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Could Have Deal On 9/11 Workers Compensation Bill; START Treaty; Historic Milestone of Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Flood Waters In Laguna Beach; Ucon's Record-Setting Rout; Intelligence Gap; Deal Near On 9/11 Health Bill; The Future Of Taxes; Veterans On Repeal
Aired December 22, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, have a good one. We'll pick up exactly where you left off. It's 1:00 in the east, 10:00 in the west. You're looking at live pictures from the Senate floor where we could have a vote soon on the nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia, commonly referred to as the S.T.A.R.T. Treaty. That could happen today.
You just heard Dana telling Tony that we could also have a deal on the 9/11 workers' compensation bill today. But we already have the conclusion of a different bill today, Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Now and inglorious part of US history. The law that had prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military had been a stigma over the nation for years. It forced thousands of men and women to leave the military they loved and served with honor. Earlier today, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to repeal the ban.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are not a nation that says don't ask, don't tell. We are a nation that says, out of many, we are one. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now it is my honor to sign this bill into law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Mr. Obama offered praise for all of those who worked to bring us to this day. The defense secretary, the joint chiefs, members of both parties and, of course, gays and lesbians serving today. He also took pains to emphasize that the repeal does not, immediately, put a stop to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but pleaded it would be put into action as quickly as possible.
Another major victory for President Obama is expected to happen this afternoon. The Senate's ratification of the new S.T.A.R.T. Treaty with Russia. Yesterday, the senate voted 67 to 28 to end debate on the Treaty. That is 11 Republican senators joined all the Democrats in supporting are the Treaty.
Under the treaty signed by President Obama in Moscow in April, both sides agreed to resume inspections of each other's nuclear arsenals. They agreed to reduce warheads to 1,550 launchers to 700. Now, by comparison, here are the current levels. The US has 1,950 warheads, 798 launchers. Russia has 2,540 warheads and 2,574 launchers.
Over to the weather, now. Poor southern California, seriously, has been pounded by torrential rain all week, and it's still coming down. One county public works official is warning of a very heavy severe rain storm. One hard-hit area, Laguna Beach. CNN's Casey Wian is there for us, now. What's the situation around you?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really unbelievable, the flood water that's came through here in Laguna Beach overnight. The situation, right now, is, basically, the rain has stopped, but crews are now working to try to clean up the damage.
And you can see behind me, if we can walk over here and show you this boardwalk behind me, the sand, before last night, was basically almost up to the level of that boardwalk. Floodwaters came rushing through here and washed out all of that sand.
And you can see, over here to my right, the crews are trying to build a sand berm to make sure that if there's any high surf that none of that ocean water comes rushing through back into this flood-damaged zone.
Now, if we can look up this way, to my right a little bit more past these folks here watching the damage, you can see some of those businesses, businesses throughout Laguna Beach have been hammered by this.
We walked through some of the areas earlier today and shot some pictures, which we, hopefully, can show you now. And people have several inches of standing water in their stores. It's clear that some of these folks lost some inventory and they're going to be cleaning up for several days.
The good news is, though, Ali, even with this incredible amount of rain, there have been no fatalities and no significant injuries reported so far.
Last night's swift water rescue teams were deployed in this area and they had to conduct 25 rescues. The water was so heavy, they actually had to use canoes to get some of the folk who's were stuck in their cars in the flood water.
So, that's the situation now. A lot of cleanup ahead - Ali.
VELSHI: All right. We'll stay on top of it with you, Casey, thanks very much. Casey Wian in Laguna Beach, California.
We're expecting President Obama's top intelligence officer to be on top of all matters concerning terrorism, especially breaking developments. But James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, seemed bewildered when asked, Monday, about the arrest of 12 men in Britain allegedly planning attacks. Clapper's awkward moment came in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, taped hours after the news broke. It's today's Sound Affect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC ANCHOR: London. How serious is it? Any implication it was coming here - any of the things they have seen were coming here? Director Clapper?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He read the arrest of the 12 by the British this morning.
CLAPPER: Oh.
SAWYER (voice-over): This is something the British informed us about early this morning as it was taking place.
Later in the interview, I came back to the director. Did he really not know?
SAWYER: I was a little surprised you didn't know about London, director Clapper.
CLAPPER: Well, I'm sorry, I didn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now, before the interview aired last night, Clapper's office issued this statement, quote, "The question about the specific news development was ambiguous. The DNI's knowledge of the threat streams in Europe is profound and multi-dimensional and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate."
