Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Meeting India's Prime Minister; Senate Voting Averting Shutdown; Obama Talks Syria; Critical Votes Being Cast in the Senate; GOP Takes Aim at Obamacare; Furlough Notices Imminent; U.N. Report: Humans Cause Climate Change; Iran's President Talks

Aired September 27, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now the Senate is moving ahead with efforts to avert a government shutdown. We're in the middle of four, yes, four critical votes on the Senate floor involving a spending bill to beat Monday's shutdown deadline.

Right now, the world is getting hotter and fierce storms are brewing, and you and I may be to blame. That dire warning about climate change today in a brand-new United Nations report.

And don't call it a bailout, but right now federal help is on the way for ailing Detroit. We're going to tell you how much administration officials are delivering to the city and where it's going.

All that coming up, but the president of the United States meeting with the prime minister of India right now. We just got videotape in from the Oval Office. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- and the Security Council around Syria eliminating its chemical weapons and ultimately having them destroyed by the international community. This is something that we have long sought and the fact that we now have a framework that will be voted on perhaps as soon as today, perhaps over the weekend or Monday, that would be legally binding, that would be verifiable and enforceable where there would be consequences for Syria's failure to meet what has been set forth in this resolution, I think, is a potentially huge victory for the international community.

Realistically, it's doubtful that we would have arrived at this point had it not been for a credible threat of U.S. action in the aftermath of the horrific tragedy that took place on August 21st where chemical weapons killed over 1,000 people including more than 400 children.

But I have always expressed a preference for resolving this diplomatically and I appreciate all our international partners in working very hard over the past several days to make sure that we could arrive at a resolution that not only deters and prevents additional chemical use but actually goes beyond what could have been accomplished through any military action and that is the removal of chemical weapons, one of the largest stockpiles in the world, from Syria so that they can actually be destroyed. I think it's also worth noting that in the Security Council resolution, there is an explicit endorsement of the Geneva 1 process to try to deal with the underlying conflict in Syria and the need for a political transition there that can bring about peace and allow the millions of people who have been displaced and harmed by this conflict to return to their homes and try to rebuild their lives and to rebuild a country that's been shattered now by civil war.

So, we are very hopeful about the prospects for what can be accomplished but, obviously, there is a lot of work to be done. I think, rightly, people have been concerned about whether Syria will follow through on the commitments that have been laid forth and I think there are legitimate concerns as to how, technically, we are going to be getting those chemical weapons out while there's still fighting going on on the ground.

Nevertheless, this represents potentially a significant step forth and I think indicates what I had hoped for when I spoke at the United Nations just this week, that we have an international community that is not just gathering to talk but also is able to take concerted action on behalf of enforcing international norms and preserving everybody's security, including those in the region and, obviously, the people of Syria themselves.

Now, I also want to say how glad I am to have Prime Minister Singh here today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right. So, there you heard the news from the president of the United States. He's meeting with the prime minister of India, Prime Minister Singh, right now. They're going to get into the U.S.- Indian issues. But the president welcoming this upcoming Security Council resolution dealing with Syria's chemical weapons. The president saying potentially this is a -- in his words, a huge victory for the international community, and he says the threat of credible military force put it forward.

The U.N. Security Council is now scheduled to meet 8:00 p.m. Eastern later tonight to take up this U.S.-Russian resolution. We assume it will pass. There are some consequences in the resolution for action if the Syrians don't comply but it's a little murky what those consequences are right now. The U.S. and Russia not necessarily on the same page as far as dealing with the failure to comply with Syria's chemical weapons.

All right. So, we're going to continue to watch that story and much more on this story coming up later this hour.

We're only, by the way, four days away from a possible government shutdown. Right now, the Senate is moving through a series of votes to try to keep the government up and running after midnight Monday night.

We have already had the vote to end debate in the Senate. That's the vote at the center of senator ted Cruz's 21-hour marathon the other day. He lost, by the way, 79 to 19. The Senate moved on to vote number two now. They needed 60. They got well over 60.

