will get the view from Republican congressman, Darrell Issa of California. He is raising questions and concerns about the Democrats' timing on the financial reform bill linking it to last week's federal fraud charges against Goldman Sachs? What's this all about? We will ask him next hour.

Eleven people missing after a huge explosion on a massive oil rig. We will bring you a live update on the rescue mission off the Louisiana coast.

HARRIS: Let's get you caught up now on top stories. President Obama takes his push for financial reform to the place where the economic meltdown began. He is speaking in New York this hour in the shadow of Wall Street. Among his proposals, creating a mechanism to liquidate firms that are so big their sudden collapse could shake the economy.

More violence today in Thailand. There was worried that at least 30 people have been injured of explosions near anti-government protests in Bangkok. The Thai capital has been gripped by several weeks now with clashes between government forces and opposition protesters.

Ten years ago today, federal agents seized Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives and returned him to his Cuban father. The boy now, 16, was found off Florida after his mother and other Cuban migrants drowned while trying to reach the United States. He is now a military student in Cuba.

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HARRIS: Now, to a desperate search and rescue operation under way off the coast of Louisiana, 11 workers still missing after a massive explosion aboard in oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. David Mattingly is following developments here, and he joins us now. David, what is the latest on the rescue efforts?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, it's now been a full 36 hours since that explosion, and there's still no sign of the 11 missing workers. The coast guard not giving up on the search. More than 1900 square miles covered so far by sea and by air, all this, while the fire's still raging at the rig. Take a look. We have some amazing I-report video to show you. This coming to us from Captain Michael Roberts. He piloted a work boat that was in the area and responded to the distress call when it first went out.

He's giving us the closest view yet we've seen of this burning platform. Now, he was just a few feet away. He says the heat was so intense it was actually peeling the paint off the side of his boat. And he also says these fire crews that we've been seeing so far today can only go in for a short period of time before they have to rotate out and get away from that heat. The situation hasn't changed all that much since the coast guard first responded to the call late Tuesday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we arrived on scene, the flames were shooting above our altitude. We immediately entered a half a mile search to determine whether there was anyone blown away from the rig. We eliminated any survivors that had been blown away. We had contacted the surface assets and realized that the majority of people who are already on a boat, so we immediately began rescue operations and search operations at that time.

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MATTINGLY: Some of the coast guard pictures we've seen show the platform leaning noticeably to one side, but they do not think that it's going to capsize. A 126 people were onboard at the time of the explosion. Many of them were reunited privately with the worried families before dawn today -- Tony.

HARRIS: David, a couple of thoughts here. How is the coast guard describing the conditions for this search?

MATTINGLY: Well, Tony, what the coast guard tells me right now is that they have superb conditions for the search going on today. They've got clear skies. They've got calm seas. They've got calm winds. They should be able to see through at least eight miles out there from the water itself. So, they got some great visibility.

HARRIS: Good, good.

MATTINGLY: If these workers managed to get to a lifeboat, that would be pretty easy to spot, but they're looking very carefully to see if there are individuals in the water, but at this point, like I said, 36 hours since the accident, they have still yet to find any sign of life out there.

HARRIS: And what are the chances for a large oil spill here? Wow!

OK. CNN's David Mattingly for us. David, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, what should you do with your old computer? We have some Earth Day tips for you next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Hey, if you didn't realize it, today is Earth Day. A good time to recycle your old stuff. Ines Ferre, where is she here, with our top tips today. There she is. Ines, let's start with electronics. What do you do with an old computer?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so many of us we just don't want to dump old things on a sidewalk or anything like that. The company you by your next computer from just might take the old one off your hands either for free or a small fee. Companies like Apple, Dell and HP provide computer recycling services. Some manufacturers will pick up your old computers and hardware. Others may require you to ship your electronics to them.

Dell just announced that you can drop off your Xbox and accessories for free recycling at participating goodwill stores, and if you want to recycle an iPod or cell phone, you can do that at an Apple store. Companies will also accept used ink and toner cartridges since they can be filled and resealed. And some retailers like Best Buy also sponsored recycling events where you can drop off electronics. You should just check out the retailer web site to see if there's any event coming up in your area -- Tony.

HARRIS: Incredible. What about local resources?

FERRE: Right. Check out programs at your local schools or charities. You may be able to donate your old computer or TV to them. And also use the internet, the web, the Cristina Foundation is a non- profit that connects potential computer donors with local schools and charities. That website is cristina.org, and also freecycle.org helps you find a local home for your unwanted stuff, everything from furniture to musical instruments or artwork.

HARRIS: I like that. Yes, that's good. How about this, Ines, you seem to have all the smarts going today. What should people be aware of before recycling electronics?

FERRE: Before you donate anything, Tony, from a computer to a cell phone, make sure there's no personal information someone can access. If you want to get info off your hard drive, use free software like the one from eraser (ph). You can remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting several times. That Web site is eraser.heidi.ie. And when it comes to your cell phone or PDA, take it back to the manufacturer or store where you bought it from and ask the technician there to delete your information and make sure that the technician overwrites the data -- Tony.

HARRIS: Terrific. All right. Let's get to the president in New York City.

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