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Raising Social Security Age to 70; Long Island Serial Killer Search; FAA Adding Controllers to Night Shift; Donald Trump's Announcement; Tough Choices in Debt Crisis; Ex-President's Arrest on Tape; Kobe Scores 36 in Lakers Win
Aired April 14, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Ali, I've worked that shift. An hour from now, you'll be passing out. But you guys were fun to watch this morning.
VELSHI: Have a good one.
COSTELLO: You too.
It is 9 a.m. on the East Coast, 6 a.m. in the West. I'm Carol Costello, sitting in for Kyra Phillips.
Another air traffic controller found asleep on the job. The latest incident at Reno Tahoe Airport in Nevada forced a medical flight to land without clearance. The FAA now adding a second control on overnight shifts at more than two dozen airports.
According to the Labor Department, the number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits increased to 412,000. That's up 27,000 from the week before.
And NBA superstar Kobe Bryant is apologizing for an anti-gay slur he hurled at a referee, but he will still have to pay that $100,000 fine to the league.
We begin this hour with a serious effort to raise the retirement age to 70 years old. It is one of the tough choices on the table in Washington this morning, as all parties race to reach a budget agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: This is a solution. We are not afraid to propose the solution and that's what this town needs. It's what the country needs -- is leadership proposed in these solutions.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Three Republican senators are pushing to raise the age when you can start collecting Social Security to 70.
Just the fact that lawmakers are wading into this political minefield shows how worried Washington is about the national debt. Yesterday, I spoke with the top lobbyist for the AARP. He says the timing for this idea could not be worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CERTNER, AARP LEGISLATIVE POLICY DIRECTOR: It's fine to say we need to work longer, but where are the jobs? We have one of the largest levels of unemployment for all the workers that we've seen in our history.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And today in the NEWSROOM, we'll take a much closer look. We'll talk to Republican Jeff Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, and then from the White House President Obama's top number cruncher. And in the next hour the architect of the House budget plan, Congressman Paul Ryan.
But first, let's go to Capitol Hill and Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, we know, as a country, we need to start making some tough political choices. So is Congress really ready to debate Social Security?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, there's definitely an appetite for debating entitlement reform, Carol. I think Democrats and Republicans agree on that but they seem to be looking more toward Medicare. There's some disagreement over Social Security and how that fits in effect.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated his belief this week that Social Security isn't contributing to the debt.
So what is this plan all about by three conservative senators? As you said, it would increase the retirement age to 70. It's currently 66. And it would do this gradually over the next few decades. So it would go up and be at 70 in 2032.
The other thing it would do is if you made more money, if you made more than $43,000 per year, you would actually see less Social Security benefits and what you have these senators -- Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mike lee of Utah, they're saying even though -- and certainly some of them support the idea of privatizing Social Security, they say this is a way to preserve Social Security without privatizing it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know that President Obama brought up Social Security in his speech, but he said pretty much he'd like to protect Social Security. As for the rest of his speech, it was greeted with nothing short of outrage by Republicans on the Hill. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R), TEXAS: He spent approximately half an hour giving us a history lesson, blaming everyone for the nation's fiscal woes but himself. Attacking the "Path to Prosperity" budget and setting a new standard for class warfare rhetoric.
I don't know about my colleagues but I thought to myself, and I missed lunch for this?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Brianna, I can hear voters saying, here we go again.
KEILAR: Those are some really biting words coming from Republicans. And you hear so many ideas on the Hill right now geared at deficit reduction. The president's plan, House Republicans tomorrow, Carol, will be voting on their budget plan for 2012.
While the president proposed $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years, Republicans say their plan is going to cut more. They want to see more spending cuts. The president proposed some spending cuts. But Carol, he also proposed some tax increases on people making more than a quarter million dollars a year. And Republicans say that's just a nonstarter.
They also were very upset with the president. And this isn't surprising that the president did this, but he took issue with their budget plan that they are going to vote on tomorrow. It's an overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid, which fundamentally change those programs, and President Obama said that would threaten seniors as well as low- income Americans.
COSTELLO: OK. So, we're all gearing up for yet another fight. Another couple of fights.
Brianna Keilar live on Capitol Hill, thank you.
