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Protecting Your Pocketbook; Latest Oil Plan Back on Track; Don't call 911 in Oakland, California; Senate Vote on Wall Street Reform; Immigration Law Affecting Arizona Police Officers; Former Vice President Cheney Recovering from Heart Surgery; Latin-America Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Aired July 15, 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: Good morning, everyone, live from Studio 7 at CNN headquarters.
Arizona's immigration law hits the courtroom for the first time today, Thursday, July 15th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's most likely that a person with a Spanish accent is going to get investigated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Two hours from now, a Phoenix police officer asks a federal judge to block the new immigration law.
One of the nation's most crime-infested cities cuts its police payroll. Oakland, California, warns more layoffs may be coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We go on the same motto where people say you can do more with less. We're not going to be able to do that anymore. We're going to be doing less with less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And President Obama's military drawdown picks up speed in Iraq, and the scramble is on to cut troop numbers to 50,000 by the end of August.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Happening this hour, developments unfolding on two major stories -- the Gulf disaster, where efforts to contain the oil leak are moving forward again, and a vote to move forward with legislation affecting your credit cards, your mortgage and the way Wall Street operates.
Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar sets the stage for us. Brianna, good morning.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
An historic vote expected to begin in just moments. This is the bill that is supposed to reform Wall Street. It's supposed to be the answer to those scary days that we saw almost two years ago, when the U.S. economy was teetering on a cliff, and also so much of that economic pain that Americans have felt since. This is the final hurdle for this mainly Democratic-passed bill, and we'll be watching -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right, Brianna. Appreciate it. Thank you.
BP's latest effort now to stop the oil gusher in the Gulf appears to be on track. Day 87, and testing on that new well cap is expected to get under way this afternoon. We expect a briefing any minute now from Admiral Thad Allen, the government's point man on the disaster. We will bring that to you live.
Right now, let's bring in CNN's David Mattingly. He is in New Orleans.
So, David, walk us through this, if you would, please. The leak now is fixed. And progress is expected later today?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. What happened last night is when they closed that initial valve and shut off the oil that was coming out of the top of that cap. That's when they noticed that there was a leak in what they call the choke line.
Well, overnight, they were able to remove that choke line, replace it. It's fixed, good to go. That was told to us a couple of hours ago. And BP also saying that they expected later this morning to be able to get started with that testing again, where they would close off this cap and then do all those important pressure readings every few hours to see if this well might be leaking down below.
If they're able to build up pressure, that's good news. That shows that the well is intact and not leaking below. If they have light pressure, that means that there's damage below and they won't be able to seal this well off.
So, we're at a very critical point here. That delay was really a disappointment, but the fact that they were able to replace it so quickly and get back on track is encouraging.
Now, we are expecting to hear from Admiral Thad Allen shortly, who, yesterday, he said he didn't want to get anyone's hopes up about this, but he did say that while they're pursuing this cap, they have also brought into the area enough equipment that they'll be able to hook up a lot of collection devices on the surface that will collect more oil, have the capacity to collect more oil than that well is actually leaking right now. So, they're at a point where they're going to either collect all that oil that's coming out or stop it completely. Now, the idea with this cap is that it will make this well essentially hurricane-proof, because if they're still collecting oil up to the surface, a hurricane comes in, they're going to have to move out those ships, and the oil is just going to leak out into the ocean again. Well, with this cap in place, they could be able to temporarily shut it off and just disconnect everything, and have that not leak into the gulf. So that's going to be a great option for them.
Also, if this cap works, and they're able to hold the pressure there, having the high pressure in the well itself is going to help them when they finish that relief well later this month and drill in there and fill it up with cement. And we were told today that that relief well is about 30 feet away from where it will intersect, and we're going to hear from Thad Allen very shortly about the progress of everything here.
HARRIS: OK. Thirty feet, that's really close. It looks like some progress happening now.
Let's get to the retired admiral, Thad Allen, for the daily update. He's speaking now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: -- to take a look at the implications of the test related to pressures in the wellbore, to make sure we had exhausted every means to consider low probability, high consequence outcomes. Once that was done, I gave the order with some slight modifications to include some requirements for seismic testing, acoustic testing, to go ahead and proceed last night.