Another procedural vote on the budget and the spending levels happening right now. Vote number three is an amendment offered by the majority leader, Harry Reid. It takes out the provision in the already passed House bill that would defund Obamacare, then they will all have to vote on the continuing resolution that would keep the government funded, at least until mid-November.

Lots going on. All of those are expected to pass and then the language will go back to the House of Representatives where members of the House will have two days, basically, to get a deal done to avoid a shutdown.

Let's bring in our Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. All right, Dana, the first vote a lopsided victory. There's going to be vote two, vote three, and vote four. Where do we stand right now?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They're in the middle of vote two but I think it's important because we're going to be focusing a lot on what's next understandably. But because we spent so much time this week talking about Senator Cruz, talking about the division inside the Republican Party to sort of breakdown the vote you just talked about, 79 to 19. All 19 of those Republicans were Cruz and his colleagues saying no at going along with his strategy to try to block Obamacare being defunded. Again, this is sort of a convoluted and that's the point.

But the other point is that 19 is less than half of the Republican caucus. So, it is -- was very much split on this strategy and now we know just how split it was seeing it in black and white right up on the screen after those -- after those senators took those votes.

But moving on, we are going to see the series of these four votes play out. And then, the big question and it is really unknown what the answer is, is what is the House going to do? Wolf, the House had some votes this morning and now they're pretty much gone until tomorrow. Well, one might ask why they didn't just wait for the Senate to the act and for them to, you know, vote on this bill keeping the government running since we are only three and a half days away? And the reason they didn't is because they don't know how they're going to respond.

The Republican caucus is so split in the House over what to do. They have so many opinions to deal with. People who want to put Obamacare defunding back on. People who want to do all different kinds of things. And meanwhile, in the Senate, you have the Democrats saying, if you don't send us a clean spending bill with nothing else on it, we're not going to pass it. So, that is when the showdown is really going to get hot.

BLITZER: Do we know, Dana, if the Democrats in the House of Representatives are pretty much all on the same page? In other words, if they get, let's say, half of the Republicans to join with them, will they have that 217 or 218 vote they need in order to pass the resolution and avoid a government shutdown?

BASH: The issue is it depends what the -- what the resolution looks like. That is what is being decided inside the walls --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But if it looks like a clean resolution --

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: -- that is -- emerges from the Senate, if that's allowed to come up on the House floor, will they -- the House, a combination of almost all of the Democrats and let's say half of the Republicans, will that be good enough?

BASH: Likely. It would likely be good enough. That would be a point where John Boehner would have to kind of do what he doesn't like to do which is allow something to pass with the help of some of his Republicans and some Democrats.

But we're -- But the key point is that we're not there yet. The assumption all along is that's how it would play out, but Republican leaders are getting so much pushback, as we speak, Wolf, from their rank and file they don't want to give up the fight. That is a quote that I just got from a Republican leadership source. They don't want to give up the fight. The problem is they don't know what they want to fight with.

So, that is what is happening inside the walls of Republican leadership offices right now. They're trying to figure out how to deal with the reality of a potential government shutdown, the reality their caucus is all over the map and how they want to go back. And so, that's why things are so incredibly fluid after these Senate votes are complete.

BLITZER: They don't have to give up the right. They can continue the fight. Let the government --

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: -- operate. Take the fight to the next level at the debt ceiling which has to be raised in mid-October if they want to continue the fight.

All right, Dana, I know you're watching all four of these votes. One down, Senator Cruz and his faction of the Republicans, they lost decisively there. They lost a lot of Republican support. Now, vote two, vote three, and vote four, we're watching all of those votes this hour. Dana Bash on the scene for us.

And in preparation for a possible government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers could learn their fate today in the form of verbal furlough notices.

Christine Romans is joining us now. Christine, what type of employees are expected to be affected?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And some of them are already hearing and they expect to hear by the end of the day. Look, these are the kinds of folks that are going to be told to stay home if the government shuts down. It's going to be national park service employees, no question there. It will be closing some of these locations, Smithsonian employees, NASA workers. You'd have folks from the EPA, also for the centers for disease control, occupational safety and health administration, that's OSHA, the small business administration. The list goes on and on.

