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American Morning

Government Prepares for Avian Flu; Seniors Affected By Katrina; New Orleans Layoffs; Minding Your Business

Aired October 06, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
White House talking about lots of things today. Of course you have this major speech by the president. It's being billed as broad and specific about the war on terror and Iraq. Also, they're talking about the Avian flu. The president's been actually talking a lot about that. Some big fears not only here in this country, but across the world about the global implications there. Going to talk to the secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, about that.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It will be interesting to see how he does a broad and yet specific speech.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I know. It sounds contradictory, doesn't it?

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll need to see it. We'll watch. That's the problem (ph).

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Short and yet long.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. That's why we key into these things.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Wide and yet narrow. Broad and also very specific.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think those descriptions are one (ph), you know. It really makes no sense.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Nutty, toasty. Moving on.

MILES O'BRIEN: Anyway, the president is doing the major speech on the war on terror and we will do that at 10:10 a.m. Eastern Time. But, we have a lot in the interim. So there's no need to do anything but stay with CNN. Just keep it on CNN and right now let's go to Carol Costello with some headlines.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow. Good morning to you guys. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News."

President Bush may have some answers for some of his critics this morning when he delivers that speech. The president is expected to highlight progress in the war in Iraq and how it fits into the broader goal of fighting terrorism. The speech comes as some recent polls have shown a decline in the public support for the war. CNN will have live coverage of the presidential address starting at 10:10 Eastern.

Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, said the continued presence of U.S. and British troops is, "absolutely vital." Talabani making the comment just a short time ago during a joint news conference in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Experts have said there could be an uptick in violence ahead of the October 15th vote on Iraq's draft constitution.

The Ethan Allen, the boat that capsized in upstate New York, could be back in the water today for new tests. Investigators ran a stability test Wednesday on a similar tour boat and that boat did not do well. They believe the weight of the passengers was a factor in Sunday's accident. Twenty people were killed.

Fire fighters near Los Angeles are trying to contain a 6,000 acre wildfire threat some 100 homes. Hundreds of firefighters backed by bulldozers and helicopters now on the scene. As of this morning, the fire is only about 5 percent contained. The flames and smoke causing authorities to shut down part of a freeway until at least tomorrow.

It's Soledad's favorite story. Actor Tom Cruise and his 26-year- old fiancee, Katie Holmes, are expecting. A Cruise spokeswoman confirms that Holmes is indeed pregnant. The entire family, Soledad, is said to be very, very excited about this. Cruise and Holmes announced their engagement in June. Still no word on a wedding date, though. This would be the third baby for Cruise. He has two adopted children from a previous marriage to, you know, Nicole Kidman.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Her entire family is excited that she's having a baby out of wedlock?

COSTELLO: I mean, they're engaged.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Do you think that's a PR thing? I am so excited. We'll happy for the couple. We're thrilled for them.

COSTELLO: I'm just going to let her keep talking.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We're all going to get together and get them a little something.

MILES O'BRIEN: I guess they took my advice to go get a room because they needed to get a room with all those pictures.

COSTELLO: So all that passion wasn't faked.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: OK. Thanks, Carol.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll leave it at that.

COSTELLO: I've got to go.

MILES O'BRIEN: On to much more serious matters. Health experts from around the world are meeting in Washington today. They're talking about the possibility of an Avian flu pandemic. The threat has many Washington lawmakers concerned, including President Bush, although he's not technically a lawmaker. Is the U.S. prepared? Michael Leavitt is the secretary of Health and Human Services. He joins us from Washington.

Mr. Leavitt, good to have you with us.

MICHAEL LEAVITT, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Why don't we have more vaccines for Americans right now?

LEAVITT: Well, the good news is, we do have a vaccine that produces an immune response against this type of flu. Recently developed. The bad news is, we just don't have the capacity to manufacture enough of it to do the good that we need.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's back up.