New developments to tell you about this morning in the search for a possible serial killer. Detectives are going up in planes and helicopters over Long Island hunting for clues.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is in Jones Beach, New York.
Allan, are they up already?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: No, they will be in about an hour, Carol.
What they're going to do is use high resolution cameras to highlight what they call areas of interest and then they will be on foot in those spots trying to find more human remains.
This investigation all started with the disappearance of this woman, Shannon Gilbert. She lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, worked as a call girl, and was last seen not far from here, back on May 1st is of last year..
At about 5:00 that morning, she banging on the door of a homeowner begging for assistance. He called the police right away but she disappeared. Now we spoke with him yesterday and he told us that the police detectives in this area did not interview him in depth until August of last year, about four months later. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUS COLETTI, OAK BEACH, N.Y. RESIDENT: Missing person detective came here, like in August, and was asking about her and I said, where have you been? He said the kind of thing of New Jersey Police Department didn't take them. And --
CHERNOFF: They didn't come. She was missing May 1st.
COLETTI: Yes.
CHERNOFF: But the police did not come to visit you until August?
COLETTI: That's correct.
CHERNOFF: Nothing?
COLETTI: Nothing.
CHERNOFF: May, June, July. Finally in August.
COLETTI: Right.
CHERNOFF: Four months?
COLETTI: Right. And that was missing persons.
CHERNOFF: And you called the police immediately?
COLETTI: Yes. Well, they came in here, but as far as investigating it, no.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The Suffolk Police say indeed they did speak with Mr. Coletti several times that they have spoken with him several times since May 1st and they also say that he provided a written statement back in June of last year but he disputes that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, Allan, why wouldn't police question this guy sooner? I mean, was it because of this woman's background or what she did?
CHERNOFF: Carol, that's a very, very good question. They do say, as I just told you, they say that they have spoken with him several times. But what he told me again this morning was on that very morning, May 1st, he spoke with the Marine Bureau that responded to his 911 call for 30 seconds, told them where she went, which direction the woman ran. They couldn't find her, came back. He spoke with those officers for about four minutes. And he said --
COSTELLO: Well, I just want -- I just want to be more clear. This woman -- Allan?
CHERNOFF: Until August, he did not have any more contact.
COSTELLO: Allan, this woman was a prostitute, right?
CHERNOFF: Yes. That is correct. That is correct.
COSTELLO: And maybe that's why the police didn't investigate sooner?
CHERNOFF: I can't speculate about that, Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Allan Chernoff, great job. Appreciate it.
It has happened again. Another air traffic controller caught snoozing on the job in Reno, Nevada, this time. Now the FAA is taking action.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve join us from Washington.
So, Jeanne, what happened this time?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this one happened early yesterday. The flight was coming into Reno from Mammoth Lakes, California, with a critically ill passenger.
The pilot tried to reach the tower in Reno, not once, not twice, but seven times. The controller apparently slept through it all.
Here is part of the pilot's conversation with a regional controller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: Yes. We're here.
UNIDENTIFIED TRACON PERSONNEL: We -- you weren't able to get through to the tower?
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: No.
UNIDENTIFIED TRACON PERSONNEL: OK. We're going to call them on the phone line.
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: All right. We'll circle -- more.
UNIDENTIFIED TRACON PERSONNEL: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: We have a pretty sick patient. We may just have to land whether we have clearance or not.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: And they did land. An official says the delay did not hurt the patient but the secretary of Transportation calls the episode inexcusable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is ridiculous. It's outrageous. It's the kind of behavior that we will not stand for at the Department of Transportation. The controller has been suspended. We are conducting an investigation and I have said that immediately there will be two controllers in 27 control towers around the country that control planes between 12 midnight and the early morning hours.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: But Republican Congressman John Micah was harshly critical, saying only in the federal government would you double up workers averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits that aren't doing their job -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So -- we're getting to another political fight over it, but as an air traveler, someone who travels, like travel season is upon us, Jeanne, and we know of incidents at Reagan National, at Knoxville, in Reno, are there others?
MESERVE: Yes. The FAA disclosed that there were two additional controller screw-ups in recent week. A controller in Seattle fell asleep during his morning shift on April 11th. He is currently suspended. And two controllers in Lubbock, Texas, are on suspension for failing to hand off control of a departing aircraft on March 29th and also for being late taking control of an inbound aircraft.
