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Hard-Hit Laguna Beach; The Good and the Bad of 2010; President Obama's Vacation Plans; Senate Passes 9/11 Health Bill; South Korea Prepares for Drills; Senate Votes on Nuke Treaty
Aired December 22, 2010 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: OK. We're taking a look at Capitol Hill. Lots going on there. We just heard from Dana Bash.
Breaking news. CNN has learned a deal has been reached in the Senate to pass the controversial 9/11 health care bill. Not controversial in that -- everybody agrees that they'd like these 9/11 workers to get the health coverage that this bill will provide for them. The controversy is in how to pay for it.
The bill had been whittled down to being just above $6 billion. It has now been whittled down even further. But it does look like a deal has been struck to pass that bill as early as today.
Another bill that's already been passed and now going into law, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." It's now part of U.S. history.
The law that had prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military for years, it led thousands of men and women to leave the military. Earlier today, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to repeal the ban.
Mr. Obama offered praise for all of those who worked to bring us this day -- the Defense secretary, the Joint Chiefs, members of both parties, and gays and lesbians serving in the military. He also emphasized that the repeal does not immediately put a stop to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Mr. Obama must certify that the changes to the law do not derail the military's ability to fight. There's also a degree of opposition within the military to the change, especially in the Marine Corps, but the president vowed the changes would be put into action as quickly as possible.
Another legislative victory for the president is expected to happen any time now, the Senate's approval of the new START treaty with Russia. Yesterday, the Senate voted 67-28 to end debate on the treaty. It was made possible by 11 Republican senators joining all the Democrats in supporting the treaty.
Critics of it, led by Republican Senator Jon Kyl, seen here, argued that the treaty's inspections are inadequate and that Russia would be in a stronger position to try and prevent deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Europe. Here are the nuts and bottles of the treaty.
Both sides agreed to resume inspections of nuclear arsenals. They agreed to reduce warheads to 1,550 and launchers to 700.
By comparison, here are current levels. The U.S. has 1,950 warheads, 798 launchers. Russia has 2,540 warheads, but only 574 launchers.
In other news, poor southern California has seriously been pounded by torrential rain all week. The rain is still falling. One L.A. County public works official is warning of a very heavy, severe rainstorm.
One hard-hit area is Laguna Beach. Our CNN's Casey Wian is on the case there, and we'll check in with him very shortly.
We expect 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 -- you'll hear him referred to as the "DNI" in a minute -- well, he seemed bewildered when asked on 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, and it's today's "Sound Effect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC: London, how serious is it? Any implication that it was coming here, any of the things that they have seen were coming here?
JOHN BRENNAN, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: You read the arrest of the 12 individuals by the British this morning.
SAWYER: The arrest of the 12, yes.
BRENNAN: This is something that the British informed us about early this morning was taking place.
SAWYER (voice-over): Later in the interview, I came back to the director. Did he really not know?
(on camera): I was a little surprised you didn't know about London, Director Clapper.
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Well, before the interview aired last night, Clapper's office issued this statement: "The question about the specific news developments was ambiguous. The DNI's knowledge of the threat streams in Europe is profound and multidimensional, and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate."
Now, just a short while ago, the deputy national security adviser conceded that Clapper was in fact in the dark about the arrests in Britain. Here's how John Brennan put it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENNAN: 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 START treaty deliberations was 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: Back to California and hard-hit Laguna Beach. We were just telling you about that crazy weather in California.
CNN's Casey Wian is there now to tell us more about what that situation is.
Casey, we've been reporting on this for days. Is it getting worse? Is it getting better? What's happening?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now it's a little bit calm, but overnight it certainly got worse. And southern California is bracing for the possibility that it could get worse later today.
Let me show you some of the power that this storm has demonstrated. If you look over my shoulder here, you can see this boardwalk, and you can see that island of sand on top of a cement platform. Now, that's what the beach level was last night, before this latest wave of the storm hit.
All of that sand has now completely washed away, and it is now a danger zone, if you will. Authorities are not allowing the public to go along this boardwalk anymore. It has altered the coastline of Laguna Beach.
And let me show you -- walk down here and we'll show you what authorities are trying to do. There's a berm over there that they're trying to construct, and here's why. The water came -- normally in these situations, the water comes from the ocean. This time, the water came from the hills, through, the canyons, down that road.
That was all under water last night. Three to four feet of water was there because of this storm.
Businesses were flooded. There were evacuations of residents. And all of the businesses in this area have been closed so far today.