LEAVITT: And that's a major gap in our preparation that has to be solved.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, that's a big gap. And we've known about the bird flu for quite some time. Why do we only recently now have a vaccine and why do we not have this ramped up where we can get more vaccines out there?

LEAVITT: Well, viruses, they mutate constantly and so it's an every six months, for example, we have to have a new flu vaccine because the viruses migrate. And that's true with this one as well. We were able to get a sample of this in early last year from a victim in Vietnam and our scientists at the National Institute of Health, who, by the way, are among the best in the world, were able to develop this vaccine. The problem is, over the last 25 years, we have allowed the vaccine manufacturing industry to diminish to the point that we simply don't have the capacity to manufacture enough of it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, let's talk about that. Why has that happened? It's not a profitable business. Isn't this an area where the government should step in?

LEAVITT: Well, it's going to be an area where we have to. We have a shared interest in making certain that there's the capacity to manufacture new vaccines quickly and in large quantities. And so this is an area where our plan will present new ideas on how we can bring that industry back and bring it back fast.

MILES O'BRIEN: I want to talk about your plan, but before I do that, I want to set this up. Senator Tom Harken has his own plan. First of all, let me just share with you a quote which he released this past week. He says, "I'm gravely concerned that this country is woefully unprepared and that time is running out," as it relates to the Avian flu.

First of all, what do you think about that? Are we woefully unprepared?

LEAVITT: Well, the world is woefully unprepared. Periodically we have pandemics in the world. We've had three in this century. And you would think that it would be a matter of constant concern to us. It has not been anywhere in the world, and consequently the world is unprepared. And we're now, as a civilization, rallying to say, what can we do to better prepare. This evening is a matter today, actually, we're having a group of health ministers from all over the world meet to talk about how we can better prepare as a group.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the best way to get prepared. Yesterday the president was talking about using the military. What does that have to do with a health crisis at this juncture?

LEAVITT: Our purpose is to develop a comprehensive plan that includes the ability to do surveillance around the world so that if it happens in Thailand or Laos or Cambodia, the rest of the world can go there and help them contain it. Containment is our first strategy. We also need to have surveillance domestically. So if it shows up here, we know about it very quickly.

We need to have anti-viral drugs when people get sick. We need to have vaccines to prevent it. We need to have local communities that are prepared because a pandemic is something that happens all over the country at the same time. It's also the type of a disaster that doesn't happen in a short period, it happens over a year. This is a unique type of problem that we need to be better prepared for.

MILES O'BRIEN: Senator Harken's proposal can't get into the full detail, but just to give you a couple of bullet points. He says, double the global surveillance of the Avian flu. You mentioned that. Restore funding to state and local health departments. I'll go back to that in a second. And then finally, increase the stockpiles of the Tamiflu, which is the vaccine.

The middle point, the Bush administration has cut back funding to these state and local health departments by some $122 million. Is it time to restore that funding? And why was it cut in the first place?

LEAVITT: Well, actually, the funding was moved to different categories. We've provided billions of dollars for local preparation for bioterrorism and pandemics. Gratefully, the preparation we make for bioterrorism, in large measure, is the same preparation we make for pandemics. A pandemic is essentially nature's terrorist.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let me ask you one final thought here, talking about using the military. Given the response to Katrina and Rita and the fact that there was a slow military response, when we hear that the military might be involved, that might not give us a lot of reason to feel good about that. Should we, at this point, are we in a position where we can trust the government to do what needs to be done?

LEAVITT: This is a battle that ultimately will need to be fought in every local community across the country. If we were to have a pandemic, and I must say the probability of it happening is low and it's uncertain. The possibility that could happen demands that we're prepared.

But if it were to occur, it's possible we could have things happening in virtually every part of the country at the same time. And it would be unrealistic and unreasonable and unwise for us to depend on a centralized management of that kind of crisis. Local health communities need to be prepared. And one of the grave concerns I think we have across the board is that local communities, states, have not yet begun to focus on this in a way that will provide that level of readiness.

Now we're going to be working as a national government to create a national plan, not just a federal plan, but a national plan that involves states and local communities and, for that matter, families and individuals.

