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American Morning
Press Secretary Gibbs Gives His Take on the Health Care Summit; Broken Government: Gerrymandering for Political Edge
Aired February 25, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, February 25th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us.
He said, I'll put it on C-span, and today finally, after a year of war behind close doors, President Obama will hold a health care summit on live television. We're live on Capitol Hill with the preview.
CHETRY: Without warning, a killer whale kills a veteran trainer at sea world in Orlando while an Audience watches in horror, but this isn't the first time that the six-ton whale has lashed out with deadly consequences.
ROBERTS: A winter weary east coast bracing this morning for the second snowstorm in two days. The blizzard is raging from Pennsylvania to New England, dumping up to 2 feet of snow in some places. Cutting power, closing schools, causing at least three traffic deaths, and the storm is expected to intensify over the next 24 hours. Rob has the latest forecast for us coming right up.
CHETRY: But first, it is political theater at its best, or, depending on how you look at it, at its worst. In just a few hours President Obama will host a health care summit that will be live for the nation to see.
But what is supposed to be a compromise is already shaping up to be more of the same. Already one senator is saying there may be nothing to talk about. Dana Bash is live for us on Capitol Hill to set up what we may see today just three hours from now. Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Well, it is political theater. You can't find anybody here, Democrat or Republican, who will tell you otherwise with a straight face.
But it is important theater because of how important health care politics is this election year, and that is why both the teams of Republicans and Democrats who are going to head to that summit today have been huddling and trying to devise their strategies because they want to get across their political talking points, never mind any compromise.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: We asked both the Senate's top Republican and Democrat where they may agree on health care. But their answers were mostly how they disagree.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MINORITY LEADER: You will not see from us a 2,700-page comprehensive rewrite of one-sixth of our economy. We don't think that ought to be done. And we've said it repeatedly.
SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We need major health care reform. That's what the people of America want. They want health care reform, not some band-aid.
BASH: Not exactly the makings of compromise.
But peal back the rhetoric and raw emotion, and there are some areas of agreement. Take young adults. Republicans want to change the law to allow dependents to stay on their parents' insurance policies through age 25. President Obama's plan isn't far off -- he says age 26.
Or promoting a healthier lifestyle -- a House GOP proposal says people in prevention and wellness programs should be rewarded with better health insurance rates. The president adopted a similar idea in his plan.
But the reality is those are minor issues. So what about major, popular issues like banning insurers from discriminating based on preexisting conditions? Well, they agree on the concept.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: I think that the issue of preexisting conditions is a serious issue in our health care system. We have a way to do it that doesn't drive up the health insurance costs for every other American.
BASH: But that Republican way is expanding high-risk pools and reinsurance programs that already exist in various states. Democrats call that a nonstarter and want an all-out federal ban, which brings us back to where we started -- intense disagreement. And though Democrats say this --
REID: We've heard that they have ideas, and we look forward to those ideas.
BASH: -- skepticism reigns.
MCCONNELL: We're happy to be there, but I'm not quite sure what the purpose is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And the reason that the Senate Republican leaders said that is, despite this summit and the six-hour event around it, Democrats already have tentative plans in the works to use a parliamentary maneuver work around Republicans and pass their bill without Republican support.
And Republicans today will argue, Kiran, that that is absolutely the wrong approach. They think that health care should be done incrementally. And get this, Chris Dodd, a senior Senate Democrat who's going to be there today, he told reporters if the GOP wants to start over then, quote, "there's nothing to talk about." Kiran?
CHETRY: And also about who will be here today at this summit. Party leaders, I understand, for the most part put together the guest list, but what are you hearing about the White House inviting a certain Republican senator?
BASH: This is really interesting. A moderate Republican, Olympia Snowe, the White House reached out and invited her. She, of course, had been the one Republican that Democrats thought they could get on their side. In the end she voted against the Senate Democratic bill.
Obama officials did this knowing full well the Senate Republican leader, her leader simply did not want her there. And for that reason, Snowe told the White House, according to a spokesman, he told me that she said she would decline and it would have been inappropriate.
This is an attempt clearly by the president to crack the Republican unity that we think we're going to see today. And the fact that Snowe declined and the fact that she won't be there pretty much shows it is going to be hard for Democrats to get moderates on board, at least if they continue down the path that they're on with the bill that they've proposed.
CHETRY: Wow, interesting stuff. All right, Dana Bash for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Coming up, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is joining us live in just ten minutes. So what could stay, what could go, and what will be left in a health care bill if it passes?