Now, what you're seeing here is some of the tractors that are trying to build this berm up because obviously last night we had the situation with the flood rushing down from the hills. Now what the concern is, if there's high tide and a significant storm surge out in the ocean, the water could come back in through the ocean and create damage that way.
So a very difficult situation, and it's going to be several days before Laguna Beach is back to normal again -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Casey. Thanks very much for staying on top of that. We'll keep on checking in with you and the team about the situation in California.
A truly sad day in Chicago. The fire department is mourning two colleagues killed in an early morning fire.
It broke out in an abandoned building on the south side. It had mostly been extinguished when crews went in to put out hot spots and look for squatters who sometimes stayed there.
Out of nowhere, a wall collapsed, pulling down part of the roof and trapping several firefighters. The department put out a Mayday call, drawing about 100 on-and-off-duty crew for search and rescue. Today happens to be the 100th anniversary of a blaze that killed 21 city firemen.
Well, just a few days left in this year. We'll take a look at the year that was right after this.
But first, they've been chasing history for three seasons and, yes, they caught it. The University of Connecticut's women's basketball team has done something unprecedented in college hoops.
The Huskies won their 89th straight game last night. Their latest victim, Florida State.
This is a big deal for sports. Not just women's sports, sports, period. See, UConn dethroned the UCLA Bruins men's team that had held the wins record since 1974. This is less about gender than guts and a passion for the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYA MOORE, SCORED CAREER-HIGH 41 POINTS: It's kind of cool that this game happened in the middle of -- well, not even in 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 -- you have this big 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: Maya Moore is always ready. Maya Moore went to high school just up the road from here. She led that team to a 125-3 record. I can't tell this story and not smile about it. Basically, this woman has only lost five games since middle school.
We're taking a break. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The year that's almost overloaded with events, some small, some big, some good, some bad, we all have a list.
CNN's Tom Foreman joins us from Washington with his -- Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali. How are you doing today?
VELSHI: Well, there's been a lot. I'm eager to hear what you put together, because this has been one busy, busy year.
FOREMAN: It has been an unbelievable year. And every year, I get tasked with, as you know, Ali, putting together all the best and all the worst of 2010, and looking at some of the best stories out there, some of the worst stories.
One of the worst stories, by far, was Haiti. One of the best stories, by far, was the Chilean miners. You know, a lot of different things going on.
Do we have the clip, Ali? Are we going to run the clip of the stuff we did from this year?
VELSHI: Let's do it.
FOREMAN: Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): The world of big news gave us gave us the best real reality show of the year: the nearly two-and-a-half month saga of the trapped Chilean miners.
SUNNY HOSTIN, TRUTV: I love that story. I mean, who knew that the Chilean miners were so hot?
PETE DOMINICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: America, we need to learn from these guys. These guys are motivated.
JULIE CHEN, HOST, CBS'S "THE TALK": The Chilean miner story was, hands down, the best story of the year.
JULIA REED, "NEWSWEEK": I mean, somebody compared it to the moon launch, and it really was kind of like that.
FOREMAN: Their journey to and from the underworld was riveting; their story, inspiring. Their return to the land of the living, full of happy endings even Hollywood can't top.
JACK GRAY, CNN PRODUCER: I was utterly shocked that everything worked out. And by the way, they had a live feed via fiber optic cable from down in the mine? What the hell was that?
KATHLEEN PARKER, CO-HOST, "PARKER SPITZER": Was that unbelievable? Oh, my gosh. I was stunned. Chile. Go Chile.
CHEN: Then they come out alive and only to be greeted by wives and mistresses. RICH EISEN, NFL NETWORK: Some of them probably wanted to go back in the ground once their wives got a hold of them. I'm so happy you're alive, but now I've got to meet your grumar (ph) right here? What the heck?
FOREMAN: Best use of his time underground, Edison Pena, who worked out in the cramped quarters beneath the earth, then came out to run the New York City Marathon.
CHEN: This guy -- how much training could he have done?
BARATUNDE THURSTON, "THE ONION": As if he hadn't overcome enough human struggles and demonstrated the power of the human spirit enough by surviving all those weeks underground, I thought that was a really, really, really beautiful thing.
FOREMAN: Worst winter weather. The blizzards that had folks in the Washington, D.C., area running for cover faster than a sex scandal. Forty inches of snow, no flights, no open roads, no power for hundreds of thousands -- good times.
