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Anti-Obamacare Ads Draw Fire; House Passes Spending Bill, Defunds Obamacare; Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Interviewed on Obamacare; Rouhani Engages in Op-Ed Diplomacy; Obama Speaks to Auto Workers; Interview with Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren

Aired September 20, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, House Republicans are celebrating passage of a bill to defund Obamacare, but the Senate not likely to follow suit. This could set the stage potentially for a government shutdown. More on this coming up.

President Obama right now is getting ready for a speech at an auto parts plant in Missouri. He's expected to warn Republicans once again about the budget battle and the debt ceiling. We'll have live coverage coming up as soon as he starts speaking. Also right now, apple fans are streaming to stores across the country to buy the new iPhone. Lines start the forming early. More buyers seem to be choosing the new gold-colored model over the other two colors. That could change. We'll see perhaps.

With just over a week until the Affordable Care Act opens for enrollment, we're seeing a wave of advertisements trying to convince people to buy in or stay away from the new program. One new campaign, aimed at turning young people against signing up, is being called provocative, shocking, even down right creepy.

Here's CNN's Renee Marsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENEE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dueling videos on both sides of the health care debate, and on the opposing side, the videos are pushing the envelope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Let's have a look.

(MUSIC)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Just days before about Americans begin to enroll for health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act, self-described Libertarian group, Generation Opportunity, released two web videos hoping to convince people not to the enroll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Lucas Baiano helps conservative politicians use viral videos to get their message out. He says the ads targeting 18 to 29-year- olds could change enough minds to make a difference.

LUCAS BAIANO, POLITICAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: In the YouTube society, we live in it's important to continuously produce content that's going to be innovative and some technique. This is one aspect that does that where it's disturbing and new and fresh. Because if you just stay below the bar and put something out that's very standard, it won't fly and it won't resonate.

MARSH: One ad-tracking agency says ads opposing the Affordable Health Care Act outnumber those for it by five to one.

But as the clock ticks and critical deadlines for implementation of the law fast approaches, ads encouraging people to enroll are showing up on the airwaves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Minnesota, land of 10,000 reasons to get health insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Health care, the policy issue that's created a war between two sides in Washington, has become a political cash cow for advertisers. One ad-tracking agency estimates by 2015, more than $1 billion will have been spent on ads most of them making the case it's a bad deal.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It is a train wreck. It has to go.

MARSH (on camera): Some say the impact of these ads can be that they change the way people feel about the law. When you look at our own CNN polling, you don't see a drastic change in how people feel about the health care law, but more people are unsure about it now than they were three years ago.

Renee Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We're standing by to hear from Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the Congresswoman from Florida, the chair of the DNC. Earlier, we heard from the Kathy McMorris Rogers, the Republican congresswoman, a very different perspective on what's going on as far as a possible government shutdown is concerned. When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: A flurry of action in the House of Representatives today as we have only 10 days left until a possible government shutdown. Around two hours or so ago, the House passed a new spending bill, which would continue the government funding but at the same time would defund Obamacare. The 41st time, by the way, the House has passed various legislation defunding either all or parts of Obamacare. The vote was pretty much down party lines. Only two defections on the Democratic side, two Democrats voting with the Republicans, one Republican voting with the Democrats. But there was lots of vigorous debate on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSWOMAN: The gentle woman from California is recognized for one minute.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: This place is a mess. Let's get our house in order. We are legislators. We have come here to do a job for the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSWOMAN: The gentleman from Virginia is recognized.

REP. ERIC CANTOR, (R-VA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Even the heads of major unions who are once so supportive of Obamacare want to see this law drastically changed to avoid further, quote, "nightmare scenarios," unquote.

REP. STENY HOYER, (D-MD), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: It is a blatant act of hostage taking. This bill enshrines and confirms the dissent into an economy destroying national-security undermining, and ineffective rendering of the government that our country and our people need.

REP. TOM MCCLINTOCK, (R), CALIFORNIA: Madame Speaker, the minority whip is dead wrong. This measure protects the full faith and credit of the United States by assuring that our sovereign debt will be paid in full and on time.

REP. JAMES MORAN, (D), VIRGINIA: We need to believe in this government again! We need to do what this Congress was meant to do! We need to fund the government adequately! To be a first-class society with a first-class economy that can compete and beat anyone! We can't do that on the cheap! That's why we ought to vote against this! thank you.