ROBERTS: Sea World shows featuring killer whales have been canceled today after a terrifying scene yesterday in Orlando. In front of a horrified audience, the park's largest killer whale, a 12,000-pound male, killed one of the park's veteran trainers.
Eye witnesses say the female trainer, 40-year-old Dawn Brancheau, was grabbed without warning by the whale and dragged under water. As our Randi Kaye reports this morning, this was not the first time that this orca has shown signs of aggression.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She never had a chance, a 40- year-old female trainer in the jaws of a 22-foot long killer whale, a massive orca weighing 12,300 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She apparently slipped or fell into the tank and was fatally injured by one of the whales. KAYE: It happened at 2:00 Wednesday afternoon at Sea World in Orlando, Florida, but exactly what happened is still unclear. Sea World said senior trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was interviewed on CNN two years ago, slipped into the tank. But an eyewitness tells CNN the killer whale, a bull orca named Tilikum, actually grabbed the trainer and puller her into the tank.
VICTORIA BINIAK, EYEWITNESS: There was a trainer standing there, and then the whale floated upside down. And the trainer said, oh, yes, they're giving him a belly rub. He really likes that. I could tell it was Tilikum because you could tell by the huge fence.
KAYE: The whale is believed to be the largest orca in captivity. His fins alone measure more than six feet. The eyewitness says when the trainer, who was not in the water gave the go-ahead, the whale took off.
BINIAK: Just took off really fast. And then he came back around the glass, jumped up, and grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently, and the last thing I saw was her shoe floating, and then sirens immediately started.
KAYE: The crowd that had gathered for the show was cleared out. The park manager at Sea World says the trainer drowned.
KAYE (on camera): An expert with the Orca Network who studies whales told me Tilikum has always been known to be aggressive and doesn't swim with other trainers. He told me Tilikum's role in the Sea World show is simply to splash and soak the audience using his massive tail.
KAYE (voice-over): Orca Network's Howard Garrett said the whale's lack of companionship may have triggered this attack.
HOWARD GARRETT, ORCA NETWORK: When you put a highly social mammal like an orca into captivity for long periods, they have nothing. They have no stimulation. They have no companionship. And that can tend to create stress.
KAYE: In fact, park goers say the whales at earlier shows Wednesday appeared stressed and stopped obeying commands.
DAN BROWN, SEA WORLD PARK MANAGER: We have never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this.
KAYE (on camera): But this is not the first time this killer whale has been involved in the death of a train per. Back in 1991, nearly 20 years ago, Tilikum and two other whales killed their trainer at a park in British Columbia in front of a crowd.
KAYE (voice-over): Eight years later in 1999, the naked body of a man was found floating in Tilikum's tank. He had snuck into Sea World. Authorities say he was the victim of horseplay. Could it be that Tilikum, the killer whale, was looking to horse around this time, too? BILLY HURLEY, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: Unlike your dog at home who will just scratch your leg, if the killer whale wants to play with you, he will only show it to you one way, and in this case it's to pull you in the water.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: No matter what Tilikum has done, the Orca Network believes Sea World will keep him. As the primary breeding male for all Sea World parks he's worth millions. At a time when whales are dying faster than they are being born, the orca network said Tilikum is Sea World's future. John, Kiran?
ROBERTS: Randi Kaye for us this morning. Randi, thanks so much.
While they're known as killer whales, these whales are not considered a threat to humans in the wild. Earlier we spoke to Nancy Black. She's a marine biologist who has been studying killer whales. And I asked her if the orca could have been potentially depressed and maybe agitated after spending more than 20 years in captivity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: If you put a person into a confined area, they might snap. Did this orca just snap?
NANCY BLACK, KILLER WHALE EXPERT: It's possible. You know, he could have -- I heard that the whales were a little agitated maybe before this happened. Maybe something unusual happened in their environment and they're so used to this regular, you know, situation every day, and anything that makes louder sounds could have disturbed him.
He could have been upset. And just like a frustrated person might hit a wall or something, the killer whale will just grab a person, you know, just pull her in the water because there's nothing else to take his frustrations out on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And coming up in the next hour, we're going to get insight into what possibly could have happened at Sea World when we talk with Chuck Tompkins, he's the park's zoological curator.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, New York Governor David Paterson demanding an immediate investigation following a report that state police pressured a woman to drop a criminal case against a close aide of his. The women in question had accused Johnson of domestic violence.