GRAY: The snowstorm was insane.
DOMINICK: The newspapers had a really fun time trying to name the blizzard. Snowpocalypse.
THURSTON: Snowmageddon.
DOMINICK: Snowkalepsie.
PARKER: I've never actually lived in a place that had that much snow before. That was a new experience for me, because I'm a southern girl.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Really? I have no -- I have absolutely no memory of any snow this year whatsoever.
FOREMAN: No wonder.
He was in Haiti for the worst big story of the year: the earthquake that left nearly a quarter million people dead, a million homeless and countless sorrows.
COOPER: Every reporter I know who was down there and every cameraman, producer who spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan, they all -- I think we all agree Haiti was the worst thing any of us have ever seen.
DOMINICK: Haiti: earthquakes, cholera, mudslides, it made the book of Revelations look like "Good Night, Moon."
GRAY: Haiti was on so many challenges before the earthquake hit.
FOREMAN: Worst follow-up: the snail's pace of relief that trickled in all year, despite worldwide promises of quick and steady aid. THURSTON: It's not just a bad news story. It's sort of a bad policy story on top of a bad news story.
REED: And there's got to be a better way to survive, to provide longer term aid to places like Haiti.
FOREMAN: Worst domestic story, give it to the Gulf. The explosion that took 11 lives and produced the oil spill that just kept on spilling.
DOMINICK: The Gulf oil spill was quite possibly one of the most depressing events, certainly, of my lifetime. Watching this oil on a live feed just gush and gush and gush.
HOSTIN: And nothing was working, and it was gushing and gushing and gushing. It was shocking that we couldn't plug a hole.
THURSTON: The Gulf oil spill was one of those -- one of those reminders that decisions have consequences.
REED: I don't think people who weren't there, not on the ground, really realize how it was like the Keystone Kops bumbling around down there on the coastline.
PARKER: Well, clearly, we should have called Chile in. We just didn't realize it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: That, Ali, is just a little sample of what we did. Those are the big news stories. We have sections on politics, pop culture, on sports, on things on the Internet. You know, all sorts of great stuff. And as you can see, a great panel there.
You joined us a couple of years ago, Ali. That was good fun.
VELSHI: Yes. I know why they invite you to do this every year, because you are such a fantastic storyteller and this is what you do. You were given good material to use, but it is a curiosity. I always wonder, in a business where we try and say that we're all about looking forward, we, as a human race, are fascinated by looking back.
And in this case, in the case of 2010 in particular, there are many lessons to be learned from looking back.
FOREMAN: Oh my gosh.
VELSHI: Some good ones -- How did Chile do what it did right? How did we do that oil spill stuff wrong? It is actually valuable to us and it will inform our future.
FOREMAN: Oh, you're totally right about this, Ali. This was an important year. I mean, people should remember this year long into the future because of many of the things you report on -- the economic things we dealt with this year, really a tough year full of important lessons, but also a great time. And the reason you look back is that old thing about studying history so you don't repeat it again.
VELSHI: That's right.
VELSHI: But I'll tell you this -- this show repeats several times, and I hope people will watch at 5:00 and at 8:00 on Christmas Eve. That's Eastern Time. And then at 8:00 and 10:00 on New Year's Eve. That's also Eastern Time.
So when you're doing your last-minute Christmas wrapping, you can do some, and when you're doing some of your early New Year's Eve drinking you can watch some. It's really a great, fun show, and we'll have more previews of it tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," and tomorrow night, which we hope everyone's watching out there.
VELSHI: Well, if it's true that when we understand history, we are less prone to repeat the bad parts of it, that you must live a perfect life, because this is your business. You just look at stuff that has happened in the world.
Tom, always a pleasure to see you, by the way. And I look forward to seeing you lots more in 2011 on TV with us.
FOREMAN: Hey, my friend, you're absolutely the best bald money reporter I've ever met.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: You are such a gem.
Tom Foreman.
We'll be watching the specials.
FOREMAN: See you.
VELSHI: The first family going on vacation -- the whole family. It was not easy to get everyone cleared for the trip to Hawaii, by the way. Our friend Ed Henry will be along from Honolulu to fill us in on the travel issue.
There he is standing by. We'll be right with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
VELSHI: I'm just never getting tired of this. My wife often asks me if I'm ever going to change that ring tone, "Hawaii Five-O," when my phone rings. I don't think I ever am. I mean, I do change things, but that's not one of them that's going to change.