The sequence on how that test proceeded was to take the Q4000 and Helix Producer off line, to have all of the oil and hydrocarbons coming up through the blowout preventer, into the new capping stack. At that point, there were three ways for oil to come out of the capping stack. That was directly through the top of the capping stack itself, through the kill line and the choke line.
In sequence, we closed the middle ram of the capping stack which stopped the flow directly out of the top of the capping stack. We then closed the kill line. That left the choke line -- and the way this is set up, the choke line is going to have a variable valve that we can close slowly and be able to assess the pressure readings as we do that. In the process of doing that, we discovered there was a leak on the choke line.
At that point, we terminated the test at that point so we could determine the cause of the leak and repair that. Overnight, that has been repaired. I'll show you where that is in a minute.
We are ready now to restart the procedure. And just to tell you how that will work, we will then, once again, cease production on the Q4000 and the Helix Producer. That will then force all of the oil up into the new capping stack. There are only two ways for that to be released, because we did not move the middle ram back. It will start going out the kill line and the choke line. We will then close the kill line and start to slowly close the choke line and take the pressure readings at that time, as we intended to do.
Just to let you know what happened, this is the choke line off of the capping stack. As you know, this comes out of the assembly and goes up.
If you have seen the video, this is that big yellow device with the curved pipe that goes up with the oil coming out of it. It connects back to the capping stack down here at a flange, and there's an assembly where these meets together.
This is where the leakage was discovered. The entire choke assembly was removed and replaced overnight. They are checking this right now to make sure it is ready to go, and we will go into the process that I just talked about earlier, and we will apply pressure to this as we close the kill valve, exactly how successful they have been in closing this leak and moving forward with the test itself.
It as I started earlier, yesterday, one of the reasons we took the pause was to put a set of testing procedures in effect that would allow us to consider seismic, acoustic and sonar, and plus visual inspection of the bottom throughout the test. The test is scheduled to run for 48 hours, and we will run that in six-hour increments with the ability to evaluate every six hours. And if we have reason to believe we should terminate the test, that we can do that.
The only reason we would terminate the test very quickly is if we had a very low pressure reading. That would be indicative of the fact that oil was being released somewhere in the wellbore, out into the formation. We would not want that. But as the pressure continues to rise, we will continue to monitor it, and every six hours we will evaluate where we are at based on the information that's available.
At the end of 48 hours, we will terminate the test, go back to production with the Q4000 and the Helix Producer, and we'll then evaluate where we're at. That will include most likely another seismic run over the area. This will allow us to take a look at the sea floor and actually do sensor testing into the formation to see if there are any areas where pockets of oil may have formed as a result of being forced out of the wellbore.
Just to refresh, because I stated this yesterday, but it's really good for everybody to understand, we have a complete time lapse 4-D map of the area that was conducted before the well was commenced to be dug. There was another seismic run that was done on the 26th of April following the event itself. We did one in advance of this event.
The seismic run was not quite as clear as the original one because there's a lot of other obstructions out there with all the vessels that are there and all of the simultaneous operations that are going on. But, still, it was good enough for us to understand that there weren't any developments on the sea floor or in the formation that would be problematic proceeding with the well integrity test.
So, our goal would be, after 48 hours, to do another seismic test. That involves some very sophisticated sensing with some vessels, and our scientific team is working on that right now. So, we're going to want to know if we can detect any kind of oil that might be coming up from the sea floor or any methane gas that might be escaping in advance of oil moving forward.
Having said all of that, we were producing part of the time yesterday, and part of the time we were taking down the systems. But in spite of all of that, we were still able to produce 12,843 barrels, a combination of what was flared (ph) from the Q4000, which was about a little over 5,000 barrels, and the Helix Producer, which was able to produce 7,680 barrels.
We were very pleased. This is the first time a floating production unit has been employed in the Gulf of Mexico. And the Helix Producer, the rate at which they are producing, is capable, at least at this point of startup, of 20,000 barrels a day, which is higher than the other production that we have on scene to date.
We'll continue to do that.
Elsewhere in the area, the prevailing winds and the weather are basically taking the oil that's coming to the surface to the southeast of the well site. We're getting a little break in the action as far as oil closing shore. That's allowing us to marshal our forces, to be able to do some repair, assess where the boom might have been blown ashore with the recent heavy weather we had. And it's given us a chance to kind of consolidate our forces and make sure we can redouble our efforts on shore cleanup.