ROBERTS: Homeland Security's e-verify program misses half of all illegal workers according to a new report. The online tool checks Homeland Security databases to confirm if an employee can work in the United States. Now a research company has found that e-verify wrongly clears illegal workers 54 percent of the time. CHETRY: Cutting carbs may help you shed pounds but a new study found it can also increase your rate of heart disease. People who ate a diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat over six weeks saw a dangerous spike in their LDL or bad cholesterol levels, putting them at risk of clogged arteries and heart disease.
ROBERTS: Well, it's good work if you can get it paying $3,000 an hour. Forced out after eight months on the job, the former CEO of General Motors Fritz Henderson is back as a consultant for General Motors. His pay, $59,000 a month for just 20 hours of work.
CHETRY: Well, GM also making news after announcing its shutting down production of the Hummer. The decision comes after a deal to sell the brand to a Chinese automaker fell through yesterday. Hummer is the third brand to go since GM's bankruptcy reorganization last year.
CHETRY: And a live picture this morning from Wall Township, New Jersey, as the second major nor'easter in the last two days is underway. Lots of snow coming down there, a wintry mix as well. One to two feet of snow, dangerous winds expected to paralyze the northeast as flooding rains battles the coast.
(WEATHER BREAK)
ROBERTS: There's a big shake-up in the Sarah Palin camp. A key ally of the former Alaska governor is on the way out and some say team Palin is about to take a big hit.
CHETRY: One looks like an upside down umbrella, the other looks like it's carved out like Pacman. Do you know the shape of your congressional district? They're more than just lines on a map. We're going to find out why in our special series "Broken Government."
It's 13 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's now 16 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Later on today, President Obama will sit down with Democrats and Republicans for a televised six-hour long summit on health care summit. It could be the administration's last hope for meaningful reform, but there is no guarantee that the two parties can co-exist in the same room, let alone reach some kind of an agreement. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is here now from the White House to talk more about this.
Robert, great to see you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, John. How are you?
ROBERTS: Good. The question I've heard over the last few days since the summit was announced is, why did the president wait this long to do something like this, come out with his own plan? What have we been doing for the past year?
GIBBS: Well, what we've been doing for the past year is going throughout Congress, having Democrats and Republicans debate certain amendments and ideas. And both those bills went through both the House and the Senate, and included ideas from Democrats and Republicans.
We're very close to health care reform for the American people that will cut their costs and cut the cost that the federal government has to pay for health care. It makes sense now to get everybody in the same room, go through any more good ideas that we should add into a proposal. And once and for all, let's get health care and health insurance reform done for the American people.
ROBERTS: Let me check on the cost issue in just a second but let me also come back to the original question of why the president waited this long to come out with his own plan. There are many Democrats who have been saying through most of 2009 that the president should have been the first one out there with his own plan, instead of letting Congress do it.
GIBBS: Well, look, we've gotten health care reform, John, farther than it's ever been in seven decades of presidents working on health care reform. So I'm not going to second-guess the process that's gotten us this close.
ROBERTS: All right. Now in terms of the cost, one of the provisions to help pay for all of this is a tax on so-called Cadillac health care plans. But that tax is not going to kick in until the year 2018. That's long after the president is out of office if he wins a second term. It sort of kicks the can down the road, if you will, and who knows whether or not the tax will ever be implemented. So in the short term, does this program really do anything to rein in the cost of health insurance? And is the president just caving into demands of labor unions and liberals in his own party?
GIBBS: That's quite a long question, John. What we do, as you mentioned, that tax is on insurers. It's phased in at a later date because we want to give insurance companies that offer these expensive plans time to phase some of them out. That will cut costs. We have increased efficiencies in this system. Bringing people into this system will cut people's costs because it will lower people's premiums.
Right now, John, if somebody doesn't have health insurance, and they get in a car accident, we're paying for that twice. We pay for our health care and we pay for their health care.
ROBERTS: Yes.
GIBBS: Let's do something about costs. Let's give tax cuts to small businesses so that they can insure the middle class. Let's do things on health I.T. and technology. Let's increase choice and competition and ensure that people have access to affordable health care. ROBERTS: Labor unions though were very much opposed to this tax on Cadillac plans as were some liberals in the Democratic parties. So did the president cave to their demands essentially by putting this off for eight years?
GIBBS: No, caving to them would not have been doing it at all. But the president recognized what was important was making sure that we're doing something to bend the cost curve.
ROBERTS: All right. Now in terms of what the president needs to do from here on out, there are Democrats who say that he really needs to bring a more forceful approach. He needs to be the lead negotiator on this. Anthony Weiner, the Democrat from New York, suggested if the president wants a bill on his desk, it's up to him to get it. Congressman Weiner said, quote, "The difference here now is the president is not in a back room with his sleeves rolled up trying to play Lyndon Johnson. He's now out there being Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Abe Lincoln, which, you know, is what we've needed all along."