REP. ALAN NUNNALEE, (R), MISSISSIPPI: There's not a single law worse for individual liberty, for limited government or job creation than Obamacare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, said, "The spending bill is designed to shutdown the government" - her words.

Joining us now, the Democratic congresswoman from Florida, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She's also the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks very much for coming in.

It was interesting, Eric Cantor, a man you know well, Republican majority leader, he singled out four Democratic Senators up for re- election in often Republican leaning states -- Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska -- and basically saying you guys better be careful, if you vote with the Democrats this time and don't defund Obamacare, your re- election could be in trouble.

Put on your hat as the chair of the DNC. How worried are you these four might vote with the Republicans?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, (D), FLORIDA & CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, I'm glad you noticed what I noticed, which is that the Republicans, through their leadership, made it very clear after the vote to shut the government down if Obamacare is not defunded. They made it very clear what this is about for them. It's about politics. Not only after they voted on the House floor to do that, did the Republican conference erupt into applause. Imagine, erupting into applause over shutting the government down potentially and denying people health care. But then they all traipsed into the Rayburn Room for a rally in which the majority leader, Eric Cantor, told the whole country what this is about. It's about politics. It's naming specific Senators who they perceived to be vulnerable and calling them out and trying to suggest that the ball's in their court.

This is about an internal civil war going on in the Republican Party where clearly the Tea Party has won. They are hurtling us towards government shutdown and economic crisis. It is unconscionable, irresponsible and entirely avoidable.

The ball is firmly in the Republicans' court. They need to embrace sanity.

BLITZER: How worried are you that these four Democratic Senators potentially could be vulnerable in their bid for re-election might vote with the Republicans?

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: This is not about politics. This is about making sure -- I'm a member of the House of Representatives, Wolf. I represent the 23rd Congressional District in south Florida. This is about making sure that we don't tie ideological fights and certainly don't tie whether or not 30 million people get access to health care to whether or not we adequately fund the government. The Republicans continue to rigidly adhere to do dogma and ideology. They are slavishly bowing to the altar of the Tea Party. That's what this is about. The speaker needs to lead. They need to stop having the tail wag the dog. And they need to grow some courage and stop thinking about remaining in power and think about what's best for the American people and our economy. There's no one --

(CROSSTALK)

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: -- no economic expert who thinks this is a good idea.

BLITZER: It is about a roll call. So it is about politics in the sense that if these four Democrats were to vote with the Republicans right now -- the Democrats if you add the two independents who caucus with them, they have 54, Republicans have 46. Even if all four went with the Republicans, it would be a 50-50 tie, assuming all of them showed up, nobody was ill or anything along those lines. The vice president would break the tie, so the Democrats would be in good shape. They would win. But still, if there is an element of politics here.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: What this boils down to now is the Republicans in the House today voted to choose between shutting the government down if Obamacare is not defunded, knowing that the Senate is not going to pass this and agree with them on that, knowing that President Obama would veto it if for some reason it got to his desk. So they've chosen to rigidly adhere to their dogmatic ideology to take the economy over a cliff. And essentially, what we're deciding here, thanks to the Republicans, is which car are we going to take? Will it be default on our debt and not pay our byes and not raise the debt ceiling or is it going to be shut the government down over whether or not we fund Obamacare? That question over the Affordable Care Act has been settled. It was settled when we passed the bill out of Congress and the president signed into law. It was settled again when the Supreme Court upheld it as constitutional. And it was further settled last November when Barack Obama was re-elected president of the United States. And one of the major questions was whether or not they supported implementing Obamacare.

BLITZER: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the chair of the DNC.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Very cut and dry.

BLITZER: You've got your hands full. We'll see what happens, assuming the Senate rejects what the House just passed. And we all assume that will be the case. It will go back to the House again --

(CROSSTALK)

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: It's totally unavoidable. Save the economy.

BLITZER: We should know something by the end of the next week.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: I hope so.

BLITZER: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, thanks very much for coming from.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're standing by to hear from the president of the United States. He's in Liberty, Missouri, right now. He'll be reacting to this house vote. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Once again, there you see live pictures coming from Liberty, Missouri. The president of the United States will be speaking fairly soon. We'll have live coverage and get his reaction. I'm sure it will be a negative reaction to what the House of Representatives has just done, allowing the government to stay in business but defunding Obamacare. The legislation now moving to the Senate. Stand by for that.