And with that, I'll be glad to answers any questions you may have.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Admiral. Ed Lavandera with CNN.
A question about the -- early on in this process, were you able to at least get any kind of pressure readings, any kind of indication as to how that might go? Or would that not even begin until the integrity test begins?
ALLEN: Well, we had some initi8al pressure readings when we closed the manifold and closed the kill line, but they really weren't -- pressure readings would tell you how the whole system was responding. But oil is still exiting through the drill choke, is what they call that. We had just started to crank it down when we saw the leak, so we won't get really valid pressure readings until we're able to close that choke valve, and hopefully that will happen later on today.
LAVANDERA: And one last question. I apologize if you've answered this before, but could this integrity test cause any kind of -- you mentioned the damage to the wellbore all the way down. If something like that were to happen, could this affect the relief well process?
ALLEN: Well, I'm glad you asked that. That came up yesterday, and there was an assessment done on that. Here's what we have done just to mitigate the risk. We don't think there's a problem there, but as close as the relief well is now to the wellbore, even though it's significantly below where we think there might be a problem, what we've done is, the relief well right now is between four and five feet away from the wellbore. They need to go down probably another 100 feet before they actually try and do the penetration. And they were making arrangements to actually put a casing pipe down there to finish that part of the wellbore before they actually did the penetration.
What they have done is they've pulled back to the last casing pipe. The wellbore of the relief well is filled with mud, and we're going to have them hold right there until we get some initial results of the well integrity test just in case there is an interaction with it.
Yesterday, I said that we might not think that was necessary, but I think we think that's a prudent step, so we're going to do that today.
EVAN BROWN, FOX NEWS RADIO: Good morning, Admiral. Evan Brown, Fox News Radio.
Did BP have any sort of quality control on these parts before they installed them on the cap that would have allowed them to detect a leak, a hole or anything like that? And, if not, will there be in the future or what were they if there were any?
ALLEN: I'm not sure I can tell you exactly on that part, but we'll get that information and get back to you. I do know this, that a lot of what is going on here has been designed and engineered for the first time to deal with this particular problem.
The capping stack was a custom made stack that includes three rams. I would call it a mini blowout preventer. But it also includes a kill and a choke line which duplicates the kill and the choke lines on the traditional BOP.
I do know that in order to make this system up on the existing lower marine riser package after we removed that nub on the riser pipe that had been cut off, that they actually did simulations. They actually created a physical model so they could actually practice putting the flanges together and bolting them.
Whether or not they actually practiced on that particular flange or not or did testing, we'll find that out and get back to you. But I know there was extensive systems integration testing done, and they actually created a way to actually model this and actually test putting the package together before they took it out of the water.
EILEEN FLEMING, PUBLIC RADIO: Admiral, Eileen Fleming with Public Radio.
How confident are you in the relief well's structure and engineering, and that that won't blow up as well? How confident are you in those relief wells?
ALLEN: Well, the relief wells are intended to intersect the current Macondo well. They're all subject to the same forces from the same reservoir. It's just a different way of coming in at it.
That's the reason we're going to learn a lot about this well integrity test. It's not only going to help us in terms of containment, which is very important, because we'll have some options -- whether or not we can completely shut the well in or create a more effective containment system with four production platforms off the new cap. That will allow us to effectively shield the environment from what has been a massive discharge of oil thus far.
But the ability of that well to hold pressure, whether it's low or high, is very, very instructive on how we're going to penetrate the well, the amount of mud, the weight of the mud, which can vary, and how they might ultimately need to plug that with cement. So, I don't think there's so much an impact back on the relief well that's being drilled as much as we can inform the way we're actually going to conduct the kill itself, because we'll have empirical pressure readings and we'll understand to a greater certainty the condition of the wellbore.
She may want to follow up on that.
It didn't look like I was responsive from your non-verbals.
(LAUGHTER)
FLEMING: I understand (OFF-MIKE).
ALLEN: Right.
The entire key issue on all of this is controlling pressure from the reservoir. OK? And the pressure out of the reservoir right now -- and I'm giving you a range because I don't have the figures in front of me. I think they believe it's about between 11,000 to 12,000 pounds per square inch pushing up into the Macondo wellbore as a result of the well that was drilled.