Does the president understand that?
GIBBS: I'm not sure -- I'm not sure that's possible to understand, John. It's a bit convoluted because as I said before, we've gotten this farther than any other president, that you mentioned, has gotten health care reform.
And we know what happens if we don't do anything. Individual insurance market in California, the insurer that covers that market is sending out letters to those individuals right now. They're opening that mail and finding out that their health insurance next year will cost almost 40 percent more. That's what's going to happen all over this country if we don't bring good ideas to the president's meeting today. And instead of fighting back and forth, and just reading our talking points, if we focus on getting something done for the American people, that's what they want to watch today.
ROBERTS: Yes.
GIBBS: I think that's what we hope comes out of it. The product will be based on people's willingness to come sit at the table and discuss those good ideas.
ROBERTS: I know you got to go in just a second. But there are some Democrats who don't believe that today's meeting is going to be anymore than political theater. Would you agree with them?
GIBBS: Absolutely not. I think we're going to have a big table. We're going to listen to a bunch of ideas. I hope that participants on either side, Democrat or Republican, come with the open mind of listening to the people that they work with every day, understanding their point of view, incorporating more of their ideas, both Democrat and Republican into a good proposal, and doing something on behalf of the American people. The American people are tired of watching the two parties simply sit up here in Washington, D.C. and fight each other. I think it's time we did something on behalf of them. ROBERTS: We'll be watching very closely. We'll be covering the whole thing. Robert Gibbs, already great to catch up with you. Thanks for joining us.
GIBBS: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: We just heard the White House perspective. What is the GOP saying about the health care summit? We'll be talking to Senator John Cornyn, the Republican from Texas, when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: And we're back with the Most News in the Morning. All this week, the full resources of CNN are looking at Washington gridlock in our special series "Broken Government." Today, we're investigating gerrymandering. It's an old political trick that simply put, it means dividing up local voting districts to give one party or the other a political edge. The way these lines are drawn can swing entire elections. And it's just so bizarre the way it's done, too.
One example, check out Maryland's second congressional district. At its longest point, it's about 50 miles. At its shortest, about 1,700 feet. One possible solution to all of this, bring in independent commissions to redraw congressional districts. But how likely is it that that's going to happen. We sent our Jason Carroll to California to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Partisan bickering, Republicans and Democrats unable to find common ground, searching for reasons why? California State Senator Alan Lowenthal says before looking in Washington, try looking much closer to home, in your own district.
(on camera): Do you think most people out there who, you know, wherever they may be, really have a keen sense of how their districts are drawn?
ALAN LOWENTHAL (D), CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE: No, this is very boring. This is a yawner. Most people don't really care about this.
CARROLL (voice-over): Lowenthal is working to change an old practice, one he says has taken place next to his own district. Gerrymandering.
LOWENTHAL: It's all been designed to protect the incumbents, and people think that they're having a choice but they don't.
CARROLL: Gerrymandering is named after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who signed a bill in the early 1800s, redrawing a district to looking like a salamander to give his party an advantage. Centuries later, it's still happening. Illinois' fourth district held by a Democrat, carved like a Pacman, Pennsylvania's 18, held by a Republican, a Rorschach block. Lowenthal, a Democrat, says the shape of the district next to him, a sore thumb.
LOWENTHAL: It is true that my district was carved around my house? Yes, it was.
CARROLL: This is Lowenthal's home in Long Beach, California. Just across the street is the 46th district. It used to look like this. But it was changed in 2001 making it a Republican stronghold. How? Using a narrow strip on the edge of largely Democratic Long Beach to link two traditionally Republican communities. Costa Mesa and Palos Verdes.
(on camera): To illustrate just how narrow this section of the district is, I'm going to do it this way. I'm going to stand right in the middle of Temple Avenue. If you look right where that stop sign is, that's when the district starts. Now, to show where it ends, you look just right where the water is, just beyond that stop light. This section of the district is essentially just one block wide. Just about 300 yards.
(voice-over): Forty-sixth district GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher did not agree to an interview. But Joel Epstein did. He's just a voter, a Democrat, who lives in Rohrabacher's district and just across the street from Lowenthal.
JOEL EPSTEIN, VOTING DEMOCRAT: I know because I vote, but I know that my vote is really worthless.
CARROLL: Epstein blames Republicans and Democrats who hatch the deal to change the district and he says protect incumbents.