Now, just a short while ago, conceding that Clapper was, in fact, in the dark about the arrests in Britain. Here's how John Brennan put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR COUNTER TERRORISM: He was working on developments in the Korean Peninsula, in terms of political military developments. He was focused on trying to provide support to the Congress, as far as the S.T.A.R.T. Treaty deliberations were concerned. He was engaged in a variety of classified matters. Should he have been briefed by his staff on those arrests? Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. I want to go to breaking news. Dana Bash at Capitol Hill with more on this move to provide compensation for 9/11 workers. What do we know - Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know, according to two sources familiar with these discussions, that there is - seems to be a deal very, very close to being totally inked - to actually get this bill through Congress. This bill being a compensation for 9/11 rescue workers.
There were some changes, we're told, that were made to accommodate Republicans. Republican critic, the top of that, is Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. The changes, we're told, was to lower the price.
Ali, before it was $6.2 billion fund, now we're told it was lowered to $4.3 billion. We're also told that Republicans were concerned that attorneys - they wanted to make sure attorneys, who were representing the victims, didn't get too much of the money, so it is a tightened cap at 10 percent for attorney's fees, and there were some other changes in here to make sure that this compensation fund, which we're told, would run about five years, would be run more properly from the perspective of Republicans.
Now, Ali, I'm told, there was discussion among the two New York senators, Gillibrand and Schumer, and the chief opponent of this, Tom Coburn, from Oklahoma, and one other Republican, Mike Enzi, this morning. This is where they agreed to this deal in principle. They said that the staff would go and actually write the legislative language and that they would come back and make sure that all of the Ts were crossed and Is were dotted properly. But according to sources that we talked to, we do expect this to be formalized, very soon, and actually possibly be passed by the United States Senate this afternoon, maybe even without the formal vote, maybe even by unanimous approval by the United States Senate.
This is a very, very significant development, especially, since republicans led by that - led by Tom Coburn had said that they did not like this, specifically, because of the fact that it cost so much, and they didn't like the way that it was being paid for.
I want to tell you, also, we've been trying to reach Tom Coburn to get official comment from this. We've not heard back. We'll let you know when we do.
VELSHI: OK. So, this vote could happen today, is what you're telling us?
BASH: Yes. We expect it to happen today. Because the Senate wants to leave. The Senate wants to leave for the holidays. We expect the S.T.A.R.T. Treaty to be formally approved, at some point, in the next few hours, Ali, and that this 9/11 deal, once its formally finalized on paper in legislative language, to happen right in and around that this afternoon.
VELSHI: All right, Dana, we'll stay on top of this with you. Boy, you're somebody who's covered Congress for a long time. There's a whole lot going on there this week.
BASH: Oh, yes.
VELSHI: This week and last week may go down as some of the busiest in years in Congress. We'll stay on top of this with you and all the other legislation that's going on.
We'll take a break now. Coming up more on this breaking news and how this legislation could unfold, and how Jon Stewart may have helped the cause. When we come back.
But first, they've been chasing history for three seasons, we talked about it yesterday. They caught it. The University of Connecticut women's basketball team has done something unprecedented in college hoops. The Huskies won their 89th straight game. Eighty- none straight games. Their latest victim, Florida State. Look at how happy they are. This is a big deal for sports. Not women's sports, sports period.
See Uconn's de-throne the UCLA men's team that had held the wins record since 1974. Eighty-eight games in a row. This is less about gender than guts and passion for the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYA MOORE, UCONN: It's kind of cool that this game happened in the middle of - well, not even the middle of our season, because you get to the final four and you get to the end of the year, and you're, like, have you this big, just emptiness because your season is over. But, now, we have this high but we can still play. So, I love it. I'm ready to play the next game, actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: By the way, Maya Moore went to school up the road here.. She led that team, by the way, to 125 and 3 record. So, basically, this woman has lost five games since middle school. We'll take a break and come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Updating breaking news from Capitol Hill. CNN has learned that a deal is near to get a 9/11 health bill passed in the Senate before the Lame Duck session ends. New York's two senators have been working with Republicans to come to an agreement.
One of the biggest changes is the cost of the bill. It would drop from $6.2 billion to $4.3 billion. It was, actually, higher than that before it was already brought down. When it seemed the bill was stuck in limbo, the White House was hoping that Jon Stewart could help them out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I hope he can convince two Republicans to support taking care of those that took care of so many on that awful day in our history. It seems at the end of a long year, around the holiday season, a pretty awful thing to play politics about. But that's a decision that 42 Republican senators are going to have to make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Jon Stewart has been a very vocal supporter of this legislation. It would provide free medical care to first responders who are suffering from health problems after working at ground zero. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Passed it. Sorry. The House representatives passed it and it would pass in the Senate if it came to an up or down vote. They have more than the 50 votes they need. But the Senate Republicans have filibustered it. More allowed the bill to come up for a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Joining me now to talk about this is comedian and CNN Pete Dominick. Pete once worked for Jon Stewart; now he works for us.