So Carol, a recent rash of these incidents, at least a recent rash we're finding out about.
COSTELLO: Jeanne Meserve live in Washington. Thank you.
As you know -- as you well know, Donald Trump has been hint agent a White House run. Now we know when he will announce the date when he will announce his decision.
CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is here.
So this is a preannouncement announcement kind of thing?
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I think you got that right. Exactly, Carol.
Listen. And we know Donald Trump is pretty good when it comes to publicity, right? So here's the deal. We've confirmed that on the final episode of the season finale of "Celebrity Apprentice," which is May 15th, Donald Trump will announce the date when he will announce whether he is running for the Republican presidential nomination or not.
Remember, in the past the billionaire -- the real estate mogul has said that he will announce by June whether he will or won't run for the Republican presidential nomination.
And also Carol, he said he would put in some big bucks, millions and millions, hundreds of millions of his own dollars if he decides to run.
Hey, talking about big bucks. President Barack Obama heads to Chicago later today, back to his hometown. He's got three fundraising events, the first that he's doing for his reelection bid. And remember he just announced that about a week and a half ago. So the fundraising swing begins.
Remember he raised $750 million -- a record -- when he was running for the White House last election. He could raise up to $1 billion this time, Carol.
COSTELLO: Wow. And also, before you go, tell us about the news from the Santorum camp?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. As expected, Rick Santorum, right? We knew he was going to run for president. We thought, while he's taken the first formal steps, did that last night, filing with the IRS to -- that allows him to begin running for president, raising money, at least. And he of course is the former senator from Pennsylvania -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Paul Steinhauser, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We'll have your next political update in one hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.
And we continue the high stakes and heated rhetoric of the budget debate. Lawmakers are facing tough choices but it's your money and your future that's at stake. What's more important than that? We're talking about it after the break.
Plus, damage control for Kobe Bryant. The superstar drops an anti-gay slur on a referee and it's going to cost him $100,000. That story's just ahead, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In Washington right now, history is being measured in dollars and debt. The country is now $14 trillion in the red, and the level of concern over government spending may be unlike anything we've ever seen before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To meet our fiscal challenge, we will need to make reforms. We will all need to make sacrifices. But we do not have to sacrifice the America we believe in. And as long as I'm president, we won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: President Obama says he will block major cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And Republicans, for their part, say tax hikes are not an option.
So, where is the middle ground, where compromise can be found? Let's ask the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Jeff Sessions. Good morning, Senator, and thank you for being with us, because I know you must be tired.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R-AL), RANKING MEMBER OF BUDGET COMMITTEE: Well, it's been a busy week, that's for sure, and you --
COSTELLO: I think that's an understatement. Let me ask you this first, though. The American people are -- I think they're kind of tired of this tax versus spend argument. So please, please tell us there's some middle ground here.
SESSIONS: Well, the middle ground is raise taxes? Not really. I think the American people do believe that this government overspends and they are absolutely correct on that.
And just to say one thing. Paul Ryan and that House budget that they've presented that's so thoughtful, so long-term, so fundamentally dealing with the crisis we face, it never reduces Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security in any one single year.
But we're surging -- the surging increases in those programs do need to be contained. If we do that, we can keep them sound and healthy for generations to come.
COSTELLO: And a lot of people are very admiring of Mr. Ryan's plan about Medicare and Medicaid, but he has nothing in there about revenue raising, like raising taxes on the rich. I mean, why can't those Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000 a year? Why not?
SESSIONS: Well, we're taxed enough, and the president in his first budget that was so irresponsible, he proposed raising taxes $1.7 trillion, but the debt increased under his plan $2.7 trillion because the CBO said his spending increases dwarfed his tax increases.
And that's what the problem has always been. Whatever the level of taxation, spending exceeds that. We cannot stay on this path. We can make a change, we can get our country on a sound fiscal path. The Ryan budget shows how it can be done.
The president needs to go beyond the speech. I mean, a speech is fine --
COSTELLO: Well the CBO has problems with the Ryan plan, too, Senator. And basically what they say is, you've got to raise some revenue, too. And the easiest way to do that is through taxes. It's a combination of cutting and then raiding revenue.