Other news we're following, including the Russian President Vladimir Putin, Senator John McCain, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. It's the hottest tool in international diplomacy. We're talking about the op- ed article in the pages of the "Washington Post." Iran's new president made a pledging to, quote, "engage in constructive be interaction with the world," end quote. He echoed that sentiment in an interview with NBC News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN CURRY, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Let me ask you, President Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust is a myth. Do you agree?

HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I'm not a historian. I'm a politician. What is important for us is that the countries of the region and the people of the world grow closer to each other and that they are able to prevent injustice.

CURRY: So if I might ask you one more time, do you want to decry those statements?

ROUHANI (through translation): We are not seeking and looking for war with any nation. We are seeking peace and stability among all nations in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

What do you think? This new president of Iran, more reasonable, more moderate than Ahmadinejad, someone the U.S. maybe some day Israel could deal with?

MICHAEL OREN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Let's get this straight. Here's a man who just said he won't deny that the -- won't deny those who deny the Holocaust. That's perceived as being moderate. That's a pretty low bar.

BLITZER: More moderate was the comment when he insisted he wants to speak with the United States, meet with the United States, inviting journalists, releasing a few, not many, political prisoners, and saying he has no objective to build a nuclear bomb.

OREN: This is the same Rouhani who back in 2004 bragged about smiling at the West and installing centrifuges for a nuclear weapon. He says that Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon. American intelligence knows that's a lie. Israel intelligence knows that a lie. In "The New York Times" article he says the window for solving the Iranian nuclear problem is closing. What is he threatening there? That they're going to make atomic power --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So you don't see any significant change between this new president and Ahmadinejad?

OREN: It may be a change of style. If there's any seriousness in his approach, he has to fulfill basic requirements, which is he has to cease enriching uranium and take the stockpile they have and ship it abroad, close the secret facility that was made to prevent the West from preventing him from getting a nuclear weapon, close that, and he has to close the plutonium reactor which could make a weapon very quickly.

BLITZER: Could that be done through dialogue? I raise the question because there's a lot of speculation. The White House is indicating maybe the president -- next week at the United Nations general assembly, President Obama would meet with the president Rouhani. How would you feel about that?

OREN: President Obama has said that Rouhani's words have to be tested. And there are four Security Council resolutions that Iran has violated. Remember how hard it was to get a Security Council resolution on Syria? Here, you have four of them. They're in violation. Let them comply with what international community has demanded of them, then they can talk. We believe that the talks can proceed after, only after they have stopped the enrichment, only after they have closed them, after they stop shipping the stockpile abroad and after they close that plutonium reactor as well.

BLITZER: So you would be upset if there was a meeting next week between President Obama and President Rouhani.

OREN: We believe Rouhani has to be tested. This is how he can be tested. This is a man who has lied about the nuclear program in the past. He's bragged about lying about the program to the West in the past. Test him. See if he's serious.

BLITZER: Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be speaking next week, too, right?

OREN: He's scheduled.

BLITZER: And he's scheduled to come to Washington to speak to President Obama. Last year's speech, he drew the hourglass, time is running out. How much time is there, do you believe, in the Israeli government, in allowing a peaceful resolution of this nuclear issue that has been at the forefront in Iraq?

OREN: Remember he drew that red line. And --

(CROSSTALK)

OREN: Yes. He drew the red line to keep the Iranians from acquiring the amount of enrichment they need for one nuclear bomb, and he succeeded. They didn't cross the red line. But what they did do is install thousands of centrifuges. Some are of a new generation that can increase the enrichment rate by five fold. They can break out a nuclear bomb in a short time of time and create not one but several bombs. Indeed, the time has grown much, much shorter.

Wolf, no country has a greater interest in resolving this than Israel. They have the most skin in the game. But for that very reason we have to be careful. We have seen the Iranians lie about this program time and time again.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Rouhani will be in New York next week. We'll see what he says. I know he'll be sitting down with our own Christian Amanpour as well while he's in New York, and we'll hear what he has to say.

Syria -- do you think this U.S.-Russian deal to destroy eventually Syria's chemical weapons stockpile can work?

OREN: Well, we hope so. We think that it's an interest not just of Israel, of the entire Middle East and global security. If it will work, we will be there to support it.

What ties the two in Syria and Iran is the credibility of the American military threat. That's what got people to talk about a diplomatic situation in Syria. And we believe a continuation of a threat on the table stands the best chance of bringing the Iranians around with diplomats.

BLITZER: Do you believe the U.S. military threat President Obama put out there convinced Bashar al Assad to, A, acknowledge he has chemical weapons, B, to detail where they are, how much he has, and eventually destroy them? Was it the U.S. military threat that did that?