EPSTEIN: This makes the government stagnate. I mean, there's no new blood in Congress because of us. And we'll see what's happening. Nothing is getting done these days.
CARROLL: Redistricting experts like Douglas Johnson also not surprised by Congress' unwillingness to compromise.
(on camera): These people don't have to be worry about being reelected back at home because of the way their districts are drawn.
DOUGLAS JOHNSON, REDISTRICTING EXPERT: Exactly. The grassroots movements, whether it's the tea party today or the Obama movement last year, you would think they have more influence. But really the incumbents don't have to answer to them. They just answer to the voters they chose and so they don't respond.
CARROLL (voice-over): Lowenthal is responding by pushing for an initiative to have an independent commission redraw California's congressional districts.
(on camera): How do you think this issue is going to resolve itself? LOWENTHAL: Well, I think ultimately, we will have independent commissions and we will draw our boundaries. You know, this is a wonderful strength of our democracy. We move forward two steps and back one step.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: While Lowenthal and others are trying to take another step forward, they're hoping that that initiative to have an independent commission deal with all this will be on California's November ballot. They've gathered about half the signatures. At this point again, John, that's what they're hoping for. We're going to have to look at it and see what happens -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, when you look at these congressional districts and the way they're drawn, sometimes it just baffles the mind. But are there any efforts under way to change the process?
CARROLL: Well, of course. And if you look nationwide, in states like Arizona, they've already done that. They have an independent commission that's doing this right now. There are other states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, and some others that are also now. There is this movement sort of under way to try to get these independent commissions but you know, it's an uphill battle. No question about it.
ROBERTS: And so, these moves under way to try to get independent commissions, how likely is it that any of these initiatives will pass?
CARROLL: Well, you speak to people like Lowenthal (ph), John, and they'll tell you that they are extremely hopeful. But then you speak to some of the experts like we have, you know, in doing the story, and they'll say there are both Republicans and Democrats who like the system the way that it is now. It helps incumbents. They don't want to do anything to sort of rock the boat. So it is an uphill battle.
ROBERTS: So much vested interest at stake. Jason Carroll for us this morning, great story. Jason, thanks so much.
It brings us to the half hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories. Today President Obama and top Republicans and Democrats will hold a televised health care summit to hash out their differences. It's going to be held at the Blair House, just across the street from the White House.
Republicans say they're not optimistic, claiming that the president has already made up his mind about health care reform.
CHETRY: Well, it's being called, "a historical day in the battle for Marjah in Afghanistan." The Afghan government reportedly taken off official control of the offices of the southern Taliban stronghold. The governor of Helmand province raising the Afghan flag this morning. The massive assault now on its second week is the largest military operation since the war in Afghanistan started back in 2001.
ROBERTS: And Chrysler is replacing crash sensors that help control the air bags in some 2005 and 2006 minivans. The models affected include the Town and Country, and the Dodge Grand Caravan. Chrysler says it's not a recall, but they are urging owners to bring their minivans into dealers so the sensors could be fixed.
CHETRY: Well, we're just now two and half hours away from the president's televised health care summit, that some critics are calling more than political theater but other say perhaps we can get something done here. We just heard from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Here with the Republican perspective this morning is Senator John Cornyn of Texas. He won't be at today's summit but he's joining us from Capitol Hill this morning. Senator Cornyn, thanks for your time.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Good morning.
CHETRY: All right. Well, you called today's summit a made-for- TV event, more than serious policy discussions. Do you think there's any chance though that today will be productive?
CORNYN: Well, I wish it were so, I wish it were possible. But I don't think the way that this has been handled. I mean, the president has taken a Senate and House bill that are enormously unpopular with the American people, reduced to an 11-page summary. We don't even have an accurate score or cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. And he said that he's not going to shelve these unpopular bills and start over again and work with Republicans to come up with a consensus bill.
So I do think that the pundits are right. This is about theater. This is not about substance, unfortunately.
CHETRY: Well, you mentioned the Congressional Budget Office. Some of the estimates though do have it at just under $1 trillion. I mean, it is a big comprehensive bill that went through the House and Senate. But back in September, you said there was agreement on about 80 percent of things. And about 20 percent of things are really holding back any type of health care reform. What's changed from that 80/20 that you talked about in September?
CORNYN: Well, unfortunately, that 20 means that for the average person with health insurance, their premiums would rise. For those who pay taxes, they would pay more taxes and it takes half a trillion dollars from Medicare, which is already on a physically unsustainable path to create a new entitlement.