Now, the issue is, how is that pressure being controlled? Obviously, they lost pressure and that's what caused the event to begin with on the 20th of April.
We've had a cap that's been recovering some of the oil, but we've been venting oil. And when you vent oil, that releases pressure. And the lousiest -- easiest analogy I can give you is putting your thumb over the top of a hose very slowly to get a higher pressure stream when you're trying to water the garden or something.
We have been slowly using mechanisms to try and close off the hose, but we can't do it completely because if you do it completely, and there's a pressure further down the hose, you may cause a leak. OK?
So what we are trying to do now is actually get physical evidence because we don't know the condition of the wellbore. And the way you do that is, metaphorically, put your thumb over the garden hose. In this case, it's called a capping stack, and there are three ways for oil to leave that capping stack, and we're going to close them off in sequence, and then very slowly close that third choke line down, and then do pressure readings.
If we get very low pressure readings, it would be the equivalent of putting your thumb over the garden hose, and the water's going someplace else because there's no pressure. If we get high pressure readings, that would give us some indication that the wellbore is intact, talk about the integrity of the casing pipe. That all then relates to how much mud and the procedures that will be needed, and how they're actually going to kill the well down below.
Is that more descriptive?
OK. Thanks.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE), Fox News.
Admiral, two questions. Has the relief well drilling entirely stopped? And how far away is it, DD3, from the actual line?
And, secondly, there seems to be recurring questions as to, was this solution -- or why wasn't this solution considered earlier in the process?
ALLEN: First of all, I would say we're probably -- the relief well is a little over 100 feet above the proposed intersection point, but they are pulling the bit back to the last cased section. That's where they've actually got the pipe in.
There's another section they're going to put pipe in. They haven't done that yet, but they're going to withdraw. They've got the rest of that wellbore filled with mud all the way down, and we're just going to sit there until we get a couple hours of testing to make sure there is not an interaction between the increased pressure on the wellbore and the relief well that's being dug. We don't think there is, but we think it's just prudent to take a stop and watch what happens.
OK?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
ALLEN: Well, they're in the last portions. So they're going to drill about 10 feet at a time and use some very sophisticated electronic sensing and sensing the magnetic field around the wellbore until they know exactly where they are at, because you've got to understand, they're going to be two miles below the sea floor. They're going to try to intersect, potentially, a drill pipe that's seven inches in diameter.
So they're going to be very, very cautious. That's the reason the end of this is so slow, and that's the reason we're not coming off the mid-August prediction of when this could be done. It could be done quicker, but it's going to be very methodical.
In relation to why wasn't this done earlier, I'm assuming you're talking about the capping stack. It had to be designed, built, tested, brought to site, and then procedures developed to put on there. And as you see, there are obviously some leaks we're having to fix and things like that.
There have been a range of capping devices that have been developed, probably over 10. They're all developed under different scenarios. Right now we've got a clean cut on the riser pipe. Whether or not we can actually remove it and put a flange on it. In addition, there is systems integration testing, and the actually built a model of this on land, and then actually tested it before they brought it out here.
These all were directed a long time ago. We told them that we were not happy with the redundancy in the machinery and the capacity. And we told them, you need to give us a plan on how you are going to get redundancy so if a piece of equipment breaks, you can still produce. And not only can you produce, you can produce at the capacity that will cover a range of between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day based on the new flow rate we developed weeks ago.
We gave that to them, they provided a plan to us. The capping stack that's on right now is actually part of the containment plan that we ordered them to provide.
While we have the opportunity to potentially shut in the well, if the readings are correct, what this really does for us is gives us four different outlets to go to four different production platforms, increase the redundancy of the machinery and the capacity that will allow us to cover 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day, which is above the maximum flow rate that we estimate right now.
So those are the two parts to that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Operator, we can go ahead and take calls from the line now.
OPERATOR: To ask your question on the phone line, please press star, one.
And you have a question from the line of Harry Weber with The Associated Press.
HARRY WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thank you very much.
Admiral, can you give us a little idea right now from what you've seen from this latest effort of whether this -- that this cap is going to work as it's intend, or whether you will have to go back to full production with four vessels? I mean, what can you tell us about the outcome of this based on the leak you found, you know, the little bit of delay that you've had, and the pressure readings that you've seen a little bit of?
