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Equal Pay Actions; Cheating Congressman; The Challenge of Searching the Ocean Floor; UConn Wins National Championship

Aired April 08, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Opening bell on Wall Street. It just - just happened, right? Oh, maybe it's just happened. Markets taking a beating yesterday, as you probably know well by now. Today, the Dow is up slightly, but all three major stock - stock indexes are now negative for the year. Ringing the opening bell, by the way, Clayton Williams Energy. Now you know.

Also today, President Obama will continue to move ahead and around Congress in his year of action, signing a pair of executive actions designed to strengthen equal pay laws. It's an issue the president highlighted during the State of the Union and one Democrats hope gives them a boost in the midterms. So, let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta and our chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

Jim, I want to start with you.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

COSTELLO: Let's -- walk us through the specifics of this. Who will be affected?

ACOSTA: Well, right now the president can only - because he's doing this through executive action, do something here that will affect employees of federal contractors. But here's what he's going to be doing in a couple of hours from now. He's going to be speaking here at the White House about equal pay for women and they throw out the statistic here that women only make 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

And so what the president is going to do is he's going to issue two executive actions today, sign executive orders, that will basically make it a problem for federal contractors or prohibit federal contractors to retaliate against worker who ask about their pay, ask about pay equity issues, and he'll also instruct the Labor Department to start studying this issue because what they're concerned about here at the White House is pay secrecy. They say that because of pay secrecy in the workplace, people can't ask about what their colleagues are making, so they can't figure out if they're getting equal pay for equal work. We should point out, though, that several fact-checking news organizations have sort of taken issue with this statistic that the White House has thrown out there that women only make 77 cents for every dollar. It's closer to 93 cents for every dollar according to several fact-checking organizations, saying that they don't account for women working fewer hours and having shorter job tenures and that sort of thing.

COSTELLO: OK, so there's another little bit of controversy going about about this, too, inside the White House supposedly. One study shows women are making 88 cents, you know, to every man's dollar. Is that true?

ACOSTA: Right. Well, you know, this is a study that was put out by the American Enterprise Institute. It's a conservative think tank, as you know, Carol. But over here at the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about it. He didn't deny it. So basically, yes, this is happening over here at the White House as well, although the White House says, look, the president has many top senior advisers who are women. The national security adviser, Susan Rice, to the senior political adviser to the president, Valerie Jared. Here is how Jay Carney answered the question when he was asked about this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that those studies look at the aggregate of everyone on staff and that includes from the most junior levels to the most senior. What I can tell you is that we have, as an institute here, have aggressively addressed this challenge. And obviously, though, at the 88 cents that you cite, that is not 100 but it is better than the national average.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, this question --

COSTELLO: Oh, come on. Really?

ACOSTA: Yes, now that -- exactly. And this question that you raise, Carol, goes to a very real political problem for this White House. They're sort of - they're trying to move on to other topics here with the midterms coming up and talking about these women's issue, but yet here they have a rollout of an issue of equal pay that didn't quite work out the way they had intended.

COSTELLO: Christine, were you going to say something because I'm stunned by his answer.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, I'm going to say this. I mean, it depends. And, look, everyone thinks that you should be paid the same amount for the same work. I mean there's no - you know, that's a pretty bipartisan kind of sentiment. It's not just one switch that you can flip and suddenly women and men are going to get paid the same for the same job. There are a lot of different factors at play here. And the courts have been arguing about it for years. I mean you look at, for example, experience, the networks women have, shorter tenure, as Jim mentioned, in the same job, off ramps that they take to have children or because they have different priorities. Women still seen as the caregivers. There's still this legacy of discrimination. There's still women who -- jobs that are seen more as the kind of jobs that are women's work. Even in those jobs, jobs that for a long time were seen as women's work, women make less than men in some of those same jobs. So there's a lot of different factors at play here.

We pulled some numbers for you here, Carol. This is some analysis of BLS (ph) stats from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. You know, in nursing, women do a little bit better. They make 88 percent of a man's dollar. Customer service is where there's the closest level of parody. But in retail, 68 percent.

When you look at the weekly earnings of men and women, you can see it there, too. The average male worker brings home more per week than a woman does. And this is not dependent on what they do for a living. But just, on average, women make $706 a week. Men make $860.

I think this is changing when you look at millennial statistics. Millennial women, much, much closer to men, Carol. And there are a lot of different factors for that. But as time has gone on, this wage gap, I think, I hope, is going to shrink, especially with books like by Sheryl Sandberg about "Lean In," women starting to talk to each other about how to make sure that you're treated fairly in the workplace.

COSTELLO: Right. Plus the fact that we're now a pretty educated group, we women, right?

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely.

COSTELLO: Right, exactly?

So is it possible --

ACOSTA: You are.

COSTELLO: We are, Jim, sorry.

So, Christine, is it possible that within the White House, women are holding the types of jobs that just don't pay as much as the types of jobs that men hold in the White House?