I never tire of Ed Henry being in Hawaii for Christmas.
Although it might get old for you, Ed. Last year, over Christmas, there was some big news -- that underwear bomber on that Delta flight to Detroit. You and I were killing time on TV on Christmas Day, and all of a sudden, this ended up happening.
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
VELSHI: So it ended up being a very busy time for us.
Despite how you look, you are ready on a moment's notice for news to break.
HENRY: You know, I'm just glad that you're anchoring and not Kathy Griffin, because I'm not sure if the boxer shorts and the shirt clash or not, but every New Year's Eve she usually gives me a lot of grief and asks who dresses me, and last year she said that maybe I needed to sit down with Wolf and get some style tips. But look, when in Honolulu, just go with it.
VELSHI: I hear you.
So, the president -- here's the thing, Washington is crazy busy right now. We've just been talking to Dana Bash, and there's bills being signed and bills being passed and deals being cut. Everything is going on over there.
You're there because, in theory, the president is supposed to be there. Now it appears that the president has signed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he is, at some point, I imagine heading over toward you. But there was a little bit of a problem with the president's dog.
HENRY: Yes. Well, it's interesting.
You know, last year, Bo the dog was new to the family and was not along for the ride. And a lot of people were wondering why.
Well, it turn out, you know, when you land in Hawaii, they make you fill out these forms, whether or not you're bringing in fruits or plants, vegetables and things. They're very worried about different diseases coming from the mainland.
And when you bring in pets, it's a rigorous process. It takes literally months, three or four months to go through this.
And my colleague Swan Ty (ph) actually put something on our blog about this, that, basically, Bo, this year, decided -- the first family decided to put him through all the shots to make sure he doesn't have rabies and everything. He passed all the tests, and so, actually, Bo the dog arrived before the president. He came in on Saturday with the first lady, their daughters.
He's been here for a few days. We've actually gotten some reports that he's been out in the early morning frolicking in the water over there in Kailua, where they are, on the other side of Oahu here.
So now you know how Bo the dog gets -- you can read all about that, by the way, at CNN.com/1600report. And we've got all the details and we've got a whole little vacation blog going there as well.
VELSHI: Have you been frolicking in the water at Waikiki Beach, by the way?
HENRY: You know, I haven't been frolicking much, but what I find interesting is that you -- it seems like every day, you try to get me a little bit harder to get me in trouble. Like, you say Dana Bash is working really hard on the Hill, she's getting all this news. You're on the beach. You know, so and so is doing this and Dan Lothian is slaving away it White House.
You're just trying to get me in trouble, I think.
VELSHI: Well, OK. I'll let you do a little news here. Hold on a second.
I understand that there are safety precautions that have to be taken when the president goes to Hawaii. I did not know about this dog thing. I would have thought if you're the president's dog, you actually get through without a pat-down. But apparently, flying patterns change.
HENRY: Yes. We reported this first on CNN.com last night and we just got some new information in the last few minutes as well.
What we reported last night is that the FAA put in a no-fly zone around Honolulu for several miles for later tonight. And that was when they were expecting the president to arrive.
But now, as you see, and as Dana has been reporting, Dan's been reporting, and others, there's still some business up there on Capitol Hill. And so bottom line is, there's a new FAA advisory we've just gotten that suggests that they are expecting the president to come late Wednesday, early Thursday, because he's going to stay back there. And as Dan Lothian has been reporting, he's likely to have a news conference. It's not set in stone yet, but we might see that in a couple of hours from now.
Look, the president has a good story to tell suddenly. You know, a couple of months ago, a lot of people were skeptical that he would get very much done in this lame duck-session. He had a long wish list.
And the bottom line is he's gotten done the tax cut, he got the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," as you mentioned, START treaty coming in. He's gotten the omnibus, at least to get the government funded for a few more months.
He's gotten a lot of what he wanted. And now this breakthrough in the 9/11 health bill, something Democrats are pushing for as well. So this may be an early sign that 2011 might not be as bad with this sort of new balance of power.
VELSHI: It is clear, as you underscore, people in Washington are getting a lot done this week. But don't worry, Ed. Dan Lothian and I will keep you posted on everything that is going on. Stay close to your Twitter We'll tweet everything that is going on in Washington.
HENRY: I'll follow you on Twitter. But, you know, members of Congress get a lot done once they smell that jet fuel. Once they know the planes are being warmed up to bring them home -- and they're not all coming back to Hawaii. Only a couple of members Congress are from Hawaii. But once they get, they start getting a lot done.