Many of these people will be told to stay home. They're going to be, Wolf, what are called excepted employees, those who will be told no, you do have to stay. You will be here because we have to keep the power grid up, the regulation of the power grid. The air traffic control system is still running, of course. The banking system is still running. What's interesting, Wolf, is there's enough funding to keep the courts funded for about 10 days.

And passports is likely to be different this time around. Remember the last shutdown? It was passports and not being able to get a passport for a relative's funeral or a trip to Ireland or something that really brought a lot of heat on Congress. This time around, passports are funded by fees so there is money for those to keep operating, although who knows how long that could last. So, some of these areas you're going to see some activity during a shutdown. Others absolutely not -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Christine Romans, good information. Thank you.

We've got much more on the possible government shutdown coming up and the continuing attack on Obamacare. Stay with us for that.

In about 20 minutes or so, I'll be joined by one of the most vocal critics of the health care law, the Minnesota Republican Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann. I'll ask her about the law, its effect on economy, Republican efforts to tie it to the shutdown, and more. Michele Bachmann live here and that's coming up.

Other news we're following right now. We remember Superstorm Sandy. The massive storm blew ashore a year ago flooding homes and businesses along shores of New Jersey and New York and killing more than 100 people. Now, a new United Nations report says it could happen again and it's 95 percent certain humans are big contributors to climate change.

According to this new U.N. report, humans are responsible for at least half of the observed increase in global temperatures since the 1950s. We apparently drive way too many cars, we use too much fossil fuel like coal and fuel, if you believe this U.N. report. The period from 1981 to 2010 was the warmest time in the late -- last eight centuries. And sea levels are rising because of warming oceans and a melting ice cap. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.N. report should serve as a warning to those who doubt global warming.

In a statement following the report, the secretary said, and I'm quoting him now, "Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire." And former vice president Al Gore adds, once again I'm quoting him, "The climate crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced." This is Gore. "Now more than ever, we must come together to solve this global crisis."

One state of the crosshairs of floods and rising sea levels is Florida. Heavy rains in Key West last spring sent water into the streets trapping people in their homes and businesses. Our Chad Myers is in Miami where rising waters are eroding beaches and flooding streets.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): The ocean is rising quicker than in decades past. And predictions made by some research scientists make the situation sound pretty dire.

HAROLD WANLESS, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: By the mid part of the century, 2050, 2060, most of the barrier islands in the world are going to have to be evacuated.

MYERS: And that includes Miami. It's hard to imagine iconic Miami Beach deserted but it is obviously rising water is already a common problem here. On a sunny day, a high tide is enough to flood some streets.

JAMES MURLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOUTH FLORIDA REGIONAL PLANNING COUNCIL: We live on limestone. Limestone is like porous sponge. So, we really can't use levees to hold back the water.

MYERS: While the city continues to find ways to deal with excess water, many experts say there's no way to stop it.

(on camera)

And we saw barricades and sandbags all along Alton because the water sits there during high tide. Let's put one more foot of water on top of this for, just say, one-foot sea level rise from here for Miami Beach. What does that look like?

So, you're telling me every single street here that's blue is going to have water in it if we get a one-foot rise in sea level?

PETER HARLEM, RESEARCH GEOLOGIST, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Yes.

MYERS: That's a problem.

HARLEM: And the tides, if we get king tides, it will be a little bit higher than this. This is essentially showing you the places that are going to be affected first.

MURLEY: The important thing is to keep observing what's happening, to look at all the ranges and projections and then come back to the policymakers and say, you know, here is the actions you have to take.

MYERS: The Southeast Florida Climate Change Compact has been created to monitor and help mitigate the harsh consequences of climate change.