ROMANS: Here's the thing. When people research this, they look at the same jobs. And this is what disturbs them. When in the same job women are paid differently with men, that's where the real problem comes in and that's why, you know, you want the Department of Labor to look at that, to find out what are the trends here. Is it because women network different? Is it because women don't negotiate early on in their career the way men do?

So by the time they're having the same job that a man has in the White House, maybe he's asked for two raises and she didn't and so that's the disparity. Maybe it's experience. Maybe she's taken more time off or taken time off to take care of a sick relative or a baby. You know, what are all of these factors? And there are hundreds of factors. It's not just one thing. It's not just, you know, discrimination. It's not just sexism. It's not just because women have children and men don't. There are a lot of different reasons, all of them little levers that taken together mean that there is this little disparity still.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, Jim Acosta, many thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, one congressman's secret isn't so secret anymore. Why a surveillance video - well, you can see for yourself why that's getting him into a whole load of trouble. We'll talk about it, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Caught in the act. A married congressman from Louisiana is in hot water today after a local newspaper published surveillance video of him kissing a female staffer. That would be Republican Vance McAllister. He was elected last November in a special election, and ran on a platform of faith, family and hard work. This morning, the Christian conservative and father of five is asking for forgiveness. CNN's Erin McPike has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another congressman caught canoodling, with a woman who is not his wife. Instead, a congressional staffer. This time it's Republican Representative Vince McAllister of Louisiana. Images caught in December by a security camera in his Louisiana office and obtained by "The Washington Citizen," a compromising image for a southern Republican who ran on family values just last year.

REP. VANCE MCALLISTER (R), LOUISIANA: You can count on me to take those values to Washington.

MCPIKE: He's in his first term, just winning last November in a special election, and faces voters again later this year for a full term. He hastily issued a statement saying, quote, "there's no doubt I've fallen short and I'm asking for forgiveness," and asking for privacy for his family. But privacy is hard to come by in Washington, especially for a freshman who made headlines a few months after arriving in Congress by inviting "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson as his guest to the State of the Union.

Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We'll keep you posted.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the key to searching the ocean floor. Jean Casarez joins me with a unique look at how it's done. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, when you think about the ocean and the sea, it just seems like there's nothing down there. Well, think again. Start with some mountain ranges. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking "Top Stories" at 45 minutes past the hour.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel becomes the first foreigner ever allowed to board a Chinese aircraft carrier. The visit came at the request of the United States, but Hagel also used his visit to warn China that creating an air defense zone over a chain of disputed islands with Japan could have consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Every nation has a right to establish air defense zones, but not a right to do it unilaterally with no collaboration, no consultation. That adds to tensions, misunderstandings and could eventually add to and eventually get to dangerous conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: China and Japan each stake claim to the set of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea which may be near a large reserve of natural resources.

CNN's Jim Sciutto, by the way, will sit down with the Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel one-on-one. We'll have his interview for you tomorrow starting at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on NEW DAY.

People in the southern United States cleaning up today after a strong line of storms drenched many areas yesterday; heavy rains caused flooding from Mississippi to Georgia swallowing cars and stranding drivers. In Birmingham, Alabama residents of this apartment complex had to be rescued by boat when the parking lot filled with water.

In money news, today Microsoft is officially ending support for Windows XP. That means no more updates to the 12-year-old operating system, including no more security patches. Nearly 95 percent of all bank ATMs still run XP and let's say if your PC still uses it, now would be the time to consider an upgrade or to get a new computer altogether.

This morning, in the vast Indian Ocean, search crews had no luck in finding the faint underwater signals heard over the weekend. The search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been dramatically scaled back though. One expert says it shrunk from the size of Texas to the city of Houston. But when or if any wreckage is found, well an even bigger challenge lies ahead.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins us with a look ahead to phase two. Good morning. CASAREZ: You know carol, so many challenges that we are having to deal with as we watch the explorers and the oceanographers and the searchers. One of those are the naturally occurring things that are under the mysterious deep, dark sea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, I stress this is very deep water.

CASAREZ (voice over): Very deep and very mysterious. Search vehicles may have to travel 2.5 miles down to try and find aircraft wreckage and much about the ocean floor is unknown.

CHRISTINE DENNISON, PRESIDENT, MAD DOG EXPEDITIONS: It is a mystery. It's very -- we know it's deep. It's 4,500 meters.

CASAREZ: Christine Dennison is an ocean explorer she says what adds to the mystery is the terrain.

DENNISON: You have valleys. You have gullies. You have mountain ranges. It's very much an area as it will mimic what we have top side.

CASAREZ (on camera): This is what searchers are trying to find through acoustic events or pings, the black box. In air sound travels in a straight line, but it's not like that in the sea. It can angle and bend up to 90 degrees.

(voice over): That means you can't be exactly sure where the sound is coming from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Acoustic energy sound through the water is greatly affected by temperature, pressure and salinity.

CASAREZ: If "Ocean Shield" hears another ping and is able to fix the position, it will likely lower the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21 into the water and attempt to find wreckage on the seafloor.