It's interesting how that happens.
VELSHI: Yes. They get very focused.
Ed, good to see you, my friend. I've got some tweets, by the way, that say, "Next time, take your shoes off. We don't need to see those flip-flops on TV." Just get your feet into that sand and enjoy Hawaii..
HENRY: I saw that on Twitter. And I'll take them off.
VELSHI: There you go.
You see, you tweet, he does it. That's why you should follow Ed on Twitter, @EdHenryCNN. Follow me, @AliVelshi. And we'll all keep each other posted on what's going on.
That is our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, working hard, rolling up those sleeves. Oh, wait, they're short sleeves. Well, he's working hard in Hawaii.
(NEWSBREAK)
VELSHI: OK. Severe weather. A powerful storm in southern California has led to a state of emergency in half a dozen counties. Evacuations. Rain is forecast to fall at rates of two inches per hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VELSHI: Wolf Blitzer back from a trip from North Korea, with tensions running high between Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and its neighbor to the south. He's going to tell us his biggest concern when he joins me live right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Happening now: breaking news from Capitol Hill. CNN has learned a deal has 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. And we are just hearing now -- my producer just telling me that this deal has been approved. The vote has been passed.
If I'm understanding that correctly, they have passed this bill in the Senate? It has passed unanimously. We will get an update on this as soon we can. This is what Dana Bash was telling us, that they were going to take a voice vote, which is what happened and it was passed unanimously -- unanimous consent after bringing that bill to down $6.2 billion and then lowered to just over $4 billion, that is when they got agreement to get this all done.
So, the Senate has passed the 9/11 health bill that will give health care for life to workers who was -- who were helping out at 9/11.
The START vote, we understand, is also about to start. This is the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. The treaty is expected to pass. It passed a test vote last night -- a procedural vote to end debate after a number of Republican senators agreed that they would actually support this bill.
It is President Obama's top foreign policy priority for Congress. We expect that vote to be concluded within the next 20 minutes and we will bring you an update on that as soon as we have it.
In the meantime, while that is the top foreign policy for President Obama, one of the biggest issues for the president right now as it relates to the rest of the world is the continuing threat of a belligerent North Korea. We've been covering this for month. We've been covering it in the last several days as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson made a trip to North Korea. Along with him was our very own Wolf Blitzer.
Now, you will recall the tensions are high on the Korean Peninsula because last month, there was an attack on an island very close to North Korea but it is actually a South Korean island. Two military people were killed in that, two civilians.
Wolf accompanied Bill Richardson on this trip. He joins us now to give us a sense of what happened on that trip and what role, if any, that trip played in the fact that South Korea went through those promised military exercises and North Korea did not respond militarily.
Wolf, tell us what he know.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's always hard, Ali, as you know, to understand what's really going on inside North Korea. It's such a mysterious country. It's closed and you don't really fully appreciate the leadership, their decision-making process.
What is clear is that the military in North Korea had made a very bold statement in advance of the most recent South Korean live fire exercises that if South Korea goes ahead with it, the North Korean military will respond in a catastrophic way and they wouldn't back down.
Well, the South Koreans did their hour and a half exercise. The North Koreans then issued a statement saying it wasn't really worth responding to that exercise and, all of a sudden, everybody calmed down. There was a crisis atmosphere. I have to tell you, I was in Pyongyang and I was deeply worried if there was going to be a conflict, if there was going to be a war. With the airport in Pyongyang closed, would I be able to get out of there at some point. It was -- it was a pretty nerve-racking few moments for all of us, including Governor Richardson.
VELSHI: Never mind would you be able to get out, we were all worried for you, would you become prisoners, would you be held for something? In fact, I had a professor, Han Park (ph), with me here saying that the North Koreans very pleased that you were there because it sort of meant that their discussions were being taken seriously. But you were definitely part of the news around you. That's always tough for a newsperson when you're part of the story.
BLITZER: Yes. Well, you know, you want to be reporting on the story. You don't want to become the story. That's what all of us strive to do, just report the news.
But it was -- you know, we were on this rollercoaster. We were deeply worried about what was going on. But I have to tell you, and I've written about this now at CNN.com, I did a long reporter's notebook. We've got some pictures and video.
But I say, you know, I spent a lot of time on the streets of Pyongyang and I spent a lot of time with young kids and teenagers, students at the at Kim Il Sung University. And what was so sad to me was that -- looking at their faces wondering what would happen if there were a war, how many thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people would be killed.
