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Obama Meets With Tech Giants; Tech Leaders Air NSA Concerns; Former Microsoft Executive To Oversee Obamacare Web Site; Web Firms Criticized For Tracking Users; Congress May Be Least Productive Ever; $1.1 Million Spent On Bus Stop; Wastebook Released; Mega Millions Lottery

Aired December 17, 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: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. We start with the heads of some of the country's top tech companies speaking with the president. They're trying to air their concerns over the NSA's surveillance programs. Google, Apple, Twitter, Yahoo! Facebook, AT&T, just some of the names represented over at the White House. All of them deeply concerned with what the NSA has been doing and how it's impacting their bottom line.

Joining us now, our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim, we also just learned that a key Microsoft executive has been tapped by the president to come in and help with the Obamacare Web site.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Wolf, starting with the change, the big change at HealthCare.gov, Kurt DelBene who is an executive, a top executive over the an Microsoft, he's going to be taking over the job of really leading the effort to make sure HealthCare.gov is running smoothly. We know the White House has said that it's running better than it was on October 1st but they haven't worked out all the bugs.

And they still have additional features to roll out over time, Spanish language feature, also that small business feature. They want to roll out those efforts at HealthCare.gov and DelBene will be leading those efforts. He takes over for Jeffrey Zients who really has been sort of in the fire for the last couple of months working out kinks with that Web site. And it has been a rather coordinated move by this White House and Microsoft.

It's interesting to note, Wolf, that Microsoft and the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, they were ready to go when this announcement was made with quotes from Bill Gates praising DelBene and saying that he'll do a good job in the new role over at HHS leading up HealthCare.gov.

As for that tech executive meeting here at the White House. Wolf, you mentioned a very impressive list of companies here. We can tell you that from all appearances, that meeting is still ongoing. White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said in just the last few minutes during the White House press briefing that this meeting is still on going. So, if you do the math, that's two hours that this meeting has been going on here at the White House. Not all of that time with the president. But, Wolf, there was a light moment at the beginning of that meeting between the president and these tech executives when the president said that he would like to have an advanced copy of the second season of "House of Cards." He was wondering if any of those executives had brought that with them, specifically the head of Netflix who was also in that meeting. There were a lot of laughs there. All of this was captured by a White House T.V. press pool camera that was in the room. But then, that camera was removed from the room or escorted from the room, and then they got down to the business at hand which is obviously some big concerns among those tech executives with what's going on at the NSA.

They just sent a letter to the president just last week laying out their concerns saying that really the balance has shifted too far to the state when it comes to the privacy concerns of Americans that use all of these Web sites -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Any reaction from the White House to that federal judge's ruling yesterday that at least some of the NSA surveillance programs may be unconstitutional?

ACOSTA: At this point, no. Jay Carney was asked about that at the top of this press briefing. And not surprisingly, Wolf, he again punted over to the Department of Justice which did release that brief statement saying, yesterday, that they believe that the bulk phone record collection that is going on at the NSA that that is at the heart of that federal judge's ruling yesterday who said that that is likely unconstitutional. The Department of Justice saying that they believe that that activity is constitutional and Jay Carney reiterated that.

He also pointed to the fact that the president's review group that is looking at NSA surveillance activities has produced that report. That report went to the president. The White House is reviewing it. And the report will be released sometime in January along with what the president plans to do to reign in the NSA if that is even decided on at all -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jim, thank you. Jim Acosta over at the White House.

ACOSTA: You bet.

BLITZER: While leaders from companies like Google and Yahoo who have certainly criticized the NSA, they themselves have also come under fire for tracking users.

Let's bring in our CNN Money Tech Correspondent Laurie Segall. Laurie, tell us how Internet companies track users.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf. Essentially, they use little bits of code called cookies that go on your computer and essentially track what you're doing. And why they do that is because these companies, you've got to remember, they make money off of advertising. So, if they know what you're looking at, they can actually go and target an ad to you personally. But, you know, but oftentimes, they'll say this. These companies end up having a lot more information than we know they have, than they said they had. A lot of examples, Google had a settlement over Street View cars (ph). They were actually info off of people's Wi-Fi networks. They got in a lot of -- they came under fire for that. Also, Facebook, Google, Twitter, all three of these companies have had FTC settlements so -- over privacy violations. So, you know, they're all getting audited over the years.