MILES O'BRIEN: Secretary of Health and Human Services administrator, thank you. Mike Leavitt, thanks for being with us.

LEAVITT: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well, obviously starting over after a hurricane is really tough, but it's especially difficult for the senior citizens who lost absolutely everything. Dan Lothian spoke to two evacuees from Louisiana who now face that task as they also face their golden years. Dan's in New Orleans this morning.

Hey, Dan. Good morning.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, the Louisiana AARP says more than half of its membership in this state was impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Obviously, as you mentioned, it's challenging for all seniors, but especially those who have to move so many miles away from home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELMA MOORE, SENIOR CITIZEN: This is one big mess.

LOTHIAN: Velma Moore returns to pick up a few items from the home she's lived in in the mid city section of New Orleans for the past 16 years. It's an emotional visit. Water damaged parts of her home.

MOORE: You can see where the water came into my bedroom.

LOTHIAN: Katrina has been difficult for all evacuees, but especially hard on senior citizens like Moore. She now lives in Baton Rouge with her daughter. But since she doesn't drive, sometimes she feels isolated.

MOORE: I'm used to walking around the corner and catching a bus or a street car. And it's hard.

LOTHIAN: At 76, Moore had been working part time at a local grocery store in New Orleans, cherishing her independence.

MOORE: I'm used to getting up and going when I want to, doing what I want to, when I want to. LOTHIAN: Louisiana AARP community outreach director, Daryl Blacher, says it's a dilemma facing many seniors.

DARYL BLACHER, AARP, LA COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Most seniors typically have readjustment issues, especially in terms of being taken out of their natural surrounding.

LOTHIAN: Especially those who were born, raised and even retired in the same community, like Margie Dominick, whose home in St. Bernard Parish was destroyed by Katrina.

MARGIE DOMINICK, SENIOR CITIZEN: I think the most difficult thing for me was to leave all of those fond memories. I didn't I walked away with nothing.

LOTHIAN: Not even pictures. These are photo copies she just made from her sister's albums. A retired widow, Dominick has never lived anywhere outside of St. Bernard Parish where her family has deep roots, until now. Crews are putting the finishing touches on a newly purchased house she will share with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild near Baton Rouge.

DOMINICK: At our age, for me to go back and begin putting it all back together again, I won't have that kind of energy.

LOTHIAN: But there are new challenges in this new community. For starters, health care.

DOMINICK: I'm on medication and I do that religiously. My doctors are in New Orleans.

LOTHIAN: Twice she's need to seek medical help locally. Dominick has the resources to get what she needs. Other displaced seniors have a more difficult time.

BLACHER: Just being able to access the medication and be able to afford the cost now that they may have misplaced insurance cards, Medicare cards.

LOTHIAN: Despite the disaster that uprooted their lives, these two seniors remain upbeat and determined, surrounded by family and volunteering in their new communities, they're starting over, again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: The Louisiana AARP is currently seeking out local, non- profit organizations which help seniors and they're offering out some of their staffers as volunteers.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ohm it's just so sad. It's like, you know, the aftermath is worse than the storm for some people. I mean, you know, because these two ladies really are in almost the best of the worst conditions, you know, financially stable.

Dan, that's just very tough. Thank you for that update, Dan Lothian, for AMERICAN MORNING this morning. Thanks.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's check back on the weather. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the latest.

Good morning again, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, "Minding Your Business." It really should be called minding her business. Andy digs around in the bank accounts of Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers.

MILES O'BRIEN: He did? Really?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, he did.

MILES O'BRIEN: Can you do that legally?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: No, you cannot and he's going to tell you what he found.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, we'll find out what Andy's up to, won't we. Yes. But we deny everything.