OREN: I think the American military threat was so credible that it certainly brought the Russians around, and convinced them to cooperate.

BLITZER: So give us the Israeli government's reaction to what's happening in Syria. You're right next door, so you have a lot at stake. What do you think the U.S., the international community should be doing? 100,000 people have been killed over the past two years.

OREN: We're not going to get dragged into the Syrian civil war. Clearly, Bashar al Assad has killed over 100,000 of his own citizens. He's provided tens of thousands of rockets to his people in Lebanon. He tried to make a nuclear facility a few years back.

BLITZER: Which Israel destroyed.

OREN: Well, it doesn't exist anymore, put it that way. And thank God it doesn't exist anymore. So the world would certainly be a better place without him. We're not going to be dragged into that internal civil war, but we want to see the chemical weapons removed and we want it to be verifiable, and a commitment on the part of the international community that that will, indeed, happen.

BLITZER: Mr. Ambassador, I know you're wrapping up your tenure here in Washington, but four and a half years, going back to Israel. Good luck to you. Thanks for all the times you came here on CNN.

OREN: My great honor.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

I want to go to Liberty, Missouri. The president of the United States speaking out. Let's listen in.

(APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Plant might not have been here had it not been for the great work of Jay. So that's important to know.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We've got my outstanding secretary of Health and Human Services, former governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, is in the house.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: She basically just came because her son and his fiance are here.

(LAUGHTER)

But we're glad she's here.

One of my greatest friends and just a tough, smart, dedicated public servant, Senator Claire McCaskill is here. Give Claire a round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Your former mayor, preacher, can do everything.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: Emanuel Cleaver is in the House.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Current mayor of Kansas City, Sly James, is here.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, Mark Holland is here.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And the mayor right here in Liberty, Liddell Brenton, and his lovely wife Roxanne are here. Where are they? There they are.

(APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Now, when I said I was flying into Kansas City to see an incredible success story in action, I did not think I was going to be talking about the Chiefs.

(APPLAUSE)

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: Before you get carried away, I just want to point out that the Bears are 2-0.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: I'm just saying.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: And we're actually able to pass more than 10 yards.

(LAUGHTER)

Just a little trash talking. We'll see how we're looking at the end of the season.

I want to give special thanks to Ford CEO. This is one of our outstanding business leaders, has helped to lead Ford to be the number one automaker in the United States of America. Allen Mulaye is here. We're very proud of him.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Doesn't matter if you've got an outstanding CEO if you don't have outstanding workers. And the president of Local 249, Jeff Wright, is here.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Your launch manager, Todd Jerinowski, I really like because he's a Bears and a Sox fan.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: Come on, give Todd a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And I very much appreciate him and some of the other folks showing me around this new stamping plant right here.

Now, you may not be aware of this, but you and I have a little history together. I may roll in a Cadillac these days.

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: No, no, but it's not my car. I'm just renting. Just like my house. (LAUGHTER)

The lease runs out in about three and a half years.

(LAUGHTER)

Before that, I was driving around in a 2008 Ford Escape.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Came right off these assembly lines. Some of you might have been involved in building it. It was a great car. Problem is, I got Secret Service about a month after I bought the car. So I've only got 2,000 miles on it. It is in mint condition. So I want to say thank you for building my car.

But I also came here to talk about what's got to be the number one priority in this country, and that is growing our economy, creating new jobs, and making sure that everyone who works hard in America has a chance to get ahead. So our number-one priority.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Now, some of you remember five years ago, a financial crisis hit Wall Street. It then turned into a devastating recession on Main Street. And it came close to being another Great Depression. By the time I took office, the economy was shrinking at a rate of 8 percent a year. Unprecedented. Our businesses were shedding 800,000 jobs a month. And you had this perfect storm. And millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their savings they had been working a lifetime to get.

But what the recession also showed was the fact that, for decades, middle-class families had been working harder and harder just to get by, hadn't seen their incomes go up, hadn't seen their wages go up, manufacturing was moving overseas. And so what built our middle class had been buckling, had been weakening. And I think if you ask most Americans when the economic crisis hit, they might not date it to Lemans Brothers collapsing. They would talk to you about when they got a pink slip that they didn't expect or the bank took away their home, or they didn't have health insurance, or maybe they were told the plant was shutting down and the assembly line was going quiet. Those were tough times.