ALLEN: Yes. Let me just be perfectly clear on this.
The intention of the capping stack was never to close in the well per se. It creates the opportunity if we have the right pressure readings to be able to shut in the well.
The best reason to be able to shut in the well right now, in addition to blocking all the oil from coming into the environment, is it allows us to abandon the site if there's a hurricane. But at a minimum, what we told BP to do was to provide us a plan that gave us redundancy and capacity to be able to accommodate the flow rate which the government estimated and still estimates at this time to be 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day.
To that end, the capping stack off the kill and the choke lines, together with the kill and the choke lines off the legacy BOP from the Deepwater Horizon, give us four outlets from which to produce. And what we intend to do is from the kill and the choke line on the legacy BOP, is to produce to the Helix Producer and the Pisces, which are floating production units that will then transfer to shuttle tankers.
The kill and the choke line that are on the stacking cap that we have right now will then be run to the Discoverer Enterprise and the Clear Leader Enterprise, and they will produce off of those. It was always the intention to create enough redundancy and capacity that we could handle the flow rate. As a side benefit, the stack that was created, if it can hold the pressure, presents the opportunity to be able to shut in the well.
I don't want to reverse the priorities here, because the priority was to contain and stop the flow of oil. But the design of the cap, itself, if we can withstand the pressures, and the wellbore stays intact, presents the opportunity to shut the well in, which would t hen give us the ability to abandon the site in the event of a hurricane. So, it's a twofer if we can do it.
Was that responsive?
WEBER: Yes, pretty much. I appreciate that. I'm just trying to get an idea of whether the capping stack is the solution, or if you think you're going to have better luck with the --
HARRIS: OK. So here we go. We want to sort of wrap this a bit. Rob is going to help me with this, a couple points here.
It looks like the choke line has been repaired, which means you can start the operation again.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Or at least the testing of the pressure.
HARRIS: So, let me understand this. So, you've got the cap that is on the wellbore, right? The blown-out blowout preventer that failed, right? So, you've got to close valves on these lines.
MARCIANO: Right.
HARRIS: And in the process of closing the valve over the choke line, you detect a leak?
MARCIANO: Exactly. I think -- you know, you get the admiral out of his uniform, and I'm telling you, he's speaking our language now.
HARRIS: He's terrific. MARCIANO: You know, for the past couple of days, especially, he's starting to use analogies that make sense. We were talking yesterday about a garden hose and, boom, he comes out with the garden hose thing. And, you know, if you've got a bad -- I was just working with a bad garden hose the other day and, literally, I was putting my thumb over it --
HARRIS: Right. We have all done that, right?
MARCIANO: -- and down the line, this cheap hose was starting to bubble up and it was about to burst. And this all makes sense, what he is talking about now, and we are starting to really -- unfortunately, almost three months later, we're starting to understand the enormity of this, the complexities of this, and all that it takes to do what they're trying to do.
HARRIS: So, as you're closing the valve, you also have to conduct these tests, right? To check down the line, as you just mentioned here, to make sure you are not getting the bubbling up and you're not getting the potential of another break so that you get another pathway of oil out of a break somewhere else along the line and then you've got another problem? Right?
MARCIANO: And then the worst possible scenario in my eyes is if you force a leak down below the surface, below the seabed, and then you have got a whole other can of worms that opens up. So, that's, I think, what they're trying to prevent first hand.
HARRIS: You know what? I think we were able to turn around some of that sound you were talking about, that analogy, metaphorically, the garden hose. Right?
So let's listen to the retired admiral, Thad Allen, here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: So what we are trying to do now is actually get physical evidence because we don't know the condition of the wellbore. And the way you do that is, metaphorically, put your thumb over the garden hose. In this case, it's called a capping stack, and there are three ways for oil to leave that capping stack, and we're going to close them off in sequence, and then very slowly close that third choke line down, and then do pressure readings.
If we get very low pressure readings, it would be the equivalent of putting your thumb over the garden hose, and the water's going someplace else because there's no pressure. If we get high pressure readings, that would give us some indication that the wellbore is intact, talk about the integrity of the casing pipe. That all then relates to how much mud and the procedures that will be needed, and how they're actually going to kill the well down below.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: That makes all of the sense in the world. I totally get that. OK. The other point here, the Helix Producer is collecting oil, good news there. And winds are out of, what, the south and east, pushing the oil away a bit, or at least providing a bit of a break?