All right. Find out why some locals in New Orleans are now saying the recovery effort is moving in the direction of that front end loader, backwards. Well, it went forward there but backwards. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Do you remember yesterday when the Sheriff of St. Bernard Parish came on our air essentially to beg for money. Said that his parish had no money and he couldn't pay his deputies. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JACK STEPHENS, ST. BERNARD PARISH: You know, we're at the bottom of the food chain at the local level. We've done our job. We evacuated people. We protected our parish. I mean, we've been working under harsh conditions. No one's bugged out during this event. We have very, you know, gallant citizen population, but we are completely wiped out and here we are facing a payday that I cannot make to pay first responders and no one from the state has stepped up. They keep saying they're going to ask the federal government for help. You can't make me believe that the state of Louisiana doesn't have $500,000 to help us make a payroll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well, that's Sheriff Jack Stephens. Just hours after Sheriff Jack Stephens made that plea, the White House said it was going to ask Congress to use federal disaster funds to help pay government workers that were affected in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

You remember back on Tuesday, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, said he's going to have to lay off 3,000 city employees because they've got no money. Julia Reed, a regular contributor to "Newsweek" and "Vogue" and also a long-time resident of New Orleans is in D.C.

We keep checking in with you. Give me a sense of your first reaction when you heard about these layoffs of the 3,000 employees?

JULIA REED, "NEWSWEEK" CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Disbelief. I'm not sure what I mean, I wish the mayor had taken to the airwaves like the nice sheriff of St. Bernard Parish and just begged for some money. I mean, OK, the city's bankrupt. Of course it is. We've just had this huge natural disaster, the big that ever hit the country. Borrow some money. I mean Northwest did and Northwest is bankrupt and it's still flying.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But didn't he say we've been trying to do deals, we can't pull anything together and this is the only option. You don't think that's the only option?

REED: I don't think it's the only option. Obviously, it's not the only option. The other option is, I mean if that's really, really true, I don't know who the mayor's talking to every day but who I'm talking to are small business owners, restauranteurs, other small business owners who could be up and running, making some money right now, kick starting the economy. Their biggest problem is lack of employees. And, at the very least, have an impromptu job fair. I mean place these people. They're desperate people trying to find employees to get their businesses up and running. They don't have them. You've got you know, instead, the mayor just cast these folks to the winds.

Also, Soledad, as you know, you've been down there, I mean there's so much to be done in the city. I mean ludicrous sites like thousands of refrigerators on the street. They're like little mini toxic waste dumps all over the city taped up with duct tape waiting to be picked up.

I mean, I cleaned out a friend of mine's refrigerator three and a half weeks ago. The garbage is still in front of her house. I'm surprised it hasn't blown up. But, I mean, there's nobody to pick it up.

A friend of mine lost power, obviously, and then his house was flooded. Energy won't reconnect your electricity unless a city inspector comes and inspects your house. Well, there are no inspectors now. I mean it's . . . SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And maybe they're not going to be because if they're city employees and they're being laid off. And I'm sure the inspectors are.

REED: That's what I'm saying, they're not going to come.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So what is all I mean you're kind of listing all the problems. What does it say to you about who's responsible and who's in charge and leadership in New Orleans and leadership in Louisiana?

REED: Well, I mean, I think, unfortunately, what the country is seeing at large is what those of us who have lived there for years have known and we don't really have any leadership. I mean I hate to agree with Mike Brown, the former head of FEMA, but, you know, we've got a dysfunctional state and I think that's what's coming through.

I just I can't imagine, like I said, that there was not another option. But what I'm terribly troubled by is what the signal that this sends to people. I think he lost a lot of residents with that one announcement. I mean, what most of us know on a good day pre- Katrina, city services really didn't work. So no we've had a catastrophic event and he's fired half the work force. So that's telling people, wow, why should I come back there? It's not really a safe place to bring my family. Two weeks ago, as you know, he said, come on back. And now it's like, well come back, except we're not going to have any city services.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Do you think there should be a czar? You know, they keep talking about this recovery czar.

REED: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Should there be one? And who should it be then?