Now, in the latest CNN poll --
SESSIONS: That's your view about it, but I don't think CBO exactly said that. He -- he reduces taxes, Ryan does, and still achieves far more savings than the president proposes. COSTELLO: I just wanted to -- lay this out for you. The latest CNN poll, 62 percent of Americans want the rich paying those higher taxes. They think that this is a first good step in resolving our debt problems. So, 62 percent of Americans want the rich to pay more taxes, why not consider that?
SESSIONS: Well, 70 or more say we are spending too much, also. Look, taxing the rich is a -- attractive idea, but we've seen it in California, Illinois, New York.
When you depend on taxing people with volatile incomes who often make big salaries for one year, a big income, and then, the next year, when the economy's down, pay out -- lose money and pay nothing, that's one of the reasons we're in a crisis today. We've hitched our wagon to very volatile incomes, and those incomes are down during this recession, and it's hammered the economy.
But the main thing is, if we keep our taxes low and we create jobs and growth, we will work our way out of this. The only threat to our economic future is this incredible debt that's mushrooming out there --
COSTELLO: Right, I hope they --
SESSIONS: They do need to get it under control.
COSTELLO: I don't think anyone would disagree with you there. I'd like to talk a little bit about Social Security and this idea to raise the --
SESSIONS: Yes.
COSTELLO: -- the retirement age to the age of 70. Are you for that?
SESSIONS: I hate to think that we've got to make any change in Social Security, but we do. And there are a lot of things that can be done that don't devastate the program, guarantee that present -- current recipients or those near retiring don't receive changes.
But some changes are going to have to be made, and that's one of the changes that many people think is a realistic way to make this program sound.
COSTELLO: How about you? Do you think it's a realistic way?
SESSIONS: I think we're going to have to raise the age limit, yes. I don't know how far, but I do believe that's a factor. These kind of changes don't have to be dramatic. They don't have to be done all at once. They don't have to impact people on Social Security today, but we have to make some changes.
COSTELLO: Senator Sessions, thank you so much for joining us this this morning. We appreciate it.
SESSIONS: Thank you. COSTELLO: Checking stories Cross Country now, another restaurant serves an alcoholic beverage to a toddler. It happened last month at an Olive Garden in Lakeland, Florida. A two-year-old was served a Sangria instead of orange juice. Recently in Michigan, a 15-month-old was hospitalized after he was served a margarita instead of apple juice at an Applebee's restaurant.
Next, in Indiana, a small plane flipped on its top after making an emergency landing on a farm. Witnesses say the wheels of the plane got stuck in the mud, causing it to overturn. The pilot was not hurt.
Finally, a rally for the Sacramento Kings. Fans showed their love last night as the NBA team played what is likely its final game in Sacramento. Owners hope to move the team to Anaheim. Fans and business leaders want them to stay.
Baseball's Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justice, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that he lied to a grand jury. We'll talk more about this with legal analyst Jami Floyd, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Two of the best athletes who ever played their game is in trouble this morning. Baseball great Barry Bonds, convicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice, and basketball icon Kobe Bryant fined $100,000 for using the F-word and an anti-gay slur against a referee during a game.
I want to bring in attorney and former "In Session" anchor Jami Floyd to give us an idea -- well, to give us her thoughts on both of those cases.
I want to start with Bonds, though, because I've been wondering about this, Jami. How can you be convicted of obstruction of justice but not lying?
JAMI FLOYD, FORMER ANCHOR OF "IN SESSION": I knew you were going to ask that question, Carol, and I'm ready for it.
COSTELLO: Oh, good.
FLOYD: They are very similar, but perjury is a harder case for the prosecution to make. They needed to show, in fact, that Barry Bonds lied. And those were the counts that the jury just couldn't come together on.
And so, essentially, they compromised on obstruction. What they needed was Greg Anderson. He's the guy that prosecutors said, in fact, injected Bonds with the illegal drugs. And they didn't have him. He's the guy sitting in jail right now because he refused to testify against Bonds.
So, all they could make out for the jury in this case was obstruction, which is Bonds failing to fully cooperate.
COSTELLO: Oh.
FLOYD: You're not fully answering the questions, not being fully forthcoming. And so, that's one count that he was convicted on.