So, you know, Silicon Valley needs Washington and Washington needs Silicon Valley but this is an ongoing discussion. And oftentimes, Silicon Valley, we've got to remember, is asking for forgiveness and not permission -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, answer this because I guess a lot of folks are wondering. These big tech companies, they seem to get a free pass. They're tracking a lot of their users. They -- people just sort of accept that as business -- as a normal business practice. But the government is getting hammered for the NSA kind of surveillance. There seems to be a disconnect to a certain degree.

SEGALL: It's a good point. But you've got to remember that most of these services are free. And a lot of people use these services understanding and knowing that maybe they'd give up a little privacy. Maybe they've give up a little private, maybe they're served ads and that's kind of how this works.

So, you know, a lot -- it's a well-known fact that Gmail scans what you're talking about to see what kind of ads they can serve up, whether it's if you're talking about going on vacation, they -- you might see an ad for Kayak or Travelocity. You know, but there's a big difference between that and having the NSA or a government program looking at that. It has a different feeling. I think that's why you're hearing this sentiment.

BLITZER: Laurie Segall reporting for us. Thank you.

The notorious NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, as you know, is living in Russia right now but his political asylum there could end next summer. So, he's actively shopping for another place to live. His first choice may be Brazil. A letter posted online today and addressed to the Brazilian people suggest a deal.

In effect, he's saying give me permanent asylum and I'll help you fight U.S. spying on your country. Could be a shrewd move. Brazilians have been outraged by the NSA's surveillance unprecedented surveillance of their cell phone communications. Although the letter was directed at Brazil, the wording implies the same deal for any country willing to take him in. We'll see how that part of the story unfolds.

We're also learning at least one federal agency came under cyber- attack during October's partial government shutdown. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found hackers in China were able to access the Web site of the Federal Election Commission. A Spokesmen for the non-profit watchdog group says the attack crashed the servers and no one was there to fix it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE LEVINTHAL, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: And it came as the FEC had absolutely no regular employees actually serving at the agency because of the government shutdown. It was one of the agencies that actually went completely dark during the government shutdown, only had the commissioners themselves manning the doors, manning the systems and they are not I.T. experts by any stretch of the imagination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The FEC Web site maintains public financial records on federal elections. The compromise budget deal that sailed through the House of Representatives clears a major hurdle in the Senate and moves a step closer to final approval.

Earlier today, the Senate voted 67 to 33 on a procedural move to move the bill forward. Twelve Republicans joined all 53 Democrats and two independents in the vote to break the GOP filibuster. The bill now needs just a simple majority to win final passage.

Our Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is following all the developments up on Capitol Hill. We expect that final vote tomorrow, Dana, is that right?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. We expect it tomorrow, and we expect it to pass pretty easily given the vote count you just laid out. Definitely will be some difference. Some Republicans, for example, voting no. And some Democrats voting no on the actual measure itself whereas this was more of a procedural measure. But regardless, we expect it to be -- to pass very easily.

BLITZER: It will pass. It certainly only needs 50 votes. If it's a tie, the vice president would break the tie in favor. So, it needs 51 votes.

But let's talk about the major objections. What are they?

BASH: Well, there are several. Let's just stick to the Republican side for now because that was the only, you know, negative that we saw on this particular procedural vote. Number one, we are seeing Republican after Republican come to the Senate floor this afternoon after this vote saying that they thought that it did not do enough to cut spending, in fact, just the opposite. It did not do enough to address the debt and deficit. Just -- maybe just the opposite. And maybe one of the biggest and loudest criticisms of this measure is the fact, as you and I have discussed, that there -- as you see there, there is a reduction of military retiree benefits.

But what is maybe most interesting, Wolf, and this may be one of the political subplots here is that of all the Republicans up for re- election next year, those who have primary challenges, all of them, all of them will end up voting no on this because of their concern about the threat from the right.

BLITZER: Yes, even Lindsey Graham who often is willing to make a vote like this, a bipartisan vote.

BASH: Right.

BLITZER: His friend John McCain voting in favor. Even Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, he's voting -- he will vote against it presumably, voted against the procedural -- overcoming the procedural hurdle, that filibuster today.

Let's talk a little bit about this 113th Congress. Is it on pace to be one of the least productive in history in terms of the number of laws that have been enacted?

BASH: Absolutely hands down it is on pace to do so. And just look at the numbers. You can see them very starkly. Right now, 57 bills have been enacted into law, and that just pales in comparison to what we've seen in Congresses past. Now, we should say that we're only one year into this Congress. Congresses are two years long. But still, let's just say that there's 57 again next year, it won't come close to what has been done in the past.