REED: Well, I have no idea who it should be. I mean I'm not going to you know, I'm not in the business of appointing czars. But I'm surprised that the White House I mean, I really feel like the White House is very distant from this. Because if they're watching this, as the rest of us are, I can't believe that they don't have somebody on the ground saying, hang on, let's do some kind of stop gap measures. What do you need. Let's communicate with the people of New Orleans.

I mean, the people who are not being served are the citizens. And the mayor is not, the governor's not and I don't think the president is. I'm just not sure where people are on this. But they're not on the ground, they're not seeing what I'm seeing every day.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Have you found it sort of surprising that there are these press conferences sort of once a week and things are just kind of announced sort of out of no where? Because otherwise you really don't hear that much from the mayor until . . . REED: There's no information. You're exactly right, there's no information from the mayor. And like you say, about once a week he comes out. You know one day it's, come back we're going to have 200,000 people in the city. Then the next day it's like, well come at your own risk. Now it's you know this week it's like, well, we've got to let, you know, 40 percent of the work force go.

But he's not like I said, he's not talking to people who are trying to get their businesses up and running. I'm not sure who he's talking to. I can't you know, it's really every day, I mean it's sort of like bang up on the mayor but it's and I hate to do it because it's getting too easy, but it's just baffling the signals coming out of the city. And as I said, the signal that it's sending to people who are thinking about coming back there is not a positive one. I'm really you know, it's getting a little scary. And as Miles said earlier, we're going backwards.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it sounds very weird. All right, Julie Reed, nice to check in with you as always.

REED: Thank you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think Julia should be the czar. Or would it be czarina (ph)?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: She didn't bite when I offered it. She didn't bite.

MILES O'BRIEN: Czarina? Julia?

REED: I'm just waiting to be appointed, Miles. I wish you'd talk to the mayor.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. We hereby appoint you by the power vested in us.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Which is none.

REED: All right. I'm going to go down there and start picking up garbage at the least.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you. Thank you, Julia.

Still to come, Andy's "Minding Your Business." He has the mystery of Harriet Miers incredible shrinking bank account. Is this any of our business? Well, it's Andy's business. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: So the question is, how do you make a million dollars in public service? The answer, start out with $2 million, right?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There you go.

MILES O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is you knew the line, didn't you?

SERWER: I knew that punch line. Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Good to see you.

SERWER: Good to see you.

We're talking about Harriet Miers, Supreme Court nominee. She may or may not be confirmed, but you might not want this woman as your financial advisers. The Associated Press is running a story this morning that shows that she came to the White House in 2001. She had a salary of $624,000 and assets of as much as $1.1 million. Now, she's making $161,000 and her assets have dropped.

Now, you can see those bands, they're very broad, Miles. That's because they're relying on analysis of financial disclosure forms that government officials have to file and they're allowed to say that their assets fall within that range.

Still, it does show that a decline in assets has taken place. What are the possible reasons? Well, one thing is, she had to buy a condominium to live and that's in Northern Virginia. She also owns a four bedroom home in the Dallas area.

Number two, she's had to take care of her ailing mother, Betty, who hasn't been well. Medical bills there. And number three, she has been doing some tithing to her church, the Evangelical Valley View Christian Church, as much as 10 to 12 percent some of her friends have suggested. So that will take a bite out.

And, you know, it's really not that important, obviously, what her net worth is. If she becomes a Supreme Court justice, she will make close to $200,000 a year. But it's just sort of interesting stuff, I think.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well and this it is tough to get good people because of this very issue.

SERWER: That's true.

MILES O'BRIEN: You go to Washington, you know, (INAUDIBLE), you could make much, much more money in the private sector.

SERWER: Right.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you very much.

SERWER: Thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: Straight ahead, a preview of this morning's speech by President Bush. The White House is calling it a major address in the war on terror. They say it will be broad and yet specific. We'll see how that works out. Complete coverage from the White House and the Pentagon. Our coverage will be broad and yet specific, of course. And 10:10 Eastern is when you'll see the speech right here on CNN.

In the meantime, more AMERICAN MORNING coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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