MARCIANO: More importantly, they're light, and things are calm. So, pretty much any operation that they have to fix a situation or work the situation --
HARRIS: Reset booms, whatever.
MARCIANO: Reset booms, controlled burns, skim. All those operations are a go in these kind of weather conditions, including the work that they are doing while attached to the seabed.
So, that's good news, and that's going to continue for the next few days. And obviously, they understand the time pressure, being hurricane season, that they only have these windows for three or four days at a time, so they want to try to get this done now. And the good news is the next 48 hours, really next -- over 60 hours, next three or four days, looks to be pretty good.
HARRIS: OK. So, you're going to come back in a couple minutes and we're going to talk about storms and -- .
MARCIANO: Yes, it's been pretty rough in spots. We had tornadoes yesterday, and now the heat is expanding pretty much to coast to coast.
HARRIS: All right. Let's do it. All right. Let's take a break.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's see. Can we see the Senate chambers right now?
Work is going on right now. We understand the vote is actually under way to leap the last procedural hurdle that's standing in the way of a vote later today on financial reform passage. We expect that vote to be in shortly, and Brianna Keilar is standing by. And we'll talk to her shortly.
Arizona's new immigration law gets its first test in court today. Phoenix police officer David Salgado is asking a federal judge to block enforcement of the law until his case can be heard. Salgado claims the law is unconstitutional and could open him up to lawsuits. The law requires police to ask people about their status if they suspect they may be in the United States illegally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFC. DAVID SALGADO, PHOENIX POLICE: Right now, the terminology where (ph) all these politicians are using this tool. This is not a tool for us. It's a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: A Tucson police officer is also suing. The judge will hear his request for an injunction this afternoon, as well.
Here's CNN Thelma Gutierrez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OFFICER MARTIN ESCOBAR, TUSCON POLICE: I have to do my job. I have to serve and protect.
THELMA GUITERREZ , CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not often a police officer speaks out publicly against the laws he's sworn to uphold. But officer Martin Escobar, a naturalized citizen, and a 15-year veteran of the Tucson Police Department says he can no longer remain silent.
We met to talk about the new Arizona law that Escobar calls unconstitutional. And as a police officer, he says he doesn't want to have to enforce it. As a private citizen, he's challenging it in federal court.
ESCOBAR: I said, OK, you know what, it's got to be done. It's the right thing for me to do. Sometimes you got to stand up for what you believe.
GUITERREZ: Officer Escobar took us to the area he patrols on Tucson's Southside, it's where grew up.
(on camera): What is this neighborhood like?
ESCOBAR: This a predominantly Hispanic community, predominately Mexican community here.
GUITERREZ: Lots of new immigrants?
ESCOBAR: Lots of new immigrants come into here, a lot of people that don't know how to speak English.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): He says he and other officers work hard to gain trust in their communities. It's how crime gets solved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to stay here by myself because I have no family here.
GUITERREZ: But now even the children are running scared he will deport them.
(on camera): They're afraid of you?
ESCOBAR: Of course, of course. I don't want them to be afraid of me. Officers, police officers are supposed to be the good guys. We're not the bad guys.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Under the law, Escobar would have to investigate the immigration status of anyone he stopped, detained, or arrested if he suspected they were in the country illegally. (on camera): Under this law you can be sued if you don't investigate.
ESCOBAR: Yes, that's correct.
GUITERREZ: Does that worry you?
ESCOBAR: Yes, of course it does.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Within a week of passing the new law, Arizona lawmakers amended it, tightening provisions that critics claimed would lead to racial profiling. The state's governor says racial profiling will not be tolerated in Arizona.
But Escobar says he knows how things work on the streets.
(on camera): Are you saying that in Arizona, if you come upon someone with an Irish accent, and a person with a Spanish accent, you'll investigate the person with the Spanish accent?
ESCOBAR: It's most likely the person with the Spanish accent is going to get investigated.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): It's that assumption that bothers him most.
(on camera): It sounds like you can relate to what some of the people are feeling right now.