COSTELLO: Got you.
FLOYD: The rest they didn't get a conviction on, and he probably won't do any time, in my view.
COSTELLO: Interesting. I want a friend like Greg Anderson when I grow up, don't you? Going to jail for me? That's just -- that's crazy.
FLOYD: Well, yes. It's the good old mafia -- it's like the mafia family, really. It's real loyalty.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. We have some sound from jury members who explain their decision-making, so let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The evidence that he did steroids might have been there, but he did knowingly do steroids was the question, and we couldn't prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. There was just a piece of the puzzle missing. We had a lot of pieces to put together, and we just didn't have quite enough to put the whole puzzle together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, when prosecutors hear something like that from a juror, how does that factor into their decision on whether they'll retry Bonds on the perjury charges?
FLOYD: Oh, my goodness. I think they'd be crazy to retry Bonds. They went after him for eight years, they spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money.
Look, Bonds did a brilliant thing in this case, or I guess his lawyers did. On day one, they stood before the jury and they admitted that he was injected and took illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and the only question for the jury was, did he know?
And you heard that jury say right there -- that juror say that it was never proved whether or not he knew. Unless Bonds took the stand and prosecutors could get him to trip up, there was no way they could ever prove it without Anderson and Bonds, and so that's the whole case right there.
COSTELLO: Got you.
FLOYD: They don't have it.
COSTELLO: I've got you. So, he'll probably not serve any jail time, you already said that.
FLOYD: No. No.
COSTELLO: I want to move onto Kobe Bryant, and let's just play a bit of Kobe Bryant's performance for our viewers.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
COSTELLO: Of course, we couldn't play what he actually said, because he said the F-word and an anti-gay slur.
FLOYD: No. No, you can't.
COSTELLO: It was aiming those remarks at a referee. He was fined $100,000. But, I mean, let's say, he makes $25 million a year, and that's just in his salary.
FLOYD: Oh, for God's sake.
COSTELLO: So, why bother?
FLOYD: I mean, really Carol. First of all, it's $300,000 a game for Kobe Bryant. It's like fining you or I $10 or something. It's ridiculous.
But I do think it is really important to make a statement to viewers, to kids, for the NBA to say "Look, we're just not going to tolerate this." Maybe they should've fined him more, but it did require Kobe to step up, to apologize.
It's more the statement that the NBA is trying to make, that we don't tolerate this kind of language, and it did give Kobe a little bit of whiplash on the issue.
So look, the money isn't really the point. The point is, we don't tolerate this, we're not a homophobic organization, and Kobe has been required to take it back, like a little kid on the playground, take it back. And he has.
COSTELLO: Well, we're glad that you think that way. Our Jami Floyd, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
The president says he wants to cut $400 billion from defense spending over more than a decade. Find out what the military brass think about that, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A new Senate report is throwing the book at Wall Street, blaming big banks and others for causing the financial crisis. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. So Alison, who are they pointing the fingers at?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the Senate put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Goldman Sachs in a scathing 600-page report that was based on two years of investigations.
Take a look at what the subcommittee chairman, Senator Carl Levin said. He said, quote, "Our investigation found a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing." It sounds like something out of a movie we all know and love starring Gordon Gekko. Lawmakers claim Goldman sold high-risk mortgage investments, marketing them as safe, though. The report also said Goldman bet against the securities it was selling to its customers so they would profit even if the investments failed.
The Senate panel also blames a lot of other people, too, including lenders, including the defunct Washington Mutual, which pushed high-risk loans on people when they knew housing was in trouble. Also blames regulators who failed to crackdown on banks. And it also blames the rating agencies, specifically Moody's and Standard & Poor's, saying they gave risky investments high ratings to attract investors. Carol?
COSTELLO: So, Alison, as far as I know, not many people have been punished for this. I mean, Bernie Madoff with his pyramid scheme, he seems to be the face of this, although he's sort of disconnected from these other people. So, will there be any legal action taken at all? Is this had just we are pointing the finger and we will let it go?
KOSIK: You know, we will see how this plays out. I mean, so far, no, there haven't been any charges. But the Senate panel does plan to refer any legal violations to the Justice Department and the SEC.