MURLEY: They're not sticking their heads in the sand. They know that this is a real problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: Wolf, we saw it firsthand. We drove up on Wednesday and there was water in the streets, literally. And I thought, there must be a water main break. And they said, nope, it's just high tide. High tide? High tide is now in the streets of western Miami Beach. And we go up another foot, you saw what happened, many scientists are saying much more than a foot. That's when it starts to get scary.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Scary indeed. Chad, thanks for that report.

Deadlines are coming fast in Washington. After the shutdown, we have the debt ceiling. So which can have a greater effect on you and the country and the economy? We're taking a closer look. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're keeping a close eye on the U.S. Senate right now as they move through a series of votes intended to avert a government shutdown. It's been a continuous debate, mostly centering around Obamacare. But it's leaving the American people and millions of government workers hanging on the brink. Joining us now, our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and Mark Patterson, a former Treasury Department chief of staff under Tim Geithner.

Thanks to both of you for coming in.

Gloria, is this the new normal what we're seeing right now? It seems like every other few weeks there's a brink that we're about to go over.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think, sad to say, that it is. I think the partisanship is such and the intraparty squabbling on the Republican side is such right now that it's very hard to see how you get out of this problem unless there's some kind of immaculate conception here, somebody comes up with a deal that everybody can sign on to. But right now, I don't see it.

BLITZER: You were there with Tim Geithner. He was the Treasury secretary in 2011 when there was a need to raise the debt ceiling and there was a lot of concern. Eventually the U.S. credit rating around the world was reduced. Which is a bigger issue right now, keeping the funding or the federal government in place or raising the debt ceiling October 17th?

MARK PATTERSON, FORMER TREASURY DEPT. CHIEF OF STAFF: Absolutely no question, the debt ceiling is a much bigger issue, Wolf. And the reason is because a shutdown doesn't have the negative economic effects that a default crisis would have.

BLITZER: What would be negative economic effects of a default, if you will, raising questions about the credit worthiness of the U.S. government? What would that be?

PATTERSON: Right. Well, we don't really know because it's never happened before. We've always been wise enough to avoid it. But what I think you can expect and what most economists believe is that you'd have the same kinds of effects we saw in the financial crisis, which is, as the interest rates go up, you'd see credit tighten, you'd see consumer confidence drop, business confidence drop and then that -- those kinds of things in the economy tend to metastasize. So you - we would be self-inflicting a financial crisis.

BORGER: And, you know, the difference to me, Wolf, and you can speak to this better than I can, Mark, is that when we've gone through this before, there's always been sort of a back room in which -- and you were in those back rooms -- in which people seemed to be negotiating some kind of a deal if what went on the floor failed and there was a plan b and a plan c. I mean do you think that's going on this time?

PATTERSON: I think that's going on, on the shutdown. And I hope that it resolves - I hope that it resolves it, although it's trending in a bad direction right now. What worries me is, if they can't resolve the shutdown in an orderly way, can't keep the government open, that's not a good sign for what is really a more difficult, thorny issue of the debt limit.

BLITZER: Well, if you listen to the speaker of the House, John Boehner, and a lot of Republicans, they say the president can raise the debt ceiling, he just has to make a few concessions that the Republicans want, make a deal, which is the normal way things are done here in Washington. But the president has drawn this red line, as you know, Mark, saying he's not going to negotiate, he's not making concessions, you must raise the debt ceiling, perfect - period, without any concessions.

PATTERSON: Yes. And I think the reason he's done that, Wolf, is because the question of whether the U.S. government should pay all of its bills really is not a debatable one. There's only one right answer to that question and the answer is yes. And so I think in this case the president is definitely taking the right position. Congress has the authority under the Constitution over borrowing. It is 100 percent their responsibility to raise the debt ceiling and make sure their good credit is protected as a country. So I think he's actually in the right on this one.

BLITZER: But in the past -

BORGER: But - right.

BLITZER: In the past, when there have been these issues with other presidents, including this president, he has a -

BORGER: But he voted against raising the debt ceiling.

BLITZER: He did make some sessions.

