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Obama To Make Statement On Affordable Care Act; U.S. Secret Service Agent Accused Of Sending Sexual E-mails To Colleague; Mortgage Rates Hit Highest Level In A Month; Florida Sinkhole Swallows Parts Of Two Houses; Southwest Pilot To Cabin: "We're Going Down"; President To Offer Obamacare Fix Today

Aired November 14, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama will announce his plan from the White House briefing room. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is at the White House. On the phone with us now, chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash, so thanks to you both. So Jim, I'll start with you. What will the president say?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good question, Carol. I don't know at this point. White House officials are being tight-lipped about what the president will say at 11:35 in the briefing room here at the White House. It's safe to report that this announcement is coming as administration officials have been saying, quote, "sooner rather than later."

You'll be hearing from the president describe and outline what he wants to do to provide some fixes or adjustments to the Affordable Care Act, aka, Obamacare, to deal with those millions of Americans who are receiving cancellation notices despite his pledge, if you like your plan, you can keep it.

Earlier this morning, we can point out, it just happened within the last 90 minutes or so, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was expecting just this announcement later today. Here is what Nancy Pelosi had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: I think it can be done administratively. The president will offer a proposal today is my understanding. And we have our own proposal, which we think is really good, but we'll see. And it has to be done in the next little period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now one thing we should point out is that at the briefing yesterday, Jay Carney did sort of foreshadow this, saying this fix would be announced sooner rather than later. And my colleague, Dana Bash, was saying she was hearing from Democratic sources as of last night about this potential fix coming soon.

One thing that we should point out, the chief of staff of this White House, Dennis McDonough, he will be up on Capitol Hill talking to Senate Democrats. And then as our Capitol Hill unit Deirdre Walsh is saying over in the House side as well. So it seems that it's a big roll-out today perhaps not as big a roll-out as the one for Obamacare, Carol, but a fixed roll-out that is happening in Washington today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Stay right there. I'm going to go to Dana Bash right now. I know Senator Mary Landrieu floated an idea to fix the problem, but I heard Nancy Pelosi say it could be an administrative fix. What do you take away from that?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Certainly a lot of Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders would prefer it to be an administrative fix for the obvious reason. It's easier and Republicans run the House, not Democrats. And so that's just -- that's just the bottom line and the reality.

However, you also have Democrats who want to have a vote, want to get on record. Mary Landrieu is probably one of them and several others who want to say to their constituents, 'Look, I voted for this to fix it, not just to sit back and be a passive player.' I'm hearing that from many Democratic sources on Capitol Hill.

So if it is possible that even if the president does announce an administrative fix, which we think at this point that is what he will do, it is possible that we might see some legislation move in the Senate. Obviously, we know there will be a vote in the House already with the Republicans' bill tomorrow.

We should point out that is the context in which this is happening, to take a step back and ask why now. We reported earlier this week that House Democrats gave the White House a defacto deadline of tomorrow to come up with a fix. The reason is because there is going to be a vote on a Republican bill that would allow people to keep their health plans if they want to.

However, it is the kind of bill that the administration says would simply undermine the entire law and they want Democrats to vote against it. But politically, a lot of Democrats are telling the White House, including especially in a pretty heated meeting we reported on yesterday on Capitol Hill, you've got to come up with a solution or else we're going to defect and vote for this Republican bill. That's the context of the timing here, why the president is coming out and doing this now.

COSTELLO: All right, Dana Bash, Jim Acosta, many thanks. Again, the president is expected to make some sort of statement on Obamacare 11:35 Eastern, about an hour and a half from now. Of course, we'll report it when it happens.

There is a new scandal rocking the Secret Service. The "Washington Post" reporting at least one of President Obama's Secret Service supervisors is under investigation. It all started in a bizarre incident at this upscale Washington hotel. According to the "Washington Post," an agent reportedly left a bullet in a woman's room and then he tried to get back into the room to get the bullet. That led to the revelation of even more possible misconduct, this time, involving sex and e-mail. CNN's Joe Johns is following this story. It sounds so "House of Cards," doesn't it?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It does, Carol. We're getting differing versions of this. This is a story first reported by the "Washington Post" last night. A Secret Service review was launched as a part of the newspaper's inquiries. A government source says the agent supervisor who removed the bullet from his gun may have a problem in this investigation. Though it's not clear where all of this was headed. No police report was filed.

And the source said this morning that the woman in the hotel room did not file a complaint either, said to be embarrassed it all happened. Apparently an acquaintance of the agent, the source said the review of e-mails, which is routine, does not show anything explicitly suggestive, but that that second supervisor involved in all of this mentioned "The Washington Post" piece was not removed from any detail as some reports have suggested.

According to this source, his name has gotten involved in the investigation. Not quite clear what his connection to all of this is. This all got started as a result of allegations of sexually charged texts and e-mails. But the government source says so far they haven't found that type of thing in their review -- Carol.

COSTELLO: But this all comes after that prostitution scandal from last April?

JOHNS: Right.

COSTELLO: I mean, come on.