Interesting, Pete. You are one of those guys, and we talk to people like you a lot, but you're one of those guys who understands issues, takes them seriously, and bringing irony and humor to them. Clearly, this is something Jon Stewart does, but this is - this is even further than he normally does. He wasn't poking fun at something, he wasn't pointing out irony, he wasn't making fun of people, he was getting involved to try and get this bill passed.
PETE DOMINICK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's true. And the video clip of that we just saw, that's true, Ali. But he did - earlier in the week, he did really poke fun at it, and there's a lot of different ways to be funny. As you know, Ali Velshi, you yourself are a really, really funny guy. I know that.
VELSHI: I'm not even trying.
DOMINICK: Look at us. Look at these two domes together. I mean, we're not trying, it just happens. But the point is, there's a lot of - we can look funny, like you and I do right now, like brothers almost, but you can say things in a funny way. But what we can do as comedians or as funny people, we point out absurdity. Of course, that's one way. But what Jon Stewart does and a lot of us do when it comes to the world of politics, you point out hypocrisy.
VELSHI: Right.
DOMINICK: And, earlier in the week, that's exactly what Jon Stewart does. It's very funny to see someone say one thing or represent one thing and do something completely different - represent something completely different just a short time or even a long time after. And we can do it ourselves, we can point out our own hypocrisy or the hypocrisy of others.
But that, often times, as you understand, can be inherently funny and that's what Jon Stewart has been doing on this issue. He pointed out that certain Senators voted for the wars and pointed out all of the waste and he put headlines any of number of which, and then he said, this is paid for, however. This is paid for. This isn't waste and it's for a good cause and that was inherently funny, because it was hypocrisy and absurdity at the same time, sir.
VELSHI: How does -- I mean what does this say about Jon Stewart's influence? Is it just because he's pointing out things and we're all watching and saying, huh, that's kind of interesting? Or has he really, you know, the last year we've seen him get involved in things, which indicate that he and others like him might be moving into a new realm of influence that was usually reserved for opinion radio people, maybe some opinion TV people?
DOMINICK: Well, there's always that conversation to be had. But if you think about the impact that Lenny Bruce (ph) had and I think to a larger extent that George Carlin had, we all know George Carlin's work. His body of work. His -- so many HBO specials. He toured the country for over 30 years as a comedian. But I would add -- I would imagine he never had the audience that Jon Stewart has within a week, right?
VELSHI: Right.
DOMINICK: I mean Jon Stewart has millions of people watching him every night. So Carlin had people watching him in theater. Carlin made Americans think through comedy all the time. And so does now Lewis Black and so many other comedians. I try to when I perform. But Jon Stewart does it every night, as does Stephen Colbert, with millions of people. And it's just a much larger stage, Ali Velshi.
When you have that big stage, a lot of people get thinking, and now you have the blogs and the Internet. Everybody picks up on that. It goes viral. And what Jon did last week will get these people, these hero that we New Yorkers really understand, the money that they deserve.
VELSHI: All right. I love it. Chock one up for comedy.
Pete, great to see you, as always. If I don't see you before the end of the year, I hope I do, but if I don't, best of the new year to you and your family and we look forward to spending lots more time with you on TV.
DOMINICK: Ali, your team and what you do every day, you know, you -- maybe you get the credit, maybe you don't, you're a hilarious guy, you're a smart guy, and everybody working behind you guys, I spent a little time in Atlanta, keep doing the great work. I am a big fan of what you and your team does every single day. Thanks for letting me join you.
VELSHI: We have an excellent team here. Thanks, Pete. Good to see you, buddy.
DOMINICK: All right, buddy.
VELSHI: All right, next year -- this isn't comedy, this is real. You're actually going to get tax cuts. What do the experts really think needs to happen, though, in this country? We're happy for the tax cuts. Does it solve our economic problems? We have the CNN exclusive answer from some of the top economic minds at how it can affect you in just a minute. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: We take your money very seriously here, so we've got a special CNN exclusive today all about your taxes. Cnnmoney.com surveyed 23 economists on big issues today -- tax policy, the Federal Reserve, economic recovery, and forecasts for the next few years. Here's one big question that we asked them. What is the best long-term strategy for tax policy? Here's what they said.
Overwhelmingly, 10 of the 23 said the U.S. needs complete tax reform. Five of them said we need a value-added tax. Kind of like a (INAUDIBLE). In fact, the U.S. is one of the only major economies that doesn't have a value-added tax. Three economists said that the Bush era tax cuts that were just extended for everyone need to expire for the wealthiest Americans. One said that the cuts should be permanent for everyone. One said all those cuts should expire for everyone. And three others said they had other ideas.
Does this sound like the beginning of a joke? You know, you ask 23 economists for their opinions and you get about 47 responses? Well, listen, this is hard to make sense of. It's hard for me and I'm the network's chief business correspondent, which is why I often count on my friends over at CNN Money who do this all the time and specifically to senior writer Jeanne Sahadi, who joins me now from New York. She's been parsing through all of this stuff.