Remember, let's not forget, there are a million North Korean troops just North of the DMZ, almost as many as South Korean troops, almost 30,000 American soldiers in between with lots and lots of artillery and rockets and even nuclear weapons.
And this is a tinderbox. One miscalculation could cause full- scale war. So, we were deeply worried about that and I was primarily worried about all the thousands of people who potentially could die in that kind of a situation. So, you get -- you get caught up in that kind of a story, that kind of emotion, as you know, Ali, and it's deeply worrying.
VELSHI: Well, Wolf, we're glad you were there because you were able to provide context to an important story. I need to ask you to provide context to something else now. I want to put on the screen the picture of the U.S. Senate where they are voting now on the START Treaty.
Now, Wolf, this is a name that guys like you have remembered and forgotten and it's come back on here. Give us context as to why this treaty is important, this ability for the U.S. and the Russia to have inspections of each other's nuclear stockpiles and reduce -- I mean, it kind, it still sounds silly to people that they're going to have 700 launchers and 1,500 missiles each.
BLITZER: Right. There are still going to be tons and tons, plenty of nuclear bombs and nuclear missiles that the Russians will have, the U.S. will have more than enough to obliterate the entire world, but they will reduce the arsenal significantly. Most importantly, they will allow the U.S. to now go back in and inspect. Remember Ronald Reagan used to say, trust but verify.
Right now, unless this treaty is ratified by the Senate -- you need 67 votes to ratify it, they have the 67 votes, it will be ratified -- the U.S. will be able to go back and start inspecting Russia's nuclear arsenal, which is very, very significant.
I honestly believe, Ali, that the main reason if -- maybe not the main reason but one of the most important reasons -- maybe the main reason why the president accepted the tax cuts continuing for the richest Americans as part of the Bush tax cuts, that compromise, is because he wanted to get that over with as quickly as possible so that before the lame duck session disbanded, they would be able to ratify the START Treaty. This is really important for the Obama administration. It's important for the U.S. and the Russia relationship. And that's why he was willing to make those compromises as far as the taxes were concerned.
This START treaty is a big deal for the Obama White House. And I know the president when he heads off to Hawaii and his vacation will be totally relieved that the Senate ratified it. They don't have to renegotiating it in the new session that convenes in January.
So, this is an important development for the U.S. and for Russia. I must say, if you have take a look at the START Treaty, you take a look at "don't ask, don't tell" now being repealed by the Congress, the tax deal, this 9/11 compensation package for the first responders, they accomplished from the Obama administration --
VELSHI: Very busy week. Yes.
BLITZER: -- they accomplished a lot in these past few weeks.
So, the president could go -- could go out somewhat relieved that they did accomplish all of this.
But let's not get overly carried away. Coming in January, there's going to be a significant Republican majority in the House, a significantly reduced Democratic majority in the Senate. He's got a lot of work ahead of him over the next two years.
VELSHI: Yes.
BLITZER: And before you know it, there's going to be campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire. So, let's get ready for all of that.
VELSHI: But for people who were mad at Congress saying, well, not enough was getting done, a lot is getting done in the last couple of weeks.
Wolf will be in with you a little bit later following all of these developments. The president may have remarks a little bit later and, of course, we will continue to follow what you're looking at on the right side of the screen there. That is the Senate vote on the START Treaty. It should be over within minutes.
And as Wolf says, the expectation is that it will be a successful vote and that the new START Treaty will actually pass. You can hear the roll call vote taking place.
You do know that the Senate vote that just passed on the 9/11 first responders compensation bill was not a roll call vote. That was a voice vote. It was unanimous. That was done by prior agreement. This will not be a unanimous vote.
President Obama, we are just learning, is going to be holding a press conference at 4:15 Eastern Time this afternoon.
As Wolf was saying, there have been a number of accomplishments. He signed the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" today. They just passed the 9/11 first responders compensation bill unanimously and now, they are looking to pass the START Treaty.
There was a test vote on this yesterday to see whether there would be enough support to pass it. That test vote did work. So, unless something happens that is very surprising and unexpected, this bill that you are looking at right now, an historic bill, will pass.
So, three very historic things happening today -- a very, very productive day for the U.S. Congress and this administration.
We are going to stay on top of that story for you as this developed. I should be able to tell you in just a moment or so that this vote has passed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Murkowski.
VELSHI: We'll keep an eye on that for you.