JOHNS: Exactly. Well, you can be clear that there is a huge sensitivity to this issue because of the prostitution scandal in Cartagena and the resulting first female director named for the Secret Service just this year. So they're investigating very carefully, very sensitive about issues like this. We'll have to see what this investigation turns up.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll stay on the story. Thanks, Joe Johns. Thanks, very much.

This just in to CNN as well, mortgage rates are on the rise, maybe to their highest levels in two months. CNN chief business correspondent, Christine Romans is in New York. I thought they were going the other way.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know they've been falling a little bit. This most recent reading from Freddie Mac shows 4.35 percent, Carol, for 30-year fix rate mortgage. That's still historically low. You know, the average since World War II is like 6.5 percent so 4.35 percent is still pretty cheap money. You look at the 15-year, popular refinancing tool, that number is 3.35 percent.

So for those of you looking out there to refinance for first-time home buyers, they've been ticking up. In part, because of that slightly stronger October jobs report. When you start to see signs of strength in the economy, you see interest rates that can start to rise. That's one of the reasons they're moving up here. Stan Humphrey from Zillow told me he expects by the end of 2014 to be back to 5 percent.

You have people in the housing market, housing industry thinking that mortgage rates will very, very slowly rise into next year as the fed tries to figure out when to take its foot off the accelerator and stop buying up those bonds to keep the economy going. First-time home buyers have not really been participating, as they should have, as they could have in this housing market recovery.

Ironically, you could see -- if mortgage rates tick up a little bit, maybe the banks would let loose of the purse strings a little bit and write more of these loans. Right now, they're not even a third of the market right now, first-time home buyers. You want to see more first timers able to get in there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans, thanks so much.

An alarming wake-up call along the Florida coast as a 45-foot sinkhole opens up underneath two homes. Sections of both houses got swallowed up, along with a small boat and a tree. Earlier on CNN, one of the homeowners said he knew sink holes were a possible problem and was actually working with the insurance company to solve the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were working on the house to get that sinkhole fixed. We went back and forth with the insurance company. After this incident we decided -- we're scared to sleep here. Let's get it fixed the way the insurance company wanted it. They started two days ago and, well, that's the result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Six homes now evacuated. The sinkhole is still growing. Thankfully, no injuries reported.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, passengers terrified when a Southwest captain says over the intercom, "We're going down."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That I was going to die. And that's what everybody on that plane thought that we were all going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The plane landed safely and now Southwest is reaching out to very angry passengers. I'll talk to one of those passengers next.

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COSTELLO: What began as a routine flight turned into a nightmare for a group of Southwest passengers after their pilot made a shocking announcement. Here is what one of them told CNN affiliate WTBD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELLEY WILLS, SOUTHWEST PASSENGER: He said we're going down and everybody is looking around like, 'Is this a joke? Is he serious?" Then we felt the nose dive. You think of your kids, your family. I just think they could have handled it a little bit differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The plane soon leveled out, made an emergency landing in Raleigh, North Carolina. Joining me now is another passenger on board that flight, Grace Stroud. Good morning, Grace.

GRACE STROUD, SOUTHWEST AIRLINE PASSENGER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Describe what happened on board that plane, what you heard.

STROUD: OK, but first I just want to preface any comments I make by saying that this is only my experience and I don't want to speak for a planeload of people who have their own fears about what happened. What I heard was -- what I heard was what sounded like static and then this loud shooting sound down the plane and then right behind it, the same thing. Two sort of loud sounds and the lady next to me heard it, too.

We both looked at each other with that kind of look. And then seconds later, I heard what sounded like a panicked captain. He could have just been deliberate, saying "We're in trouble. We're going down." And I was very clear about that. And then the flight attendants, of course, started taking action and, you know, they appeared somewhat panicked to me.

But, you know, when you think your plane is going down and they heard the same message, they're just human. But they did their jobs as far as securing the bins and all. But we thought the masks were coming down. And the masks didn't come down. And one flight attendant said, "Captain, the masks aren't coming down."

Deploy the masks or something like that and then, you know, of course -- I'm sure everybody went through their private moments of what -- their experiences. And my moment was, 'OK, so this is how I'm going to die,' and 'at least it will be quick.'

COSTELLO: That just gave me chills, Grace. I -- I mean, I fly like every other weekend. So I fly a lot. I think if that would happen, I would feel the same way you did. It's not -- I don't know. I just can't believe you said that. You're a strong lady. That's all I have to say. So, it turns out that the pilot inadvertently turned on the p.a. system.

STROUD: Right.

COSTELLO: And said the plane was going down and it maybe was never in danger of crashing. STROUD: Right.

COSTELLO: At least Southwest is making it sound that way.

STROUD: Right.

COSTELLO: So you prefaced your interview by saying you're not angry. What are you feeling this morning?

STROUD: Well -- and, first of all, let me say, I had two friends on that flight. We debriefed afterwards. We weren't sitting together. They heard the same things I heard, we're in trouble. We're going down. And one of my friends said, "I don't think we were supposed to hear that." So my thoughts are, is that this pilot is in hyper arousal mode, which I want my pilot in if we're in trouble and he thinks he's communicating to the flight attendants and to the tower.