Unfortunately, those things have not changed and they remain I think the reason why most Americans don't want this bill. So I don't really understand why the White House and the majority are intent on jamming it down their throat, whether they like it or not.
CHETRY: Now, one of the things that the president has talked about is trying to find some common ground. If he comes out this morning and he offers a new compromise, maybe an agreement on some of the Republican ideas about medical malpractice, tort reform, is there anything that Republicans would be willing to give on in return?
CORNYN: Well, that would be positive. We've heard the president talk about medical liability reform which the Congressional Budget Office said would save $54 billion over the next 10 years. But then when you actually see the bill, they create pilot programs and things that are essentially meaningless. So if we can match up what they say with what they do, then I think that would be a good start.
CHETRY: Tell us some of the specific proposals that Republicans want to get out there on the table today at this health care summit.
CORNYN: Well, you mentioned one. Medical liability reform would be important. Expanding the role of health savings accounts, which have then controlled cost and let people decide what and how to shop for their health care. Competition across state lines increase transparency and let the market help control costs.
The problem with this bill is, and this proposal, is it simply does not lower health care costs. That's what the American people want first and foremost. What this does is it makes it worse, not better.
CHETRY: You talked about some things that the Republicans want to see. But I also ask, what would be some of the areas that you might be willing to give on that you're not necessarily in love with, but in order to get it done, that you might agree to?
CORNYN: Well, I mean, the president's going to have to scrap the mandates on individuals in terms that raise the cost of insurance. He's going to have to reduce the taxes on the middle class to pay for it. So, really, I think that's not possible to take this bill or his proposal, this 11-page summary, and to work with it around the edges. We're going to have to put it on the shelf. That's what the American people want us to do and start over. And we'd be glad to do that.
CHETRY: You have spoken about this and I know you don't completely agree with the figure of 46 million uninsured Americans. You actually talked about it being much lower than that. But are you satisfied with this Republican plan which talks about perhaps covering three million people, that it goes far enough to help people who really want insurance but cannot afford it?
CORNYN: Well, well we need a safety net for people who can't afford health coverage in this country. And that's why Medicaid and the C.H.I.P. program, the Children's Health Insurance Program are important. But we also have to recognize that the Democratic proposal forces many more people on Medicaid and it represents an unfunded mandate for states.
In Texas, for example, this proposal will cost Texas taxpayers an additional $24 billion over the next 10 years that the federal government is not going to pay for. That's a crippling costs that will crowd our higher education and other priorities in the state. So that's why we need do put this one on the shelf and start over and do some things that make better sense.
CHETRY: Well, we've been examining all week on CNN, the whole issue of broken government and in our recent polling, 86 percent of the people asked that they the government is broken. Bottom line, isn't time for both sides to get together and at least get something done?
CORNYN: I disagree that the government is broken. I think the American people are finally taking the power back, after Massachusetts, after Virginia, and New Jersey. And I think you'll see in November 2010, the American people speak very clearly, that they don't like this big government takeovers, higher taxes, reckless spending. And they want a new direction. And I think they're going to get it come November 2010.
CHETRY: All right. Senator John Cornyn, great to get your perspective this morning. Thanks for being with us.
CORNYN: Thank you very much.
CHETRY: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
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ROBERTS: 40 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. More now in our special investigation into your broken government. And our Carol Costello is looking today at trade. Last year, the United States bought more from other countries than we sold.
How much? More than $380 billion, according to the folks at the Census Department. So what's the fix? Some economic experts say adjusting free trade agreements. Carol Costello is in Baltimore this morning to find out why.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As one economist put it, it's the trade deficit, stupid, as long as imports outweigh exports, countries like China will continue to boom while the United States continues to struggle.
President Obama has a plan but is it good enough to fix what's broken?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: (voice-over): You want a dose of yes, we can, in a no, we can't economy, welcome to Marlin Steel.
(on camera): How, this is serious.
DREW GREENBLATT, MARLIN STEEL: We make everything here. We export all over the world.
COSTELLO (voice-over): In Baltimore, Maryland, Marlin Steel is up and running 24/7 and hiring by making and exporting what it calls the best damn wire baskets in the world.
(on camera): That's crazy, I've never heard of such a thing. Like America exporting goods to Taiwan?
GREENBLATT: That's exactly right. We ship wire baskets to Taiwan. It can't get any better than that, I love it.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Marlin Steel is the exception, just about one percent of U.S. companies export goods to foreign countries.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So tonight, we set a new goal. We will double our exports over the next five years. An increase that will support two million jobs in America.