Jeanne, it is kind of amazing to me that people who do this for a living and who are smart about the economy really do have such divergent opinions about what should be done. And to each of them, they're smart. They think that that's the solution. But, I mean, some say eliminate those tax cuts for everybody. Some say give them to everybody. Some say rewrite the whole thing. What do you come away from this with?
JEANNE SAHADI, SENIOR WRITER, CNN.MONEY.COM: Well, I was talking to Chris Issador (ph), who actually conducted this survey for us. He's our chief economics reporter. And I said, you know, if we didn't ask them what's the one thing that you think is best, if we said, what's a combination of policies, my guess is you'd see some slightly different results.
VELSHI: Right.
SAHADI: Because the truth is, tax reform and a vet (ph) or a vet (ph) and, you know, lowering income tax rates. I mean what's going to need to happen if the goal is to increase economic efficiency with the tax code and maybe raise more revenue to reduce the deficit, you're going to need to do a combination of things. But the question to them was, what's the one best strategy do you think?
VELSHI: Right.
SAHADI: So this is just their top preferences. But they have second and third choices as well. And some did say, you know, tax reform and a vet (ph).
VELSHI: So it's more nuance than obvious.
SAHADI: Yes.
VELSHI: It's not that they said, oh, well just do this.
SAHADI: Right. Right.
VELSHI: Ultimately, when you asked them this question about tax policy, for a lot of people, they don't think that economic recovery hinges on tax policy. Why did you choose this particular question? Why is it an important question?
SAHADI: This is a -- this is -- was a long-term question. So beyond the economic recovery. This same group of economists also had said in an earlier survey that they didn't think we should raise taxes at all. So they were not in favor of letting any of the Bush tax cuts expire in the near term. This was a long-term question because what tax experts and budget experts say is that once the economy recovers, we really do have to think in broader terms, both to reduce the deficit and to basically -- everyone hates the tax code. OK, let's just be frank.
VELSHI: Right.
SAHADI: It's complicated. People think it's unfair. You know, you're going to get bipartisan support for changing the tax code. You are not going to get bipartisan agreement, though, on just how to do it.
VELSHI: All right. And the issue here, of course, is that the government needs to try and raise more money over time from people and businesses in order to pay the deficit down and pay the -- reduce the deficits and pay the debt down. It just becomes less obvious as to who you collect that money from because, in some cases, we start making amendments because we want certain businesses to flourish and we want to encourage people to get into certain industries and this is how a simple tax code becomes a complicated tax code.
SAHADI: Well, except that the idea behind simplifying the code is you would get to lower income tax rates because you reduce the -- I think there are more than 200 tax breaks in the code. A lot of them are duplicative, they're confusing. And so if you reduce the number of breaks, you don't have to eliminate them entirely, what economists and tax experts say is that it becomes more efficient. So you and I stop making economic decisions based on the tax consequence and we make them based on, you know, what's best for us economically and presumably for the broader economy.
So it's a more efficient way to raise revenue. You can choose to do it by raising the same amount of revenue as the current system or more. And the economists we surveyed differ on which we should do, whether it be revenue neutral --
VELSHI: That's an interesting point because if I'm a business owner and I've got $100,000 to invest, I may decide that it's about machinery or it's about hiring people or it's about buying a new place, depending on what the tax code tells me, as opposed to what the best thing is for the community and for the country. Jeanne, always spectacular the way you and your team explain things. So thanks so much for that.
SAHADI: Thanks. Thank you.
VELSHI: And I invite you all to go to cnnmoney.com for more on this stuff. It really makes you smart.
Be sure, by the way, to tune into "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. Christine Romans hosts that. And "Your Money" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00. So your weekends are chock full of ways to make you smarter about money.
All right, it's 25 minutes after the hour. Updating breaking news from Capitol Hill. CNN has learned that a deal has just been reached to get a 9/11 health bill passed in the Senate before this lame duck session ends. It would provide free health care to Ground Zero workers. One of the biggest changes, the cost of the bill. It would drop from $6.2 billion to $4.3 billion. The Senate is also moving close to a vote on the START nuclear treaty.
Well, there seems to be enough support to approve that treaty that cuts the number of nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the United States and Russia. It also allows for better verification and monitoring. President Obama signed the deal with Moscow back in April.
And here's a Christmas present for you. Gas prices are likely to hit an average of $3 a gallon by the time you drive to grandma's for dinner. Right now, AAA has the national average for a gallon of unleaded gas at $2.997. Oil has just topped $90 a barrel. And, obviously, the price of oil affects the price of gas. For more on the impact of the rising gas prices and a look at who's paying the most, check out our story on cnnmoney.com.