If wreckage is located, though, one aspect of the deep sea conditions may work on investigators favor very low temperatures.

DENNISON: Cold water does preserve everything much, much better than a shallower warmer temperature.

CASAREZ: The search for Flight MH 370 continues.

HOUSTON: What I'd like to see now is us find some wreckage. Because that will -- that will basically help solve the mystery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And of course, one other challenge is to find another acoustic event as Angus Houston said strange things do happen in the sea. And Carol, think about it from a common sense aspect with mountain ranges and gullies and ridges. I mean that even makes the challenge so much more difficult if you finally do even locate the black box because it could be lodged somewhere that could be very difficult to even retrieve.

COSTELLO: Well so far they're still trying. Jean Casarez -- many thanks.

CASAREZ: Thanks.

COSTELLO: So far weeks of scouring the Indian Ocean has turned up nothing. You heard Jean say it. But if search crews do find debris from that missing flight, how might it help solve the mystery? Still ahead: a look inside the University of California's Aviation Institute where this type of work has been done before.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: They're celebrating on the campus at the University of Connecticut today. The school took home its fourth NCAA basketball championship with a win over Kentucky last night.

The number seven-seeded Huskies have made an unlikely run to the championship capping up a commanding win over Kentucky. Unfortunately, like with many college championship win, some students took to the streets and they were not good citizens as they tore down light poles and busted out windows on campus. Police did make dozens of arrest.

After the game, UConn star -- oh the UConn point guard the star of the game Shabazz Napier took a swipe at the NCAA. UConn was banned from last year's tournament and even lost scholarships for failing to meet academic standards. Napier says the punishment pushed the team to work that much harder this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you describe this one?

SHABAZZ NAPIER, UCONN POINT GUARD: Honestly, I want to get everybody's attention right quick. If I could have your attention, if I could have your attention, let me get your attention. Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at the hungry Huskies. This is what happens when you banned us last year, two years. We worked so hard for it -- hungry Huskies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ok so CBS cut away from that interview at that point. Andy Scholes joins us now. You know two weeks ago, Napier told reporters he sometimes goes to bed starving. He certainly knows how to start a controversy. ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, you know what Carol he sure does. As the saying goes, if you walk the walk, you can talk the talk. And Napier, he sure did walk the walk in last night's championship game here at AT&T Stadium.

You know he was absolutely outstanding in the game. Just hitting pull up threes from all over the court. Before the game, everyone was talking about the super freshmen from Kentucky, but it was Napier, the senior guard, who outshined them all. He finished the game with 22 points he was named the final fours most outstanding player. And Carol you know what I'm sure he felt free and clear to speak his mind after the game because he's not going to be in the NCAA next year. He's going to be in the NBA making millions.

COSTELLO: Well, he did catch the attention of the Connecticut state legislature, right, with his going to bed starving comments. Because now they're considering oh maybe UConn should be unionized. So his words matter.

SCHOLES: Well, I think he was more going to bed starving as motivation, you know, to stay hungry. I think the UConn basketball players are definitely well fed. They get three meals a day. They get free lodging. He's doing ok up there and so is Connecticut.

COSTELLO: Well, there is a whole controversy over whether college basketball players, college football players, should be paid. But that's for another day. Andy Scholes stick around because I want to talk brackets after this.

Rachel Nichols sat down with Shabazz Napier and the coach. Let's listen

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAPIER: We've been doubted for so long and we kept grinding. We kept pushing it. It's just so special.

KEVIN OLLIE, COACH, UCONN HUSKIES: Somebody told me we were cinderellas. I was like, no, we're UConn. This is what we do. We were born for this. We are bred to cut down nets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So there you have it. Ok. Let's talk brackets now. Because I can't brag, but you can -- I did come in sixth, though, after being in 18th place early on.

SCHOLES: Yes, you did rally. I'm proud of you. I got four, just a tad bit better than you. The thing I'm most happy about is at least Joe Carter won and the sports office was able to win the bracket because it makes us look like we're smarter than we really are and maybe we are really basketball experts.

COSTELLO: But so much of it was luck this year because who would have thought Kentucky and UConn -- nobody. SCHOLES: No one had this to the championship game unless you're a student at one of these schools and maybe that you went to one of these schools. This is one of those years where hey, you won the bracket early on or unless you did for some reason filled it out some funny way like fight songs or your favorite mascot. If you're in love with Huskies, maybe you had UConn going all the way and you probably did pretty well in your bracket pool if that was the case.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM -- the blade runner and the night of the murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR PISTORIUS, ON TRIAL FOR GIRLFRIEND'S DEATH: I had taken my firearm and I placed it next to -- under the bed next to the pedestal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oscar Pistorius takes the stand again this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PISTORIUS: And I sat over Reeva and I cried. She wasn't breathing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Plus, time is running out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today is another critical day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Officials waiting for another signal from the pinger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been no further contacts with any transmissions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And Ukraine, becoming a tinderbox -- new warnings of an all out civil war.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.