But you have to understand the problem here. You know, some things, they're unethical but not necessarily illegal. So far, none of the leading financial companies or their executives have been charged with any crime.
By the way, Goldman Sachs shares, they are take a hit though, down about two percent. That, and we also got a weak labor report. That is pressuring stocks overall. The Dow down 60 points. Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, thank you.
Turning now to Libya, U.S. war planes have continued to bomb targets even after control of the operation was handed over to NATO. The Pentagon has disclosed since the hand-over, the U.S. has flown 97 sorties with U.S. jets firing on Libyan targets on three occasions. A U.S. military official insists those strikes were defensive and part of the military's support role.
A new poll shows most Americans favor U.S. involvement in Libya. The CNN/Opinion Research Poll found 52 percent support U.S. involvement in Libya, 47 percent oppose it. The poll also found if U.S. and NATO air strikes not successful, the vast majority of Americans, 76 percent, would oppose President Obama sending in ground troops to the region.
In the president's speech on deficit reduction, he said he wants to cut $400 billion in defense spending over the next 12 years, but Pentagon officials warn the cuts will come with a price. More on that from Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. What are people at the Pentagon saying, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Carol, talk about tough choices in the budget and deficit reduction. It really does all start here at the Pentagon, as far as the military's concerned. President Obama's plan to reduce defense spending by $400 billion over 12 years is already getting some criticism here, warnings that it will change the military's ability to protect national security.
The Pentagon press secretary issuing a statement saying, quote, "Significant defense cuts cannot be accomplished without reduction to force structure and military capability." What's force structure? Well, several of the services, Carol, already looking at downsizing and further cuts in their own spending. Carol?
COSTELLO: And also, Barbara, if this becomes a big problem for the Pentagon, what do they do?
STARR: Well, yes, you know, where do you turn next if they are already saying that they can't handle more defense cuts? The Pentagon says, look, this can't be just an arithmetic exercise to cut military spending, you know, slash from the top, slash from the bottom. That they need to look at security strategy, priorities, and see what makes the most sense.
Defense Secretary Gates has not wanted to do additional significant cuts in big spending programs that are essential, but Gates is going to be leaving office in a few months, and this all might be left to the next secretary of defense, and we don't know who that is.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr, thank you.
From the Pentagon to Capitol Hill to U.S. military families around the world, there is a lot of concern that President Obama doesn't have a lot of specifics on his defense cuts. We want to -- actually, we are going to talk to the president numbers man, Jack Lew. He's the director - he's the director of the White House budget. He is not there yet, but he is coming your way, and when he gets in place, we will talk to Jack Lew.
Checking our top stories now, there are new developments in the case of the Long Island serial killer. Detectives are going up in planes and helicopters, hunting for clues. Eight sets of human remains have been found in the area since December.
And it's happened again. Another air traffic controller asleep in the tower when a plane is trying to land. It happened early yesterday when a medevac plane failed to get a tower response in Reno. Now the FAA is adding an extra staffer on the midnight shift at more than two dozen control towers.
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has checked herself into a mental health facility. She is being treated for a less severe form of bipolar II disorder. Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas, who recently completed treatment for throat cancer.
Jeff Fischel from HLN Sports bagged on me today.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Actually, he had something really important to do. That means I get to do the sports stories I want to do, like covering my Detroit Tigers because they won their last game and their last at bat. An exciting game. Will the magic continue against Texas? Oh, you can see that it did. The Tigers ran, a sacrifice fly to score Brennan Bosh. There he is! Brennan Bosh. Game tied at 2. Then at the bottom of the ninth, strikes again. Smacks a home run into left field seats. Tigers win, 3-2. Their second straight walkoff win. Ah! (INAUDIBLE)
Just hours after Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000, he was money on the court. And in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Carrie Underwood's husband has a solo and encore. I will have more sports in 20 minutes.
Two weeks after brutal beating that shocked the entire nation, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced plans to upgrade security in and around their stadium. We will have details for you just ahead.
Plus, storming the presidential palace in one of the world's hotspots. The former president and his family arrested in Africa's Ivory Coast. We will show you how it went down. That's coming up.
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COSTELLO: Let's take a look at stories making news later today. In the next hour in Washington, we are expecting Wisconsin Republican and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan to further discuss the president's proposed debt reduction plan. Yesterday, he slammed it as partisan rhetoric.