In the meantime --
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VELSHI: All right. We're looking at live pictures in the floor of the Senate. Roll call vote is taking place right now on the new START Treaty. It is expected that enough Republicans have gone over to support the Democrats -- all -- every single Democrat voting there we expect is supporting the START Treaty. But enough Republicans have gone over.
Because it is a treaty, it requires 67 votes, requires more than two-thirds. It requires two-thirds of the Senate. That will have to get you to 67 votes, though, in order to establish this treaty. But it is understood that those 67 votes are there for the START Treaty.
Again, until the vote is counted, we don't know. There may be a surprise, but the expectation is that this, the president's single greatest foreign policy initiative right now is going to pass.
The president is expected to hold a press conference at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time, an hour and a half from now -- 4:15 p.m. We, of course, will bring that to you live. It is a press conference, which means he's going to take questions from the media on this.
Now, earlier today, the president signed the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, although while that is now the law of the land, it is not going to be immediately effective. They have to implement it in a way that ensures unit cohesion in the military. And there is some resistance in certain parts of the military, so the president, the Defense secretary and the Pentagon want to ensure that it is done in an orderly fashion. So as a result, they are still -- people are still not advised to come out of closet in the military.
But that is a major piece of legislation, this is a major piece of legislation, and the third major piece of legislation passed just moments ago in the Senate unanimously in a roll call -- not a roll call vote, but a voice vote and that was the James Zadroga 9/11 Responders Compensation Bill. That's a bill that is going to provide health care to 9/11 responders. It has been reduced in cost to about $4 billion, and that was what it took to get Republican support on that. As a result, it has passed. So three major pieces of legislation today to talk about.
Let me just -- we'll keep an eye on this and have more on it more very shortly, but I want to talk about education for a second, something I talk about every day on this show. Both Pine Manor College and Harvard, they're both colleges right outside Boston, only six miles between their two campuses, but the school's methods and missions are worlds apart. Harvard, of course, seeks the cream of the crop, overachievers, legacy students.
Pine Manor students have a lot to offer, too, but 4.0s and family money generally not part of it. The small women's school is committed to boosting the number of college grads from underserved communities, minority, low-income kids who may never have not thought of college as a possibility.
Joining us now from our Boston bureau is Dr. Gloria Nemerowicz, she is the president of Pine Manor College.
Gloria, thank you very much for being with us.
DR. GLORIA NEMEROWICZ, PRESIDENT, PINE MANOR COLLEGE: Thanks for the opportunity.
VELSHI: Tell me about the mission of Pine Manor.
NEMEROWICZ: Well, you stated it well. Pine Manor looked around 15 years ago and said why does the world need another small liberal arts college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and our answer was because the job of education is not being completely accomplished.
We are overlooking a tremendous portion of potential in our population among especially low-income young people. This country as a whole hasn't moved in 40 years in terms of the percentage of the population that goes to college and graduates from college. So, globally, we have slipped from first place to 13th place, that hurts us on every level. Certainly, hurts us on the human level. It hurts us economically. It hurts us in terms of national defense, citizenship, democracy.
So we got very fired up about the nobility of this mission, the importance, the national significance. And away we went, 15 years ago, to prove that it could be done.
VELSHI: It's noble, but expensive. You're a private college doing something that's normally the domain of state colleges.
You've brought tuition down. How do you manage to make this make business sense to keep on doing it?
NEMEROWICZ: That's the biggest challenge.
The first challenge was to document that young people who hadn't done so well in high school perhaps, hadn't met their intellectual potential yet, that you could intervene at 17 or 18 years of age and change their lives, and offer an educational environment that was very diverse, that was effective. And we did that.
And the second major challenge, which not only Pine Manor is facing but another hundred colleges across the country that primarily educate low-income students -- we're all facing it, especially in this time of the global recession. We need the help of friends, and it is only through philanthropy and other people, many of whom have gone to our colleges, but many of whom have not but get the fact that this mission is crucial to the well being of our country and are offering support and help to these young people so that they cannot only get to college but, most importantly, graduate.
VELSHI: Dr. Gloria Nemerowicz, president of Pine Manor College, thank you very much for that mission and staying with it through tough times. We'll follow the progress of Pine Manor with great interest. Thanks so much.
NEMEROWICZ: Thank you.
VELSHI: We're continuing to follow the developments on the floor of the United States Senate where roll call continues, should be wrapping up very shortly, on the new START Treaty. There is an agreement that -- or at least there are enough Republicans supporting this that it is expected to get the 67 votes necessary in order to pass. So we expect that moments from now we'll be bringing you that.