ESCOBAR: And that's exactly what I'm saying. And that's why some people are not going to understand what the feeling is unless they've been through it. I've been through it.
That's a school picture of me in elementary school. I didn't have one word of English. I remember then at that time being called a wetback, you know? That used to sting so bad.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Officer Escobar remembers being questioned by border patrol agents as a child, and he says he knows exactly what some of these children are feeling. He argues in his lawsuit that determining who is in Arizona illegally should not be his responsibility. He says under federal law, that job is reserved for trained, federal immigration agents.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. A bit of breaking news here. The Senate vote to end debate on the financial reform bill has just wrapped up with 60 votes in hand. We can move forward to a full Senate vote where you simply need a majority of 50 votes to pass the legislation. So that will happen later today. The bill then to get to the president's desk, the president expected to sign it early next week, maybe as early as Monday. So the vote on financial reform legislation -- the final vote -- to happen later this afternoon.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: All right. Let's see if our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is here.
And, Brianna, it looks like with 60 votes in hand now, the Senate can end debate on financial reform and actually move to a full floor vote later today, correct?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. But this was the huge hurdle, right, Tony? We're always talking about these procedural votes but they're key because it required 60 votes, and this vote passed 60-38.
So this is the last major hurdle for this Wall Street reform build that it needed to clear before ultimately going to President Obama's desk. So, yes, later today, we're expecting to see the final passage of the bill.
But, this is the bill - and I know that sometimes, Tony, it almost like fades out of our memory because it's been so long since really the U.S. economy was just teetering there on a cliff. But I remember it well, I know you remember it well. We were covering the story almost two years ago, and the news of just how dire the economic situation was, I think, was sending chills down everyone's spines. Democrats, Republicans, Americans at home watching their TV and keeping their eye on the Dow. So this is what it coming down to. But, mainly, I should mention, a Democratically backed bill, Tony.
HARRIS: So, Brianna, what's in this legislation?
KEILAR: There's a number of things. We're talking thousands of pages.
But to boil it down to a few, one of the big ones, is it establishes a consumer protection agency. You use credit cards, you're getting a loan, this is supposed to say to companies they can't participate in unfair practices. One of the other things, as well, is that it would regulate derivatives. Complicated, but those are those really complex financial products that when they flopped took Lehman Brothers down, would have taken AIG down if the government hadn't stepped in, and ultimately, right, cost a lot of people a whole lot of money out of their 401(k)s and really hurt people on a personal level.
The other thing is that it gives the government the ability to wind down large financial firms, basically the way they do with banks, so that they have more power to do that if a firm like that does end up floundering, Tony.
HARRIS: One more quick one here. There is significant, as you know, this is your beat, Republican opposition to this bill.
Why the partisan divide here, particularly when you consider what you laid out a moment ago, how close the nation was to a real financial collapse? KEILAER: If you talk to Democrats or Republicans, they all say something needs to be done. But ultimately in that vote we just saw, only three Republicans signed on.
What you have by and large is Republicans saying that this is too far- reaching, you're entrusting a lot of responsibility to regulators that were not able to see the crisis coming last time. And a lot of Republicans say it's going to decrease the availability of credit and increase the cost of it.
But Democrats say, Tony, very much the opposite. They say this bill is going to stop a financial crisis like the one we saw in 2008, that precipitated so much of the economic pain that Americans are feeling now. It's going to stop it from happening again.
HARRIS: All right. Our congressional - this is an important vote, and then later vote. And the later a vote for passage later this afternoon.
Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill for us.
Good to see you, Brianna. Thank you.
And while we bring you the news from around the world, we are also watching what's hot online. Josh is surfing the web for us.
What are you following here, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, check this out, the TV show Mad Men. It has jumped into --
HARRIS: I like that show.
LEVS: You know what? I saw it once and I had trouble getting into it.
HARRIS: Oh, you need to see it a few more times.
LEVS: That's what everyone says. It's like a car that starts off slowly. The third of fourth time you actually care about the characters. I'll work on it, OK? I'll set my TiVo.