Later this afternoon at 5:00 Eastern in Columbus, Ohio, the first lady and Dr. Jill Biden headline a community event honoring military families.
And later today in Los Angeles, the Dodgers' baseball team holds a 4 p.m. local time news conference to highlight new security initiatives after that March 31 beating of a paramedic outside of Dodgers stadium.
From the Pentagon to Capitol Hill to U.S. military families around the world, there is a lot of concern that President Obama doesn't have a lot of specifics on his proposed defense cuts. So, let's ask the president's numbers man, Jack Lew. He's the director of the White House Office of Budget and Management. Welcome.
JACK LEW, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, can you fill in some of the blanks, because we heard from Barbara Starr that the Pentagon is really concerned about the president's proposed cuts and say it could actually hurt their department.
LEW: I think that if you look at what the president said in his speech yesterday, he was very careful to say you know, we have made very significant savings in the Defense Department under Secretary Gates' leadership, saving $40 billion in policies made over the next couple of years, the effects going into the future, and then we can do it again.
But the easy things have been done. We have eliminated weapons systems that the military didn't want, didn't need. We have consolidated many facilities. In the speech yesterday, the president said he was going to call on his team, including the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to do a review of what our roles and capabilities need to be. And that has to do with the missions that we undertake. He did not say that these savings were going to be without any change, but he also said he would make no changes that would undermine our core national security --
COSTELLO: I know that's part of the concern. I think we are going to have to pick and choose what we get involved with overseas, and a lot of voters are wondering oh, we got involved with Libya, maybe we can't afford that. I mean, are all of those issues on the table?
LEW: You know, I think that over the last ten years, we have seen the defense budget grow without any meaningful constraints. We are at a point now where our financial situation is one of our gravest national security risks. That's something that Chairman Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has said.
So, as we look for a solution, everything has to be on the table. But the president was clear. As commander in chief, he will not make policies that undermine our national security. It may mean that we have a little bit of -- more difficult choices to make, but we have difficult choices to make everywhere. And no part of the budget can be off the table.
COSTELLO: We do. Something else the president talked a lot about was millionaires and billionaires and how they are not paying their fair share. He wants to raise the tax rate for the rich, but listen to what Senator Orrin Hatch said. This isn't going to be easy. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: We hear this quote quite a bit from rich Democrats. Please tax us more, they say. Well, I know a lot who don't say that, I tell you that. Well, as a ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, I feel obligated to inform Mr. Plouffe that the president and all those rich liberal Democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment on their tax returns to pay down the federal debt. The option is right there at the bottom of their tax return.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: OK, some tough language from Orrin Hatch. Republicans control the House. Should the president perhaps soften his language and stop what some call villainizing millionaires and billionaires?
LEW: You know, the president was very careful yesterday not to villainize anyone. He didn't say that there's anything wrong with being successful in this country. He said that he admires success. We the American people admire success.
What he said was is that we make tough choices, as we're -- you know looking at the choice between turning Medicare from a defined benefit program into a voucher program where senior citizens are on their own if they can't afford the premium to buy a policy versus taxing the most fortunate that is a question of values and we have to have that debate.
(CROSS TALK)
COSTELLO: But it -- but it's such a polarizing issue and Republicans seem entrenched in saying, hey, we don't want to raise taxes on anyone. So how can Democrats and Republicans sit down and come to some sort of compromise on this issue?
LEW: You know Carol, there's not an element of deficit reduction that isn't polarizing. There's not an element of deficit reduction that isn't easy, that isn't difficult, it's all hard. The question of saying that we take taxes off the table, we take the benefits that go to the most affluent off the table, when the plan that the Republicans are bringing to the House floor does very deep cuts to the least fortunate in America, from Medicaid and food stamps to the old and the disabled on Medicare.
We don't think that those are the right ways to make the choices. There has to be a broader debate, more has to be to on the table. We're not happy about these choices --
(CROSS TALK)
COSTELLO: Ok, so a broader debate --
LEW: -- anymore than the Republicans --
COSTELLO: -- and more has to be on the table.
Let's talk about -- let's talk about Social Security, because three prominent Republicans --
(CROSS TALK)
LEW: Yes.