Well, the president signed the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" today. What is the reaction at one of the military's most hallowed sights? We'll check in with our Ed Henry live to learn what they're saying at Pearl Harbor when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is time now for our daily stakeout with my friend, CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. This week he's been joining us live from Hawaii, where the president is expected to begin his vacation now that he's signed the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."
But Ed has not just been sitting around on a beach like so many of you have been tweeting. He went to Pearl Harbor to talk with gay and straight veterans about "don't ask, don't tell," the repeal of it signed by the president early today. Here's what he heard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeff Cadavona and Dale Head served in the U.S. military long before "don't ask, don't tell." Back then, gay people were simply banned from serving. And Jeff, who was in the Air Force and not open about his sexuality, says it was like being hunted.
JEFF CADAVONA, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): When I was in the military in the '60s, that hammer over you for being openly gay, if they found you out, they'll kick you right out.
HENRY: Dale, who was in the Army, simply gave up and did not re- enlist.
DALE HEAD, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The reason I got out down in Hawaii was I had to make a decision whether to live a double life, as so many do in the military, or be honest about it and just get out.
HENRY: Most of the straight veterans we spoke to at Pearl Harbor were sympathetic to the plight of their gay comrades. Leo Holl, a veteran of the Korean War, said there were some in his unit who did not like serving with gays, but he says it never affected operations.
HENRY (on camera): And you think that will be justice served for people who have been kind of having to keep their sexuality secret?
LEO HOLL, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, I think so. I think so. You know, those people are -- they're soldiers or sailors or Marines or whatever first, you know. They do what they're told, just like the rest of us did.
HENRY (voice-over): A long time coming for Jeff and Dale.
HEAD: I thought it would come sooner.
CADAVONA: Yes, we thought it would come sooner.
HEAD: But it's here now, so --
CADAVONA: We're happy.
HEAD: It's very pleasing to live long enough to see it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. And Ed joins us now.
Interesting story, Ed. And the repeal is signed. It is done. It's -- except the president did caution, it is not going to be implemented just yet. It's going to take some time to implement it. So it was interesting to hear one of the guys you talked to say, they'll do what they're told to do. It does sound like it won't be too much to get it sorted out.
HENRY: Yes. Wall, and I think you're right, the big question moving forward, how quickly will this be implemented. And the bottom line is, the president made clear today that while you've had, for example, the Marine commandant raising questions about this, he's now spoken to each of the service chiefs on the phone the last couple of days saying, you're going to implement this, right? And he got that and issued that clear order essentially as commander in chief.
So, there's going to be a little bit of a time period here where the defense secretary wants to review this. Admiral Mullen, make sure it's implemented properly. This is what the military leadership wanted, was to make sure they had that time period to do it instead of reacting to a court decision where it would just happen very quickly and would be much more of a mess potentially.
I think the bottom line is from talking to veterans, they say look. There are gay veterans who are buried at military cemeteries all around the world, probably buried in the wreckage of the USS Arizona at pearl harbor who are finally at least getting some due. They didn't get recognition for a long time, but they finally are.
VELSHI: What have you got next hour for us, Ed?
HENRY: Oh, man. We've got some details on when the president is going to arrive, we broke details on that last night. But I'm just getting some new information we'll talk about next hour about when the president is going to get here.
And we got a little bit of scoop on Bo the dog. You're not going to believe this. I know, sounds crazy to tease that. But people love dogs. Got a good little scoop on Bo.
VELSHI: All right. Ed, we'll see you in an hour. Ed Henry, "The Stakeout." Our senior White House correspondent at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii where the president is about to head.
All right. Your doctor says don't worry, but your gut feeling says something is seriously wrong. Elizabeth Cohen will tell us why ignoring our instincts could be a deadly mistake, up next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been called the Walter Reed for dogs. A high-tech hospital in San Antonio where the four-legged troops that serve our country get treated.
COL. KELLY MANN, HOSPITAL DIRECTOR: Medicine has changed over the years. We want to do what's best for the dog and also if possible return the dog to work.
TUCHMAN: The $15 million facility is top veterinary specialists on staff and state-of-theart tools and rehab equipment.
KELLEY MEYER, CERTIFIED REHABILITATION THERAPIST: My role at the hospital is to provide rehab therapy to all of our military working dogs. Each one is individualized. It's not a cookie cutter where everybody gets the same treatment.
TUCHMAN: Some dogs are treated on site in war zones, but those that need more therapy come here. And dogs can also shows signs of PTSD, just like people.
WALT BURGHARDT, CHIEF, BEHAVIOR MEDICINE: They're great dogs and they work hard, but they have a really hard time conveying what's going on inside their heads. So, we really have to rely on what they show us with their behavior.