We're going to take a quick break. By the time I get back we should have news for you on that.
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VELSHI: We're updating breaking news on Capitol Hill right now. We're watching a vote underway. You're looking at it right now. It's underway on the floor of the House. This is about the new START Treaty. It's hard to keep track of what's going on today because there's been so much activity on Capitol Hill.
This should be ending momentarily. This is a roll call vote of the senators. You need 67 votes in order to enact a treaty, that's the way it goes in the Senate. All the Democrats are supporting this, so they have got enough Republicans to vote on this that they expect this to pass.
Now, again, anything can happen. We are waiting for the results of this vote and as soon as we get it we will tell you what it is. But we do expect that this major priority of the Obama administration is going to pass.
This is a bill that deals with verification of Russia and the United States nuclear warheads and warhead launchers. It limits them and it allows each side to inspect the other sides'. That is one piece of legislation that is about to pass.
The other piece of legislation that did pass the Senate just before this is the 9/11 first responders health care bill. The compromise legislation that they arrived at will provide free medical care to first responders who suffer health problems after having worked at Ground Zero.
We also have just learned that President Obama is going to hold a news conference in which he will take questions from the press today at 4:15 Eastern, so a little over an hour from here, to discuss all of today's big developments, including the fact that he signed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
We will have live coverage on that as well. We're going to take a break, I'll be right back.
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VELSHI: If you've been watching TV or following the news for the last few days, you'll know Congress has put things into overdrive with the Christmas holiday approaching, voting on the START Treaty and 9/11 first responders bill just this hour. How is this playing with the public?
CNN chief national correspondent John King joins me from Washington.
I guess people differ on what they think about these particular bills, but you got to appreciate these guys moving full steam ahead.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, it is just hard to comprehend.
Remember that November shellacking, the president and Democrats getting crushed last month in the election? Well, call this the December to remember. That's why the president is going to have that news conference today.
We asked people -- What do you think of the president, Democrats and Republicans during the lame duck session of Congress? Fifty-six percent approve of the president's performance over the past couple of weeks with Congress back. That's a big number for a guy who just took a shellacking. Democrats and Republicans, 44 percent approve of the Democrats, 42 percent of the Republicans. Majority disapprove, people still don't like the Congress, Ali. No big shock there.
As we wait for that final START vote, we expect the START Treaty to join the list of lame duck accomplishments. Let's go back through it, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" passed the lame duck; the continuing resolution to keep the government funded through next March passed this morning -- passed the other day, was signed by the president this morning; the START Treaty will pass within moments; the 9/11 responders bill passed earlier today; and the tax compromise, of course, passed as well. DREAM Act, the big piece of Democratic legislation that went down, that on immigration, measure there.
And tonight, Ali, on "JOHN KING, USA" we're going to talk to somebody who was supposed to be a lame duck. Remember Lisa Murkowski? She lost her primary to the Tea Party guy Joe Miller, then won as a write-in candidate? She's been in this lame duck session casting votes that would surprise you. She used to be in the Republican leadership, she's been a bit of a maverick in this session. We're going to talk to her about that tonight as we watch this final day of the Congress unfold.
VELSHI: Let's bring that picture back up from the Senate, see what -- if you can tell from what's going on there. Nobody shaking hands or patting each other on the back just yet. But as you said, it will pass momentarily.
Quite remarkable, John. I wonder what lesson we take away from this that all of these bills that you talked about have been on the docket for months and then all of this business getting done in the last days of this Congress.
KING: This is going to be fascinating to watch going forward because there are generational and ideological divides in both parties now, Ali.
And watching the Republicans, you have this whole new Tea Party class coming in. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, they don't like what's happening in the United States Senate. They didn't want these bill to pass. What tensions are going to be within the Republican family?
We saw it play out in the primaries this year, then the Republicans went on to big victories. Next year, the Republicans will control the House, they'll be close to the majority in the Senate, the Democrats will have just a narrow majority, so the Republicans will have huge leverage. Will there be more bipartisanship like we've seen in the last 48 to 72 hours here in Washington, D.C., or will there be a Republican family feud? That's one of the big dynamics to watch going forward.
VELSHI: All right, John, we'll be paying close attention to your show and, of course, everything else that's going on in Washington.
Your next update from "The Best Political Team On Television" is just an hour away.
Stay with us.
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