COSTELLO: -- came forward and say, hey, we have to do something about Social Security, we have to raise the retirement age to 70 years old. Would that be something that the administration is open to?
LEW: You know, I -- the president's tried very hard on Social Security to make clear that he wants to deal with Social Security now. He want it to be something that we work together on so that Social Security can remain solvent for the next 75 years.
(CROSS TALK)
COSTELLO: But what are his ideas? What are his ideas about -- what are his ideas?
LEW: Well, so the President made clear that while Social Security is not causing the current deficit, it is very much an immediate problem. We need to have a balanced approach. We saw in the 1980s with a balanced bipartisan approach, you can reach agreement on Social Security.
What we've also learned over the last 30 years is -- it's a very hard to deal with Social Security with warring plans.
(CROSS TALK)
COSTELLO: Right.
LEW: The only way to deal with it effectively is to bring people together. The President wants to do that. He has called for it, called for it in the state of the union; he's repeated it again yesterday.
(CROSS TALK)
COSTELLO: Would he be open to raising the retirement age?
LEW: I think what the President has said is he is open for a fair and balanced approach that does not put the burden on beneficiaries in a way that would slash benefits. That leaves an awful lot to discuss and we need to get into a conversation.
You know, Republicans have said that, you know, they don't want to do anything to raise the -- the amount of income that's subject to Social Security tax. We are going to have to have a conversation which is not a public debate and not a public fight.
In the 1980s, the thing we learned is that if you work in a reasonable way with reasonable people you can find the sensible middle where we can save Social Security; preserve it as we know it.
It's not an urgent problem that needs to be dealt with today or tomorrow but it can't wait years and we should be doing it now.
COSTELLO: Well, Jack Lew, thank you so much for joining us and talking about these important issues that are on the minds of so many Americans. We appreciate it.
LEW: Thank you.
COSTELLO: China's government has banned time travel and other story lines on television. We'll explain that to you next.
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COSTELLO: The six-month presidential power struggle in Africa's Ivory Coast comes to a head with troops literally storming the former president's house, hauling him and his family from the compound.
CNN's Monita Rajpal is following this story and more; she's live in London. Hi.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there Carol.
Yes this is pretty amazing stuff. We know that Laurent Gbagbo was arrested on Monday in Ivory Coast in Abidjan, but this is a video that is just coming in right now. It's really quite dramatic stuff. We see troops loyal to the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, storming into Gbagbo's hiding place in Abidjan. They apparently shot their way through. They capture him. Then they put a bullet-proof vest on Laurent Gbagbo to ensure that he's actually alive and not shot. So that to make sure he's actually alive and they parade him out on to the street.
He is now under house arrest in the north of the country. But again, this is amazing video to actually see the former president of Ivory Coast in such a way. And again, the president now, Alassane Ouattara, is saying he needs to face charges, criminal charges on both the national and international level -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You're right. That was a dramatic video. Monita, many thanks to you, live in London.
Live in the White House without the politics, we'll tell you how close you can get, that is if the price is right.
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COSTELLO: Checking stories cross country now, strong winds are fueling multiple wildfires against west Texas. This blaze with the Mexico border has charred 120,000 acres since Saturday, destroying more than a dozen homes and a couple of businesses.
Flash flooding, name of the game in many parts of coastal Massachusetts. But they have more sun and less rain in the forecast today.
And a replica of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in McLean, Virginia, can be yours for just under $5 million. The realtor trying to sell it says the home is drawn to scale from blueprints of the actual White House.
Michelle Rhee will be here, no one in education today has done more to try to shake up our schools. Her methods have made her a celebrity, but they've also made her the target of criticism. She'll answer those critics here in the next hour.
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COSTELLO: Time for "The Big Play", sports highlights grabbing our attention.
After being fined for his anti-gay slur against a ref, Kobe Bryant was back on the court for the Lakers. Boy was he good. Kobe hits the three-pointer with less than five seconds left and that ties the game. Then he and his teammates play tough defense to send the game into overtime. Kobe finishes with 36 points. The Lakers win in what could be the Kings' last game in Sacramento.
More overtime thrills in the NHL playoffs. Washington Capitals hosting the New York Rangers. 18 minutes into the extra period and mistakes come with fatigue.