COSTELLO: Analysts say that's possible but only if the president acts aggressively. His commerce department is trying. Marlin Steel is able to export without financial risk because if his foreign customers don't pay their bill, under a new program, Uncle Sam will.
Greenblatt says fantastic, but he wishes that Commerce Department would fix what's really broken.
GREENBLATT: Right now, there's 120 million in Korea, Panama, and in Colombia that we should be selling to and we're not because we don't have free trade agreements with them.
COSTELLO: That phrase "free trade" is loaded. Many are wary of the idea because not every country plays by the rules. Ron Kirk is America's trade ambassador.
(on camera): Want to talk about China?
RON KIRK, U.S. TRADE AMBASSADOR: I'd love nothing more.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Many economists say China keeps its currency exchange rate artificially low, which makes American exports more expensive and China's goods a whole lot cheaper.
(on camera): Is China a currency manipulator?
KIRK: You know, that's a judgment for ultimately Tim Geithner to make.
COSTELLO: But a lot of people in the country would say it's so obvious that China is manipulating its currency. It's so obvious. Why not just say it and deal with it?
KIRK: We have engaged china about the need to rebalance their economy, just as we're rebalancing ours. And I understand the American voters are angry. I understand American voters want us to throw out a lot of strong verbiage.
COSTELLO (voice-over): That's difficult when the United States is in China's debt, and depends on China to help America deal with countries like North Korea. Greenblatt is frustrated by that, but he's not giving up. 20 percent of his goods are sold overseas. And, yes, he can compete with China, even now.
(on camera): China makes things cheap. You can't possibly do that and compete?
GREENBLATT: You're right. We can't beat them in price. We beat them because we have great engineering. When an American box comes in, it comes in on time, it comes fast. And that's how we're going to beat China, because we're fast, we're great quality, and we have great engineering. And that's our secret recipe. That's our secret sauce.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Greenblatt employs 30 people right now. He says for every million bucks he makes exporting goods, he'll hire eight more people. It's what the Obama administration is shooting for. But it's got one other big hurdle, there are of plenty of people in this country who blames free trade for massive job losses in America's rustbelt. Free trade to them is a dirty word. John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Carol Costello for us this morning. Best damn wire baskets in the world.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: American quality. There you go.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, it's 45 minutes past the hour right now. Rob is going to be along with the morning's travel forecast. And there is a blizzard heading up and down the east coast, affecting parts of Pennsylvania as well. He's going to have the lowdown for us.
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ROBERTS: Well, good morning to you, and bon dia to Praia da Vitoria in the Azores in Portugal. We show you the snows of New York and then we show you a fairly nice day in the Azores.
Partly cloudy and 48 degrees right now. Later on today, it's going to be sunny, and the temperature's only going to get up to 60. So a bit of a cool day there in the Azores, but still looks like some beautiful weather.
CHETRY: It's gorgeous, that shot this morning. And -- and we can only see that because what we're going to be getting here is very, very different.
It's 48 minutes past the hour. We get a check of the weather headlines. We have snow in our future, not a beautiful shot of the 60-degree Azores, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well --
ROBERTS: You know, that's a couple of times this week that that's happened. We go to Rob and he -- he just sounds like the ocean surf. CHETRY: Right, because no one wants to hear the bad news that we're getting another storm on the East Coast.
ROBERTS: Exactly. It's -- it's electronic justice there. You don't want to hear how bad the weather is going to be, so, you know, the battery dies.
We'll be back with Rob as soon as he gets a new battery. Stay with us.
Forty-eight and a half minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: All right. And this weather forecast brought to you by, the Energizer bunny. He just keeps on going and going and going.
Checking our weather headlines. We're joking because every time we check in with Rob it seems there's a malfunction in his battery to deliver the bad news about this storm.
Hey, Rob. We're going to send you some of these and a bunny.
MARCIANO: You know what? You should, because that's not the brand I'm using. That may be the issue right here.
Now, we're taking a look at the --
ROBERTS: We've got that mic back to yours (ph) there Rob.
MARCIANO: Hey, guys, this is the winter that just keeps going and going and going, and honestly the long range forecast for next week looks to be just as cold as what we're seeing right now.
Pictures out of Albany in New York where just to the west of Albany they saw two feet of snow, so the snow blowers out, just trying to get rid of it. Heavy wet snow and more expected tonight. What we've got going now is, well, rain turning to snow.
Check out some of these totals, not only in Upstate New York but Massachusetts and Vermont, over 2 feet in many locations, including Northern Vermont. And so good snow for, (INAUDIBLE) and Killington, but look at the temperatures now. It's beginning to warm up.