TUCHMAN: Most dogs are rehabilitated and return to their posts. Like service members, dogs can have multiple deployments. The ones that don't go back to work get adopted.
MEYER: Our four-legged soldiers mean the world to us here, and we think they deserve everything we can possibly give them. They're kind of the unsung heroes. They really inspire me every day.
Reporter: Gary Tuchman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Happening now, breaking news from Capitol Hill. CNN has learned a deal has just been reached to get a 9/11 health bill passed in the Senate before this lame-duck session ends. It would provide free health care to ground zero workers.
Also on Capitol Hill, senators could vote on S.T.A.R.T.., the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. The treaty is expected to pass. It's President Obama's top foreign policy priority for Congress.
Six counties in California are under a state of emergency because of the torrential rains. Some areas could see an additional eight inches of rain today. Mudslides have been reported in Orange County, California.
Here's a story that can save your life. Studies have shown one out of ten diagnoses your doctor makes could turn out to be wrong. So, it's important to trust your gut. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One spring evening, Don McCracken was playing ball with his kids in the front yard. He meant to hit a fly ball to his son, Matthew, but instead, it socked his 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, on the head. She knelt to the ground in pain.
Morgan had quite a bump on her head. Her parents iced it down and she seemed fine.
Two nights later, something changed.
CONNIE MCCRACKEN, MORGAN'S MOTHER: She started crying.
E. COHEN (on camera): Tell me what you heard.
C. MCCRACKEN: She's, "My head. It's hurting. She was holding it, saying, "My head's hurting. My head's hurting. E. COHEN (voice-over): The McCrackens rushed Morgan to the emergency room.
E. COHEN (on camera): When the doctor showed up, what did he say?
C. MCCRACKEN: I'm sorry (ph). It's late. She's tired. She probably has a touch of the flu.
E. COHEN (voice-over): Connie and Don say the doctor told them to take Morgan home and put her to bed, but they knew better. Their instincts told them this was no flu virus. They pushed the doctor for a CT scan of Morgan's brain.
E. COHEN (on camera): What did you think the results of that CAT scan were going to be?
C. MCCRACKEN: There was something definitely wrong. You feel it in your gut.
DON MCCRACKEN, MORGAN'S FATHER: In my heart, I thought I knew there was a problem.
C. MCCRACKEN: They came back and said, "I was surprised." He says, "I'm surprised. There's something there."
D. MCCRACKEN: There was a leakage of blood into her skull.
E. COHEN (voice-over): Medics rushed Morgan by helicopter to nearby Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
DR. ALAN COHEN, RAINBOW BABIES AND CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: This is a big blot clot inside the skull, outside the brain called an epidural hematoma. That's what we had to remove to take out the blood clot and stop the bleeding.
E. COHEN: Today, Morgan's just fine.
E. COHEN (on camera): Do you feel like a lucky girl?
MORGAN MCCRACKEN, INITIALLY MISDIAGNOSED IN THE HOSPITAL: Yes.
E. COHEN (voice-over): Lucky because her parents followed their instincts.
E. COHEN (on camera): In the emergency room, the doctor said she had a virus and she just needed to get some rest. If you had listened to that advice and brought her home to go to bed and rest, what would have happened?
D. MCCRACKEN: She probably wouldn't have woken up the next morning, and we would have lost her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: What a good ending to what could have been a tragic story. How do you prevent this? What do do you? When you go to a doctor, you and I have talked about this so many times. What are you going to say if you don't agree with them?
COHEN: Right. Well, first of all, it's okay not to agree with them. That's the first thing that's important to remember. So, let's talk about how to avoid being misdiagnosed.
If you feel like what your doctor is saying doesn't make sense to you, say what else could this illness be? He told you it's x. Chances are there's a whole bunch of other things it could be as well. Another thing is if you feel like you're not at the right spot, say, hey, can we have more tests to see if we can figure this out. And thirdly, you cannot assume that no news is good news. People think they do tests, the doctor never gets back to them, and they think oh, everything's fine.
And that's not really the case. Often things are not just fine.
VELSHI: And watch House.
COHEN: And watch House and read "The Empowered Patient" -
VELSHI: And read "The Empowered Patient," exactly!
COHEN: -- and go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient. We have some links and specific information. This can be hard to do. You need help.
VELSHI: Diagnosis is complicated. It's not often, "you display these systems, it's this." You have to be part of the whole issue. You have to give them all the information you have and let those doubts bubble to the surface.
COHEN: Right, because this is an art, not a science. Medicine is an art, it not an exact science.
VELSHI: And when I said House, that's what I was talking about, this whole idea that they get it wrong more than they get it right. But you've got to be in on that.
COHEN: Right. You've got to help them get it right.
VELSHI: Right. Great to see you as always, Elizabeth, and you should check out "The Empowered Patient." It does help you make some of these decisions and make smart decisions.