What are some of the major things left undone? Well, first and foremost, Wolf, the basic responsibility of Congress which is to fund the government, pass 12 spending bills. None of them has passed. We expect them to come back and pass one big one when Congress comes back, a farm bill which they have a couple of years, but it -- a few years actually. But it is absolutely critical for so many farmers out there. It also addresses food stamps and milk prices. I mean, you name it. And they have been negotiating for so long, not done. And, of course, the unemployment benefit extension for about 1.3 million Americans. That is why some Democrats may, in fact, bolt tomorrow on the budget deal.

But we should also point out -- again, Wolf, you and I have discussed this before as well, that just because -- going backing to that 57 number. Just because it is such a low number, doesn't mean that all -- that it's that unproductive, meaning you have a lot of people who have come here, been elected by their constituents to stop bad laws from going through. And they believe that that is a productive way to spend their time, not just sending bills to the president's desk for a signature.

BLITZER: That's a fair point. Sure. All right, thanks very much, Dana, for that.

So, $1 million spent to build a bus stop, just one of the items in this year's waste book, as it's called, highlighting $30 billion in wasteful spending supposedly. We're going to tell you about some of the items when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Five million dollars for crystal stem wear, almost $300 million for a megablimp that flew only once. Those are just a couple of the items from this year's so-called waste book. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is out with his annual report on wasteful government spending. In all, he highlights 100 examples that total, get this, $30 billion. Tom Foreman has been going through the list once and twice, three times. It looks sort of like a cartoon book a little bit over there.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. It's sort of - it's sort of like the Sears catalog of cynicism, I guess that's what it would be. Yes, we go through this every year. It's a big deal. The number one item on Coburn's holiday list is $400 million spent during the government shutdown for employees to do nothing. Now, he puts the blame for that squarely on Congress for allowing the shutdown, but he says it was wasteful nonetheless.

Here's another one, the National Guard spent $10 million on a promotional campaign tied to Superman, specifically to the "Man of Steel" movie hoping it would draw more recruits. Coburn said the guard should have spent that money supporting its current troops rather than hoping for a super surge in recruiting.

Some other items, $914,000 for the "Popular Romance Project." This is an effort by the National Endowment of the Humanities to look at our views on romance as depicted in books, movies website and so on.

There's a NASA project, $360,000, to pay people to lie in bed for weeks on end. I think they call that college in most plays. It's to test for the effects of extended inactivity and weightlessness like they might experience going to Mars, for example. To Coburn, it's just an out of this world waste.

And one more. The National Institutes of Health spent $325,525 on a study that seems to have concluded that couples are happier when the wives calm down more quickly after a fight. I am sure there is more to this, but I could have told them that for about $1, Wolf.

BLITZER: Could have. That much, huh?

FOREMAN: Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: I would have done it for free, but -

FOREMAN: Yes.

BLITZER: Let's talk about the defenders of these programs. What do they say?

FOREMAN: Yes. Well, you know what they say. And what they say is, there are real reasons for this and they think Coburn's list every year sort of unfairly inflames public sentiment about spending in Washington. Many people are sensitive to it, but they say there are real ways to explain this.

For example, one of the things they cite here is, there was mass destruction of about $7 billion worth of weapons and vehicles that were taken over to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Essentially what the U.S. did is they wrestled with this idea and they said, sure, it sounds terrible to destroy $7 million worth of equipment, but bringing it home and refurbishing it would have cost taxpayers more. So some of the critics say that sort of thing is left out. And one more quick example. Coburn criticizes spending on the implementation and promotion of Obamacare, calling it a broken website and a plan that nobody wants. And we know -- everybody would know -- that really is partisan politics. He's a Republican who doesn't like this program, so of course he sees that as waste. Many other people would say it's not a waste at all.

BLITZER: You said $7 million or $7 billion for those weapons?

FOREMAN: $7 billion.

BLITZER: $7 billion.

FOREMAN: $7 billion in weapons.

BLITZER: That they had in Iraq and Afghanistan that instead of bringing it home or selling it on the open market, they simply destroyed all those tanks and vehicles or whatever it was?

FOREMAN: Yes, but it's a lot of equipment. Yes, but you know those kinds - you know about military equipment like that. It takes tremendous upkeep. You can't sell it to an army that may not be able to maintain it or have the expertise or the parts. There's no point in doing that. You don't want to let it fall in the wrong hands. And yet bringing it home and fixing it all up, it becomes, in a sense, like an insurance company totaling your car, saying it's not that there's no value to it, but the cost of getting that value is too much.

BLITZER: Yes. Tom Foreman, thank you. A lot more stuff in that book too.