Temperatures in the 30s across parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, so the rain/snow line right now around I-87, the throughway and then getting down towards New York City. It is snowing now in New York, so the changeover is beginning to happen. Most of Jersey in snow, with the exception of the immediate shoreline, and then Philadelphia has been in snow pretty much since daybreak today.
D.C., you're pretty much out of the mix with this thing. That's good news, because D.C. and Baltimore certainly do not want any more snow. But Philly, you have had your fair share of record-setting snowfalls, and this one is going to just add on top of that. Six to 12 inches is what we're thinking from Philadelphia up to New York. Philly will be in snow the entire time. New York will kind of be in rain now, turning to snow. It might turn back to rain a little bit, so it will be a -- a wet snow for sure, and then 12 to 24 inches expected in Upstate New York, with wind. It will be blizzard conditions at times later on tonight.
Back to you guys in New York.
ROBERTS: Got to hook you up with some new batteries there Rob. No question.
MARCIANO: Please do. All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's 53 minutes past the hour right now. Time for your "A.M. House Call" and in just over two hours the Health Care Summit will begin.
One Republican priority is to try reign in frivolous medical lawsuits that end up driving up the cost of health care, an idea that President Obama has not necessarily been open to. Here he is addressing the American Medical Association on the issue last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be honest with you, I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards, which I believe -- I personally believe can be unfair to people who have been wrongfully harmed.
But I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, how to let doctors focus on practicing medicine, how to encourage a broader use of evidence-based guidelines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. Well, so, for some perspective on this, Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center -- CNN Center in Atlanta, and of course, you know, there are two very heated sides to this debate about whether or not it hinders doctors from practicing medicine, but also whether or not people that are harmed can get some sort of compensation for it.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You're absolutely right, and it's all in the context of cost. Still, a lot of people say, you know, look, these type of lawsuits can drive up health care costs overall.
Let me give you a little bit of quick perspective, though, on exactly what we're talking about. You know, last recorded, 2008, about a million people claimed some sort of harm as a result of medical practice. Of that, about 85,000 lawsuits were -- were actually created. So you have a million people harmed, 85,000 lawsuits, and of those about 11,000 lawsuits were actually people claimed money on. So 11,000 claims out of about a million potential harms.
You do hear about some of the higher profile cases, some of the bigger cases that President Obama was eluding to. $6.5 million was paid back in -- in North Carolina for a case, $40 million for a baby with cerebral palsy in Massachusetts.
But the real question is, you know, what -- how much money is that in the context of health care cost overall? And what you'll find, it's really about 2 percent overall of health care costs. So -- so the lawsuits themselves and the payouts from the lawsuits do make up a very small fraction overall of health care costs.
CHETRY: Doesn't it also have to do, though, with insurance? At times some of the professions are much harder for doctors to get insurance or they pay a lot in insurance because they have to be able to pay out if, God forbid, they were sued for malpractice?
GUPTA: That's right. So -- so, you know, paint the picture like this, and this is really -- really sort of where it gets interesting. The words to sort of keep in mind are defensive medicine, doctors worried about these lawsuits. Even though there's a relatively small number, they're worried about these lawsuits and therefore they practice medicine differently.
In fact, according to a Gallup poll -- a recent Gallup poll, nine out of 10 doctors say they perform -- they -- they practice some sort of defensive medicine.
Take a look at that, if you can see those numbers, about 35 percent of people may order more diagnostic tests, 29 percent more lab tests, 19 percent more hospitalizations, 14 percent more prescriptions and 8 percent more operations. Again, not because patients necessarily needed these things but simply because doctors were worried about potentially getting sued.
And there's another part to it, you know, Kiran, which -- which you're talking about here, is that, you know, the premiums for malpractice insurance have become extremely high. And as a result, in some areas, it's hard to find a doctor.
You know, in Mississippi, for example, there are certain areas in Mississippi where obstetricians are extremely hard to find. Women in their last trimester of pregnancy may have to go live 100 miles away from their home simply because they can't find an obstetrician close to their home.
In Florida, malpractice premiums for an obstetrician, around $200,000. So you can see the whole effect -- concern about lawsuits, defensive medicine, increased malpractice premiums.
CHETRY: Wow. And that's sort of how it affects, you know, each and every one of us. It's very fascinating and a big topic of discussion that they'll be discussing in under two hours today. Sanjay Gupta, always great to talk to you.
GUPTA: (INAUDIBLE) hear about it. Yes.
CHETRY: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way in just two minutes' time. Stay with us on the Most News in the Morning.
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