OK. Trying to get home for Christmas. It's not going to be easy for thousands of passengers who are stuck at Europe's largest airport. We'll have a live report from there straight ahead. Stay with us.
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VELSHI: Time now to go "Globe Trekking." Our first stop today, the Korean peninsula. Tensions are high as the South Korea prepares for its largest land and air winter drills tomorrow. The South Korean army says more than 800 military personnel will participate in the long-planned drills, taking place 15 miles from the reclusive communist neighbor North Korea. The drills come with Seoul on high alert following Pyongyang's shelling a South Korean island last month, killing four people, two soldiers, two civilians.
Wolf Blitzer is back from his six-day trip to North Korea with New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. He will join us live next hour to give us some insight into that trip and what he learned.
In Europe, officials at the continent's largest airport are trying to get passengers moving again after thousands were stranded by heavy snow. Atika Shubert joins us now from London's Heathrow airport. Atika?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news is, both runways are operational here at Heathrow. Seventy percent of flights were able to go ahead, but Heathrow airport hopes to get back to normal scheduling by tomorrow morning.
We did have a chance to speak with the CEO of the British Airport Authority. He said he takes full responsibility for what happened at Heathrow because of the extreme weather and that he will not take his annual bonus as a result. He says instead he's going to concentrate 100 percent on getting people home as soon as possible. Hopefully before Christmas, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Atika, we'll of course keep on top of that and travel situations all across the world as people try and get home for the holidays. Atika Shubert in London.
In today's "Big I," spray-on stem cells. You heard me right. An amazing new way to heal. I'll show you how it works on the other side of this break.
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VELSHI: In today's "Big I," spray-on stem cells for heart surgery and burn patients. This is one of those areas where I'm not even going to try to explain this. That's why I brought in an expert. Dr. Amick Patel. He's a cardiac surgeon in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dr. Patel, spray-on stem cells. Are we talking about the future or something already here?
DR. AMIT PATEL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: Well, Ali, it's actually here today. Where we really take only three tablespoons of your own blood, separate out the important cells, add some calcium, thrombin and it's a basically a biological Band-Aid. It almost looks like Jell-O.
VELSHI: And how is it applied? We call it spray on. Is it really sprayed on is it applied -- how do you put it on?
PATEL: Ali, it really is. You just spray it on. We have a little syringe full of your own cells, and the other syringe has the calcium and thrombin, and you just spray it on and within 30 seconds, it looks like Jell-O. What the Jell-O has is all the right growth factors, and that's basically what really accelerates the wound healing.
VELSHI: OK. So, tell me now - you said wound healing. What are the various applications that can you use this for?
PATEL: So, we started out using it in open heart surgery to help the breastbone heal and actually decrease the pain, decrease the rate of infection. But some of the most interesting applications after heart surgery is in the burn wound patients where they usually need skin grafts, which sometimes don't heal because the blood supply is really bad. And what we've been able to do is actually apply the biological Band-Aid. And it really accelerates the rate of healing, makes the grafts heal quicker, and just decreases the rate of infection.
VELSHI: That's incredible. How is this process? Do you have to be at a facility that is able to do this? Take three tablespoons of your own blood, mix it up into this gelatin that can be sprayed on to you?
PATEL: Ali, that's a great question, because about three to five years ago, that's what it used to be. We need a big facility, a lot of specialized techs. Now we work with a lot of local companies here, and it's a 14-minute process done at the bedside. So this can be done as an outpatient wound therapy if we're not using it for heart surgery. But for just regular diabetic foot ulcers, the chronic wounds.
So, there are a lot of applications, including even sports medicine where this is an outpatient procedure, very low risk to the patient and it's really using the patient's own body to heal itself.
VELSHI: So, give me an example. If we're talking about a burn, like we showed the graphic animation of where we applied it, it's being applied to a hand. If I had that sort of a burn, a bad burn like that, what would the current -- prior to this application, what would the treatment for that be, and how does this change it?
PATEL: They'd do surgical debrisment or remove all the scar tissue and apply a skin graft. And that skin graft may or may not actually stick to the wound and help it heal.
By adding this spray, you actually accelerate that -- how quickly the graft can take. This is still a first-generation therapy. The next generation of this is instead of needing the skin graft, you actually spray on the biological Band-Aid that already has cells in it, so it's spray-on skin. That's about still three years away.
VELSHI: OK. This is exactly why we do this "Big I" every day, to take concepts that people like you are involved in, that people like me know nothing about and give us lots of hope. Lots of reason to think that there are great things happening in the world.
Dr. Amit Patel, thanks so much for coming in and talking to us about this. We look forward to following its progress with great interest.
PATEL: Thanks again, Ali.
VELSHI: And for more information on this - it really is fascinating -- check out my blog, CNN.com/ali.