FOREMAN: Oh, we've got a whole day of looking at this.

BLITZER: OK. We'll see you more - we'll see you later in "The Situation Room."

FOREMAN: Sure.

BLITZER: Coming up, do you want to be as rich as the mega author Stephen King, or maybe the pop stars Bono or P. Diddy? It's easy. We're going to tell you how to do it right after this.

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BLITZER: Take a quick look at the markets right now. Checking the big board, the Dow down about 15 points right now. Investors waiting to see what the Federal Reserve is going to do next. Right now it drops about $85 billion of financial stimulus into the economy each month. The Fed wraps up a policy meeting tomorrow. It could indicate if they're going to start pulling back on that stimulus program. Could affect the markets.

Do you want to be as rich as some of the world's biggest stars? People like Bono or Mariah Carey? All you have to do is win tonight's Mega Millions jackpot, collect the $636 million up for grabs. Alison Kosik is over at a 7-Eleven for us on 42nd Street in the Manhattan. Alison, a huge amount of money. You're meeting a lot of people there waiting in line. So what's going on as far as lottery fever in New York City is concerned?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You can feel the energy, you can certainly sense the excitement. Everybody walking up for, yes, what is the ultimate fantasy. You put down your money, you put down your numbers and say, hey, I'm going to win today.

You know, it's $636 million. That's what the jackpot is right now. But what's interesting, as each person that walks in each and every store across this country where there are lottos, that amount of jackpot is just going to go higher and higher. And if there's no winner of the jackpot tonight, the estimated value of that jackpot could go up to $800 million by Friday. If it rolls over yet again, the next drawing would be, would you believe, Christmas Eve, and the jackpot then could be $1 billion.

But you know what the odds are of winning? One in 259 million. That's not very good right there. And we were kind of thinking, how do you show what those odds are? So we put together kind of a visual here. Here are ten dollar bills, one dollar bills. This is easy, because at best your chances of winning were one in 10, I would pick, let's say, this dollar bill. Here is the winner. But now imagine this. How long would this set of bills need to be if I was picking the winner from 259 million bills? And if I laid out these bills end to end lengthwise, that would stretch around the world more than once and still have $1,100 left over. That's what your odds are. Not very good. And that's why I say good luck in winning this game, Wolf.

BLITZER: Some states don't have these lotteries. What's their decision? Why do they not want them?

KOSIK: That's an interesting question. The reason that the odds have gotten so tough, have gotten so long, is because the lotto officials in October, they changed the rules, meaning they made it so instead of choosing your five numbers between 1 and 56, now you choose between 1 and 75. And then you've got the gold ball. You choose between 1 and 15 instead of 1 and 46. What that essentially means is, you've got more numbers, more combinations, less of a chance to win. But you know what, you got to try it, right, Wolf?

BLITZER: And so -- but getting back to the issue of some states, they love the lotteries, they provide funding for education, other purposes. Some states, they don't want to have anything to do with these lotteries. What's the back and forth?

KOSIK: Yes, I mean, there are some states that the don't have - actually seven states don't have lottos right now. One of them being Mississippi, Alabama, Utah and Wyoming. Actually, Wyoming is going to start its lotto next year. And the reason is because these legislatures, they don't want to get into -- get kind of involved in the religious beliefs of these states. So they're staying out of the lotto business. But here's the funny thing is that if you live in those states, you can still go across state lines and buy these lotto tickets. Alaska and Hawaii, no lottos there. They don't have to worry about going across state lines. And, ironically, Nevada, there is no lotto in Nevada, as well. And this is a state that loves its gambling, but it also doesn't want the competition of the money going to lotto and then the money going to other gambling sites.

BLITZER: So let me just repeat. If you win the $636 million and you take a lump sum, how much did you say that lump sum would be that you would collect right away?

KOSIK: With $636 million, your payout, if you got the cash payout, would be $341 million.

BLITZER: So you get $341 million. I assume you've got to pay tax on that $341 million, right?

KOSIK: I couldn't - I couldn't hear you, Wolf. One more time.

BLITZER: I said, I assume you have to pay tax on the $341 million.

KOSIK: That's after taxes.

BLITZER: After taxes. All right. So you walk away with $341 million, which is not too shabby obviously. All right.

KOSIK: $341 million, not too bad.

BLITZER: Alison Kosik, thanks very much.

President Obama on the down slope, running out of time to right his falling approval ratings. What's going on? The numbers are pretty bad right now, but can he turn things around? Our own Gloria Borger standing by. We'll break it down.

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