I'm just speculating. I'm not a pilot that we're in trouble. We're going down and we started dropping very quickly. And so my experience after everything has happened and I'm not dead when I thought I was going to be is like most people, we're still thinking about this. I think most people keep ruminating over those feelings and the feeling that you're getting ready to die.

But I do want to say -- maybe other passengers will be angry with me for saying this. I would still fly Southwest. I would still fly with that crew. I just think they need to be more careful and that maybe a little less panic acting.

COSTELLO: I would have to agree with you. I'm getting on a Southwest flight tomorrow. I'm going to get on the plane.

STROUD: And another thing I found --

COSTELLO: Yes.

STROUD: Another thing I found interesting is what's the value of -- that you think you're dying? To Southwest it's $200.

COSTELLO: I was going to ask you about that. Does it make it all better?

STROUD: Not exactly. You know, my friends are like, 'What's the value of that?' The value of that, to them is $200. I thought that was interesting.

COSTELLO: I actually thought that was -- some people say that's kind of lame. They should offer you a free flight at least. Come on.

STROUD: I was thinking like two free flights for everybody so you take your friend so you have someone else's hand besides the stranger next to you, someone else's hand to hold. And, I mean, it was so serious that my two friends that were sitting up-front that I thought to myself, 'I'm glad they're together.' It was very solemn where I was sitting, very quiet.

COSTELLO: Well, Grace, I hope I sit next to you on my next flight. Grace Stroud, thank you for joining us this morning.

STROUD: Thank you so much. Thank you for letting me share my story.

COSTELLO: Any time.

STROUD: As I said, I'm not speaking for other people.

COSTELLO: We understand. Thank you, Grace. We appreciate it. NEWSROOM will be right back.

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COSTELLO: In just about an hour, President Obama will announce his fix that would help Americans keep their health care plans if they like them. We're getting details about what the president will say. Chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is on the phone again. She's been working the phones this morning. What have you got, Dana?

BASH (via telephone): That's right, Carol. A source familiar with what the president will announce tells me that he will announce an administrative fix that will allow people who have gotten cancellation notices to keep their insurance. And these are only people, it will only be for one year. Insurance companies will have to notify people that they already sent cancellation notices to that they can keep it.

However, insurance companies, I'm told by the source, will also be required to notify the policy holders of alternative coverage, meaning there are other options out there for them. And if they keep these canceled policies, what benefits they would be losing. Because, of course, the context of this is that a lot of the cancellation notices are because policies don't add up or don't live up to the new requirement that is Obamacare has for benefits.

And, again, this would only be for people who received expiration or cancellation notices. This is the gist, I'm told, of what the president is going to announce. It is possible he could say more. Certainly this is the headline and the highlight. And, of course, you and I talked about a few minutes ago, the backdrop of this and the context of why he is doing this is because House Republicans are going to have a vote on something along these lines, but much more sweeping.

And something that the White House says would undermine and dismantle the law itself. That is going to be tomorrow. So the Democrats in the House, Democrats in the Senate have been begging, demanding the White House come up with an alternative so that they don't have to vote for this Republican plan and so that they can, you know, tell their constituents that they're losing plans that maybe they like.

Despite the president's promise that they want to tell their constituents that they can keep these plans. This is what I'm told that the president will announce and get more from sources as the day goes on.

COSTELLO: The president's approval rating has dropped precipitously. It's largely because Americans perceive that he did not keep his promise, that everybody could keep their insurance plan if they like it. It was partly that. That, too, was the reason that the president was forced to do this. The people spoke.

BASH: Absolutely. There's no question about it. The president, it is his legacy on his signature issue. You're absolutely right, but he's not up for re-election again. It's Democrats in the Senate, and then all the Democrats in the House. And for them it is much more urgent politically in terms of their political viability and ultimately for the president. If he wants to have -- get a lot more done at the end of his second term, he is going to want to have more Democrats in Congress. That's a basic fact of politics.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. The other interesting facet to this is that he's doing this administratively. He's not taking it to Congress or to the Senate. Senator Mary Landrieu who is a supporter of Obamacare, a supporter of President Obama, was going to float a bill to fix this problem, but now the president has decided he doesn't need that?

BASH: Yes. We should say this is very similar to what Mary Landrieu is proposing. What my source had said is that this would just be for a year. Basically, it would bridge the gap that the people who lost their insurance would get it back. That is really part of the big panic out there, that people are getting cancellation policies.

And they aren't able to sign up for Obamacare because of problems with the web site and so forth. Mary Landrieu had a plan or has a plan that's very similar. It's a little bit broader. For example, she told me it would not just be for a year. It would be forever, that people could keep their existing plans.

That is something that people at the White House, people at HHS did not like, because they were worried that that would undermine the whole structure of Obamacare because a lot of people in these individual market plans are young people and healthy people.

And the premise of Obamacare is that you have to get the young and healthy people in for the insurance companies to buy into, allowing people with pre-existing conditions and other more expensive consumers to get health care.

COSTELLO: All right, Dana bash, stick around. Thank you so much. We have to take a break. NEWSROOM will be back with much more in a minute.

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