But this is interesting, they've jumped into something in real life. This show has actually entered this battle over cable. It's using its Twitter account to encourage people to take action. AT&T and the company behind Mad Men are in a battle over cable fees and subscribers could lose the show. We'll get all the details for you right here on CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: On Day 87 of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is back on track to resume a crucial test on a new containment cap. It could put an end to the flow of oil from the ruptured well. BP has replaced a leaking piece of equipment that delayed the test. Other top stories we're following for you. Argentina is the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. The measure cleared Argentina's Senate after hours and hours of debate. It also gives gay couples the right to adopt children.
Former vice president Dick Cheney is recovering from heart surgery in a Virginia hospital. He had a small pump placed in his heart to improve its function. Cheney has had a history of heart problems, including five heart attacks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
HARRIS: A college student nearly loses his life in an armed robbery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was shot in the chest at point blank range. The bullet went through two lobes of my right lung, through my liver, and ruptured my (INAUDIBLE), and came out of my back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: But the trauma leads to inspiration. It's an invention that could take the athletic world by storm, really. Watch "Wearing Strength." It is the next edition in my series, the Next Big Thing. It airs next hour, noon Eastern, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: In Oakland, California, call 911, but only if there's a crime in progress. The new reality after police layoffs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A CNN security watch now. California lawmakers are calling for a security review at Los Angeles International Airport today. The request comes after the union for airport police officers claimed LAX Is more vulnerable to terrorist attacks than any time since 9/11. The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association says security is spread thin due to budget cuts. And the number of random vehicle checks has declined.
Here's both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARSHALL MCCLAIN, PRESIDENT, LAX PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: I've been accused of some type of union agenda. We've been absolutely clear. We do have an agenda and our agenda is to keep the traveling public safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Safety is not an issue in your estimation?
GINA MARIE LINDSEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES WORLD AIRPORTS: Not at all. Not only am I not fearful of it, I can stipulate to the fact that it hasn't happened. There's no pull-back at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right. Let's take you to Oakland, California now, which has laid off 80 police officers just this week. The city warms a budget gap may cost more jobs by winter.
Here's CNN's Dan Simon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oakland has the state's highest violent crime rate and one of the highest in the nation. And these images of rioting last week only make the officer reductions less palatable.
(on camera): Is this worst you've ever seen things in your department?
DOM AROTZARENA, OAKLAND POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: Yes. Oh, this is terrible. I mean, let there be no doubt. The loss of 80 officers is terrible for here in Oakland. This is a dangerous place to be for a police officer.
SIMON (voice-over): With 80 officers getting cut, police brass (ph) said that officers would no longer be able to respond in person for a multitude of calls, including car accidents, grand theft, and those failing to register as sex offenders.
OFC. JEFFREY THOMASON, OAKLAND POLICE: We go on the same motto that you can do more with less. We're not going to be able to do that anymore. We're going to be doing less with less.
SIMON (on camera): If someone poisons my dog, you won't come out then?
THOMASON: Correct.
SIMON (voice-over): No one wanted 80 officers to lose their job, but the city, facing a $81 million deficit, the city could not reach a compromise with the police officers over pension and the possibility of future layoffs. The union wanted to guarantee that no one would be laid off for at least three years. The city guaranteed just one year.
JAY FACTORA, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: There's nothing that I regret as far as the department. It was one of the best -- I'll say definitely one of the top three things in my life, other than my daughter being born and being married.
SIMON: Jay Factora was among those who turned in their badges and weapons. He joined the force a year and a half ago, after two tours of duty in Iraq. He hopes the cuts will be temporary.
FACTORA: This is where I grew up, this is my home. I'm not going to leave and I'm not going to abandon it. I'm going to wait until hopefully the department at some point opens its doors back up, allows us to come back. I'll be the first one in line.
SIMON: But city officials say next year's deficit could be higher. As things set in last night, they blame these current layoffs at the reluctance of officers to face budget reality.
JANE BRUNNER, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: There is no agreement. The officers will be laid off today. They rejected our last proposal. And they did not give us a counter from our last proposal.
SIMON (on camera): When you talk about eliminating 80 officers, how do you determine who loses their job?
AROTZARENA: Well, how it's determined is the last person hired is usually the first person to be let go. And that's how that was determined.
SIMON: This all comes on the heels of a report by an independent watchdog group which actually said the city should be hiring more police officers, 400 more police officers, to deal with the city's astronomical crime rate. And that would also put it on par with cities of a similar size.
Dan Simon, CNN, Oakland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