OK. Let me update you on the breaking news on Capitol Hill. CNN has learned a deal has been reached in the Senate to pass a 9/11 health care bill. The legislation would provide free medical care to first responders who are suffering health problems after working at ground zero.
A man who wrote a how-to guide for pedophiles is expected in a Florida courtroom this afternoon. Phillip Greaves is charged with the distribution of obscene material, depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct. When asked if he is a pedophile, Greaves said, quote, "I only have sex with grownups."
A random security sweep at Atlanta's airport led to the discovery of seven identified men in a cargo truck. Security officials say all seven were undocumented immigrants but none of them got into secure areas of the airport yesterday. The men will be deported.
We'll have more on the breaking news from Capitol Hill in just a moment. Stay with us.
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VELSHI: That is a live picture of the U.S. Capitol. Wouldn't really know if it's live other than the weather. But we are staying focused on that because there's a lot going on in there. You would think with a couple of days to go until Christmas, it would be quieter.
Breaking news from Capitol Hill this hour with word an agreement has been reached on a multibillion dollar plan to help those 9/11 first responders.
CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on top of this developing story. She joins me live from the Capitol. Dana, there has been legislation whipping around that place for the last few days, much of it meeting success. This has been the sticking point. This legislation that's been on the docket for months and months and months may be coming to an end.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This has been the thing that's been between senators and the exits, frankly, for them to go home for Christmas. But obviously it's a critically, critically important issue, especially for the senators from New York who negotiated that. This being a 9/11 compensation fund for the rescue workers who went in.
As we first reported last hour, this is a deal that was cut between the New York senators and two Republicans in particular, Tom Coburn and Mike Enzi. Tom Coburn had been the biggest opponent of this for several years, but first and foremost because of the cost of the package. They agreed to bring the cost down. And since we first reported this from sources last hour, Ali, we now have an on-the- record statement from the Republican senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, who says that he's claiming success. He says this is a good package.
We're talking $4.2 billion. It is a compensation fund that will last for five years so people will be able to go into it for no more than five years to make their claims who have issues.
The other thing Republicans say they got concessions on is something called double dipping. This victims' compensation fund, as you know, Ali, initially for 9/11 victims was closed a few years ago. It will reopen. There are now more restrictions to make sure people who get money from this didn't already get it in the past.
And another thing important to Republicans, attorneys' fees. They tightened in this legislation the restrictions to make sure attorneys representing these victims or first responders don't get more any more than 10 percent of what the first responders are going to get.
Those are sort of the outlines of this. We do expect it to pass at some point later today.
But before that we're actually watching the Senate floor because we expect the second thing that the Republicans and Democrats have been working on to pass, and that is approval of the president's top priority. That is the START treaty. That could happen within the next few minutes, frankly. We're just waiting for final word on when that is going to happen.
Very, very, very busy day. It is always busy before they're trying to get out of here because it is a frenzy as they realize that Christmas is coming.
VELSHI: I'm just puzzled. I mean, all of these bills we're talking about today have been there for months. What is it? Does Christmas come as a surprise to people on Capitol Hill? I'm a little puzzled.
BASH: It seems to do that every year. It is a little odd.
VELSHI: You know what it's like? You know what it's like, Dana? In the business side of things, it's when a cold blast comes through in October and everybody goes and buys gloves and sweaters because they forgot that winter comes every year.
BASH: Yes, yes, it's not unlike that. Look, I think with this, the START treaty had been something that Democrats -- that the White House wanted to bring to the Senate floor a very long time and been in negotiations with the Republicans. They were holding off. That was the answer to that.
The 9/11 compensation fund, I mean, that frankly, was part of rub. Republicans, led by Tom Coburn were arguing wait a minute, this is kind of from their perspective coming out of nowhere because they didn't feel there were enough hearings on the Senate side. There were lots of them, I think more than 20 on the House side, but more hearings on the Senate side to go through this legislation.
But look, the bottom line is this. Democrats who run this Senate in particular where the action is right now, they know it's going to be a lot harder to do these things when they have fewer seats in the Senate. And we're talking just two weeks from now when the new Congress takes over in January. That is why there is this frenzy to push and to push hard and to say look, we're not going to leave here until we get this done. That kind of got somebody like Tom Coburn to come to the table.
And Coburn, as you know, has now gotten a lot of pressure from another news organization -- that is more conservative. You know the one I'm talking about -- and others, to say, look, please do this. He's not somebody who usually bends to pressure. But in this case he did with a little help with the compromise.
VELSHI: Nobody knows this stuff or the inner workings better than you, Dana. I'm glad you're on top of it for us. We'll check in with you very shortly.
Your next update from The Best Political Team on television is just an hour away. We're taking a quick break. Coming right back.
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