PATTERSON: Yes. Yes, but, I think in those cases, the threat of default was never really real. And what we're seeing now is, we seem to have people who actually are contemplating the idea that we should deliberately throw our country into default and that is different about this president. BORGER: But here's the problem. It's -- public opinion seems - you know, people don't want the government to shut down. But if you look at a public opinion poll, they seem to think that it's just fine to default. And that's - and that's why Republicans are -- have decided perhaps to move on the default issue rather than the shutdown.

PATTERSON: Well, it's never popular to raise the debt ceiling. We all know that. But there are some things in Washington you have to do, even though they're not popular. And this is definitely one of them.

BLITZER: Yes, I suspect, in the end, you're right about some back room deals. The president says he's not going to negotiate, but in order to avoid a real crisis, as you're describing it, the borrowing limit, he's going to have to make some concessions. Maybe not call it a link (ph) or whatever --

PATTERSON: I'd say one thing, Wolf, presidents don't pay ransoms for a reason. And that's a long-standing policy of the United States. And the problem is, if you pay ransoms, you encourage more hostage taking.

BLITZER: Yes.

PATTERSON: And that's really the dynamic that's going on. And that's why -

BLITZER: That's a strong word. That's a strong word, ransom, that you're using.

PATTERSON: This is a -- the stakes here are very high.

BLITZER: But that's precisely why, in the end, maybe the adults in the room will have to get together and work out some sort of deal.

BORGER: Where are those? I mean that's - that's the question.

BLITZER: Let's hope that there are, people, you know, on both sides. I'm just saying.

All right, thanks very much.

Iran's new president pushes ahead with his charm offensive with the west, holding a news conference that lasts more than an hour, answering lots of questions, got some strong opinions about the nuclear talks with the United States and a whole lot more. We'll tell you what he said. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iran's new president is speaking out about the historic breakthrough nuclear talks between his country and the United States. Iran's foreign minister and the secretary of state, John Kerry, they met at the United Nations yesterday to discuss Tehran's new offer to compromise on its nuclear program. It was the first time, get this, since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the country's top two diplomats held direct talks. Today, President Rouhani called the meeting a positive first step in resolving the nuclear standoff. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI, IRAN (through translator): I personally am satisfied with the result. So I believe from that experience that the steps must be taken in a well thought out manner. They have to look at the results, because our end goal is to ensure the interests of both sides, both nations, to, in fact, remove the problems on the way and step by step to build confidence between two nations and two governments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now from Newton, Massachusetts, the former governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson. He's also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Governor, thanks very much for coming. Do you think any of this is going to lead to a real breakthrough and, in the end, Iran will end any ambitions it might have to build a nuclear bomb?

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It remains to be seen. The atmospherics are good. He is on a charm offensive, Rouhani. He seems to be skillful at setting a better tone. But I didn't hear him say that they're ready to negotiate on eliminating enriched uranium. I didn't hear him be very clear about the Holocaust in Israel. He seems to be backing off.

The question is, are they doing this because they're sincere or because, one, their oil production is really down, inflation is really up, sanctions are working. But at the same time, you've got to look at a potential breakthrough in the future. The fact that the two the secretaries of state sat down at the same time directly is a positive sign. But there's a lot that remains to be seen.

I was a little concerned that that charm offensive was yanked back by the clerics when President Obama and Rouhani didn't get a chance to at least shake hands, have a little bit of body language. I think that was a little bit of a setback I think in diplomacy. That personal contact is very important.

BLITZER: Yes, that was a real sort of snub at the United States here. The president of the United States made it clear to the Iranians he would like to have this encounter, even if it was brief, even if it was only a handshake and exchange of a few words. They were both at the United Nations General Assembly on the same day. He wanted to, I guess, break the ice, if you will, and then the Iranians said it was too complicated, they didn't have enough time to prepare, not happening. Did you see that as a diplomatic snub from the Iranians to the United States?

RICHARDSON: Well, it was a little bit of a snub, but I think what happened was Rouhani most likely, and his foreign minister, wanted to do it, but the clerics, the khomani (ph) probably said, hey, you're going too fast. This is the world's biggest stage.